Raw, Raw, Raw by mary elizabeth

Have you ever won anything?  I’m trying to think if I have, and I’m not coming up with anything.  I’d like to say I won the Living Light employee valentine haiku contest last year but I didn’t.  Kate did.  Anyhow, guess what?  Living Light won “Best Culinary Arts Training” in the Best of Raw Awards at the Raw Living Expo last month.  This is really cool because these awards are decided by popular vote (that’s people like you and me), rather than bestowed by some mysterious board somewhere, proving that we really and truly are the best raw culinary school there is.  And we have been for fifteen years now.  That’s something to be proud of.  Cherie gave the keynote address for the weekend which is a great honor and something to be proud of, too.  What an impressive place Living Light is – and how fortunate I feel to be a part of it!

Last Friday was my four-year anniversary of working here, speaking of being a part of it.  That’s a while, for the likes of me.  What’s the difference?  Well – obviously – I’m much more grown up and settled than in the past.  But beyond that, this company has really taken the time to work with me and find a place where I fit and can continue to be an asset and all that good stuff.  And as they even continue to pay me for it; it’s a mutually beneficial relationship.  Congratulations, Living Light, for being voted the best.  And thanks for making me a part of the Living Light family for such a long time!

50 by mary elizabeth

So – in about a month I’ll be turning fifty.  FIFTY.  I mean, it’s no big deal, and just a number, and you’re only as old as you feel, blah, blah, blah.  I get all that.  But – if fifty is indeed the possible midpoint, then I could conceivably have as much to do as I’ve already done.  Yikes!  That, dear reader, is a bit daunting.  I mean, I’ve already done a lot of the time fillers like school, college, having little kids, etc., and I’ve already got a lot of the mistakes out of the way as well, knock on wood.  So what – I have a whole lifetime’s worth of beauty and wide open possibility ahead of me?  Far out.  I guess.  What are my goals?  Do I even have any?  And are goals called a bucket list now?   I don’t know – maybe write another book, only this time make it one someone might actually want to read.  Is it too vague to say, “be the sort of woman I’ve always wished I were”?  Actually, vague or not, I’m sticking with that one, in hopes that all good things will naturally follow.

If you have somewhat more concrete goals, and Living Light figures into them, why wait?  We have a lot of wonderful classes coming up.  Or maybe you just want to add some living benefits to your diet.  Why not come into our Café for a wheat grass shot a couple times a week?  Or maybe you just want to read up on raw food.  We have all of Cherie’s books available in our Marketplace at a discount if you buy them all together.  Making a commitment to a more planet friendly way of eating on any level is a beautiful and noble thing.  Living Light would be honored to be a part of it.

Almost Xmas by mary elizabeth

Today it’s officially winter and the winter holidays are upon us. I’m actually feeling kind of excited about Christmas being so close.  At least I am right now.  This morning I was feeling quite differently.  Sometimes it just seems like there’s so much pressure and so much to do.  Anyway, my morning got off to a marginally rocky start which was enough to put me in a holiday hating mood.  I’m over it now, and since we’re all still alive today, I think I can soldier forward with a big fat holiday smile on my face.  I’m feeling pretty good about the commercial part of it, which this year just includes my kids and my boyfriend.  Every year I scale back a bit more.  Obviously this is about as far back as I can go, so let’s call that a success!

How about you?  All done with your shopping, wrapping and all that stuff? If you aren’t, you know what would make a great gift?  Cherie and Dan’s new book Raw Food for Dummies.  It’s such a complete, comprehensive guide to raw food, I guarantee you it’ll be perfect for anyone you know who’s new to raw.  Dan and Cherie’s combined experience makes them the perfect guides to this planet friendly lifestyle.  Get a copy in our Marketplace along with one of our pretty green gift bags – shopping done!

Benefits by mary elizabeth

I think I finally have my holiday plans in order, and more importantly, I feel good about them, too.  For whatever reason, I allow myself to get stressed out about what we’re going to do when and with whom and I want it all sorted right now!  Sometimes, the need to get it all sorted results in me making plans I don’t even like!  But – now it is all sorted and I can relax.  In fact, I can super relax because after a quick out of town trip for the kids’ birthdays, I’m just going to stay home until the very end of the month.  I’m going to try and make good things to eat and decorate the house and just be happy at home.  I’m really pleased with this plan.  The benefits to just staying home are huge!  Happy holidays to me!

