ReCAP of 2010: Dr. Sara Puts It Out There

Ok, friends: It's D-2 for the start of my organic experiment. As I look back on the crazy-assed testing I've done to measure my toxic load this month, and look to Saturday 1.1.11 as the start of my experiment, I'm systematizing some of the delicious gems I've uncovered in the past year of prep. Here it is for your viewing pleasure and let me know what I've forgotten! 

Best Designer I Recently Learned About: Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin. Watch her cool 3-min video right here. 

Best Slang:  "chillaxin'" (Learned from my 11-year-old; I'm doing that right now, my friends).

Best Organic Wear: Stewart and Brown. OMG, thank you SR for the introduction. I'm ready to move into the studio in Ventura and become the team doctor.

Best New Botanical (new to my obsessive self-experimentation): Kanchanar Guggulu, an Ayurvedic herb for the thyroid and metabolism.

Best Organic Skin Care Line: Two-way tie between organic, sometimes biodynamic Eminence and Tarte.


Best Concept: CSK (Community Sponsored Knitting) vs. Urban Homesteading vs. ONE YEAR :: ALL ORGANIC (a little shameless self-promotion and a three-way tie) 

Best Skiing with the Kids: NorthStar. BTW, how the hell am I going to snowboard organically? I will freeze without technical gear. Wool? Comment me through this, please. 

Best Rejuvenation Station: West Marin. Greetings from Pt Reyes Mesa, sun at my back, kale at my side. 

Best Burger: Wood Tavern. 

Best Book: Oh, Dear. Read so many good ones. Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin? Actually increased my happiness quotient, I'm delighted to say. Email her for her Resolutions Chart. Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss? More on that in my next eblast. This one is a game-changer.

Does Wine Make You Whiney?

Love these insights from Gretchen Rubin in The Happiness Project. Take our challenge to get off alcohol for the next 15 days and see how it feels to clean your body. Your liver will thank you. - SG

In daily life, my argumentativeness wasn't much of a problem, but I'd notice that drinking alcohol made me far more combative than I usually was, plus it weakened my (not very strong) instinct for good manners. Because I never did drink much and had given up drinking twice while pregnant, and because of my metabolism, I'd developed a very low tolerance for alcohol. Again and again, I lay in my bed after some social event, thinking "Was I as obnoxious as I think?" "Why did I make my point in such a negative way?" And Jamie usually wasn't very reassuring about how I behaved.
-- Gretchen Rubin

Dr. Sara's Happiness Project

 Initially when I came across Gretchen Rubin's blog and book, The Happiness Project, I groaned. Really? Another Yalie overachiever mom, now writing about her one-year quest to get happier? Please.

Then I started the read. And it's totally great.

"What a wonderful life I've had. I only wish I'd realized it sooner." -- Colette

Want to start your own Happiness Project? Here's Gretchen's advice:

A “happiness project” is an approach to changing your life. First is the preparation stage, when you identify what brings you joy, satisfaction, and engagement, and also what brings you guilt, anger, boredom, and remorse. Second is the making of resolutions, when you identify the concrete actions that will boost your happiness. Then comes the interesting part: keeping your resolutions.

At the moment, I am in the prep phase. I am especially motivated by Gretchen's ideas such as:

1. Be Gretchen, or translated for me as: "Be Sara" -- be authentic, ask yourself when making a key decision or even a minor decision if it's in alignment with your big vision. Another way to know is if the decision is energizing. If not, I'm not being Sara.
2. Remember: "Happy wife, happy life" or "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." This is a brilliant concept linked to the idea of the "emotional contagion," that is, that we unconsciously catch emotions from other people, especially in our immediate family. This has been my experience as a wife and mom, but I love the explicit statement about my responsibility for radical self-care and whatever it takes to keep Mama happy in the service of the happiness of others in my family. This is especially pivotal in marriage.
3. Pirate Dinner (family meal once/week with no rules, no utensils, so nagging or chiding to use "please" and "thank you")
4. Happiness box - collection of little do-dads and trinkets that trigger your happy thoughts and memories. Mine are scattered all over the house, and gathering them in one place galvanizes my joy.

I'm up to June of the 12-month project, so I'll post more as I read along.

To your happiness! xo Dr. Sara