Cravings, or Addictions?

I don't know what it is, but I can't stop thinking about red wine. And every time I walk past people smoking outside a bar I inhale deeply and with fervor. 

Sorry baby, at least my indulgences are secondary, right?

I mean, sniffing an open bottle of Two Buck Chuck and some Marb Reds I found in an open trash can is probably better than actual ingestion...

On a different note:

I was under the impression that pregnancy meant luminescence and serenity,

a belly that was delightfully swollen...

not in my case.

Solitary Birthday

I got to see Kristopher's face for the first time in a month lat night. It's his birthday today. Being apart hasn't been too bad, I've got three jobs going on right now, and don't really have time to dwell on missing him. Which is convenient. I'm 15 weeks and 3 days right now and craving maternity pants. It's easy to forget that I'm pregnant. It seems like most people plan their's out. We are having a home birth. I met with the midwife last week. She seemed cool, kept the granola to a minimum. An unexpected, but pleasant surprise.

Things to take with you from the third grade

I have always been a huge note writer. So much so, I'm 100% positive I've weirded some people out with the notes I've written them. I mean, I feel like my barista should like the cute little picture I drew her, but the look on her face says otherwise...

Anyway, when I went to bible school in England, note writing took up at least 42% of our collective time. We lived in a drafty castle, surrounded by sheep fields. I saved most of the notes people sent me and glued them into an old dictionary I found. They're great to look through every once in a while. I have never been great at keeping journal's, and so I love that I have these notes to remember the people and experiences I became aquatinted to. 

Wood is Good

I love a good wooden toy. They are so clean and classic looking. They have a warmth to them, and their wear only instills them with more character. The above collection are from various etsy shops: Narwhal, Tooth, Kittens, and Giraffe.

It's Not Happening

I had to quit it. 

At 11 weeks pregnant, I didn't even make it out of my first trimester...

vegan.

I guess I'll just be a failure of a vegetarian. 

In other news, I'm looking for work. Which is...a bummer. 

Often. I feel entirely unmarketable, and obsessively reading articles on the New York Times about unemployment and recent graduates, while half watching Ally McBeal, is probably not the most helpful of things I should be doing. Okay, pity party over,

I love my little bump. 

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend was wonderful and exhausting.

We threw a paris themed baby shower for my sister on saturday (for the activity/gift we had a perfume bar...so easy to make, and everyone loved it)

My mother threw me a graduation party on saturday

And we had a mother's day party on sunday

It was a wonderful and hectic weekend.

We found morel's on a hike and I made a vegan yellow cake using this recipe, I topped it with a chocolate glaze and strawberries. It was perfect!

P.S. It was kind of weird having everyone refer to me as a mother. I don't really feel like it yet....I almost feel like my body is a house that I'm preparing for a foreign visitor...but not like a mother...

Nausea: It's a Total Bummer!

These past few days I have really been feeling the nausea. I even threw up, which is very unlike the iron stomach that inhabits me. 

Kristopher likes to think of it as a learning experience.

He has the strongest gag reflex of anyone I've ever met. 

Anyway, it's been hard to eat anything other than bagels and mashed potatoes. 

Exercise has been near impossible (I guess I'm eating my own words here regarding Ms. Tracy Anderson).

I really hope this doesn't last until week 12. I'm over it after three days.

The above pic is the treat I've been loving during this time:

toasted onion bagel

vegan cream cheese

tomato

cracked black pepper

sea salt

Signs of Summer

Summer is finally showing it's face around here. 

I welcome you summer. 

You make taking naps outside both dangerous and relaxing.

You mean I never have to go back to chem lab. 

You bring spring colds. 

I'm into it.

The Pregnancy Project

So, I impulse bought Tracy Anderson's Pregnancy Project DVD's last week. 

Basically the run down is this:

-9 DVD's for 9 months

-no cardio, muscular structure work (AKA confusing pilates)

-she has a soothing voice and is pregnant WITH YOU not AT YOU (that was an attempt at a joke, I can't believe I'm already making mom jokes)

Early Review:

So, I'm doing month one, and it's very easy. I know you're not supposed to push yourself during pregnancy, but it's crazy how easy this is. 

I will say that her free standing arm workouts are a bit challenging. I've always preferred to work my legs over any other body part so it's nice that she focuses on that. 

It incorporates some ballet barre moves and some light weights (read 3 LBS).

For how low-key it is, I am enjoying it though. The 30 minutes goes by quickly and I'm sure as I progress and my body begins to change the workouts will feel more my speed. 

For now I'm just continuing to run and do pilates in addition to The Pregnancy Project. 

I think this is a perfect workout for those days when you are feeling exhausted and want something that still moves you, or it's perfect for the girls out there who want to exercise through their pregnancies but didn't really work out before. I think this is an excellent option for the casual fitness crowd.

