What Fun Looks Like

We've been dressing down on Fridays at work because of an upcoming move and a couple of weeks ago one of colleagues told me that I looked fun. I laughed. He's right though. My workout clothes are much more colorful than my regular clothes.

Another person did a double take today. Guess I need to stop buying black and white (and brown) clothing...

Part of the Fun

Went to Zumba last night and think my mojo is back. I'm almost finished with my second bag of cough drops (Burt's Bees). Had no idea just how huge Burt's Bees is until I stumbled upon the Burt's Buzz documentary...

Finished A. J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically this morning. Wasn't sure that I'd stick with the book and felt like the author when he had this moment while dancing with his son.

Without my year, I wouldn't have been open to that feeling I got on the dance floor. And for that alone, all the craziness and Handy Seats and locusts and snakes might have been worth it. (326)

Out of 332 pages, this part of the book stood out in my mind:

I've never before been so aware of the thousands of little good things, the thousands of things that go right every day. (269)

Did you see the list of 55 books that will make you happier? I've read five of them. Kind of in the mood to check out A.J. Jacobs' Drop Dead Healthy.

Just Let Go

Finished My Cat from Hell. I've never had a cat but really enjoyed the series. Jackson Galaxy talked a lot about energy. In fact, my favorite episode is Big Boi Ruins Our Social Life. The second half of Big Boi... features the 23-year-old cat Pump and a healer who works with tuning forks. It's pretty funny when Pump drives the healer over the edge.

Also finished Breaking Bad. Gingerzingi, you are not the last person to watch the finale. Breaking Bad always had me on the edge of my seat and the final episodes racked my nerves even more. The ending made me think of so many cliches: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Live by the sword, die by sword. It also made me think of a professor who liked to say that fiction lies in order to reveal truth. Had really weird feelings after the finale. Felt like I had been dropped into a chasm or something.

Another item that I finished was A Tale of Two Lives: The Susan LeFevre Fugitive Story. I heard Marie Walsh a.k.a. Susan LeFevre on The Moth and immediately wanted to know how she negotiated life as a wanted woman.

When Walsh/LeFevre gets caught, it's hard for her (and me) to understand why the guards want to destroy her. They were not the same guards who were employed prior to her escape but they have taken her escape personally and tell her that she will never see her house and Lexus again.

Instead of a beating from the triumvirate, I get a new cellmate. Amanda, who is 22, white, and about twice my size, has just been released from segregation. She was put in seg for throwing a chair at someone in the anger management class she was kicked out of... (346)

Several articles caught my attention in the March 2014 Prevention including Your Body On Sugar.

Sure, sugar looks innocent, but it's an inflammation bomb.  (32)

I also liked Mark Bittman's article Rule No.1: Cook Real Food.

It was good to be reminded of number one in this article:

1). Cooking is healthier than not cooking
Studies show that home-cooked meals contain fewer calories than those eaten out. Sure, there are exceptions...but nearly everything you cook is superior in quality and nutrition. (82)

I've made adjustments to my diet plus prolonged exercise sessions which has resulted in a seven pound weight loss. It's kind of silly but I feel as if I've won the lottery...

Went climbing and felt the difference. I've been avoiding more difficult routes but I took them on this time. Plus, I felt like I had much more energy.

As either Patti or I got ready to climb, this newbie asked his belayer what he was supposed to do after he had reached the top of the route. Just let go, she said. Good advice for many circumstances.

Mike shared this video with the climbing posse. I could watch it over and over -- minus the commentary.

If You Swim, Just Swim

As I pushed the button on my lap counter to mark the occasion of lap three, I thought about my coworker, Rene, who doesn't like lap swimming because she thinks it's monotonous.

Lap three seemed like such a little number compared to the number of laps that I wanted to accomplish and I longed for an MP3 player but quickly dismissed the idea too.

...We're just saying if you eat, don't eat your projects. Don't eat your sadness. Don't eat the argument you just had. Just eat. If you walk, just walk. If you drive, drive. We have to choose again and again to be in the present moment... (The Healer...Prevention, Jan. 2014, pg. 48)

Pretty sure that I was sluggish since I took a nap after work and, pretty much, headed to the pool post-nap...

I've had an active dream life of late -- three dreams within a week:

Dream One: Someone hits my car and leaves a lot of white paint on it.

Dream Two: I'm in an amphibious situation and just as it hits the water, I wake up.

Dream Three: A part of my yoga mat is missing. It's as if someone has taken a scalpel and sliced a fourth of it off but it still looks the same when it's rolled up. Plus, it has a cute little bow on it.

My upper back was so jammed up on Monday that I did a few minutes of yoga in the morning -- cat/cow, child's pose and fish.

If I had a yoga studio, I'd name it Yoga Works. Because it felt so good and calming, I did a few minutes of "back care" yoga this morning too. Threw in an earth salutation to make it even sweeter.

