#the juice cleanse is worth the squeeze

[nebulein]

In addition to training facilities and workshop rooms, Jonathan Toews' recently expanded wellness compound includes a shiny new smoothie bar. The bestseller? Kale-mango-chia. All recipes have been developed by Toews himself and published in an ebook to recreate at home. The bar looks instagram-worthy, though and is well worth a trip. The juice cleanse is worth the squeeze is written in bold letters across the back of it, the pink neon sign lighting up with a nice, juicy lemon next to it. "Oh, that thing," Toews laughs, clearly embarrassed when we ask about what it means. It's an old joke, custom-made and gifted to Toews by a client, a pun on a mantra every one of Toews' clients knows by heart: the juice is worth the squeeze. At its surface, the saying sounds like Toews plucked it from a motivational poster pinned to the locker room of a high school gym. But for Toews, it runs deeper than that.

"I don't believe in the struggle mentality, the whole 'no pain no gain' kinda thinking, or 'nothing good ever comes easy'. That's such poisonous bullshit, excuse my French." -- Did we mention Toews actually speaks perfect French, courtesy of his francophone maman? We told you that man is hot. Anyways -- "If we put out good into the world, it comes back to us, and life doesn't have to be an endless struggle to be worthwhile." But that doesn't mean Toews believes in giving up easy. Instead, for him the saying symbolizes that you should always keep sight of your goals. "If you remember what you're trying to accomplish and why you want that, doing what's necessary to get there immediately becomes easier." So if life hands Toews lemons, squeeze some lemonade? But Toews isn't as goody two shoes as that. "Yeah, maybe. Or break out the Tequila," he adds with a laugh.

And if life hands you a neon sign? Open a juice bar.

[ryqoshay]

How to Handle a Nico: Juice Cleanse?

Primary Pairing: NicoMaki Rating: G Words: 639 Fandom: Love Live Time Frame: Maki may still be in her residency, elsewise is a doctor. Nico is working as an idol producer. They live together as a happily married couple and are currently on vacation Events: Femslash February 2023 & Femslash Friday Event Source: @femslashfeb & @femslash-friday-prompts Prompt: Sun & Cleanse

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Author’s Note: Trying a new version of a self-appointed challenge I started back in Promptober by combining current and prior year prompts, this time combining prompts from two separate events slated for the 9th.

Summary: Nico and Maki kill some time on the beach

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“That took longer than expected.” Maki commented as she heard her wife approach. “Was there a long line or something?”

“Sorta…” Nico responded before handing down a pair of frozen drinks.

“Sorta?” Maki raised an eyebrow as she accepted.

“Well, the line wasn’t for the drinks.” Nico explained, reclaiming her chair next to Maki. “It was of fans of Niconii that were unable to make it to your little surprise Live last night, but still wanted signatures.”

Maki chuckled. She was still quite proud of herself for setting up that event, even if Nico had ended up finding out about it anyway and had only pretended to be surprised.

The couple was on a vacation Maki had arranged for Nico’s birthday this year. Trying to get their schedules to align for a full week had been the biggest task, and far less fun than researching all the possible attractions at and around this resort. But it had been well worth it.

The two had spent most of yesterday exploring the nearby small town before Maki revealed the not-so-secret solo concert in the resort’s auditorium. Today, they were scheduled for a private boat tour and were killing time by soaking up the sun until then.

“The No. 1 Idol in the Universe really does have fans everywhere.” Maki commented, handing back one of the drinks now that Nico was settled in her seat.

“Of course!” Nico preened. “Nico is the… wait, you just said that…”

Maki laughed again. “So, what did you get me?” She inspected her drink.

“Juice cleanse.”

Maki raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure juice cleanses don’t include alcohol.”

“That’s just what they called it on the menu.” Nico shrugged before taking a sip. “Besides, why do you care what it’s called?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re always saying how stuff like that doesn’t actually work.”

“I’ve never said that.”

“Yeah, you have.” Nico insisted. “Dr. Maki-chan knows everything about such things, right?”

“I’ve said I believe the effects of such things are often overhyped.” Maki stated. “Or that they do not work as well as advertised. Or that some are making misleading claims. And others could be fined by the government for making scientifically and medically unsound claims. Not that they flat out do not work at all, or are unhealthy. Also, anything can be unhealthy if used incorrectly or without moderation.”

“Well, this juice cleanse is about to cleanse Nico’s mind and soul.” Nico made great show of sucking a sizable amount through the straw before humming her approval after she swallowed.

Maki sighed.

“Geh…” Nico scrunched her nose and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Nico-chan?”

“Brain freeze…”

Maki chuckled. “Now that’s a potential side effect that should be properly documented and included in any advertisement for the product.”

Nico grumbled an expletive. “I’m surprised you didn’t say that Nico doesn’t have a brain to freeze…”

“Seemed like too easy a jab to make.” Maki shrugged before finally sipping her own drink. “This is actually pretty good.”

“I know, right?” Nico grinned as her mood spun on a dime. “Nico knows what her favoritest Maki-chan likes. Although, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find anything with tomatoes in it.”

Maki rolled her eyes. “They really didn’t have bloody marys on the menu?”

“Surprisingly, no. Also, you know Nico doesn’t like vodka.”

“Oh well, at least the tomatoes you’ve been making for breakfast so far have been good.”

Nico smiled again.

“Anyway, thank you, Nico-chan, for getting these.”

“You’re welcome.” Nico replied, leaning back in her chair.

Maki was about to check the time on her phone when she felt a hand reach over to claim hers. Well, that was fine, she had set an alarm to remind them of their tour reservation anyway. Maki took another sip of her drink before she also leaned back in her chair. Another day being spent wonderfully with her wife.

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Author’s Note Continued: Since I already did NicoMaki for Femslash February’s Moon prompt, I kinda wanted to use them again for the Sun prompt. And that made me think about them soaking up the sun on vacation. And tropical vacations often include fancy tropical drinks that very often include juices of various kinds. So why not let some resort bar have a little fun with naming their creations and call one a juice cleanse. Mix in a bit of NicoMaki banter and I had a nice and quick little dual event entry.

[khloris-witchery]

morning witches!!

made lavender lemon cookies from components harvested in my yard and wanted to share the process!!

this is a fun witchy activity. lavender helps promote relaxation, happiness, cleansing, peace, protection,  and purification. lemon helps promote mental clairty, joy, and is also good for cleaning. together, these are very spritely, joyful cookies!

so, heres the box of lavender and rosemary I harvested yesterday.

then i remembered we have a lemon tree! so i grabbed some of those too and took down a bundle of lavender i had been drying to make cookies :)

then of course you have to zest the lemons and squeeze a lil lemon juice (for later, its not required for this recipe.)

next, you get the dried lavender off the stalk, boil a little with sugar and strain to make simple syrup, and set the rest aside for later!

after that you can get down to the making of the dough, you will need:

1. 1/2 cup white or brown sugar

2.1/2 cup butter

3. 2 eggs

4. 2 1/2- 2 3/4 cups of baking flower (i used gluten free, ill talk about the Consequences of that later)

5. 2 tsp double acting baking powder

6. 1 (or more ;0 ) teaspoons of vanilla extract

7. 3 tbsp lavender buds

8. 2 lemons worth of zest

instructions:

1. cream the butter and the sugar. to cream, you can use a pastry cutter, potato masher, stand or hand mixer, or just be really aggressive with a spoon. combine them untill there a fluffy homogenous mass.

2. beat in the eggs, flour, baking soda, lavender, lemon zest, and vanilla.

4. make the dough into a ball and wrap in saran wrap. put it all in the fridge for 3-4 hours to chill.

5. after its chilled, get a clean cutting board, hopefully a larger one without those little rims to catch juice.

6. preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit,  or about 190° Celsius

7. flour the surface you are working on, your hands, and your rolling pin lightly. then begin the process of flattening the dough with the pin.

8. once dough is nice and flat, descend upon the dough with FUN SHAPE COOKIE CUTTERS!!! yay!!!

9. keep collecting the little dough bits that dont quite make it into thr cookies, ball them and roll em out more. do this till u have very little dough left, which you can shape into a little circle and add to the baking sheet (or just eat it, hehe.)

10. either add parcment to or grease and flour a cookie baking sheet.  then place the cookies on the sheet and pop em in the oven for 7 - 12 minutes.

unfortunately, i did not get a picture of the dough as i am a goon and a fool :( but i took a pic of the cookie cutters!

Now, its time to make the icing! I made boiled icing and due to a unfortunately sized saucepan, covered my entire kitchen in sugar. SO PLEASE USE A MID SIZE SAUCE PAN, NOT A TEENY ONE LIKE I DID.

the process goes as follows:

you will need:

1. 2 cups sugar

2. 1 cup water

3. 2 egg whites

4. 1 tbsp lavender simple syrup

5. 1 tsp vanilla extract

6. (a little zest and lavender buds, if desired)

instructions:

1. combine water, sugar, and syrup in the MEDIUM (i cannot stress that enough) saucepan. cover on a medium heat for approx. 3 minutes, till all sugar crystals dissolve.

2. uncover and grab a candy thermometer. bring the sugar to a boil and keep an eye on the temperature, stirring often.  the temp you are looking for is BETWEEN 238-240 DEGREES. the sugar should create long, delicate spindly strings when you take spoon outta the water.

3. turn the heat off. take the egg whites and beat UNTIL FOAMY.

4. this is where you must use an exceeding amount of caution unless you want chunks of cooked eggwhite in your glaze: pour the hot sugar mixture into the egg in a THIN STREAM, STIRRING CONSTANTLY.

5. once thats all mixed, add vanilla, and lemon + lavender if desired.

glaze pic:

when the cookies are done, put a little glaze on each one of them to create a tasty clear coating. additionally, if you make the cookies with GF flour: PUT ON THE GLAZE BEFORE MOVING COOKIES OFF THE PAN. the GF flour is a little less able to keep its shape and will fall apart on you if you dont put thr glaze on to keep it together. put the glaze on. let it set. theres a reason so few of my cookies are in this picture of the finished product:

HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY!! hope this helps,

Blessed Be!!!

[spinewala]

How chia seed and Lemon with water cleanses the body?

Chia seeds and lemon water are often claimed to have cleansing properties for the body, although it's important to note that the concept of "cleansing" can be subjective and lacks scientific evidence. Nonetheless, let's explore the potential benefits of chia seeds and lemon water:

Chia Seeds:

Chia seeds are nutrient-dense and packed with fiber, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and various minerals. The fiber content in chia seeds can contribute to improved digestion and bowel regularity, potentially aiding in the removal of waste and toxins from the body. Adequate fiber intake is generally considered beneficial for overall digestive health.

Additionally, when soaked in water, chia seeds form a gel-like substance due to their high water-absorbing capacity. Some people believe this gel can help cleanse the digestive system by trapping and removing toxins. However, scientific evidence specifically supporting chia seeds as a detoxifying agent is limited.

Lemon Water:

Lemon water is made by adding freshly squeezed lemon juice to water. Lemons are rich in vitamin C, antioxidants, and citric acid. Some proponents claim that lemon water can aid detoxification by stimulating liver function and promoting hydration. It is also thought to have a mild diuretic effect, potentially increasing urine production and aiding in the elimination of waste products from the body.

However, while lemon water can be a refreshing and hydrating beverage, its ability to significantly detoxify or cleanse the body is not scientifically proven. The liver and kidneys are primarily responsible for eliminating toxins from the body, and there is no strong evidence to suggest that lemon water has a direct impact on these processes.

It's worth noting that any claims of detoxification or cleansing should be approached with caution. The human body has its own natural detoxification mechanisms, primarily carried out by the liver, kidneys, and gastrointestinal system. A balanced and varied diet, along with adequate hydration, regular exercise, and sufficient sleep, is generally considered the best approach for maintaining overall health.

If you have specific health concerns or are considering significant dietary changes, it's always advisable to consult with a medical professional or registered dietitian who can provide personalized advice based on your individual needs.

