Happy Friday!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Here are just a few things that delighted me throughout my week:

1. Our garden and our front flower bed:

My first Dahlia to bloom this summer!

I have more pictures of our actual raised bed garden that we built earlier this summer, but alas, our computer is slowly dying and doesn't have the space to upload pictures, let alone perform any other important function.  I'll get you before and after pics of the garden soon enough, though, which leads me to my second delight of the week...

2. Joey and I's anniversary gift to one another:

(photo via divergentadeluxe.wordpress.com)

A NEW COMPUTER!!!

Yes indeed, folks, it's about that time and this wonderful old friend of mine has been requesting retirement in some not-so-very-subtle ways.  This kind of erratic technological behavior has definitely not been good for business...  

For example; whilst recently working on my sister-in-law, Dani's, invitations, I went through a comical (in hindsight) fiasco of completing the final product of invitation, RSVP, and registry info on a crippled computer. This forced me into using better computers (thank you, Joey) that were not mine and did not use the same version of Photoshop (mine needs updating).  This unhappy circumstance was, at this point, unavoidable. Therefore, once having completed the project and having it ready to print, Kinko's and I soon found them NOT to be compatible with their version of Photoshop resulting in me having one meltdown over the phone with Joey and then, after pulling myself together, having to completely redo the final product THREE different times before Kinko's could actually print them.  The employee at Kinko's who helped me was a Saint and I told her after all of her patience with the whole ordeal that I could kiss her... however, she just told me that she didn't drink, but to go have a couple for her anyway... I obliged.

Invitations, thank you cards, note cards, etc. are projects that I really enjoy doing for the creative process and the ability to give someone something original for their special occasion.  So when the process is THAT difficult due to something minor, it becomes very frustrating.  My ideal career would be to work, on my own, on my creative abilities.  With an old, worn out computer standing in my way, though, the challenges for making that happen only get worse and more chaotic.  Joey, as well, uses this computer for creative purposes when writing and researching, but we've also discussed buying some film editing software for future film projects, which would be amazing.  Therefore, Joey and I are buying one another a computer to share and to love and to work on... and that makes me SO unbelievably excited and happy!  Hopefully our new addition to the family will be bought and ready to be introduced to the world within a week!  

3.  Our anniversary:

A BIG "Thank You" to Joey's cousin's Chris, Rachel, and Amanda, who each, unknowingly, gave us gift certificates to the same awesome restaurant, Alchemy, for Christmas!!!  Naturally we sat on these gift certificates for 6 months and used them to have a KICKass anniversary dinner!  We felt very fancy having no inhibitions about what to order. Joey got a fancy steak dealy and duck spring rolls with deliciously hoppy, yet smooth beer and I ordered a duo of dips (hummus and black bean dip) and wild mushroom pancakes with sauteed spinach on top as well as TWO fancy martinis... hell, we even ordered dessert (a trio of cheesecake samples)!  ALL of it was delicious and we enjoyed our dinner immensely!

Afterwards, Joey surprised me with tickets to the Dave Chapelle stand up show at the Orpheum (WhAt!), which was SUCH a cool and unexpected gift!  It was awesome to see Dave again and the show was really funny, however, there was a pretty insane amount of drunken hecklers who consistently interrupted the show with their irrelevant and ignorant banter.  Oh well, what are you going to do... Mr. Chapelle, I apologize for the city of Memphis and the few unfortunate fools who were sloppy at your show and don't know how to handle themselves... please don't rule out Memphis if you decide to tour in the future!

Bad camera photo (another casualty of having a slow computer) of Joey and I before the show.  Even still, he's so handsome.

So those are my happy's for the week!  What are/were yours?  Anything exciting happen or about to happen? Hmmmmmm...

Goodbye for now and love to all!

Crawling out of Hibernation

Aloha, aloha, I'm crawling out of hibernation, folks, and there's a LOT to catch up on.

For starters, before I began writing this post, I scrolled through the last handful of posts to see where I had left off and it dawned on me that I had never really discussed the fact that Joey and I moved to Mississippi!?!... (insert slap to the forehead).  Yeah, we've lived in Mississippi for a year now.  How I missed that little tidbit of our lives, I'm not sure, but I will indeed shed some light on it because it plays a pretty major role in our everyday lives, as well as our future adventures.

