SHARING THE LOVE THIS VALENTINES DAY

If you hadn't already clued on, yep, it's Valentines Day this weekend. Whether you believe/participate/love or hate it, I see it as an excuse to eat more chocolate than usual and snuggle up on the couch with a good movie and my gorgeous man. Go all out or not at all... we can all have a little more chocolate in our lives now can't we? 

So here is a small collection of a few recipes I've made over the years that will satisfy any loved-up sweet tooth, is perfect for sharing, and will not ruin your health like a block of Cadbury might.

VALENTINES SPECIAL: 4 RECIPES TO MELT YOUR HEART

If you hadn't already clued on, yep, it's Valentines Day tomorrow. Whether you believe/participate/love or hate it, I see it as an excuse to eat more chocolate than usual and snuggle up on the couch with a good movie and my gorgeous man. Go all out or not at all... we can all have a little more chocolate in our lives now can't we? And after this post stating chocolate can actually help with weight loss... why not?

A Whole Lotta Love in the Air

Ok wow there seems to be so much going on right now and I'm LOVING every little piece of it all!

There sure is alotta love going 'round. And with Valentines Day this Thursday, International Self Love Day this Wednesday, and me trying a little more to my own self-love department... I'm not at all surprised it's all in my radar vision at the moment.

What I see everytime I sit down at my desk :)

Here are a few delicious things going on this week:

- Sacred Self's sending out free self-commitment meditations on Wednesday to newsletter subscribers so make sure you join up here
- The beautiful Melissa Ambrosini has just launched her first ever eBook 12 Steps To Wellness and I grabbed my copy this morning and haven't put it down, I'm LOVING it!
- Jess Ainscough from The Wellness Warrior (who I saw speak at a Womens event up in Cairns last year, and can say first hand she is a delight to listen too), and Melissa are teaming up together to bring us all a free teleseminar Falling In Love With Yourself which I was soooo looking forward to, but my first evening back at college has had to be changed and it's now on Tuesday night! Argh!! Might have to get my man to watch it and fill me in :)

As for me, I've recently began adding some self love practices into my day and the reason being (asides from we all really need to be doing some) is that I simply feel it's time - for me. It's something that I've either ignored, shyed away from, ran away in fear from, or merely thought I was doing (like working out thinking it's a good thing when my body really really couldn't do it). Time is a funny one though - in hindsight it's not. We're all ready when we're ready (to do anything), but this can make for frustrating times when we think we really want to do something, but maybe we're not ready (in the grander schemes of things).

I digress...

So I've began:
- A short grounding and breathing technique each morning and night that only take me 5 minutes, as any longer I know I wouldn't do (this is HUGE for me; I've had massive resistance to meditation for way too long and get super fidgety sitting attempting to allow my thoughts to pass through my mind - I'm much more accostommed to having them come in, hang around, wreak havoc, and leave a mess)
- I've got a list of things I love to do titled Self Love Menu on my wall in front on my laptop, and I do at least one thing from my list everyday
- I'm focusing my attention on the (negative) talk in my head and asking myself if what I'm hearing is really true (I know it never is, but sometimes... woo... hard time convincing myself otherwise)
- I am writing (aiming for daily) in my gratitude journal again
- I'M QUITTING SUGAR starting from today; I felt the time was right to experiment with this for my health (more to come as to why) and Brock is supporting me and joining me for the ride. Exciting!!
- And I'm letting myself and my body just be; not feeling like I have to workout if I'm exhausted, not feeling like I have to study when I'm too tired, not feeling like I have to say Yes to additional work shifts... that list goes on...
- Using my oils more; twice a day or more even! I LOVE using my essential oils, chakra balms, alchemy oils and Bush Flower essences (more on all these beauties at a later date - I can't wait to dive in here with you all)

Little by little I do feel subtle shifts in my thought patterns, in my physical bodily sensations, in my mood and emotions. I'm yet to write up all about how my health is going, but when I'm having a rough day, these little things can make all the difference and be sure to put a smile on my dial  : )

What are you doing to look after yourself at the moment? 
Day by day?
What do you do to enhance your own self love?

