~* A glimpse into a jar of green lentils all sprouted out and delicious looking *~



So I feel like a little kid right now, for a week now I've been sprouting beans and seeds and it is the coolest most rewarding activity I've done in awhile.  We came across a book called 'Sprout For the Love of Every Body' a few weeks ago, it was written 30 years ago and is a basic how to for sprouting and indoor gardening.  I've read it more than once now and roughly a week ago jumped right into growing them.  It's been amazing.


My wife Chrissy and I have been eating primarily organic for some time now and most of the summer and fall we ate as locally as possible.  This winter we knew our options for nutritious fruits and vegetables was going to be limited and when we learned about sprouts the answer was quite clear that we needed to get into it.  Think about it, you cannot get any more local than growing your own organic food in your house.  And of course another amazing attribute to eating sprouts every day (and ideally with every meal or juiced) is that you are eating a living food.  The nutritional benefits of sprouts is truly mind boggling.  Between sprouted beans, seeds, and grasses you virtually need little else in your diet.  They have it all, complete protein, all the essential amino acids, the good fats, and once again they're freakin' alive!



Did I mention this is really fun to do and I feel like a little kid every day seeing these things grow before my very eyes?  We have been graciously reaping the harvest of a couple of different sprouted goodies already and I can tell you it truly feels good to eat food that I lovingly helped to grow.  We can all be indoor gardeners this winter and when you consider the economical benefit of sprouting beans and seeds, your paying for bulk organic seeds and you will harvest several times your original purchase as you sprout 'em up.



The steps and process to sprout is mighty simple, you can grow them in a closet or cupboard if you'd like.  All you need is wide mouth glass jars, water, a screen of some sort (cheese cloth works well), and if you soak them and drain them twice a day you will be rewarded with living, organic, super foods that you grew right in your own home.  Doesn't that sound wonderful? 



With root vegetables like carrots, beets, and radishes if you cut 1/4 inch or so from the leaf end and place that in some water in a dish a little below the top in about 7 to 10 days you get to clip the greens and the whole process starts right back over.  You add the greens to salads or just eat them right then and there, the chlorophyll (among many nutritional goodies) is incredibly healthy for you in these, it is after all one of the primary building blocks of all life on this blessed planet.  It is similar to hemoglobin so it is essentially helping your body regenerate blood cells and keep you young.

I could go on for days about how much I'm loving sprouting right now, I won't though.  What I will do is lovingly encourage you to look into it yourself, go on-line and research about it or get a book on it and get right into it.  Your mind, body, and spirit will thank you for doing so.  Remember, sprouts, like all living things responds to your energy and attitude so it is always beneficial to keep your growing environment warm, positive, and full of love.

Happy sprouting!

~Joe


~*~ Oh yeah, one more enlightening note to end on, if your sprout your beans (any and all can be sprouted) before cooking them in chili or any dish for that matter you will be delighted to know you will not have the gas usually accompanied with eating these foods.  By sprouting your beans the gas agent is eliminated!

I have to start by dusting my finger tips, it seems ages since I've released words in this medium and now I feel refreshed to acknowledge the act and exercise that is this writing.  I have decided to put these thoughts to use by formulating sentences in an honest attempt to share something with you.

But it is more than just sharing, I look forward to humbly contributing to our collective consciousness through any and every possible expression of human potential. 

Keep in mind I'm not writing this for your sake, I'm writing it for mine.  It's a sincere admission and you are free to draw any conclusions from it you wish. 

I have been practicing yoga more consistently and giving my body more attention so that through this awareness I can focus on areas that can be improved upon in my being.  I also had a massage yesterday that is to be the first in a weekly exchange with my good friend Joshua, who  earnestly  stated to me that this will be an ongoing journey and that in a way I am his subject.  His ultimate goal is to work out all points of tension while focusing on bringing me to my most pristine state of physical being. 

I can dig that.

I realize that each moment has so much to offer and if I am ready and willing to face everything, especially the fear, and simply though boldly move in a harmonious flow then I'll be where I envision myself fully living, in every moment, consciously creating.

