another ROAD TRIP...

We have just decided to make another road trip this year for our summer vacation... we figure, last year going through Canada and the Great Lakes was great we will try again, this time THE SOUTHWEST!

SO... I am looking to you to give us suggestions on amazing places to stay and things to do and most importantly... WHAT NOT TO MISS! (besides the Grand Canyon of course!)

We are picking up a wonderful Westfalia VW Camper from a small company that I just found... they are called "Leaving Las Vegas" owned by Doug and Bethany Bellamy. What a good idea they had... they have a 'fleet' of 8 campers in which they say are almost always booked! And who wouldn't want to take their Grand Canyon trip in a Westfalia! --well we will tell you all about it when we get back...

So far we have just about nothing planned, except for the camper so we are open to all suggestions!

click here to visit leaving las vegas

this is doug + bethany bellamy!

wish us luck... the trip is in august so when we get back we will tell you all about it...

sale ends tomorrow! extra 15%

Now through Friday, July 30th get an extra 15% off everything on the website! 

(even if it's already on sale!)

We decided to give you an extra 15% off the entire website to help us clear out and make room for the new collections coming in! next week Lucky Fish and Nico Nico Fall collections will be arriving! and after that they will just be pouring in... exciting!

So don't miss this SALE it ends FRIDAY, JULY 30TH!

15% off - EVERYTHING!

outside movies! - No Impact Man

 We went to see an outside movie tonight and it was absolutely beautiful! Here in Rhode Island they are put together this summer by newportFILM - tonight's movie was the second in their series. I'm not sure weather to talk about the OUTSIDE film or the film itself... We really enjoyed both! The event brought us to a wonderful farm that I had never visited before called Sweet Berry Farm, in Middletown RI, and I can't wait to go back! Everyone sat outside - picnic style and had delicious food from Sweet Berry Farm. A great event for kids, although I kept them up a bit late, they were running around and playing soccer with all the kids before the movie started (barefoot in the grass--the best!).

fresh rasberries from the farm

I was spurred on by the film in the first place and then luckily it brought us to this beautiful location. I imagine if you live in New York, No Impact Man is nothing new to you. He seemed to make it through all the talk shows etc. while filming the movie (I don't know how I missed him in NPR!?). But I had not heard a thing about this man and his family who took a journey into NO IMPACT land for one year, in New York City no less. It's not as hard for us mere mortals that live out here in the country to cut down on 'this' or 'that' but the Beavan's had to jump through some extraordinary hoops to get off the grid. It's inspiring to see this family go from zero to 100, no garbage, only eating things within a radius of 30 miles (eating local--in NYC ha!), no public transportation except for the train ride to visit the farms he was getting his food from, it was all a gallant effort and well documented. It will make you want to at least get rid of your own garbage waste but probably more! It wasn't really brought up but by the end they all looked so much more healthy! Their skin was clear and glowing, their eyes are clear, they all look great!

image from No Impact Man

sweet berry farm newportFILM screening of No Impact Man

Good movie, GREAT night! Beautiful location!

visit newportFILM for more information on the film and other films that will be going on this summer and ongoing throughout the year.

click here to visit Sweet Berry Farm

Kushi Macrobiotic Summer Conference - 2010

I am just back from the conference and it was incredibly moving and inspiring! I have never met such a large group of spirited people, joining a common cause to create One Peaceful World through the Macrobiotic Way. In the coming weeks I will bring you interviews and we will have some guest blogging by some of the amazing Macrobiotic teachers that were at the conference in a variety of areas; Health, Wellness, 9 Star Ki, facial diagnosis and much more! Everyone was excited by the idea of Nonchalant Mom, the fact that we offer tips and ideas on the macrobiotic approach and living in a more natural way.

I would like to start today by giving you a slice of a talk that was given by Michio Kushi at the conference. Michio and his wife Aveline brought Macrobiotics to America and the World in the early 1960's, he studied with George and Lima Oshawa and then forged on to spread the word. Michio is a larger than life man, who's gentle and thoughtful approach is always a moving encounter. He is now 84 yet he spoke each day at the four day conference and riveted us all with his way of distilling his words down to an essential few, yet they mean so much.

Here are Michio's 8 ways to live a healthy and happy life, and as he says, "please write down.."

8 Human Conditions

1) No fatigue - no fatigue for life, no giving up
2) Good appetite - not only for food, but for knowledge
3) Good sleep - not lot's of sleep but good deep sleep
4) Memory - you may not have a very good memory for people or phone numbers but a memory from where you have come and where you go, a good memory of life, large memories.
5) Cheerful and Active living
6) Humor - the expression is a sign of health
7) Do not be Angry - clean your organs and you will not be angry
8) Do not lie - lying means fear - if you don't lie you don't have fear and you are completely secure with yourself.

