Law of Attraction with Some Added Boosts

With The Secret by Rhonda Byre and The Law of Attraction by Michael Losier at the top of the best-selling book charts, everyone seems to be talking about the law of attraction. In its essence, the law of attraction is the act of manifesting some desire into your life. The key is to think positively and to give energy, focus and attention to whatever it is you want. Write down these thoughts and feel what it’s like to attain your goals will help manifest your dreams.

In Harmonious Environment:Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet, I discuss the law of attraction—but with a couple of added boosts. I feel ones home is also responsible for manifesting ones dreams.

The energy in your home or office should be as positive as possible to help you achieve what you desire. So, clean your house well! Now is the time to rid your home of stale, negative energies and replace them with positive, life-affirming energy!

Once your home is clean, gather clutter and unwanted objects. Organize whatever you wish to keep and give away, sell or throw out the rest. (Recycle whenever possible.)

Open your windows and allow fresh air into you home. Surround yourself with only objects that you love and that feel good to you. We are all interconnected—people, objects and animals. The idea is to live in a clean and organized space that is filled with positive energy. This energy will raise your own vital energy to make you more successful at manifesting your desires.

The final step is to pick an object that represents your aspiration and to place it in an auspicious spot with the intent that its energy will help you achieve this goal. When you visualize your goal, focusing on this object will help you visualize the successful outcome. For example, if you are looking to meet a mate, a beautiful vase with flowers can represent love. When you visualize meeting someone new, concentrate on this vase and feel what it’s like to be in love.

For more practical tips, a few more "secrets" and specific advice on what objects to use and the best placement for them to make the law of attraction to work for you, read Harmonious Environment:Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet.

Dinner and a Hike

A group of us get together as often as our schedules permit, hike and then either eat at a restaurant or do a potluck at one of our homes. Saturday, following a lovely hike, my husband and me had a potluck at our house.

I love to entertain (from days as a caterer) and tend to the smallest details. For this party, two tables were placed end to end on the deck and covered with a white tablecloth to fit 9 guests. I had 5 large sunflowers, and put one in each 4" glass cube vases (available in craft stores) each facing a different direction.

I also found recycled, recyclable and reusable tumblers from Whole Foods in a citron green. (I don't use glass outside.) The company also makes plate and utensils.

I never do dessert (I can't bake to save my life) but I told everyone I had dessert covered. I have a great big fire pit at my house, and I thought it would be fun to have the classic smores. But I wanted them to be good, so I bought graham crackers at a natural food store and purchased high quality, organic, fair-trade milk and dark chocolate.

I built a fire before dinner and after we ate, walked to the table with a bunch of sticks for toasting marshmallows in my hand....(coincidentally, the subject of smores had come up at dinner!) Well, everyone "got it" and shouts of "smores" circled the table. After a few directions on the how-to of making smores for those few who didn't know, we toasted and ate them up.

The Menu
Hors d'Oeuvres:

• Watercress and Basil Dip

• Steamed asparagus and harcot verde, raw veggies, assorted crackers

• Brie and Mahon cheeses
  
  

• Chopped chicken liver

• Vietnames rice wrappers with veggies with a peanut sauce
  
  

Main Course:

• Grilled assorted sausages

• Organic and local tossed salad with a herb vinaigrette

• Pasta salad with chicken and veggies

• 3-bean salad

• Potato salad with a Kick

• Slaw

Dessert

• "Gourmet" Smores
• Strawberries

Recipes
For the dishes I made

Watercress and Basil Dip
This is delicious! You can substitute arugula for watercress. I'm taking the leftovers and tossing it with pasta and serving it with a salad.
1 bunch watercress, stems trimmed
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
1 head garlic ( less if strong garlic flavor offends)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely ground pecans, walnuts or pine nuts
1/4 cup minced scallions
Salt & pepper to taste
3/4 cup heavy cream
In a blender or food processor, grind nuts and set aside. Mince garlic in blender, then combine watercress, basil, olive oil and parmesan. Blend until pasty. Add cream and just blend.
Transfer mixture to bowl and add nuts and scallion. Salt and pepper to taste.

