My Heart Sings or Ode to Atlanta (again)

The thing is,

 I know we'll have more cold days.

 But the warm days will prevail.

 It's here.

That groundhog isn't so smart.

European Comfort Club

Once, while shopping for shoes that would not exacerbate* my Plantar Fasciitis,

Borrowed from Google Health

(Plantar Fasciitis is a fancy word for sore heel)

I shopped in the "practical" section
of an upscale department store.
I shopped for a pair of shoes that appeared as close to normal
as my sore foot would allow me to wear.
But then I was caught off guard.
An enthusiastic sales clerk asked,
"do you want to belong to the 'European Comfort Club?'"

Wait.

Am I that obvious?
I thought I blended.

European Comfort club?

Ouch.

You see, I am a shoe-ie. 

Like other people are foodies.

I enjoy shoes.

I care about shoes.

Fine shoes.

 

Pretty shoes.

Not practical shoes.

No.
I do not want to belong to your club.
Thank you very much.

And I took my pride,

and my dowdy shoes

as I turned on my sore heel 

and walked out of the store.

*exacerbate belongs to my "favorite words" list.  Plantar Fasciitis does not.

Don't believe everything you read...

Chocolate is a lot of things.

But this may be expecting too much.

I ate it anyway.

Humbuggers

To all you buggers who criticize Valentine's Day as a

Hallmark,

commercial,

made up holiday...

get over yourselves.

It's just another opportunity to show love.

Before going to bed,

Olivia realized that she was my only valentine in town.

We two would be the sole participants in our annual 

Coco Wheats breakfast.

Okay, we don't have Coco Wheats in the South, we add cocoa to Cream of Wheat...

Olivia got an idea,

woke up at 5am,

jumped out of bed,

gathered beautiful fabrics,

and quilted a pillow for me.

Well, she had to wait until I was awake to thread the machine...

but she was incredibly industrious,

and creative,

and visual.

And loving.

 

For those of us whose love language is gifts,

this is a marvelous opportunity to show love.

For those of you whose love language is something else,

this is a marvelous opportunity to show love.

The pillow is an expression of love from her

and a symbol of love to me.

And for any of you who remember her gift to me last year,

(which ended with lollipop dough sticking my lips to my teeth)

you will know how much I really cherish this pillow!

How was your love day?

Productivity

Again...or is it still...
my knitting needles have been calling me.

I even produced a few items this winter.

But it feels like an indulgence.

To sit and make knots in yarn.

I mean, it doesn't really need to be done.

Producing knitting is not being productive.

I have a love/hate relationship with productivity. 

I want to be able to just "be" (or at least knit and be),

but then my mind starts working,

and I keep thinking of things I could be doing,

or could have done,

and then I can't "be" at all.

It's not like I'm ever really all that productive.

But I do have an appropriate amount of guilt over it.

Or is it inappropriate?

Recently I told someone that I my day had been particularly productive

and that productivity made me feel good.

And in reply I heard, "as if productivity were the meaning of life."

Yeah.  Snicker.  I know.  Snicker.

Wait...

It's not?

I need some help with this one.

How do I resolve it?

Inspiration

I didn't feel like exercising this morning.

It's rainy and cold and I just wanted to knit.

Don't look, Oma.  It's a surprise...

 But I know I feel stronger,

and my back feels healthier,

and my emotions are happier

when I exercise.

So...I looked through the new Athleta catalog for inspiration.

Source-Athleta

 And then I reminded myself that my little bit of exercise

(seriously--little!)

gave me, a middle aged mom with extra layers,

muscles like this:

Source-Athleta

Okay, that's not me.

But it's all relative.

And when I tried to get a picture of my arms, this is what I got:

Trust me.

I may be the only one who gets to see my muscles...

but I have muscles!

And now for a little shout out to T-Tapp.

It's said to be "more tai chi than Taebo...
It's as intense as Taebo, but calmer...
Like yoga, T-Tapp is much harder than it looks."

