1973

Got an hour? BIG HAIR!!!

I'm old school and use hot rollers for the larger than life look. 

Smoldering eyes

HALF UP!

Gucci 1973

BANGS!

BLEACH!

And a dead-of-winter FAKE TAN perhaps???!!!

In france they sell concentrated black TEA as a tanner, I have yet to find it in the US... If I try brewing my own I will let you know how it goes. The product above uses walnut extract. 

a Vegan December Dinner tonight

An unusual yet successful combination. This is what happens when cooking whatever is left in the refrigerator makes an unexpected masterpiece.

MINT

fresh. chopped.

GOLDEN BEET

roasted in a foil packet. sliced.

CABBAGE

drizzled with BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE. roasted. chopped 1" pieces. 

Mix with WHOLE WHEAT PENNE, lots of LEMON JUICE and a little more balsamic vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Go streaking over the holidays!

STREAKS!!!

Check out CLICK Audrey Kitching  for oh-so-much-more!!! Look for pastel colored clip in extensions or a full wig to get the look. No commitment necessary. 

Happy Chanukah

Let the Festival of Lights and the Twelve Days of Christmas commence. What will you be wearing this holiday season?!

tis a gift to be simple

Downshifting is a social behavior in which individuals live simpler lives to escape from the rat race of obsessive materialism. It is the new-age simple living, (a lifestyle characterized by consuming only that which is required to sustain life.) Downshifting is taking root as a natural reaction to consumerism and conspicuous consumption. Find one small way to downshift today. The simplicity is voluntary and gradual. Bigger is no longer better, small is beautiful.

Mini Morning-After Cranberry Sauce Muffins
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup whole grain flour ~I used cornmeal, almost used graham cracker crumbs.
2/3 cup oats
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 dash of salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup milk or milk-substitute
1/4 cup oil ~I had orange infused. mmm.
1 egg or egg substitute ~Please buy pastured eggs from a trusty small farm!
1 cup cranberry sauce

1) Preheat oven to 400F and grease mini-muffin tin. Or any size.
2) Mix dry ingredients down to salt.
3) Mix sugar and remaining ingredients.
4) Combine dry and wet ingredients until fully incorporated, no over-mixing.
5) divide into muffin tin, filling 3/4 full.
6) Bake about 12 minutes for minis, 20 minutes for regular, until just browning and springs back to touch.

I have literally been sustaining myself on a left-over pumpkin pie I was so generously sent home with last thursday night, so this is a nice change of pace. And, I'm running out of pie. I made these today for the first time and really enjoyed their versatility. They were great with a little carrot ginger soup. And what better way to use a whole cup of left-over cranberry sauce, if not more. Multiply as necessary! This recipe, gathered from www.seriouseats.com, was concocted by chef Michael Harr, of Butterfield 9, for those of us who have run out of stuffing to slather the scarlet red sauce on. 

ignorance knows no bliss

Lululemon wee stripe grey separates have become my new uniform.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated," ~Mahatma Gandhi. What if we judged our own personal greatness and moral progress on the same criteria? As the Holidays fast approach and life starts moving at lightening speed, it's easy to let the twinkly lights distract us and forget the fundamentals. Here's a refresher:

Find out more at Meat.org.

'Meet Your Meat': "People for the ethical treatment of animals"

Yes, the going will get tough. I find it easier to maintain my weight when I incorporate chicken into my diet, nothing keeps me snuggly in winter like a fur, and Louboutins are leather soled. Big bummer, yes. But major sacrifices in the bigger picture? No. I, myself, am still known to sport a leather bomber jacket. It's ok to be a work in progress. But it is important to educate yourself on the repercussions of your actions. Know what it is that you are wearing and eating. It isn't cute to be oblivious. It's just ignorant. When I get off track I watch videos such as this one and repeat to myself the basic truth:

"Animals are not ours to eat,

animals are not our to wear,

animals are not ours to experiment on,

animals are not ours to use for entertainment,

animals are not ours to abuse in any way."

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather beacuse it's safer to harrass rich women than motorcycle gangs. ~Author Unkown.

previously...
You are the world. If you change the world changes 
I am not a fan
See how my attempted veganism is an ever-evolving process...

the body is mutable

Casual-cute for the law school crowd on Saturday. Drawn on a legal pad.

Sipping Jack and Coke, hold the Jack.

"In general, there seems to be a grand canyon-sized disparity between how we want to be, how we think we should be, and what we are. And contained in this deep valley separating what we are and what we want to be is obsessive, intense, and senseless worry about body shape and size."

"In our culture, we are bombarded by messages reinforcing the current trend in body shape and size. And that’s all it is: a trend that has turned into a huge fear of fat."

What you fear will appear. What you resist will persist.

"Contrary to the trend, yoga is not about, and has never been about, becoming a supermodel or a gymnast. Physical yoga is simply a means of perfecting the body and its functions to get it out of the way. The body is changeable. Yogis have known this for thousands of years."

"Begin thinking and feeling for yourself. How does your body feel? Decide for yourself how you want to improve your experience of yourself. Don’t worry about your audience or your critics. If you feel good, anyone who sees you will be drown to you, no matter what your shape and size."

all of the "above" Steve Ross, Happy Yoga. CLICK!

Don't buy into the Hype

Sipping Champagne pre-stuffing and pie.

Is it true the better the alcohol quality, the lesser the hangover?

I drank far more Veuve Clicquot than usual with no repercussions...

