This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.

Tomorrow is the first day of summer.

Today, I am sad because I have a headache that will not go away. I am very unhappy with how I look and feel. I do not feel motivated to make any changes. I also have PMS.

Life: 

-I met Brooklyn last weekend. She's so precious and I just can't wait to have one of my own! :P

-Marvin asked Dennie to be his best man. It was adorable and spur-of-the-moment and I couldn't help myself from tearing up.

-We got to hang out with my neighbors dog since he was away at a conference. Walking the dog together on a breezy night made me want a dog! For about one minute. 

-It became cherry season. Yum. Can never have enough.

Brooklyn at brunch!

Marvin & Brooklyn

Dennie saying "yes."

Higgins and Marvin on the stoop

Cherries galore

I carry your heart.

It's been awhile! Life in pictures over the past.. month (time flies!)

Me and Jackie and baby Nicky. He's home now!

I

Marvin graduated!! It was a rainy crazy night at Nassau Coliseum but fun times afterwards. I'm SO proud of him.

Marvin came to help out at my school during their Portfolio presentations. Here he is with some of my favs

Marvin's graduation party... all the men (and boys) passed out after a night of partying.

We picked a venue!!! Here's Marvin signing the contract :):):)

Our wedding will be at the lovely Chateau at Coindre Hall - on July 3th 2015 <3333

As the weather has been getting warmer, I have just been loving Brooklyn even more. Here are some pics from around the neighborhood...

Rose gardens on Brownstone patios are everywhere...

One of the parks nearby, kids playing in the sprinklers

One of the menu community gardens that are open to the public to just walk around and peruse

Makes you forget its Brooklyn...

Homemade pizza!!

These gorgeous peonies I picked up at the farmers market this morning

And some other farmer's market delights... freshly made mozzarella  (was literally made seconds before I bought it) Tarallis (literally just took me five minutes to look up the correct spelling of this, considering I pronounce it "tadoll"), local vine tomatoes, sugar snap peas & strawberries. Some organic maple glazed nuts... and some of my favorite Momo's carrot ginger dressing in the fridge!

Other significant life events:

- We choose our wedding venue and date! I know this was already mentioned but I feel sooo relieved.

- I picked my bridesmaids!

- We got a nice camera, and have been loving playing with it

- We payed a woman $80 to clean our apartment. While I felt sort of guilty, it was sooo worth it. She cleaned EVERYTHING, including the inside of the oven and refrigerator. We will definitely be using her from now on! Its not that I feel like I'm "above" cleaning my own house, or even too busy for it. Its just that I honestly feel that it is so worth the money. Every time I clean I feel I cannot get it clean enough, and I never even know the right stuff to use.

- We're having an engagement BBQ! I'm so excited to get all the family together and I just can't wait.

Yogurt cravings

I have been craving yogurt BIG TIME lately. Frozen and non frozen. This week alone I've been eating yogurt like crazy

Sunday night: 2% plain Fage w/ honey and mini wheats

Monday morning: 2% plain Fage w/ honey

Monday evening: 1% plain + triple berry pie swirl froyo with dark chocolate chips 

Tuesday morning: 1% plain + honey and bananas 

Wednesday morning: 1% plain with bananas

Wednesday evening: organic whole milk strawberry froyo with dark chocolate chips

Seriously! I can't get enough. 

Meanwhile, I'm falling back into my no meat thing. I honestly feel like I could live without it, but I can't find a healthy medium without it. So far, today was a meatless today, but definitely not the healthiest day. 

Bfast -1% plain yogurt with bananas

Lunch(?) - Cucumbers with light parmesan peppercorn dressing, pretzel sticks

Snack - Mango, raspberry and banana smoothie, pretzel sticks

Snack - String cheese, pretzel sticks 

Tonight I'm planning to make another batch of Skinnytaste chicken quesadillas but I honestly just rather have them with cheese and veggies!!!

"From which stars have we fallen to meet each other here?"

Too lazy to write... So time for a little "life through photos" post. 

Almond crossant and soy latte from

Hungry Ghost

A cat in my latte?

Kale chips baking

And cooling

Skinnytaste Balsamic Pork Roast - Marvin LOVED it. 

Engagement Champagne! And fresh strawberry bellinis (strawberries puréed, simple syrup, champagne)

Homemade chicken quesadillas (skinnytaste)

Dress like your favorite teacher day :)

Vivian!

Marvin and some of his fam - despite the obvious sisters boyfriend. 

Three Village Inn

Chateau at Coindre Hall

Wind Watch

Chateau at Coindre Hall

SB evaluation

So how'd I do? Bolded = complete!

Required

-Do my taxes! I literally can't believe I've procrastinated this much and I must do them this weekend. 

-Mani/Pedi

-Wax

-Dr. Ashina

-Dr. Sherwin

-Pay bills

-Do some exercise

-Eat healthy 

-Email building owner about using the garden

-Read email from The Dumbo Loft manager about wedding!

-Email at least 3 possible wedding spaces, including The Palm House @ Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

-Get closet spring/summer ready

-Clean up iPad/iPhone so I actually have space to download new updates and back it up

Desired

-Try accupuncture at Brooklyn Acupuncture Project

-Go to Culture

-Start Les Mills Combat back up again

-Go to the new Whole Foods

-Hang out with Laura, Betsy, Celia, Marissa

-Try out some new recipes

-Go to Grand Army Farmers Market and Park Slope Farmers Market Sat/Sun

-Do something in my apartment that I've been wanting to do; including but not limited to: sprucing up the bathroom, buying a bench and/or cushions for bench, shelf for kitchen, pillow cushions for couch, runner for hallway.

-Post grenada pics on Facebook soooo overdue

-Watch entire House of Cards series

-Go back to West End Jewlers to get ring tightened, appraise Grandmas jewelry, and make my diamond earring into a necklace.

