Here's the Story, By Maureen McCormick

Remember the big box of goodies I received at the first of the makeover? As I mentioned in that box were lots of books and audios. I've already read and highlighted one book on my blog and now I've completed the next book:

Here's the Story

By, Maureen McCormick

On Friday September 26,1969 at 8 pm, myself like countless other kids across the country settled in for a good Friday evening watching an episode of The Brady Bunch. ( I can hear the "jingle" now! )

As I snuggled in each Friday evening at 8 pm I was fortunate to have a safe home with a warm loving family sitting with me in the living room watching each episode. Little did I realize being an eight year old is that "Marcia Brady" was leading a life going in the exact opposite direction. Here turmoil was just beginning and in this book Maureen takes you on a very candid journey on her career, drug addiction, family turmoil and fears. She completely opens up so that others may learn from her experience. You have to give it to her, she really is candid about her experiences and how she dealt or didn't deal with them.

Maureen shares how she learned to trust herself, how she finds a relationship with God, and her husband. The road was not easy but she does over come adversity and her battle to come to terms with the idea of perfection .

You will definitely admire her courage and when you finish reading the book.

I strongly recommend this book

Finished Dish for the Evening! A job well done!

This is our completed dish!

Pork Cutlets, Eggplant with a pinch of watercress

I encourage you to make these mixtures and store them in your fridge. It really cuts down on your prep time during the week and you can make healthy, flavorful meals for yourself in less than an hour!

With a variety of mixtures you'll have different "blends" that you are ready to choose at a moment's notice

Marinade with Eggplant

We also sauteed with the eggplant! YUM!!!!!

Now we'll cook with the marindaes!

We took a bit of the marinade and put it in a hot skillet. We had also marinaded the meat a bit in a glass dish. Put meat in hot skillet with some sliced onions and there you go!

Doesn't get any better!

All of the frest herbs, onion and garlic tasted wonderful!

All marinades made this evening

Here you can see all the different herb marinades we made this evening.

From left to right:

Rosemary, Thyme, Cilantro, and a mixture of all the other herbs.

Notice the difference in the color of each?

You can put these jars back in the fridge and use for marinading meat, fish, or sauteing vegetables. Very easy.

Herbs, Olive Oil ,Onion, and Shallots ready to Blend!

You are ready to blend!

Thursday Evening Herb Marinades with Chef Curtis

Tonight is making herb marinades with Chef Curtis. On the way home this evening I picked up the following herbs at the store: Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, Watercress, Sage, Oregano, Thyme, and Rosemary. Also, picked up four large glass jars, shallots, onions, garlic and lots of olive oil!

You will need to get out your Cuisinart or a blender for making these marinades.

Step 1:
Put one cup of olive oil in the mixer with 1-6 cloves garlic, onion ( as much as you want) and the herb of your choice. We picked Rosemary for the first one. Let it whirl and put in the jar. I have a lot of pictures to share but the posting page won't let me post more that one photo on a page! So I'm going to do some individual posts for you here!

Snow this morning! February 26th

We were surprised this morning by Snow!

I had to post this picture before I left for work this morning.

Can you believe when we thought we had gotten enough already?

Body Talk with Pat Sullivan

As part of my holistic makeover ( which concentrates on the mind, body and spirit ) I received a certificate to attend a series of one hour sessions with Pat Sullivan a certified Body Talk practitioner for three months.

I had my first session last week as she went over my health history and an actual session. You may ask as I did what is Body Talk? I'd never heard of it! Body talk is like acupuncture but without the needles. I for one don't like needles but I LOVE acupuncture so I was willing to give this a shot!

Pat is a very warm, caring , gentle person. She must do Body Talk on herself every day!

I wanted to be able to share with you a bit about Body Talk so I pulled this from the Body Talk Washington Web Site:

"BodyTalk is a highly effective system of accessing the body’s innate wisdom to heal itself. It does this through reestablishing or enhancing communication between all aspects of the body/mind complex in order of priority, resulting in healing from the inside out. The body is a complex organism performing billions of synchronized biochemical processes every second to maintain proper functioning. When a body is operating at its best, each system, organ and body part, down to the cellular level are in constant communication with one another at all times.Through exposure to the stresses of day-to-day life, environmental influences, accidents, trauma, diet and other factors, these lines of communication can become compromised which then leads to a decline in physical, emotional and/or mental health.Reconnecting these lines of communication then enables the body's mechanisms to function at optimal levels, thus preventing disease and rapidly accelerating the healing process.BodyTalk can be used as a stand-alone system to treat many health problems, or seamlessly integrated into any health care system to increase its effectiveness and promote faster healing. BodyTalk’s major assets are that it’s safe, effective and non-invasive."

