Hmm.

It's true.  Some days just suck.

Sad News

Soooo...

You know how back in the '90s it was WAY "in style" to do your hair "half up and half down"?  Like this:

Remember how, even though Stephanie was "so hip" to wear the scrunchie to pull off this 'do (and it matches her jumper?!  So hot!), the really cool thing was to wear a barrette in this style?

Remember those barrettes that clipped instead of sliding?

And furthermore, do you remember the AWFULLY ugly ones that you could pick up for, like, a dollar that had black and sometimes brown or green kind of swirled on them?  I am sure you ALL had one, or knew someone who wore one ALL time time, or maybe your mom tried to get one for you because they were cheaper than the metal ones with diamonds or bows on them.

Well...

I have some really, really BAD news.  I don't know WHAT this world has come to.  Nothing even makes SENSE any more.

Below, is a link to a very nice store carrying an item that is very in style now.  You will be shocked and cry.  You will want to hit this younger generation and say, "This is what we FOUGHT to change!  Why are you bringing it back?  WHY?!  After all we went through to protect you from this!  Now you seek it out and make it okay...NAY!  Even make it IN STYLE?!  Oh, how could you do this to us?!"

Click HERE...if you are brave...and have your kleen*ex at hand.

I am so sorry I had to be the bearer of this terrible news.

Leaving in The Morning: Bitter-Sweet.

I am leaving Utah in the morning.  It is bitter-sweet.  The past five days with Mr. J have been great (even though he had to work, go to school and study for finals.  BOOOO!).  But I am excited to get home to my Taiger (who, by the way, does NOT miss me, nor does he want me to come home, because, according to him during our phone conversation tonight, "NaiNai lets me watch Spongebob whenever I want!"  Grandmas are the BEST!  Darn moms ruin ALL the fun!).

I was able to go to Group tonight, too, and see some friends I haven't seen in a while, as well as my nutritionist I haven't seen in many, many months.  It was wonderful to reconnect with such an AMAZING group of women who I love.

Today was the first day of summer.  Some people did amazingly fun things today (water balloons, and the beach are two of my favourites I have heard so far).  What about you?  How did you spend this first day of Summer?

Here are some pictures of the past few days here in Utah.

On Father's Day

Dads are amazing.

They are more than we know.  They do more than we see, they say more good than we hear, they worry about us more than anyone else, and love us more than we could comprehend.  Sometimes Dads are hard to get along with, but they are always "along", never leaving us, even when we don't realize it is them holding us up.

I am so thankful for my wonderful Dad.

Happy Father's Day. :)

Losing Hope: A Step in the Wrong Direction

I had a moment tonight.  Not a good moment.  A bad, bad moment.

I lost hope.

For a second, I really did!

There was a time in my life when I didn't have any hope.  But I do now!  So, when I lost it for a second tonight, it was horrible and horrifying.

My inner peace is gone this week.  I think when that happens I am most likely to lose hope.  So, my quest for internal peace continues.  I am glad to have this new element to add to my experiences as I journey to find peace.  I now recognize the roll losing hope plays in finding (or further losing, actually) peace.  It is good to recognize these things, right?

So, losing hope takes me further away from peace.

What do you do when you lose hope?  How do you cope in those shuddering moments?

Inner Peace For Kids

Look!  I found this!

Okay, no one responded to the question I posed at the end of my last post.  Maybe no one has suggestions!  If the internet can't help me, who can?!  lol But, I am persistent and I am going to ask another question and see if anyone has any ideas.  How do you help your child find inner peace?  I have on a hands a little boy who is not feeling "safe" in his world.  He is experiencing anxiety and fear.  How can I help him feel at peace in his heart and feel secure, regardless of what the world around him is doing?  Ideas??  Do you meditate with your children?  Has it helped?  Do you have suggestions on how to practice mediation with kids?  Is children's meditation the "same" as adult meditation?

Inner Peace

When I was in China, I told my good friend, Liza, that I was living there because I was trying to find peace.  We were sitting in a little restaurant at our school.  Life was hard.  Taiger was only 4, and things were HARD.  Where was the peace I had traveled half way around the world to find?

Liza was tall and beautiful.  But her beauty wasn't only in her appearance.  When you looked at her, it was like you saw the beauty of the world radiating from her.  She was always happy, but not over the top cheezy happy.  She was genuinely happy.  Sometimes when I was around her, I would wonder what that was that she "was".  I thought through all the words in my head to describe her: Glad.  Pleased.  Pleasant.  I later realized the word I was looking for to describe her was "peaceful".

That day in the restaurant she told me that the peace I needed was not from my environment.  She told me I needed peace inside of me.  She explained that I could go anywhere in the world, but never find peace because peace is not around you, it is in you.  I almost started crying.  Partly because I felt like moving to China was my one big hope of being at peace, and that hope was now lost.  I also almost started crying because sometimes the truth hurts, and what she had said was absolutely truth.  I breathed in hard to trap the tears in my chest and nodded in agreement, not trusting my voice to speak without letting the emotion break out and flow as tears down my cheeks.

Liza practiced Yoga.  She had gone to yoga school, and she was very accomplished at doing yoga.  Along with that, however, she really UNDERSTOOD the yoga ideas and theories, not just the body movements but the belief system.

When my house was broken in to, any little trace of peace I had seemed to float out the window on a breeze.  I was so displaced!  I was afraid the robber would return, as the door now had no lock.  So, I carried around with me what few valuables I still had.  At night, I was paranoid and it was hard to sleep.  Coming home at night to (what I hoped was) an empty house was always nerve wracking, as someone could be in there, or could have been there, and it felt so frightening.

