Chopped.

I had heard of the post wedding chop, but I never thought I'd do it myself.  Well, a couple months following our wedding I did it - I chopped off my long locks!  Here's the before, the hairspiration, and the after.

Before

     

One of my very favorite photos of my dad and me <3

Hairspiration

After

Please excuse the closet selfie!

I've actually cut my hair even a bit shorter now, which I felt was more flattering.  I visted my hairstylest today and she asked me if I think I'll grow it long again.  I have to say, I'm not sure!  Actually, I'm sure I will, just not anytime soon.

Did you do a post wedding chop?

Cleanse.

Have you heard of the Dr. Oz 3 Day Detox Cleanse?  Well I've done it a few times - most recently this past weekend - and I'm a fan.    

The hubby and I did our first cleanse together after watching Fat Sick and Nearly Dead.  That one is a juice cleanse and we did it for five days.  The first time was great actually but each time after that was torture.  And by torture I mean by day three you're dreaming about the McDonalds french fries you haven't even eaten in 15 years!  I like the Dr. Oz cleanse because it doesn't strip out the fiber in the fruits and vegetables and frankly, three days is way easier than five!  Or seven, or 30...  

Unless you're planning to do a serious - I mean like 30 or 60 day - cleanse, it's not a good way to loose weight.  The first time we did the cleanse we both lost about 10 pounds, but I gained back half that as soon as we started eating regular food again.  A cleanse is a great way to reset your eating habits, or to jump start some other kind of health regimen.  I usually do them at the end of winter or if I've been particularly bad about eating gluten.  

We had a lot of the ingredients already (like the coconut oil, probiotic, and stevia) and there were a few things I just skipped (like the lavender and multivitamins) so I spent about $30 for all three days.  

Morning

I think the morning drink is my favorite.  It has bananas which I HATE but I use a half instead of a whole and it's not so bad.  If you squeeze a little extra lemon you can barely taste it.

Afternoon

You'll notice that I had to use a food processor for this one.  I have no idea how other people prepare it, but it is thick and there is a lot of it.  My poor immersion blender could barely stand up to the kale, cucumber and celery!

Evening

I also quite like the evening drink.  Who can turn down blueberries and mangos?

Kindness.

At work we recently had a training about efficiency.  Every six weeks or so all 100 of us are expected to attend trainings aptly named, “University.”  Some are pretty boring – word to the wise, don’t ever miss the one on sexual harassment, or else you’ll have to take the online version as a makeup! – and some can actually be pretty life changing.  I’m not sure I’d put this one squarely in the ‘life changing’ category, but there was something about it that has stuck with me.

At the beginning of the training the facilitator asked, “Who would you be if you had more time?”  We were supposed to write down a characteristic that we’d possess, or display more frequently if time was never an issue.  I immediately thought of kindness.  As I’ve been thinking more about it, I realize that kindness is really just an expression. 

For me, kindness is an expression of patience.  Many years ago I made it my New Year’s resolution to always ask sales people how they are doing, and mean it.  You’d be surprised how people light up when you ask how they are and wait for a genuine response.  Try it the next time you order coffee or buy movie tickets.  This exercise at work made me think more about that resolution.

For my husband, I think kindness is an expression of his generosity.  I admire so much about him that there is always time to pick up a stray piece of litter.  There is always time to stop and help someone who needs a hand crossing the street, or a lift from a bench.  Recently, we were on a quick run to Home Depot to pick up some plywood for a project and before I knew it he was showing this young father how to cut wood at an angle so that he could build his son a train table while I sat waiting on one of those giant rolling ladders.  He never lets a lack of time stop him from being generous, and in turn, kind.

A lot of the time, I’m so busy in my own head, checking off items from my to-do list, that I don’t even notice those around me.  This year, I want to stop letting the clock run my life and make time for kindness. 

Who would you be if you had more time?

Bacon Pesto Mac and Cheese.

Word on the street is Martha Stewart has the best mac and cheese recipe out there.  Now, I've tried that recipe and it's pretty darn good!  But if Martha wins the traditional mac and cheese award, this recipe wins the most unique mac and cheese award.  I'm always on a search for new and easy recipes that will leave leftovers for another night's dinner or weekday lunches.  My girlfriend recommended Picky Palate for healthy recipes, and since then it's been one of my favorites.

