3rd week in a row $200....all organic! or 4th?

Holler!  Yes!  I have done it a third week....or is this the 4th week?  No wait it is the fourth!  Holler!  Holler!  Holler!  Yes.  I have fed my family of five all organic food for $200 a week.  And I plan on keeping this budget.  I want to be able to afford gymnastics for Selah and art classes for Zoe and a sitter for me to get the heck out of here!  Whoo hoo!
This organic grocery endeavor has been heavy on fruits and vegetables. It was hard at first, but after a bit, I got the swing of it.  I never bought processed food.  That saves so much money.  And so does my bread maker!  I should have saved my grocery lists for you.  But I can tell you what we ate last week.

Breakfast:  Toast, tea, and fruit and eggs for the girls. (thanks to Meg for the fresh eggs!)or pancakes. For me and Fara:  scrambled eggs with vegies, smoked salmon, and chevre, fruit, green tea, latte. (we always eat later than the girls and I don't play when it comes to breakfast!) Snack: kefir smoothie with frozen fruit.

Lunch: Fruit/ vegetable squeeze, applesauce and sandwich for the girls. Maybe they will take some almond milk. Selah likes to see what she can score of the share table.  If it is a fruit or vegetable, she will take it even if she is not hungry and save it for later. That's my girl! Zoe is too cool to do that now.
For me: leftover dinner.  This week it was chicken vegetable soup, chicken sauteed with kale, red peppers, onions, cauliflower, and chevre, pan seared cod with vegies, or cauliflower faux potatoes, chicken salad with grapes in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, Kazak slaw with cabbage and carrots in olive oil and vinegar. Oh! Fara and I made a tuna salad with a balsamic vinaigrette and green beans and put it over spinach.  That was bomb!

Dinner: We usually eat dinner together. We had chicken vegetable soup, pan seared cod with cauliflower potatoes and spinach, the kale sautee, baked chicken with vegies and potatoes.  We ate the same thing a couple of times.  Last night, I got them pizza from PCC and still was under my $200 budget.  Holler!

This week's menu is the same for breakfast and lunch but for dinner we will be having stuffed green peppers, chicken caccatoire with spinach, pan seared cod with kale, and chicken lettuce wraps.  yummy! I am going to make some egg salad with flax seed oil mayo just for something extra!  I do have a turkey someone gave me.  Maybe I will bring that out and cook it.  I do cook something every day.  The more labor intensive things, I cook once in a bigger batch and we eat that for lunch and dinner a couple of times.  No big.  I have 3 kids, a husband who is gone all the time, a business, and two part time jobs.  If I can do it, I know anybody can.  And, even though I will never admit it, I am a closet lazy person.  For reals!
Here is what I had for breakfast

Who wants to join me on their endeavor to eat well, eat healthy, eat cheaply, and take life back to the basics so we actually have time to enjoy it?!

Recipe of the week:

Chicken kale saute

You will need baked chicken, shredded kale salad mix, onions, diced red peppers, diced onions, shredded carrots, grated cauliflower, garlic, olive oil.

Saute onion, red pepper, garlic, cauliflower "rice", and carrots until soft.  Add kale. Season with garam masala, turmeric, and salt.  Add chicken.  Cook until chicken is warm.  Top with some chevre.  yummy!

oh yes I did for a 3rd week in a row!

Quiet everyone!  Quiet now.  I have an announcement to make.  For the third week in a row, I have stayed within my $200 a week grocery budget and have only bought organic.  I repeat.  I have only spent $200 a week on groceries for my entire family and have only bought organic food.  Yes indeed.  I will pause here for a while as I imagine the applause that is occurring at this moment.

I have only stayed in a budget that tight once and that was last year when I was only spending $100 a week for groceries so I could have more money to spend in Puerto Rico.  (priorities people!) I emptied out my pantry and made some very creative things and going organic was not on my list. But once I came back, I went right back to my old habits and just bought what I felt like eating. Here's my trick.  Get ready!  It is magic!  .......Hold on.....I only buy the food I need.  Yeah.  I know....craziness!  

