Nurturing: February Update

The growth from friends' IG accounts to people I don't know has led me to identify several main pillars of what I choose to see. High up there are plant-based ones* - I love seeing greenery everywhere, and also a delight are those showing beautiful plant accessories, and I am obsessed with the cut flowers at Brooklyn Blooms, a gorgeous place near where we live.

The inspiration from seeing lush greenery hasn't quite led to that feel within the apartment just yet, but definitely played a role in my resolution to keep things green and alive this year. I have lost a couple of air plants, it's true, but it turns out I may have been drying their roots wrong - thanks to Houseplant Parenthood's timely tip, I've switched to drying them in bright light (i.e. the grow light that I finally invested in and have yet to affix to the herb-growing alcove where it will live). I'm hoping that this will help the rest survive.

More importantly, perhaps, I'm approaching this as a less static experience. I've somehow managed to start seeing this as an ongoing thing in my life, rather than a "leave them once I've watered them once" or even "I water them when I remember, every couple of weeks..." For example, the app I'm using doesn't seem to want me to water my golden pothos as often as the plant wants, so I have been keeping an eye on it and, as indicated by its leaves drooping, watering it when it tells me it needs the hydration. I'm checking the soil regularly. And I'm moving plants around - to where the shafts of sunlight are, rotating the airplants so they all get some exposure, trying to be more responsive to their needs. The app I'm using isn't super precise and doesn't respond to my needs without paying for premium, and I'm not there yet, but having the app has provided a base level of checking what's going on so that I have been freed up from that remembering portion and can be more actively involved in the plants' care. And this has been a real source of pride and delight thus far, which was sort of the point.

* Others: HAES and intuitive eating nutritionists along with food stuff generally; Bookstores, writers, and blogs; and makeup artists, which provides a great deal of beauty in my feed.

Resolving for 2020

In addition to ranking (in related news, my top twenty lists for the year and decade upcoming on this blog soon!), another thing we're not supposed to be doing is resolving. As with almost everything, there is a replacement, of course: while resolutions are not good, intentions are. Yet it seems these are not really that different for everyone - intentions seem, often, to be a different shade of paint but the same furniture underneath. I read a piece from a planning blogger I follow (I know) who explained intentions as about the journey, not about the end result (unlike resolutions - okay so far) - but then their phrase for 2020 was "the year I get it done." That does not feel like the journey, but very much about the end result. I might be ungenerous here, but often "intentions" strike me as being akin to the wellness/diet conflation that is so prevalent (and is much more pernicious).

Anyway, I'm down with resolutions (for a while, I wrote a whole blog about them. Didn't stick to it). I think they can be a very useful tool for thinking about what you want to do and how you want to move through the world. It's not just about the end goal - but how would you do it? One thing I resolved to do for 2019 was to be able to do a pull-up. That will not happen for, well, many reasons physiological and emotional, but it was good to break it down - what does that mean? Follow a routine at the gym. Plan my time so that I can make it to the gym a certain amount of times a week. Make sure I'm on top of my organizing time and shopping so that I can have post-gym protein rich snacks. Get good sleep to help me repair muscle and be well-rested. All these things are what I want and achievable - one useful thing I have taken from the rather intense-bullet journal pieces I have read is that breaking down a goal helps one actually take the steps toward it, and that's helped me deal with some events and things (hosting Thanksgiving, for example) that I often find overwhelming.

I've already set out my intentions for plant growing this year. I've set up my air plants and put in place my alerts for watering and taking care of both those and my cacti.

I also went through the process of the Year Compass reflection and planning tool yesterday. A very dear friend and I got delicious food (crabcakes, plantains, and salad), then headed to a lounge to sip tea and work through the exercises in the booklet. A lot of it was tough - it's been a rough year in many ways - but it was so much fun to think about how I'm going to try to make my life more fun, cosy, and how I'm going to value myself more. This year I finally started to accept that my personality is not a flaw, but I can adapt things to suit me - problem solving to make my life smoother and more comfortable. I'm excited to meditate more, to read even more (and I did well with reading fun, interesting, and challenging books this year), to get strong and look after my mental health and my family. If it doesn't all pan out, sure - this year proved that you can't plan for everything and anything, and that you can be derailed. But trying is important. Trying to be good, trying to do better - both for yourself and for the sake of doing and being good. Although try not to make it about weight loss - for you, your friends, and society.

Nurturing

I kill plants. I do. It's a sad, sad thing to look at the ponytail palm in our living room, with its measly covering of green and mostly brown, drooping leaves. Outside plants fare somewhat better, although I haven't yet figured out how to get our wisteria to bloom (sulphate fertilizer, apparently, is the key?) and each time that shoots reappear in spring, I am surprised and inordinately pleased.

