Friday, June 1, 2012

Fun Friday: Summer List!

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I hope your week has treated you well and you are all ready for the weekend! I have one more day of work to go until I get to my day off and I can't wait for Sunday! I'm still planning on waking up really early and taking a nice 30 minute drive to the opening day of one of our Farmers Markets! Assuming I can get up of course. Today I did some more running and I'm feeling really good about it. Starting to build distance. I should be back up to my two miles in a week or two hopefully! I'll also start to strength train after my runs. Gotta get that upper body super strong for all the climbing I'm going to be doing! Who knows, maybe if I can get my arms all buff I'll have a reason to start a half sleeve tattoo ;)

OK so for today's Fun Friday I was inspired by Ingrid's Summer List that she posted a few days ago! Summers are really busy for me because of the wedding season, so I think it is really important to make this list because it will be a constant reminder for me to take the time to do things for myself. It is the best way to keep my sanity, my motivation and my happiness going when things get crazy.

Here's the list!


I'm sure it is obvious that Tough Mudder training is on the list. Running, strength training, endurance are all on the list. My nutrition goals are also tied in to Tough Mudder training.


Spend more time on the beach. I realized this past weekend when we were on the beach for the portraits how much I love the beach and how genuinely happy I was for the 30 minutes we were there. My absolute favorite time to go is first thing in the morning before anyone is awake. I like to watch the surfers and soak it all in and leave before the crowds get there. 


Go to the farmer's market more! I usually only go a few times every season because ours is so small. I should try and seek out larger ones and start buying locally grown produce. I chose this image because it is what I wish my farmer's market looked like! I really wish I had access to the Winter Park Farmer's Market I went to in Florida. It was so amazing.


Experiment with my dehydrator! I finally got it after lusting after it for at least a year so I need to make sure I get use out of it! I'm going to dehydrate everything in sight ;)


Eat mostly beautiful, raw foods. I have been feeling amazing on this cleanse (day 14 today!) and I want to keep it going so I'm going to try and maintain a mostly raw diet as a lifestyle instead of a cleanse. It'll be a little more lenient than the cleanse but I'll be following the same principles :) 


Be creative and crafty and complete more DIY projects. First up is this beachy hair spray! 


Finally (for now), I'd like to try and create more recipes. I feel like most of the food I eat is simple and I never write a recipe for anything because I feel like it doesn't need one. In reality, I should be writing down recipes because it's probably not as obvious as I think it is? And I figured I'd start off on this by including a recipe for you today! This is a recipe for my breakfast Carrot Cake Smoothie (pictured above). I've tried many Carrot Cake Smoothies but decided it was time to make my own!

Carrot Cake Smoothie!

1/4 cup oats (I used gf)
3/4 cup plant milk (I used Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk), plus a few tbsps
1 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp chopped walnuts
pumpkin pie spice to taste
1 giant carrot or 2 small carrots, grated
1 serving vanilla protein powder (I used Vanilla Almondilla Vega Energizing Smoothie Powder)*
As much ice as you like (you could probably also use a frozen banana!)

Directions:
1. The night before, combine oats, milk, raisins, walnuts and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl. Mix and cover and place in fridge overnight. 
2. Put contents of bowl in blender and add protein powder, carrots and ice (or banana).
3. Blend until smooth and add plant milk until you reach desired consistency. I added 2 tbsp.
4. Enjoy!

*I use the Vega Energizing smoothie powder because it has 2 servings of greens in it :) No spinach required in this one!

OK that's all for today! I will try to post something tomorrow before I leave for the long day of work. Tomorrow also officially starts the third week of my cleanse :) Home stretch my friends! 

I hope that you all enjoy your Friday evening! 

16 comments:

  1. Gorgeous smoothie. Sounds like a shake. Just the way I like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Shen! It was really good. It was definitely thick like a shake the only difference is you have to chew a little bit ;)

      Delete
  2. Thanks for the recipe! I rarely write down my recipes either, but I should. I want to go to the beach this summer too--preferably a dog-friendly beach. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww I bet Skyla will love the beach! The vitamin D is definitely a nice benefit too ;) Writing down recipes is definitely something I need to start doing too which is why I'm glad I started now!

