My Brief Biography Bangin' Breakfast Salads & Sides Exciting Entrees Sexy Snackities Motivation Mind Body Inspiration Sweet Treats Foodie Fun!
Dreamer.
Food Aficionado.
Health Enthusiast.
Artist.
Creator.
Lover.
This blog was originally created for college students, such as myself who are living in the dorms and crave a healthy lifestyle but understand the challenges when balancing school and a social life.
Since I began, my blog has expanded to mind, body, and spirit. Because of it's variance, I highly encourage utilizing the tabs up top to navigate through the site.
Enjoy. With love and gratitude,
Lauren
Positivity Checklist
- Write a gratitude list
- Write a thank you note to the Universe for all you have
- Look in the mirror and say nice things to yourself
- Take a walk and notice all the beauty around you
- Admire the good qualities in others
- Value all the friendships in your life
- Tell someone you love them
- Savor everything you eat and appreciate how it nourishes you
- Say a prayer of gratitude
- Be kind to everyone you meet
Breakfast Today:
Avocado smeared rice cakes with 1/2 grapefruit
+
Green Goddess Smoothie with banana, strawberry, kale, coconut flakes
Satisfying Dinner Salad
Round cherry tomatoes, fresh blackberries, juicy bell pepper, cucumber on a bed of mixed greens
Currently snacking on…
Carrots and Hummus
aka “the perfect snack”
Sweet, crunchy, creamy, savory.
100 percent delish.
Pomegranate Quinoa Breakfast
1/2 cup rolled oats and rainbow quinoa with pomegranate seeds and a grapefruit
Simple Chickpea Salad
ingredients:
- 1 can black beans
- 1 can chickpeas
- large bushel of parsley
- 1 red bell pepper
- salt and pepper
- lemon juice
make me:
Slice parsley and chop bell pepper. Empty beans, bell pepper, and parsley into large mixing bowl and stir together. Add spices and squeeze of lemon. Let flavors meld together.
Enjoy!
A Beautiful Note on Self Love
by Cathy Cassani Adams
You may hear that you are supposed to look like this or that, or you may notice magazines or billboards that reflect a certain image, but they aren’t real. They are people, just like you, who have been made up, dressed up, and air brushed. This isn’t reality, it’s their work.
It’s great to have a healthy body and feel good about how you look, but self love is not about falling in love with your appearance. It’s about knowing your insides – your bliss, your gifts, your ability to share and experience joy.
Self love will hold you up in every aspect of your life because people will treat you as you treat yourself. When you love yourself you won’t allow others to take advantage of you. And if someone intentionally decides to hurt you, you will find support and begin the process of healing so you can forgive. Not to condone the behavior, but so you don’t carry around somebody else’s pain.
Taking care of yourself is your most important job – it’s the only way you will have energy to take care of others. So don’t waste time disliking yourself, spend time noticing your beauty instead. If you do, you will notice that everybody is beautiful, and you will be surrounded by people and experiences that reflect this understanding.
So your job is to have faith in that place, to remember that it’s not outside, it’s not in another person, it’s not in your clothes, it’s not in a job, and it’s not in a grade or an award.
It’s only in you.
And only you can celebrate the outside and inside of being you; so make it a celebration to remember.
Fantastic Lunch courtesy of Desert Roots.
Lemon Dill Quinoa, Apple Peanut Kale Salad, Spicy Jamaican Jerk Brown Rice
AKA a new favorite spot. They feature global cuisine and use as many local ingredients as possible. There food is nomlicious and their spot is absolutely adorable.
Dessert:
Puffed brown rice mixed with rolled oats, chunks of sweet banana, dollop of greek yogurt, and fresh blueberries
If Today Was Your Last Day
What if today was the last day of your life?
Think about it.
How would you spend it?
What would you do?
Who would you do it with?
What would you say?
Too often we create monotonous patterns in our everyday lives. And you have to admit, we get caught up in it. We get used to doing the same things everyday. Worrying about little things that don’t matter and rarely stopping to think about what does.
Money. What others think. Pleasing people. Our job. Our boss. Our peers. Chores. Body image. Material goods. School. Our future. Our professors. Our schoolwork. What someone said. Fears. Not being ” ” enough. Not living up to our potential. Dissatisfaction. Negativity.
These things are just part of the daily grind. But what does it all mean?
In short, Absolutely Nothing.
What matters?
Love. Appreciation. Gratitude. Self-expression. Compassion. Letting go. Being free. Being happy. Living in the moment. Right Now.
If today was my last day, I would want everyone I love and care about to know exactly how I felt about them. I would want to spend my day with all of my friends and family in laughter and smiles, good food, and lots of sunshine pouring through all of us.
I would let go of any and every fear that ever hold me back in my life, living in the moment fully and presently.
I would share, smile, engage, laugh, create, dance, sing, jump as much and as often as possible.
As we all know, but don’t realize we are never guaranteed a second chance. We are only given this one life. I don’t know about you, but I refuse to let life pass me by. I refuse to wait until the end of my life to start living it fully, presently, and with sunshine pouring through me.
I promise to live each day.
Join me.
Love. Laugh. Live. Be.
Cheers, Lauren
