Fun Friday: Stuff I'm Into!

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well and ready for the weekend. I have something a little different today and I'm going to be doing a "Stuff I'm Into" post with some things I've been enjoying lately and some things that I'm really excited to try as well. I hope you all like it and let me know what kinds of things you are enjoying!

Books

So up first I have a few books that I'm really excited to get into. The first book is called The Great Big Book of Amazing Creative Lettering and I got it because I'm obsessed with watching YouTube videos of people working on their bullet journals and I get so jealous of their amazing lettering skills. I really want to practice lettering and while I definitely want to learn calligraphy and brush lettering I also thought it would be fun to learn some different and unique types of letting. I picked up this book from 5 Below and I'm really excited to try it out.

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The second book I'm really excited to get into is this new cookbook I got! It's The Simply Vegan Cookbook by Dustin Harder. I have been getting really bored with my meals and wanted a new cookbook to shake things up. I wanted something fuss free and healthy and this book kept coming up in recommendations. I checked out what kinds of recipes were included and I was really pleased to see that the book was arranged by main ingredient and I really love that. I just received it so I haven't really had a chance to try anything but I plan on doing a few review once I get to go through it more and try some of the recipes.

Netflix

So I'll give the head's up now that I have decided to take a break from True Crime content for a little while basically for my mental health BUT I will be sharing some recommendations in this post based on what I've watched and listened to in the past few months. First, I binge watched the second season of Making A Murderer within a 24 hour period of time. I couldn't stop watching but I was forced to because of work and adulting. If you watched the first season and found it interesting I would definitely recommend watching the second season. It was absolutely riveting.

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I have been re-watching the first two seasons of Queer Eye because I love them and I love this show. I remember the original one and loved it as well. They are so adorable and fun and this show always freaking makes me cry. It's so good.

Podcast

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Yes, I know that this is another true crime recommendation but I found this podcast and binge listened until I caught up. I really like the hosts and their friendship and I like how they present the information as well as their commentary. The inject a little humor but it isn't forced like other podcasts and it isn't really graphic at all. I really like it and while I'm going to be staying away from True Crime content for a little while I do highly recommend this podcast.

Food

As you may have guessed from my last few posts I've been really enjoying soup as the weather cools down. My favorite has been my No Chick'n Noodle Soup which is gluten free and obviously vegan. It's so delicious and perfect comfort food for a cool autumn day.

You'll also notice that I've been loving my tots and salads. I've been trying to eat a salad a day and the tots are fun to have on the side. Super yummy meal.

Finally, I've been loving my fruit with peanut butter! I really want to find some good gluten free bread so I can have some toast with peanut butter and banana. I've been craving that so much!

So those are some things that I've been enjoying lately and some things I'm looking forward to getting into as well. Hopefully I'll be able to update you on my fun lettering and I would like to give a proper review of the cookbook once I get to try some recipes from it.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! ❤

Weekend Vibes

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and that you had a great week! I am so ready for the weekend. This week has been kind of blah so I'm ready for it to be over so I can have a totally lazy day on Sunday. I'm also planning on having an at home movie night on Saturday so I'm just ready for weekend laziness to ensue. I have two more work days to get through and then I'm there! How about you, how was your week?

My appetite has been kind of low this week so I don't have a ton of meals to share with you but I did capture what I could.

My summer staple: a Boca Burger, some watermelon and some chips.

Omg a bagel store pumpernickel bagel with scallion tofutti. It was freaking amazing and they packed on so much cream cheese I was able to take some off and save it for another bagel.

I needed some chocolate this week so I enjoyed some Justin's dark chocolate peanut butter cups. So freaking good and perfect for my chocolate craving.

This is a new podcast I've been listening to and wanted to recommend to any other true crime podcast fans that may be reading! It is called Framed and is hosted by Aaron, one of the hosts of The Generation Why which is another one of my favorite true crime podcasts. It is a deep dive into the case of Brian Carrick and the first two episodes have been so interesting. If you are into true crime and mysteries I highly recommend giving this podcast a try.

That's all I have for you today! I hope you all have an amazing weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday!

What I'm Into Lately

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! I thought it would be fun to change things up a little bit and do a post about vegan things I've been loving lately. I think we all go through phases and have changing tastes and preferences so it's fun to check in and see what we've been up to lately. I'll be sharing products but also some podcasts I've been listening to and some other fun things.

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First up we have a podcast that I've been binge listening lately. You know I'm a big fan of True Crime podcasts but I decided to take a little bit of a break and listen to some lighter material. I came across Anna Faris is Unqualified and I was hooked after the first episode I listened to. I love Anna Faris, I think she is hilarious and I love how she interacts with her guests. The super unique thing that they do is actually call up listeners and Anna, her producer Sim and her celebrity guest will offer relationship advice about the issue that the caller is inquiring about. It's such a fun podcast to listen to and I definitely recommend it.

