When I was in first grade, my classmates and I were asked to write our own books. Keep in mind that we were six, so when the teacher asked us to write a "book" she really meant for us to write a short story. We were given xeroxed worksheets to fill out with words and pictures, which were later folded in half and stapled together. Thus, our simple books were published.
There must have been something especially striking about mine, because my teacher ended up submtting it for a young author's award. I swelled with pride when she told me that I'd won. There was even an award's ceremony that took place in a bigger school, AND I got to meet Stephen Kellogg, who was one of my favorite authors at the time.
Though my goals have changed many times since then, there has always been a part of me that was affected by the short, but magical success of my six year old self. I've wanted to be many things in my life, a singer, an artist, a marine biologist, but since first grade, an author was always on the list.
I couldn't be more excited to tell you that this lifetime goal is on its way to being achieved. I signed my first book deal with Spring House Press earlier this week. The working title is Natural Beauty Reset, and the book will serve as a step-by-step guide to replacing all of your commercial beauty products with a 100% natural and DIY routine. While I am also definitely itching to write a cookbook, natural living is a huge passion of mine, so this book is the perfect first project for me. You can read more about the book over on Mary Makes Pretty.
I've been toasting my success with juice a lot lately. As Babeleo grows he/she leaves less and less room for my stomach, so juicing has become an essential part of making sure I get all of the vitamins I need. My juices tend to be pretty veg-heavy, with only a little bit of fruit to help enhance the flavor. My two go-to blends are a green juice made with kale, cucumber, green peppers, apples, lemon and carrot, and a purple juice made with beets, cucumber, carrots, red pepper, and grapefruit.
I baked up a storm on Sunday. I started off by whipping up a batch of vegan Banana Oatmeal Cookies with Carob Chips for the Austin Worldwide Vegan Bakes Sale.
These folks set up their goods at Wheatsville Coop on South Lamar and raised more than $1500 for Austin Pets Alive. I love when baked goods are used to make the world a better place. I picked up a few treats when I stopped by to drop off my cookies: a cocoa crispy treat, a chocolate mint bar, and a mini lemon tart. They were all delicious.
I also baked some non-vegan cookies in preparation for baby time. I used the recipe for Postpartum Cookies from The Austin Food Blogger Alliance Cookbook
Scott was awfully disappointed to find out that the two batches of cookies were already in deep freeze by the time he came home from his morning motorcycle ride. I'm not entirely cruel though. I did save him one.