If you also live in the Midwest, you know that this year has been particularly good for the flowering trees, especially the lilacs. If you grew up in the Midwest on a farm you most likely had at least one lilac bush. Drive through the rural areas now and you will often see random ancient lilacs just growing “wild” where an old farmhouse once stood. My parents have two old lilacs on the south side of the house, right outside the first floor bedrooms. My grandparents had a row of them between the backyard and their huge vegetable garden. My great-grandparents had them behind their house too. Steve’s grandparents even had them outside their somewhat suburban house in Saginaw Michigan.

When we were house shopping for this house 16 years ago we made an offer on a house even though we didn’t particularly like the house but it had a 50 yard long row of old lilacs along the property line. We didn’t get that house and I cried. (I was also pregnant and extremely hormonal at the time.) Now I have my own lilacs and this year is the first year that they have bloomed with abandon. Like my childhood home, I planted them right outside my bedroom so on warm spring nights I can fall asleep with their scent in my head. They are also right along the pool fence so this week we have been swimming with their heady scent.

I have mentioned before how much I love Facebook and how it has brought people back into my life that time and distance had taken away. One of those people is my friend Jeff. We went to middle and high school together. In  my opinion he is a modern day Renaissance Man. His interests and talents are also truly eclectic. He recently posted that he was making Lilac Simple Syrup from lilacs he “harvested” from an old homestead in the part of Michigan where he lives. I was intrigued! So today I made my own batch of Lilac Simple Syrup and took photos to show you all how it is done.

Step One:

Boil 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water until sugar is dissolved.

Step Two:

Harvest approximately 1-2 cups lilac florets (the petal part, no leaves or stems)

Add to the water/sugar mix. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Step Three:

Strain and cool. This can be stored in your refrigerator for about a week. Jeff suggests adding a splash of vodka or citric acid to help preserve it longer. It can also be frozen for a bit of May sunshine later in the season.

Now you may be asking yourself, “But Beth, you opened this post with a picture of a martini! I want a martini! Where is the martini recipe?”  This is how you make a Lilac Martini:

First off, chill your martini glasses. If you don’t have a bar fridge where you can just store them during the non-martini drinking moments of your life, fill them with crushed ice while you are doing everything else. The colder the martini, the better.

The recipe for a lilac martini is simple. Fill your martini shaker with ice. Pour vodka over it until full, add a shot of Lilac Simple Syrup. Then shake that bad boy like it is your job! Dump the crushed ice out of your now chilled glasses and pour.

Garnish with a sprig of lilac and enjoy.

Jeff and I have been comparing notes on Facebook and he has plans for a cardamom infused simple syrup to add to a gin martini and I’m thinking mint syrup for mojitos. I’m also growing nasturtiums this year which are also edible and have a peppery flavor and may make for an interesting cocktail. 

Things have been growing great in both of my garden spaces. The home raised bed garden is my joy right now. I am so excited about it I’m practically giddy. I love that it is practically no-maintenance so far. The fence keeps critters and dogs away so everything is safe to grow. We’ve had just enough rain to keep things moist so I don’t have to water yet.

Seeds are starting to sprout. Here you can see tiny little spinach plants finally making an appearance.

A tiny sugar snap pea sprout popped up yesterday!

As an experiment I’m growing food from our kitchen garbage! No really. We had this celery end that was headed to the compost bin and I decided to just stick it in the dirt and see what happened. It has begun to sprout new growth! So I grabbed another one yesterday and planted it next to it. Growing celery from seed is difficult and takes a long time. This method is free and about the easiest thing ever.

I also rescued a wilted bit of kale from the compost that had started to grow roots while in the composter.

It was rather spindly and yellow when I first planted it but it has started to green up and grow new leaves so I think that is a winner too.

I stopped by the park garden last night to check on things but I didn’t take my camera. There was some damage from the cold weather we had earlier in the week but I don’ think it was irreparable.

This is what it looked like after I got done planting most of it last week. I have since mulched it with chopped straw and composted leaves. I have zinnia and sunflower seedlings growing on the porch that I plan to transplant here when they get a little bigger and the weather warms up more.

If all goes well we will have; sweet corn, cucumbers, watermelon (this is an experiment), pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, onions, basil, dill, mint, kale, spinach, carrots, celery, parsley, beets, and peas from my two gardens this year.

And if it doesn’t go well, we will have some of the above and I’ll have a great time trying anyway!

