Happy 2010

I am so thankful for the year 2009. In it I saw one of my best friends get married, and I got to experience her family's beautiful culture in a big way on New Year's 2009.

I wrote a thesis, finished graduate school, and saw the first bi-racial US president sworn into office.

I worked three jobs simultaneously and did pysch experiments in order to get pocket money for Starbucks. I adopted a cat, and lived in a Baltimore row house for a month.

I became a vegetarian and have only eaten a few pieces of chicken, one hot dog, some Slim Jim's, and some accidental "sweet bread" and shrimp the whole year. So I saved our environment over a ton *literally* of carbon emissions. In sheer size and quantity, it's by far my biggest accomplishment this year.

I also moved to New England like I've wanted to for a decade and met, very surprisingly, my financial goals for the year to get a job that I love making X amount of money and to start a personal retirement account so I don't have to rely on stocks or a 401K. I am entering 2010 with no credit card debt, after an extremely tumultuous financial year. It's not without it's ups and downs (pro: I witnessed a beautiful New England autumn; con: through my windshield mostly during my 45 minute commutes down the interstate to work), but this choice was the right choice for me, and I love my life here.

I have laughed much with friends and family, and have kept those I love near to me. I don't know where I would be or what I would do without them.

I have gotten closer to God and more bold in loving God in so many different ways this year. Making peace with the peace that indwells all of us is a life-long journey, and now I can pursue it with full confidence.

So it has not been a wasted year. It started out half-way across the world, and it feels in some ways like I have been running the distance back home. But in 2010, I anticipate a steady stream of goodness to come from the world around me and my interaction with all beings. I want to appreciate my blessings and live purely in them, giving back to them the joy they give to me.

I hope you find this time a continuation of the good things in your life and turning point of fuller peace and contentment in the place where you are, in each moment of 2010.

Footie Suspenders

In light of the beautiful snow storm pictorial outside of my living room windows, it is appropriate to make a joke about footie suspenders.

I do not, on principle, like these kinds of boots. I had a really cute pair of them awhile ago when when they were new. They were Tiffany blue, not camel like everyone's these days, and they were a present. But as with leggings, which I wear to the gym and around the house but otherwise have a certain wariness of, these boots became too trendy, and now they adorn all ladies legs it seems, ages 8 months to 38 years or so.

But in full disclosure, I now own 2 pairs of said-style boots. It happened out of necessity - I acquired my first pair from a Target when in need of appropriate foot attire to stand in the freezing cold of the Washington Mall for 10 or so hours during the Obama inauguration. These little black boots were the least expensive alternative I could find, and roomy enough to fit several pairs of socks underneath them. So enough said.

Next, on my recent trip to Baltimore, I was packing very light. Only there for a day, I brought a single pair of shoes, ballet flats, to serve as my airport shoes, the shoes I wore to the gym, my shoes for all my appointments out, etc. Too bad it was torrentially raining once I got out of my appointments and headed back on the bus to grab a meal and relax at the hotel. By the early evening, hours before my flight, my feet were soaking and squishy, and my shoes un-dry-able. This is when I made the pseudo-desperate decision to book it to the nearest Payless Shoe Source and find, yet again, the least expensive pair of cozy foot-muffs I could. Enter a new pair of these silly boots, this time chocolate brown.

And though it pains me to own these boots, which make me automatically think of 12-year-old mean girls every time I wear them, they are several things I admit - basic, easy, cozy, warm. Living in a crazy place called New England, where they don't even bother to let it stop blizzarding before they shovel the snow off the ground (?!?), I pretty much need these boots. I should be thankful for these boots. But then enter the footie suspenders.

Remember stirrup pants for little girls and occasionally their elementary school teachers to wear with a baggy sweater?

Well, in case you want to re-live those days with a pair of faddy boots, go right ahead. In fact, it's a necessity, that if you don't want your jeans to look funky tucked into your big old clunky boots, you need to refashion them into stirrup pants and re-live the second grade.

Honestly, I am no one's judge in terms of fashion. In fact, the more funky the better, and everyone is entitled to their own personal style. But I am just saying if you have to stirrup your pants to make your Clydesdale feet look cooler this winter, I am not of your kindred.

PS - O and I got into our first snowball fight this morning, and guess who won? That's right - go opposable thumbs!!

S & D: A fond look back

As the year draws to a close, and I embark on the birthdays of first S, then me, I am looking back and finding myself very thankful for the time we've had together so far.

