As some of you may know, I am an enthusiastic adopted-Oregonian. Though I was born in San Pedro, California, I have mostly lived in Oregon since I was 16. Well, a while back, Ooligan Press was accepting submissions for their compilation book, "Oregon Stories," and I submitted a few hundred words on MY Oregon story, entitled "Destination: Home." I guess it's not a huge deal, but they accepted it and it is on page 34 of the recently-published book! Yay! So, if anybody is out there reading this and wants to read my blurb, you can check out the book. Here's a picture of the cover:
My Two New Loves
Ah, don't get TOO excited! I'm talking about a love of HALTER TOPS and KIMONO ROBES. That's right. I am currently, madly in love with both sewn and crocheted halter tops and deliciously silky satin kimono robes. I am one sick lady! BUT let me explain:
Since losing all my weight, I am pretty sparse on top. I used to be Buxom, Curvy, Beautifully Rounded with a decolletage worth bragging about. NOW I am laughingly described as an "A minus" cup size. Now, this is not entirely a negative thing. For one thing, running is a LOT easier. For another, I can now wear HALTER TOPS to stay cool in the summer without worrying about my business popping out accidentally and scaring dogs and small children. Thank you, Goddess!
SOOOO...I found a halter top pattern from the 1970's on EBay and I am really excited to sew a few for those hot summer days we have coming up! And I found THIS top at JCPenney's and I had a flashback to my sister Tanya's bathing suit from 1977:
Kazowee! I am such a hippie chick! Another Fabulous Halter
Michael's was having a sale on Lily Sugar'n Cream 100% cotton worsted weight yarn for $1 a skein. I made a halter top using a generic bikini cup crochet pattern I found on the Internet and embellished it with a 3-double crochet stitch pattern I made up as I went along. This top cost a Grand Total of $2 to make using an F size crochet hook and 2 skeins of Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn in the Country Stripes colorway. Bear in mind, I didn't have to change any colors while crocheting at all--this is all built into the yarn by the way it's dyed:
Satin Kimono Robes
My old fluffy housecoat just wasn't cutting it anymore. For one thing, it's warming up out there--and being smothered in layer after layer of hot pink polyester fake fur just isn't as appealing in April as it is in November! For another, Mother's Day is coming up and I wanted to feel *pretty*. So I found this robe on Amazon.com from Old Shanghai and I got it in Peacock, a lovely teal shade with golden embroidered bamboo leaves. Here's the link:
Old Shanghai Brocade Kimono Robe
It comes in 6 different colors, and the hemline is exactly the right length! At 5'2", I usually have to hem most clothing by 3 or more inches. (I have a pathetically short inseam). But this robe is marvelous and fits perfectly! It feels substantial, keeping me warm without the bulk of my winter fluffy robe. And it has unleashed my Inner Geisha. All I need now is a twirly parasol and a pair of geta sandals and I am set! Here I am, wearing my new robe and looking sort of zombie-like because I am zoning out while crocheting:
As you can see, my gigantic 18-ounce pastel green cup of coffee has yet to be consumed. It is resting near a half-used skein of Sensations "Beautiful" yarn that I was thinking about making into a fluffy bikini top just for kicks--but they've discontinued that particular line and one skein won't be enough, I'm afraid. Oh, well. And I refuse to contemplate a fluffy pink G-string, so don't even ask.
Nate's Doing Better!!
We got the news today that Nate can start putting weight on his foot again! His pain is almost completely resolved and he is responding well to ibuprofen, and he is supposed to wear the walking cast for another week before switching to a regular shoe. He has lost about 2 centimeters' worth of muscle in the right leg, from not using it, but the doctor said this is well within norms and a few weeks of using the leg again and doing the special exercises should restore his leg to it's former glory. Nate was really perked up to be able to go to school and actually put weight on the foot, and his teachers were also very happy--it was such a pain to use either the crutches or the wheelchair, and now those days are mercifully OVER! Here he is eating cereal and dreaming of putting weight on his foot again:
This Week's Epic Long Run
To baby my right Achilles tendon, I've been doing a lot of treadmill running, flat running, stretching exercises and cross-training. I realized that running my long run on the treadmill was going to be horrible, boring and excruciatingly awful (GREAT attitude, Heather!), but my training schedule called for 14 miles this week, and I didn't want to chance any hills with that kind of distance. SOOO...I went into it ready for a long, hard slog.
I had two of these all filled up with fresh, filtered water:
I had my trusty Zune all filled up with zippy music:
AND I had an array of mental imaging techniques, affirmations, mantras, and various methods to keep my brain entertained while my body did this incredibly difficult and monotonous THING.
How did I fare? Well...I did just fine for the first 3.5 miles when it occurred to me that I REALLY should have stopped by the ladies' room BEFORE hitting the treadmill. The Thud, Thud, Thud of my body hitting the rollers was impossible to ignore--I was hard-pressed to distract myself from the fact that I needed to pee REALLY REALLY BAD!! I hopped off the Dreadmill of Doom and ran to the ladies', returning minutes later Refreshed and Ready to continue on my Run! It was much nicer after I took care of that little problem, folks!
Still, I had to keep psyching myself up for the remaining 9.5 miles every few minutes, telling myself how great I was doing, how good it felt, and how I wanted to keep going--that I was really, actually DOING IT! I was accomplishing this thing and if it took counting my steps in sets of 12 (about the number it took to go 1/100th of a mile), constantly reworking my pacing, thinking about Nathan Fillion in the buff (yes, you read that right!)--well, heck--I was going to keep on until I met my goal! By the way, here is a picture of Nathan Fillion artfully posed, but, as previously mentioned, in the buff:
(I am a totally pathetic and sad Firefly Browncoat Fan-girl. But it got me through the run. That's all I care about!)
I made it going a pretty good pace--an average of 9 min. 16.7 seconds per mile, though when I plugged in my Nike + sensor I could see that I maintained an 8 minute mile pace for the first 10 and then flagged for the last 4. Gotta work on that consistency! I'll do better next week. TTYL, all!
Ahhhhh.... Captain Reynolds. Who could resist Mal in the buff???
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