hmmm.....mind dump

Well it's coming up on August!! Time to get at summer full force. I need to get to a pool or the lake or.....We've been on the deck a decent amount of time thus far. We have been working with an Arborist to determine the status of our extremely old, extremely large Sycamore tree. The news is good, it's healthy but we do have some pruning to do and some other work needed on our Ash trees - we have two that survived the disease that pretty much eradicated all of  them in NE Ohio in the past few years!! He's going to give them a shot - a vaccination if you will. Trees are amazing and we've enjoyed talking with our guy about them.

Summer: need to accelerate the summer-ness of things. I have hopes but.....with all our gigs, work etc...I'll have to be mindful. I've had a few rounds of Aperol spritzes -my European drink of choice - going barefoot as much as possible - wore an ankle length tied dyed jersey dress for a day, very comfy if shapeless - eating antipasto, tuna and egg salad - I would really love to go to the beach.......
maybe in September we can do that. I love Sept and Oct.

I've 'stabilized' weight wise. In about 18 months or so I've kept my weight at about 10 pounds below what was my steady weight for some time. Measurements too, with about a loss of 4 to 5 inches, total, from hips and waist. Culprit - if that's the word I wanna use: almost daily exercise of 15 - 20 minutes combined with the dietary change of less/no sugar - none in my coffee, drastic reduction in bread carbs - so that's very pleasant to acknowledge. At this time last year I was down five more pounds, but I was being very vigilant on carbs, so I think this is a very realistic, very maintainable plateau for me.
yo,

Callback audition

Last post was my experimental self. I wonder if spacing and other variations made upon 'correct' writing helps the reader to feel and understand what the writer is attempting to convey. 

Today something totally different to get myself to write for twenty minutes. I have two things on my calendar today: a callback audition and a gig. That's the content of my blog today. 

The callback is for a well know insurance company. I'm in the running as 'grieving spouse'. Which is a refreshing difference from patient/doctor/hospital administrator etc. Enough cannot be said about the benefits of life insurance and these guys are trying to say it with some emotion, so I'm gonna ramp it up if I can. I got weepy at first audition, but that may have been luck and emotions that were already close to the surface. Today I'll have to summon it more. Strategies. Should be memorizing the script right now. Right.

Gig: cool resto in Solon area - we're there every other month and will, probably, be performing on the patio (!! yay) this evening. Coincidentally a man who has played my 'husband' in some commercial work also has a callback for the same project today and he, sometimes, comes with his wife - who happens to be mayor, not of Solon, but near by, to this gig.  That's a long sentence, live with it.

So a day in the life. I run on the variety of my schedule. Yesterday was completely different: I met with  a tenant about a new lease and had lunch and then dinner with two different friends. Two of my long time, best of the best, friends.

Tonite's gig is the first of a five day run - summer is big concert time in NE Ohio, as everywhere, and we are very well represented and well received everywhere so it's an honor to do this work. And it's work to sing and dance in go go boots for up to three hours at a time, day after day. I'm not that young either: see grieving spouse, above. I guess I'mma use it till I lose it. I have my third massage of the month next Tuesday, this has been a pampering month on that front but it's made the difference in my getting back to feeling 100% and so worth it.

love yourself first,

La

designing your life

a ted talks title. can you design your life? isn't so much of it random? how can you design what you don't know - ie life itself is a process that takes, well, a lifetime. so i guess you're designing on the fly. ha.
i didn't watch the video but the title stuck with me; actually having experienced most of the stages of life by now gives a different perspective. i'd like to design my epitaph but i'm sure i'll be remembered differently. i believe i am/ vs/ who i really am.    there is a duality, a split, in my private nature and public persona. i live in my mind. guarded and sardonic. i could be melancholy if left to it.   so.......where were we. oh yea, introspection. can we move on? please? so much of life has happened, just happened, and it's been good. great even. i have everything i could ever, ever need. i believe i've made pretty consistent/good decisions and held up my end of bargains. i wish i had saved every ticket stub/backstage pass because it would be cool to really know that stuff but hey, regrets, i've had a few....etc.
and now i'm entering old age. really, i guess that's it. let me google it. ok i'm - phew - pre old 'age pausal'. the 'accepted' age at which one is considered "old" seems to be 68. many people i know live another thirty years, try and make them good ones.  party like you're about to be in the old category.
cheers!