E Is For Empty

It was a mad scramble yesterday: work, grocery store, cook (phase one), exercise, cook (phase two). Don't like cooking on Monday but I did like what I cooked -- baked chicken and Sweet Potato, Feta and Shiitake Packets.

Only, I didn't use feta cheese, shiitake, Swiss chard or mint. The packets were yummy and with the addition of mint, I just might out-and-out moan.

Sweet Potato, Feta & Shiitake Packet

Instead of the usual Monday night yoga class, opted for a bubble bath while reading the Jan. issue of Prevention. Spooky that I named the last blog post Soothed then came across The Healer.

If a doctor learns to practice mindfulness...and she walks in quietly, peacefully, that's already medicine. She's calm. She's not outside of her body. The patient feels the attention, that tenderness, that care, that true presence. The patient is already soothed.

The Healer, by the way, is Sister Dang Nghiem.

Took The 'Fugee to see her acupuncturist a few weeks ago and we were on a very tight schedule but the thing that I remember the most is the acupuncturist's calm...

Felt punch-drunk when I woke up this morning. Crawled under the covers when I got home and it was about 70 minutes later when I woke up. Ate then headed to the pool and hoped that the chilly water would energize me.

Stopped by The Fugee's after swimming and she wanted to know what was wrong. She was surprised by the whole Queen of the Ashy People look. I need to remember to put lotion in my gym bag because when my face is under water, all the moisture is sucked out.

Also stopped by the gas station. I can count, on one hand, the number of times that I've let my tank get this low. And, apparently, my car's tank is not the only thing that's low.

Down That Road

That picture pretty much sums up things. Lots of mucous and ginger tea bags but I have felt several shifts and feel that the cooties should disappear soon.

This morning I couldn't stomach the idea of oatmeal so I made a carrot ginger smoothie but when I walked away, the blender vibrated, toppled and spilled half the contents. I almost whimpered over the CG smoothie contents in the sink. Bye bye organic carrot juice...

Feeling less crabby but on Monday definitely thought that I should report to meditation or yoga boot camp -- not one where they make you do power yoga but one where you are immersed in yoga.

When I mentioned the idea to Alison, she told me that she pretty much does yoga on a daily basis. Brilliant idea.

So, I'm going to attempt to do more yoga until I can find my way through this crabby phase...

Really enjoyed 6 Lifesaving Lesson from the ER: Courtesy of Travis Stork, MD.

During Dr. Stork's first stint as an attending physician, a dying child was brought into the ER.

"You may think I'm going to say that I took heroic action and saved his life. But to be frank, it was my years of training that saved his life. That and I took a deep breath. That deep breath turned any fear into focus, and I did what I was taught to do: I doctored."

Kind of funny that I just picked this magazine up again and saw the natural cold cures which are suggestions submitted by readers. One suggested 1/4 cup of chopped garlic in tomato juice. Garlic tea was one my grandmother's favorites but I just can't bring myself to go down that road.

Awesome

Headed out for a bike ride yesterday and was deceived by the brilliance of the sun. I turned back around and thought about aborting the bike ride but decided that I was tougher than chilly weather.

Went through my clothes hamper to pull out another long-sleeve shirt and headed back out.

You've heard the joke, right? If you leave clothes in the hamper long enough, they become clean again. Yeah, that's me -- no spare time for washing clothes.

For my pit stop at the park, I took an old Prevention magazine (July 2013) which had a nice article about bicycling. I loved the story of Jodya Ruston -- an overweight smoker with diabetes. Her trainer convinced her to take up cycling. Later on Ruston called her trainer Selene Yeager to say:

I rode the entire length of Long Beach Island. I rode for hours. I saw the ocean and felt the salt air and sun and breeze. It was like nothing else. Nothing feels as free as cycling...

The whole article, written by Yeager, was inspirational. My bike ride was short but I'd like to do longer rides in the spring but please don't tell Patti until I've had a chance to train.

I ended up being on part of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon route and saw boxes on a lawn. At first, I thought the boxes were a part of a Halloween display and then realized that the messages were intended for the marathon participants. Even though I didn't participate in the race, the message boxes made me smile and so thanks to the cheerleader who left the positivity for the walkers, runners and other people who passed by.

The Cup Is Already Broken

My dedication to self-care thing has hit a bump in the road.

I went to this massage therapist several times, decided that I felt comfortable with her and figured that I should do the practical thing and get a package. You're familiar with massage packages, right? Typically you buy a certain amount of massages up front and get the, say, sixth one free or at a discount.

As soon as I bought the package, the massage therapist stopped being responsive to emails. She would answer one email then not the next. I completely understand if someone is busy but to not respond is just foul. I thought about venting on Yahoo Reviews, Yelp or Twitter but I really didn't want to take that route.

When I've seen the therapist, she's been professional (for the most part) and personable. I also sensed that she is a hustler which is not an entirely negative thing in my mind.

I think it's safe to say that I have been a fighter -- often in defensive stance but, as Tina Turner sings, I don't really want fight no more.