While I have high hopes that the next decade will bring us perhaps even fonder memories then the last, there are some great times behind us:

Being the subject of a nationally syndicated news article

Going to New York City and covering Madison Square Garden, Broadway, Times Square, China Town, Staten Island, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and The Met in under 24 hours

Scrap-booking

Raising a hamster

Raising a cat

Buying our Christmas tree at Walmart

Fighting about Ted Kennedy breaking up the minimum wage filibuster

Halloween as Soulja Boy and Soulja Girl

Mount Vernon

The salmon dinner at J's

...so many, many more.

This year, S and I get the privilege of spending our first New Year's as a couple together, after over 3-and-a-half years together. One year we did talk over the phone as the ball dropped, but we were in different cities, and two of the three years we were on different continents.

This year we will be in my favorite southern state, and the activity of choice will be a tradition of ours, dress-up bowling. This is exactly what it sounds like, going to a bowling alley in your sophisticated party clothes, jacket optional, high-heels not-so-much, and adding to the ensemble your competitive spirit. I am the reigning champion, but maybe S will find himself luckier this time around. I'll be lucky just to be there having the time of my life.

Someone caved...

...and turned on the heating tonight.


Oh, the shame. If only I could be more scrappy.

I knew a few days ago when I first used my dishwasher that this was the beginning of the end. I am an officially soft, kept woman. Woe is me.

Today I have consumed:

Two cups of coffee

One cup of hot chocolate

5 Christmas cookies

5 Christmas candies

...and that's it, at 5:30 at night.

Whoo boy, is it ever time for vacation.

Game on!

So what's the perfect balance to weekend that's mellow without being boring?

I say seeing an old friend who always inspires me and puts a smile on my face, finding a new place to get great food (read the best tomato, mozzarella and basil pizza I think I've ever had) and watch the Cavaliers beat the pants off the Celtics when S comes back to town, and perfecting my own game of pool. Sort of. I mean, I can only do so much with the lack of coordination God gave me.

And yes, I did get to the gym for some weights and a run. So there. Let's just see if I get to yoga 5-6 times this week like I *plan* on.

Five days of work this week, and then fourteen days of much-needed Christmas for me.

I can't wait!!!

Fa la la la...

Guess who finished all of her family Christmas shopping today?Well, kind of.

You see, out of all my Christmas ambitions, to work out, to read about love, to and make my own gifts this year, the only one I've been keeping is the one about presents. Sad, but true.

I've read a little, and even memorized the first passage I've dug into - "Be completely humble and gentle; Be patient, bearing with one another in love." Isn't that pretty? And I learned it, years out of a school environment which last required me to know things by heart.

But working out, yeah. the last time I did, I did well. I did 5 minutes of strength training, 10 minutes of yoga, and 10 minutes of cardio. And then I stopped. Completely. It's been really hard to get to yoga classes, since they're 30 minutes away from work and home, and I feel like I am tied down to both places these days, especially with work, where I currently am, chipping away at a troublesome report and waiting on a friend in town to call me back. So my plan, Stan, is to get to the gym either tonight or tomorrow morning, and to get to yoga tomorrow evening and at least a few times this week before heading south for Christmas! Not exactly an accomplishment, but a start!

So gifts, fun gifts. What can I say about them without spoiling the surprise? Well, S knows what his gift is. It's a song, and it has been so fun to work on, because I literally get inspiration for the melody or lyrics out of thin air, and have to rush to my computer to type them in like a fancy-pants author or something. A song is the least I can do for him, since he's giving me a little something like this for a present this year, and I am so excited!!!

As for M & K, they're gifts are still secret, but I am playing a bit of Santa phone tag with them to make sure they'll like them (of course, I talk to M for K's gift and vice versa). Don't crack and tell the one about the other's gift, my Elves! Santa will be there soon enough!!

So, I am in a good holiday mood. If my friend doesn't call back soon, I think I'll be en route to pick up some Christmas cards or to window shop some more. It's a good time of year..

UPDATE: Guess who just finished S's song?!

Proof: (It's the paper on top.) Now to memorize it and re-learn the guitar in 2 weeks...

The pursuit of classyness

Intentionally misspelled like the movie-pun I'm going for. Does that make me unclassy?

So...

I have been meaning to write this blog post for a little while, and even took down some notes on it, so here goes.

While not brought up with tons of privilege so to speak, I was taught to be a respectful person from an early age and managed not to turn out to be too much of a terror (I speak in present tense!).

I have often wondered what other people think of when they think of a respectable woman. Certainly, I think all women should be respected, but I mean, what makes a woman someone of dignity and earning of admiration? There are so many different types of people out there, and yet I bet we all know what I am talking about. What makes any given woman classy?

