Panduh!

The cover of my new journal.

So, its the new year and time for resolutions and stuff. I figured it might be nice to share the list of resolutions I wrote down in my journal. I feel like if I share them publicly, I may be more inclined to stay on path. I’m not going to lie, I wrote down a lot and have high expectations for 2012. I just hope I don’t end up disappointing myself in the end. Fingers crossed.

Here goes –

- Cook more often. Its healthier and saves money.

- Stick to my vegan/vegetarian diet. I have been cheating more often than I wanted due to convenience, pressure from others, and cravings. Time to stay true.

- Walk Oscar every day. No excuses.

- Acquire a new puppy/dog.

- Volunteer at an animal shelter.

- Work on mental health.

- Exercise.

- Try for a part-time job.

- Be more social. I need to quit avoiding social situations due to anxiety.

- Read more books. I got a Kindle for Christmas from James, so that should be easy enough.

- Go to at least 5 concerts.

- Write more – journal, blog, penpals, etc.

- Be more kind and appreciative.

- Get the house ready for selling.

- Travel. (which includes visiting NYC at least 3 times this year)

- Minimize drinking. (empty calories for the lose!)

- Go to school.

- Enjoy life.

There. Those are my wants and goals for the year of 2012. I really hope, want, need to get on the right track and change my life for the better. I am tired of living in this same miserable situation that I’ve put myself into. Wish me luck!

2011, you were not very good to me. So good riddance!

For 2012, I hope to have a fresh, new start. As for this blog, I’m not quite sure the fate. I would like to keep it around, but it doesn’t have a whole lot going for it. Anywho. Goodbye 2011!

Essentially everyday for me is meatless, except for those rare days where I cheat (oops!). I’ve been meaning to share for Meatless Monday for awhile, but I’ve been lazy or either I forget. Or both. I want to show that being vegan or a vegetarian doesn’t have to be bland or boring.

Anyway. Today for dinner, I made Lentils & Brown Rice with a side of Lemon Asparagus. What I like about the lentils & rice combo is that I can add any spices and/or veggies into it to create something different each time. However, everytime I’ve made it, I always spice it up to make it taste like Refried Beans that I used to get at Mexican joints.

Here’s a not so good picture of my asparagus before I put them into the hot oven that turns my kitchen into a fire pit of hell. But yea, I washed and cut the hard parts off and then drizzled with olive oil. Salt. Pepper. Then Lemon Pepper seasoning. FANCY.

There is the finished result. You can’t really see the lentils and rice because I was dumb and forgot to take a picture before I put the Asparagus on top. Its really not anything exciting to look at, just brown mush THAT TASTES LIKE REFRIED BEANS. I probably should’ve picked a more photogenic dish to do for Meatless Monday, but I didn’t. Maybe next week?? Yes? Yes!

I’ll go ahead and share the recipe since I don’t really have too much to say about it other than that is tasty and there wasn’t any leftovers.

Lentils & Brown Rice:

3/4 cup lentils – picked through & drained

3/4 cup brown rice

3 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup water

1.5 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbs onion powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt (more or less to taste)

fresh ground pepper

Put everything into a pot, bring to boil, cover and bring down heat to medium-low. Cook for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Its done when tender or most of the liquid is absorbed.

For the Asparagus, do what I said I did up above. Put on a baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes and under the broiler for 2. The end.

Enjoy!

Rihanna – We Found Love

I lovelovelove this song. I am not much of a Rihanna fan, but this song is awesome and makes me want to dance. The video made me cry the first time I watched it, not gonna lie.

Yea, I messed up on blogging for the month. I missed two days. It started out with Saturday being very brutal and distracting. It was not a very good mental day and by the time I realized I needed to blog, it was after midnight. /shrug. Oh well. I got pretty far, though, which I am proud of, at least.

I am still keeping up with my photo project, though. On day 76. Having the iPhone makes it easier and more convenient to take photos. Even though, I feel bad for neglecting my DSLR.

Hope everyone had a good weekend & holiday. <3

Yesterday was pretty good. It was probably one of the best Thanksgivings I’ve had in a long time. I spent a good part of the day in the kitchen and then finally we ate an early dinner around two. It was delicious. We even sat at the dining room table (we cheated and pulled the TV into the room. xD)! We had eaten and the dishes were washed all by 3:30 in the afternoon. I was pleased.

Later, we lounged about and tried to fight off sleep due to being overstuffed. So sleepy! I could barely hold my eyes open.

I eventually got bored and was feeling quite cabin feverish so I suggested to go to the late night showing of The Muppets. Good call on my part. I enjoyed the movie immensely and laughed at all the silly jokes. I am such a kid and I refuse to ever grow up. Ever! I will also admit to becoming teary eyed during a couple parts. I was thankful as my bad idea was becoming quite dry and itchy. Talk about perfect timing. Either way, I can’t wait to get my Muppets t-shirt that I ordered a couple of weeks ago from Threadless.

We didn’t really do too much today. I slept until noon, just about. I’ve played some WoW and wasted time on the internet. That’s about it. Nice relaxing day, for sure.

Have a good weekend, people.

Gobble Gobble Giggle! I just wanted to say that I am very thankful for my boyfriend and all he does for me. He provides me shelter, food, and lots of love. I had an epiphany a couple of weeks ago and realized that he really does love and care for me. I am forever grateful. I don’t know why I had doubts for so long. I am content.

I am thankful that I am here with him this Thanksgiving and we are celebrating on our own and not having to worry about driving to eight hours to South Carolina or have awkward moments with relatives of any sort. I am cooking our own Thanksgiving meal with faux turkey and all the fixings. This is probably the first Thanksgiving that I won’t be having turkey. I’m actually excited.

Here is the menu I have planned out:

- Mini Tofurky

- Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

- Apple Sage & ‘Sausage’ stuffing

- Green Beans & Shallots

- Three Sisters Stew

- Bicuits

- Pumpkin Cheesecake

Its all going to be vegan (don’t knock it until you try it!) and I’m pretty excited about it. I’m making everything from scratch, pretty much. I’ve got the stew in the crock pot and gonna let it go until its nom nom time.

P.S. I entered in a nifty give away at Vintage Love & Photographs. Ch-ch-ch-check it out.

I made a vlog/video. I went back and watched it after I made it and geez it is hard to understand me. I need subtitles to understand myself. That is ridiculous. Anyway, I’m going to post it here for my two audience members.

Its such a dreary day and I used my iMac to make the video.. so its a little dark, despite me having all the lights on in the house.