Rice Noodle Salad Bowl

Even though the calendar says fall, it certainly still feels like summer down here in San Diego! So here's a hearty salad bowl to combine a little of both seasons.

Ingredients

Chicken:

• 3/4 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken
• 2 T Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil
• 2 tsp Ginger Minced

Salad:

• 1 Head Romaine Lettuce
• 3-4 Green Onions (FODMAP followers use green part only)
• 1/4 cup Cilantro
• 3/4 cup Carrots
• 2 cups Mandarin Oranges, drained and rinsed (FODMAP followers avoid those in pear juice or with HFCS)
• 3 oz. Rice Vermicelli Noodles (cook according to package directions) a drizzle with a small amount of sesame oi.
• 1 TB Sesame Seeds, toasted if desired.

Dressing:

• 1/2 Lime juice
• 1T Soy Sauce
• 1T Rice Vinegar
• 1/2 T Sesame Oil
• Pinch Sugar

Instructions

1. Marinate chicken breast in soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger (30 minutes to a couple hours).
2. Grill chicken until cooked thoroughly and then slice in thin strips. 
3. Rinse and chop Lettuce and Carrots
4. Place Lettuce and Carrots in a bowl and dry with a towel.
5. Top with Noodles
6. Add Sliced Chicken and Oranges
7. Drizzle with dressing, top with cilantro, green onions and diced peanuts. 
8. Enjoy!
   

Kitty Cuddles

Hi Elm

Last week Uber did "Uber Kittens" for National Cat Day (in select cities). For 30$ you can spend 15 minutes cuddling kittens and at the end of the day they are availabe through the local SPCA (at least in San Diego). This made me realize that people may not realize that it is very possible to cuddle kittens FO FREE! Here are a bunch of pics of kitties that I've helped with this year.

So I figured I would take this time to tell you how I got the super cool opportunity to cuddle with kitties while helping them find their furever homes.

Meredith

There are kitties at rescues everywhere that want your help. So here are ways that you can help and how to get in there!

How to Help:

1. Adopt a kitty- You've got a stable income and stable pet-friendly housing, long-term. ADOPT DON'T SHOP!

2. Foster- You've got stable pet housing, but don't need to look 5 years down the road. Some organizations are willing to compensate for buying food, litter, pet bills, etc.

3. Volunteer- You can commit a couple hours per week/ every 2 weeks/ per month. You get to snuggle with babies while they find a permanent home.

4. Donate- food, toys, treats, but what most rescues really need is money for vet bills to spay/neuter, vaccinate, and give their kitties a clean bill of health.

How to Find a Place:

Literally all I did was google "San Diego Cat Rescue", fill out an application with my info and wait for a call. There are heaps of places, so find one that's a good fit for you!

Follow them on Social Media (the SD Humane Society is currently looking for short term fosters for kittens) and you can get more updates on the awesome work they're doing.

Larry

PS- I'm pretty sure all these hints apply for dogs, rabbits, lizards, etc.

Peace Out Girl Scout

Avocado Festival 2015

 

This weekend was the fantastic California Avocado Festival in Carpenteria! This year was the first time that I got the full experience: camping on the beach, avocado treats all day and music all night. Here are a few little gems from this awesome coastal festival.

 Robitaille's has been satisfying sweet-toothes for over 40 years. And the continue to deliver. My personal favorite are all the crazy gummy flavors, but they've also got chocolate covered everything and locally made fudge, along with candy from back in the day like pop-rocks, gummy pizzas, lavender gum, you name it.

 One of the best parts of the festival is that it's just blocks from the beach. There's RV and tent camping, but you do need to plan far in advance to get a spot for this weekend. But if you don't, bring your suit for a dip in the pacific, and maybe some gasoline for the tar. If you're not from coastal California you may not know that tar comes seeping out of the earth, and it's very sticky, and they easiest way to get it off of your skin is gasoline.

 

This is Murphy, he has nothing to do with the festival, but he's very cute.  Tip on how to make friends: walk around with a 60 pound puppy, everyone will want to talk to you. 

So that's the avocado festival, put it on your calendar and don't miss out next year!

GoPro video coming soon.

Fall Forward for Fun

 

      So I've reached that off point in the year where I gear back up to apply for grad schools and I may have only a year left of school free time here in San Diego. So here's my list for fall!

     -Julian is a great little town in east county, and somehow I've never been. So what better time than apple picking season-aka apple pie season!

     -Even with all this fun, I need to make sure I've got my list ready to go when apps get released on October 1.

     -With everyone going back to school the beaches finally won't be as crowded but it's still plenty warm to frolic around!

    - I've gotten pretty comfortable in my breakfast, brunch, brinner routine. But that's no way to live, time to get a bit more adventurous in my food realm!

     -Any article of about moving to a new place will tell you that the hardest thing is that you're on your own when it comes to exploring. So I want to push myself to do one new fun thing each week so that I can finally start crossing stuff off my SD bucket list!

     -Between working 3 jobs, modeling and going on weekend trips, my room is a mess.  It'll be nice to start with a clean surface before heading into application time.

    -Last week I was able to walk for a San Diego designer in LA Fashion week. It was kind of incredible to walk for a packed house at a big event. Hopefully the open calls are on days I can actually make this time!

     -San Diego has heaps of Dia de los Muertos celebrations, so I'm hopign to make it to at least one this year!

     -I'm chronically late with deciding my Halloween costume. This year I'm aiming to decide a month before to allow the max amount of thrifting and creativity!

So that's my list for Autumn! If you want to join me on any of these activities, or think that there are major SoCal activities that I'm missing, let me know!

