Every year, the author Neil Gaiman posts a New Year’s message to his blog.  Here is this year’s message:

…for this year, my wish for each of us is small and very simple.

And it’s this.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

Oh, how I needed to hear that this year.

I’ve been collecting articles and ideas as I go forward to build my new wardrobe:

Stylish Dressing with a Small Summer Wardrobe
Add Classic Style to the Small Wardrobe
Wardrobe Clusters; Your Way to Affordable Fashion

How to Dress Like Anthropologie
How to Dress Like J. Crew

Things to Remember
The rules of threes:

• Every item you buy should be able to be worn three different ways.
• When designing an outfit, go for the three piece rule: top, bottom and a third piece like a scarf, cardigan, or jacket.  It makes you look more put together.
• Wear three pieces of jewelery or fewer; avoid matching sets. A bold accessory can be your third piece.

I really enjoyed my style consult, but I’m of two minds about how much those sorts of things cost. I had lunch with a friend last week who mentioned that she had done a wardrobe consultation with a (different) style consultant. To have the woman come out and go through her closet with her cost $500. Then, they went shopping together, for which the consultant charged $100 an hour. After two hours, my friend had 17 new pieces for her wardrobe, and she was thrilled because she only paid $330 for all of them (the consultant specializes in bargain shopping). But I couldn’t help doing the math and realizing that she’d actually paid $1,030 for those 17 pieces in the end.

I didn’t pay anywhere near that much. I got a Groupon for my service, which made it half off the regular price. I feel like I got my money’s worth for what I paid. But I’m not sure how I would feel if I had paid full price for the same service.

Interestingly, my consultant and I talked for a few minutes at the end about how people ask us both if we really get paid for what we do. I know graphic artists and photographers, and they have each complained of amateurs who believe they can design fliers or take pictures and that they don’t need to hire a professional. I’ve even been at the receiving end of that myself, feeling the need to convince people that they need professional copy writing.

It’s an interesting conundrum. Clearly I felt that I needed professional direction to feel like I was dressing my best, but how do you put a price on that kind of service?

Anyone can color their own hair at home, but it’s almost always going to look better when a professional does it. Anyone can build a web site these days, but it will look like an amateur job unless you hire a professional.

Everyone has to buy clothes and get dressed every day, and hiring someone to help you do that and look your best is certainly a luxury. So, I’m glad I found a way to indulge this long-held desire on deep discount, but in the same way I would be loathe to pay $200 for a pair of jeans, when I can get a pair for $20, I’m not sure I would be willing to pay full price for the service.

I will, however, be collecting free resources for dressing your best and sharing some of the tips I learned. Stay tuned!

As I mentioned (a while ago), I bought myself a consultation with a stylist as a present and a reward for working towards my pre-pregnancy weight.

I had my style consult on Saturday, and when I weighed in on Thursday, I was only four pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. I think that’s a major accomplishment, considering it’s only been four months since my little one was born, and most of what I’ve read says to give yourself a full nine months to get the weight off, even if you’re breastfeeding.

I feel good about this, and the way it’s happening, too. I eat toast slathered with real butter many mornings for breakfast. I have a small bowl of full-fat ice cream for dessert. Will I be able to keep that up and still lose weight once I stop breastfeeding? I don’t know, but that’s a question for later. For now, paying attention to my portion sizes, trying to eat more fruits and veggies, and getting out to exercise a couple of times a week is working for me.

Discussion of an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has been making the rounds on the Internet, but what do you think: should dangerously obese children be removed from their parents’ custody?

It’s a compelling argument. The article I’ve linked above lists several instances where obesity directly led to the death of a child. And governments already remove children from families for other food-related problems, namely lack of food.

But I imagine, in most cases, these children are not being willfully neglected or abused. These parents do not set out to harm their children the way an adult who beats a child or purposefully withholds food does. I would assume that the vast majority of children who are morbidly obese are that way because they are eating the food their parents provide, which is probably the best they can provide: cheap, plentiful junk food.

To my way of thinking, before the government starts condemning parents for the obesity epidemic in children, it should take a good hard look at the policies it espouses that make this not only possible but almost a foregone conclusion in some cases.

Because of the way the Farm Bill is set up, our government subsidizes corn syrup. Sugar has a lobby. Dairy has a lobby. Beef has a lobby. Vegetables and fruit do not, and subsequently, they get little or no subsidies.

I read recently, for example, that the WIC packages now contain one kind of fresh vegetable: carrots. Why? Because the carrot people formed a lobby. WIC packages are supposed to help provide vital nutrition to pregnant women, infants and children, but even now, the only fresh produce they include is carrots.

