Tag Archives: breakfast

Sunday, Funday

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Last Sunday I had brunch at a place I’d been intrigued by for awhile. Some friends were organizing a brunch, and they had mentioned Five Leaves as an option. As soon as I heard that, I secretly hoped that it would be the final choice. And it was!

There was a long wait, but with good company. I guess a hungry belly would be the only thing sensing any urgency. We were seated and greeted by the friendly staff. That’s one thing I took note of the whole time. Despite the busyness of the whole place, the staff wasn’t rushing anyone at all or giving off any bad vibes. It’s funny because I’m realizing now that I was initially intrigued solely by pictures, not by raving reviews. However, when I got there that’s when I realized I was in for a real treat when strangers were even telling me that “no joke, everything here is great!”

Everything here was so inviting.

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Nothing To Do But Float In The Ocean

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Here’s a little recap of my time down in Florida, which was mostly spent on the Gulf coast.

It seemed like a secret spot.

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The Mom Was Back In Town

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Start the day right

My mom was in town last weekend, on a last minute trip to spend Mother’s Day with each other. It was more motivation to clean the apartment, and get all domestic making sure she’d have everything she wants. I made sure she brought her walking shoes! I was so excited to have her visit, and to share my life up here with her. Plus, she always leaves  such positive energy behind. It must be all that love she has inside.

A breakfast fit for the Queen of Mothers

A baked sweet berry omelette topped with dried orange slices, strawberries, and Greek yogurt. I think I whipped the egg white too much though, since it didn’t come out quite as fluffy as the original recipe.

It was such a lovely Mother’s Day breakfast.
My mom, a lover of salmon, is so happy that I eat fish now…

We walked to the market together, since I wanted to show her the wonderful fish selection at Citarella. Also, I’m not sure if it varies by location but the one in the Upper West Side has very knowledgable and friendly fishmongers. I made grilled chili-lime salmon, which is a little spicy, sweet, and citrusy. I also tried lime juice with balsamic vinegar and it was so delicious… I’ll have to make a dressing including those two ingredients.

I also found caperberries at the store, and added them to the accompanying salad.

While my mother was in town, my friend was shooting a music video at my place.

It was so awesome to finally see it come to life!

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The Weekend-Long Date

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A little over two years ago, my best friend and I had wedding ceremony as a symbol of our friendship. Some of you may recall the recap I shared as a testament, We Are Gathered Here Today. This weekend she made an impromptu visit to see me, and it was her first time in New York City!

It all started with a little temptation…

Next thing you know she drove through the night to get as much time as she could. Finding a great parking spot for the weekend only a couple blocks from my place was just the beginning of the lucky penny that shined over our next couple of days.

Always beautiful, even when she barely gets rest.

She had her coffee black with sugar, and then off we went to explore the city’s west side.

Awfully tall representatives

 They were having a family street fair over in Tribeca, which was a part of the Tribeca Film Festival. There were lots of kids with painted faces walking around, getting into character. We walked through Greenwich village, perusing through chocolate shops, boutiques, stationary shops. Strolled through Washington Square and made our way through Union Square…

On our way up we went to a book lover’s haven–Strand.

My friend was overwhelmed and in love all at the same time. I imagined having a weekly ritual, going there to pick up a “new” book. You can find books that are out of print, on any subject from psychology to banned titles, or even old fortune books. Eventually we headed over to Eataly–a great place to take vistors, and I wanted to check out their fresh fish selection.

Here you can find refrigerated cases of fresh, handmade pastas.

While you’re browsing the pastas you can smell the aromas of sauces cooking, and look over and you’ll find someone enjoying a delicious platter at one of the many dining areas in this establishment. It’s a large cafeteria with a market and “restaurants”. Whether you’re in the mood for a morning cappuccino, a glass of wine, beautiful pastries, gelato, cured meats, chocolates, or vegetables… you will find something. Another neat thing is that you can try things based on various regions throughout Italy!

The smell of cheese lingers through the air over in this section.

After we toured Eataly, we headed back up to my neighborhood for dinner. We had planned on going to Candle Cafe’s relatively new Upper West Side location (I feel spoiled only living a couple blocks away), but the wait was too long for our hunger to wait.

