Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Day 0 (Pre Cleanse)


1/2 cup coffee & Whey protien powder w/ water for breakfast.
Steamed spinach & asparagus for lunch.
Kale & strawberries for dinner.

xoxo Shauna

Juice Cleanse

Now that the Memorial Day weekend is over, it's time to get the diet & exercise routine back on track... I'm starting a cleanse tomorrow! 

I've wanted to do a cleanse for a while now & have been researching the types of cleanses, the benefits & how exactly to go about one.

After research & talking to a girlfriend who's a life coach & fitness/health food enthusiast, I decided that a juice cleanse was the best option for me.  

The Basics of a Juice Cleanse

A juice cleanse usually lasts from 1 to 10 days.  Typically, 3 is the magic number.

Drink about 32-64 oz. of fresh & organic (if possible) fruit juice a day, along with a minimum of 6 glasses of water a day.  

Typical ingredients for juice cleanses include beets, celery, carrots, apples, cucumber, garlic, ginger, cilantro, wheatgrass and cayenne pepper.

DO NOT consume alcohol, caffeine or solid food during your cleanse, as this will shock the body.  

Makes sure you're consuming veggie juices full of fiber or take a laxative tea before bed during the cleanse, as to not create adverse effects of the cleanse.   

Before the cleanse, take a day or two & only consume fruits & veggies, as to not shock your body when you begin the cleanse.  Same with post-cleanse, slowly introduce yourself to normal foods.  On the first day after your cleanse, only eat fruits & veggies; On the second, try eating yogurt, eggs, fruits & veggies.  


 The Plan

A local juice bar markets a 3 day juice cleanse that I was really interested in doing, but the cost is about $200 for 3 days & I wanted to find an affordable version (it's just juice!!).  

If you're budget has a little more cushion than mine, sign up here:

For the rest of us on a tighter budget, here are some recipes for DIY juices for your cleanse:
http://www.justcleansing.com/juice.htm


Since I don't have a juicer or the patients to make my own juice, I've decided to depend on a local health food store with a juice bar inside.  This is saving me a TON of money & I still am not making my own juices.  The cost for a 32 oz. juice at Mother's Market is about $8.  For 3 days, the total cost of my cleanse is at most $48, compared to $200 for bottled & marketed juice cleanses.   
 


If you don't have a Mother's Market near you, there are tons of health food stores with juice bars inside!  Research or ask around for a market in your area.  






Typically, citrus juices are avoided on juice cleanses, since they just don't have the same cleansing effects as other juices. I plan on drinking a ton of the super cleansing cocktail, the liver cleanse & making my own blends.  

In preparation for tomorrow, today & only had a 1/2 a cup of coffee (i'm addicted to coffee so that's going to be the toughest part for me), had protein powder for breakfast, a spinach with lemon & asparagus for lunch & am having some kale for dinner.  

I'll keep everyone updated on my status this week!  Wish me luck!

xoxo Shauna


Rainbow SANDALS

I'm loving all the COLOR this season, especially on my feet! 
Here are a few RAINBOW options that caught my eye...  




 
 (L) Dolce Vita turquoise sandals & (R) DV by Dolce Vita 
(for 1/2 the price).


Zara neon sandals.  
I WANT the ones on the left SO BAD (both around $100).  
  
H&M.  Less than $20 & AMAZING!! 



 Both sandals above are from ASOS.com. 



Good ol' Jeffrey Campbell.  Both available at Karmaloop.com.



xoxo Shauna

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Monday, May 30, 2011

Fashion Inspiration














Happy Memorial Day!!
Here are some photos I saved this week in my "Fashion Inspiration" folder this week.  
xoxo Shauna

Friday, May 27, 2011

Friday Quote Day...

"I've been reckless, but I'm not a rebel without a cause" 
- Angelina Jolie

  

Marilyn & JFK being naughty.

"What do I wear to bed?  Why Chanel #5 of course." 
- Marilyn Monroe


 

"If you love two people at the same time, choose the second one, because if you really loved the first one you wouldn't have fallen for the second" 
- Johnny Depp



xoxo Shauna

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Rooftop Garden!







The restaurant I work for has been making a conscious effort to be as "green" as possible, implementing new disposal policies, switching it's produce to organic & local,  & only purchasing sustainable seafood. 

Last week, we decided to take it a step further & start our own garden on the roof!  Admittedly, I don't have the greenest thumb, which makes me even more excited to be a part of this rooftop garden.  I'm hoping to learn a thing or two (the only thing I've been able to keep alive at home is a bamboo plant, which I hear is pretty indestructible) & also have yummy herbs & veggies to eat at the restaurant & at home.   

