Second Night

by | Nov 28, 2013 | Fitness, Holidays, Wellness

Second Night

Happy second night of Hanukkah! Today I slept in, jumped out of bed, and ran for a mile. I’m debating another running streak. I ran a mile from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July this year, and it was a great practice. I love streaks. With streaks, you eliminate the options and have just two choices – continue, or quit. I’m most competitive with myself, so streaks work for me. I’ve been crossing off days on my current squat streak (50 a day), and thought that adding a mile from Thanksgiving to New Years might be a thing I’d like to do. From a fitness standpoint it seems doable, but this winter running thing? I’m not quite sure how I’ll adapt. Winter running requires a whole new wardrobe – long pants, jackets, protected extremities. And you can’t just have one outfit – you have to have several, otherwise you’ll be doing laundry every other day. I’m normally an overheated runner, and it’s clear that I don’t have this temperature control down. Today, at 30 degrees, I wore long running pants, a long sleeved running shirt, a sweatshirt, hat and gloves. My hands and face ended up freezing, and my core was overheating. This is going to require some significant trial and error.

This Thanksgiving, we spent the afternoon with much of my extended family at the same place we’ve been going to for the past three decades. Cousins and second cousins travel in from across the country, and we’re a large bunch. It’s quite a formal event, and I’ve always felt a little uneasy getting dressed up when I’d much prefer to overeat with less constricting clothing. Preferably an elastic waistband. For many years we’d have a second meal at my grandmother’s house, where she’d cook a second turkey, and make her famous cheese pie. We’d change into house clothes, and I’d feel like I could finally kick back and relax. A few years ago we stopped with the second meals, for the best probably, because it was utterly excessive consumption. After we did, I found myself sorely missing my opportunity for “real Thanksgiving” – but I wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. Today there was a small coup – everyone agreed that we love being together, but next year we’d like to have the big meal at a home. Planning started early, and I’m looking forward to next year at my aunt and uncles house, with lots of family, a roaring fire, and Cooper, my cousin dog making the rounds. No one likes breaking traditions, but I’m looking forward to next year already!

I didn’t take many pictures today, but I did snap one that’s still making me giggle.

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Things I’m thankful for tonight:

My health, my family, my cousin-dog Cooper, candles, and egg nog.
Also, my camera, my cookbooks, warm fires, tuna melts.
And basketball season, good books, dear friends.
Cozy sweaters, laughter, and dark chocolate almond bark.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Just a cup.

by | Nov 12, 2013 | Coffee

I decided this morning that I’m going to try to go back to one cup of coffee a day.

At some point, my single cup of coffee in the morning turned into two, and then one mid-afternoon, and then all too often one at five – my crutch to get me through the terrible shock to my system that is daylight savings. This darkness before five is oppressive!

Now, the coffee itself, it’s not all that bad of a habit, and most of the coffee I drink is black, so there’s no impetus to cut back to avoid excess sugar. So why change? Here’s the problem: I love the taste of coffee, and the ritual, and sometimes this means that I drink more than I really need – and I don’t like it when caffeine becomes a craving rather than an “optional”.

So here’s my intention. One cup, in the morning. For the rest of the day, I’ll refill with hot water – my favorite form of hydration. If I feel so inclined to take a 5pm special treat once in a while, so be it, but it won’t be every day.

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It’s been quite some time since I’ve shared my daily gratitude exercise here, but I try to come up with a small list on a regular basis that captures the things I’m thankful for. Years in this still feels a little hippy dippy, but being able to acknowledge the good around me really helps me feel better about life.

The little things:

smart and thoughtful coworkers. people who make me happy to show up every day, who are positive, hardworking, and caring.

sandwich fixins’. minus the bread. arugula, mozzarella, prosciutto, basil. also, coworkers that don’t mock me for dumping the contents of several sandwiches into my plate, and leaving a sad heap of bread cast-offs.

new strings. some of the guitars in the house are getting some attention tonight – they aren’t my instruments, but seeing new strings put on, and necks lovingly polished, and then listening to the tuning – is delightful.

twinkle lights. we have our string of lights up all year long in the living room – it always feels magical.

the gently vibrating alarm on my Jawbone Up. way better than getting woken aggressively by a phone alarm, and even though I usually wake up a few minutes before it goes off, it’s still quite comforting.

IOU’s. the parking lot credit card machine was broken tonight, and the attendant waved me off, telling me to pay the next time I was in.

dear book club friends, on our non-book club night, at the bar. added bonus of nostalgia from my college days studying poetry with chili and a pint at the bar (Dunn-Gaherin’s)