I ended up taking my date to a nearby restaurant and jazz club

Cleopatra’s Needle by night always caught my eye when walking home. It seems like a place that’s been there for a long time. I’d look in through the paneled windows, to see tables of people leaning in over wine glasses, grooving to the live jazz music that goes on every night. I also often see patrons dining alone, simply enjoying their own company. Something about this place, with its dimly lit and old-fashioned setting, is so inviting.

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A Way To Start The Day

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I reminded Matilda of how lovable she is…

"What else did you expect?"

This is true.. I should also note that Matilda is no ordinary dog. No, I have to lure her with treats to go out for walks, and she doesn’t settle for just any kind of food, toy, or other dog. She can also eat an entire bar of dark chocolate without repercussions. Lucky her, but I don’t want to go through the experience of the latter again.

And definitely not with this pot of chocolate.

When I came across Ashley’s recipe for ‘Chocolate Coconut Fudge Sauce‘, I went to the store to fetch some coconut milk to make it later that day. The coconut milk was incredibly thick, so I knew this was going to be a yummy, decadent affair.

Chocolate-dipped strawberry?

Yes, please. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this jar was nearly empty by the end of the morning.

Since it’s Friday and the weekend is beginning, I thought I’d share some breakfast ideas with you.

Katie’s ‘Deep-Dish Cookie Pie‘

It's very moist on the inside and crusty along the edges.

Some people like their cookies crunchy all the way through, but I like to have a little bit of both worlds. Something that will melt in my mouth, but with a crunch my teeth I have to bite through first.

Topped with goat's milk yogurt and berries, and a cup of green tea.

I'm going to tell you a little secret...

This cookie pie is mostly made with beans! Red bean cakes anyone?

Around the table for a more traditional breakfast

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Prix Fixe Menu: Fashion as a First Course

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Good evening, or afternoon, or even morning! How about good day?

I’ve been making some changes around my blog (I mentioned the page theme change in my last post), but there have been some more additions since then.

For starters I added a few buttons so that we can stay better connected.

 bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

And you can also share on other sites with the buttons at the bottom of each post.

Some of you in the past have asked me to do a tour of my kitchen, and I figured what better way to share some of my picks than with a store. So I added a ‘store’ page as well which has a link to my Amazon Store. There are things that are also puppy approved, books, beauty, what have you.

And as an editor for “JENESEQUA” I’m extremely excited to share that our March 2012 issue launched yesterday! This month our cover and editorial features model, Elina Ivanova.


It’s a free app so all you need is an iPad to download. I’ve been anticipating this one for awhile, especially since I got to interview the creator and founder of STRANGEBEAUTIFUL–a concept driven nail polish line.

It’s got quite a neat motivation behind it, which you can read about here.

With that I’m going to take that and rewind it back as Usher liked to put it. Rewind. rewind. rewind back to my roommate’s fashion show.

There were lots of people with their own sense of style.

Grr baby... grr

And not-so-believable poker faces

Beautifully tailored clothes

With very inspired sensibilities.

It was a fun night and I finally got to catch up with my friend and Editor-in-Chief at “JENSEQUA“. It was so neat to see Daniella’s Fall 2012 collection come to fruition. From the beginning.. the source of her inspiration and seeing it all come together in the end, showed me again that fashion is more than vanity.

One of my favorite lovers of fashion, Brooke, has a motto: eat fashion for breakfast. What kind of day would it be if you had a bowl full of Alexis Mabille? To round out an almost complete meal of fashion shows and street style, there’s got to be a third course…

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Subtleties of the Everyday are My Reality Check

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Things like the feeling of thirst, blind spots when driving, or finding the beat in a song when it changes. In my last post I asked you all if you pay attention to how certain things affect you. I also said that lately I’ve been approaching my meals at home with no forethought. Take breakfasts for example. I would always say that I’m more of a “sweet breakfasts” person, but lately I’ve been waking up many mornings wanting different things. Or sometimes I’ve been waking up with nothing in mind. If I’m hungry I’ll walk to the fridge, open it, and stare up and down for five minutes. So here are some of my recent varying breakfasts.