You can read the entire site information by going to:http://www.bodytalkwashington.com/about.html#whatisit

I have to say that after my first session I felt very relaxed and we did work to reconnect various communication channels. I did share with Pat some areas that I would like to work on so we'll see after a couple of session and I'll keep you posted through the blog.

You can reach Pat Sullivan directly at 206-729-0907 pat@bodytalkwa.com

Herbs, Week Two Chef Curtis

The Finished Dish of the Evening!

During week two with Chef Curtis we will be exploring the world of herbs. How many of you cook with fresh herbs? In the summer its easy because of all the fresh and wonderful herbs in the Saturday markets. This time of year you are at the mercy of the grocery store! This week we will be exploring the different herbs and how to have a "ready to go" herb mixture in your fridge waiting to marinade with a meat or infuse with your oil to create a wonderful dish!

To start the evening we went over the various herbs, their evolution, and how they do help the digestive system. For example chives: Did you know that they are good for purifying the blood? Lemon Balm: It can be sued as a repellent for insects? Just rub those lemon balm leaves from your garden in your hands and over your body and you are good to go! Parsley: Is good for digestion and bad breath. Sage: is a good healer and great for colds. And here is for all you athletes! Rub those garlic cloves all over you feet and it will kill the foot fungus! Garlic has wonderful healing properties.

Last week I had some leftover basil and cilantro and over the weekend I made a mixture of the two with shallots, garlic and olive oil which I kept in a glass jar in the fridge. We mixed in the pans this mixture in the panon and added the vegetables and with some high heat and stir fry came out with some wonderful veggies!

Here is the tip for the week: Add your herbs to your dish at the end. If you add at the beginning the herbs will wilt and you won't receive any of the nutrients.

Tonight we cooked butternut squash, green beans, mushrooms, broccoli on a bed of rice. Thursday evening we'll be meeting at the store to pick some herbs and walk you thru how to make you own oil/herb "ready to saute" mixture.

Spring is coming to the Pacific Northwest!

Northwest Flower & Garden Show

On Saturday I had the pleasure of going with my good friend Kelly to the Seattle Northwest Flower and Garden Show! Wow, Wow, Wow! Is all we could say! It was our first trip to the show and we saw some amazing gardens. In fact we saw twenty six beautifully displayed gardens all in the Seattle Convention Center. We arrived right at 9 am as the doors opened and thought we'd leave around 1 pm. We left pushing 3:30 pm! The exhibits were wonderful and we saw great buys on plants, bulbs, and decorative garden items.

We also left with two Appalachian straw brooms, which are actually made by seventh generation families. I'd post the picture of us whirling around the show on our brooms but I think I need her permission to post that picture~!

If you are looking for something to do this afternoon in Seattle, the show is still running today from 9 am - 6 pm, and the link is below.

Thought for the day: Why not have a sacred space in your garden?

http://www.gardenshow.com/seattle/index/

What if you were given a ticket that could magically start your life anew? Would you redeem it?

I had the wonderful opportunity this last week to pick one of the books out of my box to read. It is Brendon Burchard's, Life's Golden Ticket. What an amazing and truely inspirational book. A must read for everyone. Why should you take a weekend to read? We are all given second chances at some point to change the way we live and think. This book walks us through one man's journey of change. It makes us ask if the past theme's of our lives are dictating how we live in the present and our decisions for our future? It also asks us if we are a "miracle worker". Even after finishing this book I am asking myself these questions a week later.

Brendon Burchard is a life coach and leadership speaker and has consulted many people from universities to Fortune 500 companies. He donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book to Kiwanis, Junior Achievement, and the YMCA.

This is a powerful book and will leave you thinking about yourself. Are you willing to accept Life's Golden Ticket?

I did find the official web site for Brendon's book which is below. You can purchase it from the site or I'm sure it is on Amazon.

Dare to be a miracle worker!

http://www.lifesgoldenticket.com/

Evening with Dawn Stansfield

Had an incredible evening with Dawn on Wednesday evening. We discussed a lot but primarily focused on energy and how if we are constantly "whirling" to get more done that energy is not coming within to serve us. The secret to success is to stop the whirling and catch the energy. Remember to relax. My goal for the next week is to get grounded in my energy by drinking water and slowing myself down. I'll also have a designated time and place where I remember to relax. For some that is a mediation room, and for others its a sacred table that holds your most precious possessions. Like pictures of family, your bible, inspirational cards, flowers, and special keepsakes. Where do you go to relax and find yourself? If you are like most you are whirling like me.
Try for today to take some time to catch yourself and create a place for yourself to relax.

Marinade for Flank Steak

I wanted to post my receipt for the spices but due to the image not being clear enough, I'll have to tell you. For the jar of oregano I paid $1.18, cumin $1.20, paprika $1.10, Thyme .48, veggie broth $1.56.

