Magic

     Last night was the first in about 27 years that I felt the magic of Christmas.  It was just G and me hanging out and cooking and eating and later pouring some Jager down our throats; I was happy, content and at ease knowing I was exactly where I wanted to be (before the Jager hit me).  Texting my little sis as well as talking to her on the phone, she was expressing the energy my nephew was showing waiting for Santa to get to Utah and to his house.  Hearing him in the background as we chatted on the phone, I felt his energy!  In fact, I am certain some of his energy did travel at mach speed through the cellular signals and hit me.

     She was using a Santa tracker to know of his last spotted country, state, and city; I asked where he was last spotted, she replied "South America", it was then I felt the magic come through me again.  The same magic I felt when I was a little girl on Christmas Eve watching the local news anchors track Santa and unveil where he was last spotted.  I can still hear my parents saying, "Santa won't come to our house if you kids are still up!"  And once we were snuggled in bed, or not snuggled because our excitement ran through out legs down to our feet and kept kicking the covers off of us, they would yell at us from the kitchen or living room, "You girls be quite and go to sleep!"  Giggles rippled in between our beds as our laughing became muffled in our pillows so they wouldn't yell again!

     For many years, ever since I was 13, I have made Christmas a holiday of obligation.  Others are obligated to buy for another, and the price of the gift has to be substantial or the person you are giving to will know it did come from your heart.  Whatever that means.  Year after year I have been prying myself away from this scene, a scene I do not believe in; go broke buying up items that may or may not be remembered in a year to people who you may or may not see again in a year, just to make another person smile at you, to make another person give you a gift.  I like to buy gifts, don't get me wrong, I like to show others how much I appreciate them but I don't go overboard and I don't spend money I don't have.  No gift, one gift - perfect!    

     "He's in Nova Scotia!..." was the next text she sent to me, and it was not long after the South America text; Santa moves magically quick.  When she told me he was in Baltimore the wave of excitement hit me again as I was trying to envision my nephew jumping off the walls, literally I am certain, that Santa was hours away from us.  My sis is trying to get him to bed so he is asleep when Santa arrives but his excitement was too great, and because I was feeling it too, I told her that I am on his side and he should stay up a little longer...because it is Christmas Eve after all.

     Finally she got him to bed but not yet asleep, as he began knocking on the walls still exerting his excitement for Santa to arrive and leave behind foreknowing gifts.  The magic of being, the magic of knowing, the magic of believing!

Merry Christmas!  

Fresh Pineapple

I am getting crazy in the kitchen! Sliced up my 1st pineapple! Tasty one...

Christmas Eve Dinner

     Oh the dinner we ate last night was one of my best meals yet...in my opinion.  Awhile back I purchased Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes cookbook.  Besides flipping through pages and drooling on a few photographs of dishes, the book has not been used much in the way of preparing and cooking a delicious dish, until last night.  The Naked Chef's Tray Baked Chicken recipe was the one I choose to make, but I made slight changes from his version yet still created a masterpiece.  

     A couple tender chicken breasts lay on a thin bed of olive oil, a generous sprinkling of paprika and some oregano while a pat of butter rested on each breast. The brussel sprouts drizzled in olive oil and rosemary salt (yep, rosemary flavored sea salt) and pepper baking in the oven.  Red potatoes quartered and softening in the boiling water seasoned with rosemary.  Once the chicken and potatoes were done on the stove top, I stuck them into the oven on low boiler setting for ten minutes.  The chicken laid with a quartered lemon and a few bay leafs drizzled with olive oil while the potatoes in their own roasting pan were drizzled with olive oil, rosemary salt and pepper, slightly mashed yet still whole in their own quartered section.

     The chicken was tender, juicy and flavorful, the potatoes were flavorful with the right amount of softness not over done and the brussel sprouts were buttery delicious even though I didn't use butter.  In all, it probably took me 30 minutes start to finish to make this and the clean up was not bad at all.  Why, again, do I have a difficult time stepping both feet into the kitchen to create and be creative?

     I do know that I need to not only read recipes but to throughly read through them and think through all the steps needed to complete before I begin tossing ingredients together.  G is so right, it is all about the timing of the foods; you can't have the chicken over cooked while waiting for the potatoes to finish cooking.  Good thing there was no waiting on any item and each item turned out perfectly...again, in my opinion.

     Damn it, I ought to have taken a photo of my masterpiece...guess I will have to make it again to get that delicious photo and have you all drooling in your keyboard just as I drool in this tantalizing cookbook.

