So apparently I was lazy yesterday

I feel like a bad blogger for not posting about yesterday, when it was actually yesterday - and I also neglected to do a Marathon Monday posting - but I will blame the fact that it took quite a while to get my fundraising link up and running.

If you didn't read my earlier post, don't forget to check out the left sidebar on my blog's homepage if you would like to donate to my marathon charity organizaiton, Ceasefire!

I always say I'll be quick and then I continue to ramble on, haha. So this time I will actually try to be brief, but who knows what will happen:

* raspberries for first part of breakfast (not pictured, I had not gotten my camera back yet)
* went to Jewel for groceries
* made FABULOUS raw, vegan Almond Joy cookie dough comprised of 3 c. almond meal, 6 T cocoa powder, 7 or 8 T. agave nectar, a splash of almond extract and a pinch of salt. Throw into Kitchenaid mixer, and voila. This mess of fabulousness contains to butter, white sugar, transfats, or dairy products, but somehow manages to taste like heaven. Try it!!!! (Oh, and instead of making a GM like I planned, the second half of my breakfast was comprised of many, many nibbles of this dough)
* Spinning class - awesome - crunches, and arms
* Went to Whole Foods for more shopping... LOVE that place and badly miss my employee discount from when I worked there during college!
* Green Monster - tried to use 1/2 almond milk, 1/2 water, and the quality definitely suffered with the addition of water - needs more AM for flavah!
* got my haircut, see pix below... this was at the very end of the night so it wasn't lookin its best, but it's a Gwyneth Paltrow long bob-type style

* Got my camera back, woohoo!

* Fantastic avocado salad for lunch (forgot to take pix of this, I'm already out of the mindset of photographing my meals and have to remind myself to take pix of everything again)

* Lindt choc squares for snack - thanks to Joy Beck for the Lindty candy bar!!

* Here are some pix of the awesome Nu Naturals products that the company sent to me! So far everything I've tried has been top-notch* While Mike and his dad were at the Green Day concert, my MIL and Yaya came over to our condo to hang out for the night. We walked to the lakefront and I could not resisit the hydrangeas (my favorite)

These weren't bad either :)

Burnham Harbor

* Dinner was a second avocado salad - I made one for my MIL as well who I think was pleasantly surprised that she liked it, since it was vegetarian AND vegan AND raw AND healthy!

* Decaf green tea

* A couple more Lindt squares

* Banana soft serve with some cocoa/Almond butter sauce

* STILL hungry (or at least had a sweet tooth), and snacked on some more of my Almond Joy cookies... I did not want to risk ruining them by baking them, so I'm going to eat them as is - the joy of making cookies w/o eggs!

I also wanted to mention Sarah's recent posting, and I am stealing a snippet that I found especially interesting. You can read more about the article here, but one part that stuck out to me was the paragraph that said that:

“certain refined food consumption behaviors meet the criteria for substance use disorders, not unlike tobacco and alcohol” and “the key to overcoming food addictions is to get the addictive foods out of the diet and replace them with foods that are not addicting. Scientific evidence very strongly suggests that foods that are the most addicting and harmful to our health are refined sugars and processed carbohydrates and other processed foods.”

It basically suggests that eating a more raw diet is a more realistic, healthy alternative to the SAD (Standard American Diet) for those who suffer from anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorders. Even for those who do not fit neatly into one of those categories, I feel that most women have had a disordered relationship with food at some point in their lives, and I think this article offers an interesting insight into what will help and what just hurts women in these situations. Thanks for bringing the article to my attention, Sarah!

I also wanted to thank Kathy and Jon for being the first to make a donation to Ceasefire Chicago! I apologize if others have donated and I haven't gotten word of it yet - I'm not sure how often Ceasefire will notify me when donations are made, I just happened to talk to K and J and found out about their donation that way. Thanks for making a difference!!

Day 5 without a camera: The Big Fat Greek Kids Birthday Party

Hi everyone! Today was a beautiful day in Chicago! I slept in a bit which was fabulous - it's surprising how little sleep I've been getting this summer. During the working school year I always plan to get a good 8+ hours a night, but once summer rolled around I started slacking in this area, and it has been great to catch up the last couple of days.

I quickly ate a banana while checking my email, made Mike a Green Monster per his request, and then went to the gym for spinning class.

I haven't been to spinning in weeks, and part of me was dreading it - spinning always kicks my butt in a major way! It's always amazing that I can run an easy 10 miles, but will huff and puff my way through an hour-long spin class. However, though it started a bit tough, today's class was great! I felt as if I had an abundance of energy that sustained me through the class, which was noticeably different from the last few times I attended spinning. I can tell that "cleaning up" my diet is definitely helping my workouts!

Then I snacked on another huge, avocado salad, this time made with avocado, carrots, homemade dressing, spinach, and turnip greens. This was my first time buying turnip greens (I got them by accident!) and they worked out ok. They were a bit tougher than spinach, but not as thick as kale. I probably would prefer spinach for its milder flavor, but it's nice to switch things up to get the benefits from different nutrients!

Mike and I hit the road, and our first stop was Sports Authority where I stocked up on Body Glide, and Mike got a new pair of roller blades. This is great news as it means that we can resume going for our run/rollerblade excursions along the lake together! :)

The rest of our day was spent at a Greek fam birthday party for two siblings. Our godson was turning one years old, and his brother turned six. Like all good Greek parties, this one lasted well into the night and involved large quantities of alcohol, about 56 different types of desserts (no galaktabutiko, to Mike's chagrine), and of course,

The wet t-shirt contest!! What, you don't do this at your family parties?!?! And all this time I thought this was normal....

Yes, my adult husband was the unofficial winner of the wet t-shirt contest that he apparently entered into with his toddler-aged cousins. It basically involved a lot of young children trying to attack my husband with water balloons and squirt guns. Clearly, college Greek systems across America stole the wet t-shirt idea from Mike's Greek fam - the nerve. "Hey IU, I want my wet t-shirt contest back!"

Aside from watching my poor husband get pummelled by small children, the other highlight of the night was that my fabulous Greek (and Italian :) ) in-laws told me that they bought me a JUICER!!!! Not just any juicer, but the head honcho of all juicers, the Breville!!!

I haven't seen this marvelous piece of machinery yet, but my understanding is that it is the Brevile Fountain Plus. I was soooo excited to hear about this and I would like to give a shout-out to Yaya, John and Dora!!

The party was stocked with an enormous amount of delicious-looking food, but I stuck to the basics - tons of veggies with guacamole, a HUGE plate of Greek salad, and some fresh watermelon. I also snacked on an Amazing Meal bar and some awesome samples of yummy-flavored walnuts and almonds that I received in the mail this week - once I have my camera back I will write more about the company that sent these.

When Mike and I got home tonight it was late but I of course was still hungry for something to snack on, so I made my version of a Raw Almond Joy.

So simple - In a food processor (although you could probably mix this easily by hand), add 1/2 c. almond meal, 2 T. cocoa powder, 2 1/2 T. agave nectar, a pinch of salt, and a splash of vanilla.

Blend, and this becomes just like a melted, gooey Almond Joy. I was too impatient and dug in immediately, but I would imagine that you could easily make these into cookies - either by baking them "traditional" style, or dehydrating them to make them more "raw-acceptable". Since I don't have a dehydrator, I'm going to start experimenting with using my oven on a low temp and leaving the door cracked - have any of you tried this before?

Tomorrow I don't know what I am more excited about - getting my hair cut, or getting my camera back!! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend :-) and don't forget to enter my Holey Donuts giveaway!