The Big Why Behind the Habits I Want to Create

One trick to building new habits is to have a strong reason for doing them. Most people will tell you that in order to make a habit stick you have to be super motivated for them to work. You have to have a “why” behind them.

When I talk about the habits I want to make, I mention why I want to make them, but here I want to state in a simple, straightforward and brutally honest way,

Here are the habits I was working on in 2018 and continue in 2019:

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Stretch everyday - I’ve never been a stretchy person and I don’t want to be old and feeble, or unable to bend and tie my shoes, etc…
Dish free sink - The sink get gross and I would rather it be free and clear. This helps make doing many tasks easier.
Read everyday - Reading makes you smarter and reminds you that the current digital age is not the only way to live.
Morning pages - I want to be able to clear my mind and think about my issues.
Daily Face Massage - I’m not getting any younger, but I don’t want to look old
Clutter-free couch - Why have a couch if it’s too messy to sit on?

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What are some of the Whys behind your habits?

Bullet Journal Check In: December - Daily Spreads with Journalling.

With my new larger format Bullet Journal, I was excited to start reincorporating some notes on each day into my daily spreads. Although I use my BuJo for organizing and keeping myself on track with goals and tasks, I also use it as a record of my life. I fell out of the habit of this practice, which was always one of my intentions with bullet journalling.

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My weekly spreads look a lot different in this bigger journal. It’s perfect to jot down a few notes for each day. I like to record what we did, how I felt, what time I got out of work, and general info.

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What info besides tasks and to dos do you like to keep a record of?

Recipe | Zero Waste Vegan Baked Oatmeal

I usually like my oats pretty simple. Hot water, fruit, sweetener. The other day I made this baked oatmeal for a brunch and it was a huge hit! It requires slightly more work, but it’s still really easy and can be made very low waste! This recipe is easily adaptable, you can swap out your favorite flavors and change it up often, make as little or as much as you want, and eat hot or cold!

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Ingredients
Quick oats
Dried spices. I used nutmeg and ginger.
Lemon Zest
Sugar
Frozen berries. I used bluebs and cherries.
Plant milk. I used cashew.

Equipment
Oven safe dish
Micro plane or zester
Spoon for mixing

Put your oats into your baking dish. I used about a cup of oats, but you can add more or less depending on who your feeding. Add dried spices, lemon zest, sugar to taste, and mix. Add frozen berries and twice the amount of milk as oats, mix well and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Mix again and pop in a 375 degree oven until oats are cooked and the top starts to brown a little. for the amount I made it took about 20 minutes. Serve hot, warm, or cooled. This would be great served with some warmed milk poured over it or with yogurt.

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A few notes:
- The lemon zest is key!! used about half a lemon’s worth of zest But I could have done the whole lemon. if you don’t have a zester or micro plane, you can slice off the skin and fine chop.
- I used white sugar bc that’s what I wanted to use up, but this recipe would be great with brown sugar, maple syrup or any other sweetener you like. You can also change up the spices and fruit added.
- To be extra fancy, sprinkle some brown sugar on top and pop in the broiler to brown and crystalize the top of your oatmeal.
- My oatmeal came out a little dry this time bc I didn’t add quite enough milk. It was still good.

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To make this recipe low waste, I used bulk oats and spices. I also used up some of my spices, which feels so good! I used pre packaged frozen fruit; I like the fruit from Whole Foods bc you can rinse out and recycle the plastic bags they come in. To make even more low waste, use fresh fruit or fruit that you have frozen yourself.

I didn’t plate mine up very beautifully, but it was still delicious!

This is an easy meal to make in advance. What are some of your favorite easy breakfast foods?

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November Plant Update

The minute the weather changes to Winter cold, I worry that I’ll never go outside again. But we were able to get out and about a little in November. We went to one of our favorite beach-combing beaches, we went to one of our favorite breakfast spots and all their plants, we walked around our yard and neighborhood, and we watched our garden transition into Winter.

The walk up to the beach.

The walk up to the beach.

Look at all that goos stuff!!

Look at all that goos stuff!!

Natural contrast.

Natural contrast.

Some happy plants (some not so happy).

Some happy plants (some not so happy).

I moved all the plants around this month. It makes some fun new corners around the house.

