Was this Salmon Wild Caught??

I have been a vegetarian since I was 7 years old. Dude, that mean it’s almost been twenty years!  Twenty years!! That’s crazy!  For most of those years I was a regular old ovo-lacto vegatarian (meaning I ate dairy and eggs),  I went Vegan for just over 6 months and am now a committed pescatarian.  As a pescatarian I eat fish, dairy and eggs.  I added fish to my diet again about two years ago after many years of going back and forth about the idea. 

I can’t decide whether or not I’m okay with the moral idea of killing a fish (usually by suffocating it) for my dinner.  This seems cruel and it really doesn’t sit well with me.   But I made the decision that I would over look that fact.  It’s hard for me to admit, but although I’m aware that not all fishing practices are sustainable or humane- I have decided to eat fish.  I am a vegetarian because I love cows and pigs and chickens- I don’t NOT eat meat because I think it’s a wise environmental choice (though it is), nor do I abstain from a juicy steak because I think it’s bad for my heart.  I just seems too mean to eat meat that was killed in a mean and disrespectful manner- I can’t get down with abusing animals….It just doesn’t feel right for me.  If it feels right for you, then by all means, BBQ away, just try to think about where you buy your meat.   I think cows are sweet and timid and beautiful.  There is no way that I will ever eat meat again after all the PETA videos I’ve seen over the years.  But…I will eat seafood. 

I started eating seafood again for 3 reasons: 1. I think sushi, scallops, and nice garlic-y grilled halibut steak are totally amazing and delicious, 2. It’s good for you, 3. I feel amazing when I eat it. 

I think these three points are definitely reason enough to include something in my diet…don’t you?? The only downside I could come up with when making my descion was the potential for mercury poisoning.  I know that ALOT of fish has a very high mercury level ( fish like Albacore, swordfish and shark) and I also know this worries alot of people.  The only 1 of those fish I eat is albacore and I try to limit that to once or twice a week. Most of the time I eat salmon and mahi mahi which are on the low-end of mercury content scale.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about wild salmon lately and almost everything I read says that the benefit of the easily absorbable Omega 3’s in salmon FAR out weigh any risk of its mercury content.  Please note I said WILD caught salmon.  Farmed salmon tend to have lower levels or omega threes due to a crappy diet, are raised in unsanitary water, are often given antibiotics, have sea lice,  and  have higher contamination levels.  Just stay away from farm raised fish whenever possible. Imagine how disgusting a jam-packed salmon farm would be?  

But as for delicious and responsibly wild caught seafood- it’s a great FIT addition to your diet.  A food low in saturated fat, high in protein, that always makes me feel great?  I’m ‘hooked’!

 Below are some of the ways I like to eat seafood:

~Baked Salmon (wild caught, always!) topped with lemon and dill

~grilled mahi mahi with pineapple or mango salsa

~ Seared scallops with a garlic sauce (also very low in mercury, low in cals and high in protien)

~ spicy salmon rolls ( a cut sushi roll filled with raw salmon and sriracha hot sauce)

~ Any fish simply grilled, topped with sliced avocado and drizzled with soy sauce or Bragg’s amino acids- PLEASE try this….  ripe creamy avocado on fish is absolutely the best combination there is! Umami at it’s finest!

~ Halibut, crusted in anything, served with steamed veggies

~ Fish Tacos!  Fish tacos are a San Diego specialty and one of my favorite foods-  the fried ones taste great and are an okay indulgence every so often but are obviously not  healthy  like the  blackened or grilled!

This was the BEST fish taco I’ve ever had in my life. It’s blackened, wild caught Ono and it comes from Duke’s restaurant in Maui. I can’t talk it up enough- if you go to Hawaii, you must order this!

 

A grilled Mahi taco from South Beach in Ocean Beach on taco Tuesday.

