Venus Goes Direct And Other Musings…

Warning…this one’s a bit of a rambler.

Last night there was a new moon in Aquarius. I guess it was a super moon too. What does this mean exactly? I’m not completely sure, but Mystic Mamma gives a pretty thorough overview here. It looks like things could start getting fun. Which is great because if you’re like me, January was a lot of work. Good, satisfying work, but after all that foundation building, a little lightness and detachment would be quite refreshing….

Queue up the cute puppy photo for relaxation

Venus is going direct today (finances and beauty – hooray). Here’s how that played out…

The good freaking fantastic stuff: some refinancing I was working on came through. Today. Yippee Skippee. This was HUGE. I mean game changing, take charge, gold star, check off a major resolution huge. Phew, happy, happy, happy.

Everybody  Dance Now!

The “wish I would have known” stuff:  Bang trims should be done with Venus direct. Not on impulse last Wednesday (retrograde) while my usual hairdresser was having knee surgery.

Impromptu trim – If I push them down, maybe they’ll be longer…

Serves me right Garidy!!! (Insert visual of 2nd grade class picture w/uber short bangs here – you know what I’m talking about. In a week it’ll be fine. But right now, I’m a touch euro!

Chinese Medicine Meridian Clock – pretty cool

Something else I learned this week. My friend, Tawnee read my post from Monday about my recent sleep troubles and suggested I Google the Chinese Medicine Meridian Clock. I found a great blog post that explains it here.  In summary, you look at the clock above and find the time you’re waking up. Take note of the name that sits directly beneath it. For example, if you’re waking between 1am and 3am then you would look at the information about the Liver meridian. For me, I was sitting between lungs and liver. Pretty interesting because I’ve been doing a lot more yoga (breath) and reducing my alcohol intake while upping greens targeted at detoxing (liver). Add my cashew/banana combo and I seriously have slept better this week than I have in I can’t remember how long!

This girl…Goldfish Kiss at it again. So cute. Loved this 🙂

Seriously couldn’t have said it better myself

What else? We watched Rush last night. This guy may be one of the better looking human beings I’ve come across in a while. I mean, wow. Hot damn. Quite handsome. And if you Google him, he seems very sweet and lovey to his wife in all of the premier pics. So extra kudos. Oh, and yes, the movie was really, really good. Incredible acting. Great story. Well done Ron Howard.

I mean, just, wow. Quite a handsome fella…

And if you aren’t up to your eyeballs in astrology, it is now the year of the wood horse! For me, a tiger, this is excellent news. Hopefully this will mean some good stuff for us all. So I’ll leave you with that for the weekend. Have a happy happy Friday. ♥

Cleaning Up The Act

In my world, I have 5 close friends who are pregnant, one who just finished a 21 day sugar detox, a colleague who did our Beaming 21 day food plan and oh, by the way, I’m exposed to gorgeous cold-pressed, organic juices, superfoods and salads daily. Needless to say, I am surrounded by people who are cutting out the booze and attempting to clean up their acts.

Shame on me for being the girl who, for the last couple of weeks, has been running around fueled by a cup of coffee and a green juice in the morning, then barely stopping to eat lunch (sometimes not) and having my largest meal of the day at dinner. And did I mention dinner is usually accompanied by a glass (or two) of an adult beverage. I’m a great sleeper, but that went out the window. And I was losing steam more than normal. No big deal, but time to clean it up a bit…

Okay, so it’s not that bad…yet

I did a little research, consulted some amazingly knowledgeable/talented friends and mixed it in with the things I already know work really well for me to create a little healthy routine that feels good. Here’s what I came up with…

The goods…My little collection of tips and tools

From left to right: My trusty Manduka Prolite mat, Barleans Omega Swirl Fish Oil, Ph Strips, Coco Libra, raw cashews, lovely lemons, dry brush, DoTerra Clary Calm essential oil, vitamin D drops, luscious limes, organic coconut oil, Beaming Superfood Protein Powder w/Greens and sparkling mineral water.

Step 1 – back to yoga & meditation. Thanks to handy recommendations, I discovered Hale Holistic, a sweet little studio about two blocks from my urban house. I’ve been twice in three days and my body is thanking me by loosening up my shoulders and hamstrings. I’ve been consistently meditating since Jan 1 and the combination is foolproof. But we know this already, right?

Step 2 – balancing my ph and improving overall nutrition. I can’t even imagine how acidic your body is after starting the day with coffee then waiting 5 hours to eat something. After consulting two girlfriends, on a ND and the other a nutritionist, I’m starting my morning with a big spoonful of chia (soaked overnight) in water. I’m adding lemon/lime to my alkaline water throughout the day. I also bought some ph strips, but I promise I won’t bore you with the readings!

My friend, nutritionist Nastasha…you’re as smart as you are pretty!

