It’s a cold, wet Friday morning and I am drinking green tea with ginseng and honey. I think I’m coming down with a cold. I am achy, my throat hurts and my head is thick and foggy. Wish I had brought a scarf to work today. I sit slightly under one of those air vents so I have cold air coming down upon me. Good thing I dressed in layers, t-shirt and a sweater (at one time was thick and plush thing but today resembles a thin veneer of a sweater). Up until now I’ve been really good about staying healthy, washing my hands, moving away from the sickly members, co-workers and strangers alike, but I think Patient X in my circle was my sister’s boyfriend. Ergh! He’s been sick for the past week and has been in the apartment. I should have banned him as soon as he started sneezing. Alas, my sister would have quashed the idea. * humph *

Tomorrow I head to Brooklyn to help my mami make pork pasteles, which means black hands from handling green plantains. She gives me a pair of medical gloves but I can never seem to find a way to grate the plantains with those things on.

Anyway, I’ve been in the Holiday spirit this year. Humming Christmas carols to myself. I have three favorites: Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You”, “Baby it’s Cold Outside” sung by Zooey Deschanel and Julie Andrews “Favorite things.” Okay, I know the last one is technically not a christmas song but Sound of Music always comes on t.v. around the holidays so I associate the two together.

My mood has been considerably better now that I’m taking some good quality vitamins. Project Healthy Me has had its ups and downs (pun intended). I seem to be circling around the same five pounds at the moment. I am still down 23 lbs. At one point I hit a 27 lb loss but that was short-lived and up I went again. There are some weeks that I am focused and aware…and then there are some weeks that it feels too hard and I don’t want to track anymore. Then I get back on that horse and continue. I need to get some more movement on my dance card. That’s the only way this weight loss will really take hold. I’m holding myself back. I see my hesitancy and my lack of motivation despite the fact that my body craves more movement.

The writing is still going. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I see the finish line up ahead and I’m trying not to cramp up and stop. I am almost 200 pages in with less than 50 pages to go…unless the story opens up again I follow it down another rabbit hole. Hehehe. Seriously though, I’ve been wrangling with a point of logic in the story and I need to untangle it for the rest of the words to come out. So with teeth to logistical knot I am trying to loosen it up and smooth it out for the rest of the piece to keep moving forward to its inevitable end. I’ll try to keep you posted but lately it’s been either putting up a post or working on the novel. The novel has been winning out. Yay.

Okay last bit, I was looking for new music the other day and came across this artist: Ben Howard – Only Love. I can’t stop listening to it. Check him out.

Best,



L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 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.

Water By The Spoonful - Quiara Alegria Hudes

Last night I went to see Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes (in previews at Second Stage) and what a play. It won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and I can see why. It’s both heartbreaking and funny. The parts that really made me laugh hard are those very Latin-ness sections. It could have been my family we were talking about and it felt so real and so present. I came away from this piece feeling inspired. I write these words with tears in my eyes because loving theater the way that I do, I always struggle with what my voice is for the stage. And last night, right there, up on that stage was a voice that felt real and contemporary and Latina. I have big happy tears and I’m so glad I went to see it. I won’t pick it apart the way I do other plays, there is always room to refine sections but this play is a rich cohesive piece. Actors Liza Colon-Zayas (Odessa) and Zabryna Guevara (Yaz) are shining stars in this piece. It’s so lovely to see a couple of juicy roles for these wonderful actresses to sink their teeth into. Ms. Hudes was in the audience last night and I went up to her during intermission to wish her my congratulations. If you are in the New York City area...get tickets before the play closes in late January.

Peace,

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 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.

Another Balmy Monday - Really? In December?

It’s a deceptively warm December day and I am in a quiet pensive mood. My sister keeps asking me if anything’s wrong and I don’t really have an answer. My migraine finally let up at around 10 pm Sunday night. A full weekend of mind numbing pain and then it dissipated.

I went for a walk, just to get some air, in Bryant Park earlier. The ice rink is up and I’d like to go ice skating one of these nights after work. Tonight is yoga night tho’. Brought my mat and a change of clothes and heading for a Vinyasa studio after work. Just need to stretch and move my body a little bit. Just enough to remind me that I have some muscles that work. Oh, this is a hot studio, thought it might be a good change since my muscles are so tight from sitting at a desk all day long. We shall see how it goes.

No writing for the past three days. Writing group is next week and I need to do some editing work on the new pages before I send them around. That will be my task this week. I can move quickly through those pages since I know what changes I need to make for the future pages to make sense (I think). I’m not exactly sure if that last bit made much sense but I’ll assume that it’s coherent.

Then next week back to the last 100 pages. I actually don’t know if that’s how many pages are left to be written but for argument’s sake that’s an approximate number. My manuscript will probably test me on that point but I’m going with the flow (for a change).

And then I’m going to let it rest for 4 weeks while I work on my next writing project, a play. I’ve been missing my theater roots lately and I’m itching to write a full length piece. Now that I’m an actual member of the Dramatist Guild, I’d like to use some of their resources to put up a reading in the new year. There is much to do but I’m not flustered. I feel calm and centered. Wow, how is that possible?

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 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.