Summer in the City.

Hiya guys!

Time seems to be passing by too quickly these days. I had been meaning to write this post (and a couple others) for almost a week now….

OMFGTGIF right? My last exam today. This exam week was a total joke to me. I maybe studied a total of one hour per exam. So far, out of 4 exams, I have passed two and failed one (my first failed exam in two years, damn). Honestly, I couldn’t have cared less about all these exams. The subjects don’t interest me and quite frankly, I’m just DONE with this year, ha. I am ready to go more into a direction that interests ME, not the majority of the students. I already know exactly what I want and how I want to get there. A nice feeling really, but it kinda makes going to class and making exams for things that I know I won’t need very hard.

I have been eating a lot of great raw meals these days! I am experimenting with new stuff and I am falling in love with a lot of new things. To name a few: I cracked my first young coconut (and made my own coconut yogurt!), chocolate chia pudding and zucchini pasta. I don’t know who I am anymore? I could never stand the consistency of chia pudding and I’d never liked zucchini. Now I chomp down an entire zucchini in one sitting. Yay for raw! I will be sharing all of this food porn including lots of yummy new recipes this weekend. First I’d really like to finally tell you all about my grande summer plans!

Obligatory music: Summer in the City

1. Bikram

In the beginning of this year I wrote about wanting to run my first half marathon in the fall of 2011. For some time now, I’ve known that is not going to happen. In months time I’ve only run twice (short runs). With the risk of stating the obvious: I have fallen head over heels in love with Bikram yoga.

To me, Bikram is not exercise, yet it is being physically active. It’s physically but above all mentally very challenging. At the same time, however, it doesn’t put a strain on the body. It’s not about burning calories or ‘toning up’. Nothing wrong with these things per se, but I think a physical activity without these things as the end goal is wonderful, especially for those who maybe struggle with food/weight/exercise/body-image, or have a history of this.

I still haven’t found a good way to describe what Yoga, Bikram in particular, is to me, does to me. And that says something, as I know my way around the words. Like I said, I definitely don’t see it as exercise. I see it as practice. And hell, I don’t even know what it is I am practicing for. All I know is that I can feel it is important that I keep doing this, on an emotional and spiritual level. Somehow I sense this Yoga is leading me somewhere. Maybe it is leading me in a certain direction, maybe it is leading me to some answers. But that is why I keep coming back.

It is also why I am afraid of going all-in. My crazysexywonderful friends Genesis and Saar did a 30 day challenge not too long ago. Genesis even did 5 classes in one day (!^&$^#%&!) this week (where she got the fluids from to even be able to sweat anymore, beats me). But like I told my mom last weekend: I am afraid of even going multiple days in a row. Because I can feel it is doing something to me. I can feel it is cleansing me physically and emotionally. And even though those are wonderful and positive things, with cleansing we usually have to go through some shit, literally, before it gets good.

For weeks I had been wanting to go to more classes. No rather, I’d been wanting to want to go to more classes. Yet instead of forcing this on myself, I just let it all run it’s natural course. I ended up going 2-3 times a week (as a sidenote: without any additional exercise. this is huge for me ). I now feel the time is finaly ripe for me kick it up a notch and go some more. I feel more confident I am ready for change, and am able to handle what it takes to get me through the process. So I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna dedicate a huge chunk of my summer to Yoga, and see where it takes me!

(FYI: I still love running and I don’t think I’d ever stop doing that. For now, at least, it has a lower priority to me)

Yoga to the People!

2. Maroc

At the end of July I will be flying to Maroc with a friend to do volunteer work for two weeks! Isn’t it ‘funny’ how certain things seem to make their way into your life stometimes? I had been wanting to get into doing volunteer work (I was going to help out at the animal shelter, maybe I still will), and I wanted to start traveling more. When I met up with a friend whom I hadn’t seen in ages, she promptly asked me if I wanted to join her in going to Maroc for volunteering. I promptly said yes, let’s do that! I have been super stoked ever since.

We are going to a so called SOS kids village in the North of Maroc (near Rabat). These villages house underprivalaged kids that have lost their parents. They live in these villages with some caretakers and they go to school there. During the summer they don’t have school, and the volunteers are there to make sure they have a good time. Take trips, play around, that kind of stuff. It’s gonna be a double challenge for me. Not only do I not speak Arabic nor French, my ‘being good with kids’ skill is also slightly underdeveloped, or at least I think. But that’s whats makes this a great chance for me to expand my horizon.

And, of course, I am already looking forward to all that epic Maroccan food!

3. My first e-book!

I have been really excited about this for weeks but I was looking for the right moment to ‘reveal’! Writing a book is one of my big long-term goals but I figured in the meantime I can already do some practice. So, this summer I will work on a small book of easy, accesible & wholesome recipes!

Eventually, I want to write a comprehensive book on nutrition and lifestyle rather than just a cookbook, but my love for food and creating meals and snacks is still growing. Then I figured, I could always publish a few (e)books with just recipes in addition to my book! And why wait? I can do this! I am really looking forward to get my creative juices flowing. I have always been a bit intimidated by creating my own recipes other than dinner time meals, but lately this fear has been crumbling piece by piece (again: yay for raw!). I plan on starting with a small collection of recipes, created in the course of 2ish months, so you won’t have to worry about me not posting anymore recipes! Also, the recipes will be theme-specific so all recipes that don’t fall into that category will still be posted as regular. And, I will undoubtedly come up with some recipes that didn’t make the cut which I will also post on the bloggy.

The book will contain 15-20 recipes. All recipes will be easy (no fancy shmanzy equipment required), accesible (no €20 a bag special ingredients needed) & wholesome (well doh). And the book will be rediculously cheap for this is a trial, a stepping-stone. Eventually I plan on making my daily bread chocolate by yapping on about food & nutrition, but that takes time & practice!

Mostly I am just very excited to challenge myself in this way, and to make the first steps towards creating my own health empire, muhahahah (= evil laugh). Oh, and to have an excuse to be covered in raw chocolate from dusk til dawn (insert more evil laughs here).

So there you have it, my summer summarized down to three things. What’s your summer going to look like?! & Are you excited for the recipe e-book?

Love,

Sabine