Photography

I like this picture I took : )

Youtube clip of the week : )

This video really makes me appreciate the cognition that an elephant can have. This art created is better than what most people can make. It succeeds my art skills for sure!

This makes me wanna be an art therapist one day !

Biking !

I am really excited for my bike lab! We just finished learning how to make the bikes and now those bikes are going to be donated to the bike library : ) Next week I am going to start working on my vintage Schwinn, and it is going to look like this when it is all fixed up! Hopefully all my bike teachers are ready for the challenge because I'm not giving up tell she is done! It is one of the things that I have on the list to do before I turn 25 (2 years away soo scary ) Since we got out of our bike lab early (due to a mid-term which I was not prepared for) Cassie and spent the whole afternoon working on bikes it was super fun! : )

sometimes I ride my bike

just so I remember what it is like to cry

the cold air will irritate my eyes

and the tears will just stream down

I am no who should be left alone

it not that I don't know how to be sad

I just don't know how to deal with the sadness

that is why I like to push it aside

but I fear that maybe a grave mistake in time

Art Time

I have been waking up super early and making art every morning : ) I made these yesterday and today. Everything is completely reclaimed materials and finger painted. I had fun.

Story Time

There Is this Beautiful Place Called Bargain Barn

Since the beginning of time I have loved to go thrift store shopping. When I was a small child my mother would take me for hours yard sailing, to thrift stores , and bargain marts. Needless to say i learned to be very thrifty at a young age. Growing up in San Diego it is hard to not know labels especially if you worked at the Carlsbad premium outlets for over 3 years! Anyway as the story goes I am really really good at finding designer things at thrift stores and I am not going to lie I am addicted to the rush ; ) So when I moved to Santa Cruz the crazy local lady I lived with showed me the ropes and took me to this wonderful place called bargain barn. They had bins and bins full of magical adventures it was like a giant yard sale but cheaper! It is 5 for a bag full of anything and clothing is a 1 dollar a pound!! (well 1.25 now grrrrr.....) I not knowing any better went at 2 in the afternoon not knowing the plethora of wonders that awaited at 10 am when it opened. From then on I have become a competitive bargain barn. My entire house is decorated from things I get at bargain barn, all of my art supplies are frombargain barn , all the dishes I own, all my clothes, and I make a few dollars from it ; )

I went to Bargain Barn today to find things for my Bike class and my Animal class. The bike class is the student taught student lead class. I love being part of it! I think it make me a better teacher as my role in my Action for Animals ESLP Class. I am able to learn from someone who has the same role as me in a different environment. It is good to have role models : ) I didn't find anything for the bike art were making in the bike class : ( I did find lots of house decorations, more cooking supplies for my vegan cooking class, and a guitar that is small enough that I hope I will be able to play! ( I have pretty darn small hands)

Here is a picture of when Giselle and I used to thrift store when we lived together at trailer. It was on of our favorite pass time, thrift store shopping, cooking, tea drinking, moving watching and yard sailing ! Catie was completely correct about the fact I should never show my forehead ; P

Sometimes I create, other times I destroy. For the most part I am just Desiree

and that is just how things are ; )

Movie Time

Birthday Girl - although I am not much for romantic comedies this one was done tastefully. / Nicole Kidman is sexy. I like that she is meant to be about the same age as me in the movie, she is just as crazy as me, and I am kind of in love with her now (not that I wasn't already) I give it an : )

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188453/

Story Time

I like to find old things I wrote and post them ; ) here is a poem I wrote about a year and a half ago called Just Jump. I like this poem because it very much had to do with a lot of inner vies I had with in myself and it taught me the importance of just letting go. I know that I am often very chaotic but we all have our purpose and I just have to let the earth find a place for me!

Trembling in the mists of the worlds greatest power,
she finds herself lost in thoughts of her desires.
She forgives non of her past ventures,
grasping, clasping on to every pain
as she is bawling, crawling closer to the water.
There is an ever growing emptiness that she does seek
as distraught and worry overcome her being.
She is consumed of the thoughts of everything.
Looking at the seen and not the self,
it is to hard for her to see
she only thinks of what she can not be.
Her kindness they speak of,
the only word to describe
feeds the pain in her darkened mind.
Where did her light go,
why did it fail?
She starts running closer, closer to the sea.
Pining for the life that she can not live,
she cries and cries
feeling the end of her retched days.
As the magnificent power she does reach,
she does collapse at the cliffs feet.
She stands brushing off her knees,
how wonderful it would be not to worry about anything.
She whispers
"just jump"
she can jump
She screams
"just jump"
The tears run down her porcelain face,
her eyes so swollen.
"Just jump"
she can't jump
"just jump"
she says "they don't need me."
She wants she needs to kill his confused mind.
"just jump"
She asks "where will this pain be displaced?"
"just jump"
She says falling to the ground
"I can not jump"
"I can not let go"
She turns around and goes
refusing to go back to the only life style she has ever known.

