LAMMAS FASHION: THE NUDE HIPPIE

  A little provocative title, but I do mean nude. In a beige kind of way. Nude beige in fashion and clothing.  I´m not hippie enough to run around butt-naked!  =)

The nude hippie wants summer to go on forever. She is sunkissed and wears muted beige to complement the overall plain color palette on her. Only little and natural makeup, and earth-toned jewelry. Light blue pants give a spark of color to the look, preventing it from appearing dull. I chose lightweight fabrics with synthetic fiber in them, so they would breath better and keep from creasing during hot weather.

Pigtails bring a touch of everlasting Indian summer. The bracelet I got as a gift years ago.

Seems unreal, but I bought this necklace 21 years ago in my teens! Here you can see the shirt in detail.

Now is the time to chill, relax, and enjoy summer in it´s still state, when all the work is done. A calmness fills my mind in Lammas.

  Beauty can be achieved by doing very little. This nude hippie is definitely not trying too hard, and still oozes self confidence and style.

ELIXIR OF YOUTH

  A couple of weeks ago I bought a few cans of mild cider at a grocery store, and the cashier lady asked me for id. Me! You need to be 18 here to buy it, and I´ll be 37 next month! Yipee! I thanked the nice lady and told her how she had just made my day. =)

  Every now and then I hear people say how I look younger than my age, including a top photographer (in which case I lost a photo shoot because of looking so young =(, and the head of my modeling agency). My age is not yet an issue to me. 36 is totally young these days. After all, fifty is the new thirty now!

  Still taking care of oneself helps to keep the good looks, and makes you feel great. One of the secrets to a lively and healthy (a.k.a. youthful) appearance is raw leafy greens. The darker the better. I prefer fresh greens over dried superfood ones. Now kale is in season, so it is time to enjoy it.
  After getting a high-speed blender (Vitamix) for Christmas last year, I have been able to enjoy super smooth green juices. They say that when food is broken down to such tiny particles, your body can use it up better. So I figure blending raw leafy greens I get the most out of them. I prefer blending over juicing because then the juice still includes all the fiber too.

A fountain of youth, raw green juice with pulp.

    The recipe (for one):

5 leaves dinosaur kale (or any available raw leafy greens as much as your taste buds can tolerate)
4 sprigs of mint (or any fresh herb desired to taste)
20 drops of Echinacea (I use merely for taste, but possible health benefits are only a big bonus. My aunt has used it for decades, and swears on it´s cold-preventing properties.)
water

+ Blend the kale and mint in a high-speed blender with 1 1/2 cups water until all smooth. Add water enough to reach 2 cups. Pour into a glass and add the Echinacea drops. Stir and drink with your lunch for extra boost.
  Shine, radiate, and get ready for compliments!

BEAUTIFUL NEW FALL EARRINGS

 Feeling and looking awesome is easy this fall! Simply choose your favorite from my new selection of aromatherapy earrings on Nelland Boutique.

Finally I found a hoop earring that is suitable for aromatherapy use!

  Read more about the new fall earrings on my column on PaganPages.org, or dive straight in to shopping them! Either way, be your beautiful self, feel great, and enjoy the ride!

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB- DRESS FOR LAMMAS

  "Mary had a little lamb"-song was the inspiration to this dress. For some odd reason it feels fitting for Lammas (which is a funny coincidence, since "Lammas" means "lamb" in my native language Finnish  =).

Partly see-through, romantic floral and lace fabric in very light yellowish beige. I fell in love with the fabric when I saw it last year, and bought it right away back then. But it took a full year to find the time to turn it into something wearable. It was challenging to find a way to keep it casual enough to still fit to work. I did that by keeping the shape simple and adding a slightly darker fabric underneath.

 

Wearing my hair up makes the wide lace collar show better. I definitely wanted to add some lace to the dress, while still keeping it casual. A wide band of it around the neck hole acts sort of like a necklace in itself.

I just love these clogs! I got them years back from Gudrun Sjodén, and the soles are really a single piece of wood. They feel so natural. It is getting cool already, so I needed to wear pantyhose today. But in warmer weather bare legs are the best option.

The color of the dress is so muted that I wanted to spark it up with yellow jewelry. The necklace is years old, and the earrings are of course my own design aromatherapy butterflies. Makeup is minimal and natural.

  Although this outfit is initially for me to wear at work, I also attended a birthday party in it. My goddaughter turned six, and I thought it would suit her fantasy world of princesses and princes perfectly. Yes, I guess I could say this outfit is a piece of my fantasy world. Turned into reality that is. Yay!

RAW STIR-FRY

  This is a raw version of my long time favorite, vegetable stir-fry with brown rice. Raw foodists often substitute rice with finely chopped parsnip. I still like my cooked rice, so I made a compromise by mixing the two. The result is tastier and healthier than plain old brown rice. Yummy!

Vegetables soften without cooking too. Simply marinate them in olive oil and soy sauce. It is easy to prepare them, say the night before or in the morning, and they are ready to eat by lunch. Quick and easy.

Parsnip pulse-chopped in a food processor looks much like rice, and is nice and easy to eat.

Tuck in!

