Vegan May

Tom and I committed to eating a vegan diet through at least May.  Plant based only....no meat, no dairy, eggs, cheese, etc.  So far.....so good!

 It was very helpful that my young friend Kristin's parents gave Tom and I a "fruit of the month" gift for 3 months from Harry & David's!  These giant strawberries arrived over the weekend.

 Breakfasts are smoothies or an occasional slice of Ezekial bread toasted with almond butter & fresh fruit spread.  Tom takes either leftovers for lunch or Amy's brand vegan frozen lunches.  I usually do leftovers.  Dinners look like this:

Black bean tacos & salad

Salad with avacado, raw veggies and black bean dip

Baked potato covered in veggies and salad

Salad, veggies and black bean dip (love that spicy dip!)

Roasted potatoes, cauliflower and strawberry spinach salad

Spaghetti squash, green beans & tomato with balsamic vinegar /olive oil

Whole wheat pasta with mushroom & asparagus w/salad

Greens, peppers and bean salad

Whole wheat wrap with bean dip & veggies

...with an added fruit salad

Filling for baked Ratatouille

 The biggest issue is when we're out.  In fact we picked May because we had few social events (we thought)! We had one lunch at an Indian food truck which only offered a creamed spinach and chickpeas in some sort of sauce. Ick.  Nasty, except for the Naan bread!  Another night we went to the Nationals Ballpark to see the opera and we ate from the vegan stand Field of Greens.  A grilled veggie wrap and a portabello mushroom sandwich were both quite tasty. Our wonderful small group leaders prepared lots of veggies when they had our group over for dinner last week.  Beth even bought us a vegan dessert...an individual apple & cherry pie!  We did cheat a bit as someone had brought gorgeous rolls that they had picked up from the Amish market.  Heavenly!  Friday at Mount Vernon I had a side salad along their famous peanut & chestnut soup.

We both feel great.  Lots of energy.  Not losing weight as quickly as I would have liked but definitely feel healthier... and that was the whole point!

A Tide of Social Events

Crazy busy week but a lot of fun too!  I met up with Kristin and her mom who was visiting from Kansas.  We just had a quick coffee at Eb's before they went off to meet people from her law clinic for lunch. I took a photo but who knows where it's disappeared to!

Thursday after my AM small group I met Lauren and baby Alexis at Jones Point in Alexandria.  A beautiful park for cycling, running or just walking and a cute toddler park for the little ones.  We let the baby play a while then walked around the water and over by the light house.  I hadn't seen Lauren since Alex was tiny.  She's one of my friends I met in Alabama.

Thursday night we had our final small group meeting but we went to Beth and Eric's condo at National Harbor.  Tom and I rode the express bus from our Branch Metro station and it was really nice.  About a 25 minute ride with the stops but it dropped us right on the main street.  We were a few minutes early so did a little peeking around in the shops.  

Beth and Kim in the kitchen

Tom, Mike, Kathy, Alexa, Eric, Beth, Kim, Lauren, Kristin, me and Mitch

 Friday I had a date with another friend's mom.  She has been living with our friends here for almost a year but isn't really keen on going out much so I volunteered to get her out of the house.  We spent several hours enjoying a gorgeous day at Mount Vernon and had lunch at the lovely little restaurant there.  I had a great time and found Shirley to be wonderful company!  She had a good time too and was happy to find someone her own age to hang out with for a few hours.  I wish I had met her earlier as they are all moving to Idaho next month.

 It was quiet and not crowded.  Baby lambs were out and the gardens were in bloom.

 Saturday we got up and took a long bike ride over to and around Andrews Air Force Base.  It was a beautiful day until I started getting sick to my stomach.  Don't know if it was AM vitamins or just that it was my first long bike ride (20 miles) of the season.  I sat on the side of the road for a minute to recover while Tom pedaled up the street a bit.

Sunday we went to the Lincoln Theatre for church as they were commissioning Tom's mission team.  (Tom is going on a short term mission which I'll address down the road)  Commissioning is just a prayer and a blessing by the pastor but from the whole congregation for the group.  They had another smaller one later and then they all grabbed lunch and walked to a local park to have their final meeting.  I headed home and had a lovely relaxing afternoon.

 It was also Mother's Day and each of the mothers were given a copy of Pastor Mark's new book and a beautiful bracelet.  The bracelet is made from melted down bullet casings that have been recreated into beads.  It had a card with it that said this:  We believe moms bring love and joy to families.  This bracelet is designed for the moms of National Community Church and is handmade with love by women in Ethiopia.  This gift helps provide sustainable economic opportunity for these artisans and their families.  We pray you feel celebrated as you wear this special piece, and that it brings you joy knowing you've helped another mom invest in her family.  Happy Mother's Day....NCC

 I loved that.  And I loved speaking with each of my kids as well as my mom on such a special day!

May Day Weekend

Was hoping to sleep in Saturday as we had no plans but my eyes sprung open at 5:45 AM as usual.  I got up to check emails etc. then joined Tom for some leisurely reading through the morning.  Next thing I knew we had both dozed off for a mid-morning nap which I have to admit felt quite luxurious!  I have never been a napper.  I can't seem to get the timing right where if I do accidentally fall asleep I don't wake up feeling groggy and grouchy.  But THIS particular nap seemed to be on the mark.  We both woke up feeling energized so threw on our shoes and went for our first outdoor run of the year.  My indoor treadmill runs never seem to have the same effect on my body as a good old fashioned outdoor one and my legs are feeling it this morning!

