The Revolution of Beauty

"It Will Come Back" We Promise! Check out NEW Blog Platform

2017-03-25T11:25:00.002-04:00

We realized after several inquiries that we never properly closed the door of this chapter and welcomed you into the next. We have moved our blog platform to our website BEE23.ca! Yay for cleaner, sleeker and all that much better for your benefit. Beauty is our business and we want you to be in the know.

As this adventure in life, beauty, business and purpose was always meant to be an authentic account of the trials, victories and wisdoms gained, all the while making sure your skin never loses it's natural glow, we are leaving up this collection of clippings from our BEE23 Natural Beauty adventures in love, revolution and beauty.

Much love! Make your way over to BEE23.ca for all things Hotty Balm xoxo

No Need for a "Secret Heart" at this Seasonal Soirée!

2015-11-06T14:29:00.002-05:00

Holidays are busy, so BEE23 Natural Beauty is opening the hive doors to host a one of a kind organic catered wine and cheese shopping soirée for all of your gift giving needs. There is no need to leave your heart's wishes secret because we have what you need big or small for that special someone. A pinch of our holiday magic goes a long way! Gift Sets, demos and quality artisan wares are available in an intimate setting at the very urbane Camaraderie Artisan Market. We are also very excited to have your feedback on a brand new blend. This is a limited capacity event. Please RSVP to info@feelthebee.com or click here to reserve your spot on the house guest list.

Saturday, December 5, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Camaraderie Artisan Market
2241 Dundas Street West Toronto, ON

Not to be an "Anti Pioneer" but the Golden Rules for Skin Care Stay Simple!

2015-10-28T19:42:00.001-04:00

I finally compiled the 5 point list that all my customers have asked for as a starting place to build our beauty regimen for best results. If you would like to cut through my generally lengthy prelude of what I view as philosophical and prophetic and get to the guts of My Golden Rules for your Best Beauty Self, then go to the list below!

It's that time...again. The turning of the seasons for our beauty regimens can feel both like a blessing and a curse. Seasonal changes often mean changes in our skin. We also rejoice in yet more time to play amidst mother nature's pleasures and yet another year that we pass our mirrors knowing that with the accumulated wisdom comes a small pang of acknowledgement in our own aging. I'm just being truthful.

The women I look to for guidance in life are those that seem to be fully beyond such concerns of vanity. This is a constant reminder that when we live within our passion, such attachments to the material and physical dissipate as it is the movement within our passion that drives our days and not the concern over how this path paints our skin and bodies.

It is also notable to mention here, that I have been doing demos and talking to women of all demographics for a solid amount of years in regards to choosing educated natural alternatives in beauty management and more specifically because it is what I have created for myself, my own product line. In that time I can tell you without doubt, a woman that is living within this place of drive appears younger, her skin glows and the light seems to permeate from under the dermis layer.

With this said, there would not be an industry for beauty without those of us who do wonder even incrementally how to keep our skin younger or clearer longer. I am continually asked what I do for my skin. Quite simply I have only used my Hotty Balm for moisturizing and protection and I follow the list of the 5 must do's based on observations I have made. These are the tasks that I give each customer upon purchase of our BEE23 Natural Beauty product line.

The List of 5 Golden Rules for your Best Beauty Self

1. No label, walk away. If there is no label on your product put it down and walk away regardless of price, brand and marketing suave.

2. If there is a label, then know your ingredients. The ingredients on your label should be legible. There should be an INCI code for each ingredient. This is a system of names for cosmetics and chemicals and waxes and oils and other ingredients of soaps on the basis of scientific names and other Latin and English words. In regards to body care you are able to purchase products that all have legible INCI codes. This looks like:

Common Name: Atlas Cedarwood Oil Cedrus ICNI Code: Atlantica (Cedarwood) Bark Oil
Common Name: Shea Butter, Natural ICNI Code: Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)

Often there will be several ICNI codes that are not immediately understandable. For example:

INGREDIENTS: Aqua/Water/Eau, Decyl Glucoside (mild plant derived cleanser), Sodium Citrate (natural water softener), Cellulose Gum (natural anti redeposition agent), Magnesium Nitrate (natural mineral), Magnesium Chloride (natural mineral), Sodium Chloride (table salt-viscosity enhancer), Methylisothiazolinone and Methylchloroisothiazolinone (preservative-maintain product freshness and prevents bacteria growth)

When there are any words that you do not understand in an ingredient list you must take a moment to do a little homework by writing the ingredient into your internet search engine. You want to know what it does in the formula, what the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) is and the risk level of use to humans. This is the only way you can make an informed choice and decide whether it is required in your daily body care regimen.

3. Stick to the basics. We are always looking for the next quick fix but as in all good things, skin care takes a little homework and small constant tasks.

After meeting individuals globally from all walks of life and discussing skin even in light of genetic predisposition, it would appear that it is those who have stuck to a basic beauty regimen that have the best skin later on in life. Arguments are allowed here. I am only reporting what I have compiled through observation and conversation over what is almost half an average human life. There will always be articles about the merit of a particular synthetic chemical in minimal use or a new nanotechnology and stem cell repair as the next miracle for youthful skin but guess what!? At this point in time, it would appear that simple still is best and I know skin. I have seen a lot of it, as terrible as that sounds!

Use simple natural soap bars definitely without Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) or no soap and solely water for facial cleansing. Quality natural products using ingredients such as Olive Oil and Vitamin E for protection and moisturizing. No harsh toners or cleansers. No ingredients that cannot be readily understood. Minimal use of Make-Up to no Make-Up. No smoking. Minimal alcohol consumption. Good food. An active lifestyle and lots of water. Do not shoot the messenger! I am only relaying what I have been told and experienced.

My best cleanser ever:

1 tablespoon of powdered Oatmeal (use a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle to grind until fine)
1 tablespoon unpasteurized Honey
1 teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar (more or less based on preference of texture)
Mix up in a bowl and use it as an exfoliating cleanser or leave on as a facial mask. Wash off with warm water immediately or leave on for 2 to 5 minutes.

This is the best cleanser I have used since my early 20s and I am turning 40 this year. Mostly because I'm not very creative when it comes to my beauty care but also because it works. It makes my skin glow and feel amazing.

DO NOT use harsh large sugars, coffee grinds or granules on your facial skin. It will cause micro tears and enlarge pores. I have found this out through my own trial and error of exploring what is out there and now know it is a no-no. Oatmeal is soft and will exfoliate just enough, while the honey is amazing as a cleansing agent and the apple cider vinegar is a natural toner. Not fancy but it works!

4. Steam. The pollution that falls from our urban sky can take the paint off vehicles. Not only that but for individuals with oily skin issues, it is necessary to steam for good facial skin results. A simple do it yourself article done well on the benefits of steaming can be found at the Beauty Ebook. I will include the link below on How To Steam Your Face.

I have observed a noticeable difference in the facial skin of those living rurally to those who live within everyday pollutants of the city. Pollution is hard on the skin and therefore I will continue to spout, "Good environmental policies makes a beautiful me and you!"

There is so much research that could be included here but I really liked the article 'Quick Tips: 5 Ways to Protect Your Skin from Pollution.'

"If you live in a developed country, you can't completely avoid pollution, but there are ways to minimize its effects. Overexposure to UV radiation can cause wrinkles and even skin cancer. A good moisturizer hydrates the skin and creates a barrier between your skin and free radicals and other pollutants." [Sarah Siddons and Brion O'Connor, Quick Tips: 5 Ways to Protect Your Skin from Pollution]

Individuals living in an urban setting suffering from sensitive skin issues have had great results using our Hotty Balm Mature to Dry or Hotty Balm Normal to Oily. I use my Hotty Balm everyday with this in mind. With all of the misinformation in regards to beauty care, I have no qualms sharing what I have seen to work. We can move towards scientifically understanding why Beeswax and Vitamin E are beneficial but in the interim I will continue to use such products because I can see that they do work.

5. Reduce sun exposure. This is difficult to say the least. I am outside all the time. Cover when you can with a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses. Sun screen may also be a challenge. I do not use traditional brands at all due to their ingredients. There are some very good current brands offering natural alternatives for sun screen. You will have to find the one that fits you based on texture and performance.

So that is everything summed up in a five point list. I will continue to deconstruct each into small blog entries that will hopefully be helpful in our hunt for eternal youth and longevity or at least grace and enjoyment in our adventure. Keep it natural and keep it hot!