I am gearing up to a new goal for 2020: try to keep green things alive. A friend of mine, the Decider, has an apartment that is lush in its greenery and fills me with envy; she clearly is pained by our state of affairs, albeit gracious enough to generally keep her thoughts to herself. I, for one, conveniently blame my lack of care on the lack of light.

But no more! I have taken steps (all of which I shall post-fact put into my planner to make me feel accomplished) toward success. I have subscribed to a delightful newsletter, Houseplant Parenthood, and will try to take on board the benefits of the earned wisdom there (and on the corresponding IG account); the Decider has also shown me a delightful app that reminds you when and how your plants need watering and fertilizing and generally being taken care of; I have researched indoor plants that 1) do well in indirect light and 2) are non-toxic to cats (the Psychokitty doesn't need anything else to send her into a frenzy); and I may even download a gardening game or two to get me in the right mindset. All of this combined with my following of plant inspiration IG accounts and I'm sort of all set.

Springing!

Now that spring finally seems to be coming to Brooklyn, I'm in a much sprightlier mood.  This may  be connected also to my having the week off work (although correlation does not equal causation, clearly).   The hydrangea is clearly back with a vengeance - buds everywhere! - the wisteria has buds, much to my relief, and one of my hostas is going to make it back, which is a surprise.  We have new geraniums in our boxes, the daffodils are springing up, and it feels like the soil under our feet is finally getting warm.  I'm not ruling out some snow before April departs - it's happened before and can definitely happen again - but, for now, I'm going to do some grading outside and enjoy the growth before the mosquitos arrive.

In accordance with my spring-induced enthusiasm, I am doing the Apartment Therapy Spring Cleaning Challenge - 20 minutes a day, one small task.  Number 2 (yesterday) was to clean the fridge.  I did not really do a... thorough job, it's fair to say, but the fridge looks so much better thanks to just a quick clean out and wipe down.  Hallelujah.  So it's definitely worth it.  Today: the shower head, something that I have genuinely never considered cleaning before.  

Some Resolutions: April Update

1. Eating Something Green.
1. I have enjoyed eating something green every day.  One day was really pushing it - a lettuce wrapped burger was my only source of green, three small pieces of romaine, maybe, covering a big chunk of meat - but generally I've been okay about it.  I've also been trying to eat more of the darker kale (thanks to this delightful breakfast that I've been making a lot) and food along those lines.  
2. I just read Eat, Sleep, Move, and it's fair to say that I was not greatly enamoured of the tone of the book.  The whole "small changes" lead up to a lot of different changes each day - 30 days to implement them doesn't seem much like small, incremental change.  But it did bring home that I need to eat more varied green things, too, and particularly a wider range of vegetables.  My green intake is mostly spinach and cucumber.  I should chop up a shedload of broccoli at the start of the week and take it with me; I need more collards and chard, too.  Time to get on this.  So that's how my resolution will adapt this month.
2. Reading toward Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge.
1. Got a good chunk read this month: Blacklands by Belinder Bauer was my debut novel; The Wangs vs. the World was my book with a central immigration narrative; Human Acts was the book set over 5,000 miles away (it's in South Korea), and Homegoing was my book for all point-of-view characters being persons of colour.  So I did well here, clearly! I really enjoyed my March books - all pretty great in different ways, all books by women, too.   I've taken a mini break since then, so it's time to get back on it after I clear some of my books from the borrowed from the library shelves downstairs... It's a constant battle.
3. Cutting down on screen time.
1. I wanted to keep my screen time below 2 hours per day.  I've generally stuck to that, although there were a couple of days where that did not work. Those were usually:
1. Work days when I was working out of the office and needed to check email / communicate with colleagues.  I suppose I don't really count those because I would be doing that on a computer anyway, but then that tells you that I usually spend a lot of time on the computer - i.e. in front of a screen.
2. Days travelling, when we needed to look things up / use google maps.  
2. Stats breakdown: 
1. I've apparently reduced my daily use by about 5 minutes per day.  As of March, it was 1h59m per day, already down, and now it's 1h55m per day.  That has saved me a massive THREE HOURS IN TOTAL.  IN TWO MONTHS.  TOTALLY WORTH IT!
1. (No, seriously - I think a LOT more about using my phone now, even if I'm not reducing the time as much as I'd like).
2. It's still 59 pickups per day - but I just had to do that twice because I'm on low battery mode and the screen locked, so I'm going with that being at least part of the reason... 
4. Walking.
1. My average in March was over 11.5k steps - 12,233!  Which is why I've upped my goal to 11.5k.  I've even won a weekly challenge at work! (Although it was a low standard that week, but still!). 
2. My new goal is to keep my average up at the weekends - I do the bulk of my walking during the week, then slack off.
5. Planning.  I've been a bit better about this, and got on with some work.  This week is spring break, and so I set myself some goals for the whole week, but didn't want to get into a daily task list so that I felt harassed or out of sorts.  
1. I'm really coming to the conclusion that the planner I got, while useful, is not right for me.  I need to see what I'm doing for the week, and the weekly section does not do that.  You list all the things you need to do, but there is not a way to easily assign that to a day for each week.  That is what I am going to look for in a planner next time.  I'm going to keep using this one up, but that's going to be the change, I think - this is just too hard to use.

