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Gus the Brave and a Tribute to Our Furry Friends

11/24/2015

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Gus the Brave

My life was saved the other day
A golden retriever, both dumb and brave.

Country winds howling in their greatest defense
As I waltzed 'tween electric and barbed-wire fence.

He let out a bark, “It's time to turn back!”
Soon followed a powerful THUD and a CRA-A-A-CK.

If not for that old dog running after me,
I would have been stuck under a fallen oak tree

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One windy day in The Plains, I was alone on the ranch and wanting to venture into the woods.

I had no phone, no one due back for hours and no one within miles around.

When strong wings blow through the surrounding woods; when the soil is just the right amount of moist; conditions are perfect for entire trees to uproot.

Yet onward I went, not listening to my own inner voice.

Just as I sneak past both boundary fences, I look back and see Gus running after me. Barking and galloping, trying to get my attention, I turned back just in time. Whether he knew it or not, that dog risked his life for me.

Right where I was standing only a mere few seconds before, a tree fell before my eyes, crushing the earth and plants beneath it...

Thanks to him I can say I'm alive.


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Waltzing with Gus-Gus, my Golden Retriever! <3
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The past couple of days have been tough on the heart. Just a day after we found out Dexter's best friend, Mastodon the Bull Mastiff, had to be put to rest, I learn my old pup, Gus, back on the farm, may be nearing the end of his own life. As much as I will always love my pets, this will never get easier with time.


When we grow old with our pets, they become our constant companions, and often times our "thunder buddy" and best friend. There's something about our pets that make us better people.


They teach us how to care and nurture for another being, how to develop trust and understanding, and most importantly how to love and be loved by someone and something entirely different from who we are.

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Here's to remembering all the four-legged friends we've loved and lost along the way.
May they always guide us and remind us to be better human beings;
To show each other love, with the gentleness and excitement
That only our fur-family knows how to give best.


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A Weekend to Remember

11/20/2015

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Happy Friday, everyone!!!

I'm most excited for this weekend in particular because we will be celebrating our very first anniversary as a married couple! Woo!!! We've already had some crazy awesome adventures together and I'm so excited for the many more to come!


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Surprise wedding cake number 2!
(Yes, two).
We had every intention on having a simple minimalist wedding.
However, to our surprise, friends and family had other plans for us and we are so absolutely grateful for this.

It's true when they say, "I get by with a little help from my friends!"

I really do love our little wedding story. Our relationship in general has been pretty magical since we first met, combining our love for nature, animals, good friends, good food and of course, our similar-views on worlds-end-post-apocalyptic survival tactics. (The threat of zombies is of course, one of the many reasons I've turned to nature and holistic healing as not just an art and hobby but as a way of life. I want to be prepared to care for my husband and family no matter what obstacles may come crawling our way). It's true. Our individual nerdiness found it's match within each other and that, right there, is why we fell in love. Definition of a soul mate? I think so.

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He's the salt to my pepper.
We held our ceremony at Midtown Oyster Bar in Newport, RI then made our way over to Pour Judgement for some celebratory live music and drinks with friends.
We kept it as small and simple as we could. Not only were we celebrating our marriage but
it was also the very first time our parents would actually meet.
No pressure at all, mom and dad!



Our story starts as most fairy-tales seem to do... two lost souls wandering the streets of Providence in search of hope and a good time between the long days and late nights of the local food and service scene...

Long story short, we met at a bar. But not just any bar, we met at The Wild Colonial Tavern, a place we both frequented with friends each week. It was our home away from home. He would spend his nights sipping White Russians around the pool table, unknowing to the possibility of destiny standing before his eyes as his future wife; covered in coffee stains and not at all trying to hide the lurking sour-milk stench that comes along with working in a coffee shop, got her frustrations of the workday out through a habitual game of darts while chugging away at a 22oz bottle of Oaked Arrogant Bastard. Yes, those were the days. (No wonder I ended up with a gluten intolerance).

I remember turning around after a horrible throw, those bright spotlights over the dartboards beaming into my eyes as I look down and exchange a glance with this handsome lad in a Gear's of War beanie from across the room. Totally one of those "love at first sight" hold-eye-contact-for-awkwardly-too-long moments that happened in the blink of an eye and then shook off with another quick sip of the beverage and continuing conversation amongst coworkers who were of course, hanging around the bar for the very same reasons. It wasn't until months later, after both realizing we had some mutual friends to prod info about ("Hey do you know that girl?" "What's that kids story, do you know his name?") that we finally exchanged a few words of conversation.
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Nuptials. What's really going on in this picture?
I'm trying my hardest to hold in my giggles as he is actually the one getting teary-eyed, absolutely making my heart melt even more! But shhh that's supposed to be a secret.

