Little weekend.

I tried to make the most of this one-day-weekend by hiking to King's Bluff with Marvin. The first part of the trail was booooring, but once we got to the waterfall things picked up. The sun even decided to shine for a little while! (Note to self: do not dangle your legs over the edge of cliffs in front of Marvin. He gets really mad about it.) Marvin found a camera in a mossy puddle. We'd hoped it would contain some crazy pictures, but all we got was a lot of this:

Nothing earth-shattering or scandalous; nothing worthy of blackmail - just an upload to ifoundyourcamera.

Sharon (my boss) went to a health food convention in Anaheim and brought back so many goodies! I've been sampling soap and lip balm and eco-friendly dish detergent and biodegradable trash bags and snacks all week. Loveit. She even brought me a crazy Hippie Chips tote bag and matching t-shirt, which were promptly given to Rachel...who loves hippies and chips and ridiculous tote bags even more than I do. Hard to believe, but true.

While Rachel was sitting on my couch, it suddenly dawned on me that, "Hey! Rachel's back in the States!" This revelation is doubly exciting since it means that I might just end up going to Lilith Fair 2010 after all!!!! High school dream come true...minus Alanis.

I keep making these amazing soups in the crock pot, and then botching them up by adding one ingredient too many...usually rice. Some day I'll learn when to quit.

This week: A four day work week...followed by a four day weekend...which will more than make up for this one day break. I be headin' for the hills!

I'm a winner!

I entered a contest on Abi's food blog and won a gift certificate to spend at Bake It Pretty. The last thing I won was a lint remover at a girl scout event back in the early nineties, so I was beyond excited about this! I ended up getting these insanely cute cookie cutters to add to my mama's collection:

I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a snail, mushroom, or mustache yet.
I got a few supplies for some upcoming projects too.
Thank you, Mrs. Porter!

Last night was the first bicycle ride of the season with the more standard Bike Gang from last summer...plus and minus a few. After four consecutive days of riding, I am feeling the burn. And Marvin is already complaining about my rapidly shrinking gut. Poor chubby chaser. I hope he survives the summer!

And finally a moderate portion of nerding out: this week's LOST was amazing once again. I'm glad Richard Alpert finally got his own episode. And that things are beginning to be explained. (I'll keep my mouth shut, for any Losties that might have fallen behind.)

You wear those suspenders, Richardus!

Times two.

We biked the trail again...same as yesterday...minus Marvin, plus twenty degrees and no incidents of clumsiness on my part. The turtles were out full force and there was nary a cloud in the sky. Is it really spring now?

                                    ^ That was the best spring...but I am hereby declaring that this one will be equally, if not MORE amazing. You got that?

Gator weather.

Today Jumpin' Josh, Brittany Paul, Marvin, and I chose to ride bicycles on Bona Dea trail. Why we chose the coldest, rainiest day possible for this adventure...I am not entirely sure. Probably because we had our hearts set on seeing an alligator. There are allegedly at least eleven 'gators in the swampier parts of the park and even more allegedly a couple of small dogs have been eaten recently. I was skeptical about the dog-eatings until we got to the part of the trail with the highest swamp-water level and found that it was closed. Naturally we ignored the orange fence and went about our merry way. I always get really nervous at the part of the trail where you can see the spots where the gators come up out of the water to cross and then slide back down the other slope, but I was especially expecting to get devoured today, due to the orange fence. None of us got eaten, but three of us thought we might have seen a baby alligator, but agreed that it was probably just a stick. We did discover a wildlife viewing hut at the water's edge that none of us had ever noticed before. Apparently some boyscouts built it in '99. We also saw a heron and some ducks and squirrels...and I am officially on a mission to find some rainboots. Not just a casual mission, but a hardcore one. This is due to one of my feet slipping into a pool of muddy water and then being soggy and numb for the rest of the day. Being clumsy and having short legs is only a downer when you're a pseudo-outdoorsperson trying to have  adventures with rugged outdoorspeople.

I found this after googling "alligator" -

Dolphin slaughter, psoriasis, and a couple of recipes.

Love animals? Looking for a tear-jerker? Watch The Cove!

It's currently in first place as my biggest cry of the year and probably won't be beaten unless someone I know and love dies...or something tragic happens on LOST. You can help with the dolphin-savings here.

I'd always wanted to do one of those touristy "swim with the dolphin" things, but not after finding out how crummy the dolphin industry is. Summary: Dudes capture a bunch of potential Flippers in a beautiful cove. Trainers come from around the world once a year to pick out the prettiest little dolphins to take back home to Sea World-ish places, paying the fishermen $150,000 per trainee...and shortly thereafter the un-chosen dolphins get harpooned to death.  Although I would personally never choose to eat a dolphin for dinner, I'm not opposed to the thought of someone else eating a dolphin for dinner...but I am greatly opposed to any method of killing one's dinner that isn't quick and to the point. It's not at all nice to torture your dinner before you eat it. Keep it humane. (Or...you  know...as humane as slaughter can be.)

