Annie Meg...

confession

2011-01-31T17:55:00.000-05:00

I didn't make it a full month as a vegeterian. Now for the excuse...When you have such a limited diet, taking out something that I didn't need to take out just seemed tedious.

I haven't gotten the results back from the allergy test, but I am pretty sure this is it.

I did find a wonderful snack that I am excited to share...it is glutten free, dairy free, soy free, non gmo and vegan friendly.

Now, I can't say that this is a decadent treat. But it hits the spot and I haven't gotten hungry 10 minutes after eating,

I have to say my perspective is better now that I have somewhat figured things out...I honestly can't wait to get the results back so that I can stop being so obsessed with food and move on to my new diet being normal.

It's Almost Over

2011-01-25T17:14:00.000-05:00

Well I am approaching the end of the month being meat free.
I have to say overall it was not a problem for me. I really don't eat meat that much. This month has been a learning adventure into eating and my health. I have found that food deeply affects my body and how I feel. I will be getting blood tests for food allergies next (when I actually have time to). So in light of the fact that I have a lot of food that bothers me, meat is something I am not willing to give up. But from here on out I will be ordering only organic, free range, antibiotic and local meat. It will be a bit more pricey but I think for me it is worth it.

I have to say that I am ready to eat meat again.

Sundays

2011-01-23T14:29:00.000-05:00

I love snowy sundays. I love looking out and seeing the wonderful white snow. I love hearing the sound of a snow shovel scraping the sidewalk.

Today I will be catching up on our book club pick as I am a bit behind. So far I find it interesting learning about other beliefs and faiths. It convicts me that I don't know enough about other people and reminds me that I am sure of my faith more than ever. I am saddened that so many people give and have the wrong idea about Christ Followers. It is such a freeing religion, not filled with mysticism but love and grace in the midst of failure.

This book is very interesting and I am only about 50 pages in. I can't wait for my book club to discuss so we can share our thoughts.

Also,

I thought I would fill you in on my latest about the whole wheat free thing. My results are NEGATIVE, so I do not have celiac disease. My next step is to get tested for food allergies. However I am not researching those and I really think that I might have a food intolerance not an allergy. From what I understand eating too much of something your body is intolerant to can lead to an allergy and then eventually to an auto immune disorder. At first I was disappointed to the negative results because I wanted an explanation for my not feeling well and now I am excited and hopeful that I can make myself feel better just by being more intentional with my eating habits.

Here's to a healthier year all around....

My evening eating gluten free

2011-01-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

Tonight...Ah tonight. It all should be blamed on my use of Pledge.

Tonight my husband agreed to go hang out with a friend so I cold get some work done at home. I set a goal for myself to make good headway on a project for work and then I could reward myself with a yummy dinner.
Once I finished my project I headed upstairs to make the dinner that I had been planning in my head the entire time I was working,
Rice Spaghetti topped with spinach, mushrooms, black olives, feta cheese sauteed in olive oil and pesto. See I am very proud of myself for learning to cook with flavors other than salt and pepper. I have a thing for spinach and mushroom. And since I am not currently eating meat, I need a lot of them as they to provide substance for me.

I finished cooking my dinner and headed down to the basement to eat in front of the TV and watch re-runs of Greys Anatomy. Here is where my night stopped going so wonderfully.
About halfway down my flight of stair I began to fall. I felt my back and elbow hit about 7 stairs until I landed on the floor with my arm out to the right and my food...oh my yummy food scattered across each step. My beautiful red bowl shattered into pieces. My black olives gone to waste. My elbow hurts...alot.
Now all of a sudden my grateful heart that my husband was gone (not that I don't love having him with me) so I could work turned into me mildly judging him for the fact that he wasn't here.
Now I don't have any yummy food and it is such a process to fix myself anything, due to the gluten free, meat free and somewhat dairy free diet that I am on. I am not sure what I am more sad about the fact that I have no more food and am hungry or the fact that my elbow hurts...I could have done something pretty serious to my elbow but I don't know.

I blame it on the pledge. This week I got over zealous while hand cleaning my stairs I decided in my mind that I wanted them to look shiny so I added just a tiny mist of pledge to my cleaning.

In hindsight, that was a poor choice.

