I made it! I'm in San Diego. The first thing I do is find the closest co-op, shop for yummy, fresh, organic foods , then head out to Sunset Cliffs. As you can see by the pictures, it was absolutely beautiful. I got there just in time for the sunset. Breath-taking.
The next day, Giovanna and I ran some errands and I headed to Ginseng Yoga to take a rejuvenating Yoga class. The class reminded me of the freedom I have to breath, and I came back to my home - back to myself. The class was Vinyasa flow: fast, challenging and brilliant. I was brought back to why I live, how I live and how I breath. I tend to go right back to my shallow breathing and forget the amount of oxygen I need to live peacefully. I couldn't wait to get back to another already.
For the rest of the week I split my time between Yoga, sunsets on the beach, Kashi-busy work and comparing mortgage loans, while loading my plate with kale, grains, tempeh and chocolate. I continue to remind myself that what I do. promote change, needs not just take place in my consumers, but in myself as well. This year, I've decided to cut desserts to 2 times a month to eat less sugar, and any shopping I do will not take place at Wal-Mart. I have vowed to myself to never shop at Wal-Mart for this event or for myself again. Wal-mart does not support anything but itself, and does not take care of it's workers.
After a Core-opening Yoga class with Giovanna at Ginseng Yoga, the rest of the crew met up with us and we headed straight to dinner with Relay, at a small little hamburger joint that I picked out called O'Brothers. I thought we needed some hard-core protein before our set-up the next day, and, of course, the food was all organic. Every single person ordered meat, even the regular vegetarians, including myself. And the burgers went down well with a nice cold organic beer on the side, especially since the meal was on Relay. ;)
It was nice having the whole group back together. Everyone had questions and answers. Their nerves were busy and their energy high for the next 2 days to come.
Of course, the cool weather we had all week evaporated, suddenly becoming hot and super. We set up in the heat, exhausting ourselves in just a few short hours, but it ran very smoothly, and everyone was happy with the work. We finished in less than 3 1/2 hours, which is a record for the tour.
And the event hit the next morning.
My goodness! It was one of the busiest events I have ever worked. We were at the Earth Day Fest in Balboa Park, and the amount of people expected was 70,000. We were not prepared as best as we could have been; one of the local staff didn't show, we didn't have nearly enough product on site and the product truck was parked far far away. Jason spent the day walking back and forth to the truck following our requests for product, Kerri spent the day fighting the lines that formed in her tent so she could teach Yoga, Lexi cut more granola bars than she thought possible in one day, Giovanna cleaned her dishes thousands of times, and I managed with 2 computers down in the morning, and both happy people and frustrated people from waiting in a long line in the sun to participate in a survey in order to get a "green" bag. But we got it done and we were stupendous.
I was so proud of my crew, and thrilled to be apart of the tour this year. This event gave us the opportunity to open our hearts to thousands of people and our minds quickly fell into the Kashi way of thinking: health, energy and happiness. We were overwhelmed with enjoyment and exhausted with constant new faces and new questions. In the end, we finished the day with 1,500 pledges to change their lives, which is three times the usual number we regularly collect. The biggest day in the four years the Kashi DOC Tour has existed at a one day event. Wow! After tearing down, we met with Relay, were given their trust and a pleasant farewell and headed back to our hotels to sleep, sleep, sleep.
*In case you didn't know, the idea of the Kashi Day of Change (DOC) Tour is for people to pick up a "passport of change," get it stamped at each Kashi tent by taking a free Yoga class with Kerri, tasting some of Kashi's yummy samples with Lexi, watching a natural foods cooking demo by Giovanna and pledging to take a "little step" toward health, whether that be laugh, take a yoga class or whatever you're interest in health. This little step/pledge then goes into 4 separate computers that I than put on a zip drive and copy onto the website that will hold all of our new Kashi members. As tour manager, I get to teach Yoga, give cooking demos, cut samples, explain Kashi and help people with their pledges. My job is such a privilege.
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