[kristiansenoneil7]

hermes ostrich bag 1

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This Kelly, within the Sellier style, is of Bleu Baltique shiny Porosus crocodile with palladium hardware and options tonal stitching, a entrance toggle closure, a clochette with lock and two keys and a single rolled handle. London – Milan Fashion Week is full in swing, as luxury trend home Prada dips its toe in the see now, buy now’ enterprise mannequin by making two of its autumn/winter 2016 leather purses for sale following its catwalk show on Thursday. As more and more luxury fashion homes flip their focus to increasing their leather items sector to find a way to enhance their brand presence amongst new generations, the ongoing quest for extra exotic animal skins continues. In 2020, costs started at US$11,000 for regular leather-based and have reached as much as US$380,000 (HK$2.94 million) when a bag made from unique pores and skin and diamond was offered at auction by Christie's in Hong Kong for a report price in May 2017. 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[herstarburststories]

Make Me Yours

Day 4 of Kinktober: Body Ownership

Day 4 of Suptober: Branded

Pairing: Michael!Dean x reader

Summary: Michael wants you to be his.

A/N: I swear I'm not that pornography on daily basis I'm even more, but branding is very kinky here. I also strongly support you listening to False God while reading. @itsangelpie @deanmonandnegansbitch, this is the Michael one I was talking about xD

Warnings: smut, dirty talk, p in v, bit of power play, marking, brief fingering, grace

CATCH UP KINKTOBER & SUPTOBER

Michael enjoyed leaving a trace behind like any other powerful celestial.

Once, the loyal son convinced himself that it was because he wanted, not only humans, but his siblings, father, and any other being to know that he could be a savior like he was built to be. No matter what, he was a righteous warrior who would do anything his beloved father wanted him to. He was a perfect soldier, earning nothing but pride and all the head pats possible. 

At least, that was before. It was back when Michael thought that God truly loved him and that he had a bigger purpose than gaining adoration from his fragile humans to overthrow Lucifer — his little brother, the archangel that was thrown away like a rough draft. Now, Michael couldn't care less about living up to his goody two shoes reputation. He didn't care about his brothers and sisters either, much less the humans. The archangel wouldn't say that he hated them like Lucifer foolishly did. His brother was wrapped in a bubble of jealousy that was almost embarrassing. No, breakable things didn't deserve attention. Michael just didn't care about them or their little world. All of his heaven-made goals had melted into one thing to look forward to — getting Chuck back to kill him.

So what if he had to burn a couple of dimensions and their human inhabitants? That was just an unfortunate side effect of Chuck’s little creations being the only thing that could catch his attention.

Burn a book? Get the author’s fury.

Michael was more than satisfied with the idea of leaving a trace of calamitous fire behind. It was such a beautiful legacy that would put fear into the atmosphere of the universe, and Michael would be God. He would be better one — the evolved version of what he’d always been as an archangel.

The torn holes of vulnerability inside of him had only grown wider, gaping into an open wound when his father left him as though Michael were as useless as a broken toy. That wicked, selfish side said it was because he wanted everyone to know how terrible he can be — fear him so no one will ever be close enough to hurt him again. 

Terror had worked better than adoration for millenniums. 

The archangel is good with that. Unlike his father, Michael's ego is as big as the amount of blood in his hands, not the people on their knees or the number of démodé cathedrals to worship him in the name of a bible that he never wrote. He doesn't need humanity’s adoration.

You bit your bottom lip to contain a smile, glancing at him. Michael could read from your mind and erratic heartbeat that you were both excited and curious about what was going to happen. Yet, he didn't need to. He knew your body — that perfect body — very well by himself with no help of his powers.

Correction: he needs one human's worship.

As mentioned beforehand, powerful beings like to leave a trace behind for multiple reasons: marking their territory like a big dog, making a point to gain respect through terror, or boosting their self-confidence. 

“Get on all fours, little one.”

For the first time, Michael wanted to make someone a living reminder of him. He wanted to mark a human for being his: you.

You were obedient, quickly moving to the position that he had asked. You can hear Michael humming in satisfaction, moving in such a quiet way that you almost feel surprised when he placed his hand on your back.

Michael watched your body with care, his fingers dancing with tenderness on your skin. He used to believe that a vessel was everything a human body was worth. Sex was a foreign concept, nothing but an earthling’s attempt not to feel alone — if they weren't fighting, they were fucking. It got boring after the first few centuries.

And then, you happened.

“So marvelous, little one.” His words were laced with gruffness, startling a whimper out of you. “All of this…” He held your waist and pulled you back swiftly. You gasped, feeling his hardness against your ass. Michael didn't slide in, but he kept rubbing himself on you. “All of you…” One of his hands slid down your body, making way for his fingers to catch your sweet spot. You were so warm and wet: there was nothing on Heaven, Earth, or Hell as splendid your needy cunt. “Who do you belong to, Y/N?”

“To you, Michael. I belong to you. Please.” You should be ashamed of begging so early, but how could you judge yourself? Michael's hard cock behind you, making your ass dirty with precum along with two fingers inside your pussy and his possessive words stewing inside your head — you were still just a human, after all. “I need you.”

It was blissful, to have someone he was enchanted by to worship him as the Sabaeans did to the stars.

“Patience is a virtue, little one.” The archangel wore a proud smirk, adding another finger into your wet mess. You groaned in response, pressing your hips to his pelvis in an obvious attempt for more.

Michael's cock welcomed the growing arousal, dropping more precum than before and twitching. It was difficult not to give himself any relief, but he had to teach you a lesson before taking you again. Religion came with strict rules.

He pulled away from you, grabbing your neck from behind only to push your head on the bed. Your cheek to the mattress made it was painfully easy for reality to sink in: the archangel’s fingers on your bare skin, his fingers that were inside you. There was something uniquely blasphemous about sinning like this.

“You take what I give you, and you're grateful for that. Understood?” He howled, tightening his hold on you. “I picked you.”

“Yes, master.” The two words fought to leave your mouth before ultimately escaping. You know you should be afraid, but your soul refuses to welcome any feeling other than excitement. Michael didn't even use his grace yet. He wouldn't hurt you: at least, not enough for you to suffer. Everything he did to your body was a blessing.

“Good.” He exhaled, letting go of your neck. The archangel had been way too patient, and you waited long enough. You dared turn your head to look at him, and Michael was divine. His gorgeous body was crouched with his knees on the bed while he patiently observed you. His length was large and rock hard against your leg. You just wanted to give him release. “Like what you see?”

You gulped, nodding furiously. The archangel chortled before he slid his cock inside you without any other warning.

You let out a shamefully loud scream. What else could you do? His cock was fucking its way inside you, cleansing your body with the prayer of being everything you could ever need or want: to feel holy, to feel full. Michael grunted, grabbing your hips to pull you closer, and you moved back and forth in sync with him. Soon, the bed was the one clamoring with noise. Both of you became hollow when you were like this — hungry, craving for something to fill up your empty pieces.

Michael was the right hand of God, the protector — whatever treasures he chose to deify would be eternal because he could make it happen. And for Heaven, he adored you.

His cock found your G-spot, and his grace flooded into your veins as if it was meant to be there. Your walls were tighter and tighter around him, and you couldn't wait to feel his load inside you, marking you from inside. There was a wash of glowing pleasure in your body. You had never felt so light before. This felt like the precipice of your glorified religion, and God, you could make a church out of this.

“That's it, my love.” Michael moaned, his eyes bright blue as he fucked himself into you. You bit the pillow to keep another scream down. He squeezed your waist. There was something burning in your bones with a painful pleasure as his hand glowed. He was branding you as his, writing his symbol all over your soul, bones, and heart. And you were enjoying every single ache of it. “Cum for me. I want to hear you coming for me.”

He may be a false god, but he certainly brought you to heaven.

Your lips parted into a moan as your juice came all over his pulsating cock, and Michael came inside you in a rush. Everything hurt as if he had rearranged your bones, but it was as comfortable as if they were all snapped back together in the right places. You fell on the bed out of exhaustion, wondering if you'd live to see another day. All of you seemed to be on fire, much more than the other times. Your pussy was pulsing, and you could smell him all over your skin. He had made your body his. You were his.

Michael pulled away from you, a lopsided grin on his lips as he glanced at his possession. The archangel laid down, pulling your tired body to him. You clung to Michael while trying to breathe properly. What had just happened?

“Wh — What was that?”

“I marked you, little one.” Michael gave you a devilish grin while his eyes shone a dazzling blue. He was the apocalypse of your soul, and you couldn't wait for the sweet destruction. “Now, everyone will know that you are mine. Your pussy, all your body, and your soul. You belong to me, Y/N.” He had everything now. The world and you. He was ethereal. “I'm your god now.”

You made an altar out of him, and you'd always be a loyalist to this love, no matter the sacrifices you'd have to do for this. 

Leave a comment and reblog. Feedback is magic! Check my day 1,2&3 of kinktober & day 3 of suptober, and my masterlist ♡

Dean's sweethearts: @akshi8278 @hardcoresupernatural

Hunters: @demonhunterbarbie @bi-danvers0 @emilyshurley @desimarie12

Kinktober taglist: @psych0crybaby

WANNA BE TAGGED? SEND ME AN ASK OR DM.

[mor-beck-more-problems]

Flashback Friday || Morgan & Luis

TIMING: Distant past, in the days of yee-haw

LOCATION: The Magick Cauldron, Houston, Texas

PARTIES: @ontheluis & @mor-beck-more-problems

SUMMARY: Luis wanders into a magic shop looking for some herbs, Morgan spies an opportunity, and the cards know more than either of them reckon. 

CONTAINS: Mellow yee-haw vibes

“Welcome, traveler, to the Magick Cauldron! Browse at your pleasure and inquire if you have any questions!” Morgan had given the scripted greeting so many times, it came out of her in full customer service cheer every time the shop door opened. She didn’t even look up from the book she had open under the cash register anymore, but flipped another page and let the customers let her know if there was something worth talking about by shouting ‘lady!’ or coming into her peripheral view.

The Magick Cauldron was the only occult shop still standing West Houston after the Y2K stress fads had died away and the first bout of shiny, corporate development had found its way into Montrose and bulldozed a crystal shop, a Greek deli, and one of the few ladies-only gay bars in favor of a mixed use building that so far only housed a nail salon and a Jamba Juice. Ralf, the fine proprietor of the Cauldron as he called himself, said that this space was protected. As the door chimed open again and Morgan made her welcome speech, bright and shiny as the plastic plate armor hanging in the kid’s section, she wondered if he was right. She never seemed to serve more than a dozen or so customers during her shifts, but the lights stayed on, day after sweltering day. If Ralf was right, it might just be the one piece of real magic in the place, not that she could say that to anyone’s face.

The warped outline of a boy rippled over the glass counter and Morgan blinked up from her book. “Is there something I can help you with, weary traveler?” She asked wryly.

“Sorry ma’am,” Luis assured, “didn’t mean to bring the stray in here,”

Evening had fallen outside, heat from the blistering still wafting off the pavement. Telephone poles and streetlights were thin black columns that stood stark against the blazing orange and wane blues of sunset.  

“Go on, git!”

At the Magick Cauldron’s threshold was an enormous black dog. Even while quietly sitting on its haunches the shaggy canine was easily as tall as the teenage boy snapped at it. Pupiless red eyes regarded Luis impassively, only an ear twitch showing that the dog wasn’t just a statue.

When the black dog gave no indication of actually entering the store nor stopping its scrutiny of Luis, the young man cut his losses and regarded the woman at the counter again.

“Here,” Luis reached into a pocket of his jeans and withdrew a crumpled piece of paper, smoothing it on the counter. The names of herbs and powders were written in someone else’s prime neat handwriting. “I uh don’t know what any of this is…,” he confessed.

Morgan took the paper carefully between her fingers, trying not to let her discomfort at how damp and sweaty it was show too much. It didn’t take much to figure out she was looking at an herbalist mixture for anxiety and sleeplessness. She looked up and the boy, and down to the list again. “We’ve got everything you need over here,” she said. She lead the boy over to the bulk aisle where the dried herbs and bottled oils were kept and alphabetized. “Did you want these bagged separate or together? Or--you probably don’t know how these work huh? We’ll do separate, so you can use any excess as you wish. But fair warning, we have a purchase minimum of one ounce for each item.” She put a small paper bag on the shelf in the middle of the display and started shovelling the herbs in. As she worked, she glanded sidelong at the kid and the dog that had decided to become instantly fond of him. Someone cared about them, to throw together this recipe, and he looked embarrassed enough for a kid his age to seem like he needed help. Would it be wrong to squeeze a few more dollars out of him if it so happened to brighten his day or give him some direction? Sure, he was scruffy, but not so much as to be desperate. He could afford a few extra bucks, right?

