We Yoga. Do you?

I did it. I joined the gym, again. Truth be told, I’m a little disgusted at myself for not having done it sooner. I allowed by membership to lapse after a minor stomach surgery this summer, always using the excuse that I didn’t want to come back too soon. The truth is, now it is harder than it ever has been to drag my butt to the gym because I have more legitimate excuses than ever. It’s tough to make myself go while the kids are so little. It requires a lot more schedule juggling. It’s tough to make myself go when I have physical issues, like stomach surgery or aching knees or a shoulder that really could use a scope. It’s tough to make myself go when I already feel stretched so thin and out of spoons, like I don’t do all of the things that I NEED to get done, so how can I justify taking out more time for myself?

But the truth of it all is that those are absolutely the reasons that I need to get back in the gym! I need to keep my strength, stamina, and health up to keep up with my little girls. I need to get my muscles strong and limber again in order to support my body better and to be a better dancer. I need an extra hour, every other morning, just to recalibrate, to do something physical with no distractions, so that I can come back to my role in our family refreshed and ready to tackle the day.

These days, my exercise of choice is yoga. I believe that yoga is a great mode of exercise that EVERYONE should do at some point in his or her life. I started practicing yoga 20 years ago. I took yoga as a PE class at Cal State Long Beach, and our instructor was what I believe is the stereotypical Yogi. She was older and thin, she wore long flowey skirts over her leggings, lots of bracelets, toe rings, and anklets. Everything about her was ethereal: the music we listened to in class, the way she glided across the ground, the whispery way that she spoke, and the smell of incense that followed her around the classroom. She was a strict teacher, there not to just lead us in some stretches, but to teach us the proper alignment in each pose, as well as the Sanskrit name, meaning, and origin of each pose. It was hard, but I loved it. And I’m grateful for her instruction, for at various times in my life I have practiced yoga without a teacher or studio, and had a good understanding of what I was doing.

I got out of my first yoga class in months on Monday and I immediately texted Jen, “I need to write about yoga!” What I love about it is that for an hour, I not only turn off my phone (or leave it in the car), but I also turn off my mind to everything in the outside world. Rather than being stuck on an elliptical machine or treadmill, then some lifting machines where the TVs and music are blaring, competing for more of my already fragmented attention, the yoga mat offers me a time to pause and turn inward. I don’t think about what’s for dinner, or what I have to do that day. I don’t catalog the things that I haven’t had time for or the projects that I have yet to start. For that one hour, I focus on breathing in and releasing the tension in my tight muscles. I check my alignment in my poses and when that little voice inside my head begins to chide me for not being able to touch my toes, I tune her out. One of my favorite parts of every yoga class is the final pose that we take, Savasana or Corpse Pose. Though it takes some practice to really clear one’s mind and not let it wander to the day that lies ahead, lying completely still in mind and body is for me, the most restorative thing that I do.

Most gyms offer some kind of yoga class on their schedule, and those are a great place to get a taste of what yoga has to offer. Oftentimes the classes are filled with people of varying levels of knowledge, but what I love about gym yoga is that the instructors are always so accommodating and helpful. Often, gym yoga is not as “serious” or as technical as yoga studio yoga, nor is it as “Zen,” but still offers a place where strength and stretching meet, where physical activity and spiritual restoring can occur.

For those who are more looking for a little more technical instruction, yoga studios are often really neat places to jump in and become part of a yoga community. The studio I have practiced at here in our area (The Yoga Den, Corona, California) offers a wide variety of classes and times, even prenatal yoga, but also offers other events at the studio. There are special concerts, potlucks, and groups that get together outside of the studio to do other fitness-related things. Truth be told, I would join the studio again, if we lived a little bit closer. It really is a special place to belong.

If you’re curious about yoga, please try it!! It’s great on its own or in conjunction with other forms of exercise. It’s low impact, but still offers cardio and strength building. And it’s absolutely for every body type and fitness level. If you do, let me know how it goes. Afterward, let’s get together, listen to Enya, and have a nice cup of tea. Come on, we can put off meal planning and mopping for another hour.

Essential Oil of the Month: Lavender

If you know anything about me, you know that I am obsessed with Paris. And Provence. Ok, maybe all of France. But really, with landscapes like this, can you blame me?

