The response to SimplePickle has already been overwhelming, so I’ve decided to move it to its own domain. Unfortunately, SimplePickle was not availalbe, so I’ve gone with my second choice, the much more evident www.SimpleVeggieLife.com.

Please change your bookmarks and feeds to www.SimpleVeggieLife.com to continue the fun!

Thanks!

Inspired by Mike Roberts’ experience doing a month-long raw food diet, I decided to look into the raw food movement more closely. A homemade green smoothie was the perfect snack for beginning my research, so I (literally) dusted off my gorgeous KitchenAid blender and gave it fair warning: Don’t get your hopes up for tequila, pretty lady; today you’re gonna chop some GREENS. 

Yes, I occasionally talk to my appliances. Most of them are stronger than me, so it’s important they remember who’s boss. 

Then I did a google search and quickly found a crap-ton of green smoothie recipes that call for seven thousand ingredients including fancy-dancy stuff like hulled hemp seeds. Not in the mood to navigate the alterna-hippie wonderland that is Whole Foods on a hunt for a unicorn hair, I went with the simplest option I could find: Pears and Spinach. 

It was cheap, easy to whip up, and Oh green smoothie, where have you been all my life good. I hereby declare green smoothies in all varieties an official staple of my diet. Decided!

 Spinach & Pear (& Banana!) Green Smoothie Recipe 

You’ll need:

Several handfuls of spinach, stems included (I used about a third of a bunch, maybe) 

2 big pears (I used Bartlett) 

1 banana 

Water & Ice Cubes 

Step 1: Wash your greens like good boys and girls. Even if they’re organic. Even if the package says they’re pre-washed. Rinse the heck out of those babies. Nobody wants e-coli, gross.   

Seriously. Wash them.

 Step 2: Wash your pears and then slice them a bit if you want to be good to your blender. I didn’t photograph the washing or slicing. I don’t apologize for this. 

Nice pair.

 Step 3: Load up your blender with the sliced pears, handfuls of clean spinach (ahem), half a dozen or so ice cubes and a cup or two of water. Blend big time. 

Before the plant carnage.

 This being my first go at it, I used more water than was probably ideal and it came out too soupy after the first spin. So - I grabbed my roommie’s last banana (sorry, E!), peeled it (duh) and added it to the mix. The banana really helped thicken it up, and running the blender on puree a bit longer added to the frothy and therefore non-wateryness of it all. I didn’t think to photograph the banana part. For that, I am sorry. 

 Step 4: Pour the yummy green goodness into a drinking vessel that makes you feel like a Brilliant, Vibrant & Sexy Human Being, because after your first glass that’s exactly what you’ll be. 

Pure Power in a Pitcher.

Step 5: GULP GULP GULP.

Today I’m ready to try a new fruit/greens combo. My sweet friend Kelli suggested I try one with an apple, and I’m really looking forward to giving that a shot – maybe with spinach and celery.  Any other suggestions?

Happy Friday!

Progress! 

See, it’s been all junked up with shoes, shoeboxes, crafting stuff I was randomly given, a pillow I don’t want, a blanket I’m trying to keep my dog off of, a paper bag full of men’s ties I’d like to sew something with someday, and a couple other small boxes of weird stuff (including the little notepads hotels leave on the desks in their rooms… I collected those??). 

Here’s the before: 

Not for the faint of heart.

Shameful.

So I cleaned it out, filled 2 big plastic tubs with stuff I don’t want, organized the shelves, and am pretty proud of the result: 

Not horrible!

Refreshing, even!

Now when I decide to go through all my shirts I’ll actually be able to enter my closet to get to them! I’m not alone in this, right? Does anyone else out there use their closet as a storage room for miscellaneous stuff?

Dammit, I’ve had enough.

As a recovering maximalist, I need some tips to follow in order to arrive at the minimalist life of my dreams. And let me tell you, I found some friggin tips.

So I’ve been doing a lot of reading and have come up with the following 7 steps to achieve my own kind of minimalism. Some come from my most recent heros (links above), and some are born right out of my own experiences as I’ve started down the path to holistic simplicity.

1. Go through and simplify one “area” each day.

This can be a drawer, shelf, corner, or dresser – whatever you’ve got it in you to do. Some days I can attack a whole section of my closet, others just one square foot of countertop. Don’t hold yourself to inflexible standards. Just get in the habit of doing a bit of simplifying each day.

2. Get some warm fuzzies from the act of simplifying.

Give your unwanted clothes, books, or whatevers to friends who would appreciate them. Donate your magazines to a library and your clothes to a charity. If you get warm fuzzies from making a little cash (that’s me!), sell your stuff at a yard sale or online. In short, enjoy the act of simplifying.

3. Do three hobby activities each week.

I’ve got a lot of hobby-related clutter. If I’m going to keep it, I should at least get some joy out of it. On the other hand, if I can’t bring myself to knit a couple times a week, I shouldn’t really keep yarn and knitting needles around. Get into the habit of doing the activities you like to do. After all, your new simplified lifestyle will have room for them.

4. Don’t buy anything but groceries for 30 days.

(Ok if necessary you can gas up your car too, I suppose.)

This one might really be a toughie. Chances are good that you’ve already got everything you need to make it for a month – clothes, shoes, household items, personal entertainment, etc. So for the next 30 days, call it good. Don’t buy a new book, don’t browse the sale racks, don’t pick up a new color nail polish, just don’t. My 30 days start today, and I’m really excited to see how it goes. This one will reset the way I think about buying, and I expect my bank account at the end of the month will encourage me to keep it up.

5. Drink plenty of water, eat plenty of whole food.

I’m a huge believer in the power of food over our bodies and minds, and I can’t believe that a minimalist lifestyle is achievable while eating junk. Processed food, fast food, junk food and soda will only leave your body feeling at odds with simplicity. Feed your body from nature and your natural instincts to live simply will thrive.

