Saintly St. Ana

Jk. I know it's important to eat and I know it's even more important to eat well. I'm having a really hard time staying motivated to meal prep and cook lately! I'm definitely turning to junk food more often and I'm FEELING it. My skin keeps breaking out and my pants aren't as comfortable. Also I just feel so sloooooooow. I'm sharing a bit of meal prep stuff I did last week because sharing stuff (even if no one really sees it, lol) makes me more accountable and I can also look back at times that I meal prepped and remind myself that it's not as terrible as I think it is.   First up is my classic go to prepped lunch: steamed brown rice, steamed veggies, and crispy tofu topped with homemade hoisin sauce. I always forget how good this is! It seems like it might be boring but it never is. Honestly, the hoisin sauce makes this dish. It's sweet, spicy, and savory all at the same time! Also pictured is some bananas that are about to be frozen. This

Cover art for Sorrytown's Flowerbed This weekend I finally got to see the band  Sorrytown play. I say finally because I've been telling my friend that's in the band that I'd go see them play for like the past two months. I'm kind of a shitty friend... but at least I went! Anyway, I guess it was worth the wait cuz they were amaaaaaazing! For real, they sounded great live and had amazing energy. My pal was jumping all over the amps and off the walls and shit- it was cray. Aside from them sounding great, you could also just tell that they all had a lot of passion for what they were doing. Plus, their genre of music (self described "alternative, emo, punk, rock, and indie rock") took me back to my middle school days. Nostalgic but modern, I can dig it. If you're into that sort of thing you should check out their Facebook and watch the music video they just released! Aside from going to that show I basically spent the rest of the weekend sleep

Listening Tory Lanez. He's bae forever and ever. Image via Hot New Hip Hop Also, Wildernessa's podcast. So far I've heard her talk about a lot of awesome topics like health, veganism, religion, marriage, and body image. So yeah, I'm hooked. Karsyn & Collin DuPree Image via Wildernessa Looking Frida Kahlo. She's one of my biggest inspirations and I was channeling her a lot when illustrating one of my recent prints. Henry Ford Hospital Unos Cuantos Piquetitos/ A Few Little Pricks A recent print, titled "Atypical." Reading Big Magic. Still reading, still good. I took a break from the book while working on prints but a lot of her words encouraged me to just go for it rather than sit and ruminate on whether or not I was making my best work or if it was good enough. It was a good way to break the cycle of perfectionism that can paralyze me when it comes to creative work. Also, we

Long time no blog! I'm back. I've been somewhat busy recently with a new project a few friends and myself put together- Rio Sangre Print Collective . A little over a month ago we all got together and decided to split the cost of some paper and the rest is history! JK, not really though. A lot of stuff happened between then and now but that's essentially how it all got started. Our booth at the Southwest Print Fiesta This past weekend we participated in the Southwest Print Fiesta in Silver City. It's the first event of its kind in Southern New Mexico (as far as I know) and I'm so grateful we got to be a part of it! Basically printmakers from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico got together to print, talk about prints, and buy prints. Pretty much a bunch of nerdy printing stuff. The main part of the event that we participated in was setting up as a vendor and selling our prints together. Being that we're a rather new collective we don't really hav

Image via Elizabeth Gilbert I recently started reading the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and so far I'm loving it! You probably can't really tell from the title, but it's essentially about living a creative life. She has a pretty interesting philosophy regarding ideas, inspiration, and how humans interact with them. I suppose it's technically a self help/ user guide type book, but she doesn't approach it that way. She simply writes about her own experiences and the observations she's gathered from others. Still, it's pretty interesting to learn about someone else's perspective on creativity. Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of the famed novel Eat, Pray, Love . I never read the book (sorry, just didn't interest me) and fell asleep during the movie (sorry again)! I had no idea until I started reading this book that it was by the same author. For someone who had a book on the New York Times Best Sellers list for over 200 weeks and then had

I fell off the wagon people- the consistent blog post wagon. It's dumb that I have yet to find my rhythm/schedule but maybe this is my rhythm? Just sporadically posting? Lol. Anyway, I'm here to talk about my recent jump back into yoga. Back in my early college days I was really into yoga. I practiced almost 7 days a week thanks to the free classes provided to students at the campus activity center. Sadly, as my curriculum got more demanding, my class schedule got much more restrictive I didn't find time to fit yoga into my life. I was occasionally able to visit a pricey private yoga studio after the free classes on campus no longer fit my schedule so I felt I was staying on track for a while. Then my senior year came. I'm sure many people can relate to me when I say that my physical and mental health fell to the bottom of my priority list during this time. Aside from hurrying between classes and moving around in the print room I became pretty inactive. I wa

