There is a truth and it's on our side. Dawn is coming… open your eyes.

Jose Gonzalez may not have been thinking about THE TRUTH when he wrote that song, but it speaks to me. Especially when he sings, "Do whatever just to stay alive." Because that is what it feels like when you fight a deadly disease.

I listened to this album a lot last year and this year. Even though Mr. Gonzalez is an atheist, he is my brother. Like Yann Martel said in "The Life of Pi", "Atheists are my brothers and sisters in faith, because just like me, they take reason as far as it will take them, and then they leap." It takes faith to believe there is no god just like it takes faith to believe there is. Until you experience God. And then it's real. And unchanging. My faith is much stronger because it's deeper, because I experience God in ways I never knew possible. Because adversity causes me to leap further, and God is always there to catch me. He always catches me.

Today is my 47th birthday. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it feels BIG. I feel good. I really do. The rhythm of my days is peaceful. My energy is back and I'm doing more. I've made it to my first birthday of my newly healthy life.

Dawn came and my eyes are open.

Sweet childhood memory….

That time my little sister and I were hiking through the eucalyptus forest and found a trickle of a stream coming down the mountain. It was so small we could step across it with our little 7 and 9 year old legs. We found a frog! And another and another! So we followed the stream up the mountain as far as we could filling our little bucket with frogs. It was like treasure hunting! And each frog was a huge diamond! And we were going to be rich! When we showed our mom, she didn't freak out, she just admired our persistence and then told us to let the froggies go back in the stream where they would be happier than in a bucket. The sun streaming through the leaves, the smell of eucalyptus all around us, the frantic croaking of a bucket full of frogs… that's one of my happiest memories of which I was reminded last week when I saw this photo on instragram from our good friends the Ballards…

We are growing a lemon tree. Which is fickle about when it wants to give us lemons. The last time it produced some was winter 2013. A lot has happened since then. Except for more lemons. Haven't seen any since then (except in the grocery store, but who wants to pay for lemons when you have a lemon tree?).

Thank goodness I found lemon essential oil. I have the taste of a whole big tree full of lemons whenever I want them! 

1. I put lemon oil in my water for a gentle daily detox. 

2. I put a drop of lemon oil in my pancake mix and YUM! Quick way to run out of pancakes! 

3. I put a drop of lemon oil in my glass of kombucha and WOW! Sparkle in my mouth! (if you don't know what kombucha is, I'll explain in another post). ;-)

So, if you like lemons. And you want to use them all year long. And you don't want to go to the store every time you might need one, call me. I'll hook you up with a long-term source of some of the best lemon essential oil on the planet. ;-)  

205-937-5098

Tim with our first lemon - November 2013

I start a lot of my mornings with a smoothie. Let me rephrase, after drinking a cup of liquid heaven and letting it course through my veins to wake me up, I then head back to the kitchen for my smoothie. ;-)

I got this recipe from an article my sweet mother-in-law sent me back in 2013. It was so good, I started drinking it on a regular basis. Recipe to follow.

What I learned over the next few months was that I was drinking something way more good for me than I first thought:

Pineapple has anti-inflammatory properties. 

Basil has anti-inflammatory AND antibacterial properties. 

Wheatgrass has numerous benefits, but the ones that matter to me are that it aids in the restoration of damaged cells and tissues. 

Local honey helps fight allergies to local flora.

And we all know the benefits of oranges and spinach. 

So, without further rambling, here's my favorite smoothie recipe. With photos!

Pineapple-Basil Smoothie

Instructions: Put ingredients in blender or 

in Vitamix in the order listed and blend away!

1 orange, peeled 

1/4 of a fresh pineapple, cut into chunks

1/2 cup fresh spinach

1/4 cup fresh basil

1/2 cup coconut water (or enough to blend well)

1 level scoop organic wheatgrass powder

1 tablespoon local honey

4 cubes of ice

Enjoy drinking your garden. ;-)

I'm not 20 anymore. I've known that for many years. After I turned 40 I decided I was going to get back into great shape so that I would feel healthy and strong for my next 40 years. Things didn't go as planned. They rarely do. But the plan to be healthy has not changed. Essential oils are part of that plan.

A few weeks after my diagnosis (early 2014), I received a box that contained essential oils and a cold mist diffuser. Instructions and loving notes from the anonymous giver were attached. I had heard about essential oils, but hadn't really paid a lot of attention. I used lavender to relax after a long day, and drank chamomile tea for my stomach. Beyond that, I didn't know a whole lot.

When I don't know something, I look it up. So, while recovering from each chemo cycle, I would read. I learned essential oils can help with a lot of other things, such as invigorate and uplift my mood, promote emotional balance and well-being, uplift energy, ease feelings of queasiness, promote health immunity, and the list went on.

So I started using the essential oils aromatically. What this means is I put a few drops of the essential oil in the cold-mist diffuser, added some water, and turned it on. The room filled with the scent of whatever oil I had used. I ran that diffuser all day long. Primarily to help uplift my mood, but also to help boost my immune system.

I diffused essential oil of orange and frankincense for my moods -- I felt so much better - the dark clouds in my mind would dissipate with those scents.
I diffused a blend of oils to boost my immune system -- Other than the effects from chemo, I remained healthy THE ENTIRE YEAR of chemotherapy treatments.
I diffused a blend of lavender and other essential oils to help me sleep at night.

When I finished all treatments for cancer in March of this year, I began taking supplements from an essential oil company.  At this point in my recovery from cancer, I thought, "Well, it can't hurt." Now I've been taking them regularly since March and before this last surgery I finally felt like myself again. Energy back to pre-cancer levels, brain-fog dissipated. I had asked my doctors how long it would be before I felt completely recovered from breast cancer and the treatments and they had said, "Six months to a year." I felt recovered 4 months after my last treatment. The supplements helped so much that I began ordering essential oils and other products as well in an effort to lead a more chemical-free lifestyle. I'm even cooking with some of the oils!

Because the essential oils have helped me so much, I found myself giving my friends, family and co-workers samples all the time. I had a couple of "essential oils 101" classes in my home with a friend teaching them. And, after watching her teach, I've decided I can do that to.

So, I am now available to teach classes on the benefits and uses of essential oils. I can't help but want to share them with my friends and family. I also can't help but feel like I'm putting my public health degree to good use in a whole new way. ;-)

I hope you are curious enough to host a class in your home to learn more alongside your friends. You will receive a nice free gift, learn some great tips for wellness, and all in the company of your closest friends and family. It's a win-win! Contact me for more information.