The Friday List (nice things you did for yourself this week)
I’m one of those people who believes the body pretty much knows what it needs, moment to moment. Sometimes it lets you know it’s missing the salsa nutrient, other times it’s a ginormous salad, or this week, for me, it’s been the “ch” food group: Chex Mix, Chocolate, and Cheese.
And I tell myself, “Whatever you need, honey, I’ll get it for you.”
It can be kind of a scary thing to turn yourself over to your body. You think you’ll just start eating and never stop. And maybe for a while that’s true, but then the day does come when you notice you haven’t eaten anything since breakfast, and now all you want for dinner is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and maybe a cup of tea and let’s go to bed. Then you wake up starving for fruit and oatmeal, and maybe it means you’re on the road to everything being back in balance and right with your world.
Just an experiment I’m conducting. I’ll let you know how it works out.
How did these Friday posts get to be about food? Oh, I guess it’s because I keep bringing it up.
So anyway, that’s my nice thing for the week: giving myself the ch’s when necessary, and not feeling like I need to eat salad before or after just to be all self-righteous. The time will come when I’ll be craving spinach, and I’m willing to run out and get it for myself then. A time for every season and every food group.
And tonight is week two of our Barbara Kingsolver-inspired Friday Homemade Pizza Night! With cheese!!
What sweet things have you all been doing for yourselves this week?
Technorati Tags: The Friday List, Self-Kindness, Pampering, Self-Sweetness, Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Vegetable Miracle, Feeding Yourself What You Need
I got a copy of animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Actually, it was given to me. I went back to the beach bookstore this week. Told the owner the story of how the book is a big maybe on the list. I also shared that it had been talked about on Robin’s blog. She went to the backroom and gave me her ARC copy to read. Sweet.
Being at the coast with family(two granddaughters included) was the nicest gift for me this week. Hope you all had a great week.
Because my main computer was wheezing and spluttering and sometimes acting as if it had alzheimer’s, I broke down and bought a brand new ‘puter. And I didn’t buy the parts to put together like I usually do, since this week I’m a victim of my own damn success and have a workload that would choke the proverbial horse. I instead bought a complete ‘puter, with lots of upgrades and a huge new high def monitor. Hopefully the old box survives long enough for me to transfer stuff over, which I’m trying to make time for considering the above-mentioned workload, which is why I’ve been MIA from Robin-Land.
BTW, I LOVED 594!!! I could tell you how to delete this through the database, if WP won’t let you delete a post without a real title, but it’s WAY too much fun to delete now!
I got a job! A wonderful dream of a job: half teaching 7th grade English and half teaching a special writing class to advanced 6th graders. I start faculty development next week and I am PSYCHED.
This qualifies as a “nice thing I did for myself” and not a “nice thing that happened to me” because I almost didn’t even apply–told myself the commute would be too much of a pain and anyway I wasn’t ready because I’ve never taught middle school and hadn’t spent the whole summer preparing lesson plans. Boy am I glad I talked myself down off of THAT ledge.
I went Wednesday night to the Hollywood Bowl to see Dave Brubeck (and his quartet). The man is 86 years old and a true legend. It was amazing, amazing, amazing.
I treated myself to takeout and a movie last night. Food: linguine with littleneck clams, fresh salad with dried figs, and a glass of red wine. Movie: Stranger Than Fiction. Has a movie ever been cast more perfectly than this one? I know I’m a writer, and was supposed to enjoy this, but it was so much fun. And Robin, speaking of movies, the 7-imps post today reminded me to ask you: you have seen Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, right?
Robin, you are wise to follow your inner sense of entitlement to the major food groups…. I’m on board with that philosophy.
My nice things this week:
1. I decided to give up a few commitments that were making me very very stressed out.
2. I ate and drank things my body told me I needed (like beer and chocolate, but not together).
3. I watched the 2006 BBC production of Jane Eyre, which I thought was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. It included so many scenes I had forgotten about from the book!
4. I ordered books (including Robin’s) and added music and movies from Barnes and Noble because I wanted the free canvas bag with purchase.
5. I took back some of my own time that other people had claimed.
Have a great week all!
I am having the least stressful child’s birthday party EVER this afternoon. I simply refused to get worked up over anything. All they care about is being crazy together.
Oh, yes. I also snuck out of my writing office and saw a movie with my husband in the middle of the day. Naughty fun.
I actually focused long enough to get a good chunk of the revisions done on my WIP. Also have had fun going back and forth with the speakers who are coming to the conference I am running in January…check it out at http://scwg.org/. And reading…something I don’t always do enough of.
Oohh, Laura, You gotta outsource those children’s birthday parties. Talk about stress free/mess free!!!
Sara, I love, love, loved watching Stranger than Fiction. The music in that film is really fun, too.
I’m on vacation and being extremely self-indulgent, as in I don’t think I’ve done anything that I haven’t felt like doing in at least a week. Needless to say, I feel great.
Jone, what a score getting that Barbara Kingsolver ARC! Sweet is right!
Sara and Adrienne and all other lovers of Stranger Than Fiction–YES. Loved Will, loved Queen L, always adore Emma (not only a great actress, but also a great writer, as we saw in her adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. So sorry things didn’t work out between her and Kenneth Branaugh, who is also brilliant, but did any or all of you see the film they made together, Dead Again? It’s fantastic! Rent it!
