Awesome!

Alright, so tonight after work, which was a whole ordeal in itself, I hurried home to my new place to meet Nate and Julia at the apartment, where we quickly left to go out to a conscious dance in Scottsdale. I’ve never been, so wasn’t sure what to expect, but if you know me then you’ll know my propensity toward open mindedness…

So anyway, we drove to the back of this church, got out of the car and walked into a small room with wood floors and decorative flags and tapestries around the room…

To my surprise, we weren’t late! (I’m late to everything in my life…) Anyway, to make a long story short, I had an awesome time at the conscious dance because I had the chance to dance to a SUPER-WIDE variety of music that I wouldn’t normally dance to…

And what’s more than that was that we were encouraged to dance our own way, however we wanted, whatever our bodies told us to do… Having that freedom to express myself was liberating and healing. It was nothing like dancing in public or at the clubs…

It’s like being a kid again, dancing to music you’ve heard for the first time… You don’t care what you look like, or what you’re doing… It feels right, and even though I probably looked like a fool to most people, I had an awesome time.

But we spent a lot of energy and were tired after dancing for 2 hours, so afterward we went to the Hyatt and went pool hopping in their awesome water gardens. If you’ve never checked out the pools at the Hyatt I suggest you do…

They have so many different pools of so many different sizes, it’s almost unreal. What really took me away were the plants. The palm trees and cacti were growing tall and healthy… Signs that this place had been around for a long time… It kind of reminded me of what it would be like if I lived in ancient Greece or Rome.

And who could forget Nate’s quote… “I feel like a flower pedal”

Now it’s been a long day and it’s time to get some rest… Leave me a comment if you’ve ever attended a conscious dance, or if you’ve ever pool-hopped at the Hyatt… or if you’ve ever been to Greece or Rome…

Cheers

- Josiah Jones

Yesterday I picked some vegetables from the garden at my mom’s house and promised myself I’d eat them for breakfast the next morning. I picked some tomatoes, jalapenos and eggplant and brought them to my new apartment. I love to drink smoothies for breakfast, but those vegetables weren’t exactly smoothie material…

Half-joking with my roommate I said, “Maybe I’ll put some of these jalapenos in my smoothie”

She replied with something like, “You can use my chocolate powder to make it a super energy smoothie if you want”

When I awoke this morning I thought I’d give it a try… I wasn’t exactly sure why I wanted to put jalapenos in my fruit smoothie, but I like spicy food and I like smoothies, so why not, right?

Alright, so here’s what went into my smoothie this morning after I got back home from my morning exercise…

• Banana
• Mango
• Blueberry
• Blackberry
• Raspberry
• Strawberry
• Orange Juice
• Broccoli
• Jalapenos
• Almond milk
• Hemp protein
• Raw cocoa powder

My initial reaction when I tried the smoothie was a big “Uh-oh!” because it was a lot spicier than I anticipated. Then it seemed to get spicier with every sip, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish it all… It really had some KICK to it!

It kicked me in the mouth when I tried it for the first time and it’s kickin’ around in my stomach right now… but it’s AWESOME! The chocolate and the jalapeno combined with all the raw fruit and protein makes my body feel awake from the inside out.

The jalapenos I used were extra ripe from my own garden, instead of the normal green color they were bright red, which is probably why this smoothie was so spicy. If you need some extra energy in the morning and can handle some extra zing in your day, you should give this one a try!

This is my most recent finished “masterpiece.” I’ve never before made something this impressive in my entire life, and I’m thrilled that I was able to actually paint it! It all started with an idea that one of my friends had, then he asked me if it was something I would be able to do.

It wasn’t just any custom painting, either! Of course he wanted me to paint it on a HUGE canvas that was nearly 4′x5′ , this thing is massive! So here’s what I did… cause I knew I couldn’t afford a canvas so big: I went to home depot and bought a couple pieces of  1″x1″ and cut them at 45 degree angles so I could make the “stretcher bar” for the canvas…

Once the stretcher bar was assembled, I stapled the canvas in place using a cheap staple gun… and guess what, the canvas wasn’t even really canvas, it was a linen curtain my mom had pulled down and was going to throw away, but I salvaged it and look what it became!

One YEAR in the making, this painting was nothing short of a challenge! For many months I would completely ignore the painting, and try to find a way around it, because I never painted people before, much less POP-ICONS that were supposed to be recognizable!

After spending so much time and energy fiddling around, I finally put the effort into this painting that it always needed. Of course it took me a while to get it all completed, and there wasn’t anything telling me “this is when it will be done,” I just let my paintbrush tell me what to do. Add a gentle stroke here, paint over a smudge and a small mistake here, fill in the details here and there… and BAM! The painting came to life!

As I mentioned before, this was unlike any painting I have ever completed in my entire life, and I’m glad to know that this was the first of many larger-than-life portraits, and it even instilled in me a returned interest in the old renaissance paintings that were so angelic and beautiful.

There’s plenty more to say about this painting, but as the saying goes, “a picture’s worth a thousand words” and all the details speak for themselves here.

This painting was originally inspired by a drawing from my notebook. I will update this blog soon to show you what the original drawing was. It came from one of my only notebooks that I’ve managed to completely fill…

It reminds me, that I should get back into the habit of carrying a notebook around so I can draw whatever comes to mind, or whatever inspires me. That notebook is filled with random, crazy abstract images, and also drawings of teachers while I was bored in class, and friends that I set with during lunch.

Keep a notebook, and do your best to define what you see…

Soon after it rained here in Arizona, I went for a hike to clear my mind. Usually when I go out for a hike, I’ll bring some water and some food, enough for an hour or so, and that’s what I did… Once I was out there, I was enthralled by the beauty of the desert and my body was soaking up all the sunlight – so I stayed out there for a few hours, and a few hours longer. And before I knew it, I was out there for 7 hours, hiking around from one place to another.

Did I get lost? Of course not. I followed the water downstream and that took me into a wild world of adventure. Of course, I had a lot more fun by myself than I would have if I was with anyone, because I was stopping and taking photos, and jumping around from rock to rock like a hobbit. It was all an adventure to me, and I was just happy to be outside in nature. This video is just a short creation to try and portray my hike that day. Enjoy!