I’m also enjoying looking at the other community gardeners’ plots to see what they plant and how they do it. Some of my neighbors over there have quite the elaborate set ups and some even seem to move in for the weekend with canopies, chairs, picnics, and wine. I’ve seen greenhouses, solar panels, arbors, and much more put up there in the past few weeks. My bamboo teepee for my cucumbers looks pretty lame in comparison.

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Another thing I really like about my Community Garden plot is that it is adjacent to the park district working farm. So after I get done I can go visit all of these guys. It’s almost like gardening at my grandparents’ farm again.

My Mother’s Day was glorious. I started it by checking on my garden and photographing my finished quilt. Then Steve, Emma and I went to one of my favorite places, Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL for a day of hiking and wildflower viewing. Sarah couldn’t join us because she was in NC visiting a friend for the weekend. She and I will have to do some other Mother-Daughter activity this week to make up for it. Unfortunately many of my favorite park trails were closed because of recent flooding but we made a nice day of it. Steve had never been there before so we were able to share it with him for the first time. We also hiked to one canyon that we had never made it to before so we got to see something new too. We’ve usually gone earlier in the season over spring break so we’ve never seen the spring wildflowers in all their glory. It was wonderful! The only bummer was that after charging my camera all day Saturday specifically for this day, I left it on the kitchen counter after taking photos of my quilt and garden in the morning. So I have some photos from my cell phone camera but not the usual amount and quality I normally take when I go hiking there. When I get them transferred from the phone to the computer and edited I’ll share a photo album. But as is often the case, the photos just don’t do it justice.

I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend too. Now I really need to go clean my house!

I finally put away my gardening gloves long enough last week (it got cold and rainy!) to finish the binding on this quilt. It finished at about 48”x60”, perfect for pulling over you while watching tv or reading.

I pieced and machine quilted it all on my Bernina 780 and I am very happy with the results. I haven’t made a quilt just for me in quite a while. Usually they are store samples or small table runners. The inspiration for this quilt was the colors of this fabric line and the desire to test out both my machine and my own free motion quilting capabilities.

I attribute my success on this project to using the right tools. The Bernina Stitch Regulator on the 780 was the first step toward success. Adding the Supreme Slider and Machingers gloves I made it easier on myself. These two books as well as numerous visits to Pinterest, YouTube and various blogs provided ideas and directions to many different quilting designs.

And like any artist, I was sure to sign my work.

When I first got married and we had our first house I was a grower and a maker. I put in one garden and when that one wasn’t quite right I put in another one that was bigger, better and prettier than the first. I grew and I preserved. Then we moved here and we had a “landscape” but not a garden. I toyed with the idea of a real garden for years, had it all planned out in my head. But I didn’t have the time or energy to make it happen. Then we put a pool in the spot I had dreamed of for my garden. I played with tomatoes in flower boxes and herbs in pots but none of it was quite right. I changed from being a grower to being a groomer of landscape and occasional ripper-outer and divider of hostas.

Since I have been rediscovering myself and who I really am and what I want out of life I knew I needed to get my hands back in the compost and sow some seeds. I reserved a Community Garden plot through the Park District and I started making plans for a small garden here at home. We live on a wooded lot so I don’t have a lot of open sunny spots but I have an almost perfect partially shaded spot that was begging for a kitchen garden full of greens. It is an area that we had leveled, bordered with railroad ties and filled with pea gravel, for the girls’ play set. The play set went to another home years ago after the girls grew too old to enjoy it. We briefly had a trampoline in this spot but that too has found a new home. I now had that perfect place for my raised bed potager with gravel paths.

Last weekend Steve and I got to work and got it done.

Supplies for 3 – 4’x4’x12” cedar raised beds:

• 3- 1” x 12” x 12’ cedar boards (have the lumber yard cut them into 4’ lengths for you.)
• 2” x 2” boards cut into 12” lengths (we found enough in the “scrap” wood bin at Menards and a 4’ piece only cost $.49)
• 2” galvanized wood screws

We had everything pre-cut at the lumber yard so all we had to do was screw it all together when we got home. Plus it fit in our car much easier at 4’ rather than 12’.

Some directions will tell you to staple hardware cloth or landscape fabric to the bottoms of your beds. I would do that if I were placing these on a lawn area. But the area ours are placed already has plastic and sand under the stones so I’m not too worried about weeds coming up through all that.