On the go

I now have blogger on my phone, with the intension of posting more.

Spirals and Water

On our walk today we came upon a puddle, a frozen puddle, yet this is distinct from any other frozen puddle because of the design it has taken on.  Look at the spiral inside, so perfect, so beautiful, so unique.  

  

  

The End or the Beginning of a Year

     The end of the world or the beginning of a new year.  I choose the beginning of a new year.  There is far too much to accomplish before the end of the world, like completing just seven more classes for my Bachelors of Arts, and starting out in my new career, and searching for the right training to become a certified yoga instructor, and to play and laugh and love.  See, far too many things to accomplish before the next two days.  

     This is the time of year where several of us are beginning to think of our New Year's Resolutions.  It has been almost a decade where I have not participated in this yearly tradition; don't get me wrong, I set goals and I set paths into achieving my goals, but I refuse to use one day each year to declare them.  That said, my goals are clarified daily, weekly, with each semester, for the next year, for the next five years, for the next ten years (okay, I really haven't gone ten years out yet).  And I try to be creative with my goals, not to just say "I want to lose 15 pounds." or "I will eat healthier."  In truth, it has been about a decade when I quit using those as my goals because it seemed to fail for me, instead I reproach this by stating, "I will practice yoga two times a week and run two times this week."  Four days out of seven makes it easier to accomplish instead of looking at it as one week down but 360 more days to go.  Basically, look at each day or each week as it comes and not focus on an entire year.  If you focus too far out, stress creeps in quickly if you skip a day, then 20 more days go by because of guilt, it builds and compiles.  You see where I am going with this, you have most likely been down this path a time or two.

                                                                                    by Pithless Thoughts: Annotated...

     Here is my proposal to you, why not this be the year for your New Year's Resolution stating you will not make big, lofty goals for a year out when you can accomplish much more each week.  Besides, it is more satisfying when you complete goals weekly and to look back a year from now to feel, see and touch all your accomplished goals.

     A few ideas I have been kicking around in my head are to take photos daily, yet in my reality, I ought to declare one photo a week, this way I can be sure to obtain it; choose a buzz word for me and use it within my circles weekly, weekly sounds easy but I do not want to put extra stress on myself so I will declare to choose a buzz word monthly; since I enjoy writing, I will write about a color weekly, but with my class schedule I am sure to miss quite a few, so I declare to write about a color monthly.  By creating goals outside the overly used, "I will lose weight," "I will exercise," I will eat better."yada yada yada, you are motivating your mind and body to paint outside the box, pink looks so much better on the left of the line anyway.

     How will I remember all of my goals floating in my noggin?  First I will write them in my nifty notebook I carry pretty much everywhere...collects my thoughts, ideas, phrases, music, stories I saw happen or stories I have conjured in my head.  Also, I have recently found StickK.com, it is a genius of a website where you write down what your goals are, you choose a time period to accomplish your goal or goals, and they hold you accountable by 1) reminding you to report your success or not, each week, and 2) having you put money on the line - if you fail to accomplish your weekly goal, you send $X to a friend or charity.  Say I want to exercise more, I choose the program or the desired weight, the time period and the person who gets my said choice of money each week I fail.  Why should you fail a week if you are going to pay someone $X?  Again, just looking at the days ahead, not adding unhealthy stress for the months and year ahead.  As Bob Wiley says, "Baby Steps, baby steps." (What About Bob).  And if you forget about an idea before writing it down or performing it out, no worries, you have plenty of other ideas swimming around waiting to be noticed.              

     So to this I say, here is an terrific end to a new beginning!  Släinte!

Run

This morning I finally hit the pavement again after a couple weeks away.  It is easy to skip a long, or short, run on these cold days.  Right before I headed out I downloaded the Nike+Running app on my phone and thought once pushing the "Start Run" button it start counting my time and distance...being the first to this nifty app, I ought to have read more because it wanted to know more details to my run, like if I was running indoors or out, if I wanted music and cheers.  Ya, didn't get that far in the app.  Next run for sure though I am continuing through the process before prancing away up the road.

My run was awesome though, from "Runners World (www.runnersworld.com)" they mentioned having coffee an hour before your run since the natural caffeine will keep your rhythm going and stamina up, and since I read that while sipping my hot coffee I decided to try it out.  Sure as hell it works!  I had energy, just as much as when I chew on a few of those energy shots, and no side stitches people!  Going to try this trick again.  Maybe tomorrow morning if I can get my butt out of bed early.  If not then maybe on Wednesday.

