blue artichoke

I’m so happy that it is October. It is one of my favorite months, along with May and sometimes June. I’ve forgotten what autumn is like in DC, but the weather is getting crisp and cool and leaves are starting to change color. October makes me want to hike, hay ride, rake leaves, roast large hunks of meat and bake desserts. And wear sweaters while I do those things.

I have no plans to hike, am missing a hay ride this weekend, have no yard to rake, but I do have a pork loin that I will roast tonight and I made a pan of brownies a few days ago. It had been quite a while since I baked any sort of dessert, and the brownies lasted only two days. We haven’t had much opportunity to practice restraint lately. They were delicious, but a pound or so of fudgy brownies weigh heavily in the belly. Which brings me to my October resolution: to spend more time up in the gym just working on my fitness. I tried to do this in August, along with avoiding sugar and grains, but that proved to be too much. I could do one or the other, but not both, and I chose the restricted diet and abandoned the fitness aspect. This month, however, I’ll once again attempt to create an exercise schedule. 30 days to Hardbody! I started yesterday with a belly dance class. I’m not sure how much of a workout it is, but it requires more movement than sitting on the couch watching TV or reading, so it counts. Today was a bit more rigorous and involved weighted squats, lunges and deadlifts. What was supposed to be a 35 minute workout took me almost an hour and a half, because I had to stop to pump more air into my stability ball (which required finding the bicycle pump, losing more air than I added because the plastic needle kept breaking off, and a break while I looked up new stability balls and air pumps on Amazon.com). I didn't even get the chance to do the complete workout, because I've overplayed my Abs Diet 2 exercise DVD. It kept freezing and stuttering; I did about a gazillion chest presses before I figured out what was going on. And, that required another session on Amazon.com to order a new copy. I did make it more than 3/4 through the workout and I’ll probably be sore tomorrow, but in the meantime, I’ve got a pig to roast. Happy October!

Getting to Know All About You: What does October mean to you?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm making progress on my September resolution to read more. I finished reading my stack of September magazines. Small victory. Usually it takes me all month to read the six magazines I subscribe to (Cooking Light, Cook's Illustrated, Bon Appetit, Real Simple, Fight!, and Domino). No, the big accomplishment is that I got two library cards, one for Maryland Public Libraries and one for DC Public Libraries. I got to choose the picture I wanted for my DC card, and I panicked with indecision and chose the wrong card (frog: "Hop Into Your Library"), when I really wanted the old-world card with a map and a globe and said something like "Reading is an Adventure." Oh well, I made my choice, so now I have to stick with it. I guess I could just pretend to lose it, but that would be wasteful.

The Maryland card is plain and utilitarian. Ugly.

Neither library branch I went to was impressive, nothing like my dear Daniel Boone Public Library in Missouri, and light years from my favorite, Vancouver Public Library. I looked up several books on my summer reading list at both libraries and came up with no dice. I finally found a book by an author I like (Alexander McCall Smith), but not in the series I've been reading (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency). That series is set in Botswana and is a fast, entertaining read that also makes me nostalgic for Africa. So, I like it. I started a new series that is set in Scotland. I'm sure it will also be a fast, entertaining read, minus the nostalgia.

I'm so excited to be reading again. I need to spend some time on the online library catalog to find out where are the biggest/best branches of Maryland and DC libraries. Or at least find one that has Pilgrim's Progress, the book I've never read that holds very little appeal to me, but that I've decided to give a whirl as one of my 31 New Things.

Getting to Know All About You: What is the worst book you can remember reading?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Is it already September? Seriously? What happened to August?

So, it's a bit tardy, but my August resolution was to cut out grains and refined sugar from my diet. I also resolved to get myself on a regular exercise schedule, which I did for a week, but then that petered out. I did a better job with the diet, even though I picked the most inconvenient month to restrict my diet. I had two sets of out-of-town visitors (my in-laws with GC's nephew and Magenta Green Goddess). It's difficult to find appropriate food when out on the town, sight-seeing and being a tourist. No sandwiches, pizzas or Chipwiches. Just salads, meat and vegetables, which aren't usually quick, fast, easy meals. Whew, I'm glad August is over!

My September resolution is much more enjoyable. I'm resolving to read more this month. I enjoy reading, but haven't had time to do more than flip through magazines for quite a while. A few months ago, I signed up with GoodReads and recently got an email reminding me that I've been "reading" the same book for 64 days. 64! I'm so close to the end of the book, but I haven't picked it up in over a month. That's just shameful. I don't have a library card here, and that is because I haven't had time to go the library to apply for one. I tried signing up online, and requested the card be mailed to me, but that was a month ago and the card still hasn't shown up. This month, I'll be making time to go to the library, get a card, check out a book, and READ IT! I didn't read any books on my recommended summer reading list.

