Monthly Archive Of March 2010


Still Spinning….

March 5, 2010

Click below to listen to People Get Ready by Eva Cassidy:

Is it gonna hurt? Princess Know IT AllI’ve been writing about changes, but I’ve not shared what type of changes are occurring.  That’s because when you are in the “funnel cloud” all you can do is feel – as one’s vision is blurred with all the spinning.

I’ve learned to not get caught in the spin cycles the way I used too. Actually, I think it’s really practice that keeps me focused on my goals.  When I was younger things would get crazy with change and I’d drop out for a few days.

Now I just lay a line to where I’m going or what I want in my life and hold tight.

Being married to Lee is like living in one big old cloud of circular energy,  if you know him than you understand that he ALWAYS has a TON of stuff going on and that he LOVES change, he’s also not one to sit still for very long. I love this side of him, but it makes for windy and sometimes unpredictable sailing.  Currently he has so many projects going that if I tap into his dreaming or direction of things, I can lose my own personal life’s vision.  It’s taken a few years, however I’ve really mastered navigating where I place my attention, lending me to understand what I have control of and what I don’t.  Spinning in circles is pointless and leaks big energy regardless, however when one spins in another beings rinse cycle – the leak can turn into a giant hole!

Years back – I’m talking 12 – a friend of mine went to visit a psychic, this friend of mine took with them a photo of me and handed it to the psychic.  The psychic then told them that I was going to be a well-known writer.   At the time of this reading I didn’t believe this woman because the only thing I’d ever written was inside my private and personal journal – rants and raves about life.

Close to 4 years ago, another friend of mine went to see this same person, she called me and shared her experience – encouraging me to give this gal a shout out and have a reading.  I took the number but felt no reason to call – I was situated in my life in Malibu pregnant with Lola and happy. A few months after Lola was born, I decided to give this “Future Reading Gal” a ring – who KNOWS what she’d tell me.

I got my eye on you! Princess Know IT AllFor the record – I did not tell her about my friend and the photo from years back and I didn’t tell her that I’d actually become a writer.  In fact I told her very little, again “Hi I Got One Eye On You” views everyone with skepticism – especially a psychic!

Right away I liked this gal’s Ohio accent and down home feel. She jumped in, telling me I was about to move.  Of course I argued with her, telling her NO WAY, I LOVED my life and this was not in the plans.  She said “You Are Moving To PARADISE”.  Again with argument “No, I think you are reading where I currently live – Malibu – I have a view of the ocean and a palm tree in my yard.”  She continued…”No doll – you are going to live in the real paradise.” Ignoring me, she continued to tell me about my writing and what was coming.  I giggled, as I was nursing an infant and driving a toddler to and fro- the only thing I was writing were checks once a month to pay the bills.  In fact, the reason I had reached out for a reading was that I’d been going through a phase – wondering if who I had been before Lee and children, was still somewhere deep in there or had she been pushed out along with the placenta?

Guess what?

Within that year we moved to PARADISE – Sayulita, Mexico, where I took an office outside of the house and went back to work – as a writer!

Last Friday my same friend had a chat with this “Future Reading Gal” and called me. “Mee I spoke to the psychic today and she needs to talk to you. What time can she call you.”  Again I was like, no that’s cool I don’t want a reading – my friend was like “No she wants to tell you somethings she is not going to charge you, it’s important.”

So we spoke that night, guess what she said?

I’m moving!

I told her NO she is reading what I just did a month ago,and that I’ve just submitted the girls contracts for next years school year. She told me yeah that’s nice but you will move again- WEST to where there is wind and water.  She said that Bella doesn’t want to return to her current school. I argued, “I can’t keep moving these kids, I can’t keep this gypsy pace up.” Her response was simple “Your kids picked you on a soul level, they are children of the world – this is a gift.” Hmmmmm…..

She said I’m going for work, that there is a deal brewing and I’ve to got stand on my own feet, that it’s time.  She then told me that a gal I just met in Mexico City this past trip is divine intervention – we’ve got a business deal to do.  Funny thing is, I did meet with someone work related and I knew they were a fit because the second I entered their offices I felt a brush of exciting energy blow through me.  The last tip to reveal is she said I’ve got to work my butt off for the next 6 months – putting the plan together.