After showers and lunch we decided to head into town because they were having an open house at Fort McNair where Tom's office is.  This is Grant Hall where the Lincoln conspirators were tried and hanged.

 The Conspirator film tells the story of Mary Surratt and the others and the filmmakers donated the costumes and props so they'd be here where the trial actually took place.

Robert Redford!

 The gallows were out along where the tennis courts now stand with a cement wall that extended out from the building.  There were a couple of historians who had all kinds of stories they shared so it was all very interesting.

 We left the car parked at the base and walked up to Nats Stadium for the annual Opera in the Outfield. It's sponsored by Mars, Inc. so there's plenty of candy hand outs to be had which we avoided but did sample the non-dairy chocolate they were handing out which was yummy!

 They allow people to bring in coolers to this event which broadcasts opening night live from Kennedy Center (The Magic Flute) so many people come early to get one of the coveted areas on the field.  We come early to get a good seat under the covered area and at about 6 pm when a heavy 5 minute rain hit we were glad we did!  We brought books and people watched until the show started at 7 pm.

 There's a new vegan food stand so we had a grilled veggie wrap and a portabello sandwich for dinner. Both yummy but ridiculous ball field prices!

As you can see Tom was riveted by the opera.  Actually, I wasn't crazy about it either so we packed up at intermission and headed back.

 On the drive home we saw a man just getting out of his car on the side of the road with a large jug to go fill with gas.  Tom got out to see if we could give him some help as that road is very busy and very dark.  We gave him a lift to the gas station and back to his car plus gave him a few bucks as he had talked about being down on his luck.  He blessed us over and over and told us God would bless us with a miracle.  Awesome!  We're keeping our eyes open!

Back home in Utah I missed a Saturday baby shower for niece Jordan Lee and Nixon's 2nd birthday party but fortunately lots of cute photos were shared so I didn't feel quite so left out.  Miss all the fun family stuff.

Sunday we picked up all the coffee stuff for church from Ebeneezer's at 8 am then worked the connection table.  I helped with the 2-3 year olds during the second service then we came home, and like complete slugs read, napped (yep, again!) and I planned menus for the week.  Tom finished reading "Papillon" so he and Nic can have their own little book group.  Love having a quiet sabbath.

This and That

So here's what has been happening this week.  I dropped and broke the last dish from my wedding stoneware collection.  Still have the serving components but this was my last bowl from the daily use stuff.  Lovely blue Pfaltzgraff pattern.  Pretty good for 34 years!

 After finding ourselves slowly sliding back into bad eating patterns we watched another Netflix documentary Forks Over Knives, I talked with my friend Karen who hosts my Thursday AM women's group and is a 3 year vegan, cleaned out the fridge & cupboards, hit the library shelves and Tom & I both have committed to a plant based diet for at least May.  No meat, no dairy, no refined sugars or other crap.  Wish us luck!

 Every Thursday morning I drive by the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria on my way to my small group.  Have never been inside but need to put it on the list.  It looked especially pretty and green yesterday after two days of hard rain.

 Met up with Kristin and our international students for a quick visit at Ebeneezer's near Union Station as they are all wrapping up finals.  Alexis and Michel both leave for home next week….Alexis to Singapore until August and Michel to China for just 10 days before coming back for an internship this summer.  We talked and laughed about all kinds of things including the stuff they like best about the US.  A lot of their choices had to do with Georgetown U.  Small classes, professors who seem genuinely interested in them and who have office hours!  They love the openness and friendly people in the US and the freedoms we enjoy.  It has been such a blessing to see our country through their eyes this year!  We also talked about their plans for their lives.  Michel mentioned she'd like to have 3 children while Kristin and Alexis both said they were only interested in possibly adopting 1 child each. Michel said she didn't think someone could possibly love an adopted child as much as one they had given birth to.  I explained that I was sure anyone with adopted children would say they loved that child as much as their natural children and told her about friends with their own children who recently adopted 2 boys from Ethiopia and our gay friends Kirt and Jerry who after much work, money, and jumping through legal hoops, had adopted a darling baby boy and are completely "over the moon" in love with him.  I of course had to explain what "over the moon" meant!
A few minutes later a darling blonde woman sitting at the window you see behind us came over and said "I couldn't help but hear the word adoption about six times in your conversation and I just need to show you something".  She pulled out her phone and showed us the photo of a darling African American baby and said "We adopted this baby a year ago and yes, we love this child as much as our other children!"  She then told us to turn around where a friend of hers was standing with another African American child near a stroller and said he was adopted as well.  She couldn't have been more joyous or charming in her explanation.  After she left Michel said…."And that's another thing I love about Americans.  Never in a million years in China would someone sitting next to you come over, admit they were eavesdropping and show you a photo of their adopted child!"  Ha ha ha!  Good for you outgoing Americans!

Teri, Kristin, Michel and Alexis