Age in America

What a title. I do enjoy alliteration, even if I can't spell it. Ugh age. Why such a "thing"? Should be a joyous celebration, you are alive, blooming, learning, growing. Until you are not. But we make it very hard. Who is we - our culture/is it worldwide/is it mostly women? Why do we feel so negative about aging? The signs of aging (god, especially on the neck), physically and mentally are really frowned upon. Grey hair, wrinkles, slowing down, a tendency to harden into a sharper version of yourself. Anti aging everything: creams, procedures, exercises. But you can't really anti age, that's not a "thing". Your eyesight weakens along with your hearing, distancing you from what was once reality. Time really flies. I guess the best you can do is accept and attempt. Accept the gift of aging. Think of those who really have 'died too young'. Think of  your family/children/friends who would really miss you were you gone. Accept and appreciate all that you can still do and what you have even tho some of it doesn't seem to look or work as well as previously. Attempt to forgive, everyone - including yourself. Attempt to be your best self at any age. No one wants to sit next to Debbie Downer. Stop sighing, complaining, explaining, instead ask questions and listen. Try to be interested and interesting and who knows, maybe it'll work?! Take care of your body not just because you are trying to look good but because you want to be able to get out of a chair by yourself for life, walk unassisted and get around, ignoring the aches and pains (and trying to get rid of them - I've found relief with keto diet and CBD oil) and pampering your old self. Massages anyone? I just booked another one two weeks out to have it to look forward to........
All said, the distillation of a person as she ages is an interesting process. Only the old/older can have perspective on aging. Youth, as well as age, is a state of mind and consciousness that is enabled by actual age and experience but, I think, can also be influenced by desire and awareness.
More coffee now,
La

FASHION AND FINANCES FROM VACATION

Ooh la la. Well it's not that risque, talking about money - is it? Generally I'm a 'don't care too much' kinda gal. Which means I'm bad at budgeting (at least the conventional way) and keeping track. I want it, don't get that wrong and we've done pretty good if I must say it. But my way of dealing has always been to be moderate. I don't spend big, generally, and we've made some good investments.
We both work. More than one job each. But again, not conventional - we're singers and umpires and self employed all around. Lots of flow. So as it relates to the trip, we spent about 6500. US all in. Not bad for four of us. That total includes two r/t airfares (C&M paid their own) and then, everything else: trains, metros, airfare, lodging, food, some shopping, sightseeing, incidentals for four. We used credit card for just about everything and bank/debit the couple of times the card didn't work. Way easier than trying to use cash and they are just like us - no one really uses cash anymore!!

Ok fashion. Black tights: Paris - very dark/opaque; lighter/sheerer in A and C.
 Black booties - ubiquitous, mostly flat/chelsea style but a real variety to be seen.
High heels: seen in Paris - Not at all in A and C.
Tennis shoes, trainers, sneakers - whatever you call them - are seen in Europe. On stylish people. Most footwear is black, walkable (but there were plenty of Parisians doing high heels!!), we were early in the season but it was warm and we saw almost zero sandals! so not a sandal but a proper shoe or boot.

Above the foot, well, it's more structured/tailored/businessy in Paris. Generally. A bit more color.
Amsterdam: jeans, dresses - flowy with sturdy black boots, Casual.
Copenhagen: jeans, dresses, complete Nordic sailor - yes, we saw a few: weathered head to toe, ruddy but otherwise completely colorless hair and skin, nautically striped shirt, cropped linen/cotton pant, espadrilles.. You might see them in Amsterdam too.

The fashion above the foot didn't stick out to me - even tho I was looking for it - I think because it was moderate. Muted. I'm sure I was looking at a lot of other tourists as well.....you can generally spot them.
la

Leaving Paris: Home - Time for the Luxury Routine

So, now we are three again, retracing our steps back to Canada from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. M has gone to catch the RER into Paris and we luckily didn't press him to hang out because we then had the first/only airport problem: luggage (all three total/ together on scale, weird right there) were slightly overweight. This was weird b/c we're now on flight number four of this trip, same luggage (we did a very small amount of shopping!!!) and have to check/pay for one of our bags. I volunteer. Idiot. Try kiosk. Oh wait, first we walk waaaaay back to the Air France desk. Try kiosk. Takes all info and then does nothing, giving me a 'receipt' that says it's not a boarding pass. OK. Get in, really, the world's slowest short line ever. Maybe 7 parties/groups of two or three. Finally get to pay again altho I explain my recent kiosk pain/process to the attendant. Now, for the first time in my life I'm really feeling the "oh these pricks the French" feeling. So, down $120 I regroup with J and C and we pretty much walk another mile or two and board. That was not Air France's finest hour, however I am pleased to report that, just yesterday!, I received an email that my complaint call (yes sir you better believe it) had garnered a refund of the extra charge!! Ugh they cannot make up for that line so easily.... Flight to Toronto fine, dinner, breakfast, some sleep. Five minutes with A, grab the Prius and hit the road for a earnest drive to the CLE.
Yay, home.