The rest of the reading I will keep secret , ’cause I don’t want to jinks it!

When we arrived last year I shared that we were here for only 18 months, but there was a definite part of me that was hoping that Nashville could become home.  It would be the best if this were to be true, after all we have a large ranch here and business.  I thought, if just maybe I could find a groove, we could finally rest our gypsy feet; I must mention that Nashville IS a lovely city with tons to offer.

Meeting Marielle and her girls have been a very positive influence on our life here.  Marielle is from the “A Tulips Tears” post….When she came to my house a year ago it was like I knew I could breath, her girls were a fit with mine and she and I instantly understood each other.  Marielle has lived all over the world and traveled a great deal.  She is Belgium and born in Mexico City, her family speaks French, English and Spanish.  Instantly Bella and her oldest daughter latched on to eachother, relating to one another’s large worldly views – they also shared the same family conversations “where will we go next? How long are we here for?”

In fact this is how many of Marielle’s and my conversations began, we’d sit at her breakfast nook table, surrounded by red walls and giant windows – I’d stare out the window talking about life out there (Nashville has really been a place we feel is lived inside – as no one walks or physically connects on the street often) and how we wondered who it is we were actually becoming.  You see Nashville has been, for the both of us, a place to rest, reflect and grow.  It is not our community, so socializing isn’t part of our deal here. Here is about family, husbands and for me work and healing my body.  Both of us have found inspiration in each other as we have discussed how we see our lives progressing on all levels.  Our conversations are not shallow and for me they have been wonderful little moments of connection, something I crave and feast upon.

I’m really quite cat-like in how I live life, I don’t need constant attention and once I connect with someone I am easily satisfied – fulfilled with knowing I have my “people”.  So NO, Nashville is not my heart’s desire but I’ve built a world here, my work is cranking, my health is better than it’s EVER been, I love my new house and I’ve got a couple folks to share thoughts with, plus the girls now have Marielle’s girls. I’ve made a point to car pool with them and keep a consistent weekly play date. Bella is like me – it just takes one person -in this same way, she and Ines have formed a close friendship and she is totally fulfilled.

Last night Marielle announced to me that they are returning to Mexico City the first of June…

I am sad.

I'm fine without you Princess Know IT AllI feel for Bella, as I remember my friend Heather Kelly moving away to Oregon when I was 8 years old.  My mother was supposed to load up the U Haul and move with them as Heathers momma was a single parent heading west to start over.  The day the truck came for their belongings, I cried into my pillow, for two reasons…one that I wanted us to start over and two that my close friend was leaving.  For certain this is where my “Hi I’m Fine With Out You” grabbed a hold! Of course, the list of places that she gained leverage in my personality is giant, but this moment was the first time that my heart broke and I understood why.

Ines is Bella’s friend at school, they have become each others “people.”  The problem with her school is that it’s tiny, all of the other kids have their person and hers is leaving. She’d mentioned before that she wanted to change schools, I ignored it, thinking maybe it was just middle of the year blues, then this week, she stated her case with the clarity and specifics of an adult!  I heard her…then she talked to her teacher – I thought this would convince her to stay – instead she asked me to not talk to her teacher until we visited other schools.  Hmmm..OK.

Then last night, after discussing that Ines is leaving, she again asked to pursue another avenue.  Once again Princess Know It All doesn’t KNOW what to do…do I remove her from the school and then remove her again if we move in a year?  Do I hear her, and listen to her as she asked for more structure in her classroom – she is in a Montessori elementary school so it’s a lot of independent learning.

I think I’ve just landed along my first cliff…..will I jump?

What I realized yesterday as Marielle and I sat looking out the window once again, like we always do, is that time is moving and if I’m not mindful I will miss the moment.  Marielle and I have shared wonderful conversations, about parenting, life, and living in a world that is not ours.  She says that it’s like Nashville is a stop along a train track, one where you get off and rest – protected in comfy homes with rolling lawns.  I stared out her wonderful window seeing that soon I be on the other side, looking back into a room where I once sat.