There is much talk about “food deserts” in inner cities, but I guarantee you that if things like fresh apples, carrots, and broccoli were less expensive than Doritos and Twinkies, they would find their way into the convenience stores that feed our inner cities. If the corn in the Doritos and the corn syrup in the Twinkies wasn’t so heavily subsidized by our government, they might be.

I am all for educating people and for some sort of intervention when a child becomes dangerously obese. But I also think that if our government wants to help this problem, they should take something like the physicians’ oath: “First, do no harm…”

It’s a ritual when you’re a Weight Watchers member: the weekly weigh in. You stand on a scale and an employee records your weight in your little booklet, and that one little action can make or break your day, if not your whole week.

It’s funny how much importance we attach to that number. I’ve spent years trying to distance my self-worth from the number on the scale, but the reality is that it’s the simplest and most accurate way to judge a weight-loss effort whether that effort is being undertaken for health, vanity, sanity, or some combination of the three.

Last week I was up a fraction of a pound. Really, hardly a gain at all—but not a loss. And while I rationalized it, tried to identify what I could do differently, and told myself it wasn’t a big deal, it colored how I felt for the rest of the day.

Today, I was down 2.6 pounds and it’s like those pounds were literally lifted from my shoulders. It’s validation. It’s success. It’s a heady feeling. And yet, I think it’s one I need to be wary of as much as its opposite.

The truth is that negative numbers are what I want to see each week, for health reasons and emotional ones, but I don’t want to get too tied up in basing my feelings on the numbers on that scale. They’re just numbers. And if I feel like I’ve had a good week, then they don’t really mean a thing.

Just an FYI: all my food posts are moving to my new website, Formation of a Foodie.

The name comes from the name of one of my food columns in the magazine, and I’m hoping it will be something of a “professional” website for me.

Mmm… This is my new favorite way to cook spinach. It’s adapted from Julia’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and it’s much lower in calories/points than you might expect.

The original recipe called for three pounds of spinach, but I only had a pound and a half—and it’s a lucky thing, because that much just barely fit in my largest pot!

So this recipe has been halved, resulting in four servings; you could easily double it back to the original.

Wilt 1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach, washed and de-stemmed as necessary, in a large pot. Transfer the cooked spinach immediately to a colander and submerge in cold water to stop the cooking. Squeeze out all the water and chop the spinach if necessary. You should end up with about a cup and a half of cooked spinach.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pot and add the spinach back in. Cook for about 10 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and stir into the spinach. Add about 2/3 of a cup of stock (or cream if you want to guild the lily) and allow it to cook into the spinach until all the liquid is gone. I also added a splash (less than 1/4 of a cup) of fat free half and half for creaminess, but it doesn’t really need it.

Stir in 1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese into the hot spinach and transfer to a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Top the spinach with another 1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese and about 1/2 a cup of breadcrumbs. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the cheese and breadcrumbs are golden brown.

DEVOUR, because it’s really amazing. We served ours with eggs over easy and whole wheat rolls, which was just right with some really great cherries for dessert.

The Bean and I went and picked up our first CSA box from Isabelle Farm this week, and I couldn’t be more excited.  Already we’re getting veggies that I’m not super familiar with so we can try new things.

Our box this week included baby lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, radishes, baby turnips with their greens and garlic scapes! So far we’ve only tried the lettuce and the turnips, but I’ve got a whole menu planned for the week to feature everything, including braised radishes and garlic scape pesto.

My salad spinner overfloweth with a beautiful baby lettuce mix. I plan to just feature this beauty in salads this week. The first was a curry chicken salad; I adapted the recipe from one I saw in SELF magazine.

• 2oz cooked chicken
• 1 T plain yogurt
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 C red grapes, halved
• 1 T cashews, chopped

Mix it all together and serve in a pita or over greens.

Then, last night, we had our baby turnips with carrots and onions in a mustard sauce, with a recipe adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything:

Start with a pound and a half of vegetables. Because I only had about half a pound of turnips, I added a couple of carrots and a sweet onion. Trim the veggies to a uniform size, about the size of a radish. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan large enough to hold the vegetables in a single layer. Cook, stirring once, for about 10 minutes.

Add a cup of stock or enough to cover the vegetables and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and stir until it dissolves into the sauce. Garnish with parsley.

More photos and recipes to follow!

On Friday, my daughter turned six weeks old and I had my first postnatal checkup, which I passed with flying colors.