Okay, it is a little more than that....kind of.  My husband is the kind of man who will eat whatever I make and will never complain.  You will never hear him say, "There ain't no meat in this.  This ain't no meal!  I need meat." So making vegetable based meals isn't an issue.  Which if you have looked at the prices of organic meat, you will see why that matters.  He also is never here, so I really don't include him in my meal planning.  I buy him almond milk and make sure that there is something for him to eat, but I pretty much get to plan the weekly menu without any comments from the peanut gallery.  I have this rule for the girls about food.....suck it up if you don't like it.  I don't care.  Makes my life pretty simple when it comes to meal planning.

I buy for three meals that will be big enough for leftovers for my lunch and dinner the next night. We make a loaf of bread every night. And I do buy those Peter Rabbit Organic fruit and veggie squeezes.  The girls love them.  I don't buy juice boxes.  Why?  Sugar in a box.  They can drink water and eat the fruit.  I have limited the girls to one gallon of milk a week and now buy almond milk and coconut milk.  I never buy cereal.  The girls will make themselves some scrabbled eggs or banana pancakes for breakfast. And we do not have meat with every meal.  

That was the sticker price that shocked me the most.  I buy one thing of chicken and one thing of frozen fish and that is our meat for the week.  I did splurge a little bit this week and got Zoe some ham for her sandwiches.  

I figured that even though the organic peanut butter is almost $10 for a big jar, it will last a little over 2 weeks using it for dips for apples and sandwiches every day.  That is feeding my babies for less that $1 a day.  I can live with that. 

I actually only spent $170 for this week's groceries.  I like to give myself a little wiggle room just in case I forgot or run out of something.  I make it into a game and always ask the checker if they think I will come in under $200.  This serves two purposes.  It makes me accountable and if I go over, I won't feel so stupid asking them to take things off.  I make it into a game.  A couple of the checkers now follow the blog to see how I am doing on my endeavor and ask me if I am in my budget.  

Last week, we ate like royalty.  We had baked chicken thighs with rice, red bell peppers, and asparagus cooked in a dutch oven, (that I love almost as much as my steam cleaner) That meal fed me, my daughters, my eldest daughter's 3 overnight guests, and gave me a nice little meal to soak up last night's vodka.  I made this amazing soup with orzo, spinach, garlic, ginger, and avocados.  Fed myself and my husband two servings each that night and I had a nice little lunch.  And of course the butternut squash coconut curry with rice.  We still have some of that leftover.  That went nicely with some pan seared halibut. Oh and I cannot forget the bananas in sweet coconut milk for dessert.  Yummy!

This week our meal plan is Nicoise Salad, chicken salad lettuce wraps, chicken vegetable soup, pan seared dover sole with rice and vegies.  I made the Nicoise Salad tonite and will sever it over spinach for my lunches for the next two days.  I baked all the chicken breast tonight and that will make the chicken salad and chicken vegetable soup.  I splurged and got some smoked salmon too and feta cheese for our eggs in the morning or a salad I may be craving.  And if we need more food, I do still have $30 to spend for the week.  If all else fails, we can have banana pancakes for dinner.  Who doesn't like breakfast for dinner?

I like eating all the food I buy.  I like feeding my family food that is good for them and kind to the environment.  And I really like my grocery bill.  Buy simple.  Buy basic.  Be healthy.  Save money.  Holler!

Recipe of the week

The orzo soup I made last week was so delicious.  I looked in the pot and was surprised to see that what was in my pot looked just like the picture from the recipe.  Because I am on a budget, I used ginger for a jar I already had and I didn't use the mustard seeds or any of the fresh herbs.  It was still fabulous.  Try it this week.  http://marcussamuelsson.com/news/recipe-my-veggie-soup

Going Organic on $200 a week! WTH!?