Spiritual Nature - we are coming into an Era of Humanity - the age of mankind, we are no longer in the age of nations (as we are now and have been in our history).

7 Spiritual Conditions

1) Ignorant - Everyone should understand that we are ignorant. Scientists understand that we don't really know, but when we all understand that we are ignorant it will be the beginning of a spiritual nature.

2) Endless Gratitude - Miraculous achievement came from what we eat - be endlessly grateful to all the Universe, Nature, Plants, Animals and our Ancestors.

3) Responsible - Responsibility for You, your Family, Society, Health, and Freedom. We all must be responsible for these things.

4) Love - what is Love?
 "you may discover a better definition but at 84 this is mine: Love is when you become Nourishment for other peoples life and dream and then die" This kind of love is rare it's like a mothers love.

5) Appreciation for the order of the Universe - yin and yang and acceptance

6) Endless patience - Michio talked about having endless patience when dealing with Macrobiotics and I thought about my kids, either way, endless patience is always a great thing to practice and work on. We all know that feeling when we have the patience to deal with a situation, doesn't that just feel right! (and doesn't it feel good!)

7) Oneness with all people and the Universe - oneness with plants and animals, oneness with the sky and the earth.

It was a great visit and the Conference affirmed my feeling that Macrobiotic cooking is the path to One Peaceful World.

If you want to know more about Michio Kushi you can visit his web page which has his history or you can also visit the Kushi Institute in Becket, MA or visit their website at www.kushiinsititue.org

wild fish?

Yesterday I was happy to catch NPR's Terri Gross on Fresh Air talking to Paul Greenberg about the future of Wild Fish. It was a very informative program and while much of it is alarming, I wanted to make sure to share the information that Mr. Greenberg had to offer us on the program. Among other things he talks about Farmed Salmon vs. Wild Salmon, if this is a concern to you this program is something for you to listen to - it's encouraging, at least a bit.

Mr. Greenberg says "Fish were different 35-odd years ago, when I was a kid, and I would often visit fish markets no matter where I was," he explains to Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "By and large, what we would see would be entirely wild fish. Forty-odd years ago, everything we ate from the sea was wild. Pretty much everything. Today almost half of what we eat is farmed. So it's a huge, huge shift."

The story will give you a new outlook on your total fish consumption. Mr. Greenbergs big message, or at least what I took away from this, is that let's eat more vegetables, daily, and save the fish for a couple of times a week! We can't continue to eat it every day and expect the population to continue to grow, that just can't happen. He suggests, and this should not be new to you, that we should be eating more Herring, Mackerel, Anchovies and Sardines in this country. We should start to consider these as the four fish in our diet.

Then finally, Mr. Greenberg gives us an overview on what we have in store for us as far as fish are concerned after the oil spill in the Gulf region. It's not now that we should be worried about, in two to three years down the road, when the fish that were supposed to spawn this summer have NOT and so in 2011-2013 there will be trouble. It also has a lot to do not with the oil but the dispersant.

The interview is extremely enlightenting and he speaks in a very open and intelligent way on all issues of farming and eating fish, he will answer most of your concerns and then help you to ask yourself new questions as far as how you want to feed your family fish in the future. He is optimistic as to the future of fish and fishing, but I think it also comes with a lot of responsibility on our part to make the right choices. SHOW your kids that eating Sardines is delicious, order them the next time you are in a nice restaurant (believe me they are on the menu most of the time and if they aren't ask for them!) and start the conversation of eating fish that is better for the future of the fish.

Four Fish: the Future of the Last Wild Food - by Paul Greenberg


Listen to the interview by clicking here on NPR
click here to read the highlights of the interview
scroll down and you will be able to read in excerpt from his book
click here to buy the book

pacing the panic room - a baby blog

A friend sent me to the blog called "Pacing the Panic Room" a few weeks ago and so I have been checking in regularly and it's a very refreshing blog about a couple who have their first baby together (I believe one has a young child from a previous relationship). They seem like a such a lovely couple! But my favorite came today when I learned about their "Walk to 40 Weeks" it's an absolutely charming walk through their pregnancy! (yes, "he" is a photographer)

I can't figure out how to load the slideshow into my blog so you have to click here to go to Pacing the Panic Room to see it - it's a short and sweet slide show that is really worth it!