“Hey, you okay there?” Morgan asked him. “You seem a little lost. I’m getting some ‘needs direction’ vibes from you.” She gestured vaguely. “If you’re looking for Niko Niko’s, it’s just further down the street. You’re not supposed to leave your car here while you go over there, but I won’t tell. And if you need something a little less literal, I might be able to help you with that.” She nodded toward the oracle room at the back of the shop, with its hand painted sign hanging crooked from a nail and entryway draped with lavender beads. “I do have sliding scale rates, if it helps you make up your mind.”

The great black dog continued to watch Luis in silent stillness, the Barghest’s posture poised as if waiting for something.

“No offense ma’am but I don’t believe in…,” the teenager half-turned but caught sight of the enormous stray waiting for him in the darkening sunset. Those pupiless red eyes immediately filled Luis with a nameless dread. Cold sweat stained the back of his T-shirt as Luis’ skin went clammy despite the Texan heat. Luis couldn’t process why some random big-ass dog would wig him out so much. He wasn’t even afraid of it biting him or even the dog itself.

So why was his heart pounding in his temples?

“Yeah uh..s-seperate would be great,” Luis reaffirmed to Morgan needlessly. The labels on the tinctures and herbal selections blurred in his vision as Luis tried to get a handle on his thoughts. “Direction like, oh you mean to the interstate,” Luis replied in a misinterpretation of Morgan’s broader meaning. “I’m alright thanks, yeah merging on that triple hairpin by Foster is a pain in the ass but it's chill.”

Luis looked over to the oracle room with the dubiety of someone for whom the occult was just a vague ‘other’ mentioned at Mass or when abuela suggested a Sonora Market cure for whatever new cold was going around. He seemed about to decline again until the creeping skin-crawl of Barghest’s glare boring into his back made Luis amenable to any distraction.

“Yeah uh sure,” he said, taking a step towards the beaded shroud. “I’ll give it a shot.”

Morgan followed the boy’s eyes to the dog. He was looking pretty well fed for a stray, and his eyes--red, alert, sharp with an uncommon intelligence--made her shiver. Definitely supernatural. She didn’t know, how, or what, but it didn’t look good. “And I mean--” How to put this in just the right way? Or at least the more convincing way? “I mean your spirit, your chakras. Believe in your connection to the universe or not, but are you really going to say to my face that you know how you’re going to make your life worthwhile to yourself? That you know how to reach your greatest good?” No one did. Heck, she was a devout wiccan most days out of the year and even she didn’t know what her highest, greatest good looked like. “And if you’ve got the cash, I’ll throw in a cleansing, something to make--” she gestured at him vaguely, “Whatever negative heavy energy this is that’s stuck to you. Seriously, do you ever feel tired out of nowhere?” It was summer and the sun was exhausting; everyone got tired out of nowhere.

Maybe she was laying it on a little thick, but Morgan was tired of ordering off the dollar menu for dinner and she felt like she was taking her life into her own hands when she conjured money from school pens and laundry lint cotton. This kid’s money might get her a pot pie that didn’t come from the freezer, or enough tacos to last her a week, or maybe she’d blow it all on seafood, or a dress that hadn’t been worn by someone else. “I’ll ring you up first, and then we’ll see about getting the rest of you squared away.” Morgan did, and when that part of the transaction was over, she lead him into the oracle room.

In truth, the oracle room was an old storage closet with the door taken out. Morgan breezed through them and went to the antique flea market find armoire, where all the necessary items were kept. Morgan took out a small tray of tarot decks and took the one she liked best, a well loved Raider-Waite with stars on the backs and gold-gilt edges. “I’ll shuffle them myself, but you should tell me when to cut and start again and when to stop. When I’m done, you’ll spread them. You’re the one who needs to connect with the deck, after all.”

Rafael Martininez had given his son that smirking half-smile while Malia had given Luis the pale blue eyes watching Morgan shuffle cards. Sweaty light brown hair clung to his forehead beneath the Dallas Burn hat, stray strands dangling back his eyes. The lanky teenager sat awkwardly across from the cartomancer, doubting not only her veracity but that a term like destiny could even apply to someone like him.

Like many children who’re so profoundly blessed to grow up in a home of unconditional love, Luis had no idea that Rafael and Malia given him a protection rarer than talismans, weirds, or wards. Rafael had come to this country for a better life, and Malia had wanted a home that was safer then the hell she’d left. Together they’d given both dreams to their children, so Luis and his siblings would never have to go through what they had.

The freckled face that lifted to Morgan’s was innocent of hate, abuse, or fear of abandonment. Even in following a strange woman into a shrouded back room, it’d never occurred to Luis to worry about anything more sinister than carnival charlantry.

“So uh...like this ma’am,” Luis asked as he placed some cards face down on the table.

It was this very innocence in Louis that dulled the edge off Morgan’s guilt. It was wrong (if wrong was a real concept) to spoil something pure, but if she was really the worst thing that was going to happen to this kid in his teenage years, he was pretty darn lucky. At least he was getting some introspection out of the deal. Could he have gotten a tarot deck from the discount bookstore two blocks over for a quarter of what she was going to charge him, or thought everything out on his own for free? Yes. But he was also some bushy tailed high school kid; could happen wasn’t the same thing as would happen.

She’d had more instructions to give, some arbitrary waving of hands and maybe some visualization in what one of her co-workers called her ‘yoga voice’, but Louis, in his eagerness, had taken more than the requisite three cards she had planned on, wich just meant she had a ready-made excuse for the forty dollars she was going to take from him. “My, my, aren’t we eager?” She said. “What’s interesting to me already is that you have intuitively drawn out one of the more complex and energy taxing card spreads. Imperfectly, but--” She straightened them out at random until they made more of a geometric pattern. “See? I barely did anything at all. These cards must really like you. I don’t normally do something this involved, but it looks like there’s something here that wants to come out, and I’m not in the business of stifling anyone’s growth or energy.”

Morgan flipped the first card over to reveal The Fool and managed to keep her laughter light and soft. “Well, even if I hadn’t been doing this for so long, this is you, where you are right now. Don’t take the title personally, these are antiquated terms. He’s just young, and at the start of a great journey, not even begun, just on the precipice. He’s got his whole life ahead of him, and the sun, see? It’s shining on him to show that the universe is aligned with his desires. The world wants you to support you, wants to see you succeed.”

The second card. The Tower. Morgan’s eyes widened. Not really vibing with the story she’d been telling, but maybe the one after… Eight of Cups. Morgan flipped over the last ones. Death and The Moon. “Hmm...Fascinating...” Morgan said, stalling for a way to spin this. “The thing about the major arcana is the magnitude of forces. Forces like destiny and fate and the collective consciousness. These forces are bigger than a ten minute fight with your friends or what you want to do after graduation, these are ‘beyond your control’. And you have four. The universe really does have plans for you, that’s kind of exciting, right?” She smiled, hoping to get some confirmation from him, or at least some more of his trust. “What does your intuition tell you about this journey, honey?”

Morgan’s performative coaxing elicited a dubious look, but the striking illustrations of the Tarot drew Luis’ attention regardless. The fool was poised with one foot over the cliff, smiling blissfully as the sun warmed his back. The tower’s blackened crenellations tumbled down the cliffside as the once indomitable edifice was battered into ruins by a storm. A haggard traveler slumped down in relief on a river bank as eight golden chalice stood resplendent over the churning rapids. Death rode on its pale horse, a scythe clutched in one skeletal hand while offering an exquisitely detailed rose. The Moon slept in the sky above a verdant shore. Wolves howled in its light while pelagic creatures breached on the lunar tide.

“Woah that art on these is something else,” admitted Luis as he squinted at the intricate illuminations, clearly sensitive to aesthetics but not the higher esoteric meaning.

Unfortunately intuition is only as good as the experiences which inform it and Luis Martinez had been sheltered from the world’s cruelty. It was a blessing to be sure, but it also made Luis unable to imagine that evil doesn’t need consent to claim you.

“My intuition is uh,” floundered the young man who had about as much affinity for divination as the average block of cedar. “The ranch’ll catch on fire, maybe a relative will die, but we’ll find like eight things that’ll make it better before the next full moon,” Luis posited.

Morgan’s stomach rumbled as the boy ogled the artwork on the cards. She was tempted to commend the kid on his ‘uncanny insight’ into the realm of the divine and take her money and run down the street for a hot stack of tacos. But the kid was so bright eyed and easily awed. She felt like she owed him at least some of her knowledge, even if she thought the tarot was psychological self-talk at best.

“Fortunately for your relatives, nothing here is quite that literal,” she said, laughing warmly. “But this journey you’re on, both within and without, is going to be perilous.” Perilous to the point of being seriously dangerous and traumatic, if this really was his subconscious sensing something on the horizon. But that wasn’t something she was going to say to his face. She wanted money without having to lie to her mother about where it came from later. “Even though your desires are upheld by the earth and stars, there will come a time when it feels as though you’ve been cast out and lost everything. But the key to staying your course is to…” What was a precious uplift-y way to spin this? “Hold fast to your sense of self. Remember the core of who you are and what you want. Because, if you do, then you will survive the upheavals, and you will be able to choose wisely what to keep, what to leave behind, and end up so strong, it’ll feel like you’ve been resurrected and leveled up into a new, better, cooler version of yourself!” She had no idea how to make sense of the moon card in a positive five star customer service rating sort of way, so she moved it underneath the spread, smiling like this had been her master plan all along.

“This card with the moon and the wolves isn’t your endgame, it’s an indicator of the vehicle, the thing that encompases the whole. All this massive change ahead of you isn’t necessarily going to be visible to everyone. It comes from within, sometimes hidden, like how you can only see the stars when it’s dark out and most of the world is asleep, and wolves howl when the world is in shadows. It’s like that. And it’s going to be amazing.”

Morgan checked her watch and slumped back in her chair as if she were exhausted. Not a hard thing to do when it was this hot out. “So, that’s gonna be forty dollars for the energy and the insight. Technically, with how many cards you pulled, it should be a little more, but I can tell you’re taking a risk on something new here and I want to honor that. But we can keep going if you have any more questions!”

“Vehicle huh...not sure dad’s gonna let me spraypaint moons and wolves on the truck,” Luis mused, perhaps taking the ‘vehicle’ thing a bit too literally or not wanting to think too hard about the possibility of his life changing.

Luis looked over the intricately illustrated cards, eyebrows wrinkling as he tried to parse through the profound chicanery Morgan had spouted. A bite of the lower lip hinted that Luis had never really encountered those who could appear to say everything while stating nothing particularly specific.

“Well shiiiii..,” the teenager breathed before glancing up at Morgan and catching himself with a small hssk of inhalation, as if some inner parental voice had scolded him about cursing in front of a lady. “That was pretty cool,” he amended, clearly at a loss before everything he’d been told, too polite to claim he didn’t believe any of it, but also too much a child of modernity to heed the weird feeling in his gut that recognized something...hit different...about this chance prophecy.

Luis grinned bashfully and unknowingly let fate’s final warning pass him by.

“Forty bucks huh, I’ll havta explain that somehow,” the young man noted with the mild consternation of someone blessed enough to just worry about a family member who’d be more peeved about gas money going to “fortuneteller” then the actual cash itself.

The bills slid across the table after some awkward wallet-riffling. “Thank you ma’am.”

Morgan snatched up the bills and shoved them down her shirt before the kid could change his mind. Whatever ominous feelings his subconscious were trying to air out was no concern for her. She had too many problems of her own to bother with anyone else’s. “It takes a long time to read the cards,” she drawled smugly. “And lots of energy, to open oneself and reach beyond the veil.” She waved her fingers as if to say tootles, and went back to fanning herself until he was gone.

She helped a lady find some yarrow and made up a policy about consultation fees to get another $10 in her pocket. She was using her agency to bridge the gap between minimum shop girl wage and living wage, working her will to get the right kind of energy flowing her way. Mostly, the energy of not-starving and not invoking the ire of darkness from using alchemy to get ahead. It didn’t line up with the rest of what she understood, neutral magic forces should be lining up to help her right her cosmic access and be less chronically miserable, but that was a problem to untangle another day.

At the end of her shift, Morgan shuffled the cards once again and lined them up on the cleansing plate the shopkeeper wanted the used decks put on. By chance, or so she told herself, she picked up the topmost card to see what was there for her. But it was just the death card, and Morgan knew the last thing that was gonna happen to her life was a hard reset. She stuck it back in the middle of the deck and slipped away into the long shadows that marked the summer evening.

