My head is swimming right now. New characters, and a fun side project with a friend, the last day of my virtual book tour, fall, laundry, bills, life, food (seriously, why can’t we just eat one huge meal once a month instead of all this three times a day every day crap?), and all sorts of other stuff. I’ve fallen into the trap of having too many random little things to blog about, so I haven’t been blogging at all. So here’s another list post.
- Now that I’ve painted my office, the hallway is bugging me. And the basement. And the front step needs fixing, and the floor in the entry way needs tiling and maybe I can learn how to tile, and the laundry room could use new flooring and . . . There’s an episode of Northern Exposure where Maggie goes a little nuts nesting for the long up coming winter. I feel like that. I love fall, but winter in Rochester looms at the end of it making big mean snarly faces, and I’m not sure I’m ready for it.
- Am I the kind of writer who can pull off a sentence like the last one? I think maybe not. Looms? That’s a little pompous. I’m not pompous. Goofy, yes. Pompous, no. I don’t have the energy for it.
- I’ve been posting all my review/interview links on the Facebook page, so I don’t want to duplicate efforts here and have you be all, we know already for frack’s sake! So if you’re looking for links, that’s where they are!
- I will add one duplicate link here though – I was on Reading With Robin last week, and in addition to my interview, she has a long list of author interview podcasts on her site. I’m in love with listening to them. Robin is so much fun to talk with and she asks great questions.
- My book group read THE THINGS THEY CARRIED and we discussed it last night. There are several people in the group who were Vietnam vets or had family members who had been drafted. It was fascinating and so moving to hear their perspectives on the book, and what it felt like to get a draft letter. I love that group so much! I’m a bummed out because they’re reading THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU next month, but I won’t be able to make the meeting. I love that book!
- I was asked to blurb a book and I am 1. so completely honored and 2. so engrossed in said book that it’s been torture to put it down and get anything else done. It’s just that good.
- I just finished watching Roswell. I sobbed so hard through the last two episodes (and also the one with future Max in it – OH MY GOODNESS!). It took me about five episodes to get into the show, but I tweeted about it, and Aly said she really enjoyed it, so I kept watching. So glad I did. I completely fell in love with the characters.
- I’m a little lost tv-series-wise now. I function better when I have a good, absorbing show I’m involved in. I bribe myself with a lunch hour episode and another one before I go to bed, and maybe even an afternoon break episode if I have a boring task that requires a good bribe. It pulls me through my day.
- I’m back on an I hate running but I love Netflix workout videos kick again. Ellen Barrett is awesome, and I like to rotate through her Pilates workouts.
- Which reminds me of a recent conversation I had with another writer last week.
Me: I didn’t have a lot of patience with buying clothes for my book tour. I mean, I usually wear yoga pants all day.Him: Do you do a lot of yoga?Me: No. I just like the pants.I am the epitome of class, huh? But I’ve realized in the past few months that I really don’t enjoy doing yoga. I have so many friends who teach yoga and are very dedicated to their practice. I desperately want to love it, and I’ve spent years trying to convince myself that I do, but honestly, I’d rather listen to Wilford Brimley read the phone book with a fake British accident every day for ninety minutes (which you know would only be funny for the first minute or so) than do yoga. Pilates on the other hand. . . I am so all over that. I crave Pilates. I’m not sure what the distinction is. Do you know? How do you feel about yoga? Are the pants the best part for you, or do you think I’m missing something?
Well, blogger ate my comment, so here I go again.
Congrats on the book blurb! That sounds fun! and definitely, what an honor!
