Lemon Quartz

Okay, well…if you’ve been following my recent posts you’ll see a certain pattern. My quest for stones which accentuate the positive, and the color yellow. It’s true the two sometimes go hand-in hand.


It’s for this reason that I’ve developed a recent craze for citrine. So…I hocked my wares and purchased the ultimate citrine ring (no, sorry – not the ginormous bauble a few posts ago!)

No matter, though. The ring I bought, though beautiful, turned out to be lemon quartz. It’s stunning, a bright, brilliant cut ring with a slightly greenish hue.

Despite its inherent beauty, I admit I was dismayed to learn that the ring wasn’t actually citrine. How could I have let this happen??? I specifically wanted citrine for its ability to absorb and transform negative energy. (This frustration, as you can imagine, only created some negative energy.)

But then, I researched lemon quartz, and found that it’s actually quite similar to citrine. In fact the two originate from the same minerals, and somehow in their development, their properties move into opposite directions.

Lemon quartz is great for controlling anxiety (something I’ve needed help with lately), negative thoughts, and depression.

In researching lemon quartz just now, one site recommended allowing my lemon quartz ring to refocus my positive thoughts at least twice day. A happy meditation, if you will.

I already feel better thinking I landed a lemon quartz ring by accident. A happy accident, at that!

Lentini Farms

Ever since I moved to Northeast Pennsylvania, I’ve been hearing about Lentini Farms. I’ve made it my mission, for the past year, to find this magical, mystical site and ask the owners Da dove la sono? I even went so far as to look them up on their website, and print out directions. Yet, somehow, I never seemed to be able to find Lentini Farms.
I admit, I’m not the best with directions, which is part of the problem. I’d asked someone how to get there about a year ago and she said, “Oh, it’s easy…just drive up BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, and you can’t miss it.” Needless to say…her directions fell on deaf ears.

But the other day, finally, I pulled over to a little red hut, finally open for business.

They were no longer selling simple perennials, they were now fully stocked with fantastic harvest.

I’d never stopped before because on the trail of farm stands they were last before reaching my home. The closest, yes, but also the smallest.

And lo and behold – Lentini Farms! Not the farm of course, but Heidi Lentini, (a Lentini wife) told me they hailed from Sicily (as most Lentinis tend to). And I have to say I’m sorry I’ve never taken advantage of their phenomenal produce before, because it is truly extraordinary.

In the fall they have a maise maze. – where they cut a path through their corn field and let you ramble in their bramble.

I sincerely can’t wait to get lost.

Snapdragons

Sunshine Day

For those of us who grew up on The Brady Bunch, one of show’s greatest highlights is the Brady kids’ talent show debut with the irrisistably, saccharin sweet “Sunshine Day.” I can still remember the first moment, and then the 250th, that I saw the Brady’s perform their poorly choreographed and earnestly sung soon-to-be-mega-hit. As a kid, I could never imagine a rainy day for a seemingly sunnier group of people.

June is supposed to be the start of summer, but for me it’s really just signified some of the most horrific rains, including one incredibly weird, hurricane-like episode complete with hail in the middle of the month.

Given my recent quest for sunshine, it’s no surprise I’ve become obsessed with citrine. Like turquoise, citrine is supposed to transform negative energy into a positive form. It’s supposed to open up your mind, and healers believe it helps create new thoughts.

It’s said that you should wear citrine when you need to TCB (take care of business!) – this includes family matters. Did Elvis know anything about citrine when he designed this groovy Graceland lounge? (Maybe you can’t see here, but this room has “TCB” written all over the walls!)

Citrine is said to encapsulate the sun’s energy, and has been used since the middle ages to treat those suffering from light deprivation syndrome and depression.

It’s supposed to be helpful in all aspects of success, communication, and relationships.

It is also extraordinarily beautiful… And comes in a wide variety of yellows and oranges.

They weren’t expensive, but I recently purchased these modest citrine earrings as a way of carrying a little sunshine with me throughout the day.

What I really want is this gorgeous bauble… (Look at it in all its glory, surrounded my tsavorite garnets…yum…)

Until then, I’ll just have to sing along with The Brady Bunch – and hope that the more citrine I have, the better my luck is!!!

Click here to sing along!

I think i'll go for a walk outside now

the summer sun's callin my name(i hear ya now)

i just can't stay inside all day

i gotta get out get me some of those rays

everybody's smilin

sunshine day

everybody's laughin

sunshine day

everybody seems so happy today

it's a sunshine day

I think I'll go for a walk out side now

the summer sun knows me by name

he's callin me

I gotta get u, gotta get out, gotta get away

I gotta get away, get away, get away, get away

Into the sunshine day....

Cant you dig the sunshine

Now its all but the same

Cant you hear him callin your name?

Oh, I think I'll take a walk everyday now

the summer sun has shown the way to be happy now

I just cant stay inside all day

I gotta get out get me some of those rays

everybody's smilin

sunshine dayeverybody's laughin

sunshine day

everybody seems so happy today

it's a sunshine day

Cant you dig the sunshine

Now its sounded the same

Cant you hear him callin your name?

i think i'll go for a walk outside now

the summer sun's callin my name

I just cant stay inside all day

I gotta get out get me some of those rays

everybody's smilin

sunshine day

everybody's laughin sunshine day

everybody seems so happy today

it's a sunshine day

everybody's smilin

sunshine day

everybody's laughin

sunshine day

everybody seems so happy today...

AC-CENT-TCHU-ATE THE POSITIVE [A How To]

Well, my friends, sometimes life throws us a bucket of lemons, maybe even a whole truckload of lemons. Not only do they look nothing like a Martha Stewart magazine cover, nor do you feel like making lemonade. When lemons are rotten – there’s no euphemism to make up for it. Rotten lemons are just plain rotten.