On Friday I finally picked up my new prescription glasses. They're a really low prescription and I only need them occasionally but my insurance covered most of the cost so I couldn't justify not getting them, you know? New glasses, new me. Jk. Saturday morning my BF and I were able to try the brunch hot bar from our local co-op. We both had tofu scramble with peppers, onions, mushrooms, and potatoes. We also tried the vegan sausage and had a wheat tortilla on the side. It was pretty good and it was nice being able to go out for brunch but it was kinda pricey for what we got. It's a nice option to have but I doubt we'll be frequenting the brunch hot bar too often. Vegan brunch! Saturday night I dog sat for a family member while they were out of town camping. It was fun to be able to hang out with different dogs (is that a weird thing to say?) but also they were a lot of work. The older pup has bladder control issues along with a variety of other health i

Looking I'm starting some freelance work for a local creative group and my first project is a logo for a local fiber arts store. The owner is interested in the Art Nouveau movement so I've been looking for inspo. Here's my top 6 sources so far: Isadora Calligraphic Font by Daniel Barbara Antique Illustrated Boys' Maritime Novel Alphonse Mucha's Bières de la Meuse This  Logo Vintage floral illustration Poster by Hamilton Wood Type Listening Broods did a cover of Drake's " One Dance " and I've had it on repeat. So. Good. I really enjoyed their first album a lot but for some reason I'm still trying to get into their second one. It's still really good though! Image via DIY Feeling Impatient. I interviewed for a job like two weeks ago and I'm dyyyyyying to hear back from them. They said they'd let me know what their decision is either way but it's been TWO WEEKS. (And yes, I've foll

Yo, I finally put together a version of  my portfolio . It's in the beginning stages and some of the photographs aren't where I want them to be (looking at u, NMSU) but it's a start. Check it out! I'm currently working on some business cards and basically "my brand." I'll probably update the look of the blog soon too, so keep an eye out! I'm always open to feedback and critique, but, you know, play nice.

This past weekend my boyfriend surprised me with a staycation for my birthday! I didn't think of it as a staycation at first. It wasn't until I told my mom about my weekend that she called it that and I still don't really understand how she knows what that is. I'm proud of her tho. I guess we didn't technically "stay" in town, but we drove to El Paso which is only 45 minutes away. Cute, que no?! We stayed in a dope hotel called Hotel Indigo . I guess it's the new and poppin' thing in downtown El Paso cuz there was stuff happening constantly. When we first got there to check in there was a couple doing a wedding photo shoot in the lobby. The hotel has great visual features so I'm not surprised they wanted to take photos there. But there was literally an entire wedding party and 3-4 photographers jammed in the lobby along with people trying to check in with their luggage. Kinda cray. The lady at the front desk also told us that there

Sometimes I'm not that good at prepping and packing lunch for the week. This was one of those weeks. My schedule was kind of thrown off by my birthday celebrations last week and this week is my dad's birthday so things have been kind of cray. Luckily there's always one place I can depend on to get quick vegan and gluten free lunches- my local co-op. I visit Mountain View Market Co-op a few times a month to get specialty items (like my gluten free oats) and for quick, tasty meals. I try not to eat out too often during the week but sometimes life happens, right?! The best part about eating at the co-op is that they have options . I've noticed that even while some places offer vegan alternatives they can be limited. Which is fine, I don't want to complain because I made the choice to eat this way, but it's such a relief to find a place that truly caters to my lifestyle. There are a few different ways you can get a meal at the co-op. Firstly there is the Kit

I started this blog about a year ago, right after my 23rd birthday. I don't have that many posts (around 50) but that's better than none posts, right?! I didn't do my best at documenting this year on my blog, but I'm aiming to change that. Slowly but surely... So here we are in the middle of July again, one year later. To describe my year in a really generic but accurate statement I'd say: it's been a crazy year. I lost my great-grandmother, went through surgery, tried a bunch of new ways of eating, my grandpa survived a heart attack, my uncle was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, and I saw two different therapists and tried three different medications along the way. I'm not sharing all this to complain or make people feel sorry for me (because we all go through tough times), but I feel like this has been one of the roughest years of my life and it's important to remember that I got through it.  I'm not big on doing grand celebrat