Keep Adventuring!

Stunna Shades fit for a SPY

       A few months ago I went to a little shin dig put on by Spy Optic at their Happy Camp in Solana Beach. A little while after they sent me these beauteous glasses to try out on my adventures! But I figured I'd get them a real audition before telling you how much I like them.
     So I put these guys through their paces and here's what I think: they are awesome!!
     The Mulholland is part of Spy's new "Crosstown Collection". Spy has made lots of awesome performance glasses but the guys are street wear. But that doesn't mean that all these glasses have going for them is their looks, they're still just as hard core as their performance buddies!
     They all have Spy's signature Happy Lens! This means that they cut down on glare so you can see real colors of what's out there on our adventures. I took these bad boys kayaking and got zero glare off the water! Plus I looked super cool.
     I had always thought of Spy as a brand for super active water fueled kids, but with the addition of these awesome shades, we can all look cool while making sure things look good!

California Scrub Company

 Skin: We've all got it, so let's treat it right! I got an offer from California Scrub Company to try out their product, and since I like it so much, I'm gonna tell you about it!
So here's little Q&A with myself for you.

What's with all the hype about coffee scrubs?
     We all love to exfoliate, it makes our skin soft and gets rid of black heads. But until recently the main exfoliating agents were salt, ground nuts and evil microbeads. Salt is not great if you have a grey water system because it may kill your plants. Ground nuts are often too rough and large and can actually leave small cuts on your skin and cause further damage (warning to St. Ives Almond and Apricot scrub users: STOP NOW). And lastly micro beads...They are covering our oceans soil, filling up the gills and bellys of creatures and take a whole lotta time to break down. So this leaves coffee grounds: You'd already put them in compost, so we know they break down fast, the pieces are small and soft so no damage to your skin, and they're basically considered trash, so you're not creating a new product. So all around, pretty great!
     The caffeine also does other things like tighten your skin and reduce stretch marks, but that's all individual preference.

 What's so special about Cali Scrub Co?
 1. Upcycled coffee grounds. They get the already used grounds from Rawvelution in Santa Monica (down the road from them) and make this "garbage" into an awesome product for us to use.
2. Zero Plastic. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but their packaging is a mason jar. Recycle it, reuse it, whatever, it probably won't go in a landfill for a billion years.
3. Ingredients you can understand. I've baked with vanilla, cinnamon AND cloves! I've gotten that on my skin and know it causes no damage or extra sensitivity to sunlight (I'm looking at you Salicylic Acid).
4. It makes your skin feel and smell great, and who doesn't love that!?

Ok, you've convinced me, now what?
Go check out their awesome website, learn more and maybe even buy one of their 3 awesome scents!

If you want to live somewhere where things are made, you need to buy things that are made in that country. Shop Small. Shop Local.

Summer Smoothie Bowl

SMOOTHIE BOWL! They're delicious, and if you do it right, nutritious.
Here's my recipes for a low FODMAP friendly one.


Bowl:
1/4 Avocado
2 Handfuls Spinach
1 Handful Frozen Mango
1/2 Handful Frozen Pineapple
3/4 c Almond Milk
1 Spoonful of Sun Butter
A few frozen Blueberries
A tiny piece of Ginger

Topping:
4 Strawberries 
1/2 Banana
Handful of Blueberries
2 Tbs toasted coconut
1 Tbs sliced Almonds

The best part about smoothie bowls? If you say to yourself: I wonder if _____ would be good on it... The answer is probably yes!

Key Components:
Creaminess: Avocado, Banana (frozen or raw), mango
Green: Spinach, Kale
Liquid: Types of Milk, Juice
Protein: Seed or Nut Butter, or Protein Powder
A Little Bite: Citrus, Pineapple, Ginger
Toppings: Fruit, Nuts, Granola, Honey, Coconut, etc.

So get out there and experiment!

Nudity in Nature

Pretending to be a tree nymph

     I was going to write about San Diego Pride today, but with the storm I only got one good photo and we were at the event for a mere 20 minutes before we were freezing. So instead we're gonna talk about a shoot I did about a month ago!

     Being a model I've gotten tons of offers to to nude or implied nude shots, and until this point, I've said no. But after working with this fantastic Make Up artist twice in 3 weeks, I decided to take a leap and take a step outside my comfort zone. And I loved every second of it.

     Hair and Makeup began at 3:30 in the morning. We shot at sunrise at a secret place in Southern California (no I'm not telling you where). The other wonderful women worked together seamlessly to create a gorgeous styled shoot. By the end of our time together I was dirty, exhausted, and incredibly comfortable in my own skin.

    This experience led me to the brilliant conclusion: Everyone should feel fantastic being naked.

   

     I'm not saying that everyone should whip off their clothes and jump in front of a camera, but you should experience your body unencumbered by clothes. I've always liked having less boundaries between me and my environment, whether that involved walking in the woods barefoot or finding a good place in a tree to curl up. But this adventure was beyond any of those. There were no jeans riding up, no t-shirts twisting into my armpits, no socks slowly bunching up around the arch of my foot. I was able to become fully aware of my body and how it connects to the earth around me.

     So go for it! Clean your room in your underwear, make a sandwich in the nude, don't huddle in a towel while you wait for the water to warm up. (But maybe make sure your blinds are closed before doing any of these things). 

     I'm so grateful that I was able to have this experience with some wonderful humans, and I hope every person on earth can feel the same about their body at some point in their life.

Photographer: The Heart's Haven

Hair, Makeup& Styling: Thorne Artistry