gluten free – Living off Leesh

CUPCAKES

Published on July 2, 2016May 27, 2018 by AliciaLeave a comment

Alright, friends. Living in California and being vegan is one thing. There are vegan shops, cafes, restaurants, and Whole Foods on every other block. In Chicago, on the other hand, vegan food is a bit more hard to come by. Yes, I can get my fresh fruit, veg, and yes my ever so needed protein at Target, Trader Joe’s, and our sole Whole Foods. However, when it comes to sweets, and meals at restaurants that are vegan that’s another story.

For my birthday, I mentioned I was going to make a vegan cake. Yet, on the day of my birthday our gas went out and I was unable to use my stove. Wanting some sort of cake or cupcake because what kind of birthday is it without cake? My mom and I ventured to Whole Foods to see if we could find some vegan cake. They only had gluten-free cakes 😦 BUT they had vegan cupcakes. Naturally, I bought 3 to have one then and then save some for later. It was not only one of the best vegan desserts I have ever eaten but any dessert I have ever eaten. Also, it turns out that the cupcakes are made right here in Chicago.

This morning, my mom and I made the drive there, got there right as they opened and got 6 cupcakes. 3 vegan and gluten-free and 3 regulars (I’m the only vegan in the house).

The outside of Swirlz. Very quaint but super adorable

Swirlz (the name of the cupcake place) has flavors of the day. They mainly are nonvegan and filled with gluten but they also make gluten-free ones, and vegan and gluten-free ones. Today’s selection in the vegan and gluten-free department were cookie dough and vanilla. I’m typically not too keen on cookie dough or vanilla. I’m more of a chocolate kind of gal. However, upon returning home, and opening the super cute box the cupcakes were housed in, I have fallen in love with cookie dough cupcakes and the Swirlz cupcake shop in general. The cupcake was sort of like a chocolate chip cupcake with a dollop of cookie dough in it and then topped with vanilla frosting and a cookie dough piece.

The shop was super adorable and I am definitely feeling a second trip on a different day for another cupcake type. 😉

PS, I highly recommend this shop to any of my followers who are ever in my neck of the woods. Vegan or not, their cupcakes are to die for.

They are located at: 705 w. Belden, Chicago, IL 60614

Their website can be found here

If any of you have been there or are planning on making a trip, let me know.

Alicia

Starbucks stop after the cupcake stop

Ty mom for this photo. Ty vinted for my cute kimono

🙂

She looks a little upset because she knew she wasn’t getting any

The Top 100 Inspirational Weight Loss Bloggers

Published on May 17, 2016June 25, 2016 by AliciaLeave a comment

Hi, everyone. Look at me double posting. My life update post will be up in the next few days, however, I was checking my stats page this morning and saw that I had a lot of viewers that were referred to my blog by DietToGo.

Curious as to how that was, I clicked the link in my stats and was brought here

I immediately noticed that the post was entitled “The Top 100 Inspirational Weight Loss Bloggers You’ve Probably Never Heard Of (Until Now)” and got super stoked because people have noticed I exist and they think I’m decently cool.

Your girl (me) was lucky enough to score spot #13 on that list (happens to be my favorite number too) and I’m just so happy/stoked/honored to be put on this list with so many other amazing bloggers.

So, I recommend everyone check out DietToGo’s post and check out all of the other amazing bloggers who are also featured on the list. I know I did!

Anyway, I want to say again how excited I am that I was featured and want to thank Caitlin (author of the post) for taking the time to hand select my blog and to read some of my posts. It means so much

Talk to you all soon,

Alicia

Tourist in my own city

Published on January 10, 2016October 14, 2016 by AliciaLeave a comment

Hi guys,

With just a little over a week left in Chicago before my 2nd semester at San Diego State, I have realized how fortunate I am to live in 2 of the top 10 largest cities in the United States. I have taken so many photos of my time in San Diego and all the explorations I have done there, yet never realized how amazing Chicago is. So, I’m going to make a nice lil compilation post about my explorations of Chicago since I’ve been home.

Mona

Totem Pole

Very eery

Buddha

Trees and Lake Michigan

I thought this was gorgeous

Depression Reference

Recreating Ferris Bueller’s Day off

Buddha Friend

Chagall Windows

Butterflies

Very pretty Leopard

I bought the englightenment one

It was snowing, raining,sleeting

Egypt Tomb

Modern Wing Mirror

Horse Racing

Georgia O’Keefe and hermana

LION

Me and the Buddha

Shoes

Christkindlmarket

Very Cute lady and dog made of shells

He was very dispraportionate

Greektown Bathroom

vegan and gf food

Sue the Dinosaur

vegan and gf food

Love this quote

There you all have it.. me being a tourist everywhere I go

Talk to you all soon

Alicia

Why Random was the Right Choice for me

Published on November 8, 2015June 25, 2016 by AliciaLeave a comment

While most people spend months trying to sing the perfect roommate or trying to convince their high school bestie that living together won’t break up their friendship forever, I was still trying to convince my parents to let me go to school here in San Diego. Picking a roommate wasn’t really a top priority on my list.

All I did on the subject of a roommate was fill out a little survey of what time I go to bed, the loudness and brightness of the room when sleeping, and how clean I keep the room. Honestly, I was terrified since everyone I knew had hand-picked their roommate’s through facebook posts and messaging or through mutual friends.

Then I began to hear horror stories of bad random roommates. My aunt’s college roommate stole a lot from her, so much that she kept everything but bedding and toiletries in her car on campus.

The second we were able to see who our roommates were, I stalked her on instagram. It’s ok… she did the same to me. I saw that she was a vegan which is good I’m thinking because of my lactose allergy. She seemed like a nice girl.

Little did i know that a silly survey about bedtime and nightly regimen would turn into me finding my freshman year best friend. We both are allergic to gluten, love cartoon network, binge watching netflix, and silently judging people. She tolerates my obnoxious singing and my “rockland” phrases, and I tolerate her random noise making and terrible California terms. We’ve made it two months without killing each other and I’m sure we can survive more. If she somehow hasn’t killed me yet, I think I’m in the clear.

I’m so happy I got my roommate as my roommate because I doubt I could make fun, yell at, sing to, annoy, and piss off as much as her and somehow not have a knife in my head (she has threatened but it has yet to happen). So many people say random roommates are shitty, but personally I think I’m happier than all of my friends who picked their roommates. We didn’t have to impress each other over facebook or give each other false expectations of the super cool life we live and how great we are in order to woo each other. We literally just showed up on the first day of school and the rest is history

Did any of you guys go random? Did you have the same experience as me… or different?

Talk to you all soon

Alicia