"Ever been to Alaska?"


Those were his famous first words ever spoken to me. He was, of course, referring to my playing cards that had pretty purple and blue flowers and the word ALASKA written across the backs of them, given to me by my very own Eskimo of a friend before returning back to her native winter-wonderland of a state in the northwest, a state which I recently found out can fit 425 Rhode Islands within it. Anyway....

As my long-time best friend stepped away for the longest minute of my life from our not-so-intense game of rummy, the dude himself took the opportunity to set down his drink, take a deep breath and conquer his fears with 30 seconds of courage and bravery, to approach the unapproachable with these life-changing four words:

"Ever been to Alaska?"

Yes. these were his heart-winning words to "break the ice."

Well played, my love.

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We decided on handmade wedding bands from Hawaii. We chose titanium rings with a koa and black wood inlay, perfect for all the heavy-duty woodworking and gardening we did while on the farm.
Durability: check.
One With Ourselves and Nature: check check.


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Toasting to our love and top raw bar picks of the evening from Midtown Oyster Bar,
because weddings and aphrodisiacs go hand-in-hand.

Our friends played such an important role to our big day:
  • Headband and his boutonniere were handmade for us using some of our favorite herbs in honor of our love for food and nature.
  • Dress was beautifully altered with lace detail by another very patient friend with the sweetest sewing machine skills on the block!
  • Hair and make-up were done by the beautiful and talented Mariska (my sister-in-law) of Flipp Salon & Apothecary in Providence, RI. (Which, by the way, if you're looking for an amazing stylist in the area, book with her!)

The night following our wedding, we headed over to The Wild Colonial in honor of our first meeting place where we were yet again showered with surprises. From more cake to a performance by The Rhode Island Ukulele Armada, as well as a lovely rendition of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight from my oldest friend, which ended up being our first dance as a married couple, this was quickly turning into an epic weekend-long wedding celebration.

The biggest surprise of them all during this weekend was from an unexpected stranger. A young, engaged couple from out of town (around the same age as us) had been visiting Providence and observed our festivities from a few tables away. Between all the hugs and laughter and catching up with old friends, I received a quick tap on the shoulder from an unfamiliar face.

This woman was blown away by the amount of love she saw between us and our friends that night and wanted to do something special for us as well. She handed me an envelope with a hand written note inside saying, "Hi, you don't know us but..." and went on to wish us kind words of love and happiness, along with a few dollars to start our married-life savings fund. She was able to snap a few pictures of us as well as a video of our first dance which she later sent in an e-mail with again, more kind words.

This seriously made my night. Well, a lot of things made my night that night, but this was definitely the cherry on top. I love when love inspires other people to love. It's a wonderful feeling.
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Our first surprise wedding cake.
We didn't think we needed a wedding cake.
Between his mom and our friends, we were surprised with two!

Our entire relationship has revolved around nature:
  • Our first date? A hike along Long and Ell Pond Woods.
  • Our first potential “in-love” feeling? Stargazing along the Jamestown coast, holding hands and listening to the waves crash upon the rocky cliffs (the perks of catering fancy weddings).

    We've done some pretty amazing nature-inspired things together, including a true “get-to-know-each-other” 8-hour road trip to Bar Harbor, ME where we would climb our first of many mountains together, looking down at the view with the ultimate realization of what it means to truly be “on top of the world” together.
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My father-in-law, sealing the deal for us as our wedding officiant. When we talked about who to choose as an officiant, we wanted someone that knew us and knew who we were as a couple. We wanted someone that could speak intimately from his heart when addressing our hearts. The man did good.
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On top of one of the many peaks of Acadia and St. Sauveur Mountains.

"Walk with me My Love
We'll see the world anew.
Hold your breath, take my hand
Another dimension, a sacred view."

Venture Together, a little poem I wrote for him while we were on the farm.
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Inner Battles with Wrinkles, Gray Hairs and Obscured Vision (with a bit of Passion thrown in for good measure)

11/6/2015

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Student: What's your passion?

Teacher: Passion? Singular?
As in one thing that I'm truly passionate about and want to focus my life around?


I don't have a passion... I have many.

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I recently met a women who does palm readings. She took one look at my palm and was blown away. Not literally of course. I don't have a crazy super power that shoots forces of wind out of my palms although that would be pretty awesome (and would make sense for me, considering my ayurvedic element is air). Anyway, with one quick look and an enthusiastic "Wow," she told me I was a very “complex” person. I had so many lines for someone so young. Well, that wasn't news to me.