On Saturday, I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting in about six years.

I’m posting about this because one of the reasons Weight Watchers worked for me the first time is the accountability.  Too often I’ve decided to do something—diet, exercise plan, whatever—and given up after a few days or weeks, and it was easy to quit because no one else knew.

I thought about what I wanted to do for a long time.  I had success with Weight Watchers the first time I did it, and they have a special program for nursing mothers.  I trust that the program is based on real science.  And this time, I’m going to do it my own way.

A lot of the recipes, branded foods and “tricks” some people rely on with the program involve a lot of processed foods, sugar substitutes, fat substitutes and other foods I’ve cut out of my diet.  I’m not going back to that kind of dieting.  I’m going to eat real butter, real ice cream, real sugar, real bread, real cheese, etc. because that is how I want to live the rest of my life.

Anyway, so far so good.  My previously stated goals still stand. And I’m feeling good with my decision.

As of this Friday, I will be six weeks postpartum with my beautiful baby girl. I will be headed to the doctor for my six-week checkup, at which time she will hopefully give me the go-ahead to start exercising (more than just walking) and actively trying to lose the weight I gained while pregnant.

But losing weight while breast feeding is a tricky business.  I’ve read that if you start dropping pounds too quickly, it can affect your milk supply.  And breastfeeding mothers are supposed to eat around 300 to 500 extra calories per day.

Not to mention the fact that losing weight is a tricky business for me personally anyway.  It’s a path fraught with emotional landmines and pitfalls.  From the privileged vantage of time, I realized last year that I believe I had a binge eating disorder when I was younger.  Then, towards the end of my pregnancy, I realized I was going back to those old habits: eating large quantities of food when I wasn’t physically hungry, being unable to stop myself from eating until the food was gone, eating in secret.  At first I chalked it up to the emotional roller coaster of late-term pregnancy, telling myself I needed the comfort, needed the food, even, to feed myself and my child.  But the truth of it was that I was resorting to old coping mechanisms when the going got tough.

I caught it.  It shocked and scared me and I cried about it.  And then I made the decision not to let it defeat me.  I have had one or two small episodes since then, but I truly believe I have beaten it back once again.

But that doesn’t mean I’m done.  Two other things have happened since my daughter was born that have tripped me up emotionally.  First, I decided to weigh myself about two weeks after I gave birth (really bad idea), and the number on the scale was larger than it had been when I was at my biggest, nearly 12 years ago.  Then, when my maternity pants were no longer fitting properly, but my pre-pregnancy pants still didn’t fit, I went to try on jeans at Target, with the idea of buying a transitional pair (bad idea number two).  The ones that fit the best were the same size I was at my biggest all those years ago.

That was hard to swallow.  My first thought was, You’re back at the beginning.  All that work you did, and now you have to start over from square one.

And while it might be true quantitatively, qualitatively the journey will be entirely different.  I know so much more now than I did back then—about the ins and outs of diets and exercise, but more importantly, about myself. I’m so much better prepared to deal with the negative thoughts and hard emotional hurdles I’m going to have to face.

My boulder may have rolled back to the bottom of the mountain, but this time, I know the best paths to push it back to the top.

So now I have some decisions to make.  I have to decide how I want to go about this journey.  What kind of diet and exercise plan makes the most sense for me—physically and emotionally?

I’m still weighing my options (no pun intended), but I think this is where I’m going to start:

• walk at least 10,000 steps per day (surprisingly easy with a baby!)
• focus on eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains
• record what I eat
• work in some strength training exercises, whether that means yoga, push-ups, or weights

And I’ve already got my goal and reward set.  A couple of days ago, I bought a Groupon for a style assessment from a local image and wardrobe consultant.  It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and getting it half price seemed like I should jump on the chance.

But the coupon expires at the end of August.  So, my goal is to try to lose an average of two pounds per week between now and then.  That will put me about 20 pounds lighter by the end of August, which should mean that I will at least fit into all my pre-pregnancy clothes.  So the stylist can help me look at what I’ve got—and help me plan for future purchases (because, in time, I’d like to take off another 20).

Baby steps are the key!  This week, my goal is to write down what I eat and how many steps I take.  Anything above and beyond that is a bonus.

Even though our gardening plans are minimal this year because of the arrival of our baby girl (two weeks!), this weekend my husband did add to our edible landscaping by planting four new trees.