Resource List
EWG's Skin Deep database is a very good tool to assess ingredient toxicity
For more information on ICNI codes click here
How to Steam Your Face at EbookBeauty

Who knew "Trouble" came in Pink Plaster at the 2015 Green Living Show

2015-04-02T11:34:00.003-04:00

It's spring and with spring comes the power of transformation. Change may also be associated with risk and feelings of fear of the unknown. When it works like it did for the 2015 Green Living Show the lingering atmosphere is one of triumph and feelings of overdue satisfaction. Congratulations to all the organizers for knowing when new earth was required to be sewn. The venue this year was as bright as the natural light that flooded in from the ceiling of the Toronto Metro Convention Centre.

What may not be known was there was a great sacrifice prior to the success of this show and a life lost. Perhaps not a life but a presence at the very least. I have some eclectic design choices that ultimately work when put together or so I believe. On a visit to Habitat for Humanity Re-Store a month prior I became enamoured with Prescilla.

Who or what is Prescilla you may ask?

Prescilla is, or I should say was, a bright pink plaster Doberman that belonged to the manager of the Queen Elisabeth Blvd Re-Store. The pink pooch with one tip of an ear missing and crumbling painted paws sat on guard acting as both usher and mascot to the store. She wore a crystal collar with a DIVA sign draped about her shoulders. Originally I had inquired about purchasing Prescilla but it had been a gift to the manager painted to suit for her by a loving customer.

I endeavoured to scour the GTA for my own Prescilla. There were Collies, Bulldogs, Shepherds and Labs but no Dobermans. The gentleman who apparently is the master caster of these plaster pointers was on vacation until several weeks after the Green Living Show.

I succumbed to defeat and allowed the idea of my own feral fushia fashionista sitting by my side to fall away. Nonetheless, if I had let sleeping dogs lie, then this story would be done and not act as a bridge into some other secular understanding of the world as we come to know it.

On the morning of our Green Living move-in I thought of one more last ditch effort to secure Prescilla. I would offer to borrow her in return for placing a sign that wrote "On loan from Habitat for Humanity."

I called the manager who agreed to my conditions of acquisition for the weekend. I was overjoyed because it wasn't like I actually had a slew of product, an entire show and three days of mayhem to contend with, I had acquired Prescilla the pink pooch.

I felt all was well in this adventure but this is no Disney special. This is the GTA where Miss Congenialities may not be congenial, Hotty Balm lovers become Hotty covetors and the authorities may haul you in for improper polka dot use via a five car take down children, man and woman alike. This is the city. She may not love you but will come to respect you after you run over her a few times with a classic blue and white cruiser and skip the latte with fancy foam for a dark roast with low fat milk instead. Straight up, I just want the coffee and it's just like that!

After some mild directional issues unloading began. I gently took Prescilla out of her shot-gun perch wrapped in the latest bubble wrap taken off of the Habitat rack. I placed her like a trophy on the trolley next to the yellow and chrome table and chairs. As my valiant volunteer began to push forth the trolley lurched and the large room filled with one clatter after another resulting in Prescilla being flung forth as if she had been shot from a cannon. I ran to her side with thoughts of resuscitation but the inevitable reality sank in looking at the twisted puzzle of pink plaster pieces. Prescilla had been lost to us.

A feeling of absolute loss filled my stomach as I gathered the shattered torso together that once made this Diva of Dobermans. I carried her back to the vehicle in my arms realizing she would never make her debut at the Green Living Show in Booth 227. How was I to process this!?

I had killed Prescilla out of my adamant vision to have her. She should never have left the secure arms of Habitat for Humanity and her managerial Mistress.

I took a deep breath. There was nothing I could do over this loss. I would have to face the music after the weekend, as it was what it was and the show must go on!

The show did go on and was the most successful
ever for BEE23 Natural Beauty. The manager of Habitat for Humanity has been notified at present. Although she was most gracious and stated no redemption measures are necessary, I am on the prowl for a Bull Dog replacement and pink paint.

What was I to take from this!?

Is it still better to have left the security of our towers then not, even if tragedy is our outcome!?

When we change and risk there may be some parts of ourselves or our organizations too fragile and archaic to make the journey but if you keep moving forward the show will inevitably go on!?

Perhaps, and sometimes beyond our understanding and as horrible as something seems, it is the act of the galactic bodies saving us from ourselves in spite or our choices of décor!

Unbeknownst to me Prescilla may have just stolen the whole show and the focus must be placed always on our most luscious line up of all natural body products that are playing the starring role.

Have faith in your timing, your path and when pink dogs are shattered in the benefit of a better booth display.

"Wait a Minute" and Other Home Remedies for Puffy Eyes "even if your face blows up like something unearthly!"

2014-11-19T23:27:00.002-05:00

Potatoes work and other home remedies to reduce skin issues and eye puffiness!

I often prattle on about how sensitive I am to synthetic chemicals in products but I tend to forget that I actually am so sensitive. Last Friday, my face blew up into what I would envision as "when botox goes bad."

I had water in my forehead and eyes. If it wasn't my face, then I may have thought it looked kind of cool like some type of Star Trek character picked up in Deep Space Nine. I had to duck out of two event outings at the last minute while holding chamomile tea bags over my eyes. I went to the doctor and in a thick accent she stated, "Well don't use that again!"

"Really, thanks!" Nonetheless, she was correct.

It seemed like the swelling was not going to go down ever. As I do, I decided to turn what in general can appear as me tripping up and smashing onto my face so to speak, into something exploratory. I took to the Internet as best as I could peering through bulging over bloated eyes.

Online Home Remedies

Ice cold water. If I was only dealing with minimal puffiness and skin tone, then I can see how this really does work. After cleansing, fill the sink with cold water. Add a few ice cubes. Dip your face in the water, holding it there for 10 seconds. Repeat several times. The cold helps to flush away puffiness, tone the skin and refine your pores. There was also a tip in regards to oily skin. Add a teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice.

Black tea bags. Take two black tea bags and steep them in hot water for 3-5 minutes. Take the tea bags out and put them in your container of choice. Leave them in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or until cold. Take the tea bags out. Gently squeeze out any excess liquid until the bags are damp and dripping wet. Lay down and put the tea bags over your eyes. Leave them on for 15-30 minutes. Remove and carefully rinse off any tea stains on your face.

Many eye treatments contain caffeine. This is because caffeine can help shrink blood vessels around your eyes, thus reducing puffiness and dark circles. Tea bags not only contain caffeine and beneficial antioxidants, but they also contain tannins. Tannins are responsible for the tea's color and flavor; most importantly tannins can stimulate healthy blood circulation and help tighten and soothe skin.

Eggs whites. Egg whites are awesome! It works. Separate the whites of the eggs from the yokes in a bowl. Brush the egg whites all over your face, while using the egg white resin on the inside of the shells on the most damaged areas. Leave on for about 3 minutes and wash off with lukewarm water. Your skin feels so amazing!

So my skin felt great but was still very puffy. (Unhappy smiley face placed here!)

What Finally Worked

Potatoes. I took a potato and peeled it. I shredded it into a bowl like I was going to make home fries. Instead of frying it up you mush the shredded potato into a pulp. Take the pulp and place it over the eyes. I took lumps of the pulp and put it onto paper towel, so I could hold the pulp over my eyes. Leave it on your eyes for 10 minutes.

I set my alarm, I think part of my healing in this ongoing process of trying remedies was being forced to lay put for so many minutes at a time. I found that initially frustrating but realized this could be one of the issues in regards to my serious reaction to a foreign chemical substance and my own fatigue.

If you want to surprise anyone walking into the room, then lie down and leave the pulp over your eyes without the paper towel. It looks pretty freaky for any onlooker!

When I removed the potato mush from my eyes it noticeably took down the puffiness! The magic is in the oxalic acid, a gentle acid. The moisture and starch are what make it so effective for skin applications. I have repeated several times. Although time is what is required, I can say that potatoes really work for puffiness.

I'm on the mend. Time I suppose can be the greatest healer and taking the time to wait a minute or two before running off on another adventure is important. I have also been reminded of necessary sleep, hydration and the personal TLC that goes into maintaining a healthy glow!

"No Matter What You're Told" Stop Worrying

2014-10-20T16:52:00.002-04:00

I have been invited to take part in The Ultimate Life/Balance Bootcamp with expert Holistic Psychotherapist Author Victoria Lorient-Faibish called "Stop worrying kick anxiety in the butt naturally!"

I will be providing units of my Hotty Body Balm and Hotty Hands 'n Feet for a massage exercise to activate stress release in the body. I have also been asked to bring forth some of my own message in regards to finding life balance.