So, around this time last year, we were living in an AWESOME duplex in midtown Memphis that we LOVED...

 

However, Joey's job situation was looking kind of bleak and there was the possibility that the bookstore would be sold to liquidators resulting in the loss of over 50 employee jobs, including Joey's.  There was also a little seed, an idea and an anticipation, of moving to a brand new city that had begun to grow in Joey and I's minds and we began to budget and make plans for a new leap in our lives together.  So, with these two challenges ahead of us, we weighed the pros and cons of having a cheaper rent to be able to save more money, and we decided to move... to Olive Branch, Mississippi.

This is the house of my grandparents, Annie and BB.  It has played an enormous role in my childhood and is very near and dear to my heart.  Last year, my family and I lost both Annie (to Alzheimer's) and BB (to pneumonia), leaving an enormous hole in our hearts, but also leaving us with the magnificent gifts of their spirits and the memories of their love.

The family wasn't quite ready to sell the house and there was also the amount of work needed to clean, organize, and get the house ready to sell or rent to tackle.  So, Joey and I decided to move in, allowing more time to work on fixing the house up, and stalling a decision as to what to do with the house (rent or sell).  And with that, we trimmed our rent, allowing for a cushion in the event that the bookstore went under, and helping us to save for our nomadic dreams as well.  As it turns out, in a dramatic turn of events, the bookstore was bought back from the liquidators from it's former owner and the bookstore has had a happy journey ever since (Hooray!).  Joey kept his job and with the security of two incomes, we've aimed to live somewhat frugally so as to reach our traveling goals/dreams.

It's been an interesting year living next door to TN and it has presented it's own set of challenges and obstacles, as well as plenty of opportunities for growth.  However, I will write more on that later and I will also give you a tour (before and afters) of the house because it's always fun to take a peek inside of every house's nooks and crannies!

To stay on the task of catching up, though, allow me to let you in on our moving plan....... Brooklyn, NY.  Let me say that again, and with a little more enthusiasm .... BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, wHaT, WHAT!!!

We are REALLY excited about this plan, but there's a LOT that's going into preparing for moving to the Big Apple before we can make it official.  So, keep your fingers and your toes crossed for our success in this journey! This is a *whole* other animal that I'm going to catch you up on.  There are lots of ins and outs of our intricate plans to construct this dream into a reality and I'll definitely let you in on our journey and I would love to receive feedback from you along the way!  I'm excited and eager to get back on track with the blog and to begin sharing our goals and holding ourselves accountable for them with you!

The walk across the Brooklyn Bridge... probably my most anticipated part of our trip, and it TOTALLY lived up to my expectations!

So, now that you're all caught up on which way we're swimming in this river of life, allow me to let you in on some other exciting news...

Tomorrow, Joey and I will celebrate 2 years of being totally stoked about being one another's "official" best friend.  I love that man, and I love that he enables me and encourages me to think big (while keeping me grounded) and has never faltered (NOT ONCE!) in pushing me to pursue my dreams and believing in my ability to do so 100%.  Distraction and pure laziness are influential adversaries that I'm apt to entertain when left to my own devices.  However, with Joey there to constantly remind me that to participate in distractions and laziness is to sell myself short, I begin to feel and realize the truth in what he's been preaching to me.  These are truths that we are all aware of, but often, we just need someone to help wake us up to.  Obviously, these obstacles will never truly be overcome, but they are challenges that we are both willing to face in order to live to reach our full potential.  It feels like a very rare gift to have a supporter, a cheerleader, who has no doubt that, if you put your mind to it, you can and will succeed.  It is my desire, my goal, and my deepest hope that I am able to return that kind of unconditional love and support for him as well.

I love you, Joey; you're a wonderful, talented, and beautiful man, inside and out, and you make me an extremely happy lady, not to mention, a wonderfully lucky one!  

Goodbye for now and love to all!

Say Something Nice...

Found this via Cup of Jo.  Positive words for a positive week :)

For Jeannie...

Saw this, thought of you... or for any parent for that matter.

:)

WEEKEND!!!