Total for just spices: $5.52. They were fresh and wonderful. When we arrived home I had my son smell the old spice in the cabinet and the new spice we purchased at PCC. I then asked him which one he would want to create a meal from that evening. Hands down the new spice won!

I challenge you to take an old spice out of your pantry and replace it with the same spice from bulk. You'll get a wonderful spice for your receipe this evening!

When we arrived home we prepared the flank steak, vegetables, and potatoes. To marinade the flank steak we took the following:

Cilantro

Basil

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. oregano

3 cloves garlic

Olive Oil

Blend in a blender ( see above ) It make the most incredible marinade for meat! Score your meat lightly and apply marinade for a couple of minutes. Heat your pan with a drizzle of olive oil, and crushed garlic and sear meat!

Thursday Evening with Chef Curtis

Tonight a field trip to PCC, Natural Food Market

Tonight Chef Curtis and met at PCC for a field trip to the spice section. We talked about Sea Salt and Spices. Looked, smelled and discussed the different spices and their storage.

It is much cheaper and smarter to purchase your spices in bulk so that they stay fresh and can be used in a more timely manner.

Tonight we purchased the spices from bulk and you could see and smell the difference!

We purchased:

1. Cumin

2. Paprika

3. Thyme

4. Veggie Broth

You can see by the picture above how beautiful their color looked and they smelled wonderful. If anyone ever told you that bulk spices were expensive they were wrong. The glass jars were more expensive than the spice!

Wow! What a week with Chef Curtis Ross

Wow, what a first week with Chef Curtis Ross. I took some amazing pictures but have been having some technical difficulties on the picture side! ( operator error , my fault ) This was my first official week with Chef Curtis. This week we focused on Spices. Does your spice cabinet look like mine above? Ok... I showed you my secret... time to fess up yours!

Chef Curtis spent some time with me reviewing the three elements that destroy spices:

1. Moisture

2. Air

3. Light

How many of you have bought those wonderful spice bottles for $8.00 in the grocery store, only to have used the spice for a couple of recipes and it goes bad? I have to tell you that a lot of those spices in the picture above went BAD!

The average shelf life of a spice should only last for three months!

A lot of those bottles have been up there longer than three months! If your spices are in a tin? You are in big trouble!

On Tuesday evening we covered the medicinal properties of spices and how to store them, as well as make a wonderful chicken dish on Tuesday evening and flank steak dish on Thursday evening.

Regarding medicinal purposes of spices: We all use Paprika!

Paprika:

Medicinal Uses: Source of vitamin A

Source of vitamin C, Antioxidant, Weight loss.

So what was in the big box?

Several weeks ago I received a special delivery at my door. It was a very large box! In the box were items generously donated by the sponsors of the Dr. Pat Holistic Makeover!

Wow! What a thrill... it was like Christmas ~

I wanted to wait until I had some time to go through the box and enjoy every moment since I was warned that there were some incredible items enclosed.

On a Saturday morning after my "chores " were done I went ahead and slowly opened the box. In with some beautiful tissue were colorful burlap bags filled with all the goodies you see on the dinning room table. I just had to capture all these goodies in one place. I knew that at some point I'd want to share them with you.

So you may ask... what was in the box?

Well! I can tell you that there were A LOT of items in the box... it was a bottomless box!

Here are some of the items!

- The Ageless Secret! Was used immediately... Ladies we have to talk... this product if WONDERFUL!!!

- Go Green Biodegradable Bags

- Natural Dentist Health toothpaste and Mouthwash

-Anicare Gel Pain Relief

-Topricin

-Nature's Inventory Sleep Aid and Natural Time Leg Calm

- Crema de Cacao Body Cream and Lotion

- Books.. lots of Books! (I'll be reading and mentioning them in my blog )

- Living with Intention Audio from Deanna Davis PHD

Multi grain Tortilla Chips by " Food Should Taste So Good" - These are delicious!!!

Tonight's Give away! The first one to email me back will be gifted the small travel size of The Ageless Secret to try! This is an incredible product and you can visit their web site

http://www.agelesssecret.com/

Evening with Chef Curtis Ross

This evening I had my first opportunity to meet with Chef Curtis Ross!

During tonight's post I was hoping to write a brief bio on Chef Curtis but we spent a good hour and a half talking about the following and before you knew it I had to dash. Next week I'll get you a background so you can read.

Tonight we met in his office and had an opportunity to review my health history and our families food habits, likes and dislikes and my goals for our time together.

Here are my goals!

