Bigger on the Inside

For most muggles and non-Whovians, Bigger on the inside is an impossibility that doesn’t exist, and barely, if ever crosses someone’s mind. HOWEVER, if you’re familiar with Doctor Who or a true die hard fan of The Doctor, Bigger on the Inside means something more, as you can see in these two clips:

In short, Time Lord Science is amazing.

Or perhaps you’re more familiar with the wizarding world of Harry Potter, and like Harry in the clip below you just “love magic.” For you, Bigger on the Inside is a little more like this:

Yet for most of us, both Time Lord science and magic aren’t readily available, and so Bigger on the Inside can’t literally be applied to our homes or our cars or our offices. BUT, that doesn’t mean that we can’t make our living spaces FEEL bigger on the inside. 

Is this possible you ask? With basic Feng Shui it is!!

One of the basic principles of Feng Shui is de-cluttering living spaces allowing for more energy flow. In fact, in Feng Shui, before you can even begin to truly transform your house, you have to de-clutter it first.  I recently started going through clutter from as small as papers and unread mail to pieces of furniture I just didn’t need, and the impact on my apartment and my life has been amazing!

Why live like this: 

When you can live in a home that clear of clutter, like this:

So What is Clutter Exactly?

Feng Shui defines clutter as blocked energy that drains energy from you while lowering the quality of your life. 

For the average person, clutter is anything that you don’t use, like or have a place for.

For sci-fi fans, think of clutter as space junk that’s somehow found a way to attach itself to your ship. It’s slowing you down and is only going to cause problems. Nothing good every really comes of space junk...

What to do about it

So in order to honor, or attempt to figuratively mimic Time Lord science and wizarding magic there are three easy rules to get started on de-cluttering your home or office.

IF YOU DON’T USE IT, GET RID OF IT. If you haven’t used it in the last 6 months to a year, do you really use it? When is the last time you did? If you haven't ever used it or used it recently, it should probably go. However, getting “rid” of something you might need in the future doesn’t have to be definite. You might be able to lend such an object out to friends or family, and then borrow it back if you need it later. Or if you’re feeling extremely giving, you might give it to someone who has much more need of it that you.

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT, GET RID OF IT. This may sound silly, but sometimes we hold onto things because people gave them to us, or we haven’t had the time to go through it. But if you generally don’t like something that is just adding to the clutter, get ride of it. Again, you don’t have to throw it away, you can give it away or donate it.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A PLACE FOR IT, DO YOU NEED IT? IF NOT, GET RID OF IT. People tend to acquire things. Or at least I know I do. But that doesn’t mean you want, need, or have room for the things you acquire. But what if you actually do need it? Yes, that is an extremely valid argument. but the truth is if you really need it, you’ll find a place to put it, even if that means moving or getting rid of something else in order for it to have a place.

By following these three steps, you really can make a big difference in your home, and in your life. Bigger on the inside, really is a big concept, and capable a great and wonderful things just like magic and Time Lord science. And if you’re really interested in taking the next step in de-cluttering your home you can find more information and links here, and a year long, little by little monthly plan here.

So get out there and start de-cluttering! Allons-y!

Holy House Plants, Batman!!!

Last week, in an attempt to preserve one of my finicky house plants, I took it to my office so that I might pay more attention to it, since technically, I spend more time during the week at my office than at home. During the time I spent nurturing my water hog of a plant back to perfect health, I start digging around and researching the health benefits of plants. 

And they’re pretty much superheroes. 

Turns out, if you don’t have plants (real, not plastic) in your office or your home, you should really consider adopting some, and here are some (10, like my favorite Doctor) reasons: 


1.  They purify the air.  Yes, you already knew this, but sometimes it’s more fun to play Captain Obvious. Athough I’d prefer quality time with Captain Tightpants.

Sorry Buddy!

2.  They create an optimistic environment. Sure enough, studies show that having plants and being surrounded by living things just makes you happier.

3. They decrease your chances of catching a cold. This is because they filter out all the dust in the air. No more Sneezing!!

4. They cause greater attentiveness. Somehow, plants tend to help people focus better and access the smarter parts of their brains. Perhaps, this is because plants instinctively remind us of being in the wild, where predators can jump out from behind the bushes, or house plants. Or, it could just be a rabbit. Either way, alertness and attentiveness is A - Game.

5. They prevent drowsiness. This amazing feat is accomplished by the ability of plants to decrease the amount of CO2 in the air, which coincidentally can cause drowsiness. The CO2, not the cleanliness of air...

6. They can help prevent allergies. Not 100% guaranteed, but exposing children to plants at an early age can reduce the probability of them being allergic to plants and pollens as the get older.

