DIVAN LUST

Okay, I know that technically this is not a "divan..." But I DO lust after it! I could/would decorate a whole house around this sofa.

From Anthropologie: Jayne Sofa; upholstered in a rich mahogany print by Josef Frank, this curvy hardwood couch teems with Pacific island wildlife; supported on lathe-turned, mahogany-stained legs; tufted with buttons; mahogany finish; eight way hand-tied seat construction; kiln-dried hardwood frame; 38"H, 77.5"W, 35.5"D; Seat: 18"H; Handcrafted in USA

For the sale price of only $2600 - down from $3500...

A girl can drool - I mean dream, can't she?

Is it worth it?

You know, I'm an optomistic sort of gal, and I don't like to dwell on the negative.

But really.

Is any of it, any of it - the money, the fame, the tummy tucks, the giant house - worth it if you have to have angry-looking photographs of yourself, like the ones above, plastered on every gossip site, news stand and television show across the whole of our United States? Greed will only get you so far... sending out good vibes though for the kids on Jon and Kate Plus Eight. We can only hope that their parents figure out things for themselves soon.

Reality television really is the spawn of, well, the scummy, murky monsters that lurk at the bottoms of stagnant green ponds. Personally, I think reality is hard enough without having to to live it out on television in front of foaming-at-the-mouth cable audiences, the internet surfers, hair-brained paparazzi and everyone else in the whole wide world!

LOL Cat of the Week... too funny not to share!

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Book Review or Ten Things I loved About "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer

10) Twilight is the first in a series of four amazingly popular books about a vampire with a conscience and his youthful, blushing (HUMAN) lady love. Written by sensation Stephanie Meyer, from the point of view of a girl of seventeen year-old-girl (Bella Swan), the simple prose is clear, and lacking in the horror and gore that is usually off-putting or even frightening in a "usual" vampire story. Because of the intended audience for her book (young adult), Meyer writes a story that is suspenseful yet not scary, innocent despite the heat, straight forward yet thought-provoking, and (thankfully) lacking in the histrionics one might expect of a "young adult book about vampires in love."

9) Despite her intended audience, Meyer has created characters with as many layers as a southern belle's prom dress in the 1950s. You love them. You hate them. You yell at them. You cry with them. And because of the depth of these characters (not your cookie-cutter vampires and teenagers), mothers (who sneak to read Twilight after their giggly, brace-toothed daughters have moved on the next new thing) are just as engrossed and enamored of each character and their personal stories as their daughters were with Rob Pattinson (the actor who plays the main vampire character in the movie version of Twilight).

8) These vampires are pretty dog gone cool. Now based on nearly every vampire account we've ever seen in our lives ("I VANT to DVINK jour BLOOD!"), don't we all have the idea that vampires must always have a severe widow's peak, long and pointy canine teeth, a terribly guttural eastern-European accent and be dressed in all black clothes that haven't been changed since well, 1842? Well welcome to the 21st century vampire, boys and girls... to be so cold, these vampires are smokin' hot! They have a never-ending flow of money; they are smart because of their decades of education; they all have a penchant for driving insanely fast and beautiful cars; and they are all gorgeous... nice... friendly (even if for their own "selfish" reasons)... I'd probably have let myself be seduced if I were Bella Swan too! (I must admit that you don’t really get a clear picture of how friendly they are in Twiligh… that comes out in later books…) Below are my personal choices for the cars I would drive if I were a vampire...

7) I love the study of a creature's nature that is brought about when comparing humans to vampires. The vampire family is so obviously different from the humans in their world. By Bella's struggle to hang with the vampire Cullens family, it is an interesting study on what makes us all human. To me, these vampires are entirely more “human” than many people I come across in the world everyday.

6) I love the innocence of these characters. The main vampires in Twilight were mostly "young" for vampires - about a century old. Aside from their (literally) humane "vegetarianism" (they only drink animal blood) they maintain surprisingly Victorian morals despite their 21st century facade of cool clothes and cars (merely distractions). So even though Edward loves Bella with a passion that could easily be quantified as obsession, and every time he kisses her, it's a struggle not to kill her for her delicious-smelling blood, his true struggle is with feeling selfish for putting her in danger and ruining her human life. Even though she begs him to change her into a vampire so they can be together forever, pain- and danger-free, he doesn't want to damn her soul the way he feels his is. Chivalry lives, my friends! Even Bella seems to have escaped the self-obsessed preoccupation of the stereotypical teenager, which is probably why Edward likes her to begin with.

