Nature girl vs. the Doughnut blinders

I can't help it...I love doughnuts.

I will completely, willingly, make myself sick, wheat belly and all, for a fresh apple fritter - I blame my father. I have great memories of stopping at our local doughnut shop in Dana Point and each of us getting our favorite doughnuts before heading off to the boat, or whatever else we were up to that day. Sometimes they would have just finished a new batch and the apples would still be so hot they could burn the roof of your mouth...but it was worth it!

Lately I have had this unreal, single minded attention to doughnuts.  No idea why, I shouldn't be eating a lot of sweet treats but sometimes they just call to you! Or mock you from the store front, or laugh at you in the isles of Target...jerks.

Today, I finally caved and went researcher crazy to find some good gluten free recipes to try...I may be eating doughnuts and popcorn for dinner tonight, but we'll cross that bridge later.  I found two recipes that look very promising, one for Apple Fritters and one for a sour cream Old-Fashioned...yummy.

Now I'm not crazy enough to try both of them tonight, though I want to, the cost of the oil alone would be prohibitive. However, you best believe that I will be uploading pictures of hopefully delicious doughnuts in about two and a half hours!

I just have to figure out how to go grocery shopping, walk the dogs, make the doughnuts and eat the doughnuts without burning my fingers and mouth from impatience...well, maybe it will be worth it!

...Nature girl

Training Day

Training Day, it's not just an action flick, it WAS my weekend plan.

I am not usually the one who is up to doing corporate training days. But I guess it's different when you are your own corporation, because somehow I was really excited about the day long training I signed up for this Saturday. So imagine my let down when I opened my e-mail today and saw that the event was cancelled.

It was like the let down from Christmas, no glow, just the bummer that it can't still be a party the next day (unless you're Brittish, then you get boxing day).

Ever since we made this big move to Hawaii, I have felt a lack of drive for my business out here.  Probably because I am lonely and missing home, but moving on.  I was super excited to go and hang out with other Arbonne Consultants and fill up on targeted training. But since that summit was cancelled, I now have two options. Be bummed and further put off, or be stoked that if there wasn't a big enough enrollment, that means I have more than enough room to grow!

The tough part about network marketing is not the sales, it's the courage quotient. With a great product (or products) like Arbonne it's easy because the product "sells" itself! Building this business, for me, is much more about education, options, healthy alternatives, and relationships. But that is where the hitch in my giddy-up comes from in HI. I have to find a way to meet people/tell people what I love to do, not just what my JOB is! This in person summit, I feel, was going to help equip me to get over my fears.

Now in all fairness, the training didn't disappear, it just relocated - to the phone. I am still amped to get going, now three days early, and I happen to have an event planned for that same day, so I will definitely be busy! I guess I just don't like to be bored...it saps my energy.

Not having this in-person training go through just showed me how passionate I am about succeeding in Arbonne. And how excited I am for this.  Besides the amount of freedom that being my own boss will eventually provide for me, it will also let me stay home, play with my baby (when he arrives) and educate people (and myself...I miss you school)!!

So I have decided to move forward. In conversations with my gal-pals today, I encouraged both of them not to be passive observers in their lives, but to continue growing, be involved, and make healthy decisions for themselves and their lives. That was when I realized that this HI holding pattern I have been in isn't really helping me. Though it isn't "hurting" me, it definitely isn't pushing me toward my goals, and I want to achieve my goals.

...Nature girl

Nature girl and Father's Day

So for anyone not living in the USA, yesterday was Father's Day. I'm not sure what the international observances are for a manufactured holiday, but if you celebrated, good on you.

I love my Dad, but it seems like Father's Day can sometimes overlook all the other men that influence us as we grow.

The glut of amazing men that I have had the privilege to meet, and have in my life, is continually astonishing to me. My Dad was the first father figure, and I'm biased because I think he's the best, but he wasn't the last by a long shot. Between my uncles, grandfather, friend's parents, authority figures, teachers, and friends I have found a whole and complete picture of Fatherhood, and it is NOTHING like the cards you get at the drug store.

For my hubby (who is facing down imminent fatherhood with a strange mixture of terror, confidence, and anticipation) I think his definition will be different, but I think when he reads this he may see at least a little commonality, and hopefully some reassurance.

Yesterday, my sister posted the following meme on Facebook (from Fathers in the Field) with the tag line of,

"And between mine [father] and my grandfather and my uncles my standards are just a bit high."