If you’re new to essential oils and don’t know which ones to buy, or are even just curious as to how they can support your everyday life, I’d like to suggest that you give good old lavender a go! Most of us know that lavender can promote relaxation. Its scent is used in products like bubble bath, or linen spray. We have lavender sachets and eye masks that we put by our bedsides to help us sleep better. But housed in those little purple buds is so much more than a lovely smell. In fact, lavender is the most versatile of all essential oils.

Please be aware, though, that not all essential oils are the same. For a long time, I bought my essential oils at the health food store, or from Amazon. I was completely unaware that all essential oils are not created equally. There are different grades of essential oils: aromatic, food (flavoring), therapeutic, and Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade. Only dōTERRA’s oils carry CPTG certification. (Click here to learn more about CPTG)Their oils are put through a rigorous 6 step testing process, guaranteeing that contaminants are kept out of the oils, assuring the presence of their active compounds, at the right levels, which is necessary for safety and effectiveness. Many oils claim to be therapeutic grade, and some may be pure, but few are subjected to rigorous testing standards for chemical composition.

If you have a bottle of lavender essential oil at home, please check the label. There should be some indication of how the product should be used. The bottle of NOW lavender essential oil that I have is clearly labeled “For Aromatic Use Only.” Therefore, I do not think it would be safe or effective to use on the skin, and certainly not to be taken internally.

Now let’s get back to the lavender! Lavender can be used to support a variety of different health and emotional concerns:

Sleep and Relaxation –

Apply to bottom of feet or pillow before sleeping
Apply to chest, top of head, bottom of feet to calm anxiety and anxiousness
Use with bath salts for a relaxing spa bathing experience
Apply to wrists or inhale when travelling to ease motion sickness
Add to hand lotion for a stress-relieving hand massage

Skin Issues –

Use to calm reaction to bee sting or bug bite
Apply to chapped or cracked lips before applying lip balm or lipstick
Calm sensitive skin and soothe pores after hair removal
Use with peppermint oil for a healthy, invigorating scalp massage
Combine 1-3 drops with 1 teaspoon aloe vera and lightly massage onto sunburn
Apply therapeutic grade lavender to cleanse and promote healing to cuts and scrapes
Lightly massage into bruised skin to promote blood circulation
Apply 1-2 drops to ringworm several times a day until ringworm clears
Apply to rashes, poison ivy, and chicken pox several times daily to reduce pain and itching, and to promote quick recovery
Apply directly for other skin issues, such as psoriasis, eczema, or extremely dry skin.
Pure lavender oil has long been used for healing burns. Apply directly to the site, or use in a very light, non-greasy carrier such as aloe, immediately and every few hours while healing.

Children –

Dilute 10 drops of lavender in 1 Tablespoon of carrier oil and apply after diaper change
Apply 1-2 drops to a teaspoon of carrier oil and apply to the gums. You can also add a couple drops of lavender to a cup of water, wet a washcloth with the solution, freeze and allow the little one to gnaw on the frozen cloth.
Dilute in a carrier oil (coconut, almond, apricot) and apply to back or soles of feet to calm an upset and crying child
To aid in alleviating mastitis, dilute 4 drops of oil in 1 teaspoon of carrier oil and massage gently into breast tissue

For a hyperactive child, diffuse in the air or apply topically to the chest or reflex points of the hands or feet for a calming, grounding effect

Emotional Stress –

Whether you’re stressed, overwhelmed, angry or otherwise, lavender oil can be used aromatically or topically to calm nerves and emotions
Uses of lavender essential oil topically will promote relaxation and restfulness, as well as grounding and balance
Apply topically or use aromatically to assist the grief process and provide a centering, grounding effect on the spirit
To combat mood swings, diffuse pure lavender oil in the air or inhale directly for at least 30 seconds as needed

Amazing, isn’t it? For each of the applications listed, you only need to use 2-3 drops (unless otherwise indicated). Lavender is a great starter oil for those just getting started, and it is definitely one of my go-to oils for just about everything. If you’d like to order your own dōTERRA lavender, click the button below. And if you have any questions, feel free to comment on this post, or email us!

The Ghost in Our House~ Jen

My phone turned everyone on the edge of the lake into a ghost at dusk a few months ago. Weird.

She’s baaaaaack!

Growing up, we had a ghost in the house. I’ll put that on my mom. And if my mom was writing this, she’d tell you the same.

