Magical Benefits of Cucumbers
July 21, 2010
Nutritional Benefits:
1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.
2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours. (cucumber sandwich)
3. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.
Spa/Lifestyle Benefits
4. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!
5. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed an d headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!
6. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.
Miscellaneous Benefits
7. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.
8. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.
9. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.
10. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!
11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.
12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.
13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!
“Corona Light Wide Open Beach Volleyball”
June 27, 2010
On Saturday I headed south to Huntington Beach and had a day well spent at the beach watching the “Corona Light Wide Open Beach Volleyball” tournament. True to its title, it is one of the few true beach volleyball competitions that plays by the rules and is intended to be “True to the Game”.
Although the tournament directors are Karch Kiraly and Charlie Frank, we didn’t bump into them. It was an incredibly festive, beach party atmosphere in addition, to a qualifying event for people to compete to win incredible prizes. Actually it was fantastic just being out in the sun and sand with the surf in the background.
Jennifer Wilson was working with Oakley sunglasses and goggles, by being filmed hosting videos, interviewing athletes, and promoting upcoming Oakley events. It was awesome to hang out with the Oakley people and see some of the new awesome sunglasses that they have for this summer – perfect for playing volleyball at the beach or just looking cool protecting your eyes. We tried some on in the Oakley trailer store that they had set up at the beach. Oakley follows a philosophy that beauty means more than just looking good in sunglasses. There is power and grace in the female form and they constantly strive to support those qualities by reinventing the concepts of comfort, fit, and style. Oakley women don’t just perform. They perform beautifully. I really like that in a company that is protecting my eyes at the beach!
One of the locations Jennifer reported from was at the top of the rock climbing wall! At 6′2″ Jennifer is tall, but the wall was definitely taller – even she had to climb to get to the top!
It was a perfect Saturday spent watching beach volleyball. When we weren’t watching a tournament we walked up and down the beach. Now granted we were in our flip flops so it wasn’t quite a power walk, but more of a stroll. We couldn’t really count it as a workout, but it would fall in the category of “lifestyle activity”. This just means that we were burning calories at a moderate pace while enjoying things we would normally do! A great day at the beach!!
Day 3 – Patmos, Greece
June 24, 2010
(Sat May 29) Day 3: Patmos, Greece -
Our trip to Patmos turned out to be not only a scenic surprise, but also it was very peaceful to me. Our guide, Margarita originally from Patmos, but studied in England, gave us so much great history and information to absorb. This is where St. John was exiled and had to spend years here on this island until he was allowed to return to his home. Not a bad place to be exiled.
We visited the grotto where the legend claims St. John received his Revelation of the Apocalypse. The grotto’s beautiful chapel displays a stone pillow once used by the saint.
We enjoyed casually exploring the monestary of St. John the Theologian. Its “Old Treasury” is now a museum displaying a stunning collection of chalices, vestments, and manuscripts. Back then just to print one book took 50 cows’s hide for just one book – no mass production was done then. The oldest book printed that we saw was from 500 A.D., and the last book written by hand was from 1494. Thankfully printing has come a long way.
Above in the arch in the Monestary that shows the eight saints.
Ruth (my awesome mother in law) and I stopped for a photo opportunity – smiling before we leave the monestary – it was a lot of steps to get up to the top – and that many to get back down! 
Hundreds actually – a great leg workout – go booty.
Once we completed our tour we ventured around town. Found a few keepsake’s and then discovered what turned out to be, the most wonderful lunch place. Both Ruth and I enjoy the Tzatziki and a Greek salad. The Greek salad was quite different from the one we think of, there was no romaine lettuce. The base of the salad was the most flavorful red juicy tomatoes. They were ridiculously flavorful! The salad also had cucumbers, feta cheese, kalamata olives, all lightly covered with a special Greek extra virgin olive oil. The tomatoes were the secret ingredient that made the salad. I haven’t had that many tomatoes in a salad like that, well, ever. I am afraid I have never seen that many flavorful rich tomatoes in one place before! I may never be able to eat another tomato again!
