a more legit photo

regardless of me having a migraine all day, and having to leave work early because of it, today was a good day because Gambit got to come home to us! he is such a sweetie, and hasn't even barked, or made any sort of peep even once. he has been slowly walking around the house getting familiar with everything. he even met leo bun-bun and gizmo bird, and they all loved each other.

ted picked the name of "Gambit" because Gambit is his favorite X-Men character, and he joined our family the week that X-Men is coming to theaters.

dorky and all sorts of nerdy? very yes.

he looks sad here, but i promise it's only because he is weak from his surgery that he had today.

schnauzer: german for moustache

i apologize for the crappy photo, it came from my phone...which is not an iphone. no, i am not cool.

this weekend i went with my brother to the pound.

we mostly went just because we have never been before, and we wanted to give some doggies some love.

i have to say, it was the saddest place i have ever been in my life. the poor things cried and cried.

and they would push their snouts through the gate holes just to get closer to your hand for a pet.

it seriously broke my heart.

so what did i do? i adopted a pup. without any plans to do so.

i have never owned a dog in my life, so this is an exciting and sorta scary prospect for me.

all i knew was that the little pup was being rescued by me.

we get to pick him up today! [after he gets neutered...poor thing]

the end.

(he's a schnauzer. he is 8 years old. and we named it, but i want to keep it a surprise until we bring him home)

best month of my life.

can you think of the happiest time of your life?

i used to only be able to pick out happy moments, or happy days...but never more than that.

i loved the day that ted came home from his mission, our wedding day, and my surprise bday trip to disneyland.

those were days i felt pure joy, and my heart was so full i didn't worry about things like whether i thought i was hideous, or fat, or not good enough, or just plain worthless without a reason to live. but then, the next day would be a normal day, and i would fall back on my habits of thinking toxic thoughts about myself. it's been a battle i have been fighting since elementary school. and it's been such a big part of my life, and who i am, that it was almost scares me how different things have changed this past month.

i don't want to sound like a broken record, or come off as someone that is saying "oh my gosh, you MUST be a raw foodist, or i won't be your friend any more"...because honestly, that is so 7th grade, and i hated 7th grade, so trust me when i say that is NOT why i am blogging about this. i just want to share my journey with you.

anyway...

eating raw has changed my life. in the month of may i haven't felt depressed even once. do you know how incredible that is? before changing my lifestyle, i couldn't go a day without being so depressed about something...even if that something was incredibly small, and probably not something worth being depressed about. i couldn't go a day without having anxiety. i would have anxiety about whether or not the laundry was done. or if the car needed filled with gas, or even if i didn't work out that day. EVERYTHING caused me stress...and it wasn't just a stressful moment where i went, "oh, dang. i forgot to do the dishes." my thoughts would be like this, "i am such a horrible wife because i didn't do the dishes. i wouldn't be surprised if ted left me because i am so worthless." these were the kinds of thoughts i battled every day for almost 12 years. well, except the wife part...but you know what i mean.

i believe that eating clean, whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables, clear our minds, and let us be who we really are. i spent so long believing that my depression was part of me. that i was defined by it. and in a way, i was letting it define me. not until i started eating this way, have i felt more myself. i wake up each day with a positive outlook instead of dreading how i might feel later on when something stresses me out. my morning prayers are filled with expressions of gratitude for all that i have, and all that i have been blessed with, instead of my prayers in the past that were pleas to take the burdens away. i no longer seek for things that will make me happy, because i am happy, and i feel almost overwhelmed by all of the blessings and loving people in my life.

this month i haven't even once thought that i was fat or ugly. as opposed to last month, when i had the assignment to track how many times i thought i was fat or ugly throughout the day...the average was 67 times a day.

earlier this week, while getting ready for work, i looked in the mirror and said to ted, "i am beautiful." it was the first time i had ever said that. and what's even more is that i believed it.

PS...i feel very honored to be a guest poster on Danielle's blog, Sometimes Sweet. click here, if you'd like!

arizona love: steoffery language

i'm so excited to kick off the "arizona love" feature on my blog!

i have some seriously awesomespice guest posters for you guys. and for the very first edition of arizona love, i have one of my very favorite bloggers of all time. stacie from steoffery language is so hilarious, beautiful, talented and such a great young mom! i'd be lying if i said i didn't have a girl crush on her. it's also a goal of mine to have her and her husband take photos of ted and i sometime, because they are amazing. check out these ones they did for mark and amber's engagement, and wedding. amazing! anyway, i am honored to have her here today, because this post made me laugh out loud, and i rarely laugh audibly. seriously, it never happens. without further ado, this is why stacie loves arizona:

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I was honored when Lauren asked if I'd write up a few reasons why I love Arizona, mostly because anyone that knows me, knows that I have some serious AZ pride. (Insert me chanting, "A-R-I-Z-O-N-A, pack-your-bags-and-come-today!") So apologies if this just sounds like a less attractive version of those Arnold Schwarzenegger commercials promoting California. If it helps at all to convince you that AZ is awesome, just imagine David Beckham playing soccer at the beach by the pool while you read this.

Arizona is a place where, eight months out of the year, you want to be. (As well as every other raisin from the midwest). It is beautiful and friendly and no body will think twice if you are wearing flippy-floppys in public. It smells of orange blossoms and chlorine, as well as the best mexican food you will ever eat. It has the most beautiful sunsets that identically resemble those drawings you make in your grade-school art class. (You know, the ones with the black construction paper and pastel chalk? Maybe those projects are only in AZ's art curriculum..)