Some Resolutions: March Update

1. Still eating something green every day!  This is good!  


1. Further to this resolution, my doctor is concerned about my weight and family propensity for diabetes--a word which will, by the way, forever make me think of this bit of 30 Rock.
   
2. Anyway, the point is that I am now down to one soda or chai latte a week (the sugar in those bad boys!) and one chocolatey thing.  Joy!  It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be, but still.  
2. Reading Book Riot's Read Harder books.  So many of these resolutions are intertwined.  Due to #3, I am reading more.  I'm on my fourth book of the Book Riot Challenge (a book about sports), so I'm a little behind but not by too much.  I read Difficult Women by Roxane Gay for my collection of stories by a woman.  It was pretty good, given that I really dislike the short story format; I feel that either things are so unsaid it's impossible to really get them, or they are full of PORTENT and MEANING because it's short and you don't have space for full character development.  But there were some gems in there, and she really is a lovely writer.  It's just the format I don't like.  Hoping to knock out three in March to get ahead of the curve.
3. Cut down on screentime.  
1. So this has been interesting.  I definitely use my phone less than I was, due to the lack of games and Facebook, and consequently I'm reading more on the subway.  I'm massively behind in podcasts; that's okay, however, because my insane workmates are doing all these walking challenges, so I'm responding to competition by walking more (which is good!) and so getting some podcast time in.
2. Stats, according to Moment:
1. 1hr59m per day (which is good - a while ago I was trying to limit myself to 1 hr per day on games alone!).
2. I spend 12% of my waking life on my phone - eek!
3. I pick it up every 16 minutes, around 58 times per day.
4. I usually finish using it at 11.04pm, which is too late - not least because I should be going to bed earlier!
5. How I compare to other users, however: 
1. They spend 3 hrs 42 on their phones, and pick up 52 times a day
3. I'm going to keep tracking this for the next month, and try to keep it below 2 hours per day.  I'm not that fussed by that level, because I want to keep listening to music and podcasts.  Having said that, my main app seems to be Safari, so perhaps I need to cut that down and decide what I really need to look up!
4. Walking.
1. My average steps per day has increased - I'm now well over 11,000, and between February 10 and today it has been 12,312.  There were a few days where I did not hit 11,000, but overall it's been pretty good.  Workmates doing weekly challenges has really, really helped.  I never win, but it's a good encouragement to not completely humiliate myself.
5. Planner.  I was being GREAT for a while, then I got super busy and there really wasn't much to write down!  So I didn't.  But it's a new month with lots of moving parts, so I'm going to try harder.  It might - just might - aid me overcome procrastination.  I'm really struggling to balance the demands of my two jobs right now.  So some order will help, surely.

Some Resolutions: February Update

1. I have, indeed, eaten something green every day.  Some days have been better than others - yesterday, for example, I just had some cucumber sticks at the pub - but I wouldn't have had those without the challenge!
   
2. I have read two books that fit the Read Harder challenge - The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu (a book about books), and The Obelisk Gate (a fantasy novel).  So I'm on track!  I'm currently reading a book that makes me FURIOUS (Give Us the Ballot) and sadly does not fall under one of the categories, so the next couple of books I read will hopefully fit so that I can stay on pace.
   
3. Cut down on screen time. This has gone terribly, frankly.  In January, I tried Moment, but at that time, my phone didn't tell me how much time I've spent on each app, so Moment, the one app that is supposed to help, didn't work.  Apple's suggestion for getting the battery usage data to work was to reset your phone entirely which seemed... extreme.  On the other hand, I needed to do something and not make excuses.  So...
   
