Dec. 2006

Christmas Gift Recommendations   The Secret (Hard Cover) Rhonda Byrne  What Cecilia Says: The hardcover book is finally out! This would make a great Christmas present. If you don't know why I love The Secret please see my journal.   The Law of Attraction Jerry Hicks What Cecilia Says: I read this book in about 3 days an have been using it's principles everyday with great results. Basically it teaches you that what you think and feel you attract into your life. After reading it I felt like I understood how the universe works and that I was in control of my experiences. It is a very empowering read. I highly recommend it. If you liked the movie "The Secret" you will love this book.   Ask and It Is Given What Cecilia says: I really like the exercises in the back of the book. They lead you through visualizations, affirmations, and fun games you can play to feel more abundant and hence attract more abundance into your life. I'm having so much fun with it!   Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People Jennifer Cornbleet What Cecilia says: This book is such a great resource because Jennifer really does make it easy for you. The recipes are simple, the ingredients are easy to find, and she gives you guidelines on how to prepare and store ingredients in advance. It also has a great resource section. A wonderful book for beginners.   Raw Food/Real World Matthew Kenney What Cecilia says: Okay so you've been doing the raw food thing for awhile and now want to get gourmet. Impress your friends and family with the intricate recipes in this book. Even though the recipes are fancy in this book, I find them easier to prepare than the other famous "gourmet" RAW cookbooks on the market. The pictures are great too!

December is Here

Can you believe it we're already in December! I started the month off wonderfully by going to a healing festival in Sebastopol. In case you didn't know there are a lot of healers in Northern California! Myself included:) Anyways many healers at the festival were offering their services for free or for a low cost so that you could get a sample of what they do. I got three healings. I got a sound healing where the woman used tuning forks and Tibetan singing bowls, it was wonderful. Her website is http://www.journeyofsound.net/ I also got a feldenkrais session. I'm planning to take feldenkrais classes to help loosen my body. It's a very gentle way of realigning your body, anyone with chronic pain should look in to it. Anyways I feel great today!!

Speaking of healing I've been feeling like it is time for me to start doing more and more of my healing work. I started healing when I was about 14. I would just know intuitively where to touch people to make them feel better. I later studied at a healing center for 5 plus years but then stopped for awhile after I developed chronic fatigue. For the last year I've been volunteering my time at a healing clinic and now just recently I've been taking clients. It was so wonderful because last week I gave a session to a couple and they tipped me in organic veggies from their garden! How cool is that?
 

My ultimate dream is to start a healing center were people can come for low cost energy work, meditation, prayer, and workshops.  I want to be a light and change the vibration in the world. People have asked me what it is I do and I don't really have a name for it. I've been thinking about it and all I can say is that I ask to be channel for God's light and love and then when I lay my hands on people their bodies feel like water under my hands. I gently guide and direct the water so that it flows free like little free flowing rivers in the persons energy field. I don't understand it really, I just know that it works.

From being sick for so long I have come to understand that healing is never just from one thing. It's right thinking, feeling, and eating. It's about loving yourself completely and deciding not to harm yourself with your actions or thoughts anymore. You could eat perfectly but if you think negatively all the time you won't heal. I know this for sure from experience. It's the same as if you get healing work done all the time but still beat yourself up with your thoughts, the healing  effects will be short lived. I too know this from experience.  If you can bring everything into alignment starting with positive loving thoughts, regular bodywork sessions, a good diet and exercise program, and a huge dose of faith you will get better. It takes time for the body to heal but once you decide to think only thoughts of wellness you will get better no matter what is ailing you. Just decide that you are already well and choose to focus only on your wellness and everything will fall into place.

Christmas is around the Corner!

As you can see I'm offering some gift ideals.
Here are some more:

http://www.indigenousdesigns.com

Fair trade organic cotton sweaters! I own some clothes from them and they are great quality.

New Products at Raw Glow

Stainless Mandoline Slicer
Ceramic Paring Knives

Both would make great gifts for anyone raw foodists or not. I gave my Dad a ceramic knife last year and it's his favorite knife! Also check out the new mandoline. It's really fun especially if you want to make raw lasagna, raw ravioli, and other fun stuff.

http://www.sumbody.com/

This is a local company that makes home made healthy personal care out of natural ingredients. I adore their salt scrubs.

There will be more ideas to come! Best Wishes:)

More Gift Ideals

Sorry, these are a little late. Been really busy with this week with the healing clinic and raw food potluck. Here it goes:

Himalayan Rock Salt Lamps

These are beautiful, glowing, and healing. They add warmth and light to any room. I love mine!
I've seen them at wholefoods and other natural retailers. And if you hurry you still might be able to get them on Amazon.

