be selfish

when the weekend comes and you feel the need to stay in your jammies all weekend long, so be it. be selfish.

when the weekend comes and you feel the need to read, eat a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies, and watch rubbish on tv, so be it. be selfish.

by monday, you'll feel refreshed, fully nourished, and up-to-date with those nutty kardashian sisters. or housewives-of-pick-your-city. or bait car. yes, even bait car. no judgement...remember, i am being selfish.

be accountable

i quote wendell berry. i read michael pollan. joel salatin is my hero. i mean seriously...if i could quit my job, i would drive to the shenandoah valley and ask the man if i could work on his polyface farm.

that being said....i having been thinking about my own accountability lately in terms of what i read, learn about, and believe in, and if i am truly making changes to live more in line with what i want. you know, to be more natalie.

so, as i was in the lounge eating my lunch today, it struck me that everything i was putting into my mouth was in line with my accountability!

bread that i made: white flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, honey, salt, water, butter
organic peanut butter: organic peanuts, palm oil, cane sugar, salt
peach pecan jam: peaches, pecans, sugar, pectin, lemon juice, water
grapefruit: grapefruit

ok, so i only eat a peanut butter & jelly and a large grapefruit for lunch. it fills me up. but everything i ate, i felt good about. everything had ingredients i could pronounce. it is one of my goals this year to really watch what my family is eating and what i am eating. to eat closer to the source. to eat foods that have ingredients that i can understand. is it always going to be easy? no. but can i take steps to be a little more accountable for my overall health and the health of my family? yes. am i slowly learning that the food industry along with our government is not in the mindset to protect anything, from the health of my family to the health of the animals, plants, soil, water, and air? yes. where is their accountability? how do they sleep at night? so, i take matters into my hands as best as i can, and i vote with my dollar.

be poetic

Don't Hesitate

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don't hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that's often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don't be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Mary Oliver
Swan

be loving - Free Hugs in Sondrio, Italy

be natalie

So, I am reading this book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, where she takes a year and with a direct focus in a specific area every single month of the year, she experiments to see if she can make herself happier...more grateful for the dailiness, so to say. One of her reminders is to "Be Gretchen" - alas, be herself and true to herself. I started thinking about how many times in my life I have not been true to myself...to not being Natalie. Caving in. Covering up. Eating words. Acting out. Hiding. Compromising unnecessarily. So, here is my attempt to just be for a year. Being Natalie....come along for the ride, and Be Yourself in the process.

food for thought

"If I am going to eat meat, I want it to be from an animal that has lived a pleasant uncrowded life outdoors, on bountiful pasture, with good water nearby and trees for shade. And I am getting almost as fussy about food plants. I like to eat vegetables that have lived happily and healthily in good soil....People who know the garden in which their vegetables have grown...will remember the beauty of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning when the gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with food and is one of the pleasures of eating....The same goes for eating meat. The thought of the calf contentedly grazing flavors the steak."

i am in total agreeance and a bit persnickety myself, Wendell Berry. Thank you for saying it so eloquently.

Quote taken from At Home in Nature by Rebecca Kneale Gould

rolling

i have been keenly aware of time lately...how we have just one go around in this life, and that time, whatever that is that we have created, keeps going without ever stopping. it is a precious thing, this thing we have named time. an interesting thing. you see, we cannot do anything about past time, yet many linger in it, lament it, want it back. we cannot do anything about future time, yet many watch for it, dream about it, think that it is always going to be there. reality is, the only time we have is the present moment. it is the only time that really matters. i am beginning to really recognize that keeping my thoughts and actions in the current moment is the only way to feel fully alive, fully present, and to give myself and others the best of what life has to offer...right now. there is so much that i think about in terms of future time, but i am beginning to realize that the power is in the present moment. when that future gets here, the power will be in that present moment. i am beginning to realize that right now is the only thing that really matters. don't get me wrong, dreaming for a better tomorrow is not a bad thing, i am just learning that if i stay there, i risk missing those golden moments that only the present moment can give me....my husband's contagious laughter, my child's precious face, clouds drifting across a blue sky on a summer's day, the taste of a decent cup of coffee, the feel of the early morning air on my face, the sound of the rain.....and on, and on, and on. so today, i will continue my inner work of quieting that loud voice and wandering eye inside that wants me to look to the past and future, and i will steer it back to the present moment, to the only thing that matters, the right now.