My problem with the term 'classy' doesn't stem so much from classism, but from sexism. Often times its men that talk about wanting a classy woman, as if we conduct ourselves in our mannerisms simply to be desired by mates. I am personally wary of any man who states up front that someone he's with must be a classy dresser, always have her hair and make up done, and always appear most polite. In an ideal world, trust me, all of us would always come off our very best. But character quality does not demand lip gloss and hair spray, though character can make or break 'classiness.' I think classy goes beyond that, and beyond the notion that we are more 'together' or attractive when we are best groomed. The opposite might in fact be the case.

If I were to categorize classiness, I would say a classy woman could have in her arsenal any type of look, as long as she is dressing out of respect for herself, whatever she deems that form of dress to be.

I think she should also have the qualities of:

Kindness, Composure, Discretion, Education, Generosity, Optimism, and Humility.

Kindness - The only kind of classy anger I have seen is justified anger. The kind that is sticking up for someone's rights, or is briefly expressing due concern and moving on. I don't think a classy woman needs to be mean, because she wants the best for herself and others, and does not dwell on other's flaws, nor is she self-serving. A classy woman also does not rely on others to give her self-worth, so therefore she is not so insecure as to be manipulative, jealous, or deceitful.

Composure - A classy woman has tact and will express herself as appropriate to the situation, but with honesty. She can handle stress well as she can handle times of great joy with grace.

Discretion - A classy woman knows when to keep quiet (or so I have heard, ha ha.) She does not provoke gossip or bad feelings towards others, and she has intuition and sensibility about how to best conduct herself in a variety of situations. She is self-discipined and self-contained when need be.

Education - A classy woman values her mind and makes a concerted effort to expand her intellectual gifts. She wants to contribute to the betterment of society and assumes that duty through acting as a responsible and productive individual, often through her own instruction and self-reliance. She enjoys her life and therefore wants to know more about the world around her. This also keeps her able to be entertaining and enjoyable to others, which is a personal strength she seeks to cultivate.

Generosity - A classy woman seeks to share and to give without thought of receipt.

Optimism - A classy woman is not troubled by troubles. As she is educated and has discretion, she is able to handle the world's cynicism without succumbing to it, and she is able to see beyond temporary misfortune. She enjoys being cheerful in order to be a pleasant person for others' company.

Humility - A classy woman regards her talents as gifts and regards her accomplishments as possible only by good fortune, hard work, and the support of many others. She never seeks credit for what she has not done, nor does she feel shortchanged when she is not directly recognized for her efforts. She delights in good actions for their own sake, and seeks no outside reward, simply and politely accepting praise and deflecting it as appropriate.

So that's what I think. To recap, I don't think a classy woman is a well put together woman for a man. I don't think she goes to the salon every week, and I don't think she is a waif or that she needs look feminine, beautiful, or modest.

I think that a classy woman is a force to be reckoned with, because she has wisdom, integrity, self-confidence, and a loving spirit. With those things, she's unstoppable.

The Past, the Present, and the Future: A Review of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

So true to my word on one, if not the many, pre-New Year's resolutions that I've made, tonight I finished up my first of 11 works of fiction to read in the next 12 months - A Christmas Carol. In all fairness to my detractors, yes, this 'book' is only a 80 or so page story, but by virtue of its timeless and seasonal nature, and by virtue of the size of my next classic literary endeavor, the 892-page Don Quixote, I say this one counts!So A Christmas Carol, what can I say? I can say that as with most of the movie versions of this story that I've experienced, the book brought tears to my eyes. I think unlike in some of the movies though, where I've liked the story but not very much liked Scrooge, in the book, I really rooted for him the entire time. It's written in the third person, but you as the audience never leave his side, and I seemed to understand for the first time the psychology of Scrooge - how a man raised with a cold father away from home, pushed toward greatness among peers likely better off than him, he might have missed opportunities along the way to embrace charity and compassion in the dogged pursuit of security and self-sufficiency. He seemed more like a child who had not yet grown up in these ways, who was still clinging to false notions of a Darwinian social order and afraid to let them go, than a pure and simple miser. And how kind, and what a testament from Dickens as to the mercy of God, that Scrooge's only life friend, even in death, would be allowed to usher him into a more loving way to live.

And the book is funny! Those sayings we take for granted in the story that we've heard since childhood really take flight in the book. One that gets me every time is when Scrooge discovers he hasn't missed Christmas and marvels, "The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can." It's like 80 years of pent-up wonder coming out in Scrooge all at once.

One part missing from the on-screen story I've often seen is this quote by the narrator, which I love:

"Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him."