A natural pause presented itself between this sentence and the last, my daughter Joy awoke from her nap and so sweetly beckoned me to love on her.  I was more than obliged, I sang and cooed to her instinctively as I came in to pick her up. I then began to prepare some food with my free hand for her all the while bouncing her in my arm still humming with nonsensical delight.  This little girl nearly has me by the soul already.  The brightness in her silver blue eyes that let's me know that it's all good right now and the future is going to be beautiful too.

I look forward to writing more and getting into the positive habit of doing so daily again.  Alas this entry will be wrapped up for I will happily be snuggling with my wife and child for the remainder of the night.  Cheers to every one everywhere, let us spin and flow into the light of tomorrow.

Love and Joy,

~J

~* Getting ready to hop on the Max and be transported to the Better Living Show *~



I could have added Blessings to the end of the title of this, instead, I use it here. 

Blessings are our every moment.

Blessings make it all possible.

Blessings are gratitude's reward.

This life, how much fun can we make it?  Remembering to breathe seems to benefit my reality, I'm guessing the same goes for you.  That and a refreshing glass of water and you don't require much else right?  Well, of course there is more to it than these but my goodness gracious goddess they sure do more than just help make the ride possible.

I attended the Better Living Show at the Portland Expo Center and it was quite an enjoyable and enriching experience.  I gathered some good information (and ideally retained a fair deal of it as well) from a number of different groups/businesses/communities who are all dedicating a portion of their existence to making a difference.  It was awesome.

It is great to be in a City that is so progressively and consciously flowing in positive directions.  I love it here.  When I think about the hiking, sight seeing, and disc golfing I haven't even participated in within such close proximity gets me stoked right up.  All that and we have a garden that is just itching to get going in the back yard, oh my am I pleased with the present while also looking delightfully (and patiently) towards the future. 

Blackalicious.  Are you familiar with this musical group?  Please, I encourage you to take a listen to them when you can.  A nice quick way to check them out is to pop on to Pandora and start a new station and type them in, in a few seconds you'll have one of their songs playing, it's a pretty sharp program and website.  You can listen to one song and then a half of a similar style one before they request you join, it is free, and then you have access to a really cool radio station that you guide.  Getting back to Blackalicious, in my opinion they are quality and talent clearly heard and felt.  How would I describe their sound/style?  I'd say they're conscious moving, positive grooving, progressive hip-hop.

Well friends, my eye's are slowly but surely coming together, sleep is calling and I am ready and willing to answer.  First I'll send loving waves out to the universe in the form of prayers, then while breathing deeply, I will drift into a delightful slumber and create magnificent dreams.

Yes, that sounds good.

Cheers to it all,

~J

~*~ I love Chrissy and Joy so much.  Just thought I'd share that with everyone.  Peace! ~*~

                                   ~* My Renaissance is now *~


As it goes, I happen to perceive a renaissance occurring all the time. 

I realize I could reflect on one particular series of moments strung together that would signify a clear, life-defying, renaissance, I could.  Really though reality keeps me on my toes constantly, as long as I breathe deeply and stay present, a Renaissance seems to be taking place, well, always.

Did I mention I love life?  And by life, I mean the woman I have been honored and grateful to call my wife, our child whom was born a mere 11 days ago, and everything else I can manage to take in and flow with.  All of that, I love dearly.

My renaissance is typing this paragraph, minutes after typing the last paragraph, moments after sipping a splash of Zinfandel, and as these very breathes occur embracing the reality that my little daughter Joy is slumbering in my presence.  This memory can be looked at as a milestone in my sweet, humble life with appreciation.  A true renaissance of gratefulness, right here now.

What a Joy-filled ride,

~J

         ~Our precious daughter, Joy Elizabeth Culhane, all of four days young~


The 5 W's:

Who:  Joy Elizabeth Culhane

What:  Our daughter's amazing entrance into this world at 6 lbs even and 19 inches long.

Where:  Portland, Oregon

When:  6:18 am, March 5th, the Gregorian year of 2008

Why:  Goddess only knows, we are certainly thankful though!