I moved all the plants around this month. It makes some fun new corners around the house.

Record collection is guarded well.

Record collection is guarded well.

Perfect rose.

Perfect rose.

Hanging in there.

Hanging in there.

Te garden is slowly being taken over by Winter.

Te garden is slowly being taken over by Winter.

Visiting plant friends.

Visiting plant friends.

Perfect Autumn views.

Perfect Autumn views.

Is it Fall where you live? What are your plant observations for the month of November?

Mad Cat Capsule: Wardrobe Goals

I’ve had a capsule wardrobe for about a year and a half now and I love it, My style of capsule wardrobe and how I put it together had evolved a lot in that time. That makes sense bc my lifestyle has changed a lot, too! I still have a lot to learn and a lot to do towards having the perfect, for me, capsule wardrobe.

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Here are some of my goals:

Move to an all slow fashion wardrobe
This one is an easy goal to achieve, all it takes is time!! I have completely stoped buying fast fashion, so all I have to do is wait until everything that I had bought before doing so is 10 years plus. After that, everything will be bought from ethical companies, thrifted, or 10 years plus.

Move to an all plastic free wardrobe (mostly)
Right now I still have a lot of clothes that are made with plastic. I’m not sure my closet will ever be completely plastic free. Some of the items are from when I shopped fast fashion, but more of them are vintage. I love to thrift vintage cotton, linen, silk, leather, and other natural fibers but every once in a while there is a fantastic poly or blended piece that I can’t resist. I’d like to get close enough to plastic free that all those items can be washed in a micro plastic capturing laundry bag.

Reduce the over all amount of clothes I have by… a lot.
I have so. many. clothes. Every time I make up my seasonal capsule, I try to pare down and get rid of items that I don’t wear or that don’t fit. But there are more and more clothes, and now that I am thrifting again, there are “new” clothes, too! Before I started thrifting regularly again, I was making a dent. I hope to one day either have a small enough over all wardrobe that I don’t feel that it’s exsessive. Perhaps when I can fit all my clothes into the one closet that now houses my seasonal capsule? I’m not sure how many items that will be, but I think I’ll know it when it happens. That leads me to…

Not buy “new” clothes unless I need them!
I would love to be satisfied with my wardrobe and not feel the need to buy more. I am not a minimalist and don’t plan to become one, but I do want to lessen the over all amount of stuff that I have. Perhaps Instead of not buying I simply rotate out items for “new” ones. A one in, one out wardrobe would be hard for me but may be possible. I love the idea of passing items on to new owners who will love them as much as I did.

These are the big four goals I have. I have some other goals related to my capsule wardrobe but not directly for my wardrobe. What are you goals for the future of your wardrobe?

What Plant Based Means to Me and How We Eat

My mom was a vegetarian while I was growing up. I was used to having tofu, tempeh, fresh veg, lots of legumes, fruits and homemade foods. Bc I grew up with it, it never occurred to me that other kids didn’t live that way. My father was always a healthy eater and great cook, but he ate meat. As I see it, I had the best of both worlds.

When I met my husband, he was vegetarian and had been on and off for most of his life. I ate meat then, but I never had any issues eating less or no meat during our meals together. Eating less meat made me realize that when I did eat meat, I didn’t feel as good as when I ate more fruits and veggies.

By the time we moved to New Jersey, we were eating fish, but little to no land meat. We wavered back and forth some (my husband even ate chicken for a while) but it was mostly ovo lacto vegetarian for us. Some events in the Summer of 2018 lead us both to come to the conclusion that we would give up all meat, from land and sea, in a serious manner.

Personally, I think humans are supposed to eat animals. We, ourselves, are animals and omnivores as far as I can tell from the evidence I know. But I think the way most people currently eat animals is unsustainable and inhumane, wasteful and unnecessary. In an attempt to lead a more sustainable and less wasteful life, eating plant based is an easy and obvious choice.

I’ve been trying to eat more rice, as it is a great staple. This is a good example of a fresh whole foods meal. Rice, carrots, onions, celery, sweet potato, squash, apple cider vin, soy sauce, pepper.

I’ve been trying to eat more rice, as it is a great staple. This is a good example of a fresh whole foods meal. Rice, carrots, onions, celery, sweet potato, squash, apple cider vin, soy sauce, pepper.

