WORDS

For our 4 year anniversary, I asked everyone that was in that week to write down 3 words that describe their experience here at the Cafe of LIFE and this is what I got: healthy, life-changing, loving, refreshing, energizing, centered, caring, rejuvenating, painless, relaxing, renewing, healing mind body and spirit, trust, comfort, peace, helpful, healthful, I have never felt better, purifying, compassion, joyful, relaxing, uplifting, reassuring, proactive, calm, warm, fun, better way of life, breath, health, caring, healing, pleasant, friendly, light, hope, friends, happy, relief, stimulating, better, great, fantastic, wonderful, harmony, attitude uplifting, encouraging, spiritual, peaceful, well-being, life, health awareness, tension releasing, educating, exceptional, holistic, restorative, cleansing, pleasant, comfortable, gentle, kind, loved.

And to me...there is no greater compliment and no better job than to SERVE LIFE!!!

GIRLFRIENDS...

A couple of weekends ago, I headed up north with some girlfriends to celebrate the end of the snowboard/ski season at Boyne Highlands. Now these are two of the most incredible women I know though all of the time we have spent together has been in a group situation. This weekend was about getting away from the regular "noise and needs" of life and having time to just spend together...and we had a riot. Not only do these two ladies spend a lot of time looking for the answers to "the big questions in life", they also enjoy having fun and that is exactly what we did. I don't think there was a silent moment over three straight days and that really speaks volumes to me. Between our time spent on the slopes, to enjoying a drink at the bar, or dancing and being crazy on the dancefloor, we really lit the place up. Also, I am a person that needs a lot of alone time, and though I enjoy being around friends, I usually find myself needing to slip away for some "me" time, even if it is just for a few minutes. These two women are such incredible people and so intriguing to me, I found so much peace and fulfillment in our conversations and time spent together and I know for all of us it was therapeutic. I will cherish our time spent during that weekend away and cherish them as my friends forever.

A MINI CLINIC???????????????????

So I just had one of my practice members ask me if I had heard of a "Mini Clinic". I haven't, so naturally I asked her to explain it. She and 12 women get together one evening per month for some time away from the family. She went last night and said one woman was taking about "Mini Clinics" that are popping up all over Metro-Detroit. A "Mini Clinic" is a place inside the CVS stores that is staffed by a nurse practitioner. For the low fee of just $10.00, you can bring your child in and if the nurse practitioner is able to somewhat diagnose your child with something that may or may not be helped by antibiotics, they will send you home with a filled prescription. WHAT????????????????? Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture? Is it clear to anyone what the pharmaceutical companies are doing? Can you see how this would be a huge money-maker for the "BIG PHARMA"? You are right, $10.00 is a very small fee and is not where they will be making the money. The money is made from the side effects of antibiotic therapy. Do you think this may be linked to the anti-biotic resistant monster bacteria that are being created right now? You know, the ones that start off as common easy-to-fight-off infections and end with death...HELLO PEOPLE!!! Use some logic and put this all together. More antibiotics, decreased immune function, more illness, more sick days, more antibiotics, serious illnesses, more drugs/antibiotics, more MD office visits, more hospital visits, = MORE MONEY FOR THE BIG PHARMA, more money into their marketing and advertising, and the cycle continues. You have a choice. Break free from this cycle, make good health choices, make decisions that further your health and wellness and stay the course. Our bodies were created to be self-healing and self-regulating. Let your body do it's job!!!

I'M GIVING IT UP!

A really strange thing happened to me on Saturday night. I was at a friend's house for a gathering. There were about 10 of us there and these are friends that I hang out with quite a bit. The host couple are some of the nicest and most generous people I have ever met in my life and when we go to their home, they make you feel like family. So I was there and the wife had cooked a wonderful lasagna dinner and a few of us brought some other small dishes to share. So I ate some snacks and a normal dinner and then there was German Chocolate Cake from Pronto! in Royal Oak. Now I do not know if you have been there, but definitely a place to check out at some point when you are in the Royal Oak area. So I am already reasonably full when the cake is placed on the counter but I decide I will have a piece which is really not a big deal. But one led to another and another bite and another bite and then a cookie, and a second cookie and I had absolutely lost it in this sugar craze I had gotten into. It was like something had taken over my body and I would have continued to eat until I exploded. Actually the only way to escape it was to get up and leave the party, which is exactly what I did. Of course it feels great eating all of that...at the time. But later and then the next day, not so good. Actually awful is a better way of putting it. So I am giving up sugar and desert until the middle of July. When something has that much power over me, I have to cut ties and that is my goal. Ever wanted to give up sugar...good time to start as you know there will be at least one more person working on that same quest...ME!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY CAFE OF LIFE!

Tomorrow marks 4 years in practice here in Fenton. I opened the doors of the Cafe of LIFE on Saturday, March 12th, 2005. Looking back on it all I come up with a feeling of deep gratitude for everything that I have been blessed with. There is deep gratitude for many people, but most importantly in this process is my mother and step-father. When I first moved home, they allowed me to stay with them for the first two years. Staying with them often meant sharing dinner in the evening together while I bounced ideas off of them about business, money, chiropractic, and life in general. Staying with them also meant having the continuous support of their loving words and gentle encouragement on a daily basis. And staying with them meant free rent and someone to co-sign on my business loan:) Together we spent countless hours of travel around Birmingham and Ann Arbor looking for office space (Fenton was not my original plan), staring at the blank, colorless walls in the potential office spaces trying to get an idea about what the flow would be like, shopping for furniture, office supplies, and everything else was going to be necessary to do this whole business thing. My mother has always been my greatest cheerleader. It doesn't matter if my idea is good or bad in her mind, whatever needs to be done to make it a reality, she will support me 100%. It's that unconditional thing that moms do. My step-dad is one of the greatest men I have ever met. I have only had him in my life for just over 4 years, meaning when I began conceptualizing my office, we had just met. His ability "to give for the sake of giving, serve for sake of serving, and love for the sake of loving" (which is the philosophy of the chiropractic profession though he is not a chiropractor) is undeniable and not easily matched. Now back when I began, my highest priority was making sure I only had a 1 year lease contract (which for commercial rental is almost impossible to find) just in case this Cafe of LIFE thing didn't work in such a small town. But it did, and here I am, I mean HERE WE ARE!
So THANKS Mom and Denny! Thanks for being my greatest allys in life!

THE CRAZIEST...

...thing I have done in a long time is jump off this cliff and cruise down this slope strapped into my snowboard. So this is the scenario...Breckenridge, Colorado, Saturday Feb 28, roughly 10am, 30 degrees (perfect snowboarding temp), bright Colorado sunshine, almost 13,000 ft above sea level, chairlift to the top of the mountain, hike another 20 minutes straight up to the top of the world (literally I was eye level with all the tallest mountains in the surrounding area), buckle in and GET CRAZY!!!! When it was all said and done i wished I got more than just a couple pictures for those of you who cannot fathom what this is all about. So I got by Blackberry out once I successfully made it to the bottom and took that picture of where I came from. Then I painted on there the orange to show you the crazy chute I went down, the "Lake Chutes" for those of you who have been to Breckenridge. My happiest place is anywhere strapped to my snowboard...