Hypnosis

One of the groups I belong to is for women entrepreneurs. Every quarter we have an exchange where we can trade services with one another.. it doesn’t have to be specific to your normal ‘job’ just something you can do. This last exchange I got some pretty great stuff; a raw foods private class, someone to cook dinner for me and 3 friends, and 3 hypnosis sessions. I’ve always thought hypnosis was interesting and am glad I am able to try it out.

I went to my first session 2.5 weeks ago and my second last week. It wasn’t what I had expected.. I thought I would be going ‘under’ in a way and that I wouldn’t remember much of how it all went down.. I would just wake up and feel refreshed. That is not how it works when you are not going under too deep. I was going for weight loss/eat better and a higher drive to exercise. I am happy to say that I have not had white sugar in 3 weeks, sticking instead to fruit when I want something sweet. No greasy foods, high calorie/fat.. instead we are doing a prepared food plan from a local chef which happens to be very affordable. This saves us time, effort and makes eating a lot more easy.

As for exercising I’ve always had a negative attitude about it. I think it’s boring, tiring and I want to take a nap afterwards.  In the first session I visualized pulling negative thoughts about exercising out of my head and put them in a hole I had buried. These went in there along with some other negative thoughts about why I can’t loose weight. In both sessions she told me to think of exercising giving me energy and seeing the fat melt away. We also did a vision of me in New Zealand (which is a dream trip). In the vision I was at my ideal weight, hiking the mountains ( looking hot LOL) and very happy.  I have been exercising on a more regular basis and have been eating well. Sweets are tempting from time to time, but I look at them and think of all the fat and bad stuff it has in there for my body.

One of the other things we did this last time was to visualize me taking out my brain and scrubbing all the negative thoughts, ideas, images I have stored away. Then rinsing off in clean water which I then dump a whole bunch of positive vibrant words to have my brain soak up. I like  hypnosis because I can remember the things she has me do. It allows me to do them as exercises when I need to.

I have lost 6 lbs in the last 3 weeks which I’m very happy about. I have one more session which I’ll do before I go on vacation. I want to stay on track regardless of being away from home. I look forward to getting to my ideal weight which is a long way off, but Jeff says that when I reach it we will go on that trip to New Zealand even if we need to put it on credit. Thankfully he is also on this journey of weight loss with me and supports me fully. I have 120lbs to loose to get to my goal, but I know it’s one step at a time 🙂

Coffee shops with spirit

I live in SE Florida.. but not the cool parts like Palm Beach or Miami and when I moved here from Columbus, Ohio I was amiss at the lack culture and cool places to hang out. So today was a delight when I came to Blue Door Coffee Bar in Stuart.

We get so use to places like Starbucks that are the upper echelon of cookie cutter coffee places. Which are nice, don’t get me wrong, but they lack personality! I’ve been sitting here on a comphy sea foam green velvet chair for the last 2 hours working and messing around online and have seen a stream of hip cool 20 somethings walk in and converse. Chill out and have some coffee, food and whatnot.

The environment is very eclectic with a mix of vintage, Moroccan, musical instruments, 20’s chandelier and colorful paintings. It’s a nice place to sit on a day like today that is overcast, cold and dreary. It reminds me of Columbus, Colorado Springs, Toronto, Vancouver and other fun places I’ve been that are much more interesting than my home city tends to be.

If you live here or visit from out of town I would highly recommend coming down to downtown Stuart, walking around to check out the shop grab a bite at Osceola Cafe and get some coffee here at Blue Door  after.. you may luck out and get to see one of the many local musical people playing or catch a movie night.

Prepping

Jeff and I have been watching a show called Doomsday preppers. It’s a show that features people from all walks of life who think the world is going to go to hell for various reasons. Some think there will be a nuclear strike from China, Russia, etc.. or an EMP (electro magnetic pulse) which will wipe out all electronics, or a natural disaster like a volcano, polar shift, etc.. or bird flu, or super bugs from genetically modified veggies and fruit.