[therestlesswitch]

✨🌱Stinging Nettle🌱✨

✨Botanical Latin: Urtica dioica

✨Habitat: Waste spaces, moist soil

✨Growth Habit: Perennial, 6'+ tall at maturity. Flowers in mid-late summer

✨Parts Used: Leaves and tops most often. Roots and seeds can be used as well.

✨Harvesting: Always wear thick gloves and cover your skin! Young leaves and tops - harvest before the plant flowers. See 'cautions' below. Roots - in the fall, after most of the energy has returned to the root from the plant. This plant is abundant, but as it’s a perennial, remember to leave at least 75% of the plants to repopulate the area.

✨Energetics and Taste: Cool, dry, salty

Physical and Medicinal

✨Biochemical Constituents: chlorophyll, insoles (histamine, serotonin,) acetylcholine, silicic acid, vitamins C, B and A, silicon, calcium, magnesium, potassium, protein, fiber, iron.

✨Actions:  

All parts -  Alterative, whole body and liver tonic, (fresh leaves) anti-histamine, slightly diuretic, astringent, hemostatic, galactogogue, expectorant, nutrative.

Root - Anti-lithic, diuretic  

✨Indications:

Leaves & Tops - arthritis, rheumatism, asthma, eczema, other skin eruptions, bleeding, low energy, stopped urine, urinary gravel, kidney and bladder infections, edema, enlarged prostate, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)

Freeze dried leaves: sinus infection. Proven effective, but must be freeze dried.

Seed: prostate and kidney disorders

Root: Prostate issues, urinary tract gravel/stones, stopped urination  

✨Contraindications: Use in more restricted amounts when pregnant or breastfeeding, but it doesn't have to be avoided all together. Don’t use with children under 2 years old. Use caution with children and the elderly. *

✨Medicinal Uses:

- One of the most popular herbs for nourishing herbal infusions. Rotate between nettles, oat straw, and linden for a good variety of nutrients.  

- Good for the voice (folk-medicine, song of the sea)

- Relieve the sting by rubbing the juice of dock (rumex crispus) leaves on the sting. See folk traditions below.

- To aid in circulation and inflammation/joint issues like arthritis, sting the area (lightly) occasionally with nettles and let it sting, without using dock to relieve it.

- It's popular in soups and as a potherb/cooked green. Once it's cooked or dried, it loses its sting. I like to use it in any dish that I'd use spinach in.

- It has been used to slow postpartum bleeding.

✨Preparations and Dosage:

- Nourishing Herbal Infusion - One quart boiled water to one ounce of dried leaves/tops (or a little more by weight if using fresh leaves.) Steep in a mason jar with the lid on for at least 20 minutes, up to overnight. Strain and enjoy within 3-4 days of making it. Drink up to 1 quart/day but rotate between a few different herbs to get a variety of nutrients.

- Dry plant material by weight - 9-30g

- Capsules - 2 "00" size filled with powdered herb, 3 times a day

- Tincture - 10-60 drops, 1-4 times a day

✨Cautions:  Do not ingest the leaves or tops after the plant has flowered or else risk causing a UTI.

Magical and Traditional

✨Elements: Primary - 🔥Fire -- Secondary - 🌱Earth

✨Planet: Mars, secondary Mercury

✨Other Correspondences:

-All Parts: protections, warding, voice, communication, bind a spell, bring courage, prevent being struck by lightning, notice the things that often go unseen, mindfulness.

-Roots: banishing, curse breaking, relieving pain

-The leaves and tops after the plant has flowered: causing pain, sending a curse back, banishing, make someone’s oversight/willful ignorance come back to bite them

✨Folk Traditions:

- To soothe the sting, find some dock which usually grows nearby (rumex crispus,) grab a handful and squeeze some juice out. As you rub the juice onto the nettle sting, recite:  

Nettle out, Dock in // Dock remove the nettle sting Nettle, nettle, come out // Dock, go in!

✨Specific Uses:

- The infusion is grounding and very earth centred. I feel like It may be connected to my Mother Goddess of the lake lands in Ontario.

- Use fresh tops (either before or after flowering depending on your need) to sprinkle cleansing or banishing or curse breaking (etc) water or to waft smoke. Make sure to wear gloves, of course.

- Use the dried or cooked leaves/tops to ’take the sting’ out of something or someone.

*This page is by no means exhaustive or conclusive in any information, and is intended for educational purposes only. Always consult and herbalist and/or your healthcare professional before trying /any/ herb that is new to you.

✨✨✨These herbal monographs take hours of research and quite a few dollars worth of books and resources. Please help support me by contributing to any of these avenues: 🌱Patreon 🌱Request a Tarot Reading 🌱Buy me a coffee 🌱Donate to my education

More Posts in this Herbal Study Series: Calendula Marshmallow Cannabis Yarrow

References:

Healing with the Herbs of Life - Lesley Tierra Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health -Rosemary Gladstar Peterson's Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs, of Eastern and Central North America, Third Edition - Steven Foster and James A. Duke Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, expanded and revised edition - Scott Cunningham The Witches' Almanac 2018, Issue 37, The Magic of Plants - Article by Morven Westfield Planting for the Future - Rosemary Gladstar and Pamela Hirsch The Illustrated Herbiary - Maia Toll The Healing Herbs, The Ultimate Guide to the Curative Powers of Nature's Medicines - Michael Castleman Alchemy of Herbs - Rosalee de la Forêt The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook, A Home Manual - James Green

Images 1, 2, 3, 4

[hollytoscanini]

Lemon Water: Is it really good for you? Lemon water can be a gentle and effective way to support and cleanse your lover, kidney, and colon as well as help alkalize the body. It assists in breaking up mucus and provides energy via enzymes, vitamin C, potassium, and trace minerals. Please use fresh, ripe lemons, not prepared lemon juice. You can simply make it by squeezing the juice of 1/2 a lemon into a glass of filtered water. While it can be difficult to remember to drink a cup of lemon water every single morning, there are so many benefits that it’s worth the effort to make it your new daily morning ritual. If you've done any research on the best things to eat and drink in the morning, you’ve probably heard about lemon water. It has a lot of benefits especially when you drink it first thing in the morning. #lemonwaterdetox #lemonwater #notadiet #healthyliving https://www.instagram.com/p/CD92JjQgwJB/?igshid=1et286u2dkgxa

[artificialqueens]

Undone, Chapter 23 (Bitney) - Stephanie/Veronica

Summary: Bianca goes to NOLA for Latrice’s wedding, and returns home to a big surprise.

Thank you to our awesome beta readers: @missdandee and @kitschypixel

***

“Okay so, be honest...do I look fat?”

Courtney bursts out laughing, then stops abruptly when she sees Bianca’s hands on her hips, a deep scowl on her face.

“Sorry--I didn’t think you were serious,” she giggles. “Of course not.” Courtney leans back on the sofa cushions, cuddling the dogs to her chest.

“For the record, that is not the correct response to that question,” Bianca informs her, adjusting the straps on her Maid of Honor gown. “You’re a woman, how do you not know that?”

“Sorry,” Courtney shrugs, then offers aa conciliatory smile and adds, “You look beautiful.”

“But...I mean, can you tell I’ve gained weight? Are my sisters gonna be suspicious?”

“I honestly don’t think so.”

“Okay. Good,” Bianca sighs. “Thank god for empire waists.”

“Are you gonna be okay? I know it’s a big deal, and he’s not gonna be with you, so...” Courtney bites her lip. “Will it be weird?”

“Maybe a little, but...I mean, the people I care about already know. And everyone else...will probably just think he’s working, or something. I don’t really care, honestly.” It’s mostly true. Of course, she knows that she might get some awkward questions, questions that she really won’t want to answer. But she tries not to think about that, and more importantly, she doesn’t want Courtney to worry. So she goes on to assure her, “I’ll be fine.”

“Good.” Courtney nods, stroking the top of Dede’s head and gazing up at her.

“I kinda wish you were coming,” Bianca adds softly. It’s almost an afterthought, slipping out before Bianca can stop herself. Her cheeks flush with embarrassment, realizing how needy she must have sounded.

Courtney takes ahold of her hand and squeezes it.

“That might be a little hard to explain,” she says, trying to deflect from the intensity of her feelings. How much she’s dreading the separation, which she knows full well is ridiculous. It’s going to be a few days. When the fuck did she turn into such a co-dependent mess?

“Yeah,” Bianca agrees, although inside, she’s thinking that it wouldn’t, at all. In fact, it would be the easiest thing in the world to explain. This is Courtney. I accidentally fell in love with her. Oops. She gulps. “Plus it’s probably not gonna be a very vegan-friendly affair.”

“Besides, I need to watch the dogs, right?”

“Right,” Bianca chuckles.

“...but maybe next time,” Courtney says, and deep dimples appear in Bianca’s cheeks.

“Really?”

“I mean, they sound great. I’d love to meet them.” Her voice is light, but the offer seems genuine.

“Yeah that would be…” Bianca’s heart is pounding. She clears her throat. “I’m sure they’d love you.”

“It’ll be really nice, once you’re there. To be home,” Courtney says. Instead of what she wants to say. Fuck propriety, just take me with you.

“Yeah. I hope so.”

***

It is nice, being back, especially since it’s the first time in several years she’s around her old friends and family without Jared. She feels lighter - in spite of the weight gain that will definitely make her sisters suspicious. But even that doesn’t worry her, as she revels in the familiarity of it all. The warmth of these people with whom she grew up.

The hug from her mother, that first day, makes everything worth it. And when she lies down at the end of the night, body sore and aching but absolutely stuffed with all her favorite foods, she realizes that she’s got a valid excuse for looking a little plumper than usual.

Her nagging worries about the Jared Questions that she assumes are coming turn out to be overblown. At the rehearsal dinner, all anyone cares about is her job - does she really get to meet celebrities? Who’s the most difficult on set? Who seems nice but is actually a secret bitch? Can she get a discount on tickets to Universal Studios? She happily answers them all, even the dumb ones.

The ceremony is beautiful, charming, funny - perfectly suited to Latrice and Chris. At the reception, Bianca gets to sit at a table with Vanessa, her favorite (only) younger sister, the two of them cackling up a storm in no time.

Vanessa has no questions about Jared, but she does have a ton about “that sexy blonde you’re shackin’ up with.”

“That’s not exactly the situation,” Bianca tries to explain, but Vanessa isn’t buying it.

“Come on, throw me a bone! She’s the one you wouldn’t shut up about over Thanksgiving, right? Did you meet on set? Did you have some kind of steamy, torrid affair?” she tongues her straw, eyes sparkling.

“No...sorry to burst your bubble,” Bianca tells her.

“Aww, man!” Vanessa slouches, crossing her arms, disappointed. “What a bummer.”

“Sorry, but...the idea of an affair makes you happy?” Vanessa’s husband asks, furrowing his brow.

Vanessa huffs out a huge, put-up sigh, explaining, “No, Brock, the idea of B cheating on that fuckin’ douchebag makes me happy!”

“Wait...I thought you guys loved Jared,” Bianca says.

Vanessa exchanges a Look with DJ, across the table. If anyone knows Jared, it’s him - one of Bianca’s oldest friends, he also happened to live in New York while Bianca was in school there, and used to hang out with her and Jared all the time.

“Well…” DJ begins, clearing his throat, speaking as diplomatically as possible. “I mean, we did our best to accept him, since you loved him, and-”

“We hated that guy,” Vanessa cuts in.

“I didn’t hate him,” Brock offers.

“Shut up, you have no taste. Hated him. Good riddance.” Vanessa tosses back some wine.

“And...we’re real sorry about your impending divorce…?” DJ gives a smile that’s half grimace.

Bianca laughs a little, rising from the table. She would love to bask in the relief that everyone will unquestionably be on her side, but the wedding coordinator is gesturing for her frantically.

“Well...thanks for your support, guys. But I gotta go give a speech.”

“Don’t fuck it up!” Vanessa calls after her, and Bianca turns and gives her the finger before continuing to the front of the room.

She stands at the mic, looking out amongst the crowd of mostly familiar faces, gaze finally landing on Latrice, who beams up at her from her seat at the bridal table.

