Crazy Sexy Life

The Daily Juice: Matt & Nat, Moby, BBQs CSL Style, Margot the Basset Hound and more... - http://eepurl.com/b_Ac # 13 hours ago

I’ve always thought of my dad as a modern day hippie with an old soul. It came as no surprise that growing up, one of Dad’s good friends was the head priest of the Hare Krishna temple in Montreal. What did come as a surprise was when said priest asked me at the age of 18 to go vegetarian for 30 days. I didn’t understand why he chose me versus other family members (including my Dad) and he would give me no reason except that it was important that I began this path.

Out of respect I obliged and this led to what would be a life altering experience. Digging beyond diet issues and into animal rights, I eventually gave up leather as well. In university I majored in marketing and minored in corporate law. During my last semester I was preparing for law school when I reluctantly took a required course called Entrepreneurship. For this course we had to start a make believe business and try to raise funding for it. Being a vegetarian who also had a taste for all things design and felt frustrated at the lack of fashion accessories that were vegan yet still sexy, I based my business plan on a company that would balance design and social responsibility. My project received no funding and earned me a 77%! That was the fall of 1995 and the basis for MATT & NAT.

The rest as they say is history and it’s been quite the ride! Today M&N is sold around the world in mainstream stores such as SAKS, Bloomingdales, Kitson and Fred Segal as well as boutiques across Europe and Japan. We have exciting plans for the future including other design categories as well as retail stores. This year we were voted as one of the 100 fastest growing companies in Canada.

Since 1995 I have tried to show people that you can be both design centric yet still socially responsible. It’s nice to see over the last couple of years that there has been a general consensus amongst many major corporations to go in this direction as well. We have stepped up our commitment with our new entry level brand, SAM-SARA.ORG which actually walks the walk by allowing consumers to vote for charities with their dollars.

I am honored to be asked by Crazy Sexy Life to write a blog, thank you. I hope people find inspiration in our story the same way your stories and community has inspired so many others and has reminded me again, 14 years later, to always live in the moment.

Matt & Nat Bag Raffle!

We want to share your inspiring stories with the CSL community, which means we need testimonials! In case you needed a little extra nudge, Inder has donated a fabulous 100% vegan, stylin’ Matt & Nat bag as the raffle prize for one lucky winner. We will pull a name out of our magical hat once we’ve received 50 testimonials. The testimonial can relate to your ACT experience and/or the effect that the Crazy Sexy Lifestyle has had on your life. Email your (approximately 250 word) testimonial to info@crazysexylife.com. Check out the prize!

Although I love yoga and have been practicing for 13 years, I am not here to tell you how wonderful it is and how you need to do more of it.

I *am* here to tell you about the value of having some sort of practice. I define practice as “What you do with regularity, even when you don’t feel like doing anything else.” I firmly believe that incorporating some sort of practice, or activity, into your normal routine – whether it’s yoga, running, knitting, cooking, walking, drawing, cleaning, or anything else you can absorb yourself in – is one the best ways (if not THE best way) to help you feel a little calmer, a little clearer, more able to deal with whatever life brings.

Scientists estimate that the average person has 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those 60,000, I’d wager that only two or three are actually worth listening to. Having a practice gives your mind just enough activity to keep it occupied so that you can start to hear the voice that comes from somewhere much deeper than your mind – your innate wisdom. Whether you call it your gut instinct, your inner voice, or your women’s intuition, we’ve all got it. We probably all have stories of very specific times when we actually heard it loud and clear. The problem is that for the most part it gets drowned out by those 60,000 other thoughts. Doing your practice is like giving a hyper kid a Rubik’s cube – suddenly things get a lot quieter.

When you start creating space in your life for your intuition to rise to the surface, the inevitable dramas we all experience lose some of their power to rile you. Your life won’t magically turn into a fairy tale. But bumps in the road—whether they’re small, like traffic, or big, like losing your job—won’t have as much power over your state of mind. When you have a bad day, if you have a practice, you’ll know exactly what to do to help yourself get back on track. How many people can say that?