After we put them together I spaced and leveled them where I wanted them. While I worked on that Steve pounded fence posts in around the perimeter of the entire garden area. For now we are just using metal fence posts and coated wire fencing. It is easy and economical. I’m just hoping it keeps everything out that needs to be kept out. After putting up the fencing we went around and stapled the bottom of the fence to the railroad ties for added stability and protection from varmints.

I have my compost tumbler in one corner and plenty of room to add more beds in the future if I need them. For now there is some campfire wood stacked up along one side but as soon as that is used up I think a long narrow bed may go there with some blueberry or raspberry bushes.

I spent yesterday morning filling the beds with soil mixture. I bought bags of garden mix that were compressed to 2 yards and were supposed to expand to 4 yards each. I bought 8 because that is what would fit into my car.

The soil mix ended up becoming a little science experiment. The middle box is completely bagged mix (it took almost 5 bags). In the first box I put a thick layer of partially composted leaves in the bottom before adding the bagged stuff. The end box hasn’t been filled yet but I’ve emptied some post in there as well as a half a leftover bale of peat moss and some other topsoil bag I found in the shed. I’ll top it off with more of the bagged stuff from Menards. I’m also going to top off all of the beds with some composted manure before I plant because I don’t think the mix I used has a lot of nutrients.

The best part about the soil in these boxes is how light and fluffy it is. I’ve always been faced with heavy clay soil wherever I’ve gardened in the past and had to spend years amending it to get it good to grow stuff. With this soil I may be able to finally grow carrots.

My plan is to grow all my greens and cool weather plants here. I may throw a tomato plant in just to see how it does as an experiment. But all my sun loving plants and herbs will go in at the Park District garden. I’m hoping it has been warm and dry enough lately for them to finally get it tilled and ready to plant. I started one tray of seeds indoors and some of them are already coming up. For this year most everything will come from the garden center as transplants or be direct sown into the beds.

I have visions of this being a peaceful, green sanctuary in my own backyard. (Everyone wave to my neighbor Sue working in her woods yesterday morning too!)  I moved the picket fence, old wheelbarrow and pot to the back corner for some decoration. I’m going to fill them with flowers and herbs. I just need a little table and chair so I have a place to enjoy a cup of tea in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening. I also need to remember just how excited I am about all of this right now when the mosquitoes hatch and it gets hot and humid.

Happy Spring!

I made this little butterfly top a few weeks ago. I’ve had this pattern in my stash for about 2 years. I was going to use it for tops for my daughter but she really didn’t like the style, it was too loose and flowing for her preferences. I found this fabric at Joann Fabrics recently and thought it was pretty and liked the colors. I saw this yoga top on Pinterest and really liked it. But I didn’t want to pay full price when I knew it could be made for pennies. I thought that I could maybe use this pattern as a kick off point to eventually engineer my own version of this top.

I originally made it as it but with the straight bottom hem. Then I tried it on and it was awful! I looked worse than pregnant. I knew I would never wear it. I decided to take a tuck/pleat in the center front to give it some shape. Then I cut off 8” from the bottom and used that to make the bottom band. I then divided the band and the bottom of the top into quarters. I attached the bottom band using the serger, stretching and fitting it to the top as I went.

The next step is to take what I learned from making this top and from making my own swimwear and combining them into making a copy of the Lululemon top I originally admired. I think I can use the basic lines of this top and combine it with a basic sports bra and get what I want. I will just gather the upper edge of the bodice and attach it to the front of a sports bra.

If I make the sports bra with a racer back it won’t be anything to leave off the spaghetti straps and just link up the back of this top to the sports bra racer back.

Here I am wearing the yoga top I made a while back that has a different type of back.

(OOOOoooo! this photo shows that I not only need to see my chiropractor because of that sloping shoulder, but I also need to continue to work on my triceps! Can we just pretend that ass didn’t happen? Thanks.) I am not embarrassed by my body. On the contrary, I am really proud of the work I have been doing and love what my body can do now at my age. But photos don’t lie and give a good indication of where I am at and where I still have work to do. Honestly, the sloping shoulder and crooked back bothers me more than the flabby triceps and saddlebags because it indicates imbalance. These photos also show that I really need to call the salon and get a hair appointment even though I am trying to grow my hair out. Truth is truth.

This photo shows why I wanted to add the fitted band to the bottom of this top. Often when doing asana you end up ass over teakettle, or head down. Because I am still “plus size” I’m not always comfortable with typical yoga clothing that is body skimming. I want something that leaves something to the imagination. But with loose T’s you end up with a face full of fabric when you do inversions. A fitted bottom band gives you the best of both worlds. It keeps your clothing in place and allows some modesty.

