Week One

You can either do a deep treatment, or just a one room remedy. AT first I thought I'd do the one room remedy, but we seem to be doing a deep treatment, and you'll see why as we go. Above is a before picture of the living room. It's not a great shot, as my lens isn't wide enough and it's dark, but bare with me. We need some marking point of where we start!

I looked at my interview and tried to summarize what it said of my style, well it seems that I've got a sense of the classic, as well as some whimsy. I like functional things, that are beautiful. If you have any other suggestions, let me know, this part is hard for me! Read on if you're interested in more.


Week One includes the following tasks.

Deep Treatment:
Bones
Make a complete list of repairs and solutions -It's pretty short, just fix a few light fixtures, put in the thresh hold on the front door, and install some doorknobs and change out some electrical covers.

Vacuum and Mop floors - Done. I do this pretty often anyway, with children a cat and hardwood floors it's vacuum every other day and mop once a week or week and half.

Breath
Remove one item from your apartment and put it outside - Done. We are cleaning out the Attic and the storage area to make room for a hot water heater and a new bedroom for Addison. Soooooo Lots of items have gone to good will, including blankets and clothing. Bookshelves are going off to my stepdad and his wife, books and cd's are waiting to be gone through to be digitized or donated.

Heart
Buy Fresh Flowers - Done, although I want better flowers next week. They are so expensive and they die, I wonder perhaps if buying a house plant would make me feel better?

Head
Sit for ten minutes in a part of your home that you never sit in. - not done yet.
Look into earth friendly cleaning products - Easy, cause I just recently did this. I use vinegar and water to clean countertops and bathrooms, I use baking soda to clean the grout in the kitchen, castile soap to do surfaces and the travertine tiles. Bona on the hardwood floors, olive oil for the wood furniture, Bon Ami for cleaning the bathroom, and a Citrus product for the mirrors and to shine things up. The house smells neutral and I like that. STill looking for a good way to clean the slate in the shower. I'd NEVER do that in a house I designed, and to get soap scum off the shower door. BUT using liquid castile soap really cut down on the soap scum, so that was an awesome suggestion by the guy that wanted to charge me $600 to clean and seal the shower! HA right. But good suggestion.

So we're started! yea! Here are a few more photos' of the house "before" I'm looking forward to writing about the changes that occur in our lives, as I'm hoping to get some movement in my practice and in my project.

The image on the left is looking from the living room into the dining area and kitchen... the next two are the master bedroom, with Addison's stuff.









This last picture shows a little bit of the part of the room and maybe the house I love the most, the bathtub, with it's crosses and plants feels at least like it's going in the direction I want, irreverent, sexy, simple.... it's not quite there...but the whole house is not quite there... OK so Onward to week two!



. Read more!

Moving Energy, by working on your home.

Last week I signed up for Apartment Therapy's 8 week cure. maxwell Gillingham-ryan has this lovely blog, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ and he's written a book by the same name. I saw the email inviting participants to sign up and I decided to go for it. I've been reading some design blogs, to learn about interior design. I have to say there is something about our house that just doesn't work. Now there are many many things that do work, don't get me wrong. But something is missing, and partially I think it's budget. You know you spend a lot of money to buy a home, and often don't have a lot of money left to decorate. But honestly, I've made homes look and feel sweet, without any money, and this house is eluding me. So when the chance came up to do the 8 week cure, I ordered the book right away.

I've always thought that your home reflects your mental state. Inner reflects outer is what I've said before. But if that's true than by changing outer you can change inner. You can move energy in many ways. If you're ever stuck on something, go clean out a closet and see what I mean. Maxwell clearly understands this. As soon as I read his introduction I felt like he'd be a wonderful guide to teach me about design. Here's why.... I suspect in the back of my mind that only those with money have the energy and time for design. It seems like a wasteful and superficial thing to do. I know that's not necessarily true, but I can't help thinking that. REading his introduction really got to me because of his background, he studied design and worked for a design firm, but felt isolated from the clients, there was no direct client involved! He felt it was empty and then went on to get two masters, one in literature and one in education and then he taught at a Waldorf school. These two experience inform his approach to clients needs and I love it. He stresses that we are attached to stuff, and that we can do with less. He stresses that a home feels good, not because of the money spent on it, but because it has a head, a heart, breath and a body, and that it's health is important for its impact on YOU.

