Whooo! Hoooo! First 6 days done!!  (95% vegan, epic fail on Monday! re-read last post)  24 days to go.  What am I going to do?  Here's the plan I will continue on my "path" and keep forging ahead.  I am always like this, let's jump in and figure out the rest.  Vegan?  Sure.  My fridge is full of salami and cheese.  Open a yoga studio?  Sure.  I've taught 3 classes...   Hey, wanna buy a swamp in Florida????  I'll probably sign the deed. 
Here is the secret.  To living your best life you need a plan. Wanna go vegan, don't have a fridge full of salami and cheese cut up in cubes for you.  Have fruit and veggies available.  Have smoothies ready to drink.  Don't leave it up to chance.  Maybe if you are going to a restaurant or to a friends house for dinner call.  Let them know that you have special needs.   A great chef will accommodate a guest if given the chance.  Better yet, try a new recipe or a new restaurant!  You might LOVE IT!

Here are my tips from week one:

1.  PLAN plan plan.  Whether you are a strict here is what we are eating on Monday to here is our weekly menu, you need a plan in place.  Try to plan at least 3 breakfast options and 4 evening menus. If you are an over cooker, you will have plenty of left overs.  Lunch can always be a shake or my favourite hummus.  Hummus and bread, hummus and veggies you get, it hummus rules!!!

2.  GET HELP!  Ask.  People are willing to share their ideas, recipes and tips.  My friend Darlene is sending me lots of alternatives and hints.  Dr. J made me awesome protein balls to have on hand!  Now, I'm actually looking at all the great recipes I've pinned on Pinterest.  I've also dug out all my vegan cookbooks and have been re-reading them! 

3.  BE KIND TO YOURSELF if you have just made a huge change in your life whether it's starting an exercise program, or a huge diet change you are going to make some mistakes along the way.  IT'S OK!  Just realize it, own it give yourself a big hug and get right back up again.

Any other tips and tricks you can

There are some things that you just might be not be able to give up.  It's a challenge and Joe still hasn't given up his Tim Horton's steeped tea double double!!!  Maybe this week?  However, we are going to go to Seva's before going to a Sarah McLaughlin concert!!! Can't wait!!!

Happy living,
Ena

Ps. check out Dr.J's blog at www.drjanicedaviend.com for more tips and tricks and don't forget to post your comments.

I went away with Gabi's dance team to Niagara Falls last week and totally indulged!  I ate too much, drank too much and basically did NOTHING but sit.  A total blow to my diet and exercise regime.  BOO! ENA!!  THUMBS DOWN!!
I have been wanting to do a vegan challenge for a while but I will confess....I LOVE to eat.  I call myself a true flexitarian.
My excuse to not doing it before was, "I don't want to be a bother at this party..."  or, "If I eat something different I should bring it with me..."  really the truth is "I'm too busy to be a vegan, it takes too much planning..."  TRANSLATES TOO, LAZY!!!
I really want to be a vegan and am jealous of the people who can have the discipline to do it!  It takes time and planning and does not include CHEESE!  However,  once I start something I stick to it if I need to be accountable.  That is what a blog is for right???  I can say what I like and people read it!  Also, how will it look if I, Yoga Teacher, Motivator, and Mother, don't follow through.















I started on Monday, it is Tuesday and so far 50%.  Yesterday, (Monday) we went to my in-laws for dinner for our 18th anniversary.  She made us a beautiful vegetarian lasagne, gluten free even, covered in cheese.  Smothered actually, in wonderful cheese.  She probably would have made something else if I would have told her about the vegan challenge.  So I HAD to eat 2 large pieces of lasagne topped off with Parmesan cheese.  A mountain of it!  I loved every bite.  But felt a smidge guilty for having totally blown my first day.  All that cheese erased my trail mix and fruit :(


Today however,(Tuesday) I have been pretty good.  My friend Claudia made a nice bean/cabbage salad and now I am staring at the cupboards because I am hungry and Joe is eating pickles for dinner!  I must get this planning DOWN!!!  I guess a trip to the grocery store is in the future.  Because pickles are not a food group!!  Uh-OH!  Joe has decided to finish off the yogurt that is in the fridge.  I KNOW! It's dairy, but now it is gone and we did not waste.  I am not looking forward to later when the pickles and yogurt mix in his belly!  YUCK!
As my friend Scarlet O'Hara once said, "Tomorrow is another day!"

Peace and Love to you,
Ena
P.S.  Any suggestion and tips are welcomed, especially from all you go-getter vegans out there!

So here it is.  First blog.  Lots of my friends have asked me to start one so I finally have made the commitment to do it.  I enjoy reading blogs, looking at blogs and pinning blogs so why not start one???  I just got back from an amazing trip of a life time with my friend, and fellow yogini, Kelly Henley.  We went on a Yoga and Wine Retreat in Tuscany with Rockstar Yoga Teacher Sadie Nardini.  This trip was the first time I left my family for 10 days and went so far away!  My girls, Madeleine (16) and Gabriella (12) were a little, NO, a lot jealous.  But I told them, when they had a job, a family and were my age (not telling) they could go to a yoga retreat with Sadie and treck around Italy.  A major breakthrough for me...who could have thought that we could navigate Rome, Montalcino and Firenze?  My husband Joe knows my ability to read maps and was very worried that we would end up in Switzerland.  We took planes, trains and automobiles, got turned around and couldn't find the Spanish Steps, but we were in Italy!!   
 
The first post, it's probably be a little shaky.  The grammer might be off, a few spelling mistakes and the lay-out not quite right...but isn't life just made of a few first stumbling steps.  It's full of up, downs and getting lost in Rome.  Of not knowing the outcome but being excited about the journey.  Sadie's theme for the retreat was about acknowledging who we really are and finding out how we can  take action to BE that.  So today I'm being.  I'm going to look at my pictures, drink some cappuccino and snuggle the girls.  I'm going to    take the first steps, to be amazing, to live my truth and to fall, get back up and ENJOY every minute of it! 

Let's get going...first steps first...

Peace,
Ena

Me and Kelly at a winery in Montalcino.  This was after our first yoga class with Sadie. 
OMMMMMMMMM!

Who can't enjoy yoga surrounded by the beautiful grapes, breathing in Lavender and being warmed by the sun?