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Short Thankful Friday entry because technically I am on vacation. So, I am thankful for this opportunity to get away and see friends we haven't seen in over a year. I am thankful for all the fresh seafood we are going to eat. I am thankful for the time and the laughs and the experience of a new place.
Chris and I do road trips really well together. We are a team. He's the pilot and I'm the navigator. In fact, mapping out the trip is one of my favorite things to do (I think I get my internal compass from my Dad). Meanwhile, poor Chris can't even find his way into his own backyard. But that's OK, because he's the driver. That's his job and he is very good at it.
By the time you read this entry, Chris and I will be on our way to Lake Charles, LA. We haven't done a road trip this long since we went to Mississippi for Pepaw's funeral. We will be in the car all day on Thursday, but I can't wait! I love looking at crazy kooky road signs and cheesy tourist traps and Stuckey's. Plus, I'm really excited to see our friends in Lake Charles. The last time we saw them, She was due-any-minute-pregnant and they were living in Clovis NM. Now they have a daughter who is more than a year old!
I love road trips. They are even sweeter when the road leads to wonderful old friends. Happy Love Thursday!
I rarely have a weekend where I feel like I've accomplished anything productive. This weekend was the exception. Chris and I got all of our grocery shopping done on Saturday. I started and finished more then half of the laundry, dusted and vacuumed the bedroom, and took a two hour nap. We cleaned up, dusted and vacuumed the living room on Sunday and I washed sheets, towels and the comforter. We even managed to get some scooter rides in.
The biggest challenge I faced was planning our meals around a broken oven. Thursday night, while baking our pizza, there was a crackling sound and then all the lights flickered off in the kitchen. Pop! The oven shut off. Luckily, the pizza was done, but the oven is out of commission. I have no idea when and if Mrs. Swan will fix or replace it. And I didn't realize how important the oven has been to us this last month. So...I'm learning some new tricks.
First off, the crock-pot is the new oven. Did you know that you could bake potatoes in those things? Just wash them, wrap up wet in aluminum foil and set up on low for about 6 hours. Perfect baked potato. Also, I had almost forgotten that it's chili season and it's the time of year for black bean, sweet potato chili. It's all ready to go and tomorrow morning all I'll have to so is plunk it into the crock-pot. Walla! Dinner is served.
I am also really excited about a raw "soup" I'm trying out this week. I made the base today. I put some onion, garlic, broccoli, avocado, almond milk, cumin, chili powder, and Bragg's liquid amino (have no idea what this is, but bought it at the health food store) in the food processor and blended until smooth. All I'll have to do is add hot water to it tomorrow. The base was yummy enough that Chris even said that he wanted some. Hope this works out. It was a recipe I picked up last weekend at the workshop.
Who needs an oven?!? At this rate, I can start using the oven to store sweaters in or shoes.
ME: "OK. You are going to want to turn right onto Penn."
ME: "Now when you get to Penn, you are going to turn right. It should be the next light."
ME: "You are turning right on Penn. It's coming up in a block."
CHRIS: "Why do you keep saying it like that?"
ME: "I don't know. Maybe because you are STILL IN THE LEFT LANE."
CHRIS: "OH.....I thought you meant my other right."
I wrote up half of a thankful Friday entry and then deleted the whole thing. On purpose. I was reading through it and it all came back to me as blah, blah, blah. It was all the usual things I'm thankful for on Fridays, like the fact that it is Friday. Of course, we are all thankful for Fridays. Duh.
You know what I'm really thankful for? Last night my left hip was hurting, to the point that it was waking me up in the night. I would roll over and stretch and then go back to sleep for a bit, only to wake up in pain again. OK. So I over did things this week physically. But finally, sometime around the hundredth turn over, my hip popped this horribly loud cuthunking pop and the pain went away. I am so thankful that my hip popped. I am thankful for the three hours of uninterrupted sleep before my alarm went off at 5:45AM. I am even thankful that I skipped my meditation practice this morning to "sleep in".
