around here

there are spiritual conventions in the rarely-used upstairs fireplace-turned-alter.

there is avoiding work by drawing and coloring quirky little scandinavian flowers.

and there is the revelation that taking some time to do art leads to better, peaceful, more creative work.

there are many tea times during the day.  and sometimes espresso.

there is experimenting with vegan tuna salad.

because i really miss tuna salad.

this turned out eerily similar in taste and texture to the real thing.  rinse and drain a can of chickpeas and pulverize in the food processor.  sprinkle with kelp granules or sea kelp delight to add lots of healthy minerals and the taste of the ocean.  then just add your regular tuna salad ingredients.  i used vegan mayo, whole grain mustard, red onion, celery, sweet relish, capers and dill.  it's fantastic.

there is silence.

and thinking.

and dreaming.

and napping.

there is alchemy:  mixing essential oils to create an amazing fragrance.  the recipe was gifted to me by a dear friend who appreciates that i like to smell like campfire, coffee, jasmine and oranges.

there is art.

so far, february is pretty awesome.

how to love a gypsy job

1.  choose the best navigation system so you don't lose your way.

2.  seek out rainbows and blue skies.

3.  eat pancakes.

4.  when you miss your home remember that love can be found anywhere and everywhere.

5.  greet the day with gratitude.  and yoga.

6.  hotel rooms are bland and plastic...find sparkle and warmth.

7.  make it a quest to discover the best pho (veggie burger, margarita, etc.) in each city you frequent.

8.  explore on foot.

9.  show a classic roadside diner some love.

10.  every town has a main street.  shop and eat local no matter where you are.

11.  when you spot a brightly painted barn on the side of the highway, slow down, pull over and say hello.

randomness

lately, there has been

• rainbow hoop taping
• hooping (attempts)
• super spicy tofu pad thai
• blackberry smoothies
• falling leaves (!)
• windows open
• home yoga practice (saving money)
• trying to get used to kindle (it's not working out very well)

what's new with you?

randomness

feeling pretty random this week.  i'm vacillating between bold and cautious, colorful and sedate.  the weather is beautiful.  still a little high from our visit to yogaville.  i love it when love fills you up and refuses to leave.

lately

things just seem to be broken. 

my body is positively mutinous.  (seriously, who gains weight when they do bikram yoga and/or become a vegetarian?  um, that would be me.)

i keep telling my heart to be grateful and joyous, but it really really wants to be in a bright blue funk.

i try to smile and put a hopeful spin on things, but the thoughts and words seem disingenuous.  then i roll right into self-loathing because i hate a phony more than anything.

words i say or express online end up sounding stupid or needy or angry or basically anything other than what i intended them to be.

my juicer broke.

my bike has a flat tire.

we don't get a salary raise again (fifth year and counting).

i've written and rewritten this post several times and it never feels quite right.

okay, since i seem to be spilling it here, i don't think zooey deschanel is cute.  in fact, she comes off a wee bit moronic in the iphone commercial.  "is that rain?"  idiot.

now i feel bad because i've resorted to name-calling. and i'm not sure why i care so much about zooey deschanel.

well actually, i don't feel that bad.  i just typed that because that's what a mature caring human being would feel and i want you to think i am a mature caring human being.  i feel something like....better.  like putting all the stupid broken bits into words discharged some of their power.   it feels good to not be pretending that it's all good and to not yammer on about tomorrow being another day.

sometimes a girl just needs to nod to the broken bits.  sometimes she needs to sound pissy and ungrateful and a bit bratty and indulge in a good old fashioned temper tantrum. 

i did try to dress it up with a colorful photo.

randomness

• it's really hot here this week.  like august hot.  spring was way too short.
• speaking of hot, i totally forgot to mention here that i finished my bikram yoga 30-day challenge.
• i'm addicted to raw pepitas.
• this summer will be the summer i sew something awesome.
• the other day i was flipping through channels and landed on my big fat gypsy wedding.  what the what?  while i was totally interested in the cultural perspective, it made me realize i've greatly romanticized the word gypsy.

happy friday sunshines!

randomness

1. last class of the semester was last night!  while i'm glad it's over, it was a pleasure teaching such a bright group.  i like to teach.
2. i enjoy the sound of words spoken in sanskrit.  i'm attempting to learn my yoga postures by their original name.
3. purple globe alliums!  quite possibly a contender with peonies as my favorite bloom.  all that backbreaking bulb-planting last fall?  totally worth it.
4. i have to go to a work meeting this morning to discuss creating an informative and positive unit presence on facebook.  not really sure how i feel about this?  would you "like" child protective services?
5. the royal wedding hoopla made me nostalgic for that other royal wedding that i watched through 16-year old sleepy eyes and literally uttered my very first "wtf?".  (never been a fan of the whole over-the-top-wedding-princess thing.)

happy weekend friends!  embrace the royalness of you!!!

