Ananda!

Young Living has great oils, but they are expensive. The essential oils at this site look really great too, for less. I've got some on the way to try, can't wait! I love this site. Lots of good information. If you're looking for more affordable EO's try these! Just don't buy them at a health food store, or for too cheap, even if they say "100% pure therapeutic grade". Take it from one who obsessively researches things! You get what you pay for, and there is no way to sell high quality oils dirt cheap, unless they are less than pure. So for now, I trust YL oils, and Ananda!

Essential Oils - Flower Essences - Aromatherapy, Organic & Pure

Our Flu Prevention Plan

Seems like everyone is getting sick! So, thought I'd share our plan to stay as healthy as possible this fall and winter.

-wash hands w/ good soap (pref. handmade or all natural, organic) the minute we enter our house
-keep house clean w/ anti-bacterial cloths & essential oil cleaning solution
-kids to bed by 8 at the LATEST, after bath & nightly foot rub w/ Young Living EO's
-diffuse anti-bacterial, anti-viral, healing oils to sanitize air, daily
-limit sugar intake, absolutely no fake or processed sugars
-eat colorful, healthy, whole, local (as much as possible) food every day. no boxed or processed or fast foods. limited white flour, whole grains, brown rice...LOTS of veggies, very little meat (none for me!) or dairy.
-a good (all-natural, w/ plenty vitamin D3!) multi-vitamin every day. I've learned vitamin D is particularly important during winter as lack of this vitamin, which we get from sunlight mostly, contributes to weakened immune system. It is said that Vit D3 is safer, to make sure to get that one. I have Young Living's HERS mutli-vitamin.
-use appropriate EO at earliest sign of symptoms

*EO=essential oils. They are amazing. Here's a link if you want to learn more about them.

new post for my mason jennings blog

I'm seeing him in concert in SLC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait!!!! Here's one of my most favorite songs!

just another one about, guess who...

I could just blog about Mason Jennings every day. I might.

This short film is about the creation of Blood of Man. The unexpected rock album, he says, is about "defending the feelings that come up in every human being", and will play as if, indeed, it's a "human being making the music". Awesome awesome awesome! Too much awesome.



Guess what I'll be doing Sept. 15th? :)

Meet My New Love

If he doesn't become HUGE, the world is MAD! Mason Jennings is a rare gem...genuine, deep, raw, inspired, and unbelievably good. Everything you could ask for in a music artist! I will travel far and wide to see him because I MUST. :)

Listen to his new song, from his new album Blood of Man due out this September!

HERE

Summer Garden Dinners!

There's no going back. Must forever and always, from this day forward have a garden! This was our first, and while the cucumbers, strawberries, & raspberries quickly died, much is thriving! This week was our first harvest: jalapenos and zucchini -and we are pretty proud of these babies we've raised up from seeds. Amazing! The kids love the picking, washing, cooking, and eating of them too! This has also sparked growing independence from cookbooks, using them for inspiration while mostly venturing out on our own with what we've got. It's been fun, always something new and different!

This weeks dinner -homemade whole wheat tortillas (made by Chad), grilled zucchini & roasted jalapenos topped w/ goat cheese (cheddar for the kids) & chipotle salsa


Chad and I really enjoy cooking together, and with the kids (sometimes!)...
CHEERS to eating pretty, healthy food!

Thank You For the Music: Part 1

I remember watching this performance with my sisters, after days of anticipation, jumping hysterically on my mom's bed, screaming and crying and pulling our hair out.



I really believed we could heal the world!

Can't Stop Listening To This!

A favorite Joni Mitchell song of mine, sung so beautifully by Diana Krall. Her voice is amazing! Never heard her until I accidentally stumbled across this while searching for Joni Mitchell videos. I'm a fan now!

Good Food!

People ask me how I find the good eats in Salt Lake. Well, it all started when I got really bored of dining in the same old chains with hour-long waits for frozen food shipped and defrosted, loaded with not so healthy preservatives and who knows what else (not that I can't enjoy the classic Olive Garden salad every now and then). I noticed what a better experience it was to eat at the yummy dives like Red Iguana or Ruth's and wanted to find more of these options.