While my daughter was taking the photos of this top I had her take some others without the top to show the earlier yoga togs I made.

Namaste.

Crow Pose (Bakasana) has been my challenge pose for a time now. I’m still not totally solid but I’m getting there.

I’ve really learned some lessons this year and relearned things that I always knew but forgot or didn’t believe. Isn’t that the way it is sometimes? You can learn something, know it to be a fact, but until you actually apply it in your life and live it, you don’t truly know it. That applies to everything from having faith to using algebra.

When I was a child I was told to say my prayers. We prayed in Sunday School, at meals, before bed. But no one ever really explained how to pray. I learned the prayers we all said together in church and the prayers my family always said at holidays. There is a common misconception that praying is asking, kind of like a mystical Wish List. What I’ve finally learned about prayer is that a prayer of gratitude is always the most powerful.

Years ago I read Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance and started keeping a Gratitude Journal in a quest to find peace and abundance in my life. At the time it didn’t work for me. I focused too much on the Abundance part of the equation instead of the Gratitude. I still thought it was like a mystical, magic bullet. I was focused on the results instead of the process. I was focused on my perceived needs and what I was getting out of life.

Now I know that isn’t how this whole thing works. It begins and ends with Gratitude. Just say thank you. And not just to God or whatever higher power you believe in, but to everyone and everything. I find myself saying “thank you” multiple times a day and it feels great. There was a time when if someone offered me advice or a correction I’d automatically get defensive and think that I had to prove that I knew what I was doing. Now I just say thank you and listen and often, learn something new. And why is it so hard to accept a compliment? Because we’re taught that being humble means dismissing our own worth. But that is wrong. You can be perfectly humble and still say thank you and own your worth and appreciate when someone recognizes your gifts and talents.

Gratitude also makes tough situations easier and life less shitty. I was inspired by a friend (in other words, I totally stole the idea from her) to start posting a “GRATItuesday post on my Facebook wall every Tuesday, listing whatever it is I am grateful for that day or week. Some weeks it is really easy, some weeks not so much. When you start living in a state of gratitude you look at things differently. I’ve learned that having a bad attitude and being upset or angry or pissed off when things don’t go well doesn’t do me or anyone around me any good. Not to say that I don’t get angry at things that rightfully should make me angry. (Rapist make me angry for instance.) I’m talking here about little things. Like when the dog vomits. What is the point in getting all pissed off about it? Clean it up and move on, and if I’m feeling particularly grateful at that moment, be thankful she didn’t do it on the bed.

Living in and practicing gratitude multiplies the good things in life. Think about the last time someone said thank you or showed gratitude for something you did for them. How did you feel? I bet that the next time the opportunity to do something nice for that person came up you were much more apt to do it. That works in reverse, people and the universe like to help people who show appreciation and gratitude.

In the spirit of this post I am going to say thank you to all of you who read what I have to say. On Tuesday night I noticed that I had 75 followers on my Facebook page for this blog and just asked if people would share it and see if we could get up to 100 by the end of the week. My friends and followers did and we had over 100 in a few hours! As of right now there are 113 which is so cool. I went to bed on my birthday with a huge feeling of love and gratitude and it has continued on through the week. I am humbled by the show of support from friends, family and complete strangers. Thank you.

My dad insisted that whenever he did this I was to get off, get him back up and get back on the horse. I couldn’t let him get away with it or he’d just do it more. I would just be reinforcing the bad behavior. King’s lazy behavior also led to one of the biggest learning experiences of my young life. At the beginning of the County Fair the Horse Club would put on a show. We’d ride in formation and do a big Figure 8 in front of the Grandstands. This was my first year riding with the big kids and I was nervous and excited. Looking back, it might have been my first time in front of a real audience outside of our little church. We began the Figure 8 and after the first round King and I approached the center and I could feel him starting to balk. No! Don’t do this to me! But sure enough he did, he stopped dead in the center of the field, “center stage” and dropped down on his front knees and then down completely. There I was about to cry, embarrassed beyond the capacity of an 8 year to handle. I looked up toward the stage where my Dad was announcing the show and he was gesturing for  me to get him back up. I turned to the Grandstand full of people, bowed, got King on his feet and got back on the horse. A showman was born that night.

