Wordy Wednesday: Cooking Refresher

So one thing I realized, when I moved, is that my cookbook collection was out of control. Books always added with good intentions and hopes of expanding my cooking skills. Most sadly sat on my bookshelf their spines hardly bent and their pages mostly pristine.  As I sat organizing my home office-library-craft room, oh heck... my multi-use room, I pulled out three titles and brought them upstairs. I thumbed through them and thought I should give myself a new fun project. Perfect timing as the outside temperatures are about to tumble.

 I selected the two Mark Bittman books in my collection and one slow cooker book in my collection. I may pull up a fourth on cooking with cast iron if I get ambitions, but for now the three are enough to keep me me occupied with a weekly cooking project. 

Why these three cook books out of the few dozen that are in my library? Well I like how Bittman write and I have heard enough people rave about his original book, the yellow one in the picture, I decided it would be a good one to work with out of the blocks. (Note this book has been revised and is now in a red cover, people seem to still like the original one better according to several reviews I have read.) Next, I selected the other Bittman book in my collections, "the basics". Why? because through this process, I would like to expand my culinary skills and I am sure there are plenty of lessons in this volume to keep me occupied for quite some time. The third book, a slow cooker cookbook was also to expand my culinary repertoire. Slow cookers, or as many of call them Crockpots, kind of intimidate me. Not sure why, I guess leaving the thing on, cooking away and unattended, while I go off to work unnerves me a bit. My friends that use them regularly, swear by them and the thought of walking in the door to dinner ready and waiting is enough me to allow me to dabble in this area. I figure I will break myself in easy with a soup or stew that can simmer away while I run short errands near where I live. Most of my cooking projects will be on Sundays and many may make their way into posts (both the successes and the failures.) I think I am looking forward to this winter more now than I was earlier in the month.  

Wordy Wednesday: Tracking my steps and my zzzs

Yep, that is my fitness tracker and it is currently spoadically vibrating across my desk. I picked up the Jawbone UP 24 earlier this year in January. Since then the little thing was happily tracking my steps, my sleep and reminding me if I have been idle for too long until this weekend. It gave up the ghost on Sunday night and while it is a bit freeing, I miss the little guy around my wrist. The device is controlled by a button that is located at one end of  the bracelet. I guess it no longer wanted to be in controll, the button just stopped engaging rendering the tracker useless. Jawbone support staff have been awesome and are sending me a replacement.

Some people have asked me, "why do you have one?" I really want to answer "because I can!" I really got it to track my sleep. Which after a week the device learned to do with a freaky amount of accuracy. It is not spot on, but it is very close. I also like the idle alert. You can set it to remind you if you have not got up and moved around for awhile. I have my idle alert set at the 60 minute mark. My job is mainly a desk job and I can get easily sucked into projects and lose track of time. When the idle alert goes off there is a little vibration reminding me to move!!! Sometimes I need that!

Currently I am waiting patiently for the replacement to arrive, while my broken one does the cha cha across my desk. For some unknown reason it is vibrating every so often. It was fully charged when the button broke, so i figure it has a few more days to dance on my desk.

People ask me if I would recommend it? Sure if you want to get a different view point on your activity level or sleep patterns it could help. However is it essential? Well not many "things" in life are essential.

Wordy Wednesday: Just About Peak Blossom Time!

The stars of spring time in Washington, D.C. are the Cherry Blossoms and rightly so. Yes, DC has had baseball since 2005, so while Opening Day at National’s Park is a big day, it has quite a long time to go to catch up to the fanfare that comes along each year for the Cherry Blossoms. For those that have never been to the DC during peak bloom of the Cherry Blossoms may not get all the fuss “over flowers on trees”, it is truly a spectacular time.

