Snack Mountain Blog

Hello! So you’ve probably wondered where I’ve been. But if you read this blog you likely know that I was in LA for a long weekend. It was an incredibly busy weekend. Partially because the main purpose of the trip was to pack up and move out of my apartment and also because of unexpected emergency health issues. For the past several months, I thought I was getting mouth sores in the bottom left corner of my mouth that flare up a week after chemo and then go away. But after the last round of chemo, the “mouth sore” was only getting worse and worse to the point where my whole jaw was swelling and I had trouble opening and closing my mouth because the muscle on my face was inflamed. I couldn’t even sleep on it because it was so painful. At one point a week before the trip to LA, my Dad suggested that maybe I should go see the dentist but my mom insisted that it was just a mouth sore because they are so common. I did end up calling my dentist the day before I left but he didn’t get back to me until the following Monday. Anyhoo, when I arrived on Thursday night, we went to one of my fave restaurants in LA called Hinoki and The Bird and I could barely eat and was in extreme pain. So the next morning, my mom suggested I try to find a dentist in LA so I called the Gyno Oncology dept at Cedars Sinai (whom I’ve started talking to about tranferring there once I’m done with my full course of chemo here in NYC.) So they gave me a name of a dentist who I called immediately and made an appointment for 11am. Just before I left, I dropped my iPhone and the screen shattered. Steve is a GENIUS and suggested that I wrap it in Saran Wrap to keep it intact and not get shards of glass in my face. You can’t see the shattered glass in the picture but you get the idea.

In light of my dental issue, cracking my phone barely phased me and it actually provided some comic relief that I was walking around with a phone wrapped in Saran Wrap (I am finally getting it fixed tomorrow…) Anyhoo, so I went to the dentist which was back by LAX and he was amazing. He said I had an ongoing infection of my wisdom tooth and that I needed to go to an oral surgeon immediately to have it drained as well as take antibiotics. He referred me to an oral surgeon who was 3 blocks away and even walked outside with us to point us in the right direction. So we went there and the oral surgeon was also amazing. If you need a dentist or oral surgeon in LA, hit me up because these docs are top notch which is hard to find!!! So the oral surgeon agreed and said he needed to make a small incision in my gum to drain the giant abscess that was filled with the infection. As you can imagine, I was kind of freaking out. I talked to my oncologist in NYC who approved the surgery because it was clearly an emergency. You aren’t supposed to get surgeries on chemo because your body’s ability to heal wounds is dramatically lowered. One of my drugs actually prevents healing of wounds because its main function is to cut off the blood supply to cancer cells (woohoo!) and can prevent the blood flow to wounds. But we went ahead and did it and luckily it all went well and almost a week later it’s healing well. Phew!!! While I was there I met this nurse who told me that she was really into God and spirituality and that she could see that God was with me. At first she kinda freaked me out but then I found it comforting to meet someone who believed in my recovery. She told me that she thought I would recover and tell my story to other women to inspire them. I like this plan!! I was so emotional from the fact that I had the surgery and was in a lot of pain so I was kinda crying a lot while I was talking to her but it was also kind of cathartic. Having the surgery meant that I was unable to eat solid foods for pretty much the whole time I was in LA. It was kind of a bummer because we had dinners planned at so many of my favorite restaurants. But instead, I indulged on delicious smoothies from Naturewell and Erehwon. Oh man, did we spend quality time at Erehwon. Steve had never been and is now deeply in love (as I knew he would be) and so was my Dad! Here’s a shot of my dad sampling a variety of healthy treasures! Their prepared foods really are out of this world!

Intermission disclaimer time: you’ve probably noticed that this is an intense and long-winded post. Today I had round 6 of chemo and they always give me steroids to prevent an allergic reaction to one of the drugs so I am feeling pretty AMPED right now and it’s past midnight! I hope I can fall asleep soon! Maybe I’m still on LA time too…

So, I totally have the best friends ever. Steve is so amazing, supportive and helpful and made the weekend so seamless, delightful and full of laughs!!! The same can be said of my besties Maura, Abe and Caitlin (who was visting from SF). They all helped to pack up my entire apartment on Saturday! Holy Moly! I had a low-grade fever from the oral surgery so I wasn’t able to help give a ton of directions while they packed but they all did an amazing job. And my parents were super helpful with getting supplies, boxes, and just being amazing as they always are. I’m such a lucky lady! Really! I am! Here’s a cute shot of Maura and Abe modeling my Giraffe shirts I gave them!

