step to the right

of your left hemisphere.

If you haven't heard Jill Bolte Taylor's story yet, I highly recommend carving out 20 mins. Sit back, and be amazed.

She was also featured on NPR, and a short excerpt from her book can be found here.



Listening to this last night with Ross was a good reminder of the importance of regularly engaging my brain's right hemisphere. My meditation practice (very very sparse these days) is an excellent way to do that, even just a little time each day. I'm convinced on the power of meditation - after a four day retreat a few years back, I remember coming back to my life and being so absorbed in whatever I was doing; it was challenging to try to step back into the rapid multitasking pace of my 'normal' life.

green girls' night + sangria

Last night I hosted one of my sister's first emagineGreen workshops - we had sangria (really good recipe here), chatted about all things eco, from local CSAs (community supported agriculture), to composting, to our eco addictions (which ranged from Chlorox wipes to paper towels to boiling too much water in our teapots for just one cup of tea). It was a fun evening, and thanks to all my ecoPals for coming!

This weekend I'm aiming to support the little Louisville Farmer's Market again, hopefully hit some garage sales (looking for a little backyard playhouse for Mirelle), do a long run, and chill. We're also heading to a wine tasting/silent auction tomorrow night to support my cousin's nonprofit, revision international.

I also wanted to post a photo of the finished Adirondack dumpster-diving chair, now completely refabed and coated in a orange stain.



And one more crafty-related project. Ross bought this really ugly citronella candle, so I covered it with some iota paper yesterday before the Workshop. That's about as crafty as I have time for these days. Better, no?

Wheeeee ! !

It's summer! We're charting out our plans for the summer - hoping to relish each gorgeous day and drink it all in! Ross rigged up the kiddie swing for Mirelle - not only with the existing rope provided by the manufacturer - but with the addition of about 5 additional feet of climbing rope. That thing catches some air.

A few ways we're celebrating summer:
:: we've now officially made our back patio our dining room for the next four months.
:: regular saturday visits to the farmer's market.
:: meadow music at chautauqua mtn park (kiddie music, dining al fresco)
:: 4-pass loop backpacking trip in the plans for early July
:: a week off in August (to Jackson WY area, perhaps?)

Yipee! Je t'aime l'été!

One more quick post...

Just found Mighty Girl's blog, and while glancing at it ever-so-briefly, I happened upon this post about having a postpartum body. I thought it was good, and just a little reality check about life after having a baby. I think it was around 9-12 months before I really felt like my old self. But I have to admit, after having a child, I was pretty tuned in to the fact that my body rocks, and a few little extra rolls here and there are tiddly winks compared to all of the amazing stuff it can do.

That just reminded me of a great body song I heard a few years back by Lisa Hunter. Here's an Oprah link on that same subject.

Headed out

I'll be logging off for a couple of days - I'm headed to Scottsdale for meetings and conference with emagineGreen. Just wrapped up the first version of their website, amongst other things. My sister will be joining me on Friday as a start to her training as a greenCoach for emagineGreen, and I'm looking forward to hosting a workshop for her! If you live in the Denver area, I'll invite you. It's lots of fun.


I've also been working away on projects for the Aspen Writers' Foundation's Summer Words Festival. Planning on checking out some of the speakers later in June.

So, sayonara, until next week!

Tender Shoots

The garden is starting to look more like a garden. Little teeny plants are sprouting up, and, well, I didn't mark the rows, so I have no idea what's growing where. I'm a bit of a disheveled gardener. I planted some flowers, too - sunflowers, zinnias and cosmos, and some sweet peas thrown in for good measure - and they're all scattered together so we'll see what springs up.


I'm also growing a climbing plant from seed that I can't think of the name of - oh, wisteria. The garden center has an 8-year-old wisteria plant growing over the trellis that covers the outdoor plants - it's an amazing thing. Purple flowers, windy branches and root ... we'll see what this little guy does. I planted three seeds in this pot, and they're all coming up. Not sure at what point I should plant it in the garden, or where ... We'll need to build a trellis!


The other thing growing around here is Mirelle's hair. And she's looking more like a little girl than ever.

So I'm outside watering the garden tonight at 9pm, thinking about how much work and water it takes to nourish these little seedlings into beautiful plants by the end of the summer. The summer provides that kind of opportunity: to nurture tender shoots into something great. Seeds become vegetables that I'll cook up into some yummy meal, and colorful flowers that will make their way to vases on the breakfast table and my desk. But that warm summer evening air brings with it optimism of the adventures to be had: plans to keep adding mileage to work up to a half marathon or marathon this fall, mornings to get out on the bike to work up to a hilly ride, and days to explore new places and fun things happening in the evenings. Oh, and some camping, too. Time to trade our little backpacking tent in for something a bit more spacious!