The amazing gift of fathers cannot be understated. They are the guides, teachers, confidence builders, challenge issuers, and the prison guard that EVERY child needs.  It took me years (and I'm still trying to hear it) to understand what I was being taught by these men. It wasn't just how to tie boat knots (I still don't do it well), sand a rail, work a math problem, find the root of a problem, give a foot rub, kick a soccer ball, or play chess.

Little by little, I was learning that frustration doesn't get rid of the problem, patience does. Finding satisfaction in little things done well is just as important as satisfaction in big things done. Getting the RIGHT answer doesn't always give you the BEST answer. That sometimes what you see on the surface is not the real deal. I learned that tenderness isn't always a hug or a kiss, sometimes it's willingness to put your hands on tired, achy feet...even when you are tired and achy. I learned that what you put in to life is what you get out of it, good and bad. And that a long view of life gives you the best picture of the road ahead.

These men have taught me how to live a life I can be proud of and they did it, sometimes, by sheer force of will, and the examples that they were given. In a million different ways, on  thousands of different days, I have been taught how to expect to be valued, and treated; as well as how to treat others. What is expected of me as a person, and as a woman. I was taught to be ethical, proud, confident, loving, forgiving (but not a push over), smart, adventurous, and flexible.

Many of these lessons overlapped with things my Mothers taught me in different ways; but my Fathers have taught against odds like frowned upon discipline, contrary attitudes, tears, tantrums, and sometimes school systems. My Fathers have been firm, loving, gentle and bullish. They have been athletic, bookish, practical and whimsical.

But ALL of them...especially mine...have been exactly what I need!

So thank God for dads, however many you have, because without them life would be far less.

...Nature girl

Nature girl vs. messy trees

In California there are the Jacaranda trees...in Hawaii there are the Shower trees.

See, on the list of things that I miss about California, I wouldn't necessarily say that the annual shedding of the jacaranda trees is high up on that list.  Don't get me wrong, I love jacarandas. Their vibrant purple blossoms are one of the few ways that I truly enjoy the color purple, and they remind me of home (which is helpful right now).

 

And while I do miss the color explosion, I didn't really miss the mess...I can't because it here too! I have found that Hawaii has it's own version of the jacaranda, it's called the shower tree (very aptly named)...or rainbow shower tree depending on the variety.

This tree starts blooming around May, and starts really shedding blossoms as the island cruises toward summer.  The cool part (and irritating part), is that it seems to be an unending process. A long blooming season allows a continual shower of blooms until the winter rolls around and the trees start dropping foliage as well as flowers.

The little dropped flowers of both trees, while beautiful and delicate, are amazingly messy! I walked out to the car today only to find blossoms halfway up the windshield and the parking space had a clean spot where the ground was sheltered by the car.

As silly as it is, I love it.

Somehow it is reassuring that I can find little things everywhere that remind me of where I started, where I come from, even when I am geographically far. It gives me a whole new appreciation and respect for those friends of mine who long ago moved from their countries or states of birth.  It seems the human mind has an incredible gift to find home wherever we land.

...Nature girl

Today is a good news day

I don't watch the news. It's depressing, lacks substance, and I don't have cable...so I can't. What I do, is read the news. 

The search bar on my browser yields a plethora of news outlets to choose from. Sites vary from the NY Times, BBC, Reuters, CNN and pretty much anything else I can get my hands on. Today was a good day for the US news outlets. Usually overwhelmed by socialites and sensationalism, today the top story was about five soldiers killed in a friendly fire incident in Afganistan (the Fox story is a little jumbled, but if you want a clearer version...try this one.)

While it is a sad story, and not one I was glad to read by a long shot, I was glad to see it in a headline. We are so inundated by the inane and meaningless in the news that I think it is sometimes very easy to forget about the important, and frankly high risk things that also affect us and people we may know.

I also went to BBC.com today to check up on the Russia-Ukraine situation to see if there has been any new news since Ukraine elected their new President, a business tycoon and a man with several political forays already on his résumé, Mr. Petro Poroshenko. I'm glad to see him proposing realistic solutions to the still escalating conflict in the eastern regions. With the pro-Russian Vostok Batallion gaining ground in the region with their volunteers from Russian conflict areas, higher training and weaponry, things could get very messy, very quickly.

Though it seems that there is nothing but "bad" news in the news, it reassures me to keep in touch with the world. It reminds me that my "earth shattering" problems are nothing more than mosquitos, irritating and painful to me, but inconsequential to anyone else. So keep that in mind peeps, don't lose your perspective.