My favorite time to go down to the Tidal Basin and take in the blossoms is sunrise. The light is incredible and since it is not as crowded, it is very tranquil. I have been down during sunset, which is also very nice, but something about the blossoms at sunrise keeps me getting up at an ungodly hour, gathering up my cameras and stopping for a large cup of coffee before sliding into a parking spot near the Tidal Basin. The only good thing about being up so early is that a parking spot is fairly easy to find. So without further ado here are some photos of the cherry blossoms, during peak bloom, at both sunrise and sunset.

 

Sunrise 

 

The famous pink haze

 

A canopy of blossoms

 

Full morning light

 

 

Sunset

Late  afternoon at the Tidal Basin during the cherry blossoms' peak bloom period can be very crowded. Do not let the crowds scare you off, because shortly before sunset most of the tour buses begin to leave and the crowds die down. One year I was so engrossed in taking photos I missed the mass exodus of the tour buses and I had a moment of "Hey where did everybody go?" when I finally looked up from my lens. The late afternoon light on the blossoms is beautiful and be sure to stay for the sunset. Some years, during peak bloom, I get down to the Tidal Basin for both sunrise and sunset. Some years, I only make it down for sunrise. Then there was last year when I made it twice for sunrise and once for sunset. The reason it was twice for sunrise, was the blossoms were stubborn (due to a cold snap) and did not bloom as predicted. I spent a very chilly Sunday morning at the Tidal Basin hunting for blossoms. I returned later in the week when it warmed up and the blossoms were opening up in mass.

 

The last fleeting moments of a beautiful spring day

 

I love this cherry blossom goodness time of the year!

Wordy Wednesday: Hobbies - Photography

I was recently asked, "when did I get the photography bug?" I paused before I answered. Why? Simply because I cannot remember a time when I was not fascinated by cameras and taking pictures. I remember as a small child being very intrigued with my parent’s boxy Kodak instamatic with the square flash bulb that rotated around after flashing.

Image from dehk

I vividly remember the Christmas I received my very own Kodak Pocket Instamatic camera with the flip flash. I think that camera is still tucked in a drawer somewhere in my parents’ house. It was a tiny black little camera that fit my hands perfectly. As I kid, I was not sure whose pockets the camera was supposed to fit in, it certainly not my little kid pockets, but the wrist strap ensured I would not lose it.

 

Over the years I have owned several cameras since that first pocket camera. Let's see there were several point and shoot film 35mm, a Disk camera, a 35mm SLR, a bevy of point and shoot digital cameras and a DSLR. Oh and I cannot forget the camera on my iPhone. For the last 18 years I have mainly shot with Canons, but I do have a Sony point and click that I love to use for food pictures (for food and wine pairings) and there was that Fuji point and click camera that I killed from overuse.

When I have a spare minute there are several photo blogs that I peruse. Always on the hunt for tips and tricks to improve my photography skills, I noticed I was reading a lot about weekly (project 52) or daily (Project 365) photography projects. So at the start of this year I embarked on both a weekly photo project call 52 Week  Photography Challenge (Facebook group) and a daily photo project, otherwise known as a Project 365. Each Monday, during the 52 Week Photgraphy Challenge, a photography theme is picked and then participants have week to submit photos.

Project 365 app

The Project 365 is a bit more challenging because the goal is to take a photo every day.  Like almost everything in the world these days there is an “App for that”. Project 365 does have an App (for the iPhone) and the App makes it very easy to store your project in one place. Plus it will send you a reminder to take your daily picture. Some days I come up or spot my picture early in the day, other times it is well into the day or evening before the photo opportunity strikes. I enjoy this part of my daily routine, becauseit keeps my mindful and in the present. The pictures for the Project 52, I use many of the bevy of the digital cameras I own. I generally use my iPhone for the pictures I take for the Project 365, since it is the camera I almost always have with me.

 I have added a tab to this blog to post the pictures I take each week for the 52 Week Photography Challenge. There is a second 52 Week project I am contemplating joining, but two things are slowing me down. The first is time. The second, this second Project 52 has some really serious photographers participating. I should be using my DSLR for this second project, which means I have to figure how to get out of auto and program mode. No, I am not intimidated.... who am I kidding? yes, I am! Maybe this second project is something I can aspire to in 2015. In the mean time I will have fun with the two current photo projects.

