end of summer family updates

With the summer nearing the end, and school about to resume, I thought I would take a break from vegetarianism, scary legislation, recipes, healthy living, and overall preaching from my soapbox, take a step down for a moment and post a quick update on my family news.

My oldest son got home from the summer session at Stanford on Sunday, and will be here for 3 weeks before returning. As a junior, he has been preliminarily approved for the post graduate law program they offer, which is pretty exciting. We probably need a good lawyer in the family! The next 3 or 4 years are going to pretty intense for him, but he seems ready for it. Right now, he is resting and piecing his brain back together after taking a grueling 15 hours over the summer.

My other two children are getting ready for the start of school, which begins on Monday, the 24th. Cheerleading practice has already begun for my daughter, and they started 2 a day training this week. They had a Back to School kick off pep rally last week. Its pretty exciting for her this year because this is the first year that she is on varsity, and the school's football team (5A school) won state last year and is expected to do well again this year. Down South, football is a huge deal, and alot of fun, so this should be a exciting season. She is a junior this year, and doing the International Baccalaureate diploma, so she will be BUSY. But, she thrives on busy-ness, so I am not worried about whether or not she can handle it. This is just "her".

My youngest is starting his first year of high school, and he is SO EXCITED! It's really cute. he has decided to follow his sister's footsteps into the advanced programs, and is pretty gung-ho about it. He is capable of the work, as he is a smart kid, but never developed very strong study habits.... so we will see. I know boys develop more slowly than girls, so this might be the year that it all comes together for him. If not, that's fine too. As long as he is happy, well balanced, and all of that, I am not overly concerned about academia. I subscribe to the theory that it is is meant to be, it will, but there is more to being a well rounded person than grades and school (Blasphemy, I know!).

Hubby and I recently decided to add another canine to the household. We had been thinking about another pet for awhile, so when the opportunity for a precious, 10 week old Shih Tzu came up, we jumped on it. So now, in addition to our tabby cat, Beans, and our Shih Tzu, Bella, we have Lola. She is absolutely adorable, and such a sweetie.

Lola meeting her new "sister":






My semester begins on Monday, as well. I am taking 3 classes, and 2 of them are online, so this should be a pretty light semester for me. I also have decided to go back into the salon and do hair 3 days a week, and will start that next week, as well. I am pretty excited about it. I am ready to do something I enjoy and is creative, if only for a few days a week. I still maintain my insurance business, but it doesn't require anything close to full time- thankfully.

The gardens are all doing very well. We have already harvested quite a bit, and there will be much more to come in the next few weeks. I am beginning to think about fall plantings, getting the beds ready, and all of that fun stuff.

My husband is getting his team ready for the compulsory gymnstics season. USAG recently had it's yearly Congress in Dallas, so we were able to attend that without going very far. They always have the Visa National Gymnastics competition in conjunction with Congress, and we were lucky enough to have access to a suite at the American Airlines Center! It was a great night, and the gymnastics was amazing!

Greg and I are also actively looking at having a child, and hope to be pregnant by the end of the year. I will keep you posted on that front;)

recent pics

Part of the herb garden:




The fledgling orange tree:






Part or the herb garden and monster tomato plant (it is taller than me!):



A close up of the monster tomato plant:











Our newest addition, Lola



Sunflowers intermingled with corn, which has green beans climbing up the stalks:

The Family

Me and my wonderful husband, Greg:





Me and my son, Nick:




My 3 children:

Jason, Nicolas, Jessica

welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog. My name is Beth, and I created this blog to document and share our lives as we endeavor to create as healthy and balanced lives as we possible can.

I am a wife, mother, artist, business owner, and student. I live with my family in the Southern United States. The household consists of me, my husband, Greg, and my two teenagers, a daughter 16, and a son, 14. My oldest son, 23, is away at college, studying to become an attorney. I run a home-based business and about to enter my junior year as an Art History major with a minor in French. My husband is a coach, trainer, and fitness professional. We are both self employed, and enjoy that freedom immensely. Having experienced the "Rat Race" we quickly recognized that it wasn't for us, and no salary or position could put a price tag on our happiness and freedom. It took some doing, but we are both now free. In the past, I have been a professional artist, a hairdresser, and worked in corporate America as an account manager, marketing director, and in sales.

In 1992, when I was 23, I decided to go back to vegetarianism (I had been raised as a vegetarian)after my young son and I became violently ill from eating a McDonald's hamburger out of a Happy Meal. That was a huge turning point for me, and began a lifetime of healthy eating, as well as putting me and my family on a path of health, nutrition, and well being. Over the next 15 years, I raised my children as vegetarians (until they were old enough to decide for themselves), spent the extra money for organic (even before ANYONE knew what that meant), grew my own food, did my own cooking, and continued to seek out knowledge and grow. Unfortunately, that growth did not include my at-the-time husband, and we divorced in 2003.

Another turning point on the road to a healthier lifestyle happened in 2005, when in October of that year my husband, my ex-husband, and my father were all diagnosed with some form of cancer. My husband's was the most serious (and rare), my father's was the second, and my ex-husband's was merely dysplasia, and therefore, he had the best prognosis. It rocked us to our cores when the dysplasia didn't go away, and instead of getting better, my ex only got worse. Two years later, and after a very rapid decline, my children's father lost his battle with this dreaded disease and passed away. Both my father and my husband have remained symptom free, thank God. This experience only furthered our quest for knowledge about all things pertaining to health and wellness.

Currently, my daughter and I are total vegetarians, and my son and my husband adhere to what is now called the Mediterranean Diet. This diet, so named for the region around the Mediterranean where the population eats a diet which mainly consists of grains, fresh fruits and veggies, and limited amounts of fresh seafood and poultry. All animal products that enter our home are organic, hormone and antibiotic free, grass fed, mercury free if fish, and locally raised if possible. We garden extensively, including two plots at a local community garden. We make our own breads, pastas, sauces, pestos, hummus, teas...well, you get the picture. The best thing is, though, that we feel great, rarely get sick, don't have weight problems, and eat amazing food! Other things we do (besides eat) are cook, see movies, sew, paint and draw, study, read, study herbalism, bike, practice yoga, travel, and now blog:) We tend towards alternative medicine, never use antibiotics, and listen to our bodies. We don't buy things unless we can't reuse, recycle, borrow, or re purpose, and, other than our two homes, we live completely debt free.

As different and "un American" as all this might sound, it makes perfect sense, at least to us.