Pistachio Pesto
This week has been about freshening things up for me. I've freshened up my exercise routine because I was becoming lazy and lethargic and very bored with the entire idea of exercising. Not the greatest mentality to have, but hey I'm human and it's the truth. I'm no fitness-fanatic but I enjoy movement and the feeling it gives me. So I got my act together and rejuvenated my routine. I've been exercising when I actually feel like it, not when I tell myself I have to, which for me is best quite late at night which goes against the grain I suppose. I really suck at exercising or getting to the gym after work. I find going much, much later relaxes me for sleep funnily enough. Otherwise waking up when it's still dark and exercising works for me too. I really feel motivated to move when it's dark - strange but also the truth. So I figure if that's what works for me, that's what I'll do!
I also freshened up my hair! I walked into the salon asking for what most women do.
"Just a millimetre off the ends to tidy it up" aka do not under any circumstances cut what has taken me a lifetime to grow.
Then the lovely hairdresser looked at my hair and spoke to me for I-kid-you-not 25 minutes about my hair, how I wash it, how I wear it, how I style it - the works. I suffer a bit with hair loss (hereditary) and had an enormous amount of stress towards the end of last year which caused a few physical symptoms. My fab doctor warned me that hair loss was the last thing to happen when the body undergoes extreme stress and we hoped it wouldn't happen...but it did. I looked in the mirror at my sparse and straggly locks, those that took me so long to grow out from my pixie cut, and knew my hairdresser was right. I just didn't have enough hair to support my layers and length. So I threw caution to the wind and said, "I trust you, do what you think is best". After all, she is the professional. She knows what's what with hair. So we trimmed to the collar bone, all one length, no layers. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't kinda dying inside. She looked at me when she had made the first snip, and with a big smile on my face I exclaimed sarcastically "NO!! I've changed my mind!" to which she replied in an instant "It's ok, we'll just give you an undercut!" I feel like someone had said that to her before so she was prepared with a great comeback! But instantly I knew I'd made the right decision.
I walked out an hour later feeling fresh, fabulous and as though I had magically doubled my hair in volume. I love it!
And lastly, this week I freshened up my basil. God, it was looking sad. 40 degree days really aren't the greatest for delicate basil leaves. Even though they looked so so sad, they still had a beautiful fragrance. I tore off all the leaves I could, leaving the new growth in the hopes it'll come back, and popped them into my vitamix with some other yummy stuff. And in under a minute I had freshened up my brownish-looking basil into the most brilliantly vibrant green pesto!
So here's to changing things up and finding out that change and freshen up can work wonders :)
- 1 cup basil
- 1/3 cup pistachio kernals
- 1/2 - 1 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbs lemon juice