Now anyone who takes pleasure in making up a part of my supportive social web will more than likely be on the ground howling at the thought of me participating in such an event, or possibly given the more enlightened of individual will think it definitely makes sense! You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink but if you allow her to set up shop she will show up!

Life balance is something I honestly explore on a daily basis, so I am more than happy to share the triumphs and foibles of my own pathway to staying mostly sane. However, the idea of working out moments of anxiety naturally has been at the forefront of my own exploration of self.

This work shop will be a new experience for me as well, so I am looking forward to the information that will be introduced by Victoria. She has a hearty laugh at the other end of the phone and I have to say I take comfort in someone who can laugh from the heart.

I believe that Victoria is also bringing forth a very important topic for the global planet at large. With many of our current events much of our populace have been moved into a state of anxiety.

Let us first look at the definition of the word anxiety:

anx·i·e·ty noun: a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

In life and business this is something that is ever occurring. We wait for the next step, the next big break, the next fall, the next curve ball and so on. Wondering, predicting and worrying over what is uncertain and what may be happening next is a ever wearing and a never ceasing task. It would appear obvious that participating in such an activity is not productive or healthy, neither is it viable considering that worrying over what cannot be known does not make it known. It would seem that to let go of worry over outcome is to let go of our self induced anxiety.

Easier said than done I protest!

An associate of mine brought up the idea of surrender the other day at dinner. The very word of surrender had not even waved it's little white flag on my field. I can muster up thoughts over what is most reasonable for two parties to agree to, what may be in the best interests of a given scenario or even that there are some fights that just shouldn't be fought but surrender has not been a word often used in my personal discourse.

Bob Marley sang, "Have no fear for atomic energy because none of them can stop the time."

I contemplate this on an ongoing basis, obviously due to my adoration for Marley, interest in the topic and the idea of letting go of outcome to something greater than oneself. However, what does that mean for standing up for what you believe in? I believe facing untruths and injustices is what helps exercise and evolve the human condition.

Is it not smart to be prepared for eventualities, rather than just assuming you will be provided a stack of wood to warm yourself during the cold months? Is it not part of the grander scheme that humans have the conscious ability to plan and create for ourselves given our cognitive craftiness.

Dr. Amy Johnson writes in her article Let Go of Control, "when I become aware that I’m in control mode, I imagine that I’m in a small canoe paddling upstream, against the current. It’s hard. It’s a fight. That’s what control mode feels like to me. When I choose to let go and surrender, I visualize the boat turning around, me dropping the oars, and floating downstream. I’m being gently pulled, no effort necessary on my part. Simply breathing and saying, “Let go of the oars” is usually enough to get me there."

This makes sense. I know this feeling and I have benefited from allowing things to work out in ways that I could not have imagined. But what if you are a salmon and to spawn you must swim upstream against the current to fulfill your cycle of life? What if you are going down stream and you see a waterfall that is 60 feet down with a rocky ledge? Is it not healthy human behaviour to think, "yep I don't want to do that!" Then to jump out and at least attempt to swim for shore. Where is your will to live otherwise!?

This puts me into the place of fighting about not fighting. The chances of me waking up in a Ashram in this lifetime and simply going with the flow are slim. This is not without possibility given I cannot know what the future brings but unlikely if I am being honest with my flow.

Perhaps, some of us may just be fighters. So how do you fight and surrender? Instead of trying to fit into a particular box and hope to one day mentally and spiritually wake up into something that I am clearly not, I may have to fit spirit to job. I believe that looks like me asking to use my will to work for synthetic toxins to be taken out of products and for a more harmonious relationship between human and our natural world to be used in a progressive and positive way. The balance is found in letting go of the outcome.

Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malala Yousafzai all fought the general current but I believe they must have had clear moments of knowing that the ultimate outcome is not within their control, otherwise they would not have had the courage to go against the grain. If you are going to swim against the current, then letting go of anxiety and surrendering to outcome allows for you to be more centered, resourceful and calm in the midst of friction making you much more capable. It also allows you to take more joy out of what you are doing in that day because you do not know truly what your project today will bring tomorrow. This allows me to always take the most of what I can in that moment apart from what it may or may not provide in the future.

I am not claiming expertise on this subject nor any answers. I have only offered questions and a general overview. I look forward to Victoria's presentation to further explore this subject and to add some more tools to my own personal tool box when dealing with the daily anxieties of being human.

For more information check out Victoria's event link The Ultimate Life/Balance Bootcamp.

Let's get physical! Ready, Set, Go, Ring "The Bells"

2014-10-19T10:36:00.000-04:00

In continuation of our exploration of full bodied skin care, it is an optimal time for me to look at keeping things physical.

Most of us have experienced how feeling beautiful and looking beautiful can go and hand and this is not news. Exercise exerts its effects on the brain through several mechanisms, including neurogenesis, mood enhancement, and endorphin release. This can improve cognitive functioning and elevate mood states in a non-addictive manner but mimicking the effects of highly addictive drugs like morphine.

That is pretty powerful stuff! I love the glow that I believe can be seen in my face after getting physical, so is it that I simply feel good about myself, therefore I feel that I look more beautiful or does my skin actually look better?

There is now research that proves regular exercise is one of the keys to healthy skin.

“We tend to focus on the cardiovascular benefits of physical activity, and those are important. But anything that promotes healthy circulation also helps keep your skin healthy and vibrant,” says dermatologist Ellen Marmur, MD, author of Simple Skin Beauty: Every Woman's Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy, Gorgeous Skin and associate professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Even in the case of skin conditions such as acne, rosacea, or psoriasis, you may require some special care during exercise but the benefits of exercise still far outweigh the costs.

Increased blood flow that occurs during physical activity helps nourish skin cells by carrying oxygen and nutrients to cells throughout the body, including the skin. Increasing blood flow also helps flush waste and debris out of the system, “You can think of it as cleansing your skin from the inside,” Marmur states.

Exercise works to reduce stress in the body. Skin conditions that are aggravated by stress, such as acne and eczema can improve with exercise. The link between skin and stress is still in the midst of investigation but studies show that the sebaceous glands, which produce oil in the skin, are influenced by stress hormones. Reducing stress reduces the overall impact our hormones may have on our skin.

For people who are acne prone, increased perspiration can create clogging issues. Wearing moisture-wicking clothing, such as hats or sweat bands and showering immediately after exercise can help with acne induced by physical activity. Wearing loose-fitting workout clothes can also be beneficial. It is also important to make sure your skin is clean before you work out and free of make-up. After exercise and showering, smoothing on a moisturizer, such as our Hotty Balm can prevent skin irritation.

Salt from perspiration and a elevated body temperature can also cause flare ups for people susceptible to eczema and psoriasis. Keeping it physical is still considered more beneficial in the long term. One helpful precaution is to exercise in cool temperatures, such as walking in air conditioned buildings. Swimming is also a good activity because the skin is able to stay cool even when the body temperature rises. Putting a moisturizer on prior to exercise on areas susceptible to over heating such as the face, underarms and inside of legs can protect from sweat and chaffing.

So let's get physical and get your hotty on!

"Heavy Love" Urban Eco-Woman: Unleash Your Inner Goddess @ ROUND Venue

2014-09-25T09:57:00.001-04:00

In sales they say you need to create a call to action, I guess mine came out more like a war cry. Oops too much!? I have a great TIFF story about that green dress stay tuned! Until then stay strong and carry on!

"How or Why" to Boob Jobs and Building a Beautiful Life Part 1

2014-09-12T12:47:00.000-04:00

Building a Beautiful Life Part 1 An Overview...kind of! Yay for new themes and new inspiration!

I have repeated it insidiously I know but truly beautiful skin is a whole life experience. There is an inner glow that comes from living a life that gives you a sense of wonder, satisfaction and purpose that simply cannot be had with any miracle cream. Although, our BEE23 line is playing a pretty awesome supporting role in the use of products that protect and nourish our natural beauty rather than destroying it prematurely and unnecessarily. This theme is something that I have been working on which now for me seems time immemorial. What is a beautiful life? How does one build such a space? What are the contributing factors that work to make a life that we define as beautiful?

I think it has become quite obvious or hopefully we can see by now that what constitutes a "beautiful life" is not a standardized definition throughout society or individual and nor should it be. I am always observing others to see how they make it work for them or appear to make it work. I do believe it may be easier for some than others.

The most tangible example of this as of late for me is Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting from The Big Bang Theory. In a recent article she discussed how her humour doesn't come from some inside darkness and it seemed to say that she hasn't struggled with serious conflictual moments of moral, physical or emotional ideologies, besides what the majority of all us go through simply being human. She does seem seriously west coast cool, fun and just goes with the flow. She stated the best decision she ever made was getting a boob job at 19. I do believe people like this exist and are able to build something that they feel is incredible and reap the benefits. Then, there are people like me!

