eva’s raw life

sharing recipes 'n adventure

Well at least fear is free at CVS (yes, I stopped here instead of...)

...the mechanic (since my hood is smoking and all). But now that I got my shot, I'll find a mechanic!

Really? I see this everywhere. Is this the thing they most want to advertise?!

C'mon Walgreen's! Surely you have something better to offer than fear and flu shots!

(13) More cheeezcake at European Street Cafe in Jax

The raw, vegan, organic Mudslide was sick. By "sick" I mean Totally Amazingly Delish. (Thanks Justin for getting the word "sick" in my vocabulary. Ha!)

Valerie, master bliss distributor and all around Amazing gal who has sooo very much to offer the world. (Seriously. But not in seriousness. Oh, how to express these thoughts!)

The lovely Dee with her onion breath ::ahem:: I mean bread. (Sorry Dee, I was not there for the bread but the sweets! But I can't wait to try your bread another day!!).

(Random note on the pennies sign. They have stopped using them. I don't know if you can't read their write-up on why, but it's intriguing the way they have gone about it! They even do a 5% discount on Tuesdays if you pay in all 5-dollar bills... just to show they do still love Lincoln!!)

All this fabulousness can be found at 
(all 4 locations in Jacksonville, FL)

Just look for the Shakti signs! :-)

TRAVEL NOTES
It's like cheating, really, because although this is not home, I do not feel like I am traveling now. I'm at my mom's place working in her home office while she is at the "work" office.

So, yeah, gas, $0 in fill-ups.
Cheezcake, $0 (courtesy of Valerie, the Bliss Distribution Department for Shakti)
    (Budget travel note: It would have been $6 and some change, which, honestly, is a bargain. I think I'd pay more than $10 for a teeny cheezecake. No lie.)
Other food included cheez and crackers my mom made, and a salad.

Definitely no reason to have anything but living food. So very easy when there is an E-Street around for the rare indulgence!!

       
Click here to download:
More_rawfood_cheeezcake_EStree.zip (1819 KB)

(11) Decadence sans guilt... raw vegan cheezcake at (cooked) European Street Cafe in Jax FL

 

I wish every city had options like this!

(11) Just found that missing bag of groceries in the car. Gnarly.

 

Bon apetit!

(9) Myrtle Bch biker bar drinkin' my fave "raw food" drink

Yup, water.

Do you know that bars don't even charge for the lemon wedge? Wow. 

And do you also know that if YOU are having FUN when you order water... and you aren't a party pooper about what your friend orders... NO ONE REALLY CARES WHAT YOU'RE DRINKING?! (And if they do, honestly, you can tell them I said they need to "get a life." ;-)

And, if you leave a tip, everyone wins in the end. Everyone gets what they want. Good company. Fun (in whatever way YOUR EACH style happens to be). And the lady or fella fetching your drink with a smile (or at least a grunt) gets compensated.

Win-win-win.

I love those.

The cat is Vixen, by the way. She was actually trying to get to the gerbil which was the snake's meal. We kept hearing the piano. She's a funny little kitty.

   
Click here to download:
9_Myrtle_Bch_biker_bar_drinkin.zip (480 KB)

(6) Leave Manhattan for a visit to Washington, D.C. with my rock star friend

(download)

 

[Music attached is Brandon ~ more to come on another adventure with him in October ~ for the Rawk Star Recording]

I rolled into Bethesda at 3:30 in the afternoon, parked and then zipped off without even unloading bags or freshening up.

Brandon Samuel (that rock star friend, don't think you'll find his name on Google yet) wanted to bring me to this farm with his friend Skye for a jam session mixed with the Wizard of Oz and Pink Floyd?!

After singing the perfect tunes (loudly) in the car mixed with some conversation and me checking things out in the area, were There. That was when Brandon asked if I was hungry.

"A little bit."
"Well, Skye won't have any food."

OK.

(Note to self:) Turns out entertainment replaces food when necessary. 

So they jammed out in this music den of sorts that was littered with dirty clothes and dozens of pieces of music equipment. And who knows what else. Apparently this is what musicians are expected to live like. Outside, there were several bird feeders and birds all over the place. At one point, they stopped rocking out to discuss all of the birds outside. Classic.

And at another point, I was supposed to be backup vocal. At which point, I went blank. Totally blank. I think I even forgot my name. Very funny moment for me. Probably no one else noticed.

And, the grand finale was... OK... I hope I get this right... This is what we did to do
that thing with Pink Floyd and the Wizard of Oz:
1/ Got the Pink Floyd CD "Dark Side of the Moon" loaded up on the same Bose stereo I used to own and enjoyed the heck out of (but sold when I packed up and moved to Budapest a couple years ago)...
2/ Put in The Wizard of Oz...
3/ Turned off the sound to the movie...
4/ Immediately after the lion's 3rd roar, hit start on the Floyd CD.

