Brave, Bold & Buzzed!

Buzzed Hairstyle

It's February.  My 6 month post-bilateral mastectomy, without reconstruction mark - and all is well.  I was going to have another new tattoo done this month, but due to being nasty sick I have to wait until next month.  Oh and this coming weekend Mark is going to take more photos of my healing process for my mastectomy section of the blog, which I'll post later next week.

"Why the buzz cut Rocki?" As you can tell from my blog my hair has been short for quite some time.   Years ago it it used to be super long, down to my waist. In fact, when I was a kid it was so long that I literally sat on it.  My mom would put it in a bun each morning before school and I would take it down by recess time.  A tom-boy just doesn't look right with a big ol'bun!

My hair is thick and wavy in spots - and unruly because of cowlicks.  When it was long I basically just wore it as is - mainly because I never had the knack of fixing it up.  I'm simple in that respect and love low maintenance hairstyles.  I actually used to dream of having very short hair, but wouldn't dare do it!  Obviously, over the years that started happening as I was cutting it shorter and shorter.

Love my buzz cut!

My long hair was my safety net.  It hid me, so I thought.  I felt vulnerable if I pulled it back into a ponytail. It exposed far too much of me.  I didn't want people to see me so vividly.  I was a very timid person with low self-esteem and lacking confidence.

Then life started to throw stuff at me.  Actually, it started when I was young.  Over the years with all the crap that has been thrown at me left and right, I just couldn't understand why.  I'm a good person and felt I didn't deserve what all I was receiving.  Funny, but since following the Buddhist path for several years now, I understand it as karma.  Then I start thinking...what kind of crappy person was I in my previous lives?! LOL! 

Rocki's Brave Bold Buzz!

With each punch and kick that knocked me down, it toughened me up, I fought back and got right back up for the next round (which is why one of my docs years ago tagged me with "Rocky Balboa") - and I continue to do so!  I honestly believe all that crappy bad stuff was meant to happen to make me strong enough to handle what I just went through.  Even with Mark's unconditional love and support, if the breast cancer crap happened years ago, I would be handling this a lot differently - as in hiding in a corner somewhere. 

I've wanted to do a buzz cut for years and would joke with Mark about it, but deep down inside I really wanted to do it.  Just didn't have the guts and was afraid what others might think.  So now I did it and absolutely LOVE how it makes me feel!  Without sounding cocky, others can think what they want as that is their right, but it doesn't matter to me.

Here I am today.  Braver than I've EVER been in my life.  More bold than I ever could have imagined.  Still strong enought to deal with life's punches.  Confident with the person I am, as is.  With or without hair - or boobs.

So you still want to know why I buzzed my hair?

Peace & Love,
Rocki

Valentine's Day in the Raw

Raw Valentine's Day

Yep.  Despite being sick with an acute upper respiratory infection (doc said up to 14 days to get over it, now on day 14 and feeling better every day), we celebrated Valentine's Day in the raw.  WAIT!  Before you hit the brakes, click the back button and go bleach your eyes, its not what you think - lol!  *Raw* as in a raw vegan dinner. 

There, now you can relax.

Compressed Wild Mushrooms & Avocados with Red Pepper Coulis

I came across this recipe via Pinterest and just had to try it.  Oh and let me just say here that Pinterest is awesome!  I love that not only you can find pictures like cute & funny animals, humor, tattoo's, Breast Cancer Awareness, hair styles, clothes, travel ideas, etc., but food too.  LOTS of food!  A variety of food for every taste.  Let's just say recipes out the wazoo.

Raw Vegan Dish with Carrot Hearts and Steamed Brussels Sprouts

I pretty much followed the recipe by Raw Food Rehab, but did alter it just a tad.  In a word about the taste: awesome!  Preparation, etc. was easy, so I really liked that part too.

Since it was Valentine's Day and me being sick, I wanted to at least make it a little more Valentine's'ish.  Yep, that's a word.  So I *tried* making little hearts out of carrots (yep, Pinterest).  I'm glad the kids (our 3 little dogs) love carrots because between the 4 of us, we ate 2 of them while I tried to make those darn little hearts.  While some of them looked like they were shot by a drunk cupid, I did manage to create a few good ones.



Simple Salad with Hearts

We usually have a large salad along with the rest of our raw vegan meal, but I figured that the mushroom dish was going to be rather filling, so I made small salad and tossed the best of the drunk cupid hearts and also some lightly steamed fresh brussels sprouts (not raw, but not *cooked* either).



Raw Chocolate Banana with Raspberries

You can't have a Valentine's Day meal without a dessert - especially a chocolate one.  So I whipped up a little dessert with frozen bananas, raw cacao, vanilla and fresh raspberries.  It was DEEEEELISH!  I really need to get some better serving dishes.  That plastic one has been around the block several times.  It's a wine glass, but we don't drink.  I use them for this type of thing.  We're just not real fancy here.

See?  Being in the raw on Valentine's Day wasn't that scary, now was it!

Peace and ♥
Rocki

The lighter side of doing monthly breast checks

If this doesn't get you motivated to do your monthy breast checks...

well...

just sayin ;-)

 

Please make sure to watch over and over and over...to make sure you get the idea.

 

Peace,

Rocki