The only thing I need to mend is the horrific pain on the bottom of my right foot; ball and smaller toes are in constant pain, felt better to run then when I paced myself now and then with walking.  If you have any tips for this, please send them.

Cheers!

Baby Elephants Sold to Abusers

Elephants are some of the greatest creatures on Earth, their gentle strength, their love for every elephant in their family, their dances, their knowledge..okay, everything about these beautiful animals is awesome!  So why does man want to control them, own them?  For profit, bottom line.  Elephant babies stay with their mothers for life, the family continues to grow as each generation gives birth to more elephants.

The recent controversy of the newest born elephant in Oregon's zoo who is in fact "property" of Have Trunk WIll Travel.  The business deals of zoos and animal abusers behind closed gates.  Am I wrong to think that zoos are there for the animals to provide a safe home, safe from poachers, safe from extinction  safe from the ill hands of man?  Or I am still naive to think that we as humans can grow and evolve into kind creatures, seeking the best for the greater good.

The article I am reading this morning is from Care2, Sad Future in Entertainment for One Baby Elephant, from this article is a wonderful quote, hopefully it grabs you like it did me.  

If zoos actually cared about elephants they would contribute to real conservation efforts instead of wasting fortunes on breeding programs and enclosures that will never be adequate for an animal that should be roaming miles every day with the ability to explore landscapes and choose their own companions.

I believe that sums up a lot of what I think and looks like others think as well.  How can we stand up against the pockets of money to stop this from happening...ever?  If only we could capture the business people behind this contract, chain them to a small enclosure so they can only sway and not walk, bullhook them when they talk out of place and make them stand in their own shit for hours or days.  Damn good idea I say!

(photo courtesy of Care2.com)
 

Need Music for Running

Call it procrastination or lazy, the idea of making a playlist seems challenging, or boring, not sure which one.  But pandora plays five songs over and over and over and over...I thought there was more music out there.  Silly me.  Anyway, came across this playlist and may have to try it: 60-Minute Running Playlist.

If you have any suggestions, I am open for them; looking for more motivation on the road.

Badass Self

I have recently found another awesome website and I am addicted to it!  The contributors are excited to tell readers their favorite foods, different ways in dealing with stress, or how to look inside.  Article after article I have not yet been disappointed   Those who follow me on Twitter know how many articles I share, for some reason I feel strong to share this article here.

10 Ways to Become Your Most Badass Self

I am sure we have have all heard this before but to accept what is being said, truly feeling what the message is, it is then we get excited and put thoughts into actions.

...Finals Are Upon Me; Therefore...

It is about this time during a semester when I start to get the "what am I doing with my life" itch; three maybe four months of intense studying and attendance, feeling the heavy haul about to be lifted for a couple weeks and my mind races with questions and certainty to uncertainty.  Is this because I know there is more to what I can do or is it because I feel I have been confounded for months and I need to break free?  Either way, the time is here and the questions are popping out of my mind.

"I can do what she/he is doing."  "I want to do what she/he is doing."  So on and so on.  So why don't I dive in and indulge myself in what I WANT TO DO?  Fear.  Embarrassment.  Ridicule.  Negative people discouraging me with negative words.  

Instead of fearing of what others will say to me or behind me I need to embrace my being and fully embrace what I WANT.  Yes, I am yelling, really yelling at myself.

There are so many paths I want to encounter in my career, not many play into the next but they are something I wish to accomplish; corporate social responsibility  food critic (not that I am no longer a vegetarian this will become more open (sorry, no pigs are invited)), author, animal advocate, healthy living, yoga, running, reading to be a better author, food critic, CSR...  I will fully embrace myself into every aspect of these topics and succeed.

What I need now are the nay sayers in my head and in my world to stop and either be behind me or leave (how to properly rid of nay sayers in head?).    

Tone, context, content,

If I don't put risk into what I want, than I will risk more than imagined.

Foundations

I found this poem on another's site admiring his art rock work (www.gravityglue.com), and for some reason, this of the several he has on his website truly grabbed my attention.

Foundations

"In many shamanic societies, if you came to a shaman or medicine person complaining of being disheartened  dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four question. 

-When did you stop dancing? 

-When did you stop singing? 

-When did you stop being enchanted by stories? 

-When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence? 

Where we have stopped dancing, singing  being enchanted by stories, or finding comfort in silence is where we have experienced the loss of soul. 

Dancing, singing, storytelling, and silence are the four universal healing salves."

~Gabrielle Roth