What Lex Learned Today

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It's Hard to Be Sunny on a Gloomy Day

It was about 85 degrees in Philadelphia yesterday, and so my parents officially opened their pool today - only to be bombarded with 50 degree temperatures and lots and lots of rain. 

Is it just me or is it really easy to be sucked into a gloomy mood on a gloomy day?  I felt like Eeyore all afternoon - all sad and tired for no reason.

To try and get out of the funk I decided to try making something new.  I've been wanting to make cashew cheese ever since I first tried it at one of my favorite restaurants in LA, Real Food Daily.  I found this recipe from Redhead Recipes and gave it a whirl, tweaking it only a little by adding a few swirls of agave nectar to make it a bit sweeter.

It's not the most appetizing photo, but it tasted really good!

After I made the "cheese" I had to figure out what I was going to put it on, so I improvised and made an eggwhite/tofu breakfast wrap, and drizzled the cashew cheese on top of it.

It was damnnnn good!  I'm not lactose intolerant or vegan, but if you are either of those things, cashew cheese is an awesome alternative to regular cheese!

I also decided to pamper myself a teeny bit today to cheer myself up.  A year or so ago I was talking to a dermatologist for a beauty story we were doing, and she told me that the #1 thing you can put on your skin is honey.  She said honey is so great for your skin that she would rather use honey on her clients than any other product - and she did!  Since then, every once in a while I make a homemade face mask with honey and a bit of white sugar to create a really simple exfoliating face mask.

It may seem crazy but I swear it's amazing!  All you do is mix some honey and white sugar together so that it becomes a liquid-like consistency, spread it over your face and wait about 20 minutes before washing it off.

After you wash it off you'll feel like a million bucks, I promise!

Did anyone else feel gloomy today?

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You Can't Always Get What You Want

So, I told you guys I would figure out this Buckwheat Pancake recipe, and this morning that's exactly what I got up and did. 

Introducing - Buckwheat Banana Pancakes!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup buckwheat pancake & waffle mix

1/2 cup unsweetened original almond milk

1/2 cup agave nectar

1 banana

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

Handful pecans, chopped

Directions:

1. Mash banana in a bowl.

2. Add all other ingredients to bowl and mix well.

3. Use batter to make pancakes.

4. Drizzle pancakes with agave nectar to substitute syrup :)

Sooo good and super filling!

After I conquered the buckwheat pancake recipe, I ran over to the mall to try and find a dress for the CCFA ball this weekend, which my mom is hosting.  Me and B just decided that we were going yesterday, and I really wanted to find a dress today so that I didn't have to worry about it for the rest of the week.

Usually life isn't that kind to me, but what do you know?  I found the perfect dress in under an hour.  That must be a record for me! 

Here's a little sneak peek:

It's the perfect combination of styles: Elegant, young and hip.  Can't wait to glam it up on Saturday!

After shopping and a much-needed run at the gym, I decided to whip up some healthy stir fry with some new ingredients. 

First of all, where has NaSoya been all my life?  I just discovered the other day that this company makes pre-cubed super firm tofu.  Do you know how much time that saves me since I usually have to press and cut my tofu before I cook it?  SO much!

I put some oil in a pan and tossed in some frozen edamame, cubed extra firm tofu and cubed pieces of eggplant (my favorite vegetable ever):

I slow cooked this stir fry to make sure the eggplant was cooked soft enough and the tofu was cooked tough enough.

Voila!  Talk about an amazing post-workout meal.

All in all, today was a good day, except for the fact that I heard back about the Yelp job I interviewed for last week, and I didn't get it :(  It's alright, I know everything will work out for the best and everything happens for a reason and all that junk...but I realllly wanted that job.  Grrrrr.

To quote the Rolling Stones, "you can't always get what you want." 

[whatlexlearnedtoday-blog]

Birthdays Are Distracting

Hey people!

I know it's been a few days since I last posted butttt it was my birthday, and I was either heavily distracted or out of commission.  You know how it is :)

Anyway, I've had a great few days being out and about in Philly.  So much so that I extended my stay by another week.  For some reason I can never seem to stay within the original dates of my trip.  (Last time I pushed my flight back THREE times!)

