Rosemary Hair Treatment

While out of town for the Holiday I was siting poolside reading up on herbal remedies and one thing caught my eye... Rosemary!

For the last few years I have been trying to grow out and rehabilitate my hair and I have shared all my finding with you from Shampoo's, products, coffee rinses and clip in extensions.  I have tried it all, and have had a blast while doing it.  It's been so cold these last few months I thought, "well I'm stuck in the house after work for some long cold nights, I might as well try some new things out."

Rosemary Hair Rinse

Three Stocks of Rosemary
3 cups of Water
2 Tablespoons Honey

Rosemary and water in a pot, boil for 15-20 minutes. Strain Rosemary broth in a glass container over honey.  Mix well.

Next time you wash/condition hair pour cooled mixture over scalp, don't rinse out.  This is a leave in rinse, if you don't like the smell you can add Lavender (to rinse mixture) when you are boiling Rosemary.

What I have noticed:  My first rinse experience was 1.5.2014 and I found that my hair had great texture color and shine.  It has been really cold in Utah the last couple months and my hair was feeling dry and brittle.  This treatment, I had thought would only improve the growth, which is something I will not see the results of for months down the road.  Having instant benefit's to the rinse was a welcome surprise.

I did some research for those of you who need a second source.  See below

Benefits of Rosemary for Hair

Stimulates Hair Growth - One of the traditional uses of rosemary  is to promote hair growth, though there is not much scientific evidence to prove this. However, a recent study on lab mouse showed that topical administration of rosemary leaf extract (RO-ext, 2mg/day/mouse) improved hair re-growth in mice that experienced hair re-growth interruption induced by testosterone treatment, suggesting an anti-androgenic activity mechanism of rosemary extract. The study published in the journal Phytotherapy Research concluded that rosemary extract is a promising crude drug for hair growth.


Read more: Health Benefits of Rosemary Herb | Rosemary Herb - Health Benefits | Medindia http://www.medindia.net/patients/lifestyleandwellness/health-benefits-of-rosemary-herb.htm#ixzz2pdsT0ULZ

Fall Harvest, Tomatoes Upon Tomatos

With the new chill in the air everything is slowing down and going into hibernation, this is the time that you will want to harvest your garden.  Harvest time is usually right before the first frost, on October 1st I moved to a new home and had to do my fall harvest a little early.  I was worried because I had tons of green tomatoes that hadn't turned red yet.  I was talking to my neighbor and she said "you can pick them green and they will turn on their own."  I thought why not try I'm going to lose them anyway.

The Great Turning Tomato Trick

All these tomatoes were green when I put them in the box

At the end of the season harvest all of your tomatoes Red, Green, yellowish... just pick them all.

You can either put them in a box with just the unripe tomatoes or with a banana (bananas release a chemical that speeds the ripening process).  Put the box in a dark place aka pantry, closet and after a few days they will start to ripen. 

Here are some of my tomatoes that were all green when I picked them on October 1st, by October 14th most of them had turned red.  Some tomatoes took a few days while others have taken a couple weeks but it works!

My little tomato sorter, and the tomatoes that ripened after two weeks of storage

P.S. I had to move my raspberry and strawberry plants.  It would have been ideal if I had moved them once it had frosted so the plants would have been hibernating.  Wish me luck on the transfer and I guess we will only know how it worked in April/May when the garden starts growing again.

Favorite Fall Soups (Part One)

There is something about the fall; the leaves are changing colors, there is a chill in the air and all of the sudden you want to curl up with some warm food and a good book.

 

One of my most favorite things about the cooler weather is soup; I love soup, it was something my mom was amazing at making.  Now that I am living a thousand miles from my mother, I am enjoying the ability of making soup all on my own.

Here is a new yummy healthy soup that I think everyone should try!

