a good addiction.

Buying second- hand, or what I like to call vintage clothing/jewelry/shoes is one great way to be less wasteful. It is one way that we can be more mindful of how we use materials and another way to recycle!

This is one way that I make myself feel better about my ebay addiction. I just love ebay and finding vintage jewelry or just anything. I make myself feel better about this addiction by knowing that I am re-using, which is better than going to buy something new!

vintage rings are some of my all time favorite things to look for.

I also just really enjoy finding old jewelry and then putting it back together in a new way or putting multiple things together to create a new look. You are creating new jewelry but with all recycled materials.

and he's only 11!

http://www.bewellbuzz.com/general/truth-pesticides-gmo/

watch this video, it is awesome! This 11 year old is talking about the food industry and health and he is spot on.

Timing.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I may not always be the most devoted Christian or claim to be, but I do read a bible verse every day. I'm not going to comment on religion, mine, nor yours, but I love what this says.

I received this when I was feeling down on my body and thinking things about myself that are unhealthy and I received and read this at the perfect time, just when I was needing it most. It is a great reminder of why I strive to have a clean diet, workout and sweat every day. Our bodies are temples and whether or not you want to honor God with your body, honor yourself. We cannot trade in our bodies, order a new one, pay for a new one. Sure, you can pay to reconstruct the outside of your body, but it is still the same body and it is so important to take care of it. Love your body right now and nourish and give to it now by eating well and exercising. Don't just do it to look good for other people or even yourself. Do it as a treat for your body and see it as a gift.

talk less, say more..

Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine

less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love

more, and all good things will be yours. –Swedish Proverb

one yummy and one inspiring...emails i received today.

Thank you for being the person who makes a difference. Thank you for wanting to be the best you ever. Thank you for rippling. Thank you for being. Thank you.

Shazzie Speaks 2.0

Spiced Sweet Potato Fries
Recipe from IIN grad Terry Walter's Clean Food cookbook
Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 3-4 sweet potatoes or yams
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• Coarse sea salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash potatoes and remove blemish spots and dried ends. Slice into sticks and place in large bowl. Drizzle on remaining ingredients and toss to distribute evenly. Spread coated potatoes in single layer on cookie sheet and bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven, flip slices and bake another 10-20 minutes or until tender and browned (cooking time will vary depending on thickness of potato slices). Serve hot & enjoy!

via; integrative nutrition

always need to think this way.

Just for today, don't compare yourself to anyone else, don't try to be like anyone else; just be the best you that you can be!

Forget past recriminations and future goals, or who you think you should be. Just live fully as who you are right now, accepting who you are right now, acknowledging who you are right now.

Just for today, totally enjoy being you, and living the reality you are in now. Accept the life that you find yourself in right now. Totally live in to being you. Relish it. Feel it. Squeeze it. Totally gork it.

Just for today, every day!

via: www.thegardendiet.com

Monkey Bars...

Today as part of my workout I spent an hour at a park, Camelot Park. I used to have soccer practice here when I was a little nugget and I saw some new little nuggets practicing there tonight.

I got out of class early so I wanted to spend the beautiful day outside before I went in to the gym and deciding to run and walk to the park and then run around the soccer fields, do some yoga in the grass, and also play in the park...play on the monkey bars, jump around and off the fun stairs and ropes.

what a great day, what a great work out...next time i'm taking my soccer ball.

these photos are old....i'm not wearing these clothes in this warm and lovely weather hah.

tube socks.

There's just something about them, don't ya think?

I miss wearing my soccer socks with adidas sandals after games about as much as I miss soccer, so I just do it sometimes to rekindle my soccer memories.

sit somewhere new.

Isn't it bizarre how we always look for the closest parking spaces, even at the gym? Ironic.

Isn't it odd that even when we don't have assigned seats in a class, we go to the same seat every day? Isn't it odd that if we find someone sitting in our usual seat we are confused and don't know what to do and think, hey, that's my seat. What makes that seat our property or our place?

