Brand New Day

It's Fall Break and I'm loving life! I'm taking the increasingly popular "staycation." It's been wonderful to have a week to get back to basics, to practice good habits and to do exactly what I want to do, when I want to do it.
I'll admit, my dad's recent quadruple bypass ordeal has been a wake up call on all fronts of my life. Life's short, right? And realistically, mine's probably about almost halfway over. So, I've chosen to make the last 40 or so years quality ones if possible. I've changed my eating habits, cutting out the three B's: bacon, butter and beef. I've been exercising everyday for at least 30 mins and going to yoga class regularly. I call my dad everyday, and in terms of romantic relationships, I've decided to go it alone but to keep looking.

The photo above is of my typical morning. I wake up before sunrise, make some cinnamon coffee and check my email (if my neighbor' internet cooperates.. heh...). Then, I watch the sun rise another day before I head out to the gym or the park to walk 2-3 miles. After a quick shower, I head to yoga class and feel my shoulders strengthen with each downdog and my hamstrings lengthen with each forward bend. The remainder of the day is spent at a restful, restorative pace reading, cooking/freezing healthy food, running errands, writing or connecting with friends.

It's simple, I know, but it's given me a lot of time to think and reflect without interruptions or demands on my time from others. I see how much that has been missing from my life for the past year or so.

Open Heart

Quadruple bypass surgery?! Now it's a party!
Seriously, that is my family visiting Dad after his open heart surgery on Wednesday. He looks pretty darn good for for somebody who just had his chest ripped open, don't you think? He's home now and doing well.

All in all, it was a peaceful visit. (For those of you that don't know the back history, I haven't seen my parents for the past 7 years. For those of you who do know the back history, you know why it has been that way.) My dad seemed pretty alert and happy to see us. My brother and I did a crab cake run for him so he wouldn't have to eat the nasty hospital food. We also went out to dinner with my mom a few times and promised to visit under better circumstances in the future.

My parents live on Hilton Head Island, and it was my first time visiting. Did you know armadillos live there? Neither did I!

My brother and I took some time between visiting hours to go for a walk on the beach.

More Summer Travels

Whew! As of yesterday, I'm all moved into my new apartment. Although I'm surrounded by unopened boxes as I type this, I am happy to be in a place that is so close to my work, bars and restaurants, so full of light, space and quiet and which has a nice view.
Such a busy summer! I spent most of July teaching summer school and packing. However, Brad and I managed to squeeze in a weekend trip to Ft. Lauderdale. Then, after summer school ended, we escaped to Las Vegas for a long weekend of relaxing by the pool with drinks, enjoying shows (Cirque de Soleil's "Ka" was breath-taking!) and sight-seeing outside of LV at Red Rock Canyon (part of the Mojave Desert). The best part was that the flight, hotel, buffet and show were free, people! FREE!!

OK, gotta go unpack more boxes. Below are some more shots for you to enjoy. I promise to make future postings a bit more thoughtful and reflective, but for now this will have to do. My goal is to get unpacked and set up before school starts in about ten days...!
1) The "Animal Whisperer" soothes the savage Chuckwalla!
2) "Sand Dunes Frozen In Time" Sand dunes compressed under their own weight to form these mountains.
3) Yup. They're rocks and they're red (from minerals 'rusting'). Very pretty!

Surfer Girl

LA JOLLA, CA June 2009

Rules of Surfing:

1) Don't panic. You will always have lifeguards if you get into trouble.
2) Wade in cautiously (to avoid the stingrays), but with purpose.
3) Be courteous to other surfers.
4) When you fall, protect your head but don't be rigid.
5) When you catch a wave, focus on staying balanced, ride it as far as you can and, regardless of the outcome, congratulate yourself for trying.
6) Remember that Rules 1-5 apply to love as well :-)


In addition to surf lessons, hiking and strenuous yoga in La Jolla, my trip to CA included visiting my friends in Sacramento. It was wonderful to see Tin and Margaret and play with their boys, Daniel and Matthew.

Here are a couple more shots of La Jolla-- beautiful!!

At the moment, I am happily ensconced in my friend's apartment for the next two weeks. I am doggie- and house-sitting while she meditates at a monastery in Nepal (no joke!). It's in the same building that I will be moving to in a month, so I get to enjoy the pool, gym and other amenities that I have missed at the house.

