Detox Bath

When I was working on fighting a nasty cold a few years ago I did some research on the benefits of adding different ingredients to a hot bath to help with congestion.  A lot of obvious ingredients surfaced like peppermint essential oil and rosemary but one that I was very surprised by was ground mustard powder.  Evidently it has been used in traditional medicine for a very long time.  They say it aids circulation, opens your pores and makes you sweat.  Now don't get me wrong, this is not medical advice.  This is just something that I have found that makes me feel better when I'm feeling crappy.

Add to a hot bath as it is being drawn:

2 T dry mustard powder
2 T baking soda
a few drops of peppermint essential oil
a drop of tea tree oil

I have the water about as hot as I can stand it and make sure to drink lots of water and Yogi Cold Season tea and try not to drop my iPod in the tub.

When I feel like I'm clearing up I'll stand up and rinse off and get back to resting.


I think I am finally starting to feel better after an evening of watching scary movies on the couch with the hubs.

How Could This Happen

I'm sick.

I noticed a tickle in my throat at work on Saturday.  I tried to ignore it but in the back of my mind I knew I was coming down with something.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling like I had a jackhammer in my brain, I was nauseous and dizzy.  OK, I'll admit it.  I was hungover.  Strike that... I'm pretty sure I may have still been drunk from the night before.  I was trying to help my cold with a little whiskey and red wine and apparently failed miserably!  Not only was a drunk AND hungover, I also was stuffy, congested and coughing.  Thank goodness for sympathetic co-workers because I was also supposed to be at work in an hour.

I popped some cold pills and slept it off.  I woke up feeling more stable but the symptoms of my little cold were still annoyingly there.

I rested all day yesterday watching episodes of 30 Rock and The X-Files patiently awaiting my husband to come home from work.  When he did, to my surprise and delight, he brought me Thukpa soup from our favorite Nepalese restaurant.

Today, not feeling much better, I pretty much spent the day in bed again.  I did take the dog for a short walk.  It was long enough for me to get depressed by how beautiful an autumn day it is here in Baltimore.  Stupid cold!  I did notice an item in my newsfeed on facebook that seemed as though it was tailored just for me...  I recently friended a page called "Plant-Based on a Budget" and today they posted: "Have a cold or flu? Give this soup a try to help you battle those symptoms!"  Garlic- Ginger Soup  I made a few tweaks based on what I had on hand, but this was just what I needed tonight to help me fight this cold.

Alright, alright, back to resting...

One Week Down

I've been a pretty strict vegetarian this go around for three years and change.  Cumulatively I have been a vegetarian for almost 10 years of my life although I would say that the first time around I was more of a "carb-etarian"...  But still-- I've steered clear of gelatin and fish and various kinds of meat-based stocks.  Bacon and sausage and other things that some people consider to be processed enough to no longer be meat are no-no's, too.  I remember sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at an ex's house and, after confirming that a certain pasta dish was vegetarian, got a mouthful of prosciutto.  "It's not meat!" his Aunt yelled after me as I excused myself to the restroom...

So long story short, I'm no stranger to dietary restrictions so when I recently became preoccupied with dabbling is veganism, I didn't think it would be the challenge that my family and friends had made it out to be.  The animal products I regularly consume are few and far between and mainly consist of organic eggs, cheese and milk-based ingredients that are found in things like box-cereal, whey protein powder and bread.

Last weekend I went down to Berlin, MD for my art exhibition at my friends' restaurant, Si'Culi.  Berlin is on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where one of the chief industries is poultry farming.  As my husband and I were driving down there he pointed out windowless chicken coups and we passed a truck full of live chickens in tiny, rusty, filthy cages with legs wedged between bars and feathers flying.  I pretty much felt like I was going to barf when I saw that-  especially after recently seeing the movie Samsara, in which there are several very graphic scenes of factory farming.

I will admit, as a vegetarian I was never super focused on the animal rights aspect of choosing a meat free lifestyle.  I have definitely, at least this time around, been more focused on the health benefits.  My husband chose to "go veg" almost 15 years ago as a preventative measure against diabetes which runs in both sides of his family.  However, after seeing that movie and then those chickens in real life I had a pretty visceral reaction to that.

This was the impetus behind finally going vegan on a trial basis for at least a month. I am hoping for even more added health benefits as well.

It is definitely a chore to read and decipher food labels.  There is a lot of research involved in figuring out what ingredients may be animal derived.  I think I have been doing a pretty good job of being creative in my meal planning so that my husband doesn't complain about eating vegan with me (except for on Mondays when it is 2-for-1 pizza night at Tutti Gusti).  He is a vegetarian, too... but he loves his cheese!

Happily, a lot of the food that we normally eat is already vegan.  This is one of my favorite already-vegan recipes: Vegetarian Pho!  I made this the other night and can't wait to make it again.