A couple of days after the break-in, I told Liza how unsettled I felt.  She gave me some very expensive incense and told me to light it and carry it through my house, moving it in such a way that it would make smoke circles.  She assured me it would dispel the bad feelings in the house and return it to feeling safe.  What an idea!  That the negative energy of the break in was still there. I was desperate enough to try ANYTHING, so I did as she said.  It made me reflect on my knowledge of energy and I realized that was something I needed to pay more attention to in the future.

When I was at Liza's house one day, I saw an interesting picture hanging above her desk and I asked her about it.  It was a friendly looking elephant in bright but calming colours, orange, red, etc.  She told me that her yoga teacher had given the picture to her, and had given it to her without colour so she could paint it.  I believe the painting of it was a form of meditation, but anyway.  She told me that this elephant was a god and that his task was to remove obstacles in our way.  She referred to the elephant as "him/he" and made him seem so personal, like he was one of her best friends.  She said she often thought of him when she faced a difficulty, be that in a life situation or remembering facts for a test.    She felt he could remove things in her life that were blocking her progression.

When Liza spoke of this elephant god, I felt a strong connection to him!  I knew _I_ needed him!  Of course, I am Christian, so my God is not an elephant. But in my mind, this friendly fellow was just what I needed.

Over the past two years since I was in China last, I have thought a lot about Liza and what she taught me.  I often find that picture of the elephant god popping in to my head when I face a trial.  I find myself wanting to practice yoga to find the peace Liza had.  When I am not at peace and realize I am searching everywhere for a way to have peace, I remember the words Liza spoke and remember to look inside at what is making me UNpeaceful and acknowledge that peace won't be found "out there".

So, blog reading friends, where do you find your peace?  Religion has always been a huge comfort to me, but I am talking about outside of religion.  What do you do to expel negative feelings?  When you are searching around frantically for peace, where do you eventually find it?

Four Things to Mention

The past has been creeping, creeping, creeping in.  

I acted all nonchalant and was like, "What eves, girlfriend!  I LOOOOVE my past!"

But it is making itself a little too comfortable and I would like it to leave soon, as any courteous guest would.  

It's getting old, and wearing out its welcome.

So, I have four things to share with you today.  Enjoy!

A bag for my little boy?  Yes, please!  He has this little monkey backpack I gave him when he was just a little (-er) tyke and he drags it EVERYWHERE.  It is getting torn and worn out and I think one of THESE is in order.

THIS is just too great. :)  I love this.

We all have had to address THESE things with our kids.  I know what to call a boy's, but what do you call "IT"?  And anyone familiar with THIS book?  Is it a good one?

If you want a good "book" read THIS blog!  Don't just read the most recent post!!!!!  Go back to the beginning and read it like a book.  You will be SO glad you did. :)

Egg Plant

To follow up from yesterday's post about EATING A RAINBOW, I just HAD to share THIS link that my friend, "Polka Dot" (you can find her rad blog HERE) sent me on facebook!  Thanks, POLKA DOT!!

Thank you to EVERYONE who made recommendations!  Walaby78 (who blogs over HERE) suggested blue corn chips!  LOVED that idea, too!

I will have you all know that I bought an egg plant today.  The cashier exclaimed, "I don't get many of THESE coming through here!"  I chuckled.  She questioned, "How do you even prepare it?!"  I had to admit I have no idea!  In China, I would eat it fried or barbecued.  But I don't think it is the same kind of egg plant we have here.  She said you can put it in spaghetti sauce, but that won't do me much good because Taiger won't eat spaghetti sauce!  (He eats his noodles boiled with NOTHING on them!  I am not even kidding.  Sometimes, I sneak and put a tiny bit of butter on them when he isn't looking because I just cannot stomach watching someone eating dry, sticky noodles!  It would be TORTURE!  I am serious!)

Anyone have a recipe for cooking egg plant?  How do YOU eat egg plant?  Cold?  Cooked?

RAINBOW...for DINNER??

Sooo, who DOESN'T like a rainbow?

I mean, as in like to EAT a rainbow.

And I am NOT talking about THESE guys:

I have started doing something new and FUN with Taiger!  We are trying to "Eat A Rainbow" every day!  It is WAAAAAY, way, WAY more fun than trying to "eat your fruits and vegetables"!  It is more like a game.   We will be getting ready to eat and Taiger will say something like, "Mom, can we have bananas with dinner?  I don't have a yellow for today!"  Or we will be eating and I will say, "Taiger!  Let's have beans, too, because we still need green today!"  It is really fun!  And at the end of the day, I find us talking about what colours we have eaten . Sometimes, he will have had a colour I didn't have and I will be like, "RED?!  When did you get red?!"  And he will feel all proud because he had an apple while I was gone so he got a colour I didn't. :)   So, then I will go eat an apple so I can have red, too.  The other night, he tried pickled beats.  He didn't love them, but then he tried crab salad because it had red in it and he LOVED it!

Anyway, I do NOT "count calories", so I don't have that to (ahem)  "help" me make sure I am eating right.  Counting calories is stupid.  So there.

I don't like telling Taiger he "has" to eat this, or he "has" to eat that.  I want him to listen to his body and eat what he feels he needs.

So, if we don't count calories and I don't force him to eat fruits and vegetables, how can I sort of keep a mental record of if he is eating what he needs to?

The rainbow idea is the PERFECT solution for our family!  I would never force him to "eat something orange dang it!", but if I get to lunch and realize he hasn't eaten ANYTHING from the rainbow (brown cereal, white rice, brown potato...you get the point) then I tell him we haven't had ANY rainbow colours yet, and he gets all excited to see how he can incorporate colours in to his meal.  It is GREAT! :)

Do YOU eat a rainbow every day?  What do you do about purple and blue?  I am thinking I will buy egg plant for purple, and pick plums this fall.  What about blue?  I can only think of blueberries, which are insanely expensive.  Any other ideas for blue?