Okay, I have a confession to make.  I go organic when there is a sale.  I have never made the intentional effort to go completely organic.  When people use economics as the reason not to eat more healthily, I guffaw!  Puhleeezzze!  It costs less than buying all that processed and fast food.  So I didn't really consider how going organic was going to change the way I buy groceries.  This is my first week in and I see my approach to meal planning and shopping already changing.
First, organic does go bad faster.  Which is fine and even comforting.  How can I trust chicken that lasts for two weeks?  There must be something in it.....like ammonia! (which I found to be a true statement upon further investigation) So I can only buy what I need and go shopping twice a week.  Okay I can handle that.  That usually happens anyway, even to the most prepared of us. I also only buy what I need because it is a little more expensive.  Americans throw away 40% of their food anyway.  What if we bought only what we needed and actually ate what we bought?  Now there is a new concept.  Our grocery bill would be the same or less.  We would be healthier and it would be better for the environment.  Sounds like a win/win to me.
So after taking a survey of what I already had in stock, I planned our week's menu; Curry Squash with rice, Chicken  breast with sweet potato salad and greens, and pasta with Cauliflower and pancetta. Then of course bread, which I make, fruit for snacks and lunches, eggs, milk, almond milk, coconut milk to make yogurt, and organic Mac and cheese for when I feel lazy.  (Okay, sometimes there is prepared food in my house.  Sue me.) I only planned for 3 full meals. If anyone complains in my house about eating leftovers, they can just suck it!
I went shopping last night and spent $158 for the week.  I didn't go to PCC which kind of made it harder for me.  They didn't have any organic sweetened condensed milk for my coffee.  But I didn't give in.  I am going to use my organic cane sugar instead.  And resisting the sales was a little hard for me.  But I stuck to my list and got out of there for under my $200 weekly budget.  I left myself a little wiggle room for later on in the week.  (PCC has organic sweetened condensed milk, which I will be getting.  Hello!  Don't mess with my morning coffee routine.) My refrigerator is a little empty but I know I will use all that food.  I even got myself a little treat of coconut water! I saved a little money and bought frozen organic squash.  Who wants to slice and cube a fresh butternut squash anyway.
We will see how I do this week and if my minimalist approach is going to work and feed a family of five.  I do know that when there is nothing else to munch on, my girls will slice up a red bell pepper and think they hit the jack pot of snacks.  I am also trying to use up all the stuff in the pantry.  I want an empty pantry by the end of this month.  I think it is possible to eat all organic on a budget.  We just have to be more conscientious about the choices we make.  If it costs a lot, it makes it a little more painful to be wasteful.  If I will spend over $4 for a latte, why wouldn't I spend that much on some apples that would last me a few days.  Speaking of which, organic Fuji apples are only $1.49 per pound at Metropolitan Market and they are crispy yummy!


Recipe of the week

Bread machine bread

1 cup milk with 2 tbsp vinegar (let it sit for 10 min.)
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp oil
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt

Put all ingredients in bread maker and select white bread option.  Perfection every time.