Here's the interview, to get me started thinking about my style.

Favorites:
List your favorites in each category:

Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, Myrna Loy, Katherine Hepburn,
Actor: Johnny Depp, Cary Grant, Phillip Seymor Hoffman
Artist: ANdy Goldworthy, Gustav Klimt, the starn twins, Mark Ryden
Writer: Tolkien, Charles De Lint, William Gibson, Charles Bucowski
Music: Tom Waits, Iron and Wine, The Clash, The Cure, White Stripes
Restaurant: Stone BRewery, Mix at The Hotel in Vegas
Automobile: Mini, Aston Martin, Audi A8
Television Show: Mad Men, True Blood
Clothing: Anthropology, manolo blahnik shoes, Frye Boots

How would you describe your style (3 words)
1. Functional
2. Sexy
3. Simple

Personal History
Where have you lived?
Where were you born: Washington DC
Where you grew up: Annapolis MD< Hagerstown MD, Benicia, cA
As an adult: Boulder Creek, San Rafael, Oakland

Whom would you consider a role model?

Wendal Barry

What are three adjectives that describe the qualities that you admire in this person?
1. Simple life, living by ideals
2. Family oriented
3. Thinker and writer

Apartment:
What is the problem with your apartment? (3 words)
1. flow
2. Decor
3. Function

If your apartment could speak, what would it say is the problem?
She just doesn't understand me.

What one thing would you like to do more of in your apartment?

Create and Mediate

Eight weeks form now, when this project is done, if friends come to visit, how would you like them to describe your home? (3 words)

1. Warm
2. beautiful
3 Comfortable

Also rating the house in the areas of head, heart, breath and bones, it seems we need work in Head and Heart, that means decoration and function. The house is basically healthy, we scored an 11 on the rating, but it could use improvement in at least one area and toning all around.

I'm so excited. See my next post for Week One and before pictures. Read more!

Feminism, the Body and the Machine, Wendell Berry

There are so many quotes in this article that I want to exclaim, proclaim and discuss with everyone I know, but for the sake of focusing I'll pick this one

"I know that I am in dangerous territory, and so I had better be plain: what I have to say about marriage and household I mean to apply to men as much as to women. I do not believe that there is anything better to do than to make one’s marriage and household, whether one is a man or a woman. I do not believe that “employment outside the home” is as valuable or important or satisfying as employment at home, for either men or women. It is clear to me from my experience as a teacher, for example, that children need an ordinary daily association with both parents. They need to see their parents at work; they need, at first, to play at the work they see their parents doing, and then they need to work with their parents. It does not matter so much that this working together should be what is called “quality time,” but it matters a great deal that the work done should have the dignity of economic value." You can read the whole article here, be warned it's very dense, well written and long.

oh to write as well and as passionately, to love the written word again, to be in love with a sentence with a passage, with a phrase, Mr. Berry has inspired me.

http://www.crosscurrents.org/berryspring2003.htm

and OK one more....


"Why would any woman who would refuse, properly, to take the marital vow of obedience (on the ground, presumably, that subservience to a mere human being is beneath human dignity) then regard as “liberating” a job that puts her under the authority of a boss (man or woman) whose authority specifically requires and expects obedience?" Read more!

