This past weekend I headed to North Carolina to visit my brother-in-law at college with Ryan and his parents…It was so fun and relaxing to get away and celebrate Ryan’s birthday with family…I mostly stayed away from social media and I only checked my email once (which is a setback today as I’m continuing to wade through my very full inbox…but so worth it!) and I have to say that I feel so relaxed and refreshed…I think a social media fast every now and then is  seriously good for your soul. Okay that sounds kind of dramatic or new-agey, but I really think it’s true! It helps you focus on the moment by moment happenings of life and the people around you — instead of on what everyone else is doing at the moment…

Speaking of fasts, today marks the first day of a JUICING fast that Ryan and I decided to go on for the week…I was inspired by a few documentaries about it and by my mother-in-law to try it for the health benefits and as a detox. We’ll see how this goes…There are so many benefits to it though, that we decided to try it! Your body wastes so much energy digesting certain foods that it never gets a chance to cleanse itself of a lot of toxins…Ryan and I normally eat pretty healthfully (aside from this past weekend…I blame 2 birthday dinners and Super Bowl munchies!!), but we definitely don’t eat enough raw foods. I’ll let you know how it goes…

Here’s all the veggies and fruits that went into my juice for lunch! Spinach, romaine lettuce, parsley, apples, a carrot, celery, an orange and a lemon…All of this only made one mason jar full of juice…

Juicing tip number 1: DONT try and make up your own recipes unless you know what you’re doing…I thought I could just throw stuff in the juicer and it would turn out okay, but I think I’ll use a recipe from now on…It wasnt terrible, but I just think it could be a lot better…It doesn’t look super appetizing does it?

If you know of any good websites for juicing recipes, I’d love to hear em! I’m thinking if we don’t do an actual “fast” of only juice, then we can at least sub it out for breakfast and snacks!

And on a different note…here’s another peek at Erica and Andy’s DC engagement session! These two are so cute!