When we got back to the horse trailer my Dad and sisters were there, my sisters had also been riding in the show and witnessed my shame. My Dad reassured me and told me I did exactly what I should’ve done. Later he told me that he was very proud of me and how I handled the situation. It took me a lot longer to get over my embarrassment. But if it hadn’t happened, if I had been riding some fancy show horse and completed the night without an incident, it would just be another vague memory from my childhood. Instead I will always remember that night and look back with pride over how I handled an embarrassing situation.

Lately I’ve been feeling a little bit more like King the lazy pony (there’s a kid’s book idea!) instead of the plucky 8 year old. Things have been very quiet and uneventful around the Mess lately. I feel like I am losing steam. I think it is just a case of the late winter slump. We had two strange weather winters in a row here in Illinois. Last winter we had almost no snow and this winter we had no snow until late January and now it is March and winter doesn’t seem to want to give up its grip. A year ago we had unseasonable warm weather in the 80s at this time of year. Add in to that equation that last weekend was the Spring Daylight Saving time change and I’m all messed up. It is now dark and cold again when my alarm sounds at 6:15 a.m. and I don’t want to get out of bed.

My healthy living is going on as before. Steve and I did another 4 day juice fast earlier this week. We’ve both almost hit the 20# lost mark which is quite astonishing when I think about it. I know that a lot of the pants in my closet are getting too big for me. Which kind of leads me to another slump inducing feeling. I need new pants but I don’t want to make or buy more cold weather clothing at this point on the calendar. I guess I’ll just continue to wear the old baggy stuff and when the weather finally turns around I’ll come out of  my cocoon like a spring butterfly. I want to wear cute skirts and colorful dresses again dammit!

This last fast was tougher than the first one for some reason. Partly I think it is because the newness has worn off. I knew what to expect and I was bored. But I also had weird physical cravings that I didn’t have the first time around. I wanted greasy hamburgers and French fries, whereas the first time even the thought of such a thing made me gag. I knuckled through it and came out without giving in. I think there will be homemade kale chips in my near future to satisfy the salty-crunchy urge.

My yoga class came to an end and I still haven’t signed up for another session. I thought I’d just do drop in classes but without the standing  appointment time on my calendar and with my flexible work schedule I haven’t  made the effort. I have been continuing my home practice but unfortunately not with the same vigor I once had. I have been continuing my off the mat yoga studies with books, blogs and meditations. I have plans with a friend who is a yoga instructor for a private lesson coming up in a few weeks that I know will invigorate my practice. She’s going to help me design a practice that is safe for my neck. I had about a month of neck and back issues again recently that I think scared me a little and hindered my home practice.

I also haven’t been out walking as much. No excuse and no reason. Just haven’t been making it a point. I can blame the weather a little I suppose but it hasn’t been any colder or more miserable than earlier in the season. I did go out for a quick show-shoe jaunt last week. and a few quick neighborhood walks but no long woodsy rambles recently. I’m putting that on the docket for this weekend for sure. I feel it missing from my life and need it.

So I guess this means that it is time for me to give myself a slap with the reins and get back on the horse. I think my Dad is still proud of me anyway.

I’ve been planning this project for at least 2 months. Finally made time to get it done last week. I was planning to draft my own pattern for this when I stumbled upon this tutorial on Pinterest. It was perfect, she’d already done all the measuring and math so I could just get to work.

I purchased the Chakra Designs from Urban Threads. I did have to resize them down by 20% to get them to fit exactly.

I used Essex linen (Moda) for the outside of the bag and a matching quilt cotton for the lining. The metal zipper is an upholstery zipper I had left over from some other home dec project. I did have to shorten the zipper and that was not fun! Next time I will know to shorten from the top of the zip and not the bottom. It all worked out but I made it much harder than it needed to be. (Of course!)

The tutorial on Modest Maven’s blog is really well written and easy to follow. The only modification I made was to use webbing for the strap instead of making one out of fabric. If I had had the supplies on hand I would’ve made the strap adjustable but I didn’t have the correct hardware. Another idea I had was to make the strap removable so it could be used as a yoga strap. I still like that idea and may revisit it in the future.

The bag is nice and roomy, plenty of room to roll a towel up with your mat if you take hot yoga classes or a thin blanket if you like to take your own to use during savasana. The tutorial includes instructions for putting a small pocket on the inside which would be nice for holding your keys, wallet or phone. I like the long zipper because it makes getting the mat in and out so much easier than bags with a draw-string opening at the top.