Completely apart from having any bearing on the rightness or wrongness or the meaningless of a boob job at 19, the very thought of such an act at that age personally would've sent me into a tale spin of contemplation on the meaning that had for women, the affect this would have on how children saw their own physical forms, what medical conditions such an operation would mean, what was the connection between aesthetic and inner beauty and would I meet the right partner for me if I was changing my body for reasons of pure vanity and not health related or grotesquely cosmetic but if it is health related of course that changes my view of augmentation of the body but I think tattoos are beautiful which is augmentation, so does that mean it ultimately matters very little in the grand scheme of things and splatter all that with themes from A Prayer for Owen Meany that would be firecracking out of my secular little skull so much so, that I would swoon on spot due to the overwhelming cosmological impact that I viewed such a choice having.

My skin can be very difficult to live within at times. Pun intended!

I obviously require some what of a systematic approach to surviving such choices and how I view myself functioning in the world. One major contributing factor in such a survival system to exploring a beautiful life for me is "life balance." Living within a context of life balance creates a foundation from which to daily build from and find focus.

Life balance is closely related to our own sustainable health and beauty. This is discussing "sustainable" beauty in the realm of "preservation and evolution" of that which is beautiful in our life. There are many categories as to what we find beautiful in the world and there are obviously passions and extreme conditions that are incredibly beautiful but not sustainable or destructive albeit intensively seductive in the moment. In this exploration of beauty in life we are concerning ourselves with how to support our natural beauty and envelope it within a grace that becomes timeless. Life balance is one of those factors to creating an everlasting strong glow that becomes a "force de résistance." I am interested in the type of beauty and passion that is thriving and creates a beautiful future planet for our global children to learn and grow.

In The Story of BEE23 with Crystal Harbans Ms. Harbans asked me about balance. I am actually traditionally not so great on camera and tend to do this spastic freak out thing but I am working on it and rewiring so to speak on a daily basis! So when she asked, I honestly answered that "life balance" is a consistent learning process we are continually working on but it was not my full story on balance by any means and I did not include any pertinent helpful points. It is true that we are working in a flux of doing more here and there at differing times and honouring this motion of energy but it is much more specific than that. The way that I keep life balance and believe the planet at large is able to keep a healthy life balance is to be consistently looking at and attempting to work on the four elemental aspects of life. These being physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Physical: Being of body; exercise, medical, health, what we eat, drink, breath, sex and anything pertaining to moving around the planet in a material form.

Mental: Being of the intellect; learning, cognitive development, of those activities that happen within our mind, our mental health, ideas.

Emotional: Being of the heart; an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness.

Spiritual: Being of or consisting of spirit; the incorporeal. Contemplation on worldview, the non-physical connection between other beings, such as human, animal or plant. This can be your moral, sacred or religious beliefs or contemplation on the lack there of. This is the contemplation of that thing inside you that makes you "you" after stripping off all things pertaining to the physical; clothes, gender, skin colour, tissue, muscle and organ. It is the thing that makes a child that is deaf, incapable of personal movement, blind and with limited mental capability smile when you walk into the room. That thing!

When we work on each of these even a little bit in our day there is almost no way to go through your daily activities without a moment of this is alright, I feel good, I can do this, or that is an amazing idea, or I just made the most wonderful connection or this is my purpose. It begins to work like magic where people are like, "I can't believe this just happened to me" or "I never would have saw that if I hadn't have taken the time to do this." Things begin to seem serendipitously connected to how you perceive the moment you are in and what you are doing.

When I stated to Ms. Harbans that this was a work in progress for me I was being honest. Working on a life of beauty is not as easy for some as it is for others and there is no clear definitive way of doing this. When I feel out of balance and this most definitely shows up on my skin, I step back and take a moment to see where I am failing to fulfill an aspect of these four elements in my life. This immediately has a positive influence on my day and takes me back to my personal "boardroom table."

Over the next series of entries I am going to share parts of my personal system that keep even someone as spastically galactic as me grounded and functionally exploring a beautiful life!

The Story of BEE23 "The House That Built Me"

2014-08-15T17:52:00.001-04:00

Be a "Miss Chatelaine" BEE23 featured in Chatelaine!

2014-06-05T12:09:00.001-04:00

So how cool is that! BEE23 is featured in Chatelaine as an all natural beauty favourite. We already know because of your comments such as, "face lift in a jar," "magic in a bottle," "fountain of youth at your finger tips," that you love it but it is so absolutely amazing to be included as all natural favourite in a magazine of this caliber and tradition. Yay to everyone that has worked so hard to bring BEE23 to the market table. Onwards and forwards we march igniting your natural glow from the inside out and the outside in. Be the glow and at the same time remind the whole world why we need to keep our planet clean, green and not so much mean but able to get the job done when necessary! Much love! To check out the article featuring BEE23 in Chatelaine follow the link http://www.chatelaine.com/health/wellness/all-natural-beauty-products-women-behind-the/?gallery_page=2#mobile_gallery_top

Become "Titanium" at the DivaGirl Conference 2014

2014-04-11T11:16:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again and spring is in the air! How do I love spring? Let me count the ways!

It is also time for The DivaGirl Conference. This year BEE23 Natural Beauty http://www.bee23.ca/ will take part in the marketplace but also share a few very necessary Diva secrets that every Diva in training needs to know, not only to survive but thrive in our current society or why not go for our galactic community that which far surpasses time and space. These few tips will not only keep your hands unscathed when you open the mouth of the lion but it will make sure you leave the cage walking. Bruised but not broken!

What does strength look like? What does it dress like? What colour is it? Does it speak in any particular fashion? What does it do and not do? A small hint prior to full disclosure of the ultimate answer to life and how to wake your inner DIVA; true strength knows not a certain material or physical manifestation. Strength is found in the mere act itself. And should anyone try to tell you how it shall be defined, they are simply attempting to justify their own life choices.

You choose how you wish to express your strength in the world. The act of having faith in your own means of expression will become a fortress of strength unto itself!

Much love of course and all that good stuff because we are still walking forward and in pink Pin Up Couture Mary Janes at the DivaGirl Conference http://divagirl-inc.com/conference/. BEE23 will be presenting:

Embrace your Inner Diva and Never Look Back

4:30 p.m. in the Gallery

Saturday, April 12th

9AM-5PM

600 King Street West

Toronto, ON

"The House that Heaven Built" and the Bubble Mr. O'Leary Blows!

2014-03-03T09:24:00.001-05:00

I tuned into Tout le Monde en Parle last night for an interview with Kevin O'Leary a Canadian businessman and television personality on CBC's Dragons' Den. My ears perked up immediately because unbeknownst to an outsider, many of my ideologies are quite self serving by nature and not the actions of a pure bleeding heart.

I believe contaminating our planet is not efficient, intelligent or an evolved means of thinking or acting in the world at large. I believe poisoning the one true thing we cannot live without in the name of making money, this being water, and then recreating a substitute is absolute inanity and short sited. I believe that general consideration, respect and appreciation for our fellow man and species is a more productive, cost effective and progressive means to live.

The act of being kind, merely for argument sake, has also scientifically been proven to be very beneficial to your over all health.

This being said, I find myself really wanting to believe Mr. O'Leary's argument because it would make my life so much easier. All of these conflict of interests I concern myself over, such as life purpose, role of responsibility in the community and what my true freedom looks like would be washed away in the hypnotic waves of such a material loveliness. However, all of a sudden the bubble bursts and I am rudely awakened from such a dream, as I catch the scent of rot wafting up from washed up carcasses of dead sea life and the sensation of my toes beginning to sizzle and melt as the flesh falls from my bone, as I languish out on the shoreline of this aging proposed ideology of what an entrepreneur is, worn thin by the constant lapping of the waves filled with nuclear sludge, spilled deep sea crude oil and toxic poisons flushed down our drains from our household, bath and beauty products.

Mr. O'Leary stated that my only job as an entrepreneur is to make money for the shareholders and that is it. His world is so easy. Many a true sage have stated life is quite simple, it is us who make it complex. So perhaps Mr. O'Leary is onto something when he states we should be thankful for the jobs that the top wealth holders have created for the masses. However, then I just have to turn on that pesky radio in the morning to tune into Democracy Now! care of CIUT 89.5 FM. I hear the story of how a small child is thrown from the top of a train trying to get back to his mother, en route to making money for his family because they are only paid $3.00 a day to work in one of these dream job factories owned and operated by the top of the food chain shareholders. Once again my bubble bursts and I am abruptly dumped down into the waste of our harsh reality.

