Here & Now

365.

I am participating in a creative effort called "Project 365."  The intent is simple: document the year by taking a photograph a day.  I am using my little camera, my big camera and others' cameras to be creative + to record 2009.  Check out my year to date at: 365.

Cinnamon Scones: 29 grams of fat!

In an effort to relearn about calories and foods and healthy eating, I have started using Sparkpeople.com to track my nutrition daily.  It has been actually helpful, not to mention surprising.  This week, I was alarmed by:

• One piece of pepperoni pizza = 22 grams of fat
• A banana contains nearly 100 calories! 
• Most shocking: a Starbucks cinnamon scone =  29 grams of fat (yes, read: more than pizza!!)

The most surprising of all things this week was that I stuck to my plan of eating well.  I only found out about the scone because I researched before going out the door (where I then drove the opposite direction of the coffee shop).  With 4 days of exercise under my belt, it has been a good week when it comes to wellness ... the first one in a very long time.  

Meg Ryan + Tom Hanks Week

Oxygen channel has denoted January as their month to frequently play Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks movies.  So two of my favorites have been one more than a time or two: "You've Got Mail" and "Sleepless in Seattle."  As I watch my most favorite of these two (and actually my favorite movie after "Love Actually") - "You've Got Mail" - and listen to the opening scenes, I feel the urge to write kick in.  I love their letters to each other, how they write about small things and yet share all this emotion.  

The whole purpose of places like Starbucks, Joe Fox writes, is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.

I open Gmail to craft my own brilliant note to someone, but I experience a total loss for what to actually write about. So I turn to my blog, where I find only the words to capture what is on the TV screen.  I am going to just watch instead :)

I Love

Thinking a lot about love lately ... so right now, here is what I love:

• The Atlanta skyline, which I get to see out of the corner of my apartment complex's parking lot. Tonight, with a crystal clear sky, it is particularly brilliant.
• DVR 
• Oprah's podcasts, which make working out a little more tolerable 
• My apartment, particularly the branches on my kitchen table and the colors on the walls
• iChat 
• Productive meetings, which I had a few of today 
• Hints of Valentine's Day, because the colors are so happy 
• Myself, which is why I am trying to be entirely committed to my workout goals  
• 60 degree weather 
• Airline ticket sales + upcoming visits on my calendar
• Old photographs, especially ones which bring back such good memories as this one:  

 

My Best Life

Jenna flew home yesterday, after 10 great days in Atlanta.  I have spent the rest of the weekend doing two things: 1) preparing to live "my best life" (in Oprah terms) and 2) living my best life.  I have had a great need lately to refocus my life - to live more mindfully, to be more in the present, to thrive rather than survive. With the move behind me and with only myself here in Atlanta, it is the time to re-energize my life.  As Oprah has pledged for 2009, it is time to put myself back on my list.  I laid the foundation to do so today, after coming to the realization that I need some structure in place to make my best life happen. First, I set up SparkPeople's nutrition and fitness trackers.  Second, I setup Mint.com to help me track my finances.  Third, I looked at the week and decided to attack different things each day.  For example, going forward, I am going to make Monday my "maintenance days" - Monday evenings will be dedicated to the grocery store, laundry and cleaning, on top of working out.  This way, I won't spend valuable weekend time on such tasks that can be done during the week.  These are minor things, but right now, they are what I need to move forward purposefully.  

In addition, I did some things today that fell into living my best life: I woke without an alarm (10 hours of z's), I hiked the "mountain" I live on, I visited the High Museum of Art to see the Terracotta Soldiers with Christian and Erin, I took time to write emails, and I made a homemade dinner while video chatting with John.  

All in all, it was a good Sunday, and I feel like it will be good moving forward.

Historic Week

I use this blog for various things: to record memories, to express myself creatively, to share bits of life with friends and family.  This week, there is a need to use it as a historical record.  This week, Barack Obama became president.  This moment is significant on so many levels - there is so much surrounding this man.  I want to remember January 20th not only because it was a day where such a significant barrier was broken, but also because of the way people came together.  People are enamoured with this man and his family, and this week, as a result, there is a surge of hope in this country that permeates everything - it is in the news, on the television, in casual conversations and in work meetings.  It is remarkable to feel such excitement; I have only experienced this collective spirit a few times in my lifetime and this may be one of the great moments.  This week, we lived history.

Room By Room: Misc Spaces

This apartment has two small spaces: the hallway between the main living area and the bedroom and the "entryway" (the area by the front door - which can only loosely be called an entryway because there is no closet or anything to make it functional space).  To spruce up the pages, I created a photo collage in the hallway, and I added a small bench and a map to the area by the front door.

Room By Room: The Bedroom

With Jenna's help over the last week, the apartment has really come together design-wise.  I love how everything has come together and I feel truly settled here.  Considering it took me months in my Summit apartment to feel this way (maybe because my main piece of furniture was a pink couch?), I am relieved to feel so at home in this home already.

Here is a glimpse into the bedroom.  Credit for the color - Flax by Restoration Hardware - must be given to my aunt Colleen, as she boldly painted her own bedroom this color right before I left.  I fell in love with it, and in painting this space such a dark color, I feel like I have grown up in my space (especially in considering the previous purple of my bedroom).  My other favorite part of this room is the matching nightstands and lamps - John and I picked them out together and I adore the structure they bring to this room.  The pictures above the bed will soon contain photographs of our favorite places.  A photo of the closet is included because I have found (another!) closet that fits everything I need it to!  This room is the most relaxing in the house - just as it should be.

Jenna Visits

Jenna is visiting Atlanta - her first trip to Georgia - and this is the first time I've been out in the city since moving here.  So far, we've made stops at: 

• The movies ("Bride Wars")
• Lenox Square mall (hands-down the best mall we have ever been to - amazing!)
• The Georgia Aquarium (had a great encounter with the beluga whales) 
• Alon's Bakery (a European market in the heart of the south)
• Yotopia (Yogurt shops are trendy around here)
• The Counter (a modern-yet-retro, make-your-own hamburger joint)

In addition, Jenna has been a big help in pulling together the apartment - especially in hanging pictures!  It has been so great to have her around - cannot wait to see what other fun we have this week!

For the Love of Labels

More than any other finishing touch in the apartment so far - frames, florals, baskets or otherwise - there has been one thing that has made my apartment feel really fabulous: labels.  I received my first Dymo label maker for Christmas, thanks to the Ertels, and it has been instrumental in making this Atlanta apartment my home!  I visited our friend Kim before moving in and she provided the extra inspiration as to how amazing labels can make a space (she is a label-maker goddess!).  These two things have combined to a) make me a little compulsive about finding appropriate things to label (according to John, the label-maker itself cannot be labeled) and b) make the apartment an organized dream.  Here are a few places where labels have found themselves: tool drawers, bathroom drawers, scrapbooking closet, kitchen, laundry room and bedroom closet.  In addition, the Dymo has prompted me to label a few other things with computer print outs, such as my binders and photo albums.  My new perspective: it is a happy home where labels are!