Update from Jax: June! (And some of July, ok?)

It seems the best way to do this update is to post a whole bunch of pictures. I'll go into some more detail about my writing, my internship, and that sort of thing after this spam of pictures. Here goes!

I flew into Jax on June 21 and began my adventures staying with Jazmyn's family. Our AirBnB place is from June 28 - August 11, so we spent some nice quality time relaxing with the family. They are so sweet and warm and I have a special bond with Boomer, the fluffer pictured above. 

Then we moved into our place!


(Living Room)


(Our Private Bathroom with a CLAWFOOT TUB)


(My sleeping quarters)


(The kitchen!)


(The backyard - view from the hammock, ahhh)

This place is so so beautiful. It has amazing character and it feels like home. There are three other guests staying here besides our host. There is a pilot from Germany, an accountant from Ireland, and a Jacksonville transplant.


Ok, moving on to some more fun stuff: Food. Now I'm going to be honest. I have not been as committed to veganism as I used to be. Sometimes I mess up and it's premeditated [quest bars, quest chips, mostly when I am worried about my crazy 100g protein intake for trying to improve my lifts. Still not really an excuse.] Or, I am inebriated and making a poor decision [pizza, snickers bars, etc.,] I've decided to become much more committed to my veganism. My body just feels shitty when I eat dairy. My eczema flares when I eat it, and I just feel that gross karma sitting in my gut just like, "What are you doing?" Then I think of this image: 


So... Enough is enough. Here are some nice vegan food stuffs I've been eating.


Rice, Beans, Fried Plantains, & Brussel Sprouts!


Is there anything more perfect than this picture? A crunchwrap (subbeansforbeefnosourcreamnocheeseaddguacamoleaddpotatoes) on the beach!?



The avocados are amazingly cheap and delicious here.


I made this fettucine "alfredo" using avocado, some of the leftover pasta water, lemon juice. and garlic. It's creamy and delicious! (Also there's some beyond meat chick'n in there!)


There is a really cool (but kind of expensive) health food store right near me that sells amazing sandwiches and FOUR different kinds of veganaise. Although I'm avoiding buying any, it's still impressive.


Some really good 'za I got from Moon River Pizza! Although they mispronounce Daiya (I know it LOOKS like it should be die-uh it's apparently day-uh, ok!?!?)

I've also been working out nearly every day and I have a really good routine going. I'm working hard on my three big lifts and as of now I'm in the triple digits for my deadlift and squat. My bench is coming along super slowly but I think by next week I'll be able to hit that 80 lbs.! So that's cool. I bought a polar ft4 heart rate monitor and it has motivated me so much more to know exactly how much I am burning especially when it comes to lifting where guesstimating calories is just a total crapshoot. 


I burned 666 calories, of course.


I also bought some fresh nikes and have been rocking high ponytails to combat that humidity.

Alright so there's some good pictures to hold you people over. (Hi, mom). So besides eating and living in a glorious old southern house, I am also actually doing an internship and writing. I am going to do a separate post on my thesis work, but the internship is great! It's wonderful to meet a community of writers and see how dedicated they all are. The 8 weeks I'm spending down here feels like a perfect amount of time to actually do some work meeting people and growing roots here, which is what I really wanted to do. Tomorrow evening is the first writing night of our new series and I'm the host! I've still got to decide on some writing prompts but the event is super casual. We meet up at a coffee shop, I get things started and share the prompts, and we write and collaborate for a few hours! I'm having so much fun getting to know this city and I can't wait to see what the rest of my time in D-D-D-Duuuuvaaallll holds.

Best,
M


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