Action for Animals ESLP Class

I am adding the section for in hope of documentation of the work Eric and I have put in to making our class. Everyone loved the yummy treats that we made! the best thing I will have to say is the impromptu raw mouse that was completely sugar free. It was amazing, the details are to come in our cook book but the short version is we blended up dates, coconut milk, a little stevia, sun nut butter, coconut shreds, and fresh orange juice mixed with agarar to thicken. It tastes just like German chocolate cake frosting! We added a little lemon zest and it was surely one of the better deserts I have tasted in my life : ) Later we did a sensory exorcise to open up our senses to really define what a community is and why sense you go through to build community. We then went on to define why community is important and what makes a community. We worked on breakouts Eric showed us some great cooking videos and a video about the how factory farming is the main reason for flu outbreaks. This was a little hard for me to deal with because my sisters best friend died from one of these flu outbreaks back when I was in high school. I don't like to think factory farms value profit so much they are willing to gamble with our lives, it is really very wrong.

things I think are cool therefore have way to much of

Cooking utensils- I know I have way to many and I know Mary wants to kill me for it but it is the only way I can teach my vegan cooking class!

Tea cups- I have been collecting tea cups since my adventure back in the trailer. Giselle and I used to venture to all the thrift stores in San Diego and buy them all up!

Tea supplies in general- You always have to have tea around it is the only way anyone is ever going to really warm up to you

Incense - I have thousands there a must have for any home ; )

Incense - I have thousands there a must have for any home ; )

Aprons -I accidental acquired an apron collection from going to bargain barn too often, when there a dollar a bout it is hard to say no to that beautiful flower print. But they are prefect for cooking parties!

All of these things came super helpful when entertaining my students in my class called "Action for Animals" from my Action Research Team through ELSP ( http://eslp.enviroslug.org ).

Quick Update

I just had my second vegan cooking class! It went amazing : ) we continued to work on the Action for Animal cook book and resource guide. We made Lemon Chocolate chip cupcakes with sun nut butter, date, and coconut frosting! Sooooo good! After the baking lesson the girls and I that stayed after made some bomb garlic aioli sauce while we had a few more cups of tea.

New Sayings

My new saying that I am currently all about is divide between two. The first saying I learned on my spiritual adventure last Saturday night when I had to come to deal with a lot of reflection time of myself. I found that I question my action to much and to often I am unsure of myself. With this new saying it makes me me more sociable. The new saying is " no more questions, just stories". My second saying came to me in Environmental Philosophy when I got my paper back from the teacher. As always I had to many grammar errors "Rules for writing are more like guidelines if anything, I can still express myself with out needing to know to spell. Confiding to the rules of spelling a grammar just mean your more assimilated to society."

Poems I Wrote Way Back When

I like to call this segment " Poems I Wrote Way Back When" because I have so many poems I have written through out my life and there is a few of them I would like to share. This poem was the first I had ever written on animal activism. I wrote this about 3 years ago.

Freedom for all Corruption Destruction Why may I ask? To whom should we kill? What right do we have? To take a life WHY? Should a living thing Be turned into a meal Faced with obliteration Of creatures of all kind STOP The massacre Give life a chance Stop dancing in romance Of deceit and force fed lies Join one another in peace SPEAK UP For those whose voices Can not be heard And try to reach out Force yourself to give in BE CRUELTY FREE For the sake of all living things Freedom for All ~Day~

Fashion Tip!

This week I have been all about the high waisted purple skirt I got a Bargain Barn last week!

I also have this awesome long sweater that Jaime left behind ( I wear it way to much for how much clothing I have)

And my favorite 100% sustainable green toe shoe : )

Story Time

People often wonder my mysterious past about Canadian Boy that a few of you have meet back in the day. The story is a good one so and I thought it would be a good place to start for this new segment in my blog called story time!