Quick home update: so since being home (in three days we'll have been home one month). The entire process: planning (seed was planted last December) and we got serious about 2 months out. Trip - flies by. Now home already a month. And just getting settled. There are some interesting take aways. The financial. etc and so I'll keep writing to explore those aspects, but now being home I have decided to embrace what I call the Luxury Routine. There is some discipline. Which I hate and don't even really like to type. And some luxury. yea babe. In a nutshell it's basically my normal morning routine, followed strictly and aided and abetted by extra deep tissue massages, more sleep, chiropractor (maybe). Yesterday was a ninety minute deep tissue massage and it was what I want, once a week, from here on out. I did something differently: booked massage for ten a.m. - generally I go later in the day thinking I'll take a bath and go to bed or relax or.....  Anyway I got out of that bliss into soft sunshine, home to a hot, Epsom salt bath and complete exfoliation, hair wash etc. I just continued the spa experience,( massage studio is only five minutes from home so..) at home. Great lunch, well after one p.m. so I'd done the keto fast that I love, about thirteen or more hours) and felt hydrated and healthy.

Did some work. Made a blueberry crumble (one of my 'specialities') for Dad and delivered it with ice and whipped cream both. so gooooood.
I mean yummy!!

Early June Days in Copenhagen

Sunday thru Wednesday June 2-5 we spend in CPN as you know. Gorgeous weather, no rain, mix of sun and clouds, about 70 degrees. Our airbnb is so spacious, clean and has an interior courtyard with some greenery and a few tables. A clothes drying rack. Bike shed - long and just wide enough for the length of the bikes - running along one side of the grassy courtyard and it's a rough wood structure that will have even more vines covering it soon. Since it's Europe and we're smoking, we're out here a bit. There is a 7/11 diagonally across the street - nice for incidentals like cold water or smokes. We love our home here. We continue to walk like troupers, so so much. I could do a post on my feet thruout Europe. I'm still in recovery mode. The trip and the bronchitis. The air quality. The cats. Getting a massage today. soon. yay. So necessary. We'll have been home one month on the sixth and this is massage number two. Keep 'em coming, I say. Performing has been hell, so exhausting. But this is the month of 'luxury routines' coming back into my life and, hence, massage.
So, leaving CPN was really the worst part of our trip. I won't dwell but I got lightheaded/nauseous/almost inert in the early morning. We had a flight to Paris at noon and struggled to make it to the airport. We got 'busted' on the metro for our tickets - we had bought 24 hours ones, we thought! - and with the sickness delay etc...our authoritarian Danish supermodel of a metro policewoman was, in hindsight, funny. She looked at me, at the very end, with her seaglass green eyes, very strong eye contact "you understand now what you must do?". No, but bitch I'm getting on a plane soon, not soon enough but....  I nod, solemnly, yes. The couple across from me smile sympathetically. A young woman walks with us toward the airport a few minutes later and says '  don't worry, they will forgive the first time' .  So we were off with a flourish. SAS airline was fine to Paris. We sadly bid adieu to M. - his flight for LA is tomorrow morning and he'll eat the crepe we didn't get to (le petit grec, Rue Mouffetard) and see Edith at Pere since we had to leave at closing the other day and missed her during our visit.

adieu,
Moi

All Right, all right

jeez, time to step back. A really good time - Monday morning AND July 1, rather 'step back' and 'start up' rolled into one. Monday and the first of the month. Anyway, it's been quite the 2019. I live very ephemerally in someways and, when writing at least have a record. Otherwise I'm off to the next thing. Really. So a couple of things alerted me to the fact that maybe I should reflect: cleaning my desk and finding the notebook of my bronchial travails, VC PopTart telling me that that took it's toll, and, ta da, my horoscope saying that perhaps I'll take a look at getting healthier. Let's just say I am pretty damn healthy. For any age so we won't qualify it. However, with having been so afflicted now, mostly, behind me I really have/should/need to crank up the healthy. So here's to it and I have a pretty good routine that I've followed before. There has been a change in my wake up time since Europe - and it's been almost a month since we've returned - and it's very early. For me. No biggie, I'll just launch into the am routine earlier in the day. I think it has/might make fasting till noon or one harder, we shall see. This am routine is a luxury that I can afford being self employed. This time of year some of it can happen on the deck/patio/grass. The luxury is being in my delicious home, doing things I like to do for myself and my family/house. I'll crank up the spa feeling with really clean Ketoesque food, massage(s??!!), making vitamins/supplements/water a priority, more yoga/stretching alongside walks and/or 20 minute workouts (Jessica Smith), epsom salt/essential oil baths, vaporizer overnight.
There is more Europe wrap up coming BTW.
L