Today I’m thankful for The Artist’s Way. I’m almost done with the course and it has brought so much perspective to my life. I just finished Week 10 and it may have been the most impactful chapter that I’ve done. My therapist was pleasantly surprised with how much I got out of this chapter. Some gems:
“When we are clear about who we are and what we are doing, the energy flows freely and we experience no strain.” (p163)
“For some people, food is a creativity issue. Eating sugar or fats or certain carbohydrates may leave them feeling dulled, hung over, unable to focus-blurry. They use food to block energy and change.” (p163)
“We turn to our drug of choice to block our creativity whenever we experience the anxiety of our inner emptiness.” (p165)
“When we are ogling the accomplishments of others, we take our eye away from our own through line.” (p172)
“…We cannot afford to think about who is getting ahead of us and how they don’t deserve it. The desire to be better than can choke off the simple desire to be.” (p173)
“The need to win-now!-is a need to win approval from others. As an antidote, we must learn to approve of ourselves.” (p175)
I’ve realized that sugar is my drug. Doing some introspection and looking to where I’ve felt the best about what I’m putting into my body and how I feel about my body and life was when I was not eating sugar. Ever since I made the decision to eat sugar in “moderation” I have felt out of control about food-like an addict. I haven’t been eating sugar now since February 5th except for 1 day a week where I don’t have any restrictions on what I eat. I feel like a different person! The difference in me is AMAZING. My therapist was worried about that one day a week and thought that I may crave sugar after that day. I’ve found the exact opposite to be true. It makes me feel awful and so I stop eating it and want nothing to do with it. Last Friday I had some fries (high carb=sugar) and they made me feel ill so I threw them away halfway though. Who is this person?!?!?! I’m not ravenous all day anymore and I feel good about how I’m fueling my body so yay!
I’ve been trying really hard to be mindful in everything that I do. Sometimes I fail but most of the time lately I’ve succeeded at being mindful. Getting rid of my Droid was a further pursuit in my mindfulness. I had gotten into a very bad habit of looking at my phone to just pass the time. Usually I let too much time pass and I wasn’t getting the things I wanted done done. On Thursday, I traded in my Droid for an LG Cosmos…
…and I couldn’t be happier. I’m no longer attached to my phone and I fell less “connected” to my virtual world but much more connected to my real world. It has also forced me to pick and choose what I REALLY want to read and do. If I’m going to spend computer time on something, then it really needs to be worth it. I’ve been leaving more comments on blogs that I frequent because I’m on a computer, not a phone and I’ve made the time to sit down and catch up with my friends. I’m really glad I made the switch and it hasn’t been too terribly painful. Plus, the phone bill of $45 vs. $100 takes all the pain away!
In life I’m trying to be mindful of everything that I do. The way I treat people, how I spend my time, how I spend my money, my eating, etc. Just yesterday I was leaving the grocery store and noticed a jar of pizza sauce in my cart that I hadn’t paid for. My first thought was, “That’s less than $2, it’s no biggie.” Then I thought, “That’s not being mindful.” and I turned my cart around and paid the $1.27 for my pizza sauce. The woman at customer service thanked me and said that my karma was covered for the day. Today in yoga, my towel left a thread on the floor and I could have just left it there but I didn’t, I picked it up and I threw it away.
I’d say the mindfulness is going well but as always, I struggle with my perfection complex. If I’m not mindful, I feel awful and berate myself. That’s not being very mindful of myself, now is it? So, I’m working on that. I’m a work in progress (and always will be) but I am working every day on loving myself. By and large, I’m doing a really great job and I’m really proud of myself.
One area where I’m really trying to be mindful is my photography. I’ve had a DSLR for a year and a half and I have never used the manual function. I use the manual focus all the time but actually needing to adjust the aperture and all that? I’ve never used that function even though I used to take my own pictures with my Pentax SLR and develop them myself. I’ve lost that ability and it makes me sad. SO! This weekend, I turned my camera to M and took some pictures of Shaun and Lu sledding.
They’re not perfect but I think they’re pretty awesome .
I’m thankful for focus. I’m making a big leap today-I’m going to Verizon to get a Non-Smart Phone to unplug a bit. I’m tired of being so connected and I’m tired of paying a huge phone bill every month. I find that it’s hard to put my phone down even when I say I am going to. The pull of the phone is too great so I’m getting rid of it.
Today I’m thankful for my Mom friends that I met because of Lucy. I talk to some of them every day and I don’t know what I would do without them. They help keep me sane.
I go through phases with salads, sometimes I love them and other times I want nothing to do with them. Ever since I learned how to make my sister’s shallot dressing, I always want salad. I almost have one every day. It’s simply amazing.
