It all started two weeks ago, when I saw what I thought was a termite, then another, scurrying into a crack in our townhouse’s foundation, between an outside wall and the patio tile.  I’d seen termites before, and remembered their telltale long bodies and pointed behinds — and we all know what happens when you have termites, right?   I began to hyperventilate at the thought of the big primary-color-striped toxic circus tent that exterminators would surely demand be put over our house.  Not just because we all dread the process of bagging up clothing, linens and dishes to protect them from the…

Want to join me at the biggest party on the planet (and for the planet) this Saturday Night? All you have to do is turn off your lights.  At promptly 8:30 p.m. begins the sixth annual Earth Hour — one hour when millions of people around the globe turn off their lights as a symbolic commitment to take a stand against climate change, and toward living more sustainably.  Called “the world’s largest voluntary action for the environment,” Earth Hour began with just one city — Sydney, Australia — turning off its lights for an hour in 2007. (The video of the landmark Sydney Opera House, and in later…

Want to improve your health? I have two words for you: Green Juice. These two little words have taken my family’s lifestyle and health to a new level.  My husband Alex and I just concluded a three-week program that introduced fresh green juice — that is, juice squeezed from green vegetables such as kale, spinach, parsley, celery, cucumbers, sprouts — into our daily lifestyle.  The program, guided attentively by a M.D. and a living foods expert, had us spend the middle week of the program cleansing our bodies with gallons of green juices, broths, herbal teas and just small amounts of …

When my husband and I tell people that our kids have multiple anaphylactic food allergies, their response is usually some version of “how awful!” or “poor things!”  And, truthfully, when our daughter, Senna, had her first food-allergic reactions as a toddler, we pretty much felt that way, too.  We watched Senna’s precious face break out in raging hives, then the severe facial and throat swelling that often occur during the life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis.  We had to call 911, give her a life-saving Epi pen injection, race her to the ER, then later watch her tiny self …

For Mark Kistler, it’s all about inspiration. As a child, he was inspired by his drawing teacher, Bruce McIntyre, a former Disney Studios artist in the 1940s whose Carlsbad drawing classes Kistler attended from fifth grade through high school. Kistler began teaching art classes himself at age 15 at Harding Community Center, then continued to teach throughout San Diego County and beyond, to put himself through college at San Diego State University.   He has continued teaching art for 35 years, winning an Emmy in the process, in 2010, for his PBS drawing show, Mark Kistler’s Imagination Station…

I’ve been thinking lately about birds. It started when I read a magazine article about a woman whose life was too fast-paced and she kind of fell into bird-watching as an antidote. Stopping to notice the birds helped her slow down and feel more present in her life. This struck a chord with me.  So, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been taking early morning walks around my Calavera Hills neighborhood, and really paying attention to the birds. We have so many amazing types of birds in the canyons and lagoons and neighborhoods of Carlsbad. And, yes, paying more attention to them has surely …

Recently, I sipped cool, pure water at a posh book release party, which was held in a lush, tropical rain forest, and attended by a dozen stunning, radiant models. No, I wasn’t on an island oasis, and the models weren’t the 20-somethings you may be imagining. This real, three-acre rain forest was right around the corner from Carlsbad, in Vista, and these beautiful models were all over age 55—some in their 80s and 90s—who are featured in Carlsbad author Naomi Sophia Call’s just-released book, Fountain of Youth Exercises. Naomi herself is one of Carlsbad’s hidden gems, so it makes sense that …

Last week, my husband forwarded me an email from his school district’s superintendent warning him and his fellow teachers that if the proposed “all-cuts” California budget passes, they are looking at four to six fewer weeks of school next year. (Yes, I said weeks.) I nearly laughed at first, it seemed so ludicrous, but this is no joke. It’s come to these dire straits—in my husband’s San Diego County school district, here in Carlsbad, and across the state of California. Right now, we are looking square in the face of another $2 billion to $4 billion being cut from K-12 school funding and the …

There is nothing more inspiring to me than young people taking the initiative to serve others and our planet. Growing kids with this kind of caring consciousness is, in my view, our best shot at a better world for future generations. So, whenever I can give a little boost to children or teens starting their own social action work, count me in. Last weekend at Carlsbad State Beach, I met a young woman named Skye Rainey. A 17-year-old junior at Carlsbad High School, Skye is the founder of the school’s first Surfrider Foundation chapter. Soft-spoken, but with a determination in her eyes, Skye …

I must admit, it’s been kind of a long and stressful winter in my house. From floods to funerals, kid in the hospital to car in the shop (again) — my normally peppy self is feeling a bit worn out.  Gathering my perspective, focusing on all the blessings and privileges in my life, usually perks me up.  And this is usually one of my favorite times of year, with the lengthening days and blooming flowers.  This spring, though, I’m having a bit of trouble shaking the winter doldrums and fully embracing the lightness of the new season — even a few weeks into it. Fortunately, I know where to turn …

