Jiggle Tea Smoothie, Lighting, and Moving!

This week flew by, didn’t it?! Since I’m working mostly from home all summer, distinguishing between weekdays and the weekend really doesn’t matter too much—except that more people are around me on the weekends, so I get less work done (a-Ok with me!).

I’m still grinning at my garden pics—and there will be more to come, including the fruits of 28 tomato plants. Yes, 28. Joe didn’t think of how many tomatoes that would actually yield (what if we only got 10 per plant? That’s 280 tomatoes!). As punishment, he has to learn how to can tomatoes this year. He’s actually quite happy about that.

And so am I (Especially if he does all the work. Hey, just being honest!).

I’ve been drinking a lot of Jiaogulan tea. It’s an awesome uncaffeinated tea, adaptogenic by nature, and you can eat the leaves too. Knowing this about the tea leaves makes me feel like I should use them to their fullest potential (eat them). Adding them to cooked veg of any kind seems to work–they’re not so noticeable, actually. A couple days ago, I thought I’d add them to my smoothie. This is what I came up with:

Jiggle Tea Jack Shake (Jiggle Tea because that’s what we’ve nicknamed Jiaogulan, Jack because I added protein powder).

8oz Jiaogulan tea (chilled)
Used Jiaogulan tea leaves (from 48 ounces of brewed tea— which started with 2tbsps dried tea leaves)
1 scoop Sun Warrior (or other) chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 dropper full of liquid vanilla stevia (btw, I did pick winners of my stevia giveaway and they’ve been sent the goods…I just forgot to post who won!)
ice, if desired

Blend the leaves and tea first until smooth. Then add other ingredients and blend. This makes one serving, or about 12-16 ounces (if you don’t add ice).

 

Now, onto my lighting issues.

I have an apartment with windows on the East and West sides of the building. In NY state, there is approximately 12 minutes a day (or so) of good lighting for pictures near two of my (non-kitchen) windows. When I made this smoothie, I knew there was no hope for good lighting, so I just rolled with it.

 

 

This reminded me a little bit of the time I made ginger tea and added hot cocoa powder…but this was cold. And better.

Now, onto Moving!

I found the perfect apartment to move to. Yes, I’m in my 30’s and I don’t want to buy a house. I know. It’s a buyers’ market, I’d be building equity, etc. But renting fits my do-no-house-projects personality. I like to snap my fingers (call my landlord) and have everything done for me. I like to just schedule a rent payment from my bank account (online, so I don’t even have to talk to anyone about it) and never think about money. I like to move when I want to, and spend money on ridiculously expensive gym memberships when I want to. I like to walk into Wegmans and buy exotic produce without thinking that I shouldn’t because I need to buy a new furnace.

So….we’ve decided to move to Canandaigua. One, because I’m teaching a few nutrition classes at the community college there. Two, because it’s closer to our families (and that matters more now in my 30’s). Three, because Joe will do anything that makes me happy.  I’m not allowed to say anything mushy on the blog (or other social media) about him, so I’m stopping with that.

The best part about this 1100 sq. ft. apartment (yes, it’s big!) is that it is across the street from my mom. I know, I’m in my 30’s — I should want to buy a house, and I should not want to live by my mom. But you know what? I don’t and I do! It will make a lot of things easier, including when Matthew spends the weekend—we won’t have to spend so much time transporting him around to each other. I told him he’ll have to learn how to jump really far—and then he can play Don’t Touch the Ground like his mom and I used to do in the living room, and just jump from my porch to Mimi’s porch. Honestly, it’s not that close, but it is directly across the street. Catherine Street. Doesn’t that sound like a great place to live?

We don’t have nearly enough furniture for our new found space. Anyone out there with a vision for that stuff? I have no vision. My idea of decorating would be to walk into Arhaus or Pottery Barn and just transplant a display room into my home. We’re not moving till August 15th, so I just have to be patient now. And pack. And go to Disney World. And be ready to fly to Santa Monica to do top-secret wellness work for a week right after we move.

Have you moved a lot? Doesn’t it suck? It’s a great workout, I suppose, but it’s definitely not fun in my book!

Do you ever make smoothies with tea in them?

Do you try and take pics with good lighting, or just snap away and see what happens? (I’d like to be more concerned about lighting, but I think I’ll have to learn more about it first)

What are your plans this weekend? Tomorrow I’m taking three of the kiddies to the park with Joe’s mom for a picnic and swimming (them, not me). Saturday I’ll be working on some new awesome work projects, and Sunday will be a fun birthday party for Joe’s niece.