Raw Food & *Another* Wedding Party

"Vegetables are the food of the earth; fruit seems more the food of the heavens."
~Sepal Felicivant

It's funny how when you limit the food you eat, food becomes a much bigger thing in your life. Well, if I'm to be honest, food has always been a big thing in my life. Now, I seem to be spending even more time thinking about it though. Oh well.

I'm loving the raw food diet so much, that I've just decided to stick with it at least for another week or two. I feel absolutely wonderful, have lost about 15 lbs. (so I'm looking better), and am super energetic. It's also been much easier than I thought to do this. I haven't missed cooked food, meat, caffeine, alchohol, eggs or diary. In fact, I'm in no hurry to go back. Also, it's been easy to find raw food restaurants and of course organic, locally grown fruits and veggies abound. Luckily being in LA, people don't think you've landed from Mars for doing this and the resources are readily available.

Anyway, I'll keep it up until I don't feel like it anymore. In the meantime, bring on the salads and fruit and nuts.

In other news, my most wonderful fabulous friends -- Katie, Jill, Susan, Ariane, & Eleonore -- are throwing Peter and I an LA champagne and dessert wedding party this weekend. It's for those who couldn't make it to Spain and for those who made it to Spain and just want to attend a great party. Yeah! I have the best friends. :) Susan is even flying all the way from Birmingham, Alabama to be there. Life is sweet. Now I just have to decide if for this one occasion, I feel like some alcohol and refined sugar. ;)

It's almost my birthday!

So for the past couple of years I've been making a birthday list. This is really working for me, so I am doing that again. So (drum roll please) here is the 2007 list of what I desire for my birthday (October 1):

- art lessons (acrylic painting or drawing)
- pair(s) of and/or gift certificate(s) for Manolo Blahniks or Jimmy Choos
- comfy yet stylish pajamas
- new digital camera
- gift certificate(s) to Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com
- gift certificate(s) for spa services ( Burke Williams is always a good choice)
- flowers
- a new Palm Phone, Treo, or iphone
- plane tickets/all expense paid trips to fabulously fun places
- fun party with my family and friends
- a night out on the town in a limo
- a makeover &/or shopping spree
- a Tiffany's gift certificate or anything from Tiffany's.
- a GPS for my car
- tickets to see the Color Purple, La Boheme, or Chorus Line
- contributions for the NPI project (a tax deductible gift)
If you opt for this last one, you can send your tax deductible donations to:
NPI Renovation/Healing Project
PO Box 691941
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Checks should to made payable to: UC Regents
On the memo line please reference: NPI Renovation/Healing project

That's all I can think of for now. I realize that some of these things are big ticket items, but if you don't ask...

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Ahoy mateys. Do you landlubbers know what today is? It's September 19th and it's Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrgh, shiver me timbers. I sure do feel silly talking (um... writing) like a pirate, but it's a national holiday and I'm a patriot. If you want a laugh, read Dave Barry's take on this. And as Dave Barry says:
"Join us on Sept. 19. You HAVE the buckles, darn it: Don't be afraid to swash them! Let's make this into a grass-roots movement that sweeps the nation, like campaign-finance reform, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I truly think this idea could bring us, as a nation, closer together. But not TOO much closer. Some of us will have swords."

In other news, I went with Sean, Melissa, Jason, Cookie, & Peter to see Avenue Q at the Ahmanson last night. It was absolutely hysterical! I'm particularly fond of the Bad Idea Bears -- two very cute and cuddly looking bear puppets that encourage the characters to do all sorts of very unwise things. I highly encourage everyone to check it out.

Lastly today is my first day of eating real food. The Master Cleanse was a rousing success. I feel great, lost 10 lbs., and am so enjoying the taste of the pear, avocado, and mango I ate so far today. :)

Master Cleanse -- Day 9

We're in Palm Springs... actually we're in Palm Dessert at a Marriott Resort. It's a beautiful 2 bedroom, 2 bath suite that Rob & Bon got through their time share. We've been having a very relaxing time here.

I'm on Day 9 of the Master Cleanse -- I can see the home stretch. I'm actually feeling really great and excited to get onto the raw food for the following 5 days. Rob started his Cleanse today. We were guiding him through it ... it's actually been fun for all of us to be doing it together. Peter has officially gone off the fast. He started eating some fruit yesterday. He wanted the weekend to wean himself off of the Cleanse. I'm going to go through the entire 10 days. I want to get REALLY healthy. We're both excited about eating more organic food and revamping our eating style. I've also decided to eat only locally grown fruits & veggies. I figure, I'll eat better, help my local farmers, and lower my carbon footprint. All good things, eh?

