An Impromptu Date

 I followed Josh to class this morning and then to work,

where we were surprised to realize a miss communication

that resulted in Josh having the afternoon off.

Yippee!

As we were making our way home 

we laughed at the name of this cafe 

(the fangs! the fangs! ;))

and then decided to stop and check it out.

We were delighted when we found

many vegan pastries

(Highly recommend the ginger coffee cake! So good)

and our iced coffee was perfect.

I'm hoping we go back soon (:

Enjoy your labor day weekend!!

xoxo,

lyss

Here we go again!

School started yesterday for this handsome man,

so bring on the 19 credits, gazillion books, and grad classes!

The Weekend (on a Tuesday :))

We went festivaling, yard saleing, birthday partying,

puppet showing, swimming, and exploring.

Just not camping like we planned...

oh well (:

There were so many beautiful surprises this weekend,

the impromptu dance party at the music festival,

the puppet show we took the boys to, treasures at yard sales

(vintage cameras and vases and excellent records!) 

special deals for a chiropractor (yippee!)

a heatwave chasing away the winds of fall,

an unplanned trip to the pool,

and a blueberry muffin from a vegan bakery.

It definitely made up for canceled plans due to some 

sad unforeseen things.

The weekend was so full and so much fun,

it was the perfect way to officially end our summer.

and that blueberry muffin was reeeally good (;

So happy Tuesday!

We're having a MAJOR heatwave over here,

all the fans are out and clothing is minimal.

Popsicles and pool days galore! 

xoxo,

lyss

Movies In The Square

Our neighborhood every Wednesday

night has a movie playing on the square.

We love it (:

We usually only stay for an hour or so

(at that point our bums start to fall asleep :P)

but its so much fun to sit and meet more neighbors

and watch random movies we've never heard of.

Next month they're playing silent films

and having local musicians come and play accompaniment!

 I am SO excited!

Josh will be in a night class every Wednesday night (boo!)

so if you find yourself free you should definitely come join me (:

xoxo,

lyss

picnicking

Yesterday husband surprised me by coming home early and 

whisking me off to the beach.

We stopped to pick up Thai and sell our chess board 

(we never play and we'd rather have the $$ for adventures :))

and then decided to sit and wistfully watch boats instead

of trekking further to the beach.

Soaking up the last days of summer...


xoxo,
lyss

Sometimes

Sometimes I check Instagram way too many times in one day
Sometimes I like waking early if only to see the beauty of the morning

Sometimes I eat way more mango sorbet than what the serving size says

Sometimes I count down the minutes until I see husband next
Sometimes I think maybe I should wear shoes other than my one favorite pair
Sometimes I really really wish I could sing
Sometimes I eat popcorn for dinner
Sometimes I forgot I'm in my mid twenties and hence an adult
Sometime I don't blog much and then I blog a lot apparently....

xoxo,
lyss 

Hope your weekend was grand!

Josh was working nights this weekend 

(covering for a friend)

so ours was spent mostly sleeping.

We also stopped by our local record store

and didn't recognize but maybe 7 artists....

we felt very very young.

Then Josh bought two whole boxes filled with old records at a yard sale 

for only $15! We only know 5 of the artists but

we have dreams of winter evenings listening

to records refining our musical taste (:

I felt like the weekend started early when I took my littles

to the beach on Friday, such a beautiful fun day!

My eldest little starts school this week so our fall will officially begin

and Josh starts school next week so this is the last week of summer for us.

We have grand plans for drive in movies, beach picnics,

italian ices, and camping on the weekend.

Going out with a bang (:

xoxo,

lyss

P.S. We decided to walk/scooter to Karate today

and this one sang "Old McDonald" at the top of his 

lungs the whole way.

Loved it (:

Dairy Allergy: In Case You Were Curious

When we decided to try cutting out dairy from my/our diet

6 months ago we had no idea what we were in for.

We have learned SO much,

but other than mentioning "I'm having a reaction"

here or there I haven't really talked about it here.

So if you're curious,

here we go (:

So far we have found that I have a "reaction" to 

Milk

Butter

Cream

Whey

Caseinate

Any milk derivative

What a "reaction" entails for me has taken awhile for us to fully figure out.

We immediately noticed the intense arthritic pain that comes within

45 min - 3 hours of me consuming dairy,

but it took us awhile to pinpoint the length and other particulars of my reactions.

As I mentioned, the first thing that happens after I have any dairy

is the pain. Swiftly and intensely it comes and stays that way for about a week.

Pain deep in my muscles and spine from where my skull meets my spine

to where my spine and hip bones meet together. 

After that first week it lessens a bit, but the pain as a whole lasts about a month.

We order Thai about 3 times this week.

The second week of a reaction Josh describes as my "bite everyone's head off" week

and he's pretty right on, sadly.

I am extremely on edge, shaky, have a very hard time thinking,

sleep very very little, and have crazy wild emotional/hormonal swings.

We order Thai once or twice this week as I'm really not that hungry

and husband's busy hiding from my unpredictable wrath.

The third week is when the depression comes in.

I was reluctant to acknowledge this until recently, I felt silly and trite 

admitting that depression was part of my struggle with dairy allergies.

But it is a very real and hard part of the reaction.

There is a dark sadness that settles into my thoughts and daily tasks

that is a moment by moment battle not to submit to.

I could sleep all day,

I hurt all over every moment,

I desire to crawl into a hole and hide,

and generally desire to avoid all people.

Even husband.

Its horrible.

We order Thai every night this week.

The 4th/5th week I get sick.

It varies as to what specific illness I get,

but I do get sick and usually pretty sick at that.

I think my immune system just gets so beat up

that it throws it hands up in disgust and lets

 the first virus I meet come in and stay for awhile.

This week its a raging cold/cough.

Yippe ki yay.

So far we've ordered Thai twice this week.

 We have also found lots of substitutes that we enjoy,

such as homemade almond milk (so good!) and coconut oil.

We substitute coconut oil or olive in a lot of recipes that call for butter

and we are also growing our repertoire of dairy free recipes.

 This has been such a painful and wonderful growing experience.

We had no idea when we first began how much we would have

to change the way we eat,

but I cannot say enough how grateful we are for the way

we have grown and changed which in a run around way 

makes us grateful for the allergy itself.

So, yep, there you go.

My allergy and allergy reactions (and addiction to Thai food!) in a nut shell (:

We are still learning and documenting in order to learn more,

hoping and praying that my body will heal.

xoxo,

lyss

P.S. I feel like the unsung hero here is Husband.

He helps SO MUCH with this and is so very patient with me.

I mean, can you imagine loving and living with someone who this is your life

for the next month if they have the tiniest bit of dairy??

Oy.

Picnics and self portraits

I'm not sure why this is the first picnic I've blogged.

We have them all the time

I guess from biking and desiring to carry as little as humanly

possible in the attempt to only sweat as much as necessary,

I don't carry the camera with me very frequently and hence don't

get pictures of these very frequent picnics.

Anyway....

on Monday I hopped on a train after work and

met Josh where he was working up north 

and then we grabbed some Thai 

and went to our favorite secret spot.

Where we talked about how unseasonably cold it was,

how we need to learn how to make Thai food so we stop ordering it,

how enjoyable riding the L is when you can sit down,

and other random things.

And then we attempted to get some pictures of us.

Which never works well,

either my nose is in focus, or his forehead is,

but hardly ever are they both in focus.

Oh well.

We'll just keep trying anyway (:

In other news,

 this happened last week 

One of husband's birthday surprises,

I feel so edgy now (;

xoxo,

lyss