I am currently OBSESSED with this adorable Tote Bag and Grocery List Notepad that I purchased from my friend's shop called Creating & Co. She sells planner stickers but has recently branched out into selling merch such as tumblers, totes, notepads, bookish type items (Kindle cases for example), journals (I have one and it's stunning), apparel and tons of other stuff. I was eagerly awaiting the release of these adorable veggie themed totes and had to pick up the Everyday I'm Brusselin' tote along with the note pad. I love the notepad for my grocery lists and meal prep lists. As I have mentioned, Paige (the shop owner) is a friend of mine and I do promote her shop but I am sharing this with you because I sincerely love everything she makes and I would still purchase from her if she was not a friend of mine.

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I've mentioned this in my past Trader Joe's hauls but I have been addicted to these Trader Joe's Crunchy Curls. They are a lentil and potato curl that are super crispy and delicious. I'm a little bit weird and I love things with a cardboard texture and these kind of have a cardboard texture. They are delicious and are now a staple on my Trader Joe's shopping list.

I'm sure this is not a surprise but I'm currently loving this Vegan Ranch Chick'n Pasta Salad that I've been making a lot lately. It's really easy to make, super filling and super super delicious. To make it all you do is mix together cooked pasta (the rotini shape works best in my opinion) that I rinse with cold water to get to room temperature with some butter lettuce, quartered grape tomatoes, some room temperature corn and your favorite vegan chick'n strips and then you douse it all in Just Ranch and mix it all up. It's really simple, makes a lot and tastes really amazing. I guarantee you it will be a hit with both vegans and omnis.

It has been a while since I've gotten bubble tea but now since it is scorching hot I figured it would be the perfect time to continue my tradition of a weekly trip to the bubble tea shop and treat myself to my favorite drink. I also follow it up with a leisurely and peaceful drive to my favorite spot on earth where I am treated to the most amazing view of the NYC skyline. This is my version of self care and it is the part of my week that I look forward to most.

These are a few things that I've been into lately! What have you been enjoying? I would love some podcast and book recommendations as well as some yummy vegan food recommendations. I still have a bunch of places here on Long Island that I would like to try but I'm still working on my social anxiety issues in therapy but hopefully that'll happen sooner rather than later.

I hope you all have a great week! See you back here on Friday!

March Favorites

Hey everyone! I hope that all is well! I decided that I really love reading monthly wrap up/favorites posts like the ones that Jennifer writes on One Raw Bite so I thought it would be fun to write a post with some of the things that I have been loving over the past month. This is by no means a comprehensive list but hopefully by next month I can fine tune it and organize it a little better. For now, here are some things I've been loving over the past month!

Podcasts

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If you are into True Crime podcasts True Crime Garage is a really great podcast to get into. The hosts do a really great job of telling a story without being unnecessarily gory or disrespectful to victims. I am really into true crime but have to be careful about what content I consume because I am so affected by it but this podcast is a really great way to indulge that interest without triggering me. Another True Crime podcast that I have mentioned here before is The Generation Why which remains my favorite but I'm all caught up on those so I've been binge listening to True Crime Garage lately.

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Another podcast that I've been listening to is called the Goal Digger Podcast with Jenna Kutcher. I haven't mentioned it here but I'm working on starting up my own business and this podcast has been incredibly helpful and inspiring to me as I am working on my product and setting up my brand, finding my voice as a business and business owner and working out what I want my social media presence to be. Even if you are not an entrepreneur I think you'll find a lot of the episodes really interesting and motivating. Oh, and I'll give you more info about my business as I get closer to opening ;) 

Netflix

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So I don't know if any of you were into the Gilmore Girls when it was on but that was my show. I loved it and wouldn't miss and episode. I'll get this out of the way, the Revival was horrible and I hated it and I was just so disappointed with where the story went. I decided to take up the lofty task of rewatching the entire series on Netflix (because I have no life haha) and I've gotten through almost two seasons and watching it now it's become how glaringly obvious to me that Lorelai and Rory have kind of always been assholes. I'm still watching though. Coincidentally my favorite characters were always Paris, Emily, Jess and Luke and it was probably because they owned their assholeness/crankiness (Luke was more cranky than an asshole). Have you guys watched this show? Did you find Lorelai and Rory to be completely entitled, spoiled and self absorbed even though they claim to be anything but that? It's kind of disappointing but I still love the show and will continue to see this through to the end (these are long ass 22 episode seasons and there are 7 of them).

Vegan Food Finds

My first favorite vegan food find was the Follow Your Heart Provolone Slices that played a major role in making the best grilled cheese ever! I found that it melted even better than Chao and I really loved the flavor of it. If you are feeling a little splurge-y and want to try some awesome vegan cheese to make the best vegan grilled cheese ever, try the Follow Your Heart slices. They have tons a flavors, even an American style (which I've tried before and it's also good).

I also found the Spring Onion flavor of the Dr. McDougall's soups and it was by far my favorite packaged soup I've ever tried. It is perfect for a grab and go meal and the flavor is awesome. My plan is to actually try to recreate this at home since this flavor is harder for me to find. If I can get it to work I'll definitely post the recipe here for you!

