little red fox

first things first

The happiest of all happy New Years to You! I hope you had a fun one. I love New Years--perhaps I just have a reasonably low bar for what I expect but I enjoy the turning of one year into another and marking it with yelling and champagne and kisses. Seems right to me. So we had a great one. Small, but fun and great. Perfection. 

And now we are on a cleanse! 21 days long. Perhaps you've heard of it? (We are doing the book version, not the purchased supplement version FYI.) Today: Day 5. Baby steps :)

Being a food-lover, and someone who loves to cook, this one is perfect for me. There are some seriously delicious recipes which I will be sharing with you soon. It's not far from how we normally eat, actually. We're fairly health-minded over here but we also tend to be a bit indulgent, allowing ourselves to eat and drink whatever we wanted, especially the last few months. So its good to hit the restart button every now and then. 

As a thumbnail, we've eliminated all chemicals (ideally), all processed foods, all dairy, all caffeine, all sugar (gasp), all alcohol (sadface). We're still eating some delicious and super nutritious food--including some organic chicken, and lamb and cold-water wild fish (the specifics are kind of exhausting)--so I've yet to be hungry. The only hard part is the emotional one. As in, I want to punch someone for some chocolate. I would have thought wine would have been my weakness but it is, indeed, The Sugar. 

So this is my solution: Hot & Clean Carob & Chocolate Drink and Chocolate Almond Date Balls! (I laughed as I typed that, by the way). It's actually pretty great and I won't go to jail for hitting anybody. 

The recipe for the snack balls (I just keep thinking about that SNL skit) you can find here in that quick little video. I added figs and agave and coconut oil, but otherwise the same. They're delicious and terribly good for your organs and your skin and your brain and your energy levels. 

And! So is the Hot & Clean Drink! I used ground cacao nibs (look for it in health food stores or online like here) which have loads of anti-oxidants (more than blueberries even!), some protein, and most importantly: magnesium. Our bodies don't make it so we have to get it from food and it helps with basically everything including nerve and muscle function but also helps that good mood part of your brain, helps with PMS symptoms (!!), also cholesterol and appetite control, just to name a few. These tiny little cacao nibs are one of the best and most assimilable sources of magnesium around. They are magical little things. 

Here's the ingredients I used:

And here's the recipe:

HOT & CLEAN CAROB AND CHOCOLATE DRINK

mugful of coconut and/or almond milk (I used both)
1 heaping TBS of carob powder
2-3 tsp of raw cacao nib powder
1-2 tsp of agave
dash of pure vanilla extract

• Everything goes in a small pot. Whisk, whisk, whisk til its all combined and warm, almost hot (not boiling). Enjoy your super powers. 

 

Now.

We have lots to catch up on, you and I! While the house is still very much a work-in-progress, some things have finally come together. I was trying to figure out which room to start with but I figured I should start with the rooms I actually started with. Tomorrow I'll begin with the dining room before-and-afters. For now, here's some images of some of my favorite nooks and crannies so far... :)

The Solarium and view of the back yard. 

Antique tea set and the Very Nervous Bird in my work space.

Corner of the buffet, dining room. 

Antique dentistry tools & amethyst in pottery bowl given to me by my mother in law. Vintage Indian side table found at a garage sale. 

Old painting, bird statue on mantle. 

Little wooden dolls "The Newlyweds" made by me.  

Couch and cushions. Middle one (sequins) made by me. 

 

And much more to come, starting tomorrow. But I'd love to leave you with this (and if you follow me on twitter you may have already seen it)--the view from one of our dining room windows just a little bit ago...

Can't even take it. 

Back tomorrow and hope you like navy :)

 

bliss co-op opening! (and a new marceline thingy!)

Woo-hoo! The opening of Bliss Co-op was Saturday and it was just lovely. Really, really lovely. And so many people! Above, you can see my "area." I know I already said this but it really is so gratifying to see all your hard work gathered into one place. 