Needless to say may of these people have weird psychosis that is entertaining and somewhat informative. Personally Jeff and I think there could be a solar flare that would wipe out electronics. There have been many of those even in recent years, so it’s not impossible. It would really suck for that to happen as we would go back about 50 years technology wise and need to restart as a society.

Shows like Revolution which we also watch have this premise of a EMP type of thing happening, but are highly annoying as we do not see any reason why they have not been able to make more bullets for their guns, or why they have not been able to get further in their way of doing things in the 15 something years they have been without power. BAH!!

I think it’s good to have a ‘bug out bag’ which is a bag filled with essential items needed to survive. You can pick it up and take when you need to quickly leave. Living in Florida we have the threat of hurricanes so a bug out bag isn’t a weird thing to have, nor is a water bladder like waterBOB you can fill in your bath tub. We have a generator, but would like to get some solar panels for a more permanent and long term electricity replacement.

Part of my reason for learning how to grow my own vegetables & herbs, raise chickens and possibly other animals is to know how to live my life without the need to go to a big box store for supplies. This blog and the book I’m in the process of writing is an inside look of a city girls journey into the world of self sustainability in today’s world and perhaps at some point without the need of technology.

 

Roasted Chicken with olives & Chicken with olives and pasta

I wanted to share with you a recipe I got from a friend earlier this week. I couldn’t help but ask her what was in it because even though I didn’t partake it looked really yummy! I will forewarn you that there are not ‘specifics’ of the amounts of everything.. it’s one of those throw it in a dish and cook it.

I personally make a few alterations typically when I make this.. I don’t use whole chickens often, so I’m going to give you 2 options in this recipe. the top one is the one my friend gave me, the second one is MY version since I have several changes.

I think I’m going to make this tonight so I’ll post pics soon.

Roasted Chicken with olives

Ingredients

Whole roaster chicken with skin (you can take skin off later, just want to get     that taste soaked in) you can use boneless chicken breasts instead but alter your cook time a bit

1/2 Bag of red potatoes quartered

1 Large onion diced or sliced (your preference)

1 Jar olives (I prefer Kalamatas)

Drizzle EV Olive oil over it all

Sprinkle a few teaspoons or Tablespoons (I LOVE garlic so Tbs for me)

Sprinkle fresh Rosemary and Thyme from your garden (amount is to your taste preference)

Add shredded Parmesan cheese, Salt/Pepper, Feta etc.. as your taste desires

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375. Put all ingredients in a cooking dish and cook for approximately 1 hour and a half.

If you are cooking chicken breasts without bones the time should be a little less (check online to reference time needed at that temp)

VERSION 2

Chicken with olives and pasta

serves 2

Ingredients

• chicken tenderloins (approx 2-3 per person)
• 1/4 box of Dreamfields Pasta Healthy Carb Living
• 1/2 – 1 Large onion diced or sliced (your preference)
• 1/2  Jar olives (I prefer Kalamatas)
• sliced mushrooms (amount of your choice)
• EV Olive oil
• Sprinkle of a few teaspoons or Tablespoons garlic(I LOVE garlic so Tbs for me)
• Sprinkle fresh chopped Rosemary and Thyme from your garden (amount is to your taste preference)
• Add shredded Parmesan cheese, Salt/Pepper, Feta etc.. as your taste desires

Instructions

• boil water and start cooking pasta
• while pasta is cooking caramelize/saute onions and mushrooms by putting them in a medium hot pan with 1 Tbs sugar and 2 Tbs butter (I use I Can’t believe it’s not butter) . This will take about 10 Min. Once done set aside
• cook chicken on medium heat until cooked through approx 5 min per side. You may need to use some olive oil for this, however there may be enough oil from the onion saute.
• You can leave chicken pieces whole or chop up into bite size. I prefer to cut them up.
• once chicken is cooked add onions, mushrooms, olives, herbs, garlic and any other extra ingredients like feta, salt/pepper, Parmesan cheese  and cooked pasta in frying pan and toss together. Drizzle a little olive oil over everything to help it flow around and dish out. Top with a bit more Parmesan cheese and serve.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

16 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by storyinprocess in Recipe of the week Tags: appetizer, carmalized onion, clove garlic, easy, food, hummus, onion, roasted red pepper, vegetarian

I am starting a new segment called Recipe of the week, I have to come up with one for work once a week, so I thought I would put it on here too. I will be using recipe’s that are not extremely difficult to make and can use elements you can find in your garden if you have a vegetable/herb garden.

