Apartment Therapy Tour and More!

Greetings from sunny Arizona! Yesterday, we were featured on Apartment Therapy as one of their house tours for 2008. Be sure to check out their fun “Small Cool 2008” contest as well…there are so many amazing entries this year! I’ve also added a few more TV spots on our press page from recent stops.

We are headed to California tomorrow…and I will be slowly working on getting more photos and blogs up from the last 6 weeks. It has truly been a whirlwind, and when I do have a spare moment to breathe, I have chosen family/friend time over blogging time :) So, thanks for your patience! We have lots of amazing adventures to tell you about!

Contacting California

California is just around the corner! We updated the Route page again, and we will be starting in San Diego on May 2 and will head all the way up the coast. I have been in contact with most of you (I sent out many follow up emails tonight). However, there were a few contacts whose email addresses are coming back undeliverable. If you are Beth or Laura (see below), please email me directly. If I don’t hear back from you, there is a chance that we might not connect…and that would be sad!

San Luis Obispo, CA
Beth K.

San Francisco, CA
Laura H.

If you are on our tour route and are interested in booking an event with us…please contact me as well! We are always looking for colleges, coops, and private businesses to stop at for tours/demonstrations. And as always, Sara is available for photography sessions as well.

Decatur, GA: Alan and Margie

We headed back into Atlanta on a Sunday morning, so the traffic wasnā€™t nearly as bad this time around! We made our way to Marietta first, so we could stop at Life Grocery and CafĆ© and enjoy some raw goodness. They have a cute little raw cafĆ© attached to the coopā€¦and they also stock a nice cold case of raw eats as well. They had just opened for the morning, so it was just us in there. We enjoyed a little family time before we headed to Alan, Margie, and Lillianā€™s house in Decatur.

We arrived and as we were parking in the church parking lot behind their homeā€¦Lillian came out with Margie to greet us. Even though Bella and Lillian have never met, they greeted each other like long lost friends. It was hilarious! They were both excited to have a new friend to play with for the next couple of days. It didn’t take long before they were unloading toys and dress up clothes…chatting happily along the way.

Margie and I have been in touch since the beginning of the tourā€¦because she was working on writing a special environmental education grant to bring us in to do a demo at the Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool, where Lillian attends. It was approved, and Decatur was added to the tour schedule! We set up at the preschool on Sunday evening for the demoā€¦and had a fabulous turnout. There were TONS of kids, interested parents, and members of the community. We chatted with so many cool, like-minded people that night. There were several families who were making strides towards living more simply…in serious ways. One family quit their jobs and left the comfort of a big paycheck to homestead and live off the land…it was encouraging to see their passion and dedication. The kids had a great time playing in Bella’s toy room (aka The Bed). :)

Alan and Margie moved back closer to the city after living in the ā€˜burbs for awhileā€¦and they couldnā€™t live in a cuter part of town! I LOVE there home and the area. Just down the road is a cute little ā€œvillageā€ area with restaurants, coffee shops, and retail storesā€¦as well as a community garden. Just a little further down is the Dekalb Farmerā€™s Market, which is quite possibly one of the coolest things on the tour so far. :) Itā€™s a HUGE indoor market with every type of food you could ever imagine. Every type of exotic fruit and veggie (there were so many I had never heard of!)ā€¦even durians! Fruits and veggies by the caseā€¦dried fruit, oils, etc. in bulkā€¦I was in heaven. It wasnā€™t just fresh produce eitherā€¦there was a fresh fish/seafood market, prepared food bar, packaged goods, spices, etc. The sad thing is that there is no photography allowedā€¦I was so wanting to show you all! Check out their website to see how truly huge it is!

On Monday and Tuesday morning while we were there, I had the opportunity to take class photos and individual photos at Lillian’s school. It was a fun shootā€¦and I enjoyed meeting all of the kiddos and their parents too. We ended up staying parked at the church where the preschool is located for our entire stay…it was a nice, private spot with a cute little trail up into the trees that Bella loved.

Margie is a fellow foodie and we loved chatting about raw foods, cookbook obsession, and juicing! She whipped us up an amazing Asian soba noodle/raw veggie delight and I brought my famous balsamic salad dressingā€¦and we talked and talked over delicious food. Bella and Lillian dressed up like ballerinas and danced endlessly to the Nutcracker Suite (cranked up as loud as they could get it before we would tell them to turn it down). For dessert, we got busy on some Magic Carrot Juice and enjoyed every last drop.

Our time in Decatur was a blastā€¦we loved the area and the people (just not the traffic!) :)

Photo album here.

Rome, GA: Ryan and Whitney

No one really warned us about Atlantaā€¦so we werenā€™t expecting the craziness that we encountered on the roadways surrounding it! Oh my. Those drivers drive faster and more sporadic than anywhere weā€™ve seen. And theyā€™re an angry bunch too :) . So as we approached the Atlanta area on a Friday afternoon, we were a little frazzled! Luckily, we were early enough to avoid the true rush hour, and we headed north to Rome to the home of Ryan, Whitney, and Jackson.

