What I’ve Been Eating in College (Collab)

Happy Monday!

I can’t believe that today marks the beginning of my FOURTH week of college. I’ve been here for almost a month already! How insane is that?! As you can tell, I can’t get over it.

Today I thought it’d be fun to share with you WHAT exactly I’ve been eating since I’ve been in college and am no longer cooking my own meals. 

This post is a collaboration with my friend Stephanie of “Petite Pastels,” aka like the cutest lifestyle blog EVER.

Stephanie and I met this spring on Instagram of all places after she commented on one of my posts and we found out that she watched me play against her friends at high school tennis regionals (awkward)!! We also found out that we go to the same college, and we immediately connected over our blogs and our love of food/ tennis/ our college!! It turns out that she also lived in the same dorm freshman year that I’m living in now and we played on rival tennis teams (but possibly played in the same group tennis lessons). WHAT a small world. Anyway, Stephanie and I have been messaging on Instagram since May, and finally earlier this month she suggested we meet up in real life and do a blog post together (to which I said HECK YES!!!).

Stephanie and I met up this past Friday for dinner at the dining hall next to my dorm and had fun taking pictures of and eating dorm food (while people sitting by us hard-core judged us for being basic and taking pictures of our food). It was so fun to talk about blogging and tennis and all things “college” with her.

For dinner, Stephanie got fries, hummus, tabbouleh, cantaloupe, and cooked broccoli. I got a giant salad (mixed greens, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, cooked beets, & a corn medley) and hummus, tabbouleh, and quinoa. What I like about the cafeteria we went to was that they have a “mediterranean” section every day with pita, hummus, tabbouleh, and quinoa.

I live next to the “healthiest” cafeteria on campus, so that’s great. I’m not sure it’s the healthiest caf, but it does have a decent amount of salad and fruit. Every dining hall has menus each day that show dietary labels, so I can easily stay vegan as long as I stick to the certified vegan options. I’ve been eating a LOT of salad and fruit, which I like… we’ll see how I feel though once winter comes and all I’ll want will be ALL THE CARBS.

I’ve stayed vegan since I’ve been at college- it’s actually been pretty easy thanks to the dining hall selections! I eat every meal in the dining hall, unless I wake up late and miss part of my class so I have to literally jump out of my (lofted) bed and grab a Lärabar to eat as I bike to class… not that that’s happened or anything.😉

For breakfast, I eat…

1. cereal with soy milk or almond milk (right now I’m obsessed with Kashi Go Lean Crunch) and fruit
2. oatmeal with peanut butter and banana slices mixed into it
3. Silk nondairy yogurt and MSU baker’s granola (picture #3)

Typically we eat out of real bowls with real silverware but lately we’ve been using disposable plates and utensils because the caf is understaffed and has no one to do dishes.

For lunch, I eat fruit and…

1. salad: my go-to is hummus with spinach, carrots, raw broccoli, cherry tomatoes, beets, and chickpeas
2. fries [sometimes]
3. rice and stir-fried veggies (when it’s served)
4. quinoa, an apple with peanut butter, and carrots
5. hummus, tabbouleh, carrots, and pita
6. the soup of the day if it’s vegan. Today it was a hearty lentil stew that was pretty good (lentils, rice, veggies, and a little bit of broth). I’ve also had tomato wild rice soup and spicy Mexican tortilla soup.

Lunch from a few days ago: I got a salad with spinach, hummus, green beans, and carrots + grapes + spicy mexican soup + french fries. My friend Emily got mashed potatoes and gravy, spicy soup, fries, hummus, pita, and tabbouleh. 

I eat basically the same food as lunch for dinner.

A few days ago I had a super good tofu/ snap pea/ mushroom/ soy sauce stir-fry with quinoa and steamed cauliflower though!

Snack-wise, I eat fruit from the caf or enjoy an afternoon pick-me-up in my room of chai tea and chocolate chips.

There are no vegan dessert options which is TRAGIC but hey, at least I won’t gain the freshman fifteen because of dessert??

However, a few days ago I made cookies in my microwave so I could have dessert (recipe will be on the blog later this week). Plus, some of my friends’ dorms have community kitchens that I can bake in… so I’ll get dessert somehow eventually. As of right now I’ve just been eating chocolate in my room (what’s new).

So there’s what I’ve been eating! What have YOU been eating (whether you’re in college or not!)? I’m feeling pretty healthy and don’t think I’ve gained any weight because of all the exercise I’m doing, from walking around campus to biking to classes to running with the running club.

