Where Did the Time Go?

Hello out there! I've been MIA for a month and two days now (sorry...). My 28-Day Challenge sort of ended abruptly when I got sick and couldn't eat anything but broth without wanting to seriously vom.

And then I had other things going on (some exciting, some not so much). I LITERALLY didn't log onto Blogger for that entire time. Nada. I've missed a LOT of bloggy-news, but it was a nice break. I wish I could say that I did more while "away," but I mainly just CHILLED THE HE** OUT (awesome).

Here's what I've been up to in the last month or so:

1) I'm going on a cruise, yay!!!! Going to the Western Caribbean early next year, and I just paid it off yesterday (go me!). I made sure to provide a list of what I eat and don't eat when I put down my deposit--it's a good list, and they have a year. If I have a steak placed in front of me and no service to fix it, I'm not going to be happy. I'm absolutely determined to have a good time though. The next 11 months will consist of me shopping for awesome deals, setting up transport to the main port, and wishing it was January 2013 EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Goddess, I need a vacation.

2) Working on my thesis...getting to a good place with it...and then experiencing doubt about it. SO much doubt. I finally have a thesis that I can argue, but my feelings keep wavering between the following: "WHEN WILL IT BE OVER?!?" and "Yay, I'm going to work on it every day! (not)" and "Wish I had never gone to grad school." and "Need to buckle down!" and "Wait, now I'm not feeling so good about this." and "30 more pages...?" And that's all in about the span of five minutes. Shoot me now.

3) When I'm not bashing in my brains over my thesis or giddy with delight about my upcoming cruise, I'm cooking and un-cooking. After taking a look at my monstrously-growing collection of recipes and cookbooks (photo below), the decision was made to implement a new tactic: cook from one cookbook each week. So far, so good (5th week)!

Recipes have been enjoyed and gobbled up from:

Rawesomely Vegan! by Mike Snyder

The Best 125 Meatless Pasta Dishes by Mindy Toomay and Susann Geiskopf-Hadler (got this at a book sale last year)

Ripe from Around Here by jae steele (still one of my faves)

Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Everyday Raw Express by Matthew Kenney

Look, I made you some pretty pictures:

{Pad Thai in the Raw from Ripe from Around Here, 199}

{Chia-mole from Rawesomely Vegan!, 150}

{Roasted Spiced Cauliflower from Ripe from Around Here, 178}

4) Planning my 2012 garden. Lots of ideas, new spaces, and lessons learned from last year. I'm going with a raised box or two this year instead of containers. What will you grow this year? Me, I'm pretty excited for swiss chard.

Jes