It also sounds like you have a lot of home repair projects to keep you occupied during the looming, snarly-faced winter. I know how crazy I get when I feel shut up indoors due to inclement weather, so maybe those projects of yours will help…
Nobody says you have to like yoga, nobody says you have to do yoga, what’s important is that you find something you like, that works for YOU, that you enjoy, otherwise you won’t do it. But since you like Pilates, you might check out Jillian Michaels’ “Yoga Meltdown”. It takes the yoga poses and makes “reps” out of them, performing the pose or movement 8-12 times and then holding it for 15 seconds. It’s a very tough workout, and you will drip sweat and feel sore the next day. You might also like the videos Kristin McGee did for MTV (MTV Yoga, MTV Power Yoga, MTV Pilates, and MTV Pilates Mix). They are also tough, faster-paced and sweat-producing. See? Yoga isn’t just about balance, flexibility and stretching, there’s strength in it, too. Yes, it teaches patience and tolerance, but Wilford Brimley reading the phone book these workouts I’ve suggested are not!
I feel a person has to be at the time of their life to be “ready” for yoga, though. I can tell you that, as a group fitness instructor since the age of 14, I never had the patience for yoga, and laughed at it when I was younger. It wasn’t until I was 25, needed one more elective to graduate college and also wanted some way to “slow down” a bit while also getting a good workout and doing something beneficial for myself that I was finally ready to give it a try. And I haven’t looked back. I prefer yoga and Pilates for resistance training now, and loathe to pick up a pair of dumbbells anymore. My mind-body classes are my favorites to teach. The challenge of working with one’s own body weight brings such a strong, accomplished feeling!
Oh, and add Ally McBeal to my list of suggestions of TV shows for you to bribe yourself with!
Ooh, I LOVE pilates. It’s way different from yoga. Yoga is all wrapped up in Eastern philosophy and all, which is cool, but pilates is rooted in ballet. You do a lot of work on the floor — basically you engage your ab muscles for a long time and put them through a range of motion, instead of crunch-release, crunch-release. I took a class last summer in WY and LOVED it. It feels so good, but it’s a really good workout too.
Congratulations on the blurb request! On the other end of the spectrum, I bet it’s also an honor for the author to know you’re enjoying the book so much :-)
Ack, and I’m shuddering at the thought of winter. Fall is wonderful. Icy cold and snow are not. I don’t know how you deal with it up in Rochester … we had record snowfall here in PA last year, and I’m wishing we could just extend fall this year to avoid a repeat ;-)
Yoga: come for the pants. Stay for the stretching.
I’ve always been a fan, where I found Pilates too impossible to do. But I’m also Super Specific about what kind of yoga I like to do. The further away from chanting, and the more the poses get held, the better.
I also like Biggest Loser Yoga. I have the video with Bob.
Ok. I’m going to insist that looms is NOT pompous. I use it often in my own writing. It’s so wonderfully ominous.
I need yoga in my life to keep work from stressing me the eff out so much. I really enjoy classes with teachers who are well-versed enough that they can practically put me to sleep during the meditational parts.
Well, you know how I feel about yoga! :) Love it. Can’t live without it. And I do love the pants – especially lululemon pants…I actually have a cute tush in those!
Do what you love, though. And if you crave Pilates, that is your “yoga”.
Happy fall! I hope it lasts another month at least. Take pictures of the leaves!
That’s funny; I love yoga and get too frustrated with pilates. We can all agree on the pants, though. That’s the important part. :-)
I wanted to love yoga because I like the yoga mats. I like being able to put it in a pouch and sling it on my back and walk around with it, looking all cool, saying “look at me, I do yoga!”
Sorry, worst run on sentence EVER.
But alas, I do agree with you. I wanted to love yoga but couldn’t find the heart in it. Plus, I looked like a drunk dunk while doing it.
On a more positive note, I “liked” your facebook page! :)
Hi, Allie! I’m here from Mason Canyon’s blog feature on you, and I’m very excited about Stay. Wishing you the best with all your written endeavors (plus the other stuff). :)
I think loom is a perfectly appropriate word for the impending winter(impending and loom sound ominous, not pompous).
And you did a bang up job on your office, but why you all mashed up against the wall? Less distraction? You are pretty undistractable I hear.