Maybe this sparks an idea for you, I think that writing about your time during pregnancy can be one of the most wonderful memories if not the most memorable of your life! There is a bunch of forgetfulness that happens afterwords so I think it's a really good idea to write all this down! (honestly I'm not sure if it's age or pregnancy that accounts for the memory loss though..)

If this just isn't you... to write that often, or keeping a journal, just keep a notebook for each of your kids by your bed and when you can write in each book, include photos if you think about it, just do it!  it's pretty stress free -- you can write when you can! But I am sure that one day it will be a joy for someone to read!

And in the meantime, for inspiration read :: pacing the panic room!

click here to visit Pacing the Panic Room

design sponge posts wonderful kids rooms!

Design Sponge is one of my original favorites, my original inspiration to create a blog. I have fallen out of the habit as of late to visit but today, I found her post of "Sneak Peek: Best of Kids Rooms" and it was so inspiring! After just finishing Sanders room we are going to take the plunge into Franny's small room and these images were so inspiring! There are so many ideas in each of the images so click on the link directly to Design Sponge to see them all!

I hope that these give you as much inspiration is they gave me and just remember to have fun and pour all of your kids ideas into their rooms!

-what's their favorite color?
-do they love photos of themself?
-do they love music?
-make a quilt of patches of their favorite clothing!
-make a space for their favorite stuffed animal!
-it's a good time to go through toys with your kids and give away or donate what is no longer wanted or played with.
-you can change an entire room with a rug! and it doesn't have to be expensive! Ikea rugs are great (and non-toxic) and super cheap (some from $12-18!).
-think about what's next for your kids--is homework coming up? or a magnetic letter board for learning letters?
-try sticking with 1-2 colors to create a calm and cohesive room
-think about NEW colors, like the purple room above! love it!!

This makes a good summer project while kids are at home!

good luck! and remember have FUN!

click here to visit design sponge

Kushi Macrobiotic Summer Conference

I just wanted to give you a last minute reminder for the  

Kushi Summer Conference next week - 

July 22-25, 2010.
(and you can still sign up!!)

It looks like a very exciting four days with classes on the schedule like:

-Enhancing Food Through Proper Cooking

-An Alkaline Condition for Inner Peace

-Facial Diagnosis - Find Your Hidden Strengths

-Remarkable Remedies from Whole Foods

-Cooking: Eat Well for Life (with Christine Pirello!)

This is just a TASTE of what is on the schedule- approx. 5 sessions each day and about 5-6 topics to choose from each session! - click here to see them all

Plus Yoga, Do-In or Qi Gong each morning!

You can also sign up for private consultations with any of the 20 experts

It's going to be wonderful and I hope that I can see you there!

I will do my best to take good notes and share as much as I can with you--it's been 10 years since I have been to the summer conference and I am looking forward to a 'shot in the arm' and some incredible insights! I hope to blog from the conference... we'll see! 

click here to find out more!

click here for a link to the class schedule

Boston - Louis Boston!

Last week we found ourselves in Boston, we went to go to pick up my husband coming home from Art Basel in Switzerland. The idea was to go to the Childrens Museum, have dinner and then pick him up at the Boston Airport. Impeded a bit by traffic we arrived at the Childrens Museum and it was closed... shoot! So we took a walk along the waterfront, and just outside the museum is where the Boston Tea Party happened so we went over a bit of history there, and the kids loved the idea of the Tea dumping in the waterfront.

Boston has recently finished a huge refurbishment of the waterfront area and it looks beautiful! The walkway, a small garden, and a few sculptures. It happened to be a super hot day so we were looking for some shade and we found it at the brand spanking new Louis Boston (although I think they are dropping the 'Boston' part of their name)! The restaurant had opened the week before so we were there just in time! We had a perfectly lovely waterfront dinner - breeze nicely flowing through big open windows - and a perfectly timed Sailboat race going on in the bay! Perfection! It was a great place for the kids to stay entertained by just everything outside and it was a cooling lovely dinner!

Next time you are in Boston at the Childrens Museum, just walk across a couple of parking lots (towards the water!) and check out the new Louis Boston store, it was delightful, and the shopping isn't bad either! The restaurant - Sams - has great food and easy for kids!

click here to view website - Louis Boston
for the restaurant - Sams - click here

summer smoothie

Smoothies are the best summer treat, I like to make them in the middle of the day when everyone is hot and a cooling off is necessary. A smoothie can be made any way you like them really, just toss in what you like, but I just wanted to share our new favorite thanks to the Alo drink that we are so crazy about at the moment.