I'll leave you with those and a super quick recipe that I found here and will definitely be trying out as a cacao fan, and only recently, a no-sugar girl. Yum Yum.

Love and sweetness
Christie x


Disclaimer for today: No I am not making any money, getting any free products or services from any other above mentioned wonderful females, their businesses or their blogs. I have decided to write about these women as I follow their work, love what they do, and want to share it with you, as I know you will love it all too xx

NOURISH: VALENTINES RASPBERRY TARTS

Have you ever been excited to get creative in the kitchen when you're feeling down, and then putting all your LOVE into what you're doing, even when you're not exactly sure what it is you're doing, to later have everyone try your creation and be WOWed by it?

Ok, so possibly a very lengthy way to ask that question, but still... have you?

It's a strange thing I think - when I'm emotionally feeling like shit (pardon my language there), I get in the kitchen and somehow manage to find so much joy and love that fills my being from top to toe and comes out into what I'm making and getting messy with, which is then tasted in the food. It tastes AMAZING! Just like an Italian mamas spaghetti - always beats the fancy expensive restaurant version doesn't it?

I decided to get in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon coz I was feeling really flat, upset, sad, and lonely. Depleted of any joy really, and I wondered when was the last time I actually got in the kitchen and got my hands dirty? I couldn't remember!! When I'm not feeling happy and can't decribe it any better than just being FLAT it's a sign to get creative. It's what my soul needs. It's where I get rid of the blah energy and bring in loads of bounce and fun! Dancing around to Bruno Mars (addicted to his new CD), hips-a-swingin, birds on the window sill, the kitchen was mine!

So that's exactly what I did. I had an idea of what I wanted to make, but wasn't totally sure so just went with it... and by the end I had these babies -

Banana Choc Fudge Cookies

Top-of-my-head stuff that turned out awesome. Above we have the before shot... and below is the aftermath once having spent a couple of days in the dehydrator.

Chewy, delicious cookies perfect with friends in the afternoon (right Jess?)

And then Valentines Raspberry Tarts.

And what made me smile the most - when I took them into work and over to my cousins and posted them on facebook, I had everyone asking for the recipe! It was actually really nice! Coz again, it was top-of-the-head-stuff! Sure I got inspiration from here, there and everywhere but essentially these are my babies! Looked yummy. Tasted yummier. And they had me feeling yummy.

So here it is;

The Base/s:

1/4 cup ground oat groats

1/2 cup ground cashews

1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil

1/8 cup agave syrup

good pinch of sea salt

Throw it all into a big bowl and mix really well.

The rest of it:

1.

1/3 cup medjool dates, pitted and chopped

few tbsp warm water

Blend these together, adding enough water in tiny tiny bits until it belnds nicely.

2.

3/4 cup raspberries (frozen or fresh)

good squeeze of lime juice

Blend this until smooth, and then push it all through a sieve so that all the tiny seeds are seperated and you're left with nice runny smooth raspberry sauce.

3.

1/4 cup ground cashews

1/4 cup coconut oil

good pich sea salt

tsp vanilla

Blend all these together until smooth.

Putting it all together:

Decide if you want mini tartlets or one big one - and then using wet fingertips, spread your base onto the bottom of whatever you choose to use (silicone moulds, muffin tins, etc). Pop in the freezer to set.

Blend all the filling ingredients together (once you've done each individual step). Grab your bases and start spooning the filling ontop. DO THIS QUICKLY as the coconut oil will set on the cold bases pretty quick. Shake and bang your tarts on the bench so that they even out and become smooth ontop.

Decorate with goji berries, cacao nibs, fresh berries, whatev!

Store in the freezer and eat whenever you need some lovin!!

So there you all go. Unleash your creativity, roll up your sleeves, and SPREAD THE LOVE!