On a side note, here's an interesting article in the NYtimes about exercise and its effect on the fetal heart

Final avoidance: Study Break

This has been a heck of a week, final are almost over with. I just have to make it until Thursday. 

If there are any other people out there needing some much needed study break web surfing check the links below (though, if you're having some sunny 70s weather like we are, I say go for a hike instead):

A couple of weeks ago  we filmed a music video...results par excellence

Lady Bug Identification

Love this concept for medical school admissions, things have been sub-par too long, time for a change

cookbook innovation

Chestnut flour doughnuts

Started following this regime this week...expect a review

Did anyone else feel like this last episode of the office was...subpar?

I love to stretch, though I don't always, perhaps I'm doing myself a favor?

The state of first trimester exercise

Don't study too hard, but just hard enough-

Racha

First Step: Pregnant Vegan Nutrition

Now that I'm (essentially) over the freaking out phase I need to get my nutrition in order:

I've already been taking iron, B-12, biotin, and a prenatal so I'm in pretty good shape when it comes to my supplements. 

The next step involved upping my protein to around 80 grams per day (I do that with smoothies and lots of tofu)

cutting out artificial sweeteners and colors

lowering my sugar intake (I've got a mean sweet tooth, like the kind that will eat two boxes of Oreos on a friday night)

and adding in more leafy greens (kale, chard, spinach, mustard greens) for the folate and iron

So far, so good. I'm feeling great, the protein is probably the hardest thing to get in. I've never really kept track of it before. 

As far as exercise goes, I'm sticking with the "exert yourself only so that you can still hold a conversation"

which, frankly, I don't mind. 

It's nice to have an excuse to take it a bit easier and I've been enjoying my leisurely jogs now that spring flowers are making their way out of the ground. 

So far, no symptoms. But I realize that it's early on in the game. 

This Was Not Planned

I guess this is the kind of thing that happens at a werwolf barmitzvah

I think I found a potential direction for the blog:

Vegan Pregnancy

Pregnancy Fitness

Effort

Finals Don't Exist if You Don't Want Them Too (and other myths)

Ugh, who am I kidding?

Of course they still do.

No matter how much of a Beyonce induced stupor I dance myself into

or how many times  google hilarious vegan things

of how many times I try to look cute while looking over my shoulder

or how jealous I get of Solange's legs in this video

All I know is I have to finish these next two weeks and then two bigs things will happen:

1. I get a job

2. I tell you a surprise

(a secret surprise)

Dance

I don't know much about dance, 

but what a beautiful piece of writhing this girl is doing.

Love the minimalism of the whole composition.

Expecto Patronum! How to Throw a Severely Belated B-Day bash

When throwing surprise birthday parties it's important to remember to wait at least seven months.

Happy 26th Kris!

(Born July 15, 1986)

Bleach

I gotz some mad roots y'all.

Time to bleach away my brains.

Cinnamon Coconut Almond Butter

I've been wanting to make almond butter for a while now. It's one of those things on my making list.

-Others include:

Cashew Cheese

-slinky silky romper

-money

Anyway, I just kind of winged it.

And it worked.

General list of ingredients:

-Raw Almonds

-Coconut Oil

-Pumpkin Pie Spice

-Powdered Sugar

blend, blend, blend to your consistencies content.

-racha

Bed Time Beverage

I found a delicious bed time drink in my brain the other day:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 Tablespoon local honey (Agave to make vegan)

1 capful of coconut extract

heat until simmering.

Since I've become vegan one of the things I have missed the most is hot milk with honey. It's a bed time beverage that was introduced to me while I went to school in Austria. There was a coffee shop in the chalet we lived in and the students ran it. We'd open it up at night and sit around sipping hot drinks and playing phase ten or taking pictures to send home.

I love this hot bevvie, I've been drinking this almost every night this week. It gives me a reminiscing heart.

-racha

Daily Vitamins: For Your Health

I take four different vitamins everyday. 

Biotin for my nails and the last three for my veganism.

There's a lot of contention over whether vitamins help or not. Are they placebos? Are the people who take them healthy only because those people were already healthy? Do they prevent cancer? Are they dangerous? Can they lead the swallower to experience heightened feelings of health righteous judgment when faced with a less healthy compatriot?

Who can know...aside from the thousands of scientists researching them...

All I know is that I used to get headaches everyday until I started taking and additional iron supplement.

And my nails have gotten considerably stronger since the biotin. 

And if I get surprise pregnant, hopefully that tiny babens won't leach all of my vital nutrients away.

Stopping the Start

I've wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember (last tuesday, jk rofls, 8th grade)...

you know though, 

sometimes dreamz die. 

And it's probably your fault.

-kisses