Finishing the Hat

Aaah! I've gotten behind in my posting.  I've been tied up with some things that have been keeping me busy.  But despite the pace, the good news is that I've continued to focus on taking care of myself, physically, mentally, and creatively.  (Which, as it turns out, can all be done the same way.)

On the Physical front...
 
Movement. Tom and I have kept out promise to exercise 5/7 so far this week. We went walking (while estate sale shopping) on Saturday. We swam and stretched for an hour on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were my planned 2/7 off (due to evening outings both days.)  We're back in the pool again tonight. 

Munching. One thing I've been really proud of lately is my commitment to keep up with my LiveStrong Daily Plate, where I document my calorie intake and exercise.  The big difference lately is that I'm forcing myself to be completely honest, reflecting exactly what I eat - no fudging, no forgetting.  Even if I have an off day (and I do have them, especially if I get home late or I'm overtired) I note exactly what I eat.  Previously, if I had a higher-caloric day, I might have ignored it, conveniently forgetten to enter my calories that day... which would lead to forgetting to enter the next day... and the next... until I wasn't being as mindful.  And it's fascinating, observing how those higher numbers happen. They tend to revolve around restaurants, or food we otherwise didn't make ourselves.  For instance, I was hungry today and had already eaten my sandwich by 11:00.  When the bosses came around and told us all they were ordering pizza for us, I was still hungry, and I said I'd join in.  Before it arrived, I plugged "2 pieces" into my Daily Plate, and saw that my calorie goal for the day was going to be completely fulfilled by noon. So I ate my afternoon salad, and now I feel like a single piece of pizza is going to suffice - with the benefit of leaving me enough budgeted calories for dinner.

So yay for this week's afternoon salad: Veganomicon's curried carrot dip.

Photo from Kahakai Kitchen

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks

1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds

2 tsp grapeseed or other vegetable oil

1/2 tsp minced garlic1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice


Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Boil the carrots for 7-10 minutes, until soft. Drain and let cool just until they are no longer steaming. Place the sunflower seeds in a blender or food processor and process until crumbs. Add all remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor as you go. Taste for salt and adjust the spices and lemon.


On the mental and creative front...

Well-filling.  In our home, we use a metaphor - one that I originally learned from my mother, actually - to describe what we have left to give, to ourselves, and to others.  When we've given too much, our well is empty.  When we've done more creative output than we have sought out creative inspiration, we run dry.  So we have to refill our wells on a regular basis.  We do this by making sure we have time to relax, to take care of ourselves.  We also do this by immersing ourselves in something that is new to the senses - new food, new art, new locations... anything that takes you out of the everyday can fill a creative well.  This weekend, well-filling started out at Universal's Haunted Horror Nights, which we attended on Friday.  Very fun, as always - though not up to par with some previous years.  (And nothing beats that first year, where everything was fresh and new to us.)   Then we found ourselves with some unexpected time on Saturday, so we took an impromptu trip around town to visit some estate sales.  This was such a blast - but more on that, later (plus photos of our finds.)

Water.  I've been keeping up with my ceremonial water-pouring in the mornings, plus time underwater in the evenings.  Nothing clears my mind more than time spent submerged or floating, swimming or stretching in a pool.  My friend Eric once told me he could tell, based on my conversation, whether or not I'd been swimming that day.  It's good to be back.


Writing.  We've done it - we've finished the second episode of Bubble Gumshoe.  Though we're considering collapsing all 5 mini-episodes into one 22-minute piece, which would just mean act II of V were done.  But we're moving along at a nice clip, and we've made the writing a firm habit (even on mornings after evenings out) so I'm happy about that.

Has been a surprising few days - including a few surprises that I haven't shared yet!  (I have to save something for blogging later, right?)