A little about ME

My name is Ellen. I'm 26 and a half, I live in Las Vegas, and more often than not - I feel lost in this world. I have so many ideas, so many dreams, and I just get stuck trying to figure out how to make them a reality.

I've recently had a bit of a career crisis, I don't think I want to do what I'm doing for the rest of my life. I'm too scared to start over, and frankly, I can't afford school or to take a pay cut. My day job isn't terrible, but it isn't fulfilling. After a recent vacation to Mexico, I was reminded of how important it is to live life, to enjoy life. Life is full of hustle and bustle, of climbing the career ladder, making the most money you can - and I don't want my life to be that way.

I was inspired by this trip, and also my past travels. I remember one of my professors in Barcelona would say quite often "Americans live to work, everyone else works to live." This has always stuck with me. For 5 years, I've tied my identity to my job, to my salary, to my career prospects, all while never finding things that truly made me happy. I have vowed that this year, I will find those things.

Cue the enchanting music... just kidding.

So why am I starting this blog? Well, a little back story.. I've always struggled with my weight, my eating, exercise, stress, sleep, and general health. I've tried it all. Paleo, Keto, Whole 30, Weight Watchers. All of these diets focus on just about the same thing - eat REAL foods that are WHOLE and focus on greens and vegetables. This is also the premise of the Mediterranean Diet. There's a whole big thing about blue zones and how the people who live in these zones live to be 100 and the Mediterranean is one of them. I don't feel like getting into details about it but yeah, look it up. Anyway, I don't love the term diet, but let's be real, anything we eat is our diet - so let's not dwell on it like it's a fad diet.

So here I am, sitting at my boring job, researching this lifestyle and I've decided it's the one for me! I don't always love eating veggies and greens, and I know I need to. I love pasta and grains, so that's a plus. Fish and seafood... I don't mind but I'm not a huge fan - but I've always wanted to be. I'm not sure how this little thing will go, but I'm going to try it. And I'm going to share it with you. I believe I mentioned somewhere that I want cooking to become my hobby, and with that, I want to make my own everything. I've made bread from scratch in the past, I hope to do that again. I'm going to start making and canning/freezing my own tomato sauce, pesto, chimichurri, salad dressings, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers... I'm growing an herb garden with Basil, Mint, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, and Cilantro. I hope to expand that into a little veggie garden on my patio. I want to get back to basics. I want to just put on some music, pour a little wine, and spend hours in the kitchen. 

I don't know exactly where this is going, but I just want a place to keep all my recipes, pictures, and thoughts, and it's 2020 - blogs are everywhere. So not that I expect a big following, or to become an influencer, but this is more my personal diary.