Anniversary plans

This year will be our 20th anniversary. And I've planned a weekend that I'm really excited about. My hairstylist told me about a really cool hotel in Sausalito about a year ago. I wrote the name down and just held on to it. This month's Sacramento Magazine had as its cover article "Dream Weekends" and the first place they featured was Sausalito and the hotel they suggested was the one I'd written down!

So the second weekend in October we'll be in Sausalito (just north of San Francisco) staying at Cavallo Point. The hotel is a half mile walk from the Golden Gate Bridge, and a short distance from the ferry. Here are some pictures of the room we'll be in:

Can you see the Golden Gate Bridge from the window?!?!

The plan is to leave Thursday morning and come home on Sunday afternoon. What will we do while we're there? WHO CARES! No seriously, here are some of the options:

Stay at the hotel enjoying the meditation garden and heated meditation pools.
Hike in the Marin headlands or head to Mt. Tamalpias for some serious hiking.
Walk or take the ferry to San Francisco (TONS to do there).
Hang out at Coit Tower and watch the Blue Angels!

Is it October yet?!?!? :)

Words matter

I am blessed with many oh-so-cool friends. One I am especially fond of is Amy. Amy is a mom of 4 kids, ages 6, 4, 2, and 3 months. She is wise beyond her years. And she somehow manages to stay sane and kind in a life that is by anyone's standards a bit ... hmmmmm ... well, let's just say that's a lot of little people to be caring for, even when they're awesome people you love!

So last week Amy and I and some other friends got together for a book study. And we were talking about how you talk to yourself and if the words you use are important. We were contrasting the difference between "I'm so dramatic" vs "Sometimes I can be dramatic" or "I can be dramatic." After the book study, Amy wrote down some thoughts on the subject that really helped me. And she gave me permission to share her thoughts here!

I realized that, for me, even though I used them as examples tonight, using the words "tendency" or even "sometimes" connote a different meaning and I really like the freedom of "can" because the flip side of it is "can not" or I can be "something else."

For example, when I say "I am controlling" that is cut and dry and can keep me stuck in that along with the judgments of myself for that.

If I say "I have a tendency to be controlling" that still implies that this is my natural state of being and therefore it can be difficult for me to overcome that.

If I say, "I am controlling sometimes" even though I have qualified it by not all the time I am still saying "I am" something.

If I say "I can be controlling" then I feel the freedom to also say "I can not be controlling" or "I can be flexible."

This works for more positive things to, "I can be loving", "I can be compassionate", "I can be organized." I don't have to say "I am loving, compassionate, organized, etc" and then judge myself harshly for not being those things all the time.

Therefore, none of these words define me, I am not them, I just can "be" them. They are just part of who I can be at any given moment in any given situation. And when I say "I can be..." I feel like I have a choice about what that fill in the blank word is going to be and can take action about it.

I can also ask God to help me--to either remove something that I do that is a defect and does not serve me or others well, or help me to grow towards something I believe God wants me to be more often.

Isn't Amy the best? Thanks Amy!

Lightbulbs

I'm doing a lot of things to promote my emotional sobriety (a term I learned in AA that has application outside of addiction in my opinion). Here are two realizations from the last two days:

• (From the First Ourselves teleclass) A quote from Cheryl Richardson "You're going to need to become ok with disappointing other people as you learn to take care of yourself."
• (From today's counseling session) I was saying that my to-do list seems really stupid, because I'd fill it with stuff like "do laundry" and "pick up French dictionary." The counselor asked me what our home life would be like if I didn't do the things I do. That stopped me in my tracks. Our house runs (for the most part) smoothly. There are clean clothes. We don't run out of stuff. There are birds in the backyard because I keep the bird feeder filled. As I considered what I do, it occured to me that maybe there IS value in the simple stuff that is the better part of my days. And that made me feel pretty good.

I HEART Campus Queen

I eagerly started reading the post "The 10 Worst Lunch Boxes Ever" from The Best Article Every Day. Sounds like a fun read, right? But then to my horror, I saw my lunchbox -- MY LUNCHBOX -- as part of item number 6. Here's what they say about Campus Queen (and the Pro Sports lunchbox they include with it):

What they say: “My mom has no clue what I actually like, but thinks that this looks like a generic idea of what I might enjoy based on clichéd gender roles and utilizing an early crude form of clip art.”

WHAT?!?! How dare they??? I begged my parents for a Campus Queen lunchbox. The girl had yellow hair just like me! She was the epitome of cool to my second grade mind. And the lunchbox had a GAME with it too!

Lucky me -- I DID have a Campus Queen lunchbox. And I still have it, proudly displayed in my laundry room, along with my first teddy bear and my lovely ballerina jewelry/music box.

Fabulous Friday!

I had lunch at Latitudes in Auburn yesterday. What a treat! This salad features grilled tofu, tahini poppyseed dressing, and tomatoes from the owners' garden!


The view from my patio table.


The view straight up.


In other random thoughts...

• Potatoes at night before bedtime seem to be a good thing. I'm cautiously optimistic, and it cracks me up to eat a potato like an apple (I boil small red potatoes with the skin) in front of my family. :)
• Got a 30 pound kettlebell today. I have a 36 pounder (16 kg) and a 44 pounder (20 kg) but I like having an in between weight. Right now I can get through both of my main AOS workouts using only the 12 kg, and that means it's time to go heavier, right?
• My kid is 16 years old today! He's at Warped Tour in Marysville with a bunch of friends. It feels great to have a kid who is doing so well that you can LET him skip school to go to a concert (after a huge lecture about the importance of school, of course!).
• Tim needs to get commissions on P90X, as he's turned a bunch of friends onto this workout. I still do the DVDs with him from time to time, but distance running and kettlebells are more my workout of choice.
• Speaking of running, I'm signed up for TWO races on Labor Day weekend. On Saturday Tucker and I will be doing the Mather Mud Run, a 5 mile run with obstacles and the infamous mud pit. Then on Monday I'll be doing a 10 mile trail race in Auburn that includes the "is this ever gonna stop?" climb up Stagecoach.
  