Fakes

2011-01-16T19:44:00.000-05:00

Today I am starting to eat gluten free products...I am now aware that there are a plethera of foods available that are gluten free.
For Breakfast, along with a spinach and mushroom omlette I had a gluten free bagel.
For Dinner, I had gluten free spaghetti tossed with veggies.
For Dessert, I had a gluten free, casein free, dairy free swiss cake role topped with gluten free, hydrogenated oil free, high fructose corn syrup free whipped topping.

None of these things tasted quite right but they will do. What I am realizing is that there are several things I will need to learn to cook on my own.

Doctor Drama

2011-01-13T16:26:00.000-05:00

So I have deduced on my own that I need to be gluten free. I have been so for a week and feel much better. Went to the doctor today and that was a waste of time. It was a new doctor and I saw a nurse practitioner and she actually said to me, "what would you like to do," after I explained what I had been experiencing. Ok so those of you who know me, know that I don't go to doctors...this is why, either they don't listen at all or they don't do anything. I want you to help me feel better dear doctor...I want you to help me figure out what is wrong. Finally after pulling teeth trying to get her to make suggestions, I just told her I wanted to get tested for celiac desease. Blood drawn today so we will see.

On the up side I went to the health food store today to find some snacks that I could eat. There are several fun gluten free products. I spent me some good money on gluten free products.

Beans and Rice

2011-01-10T19:42:00.000-05:00

Tonight I sauteed zuchini and garlic together in olive oil and then added black beans. I had this atop brown rice and it was tasty. I did add some sea salt but I made the excuse that since I couldn't add shredded cheddar cheese on top I deserved some salt!

For dessert I plan to have some plain yogurt with dried cranberries.

This all has been tasty, I was only mildly jealous of my husbands rotisserie chicken.

First Week Down

2011-01-09T18:18:00.000-05:00

So,
It has been a pretty good week going vegeterian...Although, I have been so busy that I haven't had much time to eat. Other than the soup, I fixed no meals until this weekend. I have had a lot of salad and veggies. I am enjoying the flavors. I am trying to also cook without butter and salt just because I have found that I rely too much on them. On top of the vegeterian lifestyle I have for the most part decided to take gluten out of my diet. This is proving to be a much more difficult task. I think that I will need to adopt the gluten free lifestyle more permanently and this means I will probably not continue the vegeterian thing, but we'll see. I have decided that I will only eat meat that I buy from local providers when I do go back to it. Honestly my goal is to be more healthy and honestly neither of the changes have made much of a difference in how I feel, so for now I will just keep plugging.

Yum

2011-01-03T17:47:00.000-05:00

Just ate my dinner! The fabulous soup I fixed yesterday. I have to admit that I did some tweaking. I did not add the right amount of onions or shallots but seriously, those suck to cut. At one point I was cutting the onions and closing my eyes because they were burning so much. I finally stopped as I figured it is not in my best interest to not have fingers. I also added more vegetable base and mushrooms. I like mushrooms.

It is a bit spicy but seriously good!!!

First Recipe

2011-01-01T22:16:00.001-05:00

Vegetarian Soup

2 Cans Quartered Artichoke Hearts
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1 lb Thinly Sliced Shallots
2 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Cup Flour
1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar
1/2 Gal Water
3 tbs Vegetable Base
3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Ground Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tbs Dried Thyme
3 Portabella Mushrooms
1 lb Fresh Mushrooms
1 lb Sliced Carrots
1/4 Cup Capers
1/4 Cup chopped Fresh Parsley

Thinly slice artichokes and set aside

In Stock pot saute onions, garlic and shallots in olive oil and set on low. Cook 15 minutes.

Sprinkle flour over onions and cook for 1 minutes. Stir in vinegar and cook for approximately 3 minutes in order for vinegar to evaporate

Stir in water, vegetable base, salt, pepper, cayenne, nutmeg, thyme and sliced artichokes. Cook for 25 minutes.

Add mushrooms and carrots. Cook for 15 minutes.

Stir in capers and parsley. Season with salt and serve.

So there is my first recipe. I will let you know how it turns out!

Chuck and Birds

2010-12-29T14:02:00.000-05:00

I was just telling Jason the other day that I would love it if we had a grocery store that delivers and we now do!!! Even better it delivers local produce and meat! AWESOME

Food Choices

2010-12-28T16:03:00.000-05:00

Many of you know that I have started this journey because I have been uncomfortable for the past 8 months. I think that I have known for awhile now that I have a glutin and dairy allergy. So here it is.

