My Birthday Party--and Pushing Myself

Happy March with rainbow sunsets and spring in the air!

There are so many thoughts, concepts, ideas and threads that I want to share on here, and then 'real life' has its own rhythms and events, and so this blog becomes a 'backlog!' To wit, yesterday was my birthday, and so my PUFA follow-up must wait until I've shared some delicious aftermaths of our little party yesterday and some thoughts and intentions that I'm working on for this 'new year' of mine.

Pushing Myself
I'm feeling the need to 'push myself' a bit, in a loving way: to move outside of my comfort zone at times and to show myself what I can do.  At one end of things, that means that today, I spent the whole morning "de-cluttering," accepting that even with the limitations of two fairly messy people living in a tiny cabin, clutter can be a sign of stuck energy and that attending to it might feel good. On a different note, remember that very tall (60ft) dead spruce tree we have, where the eagles like to perch, that's featured on here a few times?

Phil climbed and sat on top (right where that eagle is) around sunset a couple nights ago, and I decided that it was time I climbed it again: it's been ages since I did. So, I climbed most of the way up (didn't feel the need to dislodge Phil from the top), I stayed up there and watched the sunset, I got cold, I climbed back down again. But the rest of the story is that I was SCARED! I was aghast at how afraid I was, and a bit ashamed too: by the time I got back to the ground, my legs were shaking. It didn't help that I was cold and it didn't help that a half hour earlier I'd fallen on my butt hard on the ice, but sheesh--I used to climb coconut trees! I used to zip up this tree with no problem. What happened to me? On the other hand, I'm glad that I did it anyway: interesting how we can train ourselves out of fears, but when out of practice, they can resurface.

Other 'de-cluttering' and 'loving upheavals' include updating my resume, a writing class later this week, and more audio learning: I've been listening in to the Tapping World Summit these past days. I knew very little about Tapping before but I can tell that if I stick with it, it has the potential to be a very powerful transformational tool.

Party with 'Ela-Friendly Foods' Focus!
Our lovely friends and family suggested that the potluck theme for my party should be a plethora of 'Ela-friendly' foods! I was a little apprehensive at first, as I didn't want anyone to feel alienated (even vegetarianism is 'way out' here, let alone my further parameters) and so I was glad that there was a big pot of chilli with cheese and sour cream for those who need that kind of thing--but I didn't manage to take a picture of it!

Here's what we had:
a delightful Thai-spiced vegetable soup--it was so good...

...a beautiful green salad with lentils that were just delectable (I realized just last year that lentils may be my version of 'comfort food,' being what I was raised on, etc)...

Something I put together: wild rice soaked overnight, lightly cooked, tossed with a little coconut oil, peas, carrots, olives, fennel, lime juice and a little salt...

...a quinoa salad...

...two kinds of cornbread, one gluten free, one not (I was so spoiled for choice, I just had a crumb of the gluten free one, and it was good!)...

...and of course, I brought one of my green salads: this time with grapefruit, mung bean sprouts, avocado...

But best of all, of course, was dessert!

Mint-chip cheesecake from Sweet Gratitude. I had so much fun making this earlier in the day! I made it pretty much per the recipe, unusually for me, except that I used coconut nectar instead of agave, and added a little peppermint extract because I was using spearmint leaves and think peppermint is a better 'dessert' flavor. Oh, and I used mac nuts in place of almonds in the crust. That's really as close as I ever get to following a recipe!
My thriftstore cake pan is a little warped, and whaddaya know? I was gifted a set of three springform pans! I have some observant friends...I was also given an icing bag, and look forward to playing with that soon. And speaking of observant friends, I often bring a crockpot full of goodies to potlucks, and have arrived splattered with the contents after driving bumpy roads--well, I was given a 'portable crockpot' with a gasketed top and a special closing mechanism, so that it will be both more energy-efficient and portable without mishaps! Much gratitude...
Back to dessert, I finished the cheesecake with cacao nibs around the sides...

This piece was cut in half after the photograph was taken--everyone was already full! There were seven of us and we barely ate a third of the cake! Come over anytime...

Sweet Gratitude was an appropriate source and energy: I felt so sweetly grateful that everyone was so willing to accept and enjoy my arena of food choices, felt accepted, appreciated, loved and 'seen.' Thank you, everyone! I also want to thank my Mum for being my Mum: for my birthday last year, I wrote a post specifically thanking my Mum and acknowledging what an inspiration she is, and that's just as true this time around.