Having a cool bag like this is good motivation to take more yoga classes!

Let’s look at the original lists and go from there.

Sewing/Crafting Goals:

• Continue to whittle away at my fabric stash by sewing up existing fabric in the never-ending stash conversion to wearable garments project. I’ve made a little progress on this one. I made a pair of jeans out of some twill I found but they are still too small. Hopefully another 10# gone will convert them into wearable garment. I also made at least one work top and some yoga clothes. But of course I had to go and add to the stash with fabric that I didn’t really need and haven’t made into anything yet. Baby steps!
• Make more pillows for the living room. This one I did. I still have a couple more to do but I did make one for the living room and one for the den.
• More machine embroidery projects. My new machine can do some amazing things and I now have Bernina V6 software. My goal is to learn as much as I can about it and master more Machine Embroidery skills and maybe even some digitizing. Not yet. But I’ll keep it on the list for the rest of the year. I have been using the embroidery unit but haven’t had time to delve into the software as much as I’d like.
• Yoga clothes. I signed up for a 7 week yoga class starting in a few weeks. Yoga clothes are expensive but with the skills I learned last spring in making bathing suits, I think I can knock out some cute tops and pants in no time for a fraction of the cost. I made one outfit and bought fabric for more.
• Embroidered yoga mat carrying bag. I want to embroider these chakra designs on linen for a bag to carry my mat and other stuff to class. Competed this one and it turned out great. Blog post with photos coming up next!
• Finish the king-size scrappy string quilt for my bed. Still in progress. I try to do a block or more whenever I’m sewing but sometimes I just don’t get much done.
• De-stash, sell, use or otherwise reduce the yarn around this place. Like fabric, it has grown to ridiculous quantities. Have not done anything on this one yet. I think there will be a de-stashing sale in the near future that will get this one moving.

Household Goals:

• Clean out and purge the following areas: mudroom, sewing/laundry closet, guest room closet, garage and shed. Some progress made here. I did clean out and purge the front closet and some of the mudroom. The crafting/sewing stuff upstairs needs more time than I’ve had recently and the weather hasn’t been good for the outdoor areas. It will get done!
• Plant pumpkins in the area where the play-set used to be. This one may be getting revised. I am now wanting to turn that area into a raised bed garden. It doesn’t get enough sun for a conventional veggie plot but I think it will be perfect for growing greens and some herbs.
• New living room sofa – the one we have now is very nice but it has a few issues. We bought it from a friend this past year but it isn’t meeting our needs. It is leather and the seat cushions don’t stay in place. You get in it and can’t get out. It has sucked the dogs and/or Emma down into its deepest recesses numerous times. Until we can afford to replace it I resolve to try to fix the velcro that is pulling away from the bottom of the cushions so that they will maybe stay in place a bit better. (I’ve been saying this for about 4 months now!) I did finally sew the velcro that is supposed to hold the cushions in place back into position. But it hasn’t helped a whole lot. It is a beautiful leather sofa, but the seats are so deep that it kills my back.
• Community Garden Plot. I’ve been putting this idea off for about 15 years! When we lived in town I had a beautiful vegetable garden and I canned my own veggies. When we moved out here I didn’t have a sunny spot for a garden and the girls were little and I just didn’t make the time or effort. I’m going to go to the park district in March and reserve a plot for this coming summer. Even if I just get some fresh tomatoes and basil I’ll be very happy. The plots are about a mile away from our house and adjacent to a forest preserve where I like to walk. Registration for these is in 2 weeks. I will get one.
• Work on living simply and intentionally. As my goals to use and reduce my fabric/yarn stash suggest, my life has gotten too full with STUFF and I’ve lost sight and room for new and fresher things.  This is a process. I am clearing non-essentials out of my life where possible. One way this has manifested is in the food we’re eating. I’m trying very hard to eliminate as much pre-packaged and prepared foods from our diet as possible. We also cleaned the basement over winter break and made numerous trips to Goodwill.

