Happy 2nd Birthday
Princess Anieca!

Buddhist Wisdom

Buddhist Wisdom

This image is courtesy of www.agefotostock.com, t
hey have many beautiful images, I highly recommend this site!

"What we think, we become.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts, we make the world."

- Buddha



Gwendolyn Bliss Learns To Snowboard!!!!

Gwendolyn Bliss Learns To Snowboard!!!!

Age: 2 & 3/4

Location: Mt. Baker, WA

Let's Speak For Our Trees!

LOVE YOUR MOTHER... 

EARTH!!!

Courtesy of my creative Husband! He made this for his workplace.

Extreme Cribs | Ep. 8

Have you ever dreamed of being on MTV Cribs?

I mean really dreamed about it?

What if that dream actually came true?

And what if that dream came true because you lived in a house like this...

This is the front of the house. Photo courtesy of Sunraykelley.com, Check out the website!

Well, I did! Numerous times! I am a big fan of MTV Cribs and always imagined myself doing the home tours. Architecture and interior design have been my love since I was a little girl. When my mom would take me to the grocery store I would always ask her if I could get home plan magazines. Also my mother would always get home and garden magazines in the mail, and I think I was more excited when they would come than she was.

Ok so now you know my love for houses! Soo getting to my point, I grew up playing in these "Nature Homes" and always admired my Uncle's art inspired architecture. Inside of these homes are different little quirky spaces that you can play in as a kid and that's what I remember most about them!
Also, I really enjoy that they are not just square boxes! These homes have soo much character that is and will always be uniquely theirs! My Uncle is so passionate about his architecture and art. With that passion he incorporates vibrant energy with color, life and meaning!

My husband, daughter and I had decided to move up to Washington from Oregon for more job opportunities and to be closer to my family, now that Gwen is in our lives. I had previously brought my husband up to this property over the summer. He was in awe of all the unique beauty and quiet location of the homes. Then just at the right time... My Aunt Judy was looking for someone to live in the yoghurt! We were soo excited and decided to move in right away!

I had been having these dreams of living up on the property and connecting with MTV Cribs. Of course in my dreams the homes were all decorated beautifully by me, but hey they were my dreams after all. But I had always envisioned my cousin Kumara and I would do the home tour.

Little did I know that while I was living there that was all manifesting itself. I ended up hearing that MTV Cribs was coming to film the houses with Kumara, and even though not all of the neighborhood was on board, I was overly excited! Kumara called me and confirmed that this was actually happening and asked if we would be willing to let them film our house... I told her that she could do whatever she wanted since it wasn't really my house. Her father designed and built it and the space has more sentimental value to her so why would I ever say no!?

The MTV Cribs crew arrived the day before they filmed and came down to the house to introduce themselves and take a look at the house. All of them were very nice and respectful of our home. I wasn't expecting to actually be on camera, but when they asked me if I would do the tour of the Yoghurt with Kumara, I was overjoyed! Also extremely nervous! But they were very supportive and it ended up just right!

Below are some personal photos of the Yoghurt before we moved in and also the link to watch

MTV's Extreme Cribs Episode 8!

View of the house from the yard. The windows are great! Soo much natural light!

View of the front door from inside the home. Love all the different textures going on in this room!

Again front room of the home. Cobb is awesome in that you have soo much freedom to incorporate unique features,such as the little shelf alcoves and the Ganesh face. Ganesh is one of my Uncle's favorite Hindu God's!

This is also in the front room, the first door is the shower room, the second door is the toilet room, and the third door houses the hot water heater etc. I just want to mention how much I LOVE the built in bench!

This view is from the front room looking into the main living space. Notice all the natural light! It's nice to be able to soak up vitamin D inside your house and not pay for electricity during the day!

View of the kitchen (without the refrigerator). Loved this kitchen, such a great space for entertaining and crafting.

Amazing light!!! Great open space for spending time with family, everyone is always together in this home!

Again cozy open space! The ceiling is amazing! At night it was like a live in planetarium! You could see the moon and the stars through the dome at the top! Spectacular!

View of the door to the laundry/bedroom area.

The ceiling with the three triangular windows and the dome at the top!

Here is the web address and link to the video! Please check it out!

Extreme Cribs | Ep. 8: We take a look at "Nature Village", an extreme love for beagles and a house that has sailed many seas.

 

http://www.mtv.com/videos/extreme-cribs-ep-8/1670563/playlist.jhtml

Beautiful!

Beautiful! 

"Life Is A Challenge - Meet It! 
Life Is A Song - Sing It!
Life Is A Dream - Realize It!
Life Is A Game - Play It!
Life Is Love - Enjoy It!"
-Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba


I felt that this quote went well with this photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sholgk/3969145267/sizes/l/

License: © All rights reserved by 'sholgk' via flickr

It's truly amazing how this picture can bring on so much emotion!