   I reset my phone.  Ulp.  I'm going to restore it at some point, because I need my photos, but I reset it to monitor my phone usage.  The phone usage figures may be warped, however: I did not re-download any of the three games that I previously spent a lot of time playing. I have already noticed that I reach for the phone whenever a lull occurs, and I don't quite know what to do when I realize that I cannot play a game on it.  What has happened is that I am genuinely using my phone less, although I've probably upped using some other apps because I have that ingrained habit of reaching for my phone.  
   
   What does that mean for me?  I think I'll keep monitoring my usage for the next couple of weeks to get a good sense of what I'm using, when, and why.  Then I'm going to restore my phone, but remove those games so that I do not play them.
   
4. Walking!
1. I have been, more or less, doing 10,000 steps a day.  My January average was just under 10,000 - 9.500.  I think this may change, however, because almost everyone at work now has a Fitbit, and we're doing weekly challenges.  Our competitive natures seem to be kicking in... I have deliberately chosen a route home that allowed me to get in that extra walking time...
2. I have not been setting my phone to do the walk every hour, so I'm adding this for February!
   
5. It's a little hard to use my planner, but I have been better about it.  It's quite difficult because I don't like the weekly bit - it doesn't give you days of the week, just things to plan / focus on.  I suppose that I need to start adding what days of the week I should do the tasks, but it's not great.  That's the one thing I'd change about the planner.  If you're reading, Panda, that's what I'd do...

Some Resolutions

Hello there, 2017!

2016 is done. Dead. Over. So... what next?

1. I am going to eat something green every day - that definitely fell by the wayside toward the end of last year - strangely enough, after the 2016 Elections here in the US.  
2. Do the Read Harder Challenge from Book Riot.  I did the 2016 one, and that was an excellent choice: it provided the motivation I needed to read books that I perceived to be worthy but not always as immediately appealing as something trashier and lighter. The challenge taught me also that these perceptions were not really accurate - so much of what I read was wonderful and easily digested, in part because I chose good books by authors who knew what they were doing.  I might post up the choices I made for 2016, because I was pretty pleased with myself, but that's for another time.
3. Cut down on screen time.  I am not quite sure how I'm going to do it, but some research (sadly, on a screen) will be needed!  But, basically, I spend too much time with my phone and it irritates me as well as people in my life.  I would like this to help with productivity, too.  This is where I'm starting: each year, NPR looks at different ways to disconnect, a little, and I will be looking into some of 2015's recommendations.  It is a little scary, but exciting, too.  I think smaller steps are needed, as I don't really know how to even start!  So I see the plan as this:
1. January: Working out (and being honest about) just how much time I spend doing what - on phone, on tv, and on computer.  
1. After two weeks, work out what is "essential" time, what is "fun" time, and what is "I'm doing this because I can't stop / I'm addicted / being lazy" time.  
2. Then make a plan to cut down on a small part at a time.  I think the Bored... and Brilliant? series at NPR will really help there.
2. February: Make my first cut!
3. March: Check in on how I'm doing; make a second cut, or alter the plan depending on the success thus far.
4. And then we'll see, I suppose, how it is going.
4. Walking!  There are two parts here:
1. Hit my 10,000 steps each day.  I'm going to work on making sure that if I do not have enough steps, going for a ten minute walk before bed, that sort of thing. What should help is...
2. Every hour I'm at work, having a five minute wander. I'm going to set my alarm to do this.  Obviously there is some leeway when I'm in meetings or teaching, but this is the aim.  At least while I'm teaching I stalk around the classroom, so I get some steps that way.
5. USE MY PLANNER.  I often end up feel harassed and all over the place. I have a new class to teach this year, as well as all the other work and personal obligations I have to address.  So actually using the planner will, I hope, help me feel a little more on top of thing.  That would be nice.  It's not going to be easy, and this planner is a little intense, so we'll see how I do.

I know I can do #2; #1 I've done before and is a small but useful thing to do; #4 I'm pretty sure of, too.  The main concern is #3, but I think having smaller chunks to break it down will help.  We'll see about #5 - I am not good about consistent planning and use of the planner, but I know it will help.  A concerted effort to use it should help me determine whether it's good for me.  

Pausing

Tomorrow (Tuesday 27) is a snow day here in NYC - schools closed, public transport shut down tonight, and the office closed tomorrow.  I have plenty to do on my day at home.  Nonetheless, it is nice to be able to enjoy a respite, a pause, if not a complete stopping of work. 

With the pause, I can reflect on what I have planned to achieve and move toward this year.  

