November Goals

Well here we are at November 1st.  I feel the need for speed goal-setting.  The sugar thing is gonna have to wait until January, which makes much more sense.  Plus, a faithful and fearless friend has stepped up to take the sugar-free challenge with me, but only if we start January 1st.

Sucrose Scrappers Unite!

(January 1st)

Learning from past mistakes, I realize now that I took on way too much for October.  I did, however, manage to instill two great habits into my daily routine from that mess:

1:  I'm writing every day, not just in my blog, but on the 750 Words site as well, and I'm loving it.

2:  Every day, I'm consciously and keenly aware of things for which I'm grateful and sharing those moments here.

Since I succeeded in establishing two October goals that have now become habits, I decided to set two November goals as well:

1:  Listen to a meditation/guided visualization every day for the month of November.  I figure, if I start with my head first, and brainwash myself into believing I'm already a naturally, healthy person who doesn't like sugar, then that gives me a head start for later.  ;)

2:  And just to make it complicated, because I seem to lean that way (either that or I'm just trying to avoid exercising for the whole month), I set four mini-goals for #2.  Week One:  Walk at lunch every day.  Week Two:  Floss every day. (No. No, I currently do not do that.  I know.)  Week Three:  Exercise every day.  Week Four:  In bed by 9:00 PM every day (I get up at 5:00 AM). 

Wish me luck!

(P.S.  November 1st gets recorded as successful on both counts... On my way! :)

MMMmmmmmm.... Fresh-squeezed *organic* orange juice.  That's what I'm grateful for today.

Cinderella version 2.0

Today, I'm grateful for two websites:  750 Words and Creative Writing Prompts.  


As part of my literature degree, I took a creative writing class in college.  I surprised myself by actually liking the class and having fun crafting poems and stories.  I had every intention to continue writing after the class was over, but without the guidance of an instructor and a class of peers to share the experience with, that intention fell by the wayside (The Wayside was also the name of the bar I went to every week... Coincidence?  Hmmmm).

My interest in writing was re-ignited by Squam when I serendipitously ended up in a creative writing workshop.  (I thought I had signed up for a short story reading group...ooops.)  About the same time, I discovered the 750 Words site and started using it.  After a couple of weeks of writing, at a loss for writing topics, I googled "writing prompts" and found the Creative Writing Prompts site, which I've been having a lot of fun with.

Today's prompt was to rewrite Cinderella so that the shoe fit one of her step-sisters, not her.  I cracked myself up as I wrote it.  I'm having so much fun with this....I'm not a good writer, I don't pretend to be, and it's not my intention to become one.  I'm writing for myself, just to have fun, and to express a little creativity in my every day life.  

I'm grateful for the 750 Words and the Creative Writing Prompts web sites and for the people who run them for helping inspire my inner creative self.

Cuckoo for Cookbooks

A couple of days ago, I talked about writing prompts and how we used them in the creative writing workshop I took at Squam.  For one of the exercises, Lizzy, our instructor gave us a minute to think of a common object in our homes and then gave us about 20 minutes to write about it.  The rules were 1) don't think about what you're writing, just write whatever comes to your mind, and 2) don't censor yourself.

Here's what I came up with:

My cookbooks sit on a shelf arranged in no particular order.  Various sorts of tags stick out from the tops and sides of the pages all down the row.  Each style of tag represents a separate session of combing through each book and selecting the group of recipes that I'd try next.

Some are yellow post-it notes.  Some are long, thin strips of paper that I tore off from a scrap sheet of paper.  And some are plastic strips with arrows pointing to the marked sections.

All these recipes, none ever made.  The organizing is the easy part, the follow-through requires more effort.

My mom's dinner rotation consisted of Shepherd's Pie, Tacos, Curry, Chili, Spaghetti, repeat.  My dad bought cookbooks for her to encourage her to mix it up a bit.  The bindings stayed in tact.  The only time they were opened was when my dad threw them in a fit of rage, weary of eating the same five meals over and over.  Cookbooks lay splayed across the floor displaying exotic dishes we'd never taste.

I have a collection of Asian cookbooks bought during the time I discovered Asian food.  When I was a vegetarian for a year and a half, I bought a copy of every vegetarian cookbook I could find.  My years at Weight Watchers produced a growth in the diet cookbook section.

I have a few of my mother's old cookbooks, too, but I haven't made anything out of them.  Although I do frequently refer to mom's Betty Crocker cookbook to remind myself how many minutes it takes to hard boil an egg.  For some reason, I can never remember.

I learned three things from this exercise and the workshop in general:

1)  Free writing, when you don't censor yourself and you write down whatever comes to mind, even if you don't want to, is a really, really good way to figure out why you do the things you do.

2)  I constantly think about food!

3)  I constantly think about food!!  (Did I mention before, I took a sewing workshop here as well and made.... an apron.)

