Paper53

So I'm a tech slut lol in love with my iPad mini. The mini beat out everything my [now old but still functioning] iPad 3rd generation aka the new iPad aka the first iPad with retina screen ... I can't keep up with iPad names. Anywhoo my only beef with my iPads was writing on the screen. 

In the archives were my android devices Samsung Galaxy note phone and pro 12.2 tablet... I loved them because of the writing on the screen. However the android life, apps were designed different or not available on android yadda yadda. Given I'm on a digital declutter kick I said let me try one more time to find a way to write to enjoy writing on my apple devices.  

Ok tried the Jot stylus ugh wack that whole tiny glass disc tapping on the screen nope

The winner paper53 stylus. Omg it feels like old school thick pencil. When I'm scribbling in the app the top of the "pencil" is and "eraser" it's fabulous. 

Once my heart and mind agreed this stylus was the one. Galaxy note pro sold on eBay 

checking in 10 miles this week

not going to be a super long post but last week i finally got back on my fitness bandwagon

I went to the gym 3x and I ran Saturday and Monday for grand total of  9.8, hey lets round up and say 10 miles!!!

Its a start

1 month and 21 days from Rock and Roll Half-Marathon
3 months and 6 days from Cherryblossom 10 -miler

This week I plan to start incorporating weights with my work-outs. More squats with ligh weights and alot of leg exercises as my legs/ham burn so bad when I'm running and cycling up hills.


I'll check back in soon

Blackberry how dare you make a comeback

so I read this article http://www.wsj.com/articles/blackberry-classic-review-the-best-blackberry-ever-made-1419355406?mod=WSJ_hp_EditorsPicks

thought for a minute like... could I turn in my Iphone and go back to MY FAVORITE Phone and PHYSICAL KEYBOARD??? & the classic trackpad & handsdown blackberry PUSH email still the best ever - OMG!!

I got scared when I thought about a world w/ no EMOJIs.. no APPS (well no UBER, INSTAGRAM)..thats why I hung on to my old blackberry for the longest -- I didn't want the distraction of APPS.

This phone comes to Verizon next month -- I will go check out
I'm deep in the apple sauce but hey I value functionality over cool factor. I still have my iPAD mini for my iOS fixes LOLOL

#staytuned

**edit**
former post where I profess my love for blackberry
http://caplady1225.blogspot.com/2014/03/yes-im-apple-fan-girl.html

Race Training: weekend run & more...

Here goes weekly recap

Made it to the gym 2 days this week and my morning routine has been successful. Get in about 730 - check email, walk around (be seen lol) than sneak off to gym 8-9am.

This week I plan to try my gym Yoga class Monday 12-130..I had been going to District Yoga Strength and Strech class. Let me tell you my past history with Yoga - ITS HARD AS CRAP lol. Seriously I've sat in a few beginning Yoga courses and I feel overwhelmed. So I was rappin to some folks at Balance Gym they like please try one of our beginning courses which will help me not have to walk the mile aftework to Yoga class. Given I have such horrid back/posture/neck issues I found the yoga from District Yoga to be extremely effective at given my glutes, hamstrings, back a great stretch. So hopefully Mondays class will be OK and hopefully it won't be took packed since its in the middle of the day.

The rest of the week its supposed to rain Mon through X-Mas eve- boooo well means I will have to throw on my rainboots and still get it in. Tuesday plan to do same thing morning gym routine, wed as well because I will take off day Christmas (CAPLADY BIRTHDAY!!!!) and day after. Sat it may be hard to get workout in will be driving back to DC Area but I'm reserving Sunday for a nice run.