“Hi, I’m Bianca...but you guys probably know that.” Bianca clears her throat, reminding herself that this is friendly crowd, and to just relax and give the toast for her best friend. “Okay, so. I actually met Latrice in second grade. More specifically, I met her laugh. It was the best sound I’d ever heard, one morning in front of school as we were getting off the bus.”

“I was laughing because you told someone that they looked like a garbage can,” Latrice cuts in, grinning at the memory.  

“That was me, bitch!” Vanessa pipes up from the crowd.

“Well, you deserved it!” Bianca shoots back. “You never brushed your hair and you always had that awful Hello Kitty sweatshirt on. Inside out.”

“I was in kindergarten, you asshole!”

The crowd, most of whom know them all, are laughing now, and Bianca makes a face at her sister to shut her up before getting back to the speech she’d prepared.

“Anyway, I heard this laugh. This amazing, gorgeous laugh, and I turned around and saw Latrice, and introduced myself, and it turned out that she was going to be in my class. And so I informed her that we were now best friends.”

“So bossy,” Latrice comments, giggling affectionately.

“And I soon found out that she was the greatest best friend anyone could ever ask for. Kind, funny, generous, smart...and of course, that laugh. I made it my life goal to make her laugh as loud and often as possible. Bonus points for extra inappropriate situations like assemblies and math tests and church. And for many years, I was really proud of myself for being the person who made her laugh the most. Until of course, Chris came around.” Bianca pulls a face.

A few good-natured murmurs of “oooh” and “uh oh…”

“I was a little pissed at this at first. I’m not gonna lie,” Bianca continued. “But soon I got to know Chris too, and unfortunately, he’s so damn likeable, that I had to admit, she’s got amazing taste, in addition to all her other talents. So Chris, thank you for giving my best friend the love and respect and joy that she deserves, more than anyone else I know. Thank you for making her laugh.”

Bianca turns to Latrice, who now has tears streaming down her face.

“I love you so much.” She raises her glass. “Here’s to a beautiful marriage, and lots of laughter.”

As the guests applaud, Latrice jumps up, running towards her friend. Bianca puts down the mic just in time for a huge, tackle-hug, Latrice squeezing her so tight that she feels she might break.

The DJ cranks up the music and soon Bianca finds herself pulled onto the dance floor by both Latrice and Chris. She makes a halfhearted, laughing protest.

“Guys, aren’t they about to serve dinner-”

“Who cares, bitch, I’m the bride!” Latrice spins Bianca, encouraging more guests to join them on the dance floor, an unplanned interruption while the catering staff scurries to get dinner on the tables.

Bianca dances with her a bit before she’s swept away by various other friends and family members, when she takes the opportunity to get another drink and make her way back to their nearly empty table.

“Nice toast.”

Bianca looks up and smiles at Vanessa.

“No thanks to you.”

“So...uh, when were you gonna tell me about the baby?”

Bianca blinks, and Vanessa rolls her eyes, sitting down beside her, voice uncharacteristically low.

“Your tits are out of control. And, that’s your third cranberry juice...”

“How do you know there’s no vodka in here?”

“Is there?”

“...I’m doing a cleanse. You know...detoxing.”

“Ahh...a dairy and butter cleanse?” Vanessa raises her eyebrows. “Don’t play me, I saw you inhale 40 pounds of cheese during the cocktail hour. Good luck tryin’ to shit later, by the way.”

“Vanessa…” Bianca glances around, praying that no one she cares about is in hearing distance.

“Is Jared the father?”

“Yes! What kind of question is-”

“Hey, I’m not judgin’. It just seems like the timing is a little…”

“Fucked?”

“Yeah. You alright?”

Bianca sighs. In an ideal world, she would be basking in the idea of sharing this news. She’d have already told her mother and everyone in her family. They’d be celebrating, thinking about names. Thank god that she has Courtney, or she’d be going crazy.

“He doesn’t know yet. And...it’s still really early, so I don’t want to-”

“Don’t worry, I won’t say nothin’.”

“Anything.”

“Eat me, bitch.”

Bianca laughs softly, and Vanessa grins, plunking herself down into her lap.

“And I’m real happy about your future spawn.”

Bianca wraps her up into a big hug.

“I love you...little asshole.”

She’s a bit relieved, if she’s honest. That Vanessa knows. That someone knows. It allows her to breathe. To enjoy herself and let loose and have fun the way she used to, and the rest of the weekend zooms by in a happy blur. When she finally boards the plane on Monday, exhausted and full of love, she truly believes that everything will be okay.  

***

“Court?” Bianca calls, pulling her suitcase behind her.

There’s no answer, but the dogs come skittering across the wood floor, barking and wagging their tails excitedly.

“Hey babies,” she coos, scooping them up, wondering what Courtney’s up to. Her car’s home, but maybe she’s out on a run? Bianca continues down the hall to the bedrooms. “Whoa…”

Courtney sits in the guest room, hair piled atop her head in a messy bun, surrounded by flat pack furniture, every inch of the floor and bed covered in pieces, head in her hands.

“What’s, uh...goin’ on here?” Bianca asks.

Courtney looks up, eyes teary.

“I was trying to build the crib,” she says. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“That’s so sweet.” Bianca chuckles slightly. “And I mean...I am surprised, so-”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s a fucking disaster, I just can’t figure out these instructions and I already had to take it apart three times and I-” Courtney’s breath hitches as she tries to hold back her tears.

“Hey, it’s okay. Although we may have to revoke your lesbian card if you can’t even handle IKEA,” Bianca teases, then stops.

Courtney isn’t laughing along; she isn’t seeing any humor in the situation. She actually looks distraught. Bianca kneels down beside her.

“Court...hey...” A pang of guilt washes over her as she realizes that this is all her fault. Courtney is 27, and it’s the last day of a holiday weekend. She should be day drinking on a boat, or dancing in front of a barbecue full of veggie burgers - something fun, with music and friends and laughter. Not stressed out over building a crib for a baby that she never asked for.

“I’m so sorry, B.” The look on her face breaks Bianca’s heart. Just exhausted, miserable defeat.

“No, I’m sorry, I never meant to bring all this stress into your life-”

“You didn’t! I just wanted to do something nice for you, I-”

“You do nice things for me every day,” Bianca tells her, shaking her head. She reaches out to touch her hand softly. “You know what I was thinking when I was in the uber from the airport?”

“What?”

“I can’t wait to be home.”

Courtney looks at her for a few moments, not quite believing it.

“Really?”

“Really,” Bianca promises. “You know what else I was thinking?”

Courtney shakes her head.

“I’m really fucking hungry.”

“Oh god, shit, of course you are.” Courtney scrambles up, springing to action. “Um, we still have a bunch of that vegetable soup, and I think there’s some brown rice in the-”

“Courtney, I can fix dinner.”

“But you just took a long flight, and-”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t flying the plane. I was just sitting there, popping those herbal xanax you gave me. And by the way, those things are shit.”

“Sorry,” Courtney says, still a bit teary.

“I’m kidding. I mean, they are shit but...” Bianca trails off. Courtney is still looking a bit frayed and delicate, and maybe making fun of her isn’t what she needs at the moment. She takes a deep breath. “…Look, I know I’ve been a mess...”

When Courtney begins to protest, she holds up her hand.

“No, it’s true. I’ve been a mess. It’s okay to say it. But...I won’t always be a mess. And you’re allowed to have bad days, too. I need to be the one to take care of you sometimes. Okay?”

Courtney finally smiles, taking a deep breath and nodding.

“Okay.”

“There’s just one little...problem.”

“What? Are you okay? What-”

“I need help getting up.”

Courtney starts to laugh, pulling Bianca to her feet. Once they are face to face, Courtney looks at her for a long moment, eyes soft.

“I love you, B.”

For a brief moment, Bianca agonizes about what she means, exactly. What kind of love? Is she still talking about friendship? Is this a confession? What now? But then, she swallows back her swirling insecurities and simply goes with it. She wraps her arms around Courtney’s waist, buries her face in her neck. Breathes.

“I love you too, Court,” she murmurs softly against her skin.

***

Bianca stands at the stove, finishing up a quick stir fry, when Courtney enters the kitchen. Her hair is damp, face scrubbed clean, a look of mild embarrassment playing on her face.

“Hey...feeling any better?”

Courtney nods, fingering a lock of her hair.

“I’m sorry about all that, I was just-” She pauses, biting her lips, then changes course. “That smells good.”

“Come taste…”

She steps up to the stove, allowing Bianca to cup her chin, feeding her a piece of bell pepper off the wooden spoon.

“Seasoning okay? I think it needs more salt.”

“Maybe a tiny bit…” Courtney shifts, still looking uncomfortable.

Bianca focuses back on the stove, humming softly under her breath. When she lifts up her head to speak, it’s at the same time as Courtney.

“You know-”

“I just want-” Courtney stops, laughing a little. “Sorry, you go.”

“You’re allowed to have a bad day.”

“I know, but-”

“You think I don’t know, how stressful all of this has been for you? Just because you don’t complain, doesn’t mean I don’t understand.”

“It’s not like that, honestly.”

Bianca decides to leave it. Beckons her over to taste the food again.

“Better?”

“Perfect.”

Bianca wipes a tiny bit of sauce from Courtney’s lip with her thumb, sucks it into her own mouth without thinking. Her cheeks immediately begin to heat up, and she clears her throat.

“Um, can you grab plates? This is almost-”

“Sure, of course.” Courtney quickly busies herself with setting the table. “Want some coconut water?”

“Alright…” Bianca chuckles. “You know, I actually missed that damn coconut water this weekend.”

Courtney giggles.

“I’m glad you finally understand how good it is.”

“Only that brand though, and only when it’s diluted,” Bianca says, shaking the wooden spoon at her.

“Right, of course.” Courtney flashes her a smile.

When they sit down to eat, Bianca can’t shake the feeling that something has changed. Something unspoken and important. She catches Courtney’s eye and they exchange a long, heated look. Bianca feels her pulse quicken, knows that her cheeks must be at flushed as Courtney’s.

She squirms in her seat, trying unsuccessfully to shove aside her anxieties like she’d done earlier. Finally, she can’t take it anymore.

“What are we doing right now?”

Courtney shakes her head slowly.

“I don’t know.”

“I mean, you wanted to wait. Do you still-”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to know what’s right,” Courtney admits. “I’m just trying to...I’m a bit...conflicted.”

“That’s fair,” Bianca says, but can’t ignore the pang of disappointment in her chest. She really thought that something would be different tonight. She’s afraid to let herself hope that it still might be.

They eat the rest of the meal in relative silence, minds spinning. There’s so much they want to say - need to say - to each other, but neither of them knows where to begin.

Later, when Bianca stands at the sink and begins to scrub the pans, Courtney reaches into the hot, soapy water and pries the sponge out of her hand.

“You cooked,” she reasons.

“Okay, but, if you’d cooked, would you let me do the dishes?” Bianca asks.

“That’s not a fair comparison,” Courtney tells her, a smile pulling at her mouth.

“Why not?” Bianca releases the sponge.

“I’m not pregnant.”

“Yeah, thank god for that,” she mutters automatically, cringing a little when she sees Courtney’s eyes widen. “I mean, uh...I think I’m enough of a hormonal basket case for both of us.”

Courtney doesn’t respond to that, merely begins scrubbing the small saucepan vigorously.

Bianca sighs, drying her hands.

“Look, I know that you’re...that you have reservations, and I don’t blame you. And I’m not trying to pressure you, or...but my feelings haven’t changed. So, whenever you decide that you want to…” Bianca swallows down the lump rising in her throat. “I’ll be here.”

Courtney continues to scrub, slower now, appears to be mulling over what Bianca’s saying with grave consideration.

“I just want you to be sure,” she finally says.

“I’m sure.”

Courtney turns around and looks her in the eyes.

“And, I’ve never been sure about anything like this. But...yeah, I’m sure about you.”

Her eyes are so soft, so warm, and when Courtney looks at her, all the feelings she’s been pushing away for almost a year come flooding in. She drops the sponge and dries her hands, chest rising and falling rapidly with shallow little breaths.

Bianca waits.

Time seems to slow down as Courtney walks forward, eyes locked with Bianca’s. She stops, both hands reaching up to cup her face, gaze falling to her full lips, then back up to her eyes.

