9/26/11 9/26/11

sweat & tears

top of the morning monday to you m'loves.

how did miss weekend treat your tender hearts?

i popped back and forth across the emotional ping-pong table of my precious aunt's latest hospital stay.

we yo-yo'ed between tears of hysterics, like on friday when we listened for hours to patient, in bed #4, hold the nurses hostage with her "diaper" in exchange for more oxycontin; to sunday where tears of frustration poured over her white blood cell count.

i pity the yoga mat, spin bike, and in this weekend's case, the water rower, who bared the brunt of my unleashed sadness.

led by master trainers, jay blahnik and josh crosby, yesterday i took the fantastic teacher training for indo-row, a crazy-fun, group fitness class that gives you a killer cardio workout AND strength and flexibility training. you can't say the same for spinning, treadmill classes, etc.

it's a team spirit atmosphere, building community and camaraderie; which i think we can all use in these divisive times, no?

it was definitely a new fitness experience for me and challenged me to the point where i hadn't gone to in a long, long time. i had scary flashes back to running "the apple" in junior high, coming in last, looking silly, etc. indo-row is NOT like that, yet it does inspire a youthful, competitive spirit. that post race feeling with my team felt exhilarating, and the longest stretches of hard work never lasted more than 90 seconds.....if that. you can bet each paddle, each stroke was for my aunt charla.

i'm so excited indo-row is coming to my club.

tell me, m'loves, what gave you goosebumps this weekend?

8/29/11 8/29/11

scenes from a sunday

in the words of martha & the vandella's, it was a heat wave!

hh, the beast and i took to the streets to keep cool and soak in the seaside life.

i love many things about my street: the big trees, the wide blocks, the whites pickets, but even after 12 years of residency, i still gallop giddy over the front door, ocean view.

we took our favorite loop with the beast: a jaunt down to pacific coast highway to see what newport's fanciest were up to.

we never quite make it passed our A market without a stop for "provisions".

nourishment.

hydration.

bottom-feeder.

we capped off a sunday dinner down at the sand.

louie the crab.

a hot august night indeed.

and just like that it was gone: today we woke to a thick, fog bank so heavy our neighbor's front door has disappeared.

share with me the snapshots of your weekend m'loves? you know how much i adore hearing from you.

8/26/11 8/26/11

weather-a-stir

while our kin on the east are bracing for that nasty girl, irene, temperatures here in the west, are smoldering chaud.

the heat feels thick and heavy; like an invisible, clear fog has seeped in to bake us. skirts are short and skin is bare. hair is worn high to avoid sweaty necks and shoulders, stiff from an all night losing game of finding the cool in a un-air conditioned california king. last night a cold, wet washcloth provided a most heavenly pillow for me ...for the beast too.

yesterday my movements, my speech, my thoughts-they all carried a slight, sleepy slur. this heat wave washes in a gauzy net of slow-motion, almost tipsy-like air, of which i find myself breathing and walking around in.

this weekend i'm going to saturate in the sticky hot of the last of summer. i plan to roll my warm, languid friday, saturday and sunday nights out, like a kaleidoscopic rainbow of faces and places of the people i love most; a pot of gold at every port.

linger, linger, linger.

that will be my word of my weekend.

finding my slower back beat, i'll relish in summer's final, simple pleasures that too often go amiss in my interval driven world: the sound and sight of my backyard bees liquoring up on bushels of lavender, jasmine oil baths so heady with summer scent i'm perfume free all day, breakfast coffee in the yard: early enough so the moon's still out, but warm enough to be robe free. i will set my alarm a bit earlier so i can hang longer with the my garden friends.

losing my psycho, good girl, quick-to-wipe-away-the-first-sign-of-mess, disordered self, perhaps i'll let a dribble of our soon-to-be gone, gummi-bear sweet, local nectarine juice remain on my chin for a self-deprecating chuckle or two, before i whisk it away with a napkin. or maybe i'll finally eat those strawberries right off their stems, right out of the basket, after buying them from stand #14, like i've been wanting to all season.

how will you be soaking up these last bits of summer m'loves?

sending all my good vibes the east coast. miss irene sounds like quite the diva; which is ironic because we irene's {my middle name} mean peace.

oh, yeah....speaking of divas....priscilla would like to say "goodbye."

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/28177088 w=480, h=480]

8/15/11 8/15/11

scenes from a weekend

how do you do m'loves?

it was a weekend happy indeed. oh my goodness, i hope yours was too.

here's a glimpse of how mine went down:

i added a new rung to my wrist affair.

saturday night i had the honor of attending my lovely friend, jill grogg's, lululemon, ambassorship party. yoga, pilates, spin, boccaccini appetizers-you name it. the girl does it all! with incredible kindness, grace and beauty....it's amazing we're friends. in fact, i may have to drop her. there's just too much wonder woman going on in that tall-drink-a-water for me. and she really is that nice. i'm hoping, behind closed doors, she's a weirdo hoarder or wears the same socks for weeks.....but she always looks and smells fresh as april to me.

pfft.

on sunday morning david hockney returned to southern california. palm trees in jewel-toned green against a sky of bahamian blue, hunkiest and i brunched outdoors to soak it all in.

tea for him, coffee for me, and omelets of asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms & gruyère {mmm hmmm}.

post brunch binge, we walked off our glut with some shopping at one of our favorite stores.

new shoes for katie and hunkiest bought a shirt which brings out the golden in his eyes.

i must say, out of all the sunsets, shorelines and mountaintops in the world, this view beats them all for me.

okay, enough about me. tell me about YOU! how was your weekend? don't you KNOW how much i love hearing from you?

monday happy m'loves.

8/1/11 8/1/11

coastin'

monday happy m'loves.

today is a busy day of spinning, tucking, twisting, curling, and smiling.

the fall silhouette is long and lean {tuxedo suits and long skirts} and i'm off to get my clients ready.

a giant "THANK YOU" to coast magazine for my recent write-up, and an even bigger "THANK YOU" to ralph palumbo, magician photographer, for making a flu-ey katie camera ready.