Things I'm Loving Right Now

1. This blog post from Dani Shapiro (the author of the fantastic book Devotion) on the writing life. Very important reminders and words of wisdom.

2. This tea, and this tea and this one too.

3. A pretty nail polish color with a cozy name.

4. Snow days! So nice to be able to spend the day in warm lounge clothes, snuggled up with a good book and some good movies.

5. This article on how meditation can change your brain structure in just eight weeks. Just one more reason to make a regular meditation practice part of your 2011 intentions.

Inspiration.

A collection of recent posts from around the web that have caught my attention lately:

-The Oprah Magazine's guide to great collections of short stories

-These tips for shopping at the farmers' market

-A how-to for more creative discipline--I love the idea of using the word devotion instead of discipline!

-This post from City Life Eats on eating while traveling for those of us with special diets or food allergies

-Tulips and Tea's Analiese guest posted about her style statement, organic creative, on the Style Statement blog

-A profile of Chef Chloe, who won the Food Network's cupcake challenge with her amazing vegan cupcakes! Check out some of her recipes here and here.

-This New York Times article about how the road to adulthood has been getting increasingly longer

-This column by the ever-so-fabulous Jen Lancaster on why New Jersey is the new black (Yay for my home state!)

{Photo credit: cupcakes2}

Revelry Review: Hungry by Crystal Renn

This weekend I finished reading the book Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves by Crystal Renn, which I heard about via a CNN article a few weeks ago. Full confession: I have a huge girl crush on Crystal. I think she is absolutely gorgeous, wish I looked like her every time I see her picture AND I love, love, love that her NORMAL size body has graced the covers of so many magazines (Vogue, Elle, etc).

What I didn't know before reading the book was that she struggled with intense anorexia as she tried to lose enough weight to become and remain a "straight size" model. At 5'9, she was 95 pounds at one point. Eventually, having had enough with starvation, endless hours spent in the gym and criticism from people in the modeling industry, she became determined to get healthy. Ford modeling agency took her on as one of their plus-size models, which I find ridiculous since Crystal is a perfectly average size 12, but that's another rant for a different day. In this book, Crystal recounts her biography but also takes on the fashion and modeling industry. She comes to love her body for the size it wants to be instead of trying to force it to be smaller. The book made me like her even more.

I saw Crystal in ads for Lane Bryant (and didn't know who she was) but really became interested in her and her story after seeing this ad of her in a red bathing suit in Glamour magazine. It was so refreshing to see someone who wasn't a size 0 in their swimsuit photos. She has since appeared in their magazine and on their website many times. Apparently I wasn't the only one--this was one of the photos that caused many readers to write in and ultimately convinced Glamour to include more average-sized girls in their magazine, including the one of "The Girl on Page 194", which made national headlines. You can learn more about her from these clips from 20/20, Ellen, Good Morning America and Nightline.

And some more photos of Crystal:

Words to Grow By.

"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places."

~Ernest Hemingway

{Photo credit: vial3tt3r}

Margaret Atwood and The Year of the Flood Project

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending a night with Margaret Atwood that was held at the George Washington University's Lisner auditorium.  

The event was part of the The Year of the Flood Project to coincide with the release of her latest book.  The program included readings and acting, as well as some of the writing set to music.  Each event uses local talent.  They are given the readings and the music and told to interpret it in any way that they choose.  At the end, Atwood answered audience questions and signed copies of her books.  She said she isn't sure what type of material she will write next, discussed the importance of being aware of what we are doing to the environment and made a lot of jokes about being from Canada.  You can read Atwood's review of the event that she posted on her blog here.

The event itself was really interesting.  The actors and musicians (students and professors from GW) did a wonderful job with interpreting the pieces.  Atwood herself is a small, snarky, funny, inspiring and interesting woman.  I have waited over ten years to get the chance to hear her read and meet her.  

Atwood was on my short list of people I need to meet before I die.  (Now that I've knocked off Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows, Elie Wiesel and Atwood, I just need to track down Salman Rushdie.)  I left the event feeling inspired, thankful and really wanting to get back in touch with the English major/writing/editing side of myself that I have let go in recent years.  

Food for Thought

I am loving this post by Kelly Rae Roberts on naming what you really want.

I am also loving this post by Kaileen Elise on defining success.

I am feeling like I need an entire day parked in an oversized chair with an oversized mug of tea and my journal. Right now there are so many thoughts to work through and so little time.

I am also behind on my post on risk for The Joy Diet book club. I'll get there, I promise!


{Photo credit: alicepopkorn}

In Search of the Writing Life

I am indeed in search of the writing life.

