Living Rawesome

June Drum Circle

This month’s drum circle was so much fun again!!  D’Adjoa brought her jimbe drums again.  I played for a little bit.  This month seemed a bit harder to keep up with the other experienced drummers.  Most of them are very good.  D’ and I have been taking belly dancing classes so we decided to do some dancing with the belly dancers.  It was fun to dance with them.  We became friends with teacher who is also named Dea.  Funny thing was she found my website when she was looking up Crystal River drum circle.  I received an email from her that night before I left.  I couldn’t wait to meet her and dance with her.  She let me borrow one of her belts since I was the only one without a scarf for my belly.  Belly dancing is pretty difficult for me.  I really have to concentrate and follow the teacher’s lead.  I wasn’t really able to just feel the music.  I do love dancing, though.  We stayed until it got dark.  I think next time I will go later.  They seemed to really get into the drumming when the sun went down.  The time just flies over on the beach at sunset listening to the drums.

Papaya Facials and Avocado Hair Masks

3 things made me realize that a papaya facial was well in order for me.  I was looking in my bathroom mirror one night and decided that my skin was looking dry and worn out.  I thought I want a facial but there are too many chemicals in the masks at a salon.

The next morning before I went to work, I was looking at my new Ani Phyo book that I received from Amazon.  The very page I opened was talking about papaya and how it is an excellent exfoliater.  I thought, wow if that isn’t synchronicity, what is?  I checked my email before work and I received an email about different fruits that are important to eat and use.  And wouldn’t you know it.. it mentioned a study done on 14 different fruits commonly eaten in Mexico to determine their ability to halt breast cancer cell growth.   Papaya was the only fruit studied that halted breast cancer. I was so excited after seeing this in one day that I knew that I had to do the papaya facial.  That day after work I went to visit my mother and she was watching a talk show The Doctors and at the end of it they were showing papaya facials.  I couldn’t believe it.

I asked Sarah, Erica and Destiny if they wanted to do the papaya facials .  So we planned for it that weekend.  Destiny mentioned how avocado would be great for our hair.  We bought some avocadoes and a papaya, met over Sarah’s house and we got busy before the drum circle.

Here she is opening the beautiful papaya.  She thought it would be neat to take out the seeds and make a dish that looks like escargot.  The seeds will definitely help you if you are having problems with bowel movements.  I passed on trying them.

We all did avocado and papaya and relaxed on the floor.  Erica found some soothing music and we just hung out and chatted.  After 20 minutes I washed my face with Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap.  HOW REFRESHING!!  I washed my hair and boy the avocado was not good for my hair.  I had to put 3 different products in my hair so I could get a comb through it.  I will definitely do the papaya facial again!  It was so invigorating!  Once a week would be great!!

Juicing and Earcandling

I wouldn’t say that juicing and earcandling always go together but for me it did today.  It all started yesterday, I went for a walk last night with Jason and my dogs.  What a beautiful trip it was.  Not that far into our walk, I mentioned to Jason that I wanted to do a juice fast.  Of course, he is always supportive and he agreed that I should do it.   So I kept it in the back of my mind as we chatted about our future and all our dreams.  When I returned home I checked my text messages and there was one from Destiny.  It said, “Wanna do a juice fast tomorrow?”  So there it was CONFIRMATION.  Just what I needed to make my decision.  We decided to do blended drinks and juices.

We started this morning with  a cucumber and cantaloupe smoothie. We shared a watermelon, lemon and cucumber smoothie.  We both love ice!! We put about 20 ice cubes into the smoothie.  How refreshing it is in the summer months to share seasonal fruit with friends.  We managed to hold out on solid food until dinner.  Which wasn’t bad for us.  It is better to be prepared when doing a juice or blended fast.  We did it on the spur of the moment decision, next time we will buy the veggies and fruits we need to make it the whole day.

