Hey friends!
Hope you all had a great Wednesday.
Last night Sean’s flight got delayed over 3+ hours so him and his mom ending up coming in at 3 instead of 11 (insert baggy eyes). No biggie, but now I’m a true party animal because I stayed up till past 5 AM. 
I always knew I had a little Snooki in me.
Actually, I picked them up at 3am and got home around 4 but me and Sean ended up hanging out until 530am. So.. I went to sleep at 6 and woke up at 915.
Hello, 3 hours of sleep.
Hello, 2 cups of coffee.
Zing.
Plans for today include going to the beach, sitting on the beach, and walking on the beach. Tis a tough life. 
Yesterday I spent most of my morning in the kitchen before work. It actually worked out good that I woke up at 7 because I was able to bake cookies, make kale chips, pit and freeze my cherries, and make my lunch all before going to work at 11. Twas a very productive morning!
I used this recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies but made a few modifications:
- 1/2 cup maple syrup = 1/4 cup maple syrup + 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2/3 cup raisins = 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup kamut flour = 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
I last made these when Sean was here over break and he LOVED them. I sent him home with some to take on the plane and he surely gobbled them up.
Of course I had to do some quality taste control.
I picked up some kale for the first time ever and now it’s safe to say that I’ve fallen head over heels for it. It’s so cute and curly and tastes very very good raw. I want to make massaged kale salads with a little bit of the vegan caesar dressing I made or even a light olive oil dressing. Mmmm..
I need to pick up more kale ASAP!
I made the sour cream and onion kale chips that I saw on OSG that she ate at Raw Aura and found the recipe to recreate. Ya follow?
Baking.
I put them in at 350* for about 30 mins.
After coming out:
They were way less crispy and much more ‘soggy’ but they tasted AMAZE. I wanted to eat the whole two trays. I ended up incorporating some into my lunch.
Wonder what I pack for lunch when I go to work?
Wonder no more!
In Julie’s packed lunch (yes, I’m a nerd):
Tart granny smith apple + paper towel for no mess.
Lots of H2O! I drink about 2-3 of these per day. They’re 32 ounces.. aka a LOTTA water.
Sour cream and onion kale chips + 3 slices tempeh ‘bacon’.
All together now:
Not gonna lie, I think I am a bit sensative to eating so many cashews (or nuts in general) at one time. After eating 1 full tray of kale chips (so good!), my stomach was in knots. Next time, I will definitely be making the sauce but I’d much rather pour a little on and it the salad raw rather than cooked into chips.
Apple for dessert.
Don’t you just love my moms shirt?
It says ‘feel beautiful’.
<3
When I got home from work the sun was still shining so I decided to lay out for a bit.
Am I torturing you all with my pool pics?? I think I should just stop posting them. lol
If I have a pool party, I am so inviting you all!!!
I cranked some tunes.
And took embarrassing pictures with no make up while being blinded by the sun.
Ohhhh yaaaa. So seksiiii.
Afternoon snax = Ezekiel low sodium bread + TJ’s sunflower seed butter + Crofter’s grape jam.
Almost too pretty to eat.
Almost.
Dinner was the same as yesterday, lentil + brown rice casserole with veggies + 2 garlic knots that we got from the pizza store. Mmm.. don’t you just love garlic knots?
I had some time to kill while waiting for Sean to come in so I went to my sisters schools fundraising event with my mom. The Harlem Wizards played my sisters teachers in a game of basketball to help fundraise for the kids. It was SO much fun. The basketball players were fricken HILARIOUS. I was dying!
Here’s my sister with one of the players.
This morning I woke up feeling like I got hit by a train.
Luckily, I had some strawberry shortcake VOO waiting for me in the fridge. 
Sean actually took a bite and loved it! Can you believe it??? SEAN liked MY vegan overnight oats!!! Progress people.. maybe he’ll start drinking green smoothies soon? Or is that my wishful thinking?
I’m off to spend some quality time with Sean and get a move on with my day. It’s beautiful out so we got lucky that there’s good weather planned for this weekend.
Enjoy your day. Remember to smile!
