good morning

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to a black sky and a perfect yellow crescent moon hanging in visibility, centered amidst the branches of my willow tree. I jumped up to get my camera, but then remembered the battery died yesterday. I briefly beat myself up for not charging the battery the second I noticed it, but the distractions are rampant and you can't dwell on the past. That's my excuse.

So, I had this internal argument about whether or not I should go back to sleep at 4:30am and decided to stick with this path of discipline I have chosen for myself and get my butt on the treadmill. The 20 minute walk and time of reading was wonderful. I found great inspiration from Artful Blogging Magazine. There are some wonderful artists contained in this publication and it is definitely worth the $15 to pick up a copy. Check out www.stampington.com for more details.
I'm thinking of checking out "where women create" and "green craft" magazine as well.

This year will be a time of enhanced growth and advancement in body, mind & spirit. This decision was made before the new year and was not really a resolution but a conscious, active decision that I have been purposing myself to stick to each day. Life is all about individual, recurrent, frequent decision making that impacts all of life and makes up the past. Through these purposeful decisions we can affect our future in a positive or negative way, and I want to have a positive, health-filled future.

After I got off the treadmill I had a big glass of water and a bowl of fresh raspberries. Can you even wait for berry picking season?!

daily progress

a song for you by Jacob

Today I accomplished parts of my goals and feel that any baby step towards progress is progress indeed!

10 minutes on treadmill
5 minutes yoga home practice
ate half watermelon for breakfast with the kids
made a delicious fruit smoothie for breakfast
inspired myself & others


Today my son Jacob & I were cooking scrambled eggs and he was telling me how Daddy cooks
hard-boiled eggs for him and asked me if the eggs we were cooking make him strong and my response to him was, "any kind of egg eating makes you strong." He accepted this response happily. It was one of those moments where you feel such love for your sweet child.

We are currently drinking vanilla almond milk and chocolate soy milk as a substitute for cow's milk and my children find it quite enjoyable. My one downfall is coffee with french vanilla creamer, which I have not yet sought out a suitable replacement for.

I have to sadly admit that this raw food diet is hard to apply even with the right foods stocked. I suppose you can make it as easy or as hard for yourself as you want. Last night on the way home from yoga, Turner begged for an ice cream cone from Stewarts, which I reluctantly stopped for and then out of habit ordered myself one as well....which broke my raw food diet. Dairy is going to be the element of this lifestyle shift that will be the hardest to break.

one week of raw food

So what does one buy when they have decided to go raw?
Keep in mind there are 5 people in my household so I had to consider that we may
eat one each per family member/day.

1 pineapple
2 mini watermelons
1 cantaloupe
5 avacados
2 bunches of bananas
frozen blueberries
8 lemons
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch dill
4 heads broccoli
4 red peppers
1 orange pepper
1 yellow pepper
2 starfruits
5 kiwi fruit
6 lbs. empire apples
4 pints blueberries
2 pints blackberries
2 pints raspberries
5 cucumbers
grapefruit
green grapes
5 quarts strawberries
2 quarts stonyfield farms organic yogurt
4 lbs. oatmeal
raisins

I am so looking forward to this exciting week of eating fresh food. Our tastebuds will change and will no longer appreciate the taste of processed, sugary foods, which will further encourage the consumption of life giving food!

the gift of today

life giving produce!

I have finally pared down to just the items needed on the kitchen counter and it looks great!

I am grateful for occasional abundance

I had the absolute pleasure of attending two anusara yoga classes today at Saratoga Springs Yoga http://www.saratogaspringsyoga.com/ ;where I have been attending class for one month; both taught by beautifully in-touch women who know what they are teaching. Things were learned about my own body and soul that I was not previously aware of. For example, I was told by one of my instructors that I am very bendy and have a hard time hugging in. At the later class that I attended, the next instructor told me that I am so flexible that I shoot out and explode my bright energy into forever and need to work on hugging that energy in more, with strength so that I can support my structure more muscularly. If the body expresses a manifestation of the soul, that would completely explain it because I am very flexible; almost to a fault or the point of injury; and need to work on not allowing myself to bend so much that my bone structure is compromised...i.e. boundaries. Many times, I drop my guard and allow people to walk all over my boundaries, and this has ultimately broken me in the past. I'm going to strive to build strength in each posture I take and each life experience.

Today I have also decided to experiment with a one week raw food diet. My grocery bill was $230 due to the fact that I did not limit what produce I purchased because I will be eating produce to the point of satisfaction and do not want to be starving or dissatisfied throughout the day. This also allowed for 20 bags of groceries! The children will be eating a lot of berries and melon for each meal, which they have never argued with in the past. It will be a vast improvement over the dairy/egg/chicken nugget/hot dog/pasta/pizza/white bread lifestyle that many kids are subjected to because people think this is "kid food". I want myself and my children to be extremely healthy and strong for life and this is one step we will be taking towards a healthful future.

My cleaning challenge is working. I have successfully taken care of one clutter pile in my bedroom and also organized my kitchen cabinets and counter. It is truely amazing how a clean house can clear your mind from cluttered, cloudy thinking and perception. Besides it is much easier to maintain a clutter free, minimalist living space.