This isn't even claiming that I believe I know what I'm talking about because it is plain to see that I'm the slow horse in this race with last seasons tack coming up the back, while Mr. O'Leary is way down the track on top of quite a Sham. If I could take such an argument as true, then my actions and the impact on those around me, the freedom I chose to have over the freedom of others and the legacy I leave behind on this planet would be so succinctly driven.

My job is to make money for the shareholders. No consequences, no responsibilities to anyone else but only to my own freedoms and no concerns for long sited legacy or eternal hardships left for others to clean up. His world is much easier than mine, it is true.

However, what I do believe is that if only for a moment Mr. O'Leary were ever to sway from such an argument or tip his toe into the deeper side of the pond, to have to think of the mass body of decay left under the tip of the iceberg named "Making Money for the Shareholders," I don't know that he could swim as well in my deep waters as I may be able to wade through his.

If the ideologies of individuals like Mr. O'Leary cannot change, then it is time for that of the shareholders to do so or may we all become dust left behind from the card ice of such an argument. If we are to look at these global shareholders as pack leaders, then it would be really nice to not be lead into short sited oblivion because presently I have absolutely no respect for the pack leader.

As Mr. O'Leary states, "The truth is the same yesterday, as it is today and as it will be tomorrow. It does not change!"

We're All In This Together

2014-01-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

This is my personal contribution to the Bell Let’s Talk mental health awareness initiative. As of recent years, I have taken up somewhat of a vow of silence or disciplined allowance in regards to over wrought public displays of emotion. I believe it may be in a response to the considerable amount of shock reality television, entertainment media and the deluge of social media drama. This does not at all touch upon as to whether it is right, wrong, good or bad. I simply decided I don't want to participate. As in, I don't care to have my emotions and my own humanity open to what can be an exploitative process once you realize there may possibly be an audience. However, given the current campaign I felt this would be an appropriate moment to share my personal experience and thoughts in regards to our societal mental health at large.

Instead of deliberating on the rationale behind such thoughts or the contextual relativity of our daily experiences which are becoming more and more of a burden on each of our daily lives, I will share a simple story in regards to my morning, wherein the reader may use their own discernment to draw lines in between the dots without me telling what one should think.

I wanted to make it short because I know my attention span really only drifts through the first paragraph of most things I read, unless it becomes initially engaged. However, there was no other way but to include everything for full effect in regards to my contribution to the discussion.

As I write this, a loud bang startles me from outside in the hall. I can hear the Supervisor open her door next to mine. My mind jumps to gunshot!? No, it would be louder than that but choose to stay writing at my desk until some time passes before I look out my door.

This morning it is - 31°C in Toronto, ON. With the weather conditions as of late in the GTA the school and bus schedule has been tentative to say the least. I start my mornings with the alarm sounding off on the 680 AM channel to listen to traffic and weather reports. Often school and bus cancellations are updated. Given the early morning temperature I decide to call the bus company dispatch at 6:30 a.m. to see if our public buses are running and if they are on time.

Dispatch answers.

"Yes they're running," she says with an abrupt disgust. "What route line are you on!? You keep calling in and if there was a problem you should know it..." she continues on for a bit but I honestly can't remember what she said after a certain point because it was lost in my own shock of what felt like an unnecessary early morning attack. It was that feeling, the one you get when you wonder if your postal code was different would the tone of the response have been different.

I hang up the phone. I sit in bed for a moment and reassess my next choice of actions. However, let us transgress a moment here to a previous January 2014 week prior to me airing all of my dirty laundry online in pursuit of the greater good.

On one particular day within the last two weeks, because there have been several that the bus did not come or it was very late due to uncontrollable natural forces, I had been left with kids doing circles around me in the bitter cold only to call in to the bus company dispatch to find out the bus was not coming. On this day there was no reason based on the bus line website availability and the radio announcements to believe that buses on my route were not running. I had kept the children home based upon my own decision the day before because I was concerned about the weather. I had been worried if something should happen with the bus while waiting or riding, that it was too cold for them to be out and the school too far away.

So, on said morning I decided to send them off so they did not miss anymore school should all be open and running to plan.

Our general morning protocol took place.

I rouse the troops, wrestle with sweaters, earrings, step over dogs, and step over dogs and step over dogs again. I attempt to explain to my youngest son as to why getting the best out of our current school system is important and I want my son who may be feeling a lack of fit in the current classroom structure, to try his very best as there are children around the world who do not have access to public school systems at all. And "No" it's not because he is a "dumb kid" as he puts it. It is in fact a lack of fit at this point and issues that are greater than just him.

I think to myself, "Should I be home schooling!? I want him to be an intact little person with a solid self-esteem. He's a smart kid. I just know there is a lack of fit and he needs more time."

Then I stop and realize at this moment we cannot do anything about it but I will put it on the daily list to investigate alternatives. I try to tell him I'm going to work really, really hard to figure this thing out but please do your very best today and we will deal with it at the next meeting with his teacher.

"Mom do you work tonight!?" my daughter asks.

"Yes!" I say.

"Mom why do you have to work?" she says.

"Listen I have worked out the best schedule that is possible for this family. You don't even know I'm gone for the most part and half the time you come to the markets with me. Someone has to work. How do you think food gets in the fridge!?" I ask.

She pouts.

They eat, in which I once again must explain to a resistant child because he is not happy in his current school surroundings why eating breakfast is very important and "please won't you eat the fruit" and then succumb to pressure and remake breakfast with oatmeal instead because it is the only thing he will eat in the morning. Then we continue to wrestle with snow suits, boots and "Oh my goodness, where are your mitts!? I told you, you have to put them into your sleeve as soon as you get in from the gym. I will not continue to buy new mitts! They are not disposable and we are not buying ten pairs for you to get through winter. You have to take care of your things," I say.

We hunt down the mitts and put them on his little hands.

We then wrestle once again with the dogs' coats which were recently purchased just after my bubble burst in regards to my vision of moving from the great white North closer to the tropical belt than I have been in over a decade. However, apparently - 31°C in the GTA is a whole other wet and chilly ball game than up North.

We open up apartment building doors. We hustle down two flights of stairs. We shut apartment building doors.

Until I moved from city country and 25 acres to an apartment building, I had no idea that there could be this many doors to get to where you want to go.

"Mom I forgot my library book! I have to bring it or Madame is going to be very upset with me!" my son says.

We open up apartment building doors. We climb two flights of stairs. We close apartment building doors. We recover the library book and put it in the back pack.

We open up apartment building doors. Where is the dog!? We had lost one.

We open up one set of apartment building doors back to see her sitting and wiggling on the other side. I realize the dog and leash was left behind in the hustle.

We finally get out the last apartment door and start to walk to the designated bus stop area.

"Mom I don't want to go to school today. It's too cold," my son says as he sits down in the snow to join forces with that which cannot be moved.

"Stop giving Mom such a hard time already," my daughter says.

Somehow we actually make it to the designated bus stop.

We wait in the cold, which on that day was around - 25°C in the wind chill.

"Mom where is the bus!? You're making us stand out here for nothing. Why didn't you call the bus line?" my daughter interrogates.

“What’s wrong with this weather!? It’s hot and then it’s cold. This is that climate change thing! I know it. Mother nature is angry because we are treating her so bad,” my daughter says in some type of pseudo Granny tone.

"I don't think they are cancelled! And it’s not totally like that but kind of...I don’t know," I say defending my parental choice as to bringing them out into the cold and my lack of a sincere answer to my daughter’s deliberation on climate.

We wait ten minutes past the time that I knew the bus may not be coming. With freezing hands I bring up the internet on my cell phone and look for the bus company number. Thank goodness I found it, now I'm going to save it in my contact list.

I call in, "Oh hello!" I state my bus route and ask what is happening with the buses.

Dispatch states, "The buses have been cancelled but it was not announced until late last night." Hence, I am assuming this is why it was not put up on any of the sites or announced on the radio.

I say, "Thank you so much."

"No school!" my son sings out in joy and falls to his knees with arms open to the sky in a stature of rejoice.

"I can't believe you made us come out here Mom," my daughter states in a tone of disapproval in regards to my parental capabilities.

My cell phone rings.

"Hey, do you know where the bus is!?" an inquiring mom down the route line inquires.

"It's cancelled," I say.

"There was nothing to say it was cancelled this morning. It's so cold and I have to walk really far to the stop now that we moved down here. It's too cold for my little guy and I have to carry him," she says.

