Gazelles On Crack

“If your everyday life seems poor, don’t blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not eenough of a poet to call forth its riches…”

– Rainer Maria Rilke

If you’re for a government that doesn’t interfere with the people, ’cause you know they can make the best choices, then how can you reasonably be anti-choice?

Just wondering.

Also - if you’re looking to be elected for four more years of the same party, how much “change” can you really campaign for?

If I were playing the RNC drinking game (drink every time someone says POW or maverick, finish the drink if someone says moose), I’d be wasted now.  Good think I’m waiting for Kim to show up so we can go for a walk.

Yesterday I got a (figurative) gold star from my physical therapist. If she handed out real gold stars, I’d be doing even better. I’m very sticker motivated.

I know have 100% range of motion. However, she worked me hard yesterday. I was too exhausted/sore to do my walk last night, and ended up skipping weights last night due to the sore. I am, however, walking tonight and yoga-ing tomorrow, so I’m only missing ONE day of cardio. Hopefully my goals will forgive me.

I am starting to get nervous about January. January is going to suck. I will mostly likely be working full-time in January, which is unfortunate, because that has traditionally been the month I needed 3-day weekends the most. Every day, another January project gets dumped on me, and then I cry a little. But only on the inside.

I do really enjoy my job. And my boss. And most of my co-workers. I love my office and I love working in a hospital, because it makes going to the doctor very easy, and sometimes I share elevators with people who’ve recently had transplants – and that’s just cool.

I am going to have to be very careful to remember to take time for myself, once January rolls around. It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of work, and before you know it you’re chowing through the bowl of fun-size candy bars, sneaking out for smoke breaks (although not at my work – we’re smoke free), skipping yoga & not having enough time to run. January, with its never-ending dark is hard enough without making time for the healthy stress relievers.

I guess it’s good that I can plan for this. When I used to work in international relief/development as a fundraiser, I couldn’t plan for the stressful times. Between December 2004 & October 2005, there were three very large disasters: the Indonesian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and a huge earthquake in Pakistan. There was no planning for that. No planning for the fact that I almost missed my own New Year’s Eve party because I was at work. No planning for the long hours and canceled vacation in the wake of the hurricane. And although we did a number of good things (more or less, but I’m not here to say bad things about former employers, no matter how deserved), and I wasn’t left dead, or homeless, or bereft, it wasn’t so much for me. Too much stress makes me go blind (no, seriously, I went blind one day at work when processing tsunami donations). I am a planner (the architect is rolling his eyes at that understatement) and I need a plan.

I don’t need it quite yet – although the next 5 weeks will be a practice run for January – but I will need something in place before the dark is really here. I need coping mechanisms and reminders to take a break, to go for a quick run, and to step away from the candy (that I don’t even really like anyway).

So, even though I’m only now slowly getting back into a cardio routine, I need to keep it going. And tell me – how do you prepare for periods of great busy? What coping mechanisms do you employ that don’t involve Parliament Lights & Peanut Butter Soy Delicious non-dairy frozen dessert (I hate, hate, hate this lactose intolerance thing)? Help a girl out (‘cause if you don’t, I’ll talk about politics some more).

apparently John McCain was a POW!  Who knew?

I’m so ready for the election.

When doing exhaustive, lengthy searches for the latest & greatest in shoe trends, it’s important to take into account the fashion shows.  (Actually, I have no idea if it’s important or not - it just seemed like a good idea on Monday, when I was conducting my research.)

On the NY Magazine fashion area, you can search by article of clothing, season, gender, color, trend & designer.  When looking at all shoes for women in Fall 2008, you get the following popular trends:

Out of a field of 11,000 shoes:

Materials

• 955 are leather
• 49 are velvet
• 18 are “skins”
• 11 are fur

Styles/Influences

• 22 are Rock
• 18 are Fringe (bleh)
• 12 are Goth

Colors & Prints

• 5,127 black & 1,013 brown (of course)
• 457 grays
• 432 metallics
• 393 white/cream (for fall?  really?)
• 353 red (that’s more like it)
• 324 beige/khaki (again, bleh)
• 188 green
• 114 purple
• 111 prints/patterns
• 104 pink

What I really want to see is a metallic fur fringe shoe.  However, doing a Google image search turns up some rather disturbing images, as well as pictures of Sharon Stone.  And this:

We discussed the fringe last week, and nothing short of a bribe would make me walk down that path again.  But, since it’s not shoe porn Wednesday without some shoe porn, I will give you the prettiest shoe that I’ve seen this week:

And, because apparently I’m a hater, with the ugliest shoe I’ve seen in a long time (and further proof that buying a Rachel Zoe pick is just stupid - she also endorsed the Pocahontas boot):

A bargain at only $475

I was reading JeepGirl’s goals for September (and her August recap) and I thought - that is a damn good idea. I did do the 101 in 1,001 at the beginning of the year - but that is WAAAY too many goals for me. I’m really a 3-5 goals at a time kinda girl. And short periods of time, otherwise I forget.

I decided that I needed 5 September goals

1) Track food for 30 days

2) Initiate passport renewal process

3) Do 15 minutes of cardio a day, following physical therapist’s plan to the letter!

4) Get garden prepped

5) Attend pirate festival

***awkward segue to political rant***

Also, if I hear one more statement about how keeping a baby with Down Syndrome or not getting an abortion when you find out you’re pregnant at 17 means you’re pro-life, I might stab someone (obviously I am not pro-life).  If I got pregnant right now, it would definitely NOT be planned.  I would keep the baby.  If I got pregnant right now, and found out that the baby had Down syndrome, I would keep the damn baby.  I would name it Neville and start a therapy fund, and refer to it as “that damn baby” (ha ha - just kidding!), but I would keep it.  And I am definitely not anti-choice.  Pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion.  Asshats.  Seriously!  When people equate having babies to being pro-life (or anti-choice, as I prefer to call it), then they just sound stupid.  Many, many people who are pro-choice have babies.  If I’d gotten pregnant at 17, I don’t know what I would have done, but whatever I hypothetically would have chosen had the occasion arisen, would not have changed my stance, as firm then as it is now, that I am 100% decidedly pro-choice.

I am NOT, however, pro-abstinence-only education.  And I think maybe the argument there is that perhaps a 17 year old girl, who has been thrust unfairly into the national spotlight by the prominence of her anti-choice, pro-abstinence-only mother is pregnant at 17, and I was not.  You know what keeps teens from getting pregnant?  Birth control.

End rant.

Has been postponed due to not having the camera in order to download photos.  It was an interesting weekend, though.  So, you know, hold your breath & stuff for the photo essay!

The architect is at work right now, which sucks.  And although it is a holiday weekend, it seemed extra short.  I usually have Mondays off anyways, but I don’t feel that it was extra non-laborious.  I didn’t slave away being domestic today, with the exception of laundry & my bi-monthly grocery shopping.

I feel crabby.  That may have something to do with the unexpected houseguest.  Blah.

Next weekend will be very industrious.  We will finish the bulk of the driveway work AND I really need to start digging out the expanded garden so I can get the garlic planted in the next few weeks.  I bought some bulbs today, so I’ll want to get those planted in the next month, too.

Also found out today that my in-laws are coming 9/17 - 9/22.  I love my in-laws, so I’m actually very excited - I just like a bit more warning when guests are coming.  At least they’ll be here for the Pirate Festival!