Now, on to more encouraging things!

A customer with psoriasis came in yesterday with a success story: for years his hands had been so psoriasis-y that he'd had to wear gloves at all times to keep his oozy scabs from getting all over everything. He'd tried every medication available, but nothing helped. A nutritionist suggested he take 50 mg of zinc each day, in addition to a good multivitamin and also cut out all breads and processed starches and sweets from his diet. After a week of doing this he is glove and pain free and the psoriasis is almost entirely gone. Yay for that guy! I love hearing natural remedy success stories and plan to start posting more of them on here. It's amazing what the simplest of changes can do for a person's health.

Next up, a fat-busting smoothie recipe from Dr. Oz!
In a blender combine the following:
     1 c. juice (I used Naked Gold Machine)
     1/2 a banana or 3/4 c. berries (I substituted more Naked juice)
     2 Tbs. whey powder (I substituted rice protein powder)
     2 Tbs. ground flaxseed
     1 Tbs. ground psyllium husk
     1 Tbs. chia seeds
     1 Tbs. wheat germ
     600 mg. fish oil (I used 1 Tbs. flax oil instead)

This might just be my new breakfast of choice. I had one for breakfast and I still have plenty of energy. Crazy. Even on good days I tend to feel like a sloth.

And finally, an almost healthy desert recipe, courtesy of Abi:
Melt 1/3 cup brown rice syrup and 1/3 cup peanut butter on the stove. Remove from heat.
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in 3 cups brown rice crisp cereal and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Chill. Devour. Mmmm. It's the healthiest dessert I've found that Marvin actually likes. Pretty pitiful...but it's a start.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I plan on sitting here being freaked out that last night I was running around outside in shorts and a t-shirt, and now I need mittens and a thermal underwear to be comfortable outdoors. This is too much climate change for a twenty-four hour time period!

Love,
Sarah

Good news.

It was a great comfort for me to learn that Netflix does indeed recycle their return envelopes.

One less pleasure to feel guilty about.

I'm anxiously waiting for bike rides, hammock weather, and an anniversary road trip to Nawlins (and wherever else the road takes us.) I've been reading up on Marie Laveau and have already decided what I'll be ordering at the Gumbo Shop. Roadside America gave some good suggestions on Louisiana oddities. So far the Leprosy Museum seems to have the most potential.

Today we found a perfect camping spot and I tried my first veggie burger from Burger King. It was...well, what one would expect from a fast food veggie burger: edible, slathered in ketchup, and probably a year old.

Cat, dog, and hermit crab sitting for Heath and Josh this week. Wishing someone would craft me a cute wrist-cuff so I can fashionably cover my tattoo while at work. If I have to explain, "...it's from a song my friend wrote," while a stranger holds my hand one more time I might lose my ability to fake-smile!

My favorite customer purchases at the natural foods store thus far:

1. Bee pollen. "It increases my chickens' libido."
   
2. Cucumber flavored tonic water. "I have a confession to make: I buy these to use in my signature gin & tonics..."
3. Peppermint essential oil. "I read that you can put this stuff on a cotton ball and stuff it in a mole tunnel to run the little devils outta your yard!"

I won't even mention the elderly woman who used the phrase, "it just stays soft!" while telling me about her husband's erectile dysfunction. Or the Hispanic man who mostly communicated with me through the use of a Spanish/English dictionary: Wife. Needs. To reaffirm. To increase. Bust. Hmmm. No hay.

Today, all cars,
all fathers, all mothers, all
children and lovers will
have to forget
about that thing in the sky,
going around
like a persistent rumor
that will get us yet.
-Anne Sexton, my favorite

I haven't felt like this since '99.

I don't remember how to sleep.
Last weekend was phenomenal.
I adore my family.
I beat my mama at Scrabble for the first time in my life.
My heartiest laugh of the year was shared with my dad.
2010 needs more coffee and conversation and quiche and attention deficit strolls with Adrianna.
I've been listening to Placebo. And Shakira.
About the video for She Wolf: Is that a glittery birth canal? I'm convinced it is and would like to put in a request for a glam birth canal and sweet contortionist skills! Or at least rhythm and belly dancing lessons.
We're thinking about changing Mr. Eko's name to Rainman. I'm sure you can guess why.
The latest episode of LOST left me with one fist in the air, mouthing the word, "WAAAAAARRRRR!"
It's detox time. Hello fruit and tea.
I know I've said it before, but life is so good. But I've really got to work on this sleep disorder.