Would you like some chocolate gelato?

My latest piece was done without paintbrushes. I used cotton balls, and q-tips, before painting my hands and figertips and going crazy. It was so much fun and I adore this piece. I am keeping this for myself and hanging it in my apartment.

I have learned something the past few days. No matter how lost I am, I can be vibrant and happy. No matter how blah and bored I am, I can still have energy. For me, it needs to be about accepting where I am right now. Not waiting for what my life will be in five years. Life doesn't start five years fom now (or five pounds from now, or a masters degree from now, or a new outfit from now), it IS now. It's that simple. I am attmepting to take this approach in my workouts as well as in my general life.

For the past many months, I have been woring on finding a balance in my workouts. I end up doing a lot of cardio and some strength. I hadn't been doing any yoga.

This past week, I have been doing an awesome Jillian Michael's DVD, "No More Trouble Zones" and I have been working on putting together new and fun yoga routines for myself. I must say, even though I am not getting a severe huff and puff session dripping in sweat, my body feels the exercise all day long. Jillian's video is great. The only downside (or maybe it is an upside) is that the first weight circuit is nearly impossible for me! But the rest of the video is fairly easy. The first time I tried it, I was considering shutting it off, because I thought it would get harder!! The reason it got easier? I have really strong abs and thighs. It's just my shoulders that were week and that first circuit was all about the shoulders. I guess I am going to get them nice and strong! Yoga has been feeling AMAZING! The best part? Corpse pose. Allowing my body to relax for a good 5-10 minutes after the workout. I am even incorporating it after my Jillian Michaels/strength training days. It makes a huge different for me. I can actually feel energy coursing through me. Weird, right? But very real.

I haven't been blogging lately.

Here is why:

I find myself focusing too much on comments and worrying about why people don't read my blog. Then I think about it. Really think about it. I am blogging for me. To make myself feel good. To see my accomplishments and babysteps on the screen. To have my little corner of the internet. So I am back.

This is what I have been up to:

I have been trying to piece my life together. I started working on this 1500 piece puzzle today. I finished the entire border and the section you see. Puzzles are difficult. But so is life. If you work at it, eventually everything comes together.

I've been eating delicious breafasts and yummy raspberries.

I have been baking desserts, such as this chocolate chip cinnmon rum poundcake. It is pretty yummy!

I have been eating plenty of green things. And corn. I am still on a corn kick.

I went to a really good local grocery store and found Crofter's jam and ate it on fresh bread with cottage cheese. I got the cherry kind and adore it. It tastes good with everything, and I fear that this jar will not last me very long. Oh well, at least I know where to find it now!

I had a finger food night with Stephen. It included freshly popped popcorn, which I also decided to tackle for the first time. I have never made popcorn on th stove before, and I must say, it is so much fun! I must also say something else: melted butter on popcorn is HEAVEN. Honestly. I usually keep things pretty clean and skip the butter, but sometimes you need it. Plus, a bit of butter will not kill you. Ever.

Bacon wrapped shrimp are amazing. This was also learned.

I learned that gelato can be made in your freezer. I made my own dark chocolate gelato. Here is the recipe! It is very adapted from this recipe from Bakng Bites.

2  cups whole milk

Scant ½ cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

1 tbsp cornstarch

Bring 1 ½ cups of the milk to a simmer.

In a bowl, whisk the rest of the milk with the sugar, cocoa powder, and cornstarch. Add this mixture to the simmering milk. Add the chocolate chips and stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Cook for one more minute and then remove from heat.

Place in a freezer proof bowl and refrigerate overnight if possible. If not, a good 2-3 hours will be okay.

Place the bowl in the freezer and let freeze for 1 hour. Using a hand mixer, mix the liquid gelato. From this point on, check the gelato every 30 minutes to an hour and beat with your hand mixer until the gelato is frozen enough and ready to scoop.

This gelato is now gone. Already, and I made it this weekend. To be fair, it wasn't a big batch. But to be fair to its amazingness...it was really really good.

I attempted to make some white beans in a tomato sauce. I couldn't get the beans to be as tender as I wanted, so I poured the mixture into my Vitamix, added some milk, and turned it into a very thick soup! It was actually delicious.

I made bread. Oatmeal molasses bread from my Joy of Cooking book.

It slices nicely.

And makes for a great grilled cheese on the side of the "soup".

Here is some inspiration and fun stuff from my Awe-Manac:

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince, which I read in French class!!) was born today in 1900. Two quotes from him:

"It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys."

"It is such a secret place, the land of tears."

It's interesting that he addresses both laughing and crying, which are such extreme reactions, but sometimes you laugh when you are sad, because you do not know what to do. So you cry. And sometimes you laugh so hard that you start crying. When was your last good cry? And better yet, when was your last good laugh?

Today is also Flower and Camera day! Hope you had a great one