"I know. I'm so sorry, that totally sucks. I saved the bus company number on my contact list," I say.

The cell phone rings again, “Are you out waiting for the bus?”

It’s another mom from my building.

So, now let us fast forward to this morning of - 31°C in the wind chill in the GTA.

I am sitting in bed now at 6:35 a.m. trying to process how I feel about being talked to in the manner that I was. The small voice says, "Wait and deal with this later on in the day." The other voice says, “Oh no, she didn’t!”

Was it the attack that I envisioned after a life of having children young, being talked down to more than too often to communicate, leaving a spouse with very little support to make my way through a university degree with two babies in what can be considered a patriarchal construct filled with a considerable amount of literature that supports the dominant ruling worldview, self-representing in Superior Court in a system that is not serving the benefit of families well in respect to the practice of using criminal court tactics in “winning” family cases and placing parent against parent in a fight to the death of a parent's self-esteem and placing families at the scrutiny of a traumatizing family system of affairs that will be a threatening over lord until your child reaches 18 and God help us they get to the next stage of their life in one piece while we attempt to support them to negotiate our street and school systems and not to mention the general unspoken games that we all participate on a daily basis in the attempt to rise above the struggle of life on earth!?

Probably not!

Was it rude and should I have called in to discuss a proper resolution as to how the bus company would like me to access the information in a way that I am not treated in such a manner, “Yes!”

However, the dispatch lady had been successful in dislodging me from what I call my tree pose! The tree pose is the centered balance that I try to channel in moments of challenge. A tree that bends and moves with the storm will weather many a lethal blows and come back to a straight composure. The tree that does not bend will break.

There had been so many bullies I had dealt with over the last while. Why had it been the crabby dispatch lady, who I knew in my mind must be inundated with calls from concerned parents, the one to knock me from my balance block!?

I call back and ask to speak to another customer representative. A very composed almost expecting my call dispatch representative answers.

I start to explain that it is very cold out and I did not appreciate being spoken to like that, as I was just trying...she cuts me off just as my voice raises to the octave note where the Dr. Phil drone cannot be maintained.

She says, “It may have been abrupt, sounds like you are stressed and overwhelmed.”

I pause. Wrong thing to say!

This is the moment where the defending party knows that things probably were not dealt with in an appropriate manner and instead of acknowledging the feelings of the hurt party, the defending party makes a case as to why the hurt party is not justified in their emotional feelings.

I call this the “crazy card.”

A simple acknowledgment of, "It was very abrupt and uncalled for," would have ended all debate and I could have got to the next step as to what I could do to apparently not be so irritating.

The crazy card is pulled out by many authority figures and structural entities that rather than acknowledge there is a real issue that may take some effort to deal with, it is much easier to pull out the crazy card. It is very easy to use this card with women, especially when the primal forces of fight and flight had been engaged with circumstances that involve their offspring or immediate members that such women feel obligated to protect.

In reality I wasn’t feeling “stressed or overwhelmed” or anything of the sort at that moment in time. I had a great sleep and all I really was trying to do was my parental duty. This is the point where I knew the “crazy card” had been pulled and perhaps hanging up and saying, “Thank you for your concern, I will call at a later time,” would have been the best course of action.

But I don’t. I am angry and revert back to a hurt twelve year old and I in turn start to defend my position.

“I will have you know that there five other mothers who call me to find out what is happening with the buses. At least, we are not all calling in at once,” I say in justified defense.

In reality this is what you call "making a case for yourself." This is an unnecessary strategy when you realize that you are justified to feel your own emotions and you do not have to defend yourself or the validity of those feelings. You simply have to stay the course in a calm and rationale manner because you are allowed to feel hurt. You have been hurt.

The other problem is this gives the other party collateral by which to justify their feelings as to why they dealt with you in such a manner. There are not five mothers that call me, there are two and the dispatch will more than likely know this from the bus route. However, two was good enough. The facts are good enough and even if it is only me I am worthy of decent treatment.

I proceed to state, “And no I’m not stressed and overwhelmed! I don’t like being spoken to in the manner that your representative spoke to me, given I have been left standing in the cold with little guys and it was not properly announced before.”

To this the composed representative states, “We have had over 200 parents calling in this morning. There is a website that you can access...”

She continues on.

Obviously, I was not the stressed and overwhelmed one as there had been “over 200” other parents calling in just like me. It was the representatives in their office that were “stressed and overwhelmed.”

I had been an easy scapegoat for the dispatch because I had called in on two other occasions in the last two weeks plus this morning because I was concerned about the weather and the time that nothing had been properly posted on any of the accessible points of information besides the call centre.

At this point, I realize I am not going to get the human acknowledgement I want and there is no point to tell the representative that on the morning I had explained above, I had actually found the website while looking for their number and it was not posted, as the dispatch woman in question had told me due to a late announcement. I continued to agree and let the other party feel what they needed to so that I could get off the phone and lick my wounds of disappointment in allowing myself to fall out of my tree pose in the face of such a small challenge in my day.

“Listen, I appreciate your information. I need to go because I have to get my children dressed and out the door. Thanks so much,” and I hang up the phone.

“Sounds like we are going to school,” my daughter announces from the bedroom.

“Yes, yes you are!” I say.

We go through morning protocol and make it out to the street. The mom from my building is there and I tell her the whole story including the part about five moms and not two.

“Does that woman know how cold it is out here!? For God sake’s if I call in and want to know if the buses are running I had better damn well find out with no attitude. If she doesn’t like her job, then she shouldn’t come to work! Next time I call in!” she says.

I want to hug her but don’t. “Thanks,” I say.

We can see the bus coming down the street.

A police patrol car goes by prior to the kids getting on the bus. My daughter looks at me, "Mom make sure you go the speed limit! I think the police might like you."

"For sure honey, thanks for the heads up! Have a good day. I love you so much!" I say and wave good-bye. I don't get any waves in return because they are already off on the bus.

Nonetheless, I need to tie this story up because I want to get to my hot yoga class on time and obviously I need to practice my tree pose!

“Oh great!" I think, "It’s that kids spider fingers dude teaching today."

My militant mind cannot handle every time this particular yoga instructor tells me to take spider fingers like his kids’ class. I think dude, I’m not a five year old, let’s get on with it already!

However, given my humbling morning with the dispatch lady I realize maybe the greater universal intelligence knows what is best for me and on this morning “kids' spider fingers” is exactly what I need. As I walk out the door I notice my little cement Welcome sign had lost the stickiness and fell onto the solid floor beneath it. Both hard surfaces had for some reason made the huge crack on impact from earlier but funny enough it was still intact. I ignore an incoming call on my cell from a marketing representative and decide to take the call after my yoga class.

The moral of this story because my goodness there always has to be a moral...but really, what we need to practice daily is cutting through the defensive red tape and emotional bureaucracy to realize that at the center of things we are all in this together. Perhaps, the dispatch lady felt I was the most non-consequential in her day to take her frustration out on and it may be that I felt the dispatch lady was the most viable for me to voice my disdain as of late with being treated badly. Regardless, we are human and we all fall out of our tree pose from time to time. There is a lot going on in our world right now. There are a lot of pressures that build up all around us daily that ourselves and our children feel that often appear to be out of our personal control.

The way out is to talk about it!

Much love and all that good stuff! Should you fall out of your tree pose today no worries, you are in good company.

For more information on the Bell Let’s Talk campaign please visit http://letstalk.bell.ca/en

We are all "Young and Beautiful" at heart always!

2014-01-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

For the first time ever I have made it through most of the winter with no cracked skin! Skin is smooth and fresh. Thank BEE 23! - Breanne Bencharski

We can't forget to go out into the "Playground"!

2014-01-14T14:52:00.004-05:00

The end of seasonal markets leave space for exploration of our new urban setting Toronto, ON. With everything on my plate it seems that the very things I wanted to experience in the big city are secondary to the mission at large. However, remembering to get out and adventure is what renews the life energy that got us to that very moment and reminds oneself of what is truly important along our personal highway story. I love observing community in action! Specifically, the relationship between the representation of a community through organization and business. This premise starts with what may appear to be a quiet and unassuming venture but one cannot know where open ended adventures lead! Nonetheless, I believe as a participant and observer of "business as life" it is my own small contribution to highlight other local businesses, events and organizations in the GTA. This begins, "My Adventures with Sunflower!"

Sunflower is a fellow traveler, free spirit and new GTA dweller. Together we are going to check out new to us cafe venues, events and happenings.

