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The most unexpected thing happened Saturday night! I got a phone call from the owner of one of the raw restaurants here. She was doing a "Raw 101" class on Sunday and she asked me to be on the panel for the class. It was so cool - it was from 8-11 a.m. The first hour she talked about raw basics/what it means to be raw, the second hour they made recipes, and the third hour was the panel. There were 5 of us on the panel, so I spoke for about 15 minutes on my experience with raw (how I heard about it, why I decided to do it, what impact it has made on my life, etc). Then at the end we answered questions and I stayed about a half hour afterward to talk more.

It was fantastic! It was my first time talking about raw in public - I was flattered that she invited me. I must have done a good job because she asked me to do it again next month :)

I left there on such a euphoric high! I had so much adrenaline and energy moving through me.

Ooh - one think I mentioned while I was talking is that raw helped my skin clear up and one of the women said "no wonder, because you look fantastic!" Woo hoo - what a lift I got!

on a side note...my nails are starting to look really good too. I gave myself a mani/pedi last night and it felt so nice to pamper myself.

Then in the afternoon my husband and I went to the Green Festival. (Thanks again Knister for the tip on where to get free tickets!!!) This was the second year of the festival, but I didn't go last year so I had no idea what to expect. I was blown away by how big it was. There were probably over 300 vendors and the place was completely packed with people.

We saw booths with everything from alternative cars, lighting, paint, clothes, jewlery, lotions/soaps, food, pet food, tea, chocolate, travel, etc. I can't even think of everything, but you name it and it was there. We had fun cruising around and getting free samples. There was tons of stuff to buy, but we don't have any extra money right now.

There were actually a few booths that had raw stuff - very cool! One of the raw restaurants was there; Artisana was there (I stood there for probably 10 minutes trying every single thing they had...yum!); a new company that had sprouted almonds (they aren't sold anywhere yet, this was their first launch); another company that had green powders; ...hmm...I'm probably forgetting something, but that's all I can think of. Oh! and the company that Knitster gets lotions from that are all hand made. That stuff was great - I wanted some so badly, but I behaved and stuck to my zero budget (no fun).

We had a nice evening at home. I got to chat on the phone for probably an hour w/ my friend who moved to Oregon. Then I made some zucchini/marinara pasta for dinner - I needed some veggies after all that nut butter at the Festival! I hadn't eaten any nuts in the last week, so I could definitely tell my body slowed down when I had them. I still felt okay because the samples were so small, but it made me realize that I should always think of "sample sizes" when I eat nuts. That's about as much as my body can tolerate.

Today I'm feeling great. Around 8 a.m. I had a juice: carrot, beet, celery, ginger, apple, pear. Then around 10:30 I chopped up a grapefruit and had that on a bed of lacitano kale. Now I'm about to head off to the gym. After I get back, I'm going to have soaked chia seeds with blueberries and mango.

Backing up...earlier, right after I had the grapefruit salad, my mind tried to trick me into having the chia meal right then instead of waiting until later. I took a deep breath and sat back to think about what was happening in my body. I acknowledged that I had just finished eating a beautiful meal. I acknowledged that my body had all the nutrients it needed and it was time for my body to do it's work. If I were to eat a different meal on top of the one I just had, I would not be honoring my body and I would be forcing it to work harder than it needed to.

My mind then tried to push back and say "well maybe I'll just prepare the food now, so it's ready when I get back from the gym later." Of course, what this really meant is that I would make the food and have "just a bite to taste test it" which would lead to me just eating it then instead of waiting. I laughed and told my mind that I was smarter than that. I know how to recognize all of its tricks and it wasn't going to work this time.

Ha ha, I hope I'm not sounding like a crazy person...I don't actually talk to myself or hear voices or anything :)

Anyway - this internal dialogue got me through the situation and I'm so proud of myself! Each time I go through this I am positively reinforcing the new behaviors that will soon become my habits

That's pretty much my day so far. Oh, one more thing - I was cleaning off my desk and I came across a sticky note that I wrote last Tuesday (after I was feeling down on Monday). It said "I am releasing where I was yesterday. I'm happy for the perspective I've gained."
I smiled when I read it.

Okay - enough for now, I'm sure I'll have more to say later...I always do - ha ha!