'tis true

i.  feel.  awesome.

and totally validated by the mirror in the ladies lounge at whole foods.

winterlove {№8}

my most favorite day in february?  it's not valentine's day for sure.  it's the day the quince blossoms push through the bramble singing the first sweet song of spring.

this winter has been easy to love.  but i am still looking forward to bright warm days and air that is perfumed with flowers and soft rain.

virginia is for lovers

not haters.  not fearmongers.  not frightened zealots. 

LOVErs. 

“love is the big booming beat which covers up the noise of hate.”
-margaret cho

winterlove {№7}

oh virginia, your politics make me want to scream. 

but girl, your winter rocks.

good♥food

kind, clean and colorful.  that's how i want to live and eat.

i am increasingly unable to ignore the faint whisper that is reminding me to eat and live as i believe.  to eat clean and beautiful foods that make me sparkle on the inside and do not cause harm to my body or the animal kingdom.  to harmonize my mind and body in the practice of yoga on a regular basis.  over the last decade or more i have shut out this voice and lived in a way that is out of alignment with who i am. 

often i dive in to something head first once i open my heart and mind to it.  this impulsiveness results in a crash and burn and then a retreat to the same old habits.

i'm trying to move more slowly, consciously, deliberately into new and beautiful practices.  beginning with things i love and then softly stretching to allow space for more goodness.

can i tell you how much i love quinoa?  more specifically, can i tell you how much i love every single variety of my rainbow quinoa salad i've created since first trying it last summer?  quinoa nurishes me and provides such a stable foundation for vibrant add-ins. 

for this version i used rainbow quinoa, which is a mix of white, red and black quinoa.  isn't it gorgeous?  i couldn't wait to take its photo.  then i wanted to make out with it.

winter rainbow quinoa (all organic if you can)

1. cook one cup of quinoa
2. dress lightly with a splash of olive oil and the zest and juice of one lemon, orange or lime
3. finely chop a spectacular confetti of purple cabbage, carrots and unsweetened dried cranberries
4. mango! 
5. a few spoons of chia seeds
6. a few handfuls of toasted pepitas
7. cilantro

use what you love and make it beautiful.

i'm so excited about the juicing!  the green juice from last week is quickly becoming my daily go-to.  but remember the soft stretching?  this week, i allowed in some beet, which i have complained all the livelong day tastes like dirt.  i juiced one up with some carrot, cucumber and spinach.  it sure is pretty and only had the slightest tinge of dirt.  wait, let me reframe that:  it tasted of the earth.

i'm working on it.

in my twenties i was a vegetarian for over a year.  and by vegetarian, i mean i survived on bean and cheese burritos, pizza and french fries.   basically it was a lousy diet minus the meat.  there was nothing conscious or beautiful about it.  i haven't made the decision yet to go veg.  maybe there won't be a decision.  maybe it will just be an organic shift toward the kind, clean and colorful.

winterlove {№6}

four days away from the office. 

four days to check off the goodness on this list:

• mad hunt for new boots.  i want gold boots.  is it weird to want gold boots?
• also:  black quinoa to make a delicious winter version of this with blood oranges and pom seeds in place of the peaches
• locate the perfect spot in la casa for ginormous metal and lightbulb peace sign
• haircut.  you may ask why a haircut is on a goodness list?  it's because my stylist rocks!  she is hilarious and truly an artist of the hair.  also, scalp massage.
• i need a new good book.  any suggestions?
• cuddle time.  i love my man and his new yoga body is nice to look at. 
• sunday morning yoga.  it's my church.
• whole foods trip.  it's odd i know, but i really like strolling the aisles of whole foods.  it inspires me to be my healthiest best.
• also strolling said store with hot yoga man and gold boots would really make me smile.

what's on your list for the weekend lovelies?

green day

i mentioned a few weeks ago that i would keep you updated on my progress since working with meg, my health coach.   things are so so good.   if, like me, you get stuck in your own resistance, talking and working with an objective guide may just be your ticket to radiance.  the advice and non-judgmental support is positively slaying me over here.  and by slaying, i mean opening, seeing, accepting, growing, writing and telling a new story while loving the story that came before.

one thing i struggle with is getting enough greens.  greens and other living oxygen-rich whole foods are the foundation of the physical part of this transformation.  out of all the luscious green food, i'm focusing on eating greens that i love, which are only a small part of the big green world out there.  i'm taking baby steps with spinach, arugula, romaine, avocado and cucumber.  sad but true, these are the only green foods i love to taste.   eventually i hope to open my heart just a wee bit to kale and (gasp!) broccoli. 

the simplest ways for me to get some daily green are salads or to whip up a batch of spinach pesto and eat a few spoonfuls with a cooked egg or on whole grain toast.  also i have launched my new radiant self on to the juicing bandwagon.  it's amazing how multiple handfuls of spinach leaves don't taste anything like spinach when pulverized with some grapefruit, cucumber, pear, mint and ginger.  it's liquid sunshine i tell you.  my skin, my tummy and my tastebuds are singing like a hallelujah choir lit up by brilliant sunshine streaming in through a giant kaleidoscope of a stained glass window.

i've lost weight too.  but here's the thing:  this matters to me but not that much.  i think i'm feeling vitality for the first time in my life.  this is what matters.  living a pure and energized organic life.  i'm not nearly there yet, but i can see the road ahead.  it's a beautiful shade of brilliant green.

green day juice
makes about 32 ounces
in the juicer (organic if you can):
one pear
one cucumber
one grapefruit
four or five handfuls of baby spinach
one inch ginger
one sprig mint

winterlove {№5}

in this unusually warm and sunny winter, spring blossoms are experiencing their third (third!) false start.  given i am a master practitioner of the false start, i applaud their eager beaverness.

winterlove {№4}

rainy cold days in winter bring on intense bouts of summer roadtrip planning.  i can feel the wind in my face, my bare feet warming on the dash and the sharp freeze of a blue icee on my tongue.  i can hear the clatter of a diner full of strangers as i await my pancakes.  i love a roadtrip and it's been much too long.

some random things i've seen on roadtrips:

• a pig/boar/creature roadkill the size of a vw beetle in georgia
• wall drug
• when we drove across the country, our trip agenda accidentally fell in sync with a cross-country tour of the promise keepers.  it prepared us for life in lynchburg.  all the public praying and carrying on.
• spontaneous roadside shakespeare
• foot tall banana cream pie
• stunning scenery.  we live in an amazing land.

where would you like to go?  i'm thinking about tackling the longest yard sale this year.  at least the southern part of it.  has anyone been to this?  do tell.