Inside The Polished Apple

I am jumping on the bandwagon in 2 days.  I've been stewing about doing some change-up to how our family is eating, and the closest I can come, is that I will try a food experiment for the 31 days in January. The idea of a food experiment is from our Health Coach Janis.  She suggests a breakfast experiment-ie. why not experiment with the breakfast foods you eat.  For example, one day-cereal with milk, one day-fruit, one day-eggs, one day-toast...(or whatever- you get the idea).  And then see how you feel-how long you stay full, how your digestion is, how your energy sustains.  I haven't done the breakfast experiment yet, mainly because I have a pretty good sense of what foods work for me, for breakfast at least. Then we also had a talk at the office about eating Vegan.  Again, not something I've done and something I feel isn't going to work for me, but possibly could help me with respect to the level of acidity of my body; the amount of protein I eat; a...

After the celebrations, the company, the food, and then going back to work for a very busy two days, I'm feeling the need to savour the last few days of my holiday.  Which means I will still be working on that to-do list and making plans for 2013, but I hope to be more mindful in these last 3 remaining days of the year.   Do you sometimes find words that resonate?  This post was the first in my reading list this morning and the one that I came back to a few times.  Without typing out my view of it, she has said it so lovely, that I'd like to share it with you.  Enjoy!      Kanelstrand "I challenge you to spend this day mindfully.  Sit quietly for a moment and reflect. Let the stream of events surround you like the waters of a fast and cold river but don't allow them to carry you away. Here you are, today, having the only chance to live it to the fullest.  Treat it like your last day. It really is. You will never have the ...

"The fourth light of Advent is the light of humankind, The light of hope that we may learn to love and understand." We're on Boxing Day today and we've had a house full for the past five days. We're lucky to have family that drove to town to see us -Scarlett had her grandparents, an uncle and a cousin for the holiday. Our holidays have changed a lot since I was little-we always had the same Christmas eve at my Grandma's house with about a dozen other littles, and aunts and uncles, etc. Everyone lived within an hour or two of each other, so it made the traveling easier. Instead, this year, Scarlett got to be the ham with all eyes and attention on her. Especially this year as our family is more spread out than usual (Mexico to BC to North and South Alberta). I love staying at home for this holiday even when we squeeze into our tiny house and can't move for toys and extra bedding all around. We've also hibernated a little more than usual with ...

I'm easily amused today. I poured off my Kombucha and am finally trying my first second ferment, using raspberries. Then I started making tea for a new batch and realized my usual tea is out. Uh oh. Then I found a few last sachets of yummy Christmas tea and here is my Christmas Kombucha!

We stepped out of our comfort zone for our world's new beginning, aka December 21st, 2012.  The evening was organized by Lucinda of  Anam Wholistic    It was a nice way to celebrate a "new world heart-focused vision!" We were perhaps a little brave attending with our daughter (especially considering the length and intensity), and may have experienced more of the healing benefits if we had left her at home with a babysitter.   Ah, the paradox of the evening.  Considering there were children's activities and wanting to include her, all three of us went-Scott volunteering to photograph and myself keeping one eye and ear on Scarlett and one eye and ear on the activities.  Besides, its easy to say yes to events in Bowness!   We started off with a kids story time, crafts, dressing up and coloring.  Wrote a few intentions to hang on the tree.  First the kids world.  Then checking out the vendors, artists, visiting with frie...

We're past the exact moment of Solstice (4:11 AM this morning) but this is still a very important time for being intentional.  I have people mocking the "end of the world" on my social media, because obviously the world hasn't ended.  But this may be a time of a lot of change to come as our world is transitioning.  I've copied a lot of this information from Power Path (below).   The next 2 days are very important to keep your thoughts, feelings, and intentions focused and on what you want to see in our world and in your life.   "The best intention during this time is to be in trust." I've been noticing a lot of very high energy lately-I grabbed a couple crystals and brought them to work with me yesterday, just in case.   My diet intuitively changed over the last couple days-very little refined sugar, craving the healthy food (for once!); opting for farm raised beef over grocery store chicken; less caffeine (but ridiculously higher energ...

The Third light of Advent is the light of beasts. Swimming, flying, leaping, running-the greatest and the least. We have the three wise ponies and a collection of farmyard animals.  Plus our week four is also present as our nativity scene is a one-piecer.  Our fish finally have a role!  

