Vacations are a lot of work

Something I noticed when I was working as a software developer was that anyone who took vacation time always worked a lot of extra hours both before and after they were away. Unpaid overtime, of course. The concept of "Paid Time Off" is pretty much bullshit.

Even with my easy-going lifestyle, the same thing is happening. In less than 24 hours I leave for a two week trip to Peru. I've been running around like a mad woman for a full week taking care of all the things that will fall apart without me. I already started a list of things to do immediately upon my return.

This morning I woke up at 3 AM with my head swimming full of forgotten tasks. After two hours of wishing for more sleep, I finally just got up and started taking care of more stuff. I added two major items to today's to-do list before 6 AM.

When I get to Peru, I will be completely cut off from my responsibilities here. If things fall apart, they fall apart. I won't know until I get back to Seattle. But it's almost guaranteed that everything will run totally smoothly. It always does.

It's hard to say if it's our inflated sense of self-importance or our unfair lack of faith in others that makes us think the world will stop turning just because we leave town for a couple of weeks.

Raw food dish of the week - Falafel Wraps

Despite the fact that the recipe called for cumin and I didn't have any, the falafel was actually quite good. The texture was close to perfect. It didn't go too well with the rest of the wrap though. Too bland. Probably because of the lack of cumin.



Wrap: romaine lettuce leaves

Falafel: soaked almonds, cilantro, parsley, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, Celtic sea salt, water

Toppings: cucumber, red bell pepper, roma tomatoes

Not everything has to be perfect

After studying drawing with the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, it was time to do to the "final" self-portrait.

I've spent many many hours struggling with this drawing, spread out over many days. Perhaps knowing that I would post it for the world to see caused me to be hyper-critical of myself. I finished it this afternoon, took one look at it, and got depressed. It was just awful. Looked nothing like me. Barely looked human. After feeling sorry for myself for a couple of hours, I went back and fixed it.

Hm. Still doesn't look like me. But you know what? I really don't want to fix it anymore. And I don't want to start over. I know it's not perfect. My central axis is out of alignment with my eye-line, causing my face to look lopsided. My eyes are not drawn from the same perspective. The shape of my face is too long, causing all my features to be spread out.

I could nit-pick it all day long. But you know, there's a lot right with it too. Is that not the best drawing of an ear you've ever seen? If you have never seen me, take my word for it - that looks exactly like my ear. My eyes might not match each other, but they look pretty close to what my eyes really look like - granted, from two different angles. My lips are pretty close. And it's way better than my preliminary pre-course self-portrait.

So, loving friends and family, you don't need to make me feel better with comments such as "it's very nice, but you're much prettier in real life", or "hey, it's way better than I could do." I do appreciate your support. I really do. But I'm proud of myself already, even though it's not perfect.

I'll keep practicing, and maybe I'll draw a perfect one another day.

Self-portrait: A before and after comparison




Raw food dish of the week - Garden Vegetable Soup

Ick. Not good. Edible, for the most part. I don't seem to have much luck with raw soups.

Ingredients: zucchini, tomatoes, celery, green onions, spinach, avocado, fresh basil leaves, red bell pepper, lemon juice, sea salt, cayenne.

Pictures!

After years of talking about it, I finally bought a digital camera! I paid $50 for it to some college kid who got two digital cameras for Christmas. Rough life, eh? Right about now, my Aunt Kathie is doing the dance of joy over the fact that I can now send her pictures of EVERYTHING! Even if you are reading this months after I posted it, she is probably still dancing.

This is my wonderfully tiny apartment! Yeah, that's most of it. It's a studio with a loft.


There's my kitchen filled with all my raw food appliances.


And my fake fireplace that my dog immediately turned into his favorite bed.


This is the yoga studio where I take Power Yoga class a couple of times per week. That's right, I signed up for more classes! I just can't live without my power yoga.


But mostly, I seem to take lots and lots of pictures of the animals. Even though they've been doing the same old crap for years, I still find them as painfully cute as if I were seeing them for the first time. That's how they keep the food coming.

This is my dog, Midget. I didn't name him and I'm sorry. Sometimes when strangers on the street ask me what his name is, I tell them it's Emmet. That would have been a much better choice.


Most of the time, Midget looks nervous or sad.


My beloved Gregory cuddles with me every night.

My sweet Simon has always been a big hit at parties.

Gregory and Simon showed up at my apartment together as strays nearly 12 years ago. They have remained constants in my life through many different homes, jobs, boyfriends, and personalities.

Raw food dish of the week - Corn Bread

I cannot believe how incredibly delicious this is.



Corn bread: ground flax seeds, almonds, cashews, pine nuts, frozen corn, agave nectar, Celtic sea salt, and garlic.