You guys headed home?

Alright. First the food round up, then on to the main event. This past week, Eric took me on a lovely little getaway. We spent a day in San Luis Obispo and then another day at a resort on Pismo beach. It was sooo nice to get out of town for a little bit. A major upside to coastal hippie towns--they're packed with little cafes with oodles of vegan options. Woot woot for sort-of hippieness. Eric was a champ and took me to a vegan restaurant for dinner one night. I had never been to one before, so I was so excited to get to simply order straight off a menu and to not have to fake dairy allergies ;) During the trip I had some scrumptious balsamic veggies, a veggie burger so delicious it was gone in 3 minutes and a bagel sandwich dubbed "The Elvis" (I resisted all 'Thank you very much' jokes while ordering. It was difficult). I did indulge in one "we're on vacation!" treat--a plate full of butternut squash ravioli smothered in...parmesan cream sage sauce. I decided for that dinner I could just pick whatever I wanted since it had been a while, but meat still didn't sound good. CHEESE, however--helloooooo old friend :) I'm pretty sure those noodles made me a better person. Ship those things to the middle East and I'm sure peace would spontaneously happen. For the road, I packed a cooler filled with pesto veggie pasta, mangos, granola, and strawberries....and Fritos. Sue me, it's vacation. Anyways, point is, eating during the drive was easy.

So now that you've heard everything I've had to eat in the last week, let me tell you what I was actually motivated to write about today. Throughout the trip, people kept making reference to home to us. "Where's home?", "You guys headed home?", stuff like that. The funny thing was, we didn't know how to answer. We'd just sort of look at each other and think for a minute before Eric would slowly answer.."Well, we live in Bakersfield right now." It's a funny thing, the difference between where you live and home. We've lived here for 4 times as long as we previously lived in Arizona, and still Arizona still feels 4 times more like home. Maybe it's because it's the first home we had together. Maybe it's because it somehow just fit me like a favorite pair of old comfy shoes. Maybe we've romanticized it. Who knows? I sure don't. Maybe I never will. All I know is that right now, we're just not sure where to call home.
We've painted the walls, put up pictures, bought new furniture, rearranged said furniture and even held a small, but still cramped party here. We've been through some great times and some awful times here. We're so much closer to friends and family and we get to be around more to see our favorite munchkins. That's been wonderful. The town isn't bad. For whatever reason, it still doesn't fit. It's not the worst cast scenario, it's not nightmare-ish, it's just not home. There's no "old shoe" feeling here. It's more like a brand new pair of heels--you know they're nice, you know they look good, but they're still uncomfortable and all you can think about is getting out of them the first chance you get.
 Maybe the next place we move to will be an old shoe (I am exhausting that metaphor today). Everyone always says home is where you're with each other and to an extent that's true. We've been "home" for each other for a long time. But a space to match would be nice too. 

We are gathered here to mourn a loss...

Tragedy has struck. I'm not sure how it happened, but I am utterly dismayed....
It seems I have lost my taste for....dun dun dun...the 4th great love of my life, sushi.

Seriously. I sat in my favorite sushi restaurant today with Eric, and I was all kinds of mock/serious depressed. I used to love da fishies :/
For whatever reason (cows facing west in the pasture. etc.), it just was not good to me. It even grossed me out a little bit. The horror, the horror!

The taste, the texture--not having it. I had to pump myself up to eat my piece of sashimi and after a few seconds I had to (disclaimer--ew) spit it out.
I haven't had any fishy delight in about a month and I expected a bit of an "absence makes the heart grow fonder" reaction....wohmp waaahhhh, oh, hello Debbie Downer, how nice of you to join us for lunch.

Oh Veganism, you cruel bastard, you have forced me and my beloved fishes apart.
It's a sad, sad day, indeed.
I will now proceed to console myself with an unnecessary amount of sugar.

Things Marriage Taught Me and other findings

There are Cops marathons all the time.

Men like Cops marathons.

I leave shoes everywhere, he leaves glasses everywhere.

I enjoy waking up in the morning after Eric has already left for work. It's like waking up to a mystery called, "What Did Husband Eat for Breakfast?"

It's not who has the remote--it's who has the laptop.

Apparently, not everyone considers country music videos on CMT "good TV." Shocker.

Dishes can be big fight instigators.

"Husband groceries"--things you pick up so that man will eat. My list: Poptarts, cereal bars, frozen pizzas and chips. Oh, how could I forget the Gushers?

I will always win....at Scrabble.

I will never win....at wrestling.

I don't care if we're married, if you tickle me, I will still hurt your face.