Personal Goals:

• Yoga. As I already mentioned I signed up for a Fundamentals of Yoga class at a local yoga studio. Even though I’ve done yoga for years, I thought a “real” class at a studio would be a good place to rekindle my love of yoga. Most of the classes I’ve taken in the past have been at gyms and the teachers were usually fitness instructors who had taken some classes in teaching fitness based yoga rather than true yogis who understand the full spectrum of yoga and what it all means. Last week was my last class of the 7 week course. I am going to find another class in their curriculum to keep me moving forward. I have also been doing a lot of independent study of yoga off the mat too. I also have a friend who is an experienced yoga instructor who I am making plans to barter some sewing for a private lesson and practice plan to help me continue on my yogic journey.
• Walking. I want to continue my meanderings and wanderings at local parks and forest preserves. We finally got some real winter weather here so for the last month this changed into regular snowshoe trips. I will continue these and look forward to watching the seasons change again here soon.
• Eating. No weight loss goals, even though I definitely need them. Instead I’m focusing on eating fresh and as homemade as possible this year. I think the garden plot will help  motivate me. Funny how this one is working out. I didn’t make any weight loss goals but just by changing from processed to fresh and mindful eating, I’ve lost 15#. I’ve discovered foods and flavors and cooking skills I didn’t know existed as little as a month ago.
• Get massages. I have a couple friends who are massage therapists. One friend does Thai Massage and she really helped me out this summer when my hip/lower back went cablooey. I want to start getting regular massages to continue to work on my back and neck issues in conjunction with regular yoga practice and visits to my NUCCA chiropractor. Haven’t done this yet. My neck destabilized recently so I’ve been afraid to mess with it too much.
• Deepen my spirituality. Read more books, explore different beliefs, meditate more. Maybe even go back to church or find a new church that meets my needs better. I have been deepening my yoga practice which has deepened my spirituality but I haven’t done anything formal with it. Don’t know that I will as far as finding a church or group. I’m just going to leave myself open to possibilities.
• Continue Random Acts of Kindness year-round. This is just  a way of life. If I see an opportunity to do something nice for someone else I take it. I would like to make more Giving Bunnies for the Easter season and get them out there in the world.
• Regularly reach out to people in my life and tell them what I love/admire about them. This is also one of those that is just happening naturally. I have become more open to people and am less afraid of telling someone that I love them or admire them. It feels amazing to reach out and tell someone that you think they are awesome or that you were thinking about them randomly. The more I put this kind of intention and energy out into the universe the more it has built up and come back to me too. I can’t explain it right now but maybe this one deserves a post of its own.

Family & Friends:

• Continue to work on my relationship with Steve. We’ve come a long way this year but we still have our moments. 2014 will mark our 25th wedding anniversary so this year will be all about building up to that monumental achievement so that when we get there we can be stronger than ever. This is obviously an ongoing mission. We’re doing pretty good. He’s in another busy travel period for work so that has its challenges both when he’s gone and when he’s home again.
• Host more dinner parties and play matchmaker to my friends. Not in a romantic matchmaker kind of way but instead I’d like to introduce different friends from different parts of my life. I have an eclectic mix of friends from many different areas and I’d like to start getting them together and see what interesting conversations and new friendships can develop. I think smaller groups, sharing a meal together, is the perfect way to do this. We talked about this one but haven’t had a chance to implement it yet. I was going to have an eclectic party for my birthday but I don’t know if that will happen this month or not. I still like this idea and will definitely do it, maybe when the weather starts to warm up.
• Continue to find new things to share with friends. Go places, explore new interests, share my discoveries with friends. Recently I’ve discovered the simple joy of meeting a friend for breakfast. As much fun as big parties are with a large group of friends, small one-on-one get-togethers really help strengthen and deepen friendships. This one has been a fun one to make happen. I’ve had a few lunch dates, girls’ nights out and couple dates with friends and neighbors.
• Make the time to visit my siblings, parents and nieces and nephews this year. This might be the summer to reinstate the family camping trip! I did make a trip to Michigan to spend a few days with my parents last month that was really nice. It was just the 3 of us and we got to talk and I got to help them out a little. Glad I made the effort to do it. I haven’t been the greatest aunt or sibling recently so I’ll put that on the to do list going forward.

Now I should add if I have anything new that I’d like to try.

• Run (?) the Color Run in Chicago in June. I did sign up and plan to join a Couch to 5k group at the local Dick Pond store in April.
• Grow my hair out. My youngest daughter has convinced me to let it grow out again.
• Continue to eat 90% vegetarian. I like the way I feel and it’s good for not only me but the planet too.
• Do another juice fast. It really kick started my metabolism and freshened up my taste buds. I’d like to make them a regular quarterly thing.
• Start composting again. I want to get a compost tumbler for the back yard (to keep the dogs out of the composting veggies) and maybe a worm composter for in the house.
• Write more.