Oh, I almost forgot to introduce you to my new lover:

I haven't named these shoes yet but lets just say I'm OBSESSED with them.  They are sexy and beautiful and when I wear them I feel like my feet are made of diamonds.  Alright, that's a little exaggerated, but seriously, my sneakers are very important to me and I l-o-v-e these.

So today for breakfast I experimented with some buckwheat pumpkin pancakes. 

They were good, and I want to post the recipe, but not until I perfect it.  For some reason pumpkin has been giving me trouble in the baking/cooking department lately even though it's probably my favorite thing to eat ever.

I'll work on these and get 'em down to a science so I can share the recipe with you guys!

For lunch I took some of my mom's homemade guacamole - which is probably my favorite thing that my mom makes - and put it on top of a turkey burger we threw on the grill last night.

My mom's avocado recipe is pretty simple, but I swear it's the most amazing guac I've ever had. (Maybe I'm a bit biased)  Anyway, if you're going to make this, she wants me to make it clear that she makes this to taste, so you can add more or less of any of the ingredients to make it the way you like.

Mom's Guacamole

Ingredients

3 ripe avocados

1 small tomato, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

Squeeze of a lemon

Sprinkle of salt

A few slices of jalapeno peppers

Directions

1) Mash avocados.

2) Combine avocados with other ingredients in a bowl and serve with chips of your choice! (Or put on a turkey burger!)

Tonight I'm headed to a Zumba class at the gym, and I needed something to tide me over until the class but didn't want to feel too full - so I created these Stuffed Dates as a pre-workout snack!

These are super easy, and full of natural sugar and good fat to give you energy and control your hunger a bit.  All I did was take I took a large Medjool Date, cut it in half, took the pit out, and then stuffed both sides with a pecan and a few carob chips. 

Until tomorrow people!

[whatlexlearnedtoday-blog]

Be Consistent

If there's one thing I've learned lately, it's that when it comes to health, nutrition and fitness, it is so so so important to be consistent.  That doesn't mean that you can't take a day off from the gym or indulge in your favorite dessert form time to time.  Being consistent means that every day you make it a priority to get some exercise and eat healthily.  If you don't set out to accomplish those things on a daily basis, you end up taking shortcuts, giving yourself more than a day or two away from exercise, and your healthy eating will ultimately go out the window, because you will eat whatever you want and then tell yourself "Tomorrow, I'll eat healthy again".

In my personal experience, anytime that I have been living unhealthily, lack of consistency is the #1 thing that gets me there.  Right now, I feel healthier than I have in a long time, and I owe a lot of that to consistency, and making time for fitness and nutrition. 

That being said, today I had a great body pump class at the gym, and made a massive Green Monster when I got home which included spinach, fresh strawberries, almond milk and protein powder:

One of the reasons I love Green Monsters so much is because you can literally put ANYTHING in them - as long as you include spinach, it's considered a Green Monster, and it usually tastes pretty good too!

My mom came home starving today and so I made my first batch of Kale Chips ever to hold her over until dinner, and you know what?  They were pretty darn good and pretty darn simple to make!

First you take the Kale bunch and break off the leafy parts from the stems.  Then you wash the leaf pieces:

Put the pieces on a cookie sheet and drizzle about 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil on top, as well as a little bit of kosher salt. (You can season them with whatever else you want, but I kept them pretty simple considering this was my first time making them).

Put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the edges start to brown, and voila!

My mom ate the first batch in under 5 minutes, and my dad ate the second batch even quicker:

So I guess they were a hit, huh?

For dinner I decided to take this salad recipe by Clean Green Simple and turn it into a healthy chicken burrito recipe!

I first made a marinade for the chicken which consisted of lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic and oregano. 

I then coated the chicken in the marinade and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour:

After the chicken had time to marinate, I threw it in a pan and slow cooked it until it was nice and juicy!

At the same time, I threw edamame, black beans, and golden hominy (which I bought by accident because I thought it was golden corn, but it actually ended up going well so I used it) in a pan with some olive oil.

Once the chicken was done I added the bean mix to the chicken, and then added 5-6 squirts of lime juice, a few pinches of chili powder, and a bit of garlic salt.

