Yesterday was a lot of work…and little play!
But it was productive in every sense of the word and left us feeling very accomplished by the time we crashed on the couch at 9pm.
My original plan was to go through the office and purge/donate unnecessary items. And boy, did I ever! We parted with probably 75-80% of our books and DVDs that have just been collecting dust. The library is going to be happy to see me today!
Bye, bye psychology, statistics, and computer science books. We won’t miss you at all!
I also came across my WEDDING binder! This was the binder that held all of my wedding ideas, clippings, wedding dress pics, and collages. Too funny!
Oddly enough, our wedding ended up looking NOTHING like the clippings I pulled out. Originally, I wanted to go with a soft pink theme, but in the end we went for classic red, ivory, and black.
Clippings:
Actual:
Once I get on a organizing and purging spree, I can’t stop. It’s like some kind of high! After the office I did our bathroom and the bedrooms upstairs. There were a lot of things left in the house when we moved in, so it was great to get rid of unused furniture and odd items that were weighing us down.
Mid-afternoon, I stole Eric away from the deck work to replenish our energy stores!
Eric has been gushing about this smoothie that he had at Fresh restaurant the other week (he works near one of their locations and pops in sometimes for take out), so I took matters into my own hands and made my own version to surprise him. :)
The seasonal smoothie at Fresh is called a ‘Pink Flamingo’ and it’s made up of Watermelon, Banana, and Strawberries!
My Pink Flamingo Smoothie:
- 3 cups watermelon
- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries (or fresh)
- 1 large frozen banana (not the one in the picture)
Oh man, this was good!! There was also leftover smoothie after filling the glasses and I quickly chugged it before Eric saw!
I don’t like to point fingers, but the messy smoothie leads to Eric. ;)
We worked late and opted to skip our planned picnic for a less busy night. I whipped up a maple cinnamon split pea and spelt berry salad. It was delish, but I’d like to make a few tweaks to this next time!
Served it with fresh garden kale, sautéed in extra virgin olive oil and Herbamare.
I can’t get over how quickly the kale replenishes itself. I’ve been picking a big bunch each day and it just grows back overnight. If any of you new gardeners are looking for a fool-proof veggie to grow, kale is it. Actually, I’ve heard that most garden greens grow very easily!
Enjoyed with more beer. :)
Sunset is our favourite time to be in the backyard because everything just glows as the sunlight beams through the forest.
For dessert, we shared a bowl of organic cherries. Nothing better.
It’s back to the grind for us Canucks today, but it’s a holiday for our friends South of us. Have a safe and happy Fourth of July if you are celebrating today!
That smoothie looks so good. I always love your recipes.
Also, cleaning/organizing is probably the most fun thing in the world in my opinion.
I made a special trip to the grocery store just to buy watermelon for this…so worth it! My boyfriend and I cannot stop gushing over how amazing it is.
Also, as I write this, I realize that 99% of what I eat are from your recipes- I’m trying to recall what I ate before I found your blog :)
haha that’s awesome!!
I will take a pink flamingo with a lil rum please! Have a great day. :)
“Bye, bye psychology, statistics, and computer science books. We won’t miss you at all!”
Girl. I did the EXACT SAME THING this weekend. My undergrad and grad work was in psych and I just donated ALL of my old books to the local thrift store. I have to send you an email filling you in on a few things but yeah, I have been in major cleanout, donate, purse, declutter and destash mode this weekend. It’s been manual labor city. Ugh! But it does feel great to get rid of all that crap, doesnt it! And I am normally a huge donater anyway, but you can pare down even more, can’t you! :)
The salad looks great as does the smoothie. Next time you could add a little adult themed shot to it…sounds like you could use it after all that work you’ve been doing :)
I love your wedding binder! I’ve been wanting to make one, even though im only 18, and don’t planon gettiing married anytime soon.
Smoothie looks so refreshing, watermelon is the best!
Ugh it IS back to the grind today!! BUT now I have a cheery smoothie recipe to perk me up! I am definetly trying this tonight :)
I cannot wait for that recipe! It looks amazing!
Mm your smoothie looks delicious. My Mom gave me 1/2 a watermelon today and I was just thinking how great it would be in a smoothie!
Wow, nice work on the purging/organizing. You wedding binder looks awesome. If only I could be so creative. I am getting married in 6 months and need to focus on it!! ahhhh!
Take care. I’m Canadian….back to work for me too;)
Hi Angela,
I just found your blog – amazing what you went through. Congrats on becoming healthy. I am trying to do the same. I can’t wait to try some of ur recipes – they look sooo good!!
Thank you Toni :) Glad you found the blog!
The smoothies look so refreshing! Growing up, I always used to grow garden greens due to their quick growth, while my parents would grow tomatoes and peppers! I used to think that I was a better “farmer” than them because mine would grow quicker and I had a bigger amount! haha
Cute smoothies! And that last picture of the cherries is so pretty!
So many psychology books! I have that Penguin dictionary of Psychology that’s in the very first picture, I’m hoping it’ll come in handy for the psych GRE!
It must feel so nice to have gotten rid of all that stuff! I find it so hard to part with my university textbooks, for some reason. I really enjoyed the few psych courses I took… But I definitely agree that stats and computer science were torture! :P
Those smoothies look so refreshing for a hot day like today!
Looks delish! I need to be on an all juice diet after this weekend’s beer… errr… food. :)
Have you ever had 21 Amendment’s Hell or High Watermelon beer? OMG. Addicting.
I love organizing and purging things. Once I start, I don’t stop either!
That smoothie looks fantastic and so refreshing!
I can’t wait to see your salad recipe after the tweeks. I will definitely be making that smoothie this summer. Great idea!
Oddly I’ve never thought to put watermelon in a smoothie. I bet it’d be delcious! We have so many books to get rid of. I never know what to do with the old school books.
mmm that drink looks delicous!!!
love all your creative meals on this blog- your love for food that tastes great and energizes the body is very inspiring :)
Your watermelon smoothie sounds lovely! The other day I had a kale, lemon and watermelon juice — sounds odd, but it was so good! Perhaps you could try your hand at a version?
That sounds cool! I rarely juice kale though- I prefer to blend it because not much comes out of my juicer! lol