I mentioned this waaaay back when, but I’ve recently gotten it off the ground. Simply Primal is where I’ll be yammering on about the virtues of a grainless lifestyle (or, you know, just posting lots of pictures of delicious food, & ways to make that food). Come check it out!

I’m not entirely sure how this happened – I’m not really one to take on more than I can handle. I have no problems saying “no” when offered a project I have no interest or time to invest in, or letting others take on some of my work. I’m busy enough as it is.

But somehow, um, a whole lot of stuff has crept up on me. A whole lot of BIG STUFF. In the next weeks, I am…

» kicking off & running the 2010 teen summer reading program (code name: Teen SRP 2010)
» having yet another HUGE party to celebrate the Eclipse movie premiere (they’re the Harry Potter parties I didn’t get to throw)
» moving to a brand new apartment (this also means I’ll be packing-unpacking-decorating-setting up-etc)
» getting married! (it’s a really simple, easy thing, but even so, I have invitations to get out, plans to make with the restaurant we’ll be dining at, & countless other little things I’m sure I’ve forgotten.

I’m so excited about all the things in my life at the moment, & am so grateful that even if things aren’t going quite as I hoped they would, AMAZING (*wink*) things are happening right now. No, we’re not moving across the country as we had hoped we could, at least not right now, & no, I don’t have a shiny new job that I’m starting, but changing both name & address, & starting wonderful new things at work should keep me content for a long, long time. Eventually we’ll get to the sunnier climes of the West Coast, but until then, I’ll be living across the street from my place of employment. No more driving in the snow for me!

But as you can imagine, I haven’t had time to blog. Ironically, over the last few weeks I’ve thought of many things I’d like to blog about, I decided I want to start a new blog about primal cooking (it seems there are a lot of people who start who have no idea how to cook), & really want to dig back into my teen services blog. Why does the inspiration always hit when I really can’t sacrifice the time?

So I promise, come mid-July, my posting will become more regular, & hopefully back to the good old days of three-four times a week. There may be an inspirational post sprinkled in here & there in the meantime, & April will still be around, so stay tuned!

A few months ago, I blogged about my journey into primal living. Since then, I’ve discovered a lot of things about myself – mainly that my favorite food really is a big salad (it tastes like summer!) & that hey, I feel like crap if I eat anything containing gluten! It’s still a work in progress, but I’ve lost about 15 pounds, several inches, feel tons better. I think I’m sleeping better, & most of the aches & pains I used to feel are gone.

Because I admire Mark Sisson & all the work he does, I wanted to give back & purchase the book that accompanies the blog. Yeah, most of it is right there on his blog, but if you’ve gone looking, there’s a lot of information to wade through. Personally, I’d rather have it right there on the shelf when I need to check something, & I’d like to be able to lend it to someone else who’s interested.

Today, March 17, 2010, Mark is hosting a special on the Primal Blueprint. All the details are here. I took advantage of it, & so should you!

Update: To understand why I so admire Mark & his health philosophy, take a look at his guest post at Zen Habits. I think we’ve taken food to strange new levels of gross, & we think of fitness in such odd ways. Although I’ve still got a long way to go until I reach optimal health levels, I’ve thought for a long time that we ought to fill our bodies with whole, fresh foods & less of the processed junk that requires half a Super WalMart. For most people, eating healthy is no more expensive than the boxed cereal & bagged corn chips that fill their carts. Yes, when taken to extremes, “healthy eating” can be quite expensive, but I find the costs of organic lettuce, local apples, & cage-free eggs no more costly than when I was eating spaghetti & frozen pizza. We can’t all afford grass-fed beef & organic vegetables (right now I’m only buying lettuce & carrots as organic; everything else is pathetic & far too expensive) but I think we can all, with a few exceptions, cut back on the amount of processed junk we eat.

