Home again

We're home!!! Well it's been almost a month now that Brad and I (and baby bun) have finally arrived. We made the drive from Georgia to California in about four days. Now that we're here and finally getting settled in, I'll be posting our stories of our crazy journey! I'm sixteen weeks now! The hub and I just had our 9 year anniversary this week too! Lot's of sweet times. I'm going to do my best now to keep this blog up to date with what's going on with baby and how our lives are going here in CA. We have lots of friends in Georgia now that are wanting to hear some news on everything....so here we go!

Love you,

XO

smoothie goodness

I have people ask me all the time..."what do you put in your smoothies??" So here is one for ya! I promise you, it doesn't sound good at first to most people. But it is delicious :)

• 6 ice cubes


• 1 cup of almond milk


• 4-5 small slices of banana


• 1/4 -1/2 cup of blueberries


• 2 T of hemp protein powder


• 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder


• 1 T of coconut oil


• 1 T of almond butter


• 1 T maca powder


• 1 T of ground flax seed


• dash of cinnamon

I know some of these ingredients may sound bizzare for some people. So if anyone actually tries to make this smoothie, let me know. I can tell you where you can find them and what you can subsitute with. If you don't have all of the ingredients, don't fret...just do the almond milk (or even just water is great too!) bananas, blueberries, ice, and cinnamon...if you're really brave throw in some romaine lettuce...you won't even know it's in there :)

I just made this today after my workout! I usually can get creative with them depending on what I can find in my cabinets and fridge. This one is one of my favs. I also love to add pineapple, cherries, strawberries, raspberries or mangos...in different combinations. And even romaine or spinach. I enjoy trying new things :D

REUSE IT

http://www.reuseit.com/

Hey! Another cool place to go for cool reusable stuff. Please check out their website. I think you'll fall in love too.

It's a website that sells..."reusables for every part of your life"

Part of their VISION statement talks about the issue of the plastic bag. Almost all of us use them, all the time. Along with the use of disposables, it is out of control. They are "powerful symbols of consumption gone wild".

Another company helping to make mindless over-consumption of use and toss items, a thing of the past.

Here are a couple of things that I kinda fell in love with...

A double wall glass water bottle with stainless tea filter. Beautiful and genious.

Microfiber cleaning cloth with scrubber. A nice alternative to those yucky scrubby brushes or sponges. Just throw it in the wash! Simple and brilliant and they really work.

What it might look like hanging in your sink. Working hard for those dishes :)

Reusable produce bags. I really would love to get some of these.

Just take them with you to the grocery store, isn't that cool? See-through for easy checkout! And...you can even rinse your produce right in the bag.

This is another item I heart :)

A lunch purse! Every women should have one don't ya think? Would make a pretty groovy gift I think.

Fun colors to choose from. I still like the green and white one though.

To celebrate their GRAND OPENING, they are giving 20% off for any order over $50. Just use EGrandOpen at checkout. Oh, and the sale is through this Sunday....

Just wanted to share. Thought these were "Green and Lovely" worthy ;)

Love,

Lis

XO

Sustainable Cali home

Recently, I've been learning more about water-conservation for the home, through my Greene Irene training. Somehow ... I made my way over to Kohler's website. Always gotta check out what's new! What I found ... lots of stylish faucets with eco-friendly technologies. I actually came across a beautiful "hillside home" in Marin County, California. It's the first LEED-Certified Platinum home in that area. The design professionals teamed up with Kohler in helping create this hillside beauty. Here are some of it's very cool features...

* in-floor hydronic heating

* solar ray-providing 60% of home's electricity

* LED lighting

* cabinetry and floors made from sustainably harvested woods

* roof made of recycled metals

This one just made me smile. I'm trying to pay attention to the design and the sleek architectural lines, but the mirror caught my attention. My mom loved to sing this song to us kids in the morning :D

Cabinets are made out of reclaimed wood...and the front of the bar is coated in chalkboard paint. Fun way to assign seating.

They even included an outdoor bath!

Visit the home's website to see even more

brother

So it's another one of those crazy early mornings. Brad's alarm goes off around 2:30 a.m. every tuesday through saturday and he leaves somewhere around 3:15-ish to get to work. It's finally gotten to the point where I don't hear his alarm clock anymore which is weird because I've always thought of myself as being "light sleeper". I woke up this morning though, as he was about to head out the door and headed downstairs to say goodbye...I really, really needed to use the bathroom too :) I don't know if I should blame the tiny handful of reese's pieces that I ate - he MADE me eat them as he was walking out the door - or the fact that my mind is super active at 3am, as to why I couldn't go back to sleep.

Before I went to bed last night, I was deeply inspired by a new blog that I came across. My younger brother Matt recently started a blog - which he forgot to mention the other day when I talked to him!! ;) It was sooo neat to see his heart unfold and read about his drive and mission and PASSION to reach the nations for Christ! It's been life-changing for him already, as he made his recent journey across the country to reach his new home in NC. Trusting God at this capacity has been a new one for Matt as he stated...and I'm so glad that he did! Finally seeing him in Seminary is just awesome. I can't believe how much he's grown in his faith and heart already and I can't wait to see all the ways he'll be used by God.