Husbands have their limits. Ex. The Vow--date night. Titanic 3D--take myself on a date.

"I'm gonna have some ice cream." (translated) "I'm gonna eat a tub of ice cream."

His side of the closet--my convenient pajamas.



......Stayed tuned for more gems of marital knowledge.

So, Nemesis, we meet again...

I came home from Trader Joe's today and began my not-so-favorite task of putting the groceries away. It was then that I was forced to meet...(pause for dramatic effect) my nemesis!
(Dun, dun, dun, lightning flashes, fog rolls through my kitchen, you get it)

His name is Mr. Freezer. And right now, we are NOT friends.
We have a freezer full of perfectly good EVERYTHING. I mean, seriously that freezer is jam packed--chicken, steaks, salmon, even shrimp. (Unfortunately, this whole vegan switch happened immediately after a Costco trip. Umm, sorry, honey...) And I'm not opposed to making it. I figure, better to eat it than let it go to waste, right? Problem is, I just don't want it. Ugh. How's that for a First World problem? "Meh...I have so much food, it's just not food that I want." I want to punch myself in the face every time I open the darn freezer.

I mosey into the kitchen to make myself a breakfast smoothie. This conflict ensues--"Okay, Mr. Freezer Man, cut a girl a break. I just want to retrieve my frozen strawberries in peace." Nope. Not happening. This little bastard stares me down as if to say, "Oh, you poor naive, little herbivore, surely you must know, you cannot have your breakfast smoothie without 15lbs. of GUILT staring at you. MUAHAHA!!" Seriously, he's that dramatic. Punk.

I need to find a way to end this. It's getting ridiculous. The hatred I have for this inanimate object is just....stupid. I need to start cooking the stuff, I just don't know where to start. WHO HAS THIS PROBLEM???? Ridiculous person, party of one.

File this one under, "Unforeseen Vegan Problems".
It's that or "Crazy People".

Update of my veggification

Alrighty, so it's been about four weeks of my more-or-less vegan adventure. I've had meat about four times in the last few weeks and a few cheesy cheats. Other than that, I'm doing alright. No crazy cravings, no terrible "I'm missing out on EVERYTHING" feelings. I've been having a good time expanding my cooking repertoire and discovering new ingredients. Eric has been such a good sport through it all. It helps that, with his new schedule, he gets plenty of meat and cheese at the firehouse, so he doesn't quite mind skipping out on it at home. Although there have been a few nights when he just looks at me, and I know the poor guy's still hungry. It baffles me, but then again, I'm pretty used to the new meal plan by now. My newest challenge for myself is to find plenty of recipes that I can make vegan and normal without too much extra time (or extra dirty dishes. *cough* lazy.)

So on this winding road of change and challenge, I thought I'd share a few discoveries I have made:

1. No two ways about it, I don't like tofu. It's official. Not my fave.
Ok, now it's out there. Glad to get that off my chest. I've tried multiple recipes in the past few weeks that have brought me to this conclusion. Tempeh (a combo of soybeans, brown rice and millet), however, big fan. Makes very yummy tacos.

2. It is possible to eat, what I'll call "technically vegan" and have a horrible diet. Maybe that's obvious, but I just figured it out. I'm pretty sure a lot of high schoolers are ;) Most sodas, Fritos, Jolly Ranchers--technically vegan. Who knew? Not me. I figured this out after making a one time mistake of buying TJ's corn chips as a treat, cuz "hey, they're vegan." Yeah, won't be doing that again anytime soon. Also butter-less kettlecorn. I bought a delicious bag of it the other day. I destroyed it in one night. Problem--yes. Haha, oh what an interesting time this has been :)So let it be known--even vegans have their "only once in a while" vices.

3. Eating out. Where to start. This will have to be a two part-er. I've found that eating vegan has forced me to prepare. Lots of ahead of time reading of menus online to avoid being self conscious while ordering (I have a phobia of being "that girl," whatever that means). We went to the Yardhouse for my brother-in-law's birthday last weekend and I'd had my pasta dish planned out to order a week in advance. I mean, at least it was something to look forward to, which is cool...right? Anyways, while I was at it, I went ahead and looked up the menus of several restaurants that Eric and I usually go to with friends which brings me too...

