teachocolateandbooks

Found a brand of proper vegan soy yoghurt, finally! It’s a Japanese brand, they usually have gelatin and some dairy, but this one is cheap, delicious and completely animal by-product free. Joy.

Also picked up a packet of chia seeds. Made a pudding in the blender with chia, coconut milk, dried shredded coconut, cacao powder, pure peanut butter (no sugar or salt), and agave. Not bad. Took a pot to work for lunch.

Need to get home early-ish today, clean the kitchen, toss anything that isn’t completely vegan, and get organized. We have a tiny freezer compartment so I can’t really cook up a week’s worth of meals. Need to figure out the best way to organize work lunches so that I don’t end up going for just vegetarian fare. 1 day ago

Nooo!
Up at 7:20 :-(
BUT. Slept well, had really cool dreams, and stopped off for a coffee and a chat with husband at the train station before catching the 8:30 train. We never do that and it was nice. 1 day ago

6:15am today

It’s only 7pm and I’m exhausted though! 1 day ago

I can’t say that I’ve been working out, but I’ve been a making a point to go on long walks every day off I have. It’s not enough to tone my muscles though so I can’t rely on that. Going to have to do targeted exercise. I’m looking forward to it though, for the first time perhaps. Usually I associate exercise with all things awful, but I’m starting to feel like that’s a bit immature… not to mention downright stupid. Time to stop behaving like my head is the only relevant part of my being. 2 days ago

8am. Not too bad for a Sunday. 3 days ago

Overcoming shyness is hard, so be gentle with yourself at all times. 3 days ago

I had a rather nebulous “clear up outstanding goals and hopes from 2012 and earlier”, but it’s too vast, too vague, and not very helpful to me to have a goal like that. So, deleted. 3 days ago

More video games and consoles sold today. Slooowly getting there. 3 days ago

And yes, there’s something about neat hands that makes me feel like I’m getting my sh*t together… I was contemplating nude polish, but realized that I’m not quite that together yet for it to look nice and not like a streaky nightmare. Consider my life sorted when I’ve got glossy nude-toned nails though. And frizz-free hair. 3 days ago

Another great dinner, all vegan: soy ham salad, mushroom pizza, creamy lasagna, Chinese dumplings, raw chocolate cake.

Bought two jars of seitan today, a carton of soy cream, two packs of curry, aubergine, potatoes, and onions. Epic curry tonight. Found vegan “beef style” and “chicken style” stock cubes today. 3 days ago

happiness, or at least a sense of calm, just seems to come when I keep busy. As soon as I spend too much time at the computer or “relaxing”, I start to think and my inner voice just seems to hate me! So I just do stuff, as much as possible, trying to balance it all out between work and play, and when I manage to do that I don’t feel quite so bad.

I’m very sensitive to my monthly fluctuations too, so I feel you. Maybe if you mark up that week on your calendar every month in a particular colour and set a few ground rules for each day? Make a list of situations that trigger you, prepare nutritrious meals for the week (if you have a freezer), don’t read the news, whatever works for you. 3 days ago

Starting the weekend. Clutter will be leaving the house today (and a little bit was picked up on Wednesday too); meeting with my best friend in Japan for coffee, a walk, and hours of chatting; planning to tackle the clothes situation when I get in tonight, listen to music, watch a movie.

My nails were in terrible shape all week: ragged, ratty cuticles, hangnails, ridges, remnants of last week’s nail polish. So I used plenty of cuticle oil (a nice apricot one, smells amazing), massages, gently pushed back the cuticles, put healing cream on the cuts and hangnails, very gently filed the ridges and edges, moisturized hands really well. Now waiting for base coat to dry.

Sunday: either lots of exercise, or a trip to an art fair. I’ll decide when I wake up.

Areas that need work: health and fitness. Of course. 3 days ago

Thurs: Up at 7am. Felt sick, got to work past 10am. :-/
Fri: Up at 7am. Again, into work at 10:30.
Sat: Up at 7! Feeling great. 4 days ago

Another 100+ tomes off to be scanned and transformed into pdfs for my iPad. I need to scour the apartment one last time for any books that may be lurking in corners, make one last order, and then by July I should have only 5 or 6 hard copies of books left.
Found a company that does magazine format stuff too, so I might consider doing that.

Friend came over on Wednesday night to pick up a video game console/DVD player. We didn’t ask for any money for it, it seemed like a nice thing to just give it to him.

