Loving Yourself

Today I want to talk about a topic that I am super passionate about, but also something that I think many individuals, especially women, struggle with.  And that is the ability to love oneself! 

To me, "loving yourself" consists of embracing "you" as a whole, as a human being who deserves to be loved and celebrated.  It involves believing in yourself, and accepting your strengths, weaknesses, and quirks, to the point that you don't try to change for anyone.  What do you think about this definition?  I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 

I would argue that the ability to love oneself is an extremely important and healthy skill, yet so many people, including myself in the past, are unable to accept themselves or consistently find fault with who they are.  What is it with our society today that seems to highlight our "flaws"?  Are we trained to find the negative?  And how can we break through whatever is preventing us from seeing our true beauty and worth?  I wish there was an easy, straightforward answer to these questions that could enable us to let  go of these worries, and feel good about the people we are.

So for now, all I can do is tell you that YOU deserve the world, you deserve to find happiness in whatever you do, with whomever!  You are intelligent, talented, and mean so much more to others than you even realize.  You deserve to trust yourself, nurture your passions and dreams, and stop negative self-talk. You deserve to have fun, and to see how beautifully AMAZING you are every. single. day.

Here is a final thought for all of you beautiful, wonderful people...

Awesome Green Sites!

So, today's Green Tip Tuesday will be a little shorter than the past two, but I found some amazing websites that I hadn't really heard of before and felt very inspired after spending (probably too much) time reading about them.  Check them out!

Earth911.com
http://earth911.com/
This site is 100% addictive, as it contains countless articles about creative DIY projects, recycling tips, and so much more!

Project Green Challenge
http://www.projectgreenchallenge.com/challenges.php
This site highlights 30 different things you can do to live greener!  It is very customizable because each "challenge" offers three levels, whether you are green, greener, or greenest.

Tastes like Jamba: Berry Fulfilling Smoothie

I love Jamba Juice!  I would love to try absolutely everything on the menu.  I even applied to work there for a summer job in the past with hopes that I would try them all.  I did not get the job however, and their smoothies are kind of pricey, so I continue making smoothies often on my own!

My favorite smoothie at Jamba is the Berry Fulfilling smoothie, and my sister and I usually share one whenever we get one!  I was thrilled when I achieved a similar taste and consistency on my own!

Berry Fulfilling Smoothie:

Never Too Late

For this week's edition of Quote Friday, I decided to include one of my favorite quotes of all time by George Eliot, which is actually the pen name for Mary Anne Evans, who lived from November 1819 to December 1880 and used a male pen name to be taken seriously.

Personally, this quote means a lot to me since some of my favorite things to do, I started later in my life.  For example, I love dancing, but with the exception of a few classes when I was much younger, I didn't really get into it until the end of high school.  For a while, I was just having fun doing whatever moves I felt like in my basement.  However, I soon grew to love dancing even more, and loved watching people dance and trying out various moves as I danced to my favorite songs.

While I am very busy with many other things, I still try to dance as often as possible, as well as develop my other passions.  I realize I am never going to be the best dancer or make dance my life's focus, but I still seek enjoyment out of it, and to me, that is what matters.  In our society today, it seems to me that too often our passions get pushed aside by life's everyday tasks and realities, and we find ourselves on a another track that occupies our time.

Regardless of where you find yourself in life right now, I urge you to follow your dreams, even if they have been dormant for quite some time, or brushed off as "just a dream".  It doesn't have to be that way. Go for it, even if you can only make one small step towards your passion, I am sure you will not regret it!

Going Vegetarian!

Happy Green Tip Tuesday!  Today's tip is to eat less meat, or trying to eat more like a vegetarian!

Growing up, I was raised in a household that ate primarily vegetarian, and while there were times where I wasn't necessarily thrilled about this, I definitely appreciate it now and think my current vegetarianism (with the occasional fish) is a result of this lifestyle.

Why should one go vegetarian?

Nutella Smoothie

If I am addicted to anything, it would definitely be Nutella!  I honestly can't get enough, and whether I am eating it on bread, in a dessert, with fruit, on ice cream, or by itself with a spoon, I love it!  So, the obvious progression would be to make a smoothie, right? :)

While it is not the healthiest smoothie you will probably ever drink, it is certainly delicious and a great way to satisfy those chocolate cravings!

Nutella- Strawberry- Banana Smoothie

Quote Friday!

Happy Friday! Here are few quotes:

Hope you have a wonderful day and a great weekend!

1st Green Tip Tuesday!

Hello and happy Tuesday!  I have been home from college the past few weeks for my winter break, and have spent some time brainstorming about what I want to do with this blog in the upcoming months.  I definitely want to increase my posting that relate to some of my other passions besides food.  Therefore, I thought it would be perfect to have "Green Tip Tuesdays", in which I address different aspects of being green and increasing sustainability in how we live our daily lives!

So, for our very first Green Tip Tuesday, we will be talking about going shampoo free!

I had been doing some online research and came across this post from Simple Mom.  She described how she went shampoo free and offers great tips!

Right now you are probably thinking that I am a bit crazy, which is definitely true.  My family was a bit horrified when I told them I was going to give it a try.

What does the method entail exactly?

Delicious Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (and nearly fat free!)

Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite foods, especially during the winter!  The past few days my family and I enjoyed these amazing cinnamon rolls as part of our movie nights and they went over very well!  Also, it works great to double the dough recipe and put it in the fridge for another day!  While traditional cinnamon rolls are very high in fat and low in nutrients, a few tweaks in the recipe omitted nearly all of the fat, and almost all of the ingredients have nutritional value of some sort!  The all-star ingredients in the recipe are pumpkin puree and applesauce, which replace butter or oil completely and leave the cinnamon rolls super moist!  Also, the rolls are made with whole wheat flour for added fiber.