3B. My cheat sheet. Chipotle--totally vegan friendly and delicious. Veggie bowl, skip the animal products, pile on the guacamole and you're good to go. Jersey Mikes--a veggie sandwich, no cheese, Mike's way. They might look at you like you're crazy, but trust me it's delicious! Elephant bar had a veggie stir fry bowl as does Lazy Dog. And when all else fails, pretty much everywhere offers a pasta w/ marinara dish. It can be a tad annoying, but it works out. And online menus are a lifesaver :)

4. I have a super patient husband. He's been a very understanding and supportive pal through it all and this is a lot coming from my steak and potatoes man. I made him a homemade veggie burger and he smiled and complemented the flavor. I tried a new meatless pasta, he couldn't wait to try it. Dinner didn't quite fill him up and he shrugged it off and poured a bowl of cereal--this has happened multiple times. What a man, what a man, what a mighty good man.

5. Chef Chloe Coscarelli's cookbook, Chloe's Kitchen. Nuff said.

6. My new junk food occasional indulgences(don't judge)--TJ's has vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies AND animal crackers. I KNOW. Meatless corndogs and orange 'chicken' are also good finds. Soy ice cream and yogurt nom, nom, nom. Never thought I'd have once-a-week treats as a vegan.

7. I cooked chicken today and it made me nauseous. Never saw that coming. I honestly decided to try vegan more for health reasons than ethical. I used to cook chicken all the time and it never bothered me. But today while prepping chicken for Eric's tacos, I saw the veins. Never got to me before. Maybe it's just been a while. Strange.

8. I have decidedly not lost my taste for sushi. I am okay with that. We go about twice a month. I think there are worse indulgences I could choose.

Well, I think I've gone on enough. That's the latest update!
Still loving the (more or less) veggie life :) we'll see where it goes.

Veggie-saurus

I love food. Good LORD, do I love food. I love everything, the colors, the aromas, the prepping, COOKING. Love, love, LOVE it. And now, thanks to Netflix, I have an intense addiction to food documentaries. First it was Food Inc., which brought me into the world of organic produce and meat. Then it was Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead--my lovely and observant husband bought me a juicer for Valentine's day after noting my obsession with that one. Best. gift. ever. But my latest cinematic delight is Forks Over Knives. I highly recommend it, simply because it's fascinating. After watching that flick, doing a lot of online reading and research, and trying a bunch of recipes, I'm having a go at something I never, ever thought I would do--go vegan. I mean, I used to think the very idea was crazy--no meat OR fish? No....no cheese?!!! How do you live?! Well, to be perfectly honest, I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm simply dabbling at the moment. I'm still eating the occasional piece of cheese. I had sushi on Sunday. My favorite shoes are still my oh-so-NOT vegan chic leather boots. Oh well.
But over the past few days, I'm slowly starting to think this could be something that really changes my life.
I'm not gonna lie--I cried a bit the first time I watched Food Inc. last year. Watching cows cry over losing their babies, the animals walking around ankle to knee deep in their own excrement. Oh my. This is coming from me--the girl who always joked about PETA--People Eating Tasty Animals. While I'm not raising my PETA flag anytime soon, my heart got one of those "something is not right" tugs. That started my free range, organic meat only shopping. Then Forks Over Knives got to me offering health benefits that seemed too good to not at least research. More energy? Lower risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease...? Lose a little extra weight I've got hanging around--perk, to be sure. So I decided why not give it a go? It's something new, a new cooking challenge to get myself out of my kitchen rut. Why not commit a couple of days a week to trying? So I bought some tofu, loaded up my fridge with fresh produce and my cabinets with soy milk. I traded butter for a "buttery spread" (whatever that means!) and am thoroughly enjoying not being afraid of carbs. Truth be told, I love bread and pasta waaaaaaay more than meat, so that's a plus.
Let me tell ya--I'm actually really loving it! I thought I'd be dying and hating life, but I feel great. I went from "ehhhh maybe a day or two" to just going for it and enjoying the occasional "forbidden fruit" so to speak. I feel energized and healthier than I've felt in a really long time! A huge help (and another addiction) came when I stumbled upon a blog for Chef Chloe, a young, California girl vegan chef who kicked butt on Cupcake Wars with vegan cupcakes. Oh my gosh, I'm OBSESSED with this girl's recipes! In about an hour, I tore through her website and ordered her cookbook. My cookbook arrived today and I must say, I'm inspired and thrilled down to my toes! Come on, who'da thought you could make vegan cinnamon rolls? Or creamy (albeit cream-less) pesto pasta? (amazing, by the way). I just finished a roll of homemade vegan sushi--mind: blown.
So, that's the "What's going on in my kitchen" update. It's been an enjoyable experiment so far. We'll see if it sticks. I hope it does! I'm thinking, if I still crave it, reserve meat and cheese and such for celebrations and special occasions. Soooo yeah. I'll keep ya posted and let ya know how it goes :) In the mean time, yay for plant food.