Which segways me into this weekend. I wanted to get out and run both days but it was COLD saturday like temps barely got above freezing. Not making an excuse well yes the cold is an excuse but I got sick a few years ago training for Nike messing with cold weather running so I have a rule it has to be at least 35/40 degrees for me to go out. I have to invest in some official compression tights that can keep me warm bc I think lack of quality cold running gear is an issue for me. I plan to visit the Under Armor outlet when I visit back home. Today was a lil bit warmer so I got out and did 2miles in about 40 miles. Now where I live in DC is pretty dang hilly so it was a struggle. I would say my walk/run ratio is 40%/60%. Some of I think is mental I have to say "girl just keep running" but my legs say "girl we can't". Personally I think that I need to work on leg strengthening exercises because I struggle with hills walk/running and even on my bike.  The Rock n Roll half goes across the city so being able to master hills is a must for training. I'm still using DEC to warm back up but Jan I will incorporate strength training into my routine and see how my body responds. Additionally I will start making my gym runs on the treadmill on the incline as that should help.

Well I'm signing off I'll report back in a few days

Training for 2 races

It's been a while and I'm not sure I ever posted about myself running the innugural Nike woman's half marathon in 2013. Well since than I've barely jogged 3miles. 2015 will change all of that. I signed up for the DC Rock and Roll half next March and Monday I found out that I was selected for the Cherry Blossom 10miler in April. One thing I leaned this area is very competitive in races most of them you have to enter a lottery and hope for a miracle. Anywhoo at the advice of my pal Bill "loves steak" Walker since I'm always looking for accountability and I'm always online (Instagram and Twitter) why not blog my journey about getting back into shape and preparing for these races. Well whoop here it is post #1

Some background although I don't jog regularly I do cycle a lot in dc. However I guess different muscles groups are being used bc biking 10mi does not equate to running like a boss Lol!!!

Well since I moved out my swank bldg I had to find a new gym. This summer I joined balance (shouts out to Thomas circle). So I've been in and out the gym since about Aug. 

The schedule I'm following for the race is 12 weeks which puts me on the clock officially next week as the RnR half is March 14th. So I've been using dec to warm up slowly doing 2mi on the elliptical machine. I been battling going to gym afterwork it's cold it's dark I want to go home. So I'm testing going first thing more so get to work about 730 drop stuff off at work make sure no fires than workout 8-9am.  It's been successful thus far. Well today I went and added 1 mile of treadmill running (no incline). 

I'm a lil achy so I've been drinking the Vega protein mix (all vegan). Much more on nutrition will be posted later. Anyway tomorrow's rest day so I'll be back thur with a post. 

When I came home this cool shirt was in the mail

Battle of the beltway--Orioles vs the Nats!!!

Nats lost :sadface:

Alot of Baltimore Fans in the stands

The new Microsoft

Great article culture change is hard but I applaud Satya efforts. As as a Windows
User from the 3.1 days lol I look forward to more positive change

How Satya Nadella Has Completely Changed Microsoft In Just 3 Months http://zite.to/1iQchx4

Tea from bejing

My coworker went to Bejing for class project she bought me back tea !! And tea accessory a wood strainer. 

The tea she got me is called puerh tea -- it's made and packed into a cake and set away to age.  These tea cakes can range from a few dollars to thousands!  Here are some facts on puerh tea:

Pu-erh Tea has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for generations to inhibit "internal dampness" (a term used in Chinese medicine to describe a build up of internal energy due to the spleen`s inability to transform energy that it receives from the stomach) and to invigorate the activity of the spleen and stomach. Other traditional uses include the removal of toxins from the body, curing dysentery, weight loss, improving eyesight, promoting blood circulation and reviving those who have over indulged in alcohol.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/026747_tea_Pu-erh_cholesterol.html##ixzz2yQdjhnJv

yes I'm an apple fan girl

trust me I loved my blackberry through and through and through.. I kept it until Nov 2013. Let me introduce you to the backstory to why I switched..

It started when my old job at the time was like ok you can upgrade your phone (currently had blackberry w/ the slide keyboard; forgot the model #)...at the time I had a Toshiba Thrive Android Tablet, Galaxy S2 (rooted + modem/hotspot) and my main phone Blackberry. I had to admit I was iphone curious like people just loved there dang iphones and I thought they were crazy lol.