Laura, how great that you sneaked out–with your husband!–to see an afternoon movie. That’s so delicious, isn’t it? Have fun at the no-stress kiddie party (hard to imagine that’s possible, but if you say so).
Adrienne, I like that you’re totally self-indulging on vacation. None of that frantic running around for you. You actually have a shot at coming back refreshed and relaxed–not something everyone can achieve after a vacation.
Judy, that’s an impressive slate of speakers! Good for you! And good work on your WIP. Revisions–ugh.
Nancy, I need your #1 and 5. May I, please? What a great and necessary change those would bring. Number 3 looks mighty fine, too–I need to rent that and Horatio Hornblower, which Sara keeps mentioning. I think I just need a BBC date one weekend. And thanks for ordering my book! Hope you enjoy!
Sara, you bet I’ve seen Eat, Drink, Man, Woman–wasn’t that fab?! All that food! And a great story!
Katie, look how casual you are about that glam life you lead–Hollywood Bowl, Dave Brubeck–I wish you’d come to the conference so we could all verify you wear shades all the time. I know you’re that cool (despite the pineapple dress you sewed recently and that your friend made so much fun of).
Kathryne, (drum roll) CONGRATULATIONS!! That’s wonderful! And it’s interesting how that is a nice thing you did for yourself. I remember that was one of Little Willow’s things a few weeks ago–talking herself into auditioning for a part she ended up getting. So many times we reject ourselves before we give someone else the chance to. It’s extra nice that you took a chance and got what you wanted!
BJ, I’m glad you bought an actual, ready computer. I’m sure you’re quite capable of building your own, but come on–treat yourself a little. How are the fiddle lessons coming in the midst of all this overwork?
The beginning part of the week was so beautiful and cool. I had a chance to read outside, take some nice walks, and bake brownies. Since it was cool outside, the kids were thrilled to play outside so my house stayed fairly clean for a couple extra days. I like when that happens.
I have to add one more nice thing, so the rest of you can run out and get it too. I went to the Whole Foods to browse (’cause that’s what I do when I’ve worked hard and want to goof off for awhile) and they were handing out samples of Fico Co.’s Fig & Cocoa spread. They put a smear on top of plain goat cheese and French bread, and WOW! SOLD! I bought some for my dinner o’ snacks tonight. That’s when I buy little nibbles of things and try them all. Robin, you’re invited.
And I would send you my Horatio videos but someone borrowed them and they never made their way back to me. I suspect it was because they couldn’t pry their eyes away from Ioan Gruffudd.
Sewing. Lots and lots of wonderful sewing. When things go well, it’s incredibly relaxing. (And when things don’t go well, it’s usually easy-ish to fix.) The costume I’m working on now is Ty Lee from Avatar for wear at Dragon*Con next weekend, and it’s looking fabulous–I’m so excited! Shall have to post pictures or something.
I went to see Stranger Than Fiction with my writing group awhile back–we had a blast! That movie was great.
Wow, this week has flown by and I’ve actually done lots of nice things. Many of them were kid-inspired, but they were all nice for me too.
On Sat, I took the extra effort to go to Splash Down Water Park instead of being lazy by the pool and it was super fun for all of us. Sometimes being nice to yourself is pushing yourself a little bit.
The best nice thing though is the super vacation I have planned for us all starting tomorrow. We’re on a road trip to Niagara Falls. Can’t wait!
Yay, Adrienne!
Have fun, MotherReader & family!
I worked.
I rehearsed.
I performed.
I got my hopes up.
I tried to get some sleep last night.
I purchased and consumed lots of soymilk.
I listened to the Spring Awakening soundtrack on repeat.
Vivian, I never considered how nice weather could benefit mothers by making kids want to play outside, therefore keeping the house clean. Bonus!
Sara, you are the QUEEN of decadent food combinations. Wow–that sounds incredible. I want to hang out with you for a day and copy all your eating! Including that frozen yogurt-spicy tortilla strips? (wasn’t it?) combo. Mmm.
Miri, it’s so cool that you sew! Do you know that Katie Alender, author/blogger/winner of this year’s 48 Hour Film Project for L.A. sews, too? You two need to become BFFs.
Mother Reader, hope you’re having a fabulous time at Niagara Falls! I know you’ve been talking about not being ready for summer to end, so what a great way to see it off.
And Little Willow, congratulations on your performance, and on getting your hopes up! And what’s the Spring Awakening soundtrack about? Even the name sounds lovely.
Robin: It is the soundtrack for the musical, which was inspired by Frank Wedekind’s original coming-of-age play. You will have email shortly . . .
Hi Robin.
Yes, my #1 and #5 can be yours as well, if you like.
The trick is to first recognize that you’ve hit a wall, that you need some of your time back, and that only you can get it back for yourself.
#1 is tough, because it means giving up some things you might have been looking forward to, even though they were causing serious stress. For me, sadly, it means I am 99% sure I am not going to Chicago in October (I know. I know. But my sanity means a fraction more to me than the excitement of meeting all the bloggers. Just a fraction, but there you go.) Remember I said #1 is tough.
#5 is usually about communicating to other people and recalibrating their expectations. Which I nearly always discover are expectations I planted with them in the first place, and that makes it very easy to change them. Usually they say, “Oh, okay, whatever, no problem,” and just like that my life gets simpler.
Good luck!