I have friends dedicating entire days or weekends to baking for the holidays.  I have baked a little and my baking feels schizophrenic. First I baked full on holiday sugar cookies with an icing sugar glaze to donate to our community Christmas dinner. Then came the loaded with sugar, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  Also for the above dinner. Then gluten-free, sugar-free pecan chocolate cookies. Back to regular almond biscotti, raison scones, and banana muffins-for our office birthday week.  (Eight years old earlier this month-yay!) Today, we're back to healthy, or at least healthier, with this lovely gluten-free chocolate gingerbread loaf.  It does still have sugar, but lots of other good stuff. I was proud of myself, as I re-found this recipe that I had pinned to Pinterest.  And also proud of myself as ingredients like xanthan gum, almond meal, rice flour, and coconut oil are now regular pantry items.  (ok, no, the almond meal was not in the pa...

I dropped Scarlett off at school this week and picked up a stack of articles-on warmth, meals and the importance of getting enough sleep. Then I went to the Parents Advent Respite (which was lovely!) and picked up another stack of articles on story telling, Advent songs, winter celebrations and I'm not sure what else as I haven't made it through the stack yet. That was when I realized that my learning requirements are close to my daughters with respect to our new school. I will never run out of content for my blog, at this rate. Or stories to learn, songs to sing! Or respect for our teachers as I am in awe of the learning environment that they create, and all of the work and dedication that it takes. Does it count that I'm blogging as I walk on the treadmill? I think the holidays are getting to me. This time at the gym may be my quietest all day! And of course, today was the day that I saw the Facebook quote (my misquote), "You mean they spend money to bu...

Do you feel like there is something really big about to happen? I'm not an end of the world believer, and I have no apocalyptic stores in my basement, but there is something happening out there. Tonight is the new moon and three nights of altered sleep vouch that there is an energy shift occurring. My feeling is that it's now until the full moon, which also happens to cover the solstice. Interesting. The quote coming to me is, "The universe will correspond to the nature of your song." What we believe and feel and see we will be bringing more of into our life. Yes, I'm a Secret fan. I may be in a bubble being mid-month on a -celebrate-what-is-good-in-life, followed by a month of gratitude in November, but here's my example: I'm going to a seminar in Denver in January. The $2500 price tag of flight, hotel, & seminar was not appealing and I was hesitating on booking and doing the training. What happens? Monday I realized I have enough a...

I stole the title, but I'm sending you to her website below. Isn't it great that once you make a commitment in a certain direction, all else falls into place?  For example, if I haven't already mentioned it, the upcoming Pediatric Magazine Pathways to Family Wellness , has an article written by a Waldorf Education on an art technique.  A speaker I recently heard present at the Waldorf was speaking on the topics of heart development, community, body movement helping brain development...  (too much to get into today!).  It was inspiring to hear educators speak in such a manner. Today's post is inspired by another blog post:  Dr. Liz is a chiropractor and coach.  I think the title says it all-the private and public life.  Enjoy her thoughts! http://www.drliz.ca/disconnected-the-private-and-public-face/ For me, this is always a test when: I'm at the gym in my sweats (ok-yoga-like workout clothes) and I run into a practice member. I open my door ...

We're trying something different for the holidays. The tree is the same, the food will be the same (maybe), there will still be presents. We're only trying to introduce a few elements to honor our natural world and include a celebration of the return of light and our own inner light. So far, I'm getting resistance. From the book Heaven on Earth (Oppenheimer), I had the idea to start a Christmas table to help honor our place in the natural world. (We've been using this book for ideas on how to create our home environment to compliment what Scarlett is experiencing at her school). Last week, we recognized the mineral world.  On a Christmas cloth we arranged items to represent the mineral world-shells & rocks. Ideally it would have included crystals, but our daughter is 4 and for some unknown reason, refused to have crystals. Then we lit one candle. Today we brought in the plant world-we found and decorated our tree and arranged greenery. Then I at...

Our family culture shifts every time we do the drive from Salmon Arm to Calgary- from one home to another.  This time we were freshly arrived from LA and Disney.  Or not so fresh as we didn't clear the airport until past midnight and had 2 drives ahead.  Every drive turns into a life evaluation-great way to end a holiday!  Disney is amazing and as we were reminiscing on our drive, the most amazing part is the absolute solid culture that THEY have created-the intense experience of everything-sight, sound, smell, feel, taste, the consuming, the needing, the wanting.  The hordes dressed in Disney clothes, as mickey or Minnie, as princesses...  And not to worry, we were right there at the princess lunch with our little princess and loving every ride, every character, every show and parade.   But any discussion about Disney culture and their business model seems to lead right into a discussion of our own family and office culture.  And where are we...