Happy Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again! Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Hopefully you are all preparing and planning to have a great day off tomorrow. I love Thanksgiving because it's a chance to make great food, eat great food and sit and bask in the appreciation of all good things in your life. So, enjoy your day, your friends and family - and everything about you. Here's a gluten-free pumpkin pie recipe I made recently using a different kind of pumpkin - a Kabocha! It has a strong yet sweet flavor and moist, fluffy texture like roasted chestnuts. It's also called a Japanese pumpkin or Japanese squash and found in the winter squash section of your grocery store. I love this pumpkin because it's smaller to handle with a small amount of seeds to scoop out and you don't need to load your pie up with sweeteners since it's naturally sweet.

Enjoy! ❤

adriennevita_pierecipe

Lapis Lazuli

This weeks gemstone came to me because I saw the most beautiful 1 1/2 inch round lapiz and sterling silver vintage ring. It unfortunately didn't fit my finger but I was reminded how much I've always loved this stone. Lapis is typically a little on the pricey side, I have a piece I keep on my desk but it looks spectacular in jewelry - its brilliant blue cannot go unnoticed. Lapis is formed by multiple minerals, mostly Lazurite, Sodalite, Calcite and Pyrite. It is a rich medium to royal blue with white (calcite) and gold flecks (pyrites). It is generally found in Russia, Afghanistan, Italy, Chile, United States, and Egypt where one of the mines dates back to 4000 B.C.

Known for its beauty and metaphysical properties; Lapis Lazuli activates the higher mind and enhances intellectual ability. This is a great stone for strengthening memory and encouraging truth - written or spoken. As it promotes calm and loving communication, it's best to wear near your throat area. When you want to attract success, promotion and lasting recognition, this is a good rock to have around. It also can be very healing to use for general pain and inflammation.

Put a rock in your pocket, under your pillow, meditate with it or adorn yourself with it for the day. However you use it, gemstones are very good to use for point-of-focus and intention setting for the day or night.

Enjoy. ❤

adriennevita_lapis

Trust Your Gut

Let's talk this week about trusting your gut. By this I mean, you set the tone of your energy which then directs the course of your moment, your day, and even your life. In this culture, we seem to be heavily focused on the outside world and not enough on our own energy. One way is getting too much in your head or asking too many questions to others which can result in losing your inner guidance when you need it most. It's totally understandable why we all do it sometimes. The outer world is easy to focus on, it's tangible, it moves in real time and it can be intoxicating. If people give you wonderful feedback, it feels great and on some level you feel validated. But honestly all it means is they were simply in a good mood when you had your interaction with them. Sure, it hurts to get rejection and it feels really good to get praise. But you can't hinge anything on your audience or the outside world. If you pay too much attention to your audience, your relationship with yourself starts to wobble. You give your power away and it dims your true voice. Audiences are diverse and fickle. You never know what mood they're in or where their coming from or if they've eaten that day yet or anything! So why care what they think? What they think (positive or negative) has so so so little to do with you. One person's opinion is just that - an opinion. It doesn't make it true for you. Caring less about what others think takes practice - and soon you'll find that your relationship with yourself is the only thing that matters. Do what makes you happy, trust your gut and give zero f*cks about it! This portrait is of style icon Iris Apfel who constantly follows her gut and her bliss.

"I don’t dress to be stared at, I dress for myself." ~ Iris Apfel

❤

Selenite

This week I wanted to talk about the crystal Selenite. If you've ever held one of these stones you will notice it has a chalky feel to it. The word "selenite" comes from the greek root word for "moon". Selenite is a crystallized form of gypsum and is a hydrous calcium sulfate. It's minerals, formed by evaporating salt water in land locked bodies isolated from the open ocean, were one of the first ones formed. It's a very soft stone and very beautiful in its unusual formations. Selenite usually comes in stick or wand shapes. It can be sculpted into shapes or carved to allow candle light to illuminate through it. Selenite is great remover of negativity and any blocks to healing. It's a protection stone and aids in strengthening truth and intuition. It's a special stone to have around your house, as it clears other stones naturally if you place them near or on it.

Desert Rose is in the Selenite family but round in shape and almost fibrous looking. Desert Rose is a great stone to strengthen the power of positive affirmations. It brings mental clarity and intuitive perception. It's also used to quiet worries and still the mind from distractions and busy thoughts.

Another in the Selenite family is Golden Ray or Sunset Gold Selenite. It has similar fibrous "fins" like the desert rose but more cluster like shape. This stone is a beautiful high vibration type stone that brings love, joy and trust in your life. It is said that if you trade or gift selenite to someone, it can reconcile relationship differences.

All three of these Selenites are ones to collect so check out any of these stones if you can!

Enjoy ❤

Happy Halloween

We're in the week of Halloween! Such a fun time to celebrate costumes, folklore, gourds, squashes and all things spooky. When I was a kid my costumes varied every year from those store bought 1970's plastic masks with the paper-like body smock; to being a witch, a ghost, and a punk rocker. I went through periods where I stopped dressing up and then resumed again if there was some kind of fun party. So then came the washed-up debutante, a hairdresser (complete with husband wearing a smock and an f'd up wig), Rosemary with her devil baby, a baton twirler, J. Woww,  Edith Bouvier Beale from Grey Gardens, a scary masked ghost, a fortune teller and then Molly Ringwald from the movie Sixteen Candles. This year I'm keeping it low key with making a pumpkin pie, setting out a few pumpkins on my stoop and watching some thrillers and scary movies. I'm really enjoying seeing the kids wearing their costumes a few weeks in advance and I love seeing them walk around the neighborhood gathering candy. :)

What are you up for All Hallows Eve? I'd love to hear about it.

Trick or treat! ❤