Every day is an adventure. I share the view, the gratitude and the news on Fridays – you’re invited to join in. You can find all my adventures here, or follow along via email here.
The view
I am so grateful for…
A warm home on cold nights
A fantastically warm welcome to my newest thing
Saying yes to something new and big and exciting
The Finds:
I’m thinking about:
Since reading this post (and a zillion other studies) on the importance of standing up every 20 minutes, I downloaded Timer+ and set up a timer to go off every 20 minutes until 8 or 9 at night. I'm walking more steps and feel less achy at the end of the day.
Jay is not into sweaters, so when he asked if I could knit something like this, I was thrilled. But now I can't find any patterns that are similar. Suggestions?
I announced my newest thing (an awesome new class series, built to give you your best biz in 2015) to my email list and the reaction was delightful. If you aren't on the list, and you're curious, sign up here.
I've had a few questions this week about how to listen to the podcast, so I wanted to answer them here, in case you were wondering:
If you don't usually listen to podcasts (and don't use an app on your phone), you can simply listen via the player in each post (it's a little arrow button under each picture. If you click it, it will play!)
Or you can download each episode! In the “How to Listen” section of each podcast post, there is a link (embedded in the words “download it”) to the MP3. If you click it, the MP3 will start playing right away . If you right click, you can save it to your computer.
If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod, you can use the “Podcast” app to listen – just click “add podcast”, search for “explore your enthusiasm” and select “subscribe”. This will ensure that each new episode will go write to your phone!
No matter what device you're on, you can listen to the podcast via Stitcher here.
Every day is an adventure. I share the view, the gratitude and the news on Fridays – you’re invited to join in. You can find all my adventures here, or follow along via email here.
The view
I am so grateful for…
Getting to play a small part in the successes of Starship Captains (and getting to share their celebrations!)
Every day is an adventure. I share the view, the gratitude and the news on Fridays – you’re invited to join in. You can find all my adventures here, or follow along via email here.
The view
I am so grateful for…
The support and generosity of the Starship Captains. They've been blowing my mind with their vulnerability and kindness to each other this week.
$2 tulips
Finishing + filing my taxes!
Flowering trees! Every corner brings a new smile.
The Finds:
I'm reading:
“The good things in life..are often the direct result of very slow, deeply unglamorous work.” –Sarah Von Bargen
These gluten-free, vegan, protein-rich cookies are actually super tasty!
Manicotti! Cheese-stuffed manicotti was the first special meal I made for Jay and for years it was our anniversary dinner. Since going vegan I kinda forgot about it. But this recipe brought it back!
January Yarns wrote a sweet insta-review of Market Yourself! If you've read it, please share your review and I'll highlight it here!
Note!
My website's getting a spring cleaning this weekend! It may be offline for around 24 hours from Saturday afternoon – Sunday. So don't fret! We'll be back on Monday with a new site, a new shop and a brand new class! (Sign up here to be the first to know!)
Every day is an adventure. I share the view, the gratitude and the news on Fridays – you’re invited to join in. You can find all my adventures here, or follow along via email here.
Announcement: For this weekend only, shipping on a signed copy of my book is $5, no matter where you live. I'm gonna change it on Monday (it's a mistake! Shipping Priority to Europe costs $20+!), but until then, grab it here. (Note that this doesn't apply if you buy it from my publisher or Amazon…because I'm not in charge of their shipping!)
“Don’t Share What You’re Not Ready to Hear Feedback On
The internet is a two-sided street. You’re not talking in a vacuum and you’re not talking only to people who agree with you. So if you want to rant about something, be prepared to hear from people who disagree. If you want to expose something you’re deeply sensitive or unsure about, be prepared to have people challenge you on it. If you’re not ready for that, it’s not the right time to share that thought.”
I spent the first part of the week obsessing over creating my own DIY planner (I just can't find one to suit me, and while I love my journal for weekly planning/daily to-do lists…I need some place to track future plans.) iHanna's pages look perfect. As do the (many) downloads from AhhDesigns. I'm going to experiment (of course!) and report back.
Every day is an adventure. I share the view, the gratitude and the news on Fridays – you’re invited to join in. You can find all my adventures here, or follow along via email here.
The View
I am so grateful…
to be home!
for the handknits necessary to survive the unnaturally cold winter!
