Reading
Since I quit State Zero I have been very successful at one activity: reading.
Would I call myself “well read” absolutely not in fact some of the books I read are kinda embarrassing (insert tween novels here) but I don’t care I enjoy them and sometimes my brain just needs some stupid here and there. When I think of people who are well read I think of my Dad and Bonnie. Those two are smart cookies, VERY smart. They even have their own library.
I have always loved to read all different types of books. I like Smarty books, dummy books, informational books, cooking books, self-help books, inspirational books, design books, gardening books, magazines you name it if it’s interesting to me I’ll read it.
Sometimes, if I’m really into a good book and the characters and/or story resonates with me I will actually get a little depressed when I finish it. I will end of having to find a replacement immediately. Right now I’m reading She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb and I’m really amazed by his writing. Very smart, very witty.
If you ever have any good books suggestions please send them my way!
Food
Food < it’s what’s been on my mind lately.
The real truth is that I’ve been eating whatever I want whenever I want it and it’s definitely not working for me and it shows. I used to think I had the excuse of “I don’t like my job so I deserve this or that.” But I don’t have that excuse anymore and even when I did it really wasn’t a good excuse.
I’m seeing some ugly patterns that have developed over the years and I have to say friends; changing one’s eating habits is HARD. I used to think I ate fairly well but I’m starting to see that I don’t because I LOVE certain things like … sandwiches (bread) and chips. There, I said it and now it’s out there and now you know. I love carbs. I LOVE LOVE LOVE carbs I mean, if I’m at a party and there is a bowl of salted ruffles it’s all over folks. OVER.
I know there are good carbs and bad carbs and for the most part I eat the good carbs but I’m starting to think I need to stay away from them all together for a while. My Dad and Bonnie have been doing the Paleo diet for a long time, my Dad is a type II diabetic and he swears by this diet. He has been able to keep his blood sugar levels low with minimal medication and I see it working for both of them.
So I’m not sure which direction I’m heading in but I think I’m going to start with a juice cleanse. Have any of you out there ever done one and do you have any tips for someone who really likes to eat sandwiches? 
Chasing Shadows …
So this photo of our kiwi patio area has nothing to do with what I’m going to talk about other than the fact that when I took this photo a couple of weeks ago I felt as though I had accomplished a lot that day. I had raked leaves, watered the yard, planted seeds and even made a “table” out of some old benches. I think I earned an A+ in productivity that day.
Today I give myself a C-. I am obviously falling into my old freelance routine; sweats/hood, eating off schedule and staring at my screen without anything to show and before I know it, it’s noon. It’s not that I’m lazy, I’m not. There are SO many things I want to be working on right now but I can’t seem to dig in and get my hands dirty. It’s that “all or nothing” trap I seem to fall into. I’m just now realizing that I like to start a project and finish it the same day. Insane, yes. I have problems with waiting for something to be done because I want to see the end result asap. I mean, it’s why I switched from painting to photography because there was instant gratification. But here’s the thing; I know this way of thinking/doing does not serve me anymore and it’s time to change.
I think a set schedule is in order and everything has to be scheduled at this point:
feeding bigs
juicing
workout
shower
computer work
break
water yard/pick weeds walk outside a bit
computer work
shop if need
start dinner
glass of wine with mr. lovie
read or do a bit more work
bed
repeat
I must say it’s pretty sad that a “shower” is on this list right now.
FREEDOM
What am I looking at you ask? Oh, well, it’s just a little something called FREEDOM (insert photo of Mel Gibson in Braveheart here).
After 3 years of settling for work and an environment that was sucking the soul-juice out of me I quit. Alex and I (team Z) decided that working to live just wasn’t cutting it anymore and that life is too short to spend it feeling awful all the time. The day I walked out I felt as though a 5000 lb weight had been lifted from my head and heart.
I feel something I haven’t felt in a very long time … I feel happy. In fact, with each day comes a new level of certainty that this was the right thing to do. Am I scared about money? At first yes, but not anymore. I’ve got an immense amount of support from Mr. Z without whom none of this would be possible (thank you my love). So while he’s steering the ship I’m down below the deck working on some potions, cozying up the pad and dusting off the old box of imagination that had been left under the bed and almost forgotten. I know with both of us working towards this new exciting goal we’re going to be more than OK.
So what’s next you ask? Everything. We have so much cooking personally and professionally you won’t want to miss it! I will be updating here on LOS until everything switches over to a the brand new blog/site so keep checking back. Sorry for the long delay in posts I promise things are picking up again!
Toxic
Something I can’t seem to stop thinking about is all the toxins our bodies ingest on a daily basis.