I’ve been using different grains.

I made Ashley’s Chocolate Buckwheat Breakfast bake, but next time I don’t want to add so much cocoa powder.

Baking single-servings always feels special.
I think throwing in some dried fruit would make it slightly sweeter too.
Rise and shine!
This time around I used some leftover quinoa to make a parfait.
Quinoa, peaches, apples, Greek yogurt, almonds, and honey.
The idea of scrambled eggs is nauseating to me, but scrambled tofu is a different story.

I combined these two recipes: breakfast scramble and tofu taco, and then added some of my own dashes of flavor.

Bean burritos for breakfast are not a stranger to me now.
Crunchy Jicama and Mango Salad with Chile and Lime

I bought jicama for another recipe and had some leftover, so I found this delicious recipe to try out. So refreshing!

Beans cooked in… I can’t remember, tomato, lebni (Kefir cheese), cilantro, and onion in a brown rice tortilla.
Savoury sandwiches.
Yes, even tempeh rueben’s for breakfast.

Sauerkraut in the morning? I combined two recipes again: vegetarian reuben sandwich and tempeh reuben.

Now what is this lovely looking blob thing?

Another recipe from Ashley, a banana cornbread cake and if I remember correctly I just made the creature blob by simply mixing Greek yogurt, a bit of almond milk, and sunflower seed butter together to get this pudding like consistency.

And some maple syrup drizzled on top.
If you like grainy things then this recipe is for you!
Another breakfast using cornmeal, but it didn’t taste very earthy.

Kita’s cornmeal pancake recipe was so delicious!

Just maple syrup and butter.
I kind of wished the stack would’ve just reappeared in front of me.
These tasted like sweet cornbread, but not as dense and oily.
Savory breakfasts lookin’ fresh.
I made cheesy corncakes with a side of bean and sweet potato hash, and whipped up a tangy curry sauce to go with it. 
Ice cream for breakfast too!

I finally stumbled upon Coconut Bliss’s “Ginger Cookie Caramel” at the store one day, mind you I’ve been keeping an eye out for it since the flavor released a few months ago. I’m glad I picked it up because a) it was the last one, and b) I have yet to see it again.

I think you would too, if this was in your freezer.
I would eat this over cake any day. 
I also tried another new Coconut Bliss flavor: Mocha Maca Crunch.

This was also very tasty, and I loved the bitter crunch from the cacao nibs.

And another new-to-me ice cream!

La-Loo’s goat’s milk ice cream caught my eye, and I decided on vanilla. Whoa! This was so good that I don’t think I will ever buy another kind of vanilla ice cream. Ever. It was creamy, sweet ,and had an intense vanilla flavor like no other–no wonder it’s considered the “holy grail” of ice cream.

Any recipes in this post you’d like to try? What’s your favorite ice cream?

On the Brink

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Greetings everyone! Before I jump right into the post I wanted to give a special hello to my new readers. I’ve noticed some new faces have been gracing the comments section, and it always brightens my day even more when that happens. So hello, and if you haven’t commented yet but are a reader, I’d love to hear from you!

I’ve been making a batch of bite-sized treats using dates on a weekly basis.

I try to change the recipe up so they don’t become monotonous. This particular week I stumbled upon Allison’s Coconut Pretzel Energy Bites recipe, and was inspired to make something very similar. Rather than using pretzels, which I did not have, I used sesame sticks. Do any of you guys have any yummy bite-sized recipes you’d like to share?

Banana pops

They’re back! The recipe is incredibly simple, and incredibly tasty. I’m talking only three ingredients kind of simple. Check it out here.

Just what I need on a hot day.
I think little Matilda was expecting a banana pop too, and not a leaf.
Since my dining experience, I’ve been inspired to make beautiful salads at home.

I’ve also been trying to clean out my pantry, but having fun with it by finding new ways to eat my staples. Take yellow split peas for instance. I usually just cook them as a soup (delicious mind you), but I’ve been craving cooler foods so when I saw this Greek fava dip recipe I knew that was on my to-do list.

