Aujoud'hui, I say "merci!"...

parce que the older gentleman on the who plays the accordion on the uptown platform of the 6 train at 51st street is back and he toujours makes me feel like I'm starring in a French film ... so bienvenue et merci - you were missed!

I always mean to go to that side of the platform and drop something in his chapeau but since I'm always et forever en retard, I never remember to...

Peut-etre a demain...peut-etre...


P.S - my hair makes me feel very Amelie-ish too - so VIVE LA FRANCE!!!!!!

The motto of the weekend, you ask?

"There must be always remaining in every life, some place for the
singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathless
and beautiful."
~ Howard Thurman

A very busy week, ending with me realizing I didn't breathe for most
of it so the goal for the next 2 days is to inhale some sunshine,
something beautiful, and feel peaceful ...

Sent from my iPhone

"Everything you can imagine is real."

- Pablo Picasso

Fancy kombucha time! I stayed strong
with the no-vino credo! Let me now get to my 30Rock and Office
giggling <contentedsigh>

When the day echoes your moods..

What a whirlwind...thunderstorms, raindrops, bright sunnyshine, rush rush, 2 meetings, barely time for the eating of the lunch (a handmade delight by the way, sort of my version of fattoush and tabouli but with quinoa instead and no pita), barely any coffee ( I know EGADS!), the state of mind going up & down, zigzag sideways, wiggling to irritated then blooming right back up to okayhood and right now I feel mostly like I'm in need of a glass of wine.

But I'm trying not to do that. I'm trying to be sooperdooper healthy, remember? Get my strength back up so I'll settle for picking up my laundry from the Magical Miraculous Laundress (so-called because of their use of "Magic" soap and "Aura Clean" bleach and softener - seriously, these are truly Laundry Fairy Godmothers!), making some kava tea, watching the Office and then to bed at 10. I need SLEEP. This entire week, I've tried to go to sleep early and to no avail - wide awake and bleary-eyed at 1am. Toss and turn. Once I get to sleep, I'm fine, but it's just the getting there part that needs work.

Sigh...I'm one tired lady. I've hardly been outside in fresh air all week, that's how crazed things have been. I simultaneously love and detest those times - I love to be busy, I love having projects to work on but I don't like it when I get in those modes where I feel like taking a break is a big deal. Must remember to breathe. Must remember to get some sunlight on that face. Especially because it's Springtime...

"Springtime!
Spring Time!
La

la

la

la la
la"

Now, I do believe I'll walk to Grand Central to get some fresh evening air time in my system... gute nacht!

Quotes to place under my pillow, to sleep on..,

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

- Philo of Alexandria

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.

- Willie Nelson

Look how pretty it is!!!

She has THE cutest bloggie stuff - I suspect I will be playing with the backgrounds (particularly around the holidays) and colors and stuff but for now, I'll leave it as you see it now

http://blo64rt.blogspot.com/

test photo sent to Bloggie via iPhone

Finally, I figured out how to post pics from my phone directly TO bloggie - what is it though?

Found at A Clear Path to Happy's blog - this should be my (ours, yours) daily wish, midday thought, bedtime prayer:

May I be happy.
May my friends be happy.
May my enemies be happy.
May all beings everywhere be happy.

The Psychology of Good Hair

I had sort of an weirdly anxious week. What I realized in getting "The Hair" chopped off was that "The Hair" was totally acting as a security blanket, something to hide behind. Coming into work on Monday, I suddenly felt very exposed so I'm guessing that "The Hair" had made me feel very something all these years - secure? Girly (because I'm not really girly)? I never had really long hair before and while I did like it, that hair was old - it's been around for years. So cutting it off made me feel like it was a good omen, a fresh start perhaps, a portentous ritual for Spring? Something like that. In any case, it's something that has made me feel better (so far) and much more comfortable in my skin in some ways. I could be wrong, but I think it suits my personality better.

I feel ... lighter.

We'll see how long the good vibe surrounding it lasts - you know me ... all it will take is one bad photo of it or one terrible hair day to ruin my love of it and for my raised self-esteem to come crashing down. I crumble easily in such situations.

However, I seem to be better at picking up my pieces and putting them back together again; quicker about the task, too. Has the puzzle gotten easier or am I just more skilled?

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error! --
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

~Antonio Machado (Trans. Robert Bly)

I think I've outwitted this weird Springtime heat (is it truly 88 degrees right now? REALLY?) by not leaving my office all day... I hate the fact that I haven't had fresh air since 10:30 though but it was one of those days, one thing after another, my jaw is all tight and clenched (my poor teeths!) and I do believe a small sip of wine (just one small glass) would be really fine right now. Once I get home, I mean. Ah, sweet Chardonnay, you are my friend.

But my point is - heat?

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME.

GO AWAY.