Of course there is the obvious culprit known as cleaning supplies (though we try to use Mrs. Meyers when we can it’s not always possible for everything) and what about things like filling up the tea kettle with unfiltered water? Yes, I know boiling is supposed to kill most bateria and other junk but it doesn’t kill everything. What about showering in unfiltered water, taking a bath in unfiltered water, brushing our teeth in unfiltered water and then that leads to thinking about the fact that we brush our teeth with commercial toothpastes which are full of chemicals we also use the brand TOMS but my teeth never feel as clean with that brand, what gives? Another big one are the products being applied directly to the skin which gets into our systems much quicker like body lotion, shampoo/conditioner, creams, makeup, nail polish, nail polish remover … etc. THEN we have the BIG MOFOS pharmaceuticals.
I know nothing I just said is all that enlightening but I just wanted to share my fears and ask if anyone else has these concerns and if so what are you doing about it?
So far I’ve made my own body lotion using organic coconut oil, local cocoa butter, local shea butter, local beeswax (not vegan friendly, I know), olive oil, and a bit of essential oil. I love it and I use it everyday and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a store brand. I also use this deodorant (which I see has gone up $2 in price) but I still love it.
Today I was in the shower and I was trying to read the ingredients in my “vegan friendly” shampoo and conditioner and I couldn’t pronounce one word on the ingredient list, bad. So I looked at our bottle of Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap and lathered some of it into my hair without even thinking. Once I did it I thought ut-oh because it leaves this horrible texture on the hair and it’s this stringy mess once it’s rinsed. So I did two things: I re-washed the Bronner’s soap out of the top of my head with my toxic shampoo and then I put some coconut oil on the ends. When I got out and ‘styled it’ with my toxic products and blew it dry I realized just how SHINY and soft it was, total bonus. Unfortunately underneath my hair (where I think I didn’t wash out the Bronner’s soap things were a mess and really greasy). I had to pull my hair up today. ↓
* After doing a bit of research online I realize this was no invention on my part (har har, duh) and that people all over use it. I also read that it’s not good for color treated hair, sigh … but I haven’t given up on it and I think it would be good for a deep cleansing.
A New Year A New Perspective
Happy 2013 everyone!
A new year, a new perspective (I hope).
We didn’t juice for two weeks in December and we both got sick, bad us. But we started again this week and I’m hoping that a little routine here and there will be a good thing.
Today’s juice:
Tuscan kale & red kale
celery
cucumber
carrots
apples
spinach
parsley
bok choy
swiss chard
broccoli stems
zuchinni
peace out y’all!
Bicycles and Capes
Bicycle ride + Mr. Lovie + sunshine on a lovely fall day + my cape = one great day.
Here are some of my favorite instagram photos of late (I think I might be a little tiny bit addicted to it). You can view more here or follow me @thewildwoman!
Round These Parts …
It’s been so long I almost forgot how to “blog” (what a strange thing to say).
Anyway … I’m making some changes round these parts not just visually but also with the content so stay tuned on that end of things.
More importantly I’m making changes personally (on the inside) and I hope that those changes will be reflected here more than anything.
One of these changes is my supposed diet. I’ve decided not to define myself with the foods I eat nor stick to any category of food eater i.e. meat eater, vegetarian, octo lavo vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian etc … I’m becoming a good-for-me-foods-that-make-me-healthy-and-happy-tarian.
Finding Happiness
Photo: Mr. Lovie (Alex)
It’s funny, I’ve never really thought about happiness as being a choice. I thought people were either happy, depressed or in-betweeners. Maybe this is too naive to admit but I thought it was one’s genetic makeup to either be a “glass half full” or “glass half empty” type of person. Yes, we all have moments; dark, light, serious, sad, funny, loving and hating … but in general I think people lean one way or the other. I myself lean towards the glass half empty but there are times when the glass is overflowing so who knows, maybe I’m really an in-betweener? My brother Tommy is a glass half full type. He has been through some real serious sh*t these past couple years and still he has hope, he laughs, he jokes, he smiles and he still believes that things will get better.
So I guess what I’m really saying is that I don’t think it’s a genetic predisposition anymore. I now think happiness is a choice one has to make and no matter where I’m at in life I have to decide which way I want to go in spite of life’s woes. No one thing is going to make me happy, no one person, no one event, no one job and there is no secret potion. For me it’s about connecting my headspace and heartspace and getting back into filling up my soul’s gas tank. This isn’t easy for me because seeing the glass half full is not my “go to” place but I want it to be I really do.
Alex says “look at the deep wealth of your life and take pride in what you can do with it.”
Dylan & Cooper
Sara and I have been trying to arrange a photo shoot of her, Len and the babies for months now. It seems that we keep running into obstacles and the one time I was able to come over Len was out of town! So we are going to do another shoot when time permits. In the meantime here are a couple of shots of the cute ones Dylan & Cooper with their Mama.