Let me add another backstory I forget the date but some point in 2012 I went a lil crazy when I decided it was time to upgrade my motorola zoom and I bought a basic iPad and Lenovo Thinkpad tablet to try and figure out what I wanted in my next tablet. I hate the ipad the whole apple ID crap and the thinkpad I loved the built in stylus but it felt slow and crashed -- both were returned and I went w/ the Toshiba Thrive due to the addition of the extra slots for expandable memory.

Ok back to the main story so what tilted my decision to get an Iphone 5 for work was the fact I was growing tired and frustrated with apps only being on iOS and never or taking forever to port to Android. I was not a big fan of touch screens but upon switching I immediately noticed typing on iPhone vs Androids was worlds apart. AND THAN CAME APPS...lawd apps looked better on Iphone.. trust me I love Androids widgets and extreme customization but the simpleness of iOS was a refreshing break.  I totally eased into let me do that from my iPhone and got comfortable. So as of Aug that job and my iphone became splitsville...

Now I still had my trusty blackberry and had been waiting and watching there news and the anticipated (at the time) revamped keyboard BB (Z10) running OS 10.

Let me state on the record that the old CEO decision to release the all touch BB before the keyboard one - grinded my gears - SMH!

So between 2012/2013 the news was tearing BB a new one with articles like these - How the BlackBerry Died: & the stock price was falling falling the company was in shambles. Again I was a believer I loved my blackberry keyboard and I loved the fact my BB afforded me know distractions. Like FB barely worked on there and you could forget about instagram LOL.

Moment of truth came; I went to verizon to demo the Z10 - talk about being blown! I could deal with everything exact no trackball and no physical back button. I just couldn't jive with navigating around and yes maybe I could have adopted to it but after the Verizon reps laughed at me for asking where are the blackberries I sauntered over to the Iphone section. Now a sista didn't have stacks to be putting up to buy the Iphone 5S (at the time) but Verizon lil 'well mark up the phone but let you pay on it monthly deal' hook/link/sinker lol.  I was soo happy to switch but yet I still yearned to be comfortable so I purchased this doohickey for my iphone

It lasted maybe 2 months after I realized I never needed it and could type and input great on my iPhone. My biggest worry was feeding my evernote addiction w/ blocks of text but everything was great.


So here I stand with my trusty iphone and Ipad (which I'm seriously debating about getting a mini LTE).. happy, smiling and in App heaven!

Hoping to get a Macbook Pro this year to complete the trifecta!
I see how apple does it buy one product turns into multiple... and I am a testimony to that strategy.

Happy iOS New Year!

Well we are knee deep into the Capricorn Season
I  celebrated my birthday last week (12/25 - lol) turning a bright 32!

Boy do I feel my age LOL here's a list of things that have changed since saying good-by to my 20s
-TIRED TIRED: I recently changed jobs; shortened commute time, switched to less stressful job and I'm still tired. I attribute it halfway to age and to my habits. I tell people all the time being vegan is still not a pass, I still need to eat a better diet that consists of more raw foods and again less 'vegan junk'. I've decided to go gluten free and for me that's pretty easy change as I don't eat alot breads rice or pasta for me this means buckwheat (instead of oatmeal) and no breads (eating out) and continue to stick to veggie wraps.

-CONCENTRATION:  Lawwd now I kinda feel I was in denial of this but music + work = caplady cannot concentrate lol. Honestly I've grown alot anyway DC has killed gogo music, rap/r&B sucks.. so I listen to alot of beneficial podcasts, CNBC/Bloomberg streaming through out my day and honestly if I need background

-PATIENCE:  Man I'm pondering if technology has ruined my brain

note: actual post date 3/14/2014  - SMH 3 months later clearly not complete but trying to re-active my blog life

title will make sense in a moment (see next post)

Brrrr

Pic says it all

Myers lemon

Snagged this from whole foods just tasted it raw had tangy tart but hints of sweetness in between flavor profile

I'm about to make one of my quick meals steamed spinach w lemon garlic tahini dressing

Happy Halloween

Live from the bus ride home this made me laugh

The Lighter Side Of The Cloud – Terrified http://zite.to/19VDMUq

Morning tea

Making my first blend

Green tea : organ Sencha
Mixed with white tea: silver yin zhen pearls

The taste: the green tea is the dominant flavor but finishes with the sweet floral undertones of the white tea. 

