Shampoo Wisdom

I am a lotion and potion queen, and have maybe 17 different shampoos in the shower at any given time.  Today I actually read the bottle of conditoner that I was using, and found this great quote:

Too often we are conditioned to believe that splendor comes from only the big events or the rollercoaster rides; yet the truest splendor is often ignited by the tiny spark of a child’s innocent smile, by laughing with friends, or by the daily ritual of falling in love over and over again with the same person.  Discover your splendor in the reality of what is simple, what is pure, and what is real.

This is a Philosophy product — appropriately named, with a very nice typeface on the product.

It’s a good way to start the day —

Happy New Year!

And somehow an entire year just passed, second following second, as time seems wont to do — except that this year we had an entire extra second because of the pesky rotation of the Earth, which both speeds and slows, but has slowed significantly in the last billion years or so.  I think I was sleeping peacefully when the leap second happened last night and the atomic clock was once again aligned; but I could have been thinking about entropy or time’s arrow or unsolved problems in physics or the complexity of the Hindu calendar.

I had a great New Year’s Day, which included a long walk with Brad and Kenai, yoga and meditation, a party at our great friends Howard and Elizabeth’s house with lots of other great friends, and a quiet television-free evening at home.  I’m not much of a New Year’s resolution person, but I am going to try to hunker down and focus on the two things I’ve been talking talk about doing for the past several years:   getting fit and finishing my novel.  I’m good at honoring commitments to family and friends and organizations; but this year I’m going to work on honoring my commitments to myself.  I’m going to try to write a daily blog post, like my blogging idol, Halley Suitt.  I’m going to read more and write more and move my ass around more and try to do less of the things that I know aren’t really good for me (watching television, buying more shoes, sorting my email Inbox into complex categories but not actually responding to any of the email).  I’m going to try to keep it simple, keep my health, keep having fun, and keep learning and growing.  I hope the same for all of you..

“Nothing is so fatal to character as half-finished tasks.”  David Lloyd George

Happy 38th Birthday, Wendy

Today is my younger sister’s birthday, which is always a special day.  She and Stacy and I went to lunch at Bloom and had a delicious meal, including Stacy’s wonderful orange amaretto creme brulee, and then had a mini shopping spree at Yankee Candle and the Coach store.  Best gift of all, of course, is Stacy being out of the hospital and doing well and being our patient sherpa (those candles are heavy!) and witty companion today.  Happy birthday!

Tablet Hotels

Just had to cancel a trip to New York with my sister Wendy at the last minute because her fiance is back in the hospital with a neutropenic fever following his chemotherapy.  We had reservations at the Mercer Hotel in SoHo, which I was excited about, as well as the chance to connect with our friends Jenny, Scott, and Theresa.  And this is just a great time of year in New York with all the Christmas decorations and great department store window displays and the tree at Rockefeller Center.  I had made our hotel reservation through Tablet Hotels, which we’ve had good experiences with in the past (The Clift in San Francisco, Chambers and the SoHo Grand in New York, Hotel Aleph in Rome, etc.).  Their website wasn’t happy with my attempt to cancel, even though I was within the “before noon the day before check in” window on the cancellation policy.  I sent an email to customer service explaining the situation and received a quick, helpful, and friendly email response taking care of the cancellation.  Another positive experience with Tablet Hotels.  I highly recommend using them.

Imagine

Today is the anniversary of the death of John Lennon

Imagine

Imagine there’s no heaven,
It’s easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace…

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one,
I hope some day you’ll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Lords of Dogtown

It’s fun to watch a California dreamin’ movie when it’s about 3 degrees below zero outside, which we did tonight.  I’m just on the margin of being old enough to have nostalgia for the ’70’s.  1976 was 4th grade for me, with all the bicentennial red, white, and blue painting of garbage cans and mailboxes — but I completely missed out on the skateboard craze, which is much of what this movie is about.  Pretty young boys with long blonde hair and tube socks with bright stripes around the top bonding with each other and their addled surfing / skateboarding mentor.  You care some about the boys and their fractured lives, and I liked the soundtrack (great cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here), but this one didn’t do much for me.  I usually like the guy version of chick flicks, especially when they involve car chases and crashes and explosions — maybe this one was too sensitive for me?  Or maybe I have a serious case of beautiful silky long blonde hair envy..

Too Excited to Sleep

Woke up around 2:30 this morning and haven’t been able to fall back asleep because today Brad and I and 20 of our friends and family are taking off for Brad’s Birthday Bash week at the Palmilla Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on the tip of the Baja Peninsula, where the weather this week is supposed to be just about perfect.  We’re having a barbeque on the beach tonight, and fancy dinner at the Charlie Trotter restaurant "C" for birthday dinner on Thursday, and spa and tennis and sand and sun and plenty of tequila.  I’m very excited to celebrate Brad’s 40th birthday!

Poem: The Last Days of the Year

Sometimes the days must

fly by

as they say,

one year palms

inhabited by wind and rain,

the wet smell of wool

in the Berber markets,

the next our room

on Isola Tiberina

off the little Piazza

San Bartolomeo, river-damp

with the river patrol

at the point, waiting

to drag out the suicides

and driftwood.

Above Italy

the skyline is cypress,

black imago pressed

against the pale mauve

of Roman winter sunset.

You’re out looking

for something in the shops

off the Corso and I’m sitting over

the Tiber, remembering that

one night last year

I went deep into the markets

of Marrakesh to find

the little birds

made from the green

malachite of the Atlas.

You must have sat like this

over your mint tea thinking

about other years

at home, your mother

and her mother baking together

and cleaning the silver

with the special paste

that is one of the

remembered decorations;

you must have thought

I’d been gone a long time,

waiting as it got later,

as I wait now

for you, the same sounds

of the cars outside, passing by.

[from Seasonal Rights]

by Daniel Halpern from Selected Poems copyright (c) 1994

Quad Shot Vanilla Latte

Brad and I watched The War Room the other night, which reminded me of a moment we shared in New York City during the New York City marathon weekend.  We were in the Sony Plaza Public Space Starbucks Saturday morning getting some caffeine for me before driving the marathon route with Matt and Mariquita Blumberg so Brad could know what he would be seeing mile by mile on Sunday.  I was waiting for my non-fat grande mocha, no whip cream to be prepared when I recognized James Carville in line.  He was wearing space age running shoes and looked like he could easily run the marathon himself.  He chatted in his distinctive southern accent with another woman waiting for her beverage.  His drink that day was, in fact, a quad shot vanilla latte.  With caffeine.