Things
tings I probably could, but glad I don’t have to live without these days:
Trader Joe’s Sunflower Seed Butter. It’s filled with cane juice, but I could care less. It’s a creamy, rich, sweet delight.
Goat Yogurt. Any brand of plain is so delectable. Vanilla is good but its super sweet and I like my yogurt slightly sour. (spoonful of the above butter in the plain version is heaven.)
Bok Choy. Those greens are just the bomb. In chicken soup, stir-friend noodle dishes or just steamed, Bok Choy is a crispy and leafy healing food as well as a super-aphrodisiac. (I wish)
Raw Organic Walnuts. Crushed and crumbled in my yogurt or sprinkled on a goat cheese covered bagel, with a drizzle of honey. Straight from the bag. In mush (what we call oatmeal around these parts). In a salad. . Plus I think my big sister told me they were the nuts that helped reduced swelling in the body. I’ll take some of that.
Dagoba Organic and Free Trade Chocolate Bars. Holy shit. The New Moon and the Lavender are so Divine. There is a chili pepper one and it a bit too intense for me. I’m sure all you need is a little bit to feel the high, but I am the type that eats the whole bar in less than an hour (okay, ½ hour). A little chocolate at a time? Please. Dagoba makes a bar form of sex.
Soy Delicious “Little Buddies” soy ice cream sandwiches in mint. These are a take on the traditional vanilla ice cream and chocolate mushy-cookie sandwich. I have to say I like these better. The worst thing about not eating any cow dairy is the ice cream and these have helped my withdrawal. They come in vanilla and peanut butter, too. I like to get them in peanut butter so Bill can’t have any and I can eat them all (he’s allergic to peanuts).
Shea Butter. In the desert it’s all about the buttering up. You can get bulk amounts of organic and Fair Trade here for a fraction of the price you pay in retail stores. This stuff is good for every crease and crevice. I even use it in my hair.
Dr. Hauschka lipstick in warm burgundy. These products are so pure. They have a whole line of skincare products and make-up and they list all their ingredients on the website. Unfortunately, they are not listed in this database www.ewg.org, a project of the Environmental Working Group (which I am also obsessed with) that rates all your products for levels of toxicity and cancer causing ingredients. I don’t know what Dr. Hauschka products aren’t included in the database, but as far as I am concerned they are the only ones I feel good putting on my face in these days (affording them is another thing).
Buffy The Backslayer Bar. I don’t know how I ever lived without this. It’s this thick creamy bar filled with cocoa butter, shea butter, bits of almond, but of crushed aduki beans, ground rice, and yummy essential oils. It’s handmade, as all their products are. I use it to exfoliate. It works like sandpaper on my dry skin yet feels like silk. It smells like a vacation on the beaches of Thailand. It’s good for about 3-4 uses.
Sun and Moon yoga pants. These are cotton with a tight weave so they really suction everything in while remaining so ridiculously comfortable. I have worn them 7 out of 10 days this month, I swear. They have the charka centers hand painted up either side of the leg. Perfect flare at the ankle. Good rear view, especially when worn snug. Great for yoga and anything else
Be Present yoga pant. Totally different than Sun and Moon, yet like them, these are more than just a yoga pant. These are made from this amazingly stretchable, breathable, fashionable fabric. They come long or short and mine have an embroidered pink lotus on the butt. Bill has a pair that he wears to his day job as a building professional. They are durable and his ass looks hot.
American Apparel T’s and skirts. Sweat shop free, made in downtown L.A. Sexy clothes made from all cotton. Even though they market hard to the young urban and hip, these clothes are perfect for mamas who want to ware pajamas all day…. yet still feel young urban and hip. All their clothes feel like the oldest, softest T-shirt you have every owned. They’re about simple cut and vibrant color, both of which are my concerns when looking for clothes. They have this awesome, non-clingy halter dress that would actually work for me to breast feed in. I would be exposing a bit of boob, but might as well flaunt it while I still have them. I call American Apparel good karma clothes. It just feels good to not wear clothes made by slave kids not much older than my own daughter. I feel ghettofab in American Apparel.
The writing and inspiration on mere mortall, urban earth mama and crunchy [on the inside].
My yoga classes with Mary Bruce. Her main teachers are John Friende and Rod Stryker, but Mary is master all in her own right. She is a goddess and a gentle, intelligent being with a voice as soothing as chamomile. I can sincerely say that she is one of the best teachers I have come across. This path of my practice has brought me to deep places yet I am remembering to remain gentle, accepting my body while not setting limitations. So different from my past practice where I forced Asana many times without intention and respect for the journey. I owe this to a mix of age and motherhood, the desert heat penetrating my bones, and Mary Bruce. I am growing deeper in my roots and lengthening up, steady like a tree.
My subscription to The Sun magazine. It’s full of social essays, short fiction, photography and poetry. But the best part is the section where readers write in each month on a particular subject. High Quality Publication.
And finally,
The Mayan Calendar. I am not one who thinks the “world will end” in 2012 when the Mayan calendar abruptly stops. I am always leery of ancient documents lost in translations. I do think it speaks of shift, a transformation, a reversal in the way the world flows. I do believe that living in accordance with a natural rhythm, at any level, will aid in balance and harmony and great changes could occur. It’s apparent that the cosmos and the earth where pillars in the construction of the calendar and those are things I long and try to pay attention to. The calendar ends, and a new age begins, on my 38th birthday.
