Reverb13: Joy

What gave you joy during 2013?

• My family
• My husband
• My cat who is turning 14 in 2104, Maximus
• My dear friends: we hiked together, we read together, we laughed together, we watched movies together, we cooked together, we loved and we laughed together.
• Snow. Wow, we got a lot during the winter of 2013 (and we end the year with some too). Snow brings me joy. It brings my husband joy. We get out into the woods and we have fun
• Good health. Something I will never take for granted
• the strong pull of standing back and watching Karma do what Karma does. Amazing. 
• Being strong, getting a good review at work
• My students at my day job, at my volunteer mentor job, and the children as always enjoying the farm I volunteer at
• Music. 
• A new kitchen made on our own. Hard work but much joy has resulted. Wok on, my love, wok on!
• weddings: one on the beach in CA and one at a winery and distillery in NH. So happy to be part of both!

Reverb13: It's that time of year again!

So just as I did last year I'm going to Reverb at random. Not every day. Just when the mood strikes. But through the end of the year just like the last few years.

Today's word: Health

It's easy to take our health for granted. As many of you know I spent a week in the hospital (plus 2 days outpatient) for an infection. I was on the wrong antibiotic for 5 days and it was pretty horrible. So here I am.

A new month. A fresh start. FINALLY feeling like myself. Had a bad cold for a week recently too, so now I'm BACK to yoga. I'm back to enjoying life. I'm back to cooking and baking and doing laundry and "keeping house." Much to the relief of my husband, I'm sure (he was my nursemaid and helping hand--love you honey!). Sickness and in health.

Being out of the hospital and well enough to be in a dear friend's wedding meant so much to me. (shout out to the newlyweds Grey and Bri for such an amazing wedding that was creative and fun--it for me was the first time I'd felt normal in so long after being so ill and it was just a great weekend  in NH that I so needed).

Don't take health for granted. You can have the fancy cars, the multiple homes, the good friendships, and wonderful relationships, and the GREAT job. It all goes to shit if you don't have your health. I know this now. Yoga retreat scheduled for February. I started (and kept going with) writing every day while in the hospital--and I'm sticking to it--writing every single day (not in this blog, but still stretching that writing muscle).

Cheers! To good health and a fun and exciting 2014! 2013 was exhausting (just ask anyone that lives in the Boston area--ending on a good note, a happy note. I need 2014 to have more fun (go Red Sox) and less worry and bad things (terrorist attack on Boston). There's going to be daffodils blooming the entire marathon route (that runs through my town). I can't wait for 2014 to begin!

What I'm Thankful For

I've really been enjoying the posts from friend's about what they are thankful for. Some are daily posts. Others are blog posts.

After a wonderful family Thanksgiving I figured I'd post what I'm thankful for during this time of year. No matter how big or small the things on your own list are, each are important in their own way.

• Snowdays. I just read a post from a friend that took around 2 hours to drive to work in the snow this morning. Not only was that dangerous but she had no choice (she's the only one at work who does her job). My work closes when the weather is bad (the recent hurricane is one example). They put employee safety first.
  
• I'm done with my holiday shopping. I did it online and supported small businesses with my purchases. I also got a handful of stuff made right here in the USA. I also did not step foot in a mall to complete my shopping (could not find a parking spot if you want to know the truth there). So this list item now equals more time to bake, spend with friends, and go to holiday parties.  

• I'm grateful to live in a place where I have a backyard and free parking. After spending time this fall in Philly, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, NYC, and Chicago I will say this is a pretty big list item. I learned a lot about urban living this fall too. For example, in places like Detroit there is a whole urban farm movement to create jobs and provide fresh food for areas that are declared food deserts. In Chicago it is super clean and there's a culture where ideas are put in motion and EVERYONE works. Even kids graduate college and go to work (not move back to their parent's house to 'find themselves'). I also observed that my own downtown (a pretty shabby often criticized downtown Framingham) is cleaner than New York City. Wayyyyy cleaner.

• My health. This is a huge one since I had several friends be diagnosed with cancer this year. I learned to try new things (ballet barre, joined a new yoga studio) and also had to keep reminding myself that good health is not to be taken for granted. 

What about you? Do you have a little bullet point list of your own? I'd love to hear it.

#1 Book in America?

Today Snack Girl provided a review of 'The Dukan Diet'. It's the #1 book in America. With the Royal Wedding a few days away, this diet has been in the news a lot in recent weeks. When I first heard about this diet I had flashbacks to the 1990s where co-workers would cook raw chicken in the microwave and just eat meat all day long.

Here's part of the review on Snack Girl:


"So, the Dukan Diet is "Atkins without the fat", and I am sure you will lose weight on it. You will also be constipated, feel lethargic, and have bad breath. You could potentially harm your kidneys with all that protein in your diet.

Look, I know we are all desperate to lose weight, but this is not the way to go about it. Not only do you want to shed pounds, but you should want to get HEALTHIER not UNHEALTHIER.

The Dukan Diet relies on you eating a lot of protein and very little of anything else. It is inflexible, unrealistic, and drastic."

I also just watched the 2nd episode in 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' last night (the LA season). Those burger specials for under $5 (with healthy veggies and humanely raised local meat) looked fantastic. I did not think that anything would be more shocking than the Huntington WV season.

Do you know anyone on the Dukan Diet right now? If so, are they doing it because they heard about it in the news? Have you been watching 'Food Revolution' this season? The behind the scenes red tape in that district (that all of the viewers now know about) is pretty upsetting.