Lately I have felt a strong pull towards writing more often, more regularly and more thoroughly. In order to get closer to this, I took a few action steps:

-I started blogging at the Summer Writing Inspiration Movement . The idea behind it is to create weekly goals and be supported (and held accountable, I hope!) by others in the group.

-I signed up for the SARK Juicy Journaling program, as well as this Get Paid to Write: Become a Freelance Writer e-course, which begins on August 10th.

-I purchased a few books on freelance writing: My So-Called Freelance Life, Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer: How to Win Top Writing Assignments, and The Street Smart Writer.

One of my other goals is to write longer and more focused entries here in this blog. So tell me, dear readers, what would you like to see appear on Everyday Revelry? What do you want to know more about or talk about with other like-minded souls? I have a few ideas brewing and there are things I love to write and talk about (ie yoga, nutrition, exercise, Latin America, cooking, books, writing, creativity, travel, etc.), but I also would love to know more about what you all are interested in too!

And I *love* this vintage typewriter (or visible writing machine, apparently) poster!


{Image credit: moni cam}

Words to Grow By.

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.  I don't believe in circumstances.  The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and, if they can't find them, make them."

~George Bernard Shaw

{Photo credit: mark.os}

Juicy Journaling with SARK!

Join me as I do the Juicy Journaling with SARK program!

A big thank you to Carolyn of Hang on Little Tomato for tweeting about the program.

You can get all of the official details in the link above, but here is the run down:

Once a day for 30 days, you will receive an email from SARK containing Today's Journal Juice (artwork on that day's theme that can be printed out), Today's Juicy Droplets (writing prompts galore!), Today's Vitamin See (a downloadable SARK quote) and Today's Refreshing Recording (an mp3 of SARK talking about the writing experience). If you register before July 29th, you also get: a discounted rate, an mp3 of SARK talking about publishing, and an invitation to a phone-in open mic night to share your writing on July 29th at 9 pm EST (you will also be sent the recording in case you can't make it). At the end of the program, you will also receive a pdf of all of the emails with the artwork in an e-book form.

I am so excited to have daily inspiration for journal writing!

Creative destruction.

Two nights ago in my Survey of International Economics course we discussed the principle of creative destruction. While we discussed it in terms of what it means in a free market system, I started thinking about it in other ways, such as how sometimes what seems like ruin actually has benefits. There's also the fact that sometimes you have to (figuratively, of course) burn the whole house down before you can begin again.

I find that's often the case with writing. I would imagine it applies to other creative outlets as well. It takes a lot of courage to do away with something you've created, but it can be done in a way that doesn't hinder, and may actually help, the process itself.

It also made me think of this book, which I don't have but I have heard good things about.

I find creative destruction to be beautifully liberating when it is applied to life in general. I have a hard time letting go of something I've created or worked on, so this was a good reminder. There is definitely something to the "out of the ashes rises the phoenix" concept.


{Photo credit: kh2rac}

10 Before 30.

It is a very depressing fact that I am 2.5 years away from turning 30. That being said, the other day I was thinking that if I can make turning 30 about celebrating something other than age, like accomplishments, then it won't be so bad. I was inspired by the 30 Before 30 List blog. Only, with just 2.5 years to go, plus work and graduate school, I wanted a more manageable list of 10.

They're big ones, but there are only 10.

Without further ado, I give you The List:

1. Complete the 200 hour yoga teacher training at Tranquil Space

2. Get to my goal weight (that fluctuates between needing to lose 25-40 more pounds)

3. Hike Macchu Picchu in Peru

4. Crochet an entire blanket that looks fairly decent

5. Run a 5k (and maybe even something longer? I want to start small.)

6. Secure a big girl job doing substantive work that makes me happy and proud

7. Take cooking classes

8. Get published somewhere, somehow

9. Plant a garden (even if it's a balcony garden!)

10. Establish a decent-sized savings

More on the Florida trip tomorrow!

{Photo credit: boopsie.daisy}

Journal Questions.

How often do you write in a paper journal? Is there a certain time of day or a certain place you prefer to write? Do you leave your journal at home or carry it with you? How many pages do you think you write per year? Do you have any other rituals surrounding writing in your journal?

{Picture credit: NG71}

The Journey So Far.

Two years ago I was extremely overweight and very unhappy for many, many reasons.

I've been overweight my whole life. Of all the genetic gifts I have received from my family, "naturally thin" is not one of them. I quit playing sports of any kind after middle school. And I like chocolate. A lot. Add that to mild depression and you've got a recipe for disaster.

The picture to the left is of me in Havana, Cuba in June 2007.