I miss my hammock.

Getting to Know All About You: Read any good books lately?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My makeover is working! Someone told me I looked classy last night! (He might actually have said I looked "assy" or "gassy," but because he also said he liked my face and spoke with me for about an hour, I'm going to go with "classy").

No one is mean/gutsy enough to call a stranger "assy", except maybe White Mackerel. Or Michael Malice.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Recently, I had a big belly dance weekend, with a prime seat for people-watching. I saw lots of similarly-dressed women (stretchy black yoga pants and a tank top) and was struck by how different each person came across. It wasn't the clothes, it was the carriage. One woman in particular, a dancer from Baltimore, had a pulled-together look and an air of class and elegance, on stage and off. Other woman looked slouchy, dull, grumpy, casual, uncomfortable, friendly, giddy, tired... all of these impressions were conveyed by expression, posture, gait and carriage. I don't know what impression I give (probably exasperated, pissed off and in a hurry), but I'm sure it can be improved. So, my July resolution is to cultivate a put-together look of classy/casual.

I've enlisted the help of two people to help me spruce up my wardrobe. I already have two looks: the yoga/belly dance wardrobe and the casual/comfortable wardrobe. This month I plan to add this new pulled-together look. This is a sundress town, so I think adding a skirt or two and a 2-3 sundresses will do the trick. Just wearing the clothes, however, doesn't complete the resolution. I have to feel comfortable and look natural, not like a girl playing dress up or a tomboy wrestled into a dress. I practiced wearing a skirt and tank-top today.

The dress is just part of the makeover. The second part is presence. For this, I am working on posture and gait. For some reason, as a preteen I took some sort of "finishing" class where I learned to walk, sit, turn and carry myself like a Lady. It seemed so silly at the time, but fortunately I remember parts of the lesson and for the past several days have been concentrating on walking like a Lady. There's a lot to remember. Who knew walking could be so complicated? I don't do so well with good posture while sitting down, but it's early in the month yet, so I'll master walking before attempting to sit properly. Perhaps by the end of the month, I will have learned to walk without kicking myself in the ankles. I hope the bruises go away.

I don't know how I will know if I have achieved casual elegance. It's the sort of thing that observant people notice, but rarely comment on. How many times have you told someone they look elegant/confident/pulled-together? My hope is that at the end of the month, I'll have dressier clothes in my closet, that I'll be comfortable wearing them and that good posture and a more lady-like gait will feel natural.

Getting to Know All About You: (Off-topic) Grey or Gray?

Makeover Follow-Up: I have been working on the walk/posture thing for six days, and I don't think I've mastered it yet, at least not on the metro. I had the most uncomfortable metro ride ever on Thursday. It was crowded, so I couldn't sashay as much as I had hoped, and I had to stand in the metro by the door. Someone ground my elbow into the plexiglass divider - ouch! After a few stops, the car cleared and I was able to sit down and nurse my elbow. A balding, so-slick-he's-sleazy man stood in the aisle next to me and butt-wrapped me between two stops. (Butt wrap: when someone stands so close to a seated person that his/her butt cheeks envelop the seated person's arm.) What could I do? "Excuse me sir, you seem to have trapped my arm between your butt cheeks?" The person next to me was asleep, slumped over on my side of the chair, so there was no where for me to go. To add insult to injury, after the butt-wrapper moved away enough to release my arm, he elbowed me in the face while trying to get some candy in his pocket. I wonder if this is some subway fetish that I don't know about: butt-wrap a stranger, then elbow her in the face? I don't think a Lady with class and understated elegance would be butt-wrapped, ever. I have a lot of work to do.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

With all of the commotion of moving, I sort of lost sight of my 31 New Things project and my New Month's Resolutions. In April, I devoted myself to oral hygiene. I didn't do much of anything consistently in May. What a waste. June, though almost closed, has been a month of belly dancing! I'm progressing nicely and know the difference between a hip shimmy, a twisty shimmy and a straight-leg shimmy. The belly dance lessons will continue on through August (and beyond), but I wanted to make it a priority at the outset so I won't be tempted to skip class.

There has been little progress on setting up the apartment. My kitchen is still mostly in boxes, with the exception of the essentials (plates, silverware, glasses, a skillet and a blender). I spent far too many hours shopping for new household things yesterday evening. I need to keep reminding myself that I want Scandinavian sparseness and a zen home. You can't buy that at Target. I'm feeling the need for another Not Buying It project!

Getting to Know All About You: What have you learned this week?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)