Self Care

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As I've mentioned my anxiety and panic definitely got the best of me last month so I purchased this Natural Calm drink to try and calm my nerves at night before bed. I really really like it and will definitely continue to drink it. I don't drink it every day but I'll usually drink it a few days per week. I highly recommend it if you have trouble sleeping or have muscle tension. It definitely helps calm the nerves in a very natural way.

I also did something for myself and chopped off my hair this month! It was a big change for me but I'm still so happy with it. It's also forcing me to not be so lazy about doing my hair and learning how to style it more which has been… interesting and marginally successful 😂 I've also been able to embrace the gray more and more as time goes on because there is nothing I can do about it so I may as well embrace it.

Goals For April

I thought it would be fun to include a section on some goals that I am going to set for April. My first goal is to make progress with starting up the business. I've done a lot so far but there is still a long way to go and not all that much time before my goal opening date. Therefore I need to take some pretty big steps and keep the train moving. I'm so excited about it and I can't wait to share it with you!

My second goal for April is to really focus on getting a handle on my anxiety and to let go. It is so hard for me to deal with it every single day and it has affected my life so drastically and I just can't let it do that anymore. My journey with mental illness has been long and incredibly difficult but I really need to utilize the tools that my therapist has given me and get it under control. I'm really tired of allowing anxiety to dictate my life and how I feel. So I really need to be conscious about taking the steps to try to minimize its effect on me as much as I can.

Another goal is to get back into the kitchen and cook more! It would be fun to try a bunch of new recipes and I can choose my favorite for this post as well. I just need for variety and I definitely feel like I need to get in a lot more fresh fruits and veggies so I'm looking forward to getting into more of those. Hopefully the snow will go away soon (can you believe it snowed here one APRIL FREAKING 2ND?!) and I will be more inclined to eat cold food again. I miss smoothies but I can't bring myself to drink them when it's so cold.

What were some of your favorite things this month? And do you have any goals to tackle for April? Let me know!

Hope you have a great week and I'll see you on Friday!

This and That

Hey guys! Happy Tuesday! I hope that you are all well and that you enjoyed your weekend. Did you do anything fun? Is it warming up near you? It had gotten pretty warm here for a few days but now it is cold and gray again. It's such a tease! I'm definitely ready for spring. I'm feeling really motivated to get out and live my damn life for the first time in a really long time and it feels good. I just need the weather to cooperate with me! If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this post on my other blog!

I don't even really know how to categorize what today's post is. I have a meal, some new things at the store and a bunch of things I've been into lately. I guess if you've been with me for a while this would be a lot like a Fun Friday post from my past blogs. It's just a random combination of fun stuff that I've been enjoying lately. So I guess let's get into it!

So this happened! I tried it last night and oh man is it good! I really love it because it taste as cloyingly sweet as the rest of them. I'd say out of the flavors I've tried so far the Coffee Caramel one is my favorite followed closely by this one!

I enjoyed another Tofurkey wrap with some veggie chips. I can't wait for it to be lighter later so my dinner pictures don't look quite so terrible.

Have you guys seen this?! Trader Joe's is now selling Nutritional Yeast for $2.99! That is amazing! Thanks to the VegNews Instagram feed for giving us the heads up!

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I've heard about The Great British Bake Off a lot but had never really watched it before. I found the first three seasons on Netflix and I basically binge watched all three seasons because I'm obsessed! I have three episodes left of season three and I just love it. I am so incredibly impressed by their talent and creativity and I love seeing what they come up with. I also love thinking about what I would do if I were there (please tell me I'm not the only one that does this!) and I now have a long list of things that I want to try! The bread episodes are always my favorite because I love bread more than anything and I've always wanted to try to make my own bread from scratch. If you watch this, which week is your favorite? Bread, cakes, patisserie? Let me know!

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Just like I've been binge watching The Great British Bake off, I binge listened to the first three episodes of the Missing Richard Simmons podcast. The host is someone that took classes at his fitness studio and became friends with him. After Richard Simmons disappeared from the public he became concerned and has begun to search for answers as to why he became so reclusive. I will be honest and say that I always thought that Richard Simmons was a bit much for me to handle but I also recognize that he helped so many people and seemed like a genuinely good person. All of the theories about his disappearance are pretty sad and the one that you hope for is that he just walked away from the spotlight and just wants some privacy. Sadly, I personally don't think that is the case. Anyway, I really recommend listening to this if you are into podcasts. It's so interesting.

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I discovered Planty Good yesterday and I'm already in love with everything they sell and am planning on placing an order soon. The shirt pictured above is definitely my favorite but I'm also really loving the Romaine Calm & Carrot On shirt. So freaking cute!! If you like cute, vegan, punny tees, definitely check them out!

So there you have it! A random mix of things I ate, things I found at the store and what I've been watching and listening to lately. What have you been binge watching on Netflix? What are your favorite podcasts? Please let me know in the comments below, I'm always looking for suggestions! Especially now that I'm almost done with all three seasons of The Great British Bake Off.

I hope you all have a great week! I'll see you again on Saturday! <3