I am FINALLY posting (how many of my posts start with those words?) about my trip to California and a life update...
First off, California was great. Not as much Sun as I could have hoped for, and not as much raw food as I needed, but great friends and a great break from routine.
I stayed with
BFF Stacey who I have convinced to go on a 30 day raw challenge (so go give her some encouragement!). She and her sister have a nice apartment a mile (maybe less) from the beach in Santa Monica, centraly located near many shopping establishments and raw eateries ;)
The first day I was there I got in the car Stacey said she had a suprise at her house for me... it was my friend ANDY!
He had been around hanging out with a mutual friend (Ben) who was down visiting from Portland and heard I was coming so stayed up in SM to see me :) We all walked to the beach and stood on the pier for a bit dispite the fact that it was raining. Good thing Ben and I brought our RAIN COATS! (to california!!! how wrong!!!) After the pier we went to Juliano's raw because I had been DREAMING of the Raw Tortilla Soup and Mocha Smoothie (hold the Love Honey, ewww). They were out of the soup and that was pretty devistating. We had some other good stuff instead... Sushi bites, Pasta Premivera, Coconut spring roll things, and smoothies.
We did some window shopping and went back to the house for a bit to rest up before the show. The heavans aligned and I just happened to be there when my two favorite (SoCal Vegan Straightedge) bands were playing at a house in Pasadena so we were all excited to go and see Andy's band play. It was like a reunion party just for me... I felt so happy and loved because none of my Orange County friends expected to see me and it was like hug after hug. I even got to see a few people who I had no idea would be there. GREAT FEELING. The show was great, sang along til my voice was scratchy, and remembered again why I love (certain, haha) hardcore.
Ran with stacey along the beach the next morning and got my first actual view of the venice boardwalk. Went to breakfast and had a mostly non-raw vegan meal with some friends from the show. It was a great but not healthy feeling meal, how often can you get vegan eggs benedict, right? ...and so good to spend extra time with some amazing people. Later went to see an awful movie and had lunch at Real Food Daily. We saw the guy who played Bud from "married with children" (my only celeb sighting of the trip) and ate more cooked food. After the second heavy meal of the day Stacey and I were exhausted and ready to go home, rest, and not eat for the rest of the day. We dropped ben at the airport and went home to veg out.
The next day we went to ths SM Sunday Market and had a coconut from the Juliano's booth and some snacks. We were on a mission to find a new vegan eco friendly store of some sort we had heard of in Venice but after walking HOURS found out they weren't open on Sundays. We ate at RawVolution on the way and had the highly reccomended Nachos (from
Aimee and Chris), a pudding parfait, and choc-chip cookie dough ball. The Nachos were really good, especialy the chip things, they were so fluffy and crispy. Wow. Loved the texture. I did not read the ingredients for the nachos before ordering and found out after starting that they had walnuts aplenty. I freaked myself out and nearly had a panic attack that I was going into anaphalaxis but luckily Stacey talked me down and I was fine. Haha, I am rediculous.
After that it was time to go meet up with Alex's sister and nephew and go up to Ventura/Oxnard for the last day of my trip. Ate a bunch of not raw food the last day and kinda gave up trying at that point... figuring I could get back on track once I got home. It was really great to see my boyfriends family. I love them all and they are so welcoming to me. It is really comfortable :)
Took the plane home and have been catching up on work and life since then.
Here are some more pictures from my trip:
Find more photos like this on Raw FuSince my trip:
-Got sick from eating too much cooked food, hopefully learned my lesson for a while
-Went to a pretty fun Raw Potluck on VDay with Alex, Aimee, and Chris, met and saw some rawfu friends
- Had a few good runs, feeling good about the fact that it is STARTING to get light earlier.
- Got a new BIG TV with alex for the living room. 32" it rules.
- Worked late last night with one of our Drivers and learned how to do the delivery route. I am supposed to be sleeping right now as I have only had 3 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours but I am taking the opportunity to post this.
- Hanging with Bdog today
Decided it would be a good idea yesterday morning right as I was leaving for work, to jump up on the kitchen counter and eat 4 raw chocolate macaroons fresh out of the dehydrator. Now I am normally very careful with chocolate, onions, grapes and other dog poisons but she was in the bedroom asleep with the door shut and I put them on the counter with the intention of putting them away as soon as they had cooled. I didn't think she would be awake until I left for work. I was sadly mistaken and careless. She grabbed them and swallowed them whole before I even knew what happened. I woke up my sister (the vet) on her day off and she advised inducing vomiting. I had to rush to the store, buy a turkey baster and hydrogen peroxide, and race home. Trying to force the hydrogen peroxide down b bears gullet was one of the most traumatic experiences in me, chuck, and blanches lives. I was crying, blanche was red and panicked, and alex was scratched and shaky. The first two times we didn't get enough down and had to do it one more time before it finally worked. WHAT A HELL RIDE! She finally tossed her cookies (well, my cookies) and I was so happy to see them all come up whole, which means no digestion or absorption of the chocolate. I feel so awful to have been so irresponsible and put pup in harms way. Please learn from my mistake and be extra vigilant for your doggies. I am so glad I had alex to help me... We could barely hold her down together, there is no way I could have done it alone.
Today was a much better day. She and I spent the morning cleaning and napping (on her part). I did a whole bunch of grocery shopping later in the morning. Hit Raw Vegan Source (.com) and restocked on all my raw nuts and seeds I can't get elsewhere. Also enrolled for the raw mexican food and dessert classes they are having next weekend. I am pretty excited about that as they will both be using irish moss and I am really curious about that. I was a busy be when I got home... I made more macaroons (since pup ate most of mine) being very careful she couldn't snatch any. Made crackers and cashew cheese. Brazil nut milk. Oh! and of course ICE CREAM. A really good coconut ice cream. So dinner was pizza followed by a bowl of ice cream with a hot macaroon crumbled on top. YUM!