Chopped Chicken Liver
Note that liver spoils easily. If serving on a warm day, nest two bowls of different sizes and add water to larger bowl until full and freeze. Ice will surround liver and keep it cold. You will have to weigh smaller bowl down. When ready to serve, put liver into smaller bowl.

1 lb chicken liver
5 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
Salt
Saute onions until wilted and remove. Saute liver in a bit of oil until brown. Chop. Add onion, eggs, salt.

Potato Salad with a Kick
2lbs new or red potatoes, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
6 hard-boiled eggs, cut into small pieces
Handful parsely, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup (approx.) mayonnaise
1-2 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp mustard
Salt & pepper to taste

While potatoes are still hot, add lemon juice and toss (this prevents mayonnaise from soaking in.) Add dry ingredients. Mix mayonnaise, mustard and hot sauce and add to salad. Add salt & pepper. Let this sit a few hours to fully develop flavor.

Gourmet Smores
Graham crackers from a natural food store, like New Morning
Marshmallows
Milk and dark chocolates, preferably organic, and good quality

To make a smore, break a graham cracker in half and add a piece of chocolate. Place marshmallow on a stick and toast over a fire. Place marshmallow over chocolate and add other graham half and enjoy! (If you don't have a fire, use a microwave.)

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Dinner and Weeding

I've decided to write more posts and include the ways I make my own home a Harmonious Environment. On a daily basis, this is means preparing delicious and healthy dinners and maintainance of the home, so this is mostly what I will write about.

Last night, my husband and me had one of our favorite meals: roasted Plainville turkey breast, a big salad and yummy Whole Foods Ancient Grain bread.

We don't eat a lot of meat, but when we do, it must be pure (no additives or antibiotics) and the animals treated humanely. Planville's turkeys are delicious and they employ animal friendly practices. I have found that meat from animals who have led humane lives tastes better, as they have been less stressed.

I make big salads and they are the center of the meal. Since it's just the two of us, I vary the organic produce that I buy. I almost always make my own salad dressings, (basic vinaigrette), but I used the delicious "Chipolte Ranch" by Cindy's Kitchen (available at Whole Foods) because it's a great compliment with the turkey.

Turkey
Bake approximately 2 hours at 350 degrees (popper will let you know)

Salad--all organic
Romaine
Arugula
Mizuna
Baby Spinach
Celery
Radicchio
Toss, adding dressing sparingly ( a pet peeve--dressing should always be tossed in a bowl for even coverage. Never use too much--it makes salad wilt and is overpowering.)

Bread
Heat in toaster oven in foil--heating bread makes it come alive! Serve with butter or olive oil

That's it! Simple, fast, healthy and delicious! Sometimes I add a bit of salt and pepper to turkey, but I don't really think it needs it.

We will have this dinner two nights in a row (with turkey leftover for lunch.) I'll just heat a portion of the bread and make fresh salad.

I've been too busy with other projects to spend a lot of time on cooking right now. For one thing, I'm going to Colorado to INATS West in less than a week. INATS West is the trade show for New Age Retailers and I'll be doing a book signing for Harmonious Environment at New Leaf's booth on Saturday, June 23.

One big project is weeding. It's sort of an obsession this time of year for me. I have a decent amount of property and a lot of decorative rocks (over weed-resistant fabric). But, the weeds still manage to bust through and it drives me crzy! I have visions of not weeding everything before I go and coming home to a jungle! However, I have been diligently pulling and finally am feeling better.

But, then there are the really tiny weeds that just take too much patience...I refuse to use chemicals and have been experimenting with non-toxic alternatives. I mixed white vinegar, water and salt and applied that to weeds. It burned some of them, but I still needed to pull. So, I asked the list of fellow business owners at Coop America for advice. Lots of suggestions and I am going to try applying undiluted vinegar on a hot sunny day.

Time to end this post, as I am preparing for a party for tomorrow. Will report back on how vinegar on weeds went.

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