I am NOT a nutritionist so if you’re worried about mercury of this risks of eating raw fish- take it up with your doctor…and consult him before listening to ANYTHING you read on this blog (don’t sue me!). With that being said…. After a lot of reading and many months of personal experimentation I think I can safely say that fish is the number 1 FIT food.  I recently read  that the #1 thing you can do for health is to include fish in your diet.  If you don’t eat it…well umm start eating it! You’ll feel great! I promise- oh yeah and maybe if you start  switching out a couple of pasta dinners for some salmon- you’ll even drop a few lbs!

 

photo from simplyrecipes.com

E-mail me for recipes if need some!

Beets and Peaces

It’s Tuesday already!  I  was so busy at work yesterday I almost feel like I got to skip over Monday- which is always cool in my book.

This weekend was relaxing and fun.  I spent friday night and Saturday day in Orange County and then Sat Eve and Sunday in San Diego.  Friday Night I drove to OC right after work for my parents Birthday dinner.  Mom cooked a delicious creative vegetarian dinner & I made a special birthday dessert.  I NEVER bake but in an effort to get to know what my mom likes(she’s so easy-going about what we eat, she doesn’t even know what her favorite dessert is!),  I wanted to make something that I created specifically for her.  So the Apple Fritter Bread Pudding was born.  It’s exactly what it sounds like, a bread pudding made with torn up apple fritter donuts instead of plain bread.  Just make a standard bread pudding but make  the custard less sweet.  My mom adores apple fritters and it was the only dessert I could think up that I was sure she’d be into!  Here’s our dinner:

Mom made a caprese salad topped with pesto but used beets instead of tomato! Awesome idea! the sweetness of the beets paired perfectly with the fresh mozz!!

Try this! I couldn’t believe how different it tasted- such a cool idea for tomato haters out there!

Beet Caprese with a quinoa lentil salad on the side- oh and wine of course.

Apple Fritter Bread Pudding fresh outta the oven 🙂

Served warm and a la mode

Saturday morning, my dad, sister and I woke up bright and early to go to hot yoga @ Core Power in Aliso Viejo ( I mean we DID have to burn off the bread pudding!)  It was a fairly easy class physically and was, as usual, the best way to start a weekend off right.  You just feel so limber and content after hot yoga.  It really makes me feel strong and reset emotionally.  If you’re going through something hard in life, there’s nothing I can recommend more than a hot yoga class- it helps you let go of a lot of pent-up feelings and lets you focus on positive energy.   Does this sound nuts? I would have thought so too…before I actually took a couple of classes.  It’s so cool how the physical and emotional are so connected and how yoga lets you feel that.  Please – just try it, even if you assume you’ll hate it.

This weekend was the first time I could complete and hold the bridge pose! I haven’t been able to do this since I was like 9 years old! Hot Yoga is paying off!

Sunday was spent at the beach.  The weather couldn’t have been nicer- it was perfect timing for my sister who’s only here for a little while!  We brought magazines to read (my favorite!!), waters and some nuts to snack on while we lay out.

After hours of  lounging on the sand, we were famished!  So we did what any two FIT bitches would do. We hauled our bikini covered booties to EL Zarappe in University Heights for some burritos!  Wait…. burritos?? Yes. Amazing burritos.  And I know I’m on my THREE WEEK CHALLENGE but I made room in my day for this glorious massive mexican wonder….meaning, Nicole and I hiked hills in my neighborhood for an hour and a half after eating these!  It was totally worth it!  We both ordered the Veggie Supreme burritos and I doused mine in plenty of their perfectly savory hot sauces! These are the best burritos for my money and my calorie intake! 

Loving Your Life

TGIF. I’m so excited for the weekend that lies ahead and the four day work week I have coming up!  My brother comes into Cali next week so I’m taking next Friday off!  I have such an activity packed two weeks ahead of me that  I cannot wait for! Life is looking pretty great these days and I really couldn’t be more content. 