This is a typical day for me:
Breakfast – slice of deli roast beef, one hardboiled egg, 1/2 cup of fresh fruit OR one banana spread with almond butter OR two eggs, three pieces of bacon
Lunch – big salad with variety of vegetables & chicken or bacon or walnuts & olive oil; two squares of dark chocolate
Afternoon snack – handful (10 or so) of raw, unsalted almonds. I’ve been eating these for several years now, & I don’t even like the salted variety any more.
Dinner – 16 ounce soup (last night I had cream of roasted chicken & mushroom) from our local soup place

Occassionally, I splurge & eat potatoes with breakfast or enjoy the fries at Five Guys. I don’t personally see anything wrong with potatoes on their own, but as I’m in the process of losing weight, I let them go. When our Girl Scout cookies came in, I didn’t panic & throw away the box – instead I’ve enjoyed one or two at a time. Even if I do slip & eat the hunk of bread that comes with my Greek salad at Panera, I don’t feel guilty – instead, I really savor the flavor. To be honest, I do pay for it later, with stomach cramps & achey joints for hours.

But this new path is a better way to live, & I encourage everyone to check out Mark’s work. Again, all the details on the special one-day-only offer can be found here. I’m not making money doing this; I simply want to spread the word. Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day!

I’m kind of a hippie.  I tell my Mom it’s her fault.  I mean, she named me April Rose, which sounds like some kind of air freshener.  It’s only a step above Spring Rain in my opinion, so she should have known.

I’ve been a hippie for a long time.  In seventh grade I was wearing bell bottoms and discussing the Vietnam War.  In seventh grade, it was 1997.  I guess you could say I had identity issues, but I related with the lifestyle.  I remember writing in a sixth grade journal that when I grew up I wanted to be comfortable.  A lot of the kids around me would prefer to be rich and successful, but I was searching for equilibrium.

Now I’m an adult, believe or not, and that spirit never left me.  I’ve always considered myself pretty green and natural, but it wasn’t until recent years that I started working on that actively.  In the last few months, I’ve begun to realize that the steps I was taking weren’t nearly enough.  I think I was looking at my actions compared to the actions of some of those around me.  I was doing better than a lot of them so that meant I was doing good enough.  As the natural living / green / whatever-you-want-to-call-it movement has been catching on, I’ve seen a lot of people start taking bigger steps and I’ve realized how small my steps have been.  More people are feeling responsible for the way we treat our environment, our neighbors and our bodies and I want to join them.

I am excited about the changes I’m making in my life and I want to share them with others.  I love reading other people’s blogs and seeing their great ideas.  I want to be able to participate in that community as more than an observer.  I’m so glad that Sarah has asked me to contribute to Simply Sunshine.  I’m excited to share fun crafts, recipes and resources as well as my frustrations and success on pursuing a more natural, sustainable life.

Thanks for sharing the journey with me!

I’ve been doing this far too often, but real life calls. I’m dealing with some personal stuff & nursing a sick kitty, but I’ll return to regular posting soon. In the meantime, spend some time in reflection & listen to the falling rain. See ya later!

Over the weekend, you may have noticed some changes to simplysunshine.net – at times, some very bizarre ones. I hemmed & hawed over several schemes, including a few with the ever popular binder background as well as with the more complicated grassy footer. In the end though, I stuck with my intuitions and stuck with a minimalist theme inspired by an old LiveJournal layout I’ve used in the past.

You’ll also notice that the logo is completely new; I’m rather proud to tell you that I may that little cloud all by myself using nothing by default Photoshop 7.0 brushes – but I’d be lying if I said I was able to do it in one go. I must’ve made at least a dozen clouds before I finally settled upon a shape I really liked.

There’s far less over on the sidebar than they’re used to be – indeed, I did this purposely. I’m tired of the clutter I see on so many other blogs, begging you to click their links in order to make a bit of pocket change. Although I do still have a few Google AdSense ads throughout the pages that make up simplysunshine.net, I realized long ago that I blog because I love sharing what I know, & not because I’m trying to make money. Sure, I’d love to be among those that blog for a living, but if I never reach that point, I hope to continue nonetheless.

That being said, I am going to try something new over here, & that is some local advertising. I know a lot of people who’ve started blogs or crafty shops lately, & I know when I first started out & was looking for some quick & easy (& cheap!) places to advertise, I didn’t find many. I hope to offer what I couldn’t find by offering these rates:

» One week: $5
» One month: $15
» Six months: $60
» One year: $100

If you’re interested, head over to the Advertising page for more information, & shoot me an email!

As you can imagine, I’m not *quite* finished over here. I mentioned last week that I’m a perfectionist of the highest degree, & there are many little things that need tweaking – pages, links, content, etc. I’ll be working on the blog throughout the week, so be sure to let me know what you think of the new design scheme!