Category Archives: Random Thoughts

I Will Be Grateful For This Day

Posted by ljb in Inspiration, Random Thoughts and tagged with , ,

I’ve been in a funk lately. There are a few reasons, but that is no excuse. We are always told life is short, right? We should live it to the fullest. So why am I wasting my time worrying about things that in the grand scheme of life, really aren’t all that important. Oh, that’s right. It is because I am human and my personality causes me to worry about things that I really shouldn’t concern myself with. Snap out of it, Lauren. Right…..Now……!

Thanks to a Bright Eyes song that randomly came on my iTunes, I decided I need to stop. Just stop being so, well, blah. Maybe it is the weather, maybe it is just me being a silly girl. Who knows. But instead of dwelling on negative things, I need to start being thankful for the things I do have. Like:

  1. My health – I am young and besides the occasional headaches, I can’t really complain about any major issues.
  2. The Hubs – While every marriage has those moments, ours has been incredibly blessed. Considering the short amount of time we dated, I feel like we jumped in with two feet and decided that this is for life. Not just until things get too hard, but for the rest of our lives. I can’t tell you how many times I have just looked at him and realized how awesome I really have it, despite my complaining :)
  3. My family – Even though our closest family member is 900 miles away, we still have amazing relationships. Or maybe it is amazing because we live 900 miles away? I kid. I kid. I have the most supportive family a girl could ask for. They don’t always tell me what I want to hear, but they give me a good does of reality which is what I need. My siblings have become some of my best friends and someday I hope to say that about all 8 of them!
  4. My friends – I am lucky enough to have friends in all different areas of the country due to our moving around. Some I have known my whole life and others I have just developed relationships with. No matter how long we’ve been friends, I am blessed to be surrounded by an amazing group of friends who make me laugh and inspire me.
  5. My dog – “Ugh. She is one of those people.” Hold up. I do love my dog, but the one thing I am thankful for about him is the fact that no matter how bratty I may be or how inattentive I am, every time I walk into the door he acts like he is the happiest animal ever. I need to be more like that.

Ultimately, there is no reason for me to be sad. None at all. So for me, despite the clouds and rain, I will be grateful for this day.

bright eyes - i will be grateful for this day

Be grateful today.

PS. Sorry for all the sappiness. I promise the next one will be lighter :)

Help! All I Want Is Cheese….

Posted by ljb in Around the House, Random Thoughts and tagged with , , , ,

The title really says it all. Pretty much sums up how I have been feeling for about 2 or 3 days. First, I was craving shrimp. Avoided that disaster and now….NOW…my body says “You know what you would really love…cheese.” I would go as far as to say I would even eat a block of cheese like a candybar. Yep, just peel back the wrapper and gnaw away. Sick right? Don’t judge me please. This is a no judge zone.

Why am I sharing this with you? What possibly could I gain by telling you my weaknesses? The answer is nothing. Absolutely nothing. When I started this blog, it was more or less a way to keep myself accountable. I thought, if I wrote everything in a public forum for anyone to see, then I would have to stick with my new lifestyle. I will tell you one thing, that while it has helped, it is still hard. Flat out brutal at times.

The best advice I received was from the author of Eat Vegan on $4 a Day, Ellen Jaffe Jones. I met her at the 1st Annual Connecticut Vegetarian and Healthy Living Festival back in April. When she signed my book, she asked if I was vegan and I proudly told her that I was a “baby vegan” she just smiled, congratulated me and said “Ya know, it is hard. It is two steps forward one step back. Everyone has their moments.” I was so encouraged by that. As with any diet, it is so incredibly hard to stay true to it 100% of the time. And if this “vegan guru” could admit that she sometimes had her weak moments, then it must be ok. Now, this doesn’t mean that I am actually going to head to the fridge and grab that block of cheese I mentioned earlier. It just means that it is ok for me to crave it. It doesn’t mean I am a bad plant-based dieter. I mean I ate the stuff for 26 years so of course my body is going to want its old friend to visit. But it doesn’t mean I have to let it.

Whatever you weakness is, food-related or not, remember that you are bigger than it. Instead, distract yourself with your hobby. Hence why I am here now! Turn to your friends, faith or family for help if it gets too hard. In my opinion, and maybe this is just stems my Midwest upbringing, but people are inherently good. They want to help and they want to see you succeed. As the old saying goes: Help me help you.

In the meantime, I am going to make myself a Grilled Daiya Cheese sandwich. It should satisfy my cravings for the time being.

Til the next post,

L signature

The Turning of the Wedding Jar

Posted by ljb in Around the House, CSA, Inspiration, Random Thoughts and tagged with , , , , ,

It is June 1. I always love when I can flip my calendar. It is such a clean and welcoming feeling to only have a few events marked down, which currently include:

  • June 9th – My CSA with Stone Garden Farms starts
  • June 26th – Our 2-year anniversary
  • June 28th – My older sister and one of my very bestest friends comes to visit for a week

So since it is our anniversary month something else has happened. Something huge. Something I have never ever done before and it is monumental. It is the first time I have ever turned the wedding jar.

