April - First Week Overload

Monday— I took a day to myself and I went to see a little indie flick called Mental with a friend.  I absolutely loved Toni Collette in it.  It’s a dark comedy and I really enjoyed it.  Afterwards, we went to have drinks and just chatted the afternoon away.  I under-estimated how cold it was going to be so I was chilled to the bone.  Still, it felt good to be a bit decadent and enjoy an afternoon. 

Tuesday—I spent the day working on my novel.  After finding out that I lost pages again, I decided not to throw a pity part for myself.  I just put my head down and wrote up another 45 pages.  I didn’t even bother proofing the pages before I sent it out to my writing group.  Next Saturday is my turn to present.  Hopefully, it’s not all crap.  And even if it is…rewriting is always possible. 

Wednesday—I spent the day sending out resumes.  Job hunting is not much fun. I also broke things off with the new person I’ve been dating which was a bummer.  Definitely not my best day.  Boy, did that make me grumpy.   

Thursday—I spent the afternoon at MOMA to check out the Abstract exhibit. Overall, it was a decent collection.  For the first time, I actually appreciated Mondrian’s work.  Mostly I was reminded that Professor Horrigan really liked his work because he found it peaceful.  Isn’t it interesting how someone else’s appreciation helps you take a fresh look at a body of work. Mondrian has never been one of my favorites but I think I’m seeing his paintings with new eyes. 

There is also a beautiful blue watercolor by O’Keefe that took my breath away.  I’m attaching it here but the pic does not do the original justice. 

Blue II by Georgia O'Keefe, 1916

There were some mixed-media paintings that I found really interesting because I think layers are wonderful.   

There is also an Edvard Munch exhibit that I spent some time on.  I remember creating a lithograph very similar to the Scream.  It was amazing to study the actual piece up close. 

And of course, I sat in front of a Pollock.  It always feels like I’m visiting a friend.  As I sat there and watched visitors trying to take pics of his work, I realized that trying to capture that painting is just impossible.  Digital pics only flattens out the piece.  I sat there and took it in.  The painting definitely soothed me from my blues.

Friday—I spent the day embroidering.  Okay, this is definitely a girly girl thing to do but there was a couple of pieces in the Abstract exhibit that used embroidery as part of the medium.  I’m not very good at it but for the small piece that I’m working on it’s fine.  I wish I had smaller hoops but a 3” hoop is as small as they go.  Anyway, my fingertips hurt today from poking myself with the needle.  Argh!!  And there is blood on the cloth from the deep pokes…I’m not sure there is a way of incorporating drops of blood into the piece. Hehehe. 

Music-- I keep playing this song Open by Rhye over and over again.  It's haunting me today.  

Okay this is more than enough info for now.

Peace,

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Spilled Milk Sucks

Let’s see….on Monday I went to another grueling session of Bikram yoga and I was able to get into some poses better this time around. The heat helps loosen up the tight muscles but a side effect of this class is my stomach seems to now hate food. Ergh. I’ve been trying to eat smaller meals and drink more water throughout the day to offset the upset tummy. My plan is to take another class on Thursday after work. We shall see how that pans out. If that doesn’t work then I can hold off until Saturday and Sunday mornings.

With my temp job coming to end on Thursday, I’ll have some time next week to go more consistently. I would like to buy a set or two of workout clothes that wick the moisture from my body. It will be better than wearing cotton clothing ‘cause that doesn’t seem to work very well in there. Hmmm. I need to go visit a sports store to decide.

So yesterday I discovered that my last three chapters, the pages I finished last month are nowhere to be found. Ergh! Frustrating. Yesterday I was fit to be tied over it but I realized that I’ve just been careless with my work. I work on this novel in three different computers and I have not backed up my work very consistently. I usually print out the pages to have a hard copy of the new material but this time I did not. So here I go again, I need to re-write 45+ pages of material again. Where is my brain? I remember thinking that I need to email myself a copy of the pages but then I forgot to actually do it. *sigh* Well, I guess I have time this week to finish off these pages. What a crap thing for me to do. I’d be more upset over this but I talked to my writing buddy Christine and she just encouraged me to write the pages again. Thanks goodness for good friends.

Okay, I think that’s all I have for today. My stomach sounds like an alien baby is about to emerge through my navel. Haha!!
All for now,

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

A Hot Sweaty Mess

This past weekend I tried something new. Bikram Yoga. Eeek! It’s an intense yoga done in a very hot room. Now I’ve been practicing yoga on and off for the past ten years. Mostly Hatha and Sivananda. Those two practices did not prepare me for Bikram. I sat in the hot room before class to get myself acclimated to the heat. I made the mistake of not bringing a water bottle in with me. I also made the mistake of not drinking much water before I took the class. The teacher who taught said at the beginning of the class for all the newbies to stay in the room even if you felt dizzy. Hmmm. Now for those of you who know me well, I’m a bit on the heavy side and being overly hot isn’t my favorite thing, but I thought I would try this type of yoga to help my very tight muscles loosen up a bit. We, humans, are not meant to sit at a desk for 8.5 hours a day without our bodies tightening up. So I bought this month long voucher back in January. I meant to go. I really did but my chattering monkey brain got in the way. I talked myself out of going to yoga because I was anticipating a class full of hard bodies while I tried to slog through the poses. Hehehe. I know now that I was just getting in my own way. I finally went Saturday morning full of vim and vigor. I seem to be telling this story in a circular way.

I went through the most intensive 90 minute yoga class in my life. Every inch of my body was covered in sweat. It was not a pretty sight but everyone in that room looked the same on that count. I did have to take a few sitting breaks from time to time because the heat and the poses made me cramp up or made me want to throw up. And yes, I did feel faint a few times. * note to self – bring a water bottle next time. Essentially this particular class focused on standing / balancing poses. I have one bad knee that had me all out of whack…but I hung in there. I think this type of yoga will be beneficial to my crazy bad knees because they focus on strengthening the quad muscles. And good lord, mine have atrophied since I blew out my knee, so I spent a good deal of time shaking through my poses trying to get my quad muscle to fire up and hold still. When I came out of class I was trembling probably from dehydration but mostly from the effort. I stayed in the class the whole time, I did not pass out, I tried for the poses and even when I definitely didn’t have the flexibility or the stamina for them I did my best and I’m really proud of that fact.

After class, I bought a ridiculously overpriced coconut water which help with the dehydration. Then I went to get a mani/pedi ‘cause the one thing I noticed while doing those poses was the fact that my feet were jacked up. So yes, pedicure was needed. I bought myself a fruit blend made from bananas, strawberry and apple and headed for a little pampering. Then I went straight home where my body was naturally detoxing. I took a long hot shower and gradually a migraine started to bloom. I went to lie down for a short nap and 12 hours later I awoke. My intention was go to another morning class on Sunday but my body was on fire. I was very sore…there are part of my body that I never knew could get sore, like the muscles around my rib cage. Who knew? Anyway, I opted to do an hour long session of Sivananda yoga instead. The gentle approach helped break up some of the crazy soreness I was feeling and afterwards I treated myself to some berries and cereal. Yay!!
All for now,
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.