We’d lived in the house probably ten years before we put it all together. We sat down as a family and told each other all the weird things that had happened that we thought were just weird coincidence or the creakings and squeakings of a 40 year old house. That night, I named her Dorothy.

Dorothy was the source of the knocking on my bedroom wall, the reason that the dog sat up and begged from no one. She whispered in everyone’s ear, waking us up in the dark of night. Up to that point, none of it was scary. Just weird.

But that dinner was like her coming out party. Once we acknowledged her presence, she got busy.

One night Teresa was playing with my mom’s music box, a masquerade clown that played “Music of the Night” from Phantom. As if that in itself was not creepy enough, two hours after she left, I was watching TV by myself when I heard the box play about six slow notes in the dining room. It did that sometimes, like it hadn’t quite wound all the way down.

Thirty seconds later though, that thing started playing loud and fast like someone had wound it all the way up.

I screamed for my brother, who yelled back “I’m not coming out there!” My mom came running up the hallway and grabbed the box, which had indeed been wound all the way up.

Dorothy.

My dad hired a painter to paint the family room. After six hours they wanted out. The paint fell over, the brushes moved from where they had been left, the TV switched on and off. “You got a ghost, boss” the painter told my dad.

Dorothy.

At Christmas, the stockings my mom made when we were all babies, that hung on the mantle every year, and were packed away in the same place, were gone. My mom turned the house upside down. Nothing.

When we dragged the decorations out for the next Christmas, there they were, right on top.

Dorothy.

I lost a pair of jean shorts, my favorites. I looked for them everywhere, even in my brothers’ drawers. Then I forgot about them. One day in the middle of winter, I pulled a load of whites out of the dryer and mixed up among them—my blue jean shorts.

Dorothy.

My brother used to surf early in the morning. The kid never remembered his house key. He’d tap on my bedroom window so I could get up and let him in the back door. One Saturday morning, he called my name and tapped, and I got up and opened the back door. Which set off the house alarm. Which brought everyone running, including my brother who’d been asleep in his bed.

Dorothy.

It got to be a thing. My mom, standing over the tv, turning it off only to have it turn right back on. “Dorothy, cut it out!” she yelled finally, and that time the tv stayed off.

One night I was doing the dishes. It was just my brother and me in the house. He came into the kitchen to get a drink, but then he bolted for the back door and locked it. “I just saw someone outside!” he said.

“Blond hair?” I asked him.

“Yes!”

“I’ve seen that. I think it’s Dorothy” I told him.

And then this night. I was doing the dishes. It was dark. The rest of the family was watching tv in the other room. I looked up from the sink, into the window, which was like a giant mirror, reflecting the room behind me. And I saw a woman with blond hair, in a long black dress, walk into the room towards me. I froze, and watched as she turned and walked out.

When I ran out into the family room to tell my parents, my brother said “I thought I saw someone walk into the dining room just a second ago”.

Dorothy.

The mystery was solved one afternoon at my grandparent’s home. I was telling Dorothy stories and my grandmother, a few Canadian Clubs into the afternoon, said “We had a ghost here too. Bessie.” She then launched into a list of Bessie stories that sounded a lot like Dorothy. My grandmother thought she haunted a painting they used to have.

“Is she gone?” my dad asked.

“Oh sure, since we got rid of the painting” my grandmother said.

“Where did it go?” he asked.

“We gave it to you years ago! The one in the living room.”

And I knew exactly the painting she was talking about. A delicate, Romantic style portrait of a young girl, her face glowing against the background, even in the dark.

The girl in the painting was not a blond. And she was not dressed the way that Dorothy was dressed the night I saw her. But since the day my dad took that painting off the wall and sent it to Goodwill, there has never been another Dorothy incident in the house.

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

Something about this time of year lends itself to skulking in the shadows and making mischief. And I come from a long line of folks who do their best work at night.

We like things that go bump in the night. We like mystery and intrigue and we like to surprise and be surprised.

So the first time we got Boo’d, I knew this was a tradition we were going to make all our own.

If your neighborhood doesn’t Boo, fear not. You can get the party started.

All you have to do is this: get a bucket (or two or three or five); fill it with candies and fun treats from the dollar section at Target or your favorite dollar store. It doesn’t have to be much. I spent $20 and did five buckets. Michael’s has plastic jack-o-lantern buckets for $1.04.

