Posted by missjunebug on November 30, 2010
A Tower O' Healthy Eats! Photo by mjb2010
missjunebug is on mission to reform her diet, especially after the tasty Thanksgiving detour she recently took. With Mr.JB out of town and Christmas trappings to joyfully distribute around the Hacienda, she didn’t want to waste time cooking for one. What to do? What to do?
Her answer: Deli Salads!!! Oh. my. yes. After her monthly appointment to flush her cath-port (another story, another time), she swung by Gelson’s to pick up food for the week in those handy little #1 containers. Such variety. Such deliciousness. And simple, simple, simple.
missjunebug had a tough time deciding but she finally settled on Wild Wheatberry Salad, Jessica’s Super Antioxidant Chopped Salad, Jessica’s Chopped Vegetable Barley Salad, Homemade Potato Salad, and Vegetable Greek Salad with Feta! And guess what? missjunebug bought enough little salads to get a #2-sized container of Fresh Fruit Salad for FREE!! Truly, life is good.
Okay, missjunebug knows what you’re thinking: Any indulgences? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, there was one. She also got a #1 container of Cornbread Stuffing. Since she suffers from a dearth, actually an entire absence of Thanksgiving leftovers, having enjoyed Thanksgiving at Mr.JB’s sister’s in Wisconsin, she had a leftover craving for Cornbread Stuffing. Yum. She ate that in place of the meat course! Brilliant!
The moral to this little food story? When you find yourself on your own, have a healthy food party for one with delicious deli salads! This is the kind of indulgence you can absolutely afford!
Posted by missjunebug on November 23, 2010
Thanks ElderJB for This Delightful Turkey! mjb2010
Happy Thanksgiving! missjunebug loves this holiday and hopes you do, too! Savory food and family and all that pie! And so much to be thankful for!
Turns out that’s a really good thing to be: thankful. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Grateful people are happier, healthier long after the leftovers are gobbled up.”
The benefits of gratitude are legion: more of all the good things we want as human beings: optimism, energy, social connections, money (!), exercise, sleep, and even resistance to viral infections!!
missjunebug encourages you to cultivate gratitude daily in a gratitude journal, in daily prayer, in meditation, or in your own special way. missjunebug writes her thanks on those little iPhone post-it notes and in her Moleskines and she concludes each evening with her Dear Lord, thank you for this day prayer. Keep it simple. Make it grateful. Amen to that!
Posted by missjunebug on November 15, 2010
Lovely Angel of the Ashram. Photo by mjb2010
missjunebug’s new idea of the Perfect Day goes something like this:
A gentle knock at the door of her little room at 5:30 a.m. and an encouraging “Good Morning.”
Up and dressed for an hour of yoga, downing a few sips of herbal tea along the way.
Every muscle stretched, taxed, relaxed, it’s off to a whole grain breakfast and a glass o’ greens.
Quick change to hiking apparel, Camelpak filled to the brim, missjunebug sets off with her posse to 3 hours on the trail in the Santa Monica Mountains, mostly uphill.
Whew! Hit the showers, settle into a lunch of salad greens and sunflower seed pate. Surprise, it’s pink! And delicious.
After a little down time, pool work begins relaxed but ends with frenzied pool volleyball, the only non-Zen moments of the day!
Next? TRX workout where missjunebug really gets a sense of what working out with her own body as the weight she must lift, rules.
Then the blessed relief of a full body massage that takes away the pain of the early morning trail walk.
Another hour of evening yoga is the perfect bookend to the challenging day.
Dinner is marginally heartier and salted with savory conversation.
A little musical meditation follows and a sweet “Good night” Â to amazing companions, inspired instructors, and missjunebug’s New Idea of the Perfect Day.
Repeat 5 times.
Brought to her (and you! if you choose!) by The Ashram in Calabasas, California.
Namasté.
Posted by missjunebug on November 6, 2010
This is not a good year for two of missjunebug’s favorite teams: the Longhorns and the Irish.
missjunebug’s dog Spoonbug is just about the sweetest creature missjunebug has ever known.
The days before Daylight Saving Time ends are ridiculous. Sunrise at 7:15. Really?
Capital One Rewards are awesome. missjunebug just purchased four monetarily significant gift cards with miles she’s “earned” by shopping, one of the things missjunebug does best. Money for nothing and the chicks are…nevermind.
missjunebug loves, loves, loves her iPhone, iPad, and Kindle and can’t imagine life without them. facebook, on the other hand, she can take or leave. Sorry, M.Z.
Homemade biscuits made with buttermilk are so much better than regular biscuits but using up the quart of buttermilk before it goes bad is impossible. Buttermilk packagers Listen up! Make smaller containers for this cooking ingredient: nobody drinks the stuff!
The best prayers are pithy. missjunebug is sure God is familiar with Strunk and White‘s Elements of Style.
Real Simple magazine is simply wonderful.
Marketplace from American Public Media on NPR rocks. missjunebug wakes up to it every morning and it never disappoints.
Working as a background actor is one of those jobs that makes missjunebug say to herself “I can’t believe I get paid for doing this!”
And blogging is more shiny-delightful than a Mason jar full of fireflies on a dark night.
Posted by missjunebug on November 3, 2010
So after the palm trees, comes the retaining wall. missjunebug has a sneaking suspicion she lives in a money pit, albeit a really nice money pit. The outlay for getting 12 Mexican palms trimmed looks like chump change compared to the cost of shoring up a falling down slope that supports the junebugs driveway. Alas, it must be done. The separation between wall and driveway grew from an inch or so the last few years to a good half foot and the cement and wooden structure put in place by the previous owners to keep the wall and the land where they are supposed to be now has air beneath only. The soil has been quietly slip, slip, slipping away for a few thousand days, so remedy was required.
But there is something particularly painful about paying for posts and railroad ties and rocky dirt that the junebugs can’t even see! Well, actually, missjunebug in looking over that last sentence realizes she doesn’t want to see that stuff, but she wants even less to pay for it. Cha Ching X a kagillion. Or at least it feels that way.
But missjunebug doesn’t want to sound too complainy. She knows how good she’s got it. And the call from The Ashram didn’t come a minute too soon. She’s outta here on Sunday for some renovation of her own on her poor beleaguered body and spirit. She’ll leave the wrap up of the Driveway Debacle to her Mr.JB.
Posted by missjunebug on November 1, 2010
What a concept! Photo by mjb2010
missjunebug has her Mr.JB to thank for this one!
Friday night missjunebug had a social obligation which the junebugs were invited to. But after a long work week, Mr.JB decided to bow out gracefully. So that left him to fend for himself in the kitchen. He brought home food and drink uplifting to the palate and the spirit: Wine and a baguette! But not just any wine.
He brought home Monogamy Truly Madly Deeply Cabernet Sauvignon 2008. Before she left, she gave her Mr.JB a big hug for his selection. She liked the idea that a bottle of wine could promote a concept the junebugs believe in and rely upon every single day. missjunebug especially likes the Truly Madly Deeply part. She also liked the idea that of all the wines in the store, Mr.JB selected this one. Way to go, Mr.JB!
And the wine’s pretty good, too!
Up Close and Personal! Photo by mjb2010