In spite of the heat in the kitchen, the hair prickles on the back of Bianca’s neck, nearly causing her to shiver in anticipation. Courtney’s so close now that she can feel her heartbeat, pounding as rapidly as her own. Her eyes flick down to Bianca’s softly parted lips again, and Bianca can’t help the breathy sigh that escapes her, feeling Courtney’s thumbs gently stroking her cheekbones.

Bianca licks her lips, still waiting, practically trembling now.

As Courtney closes the last bit of distance between them, Bianca’s eyes fall closed, entirely focused on the feel of soft lips pressing against hers, hands still holding her cheeks, grounding her.

It’s nothing like their first kiss, the breathless, intoxicated excitement of finally giving in to their innermost desires, the dangerous thrill of eyes on them. Or even later that night, alone, the desperation of knowing it could be the last time.

This kiss is soft, tentative at first--then slow, leisurely, utterly indulgent. Both of them well aware that they have all the time in the world, allowing themselves to breathe into it, feel every sensation down to their toes. This kiss is every unspoken glance, every disregarded feeling, every secret desire whispered in the dark.

Bianca can’t tell, once they separate, if it’s been seconds, minutes, or hours. All she knows, as Courtney presses a forehead against hers, is how right it feels, how safe and warm and perfect. She wraps her arms tightly around Courtney’s waist, entirely unmotivated to move from this spot, to let go of this moment. Her head drops, nose tucked into Courtney’s neck, inhaling her scent.

Almost unconsciously, her lips begin to trace Courtney’s collarbone, hungry for the taste of her skin. A stifled, high pitched whimper spurs her on, makes her grip Courtney’s waist tighter, kisses turning feverish, their embrace growing heated and sweaty. She backs Courtney up into the table, using the hard wooden surface to keep them both grounded.

Courtney’s fingers tangle deeper into her hair, body arching forward as Bianca’s hands slide up under her shirt. Her skin is still buttery soft from her shower, and Bianca rakes blunt nails up her back, tongue chasing the biting kisses along her neck.

The intensity builds in Bianca’s body, heart pounding so loudly that she almost doesn’t hear the sudden CRASH as a plate shatters to the floor.

“Shit!” Courtney reels back, gasping for air, cheeks a dark red.

Bianca gulps. Regret fills her chest - not at the (now former, RIP) plate, but at the fact that Courtney is no longer in her arms, that she’s tugging her shirt down and sliding off the table.

“Careful, you’ve got bare feet!”

“I’m okay,” Courtney says. “Don’t move; I’ll get a broom.”

“I-”

Bianca’s heart slowly stops pounding, and when Courtney reappears in the doorway, wearing tennis shoes and armed with a broom, she smiles sheepishly at her.

“I’m sorry about your dish.”

“It’s fine.” Courtney glances down, frowning. “You have bare feet, too.”

“Yeah, I know, hand me the-What are you doing?!” she shrieks, as Courtney begins to scoop her up. “You’re not gonna be able to lift me, stop-”

“Shhh…” Courtney carries her out of the kitchen and continues to the living room. Bianca stops squirming, quickly realizing that she isn’t going to drop her.

“This is a little excessive,” Bianca says, feet dangling, now secure in Courtney’s arms. She tilts her head girlishly. “I guess I should stop talking shit about CrossFit, huh?”

“Guess so,” Courtney deposits her onto the sofa and places a kiss lovingly on her forehead. “You can wait here; I’ll finish cleaning up.”

“But-”

Courtney tosses her a wink and scampers back to the kitchen. Bianca’s head drops to the cushions, a smile playing on her face.

***

“...B?”

Bianca’s eyes open slowly, registering that it’s now dark. Courtney kneels down in front of her, a hand on her waist.

“What time is it?” Bianca croaks, rubbing her eyes.

“Almost ten. I thought you’d probably want to move to an actual bed.”

Bianca yawns, nodding, and lets Courtney help her up from the sofa.

After Bianca quickly gets ready for bed, she pads down the hall to the bedroom, noticing a sliver of light coming from Courtney’s room. She knocks on the door, and it swings open a second later.

“Everything okay?”

“Sleep with me,” Bianca requests, following up a split second later with, “Please.”

As an answer, Courtney steps forward, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

Once they’re in bed, limbs tangled together, lips seeking each other out in the dark, Bianca feels so warm and content that her body immediately relaxes, eyes falling shut against her will. She struggles to keep them open, protesting weakly when Courtney stops kissing her and suggests that they should just sleep.

“I don’t wanna sleep,” she whines, fingers gripping Courtney’s t-shirt.

“You have a 6 am call tomorrow,” Courtney murmurs into her hair. “And you need to rest.”

Bianca lets out a small whimper, fighting the exhaustion weighing down on her, as Courtney wraps tighter around her.

“It’s okay. We’ve got plenty of time…”

“Mmmhmm…” Bianca finally relents, burying her face in Courtney’s hair as sleep envelopes her.

[cleighwrites]

Hott Yoga

SPN Fanfic

Characters - Sam, Dean & Castiel, Donna (mentioned)

Summary - Sam drags Dean to a hot yoga class, and Dean ends up liking it a lot more than he thought he would!

Word Count - 1,878

A/N - this fic was inspired by this tweet!! It was too great to not write!! There will be more to come!

Warnings - sexual thoughts, blatant male objectification, it’s just fluffy crack!

There were quite a few things that Sam did that Dean just could not get in to. Listening to music dated post-1978 (with very few exceptions), waking up at ungodly hours of the morning, even trying to eat turkey bacon, insisting that garnish was a food group, running (not even from anything), and yoga.

That being said, there were a few little brother tricks Sam held up his sleeve for when he really, really wanted Dean to do something. Today, what he really, really wanted was for Dean to go to a hot yoga class with him. Dean had adamantly refused until Sam had volunteered to do the dishes and laundry for two weeks. How bad could a little stretching be?

That was how Dean found himself in sweatpants and a wife-beater, sweating his ass off in a 100-degree room, trying to bend in ways his body was not built to bend in. The only thing that was keeping him there was their instructor.

He was a tall, well-built man with relatively short sweat-spiked black hair. He had broad shoulders that led down to slightly slimmer hips. He was not a small man; the fact emphasized by the leggings he was wearing.

Yes, the man that was talking them through the poses was wearing leggings and a tank top that was about five sizes too small for him, but that was somewhat excusable in this heat. The leggings, that Dean was not staring at while the man bent into another pose to grab his ankles, had angel wings on them. Big, giant wings that spread across his tight, round ass, expanded around his thick muscular thighs and trailed down his calves.

Dean was feeling flushed, from the humidity, obviously, and the exertion of trying to contort himself like a human-pretzel. Sam snickering beside him caught him off guard while he was attempting to be a tree; he lost his footing and slipped on his sweat covered mat when he tried to regain his balance. After he shot a deadly glare at his brother, he turned to see a hand in his face, presumably there to help him up.

When he looked past the very strong and capable-looking offering, he found strikingly blue eyes laughing at him. They belonged to the angel-winged-ass yoga instructor. Not that he needed the assistance, he grabbed his hand and hauled himself into a standing position then swiped the sweat from his brow.

“May I?” the man asked.

“Huh?” Dean was not distracted by the sweat pooled above the man’s collarbones, nor the seemingly perfect way his hair happened to swoop.

The man laughed and dipped his chin before looking him in the eye, not something very many people were comfortable doing. “I can help you with this pose, if you’d like. If it’s okay to touch you.” He nodded toward Dean’s entire body with a seductive quirk of his eyebrow.

Dean couldn’t think of anything he’d like more than to have this man’s hands on him, so he just nodded and put his arms up over his head. The man walked around behind him and put one hand on his lower back, then grabbed his shoulders and maneuvered him into a more upright position. After he was satisfied with that, he wrapped a hand around his left hip then put his other hand on Dean’s right thigh, gently guiding his leg to turn out while holding his hips still.

With his mind in a fog, Dean stood there with his right foot on his left calf and his arms raised above his head, thanking whoever would listen to his pleas that no one was paying him enough attention to see the massive hard-on he was sporting for their yoga instructor. The man kept ahold of his thighs and put his mouth tight against Dean's ear and told him to take in deep breaths and to look skyward. He was able to inhale twice, but when he went to look up, he began to lose his balance again.

He only wobbled a little bit before he abandoned the pose altogether and stomped his foot down. Sammy would just have to find another yoga buddy because Dean was not cut out for this hippy, wanna-be workout shit. He got all the workout he needed hoisting transmissions into vehicles at work. He had planned to apologize to the super-hot hot yoga man and duck out early, but the second he turned around, the man’s smile short-circuited what was left of Dean’s brain.

“It's not as easy as it looks; is it? With some practice, you’ll get it.” The man’s smile was so genuine Dean really had no choice but to agree with what he hoped was a self-assured grin. The man smiled a little wider then announced to the class, “Let’s finish this up in lotus pose.”

It was then that Dean realized that one of the man’s hands was still on his hip. He applied a little pressure, so Dean got the hint to sit down along with the rest of the class; everyone else seemed to know what a lotus was. After a quick glance around, carefully avoiding the angel wing-framed bulge in front of his face, he sat cross-legged and put his hands on his knees.

Sammy snorted beside him, and when Dean turned to shoot him a look he felt hands on his, flipping his palms to face up.

“Palms up and put your fingers together,” the blue-eyed angel man corrected him. “And, if you can, tuck your feet in above your legs, like Donna, over there.” He motioned to a cute blonde woman who kept her eyes closed, but smiled a dimpled grin at the mention of her name.

Dean tried his best to get his feet up, but only managed to angle them so that his toes were favoring upward. After an approving nod, the man went back to the head of the class and assumed the same position with ease, then motioned for Dean to take a deep breath and close his eyes.

Considering that he was sweating his literal balls off, and was sporting an almost painful boner at being manhandled by this gorgeous legging-clad dude, Dean was the most relaxed he’d been in a long time. Within moments his body was no longer sore, he was hardly registering the sweat dripping from his face, and he felt… peaceful.

Far too soon, the man announced the end of the class with the sound of a small gong, and everyone fell into hushed chatter. Plans for lunch, after showering, or meeting up at some other time or for some other class were being made. Sam offered Dean his hand to stand, which he begrudgingly accepted, trying not to moan as he extracted himself from the floor.

“See,” Sammy smiled down at him, “that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Dean chanced a glance over his shoulder to where the yoga-man was talking with the cute girl, Donna. “Yeah, I can see why you come here.”

Sam laughed and made a face that Dean knew only preceded an observation he knew he wasn’t going to like. “I thought you might find something here worth coming back for.” Dean just nodded and grabbed a towel to wipe his face off. Sam leaned in and whispered, “He’s single, I checked.”

Dean balked for a moment before Sam leveled his stupid, little brother, you-can’t-lie-to-me face, then he huffed. “Whatever, Jolly Green Giant, get out of here, you’re cramping my style.”

He shot his brother a smirk and a wink, then made his way over to intrude on what he was sure was a conversation about the newest juice cleanse. Smiling at both of them he waited patiently for an opening in the conversation to interject an apology.

“Sorry to interrupt; I just wanted to say thanks… for, um, helping me out earlier. Yoga isn’t really my thing.” Dean laughed, and the woman excused herself to the showers.

With a pointed look at the other man, she left.

“That’s what I’m here for…?”

“Dean. And you are?”

“Castiel,” he responded, offering his hand once again.

Dean shook his hand like his father had taught him, thumbs shoved together, fingers gripped tight, but not squeezed. Castiel was only caught off guard for a moment before returning his firm handshake; commendable. They stood there for a moment, definitely not holding hands and staring into each other’s souls.

“I’m going to need that back, at some point.” Cas, which was what Dean had resolved to call him, joked.

“Oh, yeah.” Dean laughed and took his hand out of Cas’s grasp.

If Cas could stop smiling at him like he was, Dean could probably have said something really cool, maybe asked him out for drinks sometime. As it was, all Dean could think about was not looking down at the bulge in those God-forsaken, not-so-angelic, leggings.

“So, will I be seeing you next week?” Cas laughed at what must have been the face Dean was trying not to make, then added, “for another class, I mean.”

Dean ran a hand along the back of his neck and answered honestly. “I’m still not sure yoga is the thing for me, especially if it involves this much sweating!”

“That’s just for the hot yoga class… if you’d prefer, I do have a standard class on Tuesdays and Thursdays; same time.”

How could Dean say no to this man, especially when he’s looking at him like that? “That sounds awesome.”