But I don't live in the city where I might stumble across good food easily, so I actually have to do some research to find the hidden gems. Now it's a hobby; finding good food in charming little local places run by imaginative people who've put their heart and soul into the restaurant of their dreams. I know I over-romanticizing it a bit, and not many places are this special, but Gloria's Little Italy is one that is!

A few more: Eggs in the City, Cafe Med, and Flour Girls and Dough Boys.

This issue: Salt Lake Magazine: 100 Utah Foods has been an indispensable guide to my good food hunting. Hope you'll use it too, and share your good food finds with me!

Book High!

Someone took some really cool college courses and donated to Classic Books, where used books are collected and sold, in-store, for Mothers Without Borders funds. So awesome. More awesome is me taking home all of these titles for under $25! Yeehaw!

Blake: Complete Writings
The Collected Poems of Dorothy Parker
Patterns in Comparative Religion
The Ladies of Missalonghi
Interpretation of FairyTales
Pictures from Brueghel and other poems: William Carlos Williams
Hermann Hesse: Poems
Psyche's Stories: Modern Jungian Interpretations of Fairy Tales
The Pregnant Virgin: A Process of Psychological Transformation
Without Reservations: The Travels of An Independent Woman
The Essential Rumi
The Feminine in Fairytales
The Art of Sylvia Plath
The Middle Pillar
Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion
Mysteries of the Dark Moon
Skymates: The Astrology of Love, Sex and Intimacy
Alpha: The Myths of Creation
Myths, Dreams, and Religion
Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences
The Origins and History of Consciousness

Love Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry

This often-cited quote always kind of bugged me. Until I read the book. Now I get it! I loved this book! One of my all time favorites. I don't recall finishing a book and instantly wanting to read all others by the same author until now.



I remembered watching the movie with my mom as a young kid but very little of the story. Only a beautiful girl with great outfits and one very handsome blond boy. :) Can't wait to watch it again! SO glad I read the book, ahhhhh, read if you want to good sad love story that is insightful and brilliant. Loved the characters.

Not a Book Review

This one will be added to my list of all-time favorites. I'd never heard of it before the used book sale. Many thanks to Olivia for recommending it! The stories are little slices of reality told with poetic softness. Truly original.



"I make a story for my life, for each step my brown shoe makes. I say, "And so she trudged up the wooden stairs, her sad brown shoes taking her to the house she never liked."

This book is the reason I read!

One Very Good Reason to Visit SLC this Summer!

Bruges Waffles and Frites!

I have some family and friends far away who owe me a visit dang it! So I'm enticing you with this:

"Pierre Vandamme is bringing the very best of Bruges right here, to Salt Lake City, Utah! Creating his delicious Belgian waffles using generations-old family recipes, handed down through the years, Pierre uses only the very finest in all-natural ingredients, including specially imported Belgian pearl sugar and wonderful Belgian chocolate."



Whipped cream and strawberries, rich dark Belgium chocolate, or both! You choose. Also your choice, one out of ten different gourmet dipping sauces for your frites! Sweet & Salty wholeness awaits you in SLC. :)

Sad Shadow of the Past

Once upon a time there was this cute little ice cream & coffee drive-thru in Salt Lake called Squirrel Brothers. I loved driving past the twirling ice cream cone and sky-painted exterior.


samwibatt posted this photo just before it closed and wrote:
There seems to be renovation activity going on inside, so time to snag a few shots before the new owners, if any, repaint it, if that is their intention (if they exist).

And yes, the new franchise owners repainted!

Tell me this isn't one of the funniest things you've ever seen.

Here's my friend Artie in front of the the new Jimmy John's!

When he was in town for a visit from LA earlier this month he wanted to drive by it again because it was one of his favorite attractions last time he was here. This time the double scoop was turned on! So Artie took a video:



I've googled everything I can think of and still can't find any information. I want to know why the new owners left the ice cream cone up, if painting it black was intended to make the now obsolete double scoop less conspicuous, or if it's merely a joke to draw attention. Further, I want to know why they still have it turned on! Why new Jimmy John's, why?

