My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer on January 2nd and it wasn't a happy new year and over all this definitely isn't the way you want to start out any year, especially the one that is unfolding before you. 2013? So far I'm not impressed with you! My sister will spend this year fighting mutant cells at the age of 37. She did everything right, yet it just goes to show that sometimes doing the right things doesn't seem to matter, or in layman's terms cancer is a bitch. Our environment, our processed foods, it's all contaminated and a big change is needed, even if it means corporate food comes tumbling down.

Since Katherine's diagnosis I've been doing a lot of research on the healing powers of food. I'm a food blogger; I love food; food is what I am good at; so why not see what food can do for us? It gives me something to obsess about and keep the negative ideas that want to pop into my head at bay. All of us at some point have most likely heard the term "superfood" and I wondered if there was anything to these ideas. If you think about it, it makes sense, the more colorful, less processed, more whole the food is, the better that food is for you. It isn't difficult to comprehend; in fact it's really a part of our primal intuition and intuition is rarely wrong.

While looking in to the healing properties of food you come across all sorts of interesting things. For instance there are various foods that can help in homeopathic ways; artichokes can help calm your aching stomach, dandelion greens help both mood and liver function, components of eggplants actually consume free radicals, sweet potatoes have anti-inflammatory properties, chard helps vision, watermelon helps with weight loss and pumpkin seeds can help lower cholesterol, just to name a few. I'd much rather go natural instead of chemical, it just makes better sense.

But what about the foods that help with cancer?

Broccoli and broccoli rabe have compounds that have been shown to neutralize carcinogens. The sometimes hated Brussels sprouts can too. Cabbage in particular, both red and green, helps in terms of breast cancer, the one that is particularly of interest to us at the moment. Carrots also have some anti-cancer properties, as do all the leafy greens, the darker the green the better, horseradish has components that actually have been shown to slow the growth of cancer, mushrooms, particularly the Shitake variety in particular, are powerful in the fight against cancer and this is just the tip of the iceberg and doesn't even begin to touch on herbs, roots and spices.

As time passes we've replaced whole, real foods, with crappy processed foods that are more chemical, than actual food. You can even find organic processed foods, which completely defeats the purpose. There is this erroneous idea that eating real, whole foods is more expensive than eating the crap that lines our store shelves and it isn't; it's actually cheaper, but big agriculture doesn't want you to know that because their crops (mostly corn and soy, and increasingly GMO varieties at that) are what is taken and made into those processed products that kill us from the inside out. Is it easier to eat processed food? In some cases yes, but easy doesn't make it the proper path, plus there is also a preconceived notion that cooking is hard. It's not.

But what to do?

First buy the least processed things you can. If you just have to buy a processed food look for ones that have ingredients you can pronounce and recognize at first site. If there are chemicals in the food, you know you want to avoid that. Fruit and vegetables are your friends, especially if they're fresh and local, and organic, fresh and local is even better. Fresh and local are your friends. Organic is too. Some people say there is no difference, but take a look in to biomagnification and you'll see that is anything but true...in short if you put pesticide on your food, it stays there. If you put it on food that is given to animals, it ends up in their products. It's that little word known as science that sadly so many people these days seem to shun. Also the fresher the food, the more nutritious it is. Avoid farm raised fish, find a local source for as much of your food as possible, kick those chemicals to the curb, sodas need to go, green tea is a miracle and apples really can help keep the doctor away!

Cancer sucks. You know that, I know that. But you take the hits as they come and you come out swinging. As my sister takes this horrid journey, and we her loved ones come along by proxy, I hope to learn more about the healing power of food and going backward in food history and eating real food instead of crap is but a stone on the path, a path we'll come to the end of and move on to a happier, brigther tomorrow...together.

Cross posted at Dianne's Dishes.

Scene: We're driving to Thurmont to return to our library books and then on to Frederick to pay rent. I'm signing along to music and Lex is playing on my iPod in the back seat when all of a sudden I hear her speaking something that sounds decidedly Japanese, recognizing the Japanese word for hello.

Me: Alexis what did you just say? That sounded like Japanese.

Lex: That's because it was Japanese. First I said, "Hello. Do you have a menu in English?" and then I said, "How is your day?"

Me: Where in the world did you learn that?

Lex in her best "I'm rolling my eyes at you!" voice: Mom you do have language learning aps on your iPod including Japanese. I've been teaching myself to speak it so I can go visit.