One more day in the 80's and then back to the lovely 50's and 60's which are necessary to create the awesome greenness and blossoms and blooming that needs to occur. More rain even, I'll take it. Just no warmth. Not so soon...

So is the glass half-full or half-empty?

Massage that Kale

So in an attempt to get my cheeks rosy again, my pruneface diminished, my all-encompassing "glow" back, I'm trying to be sooperdooper healthy girl. So that means doing things that I know work for me, that I know make me feel good and right as rain (or sun) in my skin.

Last night's dinner is a good example. I massaged some kale with toasted sesame oil, some mirin, a splash of teriyaki, threw in some dried cranberries and walnuts, sprinkled ground flax on top and you have a raw veggie delight. Why massage? I learned about that in a class I took 2 years ago at the yoga place and it's a good way to keep the greens - which are a bit tough - raw to get the maximum vitamins & minerals but breaks them down enough to tenderize and changes the flavor slightly. I like it cooked as well but this was QUITE tasty (and I took a photo because it

looked pretty - those garnet berries!) and I felt good after so that one goes in the books. And my teacher talked about sort of praying into it while you are massaging it so that when you digest it, you are "eating" the love you put into it, so to speak. I just like that idea a whole lot, sort of like when you say grace before the meal but this is while you are making the food - it makes sense. And then if you know about all the Emoto stuff with the water crystals (which I'm fascinated by) well than let us think good thoughts over everything, yes?

YES! (I know, it's all sort of hippie-dippie-new-agey stuff, but I like all that so I'm fine with trying it.) Plus, as Veronica will attest - things taste best when made with love - during college, the UFM Coffee Guy ALWAYS made his coffee with love and when we saw him behind the counter, we knew a good cup was coming up and would make us study better. Right. It all trickles down to other things.

And then here at work we have today's delights, including kombucha, some supergreen powder, a teaspoon of organic molasses in hot water (instead of afternoon coffee - it's got a ton of iron and magnesium), and of course - a big fat slice of cake.


YUM. Got to keep it all in balance, right? All work and no play makes Nik a dull person. So let me eat cake!

Now to balance it, I'm thinking roasted asparagus for dinner...

The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression

or discouragement. Because we possess such fear,

we also are potentially entitled to experience fearlessness.

True fearlessness is not the reduction of fear

but going beyond fear.

~Chogyam Trungpa

To be nobody -- but yourself -- in a world

which is doing its best night and day

to make you everybody else -- means to fight

the hardest battle which any human being

can fight and never stop fighting.

~e.e. cummings

Texan Photos: Proof of Recovered Muchness!

Courtesy of Veronica's iPhone & Facebook posts:

Can you tell we got a kick out of Willie's Place? Well who doesn't love Willie Nelson??!!

An attempt to take a self portrait of the three of us but alas, Little Buddy's arms are too short to fit Cindy in..also, I have a large head!

Mrs. Grant and I

Veronica's Mom and I at the House of Happy Hands!

Another try at a photo of the Three Amigos - this time, we stopped some drunk guy and as you can see, his finger is in the shot...

As I eat a Peep & some chocolate egg for "breakfast", I remember

...sitting at the dining room table, the constant smell of warm white vinegar as we dyed eggs, dozens and dozens of bright and beautiful eggs (what did we do with them all?)

... my cousin Jamie's famous egg, the ugliest egg ever, dipped in every single color and so it became a gray/brown muddle but its perfect because we still remember it the most out of all of the thousands of eggs we've colored and she was so little and so proud of it

...watching the Sound of Music - it was only ever on once a year, usually at Easter but at some point, they switched it to Christmastime too, but I always associate it Eastertime

...waking up the next morning and running around trying to find where in the house the Easter Baskets were hidden; usually, I would spy Snow White's first or she would see mine and we'd get all excited "I FOUND IT!!! But it's not mine..." and then the other would scurry over to see where the other sister had just been...

... getting a new bathing suit from Grandma Max for the season and wanting to wear it RIGHT AWAY

... our sugar panoramic eggs

... the bestest thing , our Easter egg hunt, which involved my mother calling forth her inner rap star and coming up with these awesome rhymes for clues. She would put coins and a clue to the next egg in each plastic shell and at the end of it all, Snow and I would add up the money and split it

... having to get prettied up for church - which would be annoying because it would be packed with the 2 X a Year People (a.k.a The Bad Catholics)

... squirming the whole time because we wanted to get home to use the bathing suit, eat candy (which we always gave up for Lent so today, at long last, we could eat as much as we liked) and take our first dip of the year in the pool. Daddy would stay home to take the cover off and clean it, we'd go pick up Grandma Marion after Mass and then it was back home to See's chocolate eggs cut up into slices, ham, potato salad (or maybe egg salad - DUH!) running from the house and jumping straight in the pool and SCREAMING because it was so GODAWFUL COLD.

But it was so much FUN.

Snow White, Mom, Daddy - what else am I forgetting??