About Me

Hi!  I'm Sarah, a 30-something dog-owner living in a semi-cooperative house in Oakland, CA.  I like to read, run, cook awesome things, and have an amazing time with my dog and my friends.  I am also an Independent Representative for Miessence, selling amazing high quality all natural, certified organic personal and home care items.

Buffalo waking up from her planter box nap

But things haven't always been this way...

I started this life in Long Beach, CA, then moved as a kid "across the orange curtain" to Orange County.  It was an alright place to grow up.  Crime was low, and there were limited distractions.  It was also sorely lacking in any cultural awareness of a healthy lifestyle.  I grew up thinking I didn't like vegetables because we ate canned green beans and frozen broccoli.  I also grew up thinking I didn't like cherries because I'd never had an actual, real, non-maraschino cherry until I was maybe 20.  Even so, I was already a devoted environmentalist that would scold any family member that would dare throw away a 6-pack ring without cutting it first.  You know, so the ducks and turtles wouldn't get stuck.

Then I went to college at UC Santa Cruz, home of the fighting banana slugs.  Let's just say things were a little different...I learned a lot about social justice and increased my environmental awareness.  I tried tofu for the first time--I didn't really, and still don't, much care for it.  I learned what it meant to be "vegan."  I still didn't like vegetables.

Fast forward a few years: I moved to the East Bay, saw an Inconvenient Truth, got called hippie at various places of employment despite my dislike of patchouli and affection for showering daily, and I simultaneously started living in a house where we had room for a garden and receiving bi-weekly boxes of fresh organic produce from Farm Fresh to You, a local CSA.  FFTY taught me what a tomato is supposed to taste like.  Ditto for bell peppers, and that they come in crazy colors like purple verging on black.  I learned that I DO like vegetables, and looked forward to getting something new in each box that I'd never had before, and trying to come up with a recipe.  I also became more aware of what goes into my skin care products, and feeling frustrated at an inability to find affordable products that weren't likely to make me grow a third arm.

That house was 3 residences ago, but I am now back in a place with a yard.  This time, that yard has chickens.  I have a constant supply of amazingly fresh and delicious eggs and I'm just thrilled about it.  My knowledge about healthy eating/living has continued to grow, and the more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing!  It all keeps me on my toes!

Chickens taking over the backyard!

This blog is a place where I incorporate my various learnings and musings about what constitutes a "nourishing" life, and how Miessence products fit into my life and can fit into yours.  Thank you for joining me on this journey!