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...

"YOU"RE WELCOME AMERICA"

Hilarious! I was in New York City over this past weekend for a friend's wedding and though I am over the romantic-ness of NYC, I still enjoy three things that are uniquely New York; Central Park, Broadway shows, and the cuisine! Have you ever had risotto tater tots? Amazing! Anyways I was surprised on Saturday and taken to the show which I had no idea what we were going to see. In the cab on the way there, I was playing the game '20 Questions' and was able to narrow it down to a male comedian. The theater district is really packed during the evening shows and the cab had to drop us off about 3 blocks from the theater and walk the rest of the way. When I turned the corner and saw the above billboard, you can imagine my thrill to be going to see Will Ferrell! I had no idea he even did stand-up anymore. His show is called "You're Welcome America" and it is 1.5 hours of him as George W Bush, recapping this term in office. For a taste of the humor...the show started with a helicopter sound and smoke and Will being lowered down from the ceiling tandem with a paratrooper as if being dropped off in the middle of NYC. That was his entrance and being in the 4th row, the whole show was a riot! He does George W Bush so well that at one point, it really felt like his true farewell speech, which brought me to a moment of gratitude for our new president and what he has in store for America! Thanks Will!

EMOTIONAL HEALING

I have been working with a wonderful new practice member over these past two weeks. We had an interesting connection from the first day we met and it has continued to become more and more interesting. I love when people come in and ask me questions and share their experience. So this woman was in yesterday and she said "This is emotional". And I asked "What is emotional?" Her reply was "This healing process and getting better thing...it's emotional". And my conversation went a little bit like this...When we have excessive stress, our bodies hunker down and try to protect us, out of the need for survival. If that stress, which can be physical, chemical or emotional, continues to bombard our system, the areas that the body is protecting cannot handle it and they begin to "check out". One of the areas that the body is first to protect is our heart. So when we begin to interrupt that pattern with the chiropractic adjustment and positive thinking, we begin to peel away the layers that protect the heart. When this happens, the areas that were "checked out" begin to "check back in" and when the layers that protect the heart get peeled away, in a safe environment and in a nurturing way, people often break down in tears in the adjusting table. That is ok and happens frequently here at the Cafe of LIFE. Not only do we begin to "feel better" overall, we also begin to "feel better (feel things better, easier)". And the people in our lives, especially close loved ones, pick up on the fact they can get to your heart easier and life is better. And there is not much more to life than that. So open your heart and enjoy your Valentine's week !!

FEELS LIKE SPRING!

On days like today, it sure feels like spring. Of course, those of us who have been in Michigan for a while know that this kind of weather will come and go for a few weeks, sometimes months before spring will actually be here in full force. Spring is such a wonderful season when everything comes back to life, the sunshine and flowers makes it feel so good and in the process spirits are lifted. We tend to leave some deep cleaning of the house to that time as we know that a good one time over gets the spring started well. So have you ever considered that maybe that was a good thing to do for the body too? Have you ever considered doing a detoxification or cleanse for your body and health and didn't really know where to start? I have teamed up with a Holistic Nutritional Counselor for "SPRING CLEANING OF THE BODY". This is a 28 day guided program to detoxify and cleanse away the build-up that occurs over the years. Connect with me if you would like more informtion on the process and we will help you get started clearing those cobwebs inside! Here's to a few more weeks of winter and more importantly, here's to hoping we have a healthy and wonderful SPRING!!!!!

I HAD NO IDEA...

...that labs snore! I am actually laughing out loud right now at Choco as he is curled up and snoring away. It is hilarious! I know that bulldogs, and really heavy dogs snore but I would have never imagined that my chocolate dog would do that. I am not going to be able to sleep if he is going to be that loud but I had to share and also share a picture of him in his bed. You can see he is laying there and his bed has an orange towel on it. Now, Choco always has to have something in his mouth. He is not a chewer but he has to be able to carry something around. It must be a comfort thing. So when I opened the door for him to come in, he frantically runs around the garage searching for a bone or something to bring with him. This time he couldn't find one and when that is the case, he always grabs the first thing in sight on his way in. So this time it was a wash cloth which is also in the picture. He marched around the house all evening with a wash cloth and when he holds it and looks up at me, it looks like he is asking if there is anything for him to help me clean. I will try to get a picture of that to share at some point. He keeps me entertained that is for sure!

CHEERS TO YOU, SOUL SISTERS!

THERE ARE JUST CERTAIN PEOPLE

There are certain people in life that we come across and they are so familiar it seems you may have know them your entire life but maybe just met. Lana is that person to me. Her and I met a couple years back at week-long, life-transforming, seminar. We never really had a chance to get to know each other at that time and haven't really taken the time up until this point. I have now spent a total of 6 days together from October 2008 until now. Lana is a chiropractor as well and has an amazing family practice in Sonoma County, CA (wine country). Our lives parallel in so many ways that at one point I was thinking "this is twlight zone-ish". I mean our similarities stretch from life experiences to middle names to our passion for snowboarding to dog's names and the list truly goes on and on. What I realize while raging on the mountain for 2 straight days with her by my side is that women need women. I have realized this in a few other circles in my life, one being the Cafe of LIFE Book Club, but that is a truly deep need. You see, I grew up with brothers, 3 of them to be exact, and because of this, I tend to have a lot of guy friends. I just know how to easily relate to guys and the way they think, etc, because of how I was raised. I was also a tomboy and had to continue to bust a move to keep up with them. As the years have passed, I have come to really appreciate the powerful connections I have made with some really strong women. There is a certain re-fueling that happens for me when I am around other women that does not happen anywhere else. And it isnt about gossip or gossipping or anything like that. It is mostly the fact that women have a way of looking at the world that is different than men. And it is not better or worse, just different and that difference is the refueling part. The conversations that I have had lately, with Lana, though many other, is that I have someone that stands shoulder to shoulder with me, shoulder to shoulder together to face the world and in those moments I feel like it is power in numbers. So I have never had a biological sister, but I want to say CHEERS! to you, my soul sisters!