I put the mixture on a whole wheat tortilla, topped it with avocado cubes and BAM - dinner was served!

The rents really liked it, and so did I, but we all agreed it needed a little more kick - a la hot sauce, cheese, more salt, etc.

Tonight Brent and I are going out to a local bar to see an old friend, and also celebrate the fact that at midnight it will officially be my 24th birthday!  God it's crazy how time flies.

That's all folks.  The next time I talk to you I will be one year older!

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If You Don't Start Every Day With a Dance Party, You Aren't Doing It Right

Call me a dork, but I firmly believe that every single day should be started with a dance party.  Even if you have the smallest room in the world, if you have room to stand, you have room to dance...and you should!  Putting on your favorite song and dancing like you're a freaking rockstar gets your blood flowing, releases endorphins and can even help with boosting your confidence.

It's an amazing way to start the day, and as you can see, that's exactly how I chose to start today:

In case you're wondering, Wynter Gordon's "Dirty Talk" was my soundtrack for this morning's dance party:

Such a guilty pleasure.

For breakfast I had a cup of Overnight Oats, with half of a Blueberry Protein Flaxseed Muffin crumbled on top. 

Super good!

I had an interview for a position at Yelp today, which I was extremely excited about all morning, so I spent a couple hours prepping for that before heading to the gym for another endorphin re-up.  The whole time I was working out I was creating my post-workout meal in my head: Fakin' Tempeh Bacon, Eggwhite, Cheese and Avocado Breakfast Wrap.

These whole wheat tortillas are great:

I used the last of the Fakin' Tempeh Bacon from Whole Foods.  If there are any Real Food Daily fans out there, this stuff is almost just as good as their Seitan Bacon!

This might be my new favorite dish.  In fact, I want another one for dinner. 

In other news, my Yelp interview went pretty well I think!  Now I just have to wait and see what happens.  Wish me luck :)

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Keep Experimenting

Happy Monday everyone!

So the Atmosphere concert last night was a-ma-zing!  If you don't know Atmosphere I suggest you listen to this little diddy below:

If that doesn't put you in a good mood I don't know what will!

I was so wired after the concert that I didn't end up going to bed until 4am - but not before creating this awesome little late night snack:

It's a whole wheat tortilla filled with sunflower seed nut butter, carob chips and agave nectar, heated up in the microwave to make it nice and melty :)

This morning was a rough one.  I was beyond exhausted but knew I couldn't sleep in because I had a million and one errands to run.

Somehow though, I still made time to experiment with a new muffin recipe I created for Blueberry Protein Flaxseed Muffins.

My recipe experiment was a total success!  Love these muffins.  They're really filling and tasty too.  I'm going to have to experiment more often.

Ingredients:

 1/4 cup Earth Balance 6 oz blueberries 1/2 cup almond milk 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour 1/3 cup light agave 1/2 cup flaxseed 1 scoop protein powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Melt Earth Balance in microwave until it becomes liquid.

3. Combine melted butter and all other ingredients except blueberries in a bowl.  Mix well.

4. Add blueberries and mix.

5. Spray muffin tin with baking spray and fill with batter.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

It was so hot today that I was craving ice cold water all day, which gave me the idea to prepare some strawberry-infused water.  It gives the water a hint of natural fruit flavor and is really refreshing on a hot day like today! 

All I did was cut off the strawberry stems, drop them in a pitcher of water and put the pitcher in the fridge for about 12 hours.

Tonight I went to a Zumba class at the gym and had a blasty blast!  I forgot how much fun I have when I'm dancing, and it was a stellar workout too.

By the time I got home I'd worked up a huge appetite, and put together some balsamic-agave baked tofu on top of a strawberry, avocado, cashew and gorgonzola spinach salad.

As you can see, I pretty much licked my plate clean.

Hope everyone else had a good Monday!

[whatlexlearnedtoday-blog]

You Can Do It, Put Your Back Into It

Happy Easter everyone!  I don't usually celebrate Easter, but I did have a really nice relaxing Sunday!

I woke up and made a pre-workout snack for me and my mom: Eggwhite, goat cheese and avocado breakfast wraps.