So far we've planted: 
Purple Basil
Cinnamon Basil
Lemon Basil
Chives
Strawberries
Parsley
Mint
chamomile
chard
brussel sprouts 
cilantro
chives
dill
& celery 

On the list to plant:
Jalapenos
Golden Beets
Heirloom Tomatoes
Carrots
Lavender
& whatever goodness we can come up with :) 


Wish us luck! 
xoxo Shauna


Monday, May 23, 2011

The Accidental Expert



 A Guest Blogger's Explication of 
"Kisses Aren't Contracts"  


The Accidental Expert
A Blog
Emotional Outsourcing: An inquiry into contractual affection
Someone recently told me that “kisses aren’t contracts.” I imagine that on most days, I would dismiss this notion with vague approval of its quasi-romantic notions of hippie-esque free love, individual freedom, and inherent lack of inhibition and responsibility in favor of evanescent fancies and whimsical self-affirmation, except for the fact that the person who said this happened to be someone whom I had lately spent a considerable amount of time kissing. I suppose it was this fact that left me to ponder this seemingly playful idea of self-indulgence as though a pebble in my shoe: uncomfortable and unavoidable. 
       “What is it one should take from this statement?” I wondered. “Am I under contract,” I asked myself? Not according to this notion, I suppose. If not under contract then, have we simply made of each other at-will employees, fireable according to the whims of a fickle and changing market? Have we really become the victims of our own emotional outsourcing? Should one imagine that today’s romantic encounters are merely exercises in individualistic self-indulgence wherein the partner is only valued in their necessity in facilitating the act in the first place? Have we become so jaded by our own disappointments and heartbreaks that we have resorted to abandoning the objects of our affections while literally still in the act of expressing that affection simply as a way to avoid our own abandonment? 
It occurred to me also that perhaps the contract has suffered from a rather negative misperception. While some may consider it to be a binding obligation, a shackle upon the neck, as it were, to predictable, and possibly unwanted fate, scathing the flesh and now destroying what it was once meant to protect, a contract is, after all, in its most basic nature, an assertion of trust; a promise that one person can rest assured in the sincerity of another; it is faith. This seemed to beg the question then, “Have we lost our faith even in those with whom we share our most tender and intimate of moments?”
  I began to look at my own past and quickly realized that as noble and romantic as it may feel to ask such rhetorical questions of faith and affection and promise, I was in no position to wield judgment. Over the many years of my own post-pubescent life, I found that I had lived up to no universal assumption of faith based solely on a kiss. In fact, by that measure, I suppose that I had promised with equanimity the same faith to both the beloved and the barfly, the love and the lie. 
       For what, then, would we wish? Would we will it that a kiss would be more than an ambivalent and off-handed gesture with all the tenderness of a handshake? Would we that each kiss was in fact a promise? And what promise could that be? What promise to which we would be willing to bind ourselves could be expressed in the softness, the fleeting touch of a kiss? Would we be willing to say to the one across our gaze, “I give this to you, and to no another”? Would we be willing to say, “I take this from you, and from no another”? Or perhaps, “Believe in me, in my sincerity and in my faith in you, and in your faith in me”? 
  No, certainly these things are not implied in something as trivial as a kiss. Certainly, none should wish to be so confined by the tethers of such notions. For what uncertainty should we face if this were true? Imagine that we, each of us, were not merely wandering nihilistically through the ether locked momentarily by the lips in embraces of apathy. To think that we each might take responsibility for each other, to believe in another while knowing that that other might break the contract and our faith. To think that each of us should find ourselves exposed, potentially alone out on that proverbial limb, naked and able to be hurt, and able to be so much more, able to be loved! And yet able to be abandoned! No, one would certainly not wish to assume that kind of responsibility with naught but a kiss and a faith to break that kind of fall. Certainly, that someone was right, after all. Kisses are not contracts…but, oh, that they were!


THIS SUBMISSION MADE MY DAY :)
Amusing & Insightful.
xoxo Shauna


Friday, May 20, 2011

Friday Quote Day…


Love is friendship on fire.
- unknown




xoxo Shauna

Hidden OC Gem

One of my favorite spots to go grab drinks or go to dinner is the art district in Santa Ana.  When I tell OC people how much I love it down there, I get a lot of funny looks because Santa Ana isn't exactly known for it's cuisine.  Within the last couple years, however, the BEST restaurants are popping up down there & I just love exploring new places.

I've listed some of my favorite restaurants in Santa Ana, but encourage you (if you're in the OC area) to explore yourself.  I promise you won't be disappointed :) 


Drinks:

The Copper Door


To get to this AMAZING bar, you have to walk down a nondescript flight of stairs & enter though a heavy copper door & curtains.  The inside it minimalist but amazing.  You'll feel like you entered into a new world… is this bar really in the OC?  I'd expect to find this oasis in NY or SF.  


The Crosby


The food is excellent, too, but come here for the music & cocktails with friends.  


Lola Gaspar


Brooklyn meets Espana.  This tapas bar reminds me of the Haunted Mansion… In a very good way.



Din:


Chapter One


This library-themed restaurant in the newest of the 
Haven Gastropub - Taco Asylum -  Chapter One tripod.  
Above is the potato pear.  Yumm.  


Memphis


Southern cooking with a twist.  Live music (like many of the restaurants down here) plays almost nightly.  


Gypsy Den


"Friends don't let friends go to Starbucks"
This eco-friendly cafe is an amazing spot to grab lunch or hang with friends.  



xoxo Shauna