Lucky

My husband likes to frequently point out that I live, in his opinion, a privileged life.

Like yesterday when he asked what we did. My reply was, "Well we went to the trampoline park, the plastic surgeon, and ate at Big Orange where we were spoiled by our server." His reply, "That's pretty much what you do everyday."

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Yes. I am pretty lucky. I have more freedom than most. But in my mind, I have created that freedom. I only work at our business on the weekends and only for a few hours at a time so that we are able to homeschool. Our small home based soap store doesn't require more than a few more hours a week out of me. I drive an older vehicle with no car payments so I have extra spending money. It was all part of my plan, I tell him, to be able to do what I want when I want. Which sounds selfish and spoiled and maybe it is, but 98% of my time is spent with my kids. Going and doing and learning and creating.

I didn't know how to take care of myself when I was younger. The realization that one must put on their own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs didn't hit me until recently. You have to take care of yourself. But in such a child driven world, taking care of oneself can appear selfish. What? You take time to go to the gym/go running/hiking/yoga class? Shame on you. You drove 3 hours to go to a children's program at the museum and maybe do a little shopping for yourself because you live in the middle of nowhere but still want to enrich your children and indulge in retail therapy? That is a waste of time and gas and aren't you lucky you can just take off and do those things in the middle of the day.

My children are with me constantly. And they don't realize this isn't truly normal. Not being tied down to a job or a school schedule. A supportive father and husband who doesn't mind funding our adventures with only minimal amount of ribbing. But I still need to take care of myself.

So I do small things. Go for an early morning solo run. Sneak off to an essential oils demo at a friends house. Put the kids to bed early and hide in my room with laptop, beverage, and copious amounts of Gilmore Girls on Netflix. Always pick the restaurant when we are traveling so I can pretend to be a foodie and make sure my children experience real food at every meal. That last one is important because I have realized that even when I can't get a physical break I must take charge of the things that make me happy. And food makes me happy so I always pick in order to get that mental enjoyment of an amazing plate.

And when I don't take the time to do these things I realize that I'm not being very nice. I'm on the edge of freaking out and needing a mental health day. Which is kind of hard to take when everyone is home all the time. Every single day.

It's all about perspective I suppose. What ones life looks like to outsiders is usually entirely different than the reality. My blessings might be your problems. The things that make you happy could drive me crazy. Not everyone could deal with the absolute un-scheduledness of our days. Or the constant togetherness. Or the fact that my only traveling companions are both under 4 foot.

But they are pretty cool companions. They even get their own hashtags at restaurants. I don't have much to complain about. I lead a pretty privileged life.

#stellaapproved

Planned Off-roading and a Redemption Run

First of all if you are not on a Whole30, go make this now! So, so, so good. I've tried several Paleo banana bread recipes and this is the one.

We were on the road for most of the day yesterday. I took along a cooler with drinks and breakfast. In my opinion finding primal breakfast on the go is the hardest. I had some planned indulgences. We were celebrating being done with the school year and so a trip to Five Guys and Bliss Cupcakes was in order.

At Five Guys I had a bacon cheeseburger with no bun topped with grilled onions, mushrooms, jalapenos and hot sauce. And I ate the fries. Of course I ate the fries. Wouldn't you? A family friend owns Bliss Cupcakes in Ft.Smith and they have some absolutely delectable GF cupcakes. I thought I was a chocolate devotee to the very end until I tried the GF Blueberry Cream Cheese cupcake. I will never eat another flavor again. Not that I need to be eating cupcakes more than once a year. I won't. I promise. Thanks to Kerri though I can do it without too much guilt and gastric distress. They also have a few varieties with all natural color and flavor so my kids get to have a treat too. After that we saw Maleficent. Which was................oh ma gah! Amazing! Great movie! Loved loved loved it!

Once back home I was quite exhausted and shamelessly threw Amy's frozen pizzas in the oven. Rice crust for Warren and I, regular cheese for the kids. It was one of those nights were we just wanted to kick back, eat pizza, and watch Star Wars. Any maybe drink some wine.

 

 

This morning I was up with the sun and at the track with my friend for a few miles and a few bleachers. It felt good to work all the gunk out of my body from yesterday. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed my indulgences yesterday. I don't feel guilty because I planned to eat that stuff. It's not getting me down.



I polished off the last piece of banana bread after my run and the rest of my day will be clean.  Have a great weekend!

Eating Out Primal

or at least moderately healthy....

The kids and I took a little roadtrip at the beginning of July. We left our beautiful Arkansas, headed West through Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, then North into Colorado. Our final destination was Durango.

The underlying theme on this trip was education. Learning about the places we were and about the culture and history of the people we met. We tried to fit in as many amazing things as we could. We visited places, such as Cadillac Ranch (the one touristy place you must stop), Echo Amphitheater in New Mexico, Georgia O'Keefe's house in Abique, Mese Verde in Colorado. Once we made it to Durango, we spent time at the local river and on more than one occasion I made them walk the 14 block roundtrip downtown to see the locals and do some shopping. I also included them in all my visits to the local natural grocers. It still cracks me up to see how excited my kids get when they go in a grocery store and know they can have almost anything in there. They are so used to not being able to eat over half of the products carried in a traditional store. So visiting natural grocers on vacation is a true treat for them.

