75TH Birthday

A great weekend was had by all as my dad celebrated his 75th birthday with his wife and four girls coming in to town as a surprise :-)

It was a time of fun, laughter, family, love, deep conversations, a bit of outlet mall shopping and food.

Eat To Live

Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman is an eating plan that is filled with greens, greens and more greens; throw in some beans, other veggies and fruit.  For the first 6 weeks, you total remove salt, sugar, sugar substitutes and most starches along with caffeine and alcohol from your menu plan.

Well, I started it on Sunday (yesterday).  Since I consider myself vegan (mostly in the sense of food), this isn’t a huge stretch for me.  However, lately I have been eating more processed and fast foods than I should.  With spring approaching and daylight savings time just happening, I thought this would be a great time to jump in with both feet and do a bit of detoxing.  I am still drinking 1 cup of coffee in the mornings for now.  When I run out, I may decide not to buy anymore and just stick with herbal teas ~ time will tell.

Surprises are Awesome

Woohoo ~ our surprise birthday get together for my Dad was fabulous!  He had no idea when he walked in Saturday morning.  All his daughters (4) were there, his wife, his two sisters and we were able to skype with his brother.  What a great time was had by all ~ fellowship and food.  The weather was a bit crazy, rain and wind pretty much the whole time I was there (Wed-Mon).  My aunt was able to catch this picture on Saturday!

Volunteering

This weekend I filled in doing the computer data inputting at our church’s food pantry which is one of the ‘branches’ in the city under 2^nd Harvest Food Bank.  It is always such a blessing to be able to volunteer there.  It has been a help to me in the past when my daughter was little.  We volunteered for many years and received help as needed.  Anytime a person can give back to help others is a wonderful endeavor.

Dinner

What a fun time!  We have a restaurant called Clinkerdagger's that has great food.  It is a "special occasions" experience for the working class (us).  Our monthly dinner was there on Tuesday night.  We had a slight view of the Falls and the surrounding terrain.  Ate inside as it was still a warm 88 degrees outside with no breeze.  Not a lot for a vegan to choose from; however, I had the Iceberg Lettuce wedge with tomato and lemon vinaigrette with fresh pepper, a side of sweet potato fries (shared with the group) and their warm seasonal fruit cobbler (sans the vanilla bean ice cream).  The food was good but it is always the company that makes or breaks a dinner!  We had a great time, as always.  Chatting about this and that; there are a couple of hoots in the group that entertain the masses - wouldn't be the same without them - truth is, it has happened and it isn't the same (enjoyable, but not the same).  Thanks all for taking the time to get together :-)