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I’m so happy I got to collaborate on this post with Stephanie- be SURE to check out what she eats in college!! Her post will be a little different than mine because she lives in a house with a kitchen and can therefore make her own food.

Have a wonderful start to your week!

xx Ellie

Lavender Lemon Bread

Remember that lavender recipe I promised you last week? Well here it is!

My mom and I purchased some cooking lavender to bake with when we road tripped to a lavender farm earlier this summer.When we were at the farm, my mom got lemon lavender ice cream. She said it was super refreshing, and that ice cream inspired us to make this similarly flavored bread together. It’s a sweet, refreshing bread that’s perfect for a sugary breakfast or an afternoon pick-me-up snack. I hope you love it as much as we did!

Lemon Lavender Bread

Makes 3 mini loaves or one large loaf

Inspired by this recipe

For the bread:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 flax egg (3 Tbsp flax seed meal + 1 Tbsp warm water)
• 1 cup non-dairy milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons dried lavender

For the glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 to 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest from one small lemon)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Make the flax egg by combining the flax seed meal and water in a small bowl. Mix it together, cover it, and put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes to help it conglomerate.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) to a large bowl.
4. Add in the milk, oil, and lemon juice to the dry mixture and whisk until just combined.
5. Add in the flax egg and whisk until combined.
6. Mix in the lemon zest and lavender.
7. Oil the bottom and sides of mini bread pans.
8. Pour each bread pan 2/3s full with batter.
9. Bake the loaves for 35 to 40 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets.
10. Let the bread cool for about an hour after taking it out of the oven before topping it with glaze.
11. For the glaze: Whisk the powdered sugar, lemon juice, water, and lemon zest together in a small bowl until smooth. Then drizzle the glaze over each loaf and ENJOY!

Enjoy the last week or two of summer (in name only, unfortunately) and enjoy this lemon bread!

xx Ellie

Summer Snapshots

Guess what!? Today was my FIRST DAY of SCHOOL! And not just any school… college! I am attending Michigan State University this fall as a freshman.

I moved in this past Sunday, and have been getting settled in and ready for classes since. I’ve also been making friends of course! It’s strange being at college. Even though I went to two classes this morning, it still feels like summer… like I’m just at camp or orientation and will be home next week. But now “home” is university! I have a dorm room. I have a room mate (her name is Emma and she is super sweet!). I have a meal plan! Which means I don’t get to cook or bake my own food anymore, which is kind of strange. Some dorms have kitchens though, so I think I’ll have to find a friend in one of those dorms to bake with since I don’t have a kitchen in mine.😉

Anyway, college is very different but pretty good so far. I felt kind of out of place the first night I moved in but it’s gotten better every day. Have you been to college before? If so, where and how was it??

Even though my school has started, it’s still TECHNICALLY summer so I though that today I’d share some snapshots from earlier in the summer with you. They relate to a recipe that I’ll be sharing on the blog this weekend. Key word: LAVENDER. At the end of July, my mom and I decided to take a mother/ daughter road trip to Brys Estate and their “Secret Garden,” aka a lavender and blueberry farm. It was a nice secluded location in the ring finger peninsula of Michigan (see map).

We walked around lavender fields, picked blueberries, and enjoyed refreshments– lavender lemon ice cream for my mom and lavender lemonade for me. It was a pleasant afternoon with my favorite person!

Here are the “summer snapshots” of the trip. Enjoy!

Above are pictures of some of the plants sold at the farm, as well of pictures of the lavender field. We packed a lunch of peanut butter &jELLIE to enjoy at one of the property’s many picnic tables.

You could cut your own lavender! We didn’t- we just enjoyed looking at it.

From top left, clockwise: 1) the inside of the secret garden’s store (white building in the third picture). 2 ) & 3) the store was stocked with goodies made from blueberry and lavender from the farm, like laundry satchels (2), lavender s’mores bundles, and blueberry jam (3). We bought some cooking lavender. 4) The store had specialty ice cream, made in northern Michigan, with their products in it. The lemon lavender ice cream my mom got had Secret Garden lavender in it!

Above, enjoying lavender lemonade from the shop.

My mom and I each picked a quart of beautiful blueberries- YUM!

Cute quotes marked the ends of each lavender row. I loved them, especially this quote!An impromptu little photo shoot between the lavender rows with my mom! Miss you, momma!

