On a New Path: 4th of July Spent in the ER, plus Armpits, Stomach & Kidneys.

How's that for a headline, eh?

So through the years, this blog has been many things. First, my video podcast and blog for all things geeky, techy, creative. Then, it was my outlet and documentation place for my 14 day soup cleanse, and you guys were with me every step of the way and even supported time that time that i wrote a poem about soup, not poop. (BTW, going through those posts i'm reminded how EXCELLENT i am at picking hilarious and random pop culture gifs to describe my relationship with food. srsly. i'm going to include the full archive links to those posts because, well because they made me LOL.) Recently, this blog also captured me winning the interwebs when i met George Takei.

Lately I've had some great progress in my life, but also some great setbacks. i have an amazing new job with a mission where i basically get to save the world daily. I have an incredible home that i weekend warrior projects on that make me happy to be doing work with my hands and planning designs and gardening. I have a great partner and family and cherished friends who have become my family, and i have love and laughter in my life daily. But i also just got a kidney infection out of nowhere and spent most of 4th of July in the ER at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. I have lost a friend due to that parting of ways that sometimes has to happen to women in their 30's, and have been struggling to find time to do things that i know are good for me and nurture me. some of those things include:

• working out (blergh).
• writing
• blogging
• photography
• journaling
• eating right (most days i'm great at it, and other nights there's taco bell. WHAT I LOVE THEIR SOFT TACOS AND FAKE NACHO CHEESE).

In an effort to reboot my personal habits, i have come here, because you guys and this place have always been there for me before. I'm going to start writing about things that are less geeky (though there will still always be my love of gadgets, software and technology here!), and more organic, dare i use that buzzword.

for example...

• i just read a shitload of information about how bad antiperspirants are for you, and how we should not put aluminum and other chemicals under our armpits. i do NOT like BO, but i also don't want cancer. I am on the search for a natural deodorant that works. wish me luck on that, but i'll be posting about it here.
• i have this crazy plumeria plant that i bought in hawaii years ago that has this weird symbolic pattern to how it grows based on my relationship with above mentioned former-friend. i would like to document because it's just TOO WEIRD. 
• I am doing some awesome DIY home projects that i'd like to share with you all. for example, i made my own outdoor curtain hanging hardware using steel piping fixtures from Home Depot for like 20 bucks total. #irock
• I am attempting to get back into actually working out and overhauling my eating habits for life. not a diet, not a cleanse, but this time for GOOD. i am going to need all the help i can get with that one.
• i have started a separate site and Etsy store (#HomeMadeRad and #FizzyPopHome) almost a year ago that i haven't actually launched yet. i am making my crafts into home goods and i want to share my tips and tricks with everyone. i just need to actually FINISH that project. I'm so close you guys!

In summation, i have always been a jack of all trades. and i'm ok with that. i want to MASTER more than one of those things, projects, lifestyle changes, and i want to do it where it's most natural and lovely for me: right here on this blog with all of you.

So basically, what i'm saying is stay tuned for more, better, good stuff and a whole new look. I'm almost done with the BITCHIN new wix design for this blog, and will be making the swap hopefully in the next week or so.

Hope to see you around!

Have a great day,

D x

#TBT (ThrowBackTuesday, bitches): The Soup Cleanse Chronicles:

Click on a day to see full recap, tally, GIFs & musings.
-Day 1

-Day 2

-Day 3

-Day 4

-Day 5

-Day 6

-Day 7

-Day 8

-Day 9

-Day 10

-Day 11

-Day 12

-Day 13

-Poop? Nope, it's just Soup (a poem).

-Soup Cleanse prep-work.

(UPDATED) Day 3 of 14 Day Soup Cleanse: Morning Report+Gratitude Shout Outs

END OF DAY UPDATE:

so today, i learned an important lesson about habit. and about just how little it takes to be happy sometimes.

and, i learned just how quickly your palette can be cleansed without a sorbet. (BTWs, i would donate my spleen for a sorbet right now). since i've basically been the Gerber Baby for 48 hrs straight, i was so excited to get to work today and get my food delivery bag, knowing it'd contain my solid meals to replace 1 puree a day from now until Sunday.

