sorry,
carinamcreations.com can't come to the phone right now.

HI LETS TALK ABOUT LIPSTICK

Yo whaddup

I wish I had some great excuse as to why I haven't even looked at this blog in almost a year, but alas the only excuses I have are that I've been non inspired and I forgot my password.

Those don't seem like big whoops, but let me tell you when you go to try and write something with no inspiration and realize you don't even know how to do a blog anymore it's real easy to just throw your hands up and say oh well too hard, gonna go watch netflix instead.

Why I have I been so uninspired? I don't know. 

Food just doesn't really do it for me anymore.

But you know what does?

Lipstick.

Sorry.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Anybody still here?
Ya you are, I can see you still checking in for some odd reason.

My last post a million years ago, was about how I have embraced a vegan diet and I added a photo of a delicious skillet full of pasta.
Now here I am, still on a vegan diet and still eating that same roasted vegetable pasta dish basically every night for dinner. I guess the only right thing to do would be to share that recipe with you...except I don't really have a recipe so much as a list of ingredients and vague instructions. I refuse to be categorized as a food blogger, so if I just give really crappy instructions on delicious food I feel like that takes that title off of me while still giving me some street cred. My head is a really weird place, and this plan somehow makes sense up there.

Vegan

About month or two ago I watched a documentary.

It was some shady back alley film I found on the internet, it was full of heated arguments and night vision shots of sad mistreated animals being raised for the slaughter house.

This film brought up an anger and sadness in me, but mostly just made me want to puke.
(I wouldn't recommend anyone go through those 40 something minutes of emotions on purpose.)

It also gave me an epiphany of sorts.

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread || Part Deux

Remember that one time I made some dairy free chocolate hazelnut spread, then made that crazy time consuming nutella crepe cake?!

How could you forget right. 

Well, you could probably forget quite easily because you weren't the one who spent a hundred years flipping crepes. 

But I will never forget.

Currently // June & July 2015

In preparing for this July favorites, I realized I never even did a June post.
Oops!
So here are some things I've been enjoying over the last couple of months.

About Those Hair Extensions // featuring a lot of photos of my face

If you follow my on the Instagram like you should be (if not, what are you even doing with your life?) you will have noticed a bit of a hair evolution over the last few months. 

One day its short, one day it's long..suddenly there are bangs then they are gone.

(I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!)

This is because I am now the proud owner of some Laced Hair extensions. 

When I had long hair I always wanted to get some clip ins to add extra body and length to my tresses, but after I chopped off my hair they became a necessity. 

I may be exaggerating about the necessity of them, but how else am I to get a beautiful long braid when the desire hits! 

Don't get me wrong, I looove my short bob. I've had it almost a year now and I have no intention of growing it out anytime soon. 

That said, it is difficult to have certain hairstyles with short hair.

Full braids are a no, sock buns don't work out quite right, and pony tails look so sad and pathetic. 

A Beginners Guide to Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome

Last month marked the year anniversary of my last visit to the autonomic center at Stanford.
No I didn't have this date circled on the calendar, I just happened to make the mistake of trying to drive somewhere on the high schools graduation day this year, which reminded me of that same day last year when I was trying my hardest to hold in the desire to pass out, and or puke while stuck in miserable traffic.
That tilt table test was a doozy, you guys.
But it got me thinking about how far I've come in this last year. Not that I don't still feel like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, but things are a lot brighter then they were last summer.

So I thought I'd spread a little of my P.O.T.S knowledge out into the universe because there is nothing I like doing better then telling people what to do.
I'm really pretty good at giving advice about life.
You wouldn't be able to tell this about me because my own life is a giant pile of doodoo, but I do follow my own advice most of the time so maybe I shouldn't start up a new career as a life coach.