First, READING.  Last year I set myself the target of reading 60 books, which I achieved, but at the expense of tilting the balance of what I read far closer to the lightweight end of the range.  And while I am a big and unashamed fan of light reading (and I'm in very good company there), I was neglecting the factual and more literary end of the spectrum.  My initial goal for reading was even more books, but I realised that a better goal would be to read fewer books, but an improved balance of those books.  So my aim is 50, but alternating between a "serious" book and a more frivolous one.  I have just finished the Lydia Davis translation of Madame Bovary; I was inspired by this article the new translation lived up to its potential, completely and utterly - I finally understood what the fuss was about, although of course it was about a very different book, given the difference in translation.  I have subsequently moved onto a young adult fantasy fiction book, as is my wont (and, as is typical, recommended by the aforementioned Jenny Davidson's Light Reading blog).  Next up after this will be The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks, and then... something else YA/Crime/Sci-Fi/Fantasy.  Not that those cannot be literary, but they generally will not count toward the "serious" one.  That requires non-fiction or literary fiction, I'm afraid. 

Second, EATING.  I am resurrecting the old Something Green Every Day resolution.  Last year was fantastic for eating - we learned a lot of new recipes, used our slow cooker a lot, and generally ate very well, and yet I still strayed into not eating something green every day, particularly if I did not get some in at lunch, because although I do enjoy my greens, I can be super lazy about eating them for lunch, and it's often really easy to just grab some delicious arepas or Thai.  One of the best ways to ensure I get something in is to keep broccoli in the freezer at work, which means that whatever I eat - leftovers, takeout, a baked sweet potato - I can have broccoli with it.  It's a start. 

Third, MOVIES.  Looking back at those 2012 resolutions, the movie one is something I would like to try a little more successfully this year.  We have been to see Birdman, which was utterly ludicrous, but I was enchanted by it.  With February coming up - and the annual No Booze in February festivities - there should be ample opportunities to see another then.  I'm hoping for Selma, I have to say, but there are others, I'm sure, worth the trip.  I'll also be off to see the short documentaries and animations - last year the documentaries were utterly gut-wrenching, and this year it appears that they're not much more fun.  Joy!

Finally, BLOGGING.  I've let this go, but I would like to make an effort to post more often, even if just to discuss the books or movies or recipes I've embraced as a result of these resolutions.  (And I am calling them resolutions, because "goals" or something else is me trying to kid myself that I'm not making resolutions). 

Snow Day!

Today is a snow day here in NYC.  This means that schools are shut and, thus, my educational organization is closed and I am at home.  I have some work to do, of course, but not having to commute also provides an opportunity to potter round the house, catch up on some tv (hello, Scandal and Sleepy Hollow), take (overdue) books back to the library, and generally enjoy being at home. 

I've also decided to do the January Cure again, a cleanse for the home.  January is a bit of a mental month, workwise, but it's cold, we're trying to cut back on expenses, and so I plan to spend quite a bit of time at home.  Some of that time is going to involve reading all the fabulous new books I have -  gifted to me or borrowed from the BPL - playing backgammon, cooking, and working on the apartment, so that it's a nicer place to do all those things.

Yesterday and this weekend's tasks are already up on the site.  I have to make a list of all the projects I need to do.  Then I have to vacuum and clean the floors, make sure I have nice cleaning things in the house (mostly vinegar, it seems), and buy flowers.  The latter is basically why I do this cure business:  so that I remember to and am required - nay, impelled! - to buy flowers.

I've also taken a few other steps to cut back on things.  I've unsubscribed to as many of the emails trying to make me buy things as I've been able to, so far.  Hopefully I've caught most of them, but I'm sure there are a few still lurking.  I am sick of waking up and having 20+ emails that solely want to generate within me the need to spend money - something that's all too easily induced.  So they're OUT.  Hurrah.

Who knows, with all this resolved, firm spirit, we may even write our wedding thank you cards.

Just joshing.  Let's not go overboard.

January's Goals!

Monthly Project:  Off to a rather, if not ragingly, successful start.

In other news:  I'm busy!  No, really.  It's all a bit much at the mo.  But still found time to go to as many movies in the past two weeks as in the previous four months.  ULP!  Which reminds me:  Must use free groupon movie tickets.  MUST USE. 

Public Service

Today is the inauguration of Obama's second term.  In many ways, the re-election of Obama feels more meaningful than the first, because it was based on his record and was less symbolic, less idealistic.  I'm still very displeased with many of his policies, but compared to Romney and the Republicans, of course, he's still a far better option.  I had toyed with the idea of going down to DC precisely because it was more meaningful, and particularly because today is MLK Day.  But, of course, I failed.  I've not been to DC in years.  I would like to go again, soon, but not to be just now.