Flip Flash (Image from John Nuttall )

Wordy Wednesday: Who put that speed bump in my path?

speed bump (noun) : a low raised ridge across a road or parking lot that causes people to drive more slowly.

 At the beginning of the year I really did not think I bit off more than I could chew for the first quarter of the year… work, volunteer with a couple of organizations, train for a half marathon, French class, keep normal social engagements etc. Add in the this snowy cold winter, start the home buying process and that I seem have a regular mental block that February and March are my most taxing months at work. The result, I am staring at an overflowing plate. I tell myself “you can do it, just buckle down it really is not too much.” Well this year the Universe thought differently and with a concerned chuckle thought “that one needs to slow down for her own good!”  The speed bump that was sent my way was in the form a respiratory bug that stopped me in my tracks. There was no soldiering through this bug. I stared at the calendar, I was three weeks from the half marathon. I kept telling myself this would clear up quickly and there was a glimmer of a chance that I could still run the Love Run at the end of the month. The things we whisper to ourselves when we want to hold out hope. Deep down I knew this was not true, this was too close to race day and this cold was too bad for the reasonable person to: in 22 days to recuperate, salvage whatever was left of a training schedule and complete the half marathon without doing any damage to one’s fragile health. This is one of those wonderful "could vs should" debate. Could I do it? yes. Should I do it? No. My doctor said to me, “with the cold you have, only a crazy person would still be considering to run the race at the end of the month, and you are not a crazy person! Pick another race, preferably a couple months later.”   

So grudgingly, I agreed I would bail on the race. Bailing on the race is not an easy thing for me to do. For me to just quit something, is not in my DNA. It takes something monumental to get me to throw my hands up and walk away. Sometimes sticking it out and not quitting can be a good thing (e.g.accomplishing goals,  coming up with creative solutions to hard problems), many times waiting too long to quit can be a bad thing (e.g. staying too long in an awful job, staying in relationships well past their expiration date). Learning to accept that quitting can be a good thing is a tall task for me, but I am learning to accept it bit by bit. I hope to go on a small run, a couple of miles or so, on race day to celebrate that I am healthy enough to be back running instead of being glum that I had to quit.

Wordy Wednesday: Wherefore Art Thou Spring?

After a long cold snowy winter that has truly over stayed its welcome, the National Park Service announced yesterday that  peak bloom for the blossoms, on the cherry trees that surround the tidal basin, would be April 8th - 12th. The announcement came on a day that set regional records for being one of the top three coldest March days in the National Capital area. The announcement offers a silver of hope that spring is really just around the corner and my thoughts turn to my favorite things that the season ushers in.

The National Cherry Blossom festival - I prefer the blossoms at sunrise, but no matter what time you go it is beautiful.

Opening Day  - I am not a huge baseball fan but there is something special and hopeful about those early spring games.

Spring Flowers - Little bursts of happiness.

Island Trips - Annual reunion of friends in St. Martin.

Spring Running - not too hot, not too cold.

Farmers markets and festivals

 

Other things I look forward to in the spring: Daylight Savings Time, annoucement of summer music series at Wolf Trap, washing the last of winter's grime off your car, and packing away all my cold weather gear.

Wordy Wednesdays: Trying New Things!



I fully own being a creature of habit….



Courtsey of Free Stock Images.

I am adventurous, but I also like the tried and true (read rut). Often these two parts of me can clash, especially when it comes to food.  As of late, I am forcing myself to try foods that I normally would have written off unless they came camouflaged say in the form of a dip (yes artichokes, I am looking at you). Why am I breaking out of my food rut? Well it is never too late to start investing in one’s health, add to that  I had to cut out a group of foods due to an allergy and viola a food adventure of exploring new options of foods to eat. Fortunately, the degree of my allergy does not force me to be overly militant and take a strict stance, I just have to restrict the foods that contain the allergen to a small part of my diet. Easier said than done when the allergy is wheat.

