Simple Pleasures Sundays - Looking Up

It's definitely true that the time we start appreciating something is usually when we no longer have it or don't have to ability to do it.

With my shoulder pain in the past 2 weeks, I haven't had the same range when it comes to turning my head.  After a certain point, I have to turn the rest of my body to look to either side of me or to look high up.

The worst part is that it wakes me up in the middle of the night.  When I shift around, I need to use my left hand to move my right shoulder up with me.  In the morning, it just feels so stiff and painful.

Strangely, I'm still able to work out quite a bit, and not really limit myself.  In fact, it almost helps to loosen up whatever happens to be stuck in my shoulder.  It's almost motivating me to work out.

At this point, I really have a new found appreciation for the different directions that my head can move in.

But my favorite direction is looking upwards.

I'm a huge fan of looking at clouds, watching them move across the sky, and taking pictures of them.  I think I might actually start posting pictures of the clouds I fall in love with.

The other day, the boyfriend and I were walking to Trader Joe's, and I pointed out to him that one of the fun things about all the leaves falling (besides the obvious crunch factor) is that the birds nests are exposed and you can see which trees have more "life."

He said that he had never noticed that, but that it's such a positive way to look at it.  It honestly struck me by surprise.  Doesn't everyone like looking up and seeing what's in the sky?

How many nests do you see?

I definitely encourage you to start if you haven't yet.

Simple Pleasures Sundays - Baths

On Friday, I decided it was high time that I do some serious cleaning of the bathroom.  I made sure to keep the door closed so that the kitties didn't get too curious about the activity and so they wouldn't have too many interactions with any strong smells.

My timing couldn't have been any more perfect.  It has been a serious week of working out, and I had decided to give hot yoga a try.  Come Saturday (my pilates day), I was extremely sore.

I have been told by various sources about the wonders of Epsom salt baths, but I had never actually tried it.  I don't usually have Epsom salt, plus the tub was not really clean enough for me to feel comfortable soaking in it.

This Saturday, however, I had my first ever Epsom salt bath.  The fun part was having curious kitties perched in the bathroom, wide-eyed and wondering what in the world I could be doing.  The amazing part was how less sore I was within a couple of minutes of sitting in the hot water!

I don't take baths very often.  But when I was a child, we only took baths.

Perhaps it was a more water-conservative method, but it was definitely because we didn't really have showers in the Philippines.  Even when we moved to Los Angeles and through most of my high school years when we had moved into our very first house, we mainly used the bathtub.  Though, when I think about it, there was always a drought in L.A., so we also needed to conserve water.

Now, you might be thinking, how is filling a bathtub full of gallons of water conserving water?  Well, our bathing was not exactly what I would call bathing as an adult.

Our method of taking a bath/getting clean involved sitting on a stool in the tub, filling a bucket of water, and using a tabo (dipper) to pour the water over us.

Nowadays, I feel like that method is so much more work than just standing under the shower.  And yet, sitting in the tub full of water is really quite a pleasing experience.

I for one am very glad that my family and I have upgraded our standard of living, and that it's reflected in the privilege of a warm bath.

Revisiting 2010 Goals: Too Much Baggage

4. Do some serious purging so that our apartment isn't so cluttered.

In all honesty, I've done relatively well with donating my clothes to thrift stores, and I've used the receipts in my taxes.  But, I'm a really good consumer.  Though I try my best, it seems that my closet just doesn't get emptied.

In the past several weeks of absolute financial desperation, I'd taken to try to sell some of my items on Craigslist.  For the most part, I've only received emails from spammers, and that has been incredibly disheartening.

Of all the things I am planning to be rid of, the one item that breaks my heart is my very first electric bass and amp.

<3

I figured that I have my acoustic electric here, which my parents shipped to me for a lot of money, and the bass and amp are taking up more space.  I have a lot of great memories with that bass, but it's really time to pass it along to a better home.  I'm thinking about taking it to a local shop to trade it for cash.  I'm hoping that that very little will go to helping me feel less anxious and depressed about my finances.