I know that some time today, I'll get a chance to make up the meditation practice and set things back to normal. I know that this weekend I will be able to give my body the rest that it really, really needs. I always tell my students at the end of class to have gratitude towards themselves for the kindness they have done to their bodies by being on their mats today. Lately, I've been too busy and caught up to take the time to actually do this for me. So, today, I am thankful for the body that I have and my health in this moment.
The girls I walk with and I noticed this squash plant growing out of the gutter a few weeks ago. Now it has little flowers. I'm curious to see what it will be. Will there be yellow squash or orange pumpkins?
Seeing that squash plant growing there made me laugh. It's such a living cliche really. But it's also a smack on the forehead. Good things can come from lowly beginnings. Good things can grow from nothing.
Short and sweet Love Thursday. Hope yours is wonderful.
On the last day of Doug Swenson's workshop, he discussed The Eight Limbs of Yoga. The eight limbs are not that complicated. Basically they can be broken into three parts: ethical (yamas and niyamas), physical (asana, pranayama, and mental (pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi). Now I could go into depth here and define all of the above, but what I really want to talk about is the second niyama.
The second niyama is contentment or santosa. It means being at peace with where you are right now. Doug elaborated on this to say that it doesn't mean that you can't aspire for better or to be some where else, but you can also be content with where you are in this moment. I feel like this year has been a practice of santosa for me. I got to thinking that maybe I've been a little toO hung up on being content with where I am right now and I've forgotten to work on the aspiring for better things.
I've been grumbly about the rain and drizzle that has settled over us for the past week. Grumbly about all the things I can't do because of it. This morning, driving to work under gloomy rain heavy clouds, my heart sunk at the thought of walking the inside track today. The more I looked out the window, the more I thought about just sucking it up and walking outside. I mean, we are planning on moving to place that sees an average rainfall of 36.3" a year. So, I donned my rain jacket and headed out. The battery on the iPod went dead by the time I made it to the capitol. For more then half of the walk it was just me, the rain/drizzle, and the sounds around me.
So this morning I feel like I truly practiced santosa, being content to walk in the rain while thinking that this is what it would be like living in Portland. The peace of hearing the swish of my arms as I walked, the splashing of puddles as cars drove down the streets, feeling the tops of my thighs get damp and cold as my pants collected the water dripping down my jacket. Being happy and content with all of it.
So many things went on this weekend that I still haven't absorbed and processed it all. First of all, I attended a weekend long yoga workshop with Doug Swenson, which was fun.
I blogged more about the workshop here, but I had a chance to hang out with Doug and my teacher Karen in between sessions on Saturday. Doug is just this really funny guy that says some really profound things in between some really nonsensical things. It's totally up to you to interpret. What I really liked about Doug's approach to yoga was the emphasis on making it your practice no matter what branch of yoga you choose to study and his carefree approach to the practice. It was refreshing to be around a yoga guru that didn't take things so seriously.
In between yoga workshops there were documentaries at the Sustainability on Film festival going on at the art museum. We saw No Impact Man on Saturday evening and Earth Days on Sunday. What I liked about No Impact Man was how this man dragged his some what unwilling wife into the project. She just wasn't into it, but by the end she was all excited and talking about what they were keeping (bicycles, farmers' market, no TV). See her transformation was refreshing. I don't have much to say about Earth Day. It was a good documentary, but it left me angry at the generation before us. Why the Hell didn't they do more!? Sort of like crying of spilled milk, I know.
This was a weekend for learning new things and meeting new people. Smooshed into all of this was time with some old friends and meeting an internet friend face to face. Lots of laughs and lots good conversations. It was just a full weekend, but the soothing "I just ate a bowl of comforting stew" type of full.
I have many things I'm thankful for this week, even though it's been a busy one. The weekend seems to be promising into an equally busy one. But, I'm thankful for this too.
