Lush Hair

As I was heading out today to visit a friend from uni I decided to call into the Lush near her and buy a shampoo and conditioner in solid form.  I've been looking at ways to decrease my carbon footprint and reducing the packaging that I purchase is an area I am focusing on at present.  After some Youtube research I decided to try Honey I washed my Hair for the Shampoo and Big for the conditioner. Having dry, curly hair prone to frizz and chaos I went for ones that were nourishing and moisturising - according to Youtube vloggers.  The assistant at the Lush store suggested the same ones so I am giving them a try.

Supposedly these should last for about 80 washes which is a few plastic bottles of shampoo.  I think these would be great for travelling too as they wouldn't contribute to your liquids amount so fit nicely in your carry on luggage.   This is my hair at present with product in it to control the frizz and with some attempt made this morning to smooth out the frizz and curls.  It's afternoon so returning to it's wild state. :)

We'll see what my hair looks like after a few washes with these new products.  I'll keep you posted.  They smell divine but if I use them and they make me look like Yahoo Serious I'll be taking them back.

My uni semester finished 2 weeks ago.  I finished the semester early as I had no exams, all my assessments were written assignments. Some of my friends are still studying for exams and will be doing them over the next week.  I've filled my time ensuring that all my notes are up to date, that I have downloaded all the learning materials and readings, just in case I've missed the odd thing here and there in the business of the semester. I'm usually pretty good but had missed some updated notes that were put up on Blackboard after our workshops.  In addition to this I did a lot of sleeping in the first week of the holidays.  My body needed rest.  This has been my best semester so far as far as my health and energy goes.  I've been on low-dose Naltrexone for 6 months now and it has definitely helped with my ability to cope physically as well as assisting my cognition.  I'll write a post specifically about Naltrexone over the next few days.

As I've mentioned previously, taking care of myself, in addition to taking all of my medication, is vital to me being able to be independent and to cope with uni. With that in mind I regularly prep food so that I always have healthy, nutritious food on hand so it takes little to no effort to throw together a healthy meal or snack for myself. I've been gifted some food this week. An abundance of oranges from Mum's tree, lemons, limes, mandarins, lettuce, English spinach, an avocado and a custard apple.  I cut the oranges into pieces and store them in old jam jars in the fridge as a ready snack or to add to Sophie's dinner - yes she eats well too which is why she is in such good shape at 13.5 years old. There is a 9 year old lab called Sally who lives near my parents and she looks considerably older than Sophie, can barely walk and has lived on dry food all her life.  I really think nutrition makes a huge difference.  I've always raw fed my dogs.  Anyway, back to the food prep.  In the fridge I have a salad made up (blue bowl), carrot sticks and cut up cucumber stored in water in jars at the back, orange slices cut up and stored in jam jars at the front and a bottle of homemade hummus made with my friend Tiia's recipe.  I also have a container of berries washed and ready for when I feel like a sweet snack or to sprinkle over my porridge of a morning.

 

It makes it so easy to throw together a healthy meal.  To the salad below I added some parsley and tomatoes from my garden. My tomato plants here grow with wild abandon and I am rarely without cherry tomatoes.  As I'd been gifted so much food I splurged and picked up some smoked salmon which I added to the salad.

Sophie and I take our regular walks most days.  Some days she's a bit wobbly and stiff so I keep her at home but we both love getting out. It keeps us healthy too. That and doing yoga and pilates here at home.  Sophie joins in to these at times which makes some sessions more of a wrestle and giggle fest than an exercise session.

Another aspect of my lifestyle is to reduce my carbon footprint further and I'm very happy to be able to recycle my coffee pods.  I have a Nespresso machine as I knew that Nespresso provided a recycling program.  As there is no collection centre for the pods close to me I can use the Nespresso postal service by putting my pods in their postal bag and simply popping it in the post box.  Very convenient.