Try Something New

So I recently joined a new gym-- one that is much more expensive than my old gym.  To put things into perspective, the monthly dues at my new gym are the same amount as the yearly membership at my old gym.  There are, of course, tons of advantages to the new membership-- one of them being the fact that this gym has lots of classes that they offer that come with your membership.  Taking advantage of some of the classes would also be a means to justify the pricy dues.  After being very curious for a long time, tonight I decided that it was time for me to try yoga.

I had tried a yoga class once or twice in the past but honestly I was not in very good shape when I gave it a shot and was pretty frustrated with myself for not being able to do a lot of the poses.  So I gave up.

One of my favorite fitness websites features articles and posts about the myriad benefits of yoga quite often and I had been feeling left out.

I arrived a few minutes early and changed out of my shoes in the locker-room, grabbed a towel and my water bottle and set off to find the class.  There are a bunch of rooms where they do Spinning or Pilates or Squash and when I finally found the yoga studio I froze up.  There were a bunch of people in there and they were already stretching and there was music playing and for some reason I freaked.  I was looking for Yoga 101 and I thought these people all looked like they knew what they were doing and they were all going to be judgmental when I try to claim my floor space amongst them.

I turned to the guy at the info counter across the hall.  "Isn't there a Beginner Yoga class at 7:30?," I asked.  Apparently there was and that was it.  I gulped.  He was warm and encouraging and pointed out that I could grab a mat from the back of the room.  I confusedly pulled out two mats that were rolled together.  I didn't realize that.  I thought it was one EXTRA long mat and for some reason that was very overwhelming for me at the time...  The instructor was super sweet and saw that I was very confused and intimidated and told me that some people use two mats and that the big roll that I had in my hands was actually a double roll.  Two mats sounded like a great idea looking down at the hardwood floor so I grabbed them both.

I set up my double-decker mat next to the wall towards the front of the classroom.  I thought it was perfect because I had plenty of room!  I sat down on my mat and started mimicking the stretching of the rest of the class.  The guy next to me-- clearly the teacher's pet-- tells me that I should move closer to him and the center of the room so that I can see myself in the mirror.  The teacher reiterates this and I, terrified of having to look at my goofy self in the mirror, scootchy over so I can have a better view.

As we are getting ready to begin, teacher passes out straps and blocks.  I have no idea what they are for and as my imagination runs wild I got even more nervous.

"Ok, now you can use this block to make it easier for you to sit cross-legged on your 'sit-bone'."

I put the block under my butt and it HURTS.  It may have had something to do with my recent injury (I fell really hard on my left cheek) but at any rate she mercifully said that we didn't have to use it.  So we sat cross-legged and meditated our way into mindfulness of body and breath.  The instructors voice was soothing and she seemed kind.  My reservations started to pass and I tried to focus on what I was there for-- practicing yoga.

I'm not going to lie: Yoga 101 kicked. my. butt.  As I type I am very aware of the muscles that were flexed and stretched this evening.  I was very wobbly.  I got sweaty and my palms slid across the mat.  I fell over a few times.  There were poses I couldn't do.  Yet....

I think all-in-all this was a very positive experience.  I am interested to see how sore I am tomorrow but I am looking forward to practicing poses and going to my next class.

I also learned a lesson about my own vanity tonight.  Sometimes you just have to suck it up and deal with the fact that you might look like a total goof-ball loser while you are trying something new, but at least you are trying new things and hell, you might even like it...

Steppin' Out This Weekend?

I love products that have a dual purpose.  One of the best beauty tips I ever got was this: If you shave in the shower, for super-duper moisturized legs, replace you shower gel/shaving cream with hair conditioner.  It won't dry out your legs like shaving with soap can.

When you get out of the shower, pat yourself dry with a towel (don't rub, you can damage your skin) and then quickly apply I nice lightweight moisturizer all over.  I like Cetaphil because it is odorless and absorbs very quickly so I can get dressed right away when I'm in a hurry!

Yelle - Je Veux Te Voir

One of my favorite workout songs!  Your inspiration to sweat today:

What is on your workout playlist?

I missed my iPod on my short jog today.  I don't like to have earbuds in when I'm running on city streets- I'm afraid that I won't hear something and I'll get hit by a bus!  I think I definitely run a little slower without that bass thumpin' but I have an easier time negotiating some intervals.  I like to use street lights to sprint and then jog, sprint and then jog.  I rest at red lights or stretch a little bit...  Today was a bit tough because it was just so humid.  I also had tight time constraint because we had to make it over to Centerstage in time to meet out wine rep from Southern for a tasting.  On a brighter note, we have some pretty fabulous wines arriving for our patrons in time for the weekend.  So stoked!