They’re barely two feet tall each, but we are now the proud owners of two pecans, a peach and an almond tree.  The pecans have been planted at the corners of our patio to help shade the house in the summer—important for keeping cool and keeping our bills down.  The almond went in the back corner to help provide a screen (eventually) between our house and the neighbors when the old tree in the corner eventually gives up the ghost; it hasn’t looked great since we moved in, and it will leave a big hole when it has to come down.  The peach was really just to look pretty and because my husband knows how much I love peaches!

We’re really excited about the idea of adding mostly, if not all, edible plants as we continue to round out our landscaping in our yard.  Last year we planted two rhubarb plants and three cherry “bushes” (dwarf trees) instead of standard shrubs.  They’ll be pretty, decorative, and productive in the years to come—if I can figure out what kind of tiny bugs are eating my rhubarb and give them the heave-ho!

Other than trying to keep the lawn healthy this summer and putting in a few vegetable starts in our designated veggie garden, we don’t have huge plans for the yard this year, but it’s exciting to get those trees in and dream about the days when we’ll be basking in their shade.

I’ve always been told I was an old soul, since before I even knew what it meant.  When I was in college, I attended a “psychic fair” with free tarot card readings.  As I sat down at the table, the suspiciously normal-looking woman said, “You must be a Pisces.”  When I confirmed and asked how she knew, she said, “You’re an old soul, and Pisces are the last on the astrology wheel.  They’re on their last trip through.”

I think one of the ways this old soul quality manifests in me is that I like certain old-fashioned ideas.  There are certain social niceties that are gradually going by the wayside that I like, and that I think bear saving.

I like thank-you notes.
I like paper invitations (instead of e-vites).
I like hand-written letters.
I like table manners.
I like having the door held open for me, or a chair pulled out for me.
I like taking Christmas cookies to my neighbors.
I like taking food to people who are sick.
I like care packages.
I like bringing a hostess gift to a party.
I like housewarming gifts.

I like the little gestures that people make to say, “I’m thinking about you.”  So, this morning, I’m baking scones for my friend who is moving into a new house today.  I’m going to package them up with some coffee, cream cheese and a jar of carrot cake jam I made earlier this week so that she and her boyfriend will have a fancy first breakfast in their new house.

I’m not really feeling “inspired” to bake this morning, but I want to do this nice thing for my friend.  I want to show her that I care about her, that I’m thinking of her, and that even though I can’t come over and help her schlep boxes, I’m with her in spirit.

• I’ve been educating myself about BPA and other gross stuff in food lately.  It’s not pretty. I saw Robyn O’Brien speak at TEDxMileHigh last week, and she has a lot of scary things to say, but the scariest—and most eye opening—for me, is that companies like Coke and Kraft have reformulated their products to exclude things like chemical food dyes that are being scrutinized now in the US, but have long been banned in Europe and other markets.  You can watch her speech from TEDxAustin on YouTube.
• Since I was thinking about BPA, I chose to make my own white beans from dry to make this vegetarian cassoulet this week (instead of opening three cans lined with BPA), and it was AWESOME.  Long live the crock pot.
• It’s frustrating to me, though, that so many things that are staples for most pantries are contaminated with this crap.  Luckily, Muir Glen canned tomatoes and Eden canned organic beans have reformulated their packaging to eliminate BPA. But since they are so much more expensive than the $.69 store-brand cans, I have a feeling I will be looking for more alternatives, like cooking my own.  Summer (and fresh tomato season) can’t get here soon enough.
• I’ve been trying to detox the rest of my life for a while, and like these bloggers, mascara was a toughie for me.  They pick their top 10 favorite natural mascaras and I’m excited to try some of these brands.
• While we’re on the subject, if you’re looking to detox your life, the Good Guide website and app are awesome, as is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. It pays to be educated.  I was disappointed (but not super surprised) to learn that even brands that portend to be natural, like Johnson & Johnson’s natural baby wash and Aveeno baby, still contain sulfates and other chemicals that are thought to cause all kinds of problems, especially in infants.

The caveat to all of these things is this: I’m not trying to preach to anyone.  Everyone must make her own choices.  But I think it is important to be educated, or the choices you make might not really be the ones you would make if you had all the information.

It doesn’t do anyone any good to get freaked out about every little thing. It doesn’t make any sense to deprive your child of play dates because the other mom might not be as vigilant about BPA in toys as you are, or even to cut out every box of Kraft mac and cheese from your diet.  But I do believe that every little bit counts, and that making my own beans for a recipe instead of opening three cans cut that much more BPA out of my life.  And that’s a good thing.