The first night I saw him

He swept a way my heart

with so oh so sweet rosie red cheeks one sweet summer night

On a cruise ship no less

he took me to the aurora lights

In a make shift jungle

(mostly just a green house)

with a golden elephant no less!

I laid there in his arms

I looked up and we just smiled

he just stayed there early into the day

Those last few day together in the European coast were magical at the least!

We then had to say goodbye

we managed to hold each others hands one more time

and we sneaked a kiss before a final good bye

we would talk for hours every night just say what we felt was right

and every time he spoke I fell more enthralled

finally after the internal battle Canadian boy said screw it and came to California for a stay

we would joke about him never leaving

because what we felt was so perfect

but school started and reality sank in

both of us were to " mature " to give in our lives for each other

Time went by and they still thought about each other

I went up and gave it a try

and fate would keep bring us back together

we would keep in touch

and one time he ended up in the same city as me

and with out even know tell he was there

We spent one more wonderful day together

I took him to my special places and proved myself wrong on some theories about waves

Then as i continued to see him

I would fly up and visit him

and him we have magical adventures and play

the end.

New Life Goal

So I have come to a decision about what I will be doing for the next few months, as I know many close to me have wondered. I will continue with finishing my degree at UCSC in the summer. In the fall I will have to take one more course to finish my degree. Since I have to take one more class anyway I am going to chill around here in Santa Cruz, I am going to apply for finical aid again (my dad is going to kill me) but I think it will be well worth it because I am going to be able to take art classes! That's right I have decided that I am going to be an Environmental Artist and then some day a teacher : ) but for now I look forward to more school and hopefully an Earth Summit Coordinator position in my future ; ) .

Smoking Blends

This week I have been enjoying Yerba Santa, Lavender, and White Sage for my smoking blend. It is really quite enjoyable. Yerba Santa is a mental stimulant and the lavender and white sage are nerve relaxers so they go quite nice with each other : )

Smoking Herd Tip:

Make sure you really break apart and grind up everything to get the full effect.

Yerba Santa Effects:

Yerba santa

After experimenting with yerba santa by its self I started feeling some intresting effects. I was able to reduce my colds streath, I noticed saw an increase in mental simulation, it was an anti depressent when smoked in the morning with tea. my throat stayed clear for the most part and it decreased congestion. Some side effects it was a little hard on the lungs with the cough but that may have been a good thing. I also noticed that I would get light headed and a bit dazed. Another effect was slight movement of stationary objects after smoking a lot all day, this could have been demed as some sort of halucination.

Ben Ten Alien Force

Ben Ten Alien Force is my new favorite cartoon ever. I already enjoyed it (as you can tell from this picture of me two years ago at comic con!) Watching the newer episodes are fun because of all the social and historical reference that are all over it. Also it is super based on Scientology which I find amazingly hilarious . I like it.

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/ben10af/index.html

Tattoo

During my spiritual journey this weekend, I deiced to commit to my tattoo that I have wanted for quite a while. I called up the Gilded Lily in Felton (my favorite tattoo shop!/ it is called the gilded lily how cool, right?) I am very much feeling the calla lily on my side, like the picture but with calla lilies . I think it is going to look super amazing! : ) I am go on may 6th ! Yay I am thinking I may do my tea cup to as well...

Left Over Casserole

I made something delicious today, it came completely naturally to me, which makes me smile!

I call it Left Over Casserole

From earlier this week when I taught my section how to cook a vegan enchilada casserole I had many left over corn tortillas, and hella enchilada sauce. I also had a bunch of kale left over from the earth summit and carrot ginger soup that I bought for a dollar at the swap meet. I threw it all together like this :

First I laid down corn tortillas and enchilada sauce

Then I made a layer of tofu sour cream spread

I poured carrot ginger soup all over the kale

covered it with corn tortillas, sauce, and thew some nutritional yeast

topped it off with setain and covered it with tin foil

I put it in the oven for 40 mins the last 10 uncovered, let it chill for a while and serve!!

Hope you enjoy

Later that night I decided to try and finish the 5 pounds of kale i had left from the earth summit and made yummy kale chips. They were super bomb and super fast to make.

I just stripped the kale down tosses it with lemon juice, salt, garlic, miso, and hot sauce cooked in the oven on a cookie sheet for 15 min and they were perfect!

I can't wait to add all these yummy recipes to the cookbook my class is making through ESLP!