doing little things here and there~ and rekindling for good, my love affair with the gym. it feels nice to work on being extra healthy again. i think that the final straw was when my baby sis asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding next july. this means that i would be standing amidst lithe and nubile twenty one year olds and honestly, the thought of me standing out in pictures as the older chunky one just wasn't cuttin' it for me. and besides, i have some super cute sixes and eights hanging in my closet that miss me. also did this fun little project with my friend heather. they were originally going to be roller shades for her son's room, but after we painted them, she decided that they were too wonderful to be rolled up as blinds half the time. so, wall hangings they became. they were cheapies from ikea called the frukna or tival or something along those lines! heather drew them up and we each painted one after her son (who is one) had gone to bed. the sea serpent belonged to me!
i took a belly dance class yesterday afternoon with a friend at the local Y. i wriggled and shimmied to middle eastern beats. i felt a little silly, but happy. no fancy coin belts or ankle bells for me, but there were definitely plenty to be heard in the tiny room. we danced in a circle following the instructor. the hunched little granny to my right used me as her visual guide. she was very cute considering i was probably not the best person to follow. i made kind of almost figure 8's with my hips and did serpentine arms and that one funky move where the dancer holds her arms overhead and shifts her neck from side to side. today i'm sore... i saw a woman in my neighborhood walking in a burqa today. it was a little disarming. only because while i have seen women in full burqa before, i don't think that i have ever seen one worn in the states and certainly not in my bucolic little hood. and now i'm wondering what she looked like underneath all that fabric and if she minded being so covered while her cute little son ran free. i could imagine that she is beautiful and young and full of hope and is plotting her escape from a tyranical beast of a husband who doesn't appreciate her poetry or know that she listens to dylan, cat power and the velvet underground...or maybe all of those things except that her husband really treasures her and she treasures God and her burqa is a statement of her devotion. i guess that i will never know, just as she will maybe never know the glory of having the sun baking her skin while lolling topless in the sand and the joy of floating weightless and naked with the seahorses and the kelp as ocean waves lap at her skin. c'est la vie... border="0" />
image from here i watched a hummingbird chasing a crow. i soaked in a hot tub and had a posh massage. i winked at a street punk half my age and then later i waltzed in the livingroom with my love. p.s. isn't this song so lovely? it's a new fave. and also, my god, i love her hair.
this song makes me think of you. all of you, wound up into a single sometimes confusing once upon a time. no order. for some of you,there are only wisps, through a haze of sunshine, sea spray and sweaty clubs. dancing to burning spear, a tribe called quest and the doors. mostly friends some more some less, but all something. to grady~how old were you? 19? playing cards with your dad till all hours in my station at the news cafe. that dance to cheryl lynn's "to be real." the way you "borrowed" my dog for walks to look cool...to carlos and alain and that crabby dude with the long hair and the car who moved me and my stuff 10 blocks down. you were my homeys. do you remember watching 90210 and the simpsons all together like a family at andie's? surfer bob too, rest your soul brother, life dealt you a rough blow, but i will never forget you making an icebox cake or whatever the hell it was cuz sorry, it was gross, but you were so proud to contribute to our pot(heavy emphasis here) luck. to alex aka rainbow...baby face. i made you that leather strap braided with coral to keep you safe on your surfing adventures. do you still have it? to tom c., you know i still have a picture of you somewhere. you slept with your head in my lap after that effed up trip to gainesville. where are you? to tony who brought me apples as i sunbathed on the beach. the reason i wouldn't go out with you was because you drove an suv and your hair was too short. and serge, man, serge you tried so hard and i really liked you and you gave me santana and we would liberate books together from the news, but whatever, you still exist in my head and i hope that you are well. to that crazy dude from canada who's first name i don't remember, but somehow your middle name stands out....zoltan. you're lucky you stopped calling me from rebar at 3 in the morning(i usually wasn't home though). to graham...so punk rock and you never knew that you made my heart flutter at least once. maybe twice. to the guy with the long curly hair who was just one of the girls, i still have your library book on charlemagne. it's a little over due. i wish i could remember your name. to mark? jason?brad? you. you and your stupid boy pranks. who reallllly takes a magnifying glass to the beach to burn chicks in bikinis like some sort of mad scientist? april hated that you liked me and not her. i rode the handlebars and you peddled me home. you said my bike reminded you of the one you had in holland. you sent me that letter of yearning from somewhere in the deep south and i pretended like you didn't exist. i'm sorry. and finally, to casey. my heart skipped a beat the first time we met. you were on a bike and had your long locks up in a rasta cap. i was so shy and practically your stalker and you were such a gentleman. in your bottlegreen jag. taking me to class with you at u.m., to the airport in the morning after a midnight swim, to dragging me by the hand out of the vip room at velvet past john cusack, past my friends, past everyone after i told you to just stop fucking with me. so boys of'93, you are the dopeness...and i dedicate this song to you. ~as inspired after having watched the movie "The Wackness" starring mister sir ben kingsley.
