Seeing the Blessings Amidst the Storm

My life feels like complete and utter chaos right now. Most days I throw up my hands in defeat because either I didn't get my studying done, or the house is trashed. And when I say trashed, I mean you can't make it through the living room without stepping on a toy or a peanut butter cookie crumb. In addition to feeling this distress, I am constantly tired. I mean constantly. There is such a delicate balance between having time to study, clean, and spend time with Sophia and James.  I have to think of school as my career right now because it is the only way to get through it. Being a student means going to class and then devoting every minute of my evening to studying. Its truly the only way to get through it. Nutrition is not an easy field to be getting into! 

I graduated high school in 2005. The fact that I don't have a degree yet makes me sad. The fact that Sophia doesn't have a sibling yet makes me even more sad. The fear of graduating and not getting accepted to an internship and not becoming a dietitian makes me furious. The other day I had a huge ah ha moment. We had just finished making dinner, there were toys everywhere, I was doing dishes and then I looked over at James and Sophia. They were both wearing silly hats and playing "horsey" where Daddy is the horse and he runs around with Sophia on his back. I couldn't help but stop and savor this moment. God told me in that second, "Delia stop it! Stop wondering about the future, stop trying to micro manage, I will give you a child when its time, and I will guide your vocation to whatever I call you to. Enjoy the moment and love the child that is here with you." This moment almost brought me to tears. For every stressful day and every messy peanut butter and jelly grossness that I wipe off the table, I am abundantly blessed in a way that most girls dream of. I am married to the love of my life and I have a daughter who is more special than I ever realized she would be. The chaos of my life is the joy of my life. I love picking up toys and sticky messes, because it reminds me of the sweet girl that I have the opportunity of raising and forming into a daughter of His.  I am grateful for where I am in life and I know that His plans are greater than my own. I will endure however much chaos it takes so that I can live my life according to His will.

I love these two so much! Just another fun night at the Salas house!

A New Endeavor, Herb'n Flavors

When James picked me up from the light rail this afternoon, I was completely famished! My mom just told me about a new restaurant in Tempe that is organic and local. I knew this would solve our problems for a quick and healthy lunch. We picked up Sophia and quickly headed to Herb'n Flavors for some delicious food. When we sat down, I asked our waitress what was organic on the menu and she kindly replied, "If its not organic and local, its not on our menu". I clarified this even further because it seemed too good to be true. "Okay so your beef is grass fed and your chicken is free range?" "Yep" This is amazing! How can it be that there is a restaurant that offers ALL organic and local? This is the first restaurant that I know of. There are several restaurants that offer a few organic options, but this place has it all. And the prices are very reasonable! If they are able to offer an entirely organic menu with reasonable prices and still make profit, then why are more restaurants not doing the same? I am trying to gradually stop eating at conventional restaurants all together because I am sick and tired of having to look at their disgusting kids menu full of junk food items and nothing but refined pastas and breads. I want to eat real food. ALWAYS. Not just at home. I believe that we deserve to eat fresh, real ingredients, the way that food was meant to be made. Is that too much to ask? Check out their food here

Hummus and dip platter included a vegan spinach dip that was seriously amazing!

My veggie and rice and bean pita. Delish!

James' turkey pita. Yep even their deli meats are organic!

I will be a frequent customer of this place! I want them to stay open forever!

This brings me to my next point. As you all know, I am CRAZY when it comes to food! I really am. I admit it. I think that in order to evoke change, it requires being radical and a little crazy. There is a food epidemic in our country. We are the only country that allows meat to come from factories rather than farms. People are very uninformed about what is in their food and I want to change that!!! I have a huge desire right now to start a website/blog devoted to unprocessed, organic eating on a budget. I want to evoke change in everyone around me and teach people that eating unprocessed foods doesn't have to be a daunting and expensive task. I want to get the message out there to my readers of the severity of conventional food items from a conventional grocery store. I haven't bought meat at a conventional grocery store in three years! All of my meat comes from farmers markets and I will explain why. I am way too busy with school right now to put this website into action. My goal is to start building it slowly and have it up and running in March. My question to all of you is what do you want to learn from the website? What are your areas of interest? Organic meat, factory farming, hormones, pesticides, wild salmon, refined oils, etc. I want to hear your thoughts on this endeavor!