Phoenix is getting Greener all the time

Today has been a day of enlightenment. I love it when out of nowhere, information you crave just lands in your lap.

Phoenix has a Farmer's Market that I didn't even know existed. I miss the local vendors we had at the Public Market at home, and I missed being able to buy local meat, chicken, and fish once I moved here. It really was a big hole I couldn't fill. When the sustainable green living mantra started, I didn't have any idea how to shop local as it seemed there wasn't much farming going on here.Wrong !!!!There are several organic growers in the area and I am just ecstatic to know I can go shopping Saturday morning and get fresh veggies and fruit. (http://www.downtownphoenixpublicmarket.com/)

I hereby take the pledge to buy locally
during National Independents Week,
June 30 through July 6,
to help celebrate the diversity and vibrancy
that makes me proud to call Arizona Home.

I fully believe in that pledge except for the last line..........not quite there yet.


As though that wasn't big enough news! There is also an online Green Market called Boxed Greens(http://boxedgreens.com/shop/home.php) and they sell veggies, fruit, breads, organic chicken, beef and all types of dry goods. Best yet-they deliver to various parts of the valley!! I can order online and they'll bring it to my office in the morning! Wow.

Then - because I work for a medical group, the pharmaceutical companies bring us lunch each day of the week. Nice perk - but most of the time I just eat salad. Being the day before a holiday I really didn't expect to find lunch upstairs today but SURPRISE(!) we had the best food I have had in weeks and weeks. (A side story: Another thing I have had trouble finding in Phoenix is good Asian food. People here think Pei Wei is Asian food. P-a-lease.) Well today I had the BEST Asian food of anywhere. The owner's name is George Yang and he's from Burma and combines the flavors of each region of Asia from India to Viet Nam on his menu. I just about had a seizure eating the Shrimp with honey glazed walnuts - it really was shrimp "to die for". The Mongolian beef and citrus chicken was right up at the top of the list too. The restaurant is George and Son . The story of the name of his restaurant is just wonderful. He was late middle aged when he had his first son. George opened this restaurant and named it "for the precious child that came in to his life as a way to honor him."

http://www.azeats.com/georgeandsons/default.htm

All of this in one day!! It doesn't take being hit in the head with a hammer to realize this was special and worthy of noting.

Stay safe and cool over the long weekend, and try not to burn the house down with fireworks!

~ Hannah
Dreaming in Colors

Dancing shoes

When a little girl gets her first pair of light up shoes and a pink tu-tu, life is just about a good as it can get. The absolute thrill expressed is contagious to everyone around her and they too are filled with this joy they can't explain. She puts on the tutu and is transported into a beautiful fairy, dancing in pink with a crown and twinkle slippers.

I know that feeling is better than anything I can accomplish with yoga or exercise or living right... Pure joy. The best feeling and one we search for whenever we're awake. We really need to go back to the magic of childhood. Imagination is replaced with dreams of sleep instead of seeing magic when we're awake. We get transported into whatever we're reading, at times, but spend too much time watching TV where there is no room for imagination. Quiet encourages imagination and I find I'm spending more and more time in silent surroundings and my creative imagination has the opportunity to flourish. Even if I'm dead tired from a day at the office, the stillness makes me relax and my mind has the freedom to excerise itself. What a revelation.

By watching EQ doing her pretend play I realize the TV is off and the noises of life within the house don't infringe on her creating a world of real friends and sharing tea. We look in from the outside and see nothing but cups in a circle, but she is in full conversation with her guests and enjoying a tea party with all of her special people. The conversation is lively and sincere. Her baby brother is a real live baby but serves as a new doll for her. Whatever she sees him as, is what he is. He looked particularly fetching in the stickers she placed all over his head, face and clothes. She was quite amused.

I am thankful she is getting the opportunity to entertain herself with imagination. It isn't encouraged enough in children today and those of us of a certain age, remember all the pretend we did as kids - cowboys, bank robbers, cops, teachers, doctors and nurses. I remember being convinced that I was an auburn mare trotting all over my pasture when I played recess with my grade school friends. I was so envious of the palomino. She really thought she was something. The trees in the yard were houses and forts and the tricycle made a great truck, car or horse depending on where I was at the time.

We didn't have a television set until I was in junior high so books, the radio, playing outside with the neighbor kids and my imagination kept me busy from breakfast to bedtime. I remember being so busy all day that it was hard to stop long enough to eat lunch. When the weather was warm enough it was always a picnic in the backyard and the milk in a metal cup was colder and tasted so good. During summer, I spent time every day in the garden with grandma. The rest of the year I helped wash clothes, learned to iron (hankies and dish towels) and learned how to cook being with her. She tried to teach me to sew but I'm still getting the hang of that now. We didn't miss TV - we had ourselves for entertainment and it was wonderful.

My life is so much happier now that I have turned off the TV at night and head out to the garden instead, while it's still light out. At dusk I move in to my craft room and sew or scrapbook until late in the evening. If there is something important coming on TV that night - I record it and watch it when there is nothing else to do. Not watching the news three times a day has made an immense difference too. My dreams are better and I rarely have nightmares. I'm not afraid to leave my house and the world isn't a big bad place anymore. I read good news and scan the Seattle Times when I eat lunch but that's about all the news I need.

Get outside and get your vitamin D and smell the fresh air - Enjoy your life!!

Thanks for checking in.
Hannah
Always - Dreaming in Colors