When I was 18, I had to go through second round of allergy testing when asthma came back with a vengeance. One of the items they tested for was wheat. It turned out that I was allergic to it. Not brutally, but enough for the doctor to mention it. I did not want to believe it. I was a college kid who’s diet consisted of bagels for breakfast and either pizza or pasta for dinner, if left to my own devices. I asked if the allergy shots would help with the wheat allergy and the doctor said maybe, but the best way was to take care of it was to restrict to a small portion of my diet. Years past and I did not think much about it until recently when I could not shake the last remnants of a cold. My current doctor said it could be allergies and knowing my history, he made a passing suggestion that maybe I should test out the previous doctor’s suggestion about removing almost all wheat from my diet. Tired of being sick, I agreed. Once the wheat was scaled back to only a small, and I mean really small, portion of my food intake, my symptoms disappeared. So feeling much better I was left with a new quandary…. WHAT THE HECK WAS I GOING TO EAT???

Yes, I know there is a world of food options out there waiting for me…. and this is where my food rut comes into play. Prior to seeing my doctor, I had already decided to reduce my sugar intake. Being mindful of all the hidden place that sugar hides, I started making changes. Reducing the sugar in my coffee (I had already cured myself of the artificial sweetener habit), making pasta sauce from scratch, swapping out my peanut butter (for the record breaking my JIF peanut butter habit was very hard). But now I had to eliminate a whole other area of comfort food: wheat products.

 I love flour tortilla, can’t stand the corn ones, I have found ones made from oats and flax that are acceptable. I love pasta, fortunately I do like the pasta made from quinoa. Bread…. well for wheat free options that is a vast wasteland of  choices, but I had found some good brown rice bread.

 After fretting for a bit… I accepted that I was going to have to get out of my food rut and explore new options. I knew a lot of those new options would be found in the produce aisle. So for the first time in my adult life, I found myself stopping and considering vegetables I had never glanced at before . I tried artichoke hearts, passable maybe I will grow to love them. Celery root, well it is kind of looks like jicama (at least in my mind, shhhh don’t dissuade me of this notion or I will put it back on the shelf) plus I have seen it used on the Food Network. Then there was kale. oh kale, that now trendy vegetable that seemed to be in everything from chips to green smoothies. I had a kale chip once and the texture reminded me of dried seaweed, yeah I passed on anymore of those chips. As for green smoothies, I am still working on getting used to smoothies, let alone green ones. I had always thought of kale as the decoration to cover the ice that some restaurants used on salad bars, but never thought to actually eat it. Somehow I convinced myself to pick up a small bushel, the smallest one I could find, and believe me I rummaged through the whole offering of kale in the produce aisle. Yes, people stared, why the store had to put all the kale on the highest produce shelf was beyond me. So armed with a recipe for sautéed kale (how could one go wrong with olive oil and garlic?) I tackled a portion of my small bushel really hoping for a positive outcome.

The kale rounded out a meal of polenta, chicken and chorizo sausage (I love spicy sausage, I am still on a quest to find good hot Italian sausage in the DC area… but that is for a post for another day). Why did I select those items? Well I figured if the kale was going to have a fair chance it needed to be paired with items I already liked. The outcome, I am thinking I am not a kale fan. I may be open to trying it one more time, but I am not going out of my way to do it.

I have been asked what I miss the most by extremely limiting my wheat consumption? BAGELS, I really miss bagels. Yes, I have tried the wheat free ones and if I ever need of a quick substitute for a hockey puck, I know exactly what to use.

