This past weekend I was in Los Angeles for a work event. Mr. Charming and I rented a darling home in Toluca Lake in a beautiful, peaceful neighborhood and explored many neighboring cities and beach towns on my time off. I had one of the best Italian meals of my life, all gluten-free and vegan, and I had to share my top seven list of healthy eats in Studio City, CA where the crew and I spent a lot of our time while I was in town. Make sure to check out #1 to read about the best pasta in Hollywood.
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While it's important to detox year round, the holiday season is a crucial time to take care to detox our bodies, mind and souls regularly. The change in weather, family and added financial stressors, additional caloric intake and cold and flu season all threaten our health on a daily basis. Read on to see my detox routine that helps keeps me balanced overall. There are people. People who come into your life. People you never expect to be lifelong loves. Lifelong friends. People who move your soul. People who rock your core. People who challenge you. People who hold you. The few that you take your walk with through this wonderful and beautiful journey. My thirties have become such a beautiful chapter thus far. The clarity of relationships, finding my purpose and the purpose of my challenges comes into focus a little clearer...... Mr. Charming and I are embarking at our third go at the Whole 30. I haven't been feeling well lately and I know it's because I wasn't full Paleo after the holidays. But I am happy to announce that I am grain and sugar-free & if you've noticed the changes on Nosh & Nurture, you'll notice it is too! I've felt for a while that I've needed to completely remove these things from my diet based on what I believe to be good & healthy for our bodies, and felt that if I was going to hold those who trust me for my advice accountable for their food decisions, the first person I would need to talk to and feed well on a consistent, daily basis is the girl in the mirror... read more of this post by clicking the link below... This weekend FLEW by. Mr. Charming and I both had to work on Saturday, so our "weekend" didn't technically start until Saturday night and ended too early on Monday morning, leaving us longing to soak up Sunday as much as we could. On Sundays there is a Farmer's Market at a local nearby park where Mr. Charming does many family and engagement shoots on the weekend. It has beautiful green grass, rolling hills and a rock waterfall. It's the perfect picnic spot. I always say I'm going to go back there to write. This past Sunday we started our morning with smoothies and reading our Jesus Calling Devotional and headed to the park for the market. We loaded up the big camera to get some pictures of the amazing, yummy produce they had available. I always feel so at home at the markets. Organic, NON-GMO, friendly farmers and the prices are GREAT. The first thing I stocked up on was a bunch of these radishes. I've been craving them in my salads lately, they give them such a spicy, subtle crunch. It's always amazing to me how shocked people are by the size of organic food. It's smaller because its not pumped full of bad products making it grow to artificial sizes. These little spaghetti squashes were so cute and such a sunny shade of yellow. Grabbed one for us for "pasta" night as I move to live fully grain free. I also tried a FANTASTIC fair trade, organic, vegan chocolate that will soon get a post all on it's own because it was some of the best chocolate I have ever tasted. After speaking with the various farmers and finding the best deals on grass-fed beef and whole organic chickens, Mr. Charming and I met with a gluten-free Italian caterer where we scored the most AMAZING lunch. It was lasagna made 100% from fresh vegetables. The lasagna was comprised of layered zucchini, onions and fresh tomatoes in an organic marinara. It was phenomenal and so filling. I paired it with a small side salad and a small square of the aforementioned amazing chocolate. We also picked up some grass-fed beef meatballs to toss on top of our spaghetti squash.
A successful day at the market indeed! I would love to hear your favorite Farmers Market finds from the weekend! Weekends. Weekends are bliss. This is a fact I totally started to take for granted having worked from home for the past two years. I started my new position last week and it puts me in the magazine offices five days a week. Love my job, love running a magazine, writing, editing, managing is just in me. But the on-the-freeway-before-dark and leaving my fur babies has been a big adjustment. I believe God puts changes into our life so that we need him. Me personally, I believe its so I cling to him. After what we went through over Christmas and the physical pain I am still dealing with with my pelvic issues, I know this new venture is a struggle, but when I look to Him every morning, noon and night (and all the moments in between), I can see my blessings and it makes it easier. Which is why I now savor, not squander, my day of rest. This past weekend was wonderful. You know those weekends that feel really long and totally satisfying. Like a long, warm hug, or a deep, comfy bed you just want to roll around in and never leave? It was one of those weekends. And I am so thankful that it was because it was much needed. Over Christmas we hosted multiple parties and I think almost every family we have was hosted in our home, and though I adore every single one of them, a weekend with my darling Mr. Charming was so badly needed. We started the Whole 30 up again, and Mr. Charming does SO well eating well. Doing Paleo, I'm awesome at it. But take away my grain-free baked goods and honey and I'm a crazy woman. At least this time around there's no bad headache. Hallelujah. From time to time we visit our dream home developer and walk through the models. Even though we love where God has us, we like to dream and it helps us stay focused on our goals on rough days. We are looking forward to this weekend, we will be grooming the doggies, as they are starting to lose their winter undercoat ALL OVER THE HOUSE. Well Princeton is, little Charlie doesn't shed at all. Love schnauzers!
I will be an official blogger on Saturday at the Gluten & Allergen Free Expo. I'm excited to visit my favorite booths and hopefully see some new companies. For Christmas, Mr. Charming got us tickets to see Whitney Cummings at the Improv. I miss her show and am excited to see some awesome comedy. The rest of the weekend I hope to catch up on the blog, worship, read and savoring... every... moment. |
Welcome! My name is Mandi & I hope you stay in this happy little space a while. I'm a Christian, a wife to my Mr. Charming, mama to baby Greyson, healthy food-lover, traveler, professional journalist and Personal Nutritionist who hopes to inspire others with my story...
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October 2017
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