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trying my hand at wordpress it seems to be cleaner..


Come see me at http://optimisticjessica.wordpress.com/

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Super duper pre-work out smoothie

Holy smokes, 2 posts in 1 day? Yup I am on vacation. Cheers. 
I really needed to get back into the workout frame of mind, I always feel so much more balanced and happy. So here goes.

Here is a Super Duper Pre-Workout Smoothie (Think Mint Chocolate milk)

I completed 45 minutes of Fitness Blender Workout #40. And the post work out, munched on some green tea jello. Oh vacation, how I love thee. 

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Green tea/Lime Jello

While this is true.. I am so grateful for the real thing

Life is good. Today I start my vacation for two weeks. No homework, no practicum. Ah Bliss. My house can finally get the deep clean it deserves. I wanted to share with you a tasty tasty recipe I came up with this morning. Enjoy.

I am a huge green tea drinker. So this recipe was perfectly refreshing and energizing. You get your shot of Vit. C and protein.



Lastly, Jakers has started soccer again (4th year!) and I am so amazed at how he rocks it! Go Team Shockwave!

Jake is the kid in blue on the left

UPDATE: I would add more water/green tea to the jello mixture. Mine came out a bit dense but I happen to like that. 

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Water Kefir and Vacation

So. Boy. I wasn't sure what to write today but I should post about my water kefir experiment. I bought my water kefir grains here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051WV5K6/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I followed the recipe minus the  spring water, I used tap. I fervently hope I did not damage the grains but I was too lazy to go to the store.

So what do I think? Well.... I haven't ever tried water kefir before, I've had kombucha and KeVita probiotic drink so I have no basis for comparison. This recipe called for molasses which ended up with a darker looking drink and a slight molasses flavor. Its only mildly carbonated and I'm not sure I enjoy it like Kombucha, but everything I have read says to add fruit juice to flavor. I'm going to add some stevia and ginger powder and see how that goes.

Here is a wonderful article about water kefir: http://www.crunchybetty.com/water-kefir

I have my 2nd batch ready to be strained tonight and I omitted the molasses so we'll see how that goes.


As for Kevita.. oh how I love it almost as much as Kombucha..

http://kevita.com/product-family/daily-cleanse/

This tasty tasty beverage has:

• Reverse Osmosis water
• Organic KeVita Probiotic Culture
• Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
• Organic cold pressed lemon whole plant extract
• Ocean water (Blue Ocean minerals)
• organic cayenne extract
• organic maple extract
• organic stevia
• organic milk thistle extract
• 
  

It's really a super wonder drink conveniently ready but however, the price is a bit limiting, about 3 bucks a bottle. I want to check into bulk buying. I would be overwhelmingly ecstatic to have one of these every day. It has 2 carbs for the whole bottle and a whopping 10 calories. SO perfect. I'm craving one right now. 

Hmmm what else what else. I have fallen off the workout bandwagon although I did complete the Zombie Run this last Saturday (3.1 miles). Super fun. I didn't survive the Zombie Apocalypse. 

I need to pop on Fitness Blender workout #39 and sweat. Yeah I'm getting off my booty now to do it! Here goes!!!!!!!!!!

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Here's a feel good song for you to enjoy:

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Ginger Apple Cinnamon Detox Drink/Zombies/Cheesecake Factory/Water Kefir

That was quite the long title. Let's start with the drink recipe:

Did you know the apple belongs to the Rose family of plants? Interesting. Here is a link to a great article about the health benefits of apples http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=15&tname=foodspice

Here is some info about Cinammon: from http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/lifestyle-guide-11/supplement-guide-cinnamon
Cinammon may reduce inflammation, have antioxidant effects, and fight bacteria and it is super yummy. 

Ginger- great for digestion!! More info at: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=72

Green tea: http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/benefit_of_drinking_green_tea.

Without further ado:

Cheesecake Factory? I went for the first time yesterday with my lovely sisters. We went to Ann Taylor for a free makeover/party thingy where Juice Beauty was demoing products and we received a free birchbox (box full of Juice Beauty products). Great stuff. Had a wonderful relaxing time with the girls.

Zombies? Tomorrow, my sister Erika and my friend Maylin, and I are making our debut at getting chased by zombies in Seattle. 5k .https://www.thezombierun.com/location/louisville/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=zombie%20race&utm_campaign=Zombie%20Run-Louisville

Water kefir? Just received my order of the kefir crystals http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051WV5K6/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I have my first batch brewing on my kitchen counter. I will update more as we see how that progresses.