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I hope you have a wonderful end of the summer! If you are in school, or are teaching school, have you started? If not, when do you start back up again? See you this weekend for a lil’ lavender recipe!🙂

xx Ellie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicago Recap (part 2)

Welcome to part two of my Chicago trip recap! PLEASE read part 1 of the trip HERE before continuing so you get the whole trip lowdown!

Okay so Chi-town part 2…

Saturday: 

**Today was the day that my friend Emily and I didn’t eat “real” (healthy) food for 24 hours. Because we’re almost adults and we can eat what we want!

I woke up and worked out in the hotel gym, then Emily and I sauntered over to Do-Rite Donuts to find- you guessed it- donuts! I got their only vegan donut, lemon, and it was better than I expected! It was a baked donut, so it tasted like lemon cake. Yum. Emily got a vanilla bean glazed donut and a gluten free cinnamon donut.

We worked off our donuts afterwards by walking to the Maggie Daley Children’s Park, where we climbed up towers and slid down slides like the five year olds we are at heart.

After that excursion, we ambled along the shoreline to Navy Pier, where we people-watched and enjoyed Ben & Jerry’s from the scoop shop. I got their VEGAN flavor, Peanut Butter & Cookies! It was to-die-for.

Happy because of vegan ice cream!!

After that excursion, we walked back to Millenium Park and Emily saw “the bean” for the first time, a Chicago landmark and mirrored statue in the shape of a bean.

After we finished being touristy, we decided to shop some more and get a snack. I tried matcha iced tea for the first time at Argo Tea, which was quite refreshing.

Then we found dinner at a pizza place called Bar Toma that Emily heard was good. I asked if they had vegan options, and they said they could make their pizzas vegan by omitting the cheese on top. We split a small spinach & garlic pizza, but got half of it with cooked brussels sprout shavings instead of cheese for me.

The pizza was basically crust, a lemon zest/ garlic/ oil sauce, spinach, and brussels sprouts/ cheese. It was okay- it needed a lot more sauce. It was just what I needed at the time though, since before dinner I’d only eaten sweets the entire day. I literally hadn’t eaten a “healthy” meal since dinner the night before, which is a record for me! 

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel and collapsed into bed. We walked a lot throughout the day- like 12 or more miles!

One of the attractions we walked past was the beautiful Chicago river!

Sunday:

Sunday was the day I was most looking forward to throughout the trip, and it did not disappoint. I started the day with a workout, and then we walked over to Meli Café for brunch. I chose Meli because it had a full-page vegan menu, as well as many non-vegan items for Emily. I decided on the carrot coconut pancakes, which turned out to be fluffy, fresh, and cinnamon-y cakes of delight.

Emily got the Eggs, Toast, & Potatoes breakfast, which was toast, two (“really good,” according to her) scrambled eggs, and baby red potatoes.

No one ever sees the AFTERmath of the meal! I felt so accomplished and SO FULL after eating all the pancakes. 

After breakfast we went to the hotel, packed up our stuff, and went to Lolla. As soon as we got into the festival on Sunday, we high-tailed it to see all the bands below…

• Låpsley– highlights were “Operator” and “Hurt Me.” She was okay live- there was a lot of technology involved in her performance (like a voice changer) which I didn’t like. Em and I were in the third row for this show which was cool.
• Oh Wonder (OW), aka the most WONDERful band ever (see what I did there?)- highlights were “Dazzle,” “Without You,” “Landslide,” and “Technicolour Beat…” but I love all of their songs! Can you tell OW is my favorite band? This was my second time seeing them live. While they were amazing as always, I liked the first time I saw them better just because I was closer (third row!) and there was a talkback after the concert. Give them a listen because I love them- plus they are such cute and nice people.

After this we got food. Em got a lot of ice cream and I got a popsicle for lunch. When in Chicago, right¿?

 

• We stumbled upon the tail end of Marian Hill and I immediately liked them. So good, so soulful, and so much saxophone.😉 Highlight was “I Want You.” I recommend listening to the duo when you’re feeling funky.
• Years & Years– another band we stumbled upon that I fell in love with. SUCH a fun concert with such great, soulful, poppy music! I recommend listening to “Desire” if you’re feeling upbeat or “Eyes Shut” if you want a slower song.
• Halsey– I love Halsey’s music, so I loved this concert! She was fabulous live. Highlights include “Castle,” “Hold Me Down,” and “Blue.”
• AURORA– I first discovered AURORA this winter, and have loved her ethereal, upbeat music ever since. I was so excited that I got to see her live since she lives in Norway. Song highlights include “Running with the Wolves” and “Conquerer.”

Dinner time! Emily got deep dish pizza and I got a SPICY black bean tamale and an apple.