One thing I'm thankful for is new adventures. Chris and I were able to check out the new vegan restaurant, 105Degrees this week. It was unbelievably good. Do you realize that it's been a year since I've opened a menu and could pick anything, anything from it? I didn't have to even ask what kind of stock such and such was cooked in or pick from the sides. This alone brought tears to my eyes. Another new adventure takes place this weekend with a yoga workshop by Doug Swenson. One of the sessions is all about nutrition and juicing. This is a guy who stayed a week with my teacher once and only ate watermelon through the entire visit. Should be very interesting.
Yesterday's rain and the new chill in the air also reminded me of how thankful I am to be able to be some place warm and dry. I couldn't get Aprilhelen out of my brain yesterday. I just kept picturing her curled up into the back of her dog house with the rain leaking through. Which then got me thinking about other's who would be lucky to even have the dog house to shelter in. I don't live in my ideal situation, but at least it's warm and dry and there's a real roof over head. Tomorrow is the last day of the contest. I'm hoping she wins, but I'm also thankful it will be over for her.
Be thankful for the blessings in your life and have a wonderful weekend!
I'm probably the worse person to take shoe shopping. As a teenager, I was my mother's worse nightmare in a shoe store. I hated shoes and still would prefer to walk around barefoot. The shoe always looks better on the shelf then my foot. My mom would take me to a shoe store like Belts or some other warehouse type place and grit her teeth the entire time. I hated shoes, so I didn't take them seriously. I could spend more time hunting down the most ridiculously ugly pair of shoes. I believe it's a gift.
I've come to terms with shoes and comfort and have a more balanced relationship with shoes these days. But when I saw these red shoes at a garage sale last week, that teen Cindy peeped out and made a bee line for them. For $5, I grabbed them up, barely trying them on. I thought they would be great costume material for when I start the 365 day project again next year. What I didn't count on when I really truly put the shoes on was just how much I would totally fall for these shoes. They are the shoe with endless possibilities. I saw dozens of outfit possibilities in these shoes. Plus, and this is a very big plus, I could be a red shoed ninja! I was planning on being Amelia Earhart for Halloween this year, but suddenly I became Amelia Earhart as the Red Shoed Ninja. The whole story fit perfectly. Amelia Earhart didn't disappear. She studied with a world renowned ninja in a secret society of red shoed ninjas.
Love Thursday isn't just about red shoes. It's about finding that something that makes you feel like you could conquer the world. I believe I was meant to have those shoes right now in this moment. I would never have purchased them full price, which just happens to be $100 (I looked them up). Score! Happy Love Thursday!
OK, I have a couple of items of charity business to discuss. First off, my friend Aprilhelen is in the My Life as a Dog Challenge and is currently chained to a dog house in Bricktown. The challenge is to raise awareness and funds for the The Central Oklahoma Humane Society. Not only is this a great cause, but she could also win a compressed natural gas vehicle. It's seriously going to come down to a popularity contest, so I need you to go and vote for her every day at this link. Aprilhelen's dog name is Aum.
Secondly, I'm doing the AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City this year. Many of you may know that this is something I used to do regularly a number of years ago, but unfortunately stopped because of something or another and then got out of practice. Any way. The AIDS walk is another great cause and one that I've always been a supporter of. The CDC reported that more then 56,000 Americans become infected with HIV every year. This totally blows my mind considering we know how this disease is transmitted (that's as far as I'm going on this topic. This entry is about charity, not politics). Please email me if you would like to send some change and moola my way for the AIDS walk. Any thing, even dryer lint, is appreciated.
Lastly, Zelda and I are brewing up something that may become a monthly event. We are hoping that it becomes a monthly event where we can raise some money for a different charity each month. We have willing participants; we have a PA system. We just need a venue. I'm working on it, but hopeful by October or November we'll get this show on the road. Stay tuned. And don't forget to vote for Aum (Aprilhelen) every day!
I dread the yucky weather only because it means that I'll end up having to walk the inside route for my walking trail. The inside track loops through all of the hospitals that surround where I work. It's a maze of skywalks and stairwells and there's always people to dodge and hospital smells.