Now we eat what I like to call a vegetarian, plant based, whole food diet. That’s a mouth full and what does it even mean? We stopped eating any fish and sea creatures. We do eat dairy like cheese and butter and sour cream. We try to eat mostly fruits and veggies and eat whole foods that have not been overly processed. We eat fermented foods like miso, pickles and vinegar.

We try to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Some with every meal! The term Plant Based really refers to a diet that is only plants but I use it to mean a diet that is based on plants, which we definitely do.

We also try to keep local stores, growers, producers in mind when we eat. This year was the first one where we grew our some of our own food and it was a game changer. It’s important to us to eat this way so that we are conscious of the environment, animals, our home and our health.

There are, of course, some ways we could improve our current diet. An example would be to make our own cheeses, sour cream, and yogurt, or only buy local cheese and dairy. But right now this diet works for us.

Some of our typical and most eaten meals are:

Quesadillas with black beans, corn, olives, fresh veggies, sour cream and hot sauce.

Cheese, crackers, veggies, mustard, pickles, olives, and mustard.

Miso soup with veggies and noodles.

Pasta with red sauce or pesto or cheese or garlic oil.

Sides meal with potatoes, veggies, grains, and various other “sides”.

Salads with home made croutons, veggies, sometimes we add fake chicken patties, and dressings.

Tofu, rice and broccoli with soy sauce, peanuts and chili garlic sauce.

Peanut butter and jelly (and sometimes hot sauce) sandwiches.

Bean and rice bowls.

Grilled cheese sandwiches with red onions and hot sauce.

Pierogies with onions, sour cream and veggies.

Smoothie bowls with various toppings.

Oatmeal with fruits, nuts and nut milks.

Beans on toast.

Chickpea salad sandwiches with carrots, onions, celery, and mayo.

This is an example of a more processed meal I might eat. The cheese bread is made fresh daily at our local grocery store and the beans are vegetarian. Beans on toast is a favorite breakfast of mine but I only eat it once in a while.

This is an example of a more processed meal I might eat. The cheese bread is made fresh daily at our local grocery store and the beans are vegetarian. Beans on toast is a favorite breakfast of mine but I only eat it once in a while.

Let me know in the comments if you also eat meals like this! Or if you would like recipes or more info on any of the meals listed above. What kind of diet do you eat? What role does your diet play in your lifestyle?

Two Habits I love and Two for November

I’m still working on my habit goals for October. I’ve been better about taking a minute to stretch in the mornings, but it hasn’t been every day. I’ve been trying to incorporate doing the dishes into my mornings and keep the sink dish free.
Since I don’t do the same things at the same time everyday for the most part, habit forming has to fit in where it can. Not the ideal way to form habits! It might take me a little longer than I would like, but having my habit blog post has helped me to stick with my goals. I like to refer back to it for motivation. How do you keep yourself motivated to change your habits?

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For November there are some new habits I want to start working on. In order to get myself ready, I like to look at some habits I already have and remember why they help me and why I like them.

Watering the plants once a week
We have a lot of plants. Plants are, to me, an essential for every home. At last count we had 50 indoor plants and it takes about half an hour to forty five minutes to water them all. I like to water them once a week. I find when I do it less often, they are not as happy and they tend to leak more, or I will feel rushed watering them. I don’t water every plant every week, but making sure I check every plant each week is best.

Move the plants every two to three months
This goes along with watering on a regular basis, I love to take the time every two to three months to move all the plants around. Some plants just get a small move or turn but some go to different rooms, or areas of the house. Since the weather has turn I got to do this ritual recently and it was lovely.

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For November here are the habits I want to make:

Read everyday
I love to read but sometimes it’s hard for me to choose reading over other activities. There are times when I get in a groove and read a lot. That time is not now. But I want to read SO MANY things! This month I want to get into the habit of reading everyday, even if it’s just a few pages.

Morning Pages
Lots of people sing the praises of morning pages. Over the last few months, I have tried to start this habit a few times. But this month I’m going to get serious about it. People say there are a ton of benefits for morning pages, and I’m excited to see what it does for me.

What are some habits your trying to adopt this month?

Here are some of the past habits I have tried to learn:
Stretch everyday
Dish free sink