SUMMER SMOOTHIE

3-5 cubes of ice

1 cup Alo aloe vera drink

1 cup rice milk

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup frozen oragnic mango chunks

1/2 cup frozen organic cherries

1/3 cup flax seeds

throw all in a blender and let-her-rip

recipe makes enough for four small glasses or 2 large glasses

other suggestions:

-honey

-cashew milk

-you can use any juice you have in place of aloe vera juice, but try it! it's so-o-o good!

-fresh stawberries, blueberries, peaches, pears, apples... whatever!

chalkboard paint - IN COLOR!

 I swear I have the best customers of all! I learn so much from them, and one of my favorite stories is about Jill who has a store called Tivoli Mercantile in Red Hook, New York. She contacted me about Lucky Fish, and then told me about her store... I wrote back and told her I had been to Red Hook and that I had a favorite store there called Basic French... she wrote back and said, Basic French moved back to France and My store, Tivoli Mercantile is in that same space! whoa!! can you believe that!?

Then she went on to tell me about the paint her husband has started called Hudson Paint, it's chalkboard paint in C O L O R S! wonderful! I thought, and I knew this information would come in handy for me one day, and it DID! Last week we painted our sons room in Mercantile Red from the Hudson Paint collection and it looks GREAT! For years his room has been a giant dumping ground for toys... and that's about it. Even when Domino came here for their photo shoot they said, "ahh, Ummm, I don't think we have time to shoot your sons room" --and honestly, I hardly wanted to show it to them for fear it would break the whole deal! What kind of parents would let their sons room turn into a toy box... We did! ..But know, we've changed all that!

While my husband was away, we 'snuck' in and changed it all up! The kids helped to paint, and we had a great time!! (let them paint as much as they want on the base coats, and then by the time it comes to do the final coat you will be working on it yourself!). Then we put together a cute desk for Sander (again, with the help of the kids) to do his homework... and now... the room is ready for a our son to be very proud of his room and he loves it! He loves the desk and he just loves hanging out in there now!

helpful hints:

-Hudson Paint - click here to visit their website - $24/quart (it took 2 quarts)
-furniture - Ikea desk ($79 for desk + shelves)
-rug - Crate and Barrel (I have no idea we have had it for years!)
total cost of renovation = $127

cut-off's

We are a bit cut-off happy in this house and once something doesn't work, we just cut it off! Cut off the sleeves, cut off the legs and make them into shorts... whatever! It works for just about everything and usually gives you at the very least an extra few months of a favorite item of clothing and at the most... an extra year! Our kids have think it's cool to wear the cut-offs (as you can see above, 'arm warmers').

This works best for long sleeve winter shirts! Your kids can even help you.. do you want a tank top? or a t-shirt? do you want to roll up your shorts or do you want short shorts? It's as easy as that... I wouldn't even write this but I don't see the cut-off look around that much and I just feel you all needed an extra reminder. And if you feel REALLY groovy-like you can even embroider your childs name on the shorts! or maybe just an initial on the pocket? There are lots of online sources for embroideries or you can just wing-it!

Have fun and just cut it off!

It can work for your things too you know!?

a bit of 4th of July History...

We got a bit addicted to the mini-series John Adams (on HBO), I think it was about a 7 part series, but what a vast amount of terrific American History. We loved that it looked pretty authentic, with sweaty, unattractive people, making their way through history... The French, portrayed with pounds of white powder on their faces, again, not attractive... But the history was there, REALLY there and I felt like I had learned something when it was finished (full confession; I was NOT a history buff).

The series is now rentable on Netflix and it is truly worth it and would make a terrific 4th of July event! If you don't want to do that... just visit the History channels website, there are multiple videos, quiz and tivia games to help you recall the events of the Fourth. You can even watch Matt Damon read the entire declaration, in case it's too much for you to do it yourself!

And just in case you want to keep the party going... did you know that the actual Declaration was read on the 8th of July!

what is your favorite color NOW?

 

What is your favorite color now? NOT your all-time favorite color, not your favorite color last week... what is your favorite color now!? and I am going to say that black counts...

comment on your favorite color of the moment!? -- and tell us why if you want to!

Mine is fluorescent pink and orange - and then TAUPE... can you believe it... taupe?

Why, what happened.... I went to a party in New York City, it was a friend of mine, she had a garden party, I arrived and everyone was in black, grey and taupe -- it's as if they all matched the house! But it looked beautiful, I really liked it! So, it stuck!

WHAT'S YOURS?