Oh, my poor, sad little blog. I have been neglecting you for lack of anything meaningful to write about. Or at least the gumption to write down any meaningful thoughts I've had.

The summer has been nice, both weather-wise and otherwise. ("Nice" is not a very descriptive word, but that's all I've got right now.) We've taken a long weekend with my extended family, a long weekend to visit friends in Nashville and will soon take another long weekend with Bret's family. I think next year we're going to do something, just the three of us. Hopefully go away for a whole week, which we haven't done in ages, and never since Lauren's arrival.

Lauren is in a new school because her old one closed (with less than a week's notice) and we like it even better. I think she does, too.

We have spent a lot of time this summer talking about changes -- jobs, houses, etc. and it looks like all will stay the same, at least for now. That's okay with me. There are many good things about where we are.

The only other news I have is that somehow I went from a 5+ year old phone that I barely knew how to use to a BlackBerry Storm that I really don't know how to use. It's kind of a fun toy, if a bit unnecessary. Sometimes you need something like that, just for the heck of it.

More House Pics

As promised, here are some after/still in progress photos of the landscaping.


This is a VAST improvement over what the front of the house looked like when we bought it -- orangish-red double front door (very Brady Bunch), same color shutters and massively overgrown shrubs everywhere. I built that stone wall a few years ago and am still pretty proud of it.

Found the rock in the side yard and decided it belonged in the front. That thing was seriously heavy.

My folks bought me the trellis for Christmas. You can't see it, but there is a plant at the base of it that's just starting to climb up.

They're a little sad now, but these 3 blue maid holly bushes should fill in nicely...hopefully it'll happen soon. We still need to define the edge of the beds and plant more grass.

The Great Landscaping Project of 2009

Here's what the front of the house looked like before the tree guys came and removed 33 years worth of overgrown shrubs:

And here's what it looked like when they were done:

Lovely, eh? Here's more.

Before:

(I kid you not, the short, stubby shrub on the left was the size of a Volkswagen.)

And after:

The other side of the house before:

I don't have an "after" of that, but you get the idea.

Things don't look nearly so bare as they do in the "after" pics here. Next time I'll post what it looks like now, after Bret spent 3 days spreading 7 cubic (cubic, right? I don't do math) yards of topsoil around the foundation, and then mulch on top of that. I planted 3 new shrubs and 5 perennials last weekend in the front and hope to plant some more this weekend.

Summer

Too much to do, not enough to say, so I'll just post this summer pic of my girl.

Get Me Outta Here

I'm only working three days this week so I feel like I've got a big ol' case of senioritis -- can't focus, don't want to be here, ready to eat my lunch at 10:30 am.

We've also been talking a lot about jobs, cities, houses...so I'm all twitchy about making a big change, but that might not even happen. Who knows? The woman who said she would NEVER build a house is now all about the floor plans and the "elevation B" and lot sizes...what's up with that?

Confessions of a Lapsed Yogini

I started taking yoga 10 years ago, when I was working for a completely insane woman and desperately needed the stress relief. My first yoga teacher was Donna, a muscular yet curvy blonde in her early 40s who had lived in an ashram in the 70s. She was self-assured and focused, yet had a calming effect on me. I loved the Sanskrit names for the poses, the candles she would light and have us focus our gaze on during meditation. Donna was a stickler for correct alignment, which annoyed me at first, but I eventually realized how important that was (and it drives me crazy now when teachers don’t care about proper alignment). I loved how I felt after the class.

I left that crazy boss and followed Donna to a yoga school close to my new job. I took classes there from several different teachers, but mostly from Donna and then Bodil, who had moved to the US from Norway in her teens, and was at the time in her late 50s or early 60s and still had a bit of an accent. Her class was not easy, not all about relaxation. But it was fantastic. She was direct, kind, down to earth, funny and extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of yoga, not just the poses and the physical side of it. We chanted, we om’d, we sang. At this time I was going through fertility treatments and felt quite at war with my body. I started going to a yoga class two or sometimes even three times a week. For those 90 minutes, I accepted everything about myself. Who I was, what I looked like, what I couldn’t do. It was heaven. I always, always left class feeling like I not only had a good workout, but also better about myself.

I’ve taken classes at a couple of other studios and a gym or two. For me, it’s all about the teacher and the atmosphere. I don’t want a room with mirrors or a teacher who treats it like an exercise class. I like the candles, the chanting music, the scented eye bags we wore during savasana. I like stretching and holding a pose until I sweat and think I can’t hold it anymore – and especially how I feel when I come out of that pose. (Bodil used to say, “You know what’s the best part about yoga? When it’s over.”)

I think I’ve been to two or three classes since Lauren was born. The yoga school got a new owner and moved to a new building. Donna no longer teaches there (or anywhere that I can find her) and Bodil moved away. I have become lazy, and unwilling to not see my daughter for a 24-hour period in order to go to a class after work. I sometimes do poses at home, but it’s not the same as a class. I miss the physical aspects of it, but even more, what it did for me mentally and spiritually. It’s one of the many things I’d like to put back on my to-do list.

Oh, hello, blog. Just haven't felt inspired to write anything. I revised the talk I gave at Nexus Church into an essay and entered it in a writing contest (one that every moron with a pencil will no doubt enter, so I don't expect to win anything), and ever since I finished that editing work, I have felt creatively dried-up. That, and I have been reading about what The Economy (so sick of hearing about it) has done to the publishing industry; namely, while a year or two ago there was a big market for memoir, there isn't any longer (unless you're a celebrity or something). So that made me feel like, ugh, why bother with my book/proposal idea. Of course, I can't let that stop me. If I want to write, I should write. If I can't sell the damn thing the usual way, I'll photocopy it at Kinko's and sell it at interstate off-ramps.

Moving on. I postponed the stump grinder guy, as I was loathe to piss off my neighbors again. We'll reschedule for a more reasonable hour some other day.

We've been having really good school drop-offs with Lauren. After nearly a year of tears (and sometimes clutching me, and one time biting me), she runs down the hall to her classroom, gives me some kisses and hugs and says, "Bye!" I am stunned, and really proud of her. I've been celebrating with a stop at Starbucks after dropping her off. They seem confused by the concept of adding vanilla to a mocha every time I order it. Ah, the trials of suburban life.

Finally, I am having starting-over fantasies of moving to another city, buying a new (or at least newer) house, and working part time. I know. It's just another midlife crisis.