Home at Last?

There is a certain guilt factor to not blogging for a few days when you've become a daily blogger. At the same time, I do recognize when some of the blogs I follow take a much deserved break/vacation/hiatus. I say this in part because of the two long weekend trips we've taken for the past two weeks, and again, because moving madness may make things a little bit sporadic for the next month or so.

Our family trip to Chincoteague, VA ended up being as amazing as I had expected. We used to go there all the time when I was little and I hadn't been there in just under 10 years. The beautiful thing about small towns and wildlife refuges is that they really don't change in that amount of time. Unlike the city that is constantly on the move, some places just slip past time like it doesn't even exist. I like to return to those places, it helps me retain some sort of peace and helps ground me in this crazy busy world.

As traditions goes, our trip started with some fishing and crabbing off the dock (apparently I was either about to break into a cancan at the time of this shot or kick someone):

And yes, the raw vegan caught the first crab. I of course quickly released it back into the wild after its photo op:

Did lots of biking at the wildlife refuge, where we spotted lots of birds:

And some wild ponies:

And lazed around on the beach (and by that I mean took the coldest sub-arctic dip of my life), and where Andrew did some serious kiting:

We climbed this lighthouse for a gorgeous 360 view of the island:

And ended it all by watching the family eat some delicious looking ice cream, and taking in the smell of waffle cones:

All in all, an awesome trip.

Food-wise, Cafe Gratitude's I Am Great Granola was a life-saver for breakfast. We usually had it with a teaspoon of mesquite, and some cut up fruit (berries on some days, banana, or an entire papaya I tried not to scarf down in one sitting on others). For lunch and snacks, we ate mostly fruits and veggies and some of the raw treats I had made for the trip (Averie's protein bars, Katie's fudge babies, my copy-cat Monkey Bar, and a new secret raw ginger cookie recipe that rocks my world). I also brought along some superfoods like hemp, bee pollen, and my awesome cranberry/pumpkin seed/ginger mix. Dinner was usually a big salad and whatever else was raw and available. My mom made a mean gazpacho and amazing green olive hummus. I love that eating raw seems like no big deal around my family anymore.

Now that we're back, I'm already booked for the week! I thought being done with school and having my first "real summer" was suppose to mean having a break! Little did I know... Though I can't say my week's line up is very stressful: Tuesday is our last Lost night at my cousin's place (before our final marathon sleepover on Sunday), Wednesday is Andrew's special one-day-early anniversary surprise I can't yet divulge, Thursday is my grad reception dinner, Friday is my actual commencement and post-graduation family celebration dinner, Saturday is Iron Man 2 day with my sis and her boyfriend, and Sunday is Lost Finale insanity!

For something new and food related, I have found a mysterious new fruit (a Take 2 of our sexy fruit experience from a while back). It's the new genetically-modified vegan version of eggs! Ha, no, it's actually a white eggplant. Thanks to Jason over at Food Geekery, I've just learned that white eggpants are actually why 'normal' eggplants are called that in the first place. Most other countries (outside of the US, Canada, Australia, and NZ) call a purple eggplant an "aubergine", like the French do. The word eggplant comes from this fruit you see here, that was cultivated in the 18th and 19th Centuries and grew about the size of a goose egg. They are apparently used exactly the same way as the purple ones, but are softer and have less seeds. They're suppose to be less bitter, and sweeter. However, their skins are tougher and have to be peeled. I have not yet decided its fate.

Finally, for all of those who follow my workouts, the off-and-on nature of my passed two weeks weeks have made me fall back on pre-fab workouts. More specifically, I've gone back to Gina's amazing Summer Shape Up from last year (she's coming up with a new one next week!) with minor variations for the past 2 weeks. My cardio days have always been 30 minutes of swimming or a jog, and I've added exercises or ab routines here and there. I should be back on track with posting workouts now though.