God Speaks in Flowers

It is never more clear to me that God exists than when I see flowers. Summer may be ending, but it doesn't mean we have to let go of that summertime feeling in our souls. When your soul gets chilly, listen to this Leddra Chapman "Summer Song" and spend a little moment being thankful for the seasons. 

You Are Not Your Thoughts

"The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity
- "the thinker". Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you
 start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated.
You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought,
that thought is only a tiny aspect of that intelligence. You also realize that all
the things that truly matter -- beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace -- arise
from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken."

-Eckhart Tolle, author of "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth".

Did you Know?

Did you know that is a picture of the train station in East Torresdale? Did you know that that's near New Jersey? Did you know that across from the train station there's a restaurant called the Three Monkey Cafe? Did you know they have a little outdoor seating area called Monkey Court? (And no, that's not going to be my new nickname although it fits.) I didn't know any of this either, until I accidentally took the wrong train home to Trenton last night and practically tripled my usual 45 minute commute to an hour and a half.

Did you know that I've been taking the same train for 3 years now? (Sad.)

Did you know that for the entire hour ride they kept anouncing stops that should have been clear to me were not places I had ever heard of before in my entire lifetime? (Very sad.)

Did you know that you have to pass through miles and miles and miles of trash mountains and industrial waste piles to get to Trenton? (Actually sad.)

Did you know that I was too busy reading an article in my yoga magazine to notice that hello, I wasn't in Kansas anymore? (Not sure if this is sad, hilarious or ironic. Or all three.)

Did you know that I wasn't really all that upset by getting lost and tripling my commute time but that what really threw me over the edge was getting bit by a mosquito at the East Torresdale station? It's the little things that get us.

"It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out —

 it's the grain of sand in your shoe."

Homegrown

Flowers from the garden

Grilled chicken with dad's home-made pesto sauce with the basil he grew

On Sunday night I ate dinner at my parent's house and enjoyed a simple meal of home-made pesto pasta with grilled chicken and a salad. My dad made the pesto and chicken, I made the salad and my mom prepared a little bouquet of flowers from her garden in my great grandmother's blue vase. It sounds perfectly rustic, effortlessly chic and so Martha Stewart doesn't it? Well I guess it sort of was, if Martha Stewart's home also has issues with ants and if she eats her perfectly made meals in her pajamas and leaves the dishes dirty while digging into her "thrown together" meal. But the whole thing could not have been more spontaneous, easy or lovely. Nothing was forced or prepared. I noticed my dad's overflowing pot of basil and suggested he use it. We thawed some chicken, used up some veggies for a salad, boiled some pasta. And the flower arrangement? Well while gardening in her sweats my mom decided to FINALLY pick some of the flowers and enjoy the fruits of her and my dad's sweat-filled summer labors. (The two of them can make a yard look like a magical, secret oasis.)

This past weekend was a special weekend for two reasons. Not only did it mark the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, but it also marked the 28 year anniversary of my parent's marriage. (There is no correlation. And luckily, my parent's were married September 10.) Sometimes that is just the way life works: tragedy and beauty coinciding side by side. Loss and growth. I don't think I will ever understand the full extent of what that it meant to be in New York that fateful day or what it meant to lose someone so violently and so abruptly. Nor will I ever fully understand what it means  to have "28 years of marriage" under my belt - until I have been married for 28 years myself. I am only 23 (ahem, 23 and a half thank you very much as of tomorrow) and I don't think I have even been able to commit to a favorite color for that long - let a lone a person. The miracle of my parents staying together is actually no miracle at all. I think they put a lot of work into their marriage but to some extent (and this is what they always tell me whenever I ask them what their secret to being married is) they just married the right person. I don't know what that means. Or how you know. Or how you make it work. I guess I am not supposed to know these things yet. But I do know this: they make each other laugh, they both have faith in God, my dad is 100% committed to my mom and my mom is 100% committed to my dad. And they both honor and value the institution of family above all else. I love those two so darn much and feel immeasurably and unspeakably thankful that I am homegrown from their able arms and careful hands.

When I look back at drawings I did as a child there is one theme in all of my pictures that I drew of my family. Besides the strange stick figure drawings of my family (and my mom with yellow hair) there is always a consistent theme: we are all standing together (love), there is a couch (comfort), there is a sun (warmth), there is a tree (stability and growth) and a window (perspective). My parents have always provided and continue to provide those things to me and my siblings through their commitment to one another. And in honor of September 11, more than anything, I am just glad I have both parents that are alive and breathing and still walking this earth.