There are lots of benefits to working at Living Light.  One of them is that we get to have a green juice or an organic meal every day!  This is the best preventative health plan ever and so, so yummy.  We also get to feel good about our global impact as all of the different businesses that comprise Living Light International are very planet friendly.  But the best benefit of all is the people we get to spend our work hours with.  I know I’ve said it before, but I really feel blessed to work with the super amazing, strong, beautiful, creative and supportive women and men in this company.  And really, there are so many smiling, friendly faces everywhere I go at Living Light it’s a true gift.  Happy, happy holidays to all my sweet co-workers!  Let’s have a fun winter and a fabulous 2013!

Giving Thanks? by mary elizabeth

Can Thanksgiving really be just a week from today?  Come on.  That’s crazy talk.  Fortunately, each year I do the very same thing so I needn’t come up with any plans and fortunately again, my annual plans include Thanksgiving dinner at a pretty posh country club so I really don’t have to plan, let alone cook, anything.  But – I do need to locomote myself and my children to this annual event which is a six hour drive with the last bit often through chain-requiring snow.  This is really no problem, either.  All sorts of people put chains on their cars everyday.  Plus my daughter and I are world class ride-around-in-the-car types now, and my son has an iPod so we’re all good.  And this year, we’re adding a stop at some of my very most beloved friends’ on our way to and from our final destination.  It all couldn’t be nicer, really.  It just feels so soon!  I mean, once Thanksgiving has come and gone my kids birthdays are right around the corner and about a minute later it’s Christmas.  Oh well – nothing to be done about it, of course.  I mean – I have had a year to prepare – it’s not a surprise.  But – I’m no where even close to having saved up the money for that Bettie Page dress I’ve had my eye on for months and now it’s almost time for holiday parties and how’s that going to work?

Okay – hopefully that was my holiday complaining for the year.  Let’s get on to my holiday happiness which is, as you know, eating.  Did you know we have whole cakes and pies you can order from our café?  We do.  You can get one of our raw vegan pumpkin pies for your celebration next week.  Yum!  And we have vanilla or chocolate cheesecake.  We have a super fancy lemon poppy seed cake that looks stunning and tastes divine.  You need to give us a day or so to create your masterpiece, so come in and order one today!  Happy holidays!

The Coveted Golden Spoon by mary elizabeth

 Last Friday, Living Light participated in the Fort Bragg Food Bank’s first annual soup and chili cook off.  And guess what?  We won!!  Our Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder beat all others – quite the vegan victory, if you ask me.  We were up against some local heavy hitters, too.  I’m so proud of Joe and his whole kitchen/café crew, especially Living Light Gourmet Raw Food Chef grad, café employee and chef extraordinaire Elyse who made a most beautiful hostess at the Living Light table.  I’m also proud of our own Amanda who planned the event and sits on the food bank’s board of directors.  I got to witness this sweet victory from behind the bar, where my boyfriend and I served local beer and wine to the soup-hungry attendees.  If you missed the event, you can come in and try this award winning treat in our café – just call ahead and see when we’ll have it available.  But be sure and come next year.  We’ll be defending our Golden Spoon against all comers and it’s for such a worthy cause – especially at this holiday time of year.

Speaking of the holidays, I think it’s time for fellow blog goddess Kristin and me to start rocking our holiday blogs for 2012.  We like to use this time of year to reminisce and share holiday stories and ideas.  It’s pretty quiet here at work as the school closes for a few weeks and the new year rush doesn’t usually kick in till after Christmas.  It gives us a chance to highlight some of the more personal sides of Living Light and its employees.  I bet we’ll have more examples of the role Living Light plays in the local community, too – more reasons to be proud.  The Golden Spoon is a great start, though.  I can’t wait to see how we’ll top it next year!

Halloween Plus One by mary elizabeth

Halloween is next week and I just love Halloween!  A couple years ago I wrote about it being the second largest commercial holiday here in the good old U.S. of A. and I think that’s great.  I mean, there aren’t any gifts involved or anything – it’s just decorating and dressing up and candy, candy, candy.  Anyhow – if we insist on making our holidays big, commercial blood baths, I’m glad this one is right up there at the top.  There’s a far less commercially successful holiday right on Halloween’s heels, though, and I’m just crazy about that one, too – maybe even a little bit more so.  It’s All Souls Day, or Dia de los Muertos.  This is a day to remember those who’ve gone before us and honor their memory.  You can do this with an altar or just in your own heart, of course.  I’m pretty much hard wired for this kind of activity every day, what with my obsession with saints.  But – I love this special day and I love the whole altar making ritual.  We have two here at Living Light every year.  We are all encouraged to bring in items or pictures that represent some one we admire or want to honor or just miss. Once the items are collected, we set up the altars and decorate them in the traditional style.  The altars are on display in our Café and Marketplace and it’s such fun to see what people bring in, and so interesting, too.  The altars are so pretty with colored cloths and tissue paper flowers.  We decorate with beads and fruits, too, and those little electronic candles.  Come on in next week and check them out!  You’ll just love them, I promise.