Again I am moved to emotion as I  am reminded of something I KNOW: It’s always unclear who will have great influence upon me and the amount of time of the encounter is irrelevant.

Marielle showed up in my life at a time where all I needed were tiny talks and a simple friend.

Dont make me connect! Princess Know IT AllI awoke in the middle of the night feeling like that 8 year old child once again, watching yet another friend load a U Haul and re-board her train.  Destiny is a wonderful gift, Marielle and her husbands original assignment was Los Angeles and then his company’s headquarters moved to Nashville. We were meant to connect and influence one another.  As much as my “HI PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME CONNECT” wants to pop up to protect me from change, I can’t allow her.

This morning I contacted a small catholic school next to the Convent and 2 blocks from my house, I will visit them next week and maybe my new beginning is here or just maybe the psychic gal is right and we too will head west to WATER AND WIND, is this Mexico or Malibu, I don’t know – but she did say “RETURN”.

I guess, I won’t KNOW until this funnel cloud stops spinning.

DEAR PKIA: UDDERLY SQUEEZED!

March 2, 2010

Dear PKIA,

What is up with dairy, and do you eat it? My son is 2 years old and every time I go to the pediatrician they ask how much milk he drinks. I feel squeezed to fill his sippy cup and I myself don’t drink it.

Signed
Feeling like an Udder

Princess Know It All Dear PKIA

Dearest Udder,

I hear you on the milk front and what goes down at the pediatricians, however my kids don’t drink milk either.  Lola had the worst eczema ever and once I removed the dairy, her skin cleared up.  So, every time I go to the pediatrician’s office and they ask how much milk my baby drinks, I say NONE – they eat their calcium. So here I am, arming you with a list (click here for the list) to cook for your babies and to serve up some info to your doctor. Remember that it’s all about empowering yourself and digging deep. Once you have all the information, you can make the right choices and won’t feel so squeezed when the doctor gives you the “dairy speech.”

So check this out, today we were workin’ away at our favorite coffee shop – Frothy Monkey – and we love their coffee, but they don’t carry rice milk or almond milk, only soy milk – a couple months back, I told them about the problem with soy milk – carrageenan. (For those of you who follow this blog, you may remember my post “The Digging detective” a few months back…if you didn’t get a chance to check it out, do so by clicking HERE!)
Today, as I go up to order my much needed cup o’ joe, the Barista proudly announced that he had taken my advice, and started searchin’….and guess what, he found all the info about carrageenan, went to Whole Foods to research and found the Silk Almond Milk brand, which they now serve at the coffee shop, so you see it’s all about empowering ourselves with our choices.  I LOVE the emails and comments that folks share, ’cause it means that this site is doing what it set out to do INSPIRE!

First of all, I don’t eat ANY dairy, not because dairy is BAD, but because it forms a mucus lining in OUR digestive tracks that block the absorption of nutrients from other food. Use this as an example, if you have a really snotty nose due to an awful cold and then you drink a big cup of milk what happens?  You become more congested, well the same goes for our intestines – they too suffer from congestion!

I also happen to have an intolerance to dairy since birth, when I was 9 years old, my mother began to re-introduce dairy, I didn’t seem to have immediate pain so therefore we thought I was good.  If I had paid attention and maybe only had tiny increments of dairy I probably would have been good, however lactose, casein and other milk proteins are in just about every package of processed food on the planet and even if I didn’t drink glasses of milk or eat mounds of cheese, dairy found it’s way into me and over time, a build up was forming.

I hear all ya’ll giving me the “well how do you get calcium and vitamin D?”  The answer to that is eating greens…if we ate 3/4 ‘s of these veggies our calcium levels would be through the roof!  Plus our levels of inflammation would be at all time LOW numbers.  So, every time I go to the pediatricians office and they ask how much milk my baby drinks ,I say NONE, they eat their calcium. Vitamin D is something that is ADDED to MILK and is naturally absorbed via the skin, so if you live in a cold climate like I do, take a supplement & give them to your kids.  The now have tiny vitamin D’s tablets that melt under the tongue!