Don't laugh at me drinking tea outta Mason jars lol

Either way I hope this blend provides good energy about to drive back home to attend church homecoming with my family.

Caplady out!

Ps this first blog attempt from mobile device hope it look ok

I have time to blog now.. Hello!

well the blog was dusty but I'm posting before I ht my "one year she no post anniversary" LOL

let see in the last year what's been up?

-Work: Quit my job at the big 4 much happier now.. still loving and working in infosecurity but the consultant life ay...I say this as we fedcontractor & govvies arise back from our furlough "holiday" meh...giving myself 1-2 years top I want to be working purely in the commercial work. My dream job is amazon.com which is in the DC Area trust I will get a job there!! 

-NBA season soon: still playing fantasy basketball and venting about my Wizards. I guess my  Lakers are gonna suck this year.. RIP Dr. Buss we are in turmoil

-Weight Loss: Not only have I kept my weight off from my highest weight ever to know I'm down a smooth 70 lbs.. but since late 2011 I've lost about 50 lbs.. amazing seriously. I'm down from 16/18 to 12.. I've never been this small EVER (as an adult). Yes the veganism helps but the exercise and the no car life in DC helps. I can now bike to work with my new job and I still walk everywhere. 

-Half Marathon: Ran the inaugural Washington DC NIKE HalfMarathon in April:  Again my old coworkers were the ones behind me getting in shape they run the marine corps, army 10 miler all the popular races so they were like leave that 5k baby stuff behind and go for the gold. Jogging is still growing on me but all winter I did my lil runs around the city..and ran (& WALKED ALOT)  that joint in about 3 hours. 

Let me tell you the next day this 31 year old body was in PAIN like slow walk pain LOL. What was most embarrassing my cowoker >50 did the race she was fine the next day. Horrible..my training was bad I did not get enough long runs (>.10miles) in so I shocked my body but damit I made it through the finish line and I would love to run this race again. 

-Current Obsessions:
Technology, Technology, Technology - Before I get into this let me stamp that I've been a gadget junkie since a kid. Seriously  in my only child world I was always an executive (cappy trait) LOL I had a filofax organizer as a kid, my family laced me with all gadgets the 1st was the almighty casio electronic organizer

and yes I had the ORIGINAL Palm Pilot during my last year of middle school.. 1st computer by 1995.  My senior year of high school I was interning at our town's only internet service provider.. so again STAMPED geeked from the 90s baby LOL

Anyway I'm loving this era we are in.. coding/development is cool, gadgets are a plenty the internet has soo much for learning/growing. Social media overload - I've calmed down with twitter (got old), IG i like and FB will always be there but I do take SM breaks time to time-- its soo easy to get caught up.

Given my maturation as IT chick- tech is fun but I realize to make it you have to tie to business value. So tech strategy blogs/articles are my new thing. I'm sooo sad to see how Blackberry has faltered but I enjoy reading and watching the OS/Phone/Internet/Startup wars that are going on these days

My current tech portfolio: Phones I have 2 LOL - my main line is blackberry - I'm sorry and i did try but i need a physical keyboard ..i just do. My 2nd phone is Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (rooted) with Sprint (unlimited data) it serves as my modem to keep my ipad computer and friends gadgets online when we are in a pinch lol. Basic dell laptop, my old kindle DX (great for reading). I plan to build a badazz PC next year to help serve for virtualization testing and I do want a MBP.