I think I write alot about being happy on this blog. I hope I don’t sound like a broken record, but isn’t that the whole point of being alive?  Enjoying your time on earth as much as possible?  That my motto, be happy (YOLO bitches…)  About three moths ago, I found an awesome photo on Pinterest that came along with with a great little caption, this pin inspired my blog today! It reminded me that  I can make my normal, run of the mill  days pretty awesome.. It’s all about how much effort you’re willing to put into your life.   With a little extra time or a few extra bucks prioritized on certain everyday items like an amazing smelling shampoo to liven up your shower or the hott pink running shoes instead of the plain white ones…- life can look pretty beautiful! Of course I’m talking about small, borderline superfical things, but if you make all your mundane tasks more enjoyable, your world becomes a  nicer place!  The caption below describes a nice, FIT morning.  Since reading this I’ve tried to make my mornings a little nicer- and the extra time is totally worth it! 

“Set your alarm for 6am. Don’t groan when it goes off and pull the covers over your head, get up and start your day. Put on a baggy top and running shorts. Go downstairs and pour yourself a nice big glass of ice water. Cut up some fruit and mix it in with yogurt. Add some granola. Now go outside. Stretch for 10 minutes. Skip for 5 minutes. Jog for 10 minutes. Run for 10 minutes. Walk back. Lay out a towel on the ground and lie down on it. Do 50 crunches. Yes, they hurt, but they are 100% worth it. When you’re done, get in the shower. Use a nice smelling shampoo and matching conditioner. Shave your legs and wash your body. Exfoliate your face. Get out of the shower and let your hair air dry. Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? If you do, good for you. Do this every day and you will continue to love yourself. If you don’t like what you see, do this every day and pretty soon you will. Being lazy might feel good at the time, but being active feels better in the long run. How badly do you want it?”

My great morning started today with an awesome vanilla nut flavored coffee and my favorite Muscle Milke Light.

 

 

Tonight I’m off  to Orange County to celebrate my parent’s Brithday’s and have 4/5ths of my family together for the first time since Christmas!

 

 

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough

Hell YES. DUDE!  I stepped on the scale this morning and was so full of glee I almost screamed. I am  3.5 pounds lighter than I was last week.  How this  happened I have no idea,  last week I was NOT strict about what I ate and kept my working out at an easy level- oh and I also consumed large amounts of alcohol this weekend……. As much as it feel like I’ve been takin’ it easy on myself  I also  sort of knew that this  significant drop would happen.  I was being WAYYY too anal about my eating for the past few months. And feel like it actually derailed my progress. It’s necessary to be strict when starting a weight loss plan or when trying to escape the grips of a vicious plateau, but I don’t think you can keep your diet too restricted for long.  Since my sister arrived last Tuesday, I’ve been slowly moving back to what most people would consider ‘normal’ eating.  To me, eating ‘normally’ means being careful and healthy 85% of the time.  I have definitely started allowing myself to let my hair down more than before.  A beer or cookie once or twice a week has been working out just fine- actually it’s been working out perfectly based off of what I saw on the scale this morning!!!

AHHHHH! I am so excited.  I am exactly 4 pounds away from where I’ve wanted to be for 5 years!!!  Seriously for over 5 years I longed to be the weight I’ll be in about week or two. I’m so elated to be where I am and have no intention of losing momentum- I’m going to keep losing!!

Truthfully, though I don’t plan on stopping once I hit my original goal weight I’ve never been a girl who’s trying to be a size zero.  I will never be a size zero or even a size two.  And you know what?  I sincerely don’t want to be.  I mean that.  My body is muscular and I like it that way.  I have no desire to be a waif-like super model weight.  Of course I feel hotter the more weight I lose, but that’s because I’m not just shedding lbs, I’m also trying to sculpt my body.  I’m not implying that every super-thin girl is skinny fat or un-musuclar, I just know that for my body type- a size 6 or maybe a 4 is the lowest I can go.  Even at my skinniest (which was in high school when I ran track), I had boobs, hips and thighs.   I’ve been told my legs are my best asset and they are FAR from being skinny.  To be a zero would be mean I literally have to rarely eat and  stop working out because even when I only run and don’t weight lift, my thighs get super muscular.   They are a symbol of all the work I’ve put into my journey and I’m down with them. I’m working on gettin’ FIT not  being skinny!