On Sunday, we all went my beloved SQIRL for breakfast that had just reopened. It was hard for me to eat but I did my best and it was so nice to see Jess (the owner who I adore)! Then, we stopped by this Watermelon Festival at the Rose Bowl which was kinda odd but still fun. Here are some shots of Steve and then Maura, Abe and my Mom enjoying free watermelon!!

I’m sorry but how adorable is my Mom?!?!? Too cute! Here I am in a Dodgers hat that Abe got me in front of some chalk watermelon art!

This photo purposefully hides my giant-swollen-lobsided-chimp-munk-face. Haha. On Monday, my amazing movers came to pick up the boxes and put them in a storage bin. They are so great so if you need movers, lemme know. Look how full of LA resources I am! Seriously! I need to make a resources page on this blog! I’ve been meaning to do that anyway. Actually this is a total side note but I came across this girls blog who had breast cancer and she had a page that explained different drugs and their side effects and it was so useful! I learned why my nose is constantly running! It’s because I don’t have nose hairs inside to stop the flow! And air pollen more easily gets in which may explain my sinus pain! So interesting! Anyhoo, here I am standing in front of my neatly packed storage bin.

It was a huge relief to get my stuff out of my apartment. Now I can start fresh when I get back to LA and move to Silver Lake near Steve, Maura and Abe and the glorious reservoir! Here I am on a walk with Steve posing with my Saran Wrapped phone in an LA hat that Steve got me (just you wait, all the cool hipsters are soon all going to have phones wrapped in Saran Wrap!!!!).

On Tuesday night, my mom and I joined Steve at his annual family reunion gathering at the Hollywood Bowl. It was so fun to meet his extended family! I really didn’t want to leave LA at all and I’m so eager to get healthy here in NYC and get back there ASAP. I don’t know about you but I believe that for some people there are cities, towns, places, etc. where you are meant to be and you can feel it in your soul. The minute I landed in LA about two years ago, I knew I had found my place. After a lifetime of never feeling quite right in NYC or on the East Coast, I feel so grateful that I finally found my place. So my time in this world really can’t be up yet! I just found my special place!!! Any my special people!!! So every day I pray to get rid of this cancer so I can live a long time and help to heal others. That is my goal. It will happen. On that note, now I’m going to do my Ra Ma Da Sa healing chant so I can hopefully fall asleep soon and get some rest. Love to you all. xoxo

This weekend at Fire Island my mom and I went for a walk and I found so many great shells! It was so inspiring. I love all the oyster shells. One of them looked like it was fused together and resembled a snake head. Another looked like a fish head! What is going on? And then I found a delicate crab shell that looked like it had a giraffe pattern on it. So many of them had holes in them that were asking to be made into necklaces!

I even started making a few necklaces but I need to go to that amazing bead store in LA to get some clasps (and more wooden beads!!!)

Finally, my collection of shell art is taking over the surfaces inside the house. I want to have a Radio Flyer wagon art show/sale on the dock at the end of the summer. Hahaha.

Well, I’ve got tons to do today. Including a secret project with Rachel that I will share with you at the end of the month! Plus, I’ve got to start packing for LA!!! Woohoo! xoxo Lauren

