I'm soooo excited! I'm just about to start a long weekend (four days off, back to work on Thanksgiving), and for the first time in a long time, I don't have any writing to do. *
I mean, I have things I could do, writing-wise, sure. I have a few things I need to work on soon. But at this exact moment, I'm under deadline for NOTHING.
So you know what I'm going to do?
1. Clean out my office. I've been buried in it for the last six months, and it was made worse when, for a moment, I thought I was going to try to fit a large chaise in it. I moved everything, stacked boxes and book and papers up against a wall and created disorder in the only area that was still ordered. I hate it. I hate being surrounded by chaos and clutter, but I literally haven't had time to deal with it. Now I do, and I feel a purge coming on. I'm going to call Waste Management, too, for a bulky trash pick up, so I can just throw out things (like the ancient chair that I never sit in, the one I rescued off a sidewalk and is now too old to even try to donate). Getting this done would be heaven. Hard work, and relaxing, all at the same time.
2. Manicure. Have you heard about the new gel nail polishes? They last TWO WEEKS without chipping. A couple of my friends have them, and I'm gonna try it. I love nail polish, but I hate how trashy my nails look in two or three days, so I never paint them.
3. Massage. I got one as a gift from Lala for my birthday in JULY. Three months I've been sitting on this bad boy. I wanted to save it as a present to myself when I finished the nonfiction book (DONE COMPLETELY, even copyedits are complete) and the third novel (DONE but waiting for revisions back from my editor).
4. Night of Writing Dangerously — the NaNoWriMo night that shines like a brilliant, wordy diamond over the rest of the other 29 days of writing — Bethany and I are going, thanks to the kindness of our fairy godmother. (Also, I'm giving a little talk at it. My pal Chris Baty asked me to. Squee!) (Don't ask me how I'm doing in NaNo. I'm wayyyy behind and likely to remain so, since I had the other deadlines. But I'm still plugging along.)
5. Bed. Book. Repeat.
6. Yoga. I'm TERRIFIED to go back, haven't been in at least four months. I'll be the most out-of-shape (and the largest, although those two don't necessarily go hand in hand) person in class, and I'm not going to care. You have to get back up on the horse at some point. You know, the yoga horse. My pretty asana. Stopping now.
I also have lunches and an interview with GrannyG in New Zealand (!) and some naps. Also some meditation ( we went to hear the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche speak last night, and he kind of blew my mind (typo: nose, I just sneezed) — I'm going to try to still this brain of mine sometimes. HAHAHAHA. Yes, but I'll try).
*Note: I am nothing but grateful that I HAVE writing work to do. I'm so so so so so lucky to have it. However, that will not prevent me from relaxing this weekend and doing NOTHING. Except for this whole list. God, I'm bad at relaxing.
That sounds great! I know whatcha mean about having difficulty relaxing, oh dear lord. Good luck!
I just started yoga classes and I spend most of my time falling over – I’ve quickly discovered the key to yoga is not caring! You’ll do great!
Ahhh, relaxation. It is wonderful. As for NaNo, you think you’re behind? I just scrapped my first attempt (at a mere 6,000 words) because I wasn’t feeling it, and started over with a brand new story and ten days to go.
Thankfully I type VERY fast. The new tale is flowing from me, and I’m in love with the story. (I’m only online to find out what a herd, flock, er, group of butterflies is called.) Enjoy your relaxation!
Hmmm. You have a Relaxation To-Do List. That just makes me giggle.
Also, that gel nail polish thing sounds fantastic. I need to find a place that has that!
_I’ve_ just bought a Uke…
A deep purple Mahalo U30 and it’s all your fault (if I get told off by hubbs).
Enjoy your relaxation; I’ve been chopping wood, chipping it and mucking out the chickens.
Which is why I deserve the Uke 😀
What is the name of the gel nail polish? I could really use that stuff.
I’m hoping Santa will bring me a nice ukelele.
I don’t do yoga, but I get where you are coming from. My husband’s idea of a fun vacation involves a lot of walking, so I’ve been trying to build up my endurance by walking every day. I was walking on my lunch every day for a few months, but then I let illness sideline me. They say it takes 21 days to develop a habit, but that doesn’t seem to be true with me and exercise because I let any little thing stop me. Then I give myself excuses for why I can’t start again.
Get back up on that horse!
Yoga will forgive you gratiously. Go, enjoy the flow, and don’t get hung up on not having gone for a while. There is no out-of-shape in yoga. Yoga always welcomes you back and reminds you why you came in the first place.
I haven’t been to a class in months, due to a new work schedule, but I do practice on my own and I know when I finish this job (end of January), I’ll be back in class the first Monday of February and it will be GREAT!
Just got about 3″ of snow in Boise, and more predicted all week. Might have 8″ by tomorrow. Just thought you’d like to know.
I have tried both types of gel manicures and they leave your nails terribly weak and trashed after they are removed. It’s not worth it unless you plan on having it re-done every two weeks.
I like the gel manicure, but it didn’t last for two weeks with my job. You can try one of the lighter colors and if it chips it’s harder to see. You do have to take it off with acetone (I do it at home with acetone on a cotton pad and wrap foil around the fingertips – like foil Bugles). It’s also darn cool that once it’s UV cured it’s not sticky like regular nail polish. That blew my mind (nose).
Hello from NZ. Of course when I read of GrannyG I had to pursue her (online) and noticed that one of the people she had interviewed was Anne Field. the link didn’t work but i knew that Anne was a spinner and weaver and had written NF books on the subject so I googled her. Anne was in the same form as Jan and me in the third form (first year high school). She was a day girl (poor thing!)so slightly off my radar and I can’t remember at the (senior) moment if she moved up to 4P1 with us (the élite!). I see she will be teaching in various places in the US next year including SF.
http://www.annefield.co.nz/home-about-anne-field.html
Forgot to say Anne Field was Anne Bray in those days.
I got a calgel manicure for my wedding because we had a full wedding weekend at a summer camp, and I’m the kind of lady who gets her hands dirty (stoking the campfire! sewing the photo backdrop! boating in wedding finery!). I needed something that’d last. I got an AMAZING glitter gradation done at a salon here in Soho and no lie, it lasted FOUR WEEKS. I washed dishes every night, scraped at price stickers, typed constantly every day, etc. Still. FOUR WEEKS. And those nails were GORGEOUS. So shiny!
However, I will say this: 1) My nails did NOT look awesome when I had the stuff removed. Though gel manicures are “soak off,” the manicurist still has to do some chiseling with an orange stick to get the stuff off, and my nails were ROUGH afterward; 2) Some studies have shown that prolonged exposure to the UV lights used to set the glop is now leading to an increase in HAND CANCER for ladies who regularly get gel manicures (which makes sense — it’s like putting your hands in little tanning beds).
I made a decision that it’d be a special-occasion-only kind of thing, once in a VERY rare while. But man, it sure is nice to have gorgeous nails that stay that way for ages.