Does the thought of unplugging your TV, DVD player, iPad, and computer for a week give you a sinking feeling in your stomach and a mild sense of panic? Would you have no idea what to do instead? Would your kids howl in protest? Would your life look drastically different? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you are precisely the target audience for Screen-Free Week—and I encourage you to join me in this weeklong celebration (or household experiment) of disconnecting from media to connect more deeply with our “real” lives.  Screen-Free Week is an annual public awareness (and public …

Several weeks ago, I was walking in my kitchen and noticed how delightfully warm the tiles beneath my bare feet felt.  Until I realized this was not a good thing.  Twenty-four hours later, a plumber was in our kitchen telling me about the leaking hot water pipe under our townhouse’s foundation that was spilling many hundreds of gallons of water underground each day.  I felt sick to my stomach as I thought of people in other countries walking miles for five gallons of water a day (as we spilled some three hundred times that), our own local drought conditions, and, I admit, the potential bill …

So, here are two of the embarrassing commonalities five women discovered in our “Art of Soul Care” self-nurturing workshop in Carlsbad: 1) We have all held our bladders to the breaking point more often than we can count while doing things for others. 2) We all—whether single with no kids, married with kids, or something in between—feel nagging guilt when we take the time to nurture ourselves. Does any of this sound familiar to you? These and similar themes were becoming so familiar to Carlsbad-based therapist-artist Kelley Grimes that she knew she needed to create a workshop to help people—…

The best hint of how Tamara Lehualani feels about her store, Global HeArt, comes by way of a three-letter pronoun. Lehualani does not refer to the store as “it,” but as “she.”  Like a captain who personifies his ship after years together at sea, Lehualani has come to see Global HeArt as more than just an inanimate shop. In “her” five years residing in the heart of Carlsbad Village, Global HeArt has become to Lehualani a breathing organism, offering conscious goods, global aid, and a gathering place for the spiritual and eco-friendly community of Carlsbad. “I was pretty shell-shocked when I …

I had seen her car in our neighborhood for years, with its sign: “The Professional Organizer: For Your Peace of Mind.”   How nice it would be to have someone come and help me organize, I always thought, and then kept walking to the mailbox or chasing the kids.  But, last week, as I looked around at the baskets of papers in my home office that had been there for a good year—and the baskets of laundry on the floor that had been there a good, um, while—I thought, I am losing my mind, and I really do need help!  To live consciously is to live simply, to live without clutter in our environments or…

Can you hear the cacophony of coughing coming from my house this week? Or is it coming from your house, or your neighbor's? Yes, it sure seems that 'tis the season to be sickly. "That time of year," we all say. People are more stressed out, run down, traveling, gathering together for parties with lots of hugging, kissing and shaking hands—and the germs are infiltrating the festivities. This year, my family is taking a slightly new path to combat these winter bugs—the "naturo" path. On a recommendation from the director of our daughter's preschool, we have been working with Carlsbad's Dr. …

I admit it, I was not a fan of my first "hot yoga" class, some 10 years back. I was in graduate school in Wisconsin—a SoCal girl trying to find some way to warm up and get a little exercise in the sub-freezing winter. The carpeted room was so stinky and sweaty that I left, grossed out, and did not try hot yoga again until just a few weeks ago.   Urged by a friend, I went to check out Peace, Love and Yoga (PLAY), which opened this spring off Carlsbad Village Drive and El Camino Real. Not only was I surprised at how un-stinky the place was, I was thrilled to learn that the owners had gone to …

For my family, Thanksgiving looks something like this: a week of home de-cluttering and donating, a holiday morning at Tamarack Beach, a thank-you surprise delivery somewhere in town (see #6 below), and a simple vegan meal at home. Some people question our seemingly nontraditional rituals (no travel, no turkey?!).  But most tell me they, too, long to simplify their holidays, add more meaning, and remove themselves from the cycle of stress and excess (and accompanying heartburn) that seems to repeat itself each year.  Thanksgiving is just a few days away, but there is still time to add some …

Did you know that your photographs—like the landfill-crowding disposable diapers we often hear about—will never, ever biodegrade?  "Two hundred years from now, the images on your photographs may have faded, but the plastic-based paper they are printed on will remain," explains Carlsbad-based professional photographer, Dawn Tacker.  This surprising fact is one of many shockers concerning the large carbon footprint of photography that Tacker discovered as she strived to make her own family portrait business more environmentally friendly several years ago. Discovering the damage mass-produced …

As Carlsbad residents, we know we can cruise down Coast Highway to Encinitas and find an eco-friendly business, holistic health practice, organic restaurant, zen garden or do-good nonprofit on every corner. It's great to have such a socially conscious town just down the road.  However—as I said to Carlsbad Patch Editor Deanne Goodman when I pitched this column—I also know that we have here in our own city many amazing people working to make this planet a kinder and healthier place. Perhaps they are a bit less out-in-the-open than the folks one town south, but there is a community of socially …