rain

image from: commons.wickimedia.org

~ Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; ~

~ without rain, there would be no life. ~

-John Updike

it's been raining here for the past two days.

i'm ready for sun again.

but, when i think about all that rain brings,

then i'm happy for rain too.

happy spring.  stay dry.

winning the battle - week 3

another 3 pounds down. 

i'm a little in shock, but starting to get excited at how much weight i've already lost. 

i feel like i really can do this.  i can feel myself starting to let go of some cravings and habits, and starting to create new ones.  i'm glad i started this when i did, because in the midst of spring's changes and rebirth it feels easier somehow to be making changes right now than it did in january when i first set my goals.

i'm still running and enjoying it.  i feel stronger, greener, more alive.  yay!

image from: commons.wickimedia.org

a thought

image from: wickimedia.org

And we are put on earth a little space

That we may learn to bear the beams of love.

--William Blake

outside/inside spring

this is what the world looks like outside today in my neighborhood.

i love spring!!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

this is what my bathroom now looks like.

i took advantage of the cold day to stay warm

and do some work around my place.

i now have spring in my apartment.  yay!

i put up some vinyal art on my bathroom wall.

you can window shop here and here.

vinyl wall art is a lot of fun.

it lets you personalize a space without ruining the walls.

and when you're ready for a change,

it peels right off after being heated with a blow dryer.

slowly, but surely i'm making this place my own.

photos by me

loverly

It's not often in life, that a person gets a re-do.  Tonight I did.

For some of you who know me, this story might come as a complete surprise.  In highschool, I took an acting class as one of my art requirements.  One of our assignments was to prepare a lip synch routine and present it to the class.  I had recently watched My Fair Lady for the first time, and fallen in love with Eliza Doolittle and her Cockney accent.  So, I prepared my lip synch routine to her opening song, Wouldn't It Be Loverly.  I practiced in my bedroom in front of the mirror perfecting my moves, pulled together a great costume complete with a crushed hat and a basket of flowers.  I felt ready for the assignment.

The day of my performance arrived, and I froze.  I remember that I couldn't put on the costume and pretend to be Eliza Dolittle.  I just couldn't.  I didn't know why, but I was terrified to put myself out there like that.  I couldn't bring myself to do it.  I still had to do the assignment, so I found a less threatening way to complete it.  I borrowed a recording of Debbie Gibson's song Lost in Your Eyes, which was at the top of the charts that year, and I did my lip synch assignment to that song.  I stood there doing the 80s's sway and mouthed the words.  I didn't put myself out there, I just did the assignment. 

I remember looking at my grade, it was a C-, and thinking that it was exactly what I deserved.  I also knew that if I had done the routine I practiced, I would have aced the assignment.  I've been kicking myself ever since.  I think this also the point where I decided I had nothing to lose by putting myself out there as a performer.  I didn't want to have any more regrets.

Tonight, I got a re-do.  My church hosted a night of the arts with a broadway theme.  I was asked to come up with a number of some sort.  I was originally hoping to pull together a duet or a group number, but I wasn't able to due to my schedule.  So, last week I started thinking of ideas that I could do on my own.  One evening I was talking with my sister and asked her what she thought I should sing.  She told me to sing the Loverly song from My Fair Lady.

This evening, I bought some flowers and put them in a basket, got dressed up and actually sang Wouldn't It Be Loverly in front of a live audience.  No lip synching this time around.  All week long I had been telling myself that this was my chance to make up for my failure in highschool, that this was my chance to put myself out there as Eliza Dolittle, and that's exactly what I did.

I forgot myself for the most part.  I remembered all the words, improvised some dance moves and just had fun.  I did forget to acknowledge the applause from the audience at the end, but I felt like I had done okay.  I had a successful re-do.

Like I said in the beginning, it's not often that anyone gets a second chance, but when it happens you have to grab it, hold on to it and put yourself out there.  I am so thankful I did.