It seems reassuring to think, especially at this unnecessarily harried time of Christmas, that both the unsimple good and the simple good come around in the end to laughter.

Obviously I recommend this book, and the spirit behind it!

Now onto a story about a man who is in no way like Scrooge. Expect my review a month or so from now, and hold me to it! It's time for 10 in 11.5!!

My favorite things

Hopefully it doesn't come across in poor taste, but after 2 pathos-filled posts today, I had to round my writing out with something silly.

So here is an edition of "My favorite things..." about hotels!

(I write this as I am currently staying at a hotel for the night, waiting for a fun all-day medical evaluation at Hopkins tomorrow. Don't worry, I'm healthy, just a guinea pig!!)

Warm, chewy chocolate chip cookies:

It's simple, obviously sweet, and makes you feel like you're being naughty and cheating on a diet, even if you're not on one. It also makes you feel like a grade-schooler. But that's not a new one to me.

"Free" Coffee:

This perk needs no explanation. But it lets you feel like an adult again after scrafing down the cookie.

Cool, white bed linens:

Can't have these in my apartment with a certain furry tenant. The multiple pillows and the super-cushy mattress don't hurt either. Simple and elegant, I always wake up feeling as comfy as I do when I fall asleep in such a setting.

"Free" Internet:

Sure you pay for it, I guess, but it's so easy to figure out where you are, where to eat, and to stay in touch with those you're away from with it around. Not to mention keeping up with blogging!

Being queen of the foreign land of Room #ABC:

It's like you can make a whole new set of rules at a hotel. It doesn't mean you make a mess or act irresponsibly, but what's the harm in jumping on the bed, snooping through every nook and cranny of a place that's not your own, and then breaking these funky rules you've made for yourself in hotel land and not feeling guilty for it at all?!

A plea for unity

David Gergen, my favorite political Mr. Rogers, said that tonight President Barack Obama wants to find a golden mean in between those who would build up the nation of Afghanistan with US effort and those who would leave it all alone, and give Smalltown, America more jobs with equal effort.

I would say, do neither. Yes, we need jobs. But we have unemployment. Yes, it is degrading, but that is because somehow our American self-worth got caught up in our deficit spending and whether or not we can afford our car payments. Did you know relatively speaking, that if you are an individual or family that owns one car, whatever type, however old or economy-brand, you are among the most wealthy in our global community?

So why not fund a war in Afghanistan? It protects us against terror. Sure. It might do that. But personally I don't think we should be terrified with terror. Or unemployment, you see. Terror uses the physical to threaten the spiritual, and I would like to think that the physical can always overcome terror when the spiritual is its guide. Lots of people would say I am idealistic, but I would challenge that too. Think about a baby in a bath. He laughs, he splashes, he is completely naked without any ability to care for himself or to understand of how he will be cared for, but he is spiritually happy. Think of athletes who do absolutely incredibly things with their bodies in tribute to and in consequence of their unfailing competitive spirit. But I digress and get ahead of myself.

The main reason I think that we need to forget Afghanistan and forget ourselves is that there are others in need. This summer I wrote about Darfur. What have you heard about Darfur this winter? Since summer? You certainly haven't heard a lot, though a lot of horrible situations continue to exist there that have nothing to do with our sky scrapers being bombed or three thousand people who have our arbitrary citizenship instead of the Sudan's dying. God bless their souls, those who died in 9/11. But humanity, honor their souls, and the 300,000+ persons killed in the Darfur genocide, not by vengeance, but with mercy and love for those who most need it. Help children read, help women vote, stop terror, but first, help everyone have clean water to drink and a safe place to lay their head. Seek to help that which is most pressing first. It is certainly not our national reputation, our nation, or us.

"Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be that, in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh, God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!" - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Back to Baltimore

As I head to Baltimore this evening, I have to sigh as I think, Mayor Sheila Dixon, that's just not okay.

I like you, but even in the event that the gift cards were anonymous or leftover, why as the public servant of an impoverished city would you use them for yourself? Why not give them away to a family or two, who could have used the money to buy a new appliance like a space heater in the coming winter months? Or why not donate them to the Baltimore City Healthy Start Centers, to moms who can't afford basic toiletries for themselves as they struggle to feed and clothe their infants?

I respect your initiatives for the city, and I challenge you to live your daily life with positive initiative for the city as well.

Accountability Squad

So maybe I am ridiculous, and given my post just a few days ago, over-booked (pun intended!), but I wanted to do something somewhat untraditional given great inspiration from blogger Los Whittaker and use the holidays as a time to become stronger physically, spiritually, and relationally. The holidays tend to stress us out, making us focus on what we "should" do and thus over-stuffing us with food, money-spending and stress. Well, enough of that. Suffice it to say the baby Jesus would not want that for humankind, and I really don't want that either.