I don’t have a pic of this one as I made it last night before an event and didn’t have time. But everyone raved about it and I was asked for the recipe a few times. Thus I decided to write a post. I look forward to hearing what you guys think about it.

Baked Red Pepper & Caramelized Onion Hummus Dip 

yield: 2 to 4 servings

prep time: 35 minutes

cook time: 10 minutes

total time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

To caramelize the onions  

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 onion, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon granulated sugar

For Hummus

1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

4 slices of roasted red pepper approx 3-5 inches long

1/4 cup feta cheese (optional)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 clove garlic (or more if you like garlic)
½ teaspoon minced fresh rosemary (optional)

2 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

6 tablespoons shredded Asiago or Parmesan cheese, divided

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and sugar; reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook and stir for 20 to 25 minutes or until the onions are very tender and caramelized. Coarsely chop or leave in rings and set aside.

3. In a food processor combine the garbanzo beans, roasted red pepper, olive oil, sesame oil, garlic, rosemary, water, salt, and pepper. Process until smooth. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the shredded Asiago cheese and all of the feta. Transfer mixture to a 12- to 16-ounce individual casserole dish.

4. Top with the caramelized onions and remaining cheese. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cheese is browned and the hummus is heated through. Garnish with rosemary. Serve with baguette slices, pita chips, carrots, celery sticks, cauliflower or whatever else your heart desires.

Hats! Cloche Hats in particular

05 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by storyinprocess in products I like Tags: 20's, 30's, cloche hat, cold, cold weather, etsy, hat, products I like, vintage, winter, women's

So I adore hats! Unfortunately in Florida wearing a hat is not the best thing as it’s hot most of the year and thus your head will get REALLY hot which isn’t the best thing. Today I read an article about Etsy seller Pixiebell who makes wonderful crochet hats and one of them happens to be a 1920’s style cloche hat among other amazing style’s. It got me on a search of course for other cloche hats. Since I”m going to Colorado for the holidays I could use some hats!! and scarves!! YAY!!!!

I found the Wool Winter Cloche Bucket Bell Ribbon Bow Hat Black with Black Hatband or red hatband ( I like the red better)

and I also found Womens Vintage Style Wool Cloche Bucket Hat w/ Satin Flower Accent which also seems to have an adjustable strap inside and its flexible fabric if your worried about fit! How cool is that??

I did look for other Etsy sellers.. however most of my options were crochet items. Although I’m not opposed to those type of hats, I prefer a fabric based hat. I hope to get both of these shown above before I leave for Colorado in December. 🙂 Then I can sport some cool hats, scarves and my pea coat that never sees the light of day LOL.

Pests, Death and Fruiting … lessons from a newbie

01 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by storyinprocess in Gardening/Self Sustainability Tags: cucumbers, disease, florida, Hi-yield, pests, planting, potassium bicarbonate, raised bed, tomatoes, treatment, vegetable garden, zone 10

This blog post is one I wrote for my work. I work at a plant nursery doing their social media, marketing etc..

Pests, Death and Fruiting … lessons from a newbie

ok.. so.. I was SO excited planting my new baby plants! Then a few weeks ago BAM! disease and pests! BAh….

so I talked to Terri and asked what to do.. 

For the pests and she told me to use Hi-yield Thuricide Concentrate
and Garden-Ville Potassium Bicarbonate 1 lb. Jar
for the mold issue. Now don’t use them TOGETHER, use one and then use the other.

Of course that seems easy peesy right? Well… evidently the sprayer container attachment for my hose is not very newbie friendly and didn’t really explain itself much, so I don’t think I did it correctly. Low and behold I come in this week and talked to Marvin about it. He showed me how to use the sprayer. Make sure you look at the side of the mixing container and only fill with water to the lines marked on the side (1G, 2G etc..) the hose will spray additional water along with the uptake of water from the inside.