Go to this website and print out the sign and the instructions: www.boobaskets.com. Place them in the bucket. Then put on your running shoes, wait for darkness and sneak up to your friend’s and neighbor’s doors, drop the basket, ring the doorbell for all it’s worth and run for your life.

Over the last five years, we have perfected our Boo’ing. While some people ring and run, we are a ring and hide family, piled up behind bushes and cars (and Sunday night, the very skinny Edison power box in the front yard) to listen as people discover our buckets. Then we sneak back down the street or to the car, giggling with glee.

You can see why we don’t just do one. It’s too much stinking fun.

Our hope is that our Boo-ees become Boo-ers, and spread the mischievous love. Sometimes we get Boo’d back and sometimes we don’t. But I am proud to tell you that my kids don’t care. For them, the fun is in the Boo-ing!

Logistics: The instructions tell the Boo-ee that they’ve been tagged and invite them to Boo someone else. They hang the “We’ve been boo’d!” sign in their front window so they don’t get boo’d again. Then they assemble their own basket(s) and pass it on. I’ve heard of neighborhoods where this spreads like wildfire. But even if it doesn’t, I guarantee that you will bring some loving fun into the nights of your boo-ees.

PS: We were boo-ed by Amy and her girls in return. Except they came in the daylight and got caught by my girls and my dogs before they got to the front door. We all ended up laughing in the front yard while Gabe provided a quick seminar on proper boo-ing technique.

Reblog: Welcome Autumn! ~ Dana

Last year I shared my recipe for A Kitchen Witch’s Pumpkin Spice Bread and today, since I’m up to my elbows in cowgirl costume sewing and SAT essay scoring, I’m sharing it with you again. Like many of you, Autumn is my favorite season, and I cannot wait for some cooler temperatures here in Southern California. Those of you who are feeling fall already, enjoy it for me!

Look out folks. In just one short week, Autumn will finally be here! And no, I don’t mean just the arrival of the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks (although that is quickly becoming one of my favorite things of autumn!).

I’ve always loved autumn, and when I moved to Austria, I fell in love with it even more. The changing of the seasons is visible everywhere there. The local restaurants begin to change their menus to represent the seasonal fare. My favorite restaurant in our town had something called Wild Woche or Wild Week in which they slow-roasted venison, wild boar, wild hare, all of which had been caught in our forest, and served them up in wonderful, hearty sauces, with earthy root vegetables, all meant to fatten the townspeople up, steeling us against the harsh winter that was sure to come.

But more than the beautiful colors, the comfort food, the inviting scents, there’s just something different in the air once autumn comes. I’ve always felt it, that magic electricity. It’s like in Mary Poppins when Burt sings “Winds in the East, mist comin’ in, like somethin’ is brewin’, about to begin!”

The 22nd of September is the Autumnal Equinox, a time of equal light and equal darkness. The balance has tipped and we descend into darkness. This happens not only literally as the nights are now longer than the days, but for many people, it happens in a spiritual sense as well.

The bright warm days of summer, which beckon us outdoors to the beach, the mountains, or even just the backyard, are over. As the temperatures cool, we turn our focus inside, many of us decorating for fall and burning pumpkin-scented candles. Our tendency, when things get dark, it to turn on more light, to fill our already busy schedules with even more things.

But I invite you this autumn to take some time in the darkness, to sit quietly with your soul and take stock of what you have done this year. How have you grown? What seeds did you sow in the spring and tend in the summer that are now coming to harvest? How can you prepare yourself for the craziness that the holiday season can bring on?

Pull out your favorite snuggly sweater or blanket. Get some pumpkins to put on your front porch. Put some gourds on your mantle. Make some of your favorite comfort foods. And if you want a new favorite fall recipe, I’m sharing my very best one with you, A Kitchen Witch’s Pumpkin Spice Bread. And have a glorious autumn, everyone!

A Kitchen Witch’s Pumpkin Spice Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups pureed pumpkin (fresh roasted or canned)

3 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

3 1/3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¾ teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, water, vegetable oil, and eggs. Beat until well mixed. Measure flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, and ground cloves into a separate bowl, and stir until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, beating until smooth.

Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans and dust with flour. Evenly divide the batter between the two pans. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 10-15 minutes then remove from pans by inverting them onto a rack and tapping the bottoms. Slice and serve plain, buttered, or with cream cheese.

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