Yesterday, I decided to take several of my clothing items, jewelry, shoes, and purses down to a new consignment store in Allston.  I had already spent the morning having a panic attack and crying at therapy because of unemployment ending in this upcoming weekend.

So, I took my bags of items down to the Buffalo Exchange, and these two skinny hipster girls perused through my bag, looking for something they could sell.

What's your worth?

As I stood at the counter, watching them lay out my items, talking quietly among themselves, I looked around at the shoppers.  They were all college students, hipsters, trust fund kids.  Okay, fine, so I'm assuming this.  But there were definitely some hipster shorts in the store, being sold and being worn.

"We won't be able to take any of your items today.  But if you find more, please bring it down for us to check out."

I tried to stay calm.  I tried not to feel like my worthless items were not a reflection of how much I was worth.

But as I opened the door to my apartment after bringing my belonging back on the T, I burst out into tears.  I just wanted the measly couple of bucks they would give me for my items, and yet that wasn't even happening for me.  Who knew that in the process of getting rid of items I no longer need that my dignity would get lost.

So, while my goal of purging my items isn't even remotely close to being completed, I have at least been able to separate them from items I'm still planning to hold on to.  I don't know if I can handle bringing my items anywhere else to be judged by others as worthless, but I just might show them to my friends or bring them to the thrift store.

I'm still waiting for things to feel less difficult in general.  This week has really made me feel absolutely depressed and anxious.  When will that Wheel of Fortune turn my luck around?

Is September over yet?

Toesies of the Month - April 2010

Not that I needed an excuse or anything, but I love birthdays for the special treats!

This birthday month, I took advantage of Spa Week, even though I'm still angry at them for promoting vajazzling, and signed up for my first ever body scrub.  Since I usually have a relatively easy day on Wednesdays, I set up an appointment last week and decided to go for my monthly pedi on the same day.

The body scrub was amazing!  I told the woman that I had never gone this before, though I have body scrub type stuff at home.  I must admit it was nice to have someone else do it.  There was a 20 minute massage portion after the scrub and shower, and I told her that I had a lot of tightness in my legs.

Recently, I've been having a lot of heel pain.  I figured it was from a lot of standing around at work and from multiple belly dance classes.  But when I told a friend, who happens to subscribe to Runners World magazine, he suggested that it might be plantar faciitis.

From Google Health.

After reading up on it a bit, I tried massaging my Achilles tendon, and the pain in my heel was throbbing along with it.  I know I should probably go see a doctor, but being unemployed doesn't make me feel very secure about how much my health insurance will cover.

Either way, it was clear that my tootsies and legs needed some care.  It was very kind of the woman who did my body scrub to pay special attention to my legs.  Afterwards, I was smelling all kinds of mango-y goodness, and took a bottle of the body scrub home.

I must admit that my poor toesies were in desperate need of some lovin'.  Two days before my appointment, I realized I had pretty raggedy heels and nails that needed trimming.

Since I was in the Coolidge Corner area of Brookline, a mile away from my home, I decided to check out some of the nail salons in the area.  I must say, I was not disappointed.

The spa chairs were ridiculously comfortable!  The arm rests were huge, and even had an extra table for manicures.  I might have found a new nail place, though it makes me sad to think I'm deserting Dana's Nail Salon in Brighton.

For my birthday, I decided to grab one of my favorite nail colors.

Designed by Annie at Brookline Natural Nail, Brookline, MA
Color:  OPI - Sonic Bloom
Occasion:  Birthday!
April 2010

I discovered this nail color years ago at a nail salon in Los Angeles.  Then I proceeded to hunt it down online and get a bottle of my own.

The nail design is super cute!  I only wish I had a black light to shine on it.

Purty

I'm really quite satisfied with last Wednesday's self-care day.  It was amidst a pretty intense work week, and well-deserved for all the work I'd put in.  Now, April vacation is here and I can rest my toesies for another week.