**Ahem**

So lately ive been doing a lot of contemplating.. lots of thinking. I started this blog as a fun way to share vegan recipes, chronicle daily life and work, review clean, healthy food and just have a nice hobby. For some reason i have been getting a lot of nasty comments and emails.

The Lord has really placed this on my heart, and ive been praying about it for some time. I started this blog for me. I do not support un healthy habits, in fact, i promote just the opposite. So here it is bluntly.. If you DO NOT like my blog. Click that lovely little red ‘x’ in the top right corner of your screen and move on. God Bless!

Moving On!

I have been feeling insanely crummy lately. At first i thought it was just a cold, but now i get out of breath and cough up a storm just walking across the room. No bueno. So lots of this has been happening.

Sleeping.

 And breathing treatments.

But before the plague hit, something wonderful happened.

I FINALLY! Got the Justin Bieber Christmas CD. Doesn't get much better then that! And as per Erin's request, i shall review it for you!

I some what feel bias because anything Justin does i automatically like.. and then add Christmas music and you cant really go wrong, ya know what i mean? Its a good CD. I like all the guest singers in it. Could have had a few more songs though.

I promise to get back to regular blogging very soon. I have so many reviews to do its not even funny, some nifty giveaways, and some stories to tell ya’ll. Haters aside, i will not stop doing something i enjoy because someone else has a nasty opinion of me. Instead i will continue my personal motto of “Kill ‘em with Kindness” and “Ill pray for You” =)

 

**Anyone else feeling under the weather? How has your week been so far?**

The reveal!

Not being presumptuous, but in case anyone missed me.. i apologize for the delay in posting!

So i left ya’ll with a mystery as to what i was doing. Some of you caught on. I got a tattoo. The “Faith” is on my left wrist and last thursday i got one on my right.

The process.. not too bad… ok maybe a little!

What could it be??

For the record.. my face was NOT supposed to be in this photo. Thanks mom ;) Hence the oh so stellar facial expression. In my defense.. it was early, and please note the coffee cup.. ya, barely drank.

So what did i get might you ask???

Philippians 4:13 “For i can do all through Christ who strengthens me!”

Its kind of hard to see because its done in white, and i apparently have very small wrists.

“Faith” on the left, “Philippians 4:13” on the right. I could not be happier!

 

For someone who is very anti tattoo, i am in love with both of mine. I dont for see myself ever getting anything else. To me. Tattoos should have meaning and reasoning behind the. But to each his own.

Oh, and anyone in Arizona, or say… a 5000 mile radius. If you ever want a tattoo dont even think about going anywhere but to see one of the greatest man in the entire world. Not only is he an amazing artist. But he is also a man of God, and incredible writer and the best hugger in the entire world.

Heaven in a cup, and a secret!

Last night was pretty crappy i gotta admit… but then…

My morning started with this:

Which then turned in to this:

  Which in result created this:

Good coffee= Happy Sarah. Its the little things in life people..

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Now im off on a secret adventure that has something to do with this:

 But your just gonna have to check back later to find out the surprise/secret!

Doctors orders!

Hey everyone! Hope your Tuesday is off to a great start. I just got back from spending the night/morning with a wonderful friend of mine who is in the hospital. While she is still in a lot of pain, i did my best to keep her entertained and drugged ;)

Since she was released this morning she is on a strict soft foods/liquidish diet.. which got me to thinking about how boring soup broth, pudding and apple sauce can be. Luckily some of the samples i have received fit the bill perfectly. So here are some alternate suggestions for those who cant chew, digest, or stomach solid foods.

Stonyfield is a great company that has organic greek yogurts, smoothies, frozen yogurts, baby and kid products, and even soy yogurts! They sent me some coupons to try their products and i have to say i really loved the soy yogurts. My taste testers said they were a huge fan of the regular yogurts and smoothies!

Chobani really spoiled me when they sent me some samples.

Getting to the actual yogurt was like trying to get the very last bit of peanut butter out of the jar. You keep reaching and reaching and when you think your fingers hit the bottom… you still have further to go! But oh so exciting when you get there!

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My ‘taste team’ was a huge fan of how many flavors and varieties there were here. They were a bit skeptical of the whole Greek yogurt thing but loved the thickness of it and thought they tasted wonderful.

If your in the mood for something less sweet/dessert like Kettle Cuisine has a huge line of all natural, gluten free, frozen soups. Some are vegan, some are vegetarian. All taste amazing and are super easy to heat and eat.

