Sunday, January 31, 2016

EASY JUICE-BASED MEALS

  This week I took lunch with me to work instead of eating out (in which cases I mostly eat plain salad with soy sauce and bread). I came up with a simple plan how to fix both breakfast and lunch simultaneously in two steps.

Cucumber-avocado soup with wholemeal spelt flatbread.
Step 1: The previous evening make two juices. One is fruit-based for breakfast the next morning, and the other veggie-based for lunch the next day. Store in air-tight glass jars in the fridge.

Step 2: In the morning Vitamix your fruit juice with a big bunch of green leaves until creamy and smooth. Voilá, your breakfast is ready!
            Now Vitamix your veggie juice with one ripe avocado until creamy and smooth. Voilá, your lunch is ready! Pour back in the glass jar and take to work.

The beauty in juicing is that you can combine nearly anything together, and still come up with a nice taste. Natural tastes of fruits and veggies are so subtle that they mix well. I usually buy whatever is in season in the grocery store, and either make single juices or combinations according to my imagination. It´s all good for me!

  Now that I´ve been juicing mostly every day for a month, I can honestly say I´m feeling the difference. It is simple to put it in a nutshell: I feel satisfied. Never did think a thin cup of liquid could fill me up, but it does! It is a different, new kind of fullness I can feel in my throat rather than stomach. When I´ve had enough, the thought of more food & juice starts to feel repulsive. And it takes a lot longer to feel hungry again than before. I´d like to think it is because of the abundant amount of nutrients I´m getting now. No matter what the reason, I feel better and stronger now.
  I´d had a juicer for  years and years, but never did I drink juices this much and regularly. The biggest reason for that was that my old juicer didn´t extract as much juice from the same amount of produce as my new one, making more go to waste.

This is apple juice blended with two leaves of kale. Kale makes a nice, thick froth.

3/4 cucumber juice, 1/4 apple juice blended with 1 small avocado. Needs no salt.


  I´m impressed by the power of juice!

Friday, January 29, 2016

WHITE WONDERLAND

  Imbolc´s other face, beside the sunny light blue one, is the white world. On a cloudy day, when nature is covered with fresh white snow, the world looks washed out of all color. It´s black and white. That´s a magical sight (note that the pictures are not manipulated).

It´s amazing how even spruces look black and white, although I know they are really green...
At the end of our home street there´s a humongous hill, perfect for sledding!
I can still (barely) squeeze into a kids´ sled for a bit of fun!

This humble young birch looks like a feather.

Our apple tree dressed in winter.

  Once again, all this beauty is right here on my daily path, with no need to go far and beyond to experience it. Embracing the little things in life is beneficial to both me and the planet!

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

IMBOLC FASHION: LIGHT BLUE DRESS (PERFECTED)

  The curse of being a perfectionist is, that while generally pleased with how things lay in life, you constantly keep looking for ways to make everything even better.
  That´s what I did with this dress.

Originally I made this look last year. But now I´ve fallen in love with this dress pattern, and rank it way higher than the one I used last time, how could I resist? Luckily they still had the same exact fabric left at the store. =) The fabric is rather thick, so it doesn´t drape as well as most. But apparently in this particular shape it actually does the look right, resembling more of a cartoon caracter´s dress (like the one in a beautiful film Arrietty).
I simply love an hourglass figure on women, because it is the feature that separates us from men.(To be honest, I´m surprised mine recovered this well from two pregnancies with enormous stomach. I`m not one of those ladies who get a "cute little bump". Even my own mother felt bad for me, saying that a belly that big must hurt! But gladly it did not.) Sadly a show-off waistline has not been fashionable, in street wear at least, for over ten years. But who cares, I do what pleases my aesthetic eye! And that´s what  I encourage everyone to do. A great motto I learned long ago, that applies to so many things, is: "It´s not right, it´s not wrong. It´s different."
Can you guess where the colors of this look are drawn from? Yes, those beautiful sunny Imbolc days with baby blue sky and shimmering white snow covering the ground.
I like to match makeup with clothes. To this look I used baby blue eye shadow on the inner lid, and shimmering dark grey on the outer. Must be careful not to overdo with repeating the same color, and giving thought on the overall appearance staying sleek. Because the blue eye shadow is so dominant, I kept everything else nude. Beige blush and clear lipgloss.
   Music is an important factor for me when sewing and creating overall. While making this dress I listened happy Japanese anime music. I like all sorts of musical genres, variety is the key.

Monday, January 25, 2016

HEART OF IMBOLC

  After discovering the wheel-of-the-yeart over fifteen years ago, I have built a whole new lifestyle for myself based on the eight sabbats. The eight in turn are based on the ancient way of telling time, marking solstices and equinoxes, and the points in between marking the turn of the season (spring, summer, fall, winter).
  Nowadays I incorporate each sabbat into my calendar by celebrating them approximately six weeks in a row. This year it took until now to tune into Imbolc full speed.

  Imbolc, February 1st, is for me the actual beginning of the new year. It is the point in time between winter solstice and spring equinox, thus marking the beginning of spring. A funny thing is that once, after learning about the whee-of-the-year, I was talking with my grandpa and found out that he perceived time this exact same manner by solstices and equinoxes! Needless to say, he´d never googled about paganism... =)
  By now the days have grown lighter, and it is inevitable to feel the change and look forward. Nature has turned white and powdery by snow, and the sky is glowing again with pastel colors on sunny days. As if the year is in it´s baby state.
























  This is the heart, the foundation, of my Imbolc spirit. An abundant source of inspiration. And the best part is that it´s all free of charge, right here, surrounding me in my daily life! No need to go far to experience something miraculous. The fairy tale is happening right here and now, and I´m part of it!