Writing Assignments: Day 3 & 4 (Homemade Holiday Gifts)

Hello there. I'm a few days behind on my writing assignment posts. So I'm doubling up today, and will probably do the same tomorrow.

If you need to get caught up on why I'm doing this, read here. Since day one and day two didn't allow for a lot of time to talk about all the holiday gifts I made this year, I'm going to continue with that topic--though I'm hoping to be done with it soon!

Here are the proceeding "holiday gifts" posts:

Day One: One Minute
Topic: Holiday Gifts

This year I made almost all of the gifts I gave out. For my roommates, I crocheted scarves (out of yarn I had them choose, so I knew they'd like the color). I made scarves for members of my family too.

Day Two: Two Minutes
Topic: Holiday Gifts

I did a little experimenting with crochet stitches while I was home too. Normally, I crochet the width of the scarf first and then just build up the length from there. For the first time, while I was home for the holidays, I made a scarf length-ways. My grandmother got that one. It was two-toned. I would have kept it for myself, because I liked it that much, but I already had one of that color (or at least one of those colors). I made scarves for my grandmother, my aunt and some of my friends.


Day Three: Three Minutes
Topic: Holiday Gifts

I played with stitching variations. And even stole one of my mom's book on crochet stitches -- she's more of a knitter anyway.

The crocheting was a great distraction to all the drama of being home for the holidays. But before I left I took on a different crafty project. I made lip balm / salve. It was kind of fun, especially because of how much of that stuff I go through. I bought all the ingredients needed online through two different wholesalers: Mountain Rose Herbs and Wholesale Supplies Plus.
I needed all sorts of random things you never think about buying--chapstick tubes, flavoring oils, raw mango butter...


Day Four: Four Minutes
Topic: Holiday Gifts
Needless to say, this project took a little more planning than finding yarn and a hook. I had to buy tins and tubes to put my creation in. Also, I took flavor orders. My brother requested nutmeg--he said he'd like to kiss a girl that tastes like nutmeg (I made some for his new lady friend). My mom requested white tea. For myself? I picked up a tinsy tiny container of chamomile essence because I thought it sounded soothing.

The first batch (recipe cut and paste below) was White Tea Mango Butter flavored. So it smelled a little like fruity tea. It was all experimental. I didn't really have the right tools; I had to jerry-rig a double broiler with a metal strainer and bowl. But it worked out. I learned a few things for next time. For example, don't melt hot wax in a container that doesn't have a spout.


Lip balm: First Attempt
1 tbs beeswax
1 tbs mango butter
1 tbs shea butter
½ tbs olive oil
10 drops of white tea oil

Combined beeswax, mango butter and olive oil in double broiler set up until melted. Then added white tea oil and shea butter. Once fully integrated, pour into containers and allow to cool.

Writing Assignments: Day Two

Yesterday, I started my writing assignment project (click here for the post). I'll be writing one post a day for 60 days, with the amount of time spent on each post corresponding to the number of days I've been in this little personally prescribed writing clinic (i.e. day three gets three minutes). While I'm well aware this project will become increasingly more time-consuming and potentially difficult to budget for in my day, I'm really hopping it puts me back in the swing of writing everything down with ease.

For today, I'll continue where I left off on yesterday's post, since I have more to say on the topic. For your reference, here's yesterday's assignment:

Day One: One Minute
Topic: Holiday Gifts

This year I made almost all of the gifts I gave out. For my roommates, I crocheted scarves (out of yarn I had them choose, so I knew they'd like the color). I made scarves for members of my family too.


Day Two: Two Minutes
Topic: Holiday Gifts (continued from yesterday)

I did a little experimenting with crochet stitches while I was home too. Normally, I crochet the width of the scarf first and then just build up the length from there. For the first time, while I was home for the holidays, I made a scarf length-ways. My grandmother got that one. It was two-toned. I would have kept it for myself, because I liked it that much, but I already had one of that color (or at least one of those colors). I made scarves for my grandmother, my aunt and some of my friends.

...

Out of time. It's looking like I can get a couple of days out of this topic. Stick with me and I'll get down to the good stuff (like the lip salve I made from scratch!).

Writing Assignments: Concept & Day One

Before I was a marketer, before I was a yoga instructor, before I was a public relations student, I considered myself a writer. I loved to write. And I still do, though now, after client work and teaching, I often find myself too drained to do any random writing. I post here on occasion with my ranting PSAs and my rare episodes feature. But in an effort to get back to writing, and practicing writing, I came up with a little assignment for myself. I will write one post a day for 60 days; each day, I will allow myself gradually more time (i.e. day one will have one minute; day 60 will have a full hour). Timed writing, at least from what I remember from school, is a great way to get back in the habit of writing everything down, then editing. I've gotten into the habit since graduating of editing while I write, so writing is rather laborious, as I check and recheck each sentence, rework flow, etc.

Today is Day One.

Day One: One Minute
Topic: Holiday Gifts

This year I made almost all of the gifts I gave out. For my roommates, I crocheted scarves (out of yarn I had them choose, so I knew they'd like the color). I made scarves for members of my family too.

...


Time's up. One minute really flies by. I'll have to continue this thread tomorrow.