I LOVE FOOD. I love creamy and spicy and starchy and buttery and salty food. I love enjoying the flavors in my mouth...And although I have a texture issue, for the most part I love the texture of most food in my mouth. Changing my eating habits feels like I am losing something, feels like I am giving something up and I may miss out. I know it sounds stupid but changing my eating havits feels like I will experience a loss.

So today I work on saying good bye to my love of crappy food and hello to food that will make me feel better.
I think ultimately I will need to go glutin free and dairy free for good but I know that for me to let it all go at once is going to be a loss.
By the way did I mention that I am also giving up coffee as well...
Good by food addictions!

New Year, New Thoughts

2010-12-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I am starting over.
This year I am starting a new journey. A journey to living simply. A new journey into living healthy. A new journey into living intentionally.

In January, the first part of my journey will be experimenting with my eating habits. For the entire month of January I am going to experiment with eating as a vegeterian. Now I can say with almost full certainty that this is nothing something I plan to continue permanently but I can say that I think I need to make some drastic changes and I think this is a good start.

With this interesting change, I plan to keep up with my blog to share what I am learning and what I am cooking.
I'll keep you posted.

follow through

2009-02-11T20:54:00.002-05:00

I started the blog with full intentions of keeping it up but, I just haven't. And other than wedding planning I have nothing new to update.
I did however come home to a pleasant surprise waiting for me. My old pastor Jeff Baxter wrote a book. It's called Following Jesus into college and Beyond. He a gifted teacher and I am honored that he would share his book with me. I can't wait to read it.

FEAR

2009-01-14T17:56:00.004-05:00

As the nuptuals are getting closer I realize that I am the type of person who as much as I strive for peace and much as I desire contentment, there is something in me that just won't allow that to happen. Jason and I are doing so well and having so much fun together its exciting and I can't wait for him to be my husband. Everything seems too good to be true, I keep wondering when it's going to end. As the snow falls and winter brings beauty and destruction I am not only very aware of my motality but Jason's as well. I am so worried about him all the time. I just desire for him to be safe and I am so worried that something is going to happen and I am going to lose him. I watch myself wanting to keep a tight grip on him and that's impossible. I know that this is all somthing that is designed to steal my joy and the blessing that I know is from the LORD but I fear.
Ok there it is and I lay it out there for all to see my vulnerability

NEW YEAR! NEW LIFE! NEW ADVENTURE!

2009-01-02T21:46:00.004-05:00

I contemplate as everyone does what they can do differently in the upcoming year! I am so excited about the adventures I will be entering into. Here are a few things that I am looking forward to.
1. Getting Married.
2. Starting a new life as a wife.
3. Moving in with Jason.
4. Going to Charleston.
5. Connecting more than I have with my dear friends.

Here are a few things that I am striving for...
1. Balance.
2. Continued Contentment.
3. Stopping my continual need for conviction and embracing grace.
4. Keeping my mouth shut more than I desire to open it.
5. Stop judging decisions and just make them and allow other people to make them on their own.
6. Stop living up to the worst in me and embrace the gentle, kind, person God made me to be.

We will see how it goes!

Thirth was so strange for me. I've really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult - C.S. Lewis

Oh the Mount that I am trying to stand on!

2008-12-10T22:14:00.003-05:00

So in the past two weeks I have been pondering what it looks like to hunger and thirst after righteousness and what it looks like to possess mercy. What I realize is that the only time I grasp any part of the Beatitudes is when I am actually studying them. Then they flit away. Let me tell you the beatitudes I have studied and what I have learned thus far.
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

How many times have I read those beatitudes and not paid any attention because as simple as they sound, really what the crap do they mean. This is me being real here. I love scriputre and there is so much that we really don't understand.
Ok so I am going to share with you what I know so far about these verses.

Blessed = Approved by God. As we strive in our relationship with Him and with others he is approving of us and he desires to reward us.

Poor in Spirit=Finally realizing that we are sinners and we all have fallen short. When we are broken in Spirit we realize that there is nothing that we can do to make us approved before God outside of Christ. (this is really easy for us Christians to say, but I really don't think we understand this.) We can not gossip, we can have great atttitudes, we can cheat or not cheat, but the only way that we can and will be approved by God is if we accept Jesus Christ as the Savior of our sins....Moving on. So we accept Jesus, we realize we are sinners and then we become broken by them.

Mourn=This really doesn't have to do with death and dying of relatives. I know that this verse is stated at funerals but from what I have been studying I don't think that it relates. To mourn as Christ was talking about here is to mourn for our sin to understand that we are sinners and Jesus is the only fixer of that.