Juicing: Move over vitamix j/k green smoothies 4 life but my treat to getting a new job in August was the purchase of an Omega Juicer - Love Love Love green juice .. working my way up mentally to do a juice fast one day

Apple: not the fruit...so I am an Android fangirl however when my job gave me the iphone last year; life changed LOL. I was able to understand the apple fan'ism the phone was simple too simple but easy to use and practical. Coupled with the fact that apps still goto iOS first I've purchased the 64GB - Retina ipad and that joint is my baby! I do want a macbook (eventually) but that $$$$$$$ Apple is overrated but its a lifestyle and those purchasing financially are capable hence the extraordinary sales.

Shopping: Not so much these days LOL...one I had to take a hiatus during the weight loss as my clothing size was all over the place so if It wasn't coming from a target sale rack - I did not buy. Major progress as many many people reminded me that I wouldn't be caught dead in target clothes a few years ago LOL. I have not purchased a designer bag in almost 2 year. that's all I gotta say about this topic people can change. Don't get it twisted the capricorn in me still love nice high end things but I'm learning how to be more financially responsible and purchase things not so spontaneous. 

Welp that's its folks.. I'm hoping seriously to blog more and I want to migrate this blog to my own domain as I've learned how to manage wordpress sites..well see LOL

fustrated wizard fan

i love the NBA.. ALOT and i'm all about the home teams for DC (Redskins, Wizards & Nats) and my other team is the Lakers.. now while Lakers are having their own drama (Not a fan of the D'Antoni hire) I need to vent about my wizards

this next peice of info comes from:


Why can't we develop players?
http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1213873

Think about it. Who was the last player we drafted who blossomed into a quality starter in this league? Here's a list of our recent draft picks:

2012
Beal - We don't know yet, but it's by no means a sure thing that he'll ever be a good starter.
Satoransky - Probably will never play in this league

2011
Vesely - A bust. At best, a role player off the bench
Singleton - Looks like a bench role player
Mack - Journeyman at best

2010
Wall - Starter, but was a starter as a rookie and has shown no significant improvement
Seraphin - Improving. Perhaps the only recent example of a developmental success. Though much of it might be because he plays for the French national team. And he's still not a starting quality player yet.
Booker - A role player. Was a pretty good role player as a rookie. No dramatic signs of development since. Won't be a starter.

2009
Traded pick for Mike Miller

2008
Javale McGee - 5th year in the league. Still not a starter.
Bill Walker - Journeyman. Is he even on a roster this year?

2007
Nick Young - Not a starter.
Dominic McGuire - Role player

2006
Pecherov - Bust. Out of league.

2005
Blatche - Still not a starter.

2004
Devin Harris - traded for Jamison
Peter John Ramos - Out of league

2003
Jarvis Hayes - Never any good. Out of league
Steve Blake - Journeyman role player

2002
Jared Jeffries - Never a quality starter
Juan Dixon - Journeyman role player.
Rod Grizzard - Out of league
Juan Carlos Navarro - Never panned out in the NBA

2001
Kwame Brown - Never a decent starter despite being the #1 overall pick

2000
Mike Smith - Who?

1999
Richard Hamilton - Yay! The most recent example of a bonafide success story of developing a draft pick. And we traded him.

current 2012 record 0-7

peace!

lean green cap-machine!

hello world!

finally finally got around to posting a blog update tonight I'm going to make this post focused on the nutritional journey I've been on but some hot topics in my head which I'm hoping to get to later:
-Android tablet..smart phones - Great OS however very decoupled too may versions out there
-Gardening - so i've killed like 3 sets of plants and my seeds never bloomed :(
-Life in DC - still o so wonderful!
-Social Media - 4sq (retired), Instagram, Twitter, Facebook..o my! - Information overload!!
-Book Reviews- I've read about half the advernture/fantasy series Redwall, been into sci-fi tech novels, reviewed my Kindle DX to take advantage of Amazon Lending library. Sidebar: Amazon.com = my favorite site in the whole wide world!
- I'm not shopping - LOL calming down but I have a story involving wasting money on Tory Burch!!
-Experimenting with green energy powders

Of course my life is still very much centered around work! keeps me busy and information security still an exciting field with many many problems to solve...

