Wordless Wednesday: A Drive Home through the City

Inspiration in the Kitchen

My inspiration to blog

My blogging journey started when people would constantly ask me what I was eating as a vegetarian. As I tend to do, I would elaborate in great detail about the meals I was cooking and how easy it was to whip up a dish each night. People were fascinated that I could eat burgers, spaghetti and meatballs, burritos, and stir fry, among many other things, while all of it being completely vegetarian. They wanted the recipes and since I don’t measure ingredients and always change an already-prepared recipe, I had no way to share my passion for healthy cooking to the masses. Plus, I wanted to convey a deeper message than just passing on a recipe, which is why I try to always add a little story or more information on the ingredients in my posts. Since then, I have expanded my blogging world and started writing about other topics that come across my mind. But, vegetarian cooking is where it all really began and it is what inspired me to start a blog. Even though I like to post pictures and I write about running, it still always comes back to the kitchen.

This post is in response to WordPress’ Photo Challenge of what inspires bloggers.

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Kermit the Frog once said, “It’s not that easy being green.”

It’s not that easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow, or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

It’s not easy being green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over
‘Cause you’re not standing out
Like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky

But green’s the color of spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like a mountain
Or important like a river
Or tall like a tree

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why
But why wonder why wonder
I am green, and it’ll do fine
It’s beautiful, and I think it’s what I want to be

Kermit struggles with being comfortable in his own skin, but in the end he decides that it’s OK to be himself. I love this message that he teaches the young – and the old. I mean, shoot, I’m almost 30 and I still have to remind myself that it’s fine to be different than others. He also talks about how many vital things on this Earth are green, which goes hand-in-hand with what I decided to share for this week’s photo challenge. These pictures are from recent vacations that all had the common color of green in them. Kermit’s realization at the end of his song is dead-on: being true to yourself, or being green, is a beautiful thing!

Instant Love for Dalí

“Have you ever just stopped to look at her, and your heart overfills with joy?” I asked my husband the other night.

Her bright, innocent eyes; her playful, yet endearing attitude; her overpowering love and cuddles – it all makes me stop dead in my tracks and adore her.

One may think that I’m talking about a child, and in a way I am. She’s my furry child – the one and only, Dalí.

http://instagram.com/p/NHZlHkPJzW/

There have been a million different times in a million different ways that my life has changed in a moment. Dalí has by far been the most positive one in recent years.

http://instagram.com/p/Mzlg1LvJ0Q/

On a cold December night, my husband and I walked into the vet’s office where Dalí was being boarded by her foster parents. She came running up to us, her big floppy ears in tow and gave us a big, warm (smelly) kiss. When the volunteer from the adoption agency left the room for us to bond with Dalí and talk about adopting her, I leaned over to my husband and said “I love her.” We signed the papers and were on our way to being new parents. Seeing as neither of us ever owned a dog, we didn’t know what to expect.

http://instagram.com/p/Q0wPJNPJ75/

Never owned a dog, you say? Ruh roh!

You can say that again. We were estranged to the notion of how to take care of this adorable creature. How often do you take her out to potty? How often do you feed her? Does she sleep with us or stay in the crate? Where is the user manual? Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

http://instagram.com/p/OuwvmZPJ0y/

It’s OK, Mom! I’ll just sleep while you figure it out!

It’s a good thing we didn’t care about our carpets because there were plenty of accidents to begin with. Oh wait, we did care about our brand-new carpets because we had just bought this house a few months prior? Well, that’s the beauty of love. You stop caring about the materialistic garbage in the world, and you focus on what moves the meter of your heart from empty to full.

http://instagram.com/p/Q0u7EBPJ6N/

Even our 9-year-old cat Scotch instantly fell in love with Dalí. Most people we know forget that we have a cat because she goes into super-stealth mode and never comes out of hiding. I’ll never forget how shocked I was to see Scotch greet Dalí with such curiosity, being like such a normal cat. They have become best pals and sometimes I find them lounging together.

https://www.instagram.com/p/QtIBg3PJ1W/ https://www.instagram.com/p/QqUk2mPJ9G/

It’s been almost a year that we’ve had Dalí, and since then I’ve grown tremendously – something I never thought would be possible with the help of a pet. As I mentioned earlier, it didn’t start out as all rainbows and sunshine. We were off to a rocky start, so we sent the trainer Mailey at the Atlanta Humane Society a cry-for-help email, pleading her for advice on what to do about the accidents and the pulling on the leash. The pee stains kept appearing and my arm was almost out of socket from the leash-tugging. We were desperate. Mailey was a godsend, and I’m not embellishing here, folks. She not only helped us communicate with Dalí, but she also brought us together as a family. She taught me some life lessons too. With tears in her eyes on the last day of obedience class, she told us to be more like our dogs. Be in the present moment. Love unconditionally. Show kindness toward others. Mailey’s words of wisdom ring in my ears while I try to mirror Dalí’s zen-like behavior.

Within the last year, we’ve had a lot of tribulations in our life, but Dalí has always brought out the best in us. Finding love in an instant moment is a purely magical thing. And, c’mon, who can’t smile when they see ears like these?

http://instagram.com/p/Mdx2AgPJyG/

The idea for this post came from the WordPress Weekly Writing Challenge: In An Instagram.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Geometry

When I saw the Weekly Photo Challenge was about geometry, all I could think about was my visit to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens back in May of this year. The Gardens are so visually pleasing that it allows for great photography, and this visit was all about the shapes. I used my new (new to me, but somewhat used when I bought it) Canon Rebel DSLR. I couldn’t pick just one image, so that’s why I shared all of my favorites for this challenge.

Circles at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Triangles through the Legs

Rectangular Windows

Rectangular Pond and Triangular Tree

Rectangular Pots and Windows

Lines

Rectangular Objects

Rectangular Stand for the Pots

Semi-circular Art and Square Background

Square plants and entry-way

Geometric Shapes at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Circular Lily Pads and Semi-circular Pond

Circular Flower

Circular Entry-way

Geometry at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens Entry-way