~ So, my wife and I are officially grateful parents of the most blessed being I have known in this lifetime.  Is there a more wonderful present in this world above the birth of your own child?  The answer I imagine is yes, and that for each of us we have our own version of what is most precious to us.  For me, quite clearly, it is Joy...

I can only share with you my personal interpretation of this experience that we call life, with that said and acknowledged I would love to extend all the appreciation I can to the infinite reflections of myself that our this existence, we have done so very well.

Life keeps flowing in a splendid direction and this is my expression of unity, Joy, and love.

~Joe

I tell you what, it is just past one in the morning here in the glorious city of Portland, Oregon so looking out the window I see mainly silhouettes in the darkness.  I can here the sound of rain dripping from the gutters and I did take a walk through Laurelhurst park an hour ago so I do have a fresh perspective on the weather right now and that perspective is abundance, flow, and nourishment. 

Water is such a blessed and integral part of our existence and when I take the time to really reflect on that I seem to primarily become more and more grateful for its presence here. 

I feel very fortunate when I think of the weather right now. 

I am reminded of how blessed I am to be inside of a shelter that allows me to be comfortable when the natural elements of our world would otherwise prove to be rather difficult to embrace.  I am reminded that this life source is what keeps the grass and the leaves on the trees green so that we may lusciously and graciously breathe in the vital oxygen being produced.

What the weather reminds me of right now is that all of life is interconnected and because of that I am a direct reflection of the weather itself, with that I like to remind myself to see it as a beautiful and wonderful piece of our reality.

Here's to loving the weather wherever you are...

~Joe

     ~* A funky perspective of a picture I took on our way through Oregon, Portland bound. *~



A couple of days and we'll have once again spun around the sun, sweet.  What a delightful and fun concept to ponder.  Let's see, let's see, what's new?  Ah, my beautiful wife, sister in law Kim, and I went to The Golden Compass today, that was a pleasurable experience.  I thought they did rather well adapting Phillip Pullman's book The Northern Lights to the screen, save for the abrupt  and rather premature ending.   Even so, the movie overall was great.

The next two books in the series are far superior to the first as it were, not to discredit the book that starts the series at all, it is of course an essential read for the character and plot development.  The concepts that get entertained and played out through this trilogy really got my imagination (and spirit) soaring, and as it came to a climax I too felt satisfaction for a story well told and something that has left me asking even more questions then before.

It is late (or early if you like), I have had such a splendid day and night with my wife, and her sister, they are fabulous people and the three of us have made a fantastic Christmas Eve in Portland that will forever be embraced in my memory.  To all of you everywhere I share my love, light, and energy with you and celebrate the gift and utter joy of being conscious of this blessed life.