5) You actually get to enjoy the characters being happy together. Now, you can call me a cheeseball if you want to because I love reading about the happy ending of the couple... Usually the “happily ever after part” is a toss-away at the end of a book. As a kid, I can't tell you how many epilogues I wrote to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because I just wanted to imagine Charlie's life after he got the good things that were coming to him. Meyer pens the couple together way before the end of the book so at least you can appreciate their love. I guess what I'm saying is that "he loves me, he loves me not" is not the point of this story. It's just a factor that causes much more drama to swirl up and around fair Bella and thirsty Edward, and the story is the main focus.

4) The way I came to read Twilight is this: it was requested by my friend as a book group suggestion. I had neither the time nor inclination to read the book before we met, but I did watch the movie version. I was surprised at the fervor the other readers spoke with about the book when we got together in the twilight to meet (coincidence)... The movie had been enjoyable, so I decided to take a chance on the book... well luckily, my kids were out of town because for the next ten days or so, Bella and the Cullens family (and don't forget Jacob) were all I could think about as I sped-read through all four books in the series (now referred to as The Twilight Saga) in about a week. Anyway, I don't want to make this a movie review because once the book was read and I watched the movie again (just for proper comparison's sake) it paled in comparison... but the soundtrack to the movie, however has hooked me in a BIG way... you're listening to three of my favorite songs right now... it is all that has played in my car for the last week!

3) On Stephanie Meyer's web site, she tells about writing Twilight in the middle of the desert heat of Phoenix one summer, and how she remembers that summer as being cool and green and wet. I loved the way I felt like I was cold and damp, right in the middle of Washington myself. The movie does provide stunning visuals of the nature of the Olympic peninsula, and it does not disappoint... Forks, actually a real town, might actually be the rainiest town in the United States, but it is situated in a location almost as impossibly beautiful as our vampire hero himself.

2) You can say what you want to, but Myer creates a story that is intricate and suspenseful. If you can get over yourself and actually enjoy reading "a book written about vampires for a preteen audience," you will see that Twilight is a well-crafted story with layers upon layers of dimension, that only serve to thicken the plot for the subsequent books and provide a backdrop that is as close to believable as science fiction gets.

1) I read somewhere that Twilight has become a "pop culture phenomenon." Wow. I usually don't like being a part of those. While I did see Titanic, I only saw it once, and if it had a book that went along with it, I certainly didn't read it. I'm not in touch with pop music except when I have to be (teaching classes at the gym has a strange way of hooking you in to the newest, happenin' hit...), and I don't watch vampire TV shows. But I will freekt admit, in front of the internet and everybody, that the characters and the story of Twilight have swept me away into the glorious cloud of fiction in a way that I haven't been swept up in maybe ten years. Plowing through the entire 2000 pages of the series, I kept feeling like I should put the breaks on and slow down. But the pleasure of the suspense, the sympathy for the characters, and my hunger (thirst!) for more just couldn't hold me back. I was thankful for every one of the seeming never-ending pages. Upon waking, Bella and Edward were the first thing I though about (like I said, my kids were out of town). If I woke up in the night to go to the bathroom, I at least considered staying awake to read... once I even did it.

So there you go. Ten Things I loved about Twilight. On to the New Moon...

*New Swestie-ism*: Hate and Stupid

Book Review: Chi Running

"So what IS Chi Running, afterall?" you ask.

Well, let's start with the easy part...

Running is a common form of exercise for people looking to get/stay fit. Technically, it differes from walking by the fact that both feet are off the ground at the same time. (When walking, one foot remains in contact with the ground at all times.) When done properly, and with good technique, a runner can run for a lifetime, pain- and injury-free.

Some good reasons to run are:

1. Running is easy because the only equipment required is a good pair of shoes and an open road.
2. It is inexpensive because it doesn't require monthly membership dues or joining fees.
3. It "travels" well, and is actually a super way to discover the lay of the when visiting new places.
4. When you get fitter and want more challenge, just run faster...
5. These days, there are running groups galore to join when you're looking to make new friends.

"But that's not my experience!" you say. I HEAR you loud and clear, because I've been there... limping on cranky knees, hobbling on be-bunioned feet and wondering how in the world something so "easy" and "healthy" could land me on the sidelines of my first marathon. Well let's talk this through.