Back to the Basics, Step 2

I recently met a woman who told me she has no canned food in her house and that she makes everything from scratch, including her coconut milk.  That astounded me.  I consider myself a fairly back to the basics kind of girl.  I bake our bread.  I don't have processed food in the house.  I try to make everything from scratch.  But I do buy tortillas, canned beans and tomatoes and jam.  And being that we are on a fairly tight budget..front porch rotted, was not expecting that expense......I buy organic sometimes, but am not consistent about it.
Looking at her life and how she prepares food for her family seemed overwhelming to me.  Another friend of mine and fellow blogger, http://growandresist.com/ Meg Brown's life seems so busy and so unattainable, it wears me out to read her posts.  She grows her food.  She has chickens and her own business.  She is a mom and she makes everything.   Then I started thinking about people who always make prepared foods and have packaged snacks in their house.  My life style may seem a little overwhelming to them, even though it is actually very simple. I began thinking that maybe the key to success to simplifying life, eating and cooking healthy is baby steps.
Back to the basics, Step 1 is using natural skin, hair, and cleaning products.  Steam cleaning is my favorite activity in the world!  Step 1 is also not buying prepared foods.  No more Marie Calender.  No more Stouffers.  (Notice that I know the brand names.  Marie Calender Pot Pies...yum!) No more frozen pizza.  Buy nothing with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, or any ingredient that you don't know.  Make meals from scratch. It takes just as much time to make a chocolate cake from scratch as it does from the box.  We have just been duped into thinking a box cake takes less time.  All natural bread can still have high fructose corn syrup in it.  I don't know how, but it does.  So read the labels.   My kids get a sandwich and a piece of fruit, maybe string cheese for lunch.  They can drink water.  Juice is a waste of money.  And what nutritional value do those fish crackers have anyway?  They get 15 minutes to eat.  Give them what they need to be nourished and be done.  And if they don't like it.....tough.  And so I have a little more time to make all that food, my kids clean up their own stuff and as soon as they get home from school, one does the dishes, the other the laundry.  They have been doing that since they were five.  Get it done.  Do it simply.  Do it naturally.  That is my basic philosophy for Step One.
Then I started thinking, what if I took it a step further?  I am mad that my chicken is soaked in ammonia rather than the company taking simple steps to make sure the chickens are healthy.  I am mad that instead of giving cows a diet of grass for just a week that would eliminate most illnesses, they are pumped full of antibiotics and walk around with a hole on their side so we can have access to their stomachs.  It seems ludacris to me.  So I decided to stick it to the man and go entirely organic.  If I am making everything from scratch, then my ingredients need to be actually good for my family. That is my Back to the Basics, step 2.  Going organic....for everything including my make up. My skin care is already taken care of.
After my first trip to PCC, I began realizing that this going organic on a budget was going to take a bit of adjusting.  $7.99 for a pound of grapes!!!  Guess who didn't buy grapes.  My weekly budget for everything is $200.  For the entire month of March, I am going organic on a budget.  My strategy so far is buy only at PCC or the farmer's market.  I do this not because Safeway doesn't have good deals on organic, but because I am a weak person and if I see strawberries for sale for $2.99, I want to buy them.  If I see that there is a manager's special on pot roast, I am going to buy it.  I am a sucker for a deal.  So I need to eliminate the temptations.  Also, PCC takes great care in the selection of what they decide to sell.  They take out the ethical guess work for me and each one of my 3 kids gets a free piece of fruit.  They go shopping with me!
I am also buying what is on sale.  They have mangoes 2 for $4 right now.  Yummy!  And until I get this shopping organic thing under my belt, I am going to make very simple meals.  The meals that seem to cost the most is dinner so I am going to shake it up a bit and eat like a queen for breakfast, a princess for lunch, and a pauper for dinner.  It is worth a shot.  Who wants to watch this month's adventure unfold.  Remember last year's $100 a week for groceries?  That was fun!

Zoe and Selah with fresh coconut for a snack.

recipe of the post

1 can organic tropical fruit
coconut
sweetened condensed milk
pecans

spoon fruit into bowls. Sprinkle with coconut (organic) and pecan pieces (organic) and drizzle with (organic) sweetened condensed milk.  It make a nice little dessert or snack.