And for the first 40-something minutes of the movie had a totally different experience. No one squealing "Auntie Em." Just Pink Floyd and us.

Comes highly recommended. My mom and I are going to do this together again one day soon. Apparently she is a huge Pink Floyd fan. Who knew?! I did know she liked the Wizard of Oz... but I guess there are things I just don't know. (I suppose she had a life before I was born. I like that about her.)

Food Stuff
So, let's see... breakfast and lunch were literally just some salad-y stuff and some bananas while driving so I could book it and get there.
We tried to go to this raw restaurant for dinner, but it closed at 9 and we barely missed it. Then Whole Foods closed at 9. Brandon asked very honestly "How are you going to eat?!"

We went to an ordinary grocery store and picked up a couple things. No biggie. No ripe avocados (bummer) so picked up a couple for the road. And got some jicama to just dice it up for a simple salad. I just needed some food, was all.

Bump in the Road
When I woke up in Manhattan and was ready to leave for DC (Bethesda, really), I realized one of my contacts had a tear in it and had no idea where in the car my spares were. Or if I even had more spares. And then I was thinking through and was pretty sure I needed a new exam to get more.

Yikes. So, I exited at a spot that looked like it had more than McD's and Sunoco. Saw a chiropracter and some other places but no optometrist. Then... there was a... Super Walmart.

I have not shopped at Walmart in at least a year. I like local. I like green. I like the USA. I like giving back. I could go on. The point is, Walmart doesn't fit into that.

Confession time Not only did I get my exam ($89 including 2 pairs of lenses and a follow-up appt at any Walmart if needed)... but I even shopped a bit. I know, I know. But I had some necessary feminine items to buy. And decided to get a couple of other things (travel size Burt's Bees stuff and an Aveeno soap bar, a nicer razor, and a lunch bag. For my toiletries.).

Money Stuff
Really, I think I ate maybe $5 worth of food at most. And that includes sharing my jicama with Brandon.
Gas was $33.02.
Tolls were $17.20. Crazy.
Always a brilliant idea to stay with a friend when traveling.

Travel Tip
Keep a grawnola bar or something along, just in case. Or else, just enjoy the moment and go with the flow. No one starves in a few hours' time. Guaranteed.

(1) Wayne ~ my surprise encounter on the way to the Boston airport!

My, oh, my, what a day!

I had all sorts of documents to print, which of course I could have printed earlier, but I was trying to perfect them... and then it was time to leave... and... the printer wouldn't work. Yikes.

So, I was a leeeettle later leaving than planned. As a result, I was running the city streets with my bags. Oh, what a sight!

Bus #1 was $3.50 instead of $1.50, and it was late. (They should have been paying me to ride it at that point, really.) Fine enough until I had NO TIME to make my next ride. People kept telling me to just take the Silver Line!! (this wanna be train that's really a bus ~ but it is great for the airport).

Silver Schmilver.

All the other buses had been late. I just "knew" I would make the bus Google Maps told me to take.

Not so.

I turned around (still running with aaaall of my bags, mind you) to go back to the same place where I started. And to take the Silver Line.

I don't really get stressed over much of anything. I like to just live and enjoy and problem solve as needed. But at that moment, I was, shall we say, a TOTAL STRESS CASE!? I recognized the stress and told myself I needed to relax. Immediately, I slowed down and was at peace again.

What a good feeling. And so worth it. All I was doing by hurrying was going the wrong way, anyhow.

Then it happened, not 30 seconds after I slowed down, I saw him. Wayne.

Wayne and Dan were my buds at Starbucks in 2004. They were these two kind-hearted (Wayne more so than Dan) guys who were a little smelly and a lot of other much much nicer adjectives. They were homeless, and we gave them our unsold pastries every night at midnight. Even with the addiction of coffee, they were our most reliable customer.

I worked at that store for about 6 months before I got married and moved away.

So, here I was, 6 years later, and there was Wayne. I almost missed him but didn't because I had slowed down.

I was so excited to see him! I had wondered about him sooo many times. I gave him the biggest hug. Yup, still smelly, still smiling (less teeth), and still as kind as ever.

He asked about how things were for me. He remembered when I got married and asked all sorts of questions. I couldn't help but get teary eyed telling him how glad I was to see him and that I had thought of him so many times.

I gave him my bag of fruit for the plane and then had to run off. That seriously made my week.

So, you can add $1.59 for the 2 bananas I bought at the airport to get me through the flight.