I’m not against dairy, I just think that once again we need to read our labels and NOT how many calories are in the box, but what is in the box and then pay attention to what ingredients we are feeding ourselves over and over again.

Remember, back in the day (I’m talking ANCESTRALLY) folks didn’t have tons of cows, if any at all and that milk they got was saved and used sparingly. Most folks drank goats milk and in the Middle East, Camel milk is used for infants that are not nursed (the belief is that Camels milk is the closest to human milk).

When I first changed my eating habits, I was really uptight about my girls eating dairy, my new approach is when we are home we don’t have it, if they attend a party and there is pizza than they can have a slice.  BALANCE & MODERATION is the key….

Sincerely,
Princess Know It All

PKIA SPRING ISSUE!!!!!!

Yahoo it’s March and we made it!

Princess Know It All

Check it all out, there is tons of new stuff on our site!

As our Spanish following is growing we’ve added PKIA Guia de estilo (Spanish style guide) and PKIA Beauty our new Beauty section, and for our Spanish followers, the spanish version of PKIA Beauty – PKIA Bella!

I’ve received so many emails requesting a recipe page and now it’s up too (in the left navigation bar)! PKIA Radio is bringing you an interview on SUGAR with Big Blend and Dear PKIA has been moved to the left navigation bar also…Dear PKIA is all about the dairy this month and in the Style Guide I am rocking high waisted jeans!!!

PKIA RECIPES: A COLORFUL MEAL

Princess Know It All Shopping list a colorful meal

Download and print the shopping list here!

INSTRUCTIONS:

First make your marinate. What I DIDN’T KNOW when I made this video is to plop all of my ingredients into a food processor so that means the garlic, onions, ginger, Mirin, Tamari and a bit of sesame oil. I blend it up and then pour it over the fish, soaking the salmon is a sauce! Add a bit of water or more Mirin and Soy if your doing it this way. I then place the Marinated Salmon in the fridge and when I return home in the afternoon I either put the entire glass dish into a hot oven 350 degrees and cook it until it’s 160 in temp. (use a meat thermometer).
If you choose to cook your Salmon in a skillet like me, it takes about 10 minutes.

One small piece of ginger grated or crushed, once again add more if you like it spicy
4 cloves of garlic chopped or crushed – the garlic takes the fishy flavor away and adds a nice kick, you can use more or less
One tablespoon of Mirin
One tablespoon of Tamari or Shoyu Soy Sauce
A half of chopped red or yellow onion (once again more depending on your taste buds)
2 tablespoons of Sesame Oil

Be sure to add your broccoli to the skillet the last 5 minutes of cooking!

Salmon: Wild Caught Salmon is the best, as opposed to farm raised, here I used a medium sized filet. This amount usually feeds my family of 4 easily, remember we want our plates to be full of veggies and our fish or meat fills only a quarter of the space on our plates.

The Purple Sweet Potatoes are cake, wash them off really good by using a veggie scrub brush and then add them to a full pot of water, let them cook until they are soft all the way through. Once you’ve peeled the skin add them to a bowl with your coconut milk and sweetener, bust your mixing wand and mash away! Kids love these because of the color!!

PKIA RECIPES: MILLET

Shopping list 2_MILLET

Download and print the shopping list here!

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Soak your millet in a glass bowl over night with the kombu in it.
2. In the morning, remove kombu, strain Millet and rinse.
3. Heat your olive oil in the skillet, then add chopped onions and garlic, cook the onions until they are clear, then add your strained millet. I also chop up the kombu and add it in too!
4. Totally toast this millet, covering it with the flavors in the skillet. Once it seems toasty, I add 3 cups of water. I bring it to a boil, I lower the heat after it boils for a few minutes and then toss in my pinch of salt, cover and let simmer on low for 35 minutes (just like rice).

Real Time Web Analytics