Hello, Sunshine.

I have been tagged with a blogging award! this seems so anti-climactic since I only noticed after checking this very neglected site weeks after dear Connie at Naked Food Cafe tagged me –  thank you Connie!

Anyway, i’m not going to follow the rules. I don’t really want to tag people, and many of the blogs I frequent have already received this lovely award. I will, however, note some of the blogs that I adore, in no particular order:

•  We Like It Raw. Love it, can’t get enough, always.
• Raw Model. Anthony is really cool, one of my favorite writers and a surefire dose of inspiration for your day.
• Every Woman has an Eating Disorder. Not cynical like it sounds - Dr. Stacy is a psychologist and works on all things disorder related, very insightful posts that are light (unlike the title might seem).
• Kate Harding. The queen of fat acceptance bloggers, and she is hardcore and has opinions that rocked me at first. but I like seeing what she has to say, even if she does scare me.
• Back in Skinny Jeans. Stephanie is really really honest, and I like that.
• Size Ate. A woman of the theater who has a show I have yet to see, she blogs abogs about body image and other random things of interest, with a light and funny style.
• Fat Free Vegan. I’ve honestly never tried any of the recipes, but the pictures are pretty.
• Courtney Pool. I started to read her juice feasting blog, and she is a girl totally living on the edge, authentic, and pursuing her passions in raw food and life. I check her site daily and just WISH i could be a teeny bit more like her.

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Thoughts on the newest piece from Joy Nash that I posted yesterday? If you have any please post away!

My thoughts…

• Joy Nash has the most sublime presence. Seriously, I could watch her day and night and never get bored. I’m surprised she isn’t in main stream movies and TV yet.
• Very thought provoking piece (though not quite as provocative as the original!). It took a second for me to see where it was going, and I liked the commentary about compulsive eating and that it’s quite often not as compulsive as we think. We need to eat like we need to breath, sleep, drink, and pee.
• I like that it opens conversation about our relationship with food. Whether you think you eat too much or too little, we all have to think about it. And in my opinion, there are VERY few people who eat healthfully. i.e. Stop when full. Eat what they want. No stress, no guilt.
• Why do I post this since I really don’t write about fat acceptance? Because I like Joy Nash. And I’m 100% for size acceptance and letting go of all the OTHER ideas people have imposed on us about what we should do and how we should look. One person’s “compulsion” is someone else’s “normal” and who is to define right or wrong?

let me know what you think of the video!

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The 11th Hour is both a portrait of a planet and a source of hope and solutions.– Al Gore

Monday night I had the privelege of seeing a pre-release showing of The 11th Hour. Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the producers and the narrator for this film. He includes a panel of world renowned scientists and environmentalists to create a startling picture of the current status of the Earth. The “11th hour” is a figure of speech implying that the final moment is near, and this film communicated clearly that we are not only in the 11th hour, but “it’s 11:59″ as they said in the film. DiCaprio’s film is more entertaining and insightful, though still similar to Al Gore’s environmental film An Inconvenient Truth, that was released a year ago.

The first half of The 11th Hour is grim, discussing global warming and how much of a mess we have created on Earth. The second half is far more optimistic as the authorities discuss changes we can make to halt the current crises and save planet Earth. I liked the fact that the film isn’t merely scolding the American people, but rather a call for creative action. By getting back into harmony, we will benefit our own lives in the process of making positive change to the Earth. I was left feeling deeply inspired to participate and do my part in saving the world.

To see the trailer and find showtimes near you, click here.

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I’ll be the first one to admit that I rarely read novels. Prior to Eat Pray Love the last novel I read was probably in early high school. If I’m not reading texts for school, I prefer to read books about nutrition, heath, body image, manifesting, ect. Something about the title of Eat… caught my intuitive eye, and I slowly started to read it. “Slow reading” quickly turned into more of a loving obsessive affair where I poured over the pages, earmarked my favorites, stayed up with it until past 2am, and fell thoroughly in love with the author and her story. I decided about a quarter of the way through it that I also needed to tell everyone I know about it because everyone needs to read it! I guess other people feel the same way about it too, because it DID rock the New York Times Bestseller list. I hate to admit it, because I like to think I’m not corny like this, but when I finished the last page I slowly closed the book and gave it a hug, just holding it to my chest and saying “thank you” for entering my life. (Okay, i guess I am incredibly corny like that. But who cares!)

Eat Pray Love is the true story of the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, leaving her unhappy marriage and figuring out what she wants to do for the first time in her life, seeking pleasure, spirituality, and a connection to herself while she leaves her chaotic NY life to travel alone.

What I can say in my experience of reading this book, is it ignited a deep desire in me to ask myself what would make me feel good, to feel connected to the world, to be happy.  It made seeking pleasure and joy a main priority in my day. It also reminded me of the beauty and power of prayer (more on this later).

 I worry if I write too much, I will somehow do a disservice to this amazing book, so I will leave this review short and sweet and just give a whole hearted 100% recommendation. (I would even recommend buying it - something I’m definitely not into - but I want to have this book for a long time, to write in it, etc.)

If you click the image of the book above, it’ll take you to Amazon where you can read other review etc.

 Rating: 10/10

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