Me stunned: You're learning it by yourself?

Lex, patiently as if talking to a difficult three year old: I can read you know and I can listen. It doesn't take much more than that. I've been doing it for a while now.

Mind. BLOWN!!!

Time marches on.

No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, time does what time does and that means moving always forward, never backward.

You can't stop it, you can't slow it down, you can't do anything but move with it, and sometimes this is easier said than done.

On Thursday I will turn 39. I've always prided myself in embracing my age and gracefully accepting the fact that I am what I am, but I have to admit I'm not too happy to see 39...she's a little too close to 40 for my taste.

How is it possible I'm on the doorstep of 40? I remember turning 21 and it seems like yesterday that my roommate at the time took me to a liquor store so I could buy my first bottle of rum. Turning 25 seems like mere minutes before. Turning 30 seemed like it was just moments ago and turning 35 was nanoseconds before now. Alexis was born when I was 29...In June she'll turn 10. Where in the hell did all this time go?

So to be honest all this is just making me snarky. I've been snarky all week, and I plan on being snarky right up to the instant I turn 39 and then I'll gracefully accept the change and move on, because as Alexis told me, "it's the circle of life" and I just needed "to get on with it already"! She's a smart one my girl, an old soul trapped in a nine year old body, and she speaks logic on a regular basis. And as straight forward as that all seems it also has me thinking...

Two years ago I finished up my first novel. I've got story after story started that I need to finish, but this story hit me and kept at me until I got it all down on paper. I let Darlene read it as I went along and she encouraged me every step of the way; Jamison's mom read it and enjoyed the story; and my dear friend and tattoo buddy Leann read it and was on board too. I wrote it, but despite that blaring flaw, it's actually a good story. I promise. It's called Different Dishes: A Life Undiscovered and here's the general idea:

Have you ever felt lost?

As Emma Morgan sits on her front porch in the middle of the night on her 39th birthday she knows that something has to change. She doesn't know what she is looking for, but she knew it wasn't this. She never expected to still be sitting on the side of the mountain she grew up on so many years later, never having traveled and seen the world as she expected. She wasn't living life, she was simply existing.

She had left her dreams behind when she married her husband Michael, with whom she was now having a lot of problems. Emma had made his dreams a reality, while she shoved her own to the back burner as women often do. Michael had wanted a staid life without excitement and adventure, while Emma dreamed of traveling and seeing the world. Emma was certain her life would always have a spark. That spark was lacking.

On the doorstep of 40, sparked by her realization that her life was not what she wanted it to be, after years of doing what is expected of her, Emma decides to stage her own little rebellion to find out what she is missing. With the help of her best friend Delia Drake, her substitute grandfather Henry McClellan, her sons Jackson and Christian, her photo blog and friends she makes along the way, she begins a journey that she never thought she would travel. Emma starts doing things she has always wanted to do and one of the first things she does is make an overdue trip to see Delia in California.

With her instant friendship with a very British William Halstrom, who saves her from a delusional stalker in an airport after an unexpected layover in Colorado on her way back from seeing Delia, her life begins to shift. William gives her the opportunity to travel and take pictures as she has always wanted to do. Along the way William not only is her friend, but when her marriage to Michael ends with his admission he has been having an affair with a woman in Portland, the relationship between Emma and William begins to change. They are finally free to explore feelings that are no longer forbidden. But will it last?

A mystery sends William back to London and Emma is crushed. She decides to travel to Ireland where she immediately feels at peace. She meets people during her journey that help to shape her new views on life. While part of her heart is breaking, another part is awakened. She decides that sitting around waiting for William to explain his absence is not in her best interest. As she meets new people, and loses some of those close to her along the way, she learns that in order to enjoy life you have to simply go out and take chances.

How does William's seeming betrayal turn Emma's journey upside down? When William comes back and explains why he left will she forgive him? Should she listen to her heart or should she run away?

So what's that got to do with me?

First off Different Dishes will be coming to a Kindle/E-reader near you in the near future. This story is supposed to be out there, I feel it in the marrow of my bones, so I'm releasing it myself. I'll tell you more about that as it comes along, including specifics and my new writing webpage and such, but it should be in the next few weeks and it would be a fun Christmas present for that woman in your life who is looking for her own path. (Hint. Hint. Wink. Wink. Nudge.)

Anyways....