So my last post was 26 Jan and I was down about 15+.. well since I started getting into shape late summer/fall of 2011 I've lost a grand total of ............. 40 LBS! YAY I'm back to my highschool graduation weight and it feels great. Honestly my coworkers were a huggeee inspiration as they came in just about every day discussion their work out/classes/marathons etc.. I always did the biking thing but once I settled into DC life sold my car pretty much my bike and my feet become my modes of transportation LOL.  Besides biking on weekends and afterwork (weather permitting) I'm lucky my bldg has a pretty good gym downstairs. So I slowly but surely focused on cardio on weights and gradually saw results. I still suffer with headaches and bad posture issues so the weight training is recommended by my DR & Chiropractor.  Currently even with my weight down still struggle with neck/back pain :( I"m hoping to get back into Yoga as there a cool studio across the street from my bldg. Although my job works me to death I have to be thankful of the $500 annual subsidy we get towards health/nutriton- I was able to snag a few things to help me stay aware of my fitness goals.

Fitbit
A very cool pedometer. Tracks my steps, flights walks, calories burned and it can even monitor sleep activity.

 Vega/ Brandon Brazier

I had this book as a pdf initially which I read twice on my tablet every single time learning more about how a vegan diet fuels my body as I live from day to day and more so how to prepare food based on my workouts. This book is SOO informative and great read.. I noticed once I stepped up my training I would be SOO tired not sore but physically exhausted. This book is helping me with the recovery process as its way more than just taking a protein shake after working out.

The entire Vega line of products are awesome! Expensive LOL but rocking! The Vega all in 1 has me cheating on my green smoothies as I throw some into a shake bottle for breakfast and go! I've been drinking other green powders like barley/alfalfa/wheat grass energy blends and I will post review soon.

This segueys me into my last comments as I need to go to bed lol! I got some samples from the vicious company called Health Force Naturals. The reason behind this purchase is I'm alway slooking to save money and make my own products as the Whole Foods/organic market can kill the pockets. I've made some fluke energy bars in the past but this time I want to mix some of these powders into almond butter along with other nutrious supplments like sunflower/pumpkin seeds, cranberryies/goji berries etc healthy lil pick me ups...

Anyway here is a list of the samples recieved and I'm quietly nervous trying these out indiviually before throwing them into my bar.. some ppl have posted that it can cause extreme detoxing before your body get used to it but in the ends provides great energy!

Vitamineral Green™
Vital Healing Food™. The original, purist, hard-core nutrition-dense green superfood complex with green leafy vegetables, hard-core algaes, sea vegetables, enzymes and probiotics. Nutritionally supports detoxification, liver, kidneys, blood, bones, colon, circulation, digestion, and more. Therapeutic support with nutrient-dense superfoods.

MacaForce™ Enhanced with enzymes, probiotics, and herbal synergists, MacaForce™ is raw maca at its best, delivering maximum bioavailability for maximum results. Supports endurance, strength, and hormone balance for men and women. MacaForce™ is available in Dark Mint and Vanilla Spice. 

 

 Spirulina Manna™/Spirulina Azteca™ 

The ancients' revered power foods. Spirulina is a complete food packed with amino acids (65% protein), chlorophyll, B vitamins, vitamins, and minerals. Spirulina is possibly the most nutrient dense, and certainly the most ancient superfood on the planet. Nutritionally supports kidneys, brain function, detoxification, and is nature's protein powder.

