Sometimes You Just GO

Hello friends and family, and that means those of you whom I have never met. I am so glad you are reading today and that you take the time to read my weekly blog posts. These posts are so important to me and I love to share new places, new recipes and good information with you :) Keep coming back.

We landed in beautiful Miami and were greeted by warm sunshine, palm trees and white sandy beaches. We were the minority at this point and barely anyone spoke solid English. We had to find an Über, which was really cool actually, and figure out how they work. Two of them cancelled on us and finally THREE hours later, we had a successful ride to some random place that we didn't know. Now this was a good choice. The houses were so cute, there were more beaches and more options for entertainment. We landed at Lummus Beach Park and it was great. The sand was so white that it slightly blinded us, there were people all in the water, we laid on our hammocks and took much needed naps.

Man, it made us miss Hawaii like crazy! Palm trees, coconut trees, banana trees, mango trees, avocado trees and sunshine. It was an awesome little place to be. Anyways, we got super hot so we, can you guess, called an Über and found a new destination. This time we pulled into Whole Foods <3 Now I had a triple happy heart 1) sunshine/beach 2) my husband 3) healthy food. We had the mason jar meals I posted about last week and an Acai bowl from a cute cafe in Whole Foods called Jugo’s. It was bomb. We sat in whole foods and bummed off of their wifi, air conditioning and coconut water. We walked to a little beach apartment and crashed on some pool chairs for about and hour and then walked back to Whole Foods and got more Acai bowls and smoothies :) For you Acai lovers, they were so nutrient packed, let me tell you. Maca, almond butter, dates, greens, golden berries, GF granola, nut mylk, matcha, spirulina, chlorella and much much more. I have to say, I am highly impressed with Whole Foods. I don't know that I have every really been to one and ow www it is probably a good thing that there isn't one super close to me ;) The bulk section is just precious and they have so many cool products that I usually only see on Instagram but was able to actually see!

The reason we went to Florida was to go check out a cool ministry that Tommy has been following for a while now. It is called Ride Nature and it is a ministry that does outreach through action sports like surfing, wake boarding and skateboarding. The impacts they make are incredible and they really do change and imprint on lives all around the globe. They have an online shop where you can buy merchandise and for every board sold, the donate a board to a child. We got to visit their local outreach spots and check out the new up-and-coming coffee house that is going to be a platform for so much life change. We were able to check out some of the videos that have been compiled of their overseas mission trips and it was just awesome. There are people all over that world that want the truth. They want to know the meaning of life. They want to know why things turn out the way they do and Ride Nature does just that. They go and talk to these kids who don't even know the name Jesus; they have never even heard it, and they change their lives.

So, something really crazy happened while I was in Florida. Something that I usually only read about and feel for the people involved but this time I was in it, first hand. If you haven't heard, there is a Zika mosquito in Florida right now and the authorities ** hmm hmm ** (the government) decide they were going to drop the bomb (the toxics) all over an extremely inhabited area of Florida. They didn't warn people. They didn't notify people. They even felt no need to explain when people called in wondering why they were being covered with random white crap falling from the sky. Dogs, people, gardens, schools, homes, bees, flowers, trees and just about anything else that is on the good green earth was covered in Naled. This is a chemical that is banned in Europe, Puerto Rico and probably many other countries. Our country, though, feels the needs to get a little in the lungs because ya know, that's gotta be good right? They flew planes over the city and just blasted the place. Birds died, people got sick, pets dealt with their poisoned fur and we were told to just deal with it.

If you don't follow Erin, you should. She is an activist that is located in Florida and she has some very information posts on this latest atrocity. She was there, like me, and she is not taking "deal with it" for an answer. She called the spraying center and actually recorded a conversation with the guy she was talking with. He told her that they don't need to notify anyone nor do they need to warn anyone about this deadly poison being sprayed all about the place. I don't know about you but this is just blowing my mind right now. Maybe because I was actually there and actually got sick from being there when it happened. Or maybe because people's health is being toyed with and they really have no say it the matter. Whatever the reason, I hope you take this is a reason to start learning more about the places you live. Not to live in fear but to live in reality and be aware that you have to take care of you because they aren't.

On a lighter note, Florida has some really neat restaurants.

One is inside Whole Foods and I mentioned it above: Jugo’s. It is a smoothie, juice and acai bowl bar located in Miami. They are all organic and local. Their juices are cold pressed every single morning and they are packed with all the nutrients you could possible need (at least when it comes to the happiness nutrients <3)

Another is called Green Cup. It is in Fort Meyers and it is the cutest place you'll ever see. Located in the historic downtown Fort Meyers, this place is so quaint. They have juices, smoothies, bubble teas, snacks, vegan desserts, coffee and much more. They have local art for sale as well and the staff are super personable and knowledgeable. I got a chocogreen smoothie and I recommend you do the same.

The last one I will talk about is called

Aldeheidi's. It is a German(?) bakery

and ice cream shop that is focused on organic and gluten-free. They have tons of vegan ice cream as well as dairy gelato and ice cream. There are shakes, sundaes, affogatos and floats. I will warn you, the scoops are real small BUT real delicious. You will be tempted to buy more; I mean if you are on vacation, why not? My husband and I had vegan salted caramel and dirt & our friend had cashew/rice/cacao with dirt. So much goodness in a small scoop.

Also, giving a shout out to Kind Bars, Figgy Pops and Coconut Rolled Dates. You are the real MVPs. You sustained us one countless flights, Über rides, airport layovers and moments of hanger.