Goings-On

I have a very helpful cell phone holder!!!


Best looking one I've ever seen!

Yes, it's been another less energetic week and I haven't been able to figure out why.
I had a follow up with my doctor last Friday, and my blood work wasn't looking that much better.
Slightly better, but I still have more than three times the antibodies I should have, and they've only gone down slightly since we started treatment with T3.  Sigh.

Affirmations:
I believe I will get better.
I AM getting better already!
I am much better than I was two months ago or six months ago or a year ago.
There will probably be more improvements like the ones I've already seen.
There's more healing yet to come!

It's lovely to have tastes of health along the way. 

Here are some jeans that are in my Macy's basket, waiting for a good enough sale.
I adore the crochet along the ankles.
I don't absolutely love the fading on the thighs, so if they do go on sale, I may not end up purchasing them.  I keep looking at the photos, though, and thinking how cute and springy they are!
Great for the not-frigid Arizona desert winters.

 I found a couple of hidden outfit shots in my phone that I thought I'd share . . .

dress: Haani
bag: Kenneth Cole Reaction
Shoes: Target

dress: Tacera
bag: Kenneth Cole Reaction
shoes: Target

I've felt really good about what I've been cooking lately.

I'm planning to film some "what I eat in a day" videos, but I keep forgetting until lunch time, when breakfast is already finished!

The meal pictured below was for both Greg and me (for more than one night for sure!)

I made Greg a spaghetti sauce with faux-beef crumbles in it.  The crumbles had a weird texture and weren't the best; I will try a different brand if he wants to try faux meat again.

The big pile of veggies is for me, as well as the brown rice pasta in the pot behind them.

I browned sweet potato, zucchini, onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper in vegetable broth and then threw in some frozen spinach at the very end.  I ate it on top of the brown rice pasta with some Himalayan pink sea salt sprinkled on top.  Delicious!  I love how browned vegetables are sweet.

Greg's friend Mahesh from work had a birthday and it was celebrated at an interesting restaurant in Arcadia.  The neighborhood was adorable, with cool shops and interesting nooks and crannies everywhere.  The restaurant was called North Italia.  They had gluten-free options, including a gluten-free pizza crust.  The normal toppings were meaty and very cheesy (it IS supposedly an Italian restaurant, after all, which these days is known for meat and cheese . . . but I think traditional Italian food would be more vegetables and less meat and cheese).  I asked them to put on whatever vegetables they had in the kitchen, and I got a very interesting mix.

Cauliflower
Broccoli
Asparagus
Beets
and maybe some other stuff I can't identify from this photo.
Not the best pizza I ever had, but it was definitely edible!

Greg had some pasta.

It was a large group!

The birthday man is the one with the mustache near the balloon.

Greg is the photographer (photo-documentarian!) of the group most of the time.

And he does a great job!

Sometimes he even manages to smirk at the same time!

Our desert plants continue to enjoy the beautiful warm weather (it hit 91 today for the first time).

One of our teensy little cacti shot up TWO huge flowers as big as it this week.

Look how tiny he is!!!
It must take a lot of energy for him to produce those gorgeous blooms.

Here's another sneak-peek of our newly redesigned patio . . .
there are still a couple of things I want to adjust before I film the reveal, but it has certainly been lovely to spend more time out there in comfort and beauty!

Slightly gory bonus:

On the way to get the mail a couple of days ago, we saw this perfectly intact little finch head . . .
with no body!

I am amazed that a predator could rip of a bird's head that neatly.

A few steps further, we found a wing.

No blood, no gore.  Just a wing.

Poor little birdie.

I hope your week has been interesting and enjoyable!