So here's my plan. I call this post "Accountability Squad," since my blog's now linked to Los' and every other person he's rallied behind this holiday self-improvement movement, and I intend to stick with my goals by recording them here and updating my progress as I go along. This might require a little bit of slacking on the blog-front itself, but given the book reviews and the check-ins, I bet we'll still be seeing quite a lot of one another still.

To begin, here are my goals:

1) Physical: Work out for at least 25 minutes a day for at least 4 days each week until Christmas.

2) Spiritual: Memorize & blog about passages from a lovely gift I recently received, The Love Dare.

3) Relational: Make a nice, heartfelt gift for each of my family members.

I can't say too much more, because there are surprises involved with #3, but I am excited to get started. Instead of a 30 day challenge, since I think I started late, this will be a 24 day challenge for me, as a kind of advent calendar of wellness.

Each of my three goals seems a little wee teeny bit impossible now, but that's why hope, courage, discipline, and the other virtues exist, right? So let's begin!

Out of character

Thanksgiving time, followed by Christmas time, is putting me in a pretty great mood. I love the food, the family and friends, and the general spirit of the holidays this year. However, O the cat is not sure to be feeling the same. This first holiday season with us as a family, I think he is quite taken aback by all the festivities. Biting the newly put-up Christmas tree aside, I think he is rather indifferent to the season, and rather loathe of my insistence that he participate in it. You be the judge!

11 in 12

Is the day after Thanksgiving too early to start thinking about New Year's Resolutions?

I'm not sure, but as I lay here, trying to figure out how much more regimen, order, challenge, and growth I can pack into my life these days, I came up with a plan that certainly sounds quite a lot like a resolution. It's a plan to read 11 great works of literature within the next 12 months.

This plan started out after seeing A Christmas Carol in 3D with my parents this Thanksgiving, and remembering how beautiful a story it is and how absolutely perfect the words are. I need to see them on paper again, and make sure I have read the whole thing through at least once in my life. Then this got me thinking about all the other books out there that I'd like to read, books that peek my interest but never made it onto the required list in high school, where both sadly and happily, depending on how you look at it, I've done most of my fiction perusing.

So here's my list. Tell me what you think of it. I could add others, like Love Story, or some Shakespeare, or some something, but these are just a few classics that I think I might actually like, and feel I might fall in love with once I read them.

A Christmas Carol
Don Quixote
Dangerous Liaisons
Wuthering Heights
Anna Karenina
Ulysses
The Great Gatsby
Mrs. Dalloway
The Trial
As I Lay Dying
One Hundred Years of Solitude

What are your favorite classics? I am a big fan of the tortured romance, and so I love Great Expectations and Lolita.

I'll be getting a library card in the area soon and crossing off the books on this list that I get through as soon as I finish them, in between putting up my Christmas tree, playing Wii with my family, and flitting in and out of work like a bonafide crazy woman. And yoga. And writing. And guitar eventually. And that's enough. Well, and maybe if you're lucky and I am diligent, I will write reviews about each book here too, so you can know what's worth investing your rainy Sunday reading time in. But at any rate, keep me on track!!

A litte yogi

A couple weeks ago I had a fun idea to write a blog post about my revived enjoyment of and discipline in yoga. I wanted to talk about how it helped my stress, my spirituality, and was a great way to quickly and notably feel more fit.

However, that blog never happened, and instead, in its place, I have thought of a whole other topic, though quite related, for my post on the little yogis. So here goes..

The aforementioned blog post idea was the result of reading a CNN.com article about kids, ages 4 and up, taking yoga classes. There was a 12-year-old boy interviewed, far better at yoga than me, who said it was his favorite activity and that it was helping him with his parents' divorce. The video included in the article was adorable - it looked a little like an add for a Gymboree.

However, while I am completely in favor of age-appropriate fitness and health, it got me to thinking if yoga for 4-year-olds is, in fact, age appropriate. Some teachers say it helps with ADHD. Well, that's good. Other studies have said it helps teenage girls with body image issues. Good too. But I guess my question is bigger than that, and it's about whether as a society we are going back to a time when young people are treated more-or-less like adults, and whether or not (given that we've reversed this kind of thinking from back in the day to begin with) this is a good thing.

Kids became kids more or less in our country when child labor laws were enacted and we got to go to school instead of work. Before then, farm kids worked on farms all day, poor city kids went to factories, and rich city kids drank tea and learned social graces.