Summer Reading List

I have a problem with compulsive book buying, especially used books! Absolutely can't resist a book bargain. Yes, I donated A LOT to the Mothers Without Borders used book sale, gladly! So this is my summer reading list. Think I can read all of these by the end of summer? Probably not, but I like to think so. I wish I was a fast reader! I AM sooooo excited about these books!!!








































This last one I'm reading with my kids, for the first time! A chapter every night.



Happy Reading!

Days Like This

How I feel today.

This motherhood thing is impossible. There is no way, for me at least, to keep my house clean and organized, decorate it, print and frame family photos, cook healthy meals daily, teach my kids important life lessons, play and read with them, do homework, take them to parks & museums & farms & planetariums, schedule play dates, shop for necessities like play clothes and toothpaste, buy them shoes, do their hair, the laundry, plan and practice frequent holidays and traditions, go on dates with my hubby, schedule doctor and dentist appointments, be a class mom at least once a week, sign kids up for activities to develop their talents, REMEMBER stuff like donut day with your kindergartner, teach the kids to do chores, do my own chores. All this AND take care of myself: read, write, take a photography class, exercise, get school applications ready, think, blog, correspondence via FB, be a good friend to friends, send birthday cards and thoughtful gifts, and try to make myself look and feel good.

I'm so sure. AND I have an overly helpful, kind & loving, self-sacrificing, accepting, non-judgmental hubby who would do ANYTHING for me and does half, if not more than, his share of the cooking and cleaning, playing with kids, and everything else.

Ahhhh. OVERWHELMING.




At least there are days like THIS in between!

Merry May

A month of halves. Half warm, half cold.
Half still, half windy, but also time to start venturing out.
What to do with this time?
Love it.
It is unpredictable.

-Robert Redford

Tulip Festival, Thanksgiving Point 2009

Surprise storm clouds and strong winds interrupted our picnic and sent us running the first day. It was too cold for any tiptoeing. I forgot sweaters. Luckily, I'd read those wise words about loving May for what it is. Half disappointingly cold or blissfully warm and perfect.


One week later the tulips, 90% in bloom, were lovelier than ever! The dark purple "Queen of the Night" was my favorite!

Pregnant Women Are Smug

Have you been this pregnant girl? Hahahaha!!! This is so cute.

5k Fun Run/Walk AND Used Book Sale TOMORROW!!!

I'm so excited about these two events tomorrow!

You can still sign up for the Utah Food Bank Fun Run/Walk at Flour Girls and Dough Boys! I just signed up today when I realized I could do both this and the book sale! Only $12! FUN!







PLEASE come to the big USED BOOK SALE tomorrow 10-5 at Classic Books, the pretty & very charming new book store on Lehi Main St.! All proceeds for Mothers Without Borders!

Hope to see you there!

Sunflower Farmers Market

Why I love this store!

They actually carry seitan, and the rice sticks I need for pad thai.
Preferred parking for fuel efficient cars, how sweet is that?
It lives up to it's slogan, the prices really are silly!
Found cherry yogurt covered pretzels, my new favorite junky treat.
Great natural food section.
Affordable all-natural, "happy" meat for my meat-eaters.
Umm, and hello it's called SUNFLOWER!

It's like a humble, non-snooty Whole Foods! Exciiiiited. But I still love my local Harmon's! :)

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Sweetest Easter Bunny story I've ever read! This 1939 classic tale of bunnies who deliver eggs to children is also a story of female empowerment! I'm so happily surprised by this pretty little storybook I never knew existed before today. I'll be reading it to my kids tonight before they go to sleep and dream of the Easter Bunny and her golden shoes!

Happy Easter!

Not too late!

The killings have been delayed because of an ice block. Just got an email from the Humane Society asking for letters to our senators. Please send one today!

Better to be 34 than this Awkward Kid!

Braces, big bangs, hot pink lips, electric blue eye liner, huge t-shirt with turtleneck.