I finally got to help with earcandling.  I have never done it before.  I was excited to be a part of my boss’s session:)  Rich was feeling as if he had water in his ear.  Nothing seemed to be helping until he did the earcandle.  It was a beautiful day outside, so we went outside.  I tried to talk him into staying inside to show the customers.  I am sure the customers would have loved to see the demo, but he didn’t feel the same about my idea.    I have always been skeptical about ear candles.  We sell so many of them at the store.  Many customers come several times a month to purchase them.  We used a paper plate instead of a aluminum pie plate like the directions say.  I was very nervous, but it worked.  He didn’t get burned.  It only took about 10 minutes to burn the candle to the bottom.  He did two of them and after he felt much better:)

My advice is to never do it alone, and just like anything else, it’s always better with friends.

When the candles burned down we opened them up to see if anything came out and we noticed only a little bit.  After viewing many sites online, I still question if what came out is actually ear wax or if it is actually the candle.  No matter what though, he did feel better after the ear candling.

Comfort in the RAW

Yesterday I went to Orlando with my family.  We went to Mall at the Millenia to go clothes shopping for Jason.    I woke up very early in the morning and worked on my Powerpoint presentation for Rutabaga’s Raw Food Class on Monday night (big accomplishmet).  I sat at the computer for many hours and clicked away, so by the time he returned from the gym and shopping at Rutabaga’s for my lentils and thai coconuts, I was ready to go.

But before we left,  he made me vanilla chai tea, because I was not particularly hungry.  It was yummy until 10 minutes after, my stomach was burning.   I figured I should eat something to make my belly feel better.  I ate a huge salad with spinach, sprouts, and some shredded carrots all topped with my favorite simple tahini dressing.  After eating this I felt so alive and energized.   I was very full from eating such a big salad but I felt so balanced.  I enjoy starting my day off with greens and sprouts.  It doesn’t set me into a sugar binge, like smoothies do on many occasions.  Ever since I have been doing more Raw and Living Foods, I have become very sensitive to what my body really needs.  I love listening to my body and allowing my inner voice telling to guide me. I am enjoying My RAW life.

Normally I pack food before we go out of town, but I was full and I didn’t pack anything for our trip.  I figured I would grab some fruit from Whole Foods  if I was hungry.  We stopped at Whole Foods first and the boys ate lunch.  I ate some Rainier cherries, which were tasty and I didn’t feel the need to buy anything else.  I did question if I should though.  I thought , “oh no I’m really taking my chances here, I should buy something because they may not have anything at the mall.”  But I didn’t buy anything.

We arrived at the mall and parked near the food court.  We walked through the food court and we were offered  free chicken samples and of course we turned them down.  Whenever we go places I always seek out what healthy food options there are.  As we walked around looking for healthy choices, I started thinking about how much my life has changed and most of the foods offered in a mall food court are not appealing to me at all anymore. The smell of fresh baked pizza, cinnamon buns, fresh pretzels, even looking at Haagen Daaz ice cream used to make me want some.  Now, I know that this so called “comfort food” is not nourishing my body or making me feel comfort.  I used to get mad that there were not enough fresh choices, outside of a health food store or vegetarian restaurant.  I usually have to settle for salad.  Now don’t get me wrong I do love salad, but sometimes you just want something different.  Looking for the healthiest option,  we came upon Fruit’n Smoothie Sensations.  The cafe is beautiful, they have all fresh fruits such as mango, pineapple, kiwi, berries, cantaloupe and strawberries in the case.  I was excited to see they had 4 vitamixes sitting out and they had ice.  I rarely can order anything directly of a menu , so I always like to make friends with the employees.  I spoke to a man and asked if I could just have a smoothie with fresh cantaloupe and fresh strawberries and water with loads of ice.  He was very friendly and said yes.  I was so pleased in knowing I could get something healthy and enjoy my shopping experience.  I told him I would be back to talk to him later.

After shopping for hours, I did go back and we had a refreshing cantaloupe and strawberries smoothie.  I have Sebastian hooked on them too now.  We did add a bit of Stevia to it, thanks to Jason running to the car and grabbing some for us.

I take comfort now in knowing that I can find choices to meet my RAW needs, but I have to seek, and there I find.  It is always nice to find friendly people who are willing to work with you.  And the people at Fruit’n Smoothie Sensations were very kind:)  It is always a great idea to tip them too.  All juice bar employees should be tipped (Hee Hee)