Hard Practice

My cat doesn’t like it when I do yoga. It freaks him out. I guess to see me doing such weird poses. And the mat just must be gotten under. It’s hard to let down my guard. To start with the relaxed deep breathing. To close my eyes and sink into a stretch with controlled air intake. To not know if my cat might be there, taut and ready to pounce on my unsuspecting outstretched hand. He gets this crazed look in his eye. Some of you have seen it. It’s hard to be wary, relaxed, concentrated and controlled at the same time. Hmph.

Impending Dooooooom

Seriously. Is it just me? I mean, since when was 2 to 6 inches of snow such a big freaking deal. I must be from north of here or something. Ok, a couple sites say it might get up to 8, and I will give you that I am not looking forward to rush hour. But seriously. Snow is pretty. I’d take snow over ice, a common St. Louis issue (though not this year), any day. Chill out people. Getting worked up about it only makes things worse.

My Hot Toddy

I love me a hot toddy.

Remember it’s cleaner partner I mentioned a couple years back?

Basically, use a spiced chai teabag with about a third “mugful” of milk. Decent amount of sugar. Make it really hot. Throw some extra flavors to taste. My current choice is Irish cream or coffee liqueur, the latter winning by an edge.

Mmmmm MAN! Perfect way to end a night.

**Orange

When I was growing up, orange was the only color I really didn’t like. None of my favorite things were orange, really. And in fact, one thing I really hated was an orange flavor– children’s chewable Tylenol… or aspirin… or whatever that shit was. That had the domino effect of my dislike of basically all orange-flavored candy– suckers, skittles, orange gummy bears, orange jelly beans. It took me a while to really gain any affinity for orange juice and oranges themselves. Now my favorite are clementines, but I still generally stay away from orange sweets.

Being a fair-haired blonde, orange didn’t look particularly good on me either, I thought.  But actually, in the last four or five years, it’s started to grow on me. I’ve enjoyed incorporating a whole new color into my wardrobe. My most priceless threads are probably my two orangy-leather coats, both second-hand acquisitions.  I also like orange a lot more because it reminds me of dear friends I love.

I’d like to talk about the orange in my day today. It was a very sunny, gorgeous, God day. After playing 12:45 Mass, I decided to go to the zoo. I had my mp3 player and a pair of decently comfortable shoes. I just wanted to walk, be outside, see cute animals.

Getting back to orange. The orange beaks and feet on penguins! Penguins are so damn cute. I have said it before, but I will say it again ad nauseum, the St. Louis Zoo has like the best penguin “exhibit” ever! I remember being terribly disappointed with the glassed-in display at Shedd Aquarium. Seriously, they’re just cute. All sticking their chests out, splaying their arms, flipping over in the water and getting my hair wet. For real. I got splashed. They actually had me giggling.

Grandpa orangutan was hiding under a sheet. After a while of moving just enough for the crowd to point and laugh that he was there, he sat up and kept the sheet wrapped over his head and around his shoulders as he lumbered forward on his massive knuckles. Then stopped, hid fully under the sheet, and finally lumbered forward again. His cheeks and jowls were enormous rolls belittled only by his belly. His orange-furred progeny scampered around him knowingly.

And finally the giraffes, whom I have never seen run. Wow. That was neat. I think the animals were just as excited as the humans by the fine weather. Mr. Giraffe decided to chase around the antelope and ostrich. A real site for a Sunday-afternoon stroll.

And that’s what I got for my late, orange entry.

Pockets

No, this is not a reference to one of my favorite Joe Wise songs; however, references to another of his songs will be forthcoming in the color blogs.

Traffic. It’s all about the pockets. We all know this, but it doesn’t keep us from getting zinged over and over.

It’s frustrating sometimes to feel as though you have no control. You could have a perfect plan and still are not able to execute because 1400 other people just happened to also plan a commute at the same time. You might even leave early just to be sure, and then find that 1400 other people also decided to leave early. Dammit. Or worse yet, 1398 of you are sitting on the highway at a dead stop because two of you got in a damn accident. NO CONTROL!

Ok. Frankly, while this is true many many times, it’s also a crafty excuse; albeit not as clever as Tracie’s post on the effect of entropy on her apartment. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m usually late. I’m not the person who is 45 minutes late, but five to 10 pretty regularly. This can have a tragic effect on my morning drive, especially.

When the highway closed, I changed my hours from 8:30 to 5:00 to 7:45 to 4:15. I thought I might be very clever with the quarter hour thing. And it seems as though I am, WHEN I leave my apartment at the proper time, which would be about 7:05 to 7:10. But once I hit 7:15 and after, I’m screwed. I’m stuck in the 8:00 crowd. There will be no cruising onto 270. This morning I walked out of my apartment at 7:17ish and then had to scrape a little. I was 20 minutes late to work. uuuuurrrrgggghhhh!

It’s all about the pockets people. Don’t mess with the pockets or they WILL mess with you!

**Red…

… is the color of my favorite winter pajamas.

…is the color of the cover I put on my couch.

… is my favorite background color in the PalmCross frame.

… is the color of my plant pot.

… is the color of the inside of my computer bag.

… is the color of my GUITAR AND MY TUNER AND MY EGG SHAKER!

… looks pretty good on me.