Yesterday I saw this recipe for Overnight Oats with Chia Seeds on the blog Anja’s Food 4 Thought that I subscribe to in my Feedly. I haven’t looked at this blog in a long time but seems to have some great recipes! It was so easy to make and came out so delicious! In the morning I added bananas, maple syrup and almond butter! So nice and refreshing for the summer! One thing though, the almond milk I used is from whole foods (I always buy unsweetened btw) and it doesn’t have this food additive called Carrageenan that I’ve heard is a controversial additive. Some people believe its a carcinogen and “studies have observed colitis-like disease and tumor promotion.” I just quoted that from the wikipedia page. It’s inconclusive but like so many food additives that are “generally approved as safe” by the FDA I’d rather avoid it. I have more tumors in my body than I’d ever want to have thank you very much. Hahaha. I know it’s a different kind of cancer but better safe than sorry, right? My friend Mindy in LA was making her own Almond Milk last fall and made a few batches for me and it was delicious. She had a machine that she used but here’s a recipe for making it with just a blender or food processor. Plus you get the leftover almond meal which you can use to make gluten free muffins like these ones I saw on another blog that I wanna make (or ask Rachel to make). She’s been making these amazing almond meal muffins with carrots and pecans lately that I am addicted to. I literally eat two a day! But they don’t have any gluten or sugar (just maple syrup) so I can’t feel that guilty, right? Geez, I’m chatty Cathy today filled with recipes! On the opposite spectrum of food news, last night I indulged in REAL ice cream at Big Gay Ice Cream:

I got the “Salty Pimp” cone which has dulce de leche and sea salt in a chocolate dip. It was pretty damn amazing. I also kinda finished off my friend Amanda’s cone which was a waffle cone lined with Nutella. Let’s just say I felt pretty sick last night!!! I don’t think I’ll be indulging in real ice cream for awhile. I had wanted to go to this vegan ice cream place called Lulu’s but they are closed for some mysterious reason. Oh well! Finally, the other night my Dad came home with this amazing dachshund balloon that is deceptively real looking when it moves! Well, in a cartoon way I guess.

Alright, happy weekend to you all! xoxo Lauren

So I wasn’t expecting to post twice today but I just actually made something that I want to share with you. So as you probably know I am enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition program online and we were asked to set our intentions for the year long program. My interest in the program is both to learn to be a health coach but also to integrate my design/illustration skills with my passion for food and health. A few weeks ago I decided that the best way to integrate my two passions would be to pick up the icon project that I started my prelim year at Yale in 2009 where I designed holistic health icons that I made into rubber stamps and used to prescribe remedies for my friends on a prescription pad. Kinda funny that now I am actually studying to be a health coach! My goal for the new icon project is to design one a week, make them into rubber stamps and use them as I work with clients. I also want to make cookbooks and other merchandise for the Snack Mountain brand! It’s already week 4 so I’ve gotten a slow start but over the weekend I was sketching a bunch of different ideas and I just drew one of my ideas in illustrator! Allow me to introduce, Mr. Smoothie!!!

I have been a big fan of smoothies for the past 7 years and they are a great source of fruit, fiber and protein if you add powder which I usually do! (I am not a fan of the whole juicing movement but do enjoy a good green juice on occasion). The eyes are supposed to be strawberries and the cheeks are banana slices. It’s a little abstract I suppose but I think it’s fun and Japanese-esque. I’d love your feedback! Illustrator is really fun for me to work in so I’m pretty pumped about this project. I tried working on it over the weekend but got frustrated and so I’m happy that toaday I designed this guy in about an hour (after refining the sketch over the weekend). So now go get yourself a smoothie! Or you could make one! Here’s a recipe!

Mr. Smoothie Supreme

1 banana

1 cup frozen strawberries or blueberries

1 peach/nectarine

protein powder of your choice (these days I use hemp protein)

1 cup of coconut water (Harmless Harvest is the best!)

Puree all ingredients in blender (I am a huge fan of the Cuisinart Hand Blenders)

Enjoy!

So this weekend at Fire Island I finished the beads I started a few weeks ago. I strong them on one necklace and did a little photo shoot! Now that is what I call a healing circle, right? Here is my mom as a model.

I am going to give them away as gifts to lucky people so I strung each one on individual cords. I should really make more of these, huh? They are pretty darn fun to make. I’ll have to go to a bead store to pick up some more wooden beads. I also cooked a ton of great food this weekend. Check out this plate:

The Zucchini recipe is from Smitten Kitchen and the Veggie Burgers are from 101 cookbooks. Two classic food blogs I highly recommend. The bok choy is just sauteed in ginger. I was feeling kinda weird physically over the weekend from the recent treatment and it kind of affected my mood but I think I hung in there pretty well. Except for the unpleasant moment when our neighbor out there aggressively accosted me about my illness and I started to cry in front of her. I guess now I’ve got that under my belt and in the future will say, “Sorry, I’d rather not discuss this with you.” Tomorrow I am going to a Gong Healing Bath at Golden Bridge which I am so excited about! And! I am going to LA in 9 days! Woooohoooo! Love to you all! xo