I was in for a surprise myself when we stopped in a tiny little gas station/feed store/café/grocer in Abique, New Mexico. We were in the middle of nowhere, had just stopped at some ruins to do some exploring and were hot and thirsty. I went in hoping to find something cold to drink besides water. As much as we love water, we were just really in the mood for something else. I wasn't expecting much from the looks of this place but inside I was pleasantly surprised. They had an amazing amount of fresh produce. Lots and lots of all natural snacks and then I came upon the holy grail. Or what my kids would consider the holy grail. Virgil's Root Beer. I grabbed them each one and then grabbed a bottle of this for myself. Holy heck it was yummy!

I certainly didn't fail to notice that feeding my family in line with our lifestyle was much easier the farther West we drove. Colorado was especially accommodating. There were more options to choose from, healthy fare was the norm.

Here are some of our eats from the trip.

4 hours on the road at this point. Jason's Deli did not disappoint.

 

El Salvadoran Pupusas. I basically just told the waitress to give me anything without
wheat in it. I wasn't being picky about corn on this trip. This dish was amazing.
The beet, carrot, and cabbage slaw was served cold and complemented
it so well. The kids had the most amazing gluten free buttermilk waffles.
We even went back on our last day in Santa Fe and ate breakfast here again. The Tune Up Café
is now on our permanent list of best restaurants.

I couldn't help but squeal with delight when saw this in our hotel. They had a very nice
restaurant called Red Sage that we ate dinner at one evening. It of course had an amazing wine selection.

Dinner at Red Sage in our hotel. This was an amazing glass of a Rhone that I can't remember
the vineyard name. This is also a perfect picture of how traveling alone with three kids can get
sometimes. She wasn't screaming, just making sure I understood she was serious about our conversation.

Duck fat fries. I nearly died.

I ordered the filet, rare. It came with no veggies. So of course I ate the duck fat fries.

Both the boys had buffalo sliders. They were topped with a spicy chile sauce and I was surprised
the little dudes still liked them. My kids are primal about 80% of the time. But this was
vacation, and I let them live it up.

We were in desperate need of a bathroom stop and on a whim I stopped
in here. It was one of the coolest natural grocers I have ever been in. If you
are ever in Pagosa Springs, CO give it a try. They had a exceptional deli area with a ton
of prepared foods ready to go. We stocked the cooler and the smoked salmon I got was
out of this world!

I picked this up at the little market above. I won't even try and stock these in our
store for fear I will eat the entire case myself.

On the day we visited Mesa Verde, we packed our lunch and after our hike
to see the ruins we stopped at an overlook for a picnic.

This was part of our spread. Turkey, cheese, gluten free pretzels. Simple.

There is a fabulous restaurant in Durango, CO called Ken & Sue's. They have a nice gluten
free selection, farm to table food, and your to go bag is an actual reusable shopping bag. This was an
appetizer of mussels in a coconut lime sauce. I wanted to lick the plate when it was gone.

 

 

Stuffed chicken over greens and mashed potatoes. Also at Ken & Sue's.

We also ate at our standard places like Panera and I couldn't turn down a Starbucks iced coffee on the road. Overall I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to stay as primal as possible. Renting a house with a kitchen helped a lot. We got very sick of eating out after the first 3 days. That first dinner we cooked in the rental house was comfort food for all of us.

Eating clean on the road is totally possible and can even be easy if you know what to look for.

Day 4 Eats & A Good Sign

If you follow along on Instagram (@primalhippie by the way) you might have seen some of these photos already. Sorry!


Breakfast started out with a bang! I got in some greens first thing after I noticed the lack of them on yesterdays menu. More spicy sausage that was blended up right in our very own meat market. Two over easy eggs fried in coconut oil on a bed of baby romaine.

I practiced yoga for about 30 minutes right around lunch time. When I was done with that I was in no mood for heavy rich food. Smoothie it is! Banana, Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, almond milk, and chia seeds. I have a Justin's addiction. I know this! When I attempt to complete a Whole30 in August I am going to have to give it up. Waaaahhhh! I poured this gorgeous concoction in my KOL pint glass and enjoyed. So excited that I get to see those boys in 3 days!

 

 

Dinnertime came and we were out of town. Normally when we are on the go we hit up Panera for healthy and tasty eats. You must remember that we are in Arkansas and even the bigger towns have yet to pick up on the farm to table craze. There are no amazing grassfed restaurants. No pop ups offering Paleo type fare. The three best places to eat in this town are Panera, Five Guys, and the local health food store. Yesterday evening I must have been out of my head because I let the 9 year old talk me into something else. He was debating for sushi which I almost agreed too, but I knew I couldn't be good and forgo the rice so I said no. He then rallied for Olive Garden. In the back of my mind I knew it was going to be a disaster. We got there. I ignored the breadsticks and requested their gluten free menu. It was tiny. Literally three options. What was I to expect though. I ordered their Mixed Grill. It was supposed to come with grilled veggies and broccoli with steak and chicken in a rosemary demiglaze. Instead of broccoli mine came with potatoes. I suspected they had been coated in flour before being roasted so I avoided them like the plague. All in all it was just yuck! I won't be talked out of our tried and true places again. I would have been much happier with a Five Guys burger bunless topped with jalapenos and other yumminess.



My not good dinner and evil potatoes!


 

But upon arriving home last night we got the most unexpected gift from good ole' Mother Nature.