Never forget...

‎"In that moment, you forget to realize just how good you have it... then when that moment is lost in time, you will never forget how much you miss it." Yours truly ;-) Kim Martin

Life...

Life: It's not as simple as the board game... When you roll your dice, you don't just conveniently land on a spot to collect money, find love, graduate college, draw a card and become a doctor, or anything fictional that goes along with it. Better yet, when you roll doubles, it doesn't mean that you automatically have another turn; another chance.... But it's fun, isn't it? You never know the card that you're going to pick up, or when you roll the dice, you have no clue on where it will make you land... But you take that chance. You take that opportunity and risk of hoping that you get the right number and that you draw the right card... I mean, after all, what's this game of LIFE without taking that chance? You rolled your dice, you drew your cards... now play. Play along with the game... you might not be winning in the beginning, but it you play your game of LIFE right, you still have a chance to win in the end.

One foot in front of the other, it comes so easily to most of us; without thought. The world spins even if we aren't spinning in circles with it... the sun shines the brightest light without even having to use a switch... And everything before us just seems to go on whether we decide to be apart of it or not; our days, our lives, and everything in between. The clouds move along the sky and soon become desolate. And when we don't make the choices of keeping something or someone around, if we don't work for it every day, it too will soon fade away... And before you know it, just like the clouds, it's gone.

I can see the pain in your eyes... Your smile doesn't fool me. The size of it only proves to me that you have more to hide. You're mistaken by society. You're the perfect example of innocent life lessons, but tormented by the circumstances of which they brought onto you. Your heart is broken, but it will never mend if you don't allow it the chance to breathe... On it's own... without you controlling it's every breathe. It's the strongest organ in the human body... even stronger than you, but you just can't seem to stop fighting it.

This image you have created for yourself seems to have taken you by storm; making choices that you'd normally be against seem okay now. Maybe you're lost within yourself... and without allowing any light in, you're only going to suffer within your darkness that you surround yourself with. You can collect a million little stars, but they don't produce as much light as the sun. You can pretend to be the Moon and block the sunlight, but the sun has to come out eventually so the fight you're putting on is only wasting your beautiful days. Making all these unnecessary clouds appear only fog the mind... and that's where you lost your sight.

It's okay to take chances... the bigger the risk, the higher the value. Maybe you haven't risked enough to get what you will value the most in your life. You won't get there with pushing all your chances to the side... In fact, you're only making bad new habits for yourself. Open your mind, open your heart. It's a beautiful world if you make it to be a beautiful world to live in... It's all in you; within yourself... within your mind. Clear the fog... The Moon will always try to block your sunshine, but without the fog, even the Moon can shine bright.

Much love, peace, and happiness...
Kim

Is there a war against drugs? Or are they civil battles?

One tear after another trickling down my face.. You'd think that since you've put me here before that my heart would have built a stronger shield up for this displacement you selfishly keep putting me in.

I saw your pictures today. I can see it in your eyes. You almost look like you're possessed, which I'm starting to believe this drug has engraved in you.

Do you know that I sit up at night and think of you? Do you know how many times you leave me soaked in my own tears? I've always wished nothing, but the best for you and in return, you're squeezing the life out of me.

My heart is big and full of love, but it's not strong and it's left empty from the pain you've caused. I feel like the person that knew me best in life doesn't even know who he is at all.

I cry because you're lost. I cry because you have a drug controlling your life. I cry because there are so many people that fight to live every day and you're chancing your own life every day for a drug addiction. I cry because I miss you... YOU. Not the 'person' that this drug makes of you. I cry because I never want you to feel alone, but I know that you are. I cry because I really miss you always making me smile... and hearing your laugh.

I really cry when I think of the fact that I could lose you... my best friend... my brother... to a drug...

Hoping you win this battle...

Day 6 of my organic/vegan detox... And a REAL blog post! ;-)

I didn't want to bore everyone with my detox that I am doing so I figured I would mix up this entry a little bit... and here goes!