Instead, however, I heeded what has become a tradition for MLK Day for some - turning today into a day of service in which you do some public good.  Today there was a clean up on Franklin Avenue and, although we live a couple of blocks away from Franklin, I decided to help out.  It was heartening to see a massive group of people doing it by the time I left at 11am, having worked for an hour.  There were so many people, the work had mostly been done, and so I decided to do a little clearing up on my own block.  I didn't do the entire block, but the little stretch I did looks decidedly better.
 The majority of the ills of smoking are related to lung health and the actual smoking, of course, but it was striking (to me, at least) that the majority of things I picked up were cigarette butts or cigarette packets.  But many soft drink bottles and sweet packets, too.

So now I can feel smug and at least some karmic balance for the very me-time weekend I've just spent - hiking in a glacier-influenced park on Saturday (hopefully some decent photos to come), local Japanese food on Saturday night (Gen!  It is great!), then brunch at James and NFL Conference Championships while scoffing micheladas and a friend's homemade ragu yesterday.  We're off for a museum trip today (part of my monthly objectives for January), then some jazz tonight. 

Monthly Challenge: Still Foolish

I have completed two weeks of the 100 Push Ups challenge I set myself on April 1.

Everything hurts today. But that's probably a combo of quite a lot of walking round Storm King on Saturday - a lovely art sculpture park up the western bank of the Hudson, near West Point and opposite Beacon on the eastern bank - two football matches yesterday (in which I - shamefully - lost my temper quite badly, having been much calmer of late, picked up nasty scrapes my elbow and shoulder from being knocked over and more than a few bruises from being kicked), and then did my push ups for Week 2, Day 3 after a corona and many, many fried pickles. Unsurprisingly, doing over 50 push ups (eek!) was hard with all that batter and creamy dressing - so good - in my belly. And then I went boxing this morning.

So I'm more than a little achy and tired. And for various reasons I'm not going to be able to go for the rest of the week, so somehow decided going tomorrow as well would be the best way to get my two lessons in this week. Foolish indeed.

Monthly Challenge: April's Fool

Although I have this year's big resolutions - of which I'm only really maintaining the something green every day and the not drinking two nights a week (mostly thanks to having to get out of the house by 6.45am for boxing) - I've decided to try out a monthly challenge to see if I can form some healthy habits just by trying something for a month. So after the success of No Drinking in February, in March I resolved to remove my make up and actually wash my face properly every night. And other than one night, I managed that. Although it's not in great shape, I do think my skin has benefitted somewhat from this regime change. Hopefully I will, for the most part, keep it up.

April's challenge is a little different. I'm going to complete at least four weeks of the One Hundred Push Ups challenge - if nothing else, watching Michelle Obama kick Ellen's arse at push ups made me realise why her arms are so amazing. I've started this challenge numerous times, never really getting beyond the first four or so sessions. But now it's a monthly challenge, hopefully I'll fare a little better. I'm also trying to rope in other people so I have some accountability, as well as posting it here. So I've just taken the initial test and first serious workout will be tomorrow. Eek!

Promises Made, Promises Broken*

Yesterday, February 15, I did indeed break my something green every day resolution. It just completely slipped my mind. Because I had soup for lunch instead of a salad, I went home fully intending to eat a veggie burger and spinach, but, for some reason, the need for comfort food and self-indulgence took over. So instead I ate leftover paella (cooked from scratch by a rather lovely friend) with leftover aioli and gorgeous red cabbage braised in stock (another friend**). Oops. I really did just forget. It was only today that I remembered that I hadn't eaten anything green at all. Gah. So it's double duty today - salad for lunch, spinach for supper. Still, usually the problem with nothing green is that I eat nothing healthy at all. Whereas yesterday I had vegetable soup for lunch and a LOT of cabbage. So that's something.

In other news, I'm over halfway through the month of living abstemiously. This is the first year that I'm attempting no days off whatsoever. Of course, this is inconveniently the first leap year that's happened while I do the abstinence thing, so it's extra torturous. Except, of course, it's not that bad at all. I had to nix the idea of wine tasting in RI this weekend, but otherwise it's not really affecting my life too much. It's boring, but that's ok. Early nights and lots of reading works for me and, in particular, my bank balance

* This is the title of a Tiffany song. No, really. No judgment, kids - it was 1987 and we all loved her. I remember my Dad being HIGHLY unimpressed when I bought the album (tape cassette, obviously) in Our Price in Lewisham Shopping Centre. I am unwilling, even now, to concede he was right about how rubbish it was, despite clear evidence to the contrary.

** Saturday was the best dinner party ever, in that we had friends over and they provided all the food and drinks. All we had to do was a dip and provide the space, plus the washing up. I like dinner parties like that.