Yesterday, we took the inside track. My friend and I were more then half way finished, heading back through the Presby Skywalk, when a person in one of those handicap scooters came careening around a corner. The person kept making screeching sounds every time he/she took a turn. The second corner, the person caught us out of the corner of his/her eye and said "You ladies exercisin'?". I said "yes ma'am". Then he turned and looked at me with a cocked eyebrow and I hastily said "yes sir? yes person?". He just laughed at me and said that he spent so many years making money by wearing heals and a wig that it was probably OK to call him ma'am if I wanted to. As we walked down the hallway with him cruising along, he told us about how he used to be a manny and that's why he had this big red purse. He told us about dancing with Ballet Oklahoma before he "dropped his basket". He told us about his stint as a drag queen and then he told us to do an extra lap for him. When we parted ways, I told him to have a great day. He replied "you have a better one".
I don't know why he was at the hospital that day or why he was in the scooter. But he totally made my day. Which really puts things in perspective. This person was obviously not any better off financially then I am and definitely worse off physically. But he was the most upbeat, carefree person I'd met in weeks, maybe even months. Here I was bitching because I had to walk inside. Poor pitiful me. At least I can walk.
Mister in the red handicap scooter with the big red purse. Thank you. Thank you for the reminder that every day, every moment is a gift.
Chris On Our Relationship:
"We are like partners...in some sort of crime."
Chris On the Possibility of Me Attending BlogHer 2010:
"Well, you better start geeking yourself up. You know, video blogging, uploading photos, blah, blah, blah."
OK. He didn't say "blah, blah, blah". That's just where I started tuning him out.
It's funny how time is measured by the events in our lives. Sometimes it's hard to believe that it was only eight years ago today that the terrorist attack happened. I remember sitting in a bar with Chris and Todd, watching the never ending coverage on the news, and being so thankful and blessed that all my friends and loved ones were safe. No worries. I didn't realize then just what a role those events would take in my life. I didn't even think or realize how those events would inspire a boy to serve his country. Or how that simple act of bravery and inspiration would irreparably change my family.
And it's times of reflections like these that make it easier to list the things I'm not thankful for. I'm not thankful for the pain, the anger, the damage. But you know what? I am thankful for the blessings. I am thankful for the ways we hold each other together even in our darkest moments. I am thankful for each sunrise and each sunset. I am thankful for new beginnings, with out them there would be no Lucas. Yes, it's all very bitter sweet. But it's all part of the ebb and flow of life. The give and take.
Squeeze the one next to you and be thankful for their presence.
We used to take Hooper to this park three or four times a week to walk. He loved it and we always got such a laugh out of his crazy antics. But then there was a series of unfortunate events. By the time we had scabbed over from the unfortunate events, Chris started a new job that had him working crazy hours. By the time his job ended, I started a crazy teaching schedule. Family Walk Nights fell by the way side.
We actually re-instated family walk night two weeks ago, but we're off to a rocky start. We went on a Monday and then two weeks almost went by before we were able wrangle the schedules back under control to go again. It's just such a joy to take Hooper to the park. It's like giving him crack. He looses his mind and any and all sense. He becomes so overwhelmed with the things he needs to pee on that he eventually ends up pooping on a tree or a lamp post and this always, always makes us laugh.
When we opened the front door to head out on our walk, the skies were looking a little dangerous. I hesitated and then Chris said "let's do this". We were half way back to the car when the sky opened up and just poured buckets. Hooper is not the spry young dog he used to be and when I tried to get him to run, he came to a dead halt. So, we walked in the rain and loved every minute of it.
Happy Love Thursday.
Every once in a while I feel like I need to list the things I've been reading. The problem is that by the time I think to actually list them, I've read enough books to write my own novel. I usually have no purpose in choosing a book; it's what ever I get my hands on at that time. This summer I've read four books byBarbara Kingsolver, The Sookie Stackhouse series, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a collection of short stories by Peter S. Beagle, and something else, but it escapes my brain at this moment.