Read more here.

 An exercise DVD that only takes fifteen minutes

about three times per week.

That's seriously little, right?

I can do fifteen minutes.

Even when I'd rather knit...

What inspires you to exercise?
Or to do anything when you would rather knit?

I Miss You

So I've taken a little time off.

I had nothing to say.

Maybe it's because my mind was occupied...

I was spending time with Oma,

Stephanie (Oma) painting kittens with Olivia.

and chatting with my lovely girl in Utah.

Rose and the charming Kailey.

In Park City.  If I look cold it is because I was cold!

and laughing with Liz 

(at the Sundance Film Festival!),

and being starstruck by Robert Redford,

He really was there.  That blue vested person just prevented YOU from seeing him.

and falling in love with Dominic Cooper.

Yes, he really was there to see me.  Dreamy, dreamy.

 No, real true love...

She means nothing to him.  She is just an actress (Ludivine Sagnier).

Whatever it was, I missed Lottie Bird.

And you.

Cultural differences

People watching.

 And the appreciation of beauty.

Belly dancing.

It feels so odd to unprohibitively* look at another person's body.

It's unusual in our culture for staring to be so acceptable.

Maybe that is why this dance is so intriguing.

It's clear why the dance is so appealing.

Our anniversary dinner was spent at Kybele, a Turkish restaurant.
It's fun to step into another culture.

Happy 23rd, babe.

*This may not be a real word.  

But it expresses what I am saying so appropriately.

Distracted

I didn't have time to do what I really wanted to do today (knit).

I didn't have time to do what I really needed to do today (laundry).

This is what I did instead:

mousespottersguide.com

I got distracted.

On the computer.

This is a problem I will write about.

Later.

(and later is a problem I will write about...you know, later).

Anyway, one of the things that distracted me was

green clogs.

See, I was making a comment on a favorite blogger's post

(because I didn't have time to knit...or to do laundry),

and I noticed the comment above mine was made by a blogger called

Sarah at Green Clogs.

How cute it that?

 Branding.  Shoes.  Beauty.

All my favorite things.
And pictures for eye candy (she is a photographer).

Needless to say, I had to look at Green Clogs' blog.

And I had to read some posts.

And I had to make some comments.

And then I had to write about it.

But first I had to get permission.

And then I had to wrestle with flickr to get her photos.

And, well, you've read If You give a Moose a Muffin, right?

From Amazon, of course.

I'm the moose.
Sooooo,

this is how we got here:

Ironically, the post I (first) read on Green Clogs was about a new year's intention to

"step away from the computer."

Hmmm.
I need to think about this.

Nothing happens by accident, does it?

Even being distracted.

By the computer.

 I really do want to make time for daily indulgences.

Like knitting.

I think my new friend Sarah at Green Clogs has inspired me.

Indulgences and Resolutions

I love a relaxing bath on a cold day.
Okay, I confess, I love a relaxing bath on every day.
Really.
It is an indulgence I take.
Every day.

Nothing quite goes as well with a relaxing bath as

Dove Dark Chocolate

and a Diet Coke.

Every day.

I'm not normally a fan of the quotes on the Dove candy wrappers.

I think they are kind of feel good "light."

But I did ponder this one:

Too bad all it made me ponder was,

"So does one's nose."

All this pondering led me to remembering Kasey's
"welcome to reality" photos.

After some deliberation it has been determined that I do not have a nose hair showing.  
That suspicious "strand" is actually the earring on the woman behind me.
Really.
Not that my nose hairs never show...

This is not the nose I remember from my youth.
Good thing I am so wise.

I think a great New Year's resolution would be:
"give myself an indulgence every day."
Really.
It would sure beat the:
"eat less chocolate and drink less Diet Coke"
I resolve to do every new year.

What indulgence would you give yourself?
And, what has grown with your wisdom?

Really.