Well, guess what? I’m done my summer class!!! Happy Dance time!! Well, technically I still have 2 labs to go to. But, I wrote my last exam, so to me…that means I’m pretty much done! So, HORRAY!

I got myself a little treat that I haven’t had in [...]]]> Long time no talk!

Well, guess what? I’m done my summer class!!! Happy Dance time!! Well, technically I still have 2 labs to go to. But, I wrote my last exam, so to me…that means I’m pretty much done! So, HORRAY!

I got myself a little treat that I haven’t had in a while to celebrate.

Holy. Yum.
 

Also, I’ve been loving my melon lately.
 
Cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew…when I break out the melon, I just KNOW it’s truly SUMMER!

I have a fun week planned for myself – starting with ballet class tonight, Canada Day celebrations tomorrow and a very special someone visiting for the weekend! I’m also looking forward to celebrating my very first July 4th!

Oh and I also, I have a fun, healthy and delicious summer drink I want to share with you coming up this week!

Off to do a bit o’ shopping and then it’s Ballet time!

Enjoy this glorious day

How do YOU know it’s truly summer?

Good Afternoon! Today is day 2 of Vegan For a Week! It’s been going pretty well so far and I just did a big vegan grocery shop today so I have lots of fun meals in store!!! Today I’m first going to show you the food/ what groceries I picked up, then talk about the [...]]]>

Good Afternoon! Today is day 2 of Vegan For a Week! It’s been going pretty well so far and I just did a big vegan grocery shop today so I have lots of fun meals in store!!! Today I’m first going to show you the food/ what groceries I picked up, then talk about the vegan issue of the day: Vitamin B12 and then feature our first “Interview with a Vegan”!

~The Vegan Eats~

Dinner was quick and simple last night because I came home late after ballet class!
 
I haven’t taken a ballet class in years! But now I have a class package at Alvin Ailey and am looking forward to dancing a lot in the next few weeks

My class was held in this first floor classroom (below) where people can watch from benches outside. It was pretty neat having an audience!

I loved the class, it was the perfect level for me and the teacher Kat Wildish was hilarious!

Dinner was spelt pasta with vegan “meat” sauce (a crushed up veggie burger cooked in tomato sauce) and green peas 

Topped with some nutritional yeast
 

I was running out the door this morning so I grabbed a quick Mango, Orange, Banana smoothie for breakfast and enjoyed it while waiting for the train.
 
And then it was grocery shopping time!

The loot!
 
Ezekiel english muffins, mushrooms, corn, onion, lettuce, avocado, orange pepper, cuke, carrots, zucchini, summer squash, scallions beans, black olives, green olives, almond milk, bananas, grapes, lemons, limes, mangos, larabars and so delicious coconut milk yogurt! WHEW!

Lunch was an extra large salad with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, beets, chickpeas, navy beans, lentils, vegan tuna salad from Whole Foods, and some hotttt pepper. It was a SPICAY salad!

Right now I’m snacking on some green olives and think I’m going to have a snack of some snappy organic red grapes soon!

For the vegan issue today I wanted to talk about Vitamin B12. When veganism is the subject, you’re likely to hear about Vitamin B12. According to the Mayo Clinic, vitamin B12 is important for nerve health and red blood cell creation. Vitamin B12 is also critical for making DNA. Deficiency can cause anemia, degeneration of nerve fibres and possibly irreversible neurological damage.

The average adult needs about 2.4 micrograms of B12 per day. The problem with veganism is that the only reliable unfortified sources of vitamin B12 are meat, dairy products and eggs. There has been considerable research into possible plant food sources of B12 but the current nutritional consensus is that no plant foods can be relied on as a safe source of vitamin B12.

So what is a vegan to do? Those practicing a vegan diet can turn to a range of B12 fortified foods such as yeast extracts, textured vegetable protein, fortified non-dairy milks, vegetable and sunflower margarines, and fortified breakfast cereals. Additionally, they can choose to take a sub-lingual (under the tongue) B12 supplement. It has been shown that when ingesting a B12 supplement very little  actually gets absorbed in the stomach and intestines, therefore sub-lingual supplements are advisable because they are meant to be absorbed through the mouth.

Today’s vegan blogger is Nicole of Rambunctiously Soft-Spoken and Another One Bites the Crust!