Oh, and one more thing. I've been googling for 'specialty/gourmet dried beans' for ever and ever, and never came up with anything. Angry Chicken's blog posted this morning about a source for these types of beans ... yahoo! I'm looking forward to trying some of these crazy varieties over at Rancho Gordo. And I would agree with her - the packaging is way cool. photo from angry chicken.

Dumpster diving for furniture - a favorite pasttime

So Ross and I are known for pilfering furniture from dumpsters. Heck, pretty much everything in our house (except for the kitchen island and the rocker) are either from a dumpster, garage sale, or family hand-me-down. Even Mirelle's crib is from craigslist (but it's one of the nicest pieces of furniture we own!). Oh, and Ross made my desk. We have tales behind pretty much everything in our house: the requisite futon from college (just got rid of that last month after we inherited a red couch from Lisa, my brother-in-law's girlfriend). We have the old wooden drafting table we bought from a couple in Ithaca, NY - they retrieved it from a barn that had been occupied by birds (you get the picture). Our bed is from our mortgage guy and friend Brian. A table and bookshelf from my sister. A coffee table and couch from two different women in Durango. A wooden filing cabinet from our condo's dumpster in Aspen. My favorite IKEA chair and table from a garage sale in Fort Collins. Mirelle's lamp was mine growing up. And I could go on and on. Let's just put it this way: if our house burned down, we wouldn't have a large insurance claim on our furniture, that's for sure.

So this new piece? Well, that was sitting in our neighbor's trash this winter. We don't know her really well, so, I hopped across the street and dragged it back. It was missing arms and needed a little shoring up.



It lived in the garage rafters until this weekend. Ross created some arms for it and a back support beam, and I got out this awesome orange stain I had bought for my desk. Check out the colors. They are amazing. I want to do something with the olive green next. I think the color I picked is fruit punch. Anyway, it's waiting for its polyurethene coat, but I think it's gonna be a beautiful thing. I'll post again with the final product.

Rainy Thursday

Alas, a span of three days have past this week, and no posts. I suppose I should say right now that this will become a new trend for me: I'm probably shifting to a 2-3 posts per week kinda schedule. It feels a little less forced to have a more casual approach to the whole blog thing.

Some things I'm excited about right now:
1. that summer is here
2. that Louisville now has its own Farmer's Market on Saturdays (can't wait to check it out this weekend!)
3. all of the incredible recipes I keep discovering in the Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper cookbook, my new favorite, like really easy macaroons (can't wait to make them again and dip them in chocolate this time)*
4. the pressure cooker/bean kick I'm on at the moment, and actually the cooking kick I'm on: a great way to wind down from a day at my desk.
5. the thought of doing a Hawaiian luau party this summer sometime, and the fun invitation I could create for it
6. running the Bolder Boulder on Monday with about 50K other peeps
7. that ross is actually going to start on the tiling project in our shower this weekend (or tomorrow, maybe??)
8. zumba class this afternoon

here's that macaroon recipe (but you should probably just go get the cookbook, it's that good):

Sally's Coconut Macaroons
Oven to 350. Spread a sheet of parchment on a large baking sheet.
In a large bowl, whisk together: 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, generous pinch of salt, and 1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract. Blend in 3 cups sweetened shredded coconut (I used unsweetened raw shredded coconut and it worked just fine). Drop generouus teaspoonfuls on baking sheet, and bake 20-25 mins until the macaroons are golden brown with crisp edges. Transfer to a rack and cool.

Friday, already?

Wow, I've been a very negligent blogger this week. My apologies! It was one of my goals when I started this blog (well, when I finally decided to actually go for it), was to maintain it - that means a post every week day (or every other, at least). Oops. For some reason I was feeling some blog rebellion this week. Not sure what it was. But I'm back, today. What has been happening this week? Not only have I not been posting, I also haven't found a lot of time to exercise. Not even a little window of time. Work is busy (like usual), but what else? I'm looking back over my calendar from the last five days, and I think the reason exercise and blogging wasn't present is because I had other appointments and activities scheduled - and those took up my little window of time away from my work stuff. (Not really a great excuse, but c'mon, I'm reaching here.) Monday Mirelle and I had a chiropractic appointment. I know chiropractic care is controversial, but it's worked for me, and Mirelle gets checked out every couple of months for preventative care. It's really shown to be effective in preventing ear infections in little ones. (Mirelle didn't have any last winter, but she's also not in a daycare setting.) Tuesday I took Mirelle to the local science/kids museum with our friends Jess and Maddy in the morning. She loved the music room, the giant dinosaur, the balls, the lights, the mirrors ... super fun. Good reminder about all of the cool things to check out with kids in the big city. Well, anyway, somehow the week got away from me. And now it's the weekend, and we have big plans for our garden. More on that to come.