I love this coffee cup.  It's so true.  Coffee is the only man I need :)

I had an awesome workout at the gym - especially because it was DESERTED, which gave me time to practice this:

I used to be a gymnast back in the day, so I always loved doing tricks that involved lots of flexibility.  This move was one of my favorites, and used to be incredibly easy for me when I was in high school, but since then I've lost some of my flexibility, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my feet to touch my head.  Well I think I finally got my flexibility back to where it needs to be because today my feet touched my head, and it felt GREAT!

Post workout meal was my own version of a Green Monster:

Ingredients:

1 cup of Spinach

1 Banana

1/2 Mango

1 cup of Almond Milk

1 tbsp Agave Nectar

1 scoop Whey Protein Powder

6 ice cubes

Directions:

Put all ingredients in blender and blend baby, blend!

Rawrrrrr - Green Monster attack!

For dinner I cooked up a Warm Fake-in Spinach Cous Cous Salad, using this recipe by How Sweet It Is, but I substituted this amazing Tempeh Bacon for the real bacon, and Cous Cous for the Orzo. 

Cereally, it was deeelish.  My parents were skeptical at first but by the end of dinner they had licked the pan clean. 

Alright I'm off to the Electric Factory to see Atmosphere perform with Brent!  Have a great night kids!

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It's Good To Be Home

Ahhhh, home sweet home!  Forgive the lack of blogging for the past few days but I've been busy wrapping things up in LA and traveling back to Philly to see the parentals.  (I'm an only child, they miss me!)

I was dreading the flight back because I absolutely hate flying, but it actually turned out to be one of the more interesting flights I've taken.  If you don't already know this about me, I have a knack for meeting and bonding with people in very random and unique ways.  Well, I had one of those unique meetings after getting on the plane when this guy named Juan sat down next to me.  Normally I try to avoid talking to the people I sit next to on planes, but the second Juan sat down the two of us were talking up a storm.  It was like we already knew eachother or something.  I mean, I told this guy some stories that I've never even told people I hang out with on a regular basis!  He also gave me some really great advice that I actually think I might take.  I really love life's little surprises sometimes!

Today at my home, sweet home, I woke up mega late and had a mini Oikos yogurt with some freshly sliced mango (thanks dad!) and some raw cashews before heading to the gym.  I swear, yogurt, fruit and nuts were just meant to be eaten together. 

After getting my fit on at the gym and seeing some familiar Philadelphian faces, I came home and spent some quality time with this beautiful thing:

It's my parent's new dog!  Our family dog died last year and it's taken them a while to get over losing her, but I'm glad they did because this dog rocks in every way shape and form - except for her name.  She came with the name Star, and my parents refuse to change it because they say it will "confuse" her.  However, I have decided to call her Stella.  Cmon, how cute is that?  She is so totally a Stella!

I promised the rents I would make them dinner tonight so I made them my Sexy Stir Fry...

...and they ate every last BIT of it!  They're pretty tough food critics so they're approval made me feel slightly accomplished :)

I also decided to make them yet another batch of my Brown Butter Banana Protein Muffins for dessert...

...but this time I whipped up a Chocolate Sunflower Nut Butter spread for the muffin tops.

To make the spread, just combine Sunflower Seed Nut Butter, Agave Nectar and Cocoa Powder!  Sooo yummy.  I seriously cannot stop making these muffins.  This is like the fourth batch I've made this month.

Tomorrow I'm going to see Atmosphere at the Electric Factory and I am STOKED.  Man it's good to be home!

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You Can't Go Wrong With Pumpkin

So last night the LA App Show was really fun!  Met a lot of great people, had really great food, and got to hang out in what is probably one of the coolest offices in LA.  I swear, this place was designed like an adult jungle gym.

See Exhibit A:

Paper crane chains!  Sooo cute.  (Sidenote: If anyone else has seen 'Skins: Series 4', this should be doubley cute to you!)

Anyway, today, I got in a good workout and then threw together a healthy mini breakfast burrito when I got back.  I've been making a lot of these lately because they're pretty easy and quick to make.  First, you saute some chopped onions and cubed tofu in a pan with some olive oil.