"Carry On"

This is Smt. Hansaji J. Yogendra and me. Hansaji is the Director of the Yoga Institute in Mumbai, India as well as the president of the International Board of Yoga. I was lucky enough to spend my entire Saturday with Hansaji and my fellow teacher training buddies at the Yoga Life Institute where I am getting my training under Dr. Bob, who himself trained at the Yoga Institute in Mumbai under Dr. Jayadeva and Hansaji herself.

For the first part of the morning, we stretched our extremeties with Dr. Shantaram Shetty, a yoga therapist who was also from the Yoga Institute in India. Dr. Shetty is also the chief research co-ordinator and secretary for the International Board of Yoga. He was simply the most adorable man I've ever seen. He showed us the stretches and breathing techniques in his pin-stripe button down and khaki pants. Afterward we all sat around Hansaji's feet as she told us stories. For the entire day we would stretch, listen to stories, stretch, listen to stories, dance and sing, listen to stories. (We also sat around and ate copious amounts of fruit and nuts and talked about how we each handle extreme emotions and how the idea of "samadhi" frightens us.) Hansaji recommended not giving in to emotions or giving in to crying too often. She told us that life is work, that people will always get angry and be rude, that major difficulties will come but that we must remain undisturbed by others and by the change. Change is constant, people will disappoint us, upset us and get angry but we must always first remain strong and balanced within our own selves. She told us our duty is to balance our mind and not give in to strong emotions. Her advice to not cry was a bit shocking to me, as I am someone who enjoys crying maybe a little too much.

Hansaji explained that many people think that "yoga" is only the asana poses that you see on fitness dvds and in workout classrooms in the gym. If you look at yoga as aerobic exercise only it is like looking at the tail of a dog and calling the tail the dog. Yoga is so much more than the poses and the physical stretches. Yoga literally means "union" of the mind and the body. Yoga can be practiced anywhere - and should be practiced everywhere and in every area of our lives if we are truly looking to find the most benefits from our practice. When we are at work and focusing on a task but thinking about how much we hate our job or hate our boss, we are missing a valuable opportunity to practice yoga. Yoga is skillful action and deep concentration. Yoga is not giving in to emotions of boredom, anger or sadness. Yoga is not letting the mind wander from the task at mind. When we are having a difficult time with a relationship in our lives, getting frustrated and angry at someone and losing our temper to them - or when they lose their temper to us - it is the perfect time to practice yoga. Yoga is the ability to NOT react to others emotions or even to our own emotions. Yoga is awareness of self, awareness of what truly makes us "tick" and what sets us off. When we see that yoga is so much more than the physical poses, we see that practicing yoga is something we can do at every moment of the day and especially while doing work.

Here are some memorable quotes from Hansaji from Saturday:

"Do your duty. Let go of the results."

"You have no right over the results. You only have the right to the action."

"Your duty is first to find balance within your own mind."

"Uplift yourself."

"Do not try to remove anger. Bring more joy."

"Yoga is concentration. Yoga is skill at work."

"Goodness will always win. You can trust in goodness."

"Life is work."

"The cause of all suffering is desire and expectation."

"Every man should treat every woman, besides his wife, as if she were his own mother."

And her particular, tailored advice which she gave to me after getting my picture with her,

"You are a sweet girl. Carry on." 

Home-made Cool Ranch Doritos

These home-made doritos were based off of Macheesmo's recipe. Because I like his name.

Instructions: 

 1. Get your ingredients: oil (we used Smart Balance), corn tortillas (Aly suggested using mini ones, but you can use regular sized too), Hidden Valley ranch packet ($100 dollars - or more if you market it and sell the product - to the person who can make up this seasoning without the msg), paprika, and garlic (ours had parsley flakes in it because apparently the hurricaine wiped out ALL the garlic seasoning in the Acme. It's either that or everyone is super prepared for Halloween to ward off the vampires, my guess is 2.)  

 2. Heat your oil. *Don't pour too much oil in, just enough for a few chips to float. We used a wok because it has a lot of depth and therefore minimized any flying-bubbling-popping hot oil from hitting us or our walls. To protect our wall, we actually made a paper-towel-contraption-shield held up by boob-tape because we didn't have tape. It was a great idea until the paper towel slipped onto the burner and almost caught flame. (And as it turned out, no oil hopped out onto the walls anyway thanks to Aly's idea of using a deep wok.) Oh Life. When you're busy preparing and worrying about one thing (that never happens), it turns out your worries and fears can actually cause a whole other catastrophe. Moral of the story: stop worrying. Or worry, but realize it's not going to do you any good. Also, don't play with fire.