Then came new laws and policies, and thank goodness developmental psychology, which continually, now through neuroscience, reveals that kids don't think or act like adults. For good reason, Sesame Street happened, Playskool happened, and little kids got their own place in the world. But now it seems like we're dressing little kids like adults, we're expecting them to learn like us, and we're giving them freedom that they may or may not be ready for or capable of using safely.

Maybe I am overreacting, but I wonder where the actual healthy balance is between taking our kids seriously and investing in them and treating them like little adults.

I am sure I will err on the side of the later when it comes my time to parent, so it's a good thing to think about.

My lighter side

As you may have noticed by my lapse in blogging time these days, work and life has started to really kick my butt. Not in a wholly freak out kind of way, but more or less in an I-have-less-time-to-sleep-save-breath-catch-my-breath kind of way that is tolerable in small bursts throughout life. It’s as energizingly challenging as it is frustrating, and in some ways the stress is bringing out really fun parts of my personality. Point in case – I sing and dance in the car down the interstate, I write poems based not on tortured emotions, but on whims and day dreams, and I project a lot more of my angst into that staple junk food of multimedia, the TV sitcom.

I decided to write this blog today during my lunch break not only because I feel guilty for not writing more and earlier in the month, and not only because if I try to do anything work-related this time would make my head explode, but also because a Gossip Girl blog post is due.

(Note to the reader: At this point – 2 minutes into blogging - work indeed demanded my attention - until 8pm. And yes, to be sure, my head did explode. I continued this post the next day...)

Gossip Girl is a fluff TV show about a group of vain, rich teenagers. I have been watching it off and on for the past 2 years, during times when the need to escape is imminent. For example, I think I started watching as I plugged away on my grad school midterms, became an avid viewer as I finished up my thesis, and have now become reinvolved during this massive stress flood at work. It’s hard though, even as I become a loyal fan, to defend my interest in a teeny-bopper show. Not that it matters, we all have guilty pleasures. But I’d like to give the show it’s due with a top ten list, because those are fun anyway. So here’s to Gossip Girl, why I (somewhat bashfully) love it, and why I can’t wait for the show to go on:

10. The hair.

Serena’s wild locks. Blair’s kept curls. Chuck’s pomade do. Nate’s man-bangs. Jenny’s transformation from long and straight haired, to Shirley Templed, to a razor-cut mess and back again. And there’s always the jeweled headbands…


9. The skylines.

The shows appeal to the photographer in me with their panoramic shots of the New York skyline. Day to night, Central Park to Rockefeller Center, the show makes me want to head back for a weekend to NYC with S so badly. I remember the fun times we’ve had there, how much there is to do in the city that never sleeps, and how beautiful it is.

8. The music.

Gossip Girl uses primarily popular music for scoring the show, not unlike The Hills, but in a far more integrated and I think successful way. This season, the show is moving toward indie-rock songs more and more, which I love. Similar to the scoring of Grey’s Anatomy, the way the music is placed in the show is spot on with the emotions of the scenes. It is also the kind of sound track that you want to have playing while working out, before a big interview or date – take over the world kind of music. It’s fun, frivolous, beautiful and empowering at the same time.

7. The parents.

Plenty of teen dramas have parent dramas in the background. I think this actually started with the affair Dawson’s mom has in Dawson’s Creek, another show that any one who knows me will tell you I deeply and sincerely love. Gossip Girl boasts parents Lily Bass, a gazelle like woman who, following 6., has impeccable taste in clothes and eye-glasses, and Rufus Humphrey, the most chill of all TV parents who I cannot watch without thinking of his absolutely incredible, and incredibly hilarious performance in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. My third favorite parent is the now deceased Bart Bass. Why do I like him? Well, as the character Serena notes, “He raised Chuck.”

6. The clothes.

The kids dress exquisitely, inline with the character development of their roles. The style on the show is like art, and I admire it. If I don’t go vegan, I think I’d like to wear as much silk as Blair does, and as much leather as Serena. Not to mention S already looks like Chuck when he’s in the mood to dress up!

5. Lonely boy.

Dan Humphrey, Rufus’ kid, is an overly cerebral, overly talkative, overly self-conscious brooder/writer/friend-of-a-friend type of guy. He’s probably the person, if I am being honest, that reminds me of me most on the show. He can get himself into trouble for being nice to people who don’t deserve it, and he can be naïve in thinking that other people are just as transparent about things as he is. Dan is always good for subtle humor, which after the sheer ridiculousness of the show, is its second strongest suit.