Having said that, I still feel like Bernie Mac in that Secrets and Lies episode of The Bernie Mac Show -- I want to be unpunkable:

Yeah, I know what you did, Jordan.
I know it was you.
It was you that cut down that cherry tree.
Jordan, you're trying to punk me.
I'm going to let you know I'm unpunkable, okay? (3:00)*

When I didn't hear from the massage therapist a second time in a six week span, I was thinking that she is going to make me do something that I don't want to do and that's going to cost me more money.

I drafted a letter noting my frustration and stating a request for the return of my money. I shortened it -- made it less harsh because, really, I don't want to fight. The email is in my drafts and I was going to send it in a few days but I felt like just drafting the email signaled the end of the relationship. I don't get rid of annoyance easily and I certainly wouldn't want the person who is annoying me to touch me.

Of course, I hear from the massage therapist before I send the email. There was a part of me hoping that she wouldn't respond because I don't want to deal with her anymore -- knowing that she might respond when and if she feels like it in the future.

So, okay, what kind of lesson am I supposed to learn from this experience?

Patience? Understanding?

I remember this story that was in Prevention. Geneen Roth goes on a meditation retreat; the teacher holds up his favorite cup and says As far as I'm concerned, this cup is already broken.

I also remember something that Hazira said to me years ago when a friend properly broke my heart. You can enjoy your friends without them being perfect. This concept is a hard one for a perfectionist to swallow. Or, it's a hard pill for a purist, as Patti likes to call me, to swallow.

I don't try to be a perfectionist but I'm a Virgo:

You are bashful, but you have all the necessary wiles and weapons, including a determination to pursue happiness. You seek romance, and commitment is an integral part of it. If you are in love, you go to any lengths to make sure it works. On the flip side, if you are in an unhappy relationship, you will snap the cords with ease.

You can be deadly practical and divinely romantic at the same time. You are a perfectionist, but not perfect yourself. You have your negative traits. You can be sickeningly prompt, and think that you are the best critic in the world.

I also think about Alice Walker's The Same River Twice where she responds to critics of The Color Purple. It sticks with me how Walker says that the character, Mr., even though he's an abuser, that his love for Shug Avery redeems him as a human being.

I used to actively look for that redeeming quality in people. But now?

I returned the therapist's last email and I'm waiting to hear from her again...





*The whole unpunkable thing starts when Bernie Mac has Jordan fake an asthma attack so that they can go to a Clippers game (to see Michael Jordan before he retires) then Jordan uses the secrecy surrounding the fake attack to get away with many things.

I Stand Accused

My mother called me a haint.

haint [ haynt ]


noun

Definition:

Southern U.S. ghost: a ghost or other phenomenon believed to be supernatural

One of my friends told me that I have forsaken family and friends for exercise.


My brother feigns surprise whenever he catches me at home.


And my cousin said something like I bet you went rock climbing when she asked about a fish fry that I was absent from.

I'm so grateful that I'm not as defensive as I used to be.

A couple of episodes ago on The Biggest Loser, Ashley said that people were sneaking away to get in exercise. I feel like I have to sneak away sometimes especially when I want to double my exercise efforts.


On the other side of the world, when my mother saw how devoted I was to exercise, she started taking water aerobics classes which helps with her arthritis and achy knees.


My brother called me the incredible shrinking woman and my friend recently asked me to show her some exercises for her abs since she is having persistent back problems. So, there we were on a Friday night working on our abdominal muscles.


I wish that I could have the fish fry back. My aunt is prone to cook large amounts of fried fish, fried hush puppies, fried okra etc. and, when I mentioned that to her, she said How could you think that I did not consider you? My aunt had baked some fish for me. I definitely wanted a do-over on that one.


And my cousin?


When I started this journey, I walked and walked. I was reading Prevention and saw and ad for a marathon and I started training to walk in a marathon because I had heard of people losing weight this way.

As I walked in Forest Park, an aunt joined me then my cousin joined us.

The three of us participated in the 2008 Go! St. Louis Marathon.


My cousin got a scare recently when the doctor told her that her blood sugar was elevated which was definitely cause for concern since my cousin's father and every last one of his siblings has diabetes.

Last Sunday my cousin, aunt and I were sitting on the couch talking and my cousin said that she went to the doctor and all of her tests, including cholesterol and glucose, showed improvement.

Thank you, she said. If it had not been for you, I would not have started going back to the gym.

I almost fell off the couch.

My cousin has lost 21 pounds since she rejoined a gym about a year ago.

I stand accused. Sort of...

Got To Give It Up

I don't know how I convinced myself that veggie chips are okay. I was reading Prevention magazine and came across this article.

What's in Your Veggies Snack?

And then I googled upon this one:

Veggie chips: Trick or treat?

I got to give it up. It being veggie chips although my mind did drift to Marvin Gaye.

I gotta finish the remnants first.


Kudos to what's his face Bob Harper of The Biggest Loser fame for, according to the June 29th issue of TV Guide, eating 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day of unprocessed food.

List of Natural Foods