Cultivating My Inner Tree

Have I done any formal exercise in the last few days? No. Have I maintained a healthy diet? Actually, yes. Am I having a good time? Yes.

So far the visit is great. I have done a bit of walking. The highlight? Turkey vultures in the the deciduous forest flocking in a dead tree was pretty cool. My nephew sharing his karate moves was fun. My neice “doing yoga”, which amounts to her sitting under my sister and kissing her as she tries to flow from pose to pose, well, yes, “priceless”.

I did lead my sis in doing some yoga yesterday, which was fun for us. I stretched out, but I could use a full class. I don’t think wearing my yoga pants for comfort is enough to qualify logging exercise.

Now, back to the family. I was awarded a box of cheese by the Maymont Garden Show for lecturing earlier today. Everyone is looking forward to my sister’s ooy-gooey mac ‘n cheese for dinner. Rather than worry about the fat, I’ll look forward to increasing my calcium intake.

Cheers all!

The highlights and lowlights summarized:

Go to client Meeting: Great meeting with client; she loves the design proposal. = Good
Leave Meeting; pick up newspaper: Yes, garden coaching feature article with photo of me with client is in it. = Good.
Go to office: Call from friend, leading to many more calls among friends to organize intervention. Good + Bad.
Walk Shiloh in cold sunshine: Good
Restorative yoga: Good
Intervention itself: Never want to do that again. Ugly process; good ending (so far; it is a process)
End intervention: Phone rings. Friend’s house burned down today. Bad.
Type this post: No formatting option tools. HTML editor doesn’t work. Can’t add links in this post. Bad.
Bed: Sounds really good right now. Hope I can sleep.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 01/23/2008
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

I woke up this morning with an old flash cartoon song lyric in my head, “Mind on my muffin & my muffin on my mind…”. Some of you may already be laughing, remembering Miss Muffin; she’s been around on the web for a while. I’ve been feeling a lot like Betty Bundt Cake and her Devil’s Food problem lately. I work out regularly & eat a pretty balanced diet, but I just can’t resist a cookie (or 2 or 3 or 5) at the end of the day. And, what’s that result in? A bit of a muffin top of course. Of course, I don’t wear mine on my head like Miss Muffin’s gang. The mid-section muffin is my battle.

Why did I share this? Well, I don’t think I need an intervention like Betty, but by confessing “my problem”, perhaps I’ll think twice before I eat more than one cookie. Or maybe one of you will have a great mid-section exercise that munches away on muffin top.

Oh, and while I find the cartoons funny, please skip them if you aren’t into crass humor and language! The muffin gang may look like Strawberry Shortcake, but they sure don’t talk or rap like her.

If you’ve ever thought, “There’s no way in the world I can do that.” Then look to the life of Sir Edmund Hillary who just passed away. Among many admirable feats in life, he was the first person in known history to summit Mt. Everest (with his guide). Today, after a long life of amazing triumphs, Sir Edmund moved on to whatever the universe holds outside of human life.

More on Sir Edmund at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080110/ap_on_re_au_an/obit_edmund_hillary_5;_ylt=AuwKyiOVxYYphtai6SFftRAE1vAI
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary

I just read this piece on how they’re going to test the heck out of cyclists. This whole doping thing, whether baseball, cycling or some other sport, just makes me really sad for the people who get themselves so caught up in their competitive spirit that they lose their ability to see the nasty road they’re going down. And, look at the red tape and messy politics it creates. Ugh! 

I just got back from shopping for some holiday dress clothes. I found a perfect “little black dress”. I sighed when I saw that it was tiny — alas, a size 6/small. My friend encouraged me to try it on anyway.

I tried it on. It fit? It fit! I’m a size 6? I guess so…

I haven’t been this small since…well, ever.

So, year forty is going out with at least one number, my dress size, going down. I hope I can keep it this way through the season of eating & drinking.

For those of you who are just now embarking on weight/size changes, do yourself a favor and take your measurements. I wish I had. I know my body has really changed from doing yoga consistently over the past few years, but I don’t have any baselines to compare to.

Here’s to smaller waistlines all ’round!