• Flume (a famous DJ)- this concert was okay- I wouldn’t call it a true concert though because he (Flume) wasn’t singing! He was just DJ-ing with his computer. I like live music with actual singers much better. The music was fun to dance to, though.
• Ellie Goulding– aka possibly my favorite concert I went to at Lolla. She was AMAZING LIVE- OMG. I liked her before seeing her thanks to hearing some of her more famous songs on the radio, but now I know more of her songs and LOVE her music and and her (did you know she’s vegan?)! I am proud to share my name with her.😉 Song highlights for Ellie’s concert were “Army,” “Don’t Panic,” and “Aftertaste.”

After Lolla, we walked back to the hotel, ate some food, and went to bed. An overall good day.

Us right before the Ellie Goulding concert started!

Monday:

I got the only vegan donut from Stan’s Donuts and it was SO DANG GOOD. It was a yeast-raised ring topped with granulated sugar and it tasted like a Krsipy Kreme Donut. 

Monday morning I worked out (surprise), we packed up, ate donuts from Stan’s Donuts, and drove back up north with Emily’s mom. It was a boring day compared to the others.

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I hope you had fun reading my little trip recap! It was strange but fun to be on a trip with no parents- just me and my best friend. Have you ever been to Lollapalooza or a music festival similar to it? Have you been to Chicago? Tell me all about it in the comments if so!

Thanks for reading- it means a lot!

xx Ellie

P.s.- I’ll be back on Friday for some summer snapshots, then on Sunday for a wonderful bread recipe you might have seen on my Instagram story.😉 Yay for sneak peaks!

Chicago Recap (part 1)

A few weeks ago I went to a music festival in Chicago called Lollapalooza! My BFF Emily and I spent two days at the festival and two days wandering around downtown Chicago.

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Friends and I drove from northern Michigan to Chicago on Wednesday evening, then we spent the night at their house. We stopped at Panera Bread on the way, which surprisingly had a few vegan options! I ordered the Mediterranean salad minus cheese.

Thursday:

We got up, ate breakfast (I brought pumpkin date scones), got ready, and went to day one of Lollapalooza!

Here’s what Lollapalooza, or Lolla for short, is like: lots of people, and therefore lots of good people-watching. Lots of smoke. Lots of alcohol (which we refrained from). Lots of noise, from people and from instruments. Lots of standing. Lots of food. It’s a festival of plenty.

We had to wait in line for about fifteen minutes to get our bags searched to get into the festival, and in line, we noticed people from all over the U.S., as well as multiple drunk people- and it was only 2 pm.

When we got into the festival, we scurried from one concert to the next. Emily and I saw…

• Melanie Martinez– highlights were “Dollhouse” and “Cake.” She was great live! It was a wonderful concert with which to open my first festival experience*.I highly recommend listening to her upbeat, spunky music- keep in mind though that she does swear quite a bit.

• Bastille– highlights were “Good Grief” and “Pompeii” (of course). We were pretty far away, but it was still fun to listen to this British band. They were also great live.

*It rained during the Melanie Martinez concert, then just as we were finally dry at the Bastille concert it POURED. If you go to a festival, be prepared for all weather! Here’s Emily and I right before we were poured upon at Bastille.

• Daughter– we didn’t stay too long at this one because even though I like Daughter, their music is pretty slow and not the best to jam out to… which is what we wanted to do. I prefer listening to their music in the winter or while I’m doing something pretty “low key,” like editing pictures.
• The 1975– highlights were “The Sound,” “Chocolate,” and “She’s American.” The lead singer, Matty, had so much energy and was such a great performer as he was very expressive and good at singing live**! I recommend listening to their music- at any time.

**Oh yeah, we witnessed a random girl peeing in the middle of the crowd during the 1975 concert. She literally just lifted up her dress and started peeing in the grass while everyone around her stepped away from her as quickly as they could. Note to everyone at music festivals- if you have to pee, please either hold it or leave. We don’t want to watch you do your business. K thanks!! Below is the 1975 concert. 

• a random DJ, which was fun to dance (specifically dab) to. Do you have a favorite dance move? I love dabbing.
• J. Cole- we didn’t know any of his songs… but it was basically just swear word after swear word. Haha.
• Lana Del Ray– like Daughter, this was a slower concert so it wasn’t the best show to end the night on. However, it was fun to sing along to some of her well-known songs such as “Summertime Sadness” and “Young and Beautiful.”