Today’s decluttering goal: clothes, clothes, clothes… 4 days ago

6:45

Aiming to be up consistently at 6, but still a big improvement from waking at 8. 1 week ago

Namely, the plate piled high with tonnes of fresh vegetables. I feel SO unhealthy right now.

I’m about to soak in the bathtub with a Lush bathbomb and have as much water and herbal tea as I can before sleep. Maybe pop a few vitamins (I don’t know how effective they are but it seems like the right thing to do).

Have been handling work gracefully the last two days, so that’s good. 1 week ago

fair enough. You don’t have to give up completely though; you can do a lot at home without fancy stuff. You might find yourself back at the gym one day if you manage to develop a good routine… That’s what I’m thinking about for me. 1 week ago

Been waking up between 6 and 7am. 1 week ago

Yes, it’s all non-dairy cheese made with nuts. There’s a pretty excellent book for making your own vegan cheeses by Joanne Stepaniak for the curious! 1 week ago

by Asahi is a decent fake beer. Eternally greatful for their vegan offering! 1 week ago

Thank you sankirk x
I’m definitely still going back and forth on products with dairy: milk chocolate, cakes and cookies mostly.
I’m looking forward to the day I’ll mark this as completed. 1 week ago

Going to eat a vegan cheese platter with a glass of wine tonight in Tokyo, with a nice view.

It’s raining so there had to be an upside to all of these rainy weekends/sunny office days we’ve been having for the past month… 1 week ago

I have what seems to be a billion envelopes: polka dots, plain, with cats, bears, apples, etc. I will most likely not send out that many letters over the next couple of years.

I’ve already shared out my stationery a couple of times, but I still have lots. So I’m thinking that envelopes could be useful in more ways than just sending a letter.

I’m thinking of:

-pasting a couple on the inside covers of notebooks I’m currently using to hold small notes, receipts, business cards, etc.

-using envelopes for projects: I tend to write lots of random notes everywhere about various topics/projects. Instead I could write the project on the envelope, and gather up anything related to it in the envelope itself, and then just trash the whole thing once I’ve completed it.

-using envelopes to stash other things, such as coupons, calling cards, photos, stickers, stamps, photobooth photos so I can find them easily when I need one for some admin, shopping lists, to-do lists, etc.

-use them for smallish, flat gifts: not every occasion requires a gift, but sometimes it’s just nice to hand over a little something at the end of coffee date. I’ve started doing that with my good friend (who’s leaving soon! cry) and she’s always really happy about it. A few teabags, a sachet of bath salts, a sheet of cute stickers (bonus points if they’re for nails), a single use sheet face mask, a small packet of sweets, a flat chocolate bar, a small notebook, sachets of spices… There must be more! 1 week ago

I’ve been stretching and using the resistance band on my arms and legs while I watch videos on youtube. Making sure to take the stairs and walk whenever possible.

Also saw a couple of videos of sea otters rubbing their own feet and face with their hands very carefully for a good five minutes or so; tried it out… It’s great. Totally forgot that I can massage myself instead of waiting for someone else to do it. Thanks otters. 1 week ago

- prepare bag of books for library
- go through pantry
- take box of random things out of cupboard, go through it

Art supplies are all gathered together; unsure of a box of buttons and assorted accessory parts. Will look around for projects and if I don’t do something with them by this time next month, out they go. 1 week ago

6:15 yesterday
9:00 today (not too bad for a Saturday… aim for 7 tomorrow) 1 week ago

Sick and staying home, but woke up at 7 and stayed up. 1 week ago

Still unwell today; nauseous and headachy. Just did a couple of small things yesterday evening and this morning.

-gathered letter writing sets, greeting cards, and gift wrapping supplies together and organized them so that they take up about 1/3 of the usual volume of space;

-put art supplies all together in a plastic box;

-washi taped a small, unslightly box to put oil blotting papers, cotton pads and q-tips in. Must not purchase any more rolls of washi tape. Love that stuff.

Apart from that, I went for a slow stroll along the river in the sunshine while drinking some water; painted nails with holographic glitter (although the smell didn’t help with headaches); did ten minutes of hand weights (just 1kg ones; was too achy to do more though).

Plan for today: get better, I can’t afford to take another day off, too much work to do / exercise / go for a walk / drink lots of water. 1 week ago