When I saw this photo on Pinterest, it made me smile and brought a tear to my eye all at the same time. These children are beautiful in the way that they are just letting themselves go and dancing with soo much life and energy. 

This photo makes me appreciate all the people of the world, and to really take the time to enjoy life's special moments!

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do! Also follow the link above to check out the photographer. I give him so much credit for such a great photo! Thank you for sharing!

Let's Think About It, Then Speak About It!

In Today's World...

The way things are really make me think about the way things should be.

"All great questions must be raised by great voices, and the greatest voice is the voice of the people - speaking out - in prose,

or painting or poetry or music;

speaking out - in homes and halls,

streets and farms, courts and cafes -

let that voice speak and the stillness you will hear will be the gratitude of mankind."

- Robert F. Kennedy

U.S. Senator, Attorney General & Presidential Candidate

Think about it!

Third Chakra Focus

Image courtesy of: www.ishalerner.com!

 "May my feet rest firmly on the ground.

May my head touch the sky.

May I see clearly.

May I have the capacity to listen.

May I be free to touch.

May my words be true.

May my heart and mind be open.

May my hands be empty to fill the need.

May my arms be open to others.

May my gifts be revealed to me, so that I may return that which has been given. Completing the great circle."

- Terma

Image courtesy of: www.divavillage.com

This week I chose to use the Third Chakra as the focus for my yoga classes. 

The color yellow is just so cheerful and bright and the weather here in Washington was looking grey. 

As per the class routine I put in a lot of Third Chakra poses to energize this energy center and warm up my students. 

For something different we started supine in savasana and then coming into a nice ab workout.  

In Mt. 3 of class, I had the ladies do some gentle partner stretches to feel a little deeper stretch and practice some rhythmic breathing. Inducing relaxation for savasana.

The above quote was the meditation for savasana at the end of class.

The ladies all felt nice and relaxed and cheerful after class. To top it all off, I felt amazing too!

Below I would like to share Third Chakra information with all of you, in case you are new to Chakras:)

Color: Yellow

Sanskrit name: Manipura

Location: Solar Plexus (shown in diagram up above)

Purpose: To understand your mental and emotional self.

Lessons: Love yourself without being narcissistic. Being happy with who you are and knowing that you are worthy of a great life (rich or poor).

If any of this information intrigues you, I encourage you to look into it for yourself and see where it takes you! There are so many wonderful ways to exercise your chakras! 

Until next time...

Namaste!

Andrea Palframan's Goddess Cards

Attuned:

A Lunar Cycle Tarot

28 Goddess Cards for

Daily Inspiration

&Divination

 Andrea Palframan is an amazing artist and inspiring, compassionate goddess!

Andrea's art is reminiscent of different strong female characters from Native American, African, European and Indian cultures. Her words can really speak out to you! They energize your self-awareness.

Years ago while I was at Bumbershoot in Seattle, I came across this tarot deck and it said "Please buy me, you won't regret it!", so I did! I love to use this tarot deck at anytime I need a little love and inspiration in my life or some self-reflection and even meditation. Lately I have noticed that in my research on Andrea, her Lunar Tarot deck is very rare and may be out of print. So I just wanted to share a little bit of her beautiful writings with all of you! Today I drew these 3 cards, see if you can relate!

Past:

STAR

"The mermaid emerges from the depths, bringing light out of the darkness. The pearl is the wisdom she has found through her jouney into the shadowy part of her soul. Her strength comes from the awareness that it is the pain of friction that makes the pearl. Look; there are stars on the walls of your cave."

Present:

ANGEL

"She looks over her shoulder at the place she has been, warily. She takes a moment to reflect on the dark part of the cycle that she is emerging from. The lessons learned from difficulty allow us to appreciate the simplicity of being; water, breath, light. Drink deeply after a drought."

Future:

GEMINI

"Looking outwards, looking within; the duality of our introverted and extroverted selves is symbolized by the sun and moon. From our discoveries in the quiet "moon" times, we bring forth our light into the world and shine like the sun."

Words by: Andrea Palframan

If you are interested in learning more about Andrea Palframan and all of her exciting new happenings please check her out at:

www.ampersandimaging.com

or

you can even find her on Blogger!

Happy Valentine's Day

Loved this image! Courtesy of Deviant Art, check em' out!

"The moment you have in your heart

this extaordinary thing called love

and feel the depth, the delight,

the ecstasy of it,

you will discover that for you

the world is transformed."

By: J. Krishnamurti

Happy Valentines Day

Everyone!

Hawaiian Bath and Body

Are you looking for all-natrual luxurious products to cleanse and nourish your skin? Well look no further! Hawaiian Bath and Body products are just what you need!

This place has soo much history!

The Best Bath and Body products on Earth!

To begin... I was living in Hood River, OR working at the amazing Flow Yoga studio, training to become a yoga instructor. I was in love with yoga! There was still something missing though! 