a soft embroidered lounging robe, a mug of hot tea, a reprieve from a hugely hectic work schedule... tomorrow is venice beach, an engaged sister with wedding dress stars in her eyes and a talented friend. sunday is too far away to think about... and then this morning, i heard this cover of a Gary Numan tune while driving to work. it blew my mind.
i've also been voting in Fug Madness, it's going to be a close one. sorry gaga, sorry ling...there's gonna be a new sheriff in town.
in between spaces of work and home and sleep and non~sleep. having an oppressive right arm that reminds me incessantly that it needs attention. hearing the same tune in my head repeatedly that correlates to my dreams of pulsars and nebulae. engineering tricks for those with the voices of angels to pull off in a 32 million dollar epic. i am soothed by the little things...a boar bristle hair brush that glides through my hair with ease. the softness of marshall's fur on my cheek. sweet peas and poppies growing in my pots.my love's hand resting on my knee. an old horse that arrives in the mail. gummy bunny tummies from trader joes.
let the record show that i am a cheap date...for only two dollars a game you can play a lively game of mini~golf in bucolic south pasadena. and by lively i mean that it took me 10 shots jus to make this one hole...i suck! there were lots of little kids(there was even a baby toddling over one of the greens) and parents with beers. so the astro turf is a little ragged and most of the "hole" events could use a little sprucing, but we had a blast! there was also a super purdy bouquet of yellowy orange roses and a delicious home cooked Indian meal.
i'm sipping latte and he is still asleep. i will go to yoga and he will wake up. then huzzah!!!! off to putt around a mini-golf course. hope that you are doing something lovely today...for yourself or for someone else. sometimes, love is all you need...
it's been a long time since i've traveled to a foreign city. of the small handful of places i've been, israel is perhaps the most exotic. i was lucky enough to go for work for 10 days a few years back. i would gladly go again. the pictures are a mix of tel aviv, jaffa and jerusalem. i fell in love with the architecture which in tel aviv is a blend of bauhaus and mediterranean which has been distressed gently by time and the elements. i felt so safe here and walked around by myself at night without any worries. the people were always friendly and curious as to why i was there(i don't think that the tourism trade is really kicking right now for some obvious reasons). in jerusalem i was part of a tour group which i liked and loathed. i don't like feeling rushed through my experience, but i was glad to have the guidance through the old city. i did get fussed at for wandering off a bit from the group to buy my god daughter a little embroidered blouse. and the food...sigh, my god, the food. you have never had an olive unless it has been handed to you by a dreadlocked girl in a market stall and it is dripping with oil and spice and the flavour caresses your tastebuds. also, i don't know why i look so pensive in that first pic. i was elated to be out and about, but maybe i was lonely. the first few days of my trip i spent with a colleague who knew the city pretty well, but after he left i was pretty much on my own. which was fine and i do love to wander. i went swimming in the mediterranean on yom kippur and i had a secret feast(it's the fasting holiday) with israeli rastafarians and watched borat(i had no idea that he was speaking hebrew) but, there is a lot to ponder when you are in this part of the world(or at least there is if you are the pondering type). specifically, this happened in old jerusalem. hearing the muslim call to prayer while you are standing at the front door of one of the most sanctified places in christianity after having just wandered through a mostly jewish market place can really set the wheels to turnin'. it is haunting and so full of the passion and majesty and zealousness of three religeons...and yet, God loves us all equally the same.
oh delicious bounty sprung from my hands and oven. why haven't i done this before? well, i did once, but that was when i was like 22. the mister and i were in heaven when i pulled this beautiful honey wheat baby out of the oven. no breadmaker involved, just me and my own two hands. the next loaf i want to be heartier with added flax and oats or something like that. toasted with peanut butter and honey it's a perfect match for the monsoon raging outside my window.
1 cup warm water (110 degrees Farenheit/45 degrees Celsius) 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons honey 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add honey, and stir well. Mix in whole wheat flour, salt, and vegetable oil. Work all-purpose flour in gradually. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for at least 10 to 15 minutes (I used a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook). When dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a well oiled bowl. Turn it several times in the bowl to coat the surface of the dough, and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
Punch down the dough. Shape into a loaf, and place into a well greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan (or bake on a pizza stone the way i did). Allow to rise until dough is 1 to 1 1/2 inches above pans.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.