Fitness taken back to the basics

I have a confession to make.  I am a nerd.  I like to read..... a lot.  I don't have TV and while I love movies, I couldn't tell you the last time I actually sat down and watched one.  So while I was on one of my reading jags, I read the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferrisse.  The book started out very smarmy and Tony Robbinish, but I read it in about 4 days and got very excited about my business future.  In between the Tony Robbinish not is impossible mantras and the bragging of his accomplishments, Tim does give some solid advice and an amazing amount of resources.  He also challenges our paradigms about working harder.  His idea is to work smarter, not harder. He figures if we cut out all the unnecessary meetings, people, tasks, and emails out of our schedule, we can actually get our jobs done in less time.  He follows up his ideas with concrete actions.  While much of his advice won't be for some, making small changes to the way we approach the tasks most of us have could make a big difference.
Being the nerd I am, I of course researched reviews of this book to see what others had to say and if I was just getting excited because I got sucked into the rhetoric.  Most of the reviews were along the same lines of my sentiments about the book.  I also found that Tim had written another book called the Four Hour Body.  This is the book that really got me thinking.  Four hours a week?  Then I broke it down.  That is a little more than 30 minutes a day.  That could be very possible provided we use our 30 minutes wisely and eat properly. I began thinking in my head, if I were to teach a class in 30 minutes (I am a fitness instructor in my spare time) how would I set the class up so that it were the most effective.  I am only talking about the time needed to make changes in your body if you are eating right, not working out more if you need to burn more calories to offset eating. (which I need to do often.  I will not lie) Using only 40 minutes a day for six days a week to equal 4 hours a week, I believe it is possible to make changes in your body and stay fit.
Here is the kicker.  Tim's book is actually talking about 4 hours a month and has some crazy diet advice that every professional nutritionist is shaking their head at.  Tim may know about business, but his fitness notions are out of his expertise.  They may work for him, but they are not healthy.  Just because you look good, does not mean that it is all good.  Be that as it may, it is about shifting our paradigms about how we use our time and being effective. And I am going to test it out for you.
I have decided that this year is about going back to the basics.......in everything....in skin care, in health, in nutrition, in fitness, in managing my business, and in managing my life.  Each month will be a new challenge.  This month is my fitness challenge.  I am going to test the back to the basics body in four hours a week.

Here is my game plan.

Cardio on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
Strength/interval training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Rest on Sunday

In nutrition, small changes can be huge.  I like to use the word nutrition rather than diet.  We are not on a diet.  We are trying to give our body the nutrients it needs while at the same time, enjoying our food and reaching our weights goals.  Since I already don't eat very much processed food, and eat pretty healthy, I am cutting back on what are my weaknesses.  Sugar and eating out.  I am cutting out most sugar, except in my morning coffee because that would be crazy! I am not saying that I won't have a treat, but a cookie a day is not a treat.  It is a habit.  I will allow myself to eat out once a week.  Most likely at the taco truck!  It is easier on the pocket book and the waist.

I am all about efficiency.  I do not want to work harder than I need to.  I like to have time to play with my family and friends.  So this month is my fitness challenge.  Do you want to join me.?  Next, I will post my workout details with a video.  You can see that I struggle too.  And it is okay.

Your task this week is to formulate a workout schedule.  Just figure out the schedule. And figure out what two small, and specific changes that you could make to your nutrition.  Let me know what they are!

Recipe of the week.
Mommy's yummy Pot Roast

pot roast, whatever size
a can of cream of mushroom soup, condensed, preferably organic (no preservatives and bad stuff)
a packet of onion dip mix (it will be hard to find a natural one, but PCC or Wholefoods should have something.  You just need some onion flavor)
Put all 3 in a slow cooker without water and cook until meat is tender.

I make a big thing of rice (gotta have leftovers!)  When the pot roast is done, I serve about 4 oz of it over a cup of rice and a big hand full of spinach.  I might dice up some tomatoes too.  Yummy.