I had a conversation with a friend last night about life and what it takes to be happy.  One of the conclusions we arrived at, was that it’s important to keep striving to be better.  Once you settle and decide everything is perfect the way it is, you have nothing to work for.  Nothing to keep you going. With this in mind, I’m certain that no matter what weight I reach, I’m going to keep working on my body.  I can always have tighter legs, be a faster runner, a better swimmer, a more skilled yogi, have a nicer ass, better abs…… and the list goes on.  It’s exciting to know that there will always be more to work on- especially now that the hard stuff is out of the way (and by hard stuff  I mean the whole losing 80 pounds thing…..)

Well I’m on to day 3 of the THREE WEEK CHALLENGE!  Below are photos of my dinner last night- some delicious herbed salmon, sautéed mushrooms and  a greek salad with avocado.  After dinner I had a Widmer Hefewizen and a sample of Batch 19 lager while watched the second half of the Clippers game @ True North… they lost 😦  but it was an awesome and very delicious night!

Le Défi Trois Semaines- Jour Deux

I’m officially on day 2 of the THREE WEEK CHALLENGE. Oh and yes I have to write the name of the challenge in all caps- this way I can imagine a giant, deep voiced announcer is saying it…you know…it makes it more official.

So how did day 1 go?  It went pretty freakin great if you ask me, everything is moving along according to plan,here are the deets:

Breakfast:  3 scrambled eggs with 1/2 an avocado and coffee

Lunch:  A fish taco from Rubios and water

Snack:  Power Crunch Protein energy bar in Peanut butter cream flavor

Dinner: Salad- spring greens, shredded carrot, thinly sliced brocoli, silvered almonds, the other half of my avocado, gorgonzola raspberry dressing.

Movement: weight lifting, an epic ab session & stair climbing @ the gym followed by a quick 1 mile run @ Mission Bay!

After my run I went to the end of my street to check out the sunset but it turned out I was a little too early….Really the sun doesn’t set by 7:00pm? – that’s AWESOME!    It was still pretty to just hang out and watch the ocean for a while as the sun started to fall lower in the sky.  I’m all about being relaxed these days (since I realized how great it felt to be so relaxed in Maui!) and a lil ocean gazin’ before dinner is a great way to unwind.  Taking time to enjoy little moments throughout the day has made my life much, much happier these days!

 

DAY TWO…..GO!

THREE WEEK CHALLENGE

Over the past year I’ve noticed that I respond very well to specific goals.  A vague “I’ll lose weight” outlook isn’t always the most efficient for me.  When I decided in January that I wouldn’t eat ANY sugar for two months…I stuck to it and actually didn’t eat sugar for two months!  It was awesome!   I’m 100% on my FIT bitch grind but I’m feeling like I’d like to give myself  a little ass kick this month and make some noticeable progress.  So starting today, the THREE WEEK CHALLENGE begins!  I have 21 days to lose 10  pounds!  Is this possible??  I think so…..  My sister is visiting from Colorado and we like to go out and eat and drink and have a good time.  I will still do this but I’m going to work my ass out like you wouldn’t even believe. 

I’m not going to follow an overly specific eating plan.  I am going to eat a vegetable full, high protein diet and will try to limit my intake of carbs, sugars  and fried things.  Notice I said limit.  Not eliminate.  I don’t extremes even for intense challenges. If Nicole and I want to go get sushi….I’m getting sushi.  If  I want a beer while watching the NBA playoffs, I’ll have one. ONE. Not three.  Dude this is going to freakin legit! If I lose 10 pounds in the next three weeks- I will be exactly where I want by the time summer starts!  This will mean after years of saying “Oh I’ll get skinny by summer…” I ACTUALLY DID. 