“Does it?” Cas was asking honestly, who is this man? Dean decided right then and there that he would find out who this attractive, strange man was.

“Well, I mean. Sure.” There was a slight pause where Dean probably should have resolved to stop talking. “Don’t knock it till you try it, right?”

As Dean rolled his eyes and mentally chastised himself, Cas laughed. A full-bodied, eye-crinkling laugh that Dean noticed showed the gums over his top teeth; he was terrifyingly attractive, in a dorky, unconventional sort of way. Dean was so screwed, hopefully literally.

“How would you like to grab a smoothie with me?” He was still laughing, which made Dean feel equally off balance and a little giddy.

He blinked a couple of times to bide his time while he processed what exactly Cas was asking him. “Uh, sure.”

“Great. Meet you out front in fifteen minutes? Gotta wash all this sweat off.” He motioned to his entire body.

As if it were beyond his control, Dean openly checked the man out, marveling once again at his thick thighs, somehow encased in those damn feathered tights. He bit his bottom lip to keep from voicing his inner thoughts and shook his head, laughing at himself.

“Or maybe, I’ll just stay in this.” The heat behind Cas’s eyes left little room for interpretation.

“Or…,” Dean could not believe he was about to say this, “maybe I could help you out of those.”

Dean took a shot and rested a finger on the waistband of the leggings. They were soft and warm and pulled taut over Cas’s hipbones. The too small, to call it what it was, crop-top, perfectly showcased that well-shaped ‘V’ that dipped teasingly into his bottoms.

“I would like that.”

To be continued...

Read part 2, Steam Shower here!

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[jodycalitz]

💛Number 1 tip to get your body feeling & looking incredible....AND something that is easy to incorporate into your life AND affordable.....💛lemon water 1st thing in the Morning!!!!!!! . . . 🍋The benefits of drinking lemon water first thing in the morning are INCREDIBLE for your body! 🍋Your liver is the key organ to help you achieve abundant health (and gorgeous body).....because no matter your shape or size, if you are healthy and taking loving care of your body, it will feel and look amazing. . . . 🍋drinking 500ml filtered water with FRESH lemon juice squeezed in (about 1/2 small lemons worth) will: 🌟flush out and wash out the stomach and gut (see it as taking a cleansing shower and scrubbing all the grime off) 🌟It will help purify blood from toxic heavy metals 🌟help rehydrate the cells and organs 🌟helps kill off bad bacteria 🌟helps alkalize the body 🌟cleanse and detoxify the liver 🍋and as a result will help the body start to function at its best. . . . . . 💚So if you are wondering where to start on your journey to achieving abundant health....start with this simple, easy and AFFORDABLE step! . . . . 🌟There is NO DRUG OR SUPPLEMENT IN THE WORLD that can cleanse your body like fresh lemon water can 💪🏻🍋💪🏻🍋 . . . . . . . . #veganfoodie #veganfoodblog #veganforhealth #thepoweroflemon #whnextfitfoodie #lemonwater #lemonwaterdetox #livercleanse #lemonwater🍋 #bloodcleanse #foodforhealing #medicalmedium https://www.instagram.com/p/BygNuUoJJdm/?igshid=1me3mzek6nthu

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What is the Best Juicer Under $100 In 2019?

For the elements that can not be placed in the dishwasher, you get an included cleaning brush with the unit so you can rinse out the elements that you just might want to reuse, and then dry them with a dish towel. There's a foam separator on the machine for individuals who don’t like having foam in their juice. There may be even a drip-cease system so that you don’t have to fret about making a large number everywhere in the counter when you utilize this juicer. Here is more information on masticating juicer under 100 visit our page. Not to mention, there can also be frustration-free packaging that the machine ships in, so you may simply open the box and start utilizing the system within a matter of seconds. 55, which means that you may get a wonderful machine that won’t break the bank. This specific machine is reputed to make rather more juice than its leading rivals on the market. You'll be able to fit whole foods into the feed chute, which enormously reduces the overall amount of prep time that it is advisable to make delicious juice. Lots of the elements on this unit are dishwasher protected. As far because the non-dishwasher-secure elements are involved, you may always wipe down the remaining elements of the unit with a damp cloth after which dry it off, so cleanup will always be a breeze. If that's the case, then these may be the top three choices for you to think about, and properly price the value. They all are able to dealing with fruits and vegetables of various thicknesses, and they are highly effective in addition to extraordinarily easy to clean. Ultimately, these juicers are designed to give you a number of years of use.

This machine affords a motor energy of seven-hundred watts, which is comparatively excessive for its worth, and might assist you to make your juice in good time. It comes with 2 speeds, so exhausting and soft fruits and vegetables might be juiced effectively. It has a stainless steel body and cutting disc and an additional-huge chute minimizes time spent prepping food. When pouring the juice out from the jug, its lid’s lip holds the foam again so you may enjoy your juice with out a lot foam. Its parts are dishwasher safe - a jug, a large pulp collector and a filter basket. Cleaning the parts is easy and the included cleansing brush is useful for the chopping disc. The security options embody a locking arm and overload protection. People who have bought the machine praise it for the job it does with fruits and vegetables like carrots and beets, however, it does not do a superb job with kale and other greens.

Its compact design is built to suit even on small countertops. If you have any kind of inquiries regarding where and how to make use of TechGearLab, you could contact us at the web-page. It’s lightweight, and also you won’t have any difficulties shifting it round. The gradual juicer can be super quiet and won’t disturb your neighbors or family members. Don’t be fooled by its compact dimension and low price; the juicer can extract juice from even the toughest substances like wheatgrass and kale. The juicer doesn’t produce much foam, and the juice quality is superb. It actually will get all of the nutrients, and the pulp is relatively dry. It’s not as dry as with the Aicok Slow Juicer, but given the low value, the efficiency is excellent. You possibly can at all times re-run the pulp a second time to extract extra juice if you wish to. The simple Taste Juicer is simple to take apart and put together and straightforward to clean. It comes with a cleansing brush that looks like a toothbrush. This helpful scrubbing brush makes it very easy to wash the strainer. You may rinse all components of and wash the machine by hand in lower than 5 minutes.

A hundred on one of those but I’ve included an inexpensive citrus press further down all the same. These work extra like blenders and have spinning blades at the bottom which shred up whatever you place in and let the juice run out beneath. The conventional operate of an inexpensive juicer, masticating ones (which I’ll get to subsequent) are usually a bit costlier. Where they excel is making a quick glass of juice although, the quick-spinning blades make quick work of whatever you set in and they’re usually nice and easy to clean. Great for beginner juicers who're wanting to dip their toe into the world of juicing. My most well-liked sort of juicer, these work with two huge rotating gears that your fruits and veg get fed by means of squeezing every final drop of juicy goodness out of them. A hundred that I’ve included within the record. Masticating juicers give you more juice from the vegetables you set in compared to centrifugal ones and it stays cooler so all the enzymes inside get kept intact.

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Best Industrial Juicers (2017 ).

Having a correct research study of often times over the various finest business juicers, I have actually generated a list evaluation of 6 ideal commercial juicer equipment. After much study, it became apparent to us that anybody serious about juicing will wish to buy a cool press juicer. Breville no question makes the most effective centrifugal juicers available. The blade, which is incorporated right into the juicer, is likewise with the ability of bursting the cell membranes, promoting the release of crucial nutrients together with the extracted juice. Some dual gear juicers are capable of processing nut butter, grinding components like coffee, or being utilized as a great food mill with the purchase of added attachments. Powered by a 110-volt electric motor, the Tribest Green Star Elite can use optimal torque while still moving slow so as not to create warmth and also destroy any kind of nutrients. While the chomping juicer does not operate as quick as a centrifugal juicer, its slow speed is really a huge benefit. You require to prep your veggies as well as fruits as well as run all of it via your juicer. Nevertheless, if you're interested in acquiring a multifunction juicer that has various other special abilities like making child food, butter, as well as sorbets, it will certainly be worth some extra assembly as well as disassembly. If you're looking for a truly quiet juicer, that's effective and also will certainly last for a long time, this is the most effective bargain. Fresh, cold-pressed juice represents the vital significance-- indeed, the extremely life-- of plant foods as well as every health fanatic should consistently consist of juicing in their health program. The means the equipment work is similar in both kinds of juicers. The juicer comes with a 7.6 centimeters broad chute-- so you simply require to reduce bigger fruits like orange as well as apple in to fifty percent and feed in to the chute. Chomping juicers are typically made use of to produce eco-friendly juices, or those juices that feature a number of leafed and environment-friendly veggies. Its 5-year service warranty on imotor as well as 2-year guarantee instead of the conventional one year on its components talks quantities about the quality and also performance of the juicer. The motor is just one of one of the most vital considerations after juicer type when buying a commercial juicer, given that this is the heart of the juicer. Centrifugal (fast) juicers: These seem to be one of the most prominent choice since they are rapid, easy to make use of and tend to be relatively economical. Masticating juicers are also called slow-moving juicers or cold press juicers, and work by 'chewing' fruit and vegetables prior to pressing or squashing out the juice at a gentle rate. Given that the RPM is much more less than other juicers and also due to that the juice that these Extractor juicers is of high course. Slow-moving juicers with their very own pulp ejection bins are a precise and also. masticating juicer reviews to the incredibly sluggish rate is that this juicer takes advantage of your fruit, squeezing every last decrease of juice out as well as leaving you with bone-dry pulp that is conveniently thrown away. And also, the BPA-free plastic parts are detachable as well as dishwasher-safe for easy cleansing. This device is a solitary equipment masticating juicer that gradually presses the juice and squashes from the pulp of food generate, via a 2-stage removal procedure. Plus, with all-copper motor construction, a lengthy life-span and also quick procedure of this juicer is a warranty. If you intend to utilize your juicer primarily for OJ, you might wish to take into consideration an uncomplicated citrus press rather. Points you need to recognize: Our list is comprised of both masticating as well as centrifugal juicers. The Oscar will juice carrots and all other fruit and vegetables with minimal stress being used using the food pusher which is supplied. As soon as you are not all set to give up to $400 to purchase a juicer, we are still sure that our preliminary leading selection, the Omega J8004, will be a great economical choice. Its operation consists of first squashing vegetables and fruits, complied with by pressing. We can give your with a cool press juicer at around R3000. Not every one of the juicers on our checklist are made to develop these foods. Nonetheless, it will certainly be heavy to bring if you are a regular traveler, a thing that will certainly not worry you with a little plastic cold-press juicer. If you have some added time on your hands, it could be best to buy a proper masticating or twin gear juicer.

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5 Best Masticating Juicers Of 2019 (As well as Why They Are Worth Buying!).

Are you looking to purchase a commercial juicer for your juice bar? Not all juices are developed equivalent, and the juice top quality depends largely on the kind of juicer you use. However, they likewise include a bigger price and don't fairly have the flexibility of straight masticating juicers. This masticating juicer extracts juices while retaining the natural tastes, shade, vitamins, enzymes, antioxidants and also various other nutrients. Well, it is a fact that several juicers are extremely challenging to tidy. The Juicer is very quiet, because of its reduced speed, enabling you to juice to your heart's content without disturbing your family. The Cuisinart Pulp Control Citrus Juicer may be small, however it's effective enough to extract juice from your favorite vegetables and fruits. Its slow-moving removal method likewise results in incredibly nutrient-dense fresh cold-pressed juice. Further this juicer has double course juicing setting in which the very first the removal of juice is made and after that the staying pulp is also squeezed during the phase it provides the best return of the juice. After much debate, we have identified the best juicers on the marketplace. . You can after that check out various other attributes like the rate of juicing which is generally slower than conventional juicers; sound degree, dimension, sturdiness, producer's service warranty etc The Braun J500 is a centrifugal juicer with a two-speed procedure (for soft or tough fruit and vegetables) formulating to 900 watts of power. If you are not ready to spend that quantity on a juicer, we have a couple of budget pleasant cool press juicers offered. You merely can't do a lot far better than the Omega Juicers CUBE300S when it comes to quality juicers that can create a range of items without consuming also much counter area. Food pusher: The component of a juicer that matches the feed chute and also allows us to push the produce down right into the juicer. This gets rid of the requirement for quiting the juicer every so often to clear the pulp containers. Tidy up right after using the juicer - Cleansing it as early as feasible will certainly make sure that the staying pulp as well as juice will quickly be rinsed off also if you're simply making use of warm water. Which is fruit juicers reviews -round after that you'll never go wrong with this product from Aicok if you wish to spend in a masticating juicer. Some people fret about the steel blades in centrifugal juicers producing warm, which may damage some of the enzymes in fruit as well as veg as it's juiced. Also, a softer fruit could block the filter mesh with small holes therefore having alternatives makes juicer that a lot easier for you. Huge Mouth and also Vertical juicers will certainly take much less preparation and also little bit faster compared to others. For those that don't you might have to put the chilly press juicer over a garbage can. Moving on to the adverse aspects, it is highly tough to assemble a twin equipment juicer, as well as you may need experienced aid if you're doing it for the very first time. On this leading 10 list, it's the straight kind juicer with the largest feed chute. The slower the basket spins, the more juice is extracted from the fruit or veggie, that makes this a precise advantage of these types of juicers. An excellent size for the spout of a centrifugal juicer feeding tube is 3 inches or wider. To figure out, we sent examples of carrot juice, orange juice and green juice from all the juicers - nine slow-moving and 6 quick juicers to a laboratory to be evaluated for minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium). The Bella 13694 is the perfect juice extractor for those searching for a cost-effective juicer with high power as well as outstanding attributes. As a twin-gear equipment, the Environment-friendly Celebrity Elite is slightly extra difficult than the majority of single-gear juicers (Inspect exactly how they're different ). That claimed, you can most likely placed it up as well as disassemble it without also checking out the guidebook. Like the Tribest Slowstar, it likewise includes the auto-cleaning system, which is driven by the rotation of the auger screw, which then turns the wiping blades and also keeps the juice bowl clean. Whatever tastes much better when it's made in the house including the hippy cold-pressed juices. The Jese Juicers is one of the most effective cold press juicer out there today.