After the festival, we went back to our friends’ house, ate some food (I’m surprised at how hungry I was post-concert), and went to bed.

By the way, the food at the concert was pretty tasty and reasonably priced (for a big city)! Emily and I split the BEST FRIES I’ve ever had in my entire life- (vegan!) Triple Truffle Fries from the Franks ‘n Dawgs food booth. Basically the best $6 ever spent.

I also got a $3 mango popsicle that was very fruity and good. I was super healthy on Thursday (NOT). Heh.

Friday

We woke up and explored Bucktown, the Chicago neighborhood where our friends live. We stopped in a few shops and ate Miko’s Italian ice, which was quite good. I tried mango and strawberry, and the cold treat was very smooth and fruity.

Then Emily and I took the “L” train downtown to a hotel since our friends were heading back up north. It started raining, so we spent the rest of the day eating food and wandering around shops (ZARA, Topshop, Sephora, Urban Outfitters, Books-a-Million, Target, etc.). I also squeezed in a workout at the hotel.

We tried Native Foods Café, an entirely VEGAN CHAIN restaurant, for lunch thanks to a recommendation via Instagram. It was so nice to be able to pick whatever I wanted on the menu!!

Our lunch experience was great. You go up to the counter and order like at fast food restaurants, but our food was delivered to our table unlike at fast food restaurants. The food was kind of expensive ($28 for 2 meals and a dessert to share), but the portions were HUGE and the food was healthy, vegan, and tasty so it was WORTH IT.

I got the Bangkok Curry Bowl because I was curious about the “tofu steak” advertised as being in it. While the tofu in the bowl didn’t end up being much like real steak, the meal was still good. The bowl, which was basically two servings, was full of steamed veggies, kale, brown rice, tofu, and coconut milk red curry.

Emily ordered the Thai Meaitball Bowl, Seitan “meatballs” tossed with mango-lime chili sauce on a bed of quinoa, kale, and other vegetables. Both meals were good, but I think next time I’ll try the soul bowl (fried “chicken” and beans, rice, veggies, ranch, BBQ sauce, and cornbread) or a burger.

For dessert, we split the peanut butter parfait, creamy peanut butter mousse topped with banana bread crumbles and chocolate chips. I have to recreate it because it was so good!

It cleared up weather-wise right before dinner, so Emily and I decided to walk around downtown to find a good place to eat. Not the best idea. Moral of the story is to figure out where you want to eat beforehand. We walked for more than an HOUR and couldn’t find a restaurant we wanted to eat at, so we finally went back to the hotel and asked the concierge for a restaurant recommendation. We ended up going to the Marq, a somewhat fancy restaurant about a block from our hotel, since we were tired of walking. Service was fast, which was good because we were hungry!

Emily ordered the Mediterranean salad and I got the Watermelon Farro Salad (minus cheese) because I was curious as to how watermelon would taste in a salad. Answer? Good! The salad was quite refreshing as it consisted of farro, watermelon, corn, edamame, basil, and a sriracha lime vinaigrette. After dinner we went back to the hotel and crawled into bed so we’d be ready for another full day of adventure.

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I’ll be back tomorrow morning with part two of my trip! I had to split the post into two parts because I take too many pictures and use too many words.😉

xx Ellie

Chickpea “Tuna” Bowl

This fresh chickpea “tuna” bowl is one of my favorite summer lunches.

It’s so easy to make, it only takes like five minutes to make, has five ingredients, AND it’s protein-packed. Plus it’s yummy… but it wouldn’t be on the blog if it wasn’t! It’s packed with some of my favorite ingredients: chickpeas, celery, and fresh tomatoes (from work!).

Believe it or not, tomorrow is my last day working at the hydroponic tomato hut. Say what!? Where did the summer go?

I have mixed feelings about my last day of picking tomatoes. On one hand, it’ll be nice to be done with work for the summer. Plus, I won’t get so dirty ever again- that is, unless I work there again next summer, which IS a possibility.

Seriously, look at how dirty I get.By the end of my 9 AM to 3 PM shift, I’m covered in dirt, pollen, and tomato flowers!

On the other hand, it means summer is almost over. Which stinks because summer is my absolute favorite season. Also, I won’t be picking any more tomatoes which means I won’t get to bring any more tomatoes home. I’m seriously going to go through fresh tomato withdrawal. Which is why it’s a good thing that the cherry tomatoes from my garden are ready- at least I’ll have those to eat!

Beautiful purple tomatoes from my family’s little square foot garden. Perfect for snacking!