One of my favorite pictures of Darla chillin' on the weekend from when we were living the single life.  Once I go pick up my camera up from St. Louis, I'll have more relevant and up-to-date pictures, but until then, you can look at how cute my little rolley poley is!

Ahhhh, yeay, it's the weekend!  Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays simply taste so delicious once they arrive!  This morning, while letting the ladies out to do their business, I noticed that the air had that broken fever feel to it, that lets you know that fall is slowly arriving.  Not necessarily a cool feeling, but not a sweltering one, either.  Even the oak leaves are becoming too heavy from the summer's intensity, dying, and falling to the ground, creating a crunchy "ball pit" of sorts for Noodle and Darla to play in.  It felt amazing outside and was a quick reminder to the fact that a hammock hanging in the trees by the lake, with a book and a blanket would be PERFECTION!

This weekend, I want to clean the house...I mean really tackle it and set Joey and I up for an easy cleaning/staying organized and relaxed and productive routine.  I know I've made this statement a trillion times, but perhaps if I keep working towards it and keep failing, eventually I will reach success.  Our place today, as compared to my bachelorette abode's is already a good assessment of how I have improved over the years, believe it or not. 

Also, I'm working on at least 3 projects; 2 art, and 1 knitting, and I have several ideas for Christmas that I need to jump on, and ideas for other creative endeavors, like taking a stab at writing/illustrating children's books and collaborating on writing/film projects with Joey (I absolutely love that he includes me and invites me into his passions... I'm extremely lucky).  I need to get organized first, though... for my own sanity, but the excitement of so many ideas keeps me constantly motivated.  So, here we go, Fall, get ready for some serious business!

Anybody want to check out some fun links...

A really fun housewarming party idea!

How big of a backyard do you need to live off the grid?  You'd be surprised!

Ok, I'm a little bit obsessed with Lush.  They cater to my eco-friendly desires, create amazing products, as well as motivate me to care a little bit more about my beauty routine... which, in the past, is not something I've invested much time into.  So, when I recently ran out of my facial moisturizer, I decided to go to Lush to try out one of theirs.  I chose Imperialis and I LOVE it!  It makes my face feel amazing, and it smells warm and earthy, which I love.  Also, I'm eyeballing this little package of joy as well!

Have I talked about how great Jim Henson is lately?  Let me fix that...   
(Thanks for thinking of sending me the link, Blake!)

Pointless street Flyers... Hilarious!


Oooo, pretty, I might add this to my "To-Do's" for the weekend!


And, last, but not least, once I grow my hair back out again, I want to find the right person to help me to pull this off!  So pretty!

Have a beautiful weekend!

Here, Kitty, Kitty...

So, over the summer, I met a cat... in fact, I found myself keeping the company of two fancy felines, although both ended up finding great homes elsewhere.  One was a tiger named Tsukiko, and one was a furry little man named McReady (pronounced McReedy).

Chillin'

Here's McReady.  He's the most fun little man on four legs with whiskers since my little buddy Merlin (my old cat) who he both resembles and whose spirit he seems to embody with a little quirky twist that's all his own.  If you're aware of or if you knew my buddy Merlin, then you know just how cool a cat McReady must be because Merlin was also his own man and an excellent cat :)  However, we have absolutely no need for four pets.  So, when we found out that our good friends Garre and Greg were thinking about bringing a kitten into their little family (they also have an awesome 3-legged lab mix named Steeler, who is also his own man), we were ecstatic.  Steeler and McReady have become fast friends!  Not only had we found an awesome home for McReady, but we can visit him now and even pet-sit when they go out of town!  Our furry ladies are always a little more lively when he comes to play and they're always up to some kind of mischief... it's pretty entertaining.

McReady showed up in July right as I got Tsukiko.  He simply came out of the bushes and began following me around like he owned the place.  However, no matter how distractingly funny and cute he was, there was a much bigger cat that demanded my attention.

Tsukiko, a beautiful life-size tigress, is my fibreglass tiger that I painted for the UofM Centinial celebration.  100 tigers have been painted or aesthetically manipulated in celebration of UofM's "Tiger's Around Town" and I was fortunate enough, thanks to the heads up from my friend, Heather, to be a part of it.  She sat in our carport for about two weeks, one of which I was out of town for, and then, after a long, hot, and sweaty week, she blossomed into the beautiful and exotic lady that I knew she could be.

