Gift of Music

How could we exist without music?  Good music is a way to feel free from time for just a moment, and free from all the structures that we've built around time.  I say that sometimes I get lost in the sadness, when I notice the temporal nature of this thing called life.  But a rhythm, a pattern, a song, a genuine laugh, a child, and yes, of course even sometimes a beautiful calculus theory, can lift me out.  I don't hold the secret to happiness...only I think it must be cultivated and sustained.  We have to seek it out.

Philosophy aside, here are some of my "happiness songs" that are forming a base for the wedding playlist.  I think I have the folk music bug.

Also, I went on the most amazing walk today.  This picture doesn't do it justice but autumn is the most amazing time of year (except that it means winter is closer).

Here's the Skinny

I am apprehensive about creating another post about reading but I had to tell you about a book on my shelf that gets more use than any of the others.  It's called French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guilano.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon this book at Borders in Salt Lake City in one of those sections you know you shouldn't be in if you want to keep any shred of self-esteem for the rest of the day.  But the title intrigued me so I bought it anyway and I haven't been able to part with it since.

It helped me stop running and start walking more (which has made me thinner than I ever have been).

It taught me to how to turn eating into a pleasurable hobby, from the shopping and cooking all the way to the first (and by the way the most enjoyable) bite.

I just like the common-sense of it all.  Basically it is a "How to" on living in your own skin.  I couldn't be more grateful for it because I used to go to extremes with running and exercising, eating salads every other meal, and weighing myself.  I haven't been on a scale for at least a year because this book taught me how to gauge my weight by how I feel and how my clothes fit.  I know my clothes fit and feel the same as they did last year so I am at the same weight!

Everyone's different, but this book is the basis for my staying-slim-philosophy.

Ladd's Addition

There is a funny part of our southeast Portland neighborhood called Ladd's Addition, where the streets run diagonally into a center turnabout, instead of the grid pattern like most of Portland's streets.  It is an awesome historic part of Portland (if you want to know more about it, click here.)  Before I understood the layout, more than once I found myself stuck on a longer walk than I wanted.

If you're prepared for a long walk down it's long shady streets, it's worth the trek.  There are many beautiful old houses and several rose gardens.  Daniel and I took a walk to get a newspaper this morning (for the coupons, not the news, although "Extreme Couponing" is threatening to ruin the coupon fun altogether). Technically, we didn't have to walk through Ladd's to attain a newspaper, but we couldn't resist the chance to take a few pictures.

        

So it has begun...

I'm not good without a focus.  When I was five years old I got the chickenpox and I drove my mom crazy until she finally got some homework from my kindergarten teacher.  I'm happiest when I am busy, and I am definitely not busy right now.

Today was the first day that Daniel was back at work and I am off from school.  I have tried to make the most of it, but it has been kinda miserable.  Although I tried to be prepared by buying a copy of Kathryn Stockett's The Help, today was still a jedi mind battle between me and the refrigerator.

I went on a walk this evening to try and clear my mind and come up with ways to survive the next six weeks until school starts.  So far I don't have any bright ideas except to keep doing something, anything, even if it means I go on ten walks a day.  I just can't fall into the trap of sitting around and feeling sorry for myself.

P.S> At least I'm reading something other than calculus textbooks again.  I am already 200 pages into The Help and it is wonderful...highly recommended.  It raises the bar for my next reading choice though so I hope it's not too hard to find the next read.

Lazy Sunday Walk

Today Daniel and I went for a walk to Laurelhurst Park.  It's only about a 20 minute walk from our apartment.  We walk a lot in the summer.  I think we feel so pent up when its raining that we try to squeeze out as much sun-time as possible.