It's like wishing for a shooting star when you're standing in the daylight. It's like wanting to give all your love when your love is giving all of his love elsewhere. It's almost like I want to get even closer to you, but it's almost like I should run away from you.

It seems like the sun shines in your eyes even when my heart is filled with rain. It seems like all the words you say to me are like learning a new language even though I've already learned them before. It almost seems like I want to keep you forever, but it's almost like forever was lost at hello.

... I love to write. I am a very "creative" writer so don't take my writings too serious. I'm very over-analytical and like to be dramatic in all types of my work. Sometimes it's based on reality, but sometimes it's just make believe... Guess you're going to have to figure out what is what... ;-)


DAY SIX of my detox... As you know, I decided to do a detox. I never actually explained why I chose to do this. There are quite a few reasons why I did it. I have considered doing a vegan diet for years now. I don't eat pork/pig and haven't for quite some time now. A lot of experiments are done on pigs because they're so similar to humans... Makes me sick to think about. They say our muscles are almost identical... so next time you bite into a pig, think about eating a human butt or thigh! GROSS. Plus, they're so smart. They're smarter than dogs... so they are very aware of their life and their death. Super sad. I did it because I don't like how animals are slaughtered or treated... I don't like that they are kept stacked in cages, how they are killed, and that they are never able to live their life. I think everything in life deserves the opportunity to live. It just makes me sad... and I have had a hard time eating meat since I have learned of these things even though I still manage to.

Another reason I did this was to test my own self-discipline. I have never stuck to a diet in my life. I wanted to see if I was capable of doing it. I'm not one to deprive myself though... I love to eat... and this detox, you can eat as much as you want... it's just really healthy, which is good! I literally eat like every hour or two on this diet. I take almonds with me almost everywhere I go or I bring a smoothie with me to drink while I am running my errands or whatever so there's never a moment where I am starving.

And last, but definitely not least, I did it because it's always good to give your body a break... and to get healthy. And I'm on day six... and I feel great... it's definitely working. I read so many great things about this detox and it isn't letting me down at all.

I must say, I thought this would be much harder than it actually is. Today was my first day though of craving "REAL" food! I wanted cheese and sweets so bad it was killing me. But I stuck to my detox, and didn't have either. Instead, I made a mushroom soup that turned out DELICIOUS and I had a smoothie to curb my sweet-tooth. I have noticed that my skin feels and looks healthier... I still feel a little bloated, but I think it's just my body detoxing... I'm hoping and thinking it should go away by the 2nd week.

I want to post a few recipes, but it's so time-consuming... I eat a lot of quinoa (I'm a big pasta eater usually so this is a great alternative)... I'm always snacking on almonds or fruit, smoothies, BANANAS!!!!! (like 3-4 a day haha), I eat fruit and granola, soups, grilled and sauteed veggies, I had brown rice that tasted like rice-a-roni after I made it, but I got really tired from it!!!, umm... it doesn't sound like much, but I mix a lot of it. For instance, I made a Mexican quinoa... It was like a spicy "rice" salad. I mixed the quinoa with black beans, onions, mushrooms, garlic, scallions, tomatoes, and put spicy chili peppers and other spices in there and served it over fresh spinach and it was awesome! I included a pic, btw... so good! You learn to just play around with mixing things together and play around with spices. I can't say that I have felt deprived or anything like that... I'm on almost a week! I will keep you guys posted on how it goes! Oh, and I haven't been working out really. I think I am going to go to the gym though tomorrow. Going to try for like three or four days a week. :-)

Day 1 of 30 of my vegan, organic detox!

First of all, I apologize for my first post being on my detox, but I promise to have other fun things listed as well!

If you know me, you know that I LOVE food. I enjoy everything about it: the social aspects, the taste, and even how much I’m able to hold down. When people look at me, they see my 5’4”, 115 lb body frame and can’t believe the amounts of not only food I consume, but junk food. I’m turning 27 next month and every year, I hear “your metabolism will slow down eventually and catch up to you.” Well, I look at my dad’s side of the family and I just don’t see that happening in my future… Thank God.

