Give It Away

It's funny how the most obvious concepts can be lost on us until we hear/read them in a new way. Case in point ... for the past few months I've tried to be diligent about my coupons. (And as a result, I'm now obsessed with my coupon organizer.) My coupons have obviously saved money in some areas, but I realized I was spending more in other areas. Simply from buying additional discounted items I didn't really need -- but I had coupons for them. So I was working under some flawed logic. 

But the other day, I read an interview that resonated with me. It was with a man giving tips on saving money in a tough economy. He gave several simple tips, as well as some more drastic ones, but the underlying message was this ... instead of looking for tips about how to stretch our money as far as we can to get as many things as we can, why not ask yourself why you feel the need to buy so much stuff you don't absolutely need. I realize it's a very basic idea, and complete common sense, but I think it was still a message I needed to read. It comes on the heels of me shopping around for a new TV. My current TV is about 15 years old, and in no way is it impressive, but it still works. I don't really need a new one -- I just want a new one. But I guess when it comes down to it, I'd rather not spend the money right now.

Then this weekend, I came across a new mention of a book I first read about three years ago. The challenge the book gives is to get rid of 50 items in your house (and magazines only count as one combined item). I tried this a few years ago, and I thought it would be really hard to find 50 different things I should get rid of. But it wasn't bad at all, and it felt great to get rid of stuff I didn't use or need. It also made me wonder why I saved so much stuff. So that's been my project this evening, and it will continue to be my project this week. 

There's not really a good way to tie in this last thought without completely contradicting my entire post, but I'll try ... 

If you are a fan of spa treatments and are looking for some extreme discounts, then get excited for Spa Week (April 13-19). It's one of my favorite weeks of the year because many services (facials, massages, etc.) are only 1/3 of the normal price. That week will leave me super relaxed as I come home to my 1990s RCA TV.

My Stupid Mouth

They're opening some new stores at Mockingbird Station, most of which are exciting. There's one new addition that I just noticed the other night, and I could not be more intrigued.

It's a dentist's office that sits in between the Angelika and a really great sushi place. The picture above is the view from the sidewalk upstairs. I hate going to the dentist. But I have to admit, I'm kind of entertained by the idea of watching other people at their dental appointments. And from what I can tell, anyone walking by would see you getting your teeth cleaned.

I'm considering going there once just so I can have a new story. Plus, if I don't go soon I'm fairly certain I'll need a root canal.

Get Low

My best attempts to work out tonight were slightly thwarted. I fired up my iPod and went to the gym down the hall, but the power was out. Now it's too late (and rainy) to drive to an actual gym, so I made up my own workout with things around my loft. There are a lot of things you can do with a yoga mat, tap shoes and a hula hoop.

Monday night I went to my dance class (aka Cougar Den), excited for another class taught by Kyle. (You know it's going to be an interesting class when everyone is putting on makeup in the locker room before hand, even though it will be sweating down their face in a few minutes.) Sadly Kyle was out sick, so they had a new girl come in and teach a hip-hop/boot camp hybrid. It was a great class that at times could have doubled as a Cougar rap video. New teacher had one routine to "Get Low" that she liked to call "drop and give me fifty." And it was exactly like it sounds -- fifty sets of any move she could think of. I've never walked out of a dance class, but during that "routine" I definitely considered it.

It's ridiculous, but I am so much happier now on Mondays and Wednesdays knowing that I'll get to learn new dances. It's fantastic. I've really missed dance classes. If they could just create a tap class at 24 Hour I would be all set.

Jai Ho

I'm very, very excited because the new gym near my office has started offering dance classes on Monday and Wednesday nights. They're kind of like an exhausting combination of salsa, hip hop and kickboxing. And this week our instructor threw a little Bollywood into the mix. It was fantastic.

She had us do a dance to "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire (once again, please go see that movie if you haven't already), and she made sure to throw in a bunch of squats/lunges and fan kicks. Much of what she had us do I probably haven't done in about 10 years. So I discovered that high/fan kicking, much like flexibility, definitely belongs in the "use it or lose it" category. It was a super tiring class, but in a great way.

The routines reminded me of this fantastic dance that Ale and Becky showed me from So You Think You Can Dance. It remains one of my favorite pieces of choreography I've ever seen. Enjoy.

Restless

"Our heart is restless until it rests in you." -St. Augustine

James

Today would be my dad's 62nd birthday. Last year we went to his hometown, took flowers to the cemetery and released balloons on his birthday. This year we're each recognizing the day in our own way. For the past month, I've done everything I could to avoid thinking about it. I've also had a minimal amount of patience and a maximum amount of annoyance with anyone near me, and I can't imagine that I've been pleasant to be around. I'm discovering that I get that way in the weeks leading up to a big milestone for my dad. I don't really know how to articulate what are uncharted feelings for me, so right now I'm bottling them more than I should. 

I thought that I would want to write about my dad today, sharing stories about him and paying tribute to some of the things he loved. But I'm finding I don't have any words. It honestly hurts too much to share anything and I just miss him so much. I'd give anything if he could still be here with us. My dad always let people know how much he cared about them. He was always sending thoughtful cards and letters, and he was always there to laugh or cry with. I always told him that I loved him, and he always did the same for me, but I wish I had told him more often how much he meant to me. So in honor of my dad, I'll try to be better about that with the people I love in my life. I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful father, and I hope he can continue to live on in spirit through the people he loved. Happy Birthday dad.

(Come On Baby) Let The Good Times Roll

Happy Mardi Gras and laissez les bon temps rouler! (How loser that I just wrote that. Don't care. Nothing's too loserish if it's in French.) A few thoughts, though disjointed they might be ...

1) I love Mardi Gras. I took French in junior high and high school, and we always had huge Mardi Gras parties, which I loved. Though I was always jealous of the Spanish classes and their cinqo de mayo parties. But it's silly to be jealous of that ... because does cinco de mayo's tradition include a year of good luck if you find a tiny plastic baby in your cake? Nope. Point Mardi Gras.

2) As much as I love Mardi Gras, I honestly love Lent even more. It's such a wonderful time to refocus and be more disciplined. I usually give something up for Lent (and it's usually diet coke), but this year I've decided to add something during Lent. So I'm interested to see how that change will work out. Through the years I've discovered that Lent "resolutions" are a little like unborn babies' names ... it's best not to share them with other people unless you want a lot of unsolicited feedback. I also think it's funny when people point out to me that I'm Methodist whenever I say I'm giving up something for Lent. Yep, I know I'm Methodist. And no, there are no rules that say we have to give anything up for Lent. But I still like to. 

3) I love stained glass. My dad made a table out of a stained glass door a church had given away, and I was always fascinated by it when I was little. I liked knowing that there was a lot of history in that stained glass. When my mom and I went to D.C. last April, we spent a few hours at National Cathedral. I was trying to find a particular stained glass window that someone had told me about, but there were so many (more than 230) that I couldn't find it. So while we were there, my mom bought me a book that shows every window in National Cathedral and tells its story. I love it. The window I was looking for, and ultimately found, tells Job's story. I adore Job. And his window is beautiful. During Lent I'm going to learn more about some of the other windows. I'll share any interesting tidbits garnered from this book.

That's all for now. Off to Pappadeaux for foods that end in "eole."