2000 and CLOUD 9, CELEBRATIONS, RESOLUTIONS and RED WINE

By Shannon Leone

So here we are on the beautiful shore of a brand new year…Being RAW is such a gift when I realize how AMAZING it is to be CLEAR, SOBER, VIBRANT and INSPIRED as I rang in 2009 with my family and close friends.

I have a little ritual too that I have been doing for decades which never fails to bring closure to the year’s end while opening up possibility for the year ahead…as I have mentioned before, I am not much of a Christmas person, as the true meaning of the season gets so lost in the commercial and materialistic aspect…but NEW YEAR’S, I’m all over it like white on rice! 

First comes the tying up loose ends of the year: clean all drawers and cupboards that have started to take on a life of their own; let go of unwanted and not needed items in my wardrobe or around the house and give to charity, call around to see who has old coats/mitts/scarfs/hats and gather them up to donate to the homeless, do a financial reckoning and make sure all records and bills are up to date, schedule a CPX which is an annual check-up for the whole fam which we do every 3 years including dentist 1x a year,  call old friends to catch up, buy a new agenda and write in important names and numbers, going over each relationship to see if any have ‘expired’ and allow myself not to carry them into the new agenda, I go back over the year month by month, and note all my accomplishments, and finally, my very favourite part: MAKE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS and set goals.

I see a beautiful, clean blank slate, all fresh and sparkling with potential to set my intentions upon. Last year was a break-out year for me.  After 10 years of devoting myself 1000% to being a SACRED HOMEMAKER, I began working part-time as a writer for several magazines, including rawmom blog.  Although this one is not a ‘paid position’ the rewards are rich indeed…I, not unlike many of you reading this, had felt at times isolated, lonely and frustrated trying to do the raw thing in a vacuum.  It has been 7 years for my family, and for the most part, it has been a day-in and day-out sacred task with no outside support or acknowledgment- and often criticism from family.  This has not been easy or fun.  This is why I feel so committed to being HERE!  I have found an outlet for myself, a network of love and support, and a purpose.

I know this is why Tera lovingly, brilliantly, created this site, and I share in her vision to SUPPORT ALL YOU BEAUTIFUL MOMS out there too!  You are NOT alone, not anymore!  Many of you have written your letters of gratitude for the support you find here, and we love you for it.  I also get several letters each week with little questions or niggling concerns and I know how much you love your families and I appreciate knowing my being here makes a difference to you, thank you for letting me know!

What I want to know from you all is WHAT RESOLUTIONS are YOU making this year, and HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOU?  I envision us all supporting EACH OTHER.  For myself, I have made a resolution to cut out my late night eating.  I typically stay up far too late and therefore enjoy a midnight or later snack.  Paul Nison and Tonya Zavasta (more about them in upcoming blogs) have both inspired me to really conquer this habit, but so far I have cut back to 10pm!  A definite improvement, but not my goal of 7pm…Please share with me and everyone your intentions for the new year so we can all hold a space for each other.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you all my son Landon’s 11^th birthday which happened on Jan 2^nd!  It is a wonderful challenge to create a birthday party which includes mostly cooked guests.

What I did was create a gorgeous raw table loaded with fresh fruit, nuts and dates, crisp veggie crudite and raw dip, raw cookies) and had a Thai theme, mostly raw, with a couple cooked options: raw coconut soup, raw thai mango salad (see photo) brown rice and steamed asparagus with a homemade thai curry made from coconut mylk and lemongrass, and a beautiful raw cake.   I don’t drink alcohol, but I hear wine is raw, so my husband served that to whoever wished. This wasn’t easy to pull-off after doing Christmas and New Year’s parties, but my feeling about children’s birthdays is very special and I always go out of my way to make them memorable. (Landon also was honoured at our TaeKwonDo club and got to do a ‘board break’ in front of the class for his birthday). All round, Landon had a great Blissday!

In the past, I used to mostly only invite family.  However, after all these years of not receiving support for the choices I am making in my family life, we decided this year to ‘shake things up’ a bit, and actually only invited people who are loving and positive!  I was amazed at how much less stress and more FUN I had!  I know my little clan felt the same on some level.  That is actually another of my resolutions for this year- to surround myself only with people who sincerely have GOODWILL towards me and my aspirations, and as difficult as it seems with all the fall-out it must and shall be done.  SHANNON HAS LEFT THE TRIBE. And I look forward to creating a new ‘Circle of Friends and Family’, perhaps with some of YOU!

Blissings!