I love to meet other people. Mostly, because I love to pick their brains and observe them in their natural (or unnatural) environment as they try to navigate the murky waters of socializing. One of the things we do on HippyMom is encourage all of our members to get offline and meet and make real-life connections. Not that the online friendships are less important, but there’s nothing like being able to find a friend who will meet you for coffee, bring you a lice comb, or just be there when you need to talk (and not type).

Its hard for many moms to break out of their routine and take the time to meet others. I’ve heard (and been personally devastated by) horror stories about mom’s groups, play groups, and other venues where other women can be… well, less than “evolved.” That alone can keep a mom from trying to find local friends. Toss in scheduling conflicts, allergies, weather or any number of external factors, and women are forgetting they are women, they’re moms, stuck at home or work, with little to no interaction beyond those walls.

Sad, right?

There is hope, though. Beyond HippyMom (which, I must say, is a fabulous way to “meet” people before you actually meet people… click here to see who is in your area!) there are many ways to use your online time to meet others offline. The benefit to the online meeting sites is that you get to eliminate the “what if we have nothing in common” fears and begin to filter people before you even meet them. If you’re looking for a friend in your area who shares your love for kite building, hiking, organic foods or freebies, then you can tailor your “group” search to those terms. Get on Craigslist (the “strictly platonic” area, unless you want some “benefits,” too) for individual calls for friends, or post your own. The Internet is a tool for connecting, and instead of spending your time farming on Facebook, send someone a message and see if they want to grab lunch. Put yourself out there, find your own tribe of people (or just that one soul mate) and see what happens next.

Other sites for friendship harvesting:

Meetup.com
MomsLikeMe.com
Tribe.net
RaisingThem.com

Posted under Announcements

Image courtesy of Winand Staring

Spring is now a memory of cool evenings, warmer days, and the misery of allergies for many of us as a new season of growth burst into life around us.  Now that summer is here we shift to a period of abundance and fertility, and since our gardens and grocery stores are full of a variety of delicious and colorful fruits and vegetables it is easy to slip into longer days, summer sunshine, and the frenzy of organizing ball games and family cookouts.  Since many of us still have to work during these hot and often muggy days we can end up running from one event and responsibility to another without stopping for a moment to enjoy the abundance around us.  This leaves us once again with little time to breathe, collect our thoughts, and take some time to appreciate the changing season, but summer is the perfect time to stop and literally smell the flowers whenever we can.  One way to do this is to take a few minutes to meditate just as you might have in the springtime, and there are many wonderful ways to connect to the world around you now that everything is growing and blooming around you.

If you are lucky enough to have a garden or be near a park you can simply take a few moments to state your intention to connect with nature, center yourself, and open all your senses to the world around you before you begin to walk slowly through the park or wander through your garden.  Another variation on this type of meditation is to focus on one sense for the whole meditation one time and another sense during another walk.  For instance, as you walk through your garden you would hear birds singing, bees buzzing, children playing, and meditate on how all these creatures join together to fulfill their own function and place in nature.  You could then add yourself to the equation if you like and see where you feel you fit into that community, exploring any changes you might want to make to fit into the space you would like to occupy.  Do you feel connected to the creatures you hear or is something in your life blocking you from centering yourself between the earth beneath you and sky above you?

You could repeat this meditation sniffing the fragrances or admiring the bright colors, and another exercise that can become a type of meditation is simply picking produce from the garden.  I hold and notice the marks on a tomato as I collect it or feel the warmth in a blueberry just before I pop it in my mouth and taste the sunshine, and I think about how we depend on the cycle rain, earth, and sunshine to create this miraculous berry or squash we can enjoy.  If you are in your garden take a moment to look around and notice how the plants grow without your intervention while you sleep and according to a plan laid down within them long ago, and this is a wondrous concept to contemplate whatever your belief system holds to be the reason for that cycle.  Even as you prepare what you gather or cook what you buy you can consider these things, and as you taste the flavors of summer you can close your eyes and taste the sunshine and warmth that nurtured your food.

If you happen to live in an area where you may not have access to a garden or park you can still celebrate the summer by making a few adjustments to the above suggestions.  You can find a small inexpensive plant and sit in the sunshine with it and enjoy its presence, or you can simply close your eyes on your back step and visualize whatever you wish as you feel the heat on your face.   You can imagine the plant growing to meet your hand and helping you connect to earth and warmth, and even if you have five minutes and are in your car in traffic you can visualize the coolness of the ocean or standing in a field of your favorite summer vegetable.  I personally can easily visualize standing in an endless field of ripe, juicy watermelons and feel more refreshed just thinking about enjoying them, but with some practice you can find whatever works for you.

