healthy eating

See you in 2019 Australia!

| poppypeach

Our last week in Queensland was fun filled with a highlight of our trip a 5-hour whale watch adventure with my Dad and the kids out to the ocean right next to Moreton Island. It was such a beautiful day with the sun shining and the temperature was around 23 degrees – just perfect! I made a video using my new Nikon camera as I couldn’t capture the whale action as it was too slow and I am still a newbie with the settings. The video worked a treat as the lens can zoom in and out effortlessly.

The whale watch high-speed luxury catamaran was a dream on the water and the added bonus is getting a lovely lunch of salad and fresh prawns with fruit for dessert. We paid for coffee at $5 and water for $4 but I had a stash of snacks for the kids which was a good idea as they were hungry within seconds when they got on the boat. The views were just stunning and to see Moreton Island again in all its sandy glory bought back so many memories of camping over there and the big one spending Schoolies over there with my year 12 schoolmates.

I was on a mission to photograph the flying foxes for a friend of mine here in the States, she absolutely loves them on her Instagram feed and shows me the most beautiful pics of the little rescue foxes. This camp of foxes is found at the Redcliffe Botanic Gardens right across the road from my school friends house. I was in awe of how many there were and how active they are during the day – apparently, the males are super frisky all the time and harassing the females when they are trying to rest! I was pretty excited to get some cute pics too of these little fellas who are a keystone protected species in Australia as they are pollinators of the native flora.

Plus the lunar eclipse was happening the morning we were leaving so we did not get up to see it, my camera caught some close-ups of the moon before the cloud came in. The backyard had the grevilleas in bloom and the honeyeaters and lorikeets visited every day. Each week we kept our Taco Tuesday tradition going until we left the country Saturday morning.

And my friend M came to visit, we spent a lot of time together in our 20s and had a blast at all the clubs dancing away. Now we just catch up and drink fancy lattes. I enjoyed a matcha latte and M enjoyed the beet latte. The lunch I had at Soul Harvest Wholefoods was divine with 3 salads and a vegan pumpkin coconut pattie with a mango chutney – such a wholesome feast for lunch.

Soon came time for our last walk along the beach, we cherished our time together taking in the sights and feeling the fresh air and watching the water gently roll onto the sand. I did not realise how lucky I was to grow up with such a beautiful environment close by.

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Then as we flew off on a 27-degree day it was time to go back on the 13-hour journey back to San Francisco. We nearly missed the plane due to logistics with the Sydney airport bus transfer and then security finding some water in my daughter’s backpack so I had to stand there and drink it. Mind you by now I was busting to go to the toilet! Anyway, we finally got through the drama and made it to the flight QF73 and there we were on the plane about to have lunch. The time passed quickly as I caught up on my readings for University and watched a couple of films and my husband’s recommendation Search Party which was fine to pass the time. Secretly I was wanting to miss the plane and stay in Australia, I was not ready to come back to California. Now I am back it is OK as I have a lot of studies to catch up on to keep me busy and out of pining for Melbourne and to be back with my family. Until we move back – know that we love you and miss you. The countdown begins with around 10 months to go!!

Little bit of this and that!

| poppypeach

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There has been some good food around of late and the day I really love during the week is Taco Tuesday with the easy meal of opening a box of frozen fish putting it in the oven, getting some tortillas on the grill and making a quick slaw with the food processor grating attachment. They really save me on a Tuesday when I have come home from work and have exercised and I am starving. So my diet is now officially over after 90 days to tone my body and I feel fit and healthy, my recovery after exercise is way better plus I know how to eat to feel full and that is to eat every 3 hours. For a healthy snack, I eat whole foods such as Greek yoghurt and fruit and for lunch a protein, grain and salad – I discovered that whole grains are not the enemy they keep me sustained for a period of time. My pants are looser and I am sleeping very well, especially with the addition of golden milk (which I found in Australia a couple of years ago!) to help with sleep. It has been great to get into a routine each day of work, exercise, cook dinner and study/catch up on chores and bed. Sometimes exercise can be so hard, but it is so worth it as it makes me feel so much better and able to handle whatever weirdness is going on around me.

 

At work, the kids in the Kindergarten class have been studying bees and they had a visit from the legendary beekeeper Deb from Girlzwurk it was wonderful to meet her and give her a hug for all the amazing work she is doing with rescuing bees! She said she has around 3 million bees at her property up in the Saratoga hills – amazing! It has been an incredible experience for the kids to learn about bees and this week they will be presenting their information in a play for the school to enjoy!