Our first venture out was to the Take Back the Night Toronto 2013 event. This year’s theme was “Honouring and Reclaiming Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples." It spoke to the experience of Turtle Islands original people and the (sexual) violence Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people still face today and the shared responsible we all have in taking resources from the land.

I journeyed out on the street car of which is yet an adventure for me negotiating the public transit with my small people in tow. We headed to the Central Neighbourhood House to meet Sunflower who had worked as a contributing organizer. Thank goodness we arrived in time to share in a community dinner, since I had spurred on my little guy the whole way up with the idea of warm food upon arrival. The gathering initially ate together and children were able to join adults in the public forum or be cared for in a provided child care area with food and drink. The evening presentations opened with ceremonial words and song from women of the community. In the atmosphere hung passion, pain, hope, anger, courage and conflict. Then we took to march through the very streets that this community is working to reclaim as a safe space. The first step is to gather.

Our next outing was to an incredible building which truly allows one to envelope themselves in all things possible within a community based approach to organization, business, life, art, knowledge, wisdom and creation. I love the 401 Richmond Building!

The Roastery Coffee House (Studio 135)

We began our quest with ceremonial hugs and caffeine! What is even better is that apparently now you can drink up to good memory because a cup of coffee is beneficial for long term memory by 24 hours. CBC said so!

I was so happy to be out and social. My chai soy latte was by that point in my morning to do cartwheels for and I had a tasty chick pee salad. After catching up on our momentary life scripts filled with parking tickets, "congeniality" mysteries and precinct pull overs, which will make one heck of a story one day, we ventured out to explore.

Stunning hallway on the first floor

The Richmond Building prior to restoration had fallen into disrepair and was ready for a 20th century wrecking ball sans any pop singers. The Zeidler Family purchased the building in 1994 with the intention to create a vibrant mixed-use building with a focus on the arts and with the hope to foster community spirit. In every corner of the building is something new and enticing to read, view or listen to.

Open gallery adventures await throughout Richmond Building

Sunflower

The Skywalk

Story of the Wolf

Visual enlightenment everywhere!


Animal and plant life added to bringing the building alive

I reluctantly said my closing sentiments to Sunflower back on the first floor and left 401 Richmond with a renewed sense of purpose! Now I wait upon our next adventure.

Places of community gathering and creation are what will drive and support a thriving population and act as a back bone to ideas of resolution and progress. Community creation can be difficult, time consuming and hard work but when allowed the space to evolve the outcome is greater and stronger than any one ideology or individual could ever provide.

It's our "Full Time Business" at the Made In Canada Show!

2013-12-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

Looking for those last minute or just starting awesome I really care about your well-being and I'm a hip, eco-just socially minded shopper who likes to support products that not only are truly unique and high-quality but have my country's and my own best interests in mind!? Well then, join BEE 23 Natural Beauty http://www.bee23.ca/ at the 1st annual MADE IN CANADA SHOW at Toronto’s Artscape Wynchwood Barns 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. on December 15th, 2013 at 601 Christie Street West, Toronto, ON.

Make your stylin' holiday socially aware statement with each gift you give this season. Meet the vendors who will be busy rollin' out the holiday splendor because it's our full time business to keep the heart of our communities and country in everything we do!

For more information on this seasonal must do please check out MADE IN CANADA SHOW at http://www.madeincanadashow.net/. Being Canadian is often a wrapped up off the cuff class done all the right way!

"What I Got" in the Cut

2013-10-22T22:39:00.002-04:00

In restructuring there will always been some sacrifice, or this is what I choose to take out of my most recent devastation!

So I decided after years of watching hair die go down the drain and into our water table along with it sitting on my head, I should truly walk my talk and work with what I had. I suppose the last of what I had not changed over to a natural alternative was finally wearing on me each time I spoke yet to another woman of the carcinogens in her products and how we are inherently poisoning the water table with the products we use on our bodies. I have been premature gray since my early twenties, so this has been a long cycle of dieing and covering. I have to say sometimes it was fun but as of late it was becoming more of a chore and a fight that I appeared to be loosing at an accelerated rate. Of course, I decided to take action in regards to this decade old battle two weeks prior the National Women's Show at the Metro Center in Toronto, ON. Not cool!

I thought I could restructure with minimal sacrifice or loss. Not so! As in most negative cycles, transformation requires actions that may feel like a harsh shock to the system in order to walk forward in a more positive and progressive manner.

What I wanted!

What I had figured was because the whole white platinum thing with the rockabilly updo is kind of in, that I could pull that off and then voilà no more dieing but I still have my hair. However, what most probably know and I just failed to focus on because I was swept away with what I wanted, is that black especially in the more natural dies is very, very, very difficult to lift. Once you start the process there is also really no going back, so it was started and then I had to settle on Plan B.

So Plan B for me was not what I wanted or planned on. I have done Plan B twice in my life, so it's not foreign to me but yet I was not ready and it was not what I was prepared for at this particular time. Plan B was the point where we realized that the colour was not going to lift, I was not going to have my long gray rockabilly locks to tie up in flowers and in order to finish the road I had began I would need to cut all of my hair off into a very, very tight pixie cut because the hair by my scalp was the only part that had actually lifted to the platinum white.

Closer to what I got!

Now the funny thing is with all of my ranting and opinions, no doubt this may be seen as a statement I am making on gender roles, some type of Wrecking Ball emanation, an urban meltdown, my view on societal androgyny, or my belief in regards to women's power and the fact that I am not my hair nor my body but a person within a body that takes me places and so on and so forth. However, the truth is that I don't think hair really matters in regards to femininity or female power. I figure do it up buttercup, however it makes you happy. You can be strong in heels or work boots. I have done both. I am also aware that there are serious issues in the world and my hair is very, very minor. However, in my small part of the planet I have to say I am pretty upset about my hair. Am I still submitting to a societal conditioning of how women should feel about or wear their hair? Or did I just like it the way it was and did enjoy putting it up!? I am assessing the situation.

What I do know is that you may think you can tip toe around necessary change but the truth is that sometimes in order to get the job done you do just need to get in there, suck it up and cut loose all of the dead weight that is holding you back and look forward to new growth!

BEE 23 Natural Beauty http://www.bee23.ca/ will be attending the National Women's Show http://www.nationalwomenshow.com/toronto/ in Toronto, ON at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on November 1, 2, and 3. I'll be the one in the short platinum pixie cut with the flower!

"Pretty Wild" Under the Red Star and the Six String Nation Guitar

2013-10-21T01:57:00.003-04:00

I am so proud of a few special friends that I had to include on my own small enterprising thread this heartful evening spent Under the Red Star with Kelly Saxsburg and a special appearance by Jowi Taylor's Six String Nation Guitar and Clarence Michon.

It seems to be the story that we travel away from home to find out what was already at home. Who knew I would find my way to a small theatre on Gerrard Street in Toronto, ON recently moved from Thunder Bay, ON to watch a piece of work created in Thunder Bay that allowed me an understanding as to perhaps why I walk my own path in the manner that I do. I did not have a clear knowledge of how tough, fiery and filled with conviction were the women of my Grandmother's decent who traveled on the boats from Finland to the Northwestern Ontario back country. This is a story of a people's fight to shape their own existence for their men, women and chidren, while living with joy in free expression of the human spirit between moments of strife that come with walking the road less traveled. How true it is in the case of Under the Red Star from Shebafilms by Kelly Saxsburg that I came home away from home.

In our Canadian historical stories we hear of the tracks that are laid but little do we hear of those who actually laid such tracks and more than often we will only hear the tales that coincide with historical text by those who have had the privilege to write the official story. This is a shame when all too often the "unofficial" story is much more interesting, thought provoking and honest. Why these stories are not shared with as much vigor by such older generations I am not certain but I believe it may be rooted in the humbling nature of surviving Northwester Ontario winters. I truly hope that Under the Red Star will commence a fire within our own Canadian entertainment industry to bring more stories of life in Northwestern Ontario to the threshold.

I suppose this is where BEE 23 Natural Beauty http://www.bee23.ca/ gets some of it's "sisu" from! It's all about the sisu and should you not know what this epic word means then Under the Red Star is a must see for you https://www.facebook.com/UnderTheRedStar . If you are not familiar with Canada's famous Six String Nation Guitar and the creator of, then please check out http://www.sixstringnation.com/.

Hard work conquers all!

"Almost Everything" can be found at Cosmo Pharmacy!

2013-10-10T15:49:00.000-04:00

Almost everything is at Cosmo Pharmacy now that BEE 23 Natural Beauty http://www.bee23.ca/ has found a home in Etobicoke! You can find our Hotty Balm line at Cosmos Pharmacy on 3101 Bloor St. West. Just getting ready for the winter market rest and making sure all of my farmer's market hotties are well taken care of!