Ingredients:
For a large salad for 1 or side salad for 2-3 to share. All measurements approximates
-1/4 inch cut from a shallot -1/4 tsp high quality salt -1.5 TBSP Olive Oil -2 tsp Balsamic -ground pepper to taste
Cut approximately this much shallot:
Then chop it up really small (I had already started when I remembered that I needed a picture of how the piece I cut off).
When it gets pretty finely chopped:
Add salt:
Chop until it gets all pulverized and liquid-y.
The longer this mixture sits, the mellower it gets. I try to pulverize my shallots before I make anything else for my meal. It can sit like this on the lettuce too.
Right before you’re ready to eat, add the olive oil:
And balsamic:
*Tip-You want about a 1 part balsamic to 3 parts Olive Oil ratio.
Add pepper and toss well!
Enjoy!
This salad was only romaine, some cashews, and the dressing. It was delish!
I was in Seattle on business on Thursday and didn’t get a chance to post. Since getting home I had work explode, I got puked on by a 2 year old that wasn’t Lu (good thing I love this little 2 year old with all my heart), and thought Lu had pneumonia but it ended up being “just” a bad cold and ear infection. It’s been a crazy week!
What’s important to me though, is that every Thursday I stop and think, and know what I am thankful for. The truth is that I’m thankful for so many things in my life that this isn’t hard but I still think it’s a good exercise and it’s good to be mindful of what I am truly thankful for.
This week?
I’m thankful for my BFF Elaina.
(Warning-crappy cell phone photos ahead!)
We used to see each other every.single.day. We sat right across from each other at work and talked all day long-no joke. Either with words or with IMs. Now that we’ve both moved (we actually both moved from the Bay Area within 2 weeks of each other) we hardly ever get to see each other. We do IM, video chat, email, and text message but NOT ENOUGH! The last time I saw her in person was SEPTEMBER! Thankfully we had a team offsite in Seattle this week and we got to see each other. It still wasn’t enough time but it was great to see her.
Shaun, Lu, and I NEED to make the drive up to see her and Richard and Brea (their sulky dog that I used to see everyday). We have to wait until the snow has melted some but then it’s ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!!!!
It’s just nice having someone that gets you and that you can be silent with. Or someone that you each talk over the other and with each other and come to the same conclusion. Or come to different conclusions but see why they came to the conclusion they came to. She gets me and accepts me for who I am. I am extremely thankful for that. I miss her already.
I took my 30th bikram class in 30 days today! GO ME! The past 30 days has been amazing for me. I’m much more accepting, I love myself more, and I’m able to let the little stuff just roll off my back a little better. I look forward to bikram every day. My feeling of empowerment in there is awesome and it spills out to the rest of my life. I’m just happier!
Here’s to the next 30 days. Yes, that’s right, I’ve committed to 60 in 60 and I’m SO going to do it-no doubt! If I do 60 in 60 I get to sign the challenge wall in the studio and I can already see my name up there. It WILL happen.
Shaun has made me promise that I won’t then go for 90 in 90 or 120 in 120 and I promised. He has nothing to worry about. I think once my 60 in 60 is up, I’m going to aim for 4-5 times a week. I don’t really enjoy going on the weekends-it’s too crowded and I’d rather see Lu and Shaun. I do think going almost everyday during the week is do-able and recommended! I think Shaun would agree!
A couple of weeks ago I was at a loss for what to have for lunch and pulled gluten free pizza dough out of the fridge, then I added tomatoes, peppers, and thought to myself, “I need protein.” so I added chickpeas. It didn’t quite feel complete so I added olive oil and curry powder. The result? O.M.G. I’ve now made this pizza multiple times and it’s been requested for a party. I thought I’d share with y’all.
Ingredients:
-GF pizza dough (I like Udi’s) -1 cup stewed chopped tomatoes -1 cup rinsed chickpeas -1 small bell pepper, sliced, or 5 mini bell peppers, sliced -10 kalamata olives, sliced -1 TBSP olive oil -2 tsp curry powder -Salt to taste
Instructions:
-Preheat oven according to pizza package.
-In a bowl, toss together all the ingredients, except the dough
-Place mixture on the dough.
-Bake until the dough is crisp (about 10 minutes)
-Enjoy!
Next time I may add some chopped up fresh cilantro after I remove it from the oven-YOM!
A few months ago I went to a girl’s night and met Amy who told me about a cooking competition that she did with her friends. They all picked a Food Network chef and cooked an appetizer, entrée, and dessert from that chef and could not stray from the recipe. All their friends would vote and then someone was crowned the winner. I thought this sounded so fun and thought it would be great for a Foodbuzz 24×24.
When the call for submissions from Foodbuzz came out, I impulsively submitted the idea and got picked! I had a week and a half to find 2 friends to cook and to get a dinner party. Guess what? I pulled it off and (with the help of my sister) even had a trophy to give out!