I am not a runner. Full stop. Never have been, probably now that I  am on the downward slope toward 50, never will be. I’ve never considered myself an athlete. I’m starting to realize that just because I don’t participate in competitive sports or run, I can still be athletic. As a kid I rode my bike around the “neighborhood” like it was my job. I grew up in the country so a ride “around the block” was a 4 mile journey that included 3 miles of rutted dirt roads. I also lived and did chores on a farm growing up. Ever “put up hay”? Yeah, kind of hard core physical labor. Add in mucking out stalls and hauling water in the dead of winter when all the outdoor spigots are frozen and you can consider yourself a full-on weight lifter.

I love to do yoga and walk. I used to love lifting weights at the gym. I am very flexible. I still consider myself pretty strong. But my cardiovascular endurance has always been my weak point.

I started smoking as a teen. During my late teens and 20s I was a pack a day smoker. I quit “for good” when I was trying to get pregnant through my girls’ younger years. My husband and I were “social smokers” on occasion. Then one day in 2009 my dog died. It was the hardest day I’d faced in a very long time. I was broken. I had been surrounded by smokers at the theater for months and was never tempted to go back to cigarettes and then on that day I caved. All I wanted to do was sit outside on the deck and cry and chain smoke. So I did. Until my kids came home from school and then I took a shower, brushed my teeth and flushed the butts. But it was too late, I was a smoker again.

There is one universal truth you can always count on; smokers love other smokers. Once I started smoking again I loved my friends who also smoked. If I had decided to not buy another pack in order to “quit” I could count on them for one, two, half a pack, to bum. I think they loved me too because I would often buy a pack on my way to a social engagement but not want to take the remainders home with me so I’d give it to someone or leave it on the bar on my way out.

As much as I loved the act of smoking I hated the reality that I was a smoker. I was embarrassed by it. I’d never admit it to anyone. I hid it from almost everyone who wasn’t also a smoker. I had an elaborate ritual of ridding myself of the evidence. My arsenal of air fresheners, breath mints, hand sanitizers, etc. was epic. I made sure all of our friends who did know that I smoked knew that it was a big secret from my daughters. (Ha! Like the two smartest, most observant children on earth didn’t know!) I was only deluding myself.

But then a great convergence occurred. Steve and I decided that enough was enough, we had to stop smoking for good. Then it just so happened that all of our friends who smoked also quit. My last cigarette was sometime back in July. I don’t remember the specifics. It just was. Have I been tempted since. Hell yes! As a matter of fact, now that I am thinking about it, I’d go for a Marlboro Light right about now! But then again, no thank you.

I was recently reading a juicing blog and one of the commenters said something along the lines of, “I really want to start juicing and eating healthy but I smoke. I don’t see the point of doing all these healthy diet things when I still smoke and don’t exercise.” A very thoughtful and profound response was something like, “Turn that around. Instead of looking at it as ‘I smoke so I can’t do healthy things.’ Start doing healthy things and then your response will be, ‘I’m juicing, exercising, fasting, etc. so why am I still smoking?” My husband has a cousin who for 25 years the entire family has said she and I are the same person in two bodies. She lost over 100# in 2012. Her resolution for 2013 was to quit smoking. Think about that. She did what many think is impossible. Diet and exercise to the point of losing 100 pounds. Then when that goal was met, she took her life and health to the next level. No excuses. (She’s kind of my hero!)

So Steve and I are once again ex-smokers. I am moving ever so slowly toward also being an ex-meat eater, don’t know if I’ll ever get there completely. I feel like there are too many cultural, social and familial traditions in the way to make it 100%. But I am eating so many more vegetables and non-meat options than ever before. I am also an athlete on my own terms. I am rediscovering just how strong I can be. This is the only body I have and it has to last me a lifetime. I don’t plan on dying in my 50s or 60s so I’d better start respecting this bitch, she’s going to be housing my soul for probably a good half century more if my family history has anything to say about it.

Steve and I just signed up to “participate” in a the Chicago Color Run 5k in June. I am not quite ready to say that I will run it. But I will finish it. Already I easily walk 5k at least once a week. Will I run it? Maybe. June is a long way away. Our team right now consist of us plus 4 friends. None of us are runners. But we all want to do something that will challenge us, push us out of our comfort zones and be a lot of fun. If you would like to join us, drop me a note in the comments or send me a facebook message or email and I’ll get you the information to join our team: The Purple Lo-Lites.