Day 2 – Santorini, Greece
June 23, 2010
(Fri May 28) Day 2: Santorini, Greece
We arrived pretty early in the morning and Brooke was able to take a few beautiful sunrise photos that overlook the cliffs in Santorini.
This is one of the famous Santorini Churches that is used in many postcard pictures. We used many of the pictures we took from last year’s trip. Brooke used it for his Facebook profile picture and we used several in our wedding website pages. We thought the view was so magical that we needed to take a few more updated photos.
We did our own tour here as this was one of Brooke’s and my favorite places. We took Ruth and Gary to the north part of the island which is called Oia (Pronounced ee-ahh) and walked around and took amazing photographs, then had lunch on a restaurant called Fanari where we were on the second highest point on the island overlooking the ocean. For lunch we had the cute bird “Hoover” a little light brown birdie, who enjoyed the little bread crumbs and served as entertainment for us!
Brooke and I enjoyed cliff side massages at the famous Caldera massage studio. It was just magical. Ruth and Gary relaxed at the very highest restaurant on Oia, called “Pelikan”, and enjoyed a cappuccino and ice cream. It was a fantastic day, but we had to be back on the boat early in the afternoon, so we didn’t get to see the beautiful Santorini sunset this year.
We boarded the ship and sailed away. Our next stop is Patmos, Greece.
Beginning Vacation – En Route to Athens
June 20, 2010
May 25 -
And so our vacation begins after a day of clients, finale with the “Rapid Fat Blast Bootcamp”, teaching yoga at Tao on the rooftop, finish packing and off to the airport. We left LA on the red eye to Zurich. Swiss Air, is now my second favorite airline (behind Virgin America). The airline had wonderful qualities like ease in check-in, pleasant staff on the flight, comfortable seats, tasty food, good movie selection, landed on time, and our bags arrived quickly. These features are not always available on most airlines!
We enjoyed a five-hour lay over in Zurich, to the best of our ability. The airport is clean with comfy seats. We even found an area with piano bar and guitar player. He played “new age” versions of many popular songs, it was quite relaxing. Speaking of relaxing, we found a chair massage place that we decided we should try out, very nice.
The second leg was a short flight but I fell into a deep airplane sleep. By the time we arrived to our hotel and got settled, I was awake? So Brooke and I stayed up chatting for a little while with the manager of the hotel.
(Th May27) Pireus, Greece. (European Continent) The first stop in Athens was the Acropolis. This was so amazing to see! The magnificence of these temples is outstanding. We had numerous highlights here. The Parthenon, Temple of Athena, Temple of Zeus, the Olympic stadium (original Olympic games – not the 2004 Olympics). They had this brand new modern museum that had statues and many artifacts dating all the way back to the beginning of Athens. Although the building was so modern, there was a glass sidewalk that you could see from above the original bulding and how they were partially cutout!
The first pic is the entrance to the acropolis.
A view of the magnificent Temple of Athena
The second pic I am standing in front of the Temple of Athena.
We are in front of the backside of the Acropolis. You can see the cranes and how they are “refurbishing” it. Brooke was there ten years ago, and they have made significant progress since then.
The original Olympic stadium from the first Olympics back in 1896. The stadium was made completely of marble that was imported.
Raising my arms to the Olympic rings!
Ok – So I had to do one Yoga pose, Dancer Pose, in front of the Olympic stadium.
Seeing the Acropolis and these magnificent ruins, was a phenomenal way to start our trip. After a day of sightseeing we headed back to the boat, relaxed and got our bearings.
We sailed off into the sunset heading for Santorini, Greece. This is one of our favorite locations as we were there last year as well. This time it will be fun taking Brooke’s mom Ruth and Gary to show them our favorite spots. By the way – these beautiful scenic pictures are all taken by Brooke – he has such an eye for this!
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