Hello peoples. I am back!!! On Monday I turned a corner and have returned to my positive, optimistic self. I’m sure I’ll struggle with some of the scary stuff again at some point but over the past three weeks I’ve done a lot of groundwork for dealing with those emotions and the heaviness finally lifted. Phew! Over the past week, I’ve had ideas about how to think about and express my feelings about death in a positive, creative way rather than a terrifying and negative one and I’ll share more about those ideas later. Also, I went to a great yoga class at Golden Bridge today and the teacher sharaed a great Yogi Bhajan quote: “The most powerful form of healing is self-healing.” I believe that I am becoming skilled at healing myself and I look forward to sharing this skill with others as I continue to recover. One inspirational item I got yesterday to help bring positive energy in my space was this Feng Shui prism/crystal that I hung in my window!

This morning when I woke up it was reflecting rainbows everywhere! So amazing! Yesterday I also went over to my friend’s Sam and Aurora’s house in Ridgewood for dinner. They have been making their own corn masa which they grind themselves! Here’s a shot of Aurora prepping the dough to make tortillas!

She made tacos with Poblano peppers and onions which were pretty spicy! But she also made me a quesadilla with this delicious stringy Oaxacan cheese! I made mine into a cheese roarschach! So what does this really look like to you???

I think it looks just plain delicious! And it was! Aurora and Sam are the best! It was so nice to be in an apartment that felt like one that I would live in on my own (not that I don’t appreciate living at my parents house right now but it’s a different vibe, ya know). Being in their space reminded me of how much I miss having my own place in LA where I have all my books, creative tools and kitchen gear, etc. Speaking of which, in two weeks I am going to LA to pack up my apartment and put everything in storage! I haven’t been back since I left in mid-April which is so crazy to me! I can’t wait to see Steve, Maura, Abe, Mindy, Kate, Driscoll, Bim, Cory, am I forgetting anyone? Palm trees, cacti, the Silver Lake Reservoir, SQIRL (!!!), Cafe Gratitude, man-o-man, it will be a good time! Alright well, I’m off to bed so I can wake up early tomorrow for chemotherapy round number FIVE. Yup, number five. Here we go! Love to you all! xoxo

Please pardon the slightly cheesy blog title. I was trying to be clever and it ended up being corny! I’ve been in and out of struggling with the scary stuff but I think it’s getting better. This morning I went to yoga and heard the recording of my daily healing chant, Ra Ma Da Sa, that I hadn’t heard in months and it perked me up like a plant that just got watered! I asked the teacher who sang it and her name is Snatam Kaur and I just bought the album called Grace! I am going to do the chant with the recording after I finish this blog post! Wahooooo! But going back to the cranes, I started to make some more yesterday and want to get back on track with my 1,000 healing crane goal! For food healing, I have been going to the Union Square farmer’s market a lot the past few days and this weekend at Fire Island I cooked up 4 vegan dishes with delicious veggies!

Today I picked up some more stuff and am planning to make a Maitake mushroom risotto with some garlic! The fresh garlic at the market is so much better than supermarket garlic! Try it and you’ll see!

As you know, I also love Purslane so much so I had to get some!

Finally, in non-food related news. Back in April, when I was struggling to figure out what was going on with my body, I signed a contract to be the part-time Creative Director of an online Urban Planning magazine called Next City. I had been working with them on a freelance basis since December 2012 and so we planned for me to become more involved. One of my oldest friends, Diana, is the Editor in Chief and we have developed a nice working relationship. My illness got in the way for the month of May but in June, I picked up working with them again. Back in March, I re-designed their website and in the past month I designed I few banners for some new featured columns. In December, I re-designed their logo and had also been doing illustrations and info-graphics for weekly subscription articles. The website and columns both launched today so I thought I’d share a few screenshots but please feel free to check out the site.

And here is a banner I designed for a column called Watermark:

And another called The Shared City:

Ok, off to chanting land. Love to you all! xoxo