Lex and Learn

Yesterday’s Door to Door Organics delivery included bok choy, something I’ve had before but never prepared myself. Instead of substituting it for a vegetable we’re more familiar with, I was excited to give it a try and hoped Mike would like it too (I still fear the “it takes like feet” response ever since making eggplant for him a few years ago).

Door to Door was kind enough to suggest a super simple spicy bok choy recipe to me via Facebook from AllRecipes.com. Unfortunately, I was missing a few of the ingredients but decided to give it a whirl anyway.

Organic bok choy

Mincing garlic in the best chopper EVER

Soy sauce, garlic & red paper flake mixture

We decided to stir fry with chicken

Everything smelled amazing

Perfectly paired with organic salad, yams and bread from Door to Door

Next time I’ll definitely plan to have ginger and oyster sauce for the bok choy, but it was a good start! And before I forget, I need to give a major (non-sponsored) product plug to the Rosle Multi Chopper from Williams-Sonoma. We received it as a wedding gift from a wonderful coworker and I am in love. It minces in seconds and has eliminated arguing over who will chop onions (Mike and I both cry like babies at the first slice). If you like to cook, this is one gadget you need to add to your cupboards immediately!

Lululemon.com

When you work out four or more days a week, like I’ve been doing as of late, the laundry really starts to pile up. The excessive laundry then builds to become the perfect excuse for adding a few new, cute “outfits” to the workout routine. Enter Lululemon.

Until recently I only owned one Lululemon item ~ a pair of obscenely priced black sweats that are truly magical in their ability to shape and smooth, while still being comfortable. But at Qi (pronounced chee) there seems to be a daily fashion show of toned and sculpted hard bodies modeling Lululemon clothes in every spin and yoga class…and in no time I had to visit the Cherry Creek location.

Yes, these are clothes you sweat in. And yes, a ratty t-shirt and stretched out shorts would NOT negatively impact my time on the treadmill. However, there is something fun and rewarding in looking “cute” for the gym ~ a motivator to get your booty out of bed at 6 a.m.

My pre-wedding bank account has kept me from going too crazy there, but I’m am seriously in LOVE with the cropped pants, tanks and sports bras. I can’t bring myself to buy the yoga towel yet, but if I nearly collapse in one more sweaty downward dog in yoga sculpt, I might just make the investment…

So, tell me the truth. Are cute, pricey workout clothes worth the splurge or do you think they are a ripoff?

Easter is a holiday that I often forget about how much I love it, until the day comes each year. Unlike Christmas there isn’t the stress of shopping for (and wrapping) tons of presents, getting the perfect tree, etc. But there is still the delicious food and a day with family and friends.

My favorite Easter memories as a little girl include frilly dresses with matching hats and purses, white shiny shoes, hunting for the golden egg…and this one year when the Easter bunny brought me new roller skates with unicorns on the side. I can still vividly remember finding that basket and the squeals that must have ensued.

This year’s Easter is quite a bit different, but just as special as Mike and I are starting new traditions. Instead of a fluffy dress I’ll be wearing jeans and a cute blazer to church. We’ll be helping our twin nieces hunt for Easter eggs and patrolling their candy intake like our parents did to us. My parents had a “sleepover” at Mike’s parent’s house in Niwot last night so that we could all wake up and be together. Mike and I will also be contributing to the day’s caloric intake by making our new favorite homemade waffle recipe for everyone after mass.

Times change and traditions evolve, but it is this part of life that makes so sweet.

Wishing all of you a very happy, healthy and blessed Easter!

I’m pretty sure I never even visited Etsy before getting engaged, and even then it wasn’t until recently that I remembered to check out the site for wedding-related goodies. Since finding out how easy it is to purchase gorgeous, often homemade and unique items I’ve been hooked.

For the wedding I have made three purchases (one is still on the way, so stay tuned for pictures).

This is an adorable ring pouch that Mike’s best man will ultimately carry in his pocket on May 29th. I found it through a blog I absolutely adore, Marshmellow Fluff. Stacy has beautiful taste and a lovely Etsy shop. So, as a shoe obsessed bride-to-be, I had to have this when she blogged about it a few months ago.

The next purchase was a pair of deco/vintage inspired bobby pins for my hair. I looked at a few sets sold at Anna Be where I bought my dress, but they wanted more than $100 for just two pins! Obscene. These arrived today and for about $30, they could not be more beautiful. I know they will be the perfect amount of “bling” to compliment my dress.

Do you shop on Etsy? If yes, I’d love to know what you have bought and about any designers you recommend following regularly.

I am not sure if I have ever owned a pair of galoshes before (aside from a cute little pair as a toddler for fun) because Los Angeles weather just doesn’t call for rain gear, most years. Sure, the stores sell all sorts of adorable, high-end fashion galoshes in LA but I never thought it was worth the money.