Lightening up to Hit a Goal

On March 30, 2014, roughly six weeks from now, I will be lining up to start my 16th Half Marathon, The Love Run in Philly. Due to an extremely cold and snowy last several weeks with a side of the flu, my training program was seriously derailed. I mean seriously derailed. This is not helped by the fact that I have a love hate relationship with the treadmill. Meaning I love the concept of getting training miles in without having to brave the cold, ice and wind, but after about four miles I feel like a hamster. At some point on my treadmill runs the Oingo Boingo song “Running on a treadmill after you” starts playing through my mind no matter what music I splaying on my iPod.

As one week of not training gave way into another week of not training and so on until I was looking at almost four weeks without any solid training. I began to feel depressed about losing all the off-season ground work I had carefully laid down in preparation for my winter training. The seeds of doubt were germinating and taking over, dark storm clouds were closing in on my training horizon. Yes, after completing fifteen half marathons and one marathon over the last eleven plus years, I was doubting myself. I toyed with the idea of bailing on the race, even checked out the deferral policy.

Somewhere from deep down within me a voice said “oh not so fast kiddo! You are not bailing on this one! Get your butt back on the training program and make these six weeks count.” So Sunday afternoon I found myself pulling into the gym parking lot and stepping back on the treadmill. The first mile was tough, my legs protesting by triggering aches and pains from nonuse to throw me off. Eventually muscle memory took over and the next three miles became smoother, not easy but smoother. I still run up against a wall at about the four mile mark on the treadmill, but I will take it. Monday’s workout went even better. I guess by acknowledging the fact that I got off course was enough to get me out of the quitting funk.

I posted on Facebook that I was feeling determined, with the status of “It is buckle down time... 6 weeks out until the half marathon... And I am behind in my training. Love Run I will be ready!!!! The encouragement I got from several sources was just enough wind to fill my sails. My cousin, who is a seasoned marathoner, provided encouragement and the verbal smack I needed to eliminate those seeds of doubt, “You have so much experience that you'll ramp to where you need to be very quickly.” and “You just get back to routine and you'll start feeling better quickly. Good luck. I'll be cheering you on.” I like to think that I am a pretty good lone warrior, but I am slowly realizing that yes, even I, sometimes need a village to remind me that all is not lost and if I lighten up a bit, the goal may just come back into to focus.

My goal you may ask? Originally it was to break the sub three hour finish mark (I generally power walk the half marathons). I have been inching closer and closer to doing that with each half marathon I complete. In order to bust through the 3 hour finish mark, it means adding running into the mix. The transition from power walking to running is not as easy as one may suspect.  Now that I am making my way back on track and feeling happier, I have lightened up my goal. My goal now is to complete the half, have fun (not injure myself) and set a personal best, even if it means that my first sub 3 hour finish must wait for the next half marathon on my schedule.

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My Snowy Valentine (Special Weekend edition of Wordy Wednesday)

 

As I posted on a Facebook status earlier in the week before a Nor’easter hit the east coast, “More snow….sigh. Not that I am a snow downer, I actually like snow. It is just that I grew up with it always being up in the mountains and we could visit it, not live in it.

As the storm hit there were the normal news reports all about the snow. About midway through the reporting day when the talk of snow no longer seemed novel, the stories than turned to how all the snow was going to impact Valentine’s day. More like how it was going to affect sales of Valentine’s related items. Sigh, got love our capitalistic culture. One reporter while interviewing one man, asked him if he had his valentine’s day shopping already done? and the man replied that he was single with no one to shop for… and then there was an awkward moment of silence before the reporter changed the topic back to the snow.

 Ah the joys of being a singleton around certain days, namely Valentine’s Day and New Year’s eve.

A well-meaning acquaintance asked me, as we waited for the metro train, what I was going to do tonight since it was Valentine’s day and I was single. I took a slight breath, smiled and said I am doing what everyone else is doing, I am enjoying the evening, picking up flowers, having a nice dinner and opening up a little special gift. She said “Oh, so you are dating someone?” I said “No, but there is no reason I have to sit this holiday out, I can be my own Valentine!” I smiled as the metro train pulled to a stop. Where we were happened to be standing was between two train cars, as she turned to head to the car that stopped ahead of us, I turned on my heel and walked to the one that stopped behind us. 