Now before you go to Google “wedding jar” let me give you a little background. When I first received this gift from my parents it also came with a explanation:

“This jar was commissioned by family and friends. It was presented filled with buttons, small gifts, sewing implements, ribbon and lace and on rare occasions, a little money. The couple’s name and date of the wedding were on the front. The decorations on the jar symbolized the union of the couple; the double tulip on the front and the heart of tulips on the back. Eleven months of the year, the jar was displayed with the back facing out. The month of the anniversary, the wife would turn the jar around reminding her husband of the coming anniversary. After he made arrangements for the day, he turned the jar around to let her know he had not forgotten.”

So fun right? We received this as a gift from my parents last year for our 1st anniversary, so this is the first time I have turned it and am (im)patiently waiting to see when it will be turned back around which will mean Mr. B has something awesome planned for us! This jar may seem a little different to you all, but to me it symbolizes so many things:

  1. Obviously, our anniversary.
  2. Charleston, SC – since this is where my mom first found it and ordered it for us and it was our first home.
  3. The knowledge that our parents wish  for our marriage to be successful.
  4. The knowledge that my dad has probably once or twice forgotten about their anniversary and does not wish the same wrath upon Andy.
The Wedding Jar has officially been turned for our anniversary!

So there you have it folks! Jar Watch 2012 has officially begun! I’ll keep you posted with updates.

Jar Watch 2012 Commissioner,

L signature

UPDATE: I had a few people interested in where the wedding jar came from: Jim Phillips at PBJ Originals. He sells most of his pieces at the Charleston City Market but can be reach via his Facebook page or at jimthepotter@hotmail.com

Here I Am!

Posted by ljb in Inspiration, Random Thoughts and tagged with , , ,

I’m doing it. I am officially writing my first post! Hey there, hi there and welcome to my blog! Glad you stopped by to find out what this is all about. I assume you are either a) a relative or friend who is reading this to support me and so when I ask if you read it, you can actually say “yes” without lying or b) a random stranger who wants to know why the heck I stole the URL that you wanted. Regardless – thanks! Looking forward to writing for you.

To get this party started, I’ll tell you a little bit about myself and the purpose of this whole thing.

I’m Lauren (“Hi Lauren…”). I currently live in the Greater New Haven area in CT. The hubs and I moved up here in November 2010 from Charleston, SC. Sigh. Before that, I called Chicago home. And if we are going way back, I grew up on a farm in a quiet area of Central Illinois. Upon moving here, I met some great people and even though I missed the south and my friends and family, I still found some things about the Northeast that I enjoyed. This mainly consisted of food and wine. Yep, CT has some great Italian and awesome wineries. Couple that with being bored and sad and you guessed it – I was slipping into a horrible, unhealthy lifestyle along with some ugly weight gain. Luckily, I surrounded myself with positive people and was approached by my CT bestie, J, to do a “juicing cleanse” with her. I was skeptical that I could actually do it, but thought I would give it a shot. I’ll skip all the boring details for now (I will actually address those boring details later on), but basically for the first 7 days, we juiced in the morning and for lunch, then had a vegan dinner. After Day 7, we decided to keep going and just introduced vegan lunch into our routine. 21 days and -10lbs later (ok, fine it was 9.8lbs), we had completed it! I felt great, experienced uninterrupted sleep and was enjoying the fact that my clothes fit a little looser. But those were just great side effects. The most important thing was I learned I could do it and in the process, I learned a lot about what I was putting into my mouth and how it affects your body, animals and the environment. I believe God wants us to take care of the Earth and those on it and whether you are religious or not, I think that is something you can get behind. Eating a vegan diet is one of the ways I decided I could contribute to this. As this blog develops, I’ll share with you the books and blogs I read that helped me understand that the reason I felt like crap every day was because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was eating. They are inspiring and sometimes a little bit of a slap in the face, but they make you think.

Now you might say, “But Lauren, what about your poor husband?” Ah yes, well I will post more on him later, but in a nutshell, I am not forcing him to become vegan. When I cook, I do cook two different meals – same concept but one is dairy and meat-free while Andy’s is the usual. Truth is, there have been times where I cooked him a vegan meal and he actually loved it! He has been such a great support and has actually mentioned a few times about how I “glow” now. I so heart him.

Aside from a handful of people, there aren’t many who know I am trying to eat as vegan as possible. Most of you remember me from when I grew up on the farm and ate hamburgers everyday in the summer or was in college and drank as much beer as I could then proceeded to eat the greasiest cheese pizza I could find. The beauty of life is that people can change. Sometimes it is for the worst, but often people mold into who they were always meant to be. I struggle a lot with still wanting to grab a juicy hamburger, but that is kind of the whole point of this blog – to help keep me focused and remember that it is one step forward, two steps back. That is also the beauty of life. You are allowed to mess up and when you do, you learn from it. I know being vegan isn’t for everyone and this blog isn’t supposed to convince you to become one. It is here to give you a little insight to my world and experiences. I look forward to bringing you recipes, restaurant and product reviews, updates on random trips we take and house projects going on or honestly, it will probably be a whatever crazy thought pops into my head. I think there is a lot you and I can both get out of this, or at least I hope so.

So that is it for now. Next time, it won’t be so serious. I love questions, comments and just conversation in general so feel free to let me know what is on your mind!

If I know you, I love you. And if I don’t, I am sure I would love you too.

Until next time,


//