See her recipe here.

Of course I used gluten free noodles - my favorite brand from Trader Joe's - the brown rice penne noodles.  I also don't use quite as much bacon.  The first time I tried the recipe I went out and bought cow's milk, but generally the hubby drinks almond milk and I don't drink any at all, so this time I used what we had - unsweetened almond breeze - and it worked great!

A few simple ingredients!

It came together in a couple of steps.

And voila!

What are your favorite blogs for healthy and easy recipes?

Getaway Wardrobe.

I've got a pretty big birthday coming up next month and to celebrate I have a couple of very special trips planned! The first trip on my actual birthday weekend is to Napa with the hubby. We're going to do some leisurely wine tasting and then have dinner at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. Can.not.wait!

napa wardrobe by thedailyromantic featuring a highlander picnic basket

The following weekend I'm going with my best girlfriends to LA for a night of dress-up and dancing. Can't wait to break out the sparkles!

LA wardrobe by thedailyromantic featuring a kate spade handbag

My husband teases me that I like to celebrate my birthday for the whole month, and while I don't think that's true exactly, I do think a girl should be able to celebrate with all the special people in life and that's what I intend to do!

How do you like to celebrate?

Kitty Approved.

This is our newly placed garden path, and those are our cats reaping the rewards!  Originally this path was along the fence in the dirt but the hubby wants to put in garden boxes and plant a few trees so the stone had to go!  

See the trees back there?  It's along that fence where the path was.

So now that you've seen the after, here's how you can do it yourself!  On a side note, I realize I've been posting projects that have been done from start to finish by my husband but I swear I do some DIY, too!  Anyway, back to the point.  Here's what you'll need.

First, we talked about the best place for the path, considering both our future plans to expand the house and our backyard's current functionality.  We have a shed in the back and we felt it made the most sense to connect the patio to the shed via the path!  Then the hubby dug the first hole.

One step down!  The hubby filled in the edges and set each step slightly under ground level so that the lawn mower can pass over the stone easily.

The finished product!  Now that we've lived with it for a couple of weeks, we're going to add a couple more steps on either end to widen the path.

And just for fun, another picture of our sweet boy Chase enjoying the outdoors.  They are seriously so happy to have a backyard to roam!

Next up in the backyard we plan to plant the two lime trees and the avocado tree you see hanging out in the background, get some patio furniture for the paved area, and maybe hang a hammock - just in time for summer.

Kitchen Fail.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been cooking a lot, and I've had lots of planned posts about my successes in the kitchen!  Well, unfortunately, I have a few fails to report instead.  Now, I think it would be unfair to the author to blame my failed dinners on the cookbook and I still have high, HIGH hopes for this book.

Umm, not like the picture in the cookbook!

About five years ago I developed an allergy to gluten that caused me to break out unexpectedly in hives. Full.body.hives...  Anyway, it's been a long road trying to figure out what I can eat and the biggest surprise of all has been learning just how expensive gluten free food is!  I like to cook and bake but I like it to be easy and cheap, too! So I was thrilled when my mother-in-law gave me this book.

You just saw the result of my first attempt - butter cookies.  I'll save you the picture overload and just tell you that I rolled the dough too thin and the butter was probably too warm so they turned out ugly but still delicious!

My next attempt was ricotta gnocchi!  I'm afraid this one was both ugly and inedible...  It started off easy, with just a few ingredients.

I rolled them into a respectable looking ball.

I rolled them out into "ropes" and cut them into one inch pieces.  Stamping them with a fork was even kind of fun!

Here's where things went downhill.  I followed the instructions to drop them into boiling water 20 pieces at a time.  The book said it would take about 3 minutes to cook them and they'd rise to the top.  Well they rose to the top, but only after about 30 seconds each!  So I was faced with a dilemma, let them continue boiling for the three minutes or pull them out right as they rose to the surface?  

I tried both methods.  Unfortunately, neither produced the gnocchi I had been dreaming of!  So there you have it - a serious kitchen fail.  

I have since tried the recipe for chicken pot pie, which included making the dough from scratch.  At this point, I wasn't about to pause to take photos of another potentially failed recipe, but I am happy to report the pot pies were delish! Next time, I will take photos and share.

Do you have any go-to gluten free recipes?