Sometimes, there’s so very little you can do. You have to surround yourself with friends, your favorite movies, and, maybe, get a little help from (yes!) jewelry.
So…I did some research to figure out which gemstones help you recharge the positive side of your batteries, and was delighted to learn that they include some of my favorite stones. The first, is fluorite.

Fluorite is a complex mineral known for its gorgeous array of colors. Fluorites specific hue helps focus on your specific center of healing. Green is for healing your heart and mind. Purple fluorite can help you out of a mental rut.

And blue, my favorite, fosters inner peace.

Fluorite’s a physical healer, too, particularly bones and teeth. It’s said to help balance chakras, primarily the Third Eye chakra, helping to create clarity and the ability to see alternate realities.

I was delighted to see that another natural elixir is turquoise. I love turquoise. Its color depends on the region on which it’s discovered; the more copper, the bluer the stone, the more iron, the greener it is.

There is a reason Native Americans regard turquoise as a sacred stone. It is said to absorb negativity and actually transform it into something positive.

As if that wasn’t enough, turquoise fosters empathy, and enhances friendship, love, communication and loyalty.

Why am I not wearing turquoise every minute of every single day???

This three-strand necklace has enough turquoise in it, even for the toughest of jobs.

Here I am wearing my favorite turquoise teardrops, looking, I should say, pretty gosh darn peaceful (and positive).

When in doubt, sing along with Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin by clicking here.

AC-CENT-TCHU-ATE THE POSITIVE (Mister In-Between)

(Johnny Mercer / Harold Arlen)

You've got to accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum

Bring gloom down to the minimum

Have faith or pandemonium

Liable to walk upon the scene

(To illustrate his last remark

Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark

What did they do

Just when everything looked so dark)

Man, they said we better

Accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between

No, do not mess with Mister In-Between

Do you hear me, hmm?

(Oh, listen to me children and-a you will hear

About the elininatin' of the negative
And the accent on the positive)

And gather 'round me children if you're willin'

And sit tight while I start reviewin'

The attitude of doin' right

(You've gotta accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between)

You've got to spread joy (up to the maximum)
Bring gloom (down) down to the minimum
Otherwise (otherwise) pandemonium

Liable to walk upon the scene

To illustrate (well illustrate) my last remark (you got the floor)
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark

What did they say (what did they say)
Say when everything looked so dark

Man, they said we better

Accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between

No! Don't mess with Mister In-Between

Blonde, Like Me

It’s safe to say that my hair has gone through many, many different incarnations over the last few decades. When I was very little it was as blonde as it could be, and my hair was short to accentuate my little curls.

But, alas, as time took its toll, my hair grew darker and my hairdresser became richer.

There was a period in my mid-twenties when I experimented with dark auburn, which I loved, but it was too far from my natural color, and I found myself having to pitch a tent in the hair salon. It looked pretty rockin’ with my chin-length bob, though.

Statistics say that women with naturally blonde hair are incredibly rare, and (as I think we’ve already established) it’s blondes like me who are keeping hairdressers in the red.

We can’t help it. Our subconscious identifies women with blonde hair are youthful and innocent. Contrary to popular belief, this perception wasn’t initiated with Disney and their string of yellow-haired heroines.

Because of this, Hitchcock was said to have consciously chosen to cast only blondes in his main roles, since they would be the least suspected of wrong-doings, but like thief on the run Janet Leigh in Psycho.

Still, we associate blonde as fun, kind, and, yes, at times – idiocy.

Early folklore forewarned that their yearning for precious golden locks, could cause malevolent fairies to steal light haired babies and children.

Let’s not forget about the girl with the most golden locks of all, and how her (blonde induced?) naïveté put her in some pretty precarious situations…

Maxfield Parrish’s “Sleep Beauty” is possibly one of the most gorgeous paintings of a fair-haired blonde ever created.

I love it when blonde is described as flaxen, and like to believe that Debussy was thinking of a girl like me when he wrote “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair”. (Click here to listen.)

Summer may seem like the best time to be blonde, but it’s pretty fantastic all year long.

Do blondes have more fun? That truly depends on the blonde, if you ask me. But possibly the most famous blonde in history found the transition brought her from anonymous cover girl…

To fair-haired icon.

You decide.

The Birthday Birds

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will notice two recurring themes: my friend Nicole, and my love for birds. Sometime in mid-June I went to pick up a deliciously belated birthday gift from the Milford post office, and when I opened I, a delectably girlish scent came wafting out….I would notice that scent absolutely anywhere. The temple of all women in New York City: Anthropologie.

Amongst the several gifts in the box was a book, but not just any ordinary book – this is How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird by Mordricai Gerstein.

It tells the story of a child who, upon waking, erects an easel, grabs his paint and brushes, and paints all things that make a bird happy, starting with the essentials – sunshine, the sound of the summer breeze, a strong perch.

Finally, the bird comes to sing, and all is right in the world.

The story is enough to grasp one’s heart, but the artwork is joyful, bright, and captivating.

The story is a fable so ultimately universal that it’s officially my favorite, on par with that heartwarming standby, The Giving Tree.

There’s something so warm and universal about the both of them. It’s the best gift for any child – even grown up children like myself.

That intoxicating smell that first came out of the box belonged to another bird-motif gift. Mozi date, fig & olive soap.

Fig is one of my all time favorite scents, and I’ve been known to burn this Votivo Moroccan fig candle down the last trace of wax.

How can something be so calming to your body, and so invigorating to your mind – all at the same time? That’s what everything mentioned here does for me.

I’m going to go read my book now…the sun is starting to finally come out…