January 2012 Blog Posts (203)

My first attempt at the green smoothie, although good, left me somewhat underwhelmed. Some days it tasted too green, not too smooth and left a weird taste in my mouth. Not a great way to start the morning, breakfast, after all, is my favourite meal of the day. I've seen quite a few smoothie recipes that call for an…

It's that time of the year when seed catalogs start arriving and people, plunged into winter's darkness, snow and cold, show their invincible summer spirits and green thumbs. Those seed catalogs seem to arrive at just the right time when winter is wearing us down. More and more people have been talking about plants with me lately. Laura, my colleague from the office next door, joyfully showed me the dark red amaryllis growing in her window, its thick stem and…

http://asbellarts.blogspot.com/2012/01/mondays-marketing-tips.html

http://asbellarts.blogspot.com/2012/01/mondays-grace-notes-happiness.html

http://asbellarts.blogspot.com/2012/01/tuesdays-grace-notes_31.html

"If I've learned one thing about myself over the years, it's that if I bite off more than I can chew, nothing gets swallowed!"-Robin Sodeman, a Whole Living friend.

Last March, another Whole Living Community member gave me some sound advice on how to get balanced. My mistakes were making me feel inadequate so I released my "failures" out to the blogosphere.  But I forgot to reward myself for my successes. That was the last time I blogged here. Coincidentally, I was feeling inadequate…

Like any sport, you win some games, you lose some games.  Did you know Michael Jordan missed more than 9000 shots in his career. He lost almost 300 games. 26 times, he's been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. He's failed over and over and over again in his life. And that is why he succeeded.…

Resolutions and Resources

Common New Years resolutions are centered primarily on health, wellness and weight loss.  Advertisements promoting diets, fitness and supplements sprout simultaneously with bathing suit sales before the first seeds are planted at our…

"Anyone who can tap the power of the imagination can learn to meditate."

~Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline.

Would you like to live a more fulfilling life?

Well what’s stopping you? I am here to remind you it is never too late to start living an Intentional Lifestyle. All it takes is a decision to course correct and create a new path. The quickest way to course correct is to get completely…

Monday's shouldn't be allowed to happen. I mean, what the heck, no one likes Monday, he should just go away (yes, Monday is totally a man). I decided to start a new routine: wake up, work, gym, then home. You see, my former routine was: wake up, work, traffic, home (hungry, tired)... gym... maybe. Note the change. I'm totally pumped about this new routine, especially since there's a gym across the street from my office (how convenient!), I'll miss…

A year ago, my husband and I were sending in our applications for a summer mission trip to Haiti. A few weeks later, we would learn that we were accepted and we were so excited about the opportunity. Through the trip, we not only met some really wonderful men and women who were on our team, but we also got to make the journey to a great village in Haiti by the name of Bohoc.

Haiti is in the Caribbean Ocean, an island country that shares a border with the Dominican Republic. DR is…

Over the course of my life, I have heard God referred to in a number of ways, but until this past Saturday night I had never stopped to think about God as a DJ. While I had thought quite a bit about God, I had given little thought to DJ’s. What little I know about DJ’s I can summarize in a few sentences. I know they select and play music for a diversity of audiences and in a diversity of settings. Ok, so maybe I could tell you what I know about DJ’s in one sentence. It was not until I heard…

Happy Monday friends! Here's a sweet treat that I made yesterday afternoon. I was pre-cooking my lunches for the week and sure worked up an appetite. I looked in the freezer, "hello frozen peaches," I looked in the fridge, "hello fresh strawberries." I figured peaches and strawberries would like to get to know each…

Is it OK to workout while cleansing? I participate in a Spin class 3-4 days a week and use a Nike Training app a couple of days a week as well. How do I replenish protein during week 1 so I don't lose muscle? How many calories will I need to consume to feel OK? I tried to post via the Discussion Boards but something with this site won't allow me to do that.

On Saturday, I decided to take some time to relax after a 10.5-mile run with my husband. I wanted to watch a movie from our Netflix streaming queue and I decided upon "The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue with Rip Esselstyn." I'd previously watched the documentary, "Forks Over Knives" and this was something of a continuation with one of the featured players from the film. Esselstyn is the author of The Engine 2 Diet, which features a…

I awoke recently to a sliver of moon hanging in the inky, early morning sky. There was just enough light to see the silhouettes of a person and dog in the snowy landscape below. The temperature on our outdoor thermometer hovered between one and three degrees below zero but the TV meteorologist reported that the wind chill registered at 18 degrees below. Oh, how we are devoted to our pets! Why else would anyone be out at the crack of dawn in sub-zero…

I'm pretty proud of myself for adhering to the rules of the 28 Day Challenge almost entirely, and celebrated today with a cup of much missed french-press coffee. (OK, I did have a little but of cheese during week 4.  Don't judge!)  I didn't really notice any difference in how I felt when I added each item back into my diet every week, which I take to mean that I have no food allergies and I was a pretty healthy eater to begin with.  (Although this morning after I drank the coffee for the…