I have done one cleanse my whole entire life. It was the Blessed Herb Colon Cleanse. I made it 6 of the 9 days and it was ruined when I went home to visit my parents and my mother forced food down my throat… Well, not really, but her cooking smelled so good! haha!

I did a lot of research the last few days on the vegan diet, the raw food diet, and organic eating. I’m not a doctor, scientist, or professional by any means, but with the research I have found, it definitely can’t hurt my body as long as I do it right. And if you would like to know what ‘caught my eye’ about this diet: I CAN EAT AS MUCH AS I WANT! Go figure!

Originally, I was going to do a raw food diet. This basically means that I would be eating food in it’s original state: no cooking, no heating up, no freezing, etc… I enjoy the different temperatures of food as well as seasons and spices so I decided to do a mix of the vegan and the raw food diet; all organic, of course.

So here I am, I am on DAY ONE of my THIRTY day detox. I just got home from the grocery store. I already think that is going to be one of the hardest parts of the diet. It’s so hard passing up all the foods that you love and then throwing another vegetable in your cart, but I did it.

Currently, I have potatoes boiling on the stove in one pot and carrots boiling in another pot. For dinner tonight, I am going to make potato soup with a few added onions, diced garlic, and mushrooms (I will add those to boil about 15 min before the potatoes are ready) and I will put sliced scallions on top. I’m basically throwing all the cooked goods in my blender/food processor, add a little almond milk (to make it “creamy”), and then putting the sliced scallions on top. I will add a little sea salt and pepper to taste.

With the carrots, I am making a ginger carrot soup. I’m assuming this will be my lunch or dinner tomorrow. I’m doing the same thing basically. I am boiling the vegetables and then processing/blending them together to make a soup. To make the soup base, I will be using an organic vegetable broth.

For breakfast this morning, I made a 2 glass full smoothie (so probably around 24 oz) of raspberries and blackberries blended together with water, ice, green food “Green Vibrance,” and about 5 dashes of cinnamon to make it sweet. I love cinnamon.

I noticed myself being pretty busy today so I didn’t really notice my hunger until I was done grocery shopping. On my drive home, I had a couple handfuls of raw almonds and I have been snacking since I got home on all the groceries I bought. I’ve been snacking on raw pumpkin seeds, almonds, mushrooms, and I had a carrot. Ya, I definitely feel “hungry,” but I am not miserable. And I’m really excited for this potato soup to be finished! I will actually post this blog after it’s done so I can add a picture of it.

I’m sure a lot of you are wondering what type of groceries I bought… I know that was a curiosity of mine before going into this. I went to Fresh Market (it’s basically a larger Whole Foods in South Beach, Miami) and some of the things I bought (all organic) were: cauliflower, pre-made vegetable skewers (with green & red peppers, portobello mushrooms, onions, squash, and zucchini), broccoli, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, tomatoes, avocados, ginger root, mushrooms, salads, spinach, beets, onions, scallions, quinoa (it’s a whole grain similar to a very small pasta), brown rice, gluten-free organic granola, raw almonds, raw pumpkin seeds, almond milk, vegetable broth, lentils, kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, cannellini beans, garlic, etc… The only fruits and vegetables I was told to avoid were: corn, grapefruit, and oranges.

I can’t lie to you… this might be the hardest thing I have ever done. Partly why I am writing a blog about my experience. I think if I write it down, I won’t let myself down. Plus, if others are waiting for me to succeed, I can’t let them down… especially myself.

I will do my best to keep everyone posted on my meals as well as how I feel. I’m thinking the first week will be the hardest, but I have always liked fruits and vegetables so I don’t think that will be a problem. My biggest problem is that I never have felt full from eating fruits and vegetables… and I love pasta and cheese!!! I’m usually a girl of “substance.” But your body is like a machine… everyone’s body could use a little “tune-up.” Plus, I can eat as much as I want!!!!!

So, I just ate a HUGE bowl of potato soup and I’m sooooo full! Yes, I snacked beforehand, but I actually feel FULL. Awesome. Day 1 is looking good… so far! (By the way, when I was typing “good,” I originally wrote “food.” hahaha)