Homemade Raw Food Treats

Now that it's persimmon season it's the perfect time to dehydrate persimmons. Other great fruits to dehydrate are pears and apples. You could also soak your favorite type of nuts in water overnight and then dehydrate them with a little honey and cinnamon to make a sweet treat. If you're adventurous you could try making a cookie with any dried fruit and nuts and put it through the food processor with the S blade on. A great example would be hazelnuts, cashews, or almonds with dried cherries, apricots, dates, shredded coconut, and a little cinnamon. The possibilities are endless. Making friends and family a healthy gift basket is sure to be a real treat. Also, I added a few new recipes to my recipe section the raw nog, raw apple pie, and the spiced persimmon pie would be perfect for your holiday celebrations!

A Break from Holiday Shopping

Today after running errands and being amidst frantic shoppers I got to take a break by visiting a friend's house who happens to have three goats as pets. She has a very large back yard. The goats were so cute I really regretted not having my camera. They had these cut floppy ears and on their neck there was little bitty curls that look like white fuzzy jerry curls. (Remember Those?) They tried to eat my jeans just like I remember at the petting zoo when I was a kid!

What Are You Grateful For?

Anyways I hope everyone is not too frantic this Holiday season and really trying to remember the spirit of the Holidays. I like the Holidays because it is about celebrating abundance, but if you perceive yourself as not having a lot of abundance it can be very painful. I've been trying to remember what I'm grateful for and there is always at the very least one thing that can bring a smile to my face. Sometime it's just small things. Lately I've been grateful for:
(not in any particular order)
1. Pomegranates- These remind me of being a kid and they are so beautiful I feel like I'm eating little gems:)
2. Tender Swiss Chard- I've been slicing it thin and eating it as a salad every night. Tonight I made a dressing with fresh shelled walnuts, tomatoes, and garlic powder.
3. My Salt Rock Lamps-This was a present to myself that I've been wanting for a long time. They are pink, glowing, warm, wonderful, and they remind me of the Virgin Mary every time I look at them.
4. Seeing my Sister- My sister is flying in from Chicago for a week. I haven't seen her since March I can't wait to get some sister bonding time.
5. Silly phone conversations with my brother about our favorite TV. programs. He always makes me laugh.
6. The anticipation of my dad's vegan paella that he'll make for me on Christmas. Okay, it's not raw, but hey it's only Christmas once a year:)
7.True acts of kindness that I witnessed the other day from elementary school children while they interacted with their special needs classmates. It warmed my heart to see kids helping other kids. It was refreshing.
8. Feeling like I have true friends in my life. You know who you are:)
9. My Recent Creative Projects- I have two really fun creative projects I'm working on. One is a new website for my healing work and the other is an inspirational magnet idea. I love being creative!
10.I'm so grateful for anyone who e-mails and tells me that my website or booklets have made a difference in their lives. It really makes me feel good. Thank You!

Of course I could go on and one. I hope you create a mini list for yourself. Much peace and joy this holiday season.
~C

P.S. I just had this Southern California Raw Ice Cream Company contact me. Check them out: www.tomberlies.com It might not be too late to order some raw vanilla ice cream to top your raw apple pie for the Holidays!
 

Reusable wrapping and maybe a little bit of laziness on my part:)     Fresh flower arrangements made form my dad's garden.   My dad's famous paella. Not raw but 100% vegan:) Nuka Zuke: traditional rice bran pickled daikon The Nuka Zuke pickles surrounding spiralized daikon radish and kim chee.

An environmentally conscious Christmas!

I had such a wonderful Christmas and it had nothing to do with the gifts I received but rather the quality time I was able to spend with my family and friends. When I'm around my dad and brother and sister I laugh so much! First off the big joke was how I won the award for worst gift wrapping. If you look to your left you'll see the lovely specimens. I basically took brown paper grocery store bags, tapped them up and put bows on top. I argued it was environmentally friendly because I was reusing:) We all had a good laugh and then my sister won the award for best regifting. She basically gave me two pairs of pajamas that I had bought her last X-mas!  I loved them because after all I picked them them out before! We were laughing so hard about how we had had an environmentally friendly holiday. Besides the reusing and regifting our holiday was mostly vegetarian. Check out the vegan paella my dad made. Paella usually has an abundance of fish and chicken in it. It was almost all organic and he even used brown rice! Mind you my dad is not vegetarian but my family has been awesome in accommodating my brother (vegetarian) and I (raw vegan). I finished off the Spanish menu with a raw gazpacho and a wonderful salad with a raw dressing. It was truly a feast. If only someone could come up with a raw paella recipe. Mmmmmm!

The pictures of the flowers are of two arrangements I made in 15 minutes using flowers and lemons from my Dad's garden. I thought they turned out great!! I love making centerpieces from natural materials. Who needs those fake plastic decorations anyways!!

Nuka Zuke

The jar on the bottom is really something special. I made a batch of traditional Japanese rice bran pickled daikon! You can usually buy it at a Japanese grocery store and sometimes you'll find it in sushi. Making it yourself is awesome because you can truly guarantee it has no preservatives. Unlike other pickling methods, the rice bran method only takes a few days and it uses a lot less salt. I used this recipe to the letter and in only two days I had great tasting rice bran pickles! I love little projects like this, it helps keep the raw diet interesting.

Well loves I hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season! I'll see you in 2007!

Much Love,

Cecilia