The Light Wraps You

Poems by Pablo Neruda illustrated by Pablo Picasso, ooooooh joy! I am so, soooo happy I happened to come across Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. Neruda's poetry is unlike any I've ever been exposed to and I'm not sure I've ever read anything more beautiful!

I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains...
These words have been a happy little echo in mind for days! This is the magic of poems for me. Words that leave a lasting mark and enter your thoughts at timely moments. Just like a song.

From We Have Lost Even:

Sometimes a piece of sun
burned like a coin between my hands.

I remembered you with my soul clenched
in that sadness of mine that you know.

Mother and Child and Four Sketches of the Right Hand
Pablo Picasso

This is my favorite one of all.

The Light Wraps You

The light wraps you in its mortal flame.
Abstracted pale mourner, standing that way
against the old propellers of the twilight
that revolves around you.

Speechless, my friend,
alone in the loneliness of this hour of the dead
and filled with the lives of fire,
pure heir of the day.

A bough of fruit falls from the sun on your dark garment.
The great roots of night
grow suddenly from your soul,
and the things that hide in you come out again
so that a blue and pallid people,
your newly born, takes nourishment.

Oh magnificent and fecund and magnetic slave
of the circle that moves in turn through black and gold:
rise, lead and possess a creation
so rich in life that its flowers perish
and it is full of sadness.

"Pure heir of the day", "great roots of night", "the things that hide in you come out again", "so rich in life that its flowers perish"...these words will recite themselves to me time and again.

Save the Seals

Hundreds of thousands of baby seals are about to be slaughtered for their fur. The annual hunt might already be underway as I type. In the past few years, millions of seal pups have been killed. You can learn about save the seals and sign the petition to help. The strategy to end the seal hunts is a boycott on all Canadian seafood and I've pledged to do just that.

A Fun Fast Ride!

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Three very late nights of being story-gripped and I'm left with a greater appreciation for the psychology of old age, expanded knowledge of depression-era circus culture and a renewed love for elephants. Great read!

Every Day I Celebrate!

Someone sent me the beautiful glass dishes I was loving in my last post! It was suppose to be a birthday surprise but yesterday's arrival from Sundance catalog with "Fragile" stickers all over it sorta gave it away. Haha! But it was still the perfect surprise because my birthday week starts today! Yikes!!! One more week to be 33! How should I celebrate? So glad I had yesterday's heads-up for some heavy pondering about how to greet my 34th year! Thank you Chad, for making it sweet already! You made my day. You make all my days.

I browsed Sundance catalog yesterday and LOVED this:


The Spring Fling Romantic Reads book collection! Exactly what I'm in the mood for, exactly what I'll be reading throughout my birthday month, hopefully outdoors in beautiful weather! What a great list! Love Story, Anna Karenina, Lady Chatterley's Lover, The End of the Affair, Lolita, Love in the Time of Cholera. I've always wanted to read some of these. Spent a good part of yesterday searching for used copies of some of these books online. Sure wish I could find a good used book store nearby!

I'm mostly anxious to dip into Pablo Neruda's Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. The title alone had me, and then I found this excerpt:

My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of
your body.
I go so far as to think that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains,
bluebells,
dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.
I want
to do with you what spring does to the cherry trees.

-from "Every Day You Play"

I want these words to rain over me all month long! :)


Just a few more birthday wishes:

a horseback ride
host a spring tea party
eat Hummingbird cake
a little Sundancing
a really good hike
roller skating on the beach
road trip to Boise, or Moab
a big thunderstorm
rain boots

Recycle Bin For Glass FOUND!!!

My little Green Book says that every ten glass bottles recycled saves 3 pounds carbon.

So I've been saving glass bottles for over 2 years. My husband thinks I'm a little crazy, but I just can't throw it away! Our local recycle pick-up doesn't accept glass, so I've been searching for a place that will recycle it in Salt Lake, for over two years. So excited, and grateful for the author of this blog, I waste no time spreading the word!

The collection spot for glass is right by the Hogle Zoo! Just past the zoo in a parking lot on the same side. YAY!!!


Recycled glass dishes from Sundance. Beautiful! Love it!