Pumpkin Turkey Chili
1 Tablespoon Olive or Vegetable Oil
1 Onion Chopped
1 Yellow Bell Pepper Chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper Chopped
1 Clove Garlic Minced
1 Pound Ground Turkey
1 Can (4 ounce) Green Chilies
2 Cans Diced Tomatoes
1 Can (14.5 ounce) Kidney Beans
2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
2 Tea Spoons Chili Powder
1 Tea Spoon Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Shredded Cheddar Cheese - Topping
Sour Cream - Topping

In pot on medium heat brown; onion, bell peppers, garlic with the oil.  Next add the ground turkey, till turkey is all the way cooked. 

Add tomatoes, pumpkin puree and kidney beans all the while string well.  I still have a lot of tomatoes from my garden so I used fresh instead of canned tomatoes.













Once soup starts to get a little more fluid add your spices, remembering to add salt to taste.  Soup should be ready in 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

 My friend Shannon has an amazing corn bread recipe which I am going to beg for... it supstitues half of the butter for Apple Sauce and taste better than any Corn Bread I have ever eaten.

Shannon's Corn Bread... so good!

Photography Happiness

This weekend I did a family shoot and it was so much fun I had to share:

 

 

Love this sisters picture, I think the older girl looks amazing and like that the baby is looking off.

 

 

This picture totally captures this little boy, he is out going and all boy.
 

 Like all little boys he has a sweet side too.  I love his eyes in this one.

 

Such a fun little boy to take pictures of.

 

 

The baby, she was a absolute doll.  Here she was asleep in her mamma's arms. 

 

 These two older siblings were so cute, the little baby is in for a fun childhood.
 

 Baby staring up at mama.
 

 Baby looking at her father.
 

 

Look at those cheeks... love this baby.

Spa Nights are the Best Nights

Winter time is setting in and I feel like I need a little beauty pick me up.

Every so often it is nice just to go somewhere and be pampered, especially after a long day in the office. 

Just this week I felt like I was in a little beauty slump.  I called my best friend and told her I needed to start OPERATION RECONDITION.

She just laughed, said okay and is going to help me plan a stratagy to look and feel cute in these cold dark winter monthes.

With a little help from The 7 Club Spa:  I am going to spend the winter working on me.

Which Includes:

Facials

Microdermabrasion

Light Chemical Peels

Mani's

Pedi's

Spray Tanning

Massages

&  a little relaxing in the Steam Room

 

When I think about it this way, winter almost sounds fun!

Sushi Tuesday

I have always been afraid to make sushi on my own. Being a major sushi lover and a bit of a sushi snob, I have learned that sushi is an artisan craft. And I always thought it was better left to the artisans. 

 My cute younger brother is in town and wanted to make sushi, which is something he loves to do. So being the softy sister that I am... I let go of my fear and dove into a night of sushi making with one of my favorite people on earth.

 Here are all the things we put in our sushi:

 

Rice

Nori

Crab

Shrimp

Avocado

Mango

Strawberries

Cucumber

Green Onion

Cream Cheese

 

Two ways to roll:

Rice on on the inside, and rice on the outside

the rolls we made are basic Maki sushi rolls with rice on the inside.

The three primary forms of sushi are:
Urumaki: Rice on the Outside
Maki: Nori on the outside, Rice within
Nigiri: Rice with Fish atop

Sushi Etiquette for the Beginner:

 

You can pick up the roll with either chopsticks or your fingers. both are correct (using a fork is not)

 

Use the Thin end of the chopstick for bringing the sushi from your plate to your mouth

 

use the wide end of the chopsticks for bringing the sushi from a group plate to your plate

 

Eat Ginger between rolls as a palate cleanser (it does not ever belong on the sushi)

 

Wasabi is placed on the sushi, not in the soy sauce

Me enjoying my home made Sushi

Look at that delicious Roll o' Maki Sushi. aint it good? don't you want it? BTW that's my bro.



Books for the Soul

One thing which has helped me be in a good frame of mind is having books that make me want to look outside myself, understand others, and give peace to my soul.  There are times when we all need to shut out the competing ideologies that don't bring happiness.
 