How long have you been vegan for?
I’ve been a vegan for almost four years now!

Why do you eat a vegan diet?
I eat a vegan diet because there is no need for me to be eating animals.  I just don’t believe that an animal should be sacrificed so that I could eat it, when there are plenty of other options out there for me.  On top of that, the factory farm industry is horrifying, and I don’t want to support that.  The health benefits of a vegan diet are also a plus!

Do you think a vegan diet is "healthier" than a vegetarian or omnivorous diet?
I do think that it can be healthier than a omnivorous diet, for me at least.  I believe my body is able to heal itself much better now that I follow a strict vegan diet.

Do you take any vitamin supplements?
I do take supplements.  I take a multi-vitamin, zinc, and probiotics.

Do you miss anything about not being a vegan?
Nope, not really!  I never liked eggs before I was a vegan, so definitely not missing those.  For everything else, there’s such a close substitute that I don’t even think about non-vegan options anymore.  The only thing that bums me out every once and a while is that there aren’t many vegan ice cream shops widely available.  I’d be nice to be able to get a non-dairy ice cream cone at an ice cream shop every once and a while!

Do you think you will be vegan your whole life?
Yes, for sure!  I really can’t see my mindset changing too much.  I’ve learned so much about veganism and animal rights in the past four years and I don’t think there is any going back for me!  Plus, why would I need to eat non-vegan food when I’ve got so many delicious options?

What are some of your favorite vegan dishes?
Oh gosh!  There are so many choices.  I love hemp ice cream sundaes, chana masala, tofu scramble, sweet potato hash, and pretty much anything with avocado or hummus!

Thanks so much Nicole!!!

Question of the Day: If you could only eat one type of fruit for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I love so many fruits, but I think the easy answer for me would be mango. Mangoes are without a doubt my favorite fruit, so if I could continue eating them, I wouldn’t feel TOO sad about losing the the other fruits.

Let’s begin…

Yesterday I headed to Alvin Ailey to take a Haitian dance class.

A little background: I started dancing when I was 3 years old I [...]]]> I had THE BEST start to my day yesterday and THE WORST ending. Okay, it wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t my favorite night ever.

Let’s begin…

Yesterday I headed to Alvin Ailey to take a Haitian dance class.

A little background: I started dancing when I was 3 years old I loved a lot of different kinds, but found that Ballet was my strength.
At 15 I got accepted into the Intensive Program at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. I was taking classes with the professional teachers and at this point was strongly considering dancing as a career.
But at 17, I had a devastating accident. During class, we were practicing jumps and I landed quite badly on one of mine and fully tore my right ACL. That was pretty much the end of my dancing career. I had to have reconstructive surgery and go through physical therapy for the rest of the year.

After that, I didn’t really dance anymore. I would take a couple ballet classes here and there, but it wasn’t the same. I missed dance a lot but for some reason could never get myself back into it.

Well, yesterday I realized I was going about it ALL WRONG! I I shouldn’t have just been forcing myself into these random ballet classes, I should have expanded my horizons and just had fun with dance.

CUE AMANDA! Amanda, also a former dancer, recently started working at a dance studio and attending classes there. She LOVES it. She told me this weekend that she wondered why it had taken her this long to get back into dance. She said she should have been doing it all along. She would tell me about all the neat classes she was taking like salsa, haitian dance, horton modern… It sounded amazing.

She wanted to try out a Haitian dance class at Alvin Ailey while she was visiting NYC so I agreed to accompany her. 

OH. MY. GAWDDD!!!!!

Now I know exactly what she meant. WHY HAVEN’T I BEEN DOING THIS ALL ALONG???? The class was amazing. It wasn’t at all what I expected. It was very CHALLENGING but so fantastic because it incorporated so many different styles of dance; ballet, jazz; modern, African dance, Latin dance even yoga-type moves (like this one).

It was so freeing and just SO MUCH FUN!

Amanda and I outside the studio after our class:
 

I was obviously thrilled I love dance and I can’t believe I’ve been depriving myself of it for this long! Well, no longer! I am planning to go back and take classes at Alvin Ailey once a week. I am also going to give Steps a try, as it’s supposed to be a fantastic studio.

I am very excited to get back into dance again!