I was only able to try the Tomato Soup with Garden Vegetable, but im a huge fan of this company and would buy this and the other vegan option anytime. My family loved the chicken and steak kinds and would never have guessed that they were all natural, low fat, high fiber and gluten or dairy free. This is a great product that everyone in your family can enjoy!

Not up for chewing? No problem! The folks over at Drink Chia sent me two of their drinks to try. At first i was a little skeptical seeing the little dots float around in the bottle, but once cold and shaken up, their actually really good! And you cant beat the nutritional benefits that come with them. 880mg of Omega-3’s, 4g of sugar, sodium, gluten, and cholesterol free, and only 40 calories! WIN!

And last but not least:

One of my favorite drinks ever Skinny Water! sent me one of each flavor to try review for you all. Im in love with every flavor. Their like vitamin water, but better tasting and no crap. They have tons of vitamins and minerals, key metabolizers, electrolytes and super fruits. Needless to say i was quite excited to see this on my door step.

**What are your favorite soft/liquid things to have?**

Manic Monday (3)

Itsssss Monday. At least im pretty sure it is? Which means its time for another installment of Manic Mondays. You can see previous ones Here And here:

1- I cannot roll my tongue. And i dont mean that like twisty thing some people do. I mean make that Purring sound, often associated when speaking other languages. Ya.. i cant do it. Tried for years and failed.

2- I have a slight obsession with bowls and plates. I have certain ones that go with certain foods. I think this is perfectly logical. Some foods just house better in different bowls/plates. My mom broke a certain bowl a few weeks ago. Known as the ‘oat bran bowl’… i havent had oats since.

3- I tend to have no shame.. ill go to the store in my pajamas, i dont turn down dares, i think its perfectly acceptable to wear my hair in a pony on the very top of my head. Which leads me to this.. i so smugly remembered last week to bring a chair to soccer practice, only to realise that when i got there it was infant size…

Purse next to it for comparison. I still sat in it. Like i said.. no shame.

 

4- Im incapable of watching tv live. For one, im generally at work and cant watch it when its on anyways. And two, i HATE commercials.. who has time to sit through an hour long program? Thanks to tivo.. i can watch 3 programs for the price of one. Tivo inventor, kudos to you!

**Whats one of your Manic Mondays??**

Peanut Butter Lover

I dont know about you guys. But im one of those people that pretty much eats the same thing everyday. Slight variations maybe. Perhaps a new veggies added in. But in general, my food looks the same everyday.

Yes. Im that boring. But my family thinks im cool.. so its all good.

One of my absolute favorite things in the would is Peanut Butter. But im also not a fan of the added things most peanut butters contain. So one day a little store called Trader Joes came out with this amazing creation known as Peanut Flour. Oh. My. Heck. I went crazy over this stuff. Contrary to the word ‘flour’ in its title, all it is is crushed peanuts. Nothing else. No oils. No salts. No sugars. No weird ingredients also found in nail polish…

All you do is add as much water (or for a fun kick sf torani syrup) you want to make it as creamy or thick as you want. You also need to add a bit of salt because it does not taste good at all without it. I generally eat it plain or mixed in with some fiber cereal or puffed kamut. But i know a lot of people use it in baked goods as well. Ive never tried baking with it though.. its too precious.

Well then one day something absolutely horrid happened. Trader Joes decided to DIS-CON-TINUE it! This is one of my main protein sources besides natural proteins in fruits and veggies, and the occasional bar. So mom and i went into hoarding mode. We went to all the locations around here and bought them out. I think i had 50 or so at one point. I wish i was kidding and am a bit embarrassed that i had so many. Even worse that its past tense. Yes. I ran out. Beloved Peanut Flour stash has been depleted..

Then something beautiful happened. The folks over at The Golden Peanut Company sent me some of theirs to try! Now.. i didnt know their was more then one kind of peanut flour. But apparently their is. They have two types. 12% fat and 28% fat. And they come in four different types: Light, Medium, Dark and Organic. They sent me one of each kind. A 12% fat version and a 28% fat version. Ive only tried the 12% kind so far, but it pretty much tasted the same as my beloved kind. It had a slightly different taste to it but im guessing thats because of the roast on it. Still glorious none the less. Thanks so much to the Golden Peanut Co.

**Also, if you want to order retail sizes of our peanut flour, head on over to www.byrdmill.com the Golden Peanut Co. only sell in 50 lb bags!