The reason I’m choosing to embark on an intense challenge like this in the middle of  a fun social time while my sister’s here on  vacation is because I have to.  If I lose these last few pounds in three weeks, I’ll be just in time for:  Summer, the beach, 4th of July and my awesome  friend Mariam’s wedding!!! 

DAY ONE – BEGIN!

You Don’t Say!!!!!??!!

I find it hilarious that when you lose weight people everywhere (regardless of their own size and FITness level) want to give you advice on how you can keep losing weight.  I mean I know you’re just trying to be helpful dudes- but I’ve clearly got this shit figured out….I shed 70 pounds on my own before you suggested I eat a piece of fish every week.

I like to stick to  the rule that you should never give advice unless it’s asked for.  Lately, a lot of people have been asking me for advice or just wondering HOW I lost weight.  Telling people exactly what I did to lose 70 pounds is the funnest thing in the world to do!  I can’t believe that I somehow stuck to something long enough to get results….how the hell did that happen? Well I know why it happened. I accepted the fact that it would take me a year. I hated this fact and it discouraged me numerous times.  Even now with a much more do-able 10 pounds to lose, I still feel anxiety about the length of time it might take.  I’ve been hovering around my current weight for several weeks now and it’s really frustrating me! I know exactly what I need to do to get them off. But it’s stepping up to a whole new level of commitment. 

My routine changes with each new weight I get to.  Sometimes I go hardcore and run @ 5:30am while keeping my carbs under 60 grams a day.  A few weeks later I might be back to doing the gym three-four evenings a week and eating more carbs than normal.  I know exactly where my happy medium is feel confident that I will maintain my weight loss for life.  But in order to keep progressing and not simply maintaining I need to switch things up.  In the past I’ve written about changing my routine to see better results and the biggest part of that change was usually just being strict and intense. And yep that works. Don’t you hate how hard work pays off?  Why can’t easy work pay off??

For the next few weeks I’m going to stop using the myfitnesspal app  to track my calories and carbs.  After months of using that great little app I feel pretty confident that I know that calorie breakdown for most items I regularly eat. But I truthfully feel that beginning a few weeks ago the app started hindering my progress- I was too careful about what I was eating and was working out JUST to get the app to show that I came in under my daily calorie goal.  So-Myfitnesspal is totally awesome but it’s time for a little break.  I will know when I’ve worked out really hard because I’ll be tired and happy and sweaty.  I don’t need my phone to tell me that right now. I want to feel it!  I will get back to limiting sugar and  chugging as much water as humanly possible (although that means I have to pee equally as much!) I will also get back to eating lots and lots of salads!  C’mon body of mine ! Lets prove all the fad dieting idiots out there that this healthy, non radical weight loss thing IS possible!

Here’s Nina and I at the OB Farmers market yesterday!

Here we are later last night, on a run @ Mission bay!

In the past few months I’ve been advised by numerous well-meaning people to do the thing listed below(these are all  hilarious  because they’re completely obvious, incorrect or they themselves would never cause long term weight loss alone ) :

 try the miracle cleanse with or without cayenne pepper

drink more water (you don’t say?! You must be a doctor!!)

cut out dairy

go in a suana everynight 

 not to lift weights or to only lift weights

drink water with lemon in it! (really someone told me this was ALL I had to do and I’d shed pounds insanely quick!)

Eat lots of fruits and veggies (wow… nutritional genius!)

Don’t eat baked goods or desserts (but I though the cookie diet was a real thing?!)

Wear really tight belts so you hold your stomach in tighter.

 

 This last year has taught me that no matter how badly you want to lose 20 pounds in a week- it really just can’t happen. There’s not one special secret that will make you have the body you’ve always dreamed of. FIT bitches do lots of little things all the time so that we won’t just be FIT, we’ll also stay happy!