AND Finally a sneak peek of a dish I made tonight for dinner, that I stuffed into romaine leaves and had with a side of roasted broccoli. At first I was going to call this "Pink chicken salad" but that just seems gross, as well as the picture does not do the dish justice. So I'm going to go with "Beet, pickle chicken salad."

And I leave you with some relaxing Jennifer Charles

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An ER visit and nerves

Last night we ended up in Everett because Hanna fell out of a fig tree. Oh that girl. Interestingly enough she commented that "an inside of a fig, looks like the inside of my thigh" because she punctured her inner thigh on a metal pole. Yup. 30 stitches inside and out. My poor girl. When I got the call from her mom's bf that was prefaced with "Don't freak out," I instantly wished that teleportation was a real thing.

Its really difficult to live over an hour away from your kiddos. She was such a trooper, so calm and my heart just felt like bursting seeing her smile as she was laying there in the hospital room. Tough, tough kiddo!

I just started up a FB fan page.. not exactly sure what I'm doing but here it is: https://www.facebook.com/optjess



In other news, I've been dreading tomorrow as I have a school evaluation and then court where I won't get off the hook this time (last time, I just smiled and nodded at the judge). This time I will have to give the social worker update to the court on the family, at the same time as recommending "partial compliance and no progress." Really hate being the "bad guy." Working for the Children's Administration is going to be constantly showing me things about myself.... I'm both happy and... nervous.



On to the eats department:

I have noticed a HUGE significant decrease in my appetite, normally I'm a voracious beast but I'm satisfied with less and I've had to make myself eat meals. I'm going to explore that more in depth in a later post but here is an interesting concoction Connor and I whipped up today:

Chocolate/Orange Jello -with Mango

• 2 tbsp gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup fresh squeezed clementine orange juice
• 10 drops chocolate stevia
• 1/4 cup finely chopped frozen mango

I really wish I had this mold to make some cute jello shapes but I just threw it in a glass bowl and shoved it in fridge and VOILA, an hour later a yummy treat, Connor approved.

To help me relax and prepare for tomorrow I've indulged in sitting on my rump working on this blog, enjoying one of my fav male artists, Mike Patton.. So Faith No More, Lovage, and Elysian Fields have been soothing me.

Tomorrow I will post about a lovely Apple/cinammon detox drink I whipped up! Stay tuned.

I leave you with some evening sexiness:

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Over indulgence and gelatin

Yesterday was busy. It was a loooong day at practicum 7:45-5. I found out I will be presenting in court on Thursday after I have a school evaluation. SWEET. (imagine a snarky tone there) Had class 6:30-8:45 but the bright side was ending my night having dinner with my friends Liz, Maylin, and Jeanette at Red Robin. Ohhhhhh the carbs I ingested.. Half a BLTA (avocado) croissant and french fries, 2 vodka tonics with lemon and lime... and then came dessert.. some huge mud pie concoction with an oreo crust. And the best part about it.. I'm not beating myself up! Normally I'd sulk and feel like poo for having over indulged but I woke up with no tummy ache (which I thought I would) and have gotten right back on track. In fact I have not felt hungry today so I have yet to eat something solid but I've been back to experimenting with smoothies/drinks.

Here's the lineup:

Breakfast: My super beauty tonic (see previous post for recipe) tweaked a bit. I excluded the spinach and vitamin c packet and went for almond milk, strawberries with green tops,  couple drops of vanilla stevia and bee pollen and maca powder. 

Lunch: Still not hungry, decided to do a salt water flush. I know it wasn't the ideal time, (early morning supposed to be best) but it felt right. 1 qt warm water with 2 tsp Pink Himalayan salt and 1 tsp Ginger powder.

Snack: Tea: Strawberry-chocolate rooibos tea blended (in the baby bullet) with coconut milk, coconut oil, chocolate stevia and.... GELATIN! Wowser, it was a delicious drink. Next time I will add a pinch of cinnamon. 

Dinner: Will be a large salad with a baked sweet potato with ghee

Here is an article that piqued my interest in this product:

http://wellnessmama.com/7419/12-uses-for-gelatin/

And this recipe in particular grabbed my attention. I want to make these for the kiddos: This picture is from the Wellness Mama site. Click the picture to go to her page: 

That's it for now. Please if you like what you are reading, go ahead and follow/subscribe. It will make me feel good. :)

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