Now.. for the unfortunate people who cannot eat peanuts, the folks over at Soy Nut Butter sent me some of their I.M. Healthy Original Creamy and I.M. Healthy Chocolate Butters to try.

Upon inspection.. it looks just like peanut butter. The original creamy flavor looks and tastes just about like normal PB, but with a more healthy, natural taste. I liked. The chocolate version is similar to Nutella, but with much less sugar(-50%), more protein(3x) and no dairy as well as peanut/nut free. I loved that their recommendations were to heat in the microwave and add to things, or just eat with a spoon.

Mom agrees. Skip anything else, and just go for it with a spoon, or in her case.. your finger. It reminds me of Nutella but again, with a more healthy natural taste to it. Loved both products!

Insignificance

Do you ever feel insignificant? Like your life has no real purpose, or that the impact that you make on the world is meaningless? Like your walking around just being. Not existing. Ghostly almost..

I struggle with this a lot. I’ve always been a true pageant girl in the sense where i truly want world peace.

I want to make a difference.

Change lives.

I guess i always figured that if i were to make a vast impact on the world that it would have to be to hundreds, thousands of people. But today i realized that’s not the case. To change the world, to make a difference, to change lives. Just takes one person.

And then another person.

And another after that. And so on.

The little things. Random acts of kindness. Its such a lost art i feel like. Can you think of the last time you did something for someone else without selfish intentions? To get something in return?

Im not talking big things, its the little things that count remember? Because when we have multiple little things, it creates big things!

Buying the person behind you in line at Starbucks their coffee for the day. Letting a few extra cars go in front of you when traffics backed up. Asking the person behind you in the grocery line if they want to go ahead of you because they have 10 things, while you have a cart full. Or even just smiling at someone. Saying hello as you pass by them.

The simplest of gestures we can do could make some ones day. Maybe they just lost their job, maybe they’re fighting an illness, or maybe their just having a crummy day. That smile you just flashed at them? Guess what.. it could turn their mood around!

 

Today was my crummy day. For no particular reason just one thing after another made me feel down about myself. Like i don’t do enough. Insignificant. Its hard when you have such big hopes and dreams for yourself, and know God has such mighty plans for you, but feel like your not fulfilling them.

So i had a pity party. Balloons and all. And then this happened…

Instant mood changer. I may not be curing cancer.. but i made someone smile.

Were taught from an early age to Glorify God in everything that we do. Well how do you glorify Him while taking care of someone else? While cleaning the house so your mom comes home to freshly windex’d mirrors? While shopping in a store?

By the little things. By the simple, insignificant things that make up the bigger picture.

 

The Bible says that God has placed us exactly where He wants us at each moment in time. Their is a reason for that.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD  (Jeremiah 29:11)

Ive been nominated!

I was nominated by the wonderful Jessica!

The rules of this nomination are:
To tell seven random things about myself as well as pass on the award to seven other great bloggers.
Nominees, in order to accept this award you must:
-Thank and link back to the person who awarded you.
-Write seven random things about yourself.
-Award seven other awesome and inspiring bloggers.

Sounds simple enough!

1- I am a pageant girl. I won Miss Teen Arizona 3 times.

2- My cars name is Pandora. As in ‘Pandoras Box’. You never know when when shes going to work, or what shes going to do. Yes.. my car is a She.

3- I am incredibly religious and close to God. Church is probably favorite place to be.

4- I have a purse obsession. I own the same purse in 5 different colors. Hey.. if it ‘aint broke, dont fix it!

5- I am a HUGE Boston Red Sox fan.. my entire family is actually. Im not a huge sports person, but if the Red Sox are playing.. you can find me located in front of the tv.

6- Nothing scares me. Literally. Im the one in scary movies everyone hides behind. Im always the first to check out that creepy sound you hear at night. And i even worked in a haunted house. Im a professional ;)

Nope.. not scared. I was the only one willing to pose with the.. creature?

7- I HATE talking on the phone. It causes me great anxiety. If you need to get a hold of me. Text me.. thankyouverymuch.

And The bloggers im passing this onto is:

The fantastic sewing goddess Haylee

The beautiful Kate

Running Genius Janae

My BFFFFFF Erin

The most determined girl i know Missy

My favorite red head Monica

And the Hippy herself Elise

Uhm, and because its my blog and i cant believe i forgot these two amazing gals, i also nominate

http://becauseitsworthit-jenn.blogspot.com/ Jenn!!

http://nomatterwhatmysize.blogspot.com/ and Emily!