When did you learn how to run? Well, when you were just little tyke, careening toward your mother's outstretched, cookie-laden hands. As a kid, you most likely ran well and often on the playground. Then as you aged, if you picked up running as a form of exercise, you probably just laced up your sneakers and plunged head-first in... until the pain.* Some people run through the pain, eventually ending up with surgeries... and some people just quit.

But here's another question for you: if you were going to take up the sport of golf, wouldn't you enlist in a few lessons to get you started off on the right foot? Or if you were going to take up watercolor painting, wouldn't you take a class? If you were new to the gym, wouldn't you enlist the expertise and guidance of a personal trainer to show you proper form and technique? Why on Earth then would we think that we could take up a sport like running with no instruction, class or guidance, and expect to succeed?

In his book Chi Running, author Danny Dreyer teaches us about the beautiful, wonderful machine that is the human body. With lots of photographs and exercises for illustration, this book describes how, when properly aligned and using its chi, your body is naturally equipped with all of the shock absorption it needs to avoid injury due to overuse. Of course, this isn't quite as simple as it sounds and involves such details as: perefecting your posture; using a forefront footstrike; keeping your cadence withing a certain range, and lots more. I read through the book easily, and its conversational tone left me wishing I could meet Danny Dreyer himself.

I can just hear you now, "What is chi, and where and where can I get me some?" Well, you can't go out and buy it, that's for sure! Chi is an Eastern concept, and it is essentially your life force... your personal energy. It exists in all living things, even in plants, and space. When you are properly aligned, using your chi, running is easy, and will feel natural like a lope across the plains, as opposed to an obstacle course through treacherous woods. Harnessing your chi is a "less is more" concept and one that is learned over time and should be practiced regularly (just like almost anything worth doing!).

For me personally (I'm a hands-on learner), the book wasn't enough for me to really feel the concepts of Chi Running. I tried it a few times and did not quite get the pain-free results I desired. So I turned to Chi Living, the parent company of Chi Running. Their web site has all sorts of helpful tools on your journey toward perfect running form . I highly recommend the site as a resource for you if you are interested in learning Chi Running, (There is also Chi Walking, if you're so inclined...) enrolling in a Chi Running workshop, purchasing products, or even reading Danny Dreyer's inspiring and informative blog (often with video clips!). I ended up enrolling in a Chi Running workshop, and it did not fail to satisfy! Six months later, I'm still running, and not a complaint from any joint in my body! More about that next time...

*Note: if you know of someone who has run for years without a complaint, they probably are running with beautiful, natural chi running form... it does come naturally to some people!

"Chi Running" or "How I Became a Runner in Recovery"

So, last week, I shared a little with you about my journey toward becoming fit for the first time, way back when I was in college in the early 1990s... "learning" to run through the lush green and undulating hills of the Black Forest inspired me so much that I decided to continue the journey when I got back to my college in the States. As soon as I arrived back on campus, I purposefully joined the Women's Cross Country Team at my small college. That's me on the right end of the front row. Weren't we cute? And YOUNG??? I was an "athlete" for the first time, and my newfound strength and endurance imbued me with a sense of personal power that carried me up through what was a very dark time of my life... my magic elixer then, and it continues to be as well today... you're only ever one workout away from a better mood.

Anyway, there I was - a senior in college and a member of my very first sports team in my whole life, and I felt ecstatic just to be on a team... nevermind that I was ranked last place on the team when I started. I worked hard and ended up in fourth place. Not only was I in the best shape I'd ever been in, my placement in the top five earned me a coveted Varsity letter and Lettermans jacket. Oooh! Aahh! Actually, I never wore it very much because the style wasn't exactly flattering... but I was happy to get it all the same...

In the years after my short but sweet "NCAA athletic career," I continued to run for fitness and fun. When I'm in a running phase of my life, I feel like I can do anything. So in 2004, having just moved to a new town, the next running accomplishment I wanted to check off of my list was completing at least one Marathon. So I joined a training group, and things were fine... except that my back always hurt... my knee ached when I ran... and I was starting to have constant foot pain. This was not the fun I had imagined.

So I quit running for a while, thinking "old age" had finally won. I became a "runner in recovery from running. I trained to be an indoor cycling instructor (spinning), and tried (in vain) to find satisfying ways to reach that same cardio peak of running... but nothing geled for me the way running had for all of those years. After a few half-hearted (read: painful) attempts at picking up running again, I heard about a book called Chi Running. This book recommends a running technique that enables runners to do what they love pain and injury free. I bought it immediately.