 

My Sister is Coming Home!

EEEeeeeeeee!!!  WOOOoooooo!!!  YEAHHHHHH!  My sister moved to Colorado last Fall and it took everything I had to not fall into a pit of sorrow, self-pity and loneliness. I mean I GUESS I should be happy for her because she moved to be with her boyfriend, with whom she’s complete in love….but screw that!  She belongs in SoCal, or more specifically- she belongs in Ocean Beach so we can have our amazing social, mellow, active, sun-loving lifestyle back!!! The one and only cool thing that came out of her move was that I met my awesome new roommate Ashley- she’s so awesome if you met her you’d totally be pissed she’s not your roommate.  But anyways…I digress, my sister is coming home for a three-week visit today!  In fact she’ll be here in an hour!!!  Holy Shit! I’m so excited!

We’re planning to do SO much fun stuff while she’s here, which will surly include alot of eating and drinking.  However- we both committed to staying focused on our FITness- even though this is a vacation for her.  I definitely can’t be acting like I’m on a three-week vacation just because she is visiting!  Here is a list of some of the fun, healthy, active, FIT bitch stuff I want to do while she’s here!

~Walk down to the beach as much as possible!

~Go to the farmers market and buy fresh local veggies to grill

~Hike Torrey Pines

~Take a hott yoga class

~Run Sunset Cliffs

~ Get sushi

~ Go to the gym with all of our friends

~ Get loving Hut

~ Take numerous walks around OB

~ Dance like crazy in heels @ Fluxx!

I  know that no matter what we end up doing these next three weeks are going to busy and super freakin fun! Everyone is counting down the seconds for this hoe to arrive!!!  Hurry up United airlines!!!  Fly faster!

An “It’s almost Summer!!” Weekend

Started the weekend off with some amazing food from Bronx Pizza in Hillcrest! So great- my favorite in San Diego!

In light of the carby dinner, I hauled my butt to the gym Saturday morning for a good 45minute, intense cardio sesh! FIT bitches gotta keep er’thing balanced.

 

 

In an effort to keep my Maui tan, I hit the beach Saturday AND Sunday! ps- I’m obsessed with this hott pink tank and will likely be wearing it every chance I get! Also- check out my beach bag…it folds out into a towel! The number 1 socal FIT bitch summer must have!

 

Neon toes = summah timmmeee!

 

Sunday’s lunch was roasted broccoli(mmmmm), roasted tofu & Trader Joes Tahini sauce

 

I walked to the OB grocery store on Sunday afternoon and check out everything I got for only $6.00!! Can you believe that!? Amazing!

I then proceeded to prepare salads for the week using the amazing knife my brother got my for Christmas and the equally amazing peeler my Dad got me from Williams & Sonoma. I LOVE slicing and dicing now!

 

Check out the paper thin carrots!

 

The final product which served as Sunday’s dinner and lunch for today and tomorrow! Romaine with carrots, radishes, macadamia nuts, avocados, garbonzo beans, black pepper and a dash of Braggs liqid amino acid for dressing! Try it!

Aloha FIT Bitch

I came back to work yesterday, after 5 glorious days in Maui.  I had the perfect vacation and enjoyed every second of every day!  I took a gazillion photos and will keep all these amazing memories forever!  In between all the swimming, drinking, relaxing and beach chillin’, I was sure to remember my FITness.  I totally let my self indulge and DID not stick to my regular eating routine.  Wouldn’t I have been the biggest brain dead bitch in the world if I went to Maui and stuck to my normal diet?  Yes, I would have been.  So I didn’t really worry so much about what I put in my mouth and knew that as soon as I got back to San Diego I’d be back on my grind!

Our hotel room had a full kitchen so Anastasia and I could cook alot of our food at home.  Cooking in the room meant less $$$ spent and eating with a gorgeous mountain view from our balcony. Here is alot of what I ate and how I moved in Maui- all of which was a frikin dream come true 😉

Welcome to Maui!