Other than working at the tomato hut, I babysat a lot this summer. Boy do I have stories to tell about that. One boy I sat for almost shocked his dog to death with a shock collar that his grandmother gave to him to use, and another family I babysit for had to come to my rescue with putting a stop to it while we were out on a walk. By the end of the night, I wanted to cry. Mostly for the poor dog who was probably in a lot of pain. That’s the worst thing that happened though, besides having to babysit six kids by myself multiple times (HARD work). Other than that, babysitting this summer consisted of lots of beach days, trips to the candy & ice cream store, and outside playtime. Fun stuff.

Within the next week I’ll be posting some snapshots from my summer for you! 

But before then, let’s all enjoy this chickpea “tuna” bowl. Because it’s summer, and it’s nice out so you don’t want to spend a lot of time inside preparing food, and there’s a lot of fresh produce to use.

Serves 2

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 Tbsp Vegenaise (or other vegan mayonnaise)
• 2 celery stalks, washed and sliced into ½ inch pieces
• 1/4 tsp coarse seasoning salt
• 2 tomatoes, optional but recommended

Instructions:

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then add them to a large bowl.
2. Mix in the Vegenaise.
3. Smash the chickpea mixture with a fork (so it looks more like tuna).
4. Chop the celery then add it into the mixture.
5. Either serve “as is” in bowls or on bread as a sandwich OR add in tomato and serve in bowls. OR you can hollow out the tomato as a bowl and spoon the chickpea mixture into it. YUM.

Happy end-of-summer!

xx Ellie

Fab Five Friday 8/12/16

Happy Friday!

Can you believe it’s already the weekend? I can’t! I also can’t believe it’s already August and that I’m leaving for my first year of college in a few short weeks (!!!). Where has the summer gone?

This week, I went home for a few days after being “up north” for the entire summer. Now I’m back up north though. I guess I couldn’t stay away.😉 While I was home, I finished a great TV series, went out to breakfast, and did a yoga class for possibly the first time all summer (oops). What were the highlights of your week?

1. VEGAN GRILLED CHEESE

If you don’t follow me on Instagram, you missed my mini freak-out yesterday over having a vegan grilled cheese for the first time EVER. It was also the first grilled cheese I’ve had in like 5 years. It was super creamy and good. 

I put a few handfuls of  vegan mozzarella cheese shreds between two slices of fresh sourdough bread (from a local bakery) and cooked it on a panini maker for a few minutes. Then I added in some greens and a sliced tomato I picked (from the hydroponic tomato greenhouse where I work). Finally, I snapped a picture or five for Instagram and devoured my sandwich of cheesy goodness. 

2. The Vegan Calculator 

This site calculates how many animal lives you’ve saved by being vegan. It determines everything based on the number of months/ years you’ve been vegan. I’m not sure how accurate this calculator is, but it does show that one person makes a difference in conserving the word.

Here are my statistics:

3. Going out to breakfast, specifically at Bartertown Diner

I went out to breakfast this morning to a local diner with vegan friends (Hi Savy and Emily!!). I ordered the ultimate hash- it came with a mixture of potatoes, veggies, and Nutcase Vegan Meat chorizo covered by a sunny sauce and a side of toast and homemade jam. NOM.

Do you ever go out to breakfast? Do you have a favorite breakfast food? I love waffles. And french toast. And smoothies. Really, I’m not picky as long as the food is vegan (which is a bit of an oxymoron).

4. Gilmore Girls

image via Collider.com 

I finally finished all seven seasons of the hit TV series “Gilmore Girls” on Netflix. I started the series last August and finished it a few days ago. I really like it. The plot was a bit unrealistic at times, but that’s okay because it’s funny, lighthearted, and the relationships in it between the different characters are realistic. The series f0llows single mom Lorelai Gilmore and her teenage daughter Rory as Rory grows up in the fictional town of Stars Hollow. I recommend “Gilmore Girls” if you need a new series to watch- just beware of the time commitment! There are 7 seasons, each with 22 forty-five minute long episodes. Now is the time to watch it though as the four episode series wrap-up is coming out November 25 on Netflix.

I need a NEW series to watch now that I’m done with this one!! Any suggestions? 

5. The Summer Olympics

image via Wikipedia.org

How could this once-every-four-years competition NOT make my list!? I love watching the Olympics, especially the gymnastics and the beach volleyball. It’s amazing to watch how strong some people are!!

So that’s it, folks! Have a fun weekend and make sure to watch the Olympics since another one won’t come around for two more years. I’ll talk to you all soon.🙂

xx Ellie