I love life and I love learning new things. I like to keep things real and chase my dreams no matter how obscure and unrelated they are. I have also spent a good portion of my life using my hands. These lines on my hands tell stories of my past.

They aren't so much a representation about my future or about events I should expect to take place. They represent me. All of me. My struggles and my victories. My work and my play.


Naturally, the well-used parts of our body will eventually lead to wrinkles on our skin. Our smile-lines as we age from a life-time of smiles and giggles and lines on our forehead from years of stress and over-thinking, all folds and creases within our skin that tell a story. For me, my hands.


My lines will tell you that I began playing music at a young age. Piano exercises, ukulele strumming, physically demanding work through my teens and twenties, all the years of latte slinging, tree climbing, pet massaging, wood splitting, hand-holding, fists clenching from anxiety; writing, typing, yoga, gaming, crafting, the list goes on.




At first I was offended when this woman grabbed my palm and began to read it to me without my asking. I've never been the type of person to want to know my “future” or to seek answers through palm or tarot reading. Yes, I believe in symbolism but when it comes to reading my future, I simply have no desire to know. What I did take with me to hold onto from my palm reading experience was the memories. The memories within the lines of my hands that remind me who I am, who I've been, allowing myself the excitement for more lines as I age and grow in wisdom and experience.


I think about my dad's hands, all the lines from his years of hard work. Even more so the lines of my grandparents, and the memories of my great grandparents. I remember as a child, cross-stitching with my Vavo, watching her hands closely as she concentrated on needle and thread. The look of her hands, so fragile and shaking with arthritis, skin almost translucent and the complexity of lines and wrinkles within her own palms.

To a child, those hands represent old age. To an adult, they represent life. A life well-lived. A life well-spent. A life filled with experience and hard work. A life filled with passion.



In the same way, I no longer hide my gray hair because it symbolizes both stress and wisdom. Yes, I'm twenty-six years young and I have more gray hairs on my head than your grandma. I started young, finding my first one when I was only 16. For many years I dyed my hair to cover up my grays. It wasn't until my whole “I need to embrace nature and do everything super naturally” epiphany that I decided hair dye wasn't for me. That goes hand in hand with make-up. No longer do I waste my time covering up blemishes, attempting to contour to create the additional illusion of beauty that is totally messed up and expected within society today. I'm not hating on make-up lovers, if you can do it and do it well, that's fun and awesome. I've never been good at it, and now that I've embraced my natural beauty with the help and encouragement of my dashing husband, I am personally SO much better off. .
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Spending less time trying to perfect the outer version of myself has freed up so much more time to work on my inner self. It's true, beauty is more than skin deep. True beauty comes when you learn to accept yourself for who you are both inside and out. I remember a couple years ago, still trying to get all made-up and done-up for my man, totally stressing that my hair wasn't working with me, or that I couldn't get my make-up right... totally something I know you ladies can relate with. This is something that would actually lead to a great deal of frustration for me. Not only did I struggle with my hair and make-up but there was also the fact that I couldn't exactly see what I was doing that absolutely did not help the situation.


A brief side story: I've had to wear glasses since I was 18 months old. They've always been an accessory to my face, always brought me down, and I've always hated that I've needed to depend on them to see clearly. When I was 10, I hopped on the contact lens train as soon as I was allowed to and never looked back. That is, of course, until I got to college and totally gave up taking care of my eyes. I slept in my contacts ALL THE TIME (and this was years before discovering the breath-able kind that you can actually sleep in). Needless to say, I ended up in the hospital with a disgusting "jellyfish" looking ulcer on my cornea (as my friends described it) caused from a bacteria called Pseudomonas. I had never been in so much pain in my life. It felt as though someone had taken a machete and viciously gouged my eye socket repeatedly from the inside out. Migraines, even blurrier vision (because of course, this happened to my stronger eye), and now the thought that I would be stuck relying on my glasses for the rest of forever. To give you a glimpse of just how bad it was, the doctor mentioned that in the state I was in, I was only a mere hour (or a literal 1milimeter) away from losing my right eye entirely. It was a horrible and painful experience, spending the next six months in and out of the hospital going through treatments, steroids, bottle after bottle of whatever combination of drops they'd prescribe, and all the painkillers I could get.... Take care of your eyes, folks. The world is a different place when your vision is obscured. Anyway, I digress.


During one of my many hair and make-up struggles, I recall thinking to myself “I wish I could see myself as Josh sees me.” I remember this subconscious statement actually bringing tears to my eyes as I thought it over and over. He would always tell me how beautiful I am, that I didn't need to hide behind make-up or get dressed up all the time. I would always roll my eyes at him, believing he was just saying that to win some brownie points, but he was so right. (The more time we spend together, the more I realize how right he has been about a lot of things). He helped me to accept myself the way I am, inside and out. To this day, anytime I look in the mirror and am dissatisfied with my own appearance, I will quietly tell myself to see me how he sees me.