7. Plants help with headaches. A point that wasn’t intuitive for me, but research suggests that musty, stale air can help cause headaches. Plants filter the air, and decrease your chance of feeling like your head is going to explode (as is wont to happen for many telepaths).

8. Plants can help improve sleep. By increasing the amount of oxygen in the air, plants can actually aid your sleep quality. The more clean air and oxygen you have, the more likely you’re going to get better quality zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... Sorry, dozed off there.

9. Plants can help with dry skin. How do they do that? They increase the humidity in the air. Way to go plants.

10. Plants are sound filters. I never saw this coming, but it turns out that plants can act as filters for background noise. Want to drown out your neighbors? By some plants, there are at least 9 other potential benefits.

Amazing! But where I hit a snag when I want to buy plants, is I have no idea which plants I can keep indoors without killing, or rather which ones are the most common houseplants, and have a healthy chance of surviving. So by doing some more research I found this article and discovered the 10 (allons-y) common house plants below:

1. Aloe Plant - Good for your home, your office and your skin.

2. English Ivy 

3. Rubber Tree

4. Peace Lily - My experience with these plants is that they’re extreme water hogs, and will instantly droop without water and perk up within 15 minutes of receiving it. Peace, my eye!

5. Snake Plant - Which my family calls Mother-in-law’s tongue....

6.Bamboo palm - Comes with extra Luck.

7. Philodendron

8. Spider Plant - These are actually really cool because they grow baby plants on extended tendrils. If you remove the babies and place them in a pot, they’ll grow into another full sized plant. BE CAREFUL, THESE ARE LIKE TRIBBLES. And we all know the Trouble with Tribbles.

9. Red-Edged Dracaena

10. Golden Pothos - A plant that also does well outside in the right conditions. I’ve seen leaves of this plant (when planted outside) a size larger than elephant ears. Makes me wonder how powerful the plant is, or if someone buried a dead body beneath it....

But the next question, then, is how many plants is a good number? I would suggest not too many. Don’t go overboard like Bruce Wayne’s good friend, Dr. Pamela Isley:

However, if you want to get technical, it is suggested that a living/working space should have an 8 inch (or larger) potted plant for every 129 square feet.  This will help purify your air, as well as grant you some, if not all, of the benefits listed above.

And how committed am I in my belief in the holistic benefits of plants? I’d like to think more plants in my life couldn’t hurt. In fact, I just adopted a new one for my office:

No, this is not my office, it is a staging area for the plant's relocation to the office.
Yes, that is a hula hoop in the background.

I’m hoping the pointy leaves will keep out grouchy co-workers. Yet another added benefit of indoor plants.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY 10th DOCTOR!!!

As it turns out, yesterday was David Tennant’s birthday. Hurrah! I meant to post this much sooner, but time got a little wibbley-wobbley on me and before I knew it the 10th Doctor’s birthday was through. I had every intention of being timely, but if you pay close attention, the Doctor isn’t usually on time either. Rather than get to exactly when and where he plans to go, he usually ends up where’s he’s needed, and I’d like to think that life works that way too. Plans don’t always come out as you plan them, and in my personal experience is that when my plans don’t always go as planned, I usually end up doing something that needed to be done, or end up being somewhere where I was needed, and well, everything usually works out. And remember:

Everything comes out alright in the end. If it’s not alright, then it’s not the end.

Anyways, I digress. In celebration of the 10th Doctor’s birthday (He’s 42 this year, a rather significant number: read here),  I’ve decided to share a recipe for banana daiquiris. :)  And as many Whovians are quite aware, it was the 10th Doctor who invented them (400 years early to be exact) and so I find it appropriate for the occasion. It also turns out that most banana daiquiris are completely gluten free, as rum is generally gluten free. (Although a caveat to the gluten-sensitive nerds out there: Beware of flavored rums as they could be harboring wheat, barley or malt).

So, to answer Jack’s timeless question: Why is all the rum gone?! Because it’s practically gluten-free, so even us gluten-free nerds can drink it. 

Now on with the recipe.

INGREDIENTS 

(This recipe serves two, a glass for the

 Doctor, and one for his companion.)

3 oz light rum 

2 tbsp triple sec

2 bananas

3 oz. lime juice

2 tbsp sugar

2 cherries

DIRECTIONS 

Combine all the ingredients (except for the cherry) and 1 cup of ice in an electric blender. Blend on a low speed for five seconds, then blend at high speed until firm. Pour contents into 2 cups/glasses. Garnish each with a cherry. 

And Allons-y!