Meek=This is a natural response to our mournfulness. Being meek is being humble and realizing out need for the Lord's power. Being meek is not abusing the power you think you have. It is finally coming to the conclusion that the only effective power in your life comes from the Lord.

Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness=This usually ties in with desiring the Lords power in your life. As I catch glimpses of my meekness (is that a word?) I desire more and more for the Lord to make me righteous. NOT self-righteous but for the Lord to make me right with him. I deisre to be the woman the Lord wants me to be. This is where knowing Him and being in His scripture becomes an addiction for me. I crave it. I crave Him!

Mercy=Still pondering this so work with me here. But mercy is an attitude not necessarily and act. Some CEO of a big business can show mercy on an employee after he has screwed up repeatedly by letting him keep his job. However there is no mercy when he complains about the employee and continues to make him fearful of losing his job. Mercy is realizing where people are in their inadequacies and trying to understand them. The proper way for this boss to show mercy would be to let the employee keep his job and then spend time training and equipping the employee to do his job properly. For me right now showing mercy is understanding people with extreme patience. I don't generally have that much power over anyone in my life so showing mercy is not something that I have to do on a daily basis. However today the Lord showed me that I continually have to show mercy to a person who has hurt me deeply. I have a very hard time forgiving this person and I want to live in my dislike for her. What I learned today that my attitude about her needs to change. I need to remind myself that she behaves and responds based on the hurt that exists in her life. So my mercy for her would be to live my life daily as though I have forgiven her and I no longer operate in the hurt. I don't encounter this person anymore so there is no reason to hold on to hurt other that to dislike her. So unnecessary!!

Well...did any of that make sense. Please comment with questions, things you take issue with things you agree with or things you just don't understand.

Been Awhile

2008-12-10T21:41:00.002-05:00

Well,
It has been awhile since I had a post, which I figured would happen, but life as usual has been busy. Let me update you.
Grandma sick. My days consist of work, go to hospital spend time with grandma and work there, go home and work. It has been fun!!! Not really.
On Wednesday nights I lead a group of couples who have new babies and we spend time talking about how to improve their relationship. I love this group it is a precious group of couples and they all share well together. Sometimes it is the highlight of my week. This week it really is.
The past two weeks we have been talking about having productive fights, today we talked with the couples about identifying when we are reaching out boiling point and how can we demonstrate that to our partner without breaking and then respecting each other to take a break and discuss later. It was a productive conversation and I just really adore these couples.

Thought Processes

2008-12-01T18:33:00.002-05:00

I have been studying the Sermon on the Mount since July or August. This is a very complicated section of scripture for me because everything is very backwards. What Christ tells us to do is completely opposite of our instinct and what seems natural. Let me take you on my small journey of learning about this.

Lately the Lord has been teaching me to give up my need to be right and has been challenging me to adopt this thought process in every area of my life. For those of you who know me, you know that this is no small feat. On that note let me get back to the Sermon on the mount. I have done a few bible studies and now I am digging into each section. So far and have just been processing the first three Beatitudes.

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit. From what I am learning, being poor in spirit is actually being broken over our sin. Not just being aware of the fact that we are sinners but really being broken over our offensive sin nature. Being Poor in Spirit is recognizing you will always be left spiritually wanting, if you don't allow the Lord to work in your life and if you don't allow Him to correct you. I look back on my life and seriously question how often I have recognized how sinful I am. Usually I look back and realize just how right I am and how wrong others are. What's that called? SIN!!!!! (can you hear the game show buzzer going off in the background)

Blessed are those who Mourn. This is said at all funerals because the second part of it says that people who mourn will be comforted. In my reading and my spiritual walking I am learning that this is not what mourning means at all. What I am learning is that when we are aware of just how sinful we are every second of every day we will begin to mourn over it. God wants us to mourn because when we mourn we grow in our reliance on Him. We don't like to be uncomfortable, but I think that is exactly what we need. We need to be a little uncomfortable over our sin, otherwise we won't mourn about it.

Blessed are the Meek. This one has been the one that has taken me more to really grasp therefore I will need you to bear with me as I write this out. Being meek does not mean being mousy. Being meek does not mean not being able to be successful. Being meek means that you are capable of controlling your power and not abusing it. This means that once you are aware of your sinful nature and need for the Lord, you mourn about that sinful nature and everything gains a new perspective. No longer is there a need to prove you are right because the Lord will do that for you. This is backwards living. We are told that we are supposed to exert our power and push our way to the front. Let people know what they are doing wrong so that you can get yourself ahead. God wants just the opposite, put others first, be willing to be last, give up your need to be right.