Then pour in some egg whites:

Add some avocado and Tabasco sauce to the mixture over a white flour tortilla and bada bing bada boom, you're done!  *Normally I would use a whole wheat tortilla but this was all I had in my fridge so I went with it :)

When I got home from work later, I decided that I needed a little pumpkin in my life.  So, I remade the Brown Butter Banana Muffins I made last week, but with pumpkin this time - because seriously, how can you go wrong with pumpkin?!

And I was right!  The Brown Butter Pumpkin Muffins may possibly be even better than the Brown Butter Banana Muffins, and I honestly didn't think that was possible.

Tomorrow's going to be a crazy day because it's the Venice Art Crawl, which is an event that I'm involved in every month, and then Friday I go back to Philly for my birthday!

Wooooo!

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Mix It Up

What is up with this cloudy weather this week in LA? Me no likey!

What me do likey is Overnight Oats in an Almond Butter jar.  I had some prepared for breakfast this morning, and then decided to mix things up a little and throw in the rest of yesterday's haroset.  The combo was amazing, who woulda known?

There are a thousand ways to make Overnight Oats but this is my recipe:

3/4 jarfull of rolled oats

1 tsp chia seeds

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk

1 tbsp agave nectar

Dash of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a jar.

2. Put in fridge overnight.

3. Wake up and ENJOY!

After my har-oats-et, Holly curled up on my lap as I was catching up on all my blog reading.  I think she knows I'm going to be leaving her in a few days because she's been extra cuddly lately :)

Tonight I'm headed to the LA App Show with my co-workers to do a little networking.  In going with the "mix it up" theme, I'm rocking this side braid tonight.

What do you guys think?  It's a bit hard to see, but I like it! I think it'll work for the networking event justttt fine :)

What's your favorite way to "mix it up"?

[whatlexlearnedtoday-blog]

Don't Forget the Haroset

This morning I woke up and grabbed one of the Boku Brown Butter Banana Muffins I made yesterday.  I decided they needed a little something extra in the way of protein though, so once again I improvised and created what I'm going to call the Double Chocolate Protein Glaze.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Chocolate Protein Powder

1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1 tbsp Agave Nectar

1/2 tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients and blend until liquid.

Pour the glaze over your muffin and put in the microwave for 30-40 seconds.

Ahhh so good, and pretty healthy too!

For lunch I made a Turkey and Avocado sandwich with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus on Whole Wheat Bread, and some grapes on the side.

PS - Hummus is officially my new favorite sandwich condiment!

Finally, this evening I got to work on making a simple Haroset, since it is Passover afterall!  I haven't celebrated Passover in years, but I still make Haroset every year because it's one of my favorite Jewish dishes and pretty nutritious too!

I followed this recipe, and substituted Agave Nectar for the Honey.

So easy to make and always makes me think about home :)

How was everyone's Monday?

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Just Do It

Today was one of those Sundays where I knew I had a THOUSAND things to do, but I never actually expected to get all of them done.  Well lo and behold, I did it!  I hustled like a maniac today and got everything done and it felt great!

After running a few errands, I came home and decided to attempt to make these Brown Butter Banana Muffins I've been hearing so much about from Iowa Girl Eats lately. 

Halfway through making these, I decided to make a couple modifications to the recipe to make them a bit healthier (although they're already pretty healthy to begin with):

1) I left out the egg, so now these are vegan too!

2) I added the rest of my Boku Protein powder packet to give these muffins some serious protein power!  *Boku powder is an awesome protein alternative to soy and whey powders.

Let me just say, these are some of the healthiest, and yummiest muffins I've ever made in my LIFE.  So good.  Let me say that again - SO GOOD!

After inhaling two of these babies and getting some more work done, I made a kickass Sunday Runday playlist and bolted out the door to get some endorphins flowing.  Sunday, right before the sun goes down is my favorite time of the week to run.  It's beautiful and calming, and just a great way to end the weekend. 

Anyway, this weeks Sunday Runday playlist is below:

I arranged the songs so that the music starts out with a BANG and then slowly eases down to a lighter - but still upbeat - pace for your run.

I ran about 5 miles tonight and still didn't feel like it was enough.  Sometimes my stress and worries can physically manifest in my body, and the only way I can deal with it is to run them out.  Does that happen to you guys too?

