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Raw Journal
I started this journal in hopes that my life could help or inspire
someone else. Enjoy!
Feb. 2009 and
Mar. 2009
Back Tracking Again
Loves I'm sorry to be so late, truth is I
haven't been in raw food journal mode, instead I've been in
Chihuahua mode and wedding mode. Yes I said wedding mode.
Because guess what, I got engaged! Feb. 14th, 2009! Yaaaay!
La La Land
A strange thing has taken over me for awhile
now. You see, since being a kid I never dreamt about getting
married like other girls. I remember chanting to my family that
I hated dresses, I hated long hair, and that I was not going to
get married until I was 35. Well since meeting my wonderful
Darrell, my heart started to change. Darrel is such a wonderful
person that from the moment I met him I felt like I wanted to
have him in my life forever. I knew from the first time we
talked on the phone that he was the one I wanted to marry and
spend my life with.
Since meeting him I started to imagine what it
would be like to get married and I think I have made up for all
the years I was an anti-marriage tomboy. But now that it is
actually official, I am having so much fun being a girly girl.
Still a practical girly girl but none the less a girly girl. I
am having a blast finding my dress, jewelry, shoes, thinking
about the venue, the food, the flowers! I am so creative that
this is definitely going to be a DIY wedding and I wouldn't have
it any other way. Darrel and I aren't religious or traditional
so our wedding won't be either. There are no rules for our
wedding only the ones that we make up and make us happy. Luckily
my family is very accepting and I think they are just grateful
that we are not eloping (that definitely was an option) and that
we are going to include them in some kind of celebration.
I have been very inspired by this blog:
http://offbeatbride.com/
The blog is a
compilation of untraditional wedding celebrations for couples
who dance to the beat of their own drum. If you are planning an
untraditional, super personal wedding, or just love looking at
wedding stuff, I highly recommend it.
You're probably
wondering what I'm going to do about food, and well I think that
I'm going to have some raw food dishes and a raw food pie for me
and the raw foodist's who will be attending and then the rest
will be cooked vegetarian. I'm still planning the menu.
I already got my dress
though, I love it! Of course it's untraditional and kinda
vintage looking and a super steal as far wedding dress prices
go. I didn't buy it at a wedding boutique, but rather a normal
dress shop and that probably saved me hundreds of dollars! I
told you I was practical.
I didn't end up getting
my dress from here but while doing some research I found a
designer that only uses green fabrics such as hemp silk. They
have other clothing, as well as dresses. Check it out.
http://www.mycorset.com/12-green-bridal
I have also been
searching for handmade jewelry on this very beautiful artsy site
where you can buy handmade creations directly from the artists.
I have bought a painting from there and I'll probably end up
buying some wedding jewelry from there as well.
http://www.etsy.com
How it Happened
So some of you might
want to know how my guy actually chose to propose and well I
thought he was being super romantic most of February, but I
wasn't sure why. For our two year anniversary we went to Jenner
and spent a night at the
Jenner Inn
near Bodega Bay. It was awesome because the place was pet
friendly so we got to bring our dog. The beautiful pictures of
the ocean and beautiful scenery are from that trip. It was very
relaxing and we are actually thinking of getting married in
Bodega Bay we love it so much. Anyways we had a great trip and
he later told me that he was going to ask me in Jenner, but his
plans didn't work out.
2 nd
Attempt
So anyways, on Valentine's day
Darrel took me to the city to celebrate. We took the ferry over
and there was a beautiful full arc rainbow in the bay. Darrel
saw it as a good omen. We spent a lovely day in the city walking
around China Town and downtown and then at night he insisted on
taking me to Pier 14 which has a lovely view of the bay bridge
lit up at night. We had gone there before to listen to music on
our ipods and enjoy the view, so I didn't think much of it. And
then he got down on one knee and proposed. I think my exact
words were, "heck ya!" :) I was very surprised; I wasn't
expecting it so soon, but I was delighted. My favorite memory is
on the way back from the city, on the ferry, calling all my
family and friends and telling them the good news. I was so
happy, I was expecting it to unfold like a Broadway musical with
me breaking out in song and my friends dancing around me! La la
la I'm engaged laaaaaaaaa!
Even though I've been blissfully
happy about the engagement, one of the things that has been
missing is the fact that my mom is not around. It makes me sad
to think that she is not here to help me pick out a dress or do
all those womanly things as I go through this rite of passage.
I'm so lucky I have my lovely older sister, and even though she
lives in Chicago, we have been e-mailing each other and talking
on the phone about things. I just wish I had something of my
mom's to wear on the special day like a ring or something to
feel connected to her. When I go back to my dad's I'll look
through some of her old jewelry and see if I can find something.
Anyways, I apologize in advance that
my journal might turn into a little bit of wedding blog or at
least until September. (That's when we think we're going to get
married) I actually think the wedding date is helping me keep on
track with my diet. I've definitely been gravitating towards
moving back to 100 percent raw and drinking a lot of vegetable
juice. I want to look glowing on my day and good in my dress!
I've even gotten off my butt and started working out again. I
also want to do a juice fast before my big day, I'll keep you
posted.
Doggie Stuff
Of course I'm still obsessed with my
Chihuahua, Dancer, so my journal wouldn't be complete without at
least a little a blurb about her:) I have been trying so hard to
convert her into a vegetarian, but it has been hard because she
is so picky! So far I'm able to feed her juice pulp, steamed
vegetables, beans, rice, and a good quality vegetarian dog kibble in
her meal. For snacks I feed her dehydrated sweet potatoes,
dehydrated young coconut meat, and these vegetarian dog biscuits
called Bear Biscuits. She is doing well.