Yesterday, I finished How To Be Good by Nick Hornby. I picked this up at a thrift store forever ago and then forgot about it. I've never read Nick Hornby, but I really loved the movie About a Boy (which was based on his book). So, why not give it a go? The story is about a woman who considers herself a good person. She's a doctor; she saves peoples lives. But she finds herself sitting in her car one evening telling her husband over the phone (as he's home feeding their children) that she thinks she may want a divorce and that what she's not telling him is that she's about to have an affair. Then her husband undergoes some sort of spiritual conversion and changes from the angry sarcastic shit he used to be to a pious sanctimonious shit, wanting them to open their home up to the homeless and give all of their things and money away to save the world.
The book is a comedy and I did think it was very funny. But there was more to it then that. The woman doesn't end up divorcing her husband, but is left with putting up with him and his guru, GoodNews, and their schemes to get the neighbors to take in homeless people and the book they're writing together on "how to be good". When she finally puts her foot down and says enough is enough, her husband doesn't understand. Why wouldn't you want to help the homeless? And this is where we get to the meat of the story.
The truth is that both of them feel dead inside. He's just continuing with all of this because he knows that he's being irritating. She gives so much of herself to the patients she sees every day that she barely has anything left over for her children, let alone her husband. He asks her then "what's the point?" and she doesn't have an answer. Because, really the point can't be summed up into that one sentence. It's in the way they fit together while sleeping in the bed. The moments they share as a family. It's those special moments, that maybe don't happen very often, but often enough to keep you going. Being good is not about feeding and housing the homeless. It's nice, but it's not what defines you as a good person and that's really what this book was about (to me anyway).
Now I'm reading Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, whom Chris and I lovingly call Chuck Fight Club because we can't pronounce his last name. Maybe I'll let you know what I thought, but most likely by the time I remember, I'll be on to the next.
Well, Holiday weekend. Chris and I sure didn't waste it. Friday after work we had a quick dinner at Big Truck Tacos before running over to the Art Museum to see an early showing of Objectified (I learned the most amazing feature about a particular kind of toothpick). After the movie we headed over to a friend's for a house warming party. And the fun didn't stop there. Oh no. When we have a weekend, we have a weekend people.
The next morning we got up at dark thirty to drive to Dallas for the day. Chris was at the wheel, with out coffee, and just about the time I thought he was going to have a "Why the Fuck can't I find a Fucking Starbucks" moment, we stumbled upon Le Madeleine's. We only grabbed coffee and croissants, but they were tasty and we'd love to try this place for a real breakfast some time. Coffee melt-down averted we headed off to our usual Dallas destinations like REI, Whole Foods, World Market, Costco. Wait. Did I say Costco? That's right people after lunch at the most wonderful Indian place and our zombie impersonations in Whole Foods and World Market, Chris and I went to Costco. There we improved on our Zombie impersonations and actually drooled. We left the place with our very own membership card, four hundred pounds of cheddar bunnies, fifteen pounds of my favorite pop tarts, a twenty pound block of cheese and a couple of shirts. Good Lord!
Right about now you're thinking "the next day they rested". Nope. We met Zelda for lunch and then we all met up with the Jens for Inglorious Bastards. We hung out at the Jens talking and eating pizza until the wee hours and had a great time. Then we rested? Nope. There was still a few little grocery items left to get, laundry to finish, a bathroom to scrub, meals to prepare, and things to be gathered for the work week. Then there was a massage and then...then...I rested. Whoosh!
I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and savored every last moment the way we did.
Favorite purchases from the weekend: New organic tees from Mission Playground and this lovely tea filter straw.
Why does it always seem like we are thankful for Friday? What's wrong with being thankful for Wednesday of Tuesday? This week has been full of lows and highs and changes. And though I am thankful for the up coming three day weekend and the rest, I am also thankful for this week.
This week has been a learning week and a challenge. The normal routine was disrupted yet again. But in some ways we were able to improve the routine. And I'm beginning to grasp onto the idea that each day is different. We can plan and make all the lists, but you also have to be prepared for the unexpected.