I’ve been stricken with another head cold. Maybe the one from Thanksgiving never went away or maybe one of the many petri dishes in my life (aka friends kids, clients, grocery store checker, atm keypad, etc…) passed me a whole new strain. I’m not sure, but I am sure that I’m sick of being sick. My sinuses are raw, so spending any time outside in the cold is brutal. I’m tired of blowing my nose. I’m tired of being unable to taste anything that isn’t full of sugar of hot pepper. I’m tired of feeling I don’t have the energy to really exercise.

Grumble…grumble…grumble….SNEEZE!

I did stretch out last night since I skipped yoga. I couldn’t bear taking my snarfling self to the studio. Wednesday night I had a client meeting and missed class as well. That means I’m way off my regular practice, which makes me antsy.

Today, I’m going to pick up a Netti pot and give it a whirl. I doubt it will be much more gross than the snot factory I feel like all the time right now.

Take a moment to give thanks for your healthy bodies. Take a deep breath and appreciate your lungs. I know I would if I could!

I met a new client late morning today. Together, we meandered through her yard (to soon become a garden). And, we froze. I’m recovering from being sick, and it seems she’s just starting to get sick. Bummer. Still, we made it through. Being outside early reminded me that I needed to get Shiloh out for a walk before the spotty clouds decide to rain or snow or something. A few days this week I’ve missed the clear daytime window & either Bob walked her or she didn’t get a walk on those days.

Today was cold, esp. when we turned the last corner to head home and found ourselves marching to a wind coming down from the north (in these parts that means its cold air filtering down from the gulf of Alaska — BRR!). Still, a nice walk.

Now to motivate myself behind the computer. Do I design a garden this afternoon? Do I write an article on cleaning up the garden in winter? Do I work on advertisements? Guess, I better pick one thing and get with the program!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Walk
• Date: 11/29/2007
• Time: 13:30:00
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00
• Distance: 1.2 miles
• Average Pace: 16:40/mile

Yep, that’s me. I’m on the mend, but the snot keeps coming. Yes, that’s a lovely picture. I was the gross one over the holidays. I hardly got any exercise. My body was working hard just to get well.

On Friday, I did do a bit of walking around. We had a tickets to a Salvador Dali show at the LACMA. It had a variety of his work, but much was focused on his work in Hollywood. He did film work with Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock, among others. His sketches, set designs and films were all a part of the exhibition. As well, paintings and drawings from his entire life were on display. It was great!

Today I plan to go to yoga. I hope the light stretching I did while travelling helped me stay limber and that my breathing will level out for a great practice tonight!

Yesterday I was that person everyone on a plane hates. Yes, I flew with my microbe war going in full force. I’d forgotten how painful cabin pressure during descent can be when you’ve got a head full of swollen sinuses. Still, our travels went smoothly, and I survived.

The night before the war in my head kept me from sleeping. I was tossing and turning until almost 4am after which I did sleep somewhat soundly until 7am. So, while we were waiting in the airport I told Bob that I might just give in and dose myself with Nyquil in order to sleep Tuesday night. I also reminded him that Dad has a steam shower, which I planned to use to clear out some of the gunk.

Well, turns out I didn’t take any Nyquil. I did take a long steam, which helped tons. (I may go take another soon.)

My parents put together a fabulous paella dinner. One of my best friends in the world dropped by for dinner. Everyone but me was enjoying a glass of wine. I was drinking tea, and I was grumpy about it. So, I gave in and had a gin cocktail. (My stepmother suggested a shot of whisky, which is often used as a cold remedy, but I figured I’d go for something I really enjoy. If it made me sicker, well, I already felt like crap, so how much worse could it get?)

Well, it actually felt pretty fantastic to get all warm and fuzzy from a drink. I was pretty well hydrated from all the water and tea. Plus, I’d been taking advil pretty regularly, so odds were a hangover wasn’t going to come on.

I finished martini #1. 

“Can I make you another drink?” - Dad

 ”Hmmmm…I’m no sure if that’s a good idea.” - Robin

“Hey, its no worse than Nyquil.” - Bob

“…and its much more social. Make me one. And this time use the blue Gin.” - Robin

And with that I dove into a lovely blue martini (Magellan Gin, if you care), and it was a little blue wave to happiness.

Blessings = I had loads of fun with everyone. I could almost taste the subtle flavors in the gin and in the paella. And, best of all, I slept great. I woke up with no hangover and today I’m on the mend. I’m still a little tired, but I believe Captain Head Cold is making his retreat just in time for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving Battle of the Bulge.