sincerelyfreya giveaway!

if you're seeing this post, you need to update your url for my blog! update your url to sincerelyfreya.com and tell me about it and you could win a birthday banner of your very own! 

more giveaway details/enter at http://sincerelyfreya.com/giveaway-birthday-banner/.

my last blogspot post...

...soooo the birthday favor i have to ask of you all... is to switch to reading my blog on my brand spanking new url. i hate to ask you to update my url (again), but this will be the last time i ever move it (i pinky promise). it was a birthday surprise from todd and sarah! 

read more about it on the new site!

sincerelyfreya.com

i'm really excited (and a little nervous since i'm also switching to wordpress) and i'm even contemplating doing a giveaway as an incentive/thank you for updating your links!

also p.s. how do you all read blogs? i'm not sure how much being off blogger is going to effect the ease of reading my blog so i'd looove to know! do you become a follower and read if from the blogger dashboard (which i have no idea if my wordpress can still do... i'm thinking not), do you use google reader/an rss feed, or do you click on it when it updates on your sidebar and read it on the actual site?

birthday eve wishes

i made brett quite the list of wishes for my birthday this year (seriously it's a page long google doc titled "wish list :) - for birthday and christmas and valentine's and anniversary and columbus day..."). i just decided that since i was listing things, i might as well go big or go home, plus i really enjoy listing things, so i just wrote down everything i could think of that i want today and one day when we aren't poor. this included the little things like guitar music, itunes money, clothes, and the big things like photoshop, a silhouette, and concert or cruise tickets. here are a few thing i'm really digging...

hot yoga towel // nixon watch // old navy plaid // tortilla bowl maker // these prints // root wood case


p.s. did you hear about the bear? don't miss that post below!
and p.s.s. i need to ask you a favor! consider it a birthday present to me! so stay tuned!

bear sighting

brett saw a bear in our yard tonight! so nuts! our trash can was dominated this morning so we knew something was up. when he was pulling in our driveway around 6:30 tonight there was a big ol black bear eating persimmons off the tree! as brett drove around the bend it ran into the woods. when i got home 15 minutes later, brett was still hyped. he had all of the curtains open so he could see if the bear would come out for more. brett then proceeded to look up if he was allowed to kill the bear so he could have a bear rug… crazy. (p.s. it’s illegal.) and to top off the craziness, last night i dreamed about running from bears/getting attacked by bears! must have heard him rummaging in the trash in my sleep.

i'm a little gray rain cloud

i'm falling down on the blogging duties. everything i want to say right now is just all too whiny and emo. i'm telling brett quite often these days that i'm a little gray rain cloud. that sums it up about right. i have a knack for over booking myself, so i guess i do have plenty of things i could post about but let's just keep it brief (cause i'm overbooked).

here's what i've been up to lately in a nutshell >>
baby showers
working fsu games
helping lolly with weddings
trying to get into an exercise routine that involves more than just weekly yoga
reading
last night i slept for 10 hours?! might be a record. (i prefer sleep to headache medicine if possible)
still waiting in limbo land
having mixed feelings about my birthday

as ready as i am to move on, i will miss our little house framed in these beautiful sunsets when we get out of limbo land. the dishwasher is beginning a slow and painful death... please just hold on until we move!

veganniversary + vegan burritos

last week marks a year that we've been doing the vegan thing. pretty crazy eh? seems like just yesterday people were telling us there was no way this lifestyle change was going to stick. we have been slacking about the vegan plus part, but we're recommitting -- getting brett to reread essey's book should do the trick. we just got in a rut recently because i have not been committed to cooking from recipes so it makes our meals either something slapped together (salad, boca burgers, pb sandwiches, amy's frozen burritos which is definitely cheating, spaghetti, cereal) or we eat out. i've really been trying to take advantage of brett's current stay-at-home wife status but i can only make him cook so much. that boy has got his lentils and stir fry down pat though! (and he always ends up doing lentils on yoga days so i feel super granola on those days.) we have had fish a few times in the past year and we've been talking again about adding it back for good, so we'll see.

here's one of our favorite quick and easy recipes that even a non vegan would love! (but maybe not a meat lover)

vegan burritos
serves 3-4 | prep time 20 minutes

ingredients
2 small onions
1 bell pepper
1 can black beans, drained
1 clove garlic (i use the easy fridge squeeze kind though)
splash of orange juice or vinegar
cumin
taco seasoning
pepper
cayenne pepper
brown rice
wheat burritos
1 avocado
1tomato
lettuce
optional toppings: hot sauce, salsa, lemon/lime juice, jalapenos, cilantro

directions
start your rice. slice one onion and one bell pepper. (dice the other onion now too but set it aside.) saute in pan (i just use water) with a few shakes of the following: cumin, taco seasoning, pepper, and cayenne pepper. once they are soft i transfer them to tin foil and close them up to sit in my toaster oven on the "keep warm" setting. now use your same pan to saute the diced onion and garlic until soft. then add black beans and the same seasonings along with a splash of acidic oj or vinegar (brett hates the oj's sweetness but i like it). smash 1/3 of the black beans with the back of your spoon. while that's going dice your tomato, slice your avocado, and cut down lettuce if you need to (spinach is pictured above cause that's all we had). heat up the tortillas in the toaster oven. assemble and eat!



p.s. also today my pappy is 96! can you believe that?! those are some good genes!

labor day weekend

this weekend can be summed up with two words... football + family.

tennessee had their first game on friday. i came home to brett wearing ut attire from head to toe and him instructing me, "i laid out your tennessee shirt on the bed for you." what a goof. saturday brett woke up to play football, then we went to lunch with jp who was visiting for the long weekend. third wheel meals at red elephant. gotta love em. then they went to play golf and i went to work my first fsu game of the season.

we spent sunday playing with nieces and nephews since emily and todd (and their families) were in town. sophia turned three this weekend so we spent some time making the present i got her together. she was so cute telling everyone she was, "working on my project." she must have heard her mom talk about crafting projects a time or two. the apple doesn't fall far from the tree with craftiness in that family. i loved watching her chubby little toddler hand squeeze out every last drop from the glue container -- which thank goodness that stuff dried clear, she had put a glue mask on one of her princesses. also word to the wise, don't try to get between that girl and her glitter. she's glitzy. (p.s. this little magnet set is melissa & doug. love those toys.)

james' third birthday was earlier this month so sarah had a party for him on monday. mickey mouse themed!  

oh poor little brown necklace, monday night it smashed into a million pieces. third necklace i've broken with the kiddos. when will i learn to not wear them?!?!

i just love how excited he was when the candle was lit! and he sang along with the happy birthday song.

cute little three year olds! sophia was so cute sidling her way up! she knows how this works! brett and i were half expecting her to try and blow out his candle too!

we watched the lorax for the after party (and then went to clara's house for the after, after party) sophia wouldn't let that goody bucket out of arms reach. haha.

can't get enough of weekends like this. when's the next long weekend again?