Weekend List

I hate being sick and thankfully this cold is mostly gone and I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym today. Friday was the worst of it and I ended up staying home from work because I only got about 2 hours of sleep and my head felt like it was trying to implode. Miko and I went back to bed for a few hours and I planted myself in front of the TV like a zombie for the rest of the day drinking water and really disappointed with the daytime TV selection. I switched over to Netflix and binged watched a bunch of episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. And it’s an awesome show! Created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, it’s a lot like 30 Rock and takes place in NYC, but wackier, cute, and really funny without being dark. Check it out!

This week I started adding something new to our smoothies – NOW Foods MSM Powder.

I first heard about this at a Team Veg Potluck last year, but didn’t jump on the bandwagon right away since I’m leery about supposed super supplements. But a co-worker has been talking a lot about it lately which prompted me to do a little more research on MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) and found it’s a basic ingredient that occurs naturally in plants that we may not be getting as much of as we should with our modern diets and supplementing can help with inflammation and joint pain.

I’ve been adding a teaspoon of the powder to the double batch of smoothies I make every morning for hubby and I.

I haven’t noticed it altering the flavor of the smoothies even though the powder is bitter on it’s own. But I have noticed that my hip has been feeling better and so has my knee which has been adjusting to me getting back into running more miles. So far so good and I plan to continue using it as I rack up more running miles and hopefully have good things to say about it.

As you know, I am a fan of electric cars and have been leasing a Honda Fit EV for just over 2 years now. It’s my first electric car and it’s been an interesting and fun experience. Honda only leased out 1,200 of these cars for research for future development of EVs and had a big customer appreciation event in Davis, CA yesterday at the Honda Smart Home for Fit EV drivers. There were blue Fit EVs everywhere!

It was a nicely catered event where we got to mingle with Honda engineers that designed the car, ask questions, attend focus groups meetings to discuss our experiences with the car so far, and learn about the data they’ve collected from the cars on how the batteries are aging, accidents, etc. It was very fascinating learning a lot of behind the scenes technical details. The exciting news is Honda is letting us lease the cars for an additional two years for a reduced payment extending the lease to 5 years. I plan on doing it with a cheaper payment, no gas costs, no maintenance costs, and no stopping at gas stations! And by the time my lease is up, I should be able to buy a 200-mile range EV with a supercharging port since there will be more options out by then.

The invitation to the event did not give details about the food that would be served, so I gambled figuring that because it’s an environmental-themed event in Davis, it would have to have vegan options, right? Oh yes and where to start!

There were many fresh salads – watermelon mint jicama salad which I have to recreate, veggie wraps, portobello mushrooms, black bean quinoa dish, and a few fresh and pasta salads. I had to go back for multiple plates! I really like the cute wood utensils and recycle paper plates used too, very appropriate.

The event also included a tour of the Honda Smart Home, a very fascinating project demonstrating Honda’s dedication to sustainable, low-carbon living. It’s an actual home in Davis designed by Honda to use the ultimate efficient technology to study and gather information from. The tours are hard to get because there are actually people living in the house and Honda releases all the technical data from the house publicly for anyone to use to design their own efficient homes. Really cool.

The project leader of the home led the tours discussing the home energy management system, storing solar energy, the grey water system, etc.

Hubby and I agreed we’d custom build a house like this if we were rich because they’re not cheap now, but that will change in the near future which is exciting.

Last night I also took hubby out to Il Fornaio to celebrate passing his certification exam where the vegan options are also good.

The bread, minestrone, bruschetta, and angel hair pasta with a simple house made fresh marinara sauce are vegan and awesome. And the pizzas are easily veganizable.

Whew, anyway Wisebread has a list of “healthy” desserts and many are vegan.

Here’s a study on eating foods rich in folic acids to reduce stroke risk.

Here’s a list of habits to be more happy. Basically exercise, live in the moment, reduce clutter, and save money.

Diet soda is linked to more belly fat.

These look amazing and I want them now.

VeganCuts did a nice round up of new beauty products from Expo West.

Finally, Vegan Health & Fitness is hosting a global vegan run on 4/4/15 that looks awesome, just go out and run as far and as long as you want to join.