Yumm yums

Hey there my people! This is a particular shout out to Breanna who is always curious and willing to listen to me blab about my funky food habits - thanks Bre!

So we all know that veggies are good and we need to eat more of them, blah blah, BLAH!

But really - we do. If you are like me and you don't like to eat veggies often (or maybe you just forget?) come along on my journey to be a more veggie-conscious and health-forward consumer.

My latest excursion is this:

After slowly ridding my kitchen of junk food (Thanks SO much to Danny and Suzy for going along with me on this!) and thus negating temptation, I have embarked on the "pepper phase".

As many of you know I have recently drawn a bit back from the spinach shot phase - and now I am working toward including bell peppers in my daily routine. Let me know if you're interested in details, I can always blog my full diet habits to satisfy popular demand - I just don't want to bore everyone unless they ask for it!

So the bell peppers... there are not many vegetables that I enjoy eating and even fewer that can translate into snack food that I can bring to work. It's hard to build a good habit if you can't bring it to work with you. Thus, I settle on the beautiful bell pepper - a perfect vegetable which is highly portable and thoroughly enjoyable!

So as I sit here and snack on the baggie of Julienne style (I sliced last night) oranges and yellows, I think about "how good are these for me really?" I curiously Google them, as I often do, and found that I have made a very wise choice!

Here's my favorite article so far - everything you ever wanted to know!

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=50

Basic highlights:

Bell peppers are super high in Vitamin C and Vitamin A. These are two of the top antioxidants to help reduce free-radicals in your body (which are responsible for all kind of nasties like cancer). Vitamin A is also a great protector against lung disease: the article mentions how those people who smoke until they are 90 and never get emphyzema can thank thier diet - because it's usually due to higher levels of Vitamin A.

Red bell peppers are the very best - they have lycopene (like tomatoes). Lycopene is a whole other fantastic thing called a carotenoid - and it goes after cancer too. So spend that extra $0.30 per pepper to get the red ones!!! Red is also VERY good for your eyes with lutein and beta-carotene nutrients. I say these taste the very best as well!

Generally all bell peppers are high in fiber and folic acid - the green ones have the most fiber. These nutrients provide a great protection against colon disease and cancer.

SO! Go ahead and get started. I mean - don't overdo it, but maybe try to start with baby steps by sneaking some bell peppers into your snack time. I hope I can stick with it!

Remeber - raw and organic is the very best way to get all of the nutrients without anything else added by people. Go to Henry's to get the organic peppers whole. Costco has a great variety pack right now of miniature sweet peppers (another name for bell pepers) and they are ready to eat! Always wash them off before you bite in, of course.

Enjoy, and read the whole article when you get a chance - it's awesome.

-Lisa

Get a clue!

So I’ve been hearing a lot about Obama this and Obama that and Sarah Palin is going to be the next president and pretty soon Glen Beck is going to put both feet in his mouth while shooting Al Gore in the foot and the economy is more important than the environment and everything is a LIE and where’s MY bailout?

And I say SO WHAT??? Have you ever been in middle management? Better yet, have you ever been a parent or a child and had a family at all? Don’t you know that you can’t make everyone happy all of the time?

So Obama is president – and you are ecstatic or you are pissed off. I didn’t go crying to mamma when Bush was in office for eight years so why do some people feel like it’s their right to huff and puff and blow their hot air all over the place now that Obama is here?

Sure, we have the freedom of speech to share our opinions and not be jailed but the last time I checked – the president (no matter who he/she is) actually upholds that right for us.

So honestly people, your conservative, khaki, Tommy Bahama britches are all in a twist because something is different now – DEAL with it!

I will be writing a lot more about this, but for now, HEAR THIS:

You who have “worked hard” for (or were privileged enough to have, I don’t care) your own money and assets - You who are old, and family oriented – You who likely love God – You who can’t handle it when the donut shop down the street discontinues your favorite cream-filled variety: Try to remember what it was like when you were young and poor and life was full of energy and change. Remember why you strove to live every day in the first place – the passion, the freedom, and the chance to find happiness around every corner. Remember what it felt like to rebel, and fight against The MAN!

You who are young (or young at heart) – You who think money grows on trees and credit cards and bailouts are good things – You who voted for Obama just BECAUSE he was different and paid no mind to actual policies – You who will eat any donut as long as it is free – You who wants to always learn and flow and grow to the music in your head: Remember that not all change is good. THINK that if you manage to survive all of your death defying stunts, you may someday want to cling to your money as closely as you cling to your I Phone today. Imagine, how crazy it would be to live your life like a live wire in the moment – for the rest of your life. Someday you may be just as boring as your parents – so consider how you’ll feel about these issues then.

It’s all about perspective people. I challenge YOU now. All of you need to break out of your comfort zone. Know thy enemy! Maybe you are not enemies after all... "Enemy" is a concept created by humans, and we have the power to change any concept that we create.

Fox news people (you know who you are!!!) you need to watch at least 3 other news stations to get the real picture – OK? Don't look at me like that - you can do it - really!