Sparks Fly at the last Davisville AppleTree Market!

2013-10-10T08:27:00.000-04:00

Bryn McCutcheon brought our Davisville AppleTree Market to a swift but bright musical finish. Another season passed filled with love, laughter, good food, craftsmanship and I still can't get over the bread dude's shorts! I hope he wears them next year. Anyhow, back to BEE 23 Natural Beauty http://www.bee23.ca/ business!

I wanted to make my personal acknowledgement of how honoured and appreciative I am that Leslie and Chris invited me into their market family. Sitting at the Wallace amidst such progressive, sweet and passionate community members I realized how lucky I was to have had Leslie call me back upon my new arrival into the big city and say, "Hi this Leslie and there is a place for you at the AppleTree Market!"

See you in the spring! Much love and all that very good stuff!

Somebunny loves you at the AppleTree Market!

2013-10-08T12:58:00.002-04:00

So this is our last AppleTree Market at Davisville and Mount Pleasant 3 to 7 on Tuesday afternoons! There were laughs, tears, the bread dude's short shorts that were to swoon over and so many more moments shared, all of which I hope to expand on throughout the year.

I love bunnies! I had a big white rabbit as a child I named Honey. I saved him from imminent slaughter from a next door neighbours. I begged to take him home and my neighbours obliged me my wishes. I realize now how sweet it really was that they gave in and let me take him home. One of the sweetest ladies I have had the pleasure to meet will also be attending our last Davisville market with her bunnies and book. Abigail Lee will be present and signing her book Some Bunny Loves You!

What impressed me was Abigail explained with the use of technology by children there is a necessary effort to place importance on both hemispheres of the brain, the right and the left. In order to have resourceful young leaders Ms. Abigail is very correct. Children must learn to work with both sides of their brain and especially that which is impacted by reading a book! Good work Abigail, you will most definitely be an inspiration to youth in the years to come.

For more information on Abigail and her book please go to http://www.snapdowntowntoronto.com/?option=com_sngevents&id[]=517053.

And remember "Some Bunny Loves You!"

Weston Village Farmers Market: Where "Unknown Legends" Come to Play!

2013-06-24T08:26:00.000-04:00

Butter Crèmè Baby and BEE 23 Natural Beauty http://www.bee23.ca/ share some sweet treats! Thank you so much to Leanna and Amber with Butter Crèmè Baby for taking the time to introduce their new adventure in business and to also share a most awesome Hotty Balm testimonial! You can check out our Hotty Facial Balm at http://www.bee23.ca/ecommerce/ to get your own "hotty" on!

Yep! That's me. Eating sweet treats that get dropped off at my table. All in moderation but it can be so hard! What I especially like about their cupcakes is that the family heirloom recipes are all very light without leaving out any of the taste. Sweet gals delivering ever so sweet treats for the senses! All my very best on your exciting new endeavour.

What else is shaking at the Weston Village Farmers Market every Saturday 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m at the Green P Parking Lot at 14 John Street, a few blocks east off Weston Road http://www.westonvillagebia.com/farmersmarket!?

There is what's hot! Sauces to get your taste buds jumping.

And what's cool! Tammy Tonner hiding out from the rain. I am so happy to announce that my new tent works great. We had quite the down pour but it didn't slow us down.

And the timeless! Grandpa Ken sweeping away the puddles of rain left behind on the pavement.

I can't help but feel small pangs of good thoughts in regards to my most wonderful Thunder Bay Country Market in Northwestern Ontario. However, what I believe we can pull out of this life is that we will all move, become and go where it is necessary for us to go but while we are around it is most important to recognize the ability we all have inside to be the best that we can be and remind others of their own special sauce no matter how it is expressed in the world. It takes all kind of sauces to make the world go 'round! It will always be up to each individual upon themselves to find what it is in them that makes their own spirit glow.

And just a small reminder, we will all leave a legacy behind and there isn't anything in the world on the outside that can match your secret sauce on the inside. All you have to do is figure out what your own personal recipe is and go with it for big or small! This is what will make the world truly shine.

"Confessions" from Davisville AppleTree Market

2013-06-22T14:50:00.000-04:00

The picture from Tuesday afternoon at the Davisville AppleTree Market http://www.appletreemarkets.ca/ on the corner of Davisville and Mt. Pleasant turned out blurry but I had to post in an attempt to redeem myself. I walked over, or sauntered or meandered!? Perhaps, paraded, pranced, traversed or sashayed!? Whatever it is that I do when travelling over to a booth to try a fellow vendors produce and wares. In my moment of taste testing a gentleman also walked, or strolled, over to the table and said, "You have to try the spicy carrot. It is amazing!"

Well in my characteristic manner in the act of taste testing I was already salivating, so when I attempted to say "Oh really," I pretty much spat all over the guy. It was pretty terrible. However, I realized what a great testimonial for Manning Canning. "So good it leaves your mouth watering!"

Not so cool for me but great marketing for her! "You must try the spicy carrot!"

"I'm Not Down" in Weston!

2013-06-21T13:38:00.003-04:00

The Best of Weston Multicultural Festival and Sidewalk Sale,

taking place in Little Avenue Memorial Park

So what's going down on a Saturday in Weston, Toronto http://welcometoweston.ca/. A whole lot of fun and good vibes, where we can see the children have not been overlooked on the dance floor! Although I am so disappointed because there was really great footage that I took on my with my little phone of this truly energetic front man in the band interacting with the children and moving everyone up to the dance area.

It was so cute and really amazing to watch our children learn to move to the beat. The only clips that ended up working was one with me of course arguing with my daughter, stating in my small Kaministiquia valley tone that I was filming this for my little blog and now I had to start all over because all anyone could hear was our arguing. She was unimpressed more than likely understanding my minimal presence in the global scheme of things but whatever makes the world go 'round for you.

At that moment for me, it was watching the age old security guard from Weston walk back and forth over the shot with a man in his wheelchair move up into the dance area amongst the aspiring movers and shakers of our communities. I did however have this clip above work that is unfortunately very far away and short. Oh well, at least one worked to set the mood!

Our morning with BEE 23 Natural Beauty http://www.bee23.ca/ obviously begins at the Weston Village Farmers Market every Saturday 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m at the Green P Parking Lot at 14 John Street, a few blocks east off Weston Road http://www.westonvillagebia.com/farmersmarket.

The Betz Twins as they introduced themselves. I wonder if I could call them up for Summer Solstice activities!?

I have a mango, strawberry and pineapple smoothie from this hut every Saturday. So tasty!

"K," I have to tell the story, I just have to because it was so totally cute and B-Movie like. I can't help it, often I see life around me through a hilarious low budget film lens. It does make for some very entertaining moments. So, this gentleman goes up to the seniors selling plants and garden paraphernalia after reading the sign they had placed out front of their table. He asks, "How much are you selling your Pot Plants for?"

After some minor confusion and a few giggles from the lady seniors, one of the organizers for the sale took the gentleman aside and said currently the seniors group was not selling such plants because it was not as yet legal for distribution and they were focusing on the decoration of the "pots" by the seniors that you could buy with the "plants" to raise funds for The Humber Seniors Group. The inquiring gentleman had not read the "&" sign and mentally left out the "s" on Pots. He had read "Pot Plants" instead of "Pots '&' Plants." Kudos to the Humber Senior organizer who dealt with the small miscommunication the gentleman had experienced in the advertising in such a smooth and kind matter of fact manner.

Excellent customer service and I must say for an at home pie maker like myself, an excellent crust!

Peter Piper's Pastry Shoppe! What a name! Anyhow, those little chocolate cake lollipops are to "live" for! I thought I could get one of these during slow times and use it as a prop but I just realized that you can't expect to firm up and still eat cookie dough. Who knew!? However, what a perfect small sweet treat. I also still owe you money Peter! I brought some home for the house and when I went to pay he said he would come collect but never did. I'll be around to pay up. I always come through and I don't expect to get lollies for free, especially with such quality.

The free face painting. I must say I have never seen children and so many small people stand with all of their will and with all of their ability as they did to get their face painted!

Out in the sidewalk sale I met some friends!

I also scored a stack of mint very necessary records for 20 bucks to include in my small collection from a yard sale across the street. When you put aside the decimation of our environment. looming Nuclear Power waste disposal and contamination issues, NSA probing into any type of freedom in communication that we perhaps misguidedly thought we had, really we couldn't have asked for a better day!