Write it on your heart...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Some favorite Irish sayings and proverbs:

Take the world nice and easy, and the world will take you the same.

'Tis better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money!

He is scant of news that speaks ill of his mother.

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,
Love leaves a memory no one can steal.

A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle

It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead the rest of your life.

Dance as if no one's watching, sing as if no one's listening, and live everyday as if it were your last.

Enough and no waste is as good as a feast.

Three best to have in plenty - sunshine, wisdom and generosity.

It's why women marry - the creatures, God bless them, are too shy to say no.

Wide is the door of the little cottage.

God made time, but man made haste.

Get down on your knees and thank God you're still on your feet.

You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

What butter and whiskey won't cure, there is no cure for.

The man who has luck in the morning has luck in the afternoon.

Be they kings, or poets, or farmers,
They're a people of great worth,
They keep company with the angels,
And bring a bit of heaven here to earth

Though not necessarily Irish, this quote sums up the attitude those forever "lucky" friends of mine, have in common. Chad is one of them and I've learned to have a more open spirit from him. I feel like one of these lucky people now! The secret is simple, and perfectly written in this quote.

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wishing you much LUCK, rainbows, magic, and beauty!!!

Books and Baked Goodies!

I'm really excited for this book/bake sale! Contribute to something grand, while purchasing good reads for cheap and picking up a sweet treat! A rare pleasure for sure.

Here's what we still need: BOOKS! Don't forget cookbooks, textbooks, and child/teen literature. Please contact me if you have books I can pick up (even just one), or drop them off at my house, or Olivia's, any time.

If you are interested in helping out with this fun project let me know. We need all the help we can get!

See flier for more info.

Let Me Clean Your Bookshelves

...and give you more space for the new year!



I'm helping my friend Olivia with a book drive to raise money for Mothers Without Borders. Go to the link above if you'd like to learn more about this great cause, and please read this post! I'm so excited to be able to help out with this wonderful project that Olivia has dreamed up!

I will be collecting used books until the book drive coming in April or May. Here is exactly what I need:

-ANY used books, (including child and juvenile literature) in good condition appropriate for resale. DVD and VHS movies.

So, locals, if you have ANY books or movies to donate, please let me know and I'll gladly pick them up.

Please please please spread the word to all of your friends! And, look forward to a great used book sale in April or May. I'll keep you posted...

Please leave me a comment if you have books or movies you can donate. Thank you!

Best Bakery In Town

Flour Girls and Dough Boys! I know this place is no secret. There is always a bit more of a crowd every time I visit, which actually makes me so glad.

The place keeps getting better and better for me, for so many reasons: Bailout Brownies, Coffee, Cookies, and Bread!

First, the Bailout Brownies. Take a look... so cute, so funny!

I ate the BEST cookie there two days ago: Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chip. I challenge anyone to find a better cookie anywhere.

The coffee is most delicious, AND they have raspberry sugar sprinkles!!!

Most importantly: The Bread. I'm always looking for the healthiest bread I can find, that my kids will eat, and at the best price. Well, I have found it...Flour Girl's Whole Wheat Honey Bread is IT! SO SO good. My kids love it, it's pre-sliced with only a few ingredients, affordable, and soft! They have baguettes too! And so many more yummy looking breads, cupcakes, pastries, sandwiches, ice-cream. The place is just heaven on earth, I tell you.

Flour Girls and Dough Boys just might be enough to keep me in Utah county forever. It feels so inspired...someone put all of their imagination, heart, & dreams into the place: the colors, the books, menu board, treat displays -every detail is such a pleasure!

So go there, and ENJOY! :)

Resolution: Play in Snow

I finally purchased my FIRST pair of snow boots and I've lived in Idaho and Utah for 15 years!!! I've always been a fan of enjoying snow from the coziness of the indoors only, but I think it's because I never had the proper winter attire. Nothing is fun with frozen feet stuck in a pair of soaked sneakers! So this year I vowed to get equipped so that I can enjoy some sledding and snowman building with the kids. As soon as I find a pair of gloves, I'm ready to SEIZE THE SNOW DAYS!

Hooray Winter 2009!