I am thankful for the learning experiences that I've had this week. I am thankful for the ebb and flow of each day. I am even thankful for the jeans I'm wearing today because of the cool weather (I wear yoga pants to work every day. Jeans are a big deal).
Have a wonderful holiday weekend and Happy Thankful Friday.
OK, so it's a picture from last Thanksgiving. Things got out of whack this week and the thing I wanted to take a picture of and blog about just didn't happen. But at least I already have a pre-planned entry for next week.
I started this week off in a funk. We decided to make some major food changes and I wasn't to excited about the prospect of making those types of changes in city that doesn't really make those changes easy. But we're learning and next week the shopping experience will be better and we'll eventually get a handle on where to go for what and where to get our food at a reasonable price.
The thing that really has made this change so great is how Chris and I have been working together. We both spend equal time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. Plus it's really been nice to sit down at the dinner table together. Last night, I picked up a last minute subbing job. This left Chris in charge of dinner. We had planned on a frittata and salad and I was really worried about leaving that up to Chris. It just seemed a little too complicated for some one not used to really cooking. But you know what? Chris did an amazing job. It was great! It's just been so nice to not have all the responsibility of the meals.
That picture from last Thanksgiving was probably the last time Chris and I sat down at the dinner table and really enjoyed our meal. We were just so grateful to have a holiday to ourselves for a change. But looking back, I think that's kind of silly. We've had the opportunity to sit down at the dinner table all this time. We had the opportunity to make every day Thanksgiving. I used to just love food. Now I'm learning to love the whole process of food, the cooking, the sharing, even the cleaning up after the meal. I'm learning to love taking the time to sit and enjoy and actually taste my food again.
Happy Love Thursday!
I'm about to write the kind of entry that I haven't written in a long time. A big long ranting, preaching to the choir entry. So I suggest you grab a drink and sit back for the long haul.
I mentioned earlier that Chris and I saw Food Inc. over the weekend. Some things in the movie were not new to me, but there were other things that made me start questioning even some of the soy products I occasionally eat. In fact, the minute we got into that car, I burst into tears and wailed that there is nothing, NOTHING, I can eat now. I new this was coming. I started getting a tightness in my chest during the opening credits and there were times during the movie where I was actually clawing at my face.
I used to feel guilty about the amount and types of food I ate simply because it was unhealthy and I was fat. Now, my guilt issues with food has to do with the global impact of that food item on the environment. And people, it's not good. Really, we should be ashamed of ourselves. Last week Dooce received a lot of criticism for using Twitter to get her washing machine fixed. It was said that she was being a bully and she was abusing her "power". I'm sorry, but if I spend $1300 on a washing machine, I'm going to demand real and honest customer service too by any means possible. We've let the same thing happen with our food. We've gotten this mentality that we owe the big companies, that they are doing us the favor. Bullshit! It's our money. We should demand better. We should demand better service, better products, better FOOD! There's not enough people asking the question "why?" and that needs to change right the fuck now. There is no reason why a family of four should have to choose the dollar menu at McDonald's over buying fresh vegetables like broccoli at the grocery store because it's the cheaper solution, even though they know that the food is slowly killing them. We are better then this.
This month Chris and I start the grand experiment of eating locally grown or organic food only. Can we do it with our measly budget? Chris is more optimistic then I am, but he's always been my food champion sending things back for me when the order is wrong, supporting my move to vegetarianism. We've figured out that we'll have to go to at least three different places to get a decent selection and price for our groceries, but I think the hassle will be worth it. No more sitting at the couch, watching TV during meal times either. We've cleared the table and we're working hard to keep it that way. Also, we're going to try to plan a potluck dinner once a month for friends and family with the focus of the dinners being good wholesome foods.
It's time to stop being lazy and apathetic. I may not be able to convince everyone why ammonia washed meat isn't a good buy or why companies like Monsanto are ruining American farming. But I can make a change for me. I can take a stand on how I spend my money. Every time I buy organic in the grocery store, I'm voting. I'm voting for the foods I want to see as a norm in the stores. And little by little, I will make a difference.