Speaking of dog stuff I helped my
friend Nova set up a pet care business. I occasionally do
websites for friends and family. Anyways check it out, she has a
lot good information about taking care of dogs even if you can't
benefit from her services. She lives in Sonoma County, CA.
http://www.novaspets.com
One of the cool things about my
friend Nova is that she takes in a new foster dog every week to
take care of so that the dog doesn't have to live in a cage for the
week. On the weekends the dog is adoptable. I love it because I
get to play with a new dog every week. For more information
about talking in a foster dog go to her website.
I also did the website for my friend Laura's e-book,
The Lazy Rawfoodists Guide, check it out, it's a great
e-book too!
Just Knowing
I was thinking the other day of how
when you manifest something you really want you just know when
it appears. I
mean when I saw Dancer in the shelter I just knew that she was
my dog. And she has turned out to be such a blessing and her
energy fits in perfectly with our family. I already mentioned
how when I first talked to Darrel on the phone that I knew he
was the one for me and I also had that experience with buying my
wedding dress; I was able to pick it out in 10 minutes. I think that
what happens is, is that when you dream about
something you are creating it and so after dreaming about
something for so long when it appears in front of you it happens
very quickly and you just know it is the right choice.
I also think about situations where
I had doubts or had a bad feeling in my stomach about something
and that it never worked out, no matter how good it sounded on
paper or to my logical mind. I love it when you just know, and I'm
going to be more aware of when I get those signals to go for it
or to be hesitant.
Raw Food Stuff
Okay last but not least I did want to mention
some raw food stuff. I was asked to give a talk at Cafe
Gratitude in Healdsburg. My friend Shea who's picture is on the
left has started a wonderful event every Monday Night at the
Cafe
Gratitude in Healdsburg where a different speaker gives a
raw food related talk while people are enjoying a raw
vegan dinner. The cool thing is that even if you don't live in
Sonoma County all the recorded talks are available on the
Monday Night Live Website, I also put my
interview and
my talk on my website, my topic is, "Healing Chronic Fatigue
with Raw Foods" if you would like to listen. I also did an
hour
interview with Lenette from gorawhavefun.com click below to
listen:
http://www.gorawhavefun.com/interview-with-cecilia-benjumea/
New GT's Kombucha Flavors
I didn't think that
GT's Kombucha could get any
better, but they've really outdone themselves and have come out
with 4 new amazing flavors. I've tried all the new flavors and now
I think I have new favorites!
I've tried Super Fruits, Botanic No. 7, Botanic No. 3, and Botanic No. 9. Superfruits
has yumberry juice, goji berry juice, and camu camu juice.
Botanic No. 3 has lavender and elderberry. Botanic No. 7 has
hibiscus, orange peel, chamomile, and fresh-pressed ginger. And
Botanic No. 9 has bilberry, honeysuckle, and red clover. I'm
really digging the unique flavors, try them for yourselves!
New Raw Chocolate Making Kit from Navita's
and Ani Phyo
I personally am not a fan of raw chocolate, but
I know that I'm in the minority:) So I thought I'd let you know
about a super cool chocolate making kit made by
Ani Phyo
and
Navita's Naturals. What I absolutely love about it, is that
it uses mesquite powder and lucuma powder as the sweetener!
No agave, cool! They come in three flavors: goji berry,
cacao nib, and golden berry. My best friend Novalee has tried
them and she says they taste great!
For more info click here.
Speaking of New Things
I've added some new products to
rawglow. One of my favorite green powders
is Greener Grasses. I absolutely love it because it has all
kinds of great nutrients from Whole Leaf Wheat Grass, Barley
Grass, and the Juices of Alfalfa Leaf, Dandelion Leaf, Barley
Grass, Oat Grass and it actually tastes great!
Even though it has wheatgrass juice in it, it tastes nothing
like the fresh pressed wheatgrass shots you might find at your
local juice shack. It has a mild malt like flavor
that taste great in any green smoothie and is especially good in
orange juice. I've let friends and relatives try it and everyone
who has tried it has been pleasantly surprised. I put a spoonful
of Greener Grasses in my smoothie every morning and it's great
to take with you when you're traveling. Just add a spoonful to
water or juice and you get all the nutrients of wheatgrass with
out the hassle. For More Information Click Here.
Another product I've added are non stick
dehydrator sheets.
For those of you that don't know, dehydrator sheets are a non stick
sheet that raw chef's use to make raw food cookies, crackers,
and wraps in the dehydrator. Even though your dehydrator comes
with mesh trays, when you are dehydrating something extra moist
it can leak through the mesh trays or it can stick. The
dehydrator
sheets solve that problem and can be removed half way through
the dehydrating process so your cookies, crackers, or wraps, can
dehydrate thoroughly. For More Information Click Here.
Alright sweeties that's enough for now. Happy
Spring!
Juice Pulp Patties
(I've been juicing a lot lately and this is what I'm doing with
my pulp)
1 bowl of left over juice pulp
(carrots celery apples greens . . .(etc.)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil or flax oil or combo of
both
1 teaspoon
Grandma Tutu's Hot Sauce or pinch of cayenne
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
Sprinkle of flaked seaweed
Sprinkle of pink salt
Mix all ingredients in a large
bowl, form into patties, and dehydrate for 3-4 hours
at 115 degrees. I eat them still moist as a tasty snack.
If you dehydrate them overnight they will get crispy
and then you can crumble them over your salad as
croutons. The idea for this recipe comes from
Dhrumil.
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