Catching up with friends in person has been on the agenda too which seemed odd after being so isolated during the Covid lockdown.  Everyone's lives have been so different, each with their unique challenges.  Today I am visiting my friend Susanna who is one of my friends from uni. Susanna and her husband moved to Australia this year.  Sadly she lost her father during Covid and was unable to return home to his funeral due to the restrictions.  I felt so deeply for her so far away in a new country, in lockdown, navigating her grief.

While I'm out today I'll call into the bulk food store and get the ingredients that I need to make gluten free flour.  Far cheaper than purchasing the same mix at a local health food store and containing far more nutrients than the regular gluten free flours commonly found in our supermarkets.  I'll share some more about being gluten free and the flour mix I use when I write about low-dose Naltrexone.

Blessings of the day to you my friends. xxx

A Mess of Recipes

It's been a bit rainy and hot this week cancelling my gardening plans.  I've been tired too but wanting to achieve things, to still move forward, make progress, have control over SOMETHING in my life! :)  So, I dove into my recipe collection and went a bit nuts.  I decided that I wanted to ensure that I always had a copy of 'that recipe', you know the absolute favourite one Aunty Jan scribbled on a piece of notepaper and you stuffed in a box, and my absolute must have's from different books, friends, magazines and online.  I wanted to save them all in one place on the computer and my dear friend May inspired me to save them onto Dropbox so that not only were they securely backed up but I could access them from wherever I am on the planet. 

I have started with my absolute must have recipes.  My basics. The things I turn to time and again even if infrequently. The things I am asked to make for others. No knead bread, microwave polenta, pecan spice cake, curry pastes, cinnamon buns, a variety of salads, sides and mains.  You get my drift. I also started with the recipes written on scraps of paper, torn from magazines (and used and loved - not the torn from magazines and we are now a pile of clutter recipes).  Then I moved onto Jamie Oliver, the great Maggie Beer, Nigella Lawson and Sophie Gray. 

I'm slowly saving recipes into files and of course all of that recipe gazing and food porn has inspired me to start a list of new things to try.  This weekend I'm doing Jamie Oliver's Roast Chicken in milk. Yep, you read that right.  Milk. Moo. Will let you know how it goes.

Midsomer Murders plays and keeps me company in the background.  Well loved and sometimes forgotten recipes and the memories that go with them keep unfolding before me and a deep sense of satisfaction is arising from organising these precious things so that I will have them always.  I feel like I'm having a declutter and making life easier somehow.  I'm rediscovering my love of cooking.  Feels good. 

Books by my bedside

The first book I read this week was Heart's Blood. Juliet Marillier writes historical fantasy with some novels based on the fairy tales I grew up loving as a child. Heart's Blood is one of these and is based on the tale Beauty and the Beast. Other fairy tale based books by Juliet include the Sevenwaters Forest series (based on my favourite, The Swan Princess); Wildwood series (based on The 12 dancing Princesses and the Frog Prince, and myths with Ottoman and Greek roots). I love the fact that Juliet is a local author too. She writes beautifully and I recommend her books to anyone looking for a good but gentle read.
My second book for the week is a travel memoir written by a journalist from New Zealand. Bruce and his wife spent a year travelling through Holland, Belgium and France on a canal boat. I'm not far into it yet but of course my feet are itchy for the chance to do something so wonderfully exciting myself. For those of you who aren't aware......I have a deep, all consuming travel addiction. Luckily I am able to slake it's thirst somewhat by reading travel books and shopping (virtually) for real estate all over the world. Sad but true.
Elixir came in the mail today and I'm very excited. Janella Purcell featured in this years Biggest Loser and her segment on food preparation and the benefits of nutrition was brilliant. Using food as medicine is something I am very interested in as a result of my own health issues and the experiences of friends with cancer. So far it looks brilliant and in the first 20 pages or so I've picked up some really good ideas for my particular needs. Will give you a bit of a review when I've finished it.