 Now I could easily grumble about how insensitive she was being or how these holidays are stacked against singles. I could have said I am boycotting Valentine’s day and be done with it… but that bad attitude leads really only to turning a lovely day into a bad one. Although, I will admit it wasn’t that long ago I was a negative nelly about the whole Valentine’s and New Year’s eve being single thing. I almost sat out this past NYE, perfectly content to be holed up in my apartment with my bad mood. It was not because I did not have any options, it was that whole “you are single on NYE (poor you)” thing looming over me like a dark storm cloud. I did go out and had a fabulous time. What caused the change in my perspective? A new tube of lipstick and lip liner.  Yes it is true… something as small as a new lipstick can change one’s perspective. I am very much an optimistic person, when I am in a bad mood all that is needed is a glimmer of a positive light and my bad mood starts to retreat. I really can’t explain it beyond that I think my being likes to be happy and positive, so when I am not the second something happy or positive happens….BOOM the bad mood begins to recede. For me on NYE, the happy thing just happened to be a new lipstick.

It is probably the change of perspective I needed for a long time. I am working on this “love thy self” stuff or what it really is the “trying not to be so hard on myself.” So heading into this Valentine’s day the only storm clouds that darkened my world were the ones that left several inches of snow. In case you are curious, yes I did buy a new fabulous lipstick and lip gloss, not because I was in a bad mood or needed a “happy” heading into the holiday. I bought them simply because they were fabulous.

Travel + Snow = I hope you have a lot of patience!

This past weekend I was reminded why you never connect through Chicago O’Hare airport during winter weather months. Truth be told when I booked my tickets to Houston, I swore I selected the flight that connected through Orlando. That is what I get for multitasking when booking flights. When I realized that I had a connection through Chicago in January, I knew it would be an adventure. When I boarded my fight at Regan National Airport everything went smoothly. The pilot mentioned we would even get into Chicago early. Good sign, I thought and then I wondered if the upgrade to first class for the second leg of my flight was money well spent.

I had a bit of layover in Chicago, so I stopped for dinner. That is when I began to realize that there were big delays for many flights. The delays were getting longer and I was concerned mine too would begin grow. I was already getting into Houston very late and I was not looking forward to it being any later than it had to be. I sat there eating my meal, watching basketball, listening to the banter about delays and checking my flight status on my smart phone. For a good portion of my layover my flight status did not change, then as boarding time drew close, the first delay was announced. As I paid my bill to head to the my gate, the bartender asked me if I wanted another drink in a “to go” cup. A “to go” cup?? Now I have run into “to go” cups for adult beverages in Key West and New Orleans, but an airport? I said no, I was good and closed out the bill. I picked up a bottle of water and made my way to the gate. It was quite a festive scene. People were standing all over the place chatting, joking and having a decent time. Not the scene one expects walking through an airport that has been plagued by delays. That’s odd I thought… where were all the cranky people? That when I noticed quite a few people had a “to go” cup in their hand. As I waited for my flight, I joked with friends on Facebook. I mentioned the “to go” cup and a friend, a native Chicagoan, posted “embrace the “to go” cup.”

A few more delays, a gate change and one more delay, we were able to finally board the flight. Once we were in our seats a new round of the waiting game commenced. We were now waiting for the de-icing equipment to arrive at our plane. This wait could be 45 minutes or longer. Tonight, the pilot

speculated may be longer as there seemed to be a shortage of ground including de-icing personnel. How a major airport can be short-handed with critical ground personnel is mind boggling and a post for another time. However about an hour later the de-icing truck showed up next to our plane (I have never been so happy to see a de-icing truck in my life) and shortly thereafter were being pushed back to make our way to the runway. Two and half hours later we landed in Houston, it was closing in on 3:00 a.m. (well pass my bedtime) but at least I made it to my destination. I hailed a cab, after a fruitless attempt to hail a shuttle to the hotel, and was in for an interesting ride (think “E-Ticket” ride) to my hotel all that stood between me and a comfortable bed was the night shift hotel employee that was half auditor and half mediocre front desk personnel. My hopes were not high for the hotel as the location was under “remodeling” (that is code for your stay will be subpar) but the hotel is known to give out cookies when you check-in and at this point I was looking for one sliver of something positive before I melted in to a puddle of tired, upset mush. At 3:00 a.m., to my delight the cookies were warm and fresh, my room was practical and the bed…. well anything is comfortable when you are exhausted… but this bed was divine.