Here are some tips for figuring out what your practice is going to be and how to make it a part of your life:

What makes you feel better?
Is there something you do that always makes you feel better – even just a little bit? It could be something formal, like a yoga class, or something you do on your own, like gardening or knitting. Anything that makes you feel more relaxed is a great candidate.

What’s calling to you?
If you can’t think of anything you’ve already tried that’s a good practice candidate, is there something you’ve always told yourself you’ll do when you’ve got a little more time, money, or moxie? Anything that’s been making your ears perk up when you hear it mentioned in conversation? If it’s something you don’t know how to do yet, start by just familiarizing yourself with it. You don’t need to be a master – that’s why they call it practice.

What can you feasibly fit into your regular life?
You may feel at one with the world on the ski slopes, but if you only get to go skiing once a year, it ain’t a practice. You don’t have to do something every single day, but you want to be able to do whatever it is that soothes your soul on more days than not.

Start small
Whatever you choose, you do not have to do it for 2 hours every morning for it to “count.” Beware of using whatever you do to feel better as an excuse to feel worse. (I’ve been down that road, and I can promise you, it’s not fun.) If you choose gardening, watering for 10 minutes counts. Some days you’ll be able to do more of your practice than others. That’s ok.

Some practices are for emergencies only
I had a very deep chocolate chip cookie practice once. I went through a capital-T, capital-B Tragic Breakup that had me chowing cookies like my life depended on it. Yoga also helped me make it through that particularly rough spot, but even it couldn’t convince me that getting out of a bed was a good idea. Only the siren call of chocolate, butter, and sugar could do that. Luckily my dependence on cookies started to wane along with my heartache.

We’re beyond honored and thrilled to announce that Jim James, lead singer of the mega-popular, arena-selling-out band “My Morning Jacket,” has announced the upcoming release of a limited edition EP, with a portion of the proceeds coming to the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary! The EP is a collection of George Harrison songs recorded by Jim back in 2001 and have been sitting in a vault ever since. Read more…

END OF JUNE DEADLINE

The final days of our matching gift drive are upon us! We’re so close, please help us reach our goal! A supremely generous supporter has stepped up to match all donations through the end of June, up to $50,000. With just a few days left in June we’ve almost reached the full potential of this drive. We have over 150 rescued residents in our care and work endlessly to protect billions of farm animals throughout this country, and these funds will go a long way towards our $300,000 annual operating budget. Please help us take advantage of this rare opportunity with a donation of any amount large or small! Read more…

LATEST RESCUE: Quincy the Duck

Quincy is a domestic Pekin duck, the kind often seen in rows hanging by the neck in Chinese restaurants. Some misguided person probably bought him as an Easter gift and then did not know how to properly care for him. He was found abandoned as a tiny duckling in a NYC park. Sadly these “post-Easter abandonments” are all too common.

Now he is being watched over by the staff of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and he has bonded with everyone — and stolen all of our hearts. We are building a proper wading pool for him and hope to get him with some duck friends very soon. You can sponsor Quincy for $10/month by filling out this form.

Watch a video of Quincy at the farm…

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Recipe of the Week

Raw Eggless Salad

by Melomeals

-3 c cauliflower, pulsed in food processor
-½ c sunflower seeds soaked for 4 hours, drained then pulsed in food processor
-1 c diced celery
-1 c shredded carrots
-½ c scallions or 2 T diced red onion or shallot
-½ c nutritional yeast
-2 t dried sage
-1 T dried dill
-1 T dried parsley
-½ t garlic powder
-¼ t turmeric
-4 T tahini
-4 T yellow mustard
-2 T Dijon mustard
-4 T relish
-1 T chia seeds
-1 t black salt (or sea salt)
-½ -1 t black pepper
-½ c water

Pulse the cauliflower in processor and set aside in large mixing bowl. Pulse the sunflower seeds, and add to the cauliflower. Add the celery, carrots and scallions and nutritional yeast and spices (not the salt or pepper). In a small bowl add the tahini, mustard, relish, chia seeds, salt and pepper along with ½ c water. Whisk well and pour over the veggies. Taste and adjust seasonings. Allow mixture to chill for an hour before serving. This actually keeps for around 3 days and does not get watery because of the chia seeds.

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