Remember those days when the protruding belly was cute in your little pink two-piece? And having a little chub on your thighs was adorable? Sadly those days are long gone (for me at least).
That’s me around age 3. I wasn’t very camera shy back then; in fact I was a bit of a ham. My how things change. I much prefer to be behind the camera now. But those were the days, weren’t they? No notion of body image. I just knew that swimsuits meant fun… the beach, the sprinkler, a baby pool out on the lawn… slip n’ slide! Who could forget slip n’ slide? No nagging worries like “does my butt look big?” or “should I suck in my tummy?“. I was just happy to be out in the sun and playing in my super cute pink suit which I loved (as you can tell by my stylish pose).
Fast forward to today and bathing suits bring a great deal of anxiety to me. Squeezing into a little piece of fabric and parading all of my curves around outside of the confines of my little apartment?… well, the thought of it makes me queasy. This year more than years past because I gained about twenty pounds last year. Maybe I ate too many cupcakes? A mix of stress, eating whatever-whenever, and lack of exercise contributed. Sure, the cupcakes probably didn’t help the equation, but I refuse to give them up completely… I like my treats too much. Although, I may cut back a little bit on the butter-sugar-chocolate trifecta at least until I reach the point that the words “bathing suit season” no longer makes my entire body cringe.
I’ve been upping my exercise. And attempting to up my fruit and veggie intake. Both of these are good things and are working… slowly. But I realized something today. I’ve only been partially committed so far. Oh sure, I’ve lost about two pounds in the last few weeks. But that’s only two pounds in about a month. The right direction but… meh. Too slow. This has lead me to a decision. I need to get serious about it if I really do want the pounds to come off. This means doing some things I don’t like to do like keeping a food journal. Ugh, I really hate keeping a food journal. But it is amazing how aware I become of every piece of candy I eat at my desk when I have to write it all down.
But it also means doing some things that I do enjoy like embracing the fruits and veggies of the season… and discovering new ways to eat them. I love shopping at the farmer’s market and the spring and summer bring out the best fruits here in sunny California.
So I am committing right here and now that I will lose those pesky pounds. I have not yet figured out how I will balance baking with this goal but I’ll have to find a way (I can’t give up baking). Meanwhile I’m trying to get in touch with my inner three year old. I mean, think of how much easier it would be if I just started to believe that a little extra belly hanging out of a two piece really is cute?
Do you have any fitness goals this spring? How are you handling the upcoming “swimsuit season”? How do you maintain your girlish figure?
Tagged as: 20 pounds, fitness, goals, three year old me, weight loss
And yet I am pieless.
About a week ago, I finished reading American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America’s Back Roads
by Pascale Le Draoulec. From the first page through the last I craved pie. How could I not? Riding along with Pascale through small town America sampling pie and talking about pie with people who still make pie from scratch. It makes me want a slice of pie just thinking about it. The book includes recipes she collected on the road: everything from blueberry-peach to shoofly pie and lots in between. I hope to someday try more than a few of these recipes.
Since finishing the book, I’ve been thinking a lot about the art of pies. The underlying theme of Pascale’s book is that people just don’t make pies any more. We’ve all begun to settle for store bought or manufactured instead of slowing down to make the pies our grandmothers made. We’re all in a hurry. And you cannot make pie in a hurry. Crust requires patience. Perhaps this is why I haven’t baked a pie despite the intense pie cravings while reading this book… I just haven’t been able to slow down long enough to make a crust.
I’m not scared of crusts. I make pies. But really only around Thanksgiving (pumpkin and pecan). And really, the from-scratch pumpkin pies are a relatively recent thing that I started a couple of years ago. I love it now. And could not, at this point, go back to store bought pumpkin pie. Ever.
But apple pie? Cherry pie? Rhubarb pie? (What do you know about rhubarb? It’s still a mystery to me. I’ve been looking for it at the farmer’s market so that I can stop saying that I’ve never had it. Hopefully I’ll find some soon). Mostly, I’d rather make cobbler because cobbler is easier. And cobbler is faster. But because of that, cobbler doesn’t have the same soul as pie. It’s delicious and I would not turn down a warm cobbler, but… you know what I mean? It feels like pie has become antiquated or something… doesn’t quite fit into our fast-paced modern world.
But you know what? We could all use a little break. Just slow down a little, and enjoy the quiet stillness of an early morning. Tie on your favorite apron. And make pie.
That’s exactly what I plan to do very soon. Between America Pie and the latest pie themed apron contest at Tie One On, all signs are pointing me toward pie. (I love aprons. Especially fun girly ones… I plan to turn the cherry fabrics in the photo above into just such an apron).
So Pie it shall be. Of course, I’ll let you know all about it. I just can’t decide what sort of pie. What’s your favorite pie?
Tagged as: american pie, aprons, art of pie, tie one on
I snapped this photo the other night while Dan was watching the Sharks vs Ducks hockey game on television. It was a tough game to watch (Sharks lost, bringing it to 3-1 in the series). But at this moment instead of angry and loud and excited, he was still and quiet and focused. And while I know the outcome of the game (and the series) was disheartening, I love the look in his eyes. He’s so intent and focused.
I sometimes have a hard time finding focus in my life. My mind whirls with ideas and a todo list 100 miles long. I can be very organized at times. And even diligent and momentarily focused, but long term focus is difficult for me. I need variety, but then too much variety and I get paralyzed: what should I do? I want to do abc and xyz and lmnop and… but I only have time to do abc. So instead of going and doing abc, I sit and fret and consider all of the options over and over until all of my time is gone.
This blog is an experiment in focus for me. I love writing, even if it’s just a little rambly account of how I made some cupcakes. And I love baking. But sewing and knitting and traveling and entertaining and green choices and reading and photography and guitar and finding a way to get back into shape without giving up baking are all high on my list as well. So the experiment for me has been to focus on 1 thing: baking (mostly). And it’s been successful so far. It’s still a new blog and I’m still enjoying it. But I’m feeling some of my focus fading.
I don’t mean to say that I’m going anywhere or that I’m not going to continue baking and bringing you treats. I fully intend to continue to do all of those things… and more. But my focus is getting a little blurry. So if I stray a bit off the cookie crumb trail, I hope you will still follow me. I promise to keep a good amount of treats and eats flowing through these pages (I mean, I do still have to eat after all).
What do you do to stay focused? How are you at setting goals and actually achieving them?
Tagged as: focus, sharks