~Joseph   


~~Gander at some recent pictures if it pleases you here.


~~~By the by, Portland is awesome, we love it...

~* My wife (in her sexy new glasses) and I at The Melting Pot, yes, it was delicious. *~


How much are you loving right now?  Me, I suppose I could be loving it more, I realized as I asked the question that I wasn't very present of my breathing, among other things.  I am thoroughly enjoying myself at the moment to be sure, there is always room for more though.

Today is the 6th day of November (depending on where you live I suppose), and in one months time, assuming all plans stay relatively in order, my wife and I will be on the road, on a splendid adventure driving towards our new home in Oregon.  I'm stoked.

So here is a breakdown of our plan as of right now:

December 5th:  Depart from the Twin Cities heading westbound, destination Boulder, Colorado and a two day visit with my good friend Jake. 
(Roughly 930 miles and 13 hours drive time)

December 7th/8th:  Depart from Boulder and head to Zion National Park in Utah, stay for 2 nights.
(Roughly 625 miles and 9 hours of drive time)

December 10th/11th:  Depart from Zion and head to San Diego to stay with Chrissy's friend Justine and Scott for a couple of days, first stopping in Las Vegas for lunch.
(Roughly 470 miles and 7 hours drive time (up to 2 more with traffic in Cali though))

December 13th/14th:  Depart from San Diego and head up to LA to visit my friend Matthew for a day or two.
(Roughly 120 miles and 2 hours of drive time)

December 15th/16th:  Depart from LA and head up to Capitola/Santa Cruz area and stay with our friends Derek and Chas for a day or two.
(Roughly 380 miles and 7 hours of drive time (taking the coastal route))

December 17th/18th:  Depart from Santa Cruz and head up to the Redwood National Park for one or two nights of camping.
(Roughly 430 miles and 8 hours of drive time)

Finally arrive in Portland, Oregon and stay with Chrissy's sister Kim for a short time before finding our own place to call home.
(Roughly 340 miles and 6 hours of drive time)

What an ambitious trip eh?  We will see if this can be pulled off, I have high hopes but just like a leaf falling from a tree, we do not know the exact route we will take to our final destination.

Either way you slice or dice it we are bound for Oregon and will happily call it home in a little over a months time.  In a couple of weeks we also have a wonderful trip to Maryland to look forward to as we will be spending a week with Chrissy's family over Thanksgiving.

I have appreciated the time we have spent here in the lovely state of Minnesota, we have done and seen many things together here and now we get to look forward to sharing completely new experiences in an area of the country neither of us has been to before in Oregon.

How did we come to decide on Oregon as the place we wanted to live?  There are, like most all questions a great number of answers I could give.  We both feel a calling to the area, it is considered one of the most progressive and "green" cities to live in in our country, there is both a coast and mountains an hour from us in each direction, the old growth forests, an abundance of nature in general, the list could go on for ages...

Really, we are excited to embark on a new adventure and we have decided that Oregon is the ideal place for us to start our family together.  I fully trust that this is where we are supposed to be and that we shall thrive in and make the best of our situation once there.  Our dreams are big and our reality reflects that, I have described my life since meeting Chrissy as a fairy tale and the more I think about it, it really feels like one.  How cool is that?

Gratitude for right now, the only moment we have.  If we truly are all one and I love Chrissy, it follows that I love you, and then it would appear that I love me too...


I can dig it.

~Joseph

Oh yeah, I left out that shortly after we had made our decision to move to Portland, we heard about a website called findyourspot.com it is a fun site that shows ideal places for you to work, live, and play.  Check it out.

                ~* Chrissy and I at my friend Nicholas' concert *~


Let's roll this out in as positive a fashion as possible shall we?  Life is good, wait, let me enhance that, life is grand! 

Much better. 

My last entry was a couple weeks back and I mentioned the Master Cleanse and starting that ten day adventure.  I have since completed said adventure and I am back to the pleasurable experience of chewing wholesome and delicious food, what a delight that has been.  The cleanse was a very rewarding challenge that I am grateful to have taken on for so many reasons, it truly has heightened my appreciation for life in general.

Now I am sitting here typing these words, consciously breathing deeply, with good posture and I'm in an absolutely great mood.  The trees in view outside are a blessed array of colors, here in Minnesota the foliage is beautiful though brief and I am glad to have spent as much time as I have outside enjoying it.

That brings me to share with you a wonderful weekend experience my stunningly attractive wife and I had.  We decided to go to an apple orchard in Afton, Minnesota and it was about as ideal a setting as we could imagine, the weather was gorgeous, we really had a fantastic time.  We picked apples, raspberries, and a pumpkin too, I believe we were there for four hours or so, we had that much fun.

What a blessed life and world this is, I am so thankful. 

Perspective is everything and I tell you what, I'm perceiving a stupendous reality right now.  I am looking forward to what the future will be like while appreciating the present to the best of my abilities.  It is so cool to think that anything is possible and that each day brings new gifts and limitless potential for joy and happiness.

I would love to write for awhile more but this day is so glorious that I am compelled to take advantage of it and go throw a round or two of disc golf before work.  I also am going to post a new load of pictures on The 5 after I finish this so please feel free to take a gander. 

One last thing, I love my wife Chrissy and every day I find more and more reasons why, I am so grateful to have such an amazing partner in this life to share the beauty and wonders of this world with.  She is 22 weeks pregnant and doing very well, I look very forward to bringing this new life into the world with her and learning, remembering, and growing together as a family.

May you enjoy this moment, day, and life to the fullest!  I send my love, gratitude, and happiness to you all.

~Joseph