Me in my costume, singing away as Eliza.  Not a very Edwardian London costume, but the apron was just so darn cute, I couldn't not wear it.

Enjoy the video.

bloomin' daffs

i love daffodils.

they just shout spring to me.

image from wickimedia.org

i wrote this during the spring of 2006, my first spring in dc.
it still rings true.

This evening I was looking up through a lacy web of lightest pink petals at the deepening sky as it turned from grayish blue to deep indigo, when it dawned on me--Spring is here. It's really here.

Then there was a beautiful cherry tree in someone's yard, all decked out in white blossoms with deepest pink hearts in the center with fairy lights strung through the tree, lighting up the blossoms with a golden glow and giving the illusion of stars. It was magic! It took my breath away for a moment and reminded me of spring back home.

One really cold autumn Saturday, my father and I planted about two hundred daffodil bulbs in our fruit orchard. It was so cold.  My hands were numb and aching, but I was already envisioning the explosion of color that would happen when the snow started melting and the sun started warming the ground. Then I promptly forgot about all the hard work.

Spring was slow in arriving the next year. Just when we thought it might start warming up, the mercury would dip and several more inches of snow would appear overnight. One morning on my way to school, I noticed green poking up through a thin layer of snow that stuck stubbornly to the ground. I looked closer and noticed it wasn't grass, but the broader green leaves of spring's trumpet section.

A few days later, sunshine appeared under the fruit trees on the side of our hill. An explosion of yellow trumpeted the arrival of spring. For several weeks the flowers announced the arrival of spring, even during a freak snow flurry that dumped six inches of snow overnight. It was quite a sight to see bright yellow flowers poking up through the snow, confirming that indeed spring was still here.

So, forget the groundhog and forget the weatherman, who think they know it all. I know spring is here when the daffodils start to bloom. They are my springtime therapy. When I was homesick in England, the 'bloomin' daffs' warmed my heart and eased the distance by giving me a piece of home so far away.

In the words of Wordsworth:

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffoldils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

"Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

"The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

 In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

"For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils."

(The Daffodils, by William Wordsworth)

My heart thrills at the memory of daffodils at home in Paradise, in the Lake District of England, and now at the new memory of fairy lights twinkling in a beautiful cherry tree blossoming in DC--my new home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

next week is the national cherry blossom festival in dc.

another sign that spring has sprung

image from wickimedia.org

winning the battle - week two

i lost 4 pounds this week.

i'm definitely not starving myself, so i was a bit shocked yesterday morning when i got on the scale and saw the change in the numbers.  i'm eating between 1200 to 1300 calories a day, and concentrating on eating the right number of servings of fruits and vegetables.

my zealousness in dieting last until sunday when i made four dozen cupcakes for work.  they were the promised prize for a contest we had at work.  of course, i had to test the cupcakes and the new frosting recipe i tried out as well.  i ended up eating three of those little buggers, and they were good too.

i also went running twice last week.  this is huge, because last year whenever i tried to run, my calves were in so much pain i just couldn't keep going.  this year, it's just the normal aches and pains.  i'm loving running again, and can't wait to get back in the groove.


not on the diet:
oh, and if you're looking for the best frosting recipe ever, then try this one here at pioneerwoman.com.  it's seriously good.  i even made my own version of this frosting by adding 3 tablespoons of hershey's special dark cacao and a teaspoon of cinnamon.  yummy!

real news - a year of giving

while reading the paper today, i stumbled across this surprising article

and i just had to share this bit a real news from our world.

image from here

reed sandridge, an unemployed d.c. man
is giving away $10 a day for one year.

he was inspired by the memory of his mother
who always looked for ways to help others,

and because he "was going nuts"
 after being laid off from his job with a non-profit.

he even started a blog: year of giving

to document each day his experience of giving away the $10.

i scanned through some of his entries and they are really fun.

what a great way to get your mind off your troubles
and focus outwards on serving others.

reed you are inspiring! thank you for your example.

just one more reason why i love living in dc.