I don't know where to put this..... oh right here is good enough.

This past weekend I got a bee in my bonnet to start sorting through things as I get ready for a move this year, once I buy a house. Instead of hitting my book shelves or closets for things to toss out, I had my eye on six items, three boxes and three baskets, and decided these would be my first targets. The contents of these six containers were all the category of “I don’t know where to put this… oh right here is good enough.” There weren’t always six at one point in time there was only one, but when that one filled up a second one appeared and the cycle repeated until six of these “I don’t know where to put this….oh right here is good enough” sat together on a small shelving system mocking me. I guess you could call me a neat clutter bug… everything seems to be put away but please don’t look in those baskets. I am trying to break this habit, but it did start early. I remember as a child being told to clean up my room. Everything looked tidy, surfaces of my desk and dresser were clean and organized. The book were all neatly lined up in my book case. But do not look under the bed nor in the toy closet, where everything was stuffed in order to achieve the illusion of neatness. So as I sat on my living room floor sorting out the 6 containers of stuff, feeling pretty much the same way I recalled as a child… “why do I do this? Why can’t I be neat” I chuckled and told myself that it was ok and as long as I made a decision about contents of the baskets and boxes I could go out and play (in this case it was to go watch the 49ers v Panthers playoff game with my friends.)

 

So you may be curious was in this basket and boxes. Mainly odds and ends. Instruction manuals, extra screws, nuts and bolts from furniture long ago assembled. There were office supplies and beauty supplies. A small collection of match books and trinkets saved for reasons that escape me now. A Ziploc bag held a large refrigerator magnet collection that reminded me of why I no longer collect magnets as souvenirs.  There were bits and pieces of sporting gear (golf and running notably). In the last basket I came across some old cell phones and two canisters of 35 mm film. One of the canisters had been used the other was waiting for its turn in a camera. The old cell phones a Treo and a Krazer both “IT’ products in their day now almost seemed like toys for a child. Almost everything found its proper place or was thrown out or recycled. The two canisters of film held my attention. One holds the possibility of  a small photo adventure. The other offers a window back in time, of at least nine years ago, to whatever event or adventure was captured at that moment. Now to find a photo developer, that may be easier said than done. After that I plan to dust off my old 35 mm SLR and go old school and shoot this one last roll. 

Resolutions, Gold Stars and Shiny Objects

2014 has decided to come in with a bang, or shall I say a Polar Vortex? Being a transplant from Southern California I am not sure my body will ever get use to the normal cold that January in the Mid-Atlantic can offer. However this Polar Vortex thing is enough to make this girl rethink her geographical choices.

A New Year brings New Year’s Resolutions right? No, I hopped of the resolution express a long time ago. Why create more pressure in my life? I was already very accomplished at doing that without resolutions adding more.  Why set myself up for failure? So several years back I tweaked my thinking after being hard on myself for not sticking to my resolutions, and started focusing on goals I wanted to accomplish in the new year. At the end of the year I would check back to see what I goals I accomplished and those I had not, what I learned over the course of the year and set new goals for the upcoming year.

So let’s take a look back on my 2013 Goals:

1) Set personal bests (PBs) in two half marathons (√ & √)     
2) Hit the gym or run at least 3xs per week (√)                 
3) Take French classes (√)                                                       
4) Taking cooking classes to improve my culinary skills (√)
5) Travel to a place I have not been to (√)
6) Don’t be so hard on/Cut myself some slack (half √)
7) Buy a home (swing and a miss)

With the exception of 7 and well maybe 6… I can give myself half credit on 6. I checked off most of my goals for 2013. Gold Star!!!