Regardless, when I got home, I took a chance on a dinner I created in my mind today.  Like I said, I dreamed it up in my head earlier, but I had NO idea if it would taste as good as I imagined.  Wellllll guess what people?  I just created something that is not only healthy as hell, but also just plains AMAZEBALLS.

I shall call this: Sexy Stir Fry (because it's lean and mean and sexy)

Recipe:

Handful of whole wheat pasta

5 asparagus spears

Handful of edamame

1/3 block of pressed firm tofu

Soy sauce

Agave nectar

Olive oil

Salt

1. Cut your pressed tofu into 5 or 6 slices, and lightly coat them in a mixture of equal parts olive oil and soy sauce. 

2. Drizzle tofu pieces with agave nectar.

3. Bake tofu strips in oven at 350 degrees, 10 minutes on each side.

4. Cook pasta.

5. Coat pan with olive oil and toss in asparagus and edamame to saute. 

6. When pasta is done cooking, add to pan with asparagus and edamame.

7. Add 1 tbsp of soy sauce to pan and again drizzle agave nectar over pan to desired sweetness.

8. Once the contents of the pan are properly mixed, transfer mixture to a bowl. 

9. Take finished tofu strips out of oven and add them to the pasta mixture.

10. Sprinkle a dash of salt on top and Voila!

I seriously could have been the face of Nike today.  I got into go mode and was a task completing machine.  Sometimes you just gotta DO IT!

[whatlexlearnedtoday-blog]

Balance Is Key

Today I woke up and put my game face on (game face pictured below) to get ready to have an epic workout at the gym.

It was so good in fact that when I got home I decided that it was high time I took advantage of that pool in my building and layed out for a bit while listening to one of my favorrrrite albums of all time, Come Around Sundown by Kings of Leon.  (Seriously, you need to have that in your iTunes, or you are missing out.)

It was beyond beautiful in LA today.  Summer is definitely almost here.  This was my view of the sky from my lounge chair:

Later on I got to reunite with all of my friends from college since it was my friend Jon's birthday.  He caught this shoe crab earlier today and eventually cooked it up and made everyone crab tacos, which of course I couldn't eat because I am allergic to shellfish :(

Regardless, it was a very nice, very balanced Saturday, and if I've learned anything in this world, it's that balance is key. 

Speaking of balance - I forgot to write about this on Friday.  At the Go Green Expo, I picked up this thing called an Extreme Energy band.  It's a bracelet you wear that uses negative ions to improve your balance and stability, and is great for athletes (the brand rep told me that David Beckham wears two on each wrist). 

I would demonstrate how it works myself but I think this video does a better job:

I know this looks crazy, but it really works.  I got a pink and white one:

It's also a really fun toy to bring to a party.   I tried it out on all of my friends tonight and it tripped most of them out!

Balance is key :)

[whatlexlearnedtoday-blog]

Remember Who You Are

TGIF!  Today was all set to be a busy Friday, so I got up early to take Holly on a long walk:

After the walk I jetted over to Downtown LA to hit up the Go Green Expo with Mark and Alex:

It was basically just a big networking event with various green companies showing off their products.  And look who I ran into for the second time this week:

The Situation!  Remember a couple days ago when I encountered him at Forever 21?  Who knew he would be at the Go Green Expo showing off his GTL bag?  Hilarious.

There were also a couple of green chefs there, and one was serving this yummy cake made out of raw fruit/coconut/coconut oil. 

PS - For all you agave nectar lovers, apparently that's "so out" right now in the world of health food.  According to this chef and his friends, coconut nectar is wayyy healthier and the agave nectar fad was all just a hoax. Hmm, gotta research that one because I'm a HUGE agave lover, and I'm not really willing to give it up yet.

Speaking of Going Green, I got this Green Tea Boba drink today in Little Tokyo and it was heavennnn.

Finally after I was done with all the greenness, I decided to make the little trek out to Pasadena to see one of my best friends in the whole world, Matt.  I haven't seen him much lately because we live relatively far from each other and have both been busy with other things, but today was one of those days where I knew I needed to see him, and so we planned to meet for lunch. 