randomness

1. on second thought, maybe fault-finding is a superhero power too...there are a lot of people doing harm in the world that need to be called out.
2. i miss my camera.
3. i want to go to india.  with my camera.
4. a student was cutting out pink paper hearts and writing valentines notes at her desk in class last night while i was lecturing.  no shame whatsoever.
5. while i love what bikram yoga is doing to my body, it does not compare to what it is doing for my husband's body {wink}.
6. he can come to india too.

sunday randomness

• spending time in a big(ish) city is good therapy. there is no chitchat. absolutely none.
• when a good chunk of actions you take for a living can appear to be destructive, it's good to counter with huge bursts of creation.
• healing can occur while facing a giant wall of sparkly beads (beauty, possibility, creation, imagination and on and on and on...).
• my parents should have named me stormy or tempest or passion. lisa implies neutrality, restraint, temperateness. totally misleading.
• the cheese stands alone. as does that greybrown donkey in the pasture of white cows.
• tiny road trip=dreaming of big road trip.
• two hours south, there is an entirely different season happening.
• spring forward. say bonjour.
  

randomness

• so far, september's astrological forecast is spot on. I have already moved into defended autopilot soldier-on mode. (you can tell by how I'm holding my mouth in this photo. mia calls it "mad mom mouth". I have no inkling of a poker face.)
• I secretly take silly facebook quizzes. I never post them.
• I took "which superhero are you?". the result: the amazing enigma. I like that.
• also, I should be living in paris and I am alice cullen.
• I couldn't make my way through the book astrid & veronika last year and now I'm struggling with the girl with the dragon tattoo. I can't think of any reason why I would carry this weird disinterest in the swedish; I figure it must be that the landscape, culture, language, names are so radically different than anything I've ever known. familiarity and emotional connection in literature is almost mandatory for me to enjoy a book. I have to be able to "see" the story. no offense to lovely sweden, I'm certain if I was born there, los angeles would appear to be alien territory.
• or it could be that I'm just really, really disagreeable and grumpy.
• for the last few weeks, I've have no creative energy or interest. zilch. is this what if feels like to be dead?
• I am learning the hard way that in my town (well, maybe it's just my workplace, but I doubt it) females must be either supersweet, stupid, silent or sneaky to be successful. I'm doomed.
• this song came on my ipod this morning while I was running. I could not stop the tears that demanded to fall. while I love when words and music radically resonate with my current situation, I much prefer this to happen in private with an ample supply of kleenex, not on a public road surrounded by the town's running population. embarrassing.
• tune in next week to see the how the amazing enigma escapes her funk and paints rainbows and butterflies throughout the land.

beans, blooms + a baby bump {randomness}

jelly bellies make the most delicious subjects when inspiration is elusive. I once dreamt of a beach made of tiny smooth stones the colors of jelly beans. I think this is what the beaches in heaven must look like.

I happen to like dandelions. they have two fanciful lives. they are dependable and tenacious. they just keep being who they are despite the fact that everybody wants to be rid of them.

speaking of dependability. every april and may, my neighborhood explodes with pink, red, purple and white azaleas.

coming soon: a baby boy to a most beautiful mom.

and just like that

things were good.

glimpses of perfection this week:

• u2's new album. bono acknowledges what I've known all along: 'I was born to sing for you.'
• lauren hutton looking like she's freakin' 30 in the pages of jcrew. my new beauty role model.
• reese's peanut butter eggs.
• gold sandals, daffodils and 70 degree weather make their appearance this weekend.
• two tickets to see david sedaris.
• early daylight savings time.
• mister's out of town=no theatre hours=lisa gets a full night of sleep.

beautiful fridays to you all. xo

recovery mode randomness

so on friday when I wrote that I was "remarkably better", I understand now that I really meant "capable of moving my limbs". this morning I finally feel that the last of whatever-it-was is gone. I'm back to normal after a yesterday of existing between worlds.

I read in the warmth of the sun until I realized that even godden's words were a bit much. I switched for this month's issue of living etc. and numbly gazed at the pretty pictures. I spilled my tea on the pile of pages I had pulled out for my inspiration binder.

a trip to the market was necessary on my own as ken is at blackfriars theatre for the weekend. everything there--the people, the muzak, the smells--assaulted my senses. but I was able to grab some pretzels and mexican coca-cola (for some reason, this is all I want to eat) without incident. it's nice to have someone around when you're sick to do these things for you.

you probably already know this, but I just discovered you can watch movies on your computer from netflix if you are a member. I watched shakespeare retold: macbeth with james mcavoy all snuggled up in bed with my laptop. I was a bit unnerved to see that both james and garbage men figure prominently in this film (re: my dream on friday) and am trying to figure out if I might have read something about this before to influence my dream or am just a wee bit freakishly psychic. this movie is not vegan friendly.

today, I need to play catch-up with grading papers and cleaning house. I hope you all have something more lovely than that going on.