... Nature girl

Nature girl vs. Motivation

I get spammed by my Fit Bit.

I would think it was funny if I wasn't so irritated by the constant chime alert that it triggers on my phone. I can't really say that it is a bad thing, seeing all these messages from people who are so motivated to be healthier.  But the problem is, I am just not finding my source of motivation; and I don't just mean for fitness!

Motivation is supposed to be something that wells up from within. A source of instigation to change our individual circumstances for the better, in whatever way things need to change.  Some people need to eat better, get more exercise, change careers, move on from detrimental relationships, or see a change on their life path.  My trouble is that I can't seem to find that little spark to get the ball rolling!

For instance, I have been trying to write this one post for 2 1/2 WEEKS!

I seem to have just run out of metaphorical "gas"! To make things worse, I feel like I am standing at the pump to fill up and have suddenly forgotten where to put the hose. Deer trapped in headlights have a better chance of action than I do right now.

Don't get me wrong, I have established the parts of my life that need change and even made plans as to how to affect those changes. However, the part of those plans labeled "Day 1" seems impossible to execute. It seems like it should be remarkable easy to get up and walk 2 miles a day according to my fitbit, eat more veggies (I even bought them), work my business (Love me some Arbonne), and do baby things, but I just can't seem to get started effectively!

And out of all the things that frustrate me because they aren't happening, there is this little alert on my phone that goes off whenever someone posts on the Fit Bit message board and I get completely irrationally angry at all of these happy, fitness minded people, who keep posting encouragement and success stories of their goals achieved!

So my new plan is this. I'm not going to scrap the old plans, they are still good, but I'm going to refocus on changing my attitude. It sounds a little cliché, but I'm going to try and have the "Attitude of Gratitude". Every day I am blessed with a roof over my head, clothes in my closet, and food in the fridge but it is SO easy to move right past the blessings and onto the obstacles that I need to slow down and think, really think, about the good stuff!

For at least 5 minutes each day I am going to try and focus on the good things around me. Blessings, funny kids that make me laugh, friends (near and far), family, good food, and loads of opportunity! Hopefully, by reframing my life around the good, the obstacles to my inner motivations won't seem as daunting.

My happy thoughts for today? I'm going to bake a cake tonight, a fruity cake, with cream cheese frosting (a favorite) and hang out in a well worn sofa. And that's all I have to do.

...Nature girl

Jibjab the news

I tried to read the news yesterday, and I almost threw up.

MSN, Yahoo, Fox, Huffington Post, and even local news was a complete wash! All the stories were about storms, drama in basketball, celebrity babies, new cooking fads, and Sara Palin. It was almost like the real world didn't exist!

Does everyone know that we have had troops deployed to Jordan for the past year? Originally sent to bolster Jordan's troops against the conflict in Syria, they are now also training Iraqi soldiers in counter terrorism and we are supplying them with weaponry. Didn't the US do that once before? And didn't that lead to our soldiers getting shot by weapons the we sold to the other side?

What about Ukraine? Did anyone keep following that after Crimea voted to be part of Russia...not that I have found. I have to go to BBC.com and guess what? It is always one of their top stories! But nowhere to be found in our news media except in the other news sections at the bottom of the pages! The entire eastern region of Ukraine is in turmoil between pro-Russian factions and pro-Ukranian demonstrators, and getting more mand more dangerous by the day because of Russian propaganda, and militant groups. By the way, did you know that we sent troops to Europe too?

And then there's good old Korea. The south is experiencing the resignation of the PM over a sunken ferry that killed many of the 476 students and teachers on board. And the north is conducting live fire drills, and may be ramping up to a nuclear test despite UN objections!

And yet none of this is in news media rotation.

In talking to friends about the lack of news reported on "the news", I was referred to this video on YouTube:

At first I was amused, as it pretty much coincided with what I had found in the news. Then I realized that it wasn't really all that funny. Someone actually put this together, admittedly as a jab to mostly conservative media stations, and it has thousands of views. People are openly mocking our news circuits.

Do people realize, I wonder, how much of a laughing stock we must appear to other countries when what a bigoted man said to his girlfriend is top billing on our news programs? Or when we are more concerned with the release of the cast information for the new Star Wars film, than we are about our President saying we have an "ironclad" agreement with the Phillipines to defend them and their sovereignty from Chinese interest in outlying islands?

How foolish we must look. How sad.

...Nature girl