computer down

no post today. darn.

aging

i am 46...turning 47.
one of the topics that seems to come up on a regular basis with my girlfriends is the impacts of aging...weight gain, wrinkles, grey hair, loss of eye sight, aches and pains. the list can go on and on. geesh, exhausting.
what is high on my list? vision. not being able to tell the difference between conditioner and shampoo sucks. i tried for a while to keep my eyeglasses in the bathroom but with the steam and the water that just doesn't work. i moved on to contacts. not a perfect solution...better, but not perfect. recently i was wearing my contact lenses in the shower and the water hit my eye and the contact fled behind my eye lid. seriously? yes. i'm done. so thanks to my husband's health plan i'm going to pursue the lasic surgery before the end of the year. it is a costly endeavor and the pre healthy savings account will only pay for part of it and i will have to fork up the rest of the cash but it will be worth it.
now the second battle is the fight against grey hair. i have lost and thrown in the white towel. as a person born with dark hair, i never had to fuss coloring which also meant i am an amateur to this entire industry. i detest it. i have done everything from coloring myself, having my friends color it to a variety of salons from the cheap walk in to the high end costly establishment. no more (at least that is what i am telling myself when i look in the mirror. recently i saw the acress/comedian roseann barr who has let her hair go grey. now you may have different opinions of her and most likely beauty icon is not one of them. but those highlights of grey have a glamorous feel and that is what this gal is going for. right now i do have a streak down my center part like a skunk so i am seem to be wearing hats on a a more frequent basis but i am optimistic to the final outcome.
take that aging. i am doing it on my turns and in my unique way.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

sunday morning...life is awesome. lying in bed, watching Dan In Real Life (great movie), drinking my home brewed cafe au lait eating yogurt and apples. it is early morning. sun is shining. life is awesome.
i am grateful.

friday

i am hoping that today and the upcoming weekend bring me to the end of this miserable chest cold. i was so on task at the end of december to have my plans set for 2012. january first i was ready to go. unfortunately that wasnot what happended. there were a variety of events that threw of the start of the year and then i got sick. i am feeling a bit behind with all of my great plans. i have been barely up to even following the morning talk shows much less start achieving my goals. i am now at the end of my rope. this sickness needs to hit the road. i have things i want to do...business, health, life. body are you listening?????
happy friday people. have a great weekend.

closets

i am really beginning to figure out the variety of organizing projects that i like and those that i am just going to say "no"....won't do that.
it all came from a question by a client? do you really like doing this (i was organizing she and her partner's closet....woemn's closet... super fun and easy)...my answer...YES. they had pretty clothes and i had so much fun turning it into a pretty closet. the end result was so satisfying. to them and more importantly...to me!
ok, number one on that list...closets.

last night teaching

hmmm. tonight is my last night teaching yoga for a while. i have been teaching on a part-time basis. one day a week, two classes. part of my resolutions is to focus on my business and i felt that one day a week of teaching was taking me a way from that goal. of course as i have shared with my friends, how will i feel not identifying myself as a yoga teacher. i have a new course of thought. focus on what i am. i am a business owner and a professional organizer. i think it is common to spend our time thinking about what we are not, what we don't have, etc. instead i think it is more powerful and more productive to be in the here and now. who we are. what we want. what we are working on. yep, i am ready. so tonight i will share what i can with my students and i will keep this train moving forward. i feel excited. optimistic. empowered by this decision. ok let's do this thing.

cancer

cancer is such a scary word.
had my yearly mammogram, which led to an ultrasound test. i will give you my results first...cancer free. i know. phew. right?
but waiting in the waiting room with the other ladies in hospital gowns...it feels surreal. they have a little locker system where you pick your code for the lock. i knew that by the end of my appointment, i wouldn't be able to work the locks. i was right of course.
cancer is a scary trip. even just the thought of having it. i went down that road. i met a lady who had cancer in 2010. while i sat in the waiting room for my results the technician came out and literally gave her two thumbs up and said "I'll see you in six months".
cancer
cancer free
the difference of one word. amazing.
i then told her "wow, i bet many people are waiting to get this call from you". one word answer...YES. she walked out of that office with a lightness to her step.
then it was my turn. i had to have an extra step of an ultra sound. i of course tried to make the whole thing lighter by joking with the doctor. somehow i think if i keep the mood light that the answer will be good. so far, i am right. just a cyst. i could have it taken out but as one of my friends told me her doctor/father said...if something doesn't have to be done, well then don't do it. this is one thing that doesn't have to be done.
i walked out with a lightness in my step.

thankfully it is raining

monday...the day to start fresh. always feel like it is the day to start anew. that is unless you wake up with coughing, sniffling, aching symptoms. yes, my annoying symptoms continue. so for now the plans for the week are put to the back burner and i will freshen up the sheets, get myself snuggled back in and...go back to sleep.
thankfully it is raining. good morning and good night.

