True Beauty

     In cleaning there are no amounts of chemicals you will ever add to your home that will make it healthy.   Cleaning is about the removal of soils, germs and life's residues. Cleaning is not about the addition of chemicals and neither is beauty - authentic beauty.  

    You will not find your beauty in a bottle- no matter how much it costs.  True beauty is more of a practice than a purchase.  It is about living to nourish your life.  It comes from deep breathing, honesty and play. True beauty comes with sparkly eyes, a bright smile and a creative spirit.  True beauty comes from within.

  When my grandma Ella was 92 she was in a nursing home.  She spent her days in a wheel chair and was legally blind- from macular degeneration.   She was wrinkly and old but she was absolutely beautiful.

    Maybe she couldn't see anymore but she could listen to the nurses tell of their children and lives.  She could try to memorize Martha Stewart recipes by heart in hopes of one day trying to recreate in her kitchen. As she sat she would ponder, wonder and mull over life with open curiosity and not from a place of judgment.  She was blind but her eyes sparkled with curiosity.  When she would try to remember something she would look up.  I always thought it looked like she was trying to mentally shake apples from the branch over her head as if they held the answer to her question.

    On paper, maybe it doesn't sound like she was beautiful but if you happened to spend an afternoon with her, you would have witnessed her radiance. She had an authentic and internal beauty that would make the models on the cover of vogue dull in comparison.

    Beauty- true beauty is a practice of loving others, unbridled curiosity and patience.  Finding beauty in yourself helps you to see the beauty in everyone.  Discovering the beauty in each person you meet helps you to see your own inner beauty.  And when you nurture this beauty, this spirit of yours, you can get away with the fraction of skin care products!!!

 As always wishing you a happy and healthy home,

                     Denise

"We are taught to look to "experts" for our answers, only to find out that they often have no real-life experience on the subject.  When all is said and done, change begins with you.  Strength, willpower, responsibility, commitment and integrity grow from within and blossom only under your direction."

                                             Amilya Antonetti

                                              Why David Hated Tuesdays

Summer is demanding- feed it!

    Is it only me or do your taste buds change right along with the seasons?  About this same time every year,  I find myself blankly staring into our refrigerator.  I'm not the least bit interested in our "favorite go-to" meals.  I have no desire to cook our normal dinners: none-zero-null!

  

   Come autumn, I'm pretty sure I will once again have a burning desire for comfort foods, bright orange- squashes, sweet potatoes and pumpkins.  A rich, steamy bowl of soup will sound heavenly.  But in the heart of nature's abundance, my taste buds are loudly begging for vibrant, crunchy, juicy, light, cool and bright foods.  It is as if my natural instincts pitch a fit. 

   And so, if we are going to eat, I have to listen.  Seasonal food inspires me. It must, because when I create dishes in flow with the natural order of food, I am happy.  When I try to cook autumn foods or winter foods in the middle of July- bad things happen!

   Below is a recipe, we ate growing up. Before dinner we would head to the garden pick: baby tender white corn; juicy, beefy, rich tomatoes; dig up crunchy sweet onions.  Together this trio created a perfectly coherent symphony of summer!

   Wishing you inspired meals from the delights of summer!!

          Denise

Symphony of summer salad

Ingredients: 
Corn:  Pick freshly picked and baby- husk
    (I prefer white corn to yellow but both with work- tender is key)
Tomato:  Cut up a juicy, ripe and fragrant tomato
Onion:  Dice or small chop a fresh sweet onion 
     (You can also dice a green onion- either is amazing)
Butter
Salt and pepper

Directions:  
   Boil ears of corn water for about 5 minutes- keep your kernels crunchy!!
   Cut kernels off ear- put into bowl
   Add a dab of butter
   Add chopped tomatoes and onions
   Season with salt and pepper to taste
           I don't use pepper but that is just me

Enjoy!!!!!  So insanely simple - so delicious!!

Natural Beauty Shines Through

This morning in the wee hours of the day, I was mesmerized by our slate floor.  The early morning light was dancing off the stone's natural texture.  It got me to thinking about how beautiful the natural essence of stone is.  In our business of cleaning, that is really what we are trying to achieve, uncover the natural essence of the surface we are working on.  

As a general rule of thumb, we don't add finishes or coatings to stone.  Sometimes we will enhance a stone's finish but we try not to do that either.  Because when you look closely at most stone you will see it is really art.  No two stones are the same, they are millions of years old and they came out of a mountain!  

On our slate floor we have yellows and oranges, greens and grays, there are browns, tans and even purples- how great is that?  Beyond the rainbows of color there is more to the stone.  There is a texture and when clean and free of soil, residues and manmade coatings there is clarity to the finish that is breathtakingly beautiful.  You will never get that kind of clarity when you mask and cover up its natural essence.

And the truth is that’s how we are too.  When our natural essence shines through we are all beautiful.  I remember going to visit my grandma Ella in the nursing home towards the end of her life.  She was in her 90's, sitting in a wheel chair, lots of wrinkles and could no longer see clearly with her eyes.  And yet she was undoubtedly beautiful!  Her eyes sparkled.   My grandma was insanely curious and even though her body was giving out her natural essence was still very much alive and well. This was where her radiance came from.

True beauty comes from our natural essence.  It never comes from a coating added- make up on our faces or acrylic coatings on our floors.  It comes from the twinkle in our eye, our natural passions and curiosities.  Our essence shines through when we are thoughtful of others and notice the beauty surrounding us. When we unexpectedly get the giggles or well up because our hearts have been touched.  

You can't put your finger on the exact place we show our essence because it isn't stagnating but alive.  Each day, each month, each year we have many reasons to let residues build up not only on our floors but in our lives.  The key to having our natural essence shine through is to keep cleaning off the residues and never let them build up.

As always, wishing you happiness, health and natural radiance!

            Denise