“I believe that every individual has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction. Good wishes alone are not enough; we have to assume responsibility. Large human movements spring from individual human initiatives. If you feel that you cannot have much of an effect, the next person may also become discouraged and a great opportunity will have been lost. On the other hand, each of us can inspire others simply by working to develop our own altruistic motivation.”
~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Meal planning soothes me.  It ritualizes a repetitive task into something more mindful, more organized, more important.  It creates order out of chaos and it appeals to the side of me that loves lists and having a plan.

So yes, I probably do put a lot more thought into meal planning than most people. But I’d like to think I get more out of it as well.

I start by gathering my supplies.  This includes:

• grocery list
  We keep a running list of things we need as we run out or run low. This list includes some weekly staples, like milk, bread, lunch meat, fresh fruit, etc.
• coupons
  This should be a post all its own, but the short version is: I collect coupons.  I’m extremely picky about which ones I use, and I utilize a lot of free websites (see next bullet) to help me use them to their best advantage. It’s very true that if you’re trying to eat an organic, all-natural diet, you aren’t going to be able to find and use as many coupons as someone who isn’t, but they make enough of a difference to me that I choose to use them.

  I keep the entire circular each week.  I write the date on the front of the circular and slide it into a sheet protector in a binder.  That way I know where they are at all times, and I can only clip the ones I need.  After about two months, I go through the old ones and clip any coupons that are still valid that I might use before they expire.

  I have an organizer for clipped coupons, which also includes ones I print off from the internet or get from sources other than the newspaper. I keep a small envelop and move all the coupons I intend to use for the week into that envelope.  It saves a lot of digging when I’m in the store if I only have 5–10 coupons to look through instead of 50–100.

• computer
  My computer is my most indispensable tool for meal planning and saving money.  As you already know, I use it to type up my weekly meal plan (though you could just as easily write yours by hand; it’s just personal preference). But I also use it to save me a lot of the work of finding the best deals, because there are people out there already doing it for us.

  You may have heard of The Grocery Game; it’s a pay-to-play website that sends you the best deals in your area paired up with coupons to get even lower prices.  I’ve never used it, so I can’t comment too much on it, but I do know that there is a similar service for free at GroceryMom.com.  Grocery Mom matches up the sales from your local stores with coupons from your local paper to find the best deals. It’s free because the site encourages you to buy extremely inexpensive or free items and donate them to charity.

  The one difference that I know of between the two services is that Grocery Game rates the deals, letting you know when it’s really time to stock up and when things might go cheaper. (Grocery Mom lists the percentage saved, but doesn’t indicate if things might go lower—you would have to maintain your own price book to know that.)  I get this info by using DenverBargains.com.  This awesome blog is just for the Denver area, but the bloggers rate the deals, eliminating the need for me to keep my own price book.  In my opinion, it’s definitely worthwhile to find out if there is someone doing something similar in your area—and if you live in any major city, there’s a high likelihood that someone is.

  There are also blogs that do this sort of thing nationally.  OrganicDeals.com is a great place to start; check out their blogroll for more blogs that provide similar information.

  I also keep a lot of my recipes saved on my computer, so it’s also my go-to cookbook.

• sales circulars
  I’ve found myself using these a lot less since I found Denver Bargains; while they’re still a good resource for what’s going on at your local grocery stores, a lot of times the deals they advertise aren’t as good as they could be.
• calendar
  This has become an incredibly important aspect of my meal planning, because I need to know ahead of time which nights I’ll have time to cook a more elaborate or time-consuming dish, and which nights I need to have something on hand to throw together quickly.  If I know I have to go to yoga class on Wednesday night, I can have a quick pasta dish on hand to cook and eat, rather than suggesting we get take out or throwing up my hands and telling my husband he’s on his own!
• meal plan sheet
  I linked to this last week.  Your mileage may vary with this one, but there are tons of free meal planning templates available all over the web to be had with a little googling.

Writing it all out like this, it seems very time consuming to gather all these supplies and then sit down to make my meal plan, but honestly, it takes me far less than an hour to do everything—from checking all my websites for sales, to collecting coupons and deciding on a menu.  Honestly, deciding what to cook is the most time-consuming part, simply because I have so many recipes I want to try!

Next time I’ll focus on my process in more detail, from going through the fridge and pantry to matching up sales with recipes.

I’ve been working on the idea for this post for a while, because I think meal planning is one of the easiest ways we can all afford to buy the kinds of groceries we want (organic, natural, local, whatever) and avoid the trap of buying things we don’t want just because they seem to be a good deal or because we don’t know what else to buy.

