This week: New(ish) in my life

Hi friends!

As I've mentioned, I recently went from having a job as a teacher, a place to call my own in Honduras, and a malleable, but still somewhat clear, life plan to having none of these things.  Lucky for me,  I hail from an incredibly supportive group of family members, and I've befriended some of the most wonderful individuals who easily match my family in supportiveness.

Though I am not living and working abroad, I am so grateful to have had the opportunity and the encouragement I did.  One of my co-workers went so far as to set up an informational interview with me about bilingual education and then give me a number of books and resources to prepare for my role as a teacher!  That level of kindness and generosity has really stuck with me.  Now that I'm not going to Honduras, this same person, and so many others, have met my change of plans with unwavering support and with genuine empathy.  What astounding kindness!  I can't help but to feel blessed when I'm surrounded by so much love and encouragement.  I want to be appreciative of this each day.

And that's one thing that's new for me this week: I've been keeping a daily gratitude list.  I write 5 things I am grateful for at the end of the day.  Gratitude lists are obviously old news in the world, and I think gratitudelist.org is even a website, and I tried keeping a gratitude list once in high school, and it might sound cheesy to write gratitude lists, possibly due in part to their popularity and consequential banality, and this is definitely a run-on sentence, but I am loving my gratitude list. Plus, looking at the full week, I noticed a trend in my lists -- I kept circling back to my friends, my family, and their supportive actions after my unexpected shift in life events.  While this is my major development of the week, and something I definitely want to keep up with, I have a few other things that are helping me start September off right!  Check them out:

Kundalini yoga! Though I am an Ashtanga girl through and through, trying this new type of yoga for the first time on Wednesday was a good experience (from which I am still aching!).  As I try to re-connect with yoga, I will share a little more about my experiences with both Kundalini and Ashtanga and my attempts at sustaining a regular practice.

New running shoes!

New shoes front and center, last two pairs (630 and 630v2) in the background.  New Balance isn't paying me to post this.  Old habits die hard, and you'll hear why when the Beyond My Vegan Plate series begins.

I'm off of Facebook! Admittedly, that's not new this week, but I think it's the first week I've realized the difference it can make.

Black bean brownies!  Gluten free and vegan.  Also, free of refined sugars -- though you'd have no idea.  Eat up.

Nom nom nom nom.  My little brother's comment on this photo on Instagram made my week even shinier.

This -- which was an inspiring follow-up to tracking my gratitude all week. I love having my mustache and I love talking about it.  Even if talking about it just encourages people to make fun of me (good-naturedly of course!).

Participating in veganmofo for the first time!  A.K.A maintaining my blog with care for the first week in a long time.

I found a mug as big as my face! And proceeded to drink lots of coffee from it.  Aptly, a skull and crossbones design adorns this lovely piece of tableware -- a warning to watch my caffeinated bev consumption.  I'll heed that.

Selfies are silly.