It's just very strange to me that as humans we are so set in our ways or just need consistency. Whenever I park in a different area of the parking lot at the gym, it just feels weird, I feel slightly disoriented, why? I always choose to go the same seat without even thinking about it and don't know what to do if someone else has chosen "my" seat.

Just something I've been thinking about and been trying to stray from. I've been trying to sit in different areas, drive a different way to the store, park in different areas, hang out in different areas of my house, just be somewhere different and do something different, I think it's very stimulating for the mind.

GO GERMANY!

Germany has banned GMO corn crops!

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,618913,00.html

awe inspiring...

This is an amazing and truly inspirational story. READ!

Mark Lilly; Farm to Family- The Beginning

"People think of a bus as transportation," said Zane Kesey, son of Ken Kesey, when speaking of his father's 1960s odyssey cross-country in a magic school bus. He continued, "No. It's a platform, a way to get your messages across."

"Furthur," the bus that was named from the combination of further and future, led a revolution in the early 60s and changed the consciousness of future generations. If we're lucky, we eventually find our "furthur" destiny. We eventually find that job, that cause, that passion, that fills our life with joy and satisfaction.

I did just that in June of 2009 and founded Farm to Family. The "Veggie Bus," as folks have nicknamed it, is a means of transporting food for the people, but in itself, is a vehicle that creates awareness and a way of life. I know it's changed lives, because people tell me that it has. It's changed mine, and there has been no looking back since the day I started.

I'm lucky to have found my destiny. After stints in the Marines and Army, college and traveling, after 20 years working in the food industry and getting no real fulfillment from it, I decided that I needed to let the universe know that I wasn't happy and needed a change. That change finally came after losing my job in May 2009 and with my recent studies at the University of Richmond in disaster science I was primed, and empowered to start my vision. I started Farm to Family. The idea is simple and direct. I will tell you without hesitation, it can help change the world for the better. Conceptually, I've created a perfect local, sustainable food distribution system that can penetrate any demographic area in any city or town with nutritious, tasty, organic, local food. At the same time, I'm educating people on how it will benefit their health and support their community. I also tell how best to prepare what they purchase and how to make themselves and their family more food secure. And I do it all from an old 1987 school bus that I bought for $3,500 off Craigslist.com. I retrofitted it with reclaimed lumber from an old barn, added bushel baskets, burlap, and chicken wire and created a mobile farmers market with a country store theme.

I source local products from family, friends or anyone that grows clean food within a 150-mile radius of where I am located in Richmond, VA. I build relationships with local farmers, drive to their farm, load up the bus, and then distribute it into the urban landscape through set routes. I post where I'm going to be, and what I have on the bus, and sometimes a photo on Twitter and Facebook, and then my shoppers come running. Literally. One girl fell and hurt herself running to catch the bus. So I decided she needed a house call.

There are other times I do house calls. We had some pretty bad snowstorms this past winter in Richmond. Everyone was snowbound. But the Veggie Bus has massive snow tires, so off I went powering through the snowdrifts. Neighborhoods would join forces, neighbors would call each other, call me, the post would go on Facebook, and then fresh produce would arrive at their doorstep, in the middle of the blizzard. I would drive up and everyone would come piling out of the houses in their snow boots. The kids would play store on the bus, taking turns weighing produce, and pretending to drive. Everyone would be excited and giddy. And dinner would be delicious, fresh, organic and local.

I also take food stamps, allowing low-income families and seniors, who may otherwise not have access, to buy fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables. I also visit schools with the bus, bring small farm animals like chickens and rabbits, hand out free seeds, and teach children about real food. They learn what it is looks and feels like in its natural, fresh from the farm form, and why it's important they get involved and learn to make wiser choices.

My journey on the bus has just begun, and I eagerly wait every day to see what fresh insight and "furthur" adventures it will bring me, and the people I encounter on my magic "Veggie Bus."

article is from The Huffington Post