 

 

 Again folks I'm hoping I can be more consistent with my posts..alot to save appreciate my readers..Peace!!

dusting these html pages off

what up fam!
omg...i'm so past due (like that's nothing new) on my blog entries; I have SOO much to talk about. For now since I have milliseconds of downtown let me just rock a freethought entry
I'm teleworking about to head into the office soon.
Enjoying a healthy breakfast. I've been on a whole grain kick as I realized that was lacking in my diet. I made Bob's Red Mill 6 Grain Hot Cereal with Flaxseed contains stone ground wheat, rye, corn, oats, spelt, Kamut® and flaxseed. I cook it with almond milk & add coconut & cinnamon - yumm-O!

Other than work I've been focusing on my health and utilizing the heck out of my bldg gym. I'm down about 15+lbs so far and inching closer to my 1st goal or reaching my high school weight.
I told myself that if I can eat a strict vegan diet and not work out - whats the point? might as well go back to eating meat. Now I see results from the marriage of good nutrition + exercise.

As a HUGE fan of android I"m very sad reading about google's change to the privacy policy. Its very scary and I'm upset to the point that I thinking about moving to the dreaded Iphone/Ipad combo.. hence I don't believe apple not looking at my data but at least they aren't a major hub of search engine data.

well my 5 mins are up and I must go.. more to come lata (me hope) :\

happy labor day

What up peeps.. up early moms in town and I took her to Eastern Market. Besides being addicted to yellow peaches I wanted her stamp on the produce & products I've been buying all summer. Granted nothing in the DC Area will compare to Eastern Shore she def said the quality was great and the prices ehh lol just a lil bit higher than back home.

I'm back on a Earthy Kick LOL...picked up 2 new plants - Parsley & Cilantro.
The parsley wilted like a mofo and I just re-potted the cilantro so I hope they both perk up.

My garden just about complete except I need 1 more plant thyme. Hopefully we get a few more weeks of warmth and sunshine than I will start transitioning everything inside.


Conducting a Milk off:
I know yall like uhh your vegan why are you drinking milk lol... well not to go into a long rant but I stated hate for soy milk however DR diagnosed me with vitamin D deficiency - so research says Soy helps with that issue. Well I finally understand why hardcore veggie folks avoid soy- bottom line its a Genetically Modified Object (GMO) even the organic. Its recommended that humans only consume fermented soy (miso, tempeh, seitan) OCCASIONALLY! I'm not gonna life I loves my tofu in my asian food and tempeh bacon :0 YUM! so its going to be hard but my goal is to try and put that healthiest +purest foods into my system so dueces to Soy.
So I'm researching alternative milks that are high in Vitamin D for my health condition and for something else that I'll explain in a bit.. now onto the contestants"

most of these "milks" I got the unsweetened version or if I was scared the taste would be "out there" I purchased the vanilla flavor


1. Rice Milk- I've always drank very sweet..
2. Almond Milk- I hated it in the past.. funky aftertaste still on the fence
3. Coconut Milk- yumm goes into my smoothies
4. Sunflower Milk- LOLOL haven't opened this yet - no idea what to expect
5. Hemp Milk- LOLOL ^^^^
6. Oat Milk - "same deal as ^^^"








Vitamix:

Dear QVC I hate you! Sike well I've heard about the VitaMix blender from watching youtubes on green smoothie. This blender is like the bently of blenders in the veggie/raw foods world.

To define a green smoothie: A regular fruit smoothie with some type of green- Kale, spinach, Collards etc. This culture stems from the book "Greens for Life" which I already blogged about here.

So this blender is supposed to the greatest bc it will blend anything (I've seen vids where folks throw whole avocados in there smoothie pit + all). If you blend things long enough it warms up the product, makes soups, ice cream so its pretty versatile. For the dough I'm like this joint better turn my kitchen into Smoothie King. I upgraded to kitchen aid blender but I will admit that berries & flax seeds still give me a grainy smoothie. I've made a few green smoothies w/ the vitamix while I'm not blown away, my smoothies def are SMOOTH.

Given the 5 easy payments lol I don't feel the hurt of paying for this blender all at once so I will keep as it fits in with my goal of continuing to be a healthy mofo. I realized that I suck as a vegan.. lk in the last few weeks I've gone to more Yoga and exercised more bc I cannot keep eating so well and not exercise. I might as well go back to eating meat if I'm going to dogg my body out like that. So besides this blender, more exercise me and another homey in the city are splitting a CSA membership.