The Month of Living Abstemiously: The 2012 Edition

No drinking in February tends to come at a most opportune moment. Today it feels most welcome, having spent a weekend overindulging at friends' nuptials in the Caribbean. That was terribly indulgent, and Sunday my body utterly rebelled at the thought of more booze for supper; this, of course, came in response to drinking rum most of the early evening while on a catamaran. Ahem. So I'm very much looking forward to it, along with trying to keep up with some healthier living i.e. exercise. I've not done much of that at all.

I've also failed utterly at two of my four resolutions - walking home and a movie. But:

• Tonight I am going to see a friend for dinner and I'm going to walk the three miles between work and the restaurant to meet her, so that's a start.

• I watched two movies on the plane to and from the nuptials - Moneyball, which made me really want to read the book (and delight in the badarsedness that is Brad Pitt), and Crazy Stupid Love, which I liked a lot more than I was expecting - although given that that was about zero, it's not saying much. Julianne Moore is just lovely, but it really would have been nice to have seen the movie flesh out why she wanted a divorce, but that wouldn't have fit with the narrative. Instead we got a lot of Steve Carrell (who I'm still on the fence about) and Ryan Gosling, who is nothing but a pleasure to watch, for many reasons.

And as tomorrow starts February off to a no-drinking bang, it's all go for seriously maintaining the other resolutions. I have had something green every single day, and it's been pretty easy, although I've had to go out of my way a couple of times to make it happen. It's been good for me so far, I think.

MERRY NEW YEAR!

What to expect from me in 2012: More of the same blathering, I expect, but with the following modest behavioural modifications:

1. Something green every day. Yep, there are days when, dear reader, I fail to intake anything green whatsoever. And that's not because I'm eating a shedload of tomatoes on those days, either. My level of healthy eating is indicated by whether I'm eating the green stuff, so I'm aiming for something green every single day. Not at all meals, not necessarily salad, but something green.
   
2. A Movie a Month. That should be easy enough. Ahem. But we almost never go to the movies and, even if it's old/repertory, I'd like to go more. I always feel so pathetic when it comes to Oscars time and I've not seen anything. We only just saw the Harry Potter final movie on the plane yesterday. Pathetic.
   
3. NDOW+1: No Drinking on Wednesdays (plus one). Wednesdays are my downfall, it seems, and it's time for it to be over. And in an effort to reduce my intake and to appease my doctor, I'm going for one extra day without booze per week. I think it's because it's an automatic reward for me after a long day at work - I just want to have a drink, but I don't assess whether I really want it or not. So this is the way to change that, I hope.*
   
4. The Long Walk Home. I'd like to walk home once a month. It's only 7.1 miles. Google maps reckons that will take me 2 hours, 24 minutes, but that's surely for people who walk quite a bit slower than me. Even if I only walk at 3.5mph, that's 2 hours, 2 minutes. Yes, it's a long time, but I love walking through New York. And if I do that in the snow - hella workout!

Those are the concrete resolutions. Otherwise it's the general wanting to read more books, trying to read more, take exercise, yada yada yada. This list by an amazing woman I met travelling is far more inspiring. Hmm. But it did make me want to do a retrospective of 2011. A little too late? Surely not.

* Note: I have broken this already. But a couple of dear friends got engaged. It was a glorious celebration and I only had two glasses of wine. Ahem. But I think NEXT week is the week to start.

Resolutions: May Update

Yikes, it's been quite the while since I rapped at ya about my resolutions. I've had a lot on my plate. Sort of.

1. Shooting, Shooting, Shooting: Take the camera off auto-settings. I'm not going to lie, I've been seriously lazy about this. But I am getting a little better at judging, not lease deciding what I don't like with the auto settings and fiddling around to change the exposure. So I am slowly but surely learning a little more but, to be honest, not that much.
   
2. Cooking, cooking, and more cooking. We've been doing pretty well on this - we did lots of slow cooking, but now the weather is better that's out of the picture. But last weekend we cooked sand shark (!) on the barbecue after marinading it in soy and ginger and honey, as well as trying out rum-laced versions of almond joy milkshakes (divine!). This is what happens when you don't update regularly - you completely forget what you've done. I firmly believe in those reports about the utter unreliability of witnesses' memory - I barely remember what I've done one week to next, let alone the last three months.
   
3. Reading, reading and more reading. An achievement! I read VS Naipaul's A Bend in the River; somewhat coincidentally, the discomfort I felt at his descriptions of women have been somewhat backed up by his words about female authors, but I can't help thinking I should act along the lines advised in this post - accept the bad, learn from it and learn from the mastery of his prose. It was an extremely uncomfortable but fascinating read. And, somewhat coincidentally I am, for the first time, reading Sense and Sensibility, mostly inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates' amazing posts revelling in Austen's writing.
   