 

What did 2013 teach me? It taught me how to shift my focus and find things that stretched my abilities and learn new skills that would enrich my personal life (French lessons, culinary classes, PBs and traveling) instead of focusing on just my career. 2013 also taught me, once again, to embrace serendipity that life throws at you. Something good will come of it whether it is an adventure, a new skill or new friends added to your life.

The one and half goals not accomplished are a little harder to explain. The purchase of a new home… well let’s just chalk that up to the year got away from me. The “Don’t be so hard on/cut  myself some slack” goal almost wound up in the not accomplished heap. I have the duo of bad habits of over scheduling myself and over estimating how much I can get done in a given time period. I do not factor in breathing room, so one mishap and my to-do list can easily derail. Instead of adjusting things I still try and do everything and when that fails, well cue the self-scolding. I was on the express train to self-scolding over holiday cards this past December.  But a moment of clarity and encouraging words from a few friends, just as I was about to beat myself for not planning ahead and getting my holiday cards created and mailed well before the holidays, helped me refocus. I took a deep breath logged on to the website where I create my cards and found the New Year’s templates that helped me achieve my goal of sending out cards to friends and family while buying me about two weeks more time to create them and send them out.  

What are the goals for 2014? well the goals and half not accomplished last year are at the top of the list.

1) Buy a home.
2) Continue to break the habit of being too tough on myself.
3) Continue my French lessons and cultivating my culinary skills.
4) Participate in 3 half marathons (two are already picked and I am registered).
5) Travel to a place I have not been before.
6) Be consistent in posting to this site.
7) Improve my photography skills (I will master manual mode!!!)

Check back in December and see what I can check off!

 

New Year and a New Chapter Begins.....

Turns of seasons bring about slow transformations, if you are not paying attention they can seem dramatic. The turn between years is much more noticeable, ushered in with festive celebration, fireworks and the dropping of the ball in Times Square. So it is fitting that I celebrate the slow transformation of my blog on the day for all things new.

Over the last three years the main focus of this blog has been wine and food pairings. The last year or so has been a struggle. I simply was not drawn to it. I was not inspired. It was not for a lack of ideas. I enjoy cooking up a new recipe and thinking about what wine would make an ideal pairing. I would go through the paces of selecting a menu and picking the wine. I would prepare the meal, pour the wine take the notes and snap the pictures. When I would later sit down to review the notes to write a post or sift through the photos, I would feel the creativity drain away. I blamed many things for the my avoidance of the blog. In the back of my a head excuses piled up and were rationalized by the fact that many blogs whither on the vine and languish in cyberspace. Something deep, deep down continue to tug at me and not let the blog completely drift away, another discarded blog on the internet highway.  

Last October, I was reviewing many of the photos I had taken over the year and noticed that all the photos I had taken of the food and wine pairings were flat while other pictures I had taken over the year were vibrant. It slowly dawned on me as I continued sifting through the pictures that yes, I had grown bored with my muse. Realizing I was becalmed in the creative doldrums, I thought about what led me to this point.

Maybe it was due to other things tickling my fancy, drawing my focus elsewhere, leaving me not wanting to pick up my pan, bottle opener and pen….

Maybe as the year progressed I found it exhausting....  
Maybe over the course of the last year I had grown, creativity wise, in different directions and felt confined by the narrow focus of the this blog.

To be honest is was all of the above.

So in the spirit of a fresh start that is ushered in with a new year. I am changing things up. Broadening the focus to include, new passions and old hobbies….learning new things and sharpening old skills….to include adventures in ordinary life and yes,  from time to time I will pick the pan, bottle opener and pen for a pairing and feature it in a post.

 
I look forward to the adventure that lies ahead.