wednesday wisdom: your presence is requested

Life is a flow of love; your presence is requested.
– Yogi Bhajan

wednesday wisdom: sweet spontaneous

sweet, spontaneous earth at matcha bar, brooklyn.

O Sweet Spontaneous

O sweet spontaneous
earth how often have
the
doting

fingers of
prurient philosophers pinched
and

poked
thee
, has the naughty thumb
of science prodded
thy

beauty                  how
often have religions taken
thee upon their scraggy knees
squeezing and

buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
gods
(but
true

to the incomparable
couch of death thy
rhythmic
lover

thou answerest

them only with

spring)

– e.e. cummings

{p.s. it’s National Poetry Month. we’re celebrating. xxS}

meatless monday: try this, this and this

via vogue.com

wear this: a fresh pair of jeans.

via aloha.com

make this: raw superfood bites.

matcha latte, some succulents, matcha bar, brooklyn.

drink this: a matcha latte. earthy, soothing, healthy. from matcha bar in williamsburg.

wednesday wisdom: it’s earth day, and we’re still on that plant porn kick

the ny botanical garden, magnolia trees, perfect saturday afternoon.

Come slowly – Eden! (205)

Come slowly – Eden!
Lips unused to Thee –
Bashful – sip thy Jessamines –
As the fainting Bee –

Reaching late his flower,
Round her chamber hums –
Counts his nectars –
Enters – and is lost in Balms.

– Emily Dickinson

{p.s. it’s National Poetry Month. we’re celebrating. xxS}
{p.p.s. the New York Botanical Garden got in on that, too}

meatless monday: new food rules, runaway, and jon snow

From the NYT: The Upshot: “Simple Rules for Healthy Eating.” Science-based and honest. Particularly thrilling: #3 (salt so good) and #7 (eat with your loves). Also: avoid treating any food like the devil.

Aurora’s “Runaway.” Pretty, ethereal vocals from an 18-year-old Norwegian.

Seth Meyers brings Jon Snow to a dinner party. No brainer.

wednesday wisdom: tax day poetry, the good life

The Good Life
When some people talk about money

They speak as if it were a mysterious lover

Who went out to buy milk and never

Came back, and it makes me nostalgic

For the years I lived on coffee and bread,

Hungry all the time, walking to work on payday

Like a woman journeying for water

From a village without a well, then living

One or two nights like everyone else
On roast chicken and red wine.

– Tracy K. Smith, via MTA’s Poetry In Motion

{p.s. it’s National Poetry Month. we’re celebrating. xxS}

meatless monday: strange trails and morning rituals

“Strange Trails,” Lord Huron’s latest offering, is a dreamy, weird album, and the accompanying Kurosawa-esque videos are equally bizarre and beautiful. A good listen for those who like their music in story form.*

My Morning Routine. We’ve all got one. This site compiles them, and delivers brand new, inspiring morning rituals to your email every Wednesday, from people all around the world.

*(At 4:34 in the “Fool for Love” video, call the phone number. You’ll get drawn into a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure side-story. Cool.)

wednesday wisdom: re-examine

via soul-surfer.tumblr.com

Re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.
– Walt Whitman, preface to Leaves of Grass

{p.s. it’s National Poetry Month. we’re celebrating. xxS}

meatless monday: 3 meatless things for the week ahead

“Grow” by Odessa. Sweet voice, sweet song, especially in the context of spring’s floral awakening.
Listen here.

Reverse Warrior. Studio-to-street yogawear with peaceful undertones and 20% of its proceeds going to the Prison Yoga Project and the Veteran’s Yoga Project.
Buy here.

“Super Soft Heroes.” A Norwegian cartoonist creates a coloring book for her young son after he says he won’t cry because Spiderman doesn’t cry:

“Boys learn from their role models… [w]hen my three year old son stopped crying because none of his heroes do, I had to take action because I think this is (excuse me) bullshit. I decided to draw ten soft super heroes and then strong princesses, just to give the kids some alternatives.”

Humanizing heroes. Download here.

wednesday wisdom: the resting place of my soul

Vogue China by Camila Akrans, October 2014.

The resting place of my soul is a beautiful garden where my knowledge of you lives.
– Kahlil Gibran, via (it.s) plant porn

{p.s. it’s National Poetry Month. let’s celebrate. xxS}

meatless monday: 3 beautiful, meatless things

new week, new season, (almost) new month, and a new format for Meatless Mondays: 3 beautiful, meatless things…

via perpetual grace.

new project: (it.s) plant porn. serving as editor-at-large for my friend Imane‘s latest venture, because plants just make people happy.

via etsy.

new beauty M.O.: creative ear adornment. the ear jacket trend is so last season.

via pinterest.

new green juice: the frozen avocado margarita at Javelina. because avocado + tequila duh.

wednesday wisdom: work to idle

meatless monday: food sharing

via lucurates.com

No time for recipe-ing. Only time for image (and food) sharing.

(Lovely photo via Lu Curates; visit for more goodness).

but first, coffee: how do you handle mornings?

what does it mean, though?

From the exhausting, sleep-deprived teen years to the most recent stretch of challenging life transitions, mornings have always been a great struggle and not much of a great joy for me.

“I am not at my best self right now.”

Simply recognizing this was the first step to reconciling the morning struggle. The second step: building into this realization a sense of self-acceptance. For me, this was learning (through trial and error) an AM routine that is both gentle and soothing, yet encourages just enough pluck to make it out the door with an acceptable attitude (notice I say “acceptable” here. Some mornings that’s all we can hope for).

Anne Lamott said that as we’re moving through life, we should try go “slowly, and majestically.” I try to remind myself when I can, when the iPhone alarm goes off 3-7 times and my eyes begin to open. Go slowly, go majestically. Also, these things help:

Start with self-care: coffee and puttering.
These are the non-negotiables. Coffee with a splash of almond milk, and built-in time to shuffle about and get my bearings.

A moment to yourself.
Many wise, calm people I respect have a “no technology in bed” rule. This simply does not work for me. Mornings are made better with a glance at my Google calendar, my email, the Weather Channel app, and a quick swipe-swipe-swipe through Instagram.

Strrrrretch.
I don’t typically have time for a full-on yoga practice, but a few breaths set aside to stretch shoulders, hamstrings and back (even while waiting for the coffee to brew) is enough to give a little energetic boost.

Make the bed.
I live and work in New York City, and chaos awaits from the moment the front door swings open. Just through its simplicity and solitude, making the bed brings routine and a sense of order to your world.

Green smoothies in the summer…
Summer’s longer days make it easier to rise with the sun more naturally, as well as gravitate towards the fresh, local produce that’s in season. A green smoothie—like the Triple Green Superfood—is utter perfection in its balance of spinach, pear and lime. (In fact, Aloha is chalk full of great, healthy recipes: nice-looking smoothies, snacks and breakies. Sweet food photography, too).

…and miso soup in the winter.
I feel like I don’t shut up about miso. In the traditional Japanese breakfast, fermented foods like miso are revered for aiding digestion, preventing illness and keeping intestinal flora healthy. I like that it’s a major AM accomplishment: I made some soup today. It’s 7am.

Add a finishing touch, and own it.
Right before stepping out into the world and into your day, add a signature accent: a slick of red lipstick, a floraly, spicy spritz, a pair of obnoxiously oversized sunglasses. This final gesture of self-care—no matter how modest—can set the tone for the rest of the day.

Then, go: majestically, of course.

wednesday wisdom: i wish i could show you

via prettygirlsandbourbon.com

I wish I could show you,
when you are lonely or in darkness,
the astonishing light
of your own being.

– Hafiz of Shiraz