Erin's Vegetarian Lunch Bunch - 1st visit

Vegetarian Lunch Bunch.

I have a friend. Her name is Erin. Erin and I met through classes of hers I take at 24 Hour Fitness. She's a Group X instructor, so I've taken both her yoga and aqua aerobics classes. We look nothing alike, but when we hang out on our own time, it's like hanging out with a long lost sister! She's very down to earth, intuitive and relatable to all us humans in all our different walks of life. Our friendship doesn't even need to be complicated by the fact that I'm a self-professed Omnivore. I have no shame in the fact that I do enjoy meat. Yes, I'm an animal lover. I have been my whole life. I've also loved bacon, chicken breasts, buffalo wings...you get the idea. Hypocritical? Perhaps. I'm okay with that though.

That being said, you might understand the "yeah right" thought process that started in my head when I got an invitation to join Erin, (and everyone else who RSVPs) for a *vegetarian* lunch bunch. We've both had the conversation about how I'm not necessarily down for quitting meat at this point in my life. I was hesitant to join her lunch bunch. Not because I thought she'd get all culty about being a "Veggie Head", (well, maybe, I have to be honest). I just had no interest in sitting around with a bunch of people I don't know, who might judge me because I'm usually one of the biggest girls who attend get-togethers with this particular group of women. I certainly thought sitting around, gagging down some odd concoction of "looks like real food, but is made out of essence of broccoli and prune-foam" sounded just short of torture.

Before I knew it, Erin had invited me over for lunch last Wednesday. I hadn't put two and two together, and once I had entered her home's entry-way, I realized I was at the epicenter of Erin's Vegetarian Lunch Bunch! AAAACK! Okay, Tara. Breathe, just be calm, and don't be too obvious when you're regurgitating the green mess from your plate back into your napkin. You will be juuuuust fine.

The thing is, reality that day played out quite the opposite way than my brain had tried to sabotage me into thinking. Erin made a huge pitcher of Iced Tea sweetened with Splenda. She had small veg patties which contained lots of broccoli. The taste reminded me of egg fou young, which is really quite delightful. The patties were on a luscious green bed of darker leafy salad. Did you know iceberg lettuce has virtually no real nutritional value? A good rule of thumb is the darker and leafier the salad/lettuce is, chances are the more chock full of vitamins said salad will be. I felt like Popeye just chomping it down. She also made a delightful beet slaw with a vinaigrette spiked with some raspberry vinaigrette.

About an hour had passed, we were helping ourselves to seconds, some of us thirds...the gathering was intimate. Erin prepared the meal and Ember and I couldn't get enough. Erin's response? Go load up! She let us know the meal was packed with nutrients and virtually zero calories. To think something could be *that* flavorful, yet be good for me in so many ways, really did blow my mind. My favorite part (other than chatting away with Erin and Ember like we were old High School friends catching up at a reunion) was eating a meal that was filling, and didn't make me feel "grody" afterwards. Sounds a little too good to be true? I almost had to pinch myself to believe it myself!

Am I excited for her next Vegetarian Lunch Bunch? You BETCHA! Future Lunch Bunches will continue to take place at Erin's home (which is so cozy, I don't even have the words to explain) every Monday and Wednesday from Noon to 1:30, starting March 2nd. Space is very limited so for those of you who want to have an amazing mind/body/soul experience with like-minded women who want to live life to their fullest potential, I sure hope to see you there!

I'm providing the link so you can RSVP if interested. There's no commitment. I challenge you to give it a try and find a valid reason to not ever return. You won't have one. I swear. Come dine with us, get to know your neighbors, and maybe even meet a future workout buddy!

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142028369194550

"There are no such things as strangers, only friends we haven't met yet."
~~Anonymous

Feb 1, 2011 - It's all about Papier!

My only New Years resolution I set for myself was to try to procrastinate less. It took about a month to get caught up from all the unanswered emails, update my calendar, fill out paperwork and clear out all the texts I sent to myself the past few months reminding me to make mix CDs for my car. It's the important things in life, you see. This leaves me with coming back to the blog. I wondered why even bother, because it's grown dust on it for over a year now. Why bother? Cause it's my blog, and I wanna, that's why.

So my goal for February is to learn about jewelry. I've been collecting (see: hoarding) magazines in my guest room. To give you an idea, I subscribed to about 12 different monthly magazines. Notice that "d"? subscribed? I let them lapse because I have also procrastinated about reading said magazines. I'm about a year and a half behind. The good thing is, I'm not subscribed to, nor am I trapped by the...trappings of fashion. I'm not worried about the sweepstakes about skinny jeans I could probably fit my 11 year old self into. The only magazine we really read in this house (yes, for the articles) is Playboy. Trust me, I don't buy it for the pictures of the naked ladies. I actually think the mystery of actually wearing clothing to be more sexy than seeing some air-brushed girl trying her hardest to bulge out her big brown eyes and her childlike "no-one-is-home" gaze so the reader can try really hard to imagine the girl is nothing more than lady parts, and not an actual human being. So I can read the little bios the girls get to write, about how they like walks on the beach, the ethical treatment of animals, and boning an 84 year old man. I mean, who wouldn't right?


Soooo, jewelry. My intention with the discarded magazines was to use them to make papier jewelry. Once I decided to take action and contact a new Facebook friend (of a friend of a friend...) who has papier jewelry posted in her Facebook albums. The first thing she set me straight on is, magazines aren't actually used. It wouldn't hold up to the bead-making process. SO, if you would like to line your cockatiels cage with Better Homes and Gardens, Fingerhut and Playboy magazines, I'll give you my address. As for the jewelry, I bought the majority of my staple items at Hobby Lobby. If anybody out there likes Hobby Lobby you should know they have a 40% off a single item coupon that gets released every other week. (Makes me super confident about the lack of markup of their wares, yes?) So I had coupon in hand, bought the thread, the stock paper, the scrapbooking paper, the glass beads, the glue, the toothpicks, the acrylic...I have it all but the closures. Oh, the irony. I know, I get it.

So for now I'm cutting up the paper, and slowly rolling each bead by hand. It can be tedious, but I don't really think about it. It's exciting to be part of a creative process, acting on something I've been dragging my feet on for so long now. Each bead has it's own personality and the colors are each surprising. Kind of like tie-dye only...well, not like tie dye at all. Which rocks, by the way, cause tie-dye never really was my thang.

So here we go. 30 days posting about paper beads. Hold on tight!