...all the little nerd stuff in one place...

...the t-shirts, totes and gift tags...

...and all the Marceline goodies! Sigh. Happy :)

Of course I forgot to take any pictures--but there were tables of food and wine and champagne and a bonfire--just adorable. And it was so busy in the shop itself I could barely get these pics of my shelves! I had no idea there would be that many people but it did my heart good. And once you see pictures of Sugar Loaf--which I am going to provide shortly!--you'll understand why. Should you live nearby, its a lovely place to come and kick around for a weekend afternoon. I feel so fortunate to be a part of this!

Unfortunately I didn't get to meet a lot of the other artists which was so disappointing! I did meet two, only one of whom I actually thought to take a picture with--the lovely Gina Shelton and her sweet husband, Jackson (with the most amazing vintage glasses, both of them!) here with us...

This is the ONLY picture we took of the surroundings (I'm so mad at myself!) but there is a bonfire to the left, and the shop is behind the photographer. It was great. (If you click on the bliss link, there are a couple of pics there.) I also will show pictures of the work of these other talented ladies, because there are some really beautiful/adorable/amazing things in this shop.

But I did remember to take a picture of another Marceline goodie (outside real quick before the party started!)...its along the lines of the fairy-tale-on-the-go...

A wooden "book-box" with special treats inside...

 Five little plushies of our fearless little mushroom hunter! For inventing your own marvelous mushroom-hunting stories or just as an artful keepsake. One Marceline, and three mushrooms, all of my original drawings printed onto cotton...

...and backed with red polka dot fabric. 

The plushies are between 6" and 3" tall and 3" at the widest. The book is 5"x7" and 3" deep. And it's here!

Be back tomorrow with a fantastic chick pea soup recipe! 

i might title this post 'seasonal affected disorder.'

Waiting for spring...waiting and waiting...we went on a beautiful hike over the weekend and felt so upbeat and excited about seeing trees and grass and all that stuff and woke up the next morning to...6 inches of snow. Twas horrifying. Which quickly gave way to depression. We were so looking forward to getting things going in the garden and really just ending our months-long confinement due to this unforgiving weather. When all is said and done we will have had almost half our year under snow! In some parts of the world that's the norm I guess but for me--a Southern girl who never even saw snow until college--it was an exotic event that turned exhausting as of a month ago. So it was with a kind of desperate glee that I saw these glorious and adorable little sprouts unfurling their tiny green heads in our starter-garden thingy. Soon (pleasepleaseplease) these little guys will be lettuces, tomatoes, basil, parsley and spinach. All is not lost! Things are happening!!

And something else is also happening--

Yucky photo but exciting contents! These bags are filled with allllll my handmade shop goodies for the Womens' Co-op I'm a part of! It's called Bliss Co-op and I know I alluded to it a few times but it's my first time being in a shop and being part of a co-op and I'm happy and excited and all of it. Especially my inner hippy which has been sadly ignored the last few years in the acting universe.

I'm starting small--only a couple of shelves at first--and I'm setting it all up tomorrow, in time for our Grand Opening on April 1st! I'm terribly excited to meet the other ladies involved so I'll have pics of our party and my "area" which will contain goodies like these (can't wait to tell you more about them--proper post coming later)...

(Note the mushroom...)

...and approximately 800 other items all of which I made the last two weeks. So--an official "whew." 

I know I haven't listed the hats yet--nor have we really been cooking too many exciting things--but that will change after April 1st. I've made a huge batch of vegetable soup, and other standards but some new and tasty ideas on the horizon (for example: the time has come to try Mug Cakes--thank you, Brendan.) 

That's it for now. I think I need to go sit underneath a special light bulb or something. Or maybe wine. Or both! 

I hope, hope, hope you're warm and cozy and happy wherever you are and that you know where to get full spectrum light bulbs and/or a tanning bed. Sigh.