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The Reality About 'green' Cleaning Merchandise

It can depart a slight residue on surfaces if not wiped thoroughly. In addition, the WHO says disinfectants should be utilized with a fabric or wipe that is soaked within the disinfectant first as an alternative of spraying instantly on surfaces, which is not recommended for use in opposition to COVID-19. This dedication is a part of Stathakis' general objective to offer a healthy and protected working environment for our employees, clients and guests whereas assuring cleansing and upkeep are effective. If you are working towards LEED Certification or should you simply want to clean greener, we can help. How to create protected and efficient home-cleaning formulas for every a half of your home. Rovide cleansing personnel with the right personnel protecting equipment including eye safety, masks, gloves, and robes. Where soap and water usually are not available, use hand sanitizers that comprise no much less than 60% ethyl alcohol or are certified by UL Ecologo. The Custodial staff has the flexibility to attain the levels of primary, licensed, and registered Cleanoogist. Basic Cleanology is an eight-hour course taught over eight weeks. All custodial staff should attend and pass this course throughout their new hire interval. The KitchenStone works properly on hot or chilly surfaces, and may be safely used on most kitchenware together with ovens, ceramics, glassware, pots, pans, and different cooking surfaces. You can cut back lime deposits in your teakettle by putting in half of cup white vinegar and a pair of cups water, and gently boiling for a few minutes. To remove lime scale on toilet fixtures, squeeze lemon juice onto affected areas and let sit for several minutes earlier than wiping clear with a moist material. Mix 2 teaspoons borax, 4 tablespoons vinegar, and three cups hot water. For stronger cleansing power, add 1/4 teaspoon liquid castile soap. Cleansing, Sanitizing, Disinfecting This will be the most easily adopted technique for us in this disaster since microwave ovens are ubiquitous. A normal 1100w microwave oven is used with a revolving carousel, and the masks are given 2 minuets publicity on excessive setting. While most N95 fashions have small metallic crimps at the nostril space, Faulkner et al did not observe any sparking during decontamination of the N95s utilizing this methodology. As a small nation, we're running out of our PPE particularly N95 respirators. We have produced a decent -itting mask using ball guard ( please don't laugh) and small corrugated tube attached to the mask . The open end of the tube is for the viral filter connection. So, it might be attention-grabbing to gauge the possibility to sterilize the PPE with out undressing, decreasing the risk for the health workforce. Thus, for example, it could probably be placed a closed commonplace oxygen mask through the requiring time , while the standing workers with its PPE could be inside a giant and closed plastic bag to sterilize the PPE in situ. Later, workers might assist different patients or go to different lower-risk areas. A Taiwan anesthesiologist developed a plastic 'Aerosol Box' to contain the spread of aerosolization throughout endotracheal intubations . Bench prime small-scale ozone generators positioned in virology labs the place virologists/chemical engineers/mechanical engineers could collaborate to confirm efficacy and, in parallel, plan for scale up. For example at MT Sinai hospital with engineers from Columbia or NYU or CCNY or a combined group. Ozone has proven effective in disinfecting objects contaminated with COVID 19 - like viruses - see other references. 6 Advantages Of Strain Washing Your South Dakota Residence Because of those two components alone, stress washing your personal home is definitely worth the investment. Every now and then your own home needs an excellent house washing, and right here in Lynchburg, we offer quite lots of companies to wash the exterior of your home and brighten your neighborhood. Fortunately, there are ways you can bypass all this effort and still give your house and its exterior sidings a sparkling clear look and that's where strain washing comes in. Power washing is a method in which excessive strain generated by stress washing instruments is used to wash any surface within minutes. The finest way to clean roof mildew is to use a soft wash roof cleansing technique. This method uses low stress and a biodegradable detergent to remove the mould with out damaging the roof. Believe us, once we are on the scene, no exterior surface shall be left uncleaned! Our Southington stress washing company has been in enterprise for a very long time, and through the years, we've discovered different suggestions and tips to make sure the homes we energy wash are left spotless. Extend the life of your house and enterprise property with Magic Bubbles pressure washing companies. Our professionals are licensed and educated. Our professionals are licensed and insured. Soft wash roof cleansing is a better possibility as a result of it doesn’t use high strain to scrub the roof. Here at Mount Pleasant Pressure Washing, we provide a whole range of residential and commercial stress washing services that can assist you keep the outside of your property looking its best. The Detail Guys presents you the best-quality gentle washing and pressuring washing services in Bel Air, MD, and surrounding areas. For reference, the lighter the color of the siding, the dirtier it'll look. Our power washing in Harford County, MD, will keep your house or business looking contemporary and maintained. There’s no need for a unclean house to emphasize you out when we are those that may repair it. There’s no have to have to fret about breaking out a pressure washer and creating a large number when you can hire true professionals to get the job done merely and well. We're enthusiastic about safeguarding surfaces and getting our customers the best outcomes through the use of superior tools, methods, and repair with a personal touch, all at a fantastic worth. Ewg's Guide To Wholesome Cleansing Be careful not to let the liquid splatter on you or surrounding surfaces. Turn to this guidelines the following time you have to refresh and sanitize your tiles, sink, and more. These hardworking cleaners make it a whole lot easier to wash and sanitize your toilet. After gathering your supplies, putting collectively the ingredients safely requires a little bit of know-how and preparation. Refresh your home with fashionable products handpicked by HGTV editors. As seen on season 1 of Sarah Sees Potential, a fresh neutral shade scheme and weathered oak self-importance add refined coastal flair to this spa rest room. Commercial pure, biodegradable laundry detergents are additionally now available online and in select shops. Read more in our article, Is Your Laundry Detergent Toxic? You can also strive Eco Nuts, a laundry detergent produced from the dried fruit of the soapberry tree. Use white vinegar to cut grease; remove mildew, odors, and a few stains; and to stop or remove wax build-up. Go right here to see extra posts with my favorite DIY cleaning recipes. Always remember to observe instructions, permitting the wanted contact time for the disinfectant to work. Disinfectants are typically not focused to kill mold. Therefore, only products with mold-killing claims must be thought of for performing this task. Each chemical and product might have very specific “kill” claims as to what germs it kills. Mesh Laundry Bags – Have your children collect up all their laundry in a mesh laundry bag to bring to your laundry room. Hangers – I all the time maintain a few hangers in my laundry room to rapidly hold up issues I take out of the dryer. This retains me from having to iron, which I am not a fan of. Every Thing You Have To Know About Curtain Cleaning When it comes to accommodate cleansing ideas, we suggest starting within the bed room. Clean it weekly, beginning on the top and working down so that dust and allergens drift to the floor the place they can be cleaned up by a moist mop or vacuum. Vacuum your upholstered furniture, beneath the furnishings and mattress, and naturally, all the way in which to the corners. For most of these drapes, the safest way to remove the dust between professional drapery cleansing is by vacuuming them periodically. Embassy Cleaners offers in-home or off-site cleaning of your high-quality drapes to take away dust and protect their magnificence safely. Professional cleaning can lengthen the lifetime of your drapes and be sure that they retain their form and shade. A skilled drapery cleaning firm may also assure that no more issues arise, enabling you to get pleasure from your pretty curtains and window therapies. You could even speed up the method by hiring a curtain cleansing service. Between the mud, dander, and allergens that accumulate on them, it’s no surprise they need a professional cleaning from time to time. Draperies often get ignored in relation to cleansing. They are a focal point in a room, and they can be expensive, however most people don’t know tips on how to clear them correctly which ends up in discoloration and filth buildup. To make sure your draperies remain brilliant and delightful for years, you want the help of knowledgeable who knows what's greatest for these delicate items. Often, sheets, books, garments and even cleaning supplies can be given to charities. What cannot be given to charities could possibly be recycled. Some gadgets, like paint cans and tires, have to be recycled at special facilities. Contact your native sanitation division to search out out what to do with these things. Save money by extending the lifetime of your window coverings. We will treat you, your property, and your time with skilled care. As lengthy as your cotton drapes are freed from fragile liners, Weidenbaum says they are machine washable. Strain Washing Service We’ll do every thing in our power to deliver fast and effective solutions. This is the toughest of the three components to quantify, but it’s one thing that should absolutely be a precedence in your search for the absolute best residence cleaning company. You need an organization who’ve received a protracted and proven monitor record, for many totally different reasons. They’ll almost actually be extra efficient, having cleaned many properties similar to yours before. We've streamlined our choice process so you could get your approval and get to work as quickly as potential. Valuing your time is a small however necessary part of displaying how we worth our owners. From day one I by no means underestimated the power of robust name and emblem recognition and the necessity for a systematic method to business. To clean oil spills in a parking zone, for example you have to file permits, capture 100% of wastewater and even have your waste water tested on a monthly foundation. Our Bio-Remediation methodology makes use of naturally occurring micro-organisms to rework harmful substances to non-toxic compounds. Our skilled employees at Peter’s maintains regular footing even when working up high or in slim, slippery areas. Some don’t have the training to do the very best job, others lack the necessary expertise, and a few merely lack the dedication to excellence. Power washers are generally used in business and industrial settings, although they can be spotted on driveways, stone partitions, and rough concrete surfaces, amongst other areas. Typically, power washing machines are industrial-grade machines designed for professionals – and they’re not safe for homeowners to make use of with out proper coaching. Accordingly, the franchise information package nor some other information relating to a Window Genie franchise might be supplied to any individual inside such states. 清潔公司 Cleansing Providers Sealed-body vacuums have rubber seals or gaskets across the lid and filter and can last 10 to twenty years. Doormats are your greatest good friend when it comes to trapping dust, so be positive to have two—one outdoors the house and one inside. This cleansing hack is especially useful in the winter when you may have salty and snowy boots going out and in of the home. Just remember to clean the mats frequently as dirty mats contribute to the mess. Speed up house cleansing by putting into apply some of these a hundred important cleaning hacks on your residence. Wipe down glass with ammoniated window cleaner and a microfiber towel. ☐ Dilute a couple of drops of dish detergent or distilled white vinegar in a bucket of water and thoroughly wipe down the walls. ☐ Empty the refrigerator, toss expired gadgets and wipe down shelves and drawers. Spring cleansing and properly organizing your kitchen requires going the extra mile. It’s time pull on your gloves, throw open the fridge doors and get to work. It’s not that i don’t clear, its extra like if i can dust a partial piece of furnishings at some point and nonetheless make dinner, properly I’ve carried out a great thing. For plastic toys, select the crystal or quick cycle in your dishwasher and skip the heated dry. For stuffed animals, verify the care tag first after which stick them in a mesh bag or pillowcase earlier than throwing within the washer on a mild cycle. A fast once-over with a lint curler might help too.