Here are a list of books, all of these have helped me:

The Little Prince has helped me understand relationships and dealing with important things in our lives.

The Alchemist, has inspired me to work toward accomplishing my greatest dreams.

The Great Divorce, has helped me understand that happiness is a choice and many people justify why they have to be miserable, because they are comfortable with mediocrity.

The Divine Center, helps me understand that people can be off centered and how destructive it can be.

The Book of Mormon, has helped me understand how great nations can self destruct if they loose touch with God.

The Bible, helps me understand the nature of God and Man.

Man's Search for Meaning, gives me strength and hope.

Unbroken, helps me understand the human spirit.
 
Shacklton's Endurance, when people work together they can achieve amazing things.

Enjoy,
 

The Yogi In Me

If you read my post last year about anaerobic work outs this might be a surprise... 

I finally found my inner yogi!!!! 

One of my best friends and I at the studio, she is the one who talked me into going to yoga.

In my mind there has always been a secret desire to be that cool, lean, yoga chick. You know the one with inner peace that radiates calmness.  Running is and will always be my first and truest love, it's what I'm good at and until just recently the only work out I knew, that could tame my boundless energy.

I had tried yoga in the past, it seemed slow and a little cheesy.  So for years when ever people would talk about yoga I would smile and say "It sounds cool but it's just not for me".

When a good friend invited me to do yoga with her at this new studio down town, I thought, "okay but this is just for you." I went to the class and was surprised to find that the teacher had a upbeat personality and a fun music mix.  It actually blew my mind that I could listen to fun music and do yoga. Not only was the teacher a breath of fresh air, but the yoga it self was more fluid that I had experienced in the past. The style of yoga at Power Yoga, Salt Lake City (the studio I go to) is a Vinyasa Flow/Baptist Style.  You are doing the normal poses but it is more fluid... for me it means my body gets the yoga work out and my restless mind still gets challenged.

The Studio had a 30 day unlimited pass at a discounted rate when I started.  As luck would have it the studio was also doing a 40 day challenge, I thought "might as well go as much as I can and maybe I can complete the challenge."  It was hard, there were days when I was so tired that I would walk into class dreading it, but always by the end of class I was happy I went.

Since finding yoga, I am more at ease with myself and with other people.  When I am stuck in traffic instead of getting bothered, I can laugh at the situation or how the person next to me is over reacting.  Most of all, I love that I am that cute yoga chick aka yogi, I have always dreamed about being.

Hugs,

Fruit of My Labor, Garden Update

 

Here I am two months invested in my garden and up to my elbows in little baby tomatoes.  I couldn't be happier!

My Cherry Tomatoes, they seem to be doing the best.

 Everyday after work, I check up on my plants see what needs watering, what needs weeding, see what is producing/ripening.  I'm amazed when I see little blossoms on my tomatoes, strawberries or on my blood orange tree.  It's like the blossoms are little specks of hope or happiness, they have so much potential to produce great things.

Everything is growing and beautiful, my tomatoes are turning red and producing tons of little green babies.  I'm so excited for them to ripen so I can eat fresh caprice salad from my yard.

Here is the first big beautiful red tomato, I'm going to pick it today and am so excited to eat my own produce.

 Lesson learned about buying tomatoes:  Since I was a beginner, I thought I will spend a little more money and buy a few big plants and a couple small tomato plants.  In my mind the big ones would be the ones that were going to produce a ton, so I put them in the best spot and with the biggest cages... two months later it is the little inexpensive plants that have took off and done the best. 


My tomato and basil garden, ripening for yummy Italian cooking.

I was at the nursery and one of the workers laughed when I told him this, he then told me "The big plants never do as well because they have a advanced root system in their pot, the little plants do great because they have room to spread their roots once they get in the ground."  With planting, bigger isn't always better, you don't need to spend a ton on big plants, just buy the small baby plants and they will  produce better in the long run. 