And don’t let the name of the recipe fool you–no fava beans were involved.

However, fava beans use to be used for this old recipe, but yellow split peas are easier to cook so that’s what is used today. The fava of Santorini is the most sought after, but is quite hard to find.

Anybody want to join me in the search?

In other news, guess what I’ve given another chance.

Grapefruits! I recently discovered that the trick to eating them is to completely peel off the skin, only eating the pulp. After I tried a slice utilizing my new found knowledge, I realized that I do like them! As I mentioned earlier in this post, lately I’ve been craving much cooler foods, so making grapefruit tarragon sorbet sounded like a great idea! Indeed it was.

Getting the liquid out of the coconut.

For Cinco de Mayo I wanted to make a coconut margarita recipe to celebrate with some friends. Sadly, at the store they didn’t have any cream of coconut so I decided to just make my own.

This coconut doesn’t know what it’s in for.
Dun dun dun
Well, that was easy.
Freshly grated coconut meat!

The process isn’t too difficult, but it does have a lot of steps. Though I’ve found that I’ve gotten the most enjoyment out of things when they are totally made from scratch.

And of course when they’re shared with lovely friends!
Cheers!
Pear and date compote with toasted & salted hemp seeds over oatmeal.

Now that I have time to have breakfast in the comfort of my own home I thought I’d enjoy it by leisurely making a compote, and toast some hemp seeds.

Mango, chocolate hazelnut butter, and freshly grated coconut meat.
Enjoyed in a goblet.

It’s nice to not have to eat breakfast out of a mason jar almost every morning.

Dinner is served.

This was a Thai-inspired soba noodle dish with vegetables, edamame, coconut milk, chile, curry leaves, a homemade paste out of garlic, galangal, and other things I can’t remember. Oops! I guess that’s what happens when you throw things together.

More coconut love!
Last project for my fashion photography class.

I’m almost done with the semester. Wait, wait, wait. I’m almost done with my undergrad! I still have two more critiques left, and then finito. I’m very excited for my future, and relishing in all of the wonderful things that are happening right now. My step-dad put it in a way that I couldn’t have said it better myself, “right now you are celebrating who you are and where you’re at in life.” I feel like I’m radiating this happiness that’s inside of me because everywhere I go, there’s been a blue jay on my shoulder.

Hope there’s been one on yours!

Friends, Food, and Family

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Good morning everyone! I wanted to give you all a heads up that from now on I will be answering your questions in the comments section, so don’t forget to check back if you asked one! I use to do that, but somewhere along the line I stopped. It’s a lot easier to reply right on the post rather then sending out e-mail, especially because I want to get back to you guys. But if they are in-depth or personal questions, then of course an e-mail would be sent.

Last weekend my step-dad and I paid a visit to a place we hadn’t been to in years.
The Jefferson is a historic hotel in Richmond, which also has beautiful dining rooms.
I’d like the Southern Comfort spiked brioche French toast, please.
We take our food seriously…
but only for a minute!
Sherried Winter Squash Bisque

As some of you may know, thick soups are my favorite! Especially ones involving butternut squash. This recipe caught my eye awhile ago and me oh my, my taste buds saw fireworks! Imagine your grandma’s most comforting specialty soup… times ten!

Me thinking “mmm this is the best butternut squash soup ever!”
Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt and some thyme (and coconut oil if you’re so inclined).
With my lovely friend and curator of a show this past First Friday.
And a video of mine was a part of it–I was so excited!

As part of Foodbuzz’s Tastemakers program I was generously sent a loaf of Nature’s Pride Hearty Wheat with Flax to try out.

The bread was great for sandwiches!
Especially ones filled with homemade hummus, Vegenaise, and veggies.
It can also be enjoyed with banana slices and chocolate hazelnut butter.

You can go sweet, savoury, or simple with this bread–say if you’re just in a toast and butter mood. I also think it’s neat that they thought of incorporating flax into the bread, a good way to get in some Omega-3′s!

In other news, I went to the Hispanic Gala that my friend helped organize.

