nakedjen

Naked With Intention

I get asked this question a lot.  A whole lot.  I also get asked, a whole lot, how I keep from getting arrested since I seem to just show up naked in the most unlikely of places?  Is there some sort of special something that I do to avoid arrest?  Is there some sort of practice to becoming as comfortable as someone like me seems to be as I am in my own skin, willing to just be naked in the presence of others, clothed or not, without really batting an eyelash?

I think if you've read my words for long enough you already know these answers so you can skip this post and just carry on with whatever it is that you happen to be doing on your own Friday evening that makes you happiest.  I might suggest that it include hugging a few people that you love, perhaps even a few that you don't even know, sharing some glitter just because and if you happen to be living on the East Coast of these United States, making certain you have some drinking water, a working flashlight or three, DOG FOOD FOR THE DOGS, snacks for you, and to just get ready to even, maybe, have a little naked dance in the rain.  I would do it, but we all know I'm bat shit crazy.

Back to Phil's question.  The thing is this all just takes practice.  It really does.  There are those places where public nudity is actually accepted and encouraged although I am going to be the first to admit that I'm not even a big huge fan of those particular places.  I'm far more of a fan of natural hot springs or places like my beloved Oregon Country Fair where we have sanctioned communal nudity and everyone is so relaxed and nonchalant about it that you really do realize that good heavens all bodies are just so incredibly beautiful in their unique differences!  Seriously.  When you see so very many naked bodies all together, each one just as beautiful and different and special and exotic as the next, you realize that we are magical creatures and our bodies are all as unique as our voices and our hearts and should absolutely be shared.

Now, I'm not suggesting you take off your clothes and go walking down the streets of your neighborhood. (Or, actually, maybe I am). I realize that when I do that many people exclaim that I'm an exhibitionist, that I do it to shock people.  My own mother, Emily Gilmore, insists that I do it because I have some screws loose and just absolutely MUST have people STARE AT ME. 

It really isn't about that, actually.  Not really.  I actually even have my own very strict internal set of rules about where and when I'll get naked, even in the very most public of places.  I will admit that if there's just a bit of shock value, that's okay.  But it is more, for me, to get others to reconsider their own individual notions about nudity.  About our bodies.  About exactly why it might be so offensive, so wrong, so awful to have a fully naked woman standing on a street corner.

However, I am suggesting, I am, that you dip your own toes as far as you can into the places where it feels the most comfortable for you.  I have always said that we can't exactly go about fighting wars if we're all standing around naked because there's no where for us to keep the bullets.

I live in this world naked. I can't live in this world any other way.  What I am enchanted to know is that there are others who can't live in this world any other way, as well. 

Naked with intention.  Now, there's a political platform we should perhaps all consider.

 

Ready? Set? Go!!

There is so very much that I wish to chat with all of you about, but first we had a contest. We did. 

The winners were chosen by the little widget from Random.Org and it turns out that Stephanie and Stardustdawn will each get the teas for their dogs.  But, remember, you're all going to receive a sample of Honest Kitchen Food (and they have a new, completely grain free food coming in September for both Cats and Dogs) and so if you get an email from me asking you for your mailing address it is simply so I can get the information to Honest Kitchen so you all can get your FREE STUFF!  So please don't think I'm sending you porn.  This time, it's not!

Meanwhile, though, I feel like I'm about to burst at the seems with all the goings on and things I want to talk to all of you about because there's good and there's bad and there's funny and there's sad and it feels like I haven't typed with my fingers flying across a keyboard just to share the words swirling inside my head in so long that my head now resembles a hornets nest that was designed by Tim Burton with help from Edward Scissorhands.  Who, yes, I realize is the darling OF Tim Burton, but he has the Scissorhands!  There are missing bits and pieces you see.  It is his design.  Courtesy of Mr. Burton.  All swirling somewhere above my neck where a head is supposed to be. 

That's me. If you were to see a photo.  There isn't one.  Use your very beautiful and active imaginations.

Let's leave you with a list.  Of the topics to come.  Just, so, you know, there's something to at least keep us all honest and perhaps maybe you all want to write the blog posts instead?  There's a thought.  At this point, given the Tim Burton Hornets Nest state of my head, you all might do a far better job.  You're all brilliant writers!  Here, have a go!

• Eating Raw and Yoga Every Day
• Cherry and Sasparilla Kombucha
• Guerrilla Drive-In ~ Salt Lake City style
• There's Enough Phish for a Feast
• Google Is Trying To Kill Me
• If I'm Not Nakedjen, Then Who Am I?

Ready

Now We Are Six

When Buddha and Stella chose me to be their dog mama, I made a conscious decision that they would eat the very best food possible.  While they spent their first eight weeks growing up with their brothers and sisters, I was determined to find them a human grade dog food that best matched the food that I had been making for Clyde for the final years of his life.  I was convinced, honestly, that the reason Clyde lived for as long as he did was because he ate a 100% organic diet that I cooked especially for him every single day. 

I knew, though, that with two dogs, coming into my life as puppies, that I needed a better solution.

I found a lot of really excellent available dog foods, but in one way or another, none of them really seemed to add up to exactly what I wanted for the dogs.

Then I found The Honest Kitchen. 

The dog food from Honest Kitchen is food with a real conscience.  It is 100% human-grade, with ingredients like free-range sustainably farmed chicken, ground organic flaxseed, sea kelp, and organic fair-trade quinoa.  It was, truthfully, a food I could feel 100% comfortable about feeding to my dogs.  It's dehydrated, so to make it for the dogs, I just have to add warm water, mix it in their bowls, and give it time to rehydrate.   Buddha and Stella are a bit wacky about it and Stella will go so far as to lick the bowls twice just to be sure that she's gotten all the goodness.

I can never say enough good things about this food, but the proof is in my dogs.  They have shiny coats, startling white teeth and they're just truly healthy.  And, today, they are six.

Honest Kitchen has just added two new medicinal teas to their line of supplements for pets.  I can share that a certain Master Herbalist that we know helped them to develop these particular teas and a certain Stella Blue was also specifically helpful in testing out their effectiveness.  Stella is always ready to help her animal sisters and brothers.

Quiet Tea™ is made from human-grade Oatstraw, Chamomile, Passionflower, Skullcap and Valerian root. It's designed to help promote calmness and alleviate anxiety, tension and excitability during stressful or over-stimulating situations caused by factors such as separation, thunderstorms, travel or events. It's suitable for both dogs and cats. 

 

Quiet Tea saved our lives, all four of them, over the 4th of July holiday.  It is magic for Buddha, truthfully.  A dose of this and he completely forgets that the bombs are bursting in air.

 

Easy Peesy Tea™ contains human-grade Horsetail, Cleavers, Couch grass, Nettle and Marshmallow root. It's intended to help support normal healthy functioning of the urinary tract, including bladder control and the alleviation of urinary irritation. It's suitable for both dogs and cats. 

 

While we don't have bladder control issues here at the moment, I know dogs who do and this tea has worked really well for them.

 

In celebration of their sixth birthday, Buddha and Stella want to give presents to all of you.  For every person who leaves me a comment telling me about their pet and that they've LIKED Honest Kitchen on Facebook, they'll receive a free trial size of The Honest Kitchen dog or cat food.  Your choice. 

 

Plus, two people will be chosen at random to receive the Quiet Tea and the Easy Peesy Tea. 

 

So, leave us a comment.  Or two.  Or seven if you've got seven dogs and cats. 

 

It's Buddha and Stella's birthday and they really want to celebrate with each and every one of you and your beautiful fur creatures, too.