Rhubarb - I have two Rhubarb plants; an older one which was in the side yard before I moved in and a new one which I planted in April.  The older one has the yummiest stocks, the new one is finally getting bigger and I harvested a few stocks last night.  Hooray for Rhubarb the whole summer long!!!

My Baby Rubarb Plant flanked by my Baby Watermelon Plants.

Watermelon - I planted a bunch of seeds and waited, nothing came.  The thought of having fresh watermelon was so overpowering, I went out and bought a little watermelon plant.  A month later my little watermelon seeds started to come up.  Now I have a thriving Watermelon plant from my seedlings and little plants from my impatient buy.  Lets see what happens.
 


Watermelon from seeds planted.

 


Watermelon from plants bought


Strawberries - My Strawberries are finally recovering from the constant attacks from the birds.  I was so happy to see more little flowers blossoming.  I will have to make little cages to keep the birds away, wish me luck this time around!

Zucchini

Squash

Newest additions:  Lemon Grass, Cilantro and Pumpkin

In these last two months I've gained more than a few ripe tomatoes, I've learned to slow down and care for something.  We live in a world of instant gratification, (gardening is anything but instant gratification), plants grow slowly, that being said the rewards are worth it in the end.  I feel that I understand some of my favorite literature more now that I have had a garden.  "The Little Prince", the "Bible" and "The Book of Mormon" all have growing analogies that I didn't really ponder or fully understand till I had my own garden.  How important it is to pull the weeds out of our lives before they take over, how seeds are sown and how good seeds take root & bad seeds wither. 

This has been such a great opportunity and I truly feel that my life has become more beautiful because of it.

The Key to Beauty is... Happiness!!!

Audrey Hepburn said, "Happy Girls are the Prettiest" so what makes you happy?

For me it's little things that make my life more beautiful; running/yoga, gardening, reading a good book, good friends, lounging in a hammock, scooter rides, cooking and spending time with my family.

Family is important to me, very important.  I feel that once I have my own children that I could live anywhere and do anything as long as I'm with the people I love the most. 


My three year old nephew, my little shark boy.

At this point, I don't have my own children, so I look forward to the time I have with my sisters, brothers and their children.  Family is such a big deal to me that it is a major factor in my dating. I look at how a man interacts with his family and what his family values are. 

I was talking with my brother the other day, he was saying that he loves being a father, that it is his happiness.  I wish more people (guys and girls) would have that same perspective, it would solve a lot of hurt in our society. 

I was lucky enough to have my sister and her children come visit me, here are some of the fun adventures we had this last week.

Swimming, My family is a bunch of guppies we love water and sunshine.



Trying to comfort my niece pool side.

I had so much fun playing with the kids at the pool, whole days spent with out a cell phone or other things we sometimes let take presidence over our relationships with the people right in front of us.



My sassy and sweet 7 year old nephew.

 

Birthday Parties

Living in a different State from my family means I miss every Birthday Party. So when the kids were in town we had a birthday party for all of the Birthdays I missed.

The kids loved it, even the little 1year old had a blast!

These were our treats at the party.

What is a party with out balloons...

And Italian Sodas!

Eating as a Family

As fun as it might be to do your own thing there is something magical about sitting down and eating with your family.  When I was a child our family always at dinner together and it was great to come together at the end of the day.

This is one of the things I will miss most when they are gone.

I actually loved sharing my food with the baby.  She was so smiley and happy.

 Eating breakfast in the back yard and going out for Gelato... Pure Bliss!

Gelato with the kids

Adventures
I love being outside and in nature and the kids loved going on a little hike and exploring.

5 year old niece and I exploring a waterfall.

Silliness & Gardening
For those of you who have read my earlier posts, this year is my first year with a garden.

The kids were so cute, they loved watering the plants and looking for strawberries.

It's important to know what you love and what motivates you.  For me it's family, children, sunshine, and laughter. 

For you it could be animals, or a good book.  Make time for what you love and start living the life you love right now.

Everyday when we go out into the world, we have to deal with the crapiness of life but when we return to our homes it should be a place of peace, happiness and joy... a safe place.