Here's one thing I've been working on this week. Creating a fancy invitation for the Aspen Writers' Foundation's annual gala. At $25K a table, the invitation has to be fabulous. This is the email blast image that's going out. The actual invitation will combine iridescent paper, metallic ink, a diecut ... It'll be a beautiful thing.



P.S. It's bike to work day! I walked down about 5 steps to get to work, so guess I did my part! Here's a cool little bike commuting calculator you can use to figure out cost savings, calories burned, etc (thanks for the tip, Lindsey!)

Mom time

Whew! Happy Monday! A very busy weekend, but a lot of fun, and all revolving around moms. Thursday night my mom, sister and I headed to the tony Cherry Creek district of Denver and listened to Lynne Rossetto Kasper chat about food, entertaining, and the correct lighting for your dinner table (that's eye level). We nibbled on appetizers from recipes from her book: fried risotto, plumped ginger shrimp, and local mou co cheese from Fort Collins. It was a wonderful event, not crowded, and Lynne and her producer, Sally, were so friendly and receptive.



Sunday morning, for mother's day, Mirelle and I jogged in the Title 9K run around Boulder Reservoir. Lots of moms, dirt roads, beautiful cool weather ... a lot of fun. (Mirelle enjoyed the run from the comfort of the jogger, while eating a pancake.) Met up with mamas and dads afterwards for a little picnic.



Hope your mother's day was great!

Oh, and check out the new lobotoME pads I designed for Jenny over at her blog. I think my favorite right now is the FitME pad!

An Evening with the Splendid Table

The Splendid Table's Lynne Rossetto Kasper has a new book, How to Eat Supper. I'd read some other reviews of the book on angry chicken's blog and soulemama's blog, and being a fan of the radio show, decided I needed to check this book out for myself. If you order it through the NPR site, part of the proceeds go back to NPR.

Anyway, got my book yesterday, and we made the roasted butternut squash and bowtie pasta last night ... absoluement delicieux. I loved the idea of heating up a low baking pan in the oven while you prep the veggies, and then throw them in the oven ... you're done! A lot easier than slaving over the stove. The whole cookbook (even though I've just begun exploring it) has wonderful weeknight recipe ideas.

And the best news? My mom, sister and I are going to hear Lynne speak at an event at Room and Board in Denver tonight. Yipee! And hopefully get a book signed ...



And if you've never heard The Spendid Table on NPR, check here for airtimes in your area.

Aliveness

I made the stunning realization yesterday that the reason I enjoy going for runs (especially on dirt trails, next to streams, and past blossoming trees) is because it makes me feel really alive. It reminds me (subconsciously) about what I really am and about what I'm here to do. My body gets to work hard, I get to be connected and in touch with the natural world and the rhythyms of the changing season. I made this realization yesterday after being at my desk all day. At 4, Mirelle woke up from her nap and we went outside. Aah! It was such a glorious afternoon. Glorious is the most fitting description. Little blossoms were emerging on a red-leaved bush, the delicate first shoots of growth on the tree in the front yard were starting to shift toward leaves, purple flowers had already appeared on a creeping vine. I plucked one, two, three, four and five ! purple flowers and placed one in each of Mirelle's button holes on her sweater. We watched a fat robin dart from tree to tree. Since Mirelle notices everything, I start to, too -- we are a good team. I show her new things, tell her what things mean; she reminds me of the beauty and wonder in the mundane.

But spring is anything but mundane, and it was just then, laying in the grass with Mirelle, already a world away from the glow of my computer screen, that I remembered/woke up/realized what I already knew: that doing things that make you feel truly ALIVE are really what it's all about. And I remembered how I had felt the day before on my run: it was that feeling. I do love my job, but it's still a job: Working at my computer, sitting, moving from task to task. My work is so much easier at my desk if I instill some aliveness into my day, away from the computer.

Other things that have recently brought on a sense of aliveness: hot yoga class, being creative with paper/collage (need to do this one, but I know it works...)

More aliveness. More often. What does it for you?

Obama in 30 seconds

Vote for your favorite 30-second ad here.

All of the ads are really inspiring. Thanks for the link, Lindsey.