If only this method was followed, do you think that we would be in the same state that we are in right now? If people had listened to Christ's words do you think that we would need to bail out these huge corporations? Would we really have to have discussions about CEO's being greedy? Would our government be in the deficit we are in? Would our divorce rate be so high? Would we have as many people in prison? Would we have so many people on welfare? In my opinion no. I know this is a huge sweeping statement, but think about it. If we would allow the Lord to work in our lives and convict us of our sin, we would be able to confess our sins, be forgiven for them and then allow the Lord to be the provider and the fixer of our problems. I have found that even when truly trying and failing miserably at it, if there is surrender in our hearts the Lord can and does move mountains. Now... if only I wouldn't suck so much at needing to be right! I am getting just a smidgen better though.

one more

2008-11-30T15:57:00.001-05:00

I don't post pictures well. Out of the three photos below the first two are swtiched around. This first dress is the smutty dress and the second one is the one I would have bought!

2008-11-30T15:42:00.003-05:00

Weddings

I am writing two posts in a row because shopping is aparently on my mind. Since I am now getting my wedding dress made, I thought that I would post some of the wedding dresses I looked at when shopping at David's Bridal. None of these dresses really fit my personality, so I am very thankful for the opportunity to have my dress made. Ok...enough babbling here are my dress options.

1. This dress is the dress I probably would have gotten had I not gone to Crystal.
2. This next dress is my smutty dress but I just had to try it on.
3. I liked this dress but my mom thought it looked it bit trashy.

4. The dress up top mom made me try on. All I have to say is "SERIOUSLY?!"

Yoga Pants

2008-11-30T15:33:00.003-05:00

Let us talk about materialism and how I sometimes am deep in the middle of it. There are many times when I am out and about and I pick something up that I would like to have, I walk around the store with it and then I put it down (usually not in the right place. I know I know it's terrible, but I give the workers at the store their jobs). I am usually pretty good at asking myself, "do I really need this?" However, there are times when I get something in my mind that I really want and I usually end up getting it. It usually is an unnecessary purchase but I become obsessed. For instance, last April, I had this crazy need for electric blue heels. I really really wanted a pair of blue heels, why you may ask? I have no idea. Either way I ended up getting a pair and have worn them three times I think.

So my new crazy thing that I really want to have is a pair of wide leg yoga pants. I don't know why, I just want them. Not only do I want a pair of yoga pants but I want a cute warm top to go with them. Now I have one pair of yoga pants so I don't really need another pair, but does in my crazy mind it doesn't matter. So...today I went and bought a a nifty little outfit. Oh the desire to shop. I will probably have to start praying for conviction over my desire to have. I usually have to do that about once a year.

"MADE"

2008-11-25T18:28:00.002-05:00

Many exciting events happened today. Ok not really many but...

Today I met with the woman who is making my wedding dress. Her name is Crystal Allen. First of all she is beautiful and has amazing hair. Second she is extremely talented and I can't wait to see what she is going to do with the dress! Today we picked out the fabric and color swatches.

I just finished watching the end of an episode of MADE on MTV. The girl that wanted to be "made," wanted to be a cheerleader. She really was not that good but made significant imporvements at the end of the show. And she made the cheerleading squad. I was so proud of her and I totally sat here and cried. She made her high school dream!!

Lastly I had a great time with Jesus this morning and I can't wait to share what I am learning. More to come...

Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T17:46:00.000-05:00

My family celebrated Thanksgiving early this year. Usually our family holidays are somewhat tense and chaotic. This year we our Thanksgiving was a blessing. We had so much fun. My little brother flew in from New York and my sister, brother in law and my nephews were here as well. I love being with my family and wish that I had more time to spend with them.

Annie Meg

2008-11-24T07:55:00.000-05:00

I have many friends who keep people updated on their lives via blogging, myspace, facebook... and I thought that perhaps it would be time to join the bandwagon to see if I have anything interesting to contribute. I am not sure what this blog is going to look like, maybe it will be postings about my spritual journey and learnings. Maybe it will be an update of all the wedding plans. Maybe it will include details of my oh so interesting life. Or maybe, it will be filled with all of my insightful wonderments.