Get Serious September

Ok folks, its time for Get Serious September so that I don't experience Oh Crap October where I pass out in the middle of the 3 Day walk surrounded by breast cancer survivors. The Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for a Cure is just 31 days away! So the plan? Get serious. Start walking. Lose some pounds. Don't die.

Goals:
*Start most weekday mornings with a 3 mile walk. That way I have AT LEAST 3 miles under my belt for the day if nothing else.
*Lose 10 lbs. This might at least make the backpack I have to wear during the walk less irritating on miles 10+.
*Raise more money! You can donate here.
*Blog more about the journey.

Special Delivery!

I joined the YMCA in April of 2009 after returning from China, and since then I've earned thousands of Y points. Each time you go to the Y you get points that you can use on a myYrewards website. Well, they are now discontinuing the points system, so it was use 'em or lose 'em time this month. After browsing the website for way too long and talking myself out of a bunch of junk I didn't really need, I settled on 2 boxes of Godiva chocolates (which is definitely classified as a need). Yes, that's right. I used 2 1/2 years worth of Y rewards on chocolate. :)

That was weeks ago, and I had forgotten all about it. Until today...this arrived!















That's right, folks! My tiny little boxes of chocolate came in their own cooler with Godiva chocolate brand ice bags! Hilarious! Also included was a note asking me to "Please enjoy the world's ultimate chocolate indulgence."















Now it's funny that this chocolate came today because just this morning I was thinking that I should blog about my recent attempts at purchasing only fair trade, slave free chocolate. (Notice I didn't say only eating slave free chocolate...baby steps.)
I first heard about "slave chocolate" through a friend's blog, but didn't really accept the challenge until recently. I've been doing this for a few months now and here are some observations:
-I enjoy the experience of buying fair-trade chocolate more than regular chocolate, sort of like how I feel more sophisticated buying a bottle of wine than a can of beer.
-It is more expensive so I savor it more.
-I tend to buy more dark chocolate varieties which has more health benefits than my usual chocolate.
-Given the choice, I'd totally pick fair-trade based on taste alone. I might be a chocolate snob!




Godiva doesn't have the fair trade logo on their $25 package of dark truffles I received...good thing I didn't pay for them!

Can You Juice A Banana and other tales...

Tonight we had roommate Burger King family bundle night. That's right, we got a coupon for a $9.99 family of three combo. So hilarious we had to do it.

Then we got on the topic of juicing. Well, with three heads together, some dumpstered goodies, and "yeah, sure add that" we came up with a very interesting concoction for breakfast. I also wondered if you could juice a banana. With Brad's encouragement, we tried. It produced about 1 ml of banana juice. :)
Lets see if I can remember everything that went in this juice...
1 banana
2 kale leaves
1 bunch parsley
1 tomato
1 sweet potato
1 orange
2 apples
1 lemon
1 lime
1 red pepper
1 carrot
1 nectarine

If we don't get all of our vitamins in this way, it just can't be done. :)

Doin the Cabbage Patch

Ok, this was definitely my bravest yet. Red cabbage! But look how pretty!

1 head red (purple?) cabbage
3 roma tomatoes
1 carrot
2 apples
1 orange
1 lemon




I couldn't believe it, but lemon saves the day again! Totally drinkable.



















In other news, Brad has been doing some more unorthodox shopping, aka dumpstering, so the juicing options are endless! And cheap!

I also had to share this picture of my dinner from the other night because it was just so pretty. Baby bok choy, red pepper, and sweet potato!