I had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday, how about you? All my planning and baking turned out great, and my vegan dishes got 4 thumbs up from the 13 year old twins. Now that the holiday season has officially begun, and the meal-including invitations are starting to fill our our calendar, I'm thinking a lot about how to enjoy the season as a vegan.
The cardinal law of being a vegan (or vegetarian, or gluten-free) is simple: Bring your own food. But beyond that, figuring out what to bring can be a challenge. Here are a few things to think about before you pick a recipe:
1. Find the spirit of the event.
Every holiday party has its own personality. Thanksgiving with my in-laws is about big plates of food and every sibling and cousin in one place around the long table. Thanksgiving with my mom is hot chocolate, cookies, tree lighting and craftiness. For some families, it's that Norman Rockwell brining-the-turkey-to-the-table moment.
Before you explore your vegan options for an event, take a second to acknowledge what you want to experience and what you love about it. Is there anything you don't want to feel you're missing out on? What doesn't matter as much to you? How can you take part in the spirit of the thing?
Can you spot the vegan options?
For example, at the big Swiger family dinner, everyone brings several dishes to share, so it's no big deal for me to bring 3 vegan dishes. Jay and I can load up our plates with food we love, and no one notices except to compliment it (out of the three sweet potato options, mine were the only ones completely devoured!).
2. Focus on the seasonal flavors.
A lot of vegetarians try to recreate the entire omnivore meal plan, which can be interesting, but is it really what you want?
What are the flavors you're most exited about? Focus on recreating those, or make sure there'll be a vegan option. The thing I always loved about Thanksgiving is the stuffing: sage-y, thyme-y, savory; paired with tart cranberries. I've made veggie stuffings in the past, but this year I made a chickpea tart that had the same flavor. My husband loves desserts, so I brought us a vegan version. Neither one of us ever cared about the turkey, so I don't worry about Tofurkey or Field Roasts.
3. Bring what you love.
While it's awesome when your uncle falls in love with vegan black bean empanadas, don't drive yourself crazy pleasing others. Be content that as long as you love it, and it improves your experience: it was worth the effort.
And now that you have some ideas for how to pick, here are the recipes I've used (and loved) in the last few years:
Black bean squash empanadas, from The Veganomicon – brought to last year's Thanksgiving, and gone to moans and compliments in under 10 minutes.
Festive Chickpea Tart– made the night before (but not baked) and then frozen. It thawed as we drove the 3 hours to meal and then baked for 30 minutes. Delicious!
These sweet potatoes – they beat out the other two options on the table.
Elvis cupcakes, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World – a family favorite! Banana cupcakes filled with peanut butter frosting and topped with chocolate ganache.
A sorta random collection of the good stuff I've been reading, watching, listening to. (Subtext: I'm prepping for classes and am running out of words)
Be a Scout
Copylicious's Secret Scout emails are rocking my world. She writes about bear attacks and forest fires, but she's really talking about fixing your copy (copy = all the writing that sells anything, from Etsy descriptions to your home page). They make me laugh EVERY time and then make me go “hmm…I think I'll go fix up that page”.
I don't even know how to start talking about Danielle's FireStarter Sessions. In the two months since reading it, everything is changed.
I launched this here website.
I started offering (and getting booked up!) IdeaStorming + The Recipe and I adore getting up to go to work each morning.
I have waaay more to say (soon!), but wanted to let you know that now she's selling just one chapter (and it's the one that has my favorite exercise!) for $20. After you read it, you're going to want to get the whole book, but check it out first.
Circle
If you are even a little woo-woo (and I know you are), you probably already love Leonie, she of the rainbows and sunshine. But did you know that you can get ALL of her classes for $99. I mean, $99 for all of them together.
Her generosity is inspiring me to find new ways of sharing helpfulness.
Bake something
Totally unrelated to business, but vital to my, you know, life: I'm gluten-intolerant. I just discovered this a few months ago and Shawna's book + blog, Gluten-Free Girl, has made the transition an exciting and tasty adventure. I'm also a big fan of the recipes I've made from Gluten Free Goddess.
But the absolute pinnacle of my gluten-free experience has been Bob's Red Mill bread mix. Homemade bread. Better than any other bread EVER (gluten or no).
