August 2007 Archives

I have started a new, art-related blog! I have only one post, but I did get started on an 'about' page and a 'gallery' page, along with links to my inspiration. I hope to add more to it soon (um, when? Time isn't exactly something I have...).

Running = none. Humidity, go away, please. Pretty please?

Weight = gained. Another pair of pants don't fit anymore :(

Heart moniter = sucks. But I've had plenty of "events" to record, so hopefully Friday morning my doctor will have some additional insight.

Art = helps. Color and texture and joy, oh my!

New House = baking and cooking. I made my very first yeast bread last weekend, along with a decadent devil's food cake and a fantastic pasta-with-peppers entree. I love cooking and baking - it's edible art.

Labor Day Weekend = OCEAN, baby! Ash and I are headed just north of San Diego this weekend. If any of you Southern CA peeps are interested in hanging out, drop me a line. We plan on doing lots and lots of chillin' at the beach. No running, though, as I have never been able to run with a jogging stroller!

Two pieces of art have sold, wow. I'm so excited!

The tech who performed the echocardiogram said I have a healthy and "very pretty" heart. That's good news! Now I have to wear a monitor for the next couple of weeks. I think it's all just stress. I'll get through it and everything will be fine.

I was contacted awhile back by Matisse & Jack's regarding sampling their bake-at-home energy bars. I finally have an oven (woo hoo!), so I jumped at the chance. Granted, I'm not doing a whole lot of running right now, but energy bars are good even if you aren't exercising all the time, right?

So one Sunday morning, after running on the treadmill for 20 minutes and doing 30 minutes of yoga, I was hungry and decided to try the energy bars. It was simple - stir some applesauce and low-fat yogurt into the mix and bake. The smell was amazing...chocolate chips, mmm... 30 minutes later, I had my fresh-baked, healthy energy bars.

I couldn't wait for them to cool off enough to not burn me while I ate! The moist texture melted in my mouth, and the faint hint of cinnamon tickled my taste buds. It satiated my hunger, giving me healthy fats and proteins while also replenishing my carb supply. Even though one bar was only 160 calories, the fuel sustained me for three hours (which is unusual for me).

The next day, I brought half the batch into my office. I cut the bars into bite-sized pieces and left them on the kitchen table with no explanation. 15 minutes later, the office was abuzz. "Who brought in the chocolate chip bars in the kitchen?!" They were gone in 30 minutes. I sent out an e-mail explaining that they were healthy energy bars, and I solicited input for the review. Here are a few of the quotes I received:

"They are sinfully good – incredibly moist and yummy."
"They were good!"
"I could tell they were homemade but not necessarily health food."
"Delicious!"

I still have the cranberry walnut at home to try, yummy!

Welcome to my new shop!

(You know, Christmas is drawing near...)

I have run a few times on my new treadmill; I can't seem to go for more than 20 minute chunks of time.

I went to the cardiologist yesterday who said the EKG was fine, but she wants me to come back for an echocardiogram tomorrow morning and wear a monitor for a couple weeks. I'll have a follow up appointment with her at the end of the month. She doesn't think it's anything serious, but wants to make sure. I am to cut back on stimulants (sudafed, caffeine) and start taking magnesium again. She dropped lots of jargon and near as I can tell, my heart palpitations, dizziness and nausea are caused by stress. Coughing, "bearing down" or otherwise putting pressure in the general heart area has helped me feel better in the middle of an episode in the past, and she said that's because that puts pressure on the vega nerve which short circuits the body's "fight or flight" response (i.e. adrenaline, stress, panic). So I was right: it's stress/panic caused by the crappity crap crap going on in my life at the moment.

Well, bugger. Aren't running and yoga supposed to help the stress/panic go away? I can't run or do yoga because my heart hasn't been letting me! It's like a bad cycle or something. Anyway, I'll keep on doing small chunks of exercise and hopefully build up from there.

Look what I got! A friend of mine cut me a deal and is letting me pay her in installments:

It's old, but it works.

I ran this morning for 15 minutes, the first time since June 27. I followed that with a morning yoga session, my first since June 2. I was dizzy, but solid. I see the cardiologist next week and will hopefully figure out what's up with my heart/head/body/etc.

With no outlet via running or yoga (and no internet access at home), my art production has skyrocketed. Maybe I can sell some of it to help make the bills?

I used colored pencils, gel pens, watercolors and acrylics, on canvas paper, music paper and watercolor paper. There's really faint text embedded in the black background via gesso and stamping. I had a lot of fun with this piece; it started as a doodle at the park (the hearts) and took off from there.

And that, my friends, is the sum of my life at this point in time.