And if you’re up for it - go vegan or vegetarian. Try it for a week. Seriously.

6. Use your body for (at least) 10 minutes each day.

Exercise is practically a dirty word to me. It makes me think of going to the gym, pulling out the pilates video, or going for a sweaty jog… basically it makes me think of work I don’t wanna do. If you’re like me, don’t exercise; just use your body every day. Whether that means doing some intense yard work or simply stretching your muscles, it’s important to get your blood flowing to give your mood, brain, and overall health a boost. If you’ve got a functioning body, be thankful and use it!

Which brings me to -

7. Incorporate your spiritual/religious beliefs into your simplicity goals.

Making this connection will further cement minimalist habits into your daily routine. Without it, living simply will most likely be a passing fad in your life. Connected with your spirituality, it can play a vital role in your purpose on earth. Give your simple life greater meaning.

I am convinced that a holistic approach is required for making any positive life-change. As I retool my life to focus on what’s important, I’ll get in the habit of including physical, mental and spiritual simplicity into my plan. Join me!

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s too hot outside to consider cooking the 2 meal-able ingredients currently in my pantry (spaghetti noodles & canned crushed tomatoes), so air-popped popcorn has been my dinner more than once in the past week.  

Maybe it’s the newfound frugality born of my unemployment… the kind of frugality that allows me to stretch one large fast food burrito into 3 whole meals.  

Maybe it’s the fact that going to the grocery store is an impossibly overwhelming task since I need one of everything due to the fact that I have basically nada in the food department.  

Or maybe the stars aligned and the skinny fairies sprinkled me with magic glitter from their stingy wands.  

Whatever it was, I woke up today and thought: “Today is a great day for going through all my friggin pants!”  

So I did! And at the end of trying on Thirty Four pairs of non-jean/non-suit pants – meaning work-appropriate, work-casual, casual, dancing-appropriate, dinner-casual, and grocery store/miscellaneous category-acceptable - I want to get rid of None.  

Pile of pantalones.

This is a problem for me.  

I have owned many of these here pants for years. And for the most part they’re in great shape and often, fairly classic. Classic linen capris, check. Classic black slacks, check. Classic olive DKNY cargo thingies… check? Ok those may not be classic but they fit like a dream and probably cost me 7 bucks at Macy’s.  

You see, I weigh the cost of keeping and storing vs. the cost of replacing (taking into account the likelihood of ever wanting to replace them, which yes, is often low), and it generally comes out in favor of keeping.  

So now I will just have to actually wear all these damm pants to make their presence in my closet worthwhile. Otherwise it’s to the Get Rid Of Pile they go! It should be becoming clear by now that this purging/simplicity goal of mine will be a challenge.  

To end on a more positive note, I did in fact discover a top that I can easily let go:  

It's not you Pinky, it's me.

It’s cute but the color’s all wrong for me, the little sleeves make me look just plain dumb and the buttons basically pop open of their own free will, which means it requires an undershirt, which means I’d have to wear 2 layers of shirt in Phoenix when it’s hot out and I just want to wear something lightweight because it’s against the law to go to the grocery store naked.  So yeah, this shirt’s gotta go.

Fortunately, I have a certain sweet, petite and layer-accepting friend who might appreciate Pinky. No matter what, it is the first item of many that will be leaving my house for good in the coming months.  

I have no victory to claim over the pants, but the shirts are running scared.

I love August in Phoenix because we can still hold out hope for a few house-shaking, earth-cleansing monsoons, even if some people think it has rained an impressive amount for a desert already and I am just being greedy. (I assure you, it has not and I am not.)

August means relishing night-time swims all the more because Oh No In a Mere Ten Weeks It Won’t Be One Hundred Million Degrees Outside and Did You See There Are Already Sweaters On the Racks At Old Navy?!

But this year August means something else entirely.

This August I’m making good on a promise I make to myself at least twice a year. A promise to go through my gajillion belongings and get rid of the junk. To do some of these damm projects that have been hanging around for years and making me feel like a total failure. To reprioritize and organize my life in a way that allows me to focus on what matters. In short: to Achieve a Little Dang Simplicity.

And wouldn’t you know, this August I have some time on my hands.

This August I am unemployed!

So I’ll take advantage of my newfound freedom and simplify, which means:

1. Getting rid of the crap. I confess: I’m a saver. Some of the clothes I own – and still wear - I got at a YARD SALE 15 YEARS AGO. Same goes for books, crafting supplies, old papers, etc. etc. etc. It’s time yet again to go through all my junk and purge.

2. Cooking more delicious veggie meals. I’ve been vegetarian for 3 and a half years and I Love It. I’ve been traveling a lot this summer and now that I’m solidly back in my own kitchen it’s time dust off the old cutting board and COOK. Being Veggie and Living Simply go together like peas and carrots. I’m hungry. 

3. Deciding what matters, making time for it, and saying eff you to all the junk that doesn’t. This means being with family and friends (definitely matter, duh), loving on my dog and kitty cat (ditto), birding my binoculars off (yep), crafting (probably), and not watching hulu (eff you).

So you see I’m a job-searching veggie girl on a journey to simplify her life and I’m making it official right here on the good old world wide web. I’m hoping that some of you minimalists out there will be able to help me through it and some of you maximalists like me might be comforted or – dare I say - inspired by witnessing my struggles and triumphs as I strive for simplicity.

Above all, I’d love to make some new veggie, veggie-curious, minimalist, and minimalist-curious friends out there on the internets. Hooray friends!

So there’s the basis of my Plan for Simplicity Starting NOW. Please follow along! Offer advice! Help a girl out! And Witness The Transformation.