I had lunch today with my good friends Linda and Jan.  Linda did use one of her recipes and made fabulous Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa and Sweet Potato Fries.  Dessert was Sugar-Free Ice Cream with fruit toppings and some sugary things of which I did not partake.  (But to be completely honest so that I can sleep tonight... she had some trail mix out, I took some, and when I saw the mini chocolate pieces in it, rather than moving them aside, I ate them.  So...technically, I had sugar today.  But psychologically, I haven't.  Does that make sense?  I don't feel guilty about it or feel like I failed.)

Linda and Jan.  True Blue Friends.  I'm grateful for our lunches together.

(Naturally) Sweet Dreams!

I Believe I Can Fly ... !

When I discovered the website 750 Words, I knew it was a site I'd love.  About a week in though, I found myself not knowing what to write about.  So I took a cue from the creative writing workshop at Squam and googled "writing prompts" to provide me with some first lines and kick start my writing.  This morning's prompt was "If I could fly, I would..."  Ugh!  How overdone!  Sometimes, I don't like my prompts, but I use them anyway because I usually end up liking where they take me.  For example:  


I used to roller blade every night after work - from my apartment, to Mission Bay, up the boardwalk, up Grand Avenue, and back to my apartment.  During the week in the evenings when it got dark early, I'd have it all to myself.  I didn't have to dodge pedestrians, children, dogs, skateboarders, bikers, surfers, tourists, etc.  I was strong and fit in those days and it felt like flying, blading as fast as I could, getting in that zone where you feel absolute control over every muscle, getting in that rhythm, finding comfort and power in the "swoosh...swoosh" sounds that the blades made.  Such a high!  That's what I imagine flying feels like.  Reliving those moments had a powerful effect on my motivation and commitment to staying sugar-free.  I will blade like that again.

(La Jolla Shores - I couldn't find a pic of my route, but same idea.)

If there's something you really want to be able to do or achieve, try this!  Run a movie in your head of you doing it and being successful at it and loving it!  It's amazing how powerful and motivated it makes you feel.  And strengthens your commitment, too.  It was just the boost I needed, and I'm so glad I did it, because... Today was the first day of my 30 Days of Yoga commitment, and let me just say, I'm grateful all the blinds were closed and that I was home alone.  This body needs some work!  I was falling all over myself, and laughing as I did... you gotta be able to laugh at yourself!

Thank You, Marianne!  For 30 Days of Yoga.  I'm grateful and inspired by your generosity, dedication, and enthusiasm.

(Naturally) Sweet Dreams!

October is the new January

Everyone around me seems to be setting October Resolutions.  Which is pretty neat and serendipitous.  Having just returned from the Fall Squam Art Workshop in New Hampshire, resolved to tap into my inner creative self, it's perfect timing.

The site that got me started with my October Resolutions is Health Month.  I found this site via another blog, along with Health Month's sister site, 750 Words.  I'm doing both of them.  My Sugar-Free resolution is one of my Health Month goals.

While at Squam talking with my new friends, I mentioned these sites and coincidentally, Retta had just heard of them as well, and also started using them!  :)  Buster Benson, the creator of the sites, has done a marvelous job in their design and function.  I encourage you to look them up, especially if there are habits you'd like to start, or stop.  He turns writing and goal-setting into games.  You earn badges, fruits, and points based on your actions and can write your own rewards/consequences for when you succeed (or if you don't succeed).

Then, we both found out about 30 Days of Yoga via a Squammie's website and both signed up.  That starts October 7th.  Again, I encourage you to look this up, especially if you like yoga, or want to make it a habit.  Usually the class is $100 for 30 days, but for the month of October, you pay however much you want, and Marianne will donate every single dollar to help support people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa.  How can you go wrong here, right?

Then, I learned about krissie is thankful through Retta's blog list, and yep, we're both doing that.  As I mentioned in a previous post, Krissie is noticing things every day in her life for which she is grateful, taking pictures of them, and sharing one every day on her blog.  We all know that your attitude is your choice.  You can choose to be positive, but you can also choose to be negative.  Focusing on what you're grateful for can help you opt for the one that makes you smile.

I may as well take this opportunity to post today's Thank You:

Thank You, Jill!  For giving me your sewing machine for the mere price of lunch at El Torito's.

(And yes, I realized as I was cropping the pic that the sewing machine is backwards...that's how much of a beginner at sewing I am! :)

THEN, I found out about San Diego's Veg Pledge Week starting today, and of course I'm doing this as well... I actually just switched to vegetarianism a couple of weeks ago, so this one isn't really a challenge, but more of an encouraging validation.  Every day I'll get an email with tips, inspiration and menu ideas.  They're also having events all over the county this week.  I think I might check out tonight's event, Interactive Quiz-Show Presentation by Michael Greger, MD.

WHEW!!!  That's a lot going on!!  :)  But, it's all good...............................