i opened my thermal bag, and looked right past the containers of familiar-looking purees to behold the beauty before me. i SWEAR i heard angels sing, saw a halo and a unicorn ran by in the background. i had in my possession one box with quinoa, shrimp and sugar snap peas, and another box with the tilapia you see below. even though i don't like shrimp, i immediately and with my hand grabbed a shrimp and ate it. cold. i think i'm OK with shrimp now.

the pop of flavor and texture in my mouth was unreal. you'd think i'd been in prison for years like Bridget Jones was in that sequel and that hadn't eaten real food. or that i was like Nell eating a cooked meal for the first time. people, it's only been 2 days! but man, when i picked up a wilted spinach leaf and put it in my mouth, it was like no spinach i'd tasted before. and it wasn't any special kind of spinach... it's just that i had already gotten somewhat used to not eating. simple, pure, joy. it didn't take much. why can't we all slow down and appreciate the little things in life like this every day? oh, right. work. bills. duty. blah blah. well, fuck.

anyway, for lunch i took some spinach and a few chunks of fish and put them in my puree. and can i just say...i didn't feel like i was on a diet or a cleanse. it felt and tasted and satisfied like it was a regular lunch i'd have any other day at work. (at my desk. while working, splattering on my keyboard. but that's a whole other blog, and frankly, we don't have enough time for that.)

my lunch concoction. pure joy.

then, when i came home for dinner tonight, i made sure to lay everything out on a plate and grab a knife and fork and sit down at the table and eat like a lady. except indian-style on the floor at the coffee table. same diff:

baked tilapia, wilted spinach and curried quinoa. yummo!

i savored every last bite, and really enjoyed it. in that moment, i was so happy. so content. and damn skippy i scraped every last kernel (kernel?) of quinoa from my plate with my fork. don't judge.

i didn't scarf it down. and i even had to take a break in between! that's how much my stomach had grown averse to solid food in just 2 days: this meal completely filled me up. i guess you can form new habits...both bad and good, pretty quickly if you are determined and have a support system.

and if you are like me, and your outlet is writing, and if you have a blog and people who care enough about you to read it, any goal you have is pretty much guaranteed success. this whole soup cleanse journey has gotten me back into my writing in a regular way, and even if most of it is about food and like a small part of it is about poop and kanye west, it's writing nonetheless.

and that is another pleasant side effect of this cleanse: it got me to form a great new habit of writing for myself...not for work or for Huffington Post or for emails...but for myself, and for you guys. so, i want to add that to my list of things to be grateful for today. (OH and also on that list...i pooped 3 times today. i can't believe it! how?? i've been eating baby food, remember! oh man, i am SO instantly mortified that i just typed that, and furthermore, if you are reading it, that i didn't delete it before publishing this tonight. i guess they always say to write what you know...)

in summation, i would say that tonight, i am content, full, and looking forward to the shrimp for dinner (and a pop of it in my lunch) tomorrow. this whole soup cleanse thingy isn't so bad after all. i will say that if it weren't for the solid meals, i don't think i could stare down the tunnel at 14 days of this.

DAY 3 TALLY:

LBS LOST: 4
PUREES EATEN: 4
SOLID MEALS EATEN: 1
POOPS: 3
NUMBER OF BRIDGET JONES REFERENCES: 1
NUMBER OF NELL REFERENCES: 1

------------------MORNING UPDATE-----------------
today, on day 3, i am taking a moment to thank the universe for 3 things:

1) the people in my life who always are supportive of and enrich my life, but especially when they help me with little kick starts, like my dear co-worker and friend Chelsea did by leaving this note on my desk this morning:

thank you, Chelsea. this made my day! xoxo

2) the fact that i get to CHEW SOLID FOOD today!

this was in my delivery today. shrimp, quinoa and sugar snap peas YUM! i also got tilapia on wilted spinach with curried quinoa. these are my solid meals for today and tomorrow. 

3) rap music. well, all music. but this morning when i drove into work, i listened to some Kanye and i felt super gangsta. it put me in a good mood. thanks, Kayne, for laying down some sick beats.

BONUS:

NUMBER OF LBS LOST: 4. YES FOUR! since monday. i know it's likely mostly water weight, but it's nice to see that on the scale.

tonight i am going to heat up that Tilapia dish and put it on a real plate and eat it with a fork and knife and maybe light some dinner candles. (it feels like a ceremonial occasion, no?) i will check in then with the tally for the day.

happy hump day, gangstas. make it count.