 

This is artwork from the 1st-grade class that was created with our art teacher Jess – the children were inspired by what they made for the village project. Each piece has turned out beautifully!

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Finally, over the weekend we got to enjoy some summer heat and be out in the garden and I found some of these flowers growing on the fence with a huge stash of little passionfruits growing on the vine and it looks like a bumper crop this year! They are such amazing flowers, it is the perfect attractant for bees.

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While I have been writing my reflection for my 3rd and final assignment for this teaching period, my daughter and my hubby were making Pusheen doughnuts in the kitchen and this is how they turned out! They had a fun time making them but I somehow feel that you need that thin synthetic chocolate to coat these things, the melted chocolate became weird as my hubby learnt a lesson about putting water into melted chocolate as it thickens it up! Still, I think this is a good effort for the first time of making fancy doughnuts 😀

You gotta have faith…

| poppypeach

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Sometimes you have to have faith that the universe is unfolding as it should (I found this stone today at work, I put it into a plant where someone else would find it!). Sometimes your patience will collapse and you feel overwhelmed by what is going on especially when it has involved work, study, work, study and park then finally a cocktail!

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Observing nature on my bike rides have slowed me down in my routine of work, exercise, cook dinner, try and study and do it all over again the next day. This symbolism from nature has got me slow down and take notice (even though I am really enjoying riding fast uphill!)

My eating habits have included way more protein as I have been exercising more and the plan is to build more muscle – yes I can feel it in my legs but the arms are slowly getting there. The midsection needs more work but hey I love food too much so whatever! My new fave is Beyond Meat, it is a plant-based protein made from the latest vegan protein – peas. I found the fake chicken which has a very good texture and was perfect with some pesto and brown rice pasta. The burger I really enjoyed on top of rice with veggies and pickles. Other sources of protein have been poached eggs, now that is too easy to cook with veggies, salad and sauerkraut! And marinated tempeh in balsamic which was very tasty when grilled, that is in between some corn tortillas with a handful of cheese for a quesadilla with guac and salad. My body is feeling much better now that I am eating some grains again and I am so happy with how healthy I am feeling after eating clean for the last 2 and a half months.

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Now with this eating/exercising routine, I am allowed a cheat day away from the calorie counting and eating grains, salad and protein. I went out with my friends for a birthday dinner Friday night and it was so good to try a new restaurant, Cucina Venti Italian food with local and seasonal ingredients. The salads were amazing, our table of mostly vegetarians enjoyed the flatbread, zucchini cake, salad and the saffron fish was absolutely delicious. The cocktails were perfect and to top it off the dessert was absolutely divine with tiramisu and a chocolate fondant cake plus a mango sorbet. It was certainly an excellent night out with the ladies eating tasty food. Thanks to AU for taking the pics of the food and sharing them, I am doing what I enjoy most about eating out and that is taking pics of my food – thanks for the memories!!

Oh, there is that snail again – telling me to slow down and take it easy! This week is teacher appreciation week and I have been collecting flowers for my daughter’s school as well as receiving flowers from our students today with flowers from their gardens. I am so thankful for all the families and what they do. It is wonderful to be recognised for the hard yards that go into every day. The kids really enjoy themselves and I love watching them grow over time! I am truly grateful that I have this opportunity to work at such a special school with such an active community.

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In between everything with my time out at the park I have been crocheting with yarn that I have found from old projects with small balls that I have kept over the years and adding yarn that I have recently acquired from FabMo that I could not resist because it was neon yellow!

The universe has a way of letting me know that I need to keep it together and carry on because as soon as I felt that little bit of doubt things fell apart around me, for example, the kids fell sick and took time out of school – lucky my husband could stay home and then boom, I was transported into my old life with taking the kids to their activities plus work, no thank you! It is funny only then I realised that this intense life is not so bad after all, at least it is busy and the time is flying by! We will be going home when the time is right there is no need to feel so upset and have to uproot right here right now. Signs became apparent that it is OK to feel this way and when our house is ready in Melbourne then it will be time to go. I am ready now to leave but there are good things that can unfold before your eyes like a good night out with friends, a peaceful bike ride, calm days, time to study, support from family, connections to your children and just pure and simple time together watching Australian movies. Going with the ebb and flow of life is all that matters really.