Do You Remember The Time, Billie Jean?

The good thing about the anniversary of MJ's death today is that most of the radio stations in Anchorage are playing his music all day long. Three Cheers! It resulted in one very rockin' drive to work, full of silly faces, fist pumping, and getting laughed at in the car for 20 full minutes (come on they played Thriller).

MEH and I watched This is It last week and I must say, it made me a much bigger fan than I was beforehand. To both of us, it was clear that he was an absolute genius who had a true passion for his work, a childlike soul, and the ability to inspire a lot of incredible artists to keep on truckin' against, perhaps, their better judgment. MJ, you're awesome.

Viva la Weekend! Tomorrow several girl friends and I have decided we will truck our butts up Flat Top at 9:30am. To follow will be a juice and vegan cupcake from Middle Way Cafe. Woo! Some of us are afraid of heights, some afraid of the hike, others just want to do it for a good fun bonding and exercise time. Either way, it will be a bunch of fun and I'm super excited.

It's also a favorite barista's birthday today: Happy Birthday Nick! Have fun!

Last night VeggieMama thought I might be dead. Story:
I pull into the driveway to find our front door open, but not MEH car and no clear sign of MEH. "VeggieMama, I need to go . . . I just pulled up and found (see above)." CLICK.
Well, I start to walk into the house to find out that everything is fine, MEH's car is just getting detailed.
What I didn't do was immediately call VeggieMama and tell her all is well. So, while I'm halfway through cutting my spring onion for my vegan chili, she calls. I pick up.

"No, I'm not dead."
"Oh Good! I was afraid that you were hiding in a closet somewhere and I was going to get you killed! I wasn't sure what I was going to do if you didn't answer!"
Laughing ensued.

As did my chopping of my spring onions and roma tomatoes for my vegan chili. Num!

I needed to use up some chili sauce that MEH mistakenly bought awhile ago after being instructed to go get taco seasoning. (An aside: I really think that men lose their regular brain capacity when they walk into a grocery store for something they have been instructed to get. Without specific instructions on where to go, what row/aisle/shelf, I will inevitably receive a phone call saying "they don't have it," or the wrong item brought home. ahem.) So, considering I had extra black beans and the veggies above, I went forth with some nom nom chili!

Here was my result:

I added some chives and curled parsley fresh from our garden that we just put in 2-3 weeks ago,
some extra firm tofu, basil tomato sauce, and there we had it! Yay! And it was, of course, deelish! MEH loved his meat-filled version that I topped off with some melted mozz.



Do you have any favorite add-ins to chili? Or do you generally stay away from the music fruit?

So today I feel it necessary to expound upon my love for ORANGE JUICE, especially after explaining to you all how much I love breakfast!

I LOVE orange juice. MEH and I go through at least 2 gallons a week of the stuff. And while I know it is not organic, the only stuff I love this much is Tropicana Pure Premium No-Pulp with Calcium. It is amazing. I adore it. I also sing to it. And I blame it entirely on my grandfather.

Growing up, pop drank OJ like the stuff was disappearing through his hands. My grandparents had (and still do have) an entire freezer in their basement dedicated to cans of frozen Minute Maid. (blech). He drinks damn near a pitcher a day. He has his own OJ glass. All of us grandkids know this glass. It is Pop's OJ Glass and no one else uses it. Ever. Ever. I made him a new one this Christmas, seeing that his old one is nearing it's quarter life. So when it comes to my infatuation with this lovely citrus zing, I blame it on him. He says I shouldn't, that I'm picky about it. Oh well.

Do you have any foods you are particularly fond of in this obsessive way? Do you have any silverware, table settings, etc, that are *yours* and yours alone?

Anywho, breakfast was as it's been for the last several months, including my bootiful OJ.

And on the menu today:

From left to right: more tortillas, pluot, the absolute last piece of my chocolate cream pie, left over vegan chili. I have my mango and daiya cheese here. Nom nom nom!

I'm working on posting more thoughtful commentary on here, but am so jazzed about FOOD that it hasn't gone anywhere. Getting there. Had some good thoughts and want to work on an old piece, so look for that in days to come! On to the yoga/spiritual part of the day:

Mantra of the Day: Om Mani Padme Hum. There are many was to transliterate this mantra. Heck, there are many ways to translate this mantra. I first was exposed to it at the Free Tibet concert in Anchorage a little over a year ago. It was sung by the entire crowd and was absolutely amazing! It is used to invoke compassion and particularly so by those who follow Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama. I've found it helpful for myself when doing poses in yoga where I am being particularly hard on myself. Compassion is also something to show yourself, not just others. Be kind to yourself. Yesterday we did arm balances including firefly and sideways crow (which eventually turns into this, which I can't even come close to yet). At first I thought that meant inversions. I had images of forearm balance which terrifies me, or even more, a full hand stand. But then I calmed down and listened to the instructor saying "you are stronger than you think." And realized I needed to be kind to myself; I needed to have compassion for myself. So this mantra is very handy in reminding oneself to be kind to all, but firstly to you.

Question of Gratitude: Who are you grateful for today? I am grateful for MJ. His music helped for my childhood, taught me to rock out, showed me that you can still be childlike long into adulthood, and his songs still make me cry like a baby. (Aside: "Man in the Mirror" makes me bawl every time I listen to it. Weird, I know, but I'm a pansy/pansy).

Have a beautiful everything, everyone!