This goes for staunch NPR and Daily Show fans as well – go turn on Bill O’Reilly, Dr. Laura and tune in to Fox as well. Listen to them, the experience is worth the pain - Be strong!

Learn about a religion that is different from yours – particularly one you dislike. I’m not asking you to believe – just do a little research.

If you’ve always lived in the suburbs – come spend a day with me in the city to see some culture.

If you’ve only lived in the city – go visit my Mom and Dad and they’ll give you the Santee suburbia experience (one of a kind!!!!).

Try not to judge anything or anyone before you understand. I know it’s hard, but just trying will help you enormously.

Do it for me, do it for you, or in the immortal words of consumer driven Nike ads:

JUST DO IT!

25 Things You Hate and Love About Lisa

By popular demand I have decided to post this list on my blog. I am very fond of it, and my Facebook crowd enjoyed it as well. Here it is for you, now, enjoy! :)


25 Things about me:

1) My happiness improves significantly in the presence of furry mammals, consequently my voice escalates in pitch and my vocabulary shrinks to jibberish at the same time.

2) I am a borderline hypochondriac, but kind of in a good way.

3) My favorite food at the moment is veggie nuggets with buffalo sauce - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

4) I want to be a writer, singer, pianist, guitarist and dancer extraordinaire - unfortunately I have the attention span of a flea and have great difficulty actually mastering these skills.

5) I LOVE the water and swimming. I just recently began to recover from a shoulder injury and I can now swim again in small doses - it makes me soooooo happy and I could swim for hours!

6) I guess this is where I talk about surfing: many call me a "surfer" but I call myself "one who surfs". I no longer have the beach bum lifestyle, but the addiction to the ocean and it's waves will always be a part of me. I don't ride the "big ones" anymore but I still LOVE to paddle out in normal conditions - it rocks my world!

7) I truly believe that the best remedy for the common cold (in the early stages) is a shot of tequila followed by a tequila-orange juice cocktail. Maybe two of those. The next day squeeze a whole lemon into a large glass of water and drink it. You will feel like 100 bucks!

8) I am a virtual beacon for fleas, they smell me from miles away and flock to the Lisa buffet. Once, I pet a stray cat and got bit approx~ 16 times as I walked away. RIDICULOUS!!! Ask Danny, I bombed the shit out of the house last summer with RAID so badly that we couldn't breathe inside for four days! The flea make me CRAZY!

9) I work my ass off. Literally, I sit in a chair about 10 hours a day (only four days a week thank goodness) and I fear that one day my poor ass will fall clean off and run away and be like "Fu%k you! I'm OUT!". I wouldn't recommend a desk job to anyone.

10) When I get married it will be in a purple dress. REALLY purple...yeah!

11) On that note, I do NOT like diamonds. Yeah I like them they are shiny and pretty and shit but EVERYONE has one and they are so ridiculously unoriginal. The whole De Beers tradition thing makes me sick, and don't get me started on the diamond industry... But I digress... if someone proposes to me with a diamond he will get rejected.

12) There is a very good chance I will have twins - since my mom is an identical twin.

13) I think the number 13 rocks! Thirteen is just as lucky if not more so than the other numbers!

14) I played basketball in high school and I sucked. I did get the award for "Best Defensive Player" because I really enjoyed knocking girls over and stealing the ball - not to mention that my box-out is nearly perfect! But everything else sucked...

15) My mom and I love to go lobster fishing! It is such a blast! The best part is when we actually catch lobsters! Usually we don't catch much but we have a bottle of Cazadores Reposado to fill in the slow times. We are pretty hard core hoop-net-pullin', tequila swiggin' fisher girls!

16) I am slightly addicted to sashimi, particularly salmon or yellowtail. I can't get enough, and it just makes you feel so healthy and refreshed!

17) I love to sit at home and watch movies with the loves of my life: Danny, Suzy, Brian, and Luke. (the last two are the dog and the cat)

18) Good wine is good, good vodka is better, an good tequila is just stellar!!!

19) I'll probably become a sun-drenched, skin-cancerous, loudmouthed alcoholic someday. I look forward to it!

20) I truly look forward to growing old with my beautiful man. Danny is always going to look like a movie star and think like the spawn of William Burroughs and a sixty-year-old blues musician ~ and I'm always going to remind him of that.

21) When I turn 85, I will celebrate by getting my most sought-after tattoo: A Tyrannosaurus eating a cave man on my right bicep! The grand kids will have to respect me. You know I'll do it too!

22) I really hate it when people say "don't fall asleep" when I yawn. You idiot! I'm just bored! YOU are boring and maybe YOU should go to sleep. Lay off people!

23) The Magic Bullet deserves a shout out - I love you Bullet! You make the world a better place!

24) My feet are crazy, I blame them for my emotional and mental instabilities. From now on, when someone calls me crazy I will show them my feet and say "C'mon, if you had feet like this you'd be crazy too!"

25) I am so freakin blessed it's digusting. I have my soulmate, my family's love, my Suzy, a beautiful spazy kitty, and all the veggie nuggets and Buffalo sauce a girl could dream of!


Thanks for reading.
-Lisa