My brilliant Beaming tribe

Step 3 – breakfast no matter what. Enter in the forked avocado toast w/a dash of balsamic vinegar and a slice of tomato. Add in an egg and oh my my so very tasty! Option 2, superfood protein smoothie w/almond milk, berries and greens. Also having some fish oil. Can’t stand the taste? Omega Swirl makes this a breeze!

Step 4 – breaking the booze. Sure, a glass of wine or beer is fine. But I’ve been a bit too comfy with this ritual. So I bought sparkling water (add lemon or lime) to drink with dinner instead of a cocktail. On week 2 and A-ok, don’t miss it at all. Yes, I do realize it’s only Monday.

Step 5 – body care. I got a dry brush. In the winter, this is heaven. Goodbye gross winter skin and hello improved circulation. I chucked my old lotion and am opting for organic coconut oil (already in my pantry) to see what happens. So far, I smell yummy.

Step 6 – mood balancing. I had an aromatherapy reading and the verdict was lemongrass and clary sage. Apparently, Lemongrass oil is great to relieve stress and balance emotions. I also added in Clary Calm oil, a blend of sage, lavender, bergamot and other oils to help balance hormones cycles (tmi?). It’s amazing how much essential oils can elevate your mood, energize you, calm your mind – depending on which one you select. Put a little in your hair and you’ll be smelling so good (especially if you’re also using the coconut oil)

Lovely lemongrass…(source)

Step 7 – sweet dreams. This may be favorite tip – eat half a banana and a small handful of raw cashews before bed. I’d been waking up around 3am or 3:30am since we moved downtown. If I think back, it may have even been longer. But I’ve always been an incredible sleeper so this was really hard to handle. Enter in the banana/cashew combo. It really really works.

All of these things are relatively easy to incorporate into your daily routine. It’s nothing drastic. Just some healthy habits to improve my overall health. I feel pretty darn good and am not going crazy depriving myself of anything. I am still a huge fan of quarterly cleansing to hit my reset button. But I can do these things every day to make sure I stay healthy, sleep well and feel energetic.

If you want a great resource for all those buzzwords like candida, adrenals, leaky gut and wondering where to start, I highly recommend my friend Christa’s videos and blog posts over at the Whole Journey. They’re easy to follow and there is a wealth of info to get you started. She and her team are awesome and have some great resources to follow online. I hunkered down and went through over an hour of videos last weekend…some truly great stuff in there.

In general, I’m open, no homeopathic tale, recipe or ritual is too much for me. So if you have one, lemme know. ♥

Motivation for Monday

I’m setting some intentions for the week. This is a bit of a follow up to Friday’s post. I found these lovely little sayings. Each one represents an intention I plan to hold in my mind for the week. This first one is a goodie…

Choosing Joy

We always have choices. It may be a choice between two things we don’t love, but the decision is ours. I’m planning little pockets of fun this week. Last week, I carved out two low-tide beach walks on my favorite stretch of beach and was able to do a meditation/hike for work. These little breaks brought me so much joy. True, blissful joy. So, if I’m at a loss or feeling sad or anxious, I know I just need to choose to make the time to head west. Even if it’s for a few minutes.

Moving forward

Dog beach…the turnaround point for our hike

Half of our meditation hike I went on Friday was in silence. It’s amazing how peaceful 30 people walking without chatting can be. For the return portion of the hike, Stacy, our guide, said we could talk, but only about things that move us forward. In other words, no negativity or complaining and no dwelling on something that happened yesterday. I like this and I’m going to attempt to stick with it this week.

Choose quality companions

I’m surrounded by some pretty amazing quality people. I’m going to take advantage of this by choosing to hit up my favorite teacher’s yoga class, read a bit from one of my favorite authors and schedule time with folks who feed my soul.

M is definitely one those peeps. He constantly inspires me. He may not always be the biggest softie, but he is hand’s down, one of the most honest, hard working people I know. And he literally never complains. I’m going to use him as my example to not complain this week 🙂

No flip-flopping

No waffling back and forth this week. I have set some lofty goals for myself this year. And I will hold steady to these goals by doing a little work towards achieving them each day. No excuses. And if someone plants a seed saying it won’t work, that’s okay. I’m moving forward anyway.

And on that note…

Seeds of doubt go hand in hand with getting my feelings hurt. Most of the time, what feels like criticism isn’t personal and really doesn’t matter. Same goes for compliments. They feel great and I’ll always appreciate and take them. But if you believe in yourself and have confidence in your abilities, then you don’t really need them. Best to just be self sufficient and self soothing to get the job done.

Finding inspiration from others…Sasha Pivovarova, artist and model 

And lastly, I’ll be finding inspiration in others who are out chasing their dreams. Like this lovely lady, Sasha Pivovarova.  Sasha’s artwork is amazing. She draws, paints, makes dolls, designs tepees…she is a model for Free People and clearly, is stunning. But really, I love her work. It’s beautiful and makes me want to draw and paint.

So intentions and inspirations for the week are set. So Sunday afternoon is feeling pretty good right now even if the Seahawks are down at the half. ♥