Because she's awesome, Garre helped me put the finishing touches on my lovely lady (note the knees behind Tsukiko's back legs).  I love my Gare Bear!

Night painting is probably not the best exercise in endurance for your vehicle.

I had a blast doing this project which simply confirmed the fact that I need to keep challenging myself and carrying out ideas that so often get lost in the shuffle.  I'm going to get a new sketchbook.  For some reason, it's been a while since I have started a new one, so needless to say, I can't wait to go buy one.

If you want to find out more about the "Tiger's Around Town", click here.  There's going to be an "Unveiling" on Sept. 10 between 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. when all the tigers will be exhibited.  I can't wait to see all of the different tigers, I know they'll be amazing!  Also, I know a few of the other artists that worked on tigers, and I can vouch for their awesomeness as well, so you should definitely come check it out if you can!

I hope your Monday was a good one!  Today was the first day of school and I must say that it was wonderful to see so many of my kids again and to receive so many hugs.  I love my job!

P.S. - the photos of McReady are pictures that I lovingly stole from my good buddy, J.B.  I hope you don't mind!  They were just so good :)  So good, that I'll include a stolen Darla and Noodle picture as well...

I love my ladies! Nugget too, but she was hiding, so we didn't get a portrait of her.  Oh well, you snooze you lose.

P.P.S - Greg and Garre renamed McReady Bruce Lee, however, as long as they don't mind, he'll remain McReady over here at the Carr Farm.

The Master Reflection

Start weight:  132.6 lbs

End weight:    126 lbs

According to what I have read, my weight loss was less than what most women experience, however, I think that's due to the fact that I fumbled my laxative routine during the night before Day 1, Day 1, and Day 2.

As far as weening off the diet goes, here is how that played out in a short  summary...

Suggested Routine:

1. Day 11 - An orange juice diet, to allow your stomach and body to once again become used to a different type of nutrient source, and, because it's liquid, it won't be as much of a shock to your system.
2. Day 12 - Orange juice in the morning, some fruit for lunch, and a vegetable soup with some 1/2 rye crackers for din din.
3. Day 13 - Orange juice and/or fruit in the morning, small salad for lunch, and a vegetarian (mostly Raw) meal for dinner.

Once Joey and I got started on our road trip to St. Louis, I immediately kicked off my slow transition back into solid foods.  I remained faithful to the first day's rules of drinking nothing but Orange Juice and  water.  However, I failed somewhat on the second day and ate a salad for dinner instead of the vegetable soup because the restaurant in which we ate at (that was playing the Grizzlies Game the NBA Finals), didn't have vegetable soup.  So, for the next day, I ate lightly with mostly fruit, a small salad with some hummus and fresh vegetable deliciousness, and a delicious vegetarian meal at a South American restaurant called Mango.  It was quite delicious!  So overall, I didn't carry out the suggested routine, however, I'm still here and I still felt extremely healthy coming off the diet, so I'll give myself a break there.  

The downside to not following the weening process carefully is that your body can become constipated pretty easily, being re-introduced so quickly to solid foods.  I can attest to this.  However, it doesn't take long for your body/digestive system to "clock in" and back into a healthy and consistent routine.

How I felt after the cleanse... was it worth it?

I have to say that after the cleanse, I felt like GOLD!  Physically, I felt fresh and energized and was much more aware of what I was putting into my body and how that food will ultimately affect my body.  Once my body eased back into solid foods, I was able to digest foods MUCH more easily (something I have struggled with all of my life), and mentally I felt Ah-mAzing!  I had just proved to myself that I could handle this challenge, still be productive during my everyday routine, and learn from the experience, making changes to better my everyday diet and outlook.  I was very proud of myself after I finished the cleanse which was, in my opinion, the best benefit of all :)