You will spray one control solution all over the plants, let dry and then you can make additional solutions and spray if needed. I’ll need to redo mine since I didn’t do it correctly the first time.

My carrots are really bushy and I have some tomatoes! Which I’m

super excited about. I also have some bush beans coming in.

Another thing I learned this week was that sometimes you need to self pollinate your veg plants. My cucumbers looked like they were starting to produce fruit.. but no.. that’s what the females look like when they are trying to make fruit.. if they don’t get pollinated they will not grow the cucumber. If you need to self pollinate look for the flowers on the lower area of the plant with the pointy thing in the middle of the flower. There will be no ‘fake’ cucumber behind it. Gently pluck that flower and bend back the flower part and rub the pointy end inside the the female flower. Yeah.. you know.. sex in the garden 😉

I went to do that yesterday and only had 2 females left to pollinate and was worried there would be no more.. Marvin has assured me that as long as there is new growth on top there will be more for me to pollinate soon. 🙂

My blue basil has formed a flower stalk which has now started to

flower since this photo was taken. This should attract bees into the garden to help me with the pollination process.

I’m sad to say there was a death in my garden. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that zucchini plants are NOT viney.. the area I planted them in was next to the carrots and they were overtaking the carrots. So I was worried and used some plant tape to help them go up the trellis they were next to. That was a BAD idea… they died within days. Again I came in sad face and asked Marvin what I did wrong.. he let me know that I should have planted them in their own container and they would get a bit bushy and then fall over the sides of the container. So I will need to redo my zucchini and try it with new plants in a higher container of their own.

I’m happy things are growing and that I have learned new lessons in order to help everyone else out there who may be floundering about wondering why the heck it’s not working right. 🙂 I would love to know about some of the things you are having problems with as well, so comment below 🙂

Car art!

21 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

by storyinprocess in Henna Art Tags: black, business, car, car art, decal, floral, flower, goal, gold, henna, kia, kia soul, oracal 651, sticker, swirls, vinyl

So there are some things dealing with my business ( Henna Junkie )that I have been wanting to do for quite sometime. I’m very glad to say that I now have completed 2 of these things.

The first one was a promo pack that I send to companies that do party/event planning and PR/Marketing firms. It contained items that were fun and practical like tissues, chap stick, lotion (that I scented myself and packaged) mini note pads I made, small bag of sugary treats, business cards and postcards (that have more info/photos on them) and a ‘fortune teller’ origami thing (like you use to make in middle school to ‘predict’ who you would be married to etc..). All of these things would be placed in a cupcake box with a clear top along with a note saying why I was sending it and what I could do for them or their clients.

All the feed back I got from people was positive and I enjoyed making them/researching what to put in them. I am really bad about follow through though and didn’t have the guts to call the companies I sent them to 80% of the time if they didn’t call me to let me know they got it. However one of the PR companies called and I will be starting a weekly gig for 3 months in 2 weeks. 🙂 I’m very excited!

I have also thought about making it a contract service to make these type of packs (smaller/larger) for other companies. We’ll see how and if that happens.

 

The other thing I’ve been wanting to do forever is to get my car decal’d. I saw a woman’s car who owned a cake business about 3 years ago and fell in love with what it could be like. I’ve designed artwork for the car in the past but didn’t plan financially for it and thus it never happened. I think though that there are reasons for why things don’t happen in the beginning when you think of them. Maybe it’s because you are meant to meet certain people who will help you facilitate your goal more easily, or maybe it’s because you would get more for your money if you are to wait.

In this case I think it was a bit of both. I met some great couple who own All Florida Tinting who had recently applied tinting to my car, but are also able to cut vinyl. So when I got my artwork turned into vector I ordered my vinyl, took it to them and they cut it all out for me. Yesterday and today my friend Carla and I weeded, masked and applied the vinyl. With KICK ASS results!