4. Looking, looking and more looking - at exhibitions. Hmm, not so great on this, although we have used the Brooklyn Botanic Garden frequently and enjoyed the Cherry Blossom season, and also Rose Night recently (with a glorious sweet rose martini).
   
5. Solving, solving, solving. Having gone through a very good patch, I've been utterly rubbish at this recently. Partly because I've been reading a lot more (was completely obsessed with this very silly book, in part because there's a lot of discussion of the history of alchemy and science, or so I tell myself), including - shock! - my book club book for the month. It's hard for me to strike a balance, really.

So there you go. Surely worth the wait.

Tardiness & Indebtedness

Argh, I am late with many posts I owe you, faithful readers. Those are the Botanic Garden updates from March, April and now May (triple argh!) and also some resolution updates. They will happen, honestly. Honestly.

I am so ashamed.

Resolutions: January Update

2011's resolutions are actually going ok so far. Here's an update (other than this update):

1. Shooting, Shooting, Shooting: Take the camera off auto-settings. Well, I'm definitely trying this stuff. It's proving a little tricky - I thought it was just the shutter/aperture but apparently I've got to mess with the ISO settings as well, it not being a film-based camera. I'm still not sure how to change the ISO settings - I seem to change them but end up doing weird things to the menu, too. I've also been using the wide-angled lens and messing around with it. I'm not getting classic shots but, hopefully, I'm getting a little better. Most things are, thus far, overexposed. I'm trying to use the histogram feature to teach myself what the problem is and, thus, how to fix it. But it's usually overexposure.
   
2. Cooking, cooking, and more cooking. Doing well on this one. On Thursday (SNOW DAY!) I made a "peppery beef stew" from our Italian slow cooking book that was absolutely brilliant, with fresh bread and acorn squash lightly braised in chicken stock. Very easy and very tasty.
   
3. Reading, reading and more reading. This is the biggest failure so far. I got out The French Lieutenant's Woman and had to promptly return it unread to the library. Oops.
   
4. Looking, looking and more looking - at exhibitions. This has been the best kept resolution thus far. On Saturday I went to the Balenciaga retrospective with someone who actually knows about fashion and art. The structure of the exhibition was to show the influence of Spanish culture - religion, art, flamenco, bullfighting - on Balenciaga's designs. It worked extremely well, I thought. One of the most remarkable things was how he took traditional male outfits - cassocks for monks/priests, doublets for knights - and made them into a feminine design. And he was doing this well before trousers became truly acceptable, everyday clothing for women. I really wanted to steal half the clothing - gloriously structured suits with remarkable detailing, and one extraordinary dress with a train that actually had pockets so you could switch it up into a cape. Plus one that looked like a giant black truffle that you could just picture being worn by a mistress at a funeral of a famous Casanova or conductor or raconteur - that would make a serious statement.
   
   Additionally, we rejoined the Brooklyn Museum and had a look around the Norman Rockwell exhibition currently showing. It was extraordinary. Rockwell took tens to hundreds of photos for each of his paintings, and then selected odd little bits here and there to compose his actual painting. How he chose them is beyond me - that shows the real creativity but also mastery and control he exerted over the final version. Yet it seems strange that paintings that were supposed to be naturalistic snaps of everyday American life were so carefully controlled and thought out, so contrived. A strange juxtaposition. Seeing the covers of the Post, too, provided amusement at some of the stories - one featured Klaus Fuchs, the traitor at the Manhattan Project who was selling secrets about the bomb to the Russians; another advertised an article querying whether husbands should be used as baby-sitters to your own children. Also remarkable - the only people of colour were several black people used in servile roles - apparently that was editorial policy and ended up contributing to Rockwell's severing of the relationship. We also saw The Dinner Party and an amazing Kara Walker - I find her work constantly interesting and beautiful - so it was grand.
   
5. Solving, solving, solving. I've been getting back into these and while not completing them, I am - with some, at least - getting back into the swing of them and increasingly able to do them. But I need be a more devoted student with concentrated blocks of time rather than small snippets here and there.

Right, that's January. Midnight on Monday and I start the now annual No Drinking in February. I'm actually looking forward to it quite a great deal.

ps I also managed to go to the movies on Friday! I know! Have now seen THREE of the ten movies nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars - what an achievement. It was True Grit and comes highly recommended by me - surprisingly funny, tender and tense - I really enjoyed it.