1. Provide healthier after school snacks for my children. ( I'm never home when they get here and guess what they reach for... the cookies)

2. I pack my kids lunch but do I pack some food for me to eat through out the day? NO! What's up with that??

3. How much water am I drinking? Need to work on that!

4. Get more protien into my son who's twelve!

5. Learn how to stretch the dollar in the grocery store. We all need some tips on that.

Chef Curtis and I will be meeting for eight weeks, two times a week we will be meeting and each week is a different subject. I'll be sharing with you everything that I learn. Would love your feedback!

Next Week: Spices and Herbs

Tonight's thought: Are you taking time to be in the moment?

Excercise: Sit on a park bench and just think about nothing else. Just take time to be in the moment.

Thank you Chef Curtis for your words of wisdom this evening!

Schwinn Bike

Just received word from Carolyn at the Dr. Pat Show that I am going to receive a Schwinn Bike! I need to forward my fitness goals and inseam so that I can be matched with the appropriate bike.

Fitness Goals

1. To Bike from Redmond Washington to University Village in Seattle Washington!

The Burke-Gilman Trail is a 27-mile trail, mostly flat, in the Seattle, Washington metro area. It winds through urban areas in the north end of Seattle, from Ballard to the University District, and then north to the end of Lake Washington. There it becomes the Sammamish River Trail, and follows the Sammamish River southwards, ending at Marymoor Park in Redmond, Washington.

For all you serious bikers out there, that may not be far but for a mom who is a weekend warrior ( except for walking) that's a lot!

I also need to send Carolyn my inseam... well... I'm only 4'11' tall. Hopefully they won't give me a kids bike! ( Just kidding! )

I'll be sure to post you a picture of my bike when it's received. Perhaps you have some suggestions on a training program? As the days get longer it'll be easier to get out after work!

Bringing you up to date~

In the last couple of weeks our group eight have met on a weekly conference call to discuss how we are doing and what we are noticing in our progress with ourselves and time with our coaches.

We have also been the recipents of some amazing gifts. Here are some to date~

a. A wonderful box filled with lovely items from the sponsors of the Dr. Pat show!

b. Tickets to The Extraordinary People Series in Seattle Washington. Our next speaker is Michael Beckwith , February 20th at 7 pm @ The Center of Spritual Living in Seattle. You can purchase your ticket at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/46410

c. Our personal certificates which state our personal coaches for our journey. These were based on what we wanted to do and how we were going to pay our journey forward. We'll get into that in some later posts!

Here are my wonderful Coaches for my journey!

a. Dawn Stansfield is my primary coach. You can find out more about Dawn by visiting her
web site @ http://dawnsvision.com/default.aspx. She is a contributor to the Dr. Pat Show.

b. I'll also be working with Chef Curtis Ross. ChefCurtis@greenalchemyfeast.com On an eight week private program. We'll be looking at meal planning, nutrition for our family on the go, look at kitchen organization... oh no! , the dreaded spice assessment! How long have you had yours in the pantry? Stay tuned! We'll all learn something. Tonight is my first visit!

On top of all that, I'll be able to do the following and will be recording my journey on this blog~

a. A Thermography imaging treatment with Dr. Darvish in Bellevue Washington. http://www.drdarvish.com/

b. A Series of one hour body talk System, or PSYCH-K sessions over a period of time. http://www.bodytalkwashington.com/

c. An I AM Creative Session with Richard Carr http://www.richardcarr.com/

d. Sessions with Tom Liota at WeXL Financial Wellness http://www.debtfreemca.com/

I know I threw a lot of people and web sites at you but I just wanted to share how generous all these individuals were to the show and myself. Every day I'll be posting what I'm doing with these coaches and how my project is moving forward.

I'm thrilled to have you involved in my journey!

First Post to an exciting Journey

Hello~
I'm posting after a long day at work, my son's basketball game, take out dinner ( too late to cook at 7:30 pm ) and navagating a Google Blog web site! I have to say that you can teach an old dog new tricks! We'll just see if I can get into the site tomorrow!

For those that don't know me I am a single mom in Redmond Washington. I rise early at 5 am each morning to take my dauchsand Ginger out and proceed to get on with the daily chores and emails prior to waking up kids and getting us all off for school and work each week day. What follows work is a scramble to get to some kind of sports practice, dinner, laundry, "homework" for work, and the kid's school work. By 9:30 pm, I'm beat!

What makes me not your mom next door is that I am in the first three weeks of my journey on the Dr. Pat Holistic Makeover. Who is Dr. Pat? What is a Holistic Makeover? You'll find out soon~

Why did I start this post? So many incredible things were happening to me that each day I wanted to capture for you some incredible people I was being introduced to during this process. My hope is that I can share and you'll be able to follow along and we'll all grow together.

The question that Dr. Pat will ask of you is..... "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?". Well??? I asked myself that question and that's what got me here to this blog!

Enjoy my posts each day and please share your comments!