Oddly enough, even seeing pictures like this one wasn't enough for me to do something about it.

Months later, in the sticks-to-your-skin kind of heat of August in D.C., I put on the only pair of workout type pants I owned, which were reserved for use on laundry day, and some beat up sneakers and went for a "run". Running sounded like something thin people do. I don't know where the motivation came from to actually do it, but I do know that the running part lasted no longer than 30 seconds. I was totally out of breath and thought I might pass out. I spent the next 20 minutes meandering around the neighborhood while gasping for air before admitting defeat.

I was sweating. And embarrassed. And frustrated. And tired. Oh-so-very tired.

But the next day I bought a workout DVD and did it in the privacy of my apartment. I only made it half-way through a 45 minute DVD but it was a start.

The following week I started going with my roommate to the gym in the morning and did the Couch-to-5k program.I knew if I made a commitment to get up and go with her, I would do it. I thought my lungs might explode every. single. morning. But I did it anyway. I treated it like an early morning job. I put it in my planner. I had to be there or else.

A week after that I decided I couldn't do the food part by myself, so I went to Weight Watchers. With a friend. Just to make sure I really, really wasn't alone. I liked them because I could eat whatever I wanted if I portioned it right. I realized that I needed to be around other people who were struggling and living to tell the tale.

The courage I had built from those two things led to me signing up for a "Newbie Yoga" class series at Tranquil Space. I was probably double the size of the biggest person in the room (a guy, no less). I was sweating to death and I could not hold Down Dog for more than two breaths. In nearly every pose, my whole body shook. But it didn't matter. I felt like a new person after I left each of those classes. Energized and healthy and happy. The mindfulness I was learning on the mat was helping me to be more mindful off of the mat. The teacher talked about how she hadn't always been thin and that yoga was for every body type, which I appreciated. She offered many ways to modify the poses and mentioned that she offered a "Voluptuous Vinyasa Flow" class once a week. I honestly believe that class, which I took for several months before transitioning to Yoga 1, saved me from myself.

I also read anything and everything I could get my hands on about weight loss, nutrition, holistic health, strength training, running, body image, yoga, self-esteem, cooking, etc. I'm pretty sure I single-handedly kept the "health and weight loss" sections of Amazon.com in business for about a year there. I also did web searches ("What is agave nectar?", "Do I need padded butt shorts for spinning?") and read lots and lots of blogs and wrote fairly regularly in a journal.

Then came slightly more advanced yoga classes. And belly dance classes. And, most recently, spinning classes.

This is me so far:

Since August 2007, I have lost about 70 pounds. I try to eat mostly whole grains, lots of veggies and cook for myself. But I still love chocolate. And bread. And cupcakes. Just in moderation. I feel like I've been relearning how to take care of myself with food.

I put back on a few pounds within the past couple of months (that's what working full-time while going to graduate school part-time will do to a person). But it's a marathon, not a sprint. And I will lose the last 30 like I did the first 70. Pound by pound, day by day, meal by meal, thought by thought. I will battle this for the rest of my life but unlike before, I now know how to battle it.

This journey has become more about finding myself, getting inspired, and getting healthy, and not necessarily just about getting skinny. I'm a size 12 and if I never get any smaller than that, so be it. It's been about doing things I never, ever thought I'd do. It's about putting myself out there. It's about trusting myself and the universe.

Mostly, the journey so far has been about getting happy. I feel like I've gotten a second chance at life, as dramatic as that sounds, and I intend to take advantage of every single second of it.

Words to Grow By.

Yesterday, as I desperately needed to finish a research paper for graduate school and wanted to clean out my over-stuffed closet, I found myself doing anything BUT those two things. Then I remembered something I had read recently by SARK:

"You can unlearn your procrastination just as you learned it. I notice how we inundate ourselves with huge goals and then berate ourselves when they don't occur. Remember that procrastination is rooted in over-functioning and low self-esteem. What a doomed combination! Procrastinators are also tremendous perfectionists and relentless rehearsers. They rehearse over and over in their mind how they're going to do it perfectly--then when they do nothing, it doesn't disturb their perfect vision!

To release procrastination is to fly through your very own dream sky. Once I learned how to let go of procrastinating behaviors, my creativity soared to new places that seemed unreachable before. Letting go happens in layers and increments and is definitely a process. I'm looking forward to the new places I'll travel if I continue to let go...."

~From Living Juicy

Words to Grow By.

"The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.  You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.  Such knowledge is truly a gift...It is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned."

~from JK Rowling's 2008 Harvard Commencement Address, as seen in the May issue of Real Simple magazine