Benefits of a Lifestyle Change

Aside from feeling all around great and being proud of myself for getting daily exercise and eating more fruits (red grapes right now) and vegetables than I used to, I also like to try new recipes.  Today I had left over celery sticks from my tuna salad, plus extra chickpeas after I ran out of spinach for my salads, so I decided to make my own hummus. Did you know that the word "hummus" is actually Arabic, meaning "chickpeas"? Interesting! From Pinterest, I found an easy Black Bean & Chickpea Hummus recipe at Living the High Life. I didn't follow it completely, substituting ingredients for what we already had in the fridge, and not measuring any of it. I used garlic powder instead of a clove, lemon juice instead of juice from a lemon, almond milk instead of yogurt and didn't use curry powder. I used a smoothie blender to whip it all together!

Have I mentioned that hot water is the best thing ever invented? Ha. Aside from being great in showers when Michael likes to have the house 71 degrees at night, it made cleaning the smoothie blender super easy.  Also, I got this glass bowl from Target yesterday (only $1.59). We have been squabbling over whose turn it is to do the dishes, so I have a few of my own now- including the cute 99 Cent store plates that I picked up last month for Sasha's birthday party. This bowl does very well for picture presentation too. Don't you agree?

On Monday morning I stayed up again the whole day after working over night and took pictures outside with Sasha. My main reason for this was because Monday was Day 40, and I wanted to compare my body from how it was at the beginning of last month at Laguna Beach. I copied the poses the best I could, wearing the same outfit and there is a very healthy change seen. That makes me feel really good. Here are random ones of me and Sasha that I liked the best!

I wanted to take these progress body pictures since we probably won't go to Venice beach like I was hoping. Michael prefers beaches where he can actually get in the water. And unfortunately, he burns a lot more easily here in California since clouds are such a rare occurrence. And I guess its okay since I already have plans to go to different beaches with my bff, Alana, and my mom in December.