Whether you walk through the park, work in your garden, notice your favorite flowers on your way to work, or sit on your step, don’t forget to thank the earth for the gifts she gives us and find some time to appreciate the abundance that will only be present for another few weeks.  Float in a pool and daydream, work up a sweat pulling weeds while consider how deeply rooted they are and how persistent they can be, or watch your children play ball, but whatever you do this summer don’t forget to take time for yourself, appreciate the sunshine and warmth, and indulge in your own version of summer meditation.

~MamaBirdie of The Inside Life

Posted under Announcements

Join us for a Blogging Workshop, July 27-31, 2010!

Have you ever wanted to share your kids’ cute stories with friends and family? Did you know a blog can also be a way to sell your art or homemade crafts? How about focusing your talents on a cause that’s important to you (**coughBPcough**)? In her quest for fame and popularity, Tarot has deemed it necessary to show the world what it takes to be a blogger. Well, at least how to start blogging, from the software to the first post to Internet infamy.

Maybe you don’t know where to start, or how to keep your own creative juices flowing. Whatever the reason you aren’t blogging, let it go and come to the HippyMom Blogging 101 Workshop! This workshop will focus on the technical side of blogging, including how to start up a blog on WordPress (sorry Blogger fans!) or purchase a domain/hosting, where to find themes and how to install them, reduce spam, and further personalize your blog to your own unique message using plug-ins and other enhancements.You’ll also learn about content, back links, and so much more!

Tarot is the genius behind HippyMom, its forum, and a myriad of other interactive, social websites. You can stalk her at MojoWriting.com or Follow her on Twitter.

This workshop is open to Paid members on the HippyMom Forum. For more information on becoming a Paid Member, go here. Memberships start at only $5/month and help keep an important and vibrant community of really cool people happily frolicking together.

Posted under Announcements

Trusting our intuition, that will be the key focus in this on-line workshop using Pendulums. It doesn’t matter if you have a elaborately carved piece of crystal on a chain or your pendulum is a ring on a piece of string; dowsing with a pendulum is one of the easiest ways to tune into the intuitive powers we all possess but have a hard time trusting.

Join me for the Pendulum Workshop where you will obtain basic insight into pendulums and how to make them work for you.

This workshop includes:

~ Choosing a pendulum that is right for you
~ How to cleanse
~ How to program your crystal
~ How to check your chakras to help identify blockages
~ Learn how to ask questions and receive guidance
~ How to work with charts

Pendulum Workshop will be August 1-6th, 2010 and are
FREE to all interested paid forum members at HippyMom
Opt-In option will begin the week before, there will be 12 spaces available.

Posted under Announcements

French desserts have only a couple of pastry base recipes which are only slightly modified for each specific treat. For this tart we use a Sugar Crust (pg 633/634) of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

• 1 1/3C Flour
• 3-7T sugar – sugar is tricky, you want your dough sweet, but more sugar makes it harder to work with b/c it is so sticky and makes the crust more likely to burn. i usually use 4T with this recipe
• 1/8t baking powder
• 7T fat – 5T butter and 2T solid shortening – make sure these are cold, if you warm them it will make your dough harder to work with

Put the above ingredients in a bowl, being sure to chop the fat into small squares for easy working.

work them by hand until well mixed. you don’t want any pieces of fat left – so the mixture should resemble grits

• Egg
• 1t water
• 1/2t vanilla extract

In a separate bowl whisk the water and egg until well mixed. You want to make sure you premix rather than just adding the egg and water separately to your dough because the water thins out the egg. Our dough is already granular, so you don’t want to risk the egg not working in well and having eggy tough spots in your crust. Because you add the egg mix and vanilla to the dough at the same time, I usually whisk the vanilla into the egg as well, thus further thinning it.

Blend egg/vanilla/water mixture into dough until a smooth dough forms. It should smell and look like a sugar cookie dough.

Now we need to knead the dough. Do not flour your work surface as it will change the consistency of the dough – if you’ve used the entire 7T of sugar, you will want to use a piece of weighted wax paper or a baking mat to lessen the stickiness.

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Posted under Recipe