Catch his blog here Oh, and it's a must that you make time to read about "Jose the spider"!!

Love you Matt. Your big sis is more than proud of you. I admire your heart and passion and radicle-ness and look up to you :)

I'm sitting here at my drafting table slash office desk, with Mahli fast asleep under my feet. I think I might just join her. Need to get at least an hour in before Brad gets home from work so I can be up to make some yummmy breakfast for us. Omlette's or smoothies or left-over yellow curry from last night? I'm "always thinking about food" ...as I remember my last boss making me aware of. It's what got me into trouble ;)

Some pics of Matt's visit to Atlanta a few weeks ago!

sunday best

My babae playing bass at NorthPoint. You can barely see him, but that's him on the end next to the drummer.

Last weekend was crazy, as far as music gigs go. Brad was scheduled for four gigs in a row! I did a little video of NorthPoint's worship service because it was pretty awesome. He was on the East stage this time, so I got some cool views from the balcony. The worship experience was amazing and Brad rocked it...I can never get enough of his playing, he's phenomenal. Love watching him worship.

My amazing bass-player hubby. So proud of him :D

The entire balcony was vibrating under my feet from the bass. Truly the best sound from up there!

***Okay, my video didn't post after all. It was 40MB too big, bummer.

lonny mag

The newest issue of Lonny is all about eco-chic and sustainability. Celebrating this month as the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The Lonny mag, in my opinion is the epitome of {green and lovely} :) It can only be viewed online, which makes it difficult to snuggle up with on my sofa, but hey it's a really neat concept. I liked what Michelle Adams (the miss editor in chief) had to say "...being eco-friendly doesn't necessarily mean making radical changes but, rather, more informed decisions."

a couple of my favorite things from their first "green" issue....


Light, Bright and Airy! The curtains are from Michelle's own eco textile line. so pretty.



I hope to have clients someday who like to be bold! This color works well in this fun little powder room :D



I actually found this wallpaper during my final quarter in school and used it in my Hotel design for my senior project! My hotel was based out of San Francisco and it was called The Red Gate...lots of eco-chic-ness in that project. If only it could really be built. Just in case you wanted to refresh your memory on that school project, you can still see it on my website which features my portfolio... It will be under "Hospitality"

my mahli girl

Mahli and Brad at the park on Easter :P

Yesterday after work, I went across the street to Nature's Corner Market to buy one more ingredient that I needed to make dinner. For some reason I just couldn't let myself just buy that one thing, so I made my way over to the chocolate bar section and gave in. It's been so long and I decided to treat myself to a chocolate bar. But not just any chocolate bar. It was a 72% raw cacao bar with mint!!!!!!! I actually ate a couple of pieces on my drive home just to make sure it was as good as I thought it was. Fast forward to later that evening....Brad and I had just gotten back home and Mahli was soooo happy and yet extremely guilty. We walked a little but further into our apartment and I saw my chocolate bar....my dessert...and the wrapper torn to pieces on the floor. Somehow she managed to steal it from the kitchen counter. She ate my dessert and I was not happy. I scolded that pup! But I could tell she wasn't feeling good. I looked into those pitiful brown eyes and stroked her back. She ended up getting sick early that morning when Brad was getting ready for work at 3am. How excited Brad was to clean up her mess before heading off to work :P Well Mahli has recovered since then I think! I was worried. We searched on the internet "what happens when dog eats chocolate bar" and it was not hopeful. Their is a chemical in the chocolate that can pretty much kill them. So she is definitely okay now. This wasn't the first time she got into my chocolate stash. A couple of years ago, she ate my chocolate halloween cupcakes!!! I don't know about Mahli but I guess I learned my lesson :(

april showers

It is absolutely pouring down rain at the moment. Rain in Georgia is nothing like rain in California. I guess that's why I love the rain so much. We never got rain in CA. And I guess that's why my husband is not a big fan of it...he grew up here and rain like this is nothing new. Even after 4.5 years of living here, it still surprises me and I love rainy days here. I would love a cup of hot tea right now even though it's not really cold outside. There's never a bad time for tea. I think I need a ladybug umbrella like this one. Thank you Lord for this rain. And thank you that it will wash away all this pollen so my husband can stop sneezing so much :)

newbie blogger

I was waiting to post something until I figure this thing out! But that could really be a while. I know my page isn't pretty yet. But it soon will be! I want to use this to inspire my family and my friends. I'm constantly striving to learn more about what it means to be truly healthy. One thing that really excites me is green and sustainable interior design. What makes a healthy home/indoor environment?? I can't wait to share my findings. I also think it will be pretty cool to see my little journey. I'll also post things that have to do with natural health and nutrition which is another passion of mine :D Since I need a little color on my blog, here is a pretty photo of a lovely dutch tulip field. Thought this would be appropriate for Spring. Yay, it's finally here!