4. The shameful, yet necessary, hypocrisy element.

This sounds a bit sad perhaps, but as I live, barring human imperfection and the desire to speed on highways, a pretty squeaky clean life in which my darker side needs a benign, or at least innocuous, outlet. I eat well, work out, treat others with respect, work at a substance abuse prevention non-profit, and try to grow spiritually everyday. I suck sometimes, especially in my own head, but in general I think I’m a nice lady. This is why, if I am being completely honest, it is refreshing and to live out anger, aggression, even vengeance, and any other naturally id-like feelings of mine, vicariously through a group of spoiled brats who drink scotch in the morning and get arrested in the afternoon. Call it maladaptive sublimination, but it is so fun, and nobody (except for the fake people in my TV set) gets hurt.

3. The scheming.

Right in line with 4., the scheming on this show is incredible. The plot is never entirely unexpected, but the twists and turns and perverted ways you get from a known A to an anticipated B is astounding. One example would be the way in which typically tense and estranged, though happily reunited lovers Blair and Chuck, find, lose, and re-find each other through a series of their own dark plans and those of their supposedly closest friends. But more on them later. It’s just fun to think two steps ahead of what the characters will do as you watch, and then to see which plots succeed, and which go up in flames.

2. Chuck and Blair apart.

Since I didn’t watch the first season until re-runs and I didn’t watch the second season sequentially, I have just recently come to understand the full magnitude of the Blair and Chuck saga. For those of you not unhealthily obsessed like me, this couple only got together in any sort of legitimate way at the end of the second season, but the seeds of their love were evident from the very beginning, and their inability to get together is hands-down, without a question, the most gut-wrenching plotline on a prime-time drama that I’ve ever seen. Remembering Dawson’s Creek, in the days when I was actually watching teen shows as a teen, this storyline is even better than Pacey and Joey’s winding road. Inside of these character’s quests for each other, a microscope is brought to the delicate nature of human insecurity and passion. My heart literally aches for them every time they can’t get it right.

1. Chuck and Blair together.

Chuck was a boozing, womanizing near-monster until he found Blair. Blair was a dogmatic, cliquey tyrant until she found Chuck. Okay, they are still pretty much both of those things, but that's exactly why they are meant for each other! The happy ending is of course that Blair and are together now, which is great for three reasons. One – they are absolutely perfect for each other and my TV-world feels right with them paired, Two – their scheming is better as a couple than it ever is individually, and Three – it is absolutely horrifying and at the same time exhilarating suspenseful that they are currently harmonious. This is a teen soap opera, and at some point, potentially soon, the convention is that something will have to go wrong with them. And then the lose, re-find cycle will repeat in the maze of a fantastical world that gets me through the insanity of my real life.

Have a happy weekend, and I promise I will blog more soon!

xoxo. Hee hee, just kidding.

Goals

Goals aren't the important thing. Schedules aren't the important thing. The important thing is breathing in peace, love and joy, and then exhaling that out to the world (Yoga speak, hee hee). Being blessed, and then turning around, and being a blessing (Church speak). As we head toward the holidays, as life throws me a little curve ball now and again, I am just excited to conquer all the little stuff in the process of focusing on the big stuff - treating people with respect, loving my family and friends, and knowing God in all of it (Me Speak). It's a single thing that is not small, and only simple some of the time, but it anchors me firm. Happy Sunday!

Yip

This is pretty much like me trying to find my way back home after traveling anywhere new in MA:

The price of peace

Happy Halloween, boils and ghouls!

This holiday has been such a fun one for me already, which is kind of unexpected, since I was pretty upset coming into this weekend not to be spending it with any friends or family.

But as it turns out, at least from my re-thought perspective, no matter where you are and what you're doing, there are always friends and family around, right?

For instance, laying down not 5 feet away from me is O the cat. He and I are very close these days, and I am so happy that on this weekend, which is shaping up to be beautiful, warm weather, I can leave the porch door open, let the breeze blow in, and have O here with me to sniff the outside air, bat at the window treatments, and just chill out.

Last night I started off Halloween right by seeing Shawn of the Dead at St. J's. I had forgotten how heartwarming a story it is (The main character loves his momma, and his best friend so much that even when his buddy becomes a zombie, he keeps him alive by chaining him up in the shed in front of a video game system and contining to enjoy their "undead" friendship with a game or two now and then. And he gets the girl! Okay, well at least this is heartwarming to me). After I got home I downloaded this Thursday's episode of the Office, which was pretty awesome, and reminds me of just how much I am like Michael Scott in spirit (I agonize over who will be my T-Mobile Fave 5 and am constantly falling, though not into fish). Tonight I am going to carve our family pumpkin, with O likely interfering, and S on Skype to witness the tradition for himself (He promised to Skype me some of the trick-or-treaters who come to his house if he gets the chance.)