Fish tacos from Duke’s. These put San Diego’s famous South Beach fish tacos to SHAME! These were the BEST tacos I’ve ever had (well they better be- I paid $15 for em!) The fish was fresh line caught and the was the most moist, well cooked fish I’ve ever been lucky enough to eat! This was my first meal in Maui- what a way to start the trip!

Our hotel, Honua Kai, filled this jug with a different type of fruit water everyday. Anastasia and I drank obnoxious amounts of it- this one was pineapple, which I thought was the best.

Dinner on the first night 🙂  Black bean and cheese quesadillas on our balcony-while listening to Isreal “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole sing Over the Rainbow of course.

The beautiful view from the gym in the hotel~ it created the perfect combination of relaxation and motivation.

Kanaapali Beach was a great place to run, on account of how gorgeous it is. It was also where I discovered that running barefoot on the beach is NOT for me. After less than half of a mile I had tiny blisters on my toes! I was literally sand blasting my feet with every step I ran! I don’t know how people do it…. seriously ow!

The water was about 70 degrees, I was so stoked! It’s so pretty there- you could literally just stare at the beach all day long.

 

It’s certain that I drank way too many Mai Tais and Pina Coladas…however they were completely worth the calories!

 

Maui gets rainbows like this everyday. What a beautiful afternoon view.

At the Old Lahaina Luau, they served us fresh pineapple and banana bread before dinner. Both items were impeccably fresh and delicious! As was ALL the pineapple we were served on this trip.

My gluttonous plate from the buffet @ the luau. I had various fish dishes, a fern salad, crab salad, a local purple sweet potato and Ahi Poke. The Ahi poke was so incredible someone at our table went to the buffet and brought back a huge platter of it for us to all share. It was the star of the Luau. If you’re in Maui, go to the Old Lahaina Luau JUST for the ahi poke. Mmmmmm. That little black side cup has poi in it. Poi is a traditional starchy Hawaiian staple made from fermented Taro root. I was REALLY excited to try the poi, as I’ve seen it on the Food Network and in movies many times- but I was terribly disappointed. It was a disgusting, flavorless, glue-like paste.

The dessert platter @ the luau. Coconut sqaures, brownies and those little mini pie things are macadamia nut tarts. Guess which one I had….

    

This jack-pot of a dinner was made on the grill at our hotel. We bought some local fish at the market along with some asparagus and had a delicious Hawaiian BBQ. The green stuff you see on the right is a seaweed salad we bought as well. The most delicious part of the meal was a white fish we bought called Malu, it tasted like lobster!

We ate FAR too many tortillas chips. This pineapple salsa was made downstairs @ our hotel. There was an awesome little natural cafe that sold local and organic food-perfect!

Enjoying Aloha hour on our last afternoon.

BBQ’d shrimp in a garlic wine sauce from Ruth’s Chris…A huge thank you Anastasias boss who took us for the great surprise dinner!

I wish I had a picture of  the massive amounts of Macadamia nuts I ate and of the rum I drank!

I never wanted to go to Hawaii.  It was one of those places that just never interetsed me for some reason, I though that there were other cooler places to see.  I was lucky enough to go on this trip because my friend Anastasia has an awesome job that gave her a free hotel and she invited me along!  I’m so happy she did (thanks!!!! ).  On this trip, I was the most relaxed I’ve ever been for such a prolonged period of time.  I don’t think I felt stress or worry one time.  It was nothing but laughing, tanning, working out, eating, applying sunscreen, swimming and lounging.  Everywhere I went there was a ukulele playing or some other cool island tunes driftin through the air. The smell of either tropical flowers, pineapples, coconuts or rum was everywhere I turned.  Maui is beautiful, relaxing and peaceful and I’ll think about everyday until I can go back!  I heart Hawaii!