rare as gold

I had one of those weekends. Rare as gold.

Total and complete relaxation, and letting go of all expectations, just flowing into the moments as they came. Such as the farm walk. Oh well, 'twas not to be!

Today, after a very late bedtime due to visiting a neighbor friend and watching a movie on netflix, I did something very unusual: slept in blissfully until very late in the morning. I awoke to sunshine and cool breeze filtering in through the windows.

I woke up, and popped my leftover homemade "sausage" and tofu scramble in the microwave, dumping frank's red hot over it.

Then enjoyed a cup of Uncle Lee's white tea while writing a long e-mail letter to a friend.

Spent about an hour or so reading blogs. Inspiring, as always!! While listening to Rick Steves' travel show on NPR about Ireland - fascinating. I love Ireland.

Threw in a small load of laundry, fed the cats, took a shower, dressed, and set to work doubling the recipe from 1,000 Vegan Recipes for tofu-tahini wraps (lunches for the week).

Here is where I apologize for not having enough good sunlight coming in/a fully charged camera (in fact it has been totally dead for days b/c I have been too lazy to find the charger). Today was the PERFECT day for photos between food and the tea house I went to this afternoon. Next weekend ... pictures from my own camera ... promise!

Anyway, the wraps. It was so pleasant to make them while listening to my first-ever podcast - an hour and a half long one about homeschooling. I learned a lot! The wraps literally taste like tunafish - only they're cruelty-free! They contain shredded carrot and a romaine leaf each, and some have dill pickles inside. Sort of like the picture below, except the filling had the exact color and consistency as a dry-side tuna salad!

After I finished making/taste-testing the wraps, I made myself a green smoothie. So happy I was able to give myself this gift: swiss chard, orange juice, half a cucumber, half a banana, a whole mango, flaxseeds. It made two portions so I'll try the other one for breakfast tomorrow. I love getting my greens and fruit this way - such an easy, energizing way to load up on iron, vitamins, minerals, calcium, sunshine! :-)

Then it was time for me to head over to the new teahouse downtown called Hillbilly Tea. There was supposed to be a knitting group there from 3 to 6, but I was the only one! I soon found a cozy rocking chair covered with a cozy quilt and set to work knitting for TWO hours. I finished TWO projects, a scarf and a messed-up hat turned headband (promise those pics later!!). I could not believe how wonderfully relaxed I felt just to knit, people watch, and drink wild rose white tea out of an antique-style cup!

I bought a vegan cookie to bring home ... but turns out I was not charged for either tea or cookie due to knowing a girl who works there (of course that was her tip!). The place is rustic, cozy ... with wooden benches, brick walls, funky but subtle artwork, antique tchachkes (sp?), and the BEST part - a VERY UNPLUGGED feel. Coffeeshops/teahouses are losing this atmosphere so conducive to true conversation, relaxation, handwork, novel reading. I'm so glad this gem exists and I sure hope it will be around for quite a while! I'll be back there next sunday with Adam (my guy).

When I was done at the tea shop, I headed home and made a large pot of soba-lentil soup in a base of crushed tomatoes for dinner/lunches. It's delicious (can you guess the cookbook? lol!). And a loaf of sunflower-zucchini bread (yep...same one) using up zucchini I froze at the end of summer. It's cooling on a wire rack.

While the soup was simmering, I did a 10-minute tidy that turned from folding a long-neglected pile of laundry on my closet/studio floor into a quick rearrange of the closet/studio space! It's not quite done but I'm leaving it for the night.

Soon I will crawl into bed and read for at least an hour, with the hope of lights out by 10:30 (this will be 9:30 as the week wears on) as I plan on being at school two hours early tomorrow to get some materials-making done.

And I have a great week planned, so I am feeling very warm and fuzzy right now. Only thing I did not get in was a 15-minute walk ... hmmm so maybe I'll go and do that right now. Daylight savings time is always a little weird but it doesn't get dark now until 8 p.m.!! yay!! (i'll still be walking in the dark ... lol. Also my at-least five minute daily meditation/reading/yoga.

Saturday was amazing, too, btw: the condensed version involves homemade breakfast, writing a card to a friend over tea, a very long walk in a very pretty park, seeing horses!, a couple hours at a neighbor-friend's house just talking, menu planning and grocery shopping (which I actually love), making up a budget for my new financial situation that's making my life a whole lot easier, and watching a good movie on netflix.

have a week full of love and light ... i'm happy that adam will be back from his work travels in california late tomorrow night.

~~karen~~