Today I slept in as long as O would allow me, and even a little while after he started scratching my face/biting my head/pulling my hair, etc. I woke up and got to stay in my jammies (t-shirt and sweats) to go to yoga class! I signed up for a year with this really great center called Healing Tree Yoga. I can take yoga, pilates, meditation, self-defense, etc., all included in a really discounted rate since I signed up for a year! Oh, excuse me, I mean 14 months, since that was also included in the deal! There are approximately 10-12 classes per week I am interested in, so I really think I will get my money's worth. Additionally, since I will be on-site in the evenings for work next week, at this lovely institution of learning, I will be able to take classes all next week in the morning, catch a quick shower, stroll into work around noon, and go off to my classes and workshops at said academy in the evening! It's so fun to shake a work week up a little bit, even if it means tons more driving and consequently tons more getting lost in the great New England state where I reside.

Since it took a lot of consideration, and weighing of pros (health, fitness, spirituality, friendship, routine, fulfillment) and cons (less money) to decide whether or not I wanted to commit to yoga this year, I got to thinking about this blog's title, the price of peace. I think we think quite often about this concept on a global scale, such as, what would it cost us financially and culturally to bring clean water, adequate amounts of food, health care, and political/economic stability to the four corners of the earth? We think about the American Red Cross, or international treaties, or the throwing over of the world's dictatorships. But maybe that's a little ineffective actually. How many international treaties have actually been honored, and how many times has the rejection of a peace treaty in fact brought about war?

Maybe peace, and its price, needs to start with every individual. Our tax dollars come out of each of our pockets and contribute to welfare, education, and development programs, so should our personal investments in peace start with our own development of disciplines and mercies that help us live in harmony with God's creation. In our finite case, that should be harmony with our earth and it's animals and our connections to other humans. In our infinite case, that peace investment should be in accepting ourselves as great in nature, yet sometimes flawed in action, eternal beings, and in getting to know, understand, and love our relationship with the greater existence.

In my life, peace comes in accepting who I am in character naturally, whether or not that is who I anticipated I would be, or who is different than, or alike me in character, and how I feel about that. Peace also comes in not holding people to expectations of goodness, but expecting good to be present, flowing, through interactions and situations that may outwardly seem positive or very negative. Peace comes in laughing at my mistakes as they happen, and in simultaneously engaging in a life-long pursuit to right the wrong thinking or wrong acting that contributed to them. My peace comes in seeing this life as a gift and part of a larger process we all will come to know through death, and we all have known prior to our birth.

Okay, now I'm certainly not always the most centered of people. Like I said, I get lost, I fall, I get irritated when people around me move "too slow" or "too fast" for my liking, and I deem myself a constant judge of others while remaining fully aware that I don't have the authority to take on this role. But I'm working on it, and I think that's more than half the battle! And I think thinking of what I can do right now to contribute to world peace is better than the alternative - disillusionment, bitterness, and desperation. Oh, and lots and lots of peace treaties.

Rubby Ducky...You're the one!

That's it.



I am leaving work, going home, feeding my chubby cat, and reading Wise Highs in the bathtub.

Good night!

Tis the season?

Now I know why everyone oohs and aahs at the beautiful turning of the leaves starting in August in New England. It's snowing here! In mid-October!

At first I tried to tell myself that I was being lazy today, and that after sleeping in the Sunday after my long business trip, my eyes were still sleepy and the rain drops flooding the scene outside all my windows just looked "fuzzy." I looked up the weather online, and it said there was only rain. But after being awake for an hour, unpacking, and cleaning, I am for sure now - there are tons of big fat snow flakes mixed in with all this rain.

To make matters more dire, I was a very good planner and made sure to eat absolutely everything in my apartment, save O's cat food, so it wouldn't go bad when I was away for 6 days. Now to eat, I must shop. And from the looks of outside and the 7 day forecast, I must shop for comfort foods, because it is going to gross,cold, and wet all week!

Just when I've gotten the hang of living here, paying my bills here, and not freaking out about how to get places and enjoy myself here, God throws in this new challenge. You see, I can't really even take a nice misty rain during a hot summer. I can't take it when the end of my pant hems get wet running to and from the car in the rain. Rainy days make me grumpy and sad. So this is challenge 2.0 for the new New Englander.Wish me luck as I stock up on soup and a serious scraper for the car!!

Hee hee heeee

My 71 year-old boss was on Facebook during work hours today. I love my job. I love my life!