Like the lines in my hand and the hairs on my head, the now scars on my eye tell just another story of my life experiences and lessons. Had I not gone through that horrible time and that horrible pain, or had I not looked down on myself with disappointment and self judgement, I would not know the inner strength or the value in self-worth that I know today.

You see, with any type of loss or battle, there is always something to be gained. There are always stories to be told, always lessons to be learned, always another chance to make tomorrow a better day.


So, embrace your wrinkles. Show off your gray hair. Talk about your struggles and see how far you've come. And if you feel as though you haven't come far, begin to look at them in a different light. Rather than letting them bring you down, rather than bringing yourself down, look for the lessons within.

Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this, so that I may become a better person?”

Perhaps your story will inspire another to do the same. What simpler way to spread positive change to humanity than to tell your own story.

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Buying Meats: Lessons from the Farm

11/5/2015

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This is something that's been on my mind recently, as someone asked me about healthy eating and my opinion on buying the right meats and produce, etc. I thought I would share this little story...


Josh and I spent the first eight months of this year living on a cattle farm. It was an amazing, eye-opening experience, providing us with wisdom and knowledge to take with us for years to come. We experienced first-hand the hard work, care and dedication it takes to properly raise livestock.

Our cattle are grass-fed, free range, all natural and organically raised. Once a certain weight, They are sold to another farm to be finished and distributed to grocers in New England, including Whole Foods.


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One of our many stockers. These cows are between 2-3 years old and come to our farm for a few months to be fed and cared for until they reach a desired weight, at which point they get sold to another farm. I spent most of my time hanging out with these gals. This one would let me pet her and take feed right from my hand.
While on the farm, we also learned a little bit about the technical terms behind selling and buying meats. We learned that the difference between “organic” and “natural” is simply in the licensing. You can raise your livestock totally organic, but unless you pay the extra fees for proper licensing, you can only sell to grocers and butcher shops as “natural.”
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My first week on the farm, getting to know the residents
I recently read an article about antibiotics in meats and how so many people are turning away from them. While I agree that buying natural is better, I also learned a bit about this topic as well. Yes, there are some companies that are known to pump antibiotics and other various growth-promoting hormones into their livestock throughout the animals entire life, but the truth is, all it takes is for a single dose of antibiotic to change the meats licensing and labeling.


For instance, let's say during a cows first year he gets an eye infection. This is common for young calves as they graze through fields during humid weather where the air is thick and manure particles more apt to settle within the blades of grass. That calf then has to be rounded up and injected with an antibiotic to ease the infection before it spreads. Even if the cow remains totally healthy with no issues for the remaining years of his life, he is no longer considered “natural” because of ONE dose of antibiotics during his first year.

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My parents living their dream. This was on a cattle run, about to round up the cows to bring to the next field for grazing.

"It's definitely the holistic care that makes them naturals. Although you can't let an animal suffer so you have to make different calls at different times and sometimes give the antibiotic."
-Jim Dallow, farm manager and cow whisperer at Rock Hill Mill Farm

I hope you can see what I'm trying to get at. With all of the health food fads and phases, and the rise in awareness of healthy eating, people are quick to say “no” to foods that might not actually be that bad. Yes, do your research, learn where your meat comes from and care about how they are raised. By all means, go with what you believe to be the healthy choice. But also remember, not everything is as bad as it seems.


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Feed time for these impatient ladies. Haven't even fully lowered the bale yet and they're already munching away!
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Golden Oats with Dates & Honey

11/3/2015

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I love this stuff.
Its a quick and easy 5 minute breakfast that's good
(and relatively good for you).



Ingredients


1/2 c. gluten free oats
1/2 c. Unsweetened Vanilla Hemp Milk
1/4 c. almond slivers
1 tsp. raw honey
1 tsp pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric
3-4 chopped dates



In a small pan, combine all ingredients and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.


Simmer 5 minutes or until oats are desired texture and consistency.

Enjoy!




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    ...
    Minimalist.
    Spiritualist.
    Hippie.
    Loved.
    Nature Obsessed.
    ...


    Ideology:

    ...
    We were put here to take care of our earth;

    To make use of the treasures and gifts hidden within.

    To be one with nature.

    To be nurtured by nature.
    ...

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    Disclaimer: Any health-related information provided is simply for educational purposes and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness. As always, use your own judgement and contact your healthcare professional. :)
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