Here there is fabulous shopping (and I'm not referring to the Super Targets on every corner), rewarding hikes, and I can't even begin to tell you how great the food is, so I won't. You're just gonna have to believe me. Maybe you fancy celebrity sitings? Who needs Sunset BLVD, AZ is the place to be. I'm sure if you hung out at some hotspots long enough you'd run into Mike Tyson eventually. He lives here, you know. (At least I'm pretty sure.)

The people of The Grand Canyon State are a rare and special breed. They drive SUV's, they're usually holding a 32 oz. QT pop, and they call California, "The Beach". I'd like to think that all of us zonies have a little AZ pride, because dangit we're NUMBER ONE!! (in skin cancer patients). Maybe we can blame our love for AZ on the fact that her birthday (yes i'm referring to AZ as "her" now) is on Valentines Day so we've always associated her with love and candy and fun, but who knows.

All I know is that when I asked my husband Geoff why he loves Arizona, his instant (and unusually defensive) answer was, "I just DO, alright!?" And I couldn't have said it better myself. We don't really know why we love you Arizona, we just do.

...Ok, ok. Before I send anybody packing for Arizona, I guess I should be clear on those mystery 4 months I didn't mention. All I will say is hold onto your effing hat, because AZ gets CRAY-Z. Wearing rubber gloves to avoid steering wheel burns and rocking 24/7 butt sweat isn't for everyone. You have to be truly committed to the AZ to get you through the awful summers, but the reward of perfect winters definitely trumps all. There, you've now heard my unbiased, definitely not stereotypical, and completely honest version of AZ. I've said it all; the good, the bad, and the ugly (referring to our flip-flops problem).

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haha, thank you stacie! i can vouch for her and say everything she just testified of is 100% truth!

you can follow their blog here, their twitter here, and their photo blog here :)

best pie in the world...ehhh...maybe?

so, i had always heard that between prescott and phoenix there was a diner that everyone swore had the best pie in the world...or at least arizona. ashley had heard this too, so on the drive home from jerome, we kept our eyes alert to see if we could find said diner.

we found a diner, but we aren't sure it was the one.

but they did advertise having great pie...but don't they all? ha!

when finding out that they charged $4.25 per slice, we decided to get an entire pie. yes. yes we did.

oh, and ashley thought it best to throw in a turtle brownie for good measure. we all thought that genius.

was it the best pie in the world?

at that very moment, yes. but that might be because i was hungry.

and because i had been eating raw for 3 weeks, and the words "pie" and "brownie" were basically depressing.

yes, i cheated from my diet...but oh was it glorious and wonderful and magical.

the end, amen.

raw tacos with walnut "meat"

okay guys...i have the most glorious raw recipe for you!

i LOOOOOVE me some good old greasy mexican food, and it may be one of the things i miss the most.

however, i saw on a menu at a raw restaurant that they made their own "walnut meat" so i did a google search.

google led me to a few tutorials on how to make walnut meat, so i came up with the idea to make raw tacos!

here is a recipe that i made up, and ended up loving SO SO SO much. i hope you enjoy!

first, buy a 1 pound bag of raw walnuts, and soak the nuts in a bowl of water so that it covers the top of the nuts. you will soak them at room temperature for about 3 hours. strain the nuts, and then pulse them in the food processor until you get the consistency of ground beef. make sure to not over process or it will start to turn to walnut butter. that will not be good for tacos! but it will be good for dipping apples in, so if you suck at the food processor and make butter, at least it wasn't an epic fail. i kid, i kid...you will not suck at the food processor.

oh don't worry...i totally have a dino and an unofficial leonardo dicaprio biography on my kitchen counter while i cook. you know...just in case i need to know a little unknown fact about leo's upbringing that is undoubtedly not legit, but delightful just the same. excuse me while i go laugh at the cover photo. and yes, i am 100% serious, that book is living on my counter at the moment. don't hate. i figured i could try to hide it out of the photos, or embrace my inner nerd. the nerd always wins...in many ways.

i then drizzled a little bit of olive oil, added a good tablespoon of fresh ground pepper, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, and a packet of taco seasoning to the processed walnuts. i understand that taco seasoning mix isn't the most desirable thing to have on the raw diet, but i didn't have all of the spices on hand to make my own taco seasonings. but turns out the taco seasoning packet made the most bombtastic raw tacos known to man, so BOOM baby!

mix until completely incorporated! then build your tacos!

i purchased cheddar almond cheese, and while it doesn't taste like legit cheese, it was pretty much an awesome alternative! i also used ezekiel brand sprouted grain tortillas with a quinoa base. so yummy! for the salsa on top i diced up 2 large tomatoes, 1 red bell pepper, 1 green bell pepper, 1/4 cup of cilantro, 1/4 cup of green onion, 1 ear of raw corn on the cob, the juice of 2 limes, some salt and pepper, and voila! best tacos ever? i think so.

daily outfit: pretty dress

isn't this the prettiest dress you've ever seen?

i snagged this little number at a new mesa thrift store earliest this week. vintage and 4 bones. love!

also, those t-strap shoes? ADORABLE...and perfect fit. also found at that thrift store.

i think i could wear dresses every day of the week. in fact, i think i just might do that.

thing that are awesome...

things that are awesome on this day, may 26th:

 

 

this photo of james mcavoy.

how do people not know who he is?! becoming jane...atonement....penelope?! come on people.

yes, i am counting down the days to X-Men next week. midnight showing anyone?

it's a brick....hooooouse. or building. or whatev.

the big question has been, did we see any ghosts?

i personally didn't, but ty's polaroid photos captured some eerie looking things.

and ashley captured two men in a photo, who weren't even in the street she photographed!

and marcus swore he heard a lady screaming from behind a wall, when he was in the hotel bathroom.

so, if you are someone that believes in ghosts, there ya go :)

i really would like to stay in the haunted hotel around halloween! they have ghost hunts at night!