Prob won't happen

-Plan lessons for work so I'm way ahead

-Schedule tours for wedding venues

-Plan summer trip 

Brooklyn Acupuncture Project and My Day

Since I woke up a with another headache today, I was very slow to get going. I finally forced myself out of bed and had some breakfast, coffee (which I turned into an iced coffee) and overnight oats (this particular jar had oats, fat free plain Fage yogurt, 2% milk! chopped bananas, cinnamin, salt and chopped raw almonds)

After watching a number of daytime news shows (I never get to watch these) I tried to get up and go grocery shopping but my body still wasn't ready. So when I got hungry, I had no other choice but eat random things in my fridge.... Which consisted of: ritz crackers, turkey pepperoni, string cheese, carrots, and hummus. 

Finally I took a shower and went out. I am super excited about the groceries I bought and can't wait to try the following 4 recipes from Skinnytaste:

Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore 

Chicken Quesadillas

Crockpot Balsamic Pork Roast

Skinny Buffalo Tenders

The Cacciatore is in the pot now and smells soooo good.

I'm also really excited about my nails! I was going to get a mani/pedi today but somehow ran out of time, so I wound up breaking out my favorite spring/summer color, Bachelorette Bash, and doing it myself! I love love love this color and don't know why I save it up for warm weather. I should just suck it up and wear it all year round!

Ok. Now for the juicy stuff. I FINALLY (wow, this post has a lot of "finally's" in it) gathered up the courage to go to my first acupuncture treatment at BAP (Brooklyn Acupuncture Project). It was a 10 min subway ride or a 30 min walk, I'm really glad I walked because it calmed my nerves and got me excited about the treatment.

So here's what I liked about it:

Rez, my practitioner, was really cool. She spent 20 or so minutes with me beforehand literally asking EVERYTHING about my health and wellness. Like seriously, she asked some stuff doctors have never asked before. I really felt like she was getting to know me as a patient.

Aside from it being a community setting, (I'll get to that in the dislikes) the atmosphere was extremely calm and relaxing. I could also actually feel a change in my body and muscles when the needles were put in... Which was weird but strangely satisfying (knowing that something was actually happening to me).

I didn't like how some of the needles burned going in. Most I barely felt, but one hurt so bad, she had to adjust it. I also didn't like how the needles made my muscles twitch. I felt incredibly anxious not knowing where each needle would go next, and not knowing how my muscles would react. It was crazy to feel the muscles in my neck and base of my head twitch so strongly when she put the needles there. 

I also didn't like how about ten minutes after she said "let me know if you get dizzy or nauseous," I got extremely dizzy and nauseous. I kept telling myself it was just in my head, but when I started sweating profusely and my stomach started hurting, I knew something was wrong. Luckily Rez was nearby and was able to come and remove the needles, get me some water and help me sit up, but I felt very sick and nervous. Apparently this is normal the first few times, but I definitely didn't like it.

And... The whole community thing is a cool concept, but I definitely didn't appreciate the woman snoring next to me. It was also kinda weird to walk by sleeping people with their body parts exposed and needle covered on the way to my bed. 

Verdict? I'm not sure. But I realized my headache was gone, literally, as I walked out the door. So maybe it's worth another shot...and this time, I'll definitely eat before I go. 

Both Sides Now

When I was younger I used to get really bad stomach aches, and my mom would sing me "Both Sides Now." I've never forgotten the lyrics of the song and have listened to many different versions throughout the years. It's sort if a sad song, but I think it tells a great story about resilience and I always like to think of some of the lines when I'm struggling with my health. 

The last verse goes:

I've looked at life from both sides now..

Win and lose, and still somehow,

It's life's illusions I recall,

I really don't know life, at all.

Yeah. So somehow, even when the fear of migraines grips me, I still wake up with the sun streaming through my window and the mockingjay (I swear, there's a mockingjay in my backyard) singing its song, and can't help but feel hopeful for a perfect day.

Day 3 of Spring Break

Wins:

-Sat on my sunny stoop in shorts for on Saturday and Sunday for 2-4 hours hours... Eating ice cream, people watching, chatting with neighbors, and spending time with the love of my life

-Transferred my two plants from ugly plastic green pots into bright yellow and purple ceramic beauties

-Went to Culture...check! They only had two flavors but it was delish!

-Did my taxes...check! I even helped M do his taxes on Turbotax too :)

-Watched 1.5 episods of House of Cards..check! Not that into it yet, but hoping to change mind about it. 

-Bought another bottle of ginger dressing at Park Slope Farmers market... Check!

-Returned out months worth of cans/bottles to the redemption center, for a whopping refund of $1.10!

-Tried a new restaurant, Mezcal's, had a solid evening if people watching and happy hour margaritas

-Heard back from The Montaul club and Emailed Brooklyn Botanic 

-Had a pleasant conversation with my mom about the wedding

-Called my grandma in the hospital and made her laugh 

Culture cultures their own yogurt in house and uses only local, organic dairy. 

His: Strawberry froyo with fresh mangoes 

Hers: Strawberry and Original froyo with graham cracker crumb and dark chocolate chips

Mezcal's boasts $6 margaritas during happy hour. Not the greatest deal but they are really good.

His: Frozen coconut 

Hers: Original on the rocks with salt

Losses:

-Woke up on Sat morning with a migraine

-Still have a headache now, it's Monday. Had a headache every day last week before finally culminating into the Saturday morning migraine. Have taken aleve every day for 10 days straight 

Ok, so, many more "wins," but, the headache thing is really bothering me. I'm going to see the doctor tomorrow and usually doctor visits bring me, if anything, some mental rest so I'm looking forward to that.