Having said that, I do want to include that I did decide to change my diet completely after I finished the cleanse, which very well could have contributed to  certain aspects of my experience afterwards.  I decided to change my daily menu into a pescetarian one, with the plan to eventually ease into a vegetarian diet.  This really wasn't  a difficult transition for me as I have never truly craved meat, nor felt a real desire to add it into my diet, but it was simply always served to me, so I ate it.  This is not to say that I don't enjoy eating meat... I  DO; a delicious Slaw-Dog grilled to perfection makes my mouth water simply thinking about it, however, it's not a hard decision to find an alternative to any of my favorite carnivorous recipes.  Also, I have always felt the burden of hypocrisy as I chewed my meat knowing that if the animal I was eating were in front of me, would I slaughter it in order to enjoy it's addition to my meal... No, but why would I let someone else do my dirty work for me and simply put that animal's life out of sight out of mind?  I just can't do that anymore.

So, to get back on topic, I had a great experience doing the cleanse, and I even plan on doing it again at the start of next summer.  Most likely I will be continuing the trend every summer, as a way to detox and begin again a new adventure of healthy eating.  It was definitely not as difficult as I imagined it would be, thought it was a challenge, and it was a great personal goal to achieve.  

Was it worth it?  In my opinion, YES!  Do I think I could do the cleanse while working?  Yes, totally.  My energy was a little less than normal, however, it was a very slight difference, and if you're consistent with your drinks, you will be fine.  

The Complete Master Cleanse, by Tom Woloshyn

Ok, so let me break this review down into three parts...

• Was it a helpful guide to the process?  

Yes, very much so.  In fact, I kept the book on hand, and even though I read the book before actually doing the cleanse, I had tabbed and bookmarked many important pages to flip through, re-read, and act as support and reference the entire 10 days.

• Was it informative?  

The book was extremely informative, however, the facts and information often seemed to drown in the author's personal bias and agenda, which I did not find to be a particularly good approach to encouraging a controversial diet/alternative form of medicine.  Woloshyn often turned me off with his ramblings and boastings of long personal cleanses and testimonials of cancer and other disease-ridding master cleanses.  Though I think that it's not out of the question that this diet could directly affect our bodies and how they heal in such a way, I think it's dangerous to make such a bold statement without more research and factual evidence.

Also, the diet was a creation of Stanley Burroughs, who Woloshyn gives credit to, but, in my opinion, not enough.  It seems as though the emphasis of the book is on Woloshyn's work and his personal opinions and less about the actual process of the cleanse.  Woloshyn focuses a lot on other alternative medicinal practices, such as Vita-Flex massage and Color Therapy (his areas of concentrations) and spends a good deal of time and devotion to them.  

Once finished with the book, I had only marked a couple of chapters in which I returned to quite frequently.  This is also because it does not take a 200 page book to explain the process and benefits of The Master Cleanse... only a chapter.  In comparison, Burroughs book, The Master Cleanse (which I have not read, but would like to in order to compare and contrast the content), is only 50 pages, and most of what you really need to know can be found via the internet.  I will say, though, that for those chapters that I frequented, I was not unhappy with the plethora of information given, ranging from basic steps to what to expect from the process... really intimate information about the physical effects to expect from your cleansing "adventure" which I found to be a very comforting as a guide.

• Would you recommend this book?

I would have to say that if you're wanting a truly in-depth account of the cleanse with all of the details of every bodily function you may encounter, then I would recommend this book, along with an extra 100 pages that you may or may not find relevant and an author who tends to be a little self-serving.  However, if you're interested in knowing the basics and focusing JUST on the cleanse, then I would recommend Burrough's book (I've read good reviews), or simply exploring the Internet and it's discussions on the cleanse.  The Cleanse = Awesome, Woloshyn's book = Mediocre.

I think that about covers it...

However, like I said in a previous post, if I left anything out, or if you have any questions that I didn't quite answer, then just leave me a comment below, and I'll answer it to the best of my ability!  

I'm going to be using a lot of upcoming posts to catch up on things around here, so be prepared to back-track and hang around the thick of the summer for a bit longer... nothing wrong with that, right?  I left my camera in Lindsey and Blake's car, so it's up in St. Louis with a lot of awesome summer pictures as well, so hopefully I'll get my sweet friend back soon and I can share those memories with you!  

Have a beautiful weekend!