sunday

do you ever have some combination of food that you eat over and over again. i am definitely one of those people. i seem to get hooked on one thing for a while and that is all i eat. my new fav...peeled apples/sliced with 2 percent yogurt. not exciting to you? exciting to me. and since it is 845, and i just woke up...that is my next stop...oh well, that is after i prepare my cafe au lait.
happy football sunday.

saturday

part of the food experiment or rather all of the food experiment was to get me to write in this blog. success. and as we know once that ended, the blog ended to too. i then decided to continue with the food experiment and to incorporate it into my regular diet. my friend's samantha and yariv call those foods white death. funny. but i don't think i need to keep writing about it all the time. yes, there will be occasions to point out something but i am feeling ready to explore other topics - things of interest to me and thoughts surrounding my organizing business. hopefully this transition won't be too painful for one and all who may or may not participate in this blog.

rainy days and fridays

empty fridge
out of cold medication
throbbing head
hacking cough
fever
aches and pains
difficult night's sleep

trip to safeway
decisions
difficult
done

modest meal
drugs consumed
coffee made
washed dishes

bed
relaxation
fludis
the view
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

sick

i have been battling being sick for several days now and i finally decided today...i am losing. of course i keep mixing up in my mind is it "starve a cold/feed a fever" or the other way around? well i can stop running that through my head as i am suffering from both! the first few days felt like eating and as of today...not so much.
my mind just blanked...think that is all i can do for today.
back to sleep for me. have a good day, whatever is.

time to start my 2012 resolutions

i broke down my plans for 2011 and then planned out what i still needed to work on as well as some new goals for 2012. one of the categories has to with health and nutrition. so, one resolution is to work on making two meals a week. and out of those two dishes have enough to last 4 days. well, we are 18 days into this year and pretty much zero meals have been made.
time to get going.
decide what to make.
buy the necessary ingredients.
prepare the meals.
ok, i am on it.

things are looking good

i have to say this day is starting off pretty nicely. i am lying in bed and i have my cafe au lait (made at home thanks to a gift card to purchase a coffee maker from my husband) and a bowl of greek yogurt and apple. knowing when i wake up that i have everything i need right here at home makes me feel so great. as i am a creature of habit i typically eat the same thing every day. and as of today's breakfast, i am out of apples. need to hit the store. becuase as for much this is a good morning tomorrow would be really bad if i woke up having nothing to eat. amazingly the emotional connection to meals can be over the top.
but i digress.
today is starting off pretty nicely thank you.

getting back in the groove

yep, three days in a row. i am on a roll. woo hoo. you may wonder how long this will go on my tracking when i write. i suspect it's going to go on for a while.
i have to say that in spite of having a cold, i am feeling good about this continuation of my food experiment. there is something about having a plan about eating plans that make me feel a little more settled. typically i would wait until i felt a starving feeling before even considering food sources. at that point what ever was nearby would then be consumed. now this could take many forms. on the one hand it might mean eating things that would not necessarily nourish me...aka pretzels or it meant feeling emotionally disturbed because there was no food and having no food solutions . now iam practicing being a little more proactive. i am not completely back to where i was when i was full on into this experiment but i am getting close. i need to make more frequent my visits to the grocery store. that's my goal for this week.

two days in a row

please excuse me if this post goes all over the place. i have had a cough, now a cold and am taking cold medication which apparently makes me quite loopy.
my first thought for today's blog is that i am hoping i am posting today. i wrote yesterday and now i am back it again today. hopefully this trend will continue and i will be back to posting regularly.
now my second thought is about the temperature of my food. random i know. i think i wrote about this a while back how someone mentioned that my food choices because of its limitations pretty narrows it to mostly cold temperature foods. my friend jamie, who is a Chinese medical practitioner recently sent out a newsletter that at this time of the year we should be having warmer foods. she wrote about the kidneys and removal of toxins...i think. anyway, my take away was that i need warm foods. hmmm. does coffee count? oh wait my nutritionist from a year ago told me "andrea, coffee is not a food". so now i am reminded once again that i need to incorporate this into my daily diet. i have added to my resolutions preparing two dishes a week so perhaps i will think of cooking warm foods. alright that is how i will redefine the resolution one step more. create two dishes that last longer than one day and that are warmer. ok i got it. time to get out that crock pot and look up some recipes.
happy cooking people.

and now it has been two more months.

welcome to 2012. thought i would get back on the blogging kick when i wrote the last blog but work, holidays, your basic excuses got in the way. but just like this season of the biggest loser i say...no excuses.
ok, so here i am back at it. i had a great holiday in mexico and yes, i did have a little of the forbidden white foods. i had everything in moderation from the tortilla chips to the chocolate that comes from that region. holidays are over and now as i said i am back at it...writing in my blog and continuing on with the food experiment. i had a physical last week and my doctor said i have lost 7 pounds since last year. she also said that at my age most women are gaining 2 to 5 pounds every year. we eat the same amount and our metabolism is slowing down. we need to look at what we are eating and how much of it. the diet needs to shift. and we need to move. so i recommit to this program.
happy new year.