Marriage kills......haha just kidding.

A little over a year ago, I was newly engaged, heart all aflutter and eager to start my new life with my soon to be husband. It was such a lovely, exciting time. So it always struck me as odd that when I told people I was getting married, very often I was met with a gasp and "...but you're so young."
By the way they said it, you'd have thought I said, "I'm terminally ill." It was quite perplexing. The strangely condescending looks and comments that came when people noticed my no-longer-nake- left hand abounded. Word on the street is young marriage will kill you, strip you of your freedom, suck the life out of you and leave you a joyless, travel-less, adventure-less being. Riiiight.

Since I'm young and I'm married, it's often assumed that I'm some sort of "advocate" for young marriage. I'm not. I don't think there's anything wrong with having things you want to accomplish by a certain age or before getting married. That's great. I also don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to get married.

I'm all for getting married when you're supposed to. If that's when you're 20, well, pop the sparkling cider and mazel tov to you. If it's in your 40s, that's wonderful too. When it's meant to be, it's meant to be. But for some reason, young marriage is often seen (in my experience) as an uneducated mistake, naively throwing your life away. Well, I'm here to say young marriage, for the right reasons, can be swell. I daresay wonderful and exciting. Quite the opposite of how it was presented to me. I thought I'd take some time today to tell ya the truth. This is mythbusters, marriage style. Note, I'm just talking about marriage. We haven't been blessed with our own little monkeys yet, so my perspectives are purely those of a new wife, (hopeful) not yet mother. Here are the myths, debunked, in no particular order.



1. You can still travel when you're married! I know the general belief is that marriage basically clips your wings and puts you in a cage. But guess what? It's not true. Since Eric and I have been married, I've been on several great trips to places I've never been before. Nothing exotic, but enough to feed my desire to keep moving around. I even got to go Minnesota (of Kardashian fame ;) to see my sister. The best part about traveling now is that I have a built in traveling buddy. I can't even tell you now many trips I planned when I was single that fell through because of my friends' schedules. But now I have my adventure partner and in the next few months, we have a couple of trips planned! Little things. A road trip up the coast to Oregon, a belated honeymoon to wherever. Maybe I won't always travel on a whim, or every six months or even every year, but when I do, I know I will have someone by my side to turn to and say, "Isn't this amazing?" Up above is me at Lake Havasu

2.You can still go out with friends! Sure things change and you find yourself saying things like, "Let me check with my husband." Then you'll giggle to yourself over saying "husband." Maybe you check the bank account to make sure it fits in the budget. Nevertheless, girls night out still exists. I'm not gonna lie, you're interests shift a little. I don't really do the single girl scene. I don't really want to talk about that hot guy over there. My hot guy's at home. Eric feels the same way. But even though more often than not we do couple things, we're okay with each other taking the occasional night out with just the girls/guys.

From my last outing--The Pistol Annies concert in Hollywood with two of my favorite ladies.

3.You can still participate in the fun, wacky traditions of you're singlehood. Example: You can still do New Year's Eve. Why not? Who doesn't love a good sparkly dress, a built in dance partner and a guaranteed midnight kiss? Heck, you can even still be that couple whose midnight kiss seems to last a little too long....not that we're guilty or anything..;) You can still do the shots and dance til your feet hate you. Every now and then, a good ridiculous time is nice. We had a few of those while living in AZ. They're even better when you're together.

New Year's Eve in San Diego with a few of our favorite people

Flagstaff, AZ--twas here that we helped cross a few shots off the tequila list.

4. Adventure still exists. I mean, marriage itself is a pretty huge adventure. But let me just say in the past seven months, we both swam next to a waterfall, I jumped off a cliff, Eric fed a giraffe, I conquered an amazing hike all by me onesie. Eric fought fire in multiple states, I learned to cook. We were homeless for 48 hours, we moved three times, and we're looking forward to adding another Nicholson to our tiny apartment. Yep, life is still exciting.

me vs. the waterfall

Eric with the giraffe--he's so proud of this picture :)

Yes, marriage definitely changes you. It changes your life in the most profound way. But I promise it doesn't ruin your life. I'm lucky. More than that, I'm blessed. This is what God called me too. My age, though significant, is irrelevant. God asked Mary to carry a His son when she was 14. His will isn't age specific. For me, it was to get married at 21. Sure, the world told me my life was over and doomed to regret. Me? I'm satisfied.