I glamorously biked to the event in this gown… just this gown. It was quite a liberating and exhilarating experience, and that’s not counting actually being at the gala! I met a lot of wonderful people from all over the world, and I was so proud of my friend for playing such a vital role in making it all happen.

Picture courtesy of my dear friend’s cell phone!
And a pro one from another friend!
Another blue moon came around and I went to the hot bar at Whole Foods.

I love that hot bars let you get a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Now if only everything were as light as lettuce then I think blue moons would come around more often.

I finally got my hands on purples potatoes!

I’ve had a very peculiar ingredient sitting in my kitchen forever, but I hadn’t used it until recently. One day I decided to look up recipes that called for pomegranate molasses. That’s when I came across this recipe on one of my favorite sites for cooking: lentil hummus wrap with pomegranate molasses. I also made the red lentil hummus that went along with the recipe, and loved the idea! I have been cooking a lot with red lentils lately, but it was a nice change to what I usually make out of them.

I got a special treat for my step-dad and I to try…
This was a vegan version of one of my step-dad’s all time favorite candy bars: Almond Joy.

I don’t think he’s had one in awhile, so I thought it’d be interesting for him to try a vegan version. We both thought these were delicious, and had just the right amount of coconut with a bite int0 a crunchy almond to top it all off.

Speaking of coconut…

Remember I mentioned the new Super skincare line in my last post? Well, I’ve been trying out their products and seeing how they make me and my skin feel. First up. Lush Lips. Can you believe they got their inspiration for soft skin from coconut oil? Finally, a skincare line that catches on to that! This lip moisturizer has a subtle coconut smell, and doesn’t leave your lips feeling sticky. Last thing I want is to be eating my own hair because it gets stuck on my lips.

The Face + Eye Cleanser

In my last post Allison asked me what I thought about the cleanser, so I thought I’d share my thoughts. Since the product uses the famous superfood, açaí, it has a bit of a sweet smell, and it feels soft and milky on your skin as your washing it. The cleanser was gentle enough to use on the eyes to remove any makeup. Actually, the smell and texture made me want to indulge in the whole experience of washing my face. Yes, it actually felt like an experience! So how did my skin feel afterwards? It felt hydrated, fresh, and soft. A wonderful feeling to have at the beginning of the day and at the end don’t you think?

And the weekend will be spent celebrating this little lady’s birthday!

She’s been one of my best friends since the days of… peculiar fashion whims. Who am I kidding? We still have those! The point is that she’s a true blue friend, and I’m so happy to be able to be right there with as she adds one more year to her repertoire as Soul Sista!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend. What are you looking forward to?

The Meaningful Ones

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Thinking about the warm weather, and coming back to cold weather has been on my mind lately. I try not to let the weather bring me down, but sometimes it’s hard! Something I thought about the other day is that weather is humbling for me. Weather and mother nature are greater than our expectations of it. Wind can make fun of me when it pushes me forward or gets me eating my own hair. The breeze welcomes me to relax into it. When it rains sometimes I imagine that clouds are just giant sprinklers and I can run through them. Whatever it may be like outside, it’s bigger than me and I’m okay with that.

I loved being able to have the windows open in the morning and breathing in fresh air.

Stepping outside and feeling warmth on my skin.

Brötchen for breakfast.

My parents frequent the several German bakeries in their area and always bring home things that are nostalgic for me.

Hopefully soon I’ll be back over in Germany walking to the bakery and bringing home some freshly baked rolls!
Over the break I also tried some local bee pollen.

This had such a curious taste, and I can’t really explain it but I’m not complaining.

I had to buy another bar because little Matilda ate the entire bar one night!

By some miracle she did not get sick at all! That whole bar is twice the amount that is toxic for her, and I don’t know how she managed to eat something that is almost as long as her. She’s a supa freak! [Supa freak, supa freakayyy! Ow!]

Chilled oatmeal, incognito chopped dates, diced apple, Greek yogurt, honey, bee pollen, and…
Toasted hemp seeds with sea salt-yum.
We went to a place where you could browse through a long list of beers.

I am all about options, and I chose a pear cider. This was so yummy, and tasted like an “older kid’s” version of pear juice in a box.