Now, I love a good meal plan.  I love being told what to eat, when to eat it, how much—for about as long as it takes to shop for all those ingredients and then get bored with it.  So rather than recycle any old magazine meal plan every week for a month, I knew I had to start creating my own.

For me, there are a few good reasons to take the time to plan out my meals for the week before I go shopping:

• it saves money on groceries and gas because I’m only making one trip: fewer car trips and fewer impulse purchases
• it saves time in the long run because all those daily trips add up
• it lets me try new recipes or stick with my favorites, depending on how I’m feeling
• it helps me plan out where I’ll be during the week

So here’s my basic process.  I’ll be going into more detail on most of these steps in the near future.

1. Gather up my supplies, which include my grocery list, my coupons, sales circulars, my computer, my calendar and my meal plan sheet.
2. Check my calendar to see where we’ll be during the evenings and write any appointments right on the meal plan.
3. Go through my fridge and ask myself what needs to be used up.
4. Go through my coupons and circulars and find out what’s on sale.
5. Come up with meal ideas using the ingredients I’ve identified above to use up what I’ve got and make the most of sales.
6. Write down all the ingredients I’ll need for each thing, plus whatever staples we’re out of.

It might sound a little bit complicated, but it’s turned out to be an extremely good system for me.  It allows me to plan easy meals for nights when my family might be dashing off somewhere.  It reminds me to use up what we’ve got in the fridge, freezer or pantry.  And it lets me take advantage of buying things in bulk when they go on sale and keeps me from buying junk just because it’s on sale.

If you’re interested in learning more about my process, stay tuned.  And, of course, this won’t work for everyone; in fact, once we start getting our CSA in June, I’m sure I’ll need to tweak my process to incorporate all the new veggies.

If you’d like to use my meal planning document, I’ve included it below.  It’s built in Word and it isn’t as pretty as some out there, but I like it so far, especially being able to edit.  And let me know what you think, or what you use!

Meal Plan

Having been a secret shower crier since at least living in the dorms in college (and probably before that), this hit me right in the solar plexis today.

The Only Place

The only place a woman can go to be alone
is the bathroom.
A woman would like to be wrapped in strong arms
when she cries, without having to explain,
or huddle on the couch wrapped in a blanket and a cat.
But all over America, women crouch instead
on a white, cold monument to wasting water.
We lean against a chilled tile wall,
stare at ourselves in an icy mirror,
flush the toilet to cover howls and curses,
brush our teeth twice to cover the taste of anger.
We lock the door, fill the tub with hot bubbles,
take a long time shaving our legs and armpits,
study the way waves break over bulging stomachs.
We scour the sink and rearrange the bottles under it,
refold towels, throw away old prescriptions,
count bandaids and bottles of suntan lotion.
We turn out the lights, stare into candle flames,
light incense, try to pretend we’ve taken our troubles
to a glowing temple, placed them in the lap
of a smiling golden Goddess.

Outside, men who wouldn’t know what to do
if a woman curled up in bed and cried
can relax before bloodless images on TV
and think, “She’s only in the bathroom
doing some woman’s thing.”
Behind a locked door, a woman
spins the empty toilet paper roll
like a Tibetan prayer wheel,
chanting “Help me, help me, help me.”

~Linda Hasselstrom

A few weeks ago, I realized that a key to improving my life was developing more mindfulness, and I realized that many of the self-help gurus I had read were saying the same things, just in different words.

Trent at The Simple Dollar is running a series called “Eight Minutes to Financial Success” in which the premise is much the same: just a single minute of mindfulness at a time can add up to greater financial success over all.

I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next installments.

I’m an intelligent person, but sometimes, the way something is presented is as important as the material being presented.

When I was a teen, I was never very good at higher maths.  I fumbled through the required courses at school, sometimes barely passing.  Then, my employer offered me a few hours of SAT tutoring before I took the test.

In about four hours she managed to explain basic algebra concepts to me in ways that actually made sense.  I remember I kept saying, “Well why didn’t they just SAY that’s how to do it???”  She managed to raise my SAT score more than 100 points in just four hours of teaching.

Think what she could have done for me if I’d gone to her sooner or longer.

This weekend, I had a similar experience. How many times have I read or heard or been told that I need to exercise to be healthy while I’m pregnant? Probably about a million. But on Sunday, when my doula was encouraging me to increase my cardio workouts she said to me, “You’re about to run a marathon, and you have to do the whole race, whether you’ve trained for it or not.”

Sometimes, it’s all about how you say it.

I went for a brisk 30-minute walk today.