Just call me CarinaMD, which is basically what my real life social media handles are, but thats because that's all I could get related to my actual name not because I think I'm a doctor.
Now we have that issue settled down.
(shameless plug: follow me @carinamdee on all the things)

I could go on for days about doctors, and medicine and proper diagnosis. But this is more about after diagnosis.
You've been given this life sentence, what now?
(also see my letter to a newly diagnosed personage, and this post from  a few months ago)

If you don't have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, and don't care to learn about treatment options or you don't have an hour to read this post, don't click on.
It's very long and very medical.

from me to you

Dear personage recently diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome,

Chewy Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I've been staring at this page for a good twenty minutes trying to think of something clever to right here in this post, but the truth of it is that is is too hot, my mind is focused on the two episodes of American Horror Story I have left to watch and I am currently using all my internal power not to go make a large pre-dinner snack of tacos.

I can't think right when I'm hot and hungry and in the middle of a Netflix coma.

I just cannot.

Adventures in Whale Watching

Turns out trying to catch a pic of a moving whale is a lot harder then it looks.

Especially when you don't have a zoomy enough zoom, and you're wearing glasses that keep fogging up every three seconds, and then the minute you put the camera down to clean your glasses is when the big'ol thing decides to start doing back flips.

It was a whole thing you guys.

Port San Luis || Avila Beach, Ca

This post is actually a compilation of two separate visits to Port San Luis, because I waited so long to post this that I had gone again.
The second time was in an attempt to see whales though, not an actual intentional visit to the Peir so i guess that makes it fine.

Disclaimer: I did not see any whales. Unless you count the splashes a million miles away that people say were whales.
But, no pics didn't happen.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Chicken Taquitos || Two ways

I have this thing about myself where I fixate on one thing and then over do it to oblivion until I am so sick of it I never want to think about it again.

This happens with foods, television, music, clothing, and anything else that I see/eat/listen to. 

It's why Netflix runs my life and why I've listened to the Brandon Flowers album exclusively on loop for the last two weeks.

This obsessiveness is also why I could never even begin to be a drinker or drug user. There's no such thing as recreational usage of anything when you are me.

Anyway, in addition to eating salmon cakes like they are going out of style I have developed another food addiction while out of an oven.

Being without an oven meant I suddenly developed this thing with frying foods, which is not a good thing so thank goodness I have an oven again.

Now that I do have the power to bake again, I can continue my taquito love in a slightly healthier way, but because I believe in the power of equal opportunity I shall share with you both methods of cooking these little bundles of joy.

Avila Beach, CA || Avila Valley Barn

On this installment of Carina goes places, we're talking about Avila Valley Barn.

Currently || May 2015

Now that the month is practically over.....amiright?

Gluten Free Salmon Cakes

As you have probably all come to know by now, my oven is broken.

It decided to take an eternal nap starting right in the middle of cooking an Easter roast. It did take the effort to finish cooking it first though, because we train our appliances to always be kind and considerate around here.

If you follow me on instagram or twitter, (both @carinamdee) you will have noticed that I've been making these little salmon cakes a lot lately.

Thankfully, I started working on this recipe before the oven situation, so I knew I would be okay without it. 

This ones all stove, baby.

Big Sur, CA || Pfeiffer Beach & McWay Falls

In a continued effort to be a tourist in my own area, I packed up my camera, put on my hair and headed out to Big Sur a couple of weeks ago. Despite living smack in the middle or the Pacific Coast Highway, I've never made the drive up the cliff to Big Sur.

Penny La Poo Turns 11!

My baby turned eleven and I made her wear a hat, so I thought you all should know about it.



Let it also be noted that after eleven years, she still is the worlds worst model.


Enjoy! xoxox

Send Me Gluten Free Subscription Box || April

Last month I introduced you guys to the Send Me Gluten Free subscription box, had a giveaway and shared a little cinematic entertainment.
This month, SMGF has again sent me a bright orange box full of delicious things, and while I won't be giving another box away, I do have another video for you.
No snake venom was spilled, so it is far less entertaining, but such is life.

Currently || April 2015

Watching: Finished Friends and then I felt the inevitable end of series on Netflix void but then Netflix was like here watch 3rd Rock now, so I did. Bringing back the 90's child feels and all that.
Plus you guys, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. A Tina Fey \ Netflix original that you can totally knock out in one afternoon.