Inspiration - Solitude...

Late today due to a mid-week movie night! We crossed the river to attend a movie shown in our friends' barn - up in the loft. The movie was Moon, about a man working on the moon all by himself for a three year contract. I can't really say more because it would give away the whole premise - for those who like Sci/Fi, you might enjoy.

Anyway, the movie got me thinking about being alone for that many years. Personally, I think I'd go bonkers. But there is something to be said for 'alone time'.

Language... has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone.And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone. ~ Paul Tillich

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. ~ Henry David Thoreau

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with. ~Wayne Dyer

Cultivate solitude and quiet and a few sincere friends, rather than mob merriment, noise and thousands of nodding acquaintances. ~ William Powell

Could you live in solitude for three years, People of Blogland? Do you take time for 'alone time' throughout your day?

Core Weakness...

I signed up for a Core Strength exercise class for the month of July. Every Monday afternoon I go and attempt to strengthen my core...

My core is very weak!

Planks - oh, how I hate planks. Maybe I should also mention that I have really weak upper body strength so my shoulders AND my stomach are killing me. Yesterday's class was a real killer.

We do some balancing work, too. I'm not too bad at standing on one leg, but the whole sitting on the exercise ball with your feet off the floor - yeah, not so good.

And to wrap up, we did something called a Scorpian Flip: Start in push-up position (did I mention my weak upper body?), roll into a side plank (did I mention my hatred of planks?), keep turning so you're in kind of a backward bridge/bend position staring up at the ceiling (I'm almost 50, my body does not move that way any more), lift opposite arm and leg and bring them together fingers to toes (still in the pretzeled back bend position), roll back into side plank, turn again into push-up position, do a push-up, repeat. REPEAT!

Holy crap on a stick!

Note to self: Next time you think signing up for a Core Strength exercise class is a good idea, remember the Sting of the Scorpion!

Anyone out there in Blogland do core strength workouts? Have you balanced on an exercise ball lately? How about the Scorpion Flip - done it? Wanna?

My Favorite Time of Day...

I am not a morning person - we all know that - but, suprisingly, my favorite part of the day is around 5:30. This is when Taz gets up to go outside (darn early morning sun - she will wake up later and later as the days get shorter and shorter). The Husband, being a morning person, gets up to let her out. Then crawls back into bed. I snuggle toward him and Taz comes to my side of the bed and gets up - laying parallel to us.

Yes, my favorite time of the day is when all three of us are in bed spooning. TMI?

There's such a calmness about it. Peaceful. The tranquility of love, the slowness of breath, as we all drift off to sleep for another hour before the everyday reality of work and chores and committment begins.

What's your favorite time of the day, People of Blogland?

Into the Swing of Things...

I was doing so well before I went on holidays. I had a great routine and I was sticking to it - of course, I could have used more hours in the day to, say, get back into my writing, but overall the schedule was working.

Then I went on holidays. Out goes the schedule AND the routine. It's been very hard getting back into one since I've been back - and I've been back a month now. Slacking off on blogging, not cooking decent meals (a girl can only live on cheese and crackers for so long) and definitely lacking in the cleaning department. The only thing I was getting done was the Day Job (and believe me, that was hard to keep my butt in the chair for that). Even my running was a hit and a miss for the first couple of weeks - thank goodness I re-committed at the beginning of July.

In an effort to get back on track, I decided to go back to a day planner kind of schedule - you know the kind that has the hours marked off down the side with lots of room to fill in a 'plan'. I had actually made one in a spreadsheet a couple of months ago, but with all the paper already covering my desk (the Day Job is paper intensive) and nowhere to really post the schedule, not to mention the amount of trees I seemed to be destroying thanks to having to print off the schedule, I started looking at my Google Calendar feature.

Has anyone ever used Google Calendar? I actually like it - I can create an agenda for the day or use the hourly planner feature. I can color code (ooh, my anal self is very happy with that feature) and I can create a "To Do" list on the side that even allows me to check off the items when they get done. Bonus - a little pop-up window appears to let me know when my next 'meeting' is (OK, so I don't have any meetings, but I like the feature especially when it pops up and tells me it's lunch time :)

The only thing I don't like about it, OK two things - I can't overlay items (if I've filled out the time slot, there's no going in and adding another section within that timeframe - and I am a multi-tasker, so I'm frustrated with that) and I can't write notes that will show up on my schedule (like a "To Do" list within the event).