3. Cut your tortillas. If you use the mini corn tortillas, cut them into 4, but if you use regular ones cut them into 6. (You can stack them on top of eachother.)

4. Mix seasoning. Use the entire packet of Ranch seasoning, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tsp garlic powder and 1 tbsp salt. (Macheesmo used 2 tbsp, because he is a macho machismo and his heart can apparently handle that amount of sodium. We found that 1 heaping tbsp. was salty enough.)

5. Drop your tortillas into the oil.  

6. Prepare a DoritoStation with wire-racks if you have them, or if not just some paper towels is fine. You have to work quickly to make sure you cover those toasty babies in the seasoning while the oil is still hot. Thankfully, Aly and I had eachother and she worked the frying part (this girl is talented, did you know?) and I seasoned because I'm salty like that. Use tongs or a spoon with holes in it to pluck the chips out. You'll know when the chips are ready because they will float and bubble and start to brown a bit.

7. Make your own Dorito bags and enjoy the chips while they are hot and fresh! (But they are still so good the next day.) 

Thank you to Aly for making this all possible. Her and I both thought the chips were good but still missed something that made them "authentically" cool ranch tasting. Aly will be working on tweaking this recipe to make it more accurate as well as do more posts on Home-made Junk Foods - which frankly, I am so excited about.

I think making home-made Junk Foods is a great idea because often we think of those foods as "off limits" because of calorie, fat, carb contents as well as the chemicals added to preserve these foods in supermarket aisles. Not only does making these foods home-made cut out some of those preservatives, it also makes you aware of what you are eating. What I've learned is that there is no such thing as good or bad foods. It's how we eat them and approach them. If we say we can NEVER HAVE DORITOS EVER AGAIN, then we are setting ourselves up for a disaster. No food should be off-limits - this creates a love/hate relationship with food that is unhealthy. But, I do think that people should know what goes into their food. For example, I could eat my way through 10 bags of chips mindlessly without thinking about it. Or, I could have a small bowl of hot, freshly fried chips and truly enjoy them knowing all that went into the making of them.

A Birthday Post for a Cool Ranch Gal

A picture of me and The Birthday Girl, isn't she gorgeous?

Home-made Dorito bags for...

Home-made Cool Ranch Doritos!!!

Some people like to make their friends birthday cakes for their birthdays. I say, who says? It's time to think out of the cake box... and step into the chip bag.

I would have made my best friend Elizabeth a birthday cake but after 12 years of knowing this girl I know one thing: she loves her chips. Her angel mother, who basically raised me and all of our other friends, always kept a stash of the Frito-Lay multi-pack assorted flavor chip box in the backroom of their basement. Countless sleepovers were spent munching our way through bags of Doritos (Cool Ranch being me and Elizabeth's favorite) while watching MTV and classic 80's movies - and in later years, watching the home videos we made at said sleepovers. (I would now like all of those videos burned.) At this point Elizabeth is not just a best friend - she's kin. She's the sister that I don't fight with (unless of course you count that one time we both wanted to wear the silky yellow tie-in-the-back shirt from Forever21 for New Years Eve that you probably couldn't even PAY either of us to wear today...) and the reason I have not yet boarded the Crazy Train to Crazyville, USA.

I will never forget how we became friends. It all started when Elizabeth invited me to her beach house one summer in Ocean City, New Jersey when we were 12 years old. Somewhere in between walks on the boardwalk, coming up with dance routines to 'N Sync's newest album "Celebrity," eating grilled cheese sandwiches (with what else, Cool Ranch Doritos), her teaching me how to properly wash my face and me teaching her how to straighten her beautiful curly hair (I don't think her mom has forgiven me for that one yet), falling in love with her older brother's friend as well as the Joe Boxer jersey-material sheet sets in our bed, we became best friends and have been ever since.

Thank you, Elizabeth, for being the coolest and best friend in the entire universe! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! Now, time to rock out to Hannah Montana... (don't lie, you know you kinda want to...)

P.S. - Next post is dedicated to the making of the Home-made Cool Ranch Doritos!!!! Stay tuned