Kitchari

Kitchari is a wonderful spring cleansing meal to make. Especially good on a cool spring day like today.

My main yoga teacher, Shiva Rea, often makes kitchari on a hotplate in her hotel rooms when she's traveling (which is often). She turned me on to the kitchari tradition, a soupy meal made from mung beans, basmati rice, and Indian spices. Kitchari, in the ayurvedic tradition, is eaten to improve your digestive fire and eliminate ama (toxins).

If you have a pressure cooker, I did a little experiment on Wednesday and it worked: I combined 1 cup whole dried mung beans, 1 cup basmati rice, and 6 cups filtered water in the pressure cooker. Sealed it, brought it up to high pressure (on high heat), then lowered the temp to keep the pressure up (around low-medium heat) and cooked for 10 mins. I released the pressure by running cold tap water over the top, opened the cooker, et voila, instant kitchari. I didn't add any spices - we just had it with a pat of butter on top. Delish.

Here's a kitchari recipe from Yoga Journal.

Combine some kitchari with a steady diet of hot yoga (which I practiced while my friend Elise was in town; hadn't done that in a while) and you'll be releasing toxins left and right!

I did a teacher training with Shiva back in January 2004 in Venice, CA. She took us out to her house in Malibu and we spent some time on her deck with an incredible view out over the ocean. Gosh that was fun. She's doing a 'pranafication' retreat for past teachers this summer ... a week long. I'm tempted.

Spring renewal (in a few areas)

My personal spring renewal plan (a work in progress):

Skin:
Improved my skincare routine after a trip to Pharmaca. My revamped program is this:
(Oh, and let me just preface this by saying that this isn't an inexpensive routine. But really, isn't my skin worth it? That's my justification to Ross any way...)

Before bed:
1. Jurlique creamy balancing cleanser
2. witch hazel astringent (plain 'ol witch hazel, any brand)
3. couple drops of Jurlique Herbal Recovery Gel*
*the skin specialists at Jurlique don't recommend moisturizing at night before bed. I know, sounds crazy, but the aesthetician at Pharmaca said it's because at night, our skin is trying to repair and rebuild, and the heavy moisturizers can get in the way of that. The Herbal Recovery Gel 'feeds' the skin, so to speak, with lots of amazing botanicals.

In the morning:
1. Wash face with warm water
2. Jurlique moisturizer
3. Jane Iredale loose powder (SPF 20)
4. Spritz Jane Iredale hydration mist to set the minerals (I love this new way to protect my skin! For hikes or lots of exposure to the sun, I use Jurlique's SPF.)
*visit here for more info on Jane Iredale's mineral cosmetics.

Nutrition:
1. More beans and whole grains made in pressure cooker
2. Plan meals out ahead of time; get grains or beans soaking in the a.m. at breakfast for that night's meal
3. Plan on last night's leftovers for lunch
4. Continue with mulitvitamins and omega 3 oil (fish oil) capsules

Exercise:
1. Do something every day.
2. Mix it up: One long run a week, one ride a week, one zumba class a week, and yoga sprinkled in

Spirituality:
1. Mini meditation right when I get to my desk (even just 2 minutes)
2. Journal once a week (used to be every day ... I'm not going to push my luck now...)

Work:
1. Set watch timer to remind to stretch every hour

I'll continue to add to this list...

Catching up with old friends

I've been gone from my blog for a few days: my friend Elise was in town (visiting from Durango); then we drove to Glenwood to my parent's house and visited with our friends Paul and Stacie (in Basalt, visiting their family), spent Sunday morning with them and saw a lot of old friends (including all of the words pictures colours graphic design crew: Kelly, Margaret, and Kimi) at a little neighborhood Easter egg hunt. (There was 3 feet of snow on the ground at Easter, so they had to postpone the hunt...) A fun unexpected reunion with old friends and co-workers. Ross and I had a really nice long run along the new trail that's now connecting Glenwood Springs to Aspen (created on the old railbed); we'll head home this evening. We also viewed the nearly 1000 pictures from my parents' trip to Australia, Japan and China (they just got back about 10 days ago.) Lots of catching up to do.





Happy earth day, happy spring! It's just starting to green up over here on the Western Slope of Colorado ... but I know back in the Denver area the blossoms and buds on the trees are starting to appear. I love this time of year! We look a walk with my dad yesterday (Ross, Mirelle and I), and it was so nice to smell wet grass, see the daffodils blooming near neighbor's mailboxes, and just breathe in the scent of the world awakening from its winter snooze. This pic of Mirelle is one of my favorites from this time last year, taken in Durango.