Imagine if managing your health were as easy as popping a cute little pill?! If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen that I posted a photo recently of me finally being able to donate blood again. It's kind of a weird thing to share on social media but for me it marked a turning point in my physical health. It's been years since my iron level was high enough to donate. I used to regularly donate a few times a year until I developed symptoms that were eventually diagnosed as hypothyroidism, or an under active thyroid. I was pretty bummed out and confused after being turned away from the blood donation center a few times in a row due to my low iron. I didn't know why my levels were dropping so I kept trying to donate. I was also dealing with some other symptoms such as lethargy, weight gain, depression, and more but I suppose I found all those things easy to ignore. Coincidentally around the same time, my mom was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and an aut

This past weekend my beau and I ended up taking a somewhat spontaneous trip to Albuquerque, NM. We did quite a bit of stuff and it was fun to get away for a couple of days! First and foremost we were PUMPED to finally get to see Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, NM. We were already kind of familiar with their work because a few years ago they had done an exhibition at our school. It was interactive, playful, and unlike anything I'd seen at the time. Needless to say we had some pretty high expectations for this installation and I think it's safe to say they were exceeded . This section of the installation was similar to what they did at NMSU a few years back.  It's hard to explain what Meow Wolf is and what they do without having seen some of it yourself so I'll just leave link to their website here . I think one of the coolest aspects of Meow Wolf is the anonymity that they embrace as well as promoting the group as a cohesive unit. It'

It's been a little over two months now since I've transitioned to a plant based diet. During that short amount of time I've found quite a few products and alternatives that soothe my omnivorous cravings. I've been trying to stick to a more "whole foods" based diet rather than filling my body with a bunch of processed stuff but sometimes you just gotta change things up! Some people may ask why vegans want to eat something that mimics the look and taste of animal products. I think this quote from an older Huffington Post article says it best: " As it turns out, vegans did not stop eating animals because they didn’t enjoy the taste. Who doesn’t enjoy the taste of a juicy hamburger, or a few slices of bacon? However, vegans chose to stop consuming and using animals on an ethical basis."   Do I miss the taste of a burger or grilled chicken sometimes? Like, kind of. I do for a split second then I think about how those animals were mistreated before bein

Over 3 years ago, my friend and I camped overnight outside of the supreme court in D.C. to hear a few moments of the DOMA arguments. Rallies and protestors were outside. I spent a lot of last week trying to process the attack in Orlando. No, I didn't know anyone who was harmed personally, but that shouldn't stop me (or anyone) from grieving the loss of innocent life. I wrote a really long post/rant shortly after it happened that probably won't ever be shared because I realized afterwards that it was really just for me to relieve emotions and questions I had regarding this tragedy. So if you're part of the LGBTQ community, or simply an ally, and are still processing/grieving I suggest starting there. Write down how you're feeling, any questions you might have, and maybe how you plan to move forward from this tragic event. This was a family rallying outside of the supreme court the first day of the DOMA arguments. Just to the left of them were members of t

This is a combo of a lot of weekend adventures. A lot has happened in the past month or so and I wanted to share! Me being a creep in the (pink!) bathroom after margaritas. This past weekend was pretty chill and fun. We started out the weekend by grabbing some overpriced margaritas and guac to celebrate my boyfriend's graduation! He actually graduated almost a month ago but so much has been happening that we had to put off our celebration plans. We celebrated the actual day it happened with his family but I wanted to treat him to a night out because he way deserved it! I also ended up having "dinner" while we were out. I say "dinner" because eating out while vegan is kinda weird sometimes. Like if you're not at a place that specifically caters to that diet, you end up ordering some odd stuff. A lot of advice online about eating out while vegan suggests ordering several things off the sides menu and putting it together as a meal which is what I ended u

GET OUT OF MY NOOK. So my last post was a little bit of an experiment. It was exciting for me to write because it included a lot of topics that I'm really passionate about, but I also wasn't sure if it was too IN-YO-FACE . I mostly wanted to see what it would be like to share some of my very strong  personal opinions and then see how I felt about it. Overall I feel good but it still feels weird... If you couldn't tell I'm still trying to decide what kind of content I want my blog to include. There's so many options! I've thought about focusing on opinion based/current event writing like that last post because, well, I have a lot of opinions guys. While that idea is appealing to me, I also feel like it could very quickly turn into me just complaining about lots of things- like isn't that what Facebook is for? I've also thought about focusing on physical and mental health since I'm personally working on both, but it's a very slow (and maybe no