As long as I get 1 normal teen party based on my car art I’ll pay for what it cost me. Which isn’t bad, and I know I’ll get more than that! I mean come on.. it’s too cool not to get noticed! Baahhaaaaa!!!

Allergies!

20 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

by storyinprocess in Uncategorized Tags: allergies, florida, pollen, sickface, sleep, sneezing, snot, sore throat, stuffy head, tired, watery eyes

Bah! Earlier this week I started to feel sickface. Low energy, stuffy head, sore throat etc… fun times. Drank a ton of my new special concoction of hot water, local honey and fresh lime juice. Was AMAZINGLY delicious! Soothed my throat too.. which was what I needed. Went to bed early that night (every night this week actually), felt ok the next day.. then off to work (which is at a plant nursery.. kind of comic for someone with allergies) the next day. I do not recall ever being through the allergy ringer like I was yesterday… felt like there was something stinging the inside of my nose which caused me to have watery eyes and sneeze 5x in a row (all day), then I had to blow my nose (using the roll of toilet paper that sat steadily by me) cause snot would run down my face if not.
Man I was miserable! I wanted to go out last night.. have a bit of fun, but alas that didn’t happen. I stayed home with my man, watched The Avengers and I went to bed early AGAIN.

Today I’m up early to watch some of the shows that are just too ‘drama’ for Jeff and then my friend will be coming over later to help me weed out the new vinyl I got cut for my car!!!! SO EXCITED!! *claps hands* Hope I feel better soon.. cause this sucks.

‘One Happy Island’ Part I

14 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

by storyinprocess in short stories Tags: island aruba 'short story'

Our topic this past Monday at Writers Wings was a photo of a license plate from Aruba. It had their national/state (?) saying of ‘One Happy Island’ across the top. We had to write something based on that. I love going around afterwards listening to the other people’s stories.

– story about a rabbit living in a delightful forest/shire

– waking up underneath a car confused and wondering WTF

– a neglected wife who gains her whole self worth from a shitty husband

– a weekend home with a house full of guests making you realize your life is not really one happy island

– being on vacation

and here is the start of mine… I was pretty encouraged with the feed back I got and hope to continue the story

One Happy Island

She had lived here 17 long years. Mya grimly looked at the car in front of her and laughed inside.. ‘One Happy Island’ ha! That’s a joke. I don’t know anyone here that is happy.. well except for the senile old folks who just keep rambling on about how ‘they remember when…’

The light changed and she drove though  ‘downtown’.  The tourist smiling, blissfully unaware of the sadness  behind everyone’s fake smiles. The Oronu had control of Aruba now. No one made a dime of what the tourist spent. All the goons came out after closing to count out what was made that day. The shop owners were given vouchers worth credit for food and basic supplies if they had a profitable day. If not… well.. no one in that family ate that night.

Mya’s family had a shelling company. Her brother Oscar would troll the beaches and shallow water during low tide looking for pristine shells to bring back. He would then clean and prep them for display or for Mya and her mother to make things with. Items like jewelry, chimes, key chains all of which the tourists loved to take home and show their friends and family. All the while exclaiming ‘look how beautiful all of this is!! Can you believe it?’

Arriving at the shop she trudged into the back entrance and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek

‘Hi momma, how are your hands today’ Mya asked

‘oh.. you know.. ‘ her mother Rosa smiled slightly and went back to stringing shells for a necklace.

Mya sat down at her station and started to pick through the shells to start drilling holes. The job wasn’t hard, just monotonous. An easy job to lose yourself in other thoughts.. of other times.

She recalled going shelling with Ned a few months ago, before he left for the mainland and school.  It was one of those moments where the beauty of the sunrise and ocean were no comparison to the bliss she had felt being in his presence.

Previous Older Entries

Recent Posts

• Hypnosis
• Coffee shops with spirit
• Prepping
• Roasted Chicken with olives & Chicken with olives and pasta
• Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Categories

• Gardening/Self Sustainability
• Henna Art
• Hooty!
• Life as I know it
• products I like
• Recipe of the week
• short stories
• Uncategorized

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