First I secured my fellow competitors. My sister gladly accepted the challenge as did our friend Shannon. We threw around some chefs and settled on three; Thomas Keller, Alice Waters, and Ming Tsai.
Lu picked names out of a hat cup and we were assigned our chefs!
We each had to make an appetizer, entrée, and dessert following the recipes with no deviation. We were unable to keep who made what a secret but we did keep which chef we had a secret from our guests. Part of the fun was them trying to guess who we had!
We all got to researching-checking out cookbooks from the library, searching online, looking at You Tube. We kept what we were making a secret from one another but we talked all week about how hard this was and how much we were cooking. It was seriously SO fun. In the process of preparing my meal I used my Vitamix, Cuisenart, hand mixer, stand mixer, double boiler, every pot and pan I own (except one and even my wok!) , every type of knife I own, and a mortar and pestle.
I started shopping on Wednesday and cooking on Thursday. I know my competitors were just as committed. I think each of us had an anxiety dream about this competition!
Finally the day was here! The table was set:
The ballots were ready!
The Iron Chef’s were putting their final touches on their masterpieces!
Appetizers!
Shannon: Parmesean Cups with Chevre Mousse
Lissa: Citrus Salad with Olives
Chelsea: Potato Pancakes with Apple Scallion Cream
We all sat down and there were many “oohs” and “ahhs”.
Our judges left some fun comments.
For Shannon: “Good explosion of flavor!”
Lissa: “Palate Cleanser-REFRESHING! I <3 Spring!”
Chelsea: “Loved the crunch with the creamy chutney” One comment did tell me to “Lighten it up!” Ha!
Entrée:
Shannon: Pork Cassoulet
Lissa: Beef Braised in Red Mole
Chelsea: Black Pepper Garlic Shrimp with White Rice
I was blown out of the water this round. Seriously. The Cassoulet and the Mole were AMAZING. My sister cooked with beef cheeks for goodness sake! Shannon’s had every type of pork that you can imagine-who can compete with bacon!?!?! Both were simply delicious.
Comments from the judges:
Shannon: “Mmmmmm….PORK!!!! “
Lissa: “Loved the Mole (best I ever had) and I’m not a mole girl.”
Chelsea: “Light-yet deep flavored sauce…the lemon-the pepper.”
It was a tough one folks! All of the food was delicious-too delicious. I stuffed myself.
During all of this craziness Lu was hanging out and being a saint! She had been talking all day about “People coming over!” and was very excited. While we were eating our entrée she drew everyone a picture and brought it to them, one by one. It was so sweet and so outside of my little shy girl’s comfort zone.
After the entrée, she bid adieu and Daddy took her to bed (don’t worry she got some dessert this morning).
After the entrée we were very full and getting quite inebriated! There was much discussion!
And lots of wine!
That’s only half of it! The ChocoVine was a HUGE hit. Wow that stuff is delish. Shaun liked it a little too much and now hates it .
When we were finally ready to stuff more food into our faces, it was time for dessert!
Shannon: Coconut Cake
Amazingly, this was the first thing ALL NIGHT (other than a side of bread) that had gluten!
Lissa: Chocolate Pave (no gluten or dairy!) and Chelsea: Chocolate Mousse Sundae with homemade ganache and whipped cream
Comments from the judges:
Shannon: “Incredible balance with frosting and cake! Cake was moist with the right flavor and texture.”
Lissa: “Deep. Dark. Rich. Orgasmic!”
Chelsea: “OMG”
We were having so much fun we almost set the house on fire!
So who won?
I was shocked when it was me! I thought for sure that the shrimp had done me in and the other food was SO GOOD. The appetizer and dessert were apparently a hit. Can we just forget my shrimp?
Really? I won before ever getting that trophy. I had so much fun cooking for my friends and having this experience with my sister and Shannon. It was so much work. SO MUCH work! I want to thank them for doing it. It was no easy task and they took it very seriously. Throughout the dinner you could tell how much thought and effort had gone into every dish. I’ve dined at 3 star Michelin restaurants and that didn’t even compare. This was so much better because people I loved had made it.
Too bad we couldn’t get a good picture of us:
Some of the guesses? No one could figure mine out. They all thought I had Paula Dean! (I did use a pound of butter and 50 ounces of heavy cream!) Very few people could believe that I had an Eastern influenced chef-ha! After some hints, Thomas Keller and Alice Waters did come out.
But today I want to talk about work. I am thankful for my job. I work for a company that allows me to work from home. I am able to set my own schedule and as long as I get my shiznit done, I’m good. I have a fabulous manager. I am paid well. My benefits are amazing. I work on a fun team. I work with my best friend. I get to go to fun places and out to fun dinners.
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