• Now that I'm running more consistently my legs feel slightly sore and VERY strong and that feels great!

Mid-week words

• Just got some new tank tops from Adidas and I LOVE THEM!!! I usually wear a tank with a shelf bra, and then put a shirt over than, whether it's for training clients or for my own workouts. Well, my tanks (purchased 3 years ago) have seen better days. But bye bye to icky and hello to sleek and cute! (I'll post links later...)
• Kids are back in school and they love their teachers and their classes -- WHEW! I know that the newness can and will wear off, but at least they're starting out on the right foot...feet...whatever!
• Reading Potatoes Not Prozac and learning lots about sugar sensitive people. Plan to try having a potato (with skin!) before bed and see how that works -- the book claims it improves both tryptophan and serotonin levels through some mysterious body process. I'll let you know if I feel anything or if it seems funded by the National Potato Farmers Association! :)
• I have two races coming up. The Mather Mud Run is a 5 mile run with obstacles (yes, including mud) that takes place on September 5th. Then on the 7th (Labor Day) I'm doing a 10 mile trail race in Auburn. It sure feels good to have my running mojo back!

Smonday Melange!

• I'm fasting today with Tim, who's having a medical test done tomorrow that requires fasting. He seems to find it more difficult than I do. I think that's cuz I have way more stored energy in my thighs. :) See, there's an upside to everything, right?
• Last week I ran 32 miles and it was FUN! It's scary when your fitness mojo leaves, and that's where I've been for quite some time. Last weekend a friend suggested I pray about it. I did, and the next day I felt different about being active. What a relief and a joy it is to enjoy moving again!
• I'm tentatively putting together a schedule for myself that starts tomorrow, as the kids start back to school tomorrow, and that means my life has more predictability to it. So I'm thinking about blogging 3 times per week, continuing to run and do kettlebells, and ... and ... well, I'll need to put some thought into some other things.
• ONCE AGAIN I discovered that taking an anti-depressant is a good thing for me. Last week I missed one day, and then decided to cut my dosage in half for two days. And then I couldn't figure out why I had my own personal rain cloud following me around. I feel stupid even typing this, but the truth is that it takes what it takes for us to learn, right?
• Is anyone else excited that a new So You Think You Can Dance? is starting this fall? I can't wait!!!
• If you don't have a bird feeder, I highly recommend getting one. I picked mine up at Target and fill it about once a week. Having beautiful birds come to my yard makes me feel like a good person, in the same way it's nice if dogs and people like you, you know?

Happy Smonday everyone!

The power of music

Reasons not to run:
It's 99 degrees outside and climbing.
I already ran 5 miles today.

Reason to run:
So Very Hard to Go, by Tower of Power
Miss Sun, by Boz Scaggs
Heart to Heart, by Kenny Loggins

Music wins! Thank goodness we have a pool! :)

Monday Melange!

• Saw Julie and Julia this weekend and loved it! But didn't like it when I was asked if it was a "chick flick." Maybe I'm being a little overly sensitive, but I see that as an incredibly derrogatory term. (Does everyone see it that way?) Perhaps we could call guy movies "ball scratchers" in order to make it more equitable?

• Signed up for a 10 mile trail run on Labor Day. Running the gorgeous trails in Auburn this weekend has rekindled my love of running -- hooray!

My new favorite running place!

The view as you run. :)

• Summer is winding down. The kids start school a week from today. This has been one of the best summers I can remember because my kids have actually had things they've wanted to do with their time. So I'm feeling sad that summer's almost at an end, but looking forward to the structure the school year provides for them and for me.
• Today is the second teleseminar for First Ourselves. The topics will be "rhythm and ritual, creating nourishing structures and honoring your ebb and flow."
  

Have a beautiful Monday, friends. I've (literally) gotta run!

Monday Melange

• I started a teleclass today and I'm really excited about it! It's led by Karly Pitman, and it deals with the emotional issues behind overeating. Karly's website is called Yourself First and it's excellent. I will write more when I have more time, but today's call dealt with how to see self-care as something other than optional and to be avoided at all costs! Here's something Karly posted on Facebook:
  

Love this quote from anthropologist Jane Howard: "Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." Do you have a tribe? I hear from so many women about how isolated they feel, how they're separated from other women, alone in their struggles. Reach out to your tribe. Give your sisters a hand. We are meant to journey together; not struggle solo.

• Planning to run 20 miles this week and do 2 to 3 kettlebell workouts. Still searching for a goal (sigh!).
• I LOVE FarmTown! Am saving up to buy a beautiful white farmhouse. Playing feels a little like the best part of playing Barbies: setting up the houses! My inner farm girl is delighted!
• I get to have a lot of time with my older son this week. He's been gone at camp for nearly 3 weeks and got home today. It's so good to have him back!
• I'm spending more time on Facebook these days, and less blogging. That may change when school starts, but if you want to say hey on Facebook, I'm Leslie Prentice Gandy.

Wishing all y'all a wonderful day!