image from here for a few months now i have had some serious issues with my right arm. this is my do everything arm. the arm that i make my living with. i've tried the other one, but it flops around semi helpfully and really i can only type a few keys and carry a dog leash with my south paw. this problem aka carpal tunnel bka i can't cut anything heavier than hair or china silk syndrome has waxed and waned for a few months depending on what i had been doing at work. somewhere down that road, the pain crept up and over into my left shoulder blade. this sucked. like really. no amount of yoga and stretching could work it out. and then i knew what i had to do. i turned to the mysterious art of acupuncture with an open yet healthily skeptical mind. the appointment was made and it came just in time, because that morning at work i started having crazy shoulder spasms while typing an email. i limped(bring on the melodrama) over to someone who i like to call my pusher man and begged a muscle relaxer. he dug around in his man purse and handed me a little something-something. oddly he popped into my work room about half an hour later just to make sure that i wasn't seeing paisleys or unicorns(what the hell else was in his pharmacopia i wondered). wow, this story is long. but yesterday felt long. i was counting the minutes until my acupuncture appointment because even the muscle relaxer barely took the edge off my shoulder pain. i would also like to offer a disclaimer here stating that i generally do not condone slipping into the valley of the dolls to take care of pain(real or imagined). i know i mentioned vicodin in an earlier post, but just try having a root canal with a hidden root. the recovery period is akin to having your head used as a jackhammer. but i digress. i am sold on this acupunture thing. it is not as relaxing as a massage, but there is peacefulness that i felt while having little pokey things inserted up both arms and then in multiple areas of my shoulder blade. there was no pain. if i felt anything at all it was more like being poked with a pencil in two areas only. the other areas i could barely tell. i lay facedown on the table for about twenty minutes with the needles in place and a heat lamp warming my back. there were jungley-new age tunes(gorillas in the dawn of a new age mist???). i spaced out a little and felt some tingling and then before i knew it it was over. you don't feel the needles coming out. i got dressed and wait a minute, where did my shoulder pain go? a light ache was still there but the intensity was ebbing. i have some chinese herbs(that kinda look like little blueberry candies or rabbit poop) to take to help with my circulation and i go back on monday for more. we will also be working on clearing my allergies and revving my lady parts back up for pregnancy. i can't wait. unrelated: the mister and i are foraying into the world of home made hearty bread making this weekend. yum.
we get pretty wild here at the ol' hacienda. this meant that the mister and i had home made pizza(i made, he ate) and watched this kinda "meh" yet entertaining show called "swingtown" that we got on netflix. i also imbibed in some two buck chuck(that's a cheap brand of wine from trader joe's just in case you are reading this mom) and the last vicodin left over from my root canal 10 months ago. in my defense, i was having some serious achy muscle issues since i just rekindled my love affair with the gym and man, c'mon it was new years eve. back to "swingtown," the first best part is the clothes. i love me some 7o's high fashion. the second best part is the soundtrack( although a bit over utilized, we really don't need a song for almost every scene, i get it, it's the 70's). then there was this song that took me back to being a kid and visiting my dad and stepmom in Cardiff by the sea. my dad had long hair and surfed almost daily and my stepmom was a hostess at a fancy pizza joint. we would walk down to the beach crossing the train tracks and i can still feel that sea grass beach bag scratching my legs something awful. so listen and groove and check out that sweet stash...
oh and back to the new years...the mister was signed up for a poker tourney so we stopped watching before midnight and i started working on a new boat, this one with a wire frame and before ya know it, i was getting a midnight kiss. and then i fell asleep... i don't make resolutions though i think about what i would resolve if i did make them, but mostly i just decide to do stuff. maybe i'll make a list...i'll ponder that. after a bit of thought, i changed the post name (from something else that utilized an oft used sometimes derogatory term that is used to define female dogs and made me seem cool and kinda urban) to make it more friendly...a new year's "thought" isto mind my potty mouth.
i didn't get a good complete shot of my christmas cards. this is almost the finished product, except that there should be gold glitter on the star and then the paper cut square gets black photo corners and is placed onto a silver card stock. it was kind of a pain to make them because my glue stick was more icky than sticky and then i found myself uttering curses at the little bits of snow. i apologize to my local family of who no one got one. i just couldn't finish them in time and was suffering from santa's little worker elf traumatic disorder. so i decided to take my supplies with me to cardiff where i figured i would make them before bedtime the night before our family fete, but i forgot the cardstock and envelopes. i had a minor tantrum(done in the car when i was stuck in 1 1/2 hours of traffic just to get out of l.a.), but after three glasses of wine with my beloved step mom i stopped worrying and just let the visions of sugar plums dance in my head.
just finished an aimee bender book. "an invisible sign of her own." i'm not really a huge fan of her writing. i haven't quite been able to put my finger on it yet although i think that it might be that it is a little too laced with melancholia and lacking a certain lushness in the writing style. there were some very nice details and moments, but overall, meh... on the other hand "the historian" by someone whose name eludes me right now and i'm too lazy to get the book from the bedroom, is rich and fluid and magical...and i've only just started it.
to curl up with...
"The Sweet Life in Paris" David Lebovitz
"The Help" Kathryn Stockett
"Q and A: A Novel" Vikas Swarup
"American Gods" Neil Gaiman
"His Dark Materials" Phillip Pullman(i actually prefer the last two books in the trilogy)
"Loving Frank" Nancy Horan
"Coraline" Neil Gaiman
" My Life in France" Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme
"Tender at the Bone" Ruth Reichl
"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" Mary Ann Shaffer
"Pride and Prejudice" Jane Austin
"Cold Comfort Farm" Stella Gibbons
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Philip K. Dick