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture):

Some folks call these farm clubs but pretty much its a way to get local produced delivered.
We went with Washington Green Grocer subscription. Kinda nicked says small box 12-18 lbs LOL. Right now I'm all about hitting up the farmers market but this will be so handy come fall/winter. The first order should come tomorrow here's a sample listing of what should be delivered:

• Sweet Corn PA
• Eggplant PA
• Grape/Cherry Tomatoes PA
• Yellow Squash PA
• Red Leaf/Romaine Lettuce CA
• Delicata Squash PA
• White Mushrooms PA
• Golden Supreme Apples (IPM from PA)
• Peaches (IPM/Food Alliance Certified from PA)
• Red Seedless Grapes CA
• Ruby Red Grapefruit FL
• Bananas S.A.

Welp peeps I'm about to go a bike ride in.. forecast says more rain coming.

Enjoy the holiday folks :)

Earthquake & Part 2 + hurricanes - OH MY!

sERIOUSLY!
this week was not fun. I work in a community of high rise bldgs and the quake shook me up!
I liken the feeling to airplane turbulence except when one walking into an airplane you kinda know hey! this plane could go down so for a building to shake and sway when its assumed to be rigid is scary. As a east coaster my office didn't know what to do some hid under their desks.. others took to the doorway. Me I stood up holding my desk in disbelief that an earthquake was occurring while the building was swaying. Emergency preparedness education is key. Cell phone service was blocked.. couldn't get on-line it really makes you think about communication backup. Seriously after 3 hour drive home > I reallllly had to count my blessing and be thankful. Not that I ever took the Cali or Asia quakes & 9-11 lightly but experiencing a small disaster gives you perspective to how those in a major disaster had to cope.

I'm typing this as light rain has began to fall as we prepare for Hurrican Irene. Man I'm about to move to Seattle with my family because the Maryland/DC Area should not be exp this much weather turbulence - no way! I'm most concerned about my family on the Eastern Shore as they are going to get the brunt of the storm not to mention all the low lying streets and bay run-offs.. alot of evacuations planned.

Given the wind DC schedule to receive I bought my lil herbal garden inside
Its been fun this summer started w/ an eastern market box of Dill, Basil, Thyme, Marojam, Oregano Sage and Parsley...Growing up on the eastern shore we used to plant flowers. my great aunt had a small vege garden and my mom grew tomato plants upside our apt for years- so I felt my thumb was pretty green. Hmm well after I repotted everything.. the dill died, the thyme singed and burned during the heat wave.. the parsley went MIA.. I still can't tell the difference btw Marajam & Oregano but that is still growing along with the Sage. I just scanned through my recent blog posts and I see the one I started on my 1st basil plant never made it out of draft. To give you all some history I got that plant back in April from Mom's Organic Market. Basil just keep it outside (sunny) + water it grows like a weed. One of my coworkers took pity on my failed attempts and bought me in a pot of Sage, Thyme, and ohlala Purple Basil.

So just to bring ya'll to my current roster:


More Pics here

• 3 instances of Sage- wayyy too much and Sage is used w/ meats (ugh) trying find a way to get rid of
• Thyme- i spritz w/ water seems brown & dried again even though I did not keep outside :(
• Regular Basil- my all star plant
• Purple Basil- one instance died the other doing well so cannot wait to try
• Peppermint- growing well gonna use in my tea and rice paper wraps
• Rosemary- growing well
• Oregano - growing well

I'm actually gonna use the time barricaded in this APT to work on harvesting and drying herbs esp my basil plant is LEANING - lmao because the leaves are so heavy

I'm planning to continue my garden over the winter so I can make lots of fresh veggie stock so I'm researching how to transition the plants inside.


Everyone on eastcoast be safe this weekend!!