Don't forget to sip your water all through the day! If you are a spinner and want some fun T-shirts to work out in check out my T-shirt shop.  It is silly, I know, but I had to make them or I would have burst! http://www.cafepress.com/blackettbodybasics

Pro-Aging vs. Anti-aging

Yesterday, I meandered into Nordstrom's for "market research". There is definitely a lot of skin care lines, most of which are anti-aging.  It would seem that us women are not supposed to look older, and definitely not look our age.  I will admit as a woman in her 40's that watching her skin and body slowly change is not something I relish.  I sometimes freak out.  If I hear how great I look for a woman in her forties who has had three kids one more time, I will most likely punch the little twenty something twinkie in her face!  Men, I have found, do not feel a need to clarify a compliment.  They see it pretty simple.  If you look good, you look good.  Nuff said.
Which brings me to wonder; what exactly is a woman in her forties with children supposed to look like?  Are we supposed to look old?  Are we supposed to be sexually invisible? Are we supposed to not care about how we look anymore? So with those questions in mind, I listened to what the media is telling us.  It would seem we are not supposed to look our age.  It is not attractive to have wrinkles. It is our fault if we don't look younger than we do.  And the biggest lie of all; it is possible to stop the aging process.  I am a little surprised that us women in our forties or older, haven't completely lost our minds and punched quite a few twinkies in their noses.
On the contrary, women I know my age are, for the most part, strong, confident, and independent who have realized that sexiness and attractiveness is not at all how you look.  It is in how you feel and in how you carry yourself.  I never want to feel like I did in my twenties again!  That being said, I wouldn't mind looking like I did in my twenties and if I had that figure again, you would have to pay me to put my clothes back on.  Maybe it is a good thing that I don't look like that now.  You wouldn't be able to deal with me!  Hay dios mio!
As per usual, I digress.  As I was walking through Nordstrom's for "market research", I noticed that there weren't any all natural skin care lines.  I saw products with "ingredients derived from natural products."  Can I just ask, "What the heck does that mean?"  High fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils are derived from natural products.  Does that mean they are good for you?  What does putting those chemicals on your skin for the sake of anti - aging do to you in the long run? So many of us are cognizant of what we eat, yet we will still put chemicals on our skin, all for the sake of looking younger.
I understand that and would most likely par take in the purchasing of some miracle anti-aging cream if it weren't for the reason that I am also a cheap skate at heart and a skeptic.  Do I actually believe that any of those anti-aging creams work?  Not enough to where I would spend $200 on it.  It may diminish my fine lines and wrinkles, but would anybody else notice?  Not likely.  They are called "fine lines" for a reason.  They are fine and usually only noticeable to ourselves.  And at that price, I would most likely analyze my wrinkles and skin more then ever to see if there is a change, making myself hyper aware of my aging.  So is putting all those chemicals on our skin actually worth the price, economically, physically, and psychologically?  Most likely no. Not to me anyway.
Which brings me to a conversation I had with a young man in his twenties a while back.  He asked me, "Why is beauty equated with youth?"  I couldn't give him an answer.  He was a little angry in this question.  He said, "I like older women.  They are usually drama free and come with a plethora of understanding, wisdom, and humorous stories to share."  He decided that rather than anti-aging, we should focus on pro-aging; aging naturally and healthfully.  He is right. To me, my friends are all beautiful and I find an older woman who walks into a room with her head held high and obvious confidence extremely attractive.  I think most men do to.  So why is beauty equated with youth?
 Another conversation I had with a man in his late thirties came to my mind.  He said that he found women in the late thirties and forties extremely sexy and fascinating. He continued that these women don't change who they are to please others anymore.  They know what they want and they make it pretty clear.  To him, obviously, beauty was not equated with youth.  These conversations with these two men, in different stages in their life caused me to reflect on aging.  That beauty really is not equated with youth.  The most beautiful and sexy women I know do not look like they are in their twenties.  So why is a topic of conversation between me and my fascinating friends often about aging and how it is pissing us off and how it can be prevented?
Here is what I propose.  Accept aging as a natural process.  I know!  I know!  A big pill to swallow!  I don't mean let yourself go and get old.  I mean focus rather on the prevention and maintenance of, not the reversal of aging.  Bring life to a simpler stage. Stress is a part of life, but as I am becoming a wiser, older woman, I realize a lot of stress is self inflicted.  Do what you have to do and let the rest slide.  Emotional stress is the real ager.  How can you minimize this?  These are harder changes to bring about over night and often take a lot of self reflection and change.  So how about I give you some simple tips to bring your skin care back to the basics?  There are some very simple ways to make the best of the skin you already have.....without chemicals or magic solutions.....and working with what you already have.