Photo by wwarby.

PSA: Parking Tickets are Money

Parking tickets are so frustrating. It literally feels like you're throwing money away, flushing cash down the toilet or lighting dollar bills on fire -- only less gratifying in a potlatch kind of way.

Parking citations are bogus. While supposedly created to protect and serve local residents, parking tickets equal municipal revenue. The money you lose to parking tickets is actually planned for in city budgets. The Boston suburb I live in is projecting just under nine million dollars in parking tickets and surcharges alone. They expect and plan to make money off of you forgetting it's a tow day or not feeding the meter in time!

And nothing is worse than getting a ticket you didn't actually deserve. It never fails. Regardless of what's posted, if you park at an out of order meter, you get a ticket. Then, depending on where you got the ticket, disputing it could take more time than it would be worth to fight it. It's a lose / lose situation. You're either losing your time resolving the issue or your parting with your money out of convenience. Talk about frustrating.

It all raises some questions. How many parking tickets does a meter maid (attendant) have to write in order to pay for his / her job? Who is dictating how often streets are cleaned? Is it the towing company, the street-sweeper or the parking office? Forgive the cynicism, but someone needs to throw the bullshit flag. Parking citations are not helping the residents of my block; in fact, it's basically an extra tax that many people actually budget and project to spend!

As a driver, the worst kind of parking tickets are the ones that don't get written... Give the jerk that's double parked (and blocking traffic in three directions because they couldn't be bothered to parallel park) a ticket. Serve and protect--stay out of my wallet.


Images by Eye Captain and Sean Future respectively.

Sandying Goes Yogaing

I teach. I practice. I teach. I practice. Yoga is becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life.

But what have I been up to?

Last month I attempted a 31 in 31 (trying to take 31 classes in 31 days) at Prana Power Yoga. I sprained my ankle and had to give it up, but I've never feel better than when I'm practicing every day of the week. I can't wait till 31 in 31 in May--I'm going to rock that out.

Also in January, I taught at Lululemon in Cambridge. I love teaching at Lulu. Aside from the free top they comp you when you teach at one of their store fronts, it's always a great group of really appreciative yogis. It's a wonderful community.

Yoga in February and Beyond
What's coming up on my yoga calendar?

I have permanent classes now. I've had two in Winchester for awhile, but as my schedule solidifies, I'm going to try to keep folks informed so you can join me if you'd like!

Here is where you'll definitely be able to find me:
Tuesday: 6:30pm: Prana Winchester
Wednesday: 5:30pm: Harvard Business School
Thursday: 4:00pm: Prana Winchester
Sunday: 11:00am: Prana Newton - Kids Class for 3-7 year olds

Teaching the kids is such a blessing. They bring such a playful energy into my day. Of course they have their fair share of challenges, but they just want to have fun. It's definitely not serious yoga time... More on that later.

And yoga-time for me?
February is time for my own personal yoga adventures. I'm planning to do some exploring, to try different styles that I haven't tried before, different studios that I haven't visited before. I'll be sure to blog my yoga-ventures...


The photo is from StephCarter's Flickr feed. It appears as though she's had her own yoga-venture too!

PSA: People Talk

Communicate early. Communicate often. Right?

Well, apparently not... But today's beef is a little different from the sins of omission and lying I've recently touched on. Lately, I've been hearing a lot of people arguing against open communication. People still believe that you can bottle stuff up and make it go away, that you can control the message. The whole thing makes me a little irate.

I'll cede that there's a time and a place for everything. But beyond matters of tact, I've pretty much had it with people arguing to control communication. You don't get to dictate who other people in your life chose to speak to!

It's just not realistic. People talk. It's normal. You should expect people to talk -- about you, your business, your personal matters, everything. If you can't handle this fact, you could try not to do anything worth talking about, or you could move to the woods and stop interacting with people. But even then, people will probably talk about the crazy hermit that lives down that road...

People try to control information for a couple reasons:

• Embarrassment / humiliation / shame;
• Pain / punishment;
• Etiquette / propriety.
  

But just because you don't want to talk about something, doesn't mean it isn't important to others. Getting angry with people for speaking about something you've done is pretty stupid too. The "I don't understand why he/she had to know" line is outright ridiculous.

This might sound shocking, but why not try actually getting in front of an issue, instead of freaking out when other people talk about it? You can tell your own story when you're the one doing the telling... Just a little food for thought.

Back in Boston in Time for the New Year

AKA Down with 2009


















I got back to Boston from Oregon on New Year's Eve day. Just in time to compare notes with my roommates on what made 2009 the worst year of all time. Between intense breakups, break-ins, and uncovering family-shattering lies of unbelievable proportions, 2009 was kind of awful. And that's not even mentioning the economic nonsense.

No where to go but up, right?

We celebrate milestones--changing years, birthdays, new moons--because they offer a chance to take stock, reassess and refocus. Collectively, we've been through a lot this past year. The New Year is a great time to look forward with new optimism, new hope.


But, I've got to say it and breath a great sigh of relief... Thank goodness that's over!



*The art is from a PigSpigot (client) greeting card by artist Konstantin Vernikovskiy.