Or try your hand with some raw chocolate... DAVID WOLFE IS HERE! I'm so excited I can't tell you! Tomorrow night is his first lecture here in Sydney and I'm BUZZING so much I feel like I'm on drugs!! CACAO perhaps? Then there's more lectures all weekend and the highly-anticipated RAW CACAO ECSTACY DANCE PARTY!! Wait for those pics hey!! Watch this space! :)

Self Love on Valentines Day

"Don't seek for love. Seek to find and remove the barriers you've built against love." -Rumi

I hope you all had a happy Valentines Day :)

Whatever your take on the day, each year my feelings about it are completley different. When I've been single I've either dreaded it as everyone around me makes their romantic plans... or embraced it and loved having noone with me when I've felt really solid in who I am! This year I have a partner and half of me was really excited about it yet the other half of me wasn't at all. Either way, I think Valentines Day should be about SELF LOVE first and foremost; whether you shared that with a loved one, or decided to cuddle up on the couch with a good book and a cup of tea. I hope you had fun :)

I was more than happy that Brock had work most of the day so I could do what I wanted to do for me first and then see him later on.

My day began early with 4 mangoes then a trip to the organic markets getting some sugar bananas, spaghetti veg and rosehip oil, along with the Sunday paper which is a secret little indulgence of mine :) I got home, had some more mangoes whilst reading the paper and later went for an hour-long mid-morning run which felt FANTASTIC!! I had a beautiful big green salad for lunch with my mum and sister Nikki at home, complete with my favourite raw carrot bread, spread with hemp seed butter. Mmm. Green and creamy :)

Nikki and I wandered up to my local markets after lunch, got some cute little cards and a few cups of walnuts so I could make raw cupcakes for Valentines Day. I wasnt exactly sure what I was going to do or how I was going to do it, but bit by bit I began seeing more and more creations in my head and then the finished product... Voila!!

VALENTINES CUPCAKES!

They are made with LOVE, walnuts, organic carob powder, medjool dates, raspberries and coconut oil. Piece of (cup) cake!

Brock came over late afternoon to whisk me away to our surprise location for the night - a fancy apartment in the city! Complete with a box of fresh delicious produce to snack on for dinner and brekkie! Best present ever!! With all the heavy rain we spent our evening indoors relaxing and catching up after having spent almost a week away from each other. Blissful and perfect.



Yesterday I did some quiet journalling, reading, karma cleaning, even some nude sunbaking in the back yard as the sun let itself be known again after so long without it!

Today I started my day with an old Ayruveda technique called oil pulling, then meditated before a giant sized celery, carrot and ginger cleansing juice for brekkie. YUM! I had my first Italian class after lunch which was so much fun (I'm getting back into the language of LOVE I learnt for so many years)! I felt like an eager school girl on the edge of my chair listening to the words roll so easily off the tongue of my teacher :) Then I BLISSED OUT on mangoes for dinner before 2hours of power yoga and body attack at the gym topping off another AMAZING DAY :)

But lastly, I was presented with the Angel of Relaxation card from my deck this morning when I asked what I needed to know right now;
"Let go of desired outcomes and you will get what you want"

I also read todays page from my book Simple Abundance - A Daybook of Comfort and Joy written by Sarah Ban Breathnach that I read everyday. And it spoke about picking up the double edged sword of Love and Light when feeling frightened or unsure about the future...

"our dragons are our fears; our day stalkers, our night sweats. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failing. Fear of starting something new and not finishing. Again. Or the real fear, the one that sends shivers up our spines: the fear of succeeding, of becoming our authentic selves and facing the changes that will inevitably bring...

we don't know where we're headed and it's very scary...

instead of clarity we feel confused...

always remember, it's simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren't any dragons. But as in the best old tales, at the end of your exploring, you will live happily ever after."

Syncronicity. And it's PERFECT with where I feel I am right now. But then why wouldn't it be? ;)