Bella and Jackson were quick friends and were soon busy jumping on the trampoline and playing trainsā€¦although Bella was sure to remind us that she was OLDER than him (heā€™s 2) :) . They live on a really quiet cul-de-sac (with really smooth roads!), and Bella was able to ride her bikeā€¦which made her very happy! I even broke out the roller blades for the first time on our tour. Weeeeee!


If you want to know anything about Rome or Berry College, just ask Whitney. She’s a plethora of information and I received the grand tour as we drove around town! Berry College has quite an interesting history and the campus is spectacularly beautiful and sprawling ā€¦ it boasts the largest number of acres of any college campus in the U.S (26,000 acres!). We took their photos at several locations there and enjoyed the scenery, wildlife, and beautiful old buildings.

Whitney borrowed some of my raw cookbooks while we were there, and decided to start doing green smoothies and a partially raw diet…I just heard from her, and the effects are already amazing! She is a baker, so she gets up super early…and says that now she can wake up at 2:45am and be wide awake! Yay! This is just one of the many cool things that happens when you eat raw. You don’t need as much sleep and you have more energy because your body doesn’t have to digest food (instead it just uses it to heal and give energy). On a cooked diet, 70% of the body’s energy goes towards digestion of foods…on raw, there is nothing to digest because the digestive enzymes are still intact (heating kills the enzymes). There’s a mini-raw lesson for you :) While we were there, I showed her how to make a green smoothie and some other raw goodies as well. There is nothing like hands on training :)

We had a great time in Rome! Next stop, Decatur, GAā€¦back to the busy traffic!

Photo album here.

Texas Events/Demos!

We’ve just updated all of our Texas Events…if you’re in these areas, come out and say hello!

Austin, TX
April 10, 2008
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Wheatsville Food Co-op
3101 Guadalupe

Plano, TX
April 12, 2008
9:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Live Green ā€˜08 Expo
2000 E. Spring Creek Pkwy

Dallas, TX
April 13, 2008
11:00 a.m.
Life in Deep Ellum

Arlington, TX
April 13, 2008
4:30 p.m.
City on a Hill Connection
University of Texas Arlington
BSM Building

San Antonio, TX
April 17, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
San Antonio College
Loftin Student Center Mall Area

San Antonio, TX
April 19, 2008
10:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Earth Day – San Antonio
Woodlawn Lake

Tampa, FL: Hallie and Chris

Hallie and Chris are newlyweds…and are as sweet as can be. We had such a fun time with them…even though our visit was short. They are so full of life and energy! I initially met Hallie when she sent me this photo and told me the cool “God story” about her wedding dress. It was a thrift store find…perfect size…perfect price! And look at her fabulous hair! It matched the flowers in their wedding…now that just makes me HAPPY! A few weeks later, she offered to trade their Champion Juicer when we passed through Tampa, and of course, I was quite excited about that! We had been wanting a Champion…so that was such a blessing!

When we arrived from Sarasota…we met Hallie at their church and we got settled back into a nice, quiet corner. The church had a HUGE lot with a playground, so it was a blessing to have our very own “front yard” with room to run and play and be free. That evening, we went to their apartment to have supper (a HUGE yummy salad with all the fixins!). Bella loved watching their turtles and geckos…and we had a great time chatting. Both Hallie and Chris work from home…in the comic book/art industry. We had fun looking at the different comics they have done!

The next day, we met for lunch at The Grass Root, an organic vegan/vegetarian/raw restaurant. From the moment we walked in, I knew it would be a wonderful experience! It’s so deliciously earthy in there…with a deep orange color on all the walls that just radiates warmth! The owner, Spencer, was our server…and his wife, Sabrina, was on hand as well. The food was AMAZING…so flavorful, with options for everyone. They do more than just raw food, and have an extensive menu for the entire family.

Here is a little blurb from their website:

Grass Root is not only a destination for the health conscious, but also a cultural hub in Tampa. We have customers from all walks of life. Our restaurant has provided us with the opportunity to connect and feed a large array of people. We feel blessed to be of service to all of you.

Grass Root is truly an expression of who we are as people and collectively as a family. We have great respect for the Earth itself and accept responsibility for its well being. We know that eating an organic vegetarian diet is a major contribution. For those striving for an optimum existence , the RAW/LIVING foods lifestyle is the way to go. It has profoundly positive effects on your overall health, the environment and those around you.

They have won several awards, including one from VegNews for being one of the best restaurants for “every day dining” in the entire country! They also have a large raw meetup each month. I am so happy that we found this little gem…I really, really wanted to go back for another meal…but we had to leave for Atlanta! Someday…I’ll be back and will enjoy their food once again. If you’re ever in Tampa, don’t miss it.

Thanks to Hallie and Chris for being such great hosts!

Photo album here.