There's a lot of me in Emma, or maybe a lot Emma in me, like the parts about not being where I thought I'd be and being disappointed in some of the turns in my life and I myself am hitting 39 in a few days so here's what's going to change...

There's going to be a lot more doing, and a lot less thinking about doing in my life. You only live once...I'm tired of sitting around waiting for things to happen, so I'm going to make them happen!

I'm putting out my novel. I'm traveling to Ireland before I turn 40 and I'm taking Darlene and Alexis with me (and maybe Leann too if I can convince her!) I'm going to finish up my Master's degree and then I'm going to go wild and get a PHd just because I can. I'm going to get Botox on my forehead because I want to. I'm going to bury my toes in the sand more often and have a few more mai tais while I'm there. There will be more manicures and pedicures, more girl's nights out, more everyday adventures and less everyday doldrums. I'm going to kick depression's ass, start swimming more, worrying less, living life. I'm going to enjoy the world and stop watching it pass me by. They say art imitates life, well in this case, life is going to imitate art! Emma has nothing on me!

So all of that to say...

Watch out world...I'm coming...and you'll never know what hit you!

Dear Alexis,

Here we are again...another year, another birthday. You are growing up so fast! Too fast!! The time just melts away.

Each year you continue to learn and grow and generally amaze me at every turn! You have such an amazing outlook on life and you inspire me everyday. The way you look at the world and the people around you is truly incredible. You have the most positive outlook and look for the good in everyone, even if it's very hard to find. You're my little Pollyanna in more ways than one.

This past year you discovered your love of the ocean. Apparently that's genetic, because you most definitely got that from me! You had been to the ocean several times before when you were younger, but last summer we drove over to the beach for the day a couple of times and you were in your element! You were finally old enough to appreciate the environment and have a rocking good time! I love to see you discover new things.

As you get older you have so many things going on and sometimes I wish things would just slow down, but life marches forward. You started yoga and love your classes, your teacher and your friends you've made from attending. You continue to be involved with girl scouts and church, throwing yourself in to everything you do 150%. You've taken classes, you've gone on adventures, you had your first sleepover at your friend's house, you had your first sleepover at home...In short you've been busy living life to the fullest and enjoying it all as it goes by. I like that about you.

This coming year brings more adventures your way...a trip to Frisco, NC in September for a week on the beach, New York City in October to celebrate my birthday, just to name a few. I will continue to watch you meet the world head on, making friends and having fun along the way. It's fun to see you breeze through these things with ease and aplomb, smiling and laughing, making memories as you go. I like this about you too.

The most important thing to remember as you embark on 9 and steam toward 10 is that you should always hold on to your fascination with the world. Life will never be dull for you if you keep that interest in the things around you, and caring for the people you meet, that comes so naturally to you. You have an amazing spirit Love and you need to hang on to that. Don't let anyone ever make you be less you because they don't understand where you're coming from. Remember what they think doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is what you think, and you're such a good person deep down inside that you always, always have that going for you.

I often tell you that you're my favorite, and you in turn tell me, "But Mom! I'm you're only!" in which I reply, "It doesn't make it any less true!" and believe me it doesn't! You are the light in my world, the wonder in my existence and I love you with all my heart! Never forget.

Mom

Scene: We're in the checkout line at the grocery store. Alexis is talking to our very friendly cashier.

A: "I don't have many friends."

Me: "Alexis! That's not true. What about Veronica and Max and Caroline and Kaitlyn and Catherine and Luke and Tyler and Lexie and..."

A interrupting: "Oh yeah! I forgot about them! I have lots of friends!"

Cashier: "She's adorable."

Me with a laugh: "She's a handful!"

Cashier: "The creative ones always are."

Me: "That they are. I think I'll keep her."

"I was looking for you on Facebook and I couldn't find you."

"That's weird."

"Then I realized you spelled your name wrong."

"My name isn't spelled incorrectly on Facebook."

"Yes it is, it's spelled 'D*i*a*n*n*e' instead of 'D*i*a*n*e'."

"That's because my name IS spelled 'D*i*a*n*n*e'!"

"It is? Are you sure?"

"Perfectly sure. I have been spelling it now for 30 plus years."

People really are idiots!

"Alexis, why is there gold glitter all over the floor?"

*In her best teenager trapped in an almost 9 year old body voice* "It's not glitter, it's fairy dust. Duh!"

Well I guess that settles that!

"Rapunzel, keep your hair to yourself!"

I never thought I'd say that in my life time! ;oP