I had no idea the extent to which this Black Friday phenomena has taken off. My limited news feed comprises of what my husband divulges to me from his many sources on any given day, as I am not one to turn on Fox or surf the Yahoo home page. Quite frankly, after watching, listening or reading the alleged news I feel pretty nervous and anxious. But that's a whole other post. A whole other blog, even. What shocked the h*ll out of me was the numbers of people running out the day after Thanksgiving to take part in the so-called sale of a lifetime. I witnessed some of the madness on my way to a movie. Are the deals really that great? I feel like every day that I am out shopping or online hunting I find amazing value for high quality products on my own time. This weekend, they must be giving the stuff away! Either that, or, as I suspect, we are all being a little bit duped.

Do we not know how to, or, even worse, don't want to, think for ourselves anymore?

Can this really be worth the savings?

And why do we want this particular product in the first place?

Do we even want it?

how to start an import/export business

Thanksgiving shopping in an Aiko dress over a grey shirt

While shopping in Chicago with an old friend and proclaiming it my new go-to City for my once a year spree, (replacing NYC,) she sighed with the words, "Paris, New York, here, it doesn't really matter anymore, everywhere they have have the same stuff." With the world growing smaller and smaller, it's hard to find something special to send to friends and family that isn't already being imported in on a mass scale. There was a time in my family when Nutella was only enjoyed overseas, when german gingerbread, lebkuchen, had to be shipped in from loved ones in decorative tins , and when my mother, to the custom officers dismay, brought home heaps of Herbs de Provence for the Cleveland Ballet's Christmas market. "You say these bags are filled with herb, ma'am?!"

BUT when a package filled with Cleveland's own Great Lakes Brewing Company Christmas Ale arrived at my beach villa all the way out in Southern California, I knew I was wrong. There are still things that you can't get everywhere. That cannot be ordered online. That are limited to a time and place. It is still a special and fortunate thing to have thoughtful friends who know your tastes and passions scattered across the globe thinking of you. You are extra lucky if they are willing to deal with their postal service and partake in the old fashioned form of importing and exporting. The best way to get these friends, is to be one of them yourself. Anytime you think "x would love y" ACT upon that impetus. Thinking about something is not the same as actually doing it. This also holds true for being thankful. Always say or pen, don't just think, your thanks.... THANK YOU!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

match made in edible heaven

Satori top and couture active wear pants for a casual hike,

feeling the dark colors and simple looks as winter seeps in.

Food combining, though no fun if practiced permanently and absolutely*, is great on occasion to sooth chronic, mild stomach ails. Food combining for breakfast can prolong the detoxing that begins in your sleep, keep going through lunch and you'll likely experience increased energy and, good news, the best meal to slip up on is dinner because your system has all night to clean up the mess you've made.

Suzanne Somers swears by food combining and says she learned about the principal when dining with friends in France, who warned her not to eat the cherries off the tree she found on a post-dinner promenade. Fruit with other food and especially after a big meal is a food combining no-no, as it is quick to digest and will ferment while sitting on top of fare that is slower to move through the stomach.

Don't get all crazy like "Is hummus a starch or protein? Can I have a larabar after this meal? Is avocado allowed in this salad?" If your diet includes hummus, larabars, and avocados (and cherries) you have nothing to worry about! That being said, getting a well-combined protein style In-N-Out Burger is not likely to improve your health.

*Nearly every classic dish mis-combines in some way: pizza, sandwiches, burritos, granola with yogurt and fruit, eggs on toast, ice cream sundaes, ... and many defend that it is this combination that keeps us fuller longer. Proponents of food combining eat light to heavy throughout the day and say that they don't mind feeling "empty," and feeling "full" is uncomfortable and a misuse of valuable energy. Play around, see what you think.

On Audrey Hepburn: According to her friend Audrey Wilder, "she was always eating spaghetti or a version of it." However, she did not combine pasta with protein, but with salad. According to her son Sean Ferrer, "she was a food combiner before that diet became fashionable."

gymbo

Hanging out in super simple all black today. Wearing workout gear, but not necessarily working out.

Gyms: "Nothing modern or evolved about them."

"Gyms and exercise classes are hotbeds for self-loathing. Gym-goers constantly compare themselves to each other and either hate or worship what they see in the mirror. Either way, their physical self-esteem is dictated by the mirror or the eyes of others. I often forget that women especially are vulnerable to this competitive reflex, because in the detox lifestyle it tends to dissolve. But the moment I step into a gym—BAM!—I’m reminded of all the bad feelings that keep everyone pounding away on the machines. In my experience, I find gyms and exercise classes to be unhealthy for the mind and self-esteem."

"Learning to master your body is not something we should even have to be taught. It’s basic and intuitive, though the right guidance can certainly accelerate the learning process and help prevent injury. Owning our bodies, rather than just blindly entrusting them to exercise instructors year after year, is yet another aspect of our life education that is undervalued and overlooked."

"If you have discovered that it works for you, don’t compromise by changing it because someone can speak convincingly about the virtues of a product or other detox program."

~all of the "above", Natalia Rose www.detoxtheworld.com

J and I paused mid-bike ride to enjoy tea varieties that fight off winter colds!

The Secret

The gods on Mount Olympus argued about where the Secret of Life should be hidden.

One said, "Let us hide it high upon the tallest mountain, they shall never find it there."

A goddess replied, "Humans have insatiable curiosity and ambition. They will eventually climb the tallest mountain."

Then another goddess suggested, "We should hide the Secret of Life at the bottom of the deepest ocean."

"You don't understand," said a god, "Humanity has a boundless imagination and a potent desire to explore the world. Sooner or later they will reach even the greatest ocean depths."

Finally, a goddess came up with a solution, "Let us hide the Secret of Life in the last place humans would ever look. A place they will only come to when they have exhausted all other possibilities and are finally ready."

"And where is that?" asked the gods.

To which the goddess replied "we will not hide it all."