Your skin is your largest organ.  You need to feed it properly.  It needs to be hydrated to look its best.  Drink plenty of water.  Sipping water all day long is the best.  Your kidneys are like a Britta Filter.  It can only filter so much, so drinking a bunch of water at once is not very beneficial.  Sipping water all day long is the best.  Your body can process it and you won't be running to the bathroom having to piss like a race horse. Don't like water? Sip herbal tea....without sugar.  Put a cucumber and fresh mint in your water bottle.  Sounds crazy, but tastes amazing!  And stay away from processed food.  Your skin is a reflection of all you do.  If you eat Lean Cuisines, (which are very bad for you) your skin will tell on you!

Sunscreen!  Sunscreen!  Even in the winter!  Don't forget the hands! Getting a little sun if fine.  Getting sunburned is not.  We have all seen those tanning bed goddesses whose skin look like leather.  There is a reason why.  It is soooooo bad for you!  If you must have a tan, I have perfected the tanning cream regimen, although I don't do it anymore because of all the chemicals. E-mail me and I will let you know my secrets.

All natural skin care!  Using gentle cleansers that clean not strip your skin of its natural oils really do work.  My skin care line is simple and effective.  http://www.blackettbodybasics.com/#!blackett-face  Skin is different from person to person.  Use what works for your skin, just make sure that you can recognize the ingredients in the products.  Be wary of skin care lines with ingredients "derived from natural products."

Exercise!  Exercise!  A 30 minute walk every day has shown to help prevent all sorts of weight related diseases, without the loosing of the weight.  Exercise gets the blood flowing to the largest organ of the body;  your skin.  It feeds it with all the good nutrients that you have been eating.  Go ahead work up a sweat!  Even for 30 minutes.  And make sure you wash that sweat off your skin with all natural soap that is made of glycerin.  I can tell when my man is not using my soap and is using cheap soap by just looking at it and by the way it feels.  If I were to offer you a drug that prevented obesity, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure, and was anti aging, would you take it?  Well, guess what?  Exercise is that drug and it can be as simple as taking a 30 minute walk every day.  This website breaks down the science beautifully. http://devour.com/video/23-and-a-half-hours/

So here is my anti-aging skin miracle.   1. Drink water and eat right.  2. Use sunscreen even in the winter.
3. Use natural skin care products. 4.  Exercise.

It may take a little shift in our paradigms on aging.  I am going to focus on prevention and maintenance rather than reversal.  If I were going to spend that much money on chemicals to diminish my "fine lines" by 30%, I would rather just save my money, use natural products, and get a face lift where the difference would be permanent and noticeable to other people other than myself.  Or.....I could make the changes necessary to maintain my skin as it is, live a healthier and simpler life, and walk around this world like I own it!  Now that is sexy!

Guess which one of us is 50 and which one is 30?  I will never tell. No chemicals or face lifts here.  Just healthy living and the occasional shot of Hornitos. And Salsa dancing......lots of Salsa dancing!

On my way to Puerto Rico!

I am sitting in the Miami International Airport drinking a glass of Pinot Noir waiting for the last leg of my flight to Puerto Rico. Working on 2 hours of sleep, I am getting tired and maybe a tad bit cranky. But being that it is sunny and 89 degrees here in Miami, I think I will survive. I am sitting at the bar of the ICE BOX. Looking for a place to sit and write a little bit was a bit of a challenge being that it is Sunday and every other bar here has some sports event blaring from their television set. Is it me? Or am I really the only person who could care less about any kind of sport? I will watch it occasionally on special occasions. Like the Super Bowl (yes, I have watched ONE) or the Seahawks when my mom had sideline passes so close I could pinch the players’ butts. Now that was kind of AWESOME! But other than that, I would rather play the sport than watch some over paid grown men play it.