Yesterday was my first day with the new calendar and it worked very well. It also didn't take up any room on my desk - I just minimized it at the beginning of the day so it would be easy to reference. I even found time to write only because it was scheduled in and I wanted to cross it off the "To Do" list!

Have you ever had problems getting back into routines after being away on holidays, People of Blogland? Do you use a day planner or calendar of some sort? Have you looked at Google Calendar - any suggestions for my two issues (and really, both are about making lists within lists)? Any list makers in the crowd?

Watermelon Granita...

Yummy, yummy, yummy!

This is what I made a couple of weeks ago when I was asked to bring a dessert, I knew the meal was going to be filling AND it was stinking hot outside. As always, my true test of a keeper recipe is "Would I make this again?" In this case - YES!!! I'll give you another option at the end of the recipe - it includes alcohol.

BTW, the recipe is a mix of about three or four I found on the web.

Watermelon Granita

Zest 1/2 lemon: Set aside

2 c water and 1 1/4 cups sugar: Combine in small saucepan and bring to boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Cool.

5 c watermelon (I had more and added a cup of strawberries that were looking past their prime - therefore did the processing in two batches) and juice of 1/2 lemon: Puree in food processor with reserved zest.

Strain through sieve to get rid of seeds - press pulp with back of spoon to get the most juice (and feel free to eat the pulp afterwards, it was yummy).

Add enough of the cooled simple syrup until desired sweetness (this is totally up to you).

Pour into 9 x 13 baking pan and freeze for 2 hours.

Pull out of freezer and scrape up using a fork.

Continue to freeze and scrap in 1 hour increments (if you forget, just leave the pan on the counter until soft enough to 'slush').

Serve or store in airtight container in the freezer.

We had leftovers - not much, but enough to bring home and add to some chilled vodka and orange flavored liquour (could use orange juice). Then added some soda water and a skirt of lime. Excellent summer drink :)

I think I'll try a coffee flavored granita in the near future.

So, as a kid, I loved slushies from the corner store. My absolute favorite flavor - grape. The first place I ever had a slushie was in a kiosk in the 'new mall' where they swirled in soft serve ice cream then filled the cup with slush. So good - now I'm craving one!

Are you a slushie fan, People of Blogland? What's the product called in your neck of the woods (slushie, slush cat, slush puppie)? And what's your favorite flavor? Has anyone ever made granita?

Inspiration - Why?

I have a new blog (new to me, anyway) that I want to share: Procrastinating Writers. And I especially want to share this post about finding the "Why?" for your dreams, aspirations or goals: Three Tips to Help You Discover Your Writing "Why". The post is written for writers, about writing - but I can really see the parallel with anything you're going to take on in your life (right now, my focus seems to be all about the running).

I really liked this:

Remember Your Dreams–You remember your dreams? They’re those things you used to have before you let society and the publishing industry come in and steal them from you. Before you got distracted by the bullshit status quo, what did you dream about? What did you want to be? What did you want to achieve? ~ Jennifer Blanchard

Do you know your writing "Why", People of Blogland? How about other goals and dreams? Feel free to share them in the comment section.

And to those who commented last Wednesday and I didn't get back to answer, my apologies -perhaps I need to look at the "Why" of this blog ;)

Inspiration - Time

How is it Wednesday already? Good thing I'm following the "Blogging Without Obligation" theory!

So, as time got away from me this week, I thought I'd find some inspirational quotes related to time. The first one is a keeper for me:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. ~ Steve Jobs

Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count. ~ Anonymous

We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves. ~ Alice Bloch

Time is but the stream I go a-fishin in. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Here's to a day with more time than chores, People of Blogland!

Happy Canada Day...

It's the start of a long weekend here in Canada - and a beautiful one here on the East Coast according to the weather guys (thank you Weather Guys :)

We'll be checking out Bridgewater's Canada Day - last year we got awesome t-shirts that read "Canada Day Rocks the River"(that's the LaHave River, in case anyone is wondering). Hopefully there will be different shirts there this year.

Then it's off to our friends' place for dinner - I have to make dessert (must get thinking about that). Should be a good time and always great food.

We also have a picnic planned for either Saturday or Sunday - might be heading over to the Fundy Coast. I'll post pics next week!

What's your plans for the weekend (eithe long for my Canadian Friends or regular old two days for my American Friends), People of Blogland? Hope you have a great weekend no matter what you end up doing!!