*I HIGHLY RECOMMEND trying out a dance class yourself. It’s so much fun, you hardly realize you’re getting exercise in!*

And to make a long story short, and not ruin my happy dance mood too much. Let’s just say the Super Bowl party last night was kind of a fail.
The taxi driver got lost on the way there , no one ate my 7-Layer dip and BF and I could NOT find a cab home so we had to walk in the FREEEZING cold for WAY too long.
Anyway, here’s my dip before being baked…
 
 
I ended up eating piles of it to try and show people how good it was and to make up for the fact that no one else was trying it!!! BF had some too. But no one else had any. Waaaa! Maybe because there was already so much food and mine arrived late? Who knows!
But they could have at least TRIED it! It was so delicious, I swear! Ha.

Anyway YOU should try it. It really is good. I posted the recipe HERE.  I’m off to do laundry and grocery shop!

Do you like to dance? What is your favorite kind of dance?

So today I opted to forgo studying  in favour of venturing out to Organic Avenue. I had heard a lot of great things about their [...]]]>

Yay for the weekend! Not that I work during the week, but at least during the weekend I have a sliiiiightly  higher chance of spending time with the bf!

So today I opted to forgo studying  in favour of venturing out to Organic Avenue. I had heard a lot of great things about their juices, smoothies and the store in general and was reminded about it via Dori’s blog, so I really wanted to check it out for myself.

It was a quaint little store hidden in the Lower East Side. Everything was raw, vegan and I wanted to try it all! They had raw powders, nut butters, bars, juices, smoothies, skin care products and even things for the home.

Although I wanted to try everything. Their products aren’t cheap.

So I decided on 1 juice, 1 smoothie and 1 bar.

I got the Young Love Juice which contains Cucumber, Celery and Spinach, which I had as part of my lunch. I felt so GREEN after I drank it.

And the Mint Chip Smoothie which contains Coconut mylk, agave, vanilla bean, peppermint extract, hemp seeds, sea salt and cacao nibs.

(I am drinking the mint chip smoothie as I type and it is SO GOOOD!!! Tastes like mint chip ice cream in smoothie form!)

And I also got a Lydia’s Organics Cacao Crunch Bar.

 
Obviously still have yet to do my nails! Soon!

I’m definitely a fan, and will be going back! Maybe not all the time, as their products are expensive, but every so often for a treat!

Dannnciiing Queen

I decided to take a dance class at the gym tonight.

Oh before I go on… So, I actually ended up joining Equinox. I never thought I would as it’s so “fancy” but I actually got a pretty sweet deal so I jumped at it! Also, with the amount of classes I’m going to take there I think it will be it will DEFINITLEY be worth it. 

Anyway,  I’ve taken dance classes at gyms before and they’re more like “dance” classes. Like you learn a few moves, maybe do a combination. It’s fun and you move around a lot but it’s nothing like taking an actual dance class at a studio. So I figured this dance class would be similar.

NOPE! It was a DANCE class. For realz.

Now, technically… well not even technically, I AM a dancer.
I danced for many many years. I mainly did ballet, but I dabbled in all forms: jazz, modern, tap, hip hop. I just haven’t danced for a while.

I am a ballerina at heart though. Me doing hip hop = hilarious. This class, the teacher said, was Jazz. I thought, okay, I can do jazz.

But wow! It was hard! He taught us a real combination! There were pirouettes, chaînés, jumps, kicks! And everyone in the class was sooo goooooood.

I was really surprised! Pleasantly surprised! This is great, I thought, I can take a real dance class… at my gym!

But then my next thought was, Oh. Crap. I haven’t taken a real dance class in forevvver! What have I gotten myself into!?

In the end, I managed to keep up for most of it. I guess you never really lose it.
I was really proud of myself for getting through the whole combination, getting all the steps down and eventually workin it Haha. It was just nice to be dancing again.

Also, I found it hilarious that the teacher, before he started teaching us the combination, told us to do the dance:

“Sexy. Like realllly sexy. Like not pretty sexy… stripper sexy”

Oh man. I love my gym

It will be really nice to keep going to this and hopefully I’ll get my dancing feet back and get better as the weeks go on!

I’m off to meet the bf for dinner!

Have a fabulous Friday night!