So here I am sitting in the one place that does not have a television and it is quite nice. I have tried to like sports. When I was in my twenties and dating hotties addicted to sports, I really tried. That is what a girl in her twenties does. I even pretended to love fishing and actually caught a 7 pound salmon out in Lake Washington all by my little self in a rubber raft. Yep. Good times. Now that I am in my forties (does being 40 make you in your forties?)I really could give a you know what and waste no time at all trying to impress men and being what I am not. All that did was brought me a ton of heartache and a bunch of wasted afternoons. Now, I can’t say that this approach is working any better for me, but I can say that I do not waste a sunny day watching the television set! So there!

I know that was a long rant about what girls, okay some girls, do in their twenties seems like it would have nothing to do with Blackett Body Basics, but it does and this is how. As I was wondering the MIA looking for a suitable place for me to do some work, I stumbled upon one of those Duty Free Perfume shops. Now, most of you know how much I love fragrances. That is the funnest part of my job. I get to create fragrances for my products and people on a daily basis. So I went in to see what is the new trend these days in perfume. At the risk of sounding very snobby, can I just say, blheck! Blheck! Blheck! Holy cow! I did not smell one perfume that stood out from the others. I know I am being horrible, but oh my goodness. I did enjoy, however, smelling the classics, like Escape and Obsession, which are both very distinct fragrances, as well as a free trip down memory lane.

I was searching for one perfume and I haven’t been able to find it. I believe it is called Gio. It reminds me of when I first met my daughter’s father and all the fun I had when I was in my early twenties. I used to think that it was just the way my favorite club smelled, but I later found out it was a perfume that my BFF wore. It reminds me of a time that was tumultuous and simple at the same time. It reminds me of fun, dancing, a passion for everything, and youth. I want to smell that again. I would love to be able to recreate it. I would love to recreate the energy I had when I was 21. I can only imagine the things I could get done with that energy. I may even get the dishes done!

Speaking of energy, I had the privilege of having a fragrance consultation party for Alki Elementary last night. I donated a party to Alki for their auction and ten lucky women bought into it. It made it even more fun that I knew all of the women. I also knew that they liked their margaritas so that is exactly what was handed to them the minute they walked through the door. We had an absolute blast! Thank you ladies! I heart you with a heart shaped by my hands just like Justin Bieber would do.

For those of you who don’t know what a fragrance consultation party is, here is the skinny. I do group parties creating a unique fragrance for each person there. It is too much fun! I begin the consult explaining the differences between top notes, heart notes, and base notes and their different effects in fragrances. Before hand, I ask each person what is their favorite perfume and what scents they love and hate. I create a little sample fragrance based on the info they give me. That works as a great starting point. With the information they just learned and a bunch of toothpicks, the ladies are then allowed free range to all of my oils and begin to experiment putting together scents asking me and each other what they might add to make it a deep and wonderful fragrance.

Believe it or not, for ten people this takes about 2 hours. I encourage them to wear their creations for a bit to see how they smell after the top notes dissipate. When they are done and they are drinking and eating, I put together bottles of their own fragrance oil to go home with. They then have the option of ordering products from me in their custom fragrance. That is about it. It is a wonderful activity to have at a shower or brunch or party. The mothers had so much fun that I am going to do a simpler party (think lots of fruity oils) for the daughters.

After drinking with my Alki hot moms, packing and getting things ready to go, I got about 2 hours sleep. But I am sure as I am strolling through Puerto Rico in search of the perfect fragrance and the perfect beach, I will get over it. I can pretend that I have the energy I did in my twenties for a week anyway.