Fasting Again by mary elizabeth

I am on the last day of a five day juice fast.  I’m really glad it’s the last day, but also really glad I did it.  Remember the last one?  This was nothing in comparison, but still significant and so worth while.  I feel great.  And fasting is sort of a spiritual fast forward – it brings clarity, it slows you down, it forces focus.  I can get so wound up and frantic or just distracted, really, from what’s actually important and right and necessary.  Not always in a bad way, either.  Just distracted.  Anyhow – juice fasting, like nothing else, brings me down a notch and helps me remember who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing.  I like that.  I like how it makes my body feel, too.  There’s nothing about it I don’t like, actually – especially on the last day.

If you want to do some juice fasting of your own, we have everything you need to succeed.  If you want your juices made for you, come into our Café.  We have wheat grass, green juice and red – just perfect!  Or if you’d like to make your own, come into our Marketplace.  We have lots of books on juicing so you can find all sorts of yummy recipes and tips.  We also have all the tools – like juicers!  Plus we have everything you could think of to prepare your fruits and vegetables.  And of course, you could take a class. We don’t have a class just for juicing, but you’ll learn all about it the FUNdamentals of Raw Living Foods.  I really can’t recommend a juice fast highly enough – so come to Living Light to learn all about it!

Pumpkin Flavored Temptation by mary elizabeth

So – I always say that “the holidays” start at Halloween and go to Valentines Day.  At least as far as tempting foods are concerned.  But that was a bit off. The tempting foods are already here and I am not doing all that well at resisting.  First of all, everything – EVERYTHING – is pumpkin pie flavored right now and I absolutely love pumpkin pie.  And I don’t just mean out in the cold cruel world of cooked things.  We have a version of pumpkin pie right here at Living Light which is beautiful and the crust is one of my top ten favorite things to eat of all time.  So – there’s really no escape.  I’m not one to deny myself a whole lot.  I’m good at cleanses and things like that where I have to be accountable.  But normally – if I want a piece of pumpkin pie, I’m going to eat one.  I just have to be careful to pace myself and readjust to this new holiday frenzy of tempting treats.  Seriously – there’s temptation around every corner and there will be for months!

Our Living Light students are learning to make lots of healthy, happy choices right now.  They are half way through their Associate Chef and Instructor training.  Some really beautiful pictures are coming out of the culinary studio.  Many of these students will be leaving us after next week, but some of them will be with us until Thanksgiving and beyond, learning all about how to create and serve their own fabulous dishes.  I think this is a great time of year to come and study here because it gives you all kinds of support and fresh ideas and tools to get through the tempting months ahead.  How do you get through these holiday months happy but healthy?

Home Sweet Home by mary elizabeth

I’m back in Fort Bragg.  I’m back in the fog by the Pacific Ocean.  I’m back home.  I had a wonderful month off, but it sure feels good to be home.  I’m so looking forward to meeting the students at Living Light and seeing all my beloved co-workers again.  A friend asked me if I was even going to remember how to do my job.  I told her I hoped not so it would be a fresh, new experience.  But – I do remember and am looking forward to getting back to it.  And I’m looking forward to a green juice!  Oh my stars – I have missed it.  Anyhow – I’m ready to hit the ground running on Monday morning all rested and ready to go.

Just to recap the last leg of my trip, my daughter and I visited my aunt Hannah in Wisconsin.  We had an absolutely lovely time – even though I’d never met my aunt in person, being at her house felt so comfortable.  It felt like home.  Well – a home.  A hot, humid home.  Anyhow – the visit was delightful and she and uncle Joe live right on the Flambeau River and we got to go out on Joe’s boat. It was such a nice time.  Then – I don’t know what happened, but we were just pretty much ready to go home.  Not only were we almost broke, we were just over it.  So – we just drove, slept a little bit, and drove, slept a little bit more and drove home.  And here we are.  Back to the foggy, familiar old grind.  Super yay!!