Now off to paint some more in preparation for my show next Friday!

Small Changes, Big Payoffs

Family and friends that have known me for a long time know that I have always struggled with health and fitness.  As a child I had a lot of poor eating habits that were passed down from my parents.  I was that chunky kid that the other kids made fun of in elementary school.  I can't tell you how many recesses were spent indoors because I couldn't run with the other kids or I was too worried about being made fun of for one thing or the other- because in addition to being overweight, I was also the tallest kid in class and accentuated all of this by occassional cross-dressing and other bizarre outfits. My two favorite closets to raid for hand-me-downs were my dad's and my grandma's...

Puberty hit, and of course I don't have to tell you how awkward that was, but an unexpected bonus is that my fat distributed itself a bit and because puberty was of course laying victim to my peers, I was no longer the tallest, most awkward, heaviest kid.  Which, for someone who was attending a new school with all new peers, was truly a gift.  Unfortunately for me, the school that I transferred to in 6th grade was a close-knit Catholic school and I still felt like an outsider.  I began to spiral downward into a dark depression and lashed out and got into a lot of trouble in school and at home.  To make matters way worse, the summer following sixth grade, after coming home from a family vacation, we found out that my dad- the coolest freaking guy in the universe- was dying of cancer.  His illness was ...well, it is indescribable to watch your childhood hero deteriorate and die uncomfortably in front of you.  We all dealt with it in our own ways, but each family member, needless to say, had a very hard time recovering from the loss.  The pain is still there everyday.

Back then it was there everyday, every hour, every minute, every second.  Part of my coping mechanism was spending time with my old friend food.  Thanks to another dear friend- my Canadian pen-pal, actually- I was inspired to become a vegetarian around age 14.  I thought "vegetarian" just meant that one didn't eat meat.  So... cookies and pasta and lots of cheese were everyday indulgences- especially before bed.  Sometimes in the middle of the night with a glass of 2% milk and an Anne Rice novel.

I wasn't "fat" per se, but I was NOT healthy.  I never excercised.  I experimented with smoking.  I was sad and angry and eventually the therapist that I decided to see to help me work through all this, recommended anti-depressant drugs.  They made me more depressed.  I felt like I was living life with foggy emotions- and as a very emotional Pisces that needs to feel, this was no good.  I was sedentary.  The scale crept ever upward.  I cried to psychologist that prescribed the drugs and told her how desperate I was to lose weight.  She was cold and uncaring.  This, for me,  was the era of crash diets, diet pills and a very unhealthy cycle of binging and purging...  I was the fattest I have ever been.

I remember very clearly being in my best friend's bedroom over Christmas break during freshman year of art school.  She, out of the blue, turns to me and said, "Boy, you've put on a lot of weight!"  Wow.  What?  Had I?  I looked in the mirror.  I guess I had.  I think at the time I joked about it but I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I weighed myself the next morning.  I couldn't believe what the scale registered.  Somehow it said that I weighed 219lbs.  Two hundred and nineteen pounds.  That can't be right.  219lbs?!  I didn't weigh myself for a while after that.  I was afraid to.  However, seeing that number was not a wake-up call.  It was just one of those things... like waking up and realizing you have your first wrinkle.  That sucks!  Well, guess I'm getting old...  In fact, I kind of embraced my new realization that I was a big girl.  I read an article recently about photographer Jen Davis in Oprah Magazine and I could relate a lot!  At the time I was also very inspired by Jenny Saville, whose much larger-than-life portraits reflected some kind of macabre, Venus-of-Willendorf feminine ideals that I could relate to.  I painted some very large, self-reflective portraits at the time that I'm still proud of to this day.

Jenny Saville

Fast-forward two years to 2004: I was then living in Highlandtown in Baltimore, MD with my boyfriend at the time in a big old row house close to Patterson Park.  He got word of an endangered Siberian husky who was about to be given away or maybe even put down because he has lashed out and attacked one of his owners and was just a general nuisance.  The owners were afraid for their children and asked if we would be interested in taking the dog in.  So, all-of-a-sudden we had a dog.  A very, very spry, energetic dog.  We also happened to live next to one of the greatest parks in the country- Patterson Park.  A perfect place to walk a rambunctious dog!  And walk we did...  A mile or two a day.

Without realizing it, my pants started to ride down.  My shirts felt bigger.  I had more energy.  I wanted to run with my new husky!  Slowly.... slowly pounds melted off.  Just by walking a little bit every day.  I was amazed.  What a wonderful side-effect from getting this dog that I wasn't so sure about in the beginning.

The point of this very long anecdote is that a very small step- a very small change can reap huge reward.  And once you make one small change, it is much easier to make others that add up to big changes that can impact your life in a very positive way.

That's all for now... I have to walk the dog.