Ready for spring cleaning?

A few years back I made some of my own cleaning products with essential oil 'teas,' borax and vinegar. (I got inspired after deciding to make them for my friends Kathryn and Gardy's housewarming gift - made labels for the bottles I gave them - shown above.)

I'm still using the countertop cleanser and window cleaner I kept for myself. I also made a bath scrub with baking soda, lavender essential oil, and lemon balm leaves (my only complaint with that was that the lavender and lemon balm pieces were sorta a mess in the tub after it was all said and done - I would really grind them up next time before adding them). After I'd made the cleaners, then I bought a little metal wire basket, put the spray bottles and scrub in there with a blooming gerber daisy plant, et voila! These days I don't quite have the free time of days of old, but these are the recipes I used. I think I probably doubled these recipes to make extras for myself:

mirror and glass cleaner
1/2 c. white vinegar, 1/2 c. rosemary tea (made with 1 c boiling water and 4 T dried or fresh rosemary leaves), 6 drops rosemary essential oil. Mix together and pour into spray bottle.

disinfecting spray for walls, floors and surfaces
1 c mint tea, 1 c lavender tea, 1 teaspoon borax, 2 tablespoons white vinegar, 1 tablespoon unscented shampoo, 4 drops lavender, mint, or rosemary essential oil, or any combo of those. Mix together and pour into spray bottle. Shake before using.

tub, tile, sink and stove-top scrub
1 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup dried and crushed lemon balm leaves, 1/4 c dried and crushed lavender leaves, 1 teaspoon cream of tarter, 5 drops lavender essential oil. Mix together and store in shaker can. To use, sprinkle on surface. Use a wet sponge to scrub, then rinse.




Oh, and here's a little treat. Helps to make the task of cleaning that much more pleasant. A free countertop cleanser with the purchase of a Cloverleaf Sink Set from Caldrea. Enter code at checkout: SINK415. Thanks for the tip, Jace. Not only are Caldrea's products delightful, they're also very well designed. Always a plus.

Brekkie at our house

Still life with brekkie

Our breakfast this morning made such a nice little still-life that I thought I'd take a quick snap and let you in on a typical brekkie at our house. I think 'what do you eat for breakfast' is sort of an intimate question ... breakfasts are so personal and I think most people have a pretty standard fare that they stick to. My friend Alice, for instance, is a yogurt and homemade granola kinda gal. Her husband is a raisin bran and diet dr pepper kinda guy. My mom has a buttered toast and tea ritual. My dad prefers oatmeal, or toast with lots and lots of jam.

My typical weekday breakfast? (Mind you, weekend breakfasts can be quite different.) Pretty much just a variation of what you see here. Lemon yerba mate tea with honey and milk, maybe some yogurt (today it was lemon brown cow), perhaps with grape nuts or granola, and/or some raisin pecan bread with butter and creamed honey from Colorado's western slope. And some grapefruit. That's Mirelle's menu too (sans tea) and plus an egg.



Breakfast is a favorite meal around here.

Lovely journals from New Growth Design Studio

My dear friend and fellow designer Kelly gave me this beautiful handmade journal/notebook at the holidays ... I'm still trying to decide what special thing to use it for. Each notebook is hand silkscreened by Sara Blette in her studio in Boulder. I discovered Sara's other journals on her website, and am particularly interested in this garden notebook, especially for my friend Mary in Fort Collins who is gardeness extraordinaire!



Time to start thinking about that muddy plot of earth in our backyard and be inspired by all things green and blooming! Even if you don't have space for a garden, is there a little area where you can plant a few things this Spring?

Manic Monday

Well, not really, but it does just feel like a Monday. And waking up to snow kinda makes it harder to motivate at the start of the week! We had a really nice weekend. Ross's parents are in town so Mirelle got some good QT with grammy and grandad. I took her to the first class in her Music Together session on Friday, and she loves it.



I've also been meaning to get her dialed in with some nutritional supplements, especially after a talk I went to with Dr. Roy Steinbock of Mindful Pediatrics in Boulder. He's an MD, but incorporates a lot of holistic medicine into his practice. Mirelle and I took a trip to Pharmaca (really helpful natural pharmacy in Boulder) and I bought her some Nordic Naturals fish oil (DHA) that tastes like strawberries. She's also taking a multi-vitamin that tastes like mango. And a probiotic (FOS/Acodophilus powder). Probiotics are really good for everyone, and 'absolutely essential for good health' says Dr. Roy.

I also spent some time preparing for a mothers' yoga workshop I'm teaching in May. More on that soon.