I got back yesterday from visiting my brother's family in Virginia. I've missed them so much!! It was great just to hang out and do family stuff with my nieces and nephew, sister-in-law and brother. We ate burgers at Red Robin, shopped at the farmer's market, and swam at the pool. At the Air and Space Museum, we saw an exciting IMAX movie about fighter pilots and munched on freeze-dried ice cream. We also strolled through the old town of Winchester and bowled a few games at the bowling alley. Mostly, though, we stayed home and BBQ'ed on the deck, took long walks and shot golf balls into the woods. My brother even took me for a ride in his re-built convertible Porsche. He put the top down, and we raced down the country roads in the dark. The smell of fresh-cut hay reminded me of other times and places that I miss. It was just good, old-style family time. Here are a few pics of the fam':
Red Robin burgers?! Count us in!
Four!!!!!!
All grown up..!

Energized

Hi ya'll! Thank goodness spring is here again because it is hands down my favorite season in Atlanta. After hibernating all winter, I get moving and active again. Brad and I have challenged each other to lose ten pounds by my last day of work (June 10) and the winner gets $50. We have been weighing in every Wednesday morning, and I have finally lost a few pounds after the scale not budging for me for weeks despite daily early morning forays to the gym, lunchtime walks and afternoon runs at the park. I feel better and my pants have some breathing room.

On weekends, we've been out and about, hiking and crippling ourselves at a batting cage. I am also making Brad chase me for 3 miles around Chastain Park on Saturday mornings when the poor man would rather be sleeping in. Since I signed us up for a 5K Run/Walk in September (much to Brad's dismay), we now have something to train for.

This weekend was pretty domestic: we did some yardwork because our yard was beginning to resemble a jungle (lions and tigers were spotted lurking among the weeds). Otherwise, I'm just holding on tight until the end of the school year. Things tend to get a pretty stressful in May for teachers. June seems so close yet so far away! My tentative summer plans include a trip out to CA to see friends and then a road trip up to VA to finally see my brother's family around the 4th of July.

The good news is that Delta now considers me a "domestic partner" since Brad and I have lived together for 6 months. That means I now fly standby for FREE anywhere in the world. Um, yeah. I'm speechless, too. Get your guestrooms ready, people..!

On the other side of hell lays paradise

If you are one of the perhaps three people that even occasionally check this blog, you've noticed that I haven't written much lately. I have to be honest: it's been a tough year.

Some of the "trail by fire" experiences include Brad's father passing coinciding with the beginning of our relationship back in March, moving beneath the neighbor-from-hell in June, and then subsequently moving into a house together with Brad in December. As I wrote about a couple of blog posts ago, this last event has required a lot of adjustment, compromise, learning and personal growth on both of our parts. And as my friend, Laura, says: "You can't yoga your way out of this. You just have to face it and go right through it."

Which is scary, people. VERY SCARY. You, see, I can't just walk away like when I was dating casually and would suddenly realize two dates into a relationship: "This dude is a selfish asshole!" Or "Boy, that one is a misogynist!" Or, "Gee, he's actually a manipulative, self-serving commitment-phobe."

Well, ok, ok, you CAN walk away in a committed relationship... but only long enough to get yourself calmed down, get some perspective, and most importantly, get back to "I love you. We'll work this out because you're worth it."

So, despite our dramas, I have to sing Brad's praises. He's sincere, thoughtful and considerate. He brings me roses, plans surprise birthday parties, cooks an amazing gourmet dinner for Valentine's Day-- complete with diamond necklace-- just because. It doesn't feel over-the-top. There's no schmoozy, hidden agenda which has characterized other guys I've dated. Brad has just been very sincerely loving and kind to me.

He's also hysterically funny and can be incredibly patient and selfless, even when I'm a hormonal, paranoid, drama queen b*tch. He's teaching me by example how to love unconditionally and not turn away when fear and baggage rear their ugly heads. He's teaching me to trust in love again, and I love him so much for that.

Oh, and he has a cute tush :-)

I'm such a lucky woman...!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here's a shot from my birthday dinner at Ru-San's two days ago. Brad had just finished serenading "Happy Birthday" to me in front of the whole restaurant, with me standing on a chair. He's got a great voice!

Can you tell I was fighting a cold brought on by our New Year's festivities? We had rung in the New Year at a downtown ultra-lounge with lots of drinks, pizza, dancing... and trying to find a taxi in the cold. So, I got the sniffles on my birthday. What can I say? I'm sensitive like that :-)

Let's see... what else? I got to spend lots of time with Brad (who had off) and local friends Rochelle, Larry, Aaron, Kim, Bridget, Todd, Laura and Carrie, along with Carol, my friend visiting from California. I also hosted my first Hanukah dinner of brisket and latkes which I understand was a success. I heard from friends far and near via cards and email, and that is pretty terrific. In fact, although the commercialism of the holiday season drives me crazy, it's the connection with friends and family at this time of year that makes everything OK.

Yikes! I can't believe I return to work tomorrow. Time has flown by too fast.