Earth Communication Continued

Back in July I posted an article from Kami Mcbride at livingawareness.com. I thought it was a lovely reminder of taking time to sit and had some great meditation ideas in it. This month I'm going to post the continuation of that article. I'm going to lean on Kami as my life is not allowing of me to write at the moment. Although I AM working on a few things that I am very very excited to share, soon! Earth Communication Continued

The last few months I have been sharing my experiences of how we can cultivate more earth awareness. Most of us have not lived in an area for very many generations. We do not have ancestral information passed on about how to best live in harmony with the particular piece of the earth that we currently find ourselves living on. Since we don’t have this inheritance, it is up to us to spend the time to learn about where we live.

Learning about herbal medicine is not just about plant constituents and dosage. The two questions that continually guide my herb school curriculum are: How do I inspire people to have a deeper relationship with their body and how do I help to inspire people to feel a deeper connection and relationship with the earth? We know we should be walking more softly on the earth but how do we learn how to do that? This inquiry keeps my classes alive as I am always being guided in how to answer the questing nature of these questions.

Here are some simple ways that we work with here at my school to enliven and nourish our relationship with the earth and her medicine, the plants

* Find a place in nature to visit on a regular basis. Cultivate your relationship with the place just like you would do with a friend. Sit together, listen to what the place has to say, tell it your thoughts and say thank you when you leave. Tell the place what you like or find beautiful about it. Ask if it has anything that it would like to share with you. Let your mind be still and see what comes to you as you sit there. Share with the place what it is that you are working on solving in your life. Nature has an amazing way of providing simple answers to life’s difficulties. Make an offering or find your way of saying thank you to this place. I often make a little alter of beautiful rocks, sticks or leaves that I find
* Sit with a plant. Either ask the plant a specific question or ask if it has any information for you at this time in your life. Sit for sometime with the plant and then allow yourself to write down anything that comes to mind with out editing your writing
* Sit with your back next to a tree. Keep your spine straight and touching the tree. This part of your body is full of nerve communication centers. Open to the healing energy of the tree and allow its information to come in through your spine
* Carry some dried herb with you in your pocket throughout your day. Leave it loose in your clothing, or bundle it up in some cloth. Notice how you feel with this herb on your body all day
* When you find a plant that you would like to get to know better, put it under your pillow at night and see how it affects you
* If there is an edible plant that you are interested in, take a bite of the fresh plant every day for several months. When I was learning about plantain, I ate the fresh leaf every day for more than three months
* Sleep outside or take a nap near the plants or trees you want to connect with
* If there is an herb that you are taking as medicine that grows near you, lay down on the ground with it and draw it in detail as a way to get to know it better
* Lie with your belly on the dirt, calm your mind and focus your attention on the energy that comes through the earth into your belly
* Listen to a drumming or chanting tape and visualize yourself traveling to the center of the earth on the pathway of root systems. Notice the roots and what this underground highway has to teach you
* Pick a few leaves from a plant, crush the leaf then rub it on your forehead and if you are sure it is an edible plant, eat a piece of it. Then lie down and meditate for a while. See what comes to mind
* Chant or sing to plants or trees and then just sit with them. I have had so many amazing experiences in receiving communication from the plants after I sing or chant. The singing stops the logical mind and opens up your ability to better perceive non physical information
* Place a leaf between the palms of your hands and sit quietly for some time. Allow the plants information to come into your body through the chakras in the palms of your hands

These are just a few suggestion of how to listen to what nature has to offer. When you take the time to just be in nature you will come up with your own ideas of how to enhance your communication and perception of the beautiful green world all around us.

Kami McBride has taught herbal medicine and women’s health since 1988. She is the director of Cultivating the Herbal Medicine Woman Within, an experiential herbal studies program where women are inspired to reclaim their heritage as herbalists and healers. Kami is the author of 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation that is available on amazon.com Kami teaches Women’s Wisdom workshops for women to experience optimum health in relation to their body cycles. For a schedule of upcoming classes or for an herbal consultation Kami can be reached at (707) 446-1290 or sign up for her free herbal enewsletter at: www.livingawareness.com Read more!