Category Archives: life

Dec 19 2012
2 Comments
adventures, cats, fun, life

Baby It’s Cold Inside

I live in California- right on the dividing line between So Cal and Central Cal. It can get cold in the winter. It’ll be down in the 30′s tonight. But my house is fairly new (14 years old) and fairly well insulated. This fall, David and I decided to go as long as possible without turning on the heater. Just to see how long we could hold out and also as kind of a fun game to see how low the power bill would go. I think last night was the coldest night so far this season. But it hasn’t gotten below 60 degrees inside the house yet (at least not while I’ve been awake). But 60 degrees inside your house is pretty dang chilly! But we will not cave! At least not yet! January may get colder though.

I’m sitting here in yoga pants and a t-shirt. Accompanied by fleecy socks, fuzzy slippers, a big wrap sweater, and fingerless gloves (so I can type). And I’m covered up by a thick faux furry blanket. I’m pretty comfy, except my fingertips… ; )

A byproduct of this experiment is that I’ve become more mindful of just how much of a luxury having central heat inside a cozy home really is. With the flip of a switch I could have warm, toasty air circulating throughout my entire home. Not everyone has this luxury or can afford to run their heat even if they have it. I am grateful I have the option to play this ‘game’. Also, kittens really like to snuggle when it is cooler in the house. They may even sleep with you ALL night!

I wonder if we’ll want to experiment with how long we can go this summer without running the air conditioner? It gets up to 105+ degrees on the reg in these parts. We shall see. (I could go for a nice 85-90 degrees right about now. I’m kind of a warm weather person…)

I won’t feel like a failure if we decide to turn the heat on. I’ll just feel warm. : )

Dec 18 2012
3 Comments
fitness, life, yoga

I have a life!

Today is my third day of taking a break from facebook and twitter. I actually just shared two instagram posts on twitter and responded to a tweet from a friend, but I didn’t scroll through my feed or anything else. Also, I’m about to log into FB just to adjust my settings so I get the email notifications if, say, someone invites me to a party or something! But, I must say, I feel more calm and centered without the constant facebook checking that was happening before!

Yesterday after work, I went for a three mile run and then headed to a 90 minute restorative yoga class. When I was done I felt like a zen pile of mush. And I mean that in the best possible way! In the past I would probably have gotten in the car after yoga and sat there for 10 minutes checking my facebook feed before driving home. That is how addicted I was. It’s gross, really.

So, I’m feeling good about this decision. Really good. And it is so nice to remember that I have a real life beyond facebook and twitter!

Dec 15 2012
4 Comments
holidays, life, yoga

Taking a Coffee Break of Sorts

Today I decided to take a social media sabbatical for an undetermined amount of time. It might only be a day or two. Or it might be forever (highly doubtful). There is just too much sadness going on in the world and I can’t control what is coming into my line of sight. Several years ago I made the conscious decision to stop watching the news and reading newspapers (print and online). It made a huge difference in my anxiety level and my mental well being. I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder and I don’t want to treat it with pills so I treat it with diet, yoga, and careful control of outside stimulus. Lately I’m having trouble keeping my diet clean, my yoga practice regularity has fallen off, and of course, every time I log into my facebook or twitter accounts I see horrible news. Not just national tragedies but friends and local neighbors facing devastating realities. Living in a bubble is an act of self preservation at times.

For the next few weeks I want to focus on Christmas and making cookies and wrapping gifts and listening to Christmas music and staying warm and cozy. Maybe drink some hot toddies (what exactly are hot toddies? I think of them as any hot cocktail-type drink…) And I LOVE the new year! I love a fresh start. Making resolutions and setting goals for the year. I’m training (not very dedicated at this point and that is another issue) for my first half marathon at the end of February, so I REALLY need to focus on that too. I want to do a juice cleanse for the first week or 10 days of January. I want to practice yoga daily. I want to make a vision board. I want to focus on the things I love, rather than wasting hours a day reading about crap on Facebook. So, I deleted the twitter and facebook apps from my phone. I’ll probably still Instagram because I love looking at pictures of food and kitties and pretty faces. And I’ll continue to read my blogs. My lovely, crafty, foodie, creative blogs. I love reading blogs. David called them my ‘shiny happy blogs’. :) I love that. And I also plan to blog here again. But I might not post any pics. Do people read blogs without pictures? I do.

Happy Holidays lovies!

Tagged , , ,
Feb 20 2012
9 Comments
adventures, life, travel

things… life… whatnot…

I’ve decided to take a blogging hiatus. Life is so full right now, and I’m loving it (mostly) but I feel like in the back of my mind I’m always worrying about not taking enough pictures or not taking good enough pictures, or needing to evaluate every single thing I do as blog-worthy or not blog-worthy, instead of just LIVING my actual life. I’ve been putting unnecessary pressure on myself to build this blog into something I don’t know if it will ever be. There are so many fabulous lifestyle blogs out there- like gazillions of them- I can’t even keep up with reading them, let alone being on par with them.

March is already booked solid. I’m going to get another fitness certification next month (yay!!) along with two separate work trips (including a major trade show), plus some events with my family, and a couple personal development seminars. Oh yeah, and keeping up with all my household chores, fitting in exercise, tons of cooking (of course!), spending time with my husband and kitties, and planning for the future! And that other thing called a day job…

Anyway, I know I’m not busier than anyone else and there are amazing bloggers out there that do all the things I’ve got listed along with raising kids and full time blogging! They are utterly amazing to me. But I’m not in the space to do that now. It makes me panic just thinking about it!

So I’m going to take SOME of the pressure off of myself and spend the next few months working on my fitness and health goals and getting my home organized to perfection! :)

If you are so inclined I’ll still be active on twitter (my one true social media love).

Thanks for reading!

xoxo Jenna

Jan 15 2012
5 Comments
books, food, life, loveliness, vegan food, veganism

Vegan’s Daily Companion- Lessons and Gifts

Every day in 2012 I’m reading a passage from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s Vegan’s Daily Companion (VDC). I wrote about the book last week.

This week in VDC I learned about dates (the fruit). I LOVE them already, I’ve been a huge fan for years but now I want to get my hands on some date sugar and bake something! There was also a recipe for Pine Nut-Anise Cookies. Yum! The recipe calls for a cup of pine nuts and almost a cup of maple syrup, so it’s not a cheap recipe! I’d like to make it at some point, but I’ll have to get the supplies and plan for it.

My favorite passage for the week was Wednesday’s entry on Optimum Health, “Receiving Lessons and Gifts”. Colleen talks about how every experience in life is either a lesson or a blessing. It is hard to think of things in this way when you are going through a really tough time. Recently, I lost my bestie kitty, Bas, and I’m still trying to see the ‘lesson or blessing’ in this experience. I know that I’m learning to cope with loss and that’s a lesson of sorts. I can look back at my 5+ years of memories with Bas and those years were a blessing. But it is still hard. I’m still grieving.

Another point in this passage is how we never know the impact that our lives or actions will have on others. This made me stop and think. Gosh, I really hope that my actions would be a blessing to someone else. A kind word, a funny joke, a smile when they need it. I don’t want to be a lesson to someone else- eek. I mean, I’d hate for my actions to make someone think- eww, I never want to act like that! HA! I’m kind of joking but not really. :) I want to focus on being a positive blessing in the world.

After two weeks of reading a bit in this book daily, I definitely recommend it to vegans or those open to learning about veganism. I’m looking forward to the coming week. I took a tiny peek and it looks like some great stuff! ;)

My nephew Jake feeding a rescued goat. What a blessing he is to me!

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