Master Cleanse -- Day 7

"Whoso will pray, he must fast and be clean, And fat his soul, and make his body lean"
-- Geoffrey Chaucer

I'm on Day 7 of the cleansing fast. I feel very energetic -- actually almost too energetic. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. today (and by 5:00 other mornings). Peter's been having the opposite problem. He is awake until 3 a.m. Anyway, I don't feel like I've got insomnia, I just feel very, very energetic. Maybe it's all the sugars in the maple syrup. Who knows? I've also been woken up by cramping from the laxative tea. That's not fun, but the cramping goes away after a good bowel movement. That was too much information, wasn't it?

I've had to attend a couple dinners over the last two nights. On Wednesday night were Cookie and Bon's birthdays (both our sisters are born on 9/12). We had a joint family dinner. Last night was Rosh Hashana dinner at the kids' mom's house. I don't know how it tasted, but it smelled awfully good. There's another dinner tonight for Bon, but I'm sitting out on this one. Peter is going to attend, but I'm going to stay home with the kids. It's not that I'm hungry, but there are really only so many meals one should have to watch other people eat.

Tomorrow we head out to Palms Springs with Bon & Rob. Rob has decided to join the Master Cleanse club and is starting Day 1 tomorrow. Poor Bon will be the only one eating all weekend. She doesn't feel badly though. She's excited about not having to cook.

Master Cleanse - Day 4

"I called a detox center - just to see how much it would cost: $13,000 for three weeks! My friends, if you can come up with thirteen grand, you don't have a problem yet" -- Sam Kinison

P. and I have been doing the Master Cleanse -- we're on day 4 of the 10 day cleanse. For 10 days we drink a lemonade made of fresh squeezed lemon juice, organic grade B maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and purified water, salt water, laxitive tea, and water. That's it. No food, no other drinks, no broth, nothing, nada, zip. I was feeling a real need to detoxify and P. decided to join me.

So far, so good. I feel actually quite good. I had enough energy to go to the gym this morning and I've been fine with work. I have been missing food a little bit, but it's mostly just from force of habit. I'm not at all hungry and I'm actually feeling very light and very energetic. Also, I've lost 4 lbs. The downsides? It's actually a very busy, very social week where we have to go to all sorts of dinners (including our sisters' b-days and Rosh Hashanah). It's not that fun to watch people eat when you're on the cleanse. Also, you have to go to the bathroom about 568 times per day. And this may be too much information, but you have to give yourself an extra hour in the morning to let the salt water cleanse and the laxative tea do their thing. You CANNOT be out of the vicinity of a toilet for that entire time.

Anyway, I hope to blog each day about my experiences with the fast. Will try to write again tomorrow.

It's been so long...

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature." -- Anne Frank

Having kids and a husband and full time plus job and a busy social schedule, I've found that certain things have fallen by the wayside. One of those things seems to be blogging. I really do enjoy chronicling my adventures big and small, so I'm going to try to keep at it. If it's more occasional than I otherwise might like, so be it. At least I'm showing up.

So all sorts of things have been happening. Last weekend I went to the Seattle area to celebrate Jojo's bachelorette party. It certainly wasn't your typical bachelorette fiesta replete with boas, phallic paraphernalia, scavenger hunts, and lots of booze. It was Jojo style -- a natural affair where 5 women went kayaking and camping in the San Juan island region outside of Seattle. We did have some wine with dinner and our guide Collin was quite cute, but that's about as close as we got to the usual uproar. It was perfect though -- an opportunity to reconnect with friends and with nature. Lovely. I did miss my hubby though -- it was our first time apart since before we got hitched in May.

Interestingly, I've noted that I do not have to travel all the way to Washington State to be close to nature. I've literally have it coming to me in my backyard. This morning I spotted a coyote prowling around. Actually my dog Marley noted the coyote first. She was barking and agitated most of the night. I was too tired to check on it during the night, but when I went to feed her this morning I spotted the tan animal skulking in the back yard. It was definitely more afraid of Marley and I than we were of it. I was very excited to spot our new neighbor though I'm sure some other neighbors may not be as thrilled.

Usually we have more benign natural wildlife come visit. There's a family of deer that likes to come tromping through our yard. The deer are very brave and will saunter through unless we try to get too close.

I love living in a big city but on a dirt road with all sorts of creatures as neighbors.