Reconnecting with Matt was so great because seeing him reminded me of who I am.  It's pretty easy to lose yourself in life sometimes - for example in a job or in a relationship.  Sometimes you adjust your personality to fit with whatever situation you're in, and if you do that long enough, you can easily forget who you really are.  But as soon as I saw Matt today, a part of myself came out that I haven't seen in a long time.  I forgot this part of me existed, and I was so happy when it showed itself again.  I think this part only comes out when I am truly, truly comfortable with someone. 

I gotta say, It's nice to know that although there are friendships that will come and go throughout your life, there are also those friendships that you know will be there forever.  Friendships where even if you don't see the other person for months, as soon as you meet again you pick up right where you left off, and you feel at home in a way. 

Thanks Matt for bringing me back home today :)

[whatlexlearnedtoday-blog]

You Are Beautiful!

Have you heard about Operation Beautiful?  It's this really great mission one girl started to end negative self-talk and help girls feel better about themselves.  All you have to do to participate in Operation Beautiful is write down "You are beautiful" or any other positive message on a post-it and stick it up somewhere public for another girl to find.  It's kind of like a Pay It Forward idea :)

I've been wanting to do this for a while but kept putting off finding post-it notes...until today!  Before I went into "La La Fitness" I sat in my car writing out a few different messages on some post-its:

Then I headed into the women's locker room and posted one up in a bathroom stall:

As well as on the mirror (but I didn't take a picture of that one because I had to jet out of there before anyone saw me).

It made me feel good to think about other women finding those messages today.  It seemed very insignificant to me while I was doing it, but then I thought that if I made even one woman smile today, it was worth it.  I'm going to keep carrying a few of these around and putting them up when they seem appropriate :)

On a totally separate note, I ended my day with a relaxing lounge in the hammock on top of my friend Mark's roof. 

Beautiful!

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Happiness Comes in All Shapes and Colors

Today was a day full of colorful things that made me happy!

After I got back from an awesome cardio workout at "La La Fitness" (I call it that because there are some crazies who workout there) I made this pretty green-themed lunch: Egg whites with sauteed onions topped with sliced avocado on whole wheat toast, plus a side of hummus and edamame, sprinkled with a tiny bit of cinnamon.  *I know cinnamon sounds like it doesn't really go, but it added a nice little kick to the hummus!

After lunch, I decided I needed some retail therapy and headed over to the promenade to do a little raid on Forever 21.  During my raid I found this:

Is it terrible that I actually wanted to buy this?  Don't answer that.

Anyway, I ended up with a few new favorite clothing items, including one of the brightest dresses I've ever purchased:

I'm going to have to find a reason to wear this next weekend when I'm in Philly.  It's brightness makes me happy :)

I also purchased a bottle of my new favorite color of nail polish.  It's like a pastel blue, and it's a perfect color for Spring/Summer.

Isn't it purty?  Don't mind my freakish child-like hands.

After getting home and taking a power nap I decided to keep going with my colorful day and get a little creative with dinner.  Obviously this dinner included my latest obsession: Baked tofu marinated with agave nectar and balsamic vinegar.  I adapted this recipe from Peas and Thank You.  Seriously if you've never tried it, you must.  SO good.

  After the tofu was done baking I threw it together with some sauteed asparagus, fresh cut mangos and feta cheese on top.

Bada-bing bada-boom - COLOR and HAPPINESS!

[whatlexlearnedtoday-blog]

My College Textbooks ARE Good For Something!

For dinner tonight I made the most amazing Baked Tofu Salad (I ate it too quickly to take a picture of it's beauty).  However before I could make said Baked Tofu Salad, I first had to concoct a homemade tofu press to remove all the tofu's excess moisture.  

I improvised, taking the tofu block and putting it between two plates, and then went to find something heavy to stack on top of it.  I actually was having trouble finding something in my apartment small and heavy enough to stack on top of a plate, but then...I saw it - the stack of college textbooks that I never once read, but still keep stacked on top of my dresser to make it appear as though I'm somewhat studious.  

The combination of my Behavioral Psychology and Social Communication in Advertising textbooks made the perfect tofu press!  I knew they'd come in handy someday!  Thanks college!