But this spring I just “had” to have a pair, mainly for the muddy dog park because galoshes/rain boots/wellies can be wiped down so easily. And this morning I was very excited when it started pouring at our house ~ time for my new galoshes!

I got them a few months ago from Macy’s. And yes, they are plaid (or tartan, if you look them up online). Dorky or not, I am in spring fashion heaven. What’s your take on galoshes/rain boots?

Walks with Kona have quickly switched from a freezing dash around the block to me stopping more than him to “oohh” and “aahhh” at the arrival of spring. Growing up in Southern California you do not experience the true shift between seasons and the beauty that each new one brings.

I am obsessed with all of the tulips and daffodils in our neighborhood and am going to add “planting blubs” to my 28 to 30 list.

Here’s a few shots from tonight’s walk…

Earlier this week we received a fantastic Calphalon waffle iron from Crate & Barrel as a very thoughtful wedding present from Laura and Greg Aden (Laura is the president and founder of GroundFloor Media, the PR agency I call home). I have fantasies of hosting coffee and mimosa drenched brunches with Mike and our friends so I was eager to try it ASAP. On my way home from work on Friday I picked up all of the necessary ingredients from the following Eating Well waffle recipe (click here).

I’ll probably keep a waffle/pancake mix on-hand for when we do not have time to whip up waffles from scratch, but it was really fun to make them together. Enjoy the pictures below (warning: shot on an iPhone) ~ especially the beautiful egg whites that Mike prepared himself!

New waffle iron!

Dry ingredients

Dry & wet before combined

Getting closer….

Perfectly beaten egg whites

Here we go…

Perfection! Topped w/ berries and organic syrup

I’ve always been lucky in that I tan fairly easily and rarely burn. I can get pretty darn dark in the summer, but when I stay out of the sun I am more fair than people would think. So, because we are getting married before tanning “season” really begins (though tanning is not a sport in Denver like it is in San Diego) I have been stressing about how to get some color without showing up orange.

Basically, I am deathly afraid of spray tanning even though I have never tried it. In college I spent some time in tanning beds but swore those off years ago and learned to appreciate winter paleness. But, a good girlfriend recommended Sinless Sun in Cherry Creek and always looks fabulous after a session. I need to make a decision by Tuesday of next week because my makeup trial is Wednesday and she wants to see me how I’ll look on the big day.

What should I do? Go for the old fashioned tanning bed, be brave or stick with bronzer and call it a day?

Today we received our second Door to Door organics delivery and I am so happy we decided to make this investment. On Friday I received an email with a list of what our shipment would include, and was easily able to substitute beets and onions for yams and kiwi. For $24.99 our box included organic:

• Sugar snap peas
• Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Kiwi
• Yams
• Murcott Tangerines
• Navel oranges
• Mango
• Gala apples
• Avocado

Tonight is Mike’s late night at school so instead of making a huge salad I made a small one for dinner and another for lunch tomorrow. But the BEST part of using this week’s produce was getting to break out our brand new salad spinner, courtesy of my sweet colleague Carissa and her family ~ a gift from them for our shower last week. I was only going to “spin wash” enough lettuce for tonight and tomorrow, but I ended up having so much fun that I cut the entire head of lettuce up to use the spinner again and stored the leftovers in tupperware (new Martha Stewart storage collection, also a shower gift from Mike’s family friend). A few pictures to set the mood…

I’m turning into a total kitchen geek! And while I probably won’t be able to write about every incredible wedding present we receive, definitely watch out for plenty of product shout outs in the months to come. We are very blessed to say the least!

Certain ideas (often pricey ones) get into my head and I become obsessed. For example, last May I decided I wanted a dog, researched dogs way past my bed time until one Saturday morning I got up, found an adoption event and fell in love with our sweet boy Kona. A few months later I needed an AWD car. I built Subaru Outbacks online every night, test drove one a few weeks later and made the trade in of the Mazda happen just a few weeks after that. Seeing a pattern?

My latest “I want” has to do with my overall, rediscovered focus on health and wellness. Working out regularly at Qi, buying more organic and locally-grown produce and cooking more from scratch has made me obsessed with ditching the car as the weather get nicer and riding a bike when I can. The only problem is that we live up a hill from most places I’d be going (i.e. work, downtown, farmer’s market) on a bike and my current beach cruiser from San Diego is not made for long uphill climbs. So, I’ve taken to researching bikes online like I did car and dogs…REI has incredible options but they are not cheap so I need to do some serious price comparison shopping.

In the interim, here is the latest beauty I’ve been visiting online…

REI.com (Novara Mia)