Followed by the one blurry picture before my camera died.
Threw together a random lunch

Raw red Russian kale with dressing, leftover yellow split pea soup, and…

During the week I made a batch of refried beans and coconut-sesame seed rice.

The coconut-sesame seed rice recipe is from my “Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners” book, and I’ll give you a brief description so maybe you can give it a try! Cook some basmati rice with ghee and salt. Then when the rice is done cooking, heat up some ghee in a small pan and fry equal amounts of shredded coconut and sesame seeds till they’re lightly browned. Mix in with the cooked rice, salt to taste, and garnish with cilantro. I’ve posted about this recipe before. It’s so simple and incredibly flavorful!

Guess who joined us halfway through the week!

Emily was staying a few hours away from us for a few days, and then she decided she was ready for girl time!

Ohh the beach, how I love you!
One of the days after soaking in some sun I wanted to share, in my humble opinion, one of the best ice creams.
Mmm vanilla island coconut ice cream

This is going to sound corny, but this really is coconut bliss.

And they all agreed!

Apparently Coconut Bliss has come out with four new flavors, and one of them is on my radar–ginger cookie caramel!

During my break I wanted to take on a culinary challenge.

I had bookmarked Marni’s White, Red, and Green Italian Braid recipe awhile ago, and I thought this was a good time to finally make it!

Mix it well!
My fillings of choice: homemade pesto, tomato sauce, (all marinated) roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, mozzarella, and goat cheese.
No parchment paper made this step a bit tricky.
But the challenge was completed!
Delicious! You could make this bread on a free night and have slices throughout the week when you’re on-the-go.
We also spent some time strolling along and people watching.
Found charming streets
A hideaway perhaps?
A special dinner was in order–to celebrate my mother’s recent promotion.

She’s such an intelligent woman and is so dedicated to what she does! Hearing her stories from work and her benevolent attitude towards the people that work for her makes me proud.

My mom had fun taking pictures of us girls goofing off, and I’m pretty sure she was being silly behind the camera too.
Coconut curry bursting with tofu, pineapples, and vegetables.

I hadn’t gone out for Thai food in such a long time! I requested that they also add some grated ginger, and much to my delight I saw AND tasted that they actually did. I’m never afraid to make special requests. If you’re polite about it then why not? I was left feeling satisfied and with yummy leftovers.

There was a special dinner the next night as well.

I steamed a bundle of asparagus and sprinkled on sea salt, drizzling of lemon juice, and a pat of butter. For the mushrooms I sautéed onions and garlic, then I turned down the heat and threw in the mushrooms with some salt and herbes de provence. Once the mushrooms softened I turned the heat down to low and mixed in a splash of balsamic, a few spoonfuls of goat cheese and Greek yogurt, and some cracked peppercorns. Let it simmer for a bit so the flavors blend together. Now the mashed potatoes were just a basic recipe but there was a special ingredient: black truffle salt. I served that with a pat of butter as well.

Filled with lots of love…
For my friends and family!
We were sad to leave and so was Lone Duck.
But I hope they come down with me again soon!
I love my friends with all my heart.

Spending the week with them in paradise was wonderful. I live with Emily right now, and we just have such a great understanding and appreciation for each other. I always feel funny just calling her my roommate because she is so much more than that to me. She is someone that I can stand in flamingo stance with while talking about our thoughts on life and the world around us. Sway is also one of the coolest ladies that I’ve ever met. She lives further up north so I don’t get to see her that often, but it’s always really nice when we do. We’ll have the same thoughts or do the same things as each other and it can be really freaky sometimes, but I love it! Actually, there was a week where I was eating lots of roasted beets and grilled goat cheese sandwiches, and when I told her that she told me that she had been making them too! It’s so awesome to be so connected with someone. These ladies are so easy to be around, and I can’t think of a time where we felt like making a fuss towards each other. I bet that the people they encounter in their lives can’t help but feel touched and graced by their presence. Both of them are so special and  thinking about them and that they are in my life brings me peace.

I think we all have those special people in ours lives that seem to complete us.