      Delete
  3. Great post! Love your list of summer to-dos. I'm going to try that spray! I love beach waves and would love to make some spray on the cheap ;)

    Also, that smoothie looks divine! I'm looking forward to more recipes from you!

    Gabby @ the veggie nook

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Gabby! I definitely want to try the spray soon, let me know if you try it and how you like it!

      Thanks! I will try my best to come up with some good ones!

      Delete
  4. First of all, twelve miles of running and obstacles?! You will officially be one tough mudder! I would have to be training like crazy. Great work on increasing your distance today!

    I would like to go the beach. Specifically, the beach in the above picture. Right now. :)

    Hooray for Farmer's Markets! I do hope you share one in a post (hint, hint). DIY projects are so much fun! Love the idea of a beach spray, except that it will increase my longing to go to the beach - and I am 16 to 17 hours away from one! Aaah!

    Hope the wedding goes well tomorrow! Also, be on the lookout Tuesday or Wednesday for that little something. . .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha yeah, hence the fear! Thanks, slowly but surely I'll get there! And once I get there I have to keep it up, even after the race. That's another goal of mine.

      I know, that beach looks stunning! The beaches here on Long Island are a not so pretty shade of greenish brown :X

      I'll try and share but trust me it's not that impressive. Unless I'm totally surprised this year. You never know! Yikes, I can't imagine being that far from the beach! Im actually ready to move closer to the beach (and I live pretty damn close) and to a more all year round beach climate ;)

      Aww thank you so much! You are too sweet! :) Have a great weekend!

      Delete
  5. Oooh that smoothie sounds so good! I've had a carrot "milk" shake that was delicious and I recreated but this is much healthier (mine used soy ice cream) so I'll have to try it. Probably this weekend. I have a ton of carrots right now.

    Yep, I'd say Chloe's Kitchen is very clean. It's pretty much all natural, minimally processed ingredients. There are a few that use tofu or tempeh. A lot of the recipes contain flour/wheat so it's not gluten-free and definitely not raw but I've been using it a ton. It's definitely a favourite cookbook of mine for appetizer/main course/desserts/.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always have tons of carrots, I'm surprised I'm not orange! let me know how you like it! As a warning you have to chew a little :X

      I'll have to check out the cookbook the next time I'm at the bookstore! Everything you've cooked out of it looks delicious!

      Delete
  6. what a great list!!! my favorite was "spend more time at the beach"....spend some time there for me too please:) haha and that carrot cake smoothie sounds great!! Have a fabulous weekend -- hopefully at the beach!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will certainly try to get beach time for all! No beach weddings this weekend unfortunately but I'll try and get there soon ;)

      have a great weekend!

      Delete
  7. Such a great list! I'm especially intrigued by that beachy hair spray and hope that you'll give a review on it. I'm also excited that you'll be sharing more recipes!

    Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Molly! If I can find a spray bottle maybe I'll try putting it together tomorrow :) I will certainly try to share some recipes if my mad scientist experiments work out!

      You too!

      Delete
  8. I love going to the beach in the morning when it's not crowded yet - so beautiful. I thought that picture WAS of your Farmers Market, and I was like, wow! I imagine that's what they're like in warmer places like Florida and California. Interesting hairspray idea, but maybe you could just go to the beach for the same effect (hee hee). Sweetie's getting in to making smoothies, and I suggested yours to him, and he said, "would you have some with me?" and I said I'd *taste* it. Still not on the smoothie train, I guess. Have a great weekend!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I wish that was my Farmers market but it's not. The one I went to in Florida was so beautiful I wish I could go every week and get all of my produce there. I could definitely get the same effect from the beach but it's not too practical to get to the beach during the week ;)

      Let me know what he thinks! This one isn't fruity so maybe you'll like it more?

      Have a great weekend!

      Delete