After looking for massage schools I finally decided that Hawaii Healing Arts College was where I was meant to be! And here are the reasons why... It was actually less expensive than the massage schools in the Hood River area. The school also had a great reputation for anatomy and physiology. And my great friend Liz happened to need a roommate. She has an adorable bungalow, with the most perfect location possible on North Shore, Oahu! Plus the rent was $300 less than what I was currently paying! Awesome!

View from the bungalow that I lived in! Amazing!

  The very first day I was back on Oahu, my friend Glennel picked me up from the airport. On our way to my new house, we saw a free wooden futon frame, I was going to need a bed so we picked it up! I was feeling really lucky! While I was unpacking and settling in, Glennel was looking up jobs for me online. She is super resourceful. She found a sales position available at North Shore Soap Factory and said I should definitely apply! I called right away and... Debora told me to come in for an interview! I was completely stoked!!!

Needless to say the interview went great and I was accepted into the North Shore Soap Factory Crew! How perfect it was to work for a company that sells bath and body products while I was going to massage school?! Added bonus, their products were available at my school!

This is NSSF's Retail shop! Super Cute!

NSSF is really popular , especially with the Japanese tours on Oahu, thankfully I had taken two years of Japanese in high school! I was able to translate when we were checking people out at the register, and had a lot of good laughs with our guests! 
Working here was such a great experience, it was refreshing to be excited to go to work! The staff made me feel confident and I was always learning more and more about the products, which was helpful in selling the products! These guys truly know what they are doing and they make quality natural products that are soo good for your skin! It makes me really happy to see their growing success! 

I learned so much about soap making, as well as the difference between "real" soap and the typical bar you find anywhere else. WOW! What people put into those typical bars of soap is really not  good for your skin at all! The chemicals put into those soaps actually strip your skin of it's natural oils (sebum). This leaves your skin more vulnerable to damage from environmental elements! When the sebum layer is stripped from your skin it either over produces the oils or is unable to replace the oils, thus creates: over oily skin or itchy dry skin.


This was really a problem for me since I had major issues with my skin, major breakouts! Yuck! I tried so many different products recommended by dermatologists and even "Proactiv", none of them worked for me! I was always so embarrassed to reveal my skin or wear clothing that would expose my skin, you know like bathing suits! Pretty sad when you live in a place like Hawaii, where you want to be on the beach! Oh yeah and did I mention I was going to massage school? Where I basically had to get naked (covered by a sheet of course) and lay on a massage table everyday letting people touch my skin!

This is proof that I have clear skin now!

Here is the best part!

Since I had started using the amazing Hawaiian Bath and Body soaps , my skin actually cleared up!!!!! When you use natural soap it actually helps to balance out your sebum production and leaves your skin feeling nourished and moisturized! I tested all of the 20+ natural soap varieties and other various products. This also helped me gain product knowledge as well as finding out that each individual product really does work for specific skin types! When you walk into the retail shop, you find friendly staff members that greet you and make you feel welcome. The staff then guides you through the products with a helpful "skin type" guide so that you can find what will work best for you! Genius, pure genius! 


My favorite soap for my skin condition was their wonderful Ylang Ylang bar! Second to that I love the Ginger Lemongrass bar! Oh, and cinnamon is wonderful for your circulation! Ok well I really love them all! One of the must have items that I would suggest would be any of their luxurious body scrubs! Yummm! They make your skin glow and feel amazing!

They have a large variety of soaps! Be sure to check em' out!

 They also make a most divine soap bar called Kukui Nut Dreams! This is like the magic miracle soap! All of the soaps have Kukui nut oil in them but this particular bar has a double dose! Why is Kukui nut oil so wonderful? It works great for skin conditions like: dry skin, eczema, psoriasis and sunburns. This soap is even great for your little ones! As a momma I love to use the lavender scented kukui nut oil on my little one! She has eczema and it helps soothe her skin, and it doubles as aromatherapy!

This is their wonderful Kukui Nut Oil collection! Be sure to try some!

If you can't make it to Oahu to shop their retail store, you can shop for their products online! The website has detailed information about each of their fabulous products! While you are there, you can check out some more info and fun videos that show you how they make the soap. There is also some fun historic information about the Waialua Sugar Mill, this place is really special to so many local residents. I think it's really great that the community has found ways to revive this sugar mill and turn it into a great shopping center without tearing down the buildings and replacing them with a shopping mall!

Planning a wedding anytime soon and need ideas for guest favors or bridesmaid/groomsmen gifts? NSSF can help you create a custom order and even custom stamp soaps for you!

 
I won't make this post too long but I could probably write a whole book about this company and their excellent products! Also, I just want to say a special thank you to the people that are responsible for making these great items!
Thank You Jerry and Debora Driscoll!!

In Jerry's words...
"Get Clean, Go Green!"

 Naia, Debora, Jerry and Tai Driscoll, such a great family!

 Please check out North Shore Soap Factory 

and Hawaiian Bath and Body products online! 

www.hawaiianbathbody.com

www.northshoresoapfactory.com