Turns out, it involves adjusting your stride so that when your foot hits the ground, the part that strikes the ground is the front half of the foot, instead of the heel. Now, if you look at the photo above this paragraph, you can see me in the back with a most prominent heel-strike, vertical posture and leg reaching forward, therefore causing shock waves to run up my legs eventually landing me with foot, knee and back pain over a culmination running for ten years. The runner in front if me, with her beautiful forward lean and forefoot strike, had been trailing me for the last mile,of this race and as we pulled into the last tenth of a mile, she had plenty of gas to give which left me breathing her dust. Her form was efficient, easy and effortless. If I had only known then what I know now.

Now actually, even if my competitor did leave me awhirl like Wile E. Coyote just buzzed by Road Runner, it was my fastest 5K that I ever ran, and for that I am still very proud. For years, I held a grudge against my mom for snapping that photo of me in a moment of "defeat." However, today, I don't mind so much... it's nice know that was ever so fast... and it inspires me to keep going today.

Later... more on my successful journey toward becoming a Chi Runner.

Funny Blog: I Can Has Cheezburger

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Do you know what the doldrums are?

doldrums |ˈdōldrəmz; ˈdäl-; ˈdôl-|plural noun ( the doldrums)low spirits; a feeling of boredom or depression : color catalogs will rid you of February doldrums.

• a period of inactivity or a state of stagnation : the mortgage market has been in the doldrums for three years.

• an equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean with calms, sudden storms, and light unpredictable winds.ORIGIN late 18th cent.(as doldrum [dull, sluggish person] ): perhaps fromdull , on the pattern of tantrums. (from my Apple computer dictionary)

Well, where they're a place to be or a state of mind, I've been there this week. But the silly folks with their lolcats over at www.icanhascheezburger.com crack me up every single time.

And the best part is that they update frequently - as in multiple times a day. So you can keep taking them... like regular doses of medicine they are...

Happy Monday!

*New Swestie-ism*: Good neighbors?

Not! And not mine either... near my kids' school...

Body Step

When I was in high school, I wanted to "exercise." So my friend Eric said that he would take me for a run. I wore a t-shirt (with a regular bra... I know, TMI, but it IS pretty funny... who had heard of sports bras back then!) DENIM shorts, and some sneakers, probably Keds, that I wore mostly all of the time, every where. We went to a track across the street from my home, and it was mid-morning in July... a scorcher already, to say the least.

We started to run, and after about, um, 90 seconds, I was so winded, I had to stop. Now Eric was a football player and therefore already conditioned, and suggested that we slow down... I don't remember what happened after that, except that I thought being physically fit was like a TALENT, something you were just born with. I didin't understand that you had to get yourself fit... through lots of hard work and, well, SWEAT.

When I was a junior in college, I spent the year in Germany. While I was there, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the delicious food and beer... and gained a few pounds... how many, I'll never know... me in my size 8 perfection never thought to weigh back then... ANYWAY. My tight, uncomfortable clothing became hard to bear, and a newer friend, Steve, stepped in and offered to run with me. He was the one who enlightened me about the whole concept of getting into shape as opposed to just magically being in shape. So, we went to the canal that flowed through our beautiful, pituresque college town (Freiburg im Breisgau) and started running. He led me, and we ran painfully slowly (my pace), and his only stipulation about helping me was that we would start with 20 minutes, and that I could only stop once...

...Well thank you Steve, cause I'm now thirty-six years old, and I still haven't stopped... taken a break from time to time, but I just love to run, and straight running carried me through until after my second child. That's when I trained to become a yoga instructor. I've taught mainly in gyms since then, and eventually, I started teaching other classes at the gym... weights... cycling...

And then came Les Mills...

Who?

Les Mills is a company out of Australia that offers instructor trainings for their highly athletic, super-challenging classes. They have everything from kick boxing to cycling. I started with Body Pump, the original barbell class that strengthens the whole body while burning lots of calories and increasing endurance. The training itself is grueling... physically and mentally challenging with the added pressure of having to do a practical test (video review) for final certification. I passed this, and have been teaching Body Pump for the past two years now, and I love it...

Now I'm ready for a new challenge!

Enter, Les Mills' Body Step Training.

Body Step is a high intensity cardio challenge... if you thought step aerobics was old school... you're right... but Body Step *ain't* your average step class... think high propulsion... racing heartrate... simple choreography... not being tangled up in the hell that is a sixteen step combo where you can't get past step eleven... the video above doesn't even do it justice!

I'll let you know how it goes! Wish me luck!