  The recipe (2 portions):

for the vegetables:
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 small bell pepper, thinly sliced (or 1 cup sliced mushrooms if you have any. I didn´t.)
1 cup broccoli, in small florets
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 inch piece fresh ginger, finely grated
1 Tbsp dried shredded coconut
1 Tbsp olive or sesame seed oil
soy sauce to taste

+ Combine all and let sit in the fridge for at least two hours to let the vegetables soften.

for the rice:
1 parsnip, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups cooked brown rice

+  Pulse the parsnip in a food processor until the texture resembles rice. Stir in with the rice.

  Place half of the rice mixture on a plate and add a mound of vegetables on top. Serve and enjoy the good vibrations in your body!

RAW BROCCOLI SOUP

  Wednesdays have been my soup days lately. Today I made broccoli soup seasoned surprisingly with cumin.

The main ingredients.

Blender does the same trick as cooking; softening and breaking down particles to ease chewing and digestion. But blending also reserves all the  enzymes. The recipe is from the gorgeous evergreen miss Mimi Kirk´s, book Live Raw. Oh, how I wish to keep my looks the way she has at still way over seventy!

A smooth and velvety combination of broccoli, avocado, and soymilk seasoned with cumin.

  The recipe (for 2-3):

2 cups almond milk (I used soymilk)
2 cups broccoli florets
1 avocado, cut in chunks
1 tablespoon onion (I used chives)
1 clove garlic
1/2 stalk celery
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

+ Blend all in a high-speed blender until completely smooth. Refrigerate for 2 hours to meld ingredients. Warm carefully until baby-bottle warm and serve.

  Two slices of wholemeal bread and 1/2 cup of chickpeas accompanied my meal.

BACK TO PRE-BABY WEIGHT?

  Okay, it´s settled. I will try to see if I can get back to my pre-baby weight after nearly eleven years!
  There is about seven pounds (3,5 kg) to drop, so it´s not that much really. But I guess mentally it makes a bigger difference. My BMI is now 21.0 and my goal is to drop it to 20.0. No more, I do not want to be skeletal.

  While getting ready for the lingerie photo shoot I came up with this plan for weightloss. It allows big portions of food, but restricts calorie dense foods to about 1200 kcal a day. Also apart from my usual lifestyle, I did some exercise. As a result I did see progress in less than two weeks!
  Here´s the plan:

Eating:
Include: grains, legumes, nuts & seeds, some eggs, berries, apples, and vegetables. Exclude: dairy, meats, seafood, sugar and fruit. Grains, eggs, and legumes cooked, everything else raw.

Apples grow here locally, and are now in season, so they are on my menu. Berries are the only other sweetish ingredient allowed, thanks to their locality. 

- Breakfast choices:
1. Viking porridge
2. Yogurt

- Lunch choices:
1. 2-egg omelet + 5oz. (150g) corn + raw veggies on top of the cooked omelet
2.  a generous cup (3dl) cooked pasta + 1/2 avocado +  raw vegetable sauce
3. raw vegetable soup + 1/2 avocado + 3 slices of wholemeal bread
4. vegetable salad + 1/2 avocado + 3 slices of wholemeal bread
5. a snug cup (bulging 2dl) cooked brown rice + 1/2 avocado + raw stir fry
6. a home made scone (2oz. (60g) wholemeal flour + pinch of salt + 1/4 tsp baking powder + 1/2 cup (bulging 1dl) finely shredded zucchini/carrot etc. + water. Combine all, adding water enough to reach a thick batter. Form into a flat round on baking sheet and bake at 440F (225C) for 15-20 min.).
7. 1 lb (400g) cooked potatoes + mustard/margarine/soy sauce + raw vegetable pieces

- Dinner choices:
Make a double batch for lunch and eat the other half for dinner to save time in cooking.

- Supper choices:
The same as breakfast.

Salt is used sparingly, but herbs in abundance. Cayenne pepper sprinkled here and there.

  All the above meals contain about 350 kcal, and if extra hungry, it is possible to have a fifth meal per day without gaining weight.
  Saturdays are the days off of the plan. Then I can indulge in anything I have craved during the healthy week. I have a massive sweet tooth, and it is utopia to think I´ll never eat sweets again. One day a week for the sake of staying clean for the rest.  

  Exercise:

On rainy days I feel heavy and soaked like this bumblebee, but I will need to overcome the uninviting feeling for a greater cause...

  Inspired by this I will do some jogging 3-4 times a week plus 30 min. walking (or other light exercise) twice a week. While preparing for the shoot I did 5min. walking for warm up, then 1min. jogging + 1min. walking x 15, followed by another 5min. walking for cool down. It worked.
  Now I´m doing 2min. jogging + 1min. walking x 10. Next step will be 3min. jogging + 1min. walking. Minute by minute rising the amount of jogging, keeping the total in 30min. so it does not become too time-consuming.

Light and pretty as a butterfly in the end?

   I will try to follow the plan until my BMI is that set 20.0. I have no idea how long it will take, but the firmer I am able to stick with the plan, the sooner I will see results.

  If I ever reach the goal, my pre-baby weight, it will be interesting to see what it would take to stay there. But I´m not there yet, so I´ll worry about that later. =)
  Now I´m off to the new start!