Simple joys

Waiting at a red light the other day, I was kind of daydreaming and staring off into space ... I was a passenger, so this was okay. Anyway, there were two women walking at a leisurely pace along the sidewalk, probably age fifty-five and seventy years or so. I looked at the younger woman, her expression was so stern, almost angry. I met her eyes with my own ... and smiled.

She smiled in return. The simple gesture transforming her face from average to lovely. Her features suddenly seemed animated and young, and her dark eyes sparkled.

The light changed and we drove on.

Her smile is still vivid in my mind days later. Such a simple thing. I smiled at her ... and she gave me joy. What a beautiful gift.

Oh my!!

(c) Rosemary Gunn

It's been a long time since I've posted here!! Many apologies to my one reader. Laugh!!

A little Monday musing ...

Eventually you need to look at yourself and decide whether you will stagnate in the cesspool or walk out of the shit and become the beautiful human you are. Today is that day. You can do it.

Finishing up a couple projects. Will return soon.

Pillow hair ...

Okay that was just a teaser, this isn't really about pillow hair ... though it is about waking up. I recently came across a Chinese proverb:

When sleeping women wake, mountains move.

My heart quickened at the truth found within this simple phrase. I've read and heard many, many quotes throughout my life (some of which are written on the walls of my home), but don't recall ever hearing this one. Maybe I had heard it, but wasn't ready to listen to its meaning. I have been asleep for a long time.

I'm awake now ... and ready to move some mountains.

There's a scene in the movie Thelma and Louise where Thelma says to Louise:
"Are you awake?"
Louise responds, "I guess you can call it that ... my eyes are open."
Thelma says, "Me too. I feel awake.Wide awake. I don't remember ever feeling this awake. Know what I mean? Everything looks different."

This woman has been roused. I hope you're ready.

Sweating my ass off

and I mean that literally!

Soooo ... I've been talking about getting back into yoga. I should mention that my experience with yoga, while limited, is also quite intense. If you've heard of the P90X program, you know that YogaX is one of the hardest 90 minutes you will ever endure ... and I wasn't able to endure it many times. Forty-five minutes on my hands was killer for the wrists and pretty much eliminated the ability to complete the rest of it. I swapped out the YogaX for the XStretch while doing that routine. With all that being said, I did not do that version of yoga tonight, because honestly ... *shaking my head* I simply can't do that program again.

Anyway, my holiday stocking contained Jillian Michael's "Yoga Meltdown" (I have a photo, but for an unknown reason, Blogger won't let me post it ... bastards) and I just did it for the first time this evening.

Of course I cranked the heat up -- to I don't know ... Dante's Inferno! -- because it's winter here in Michigan! Just the thought of stripping out of my usual three layers of clothing to don yoga pants and top and NO WOOL SOCKS made me shiver. It turns out, upping the thermostat was completely unnecessary.

This DVD contains two 30-minute workouts and I went with Level 1. All I can say is, yes, the moves are traditional yoga poses ... but that's about it. This is a cardio workout and it kicked my butt. My hair was soaked and sticking to me. I was also slightly nauseous at the end, but that could have been from having my face buried in my filthy carpet. As I type this, my arms are still trembling. I loved it.

Not sure if I'll be able to do it again tomorrow, but the goal is every other day. Hell, it's a half an hour! It takes me longer than that to eat a decent meal. I've made bigger life-style changes than moving my body in ways that will improve my strength, flexibility, and mental well-being. I can do this for myself.

*rolling shoulders* Christ though ... my arms (and probably every other major muscle) are gonna be sore. *grin* I love it!!

Welcome Winter!

Yule. Winter Solstice. First Day of Winter. Shortest Day of the Year. Longest Night.

You can almost feel Nature taking that deep breath in ... pausing.

This is typically what I do during this time on the Wheel. Take that deep breath in, way in ... all the way to my pelvis ... release slowly, then hit pause. Repeat several times. Reflect on all that has happened during the past year. There's been great joy ... as well as heartrending grief. Extreme bliss ... and terrible loss. Yin and yang. Ebb and flow. I close my eyes and let the memories wash over my mind ... savoring wonderful moments ... and releasing the rest.

Winter may indeed be a time of quiet stillness, but it's also time for planning. The earth is barren and may even appear lifeless, but that's only on the surface. Nature is never completely idle. We could benefit from Her example. By all means, rest and regroup ... but also be planning for spring.

The darkness won't last. Already the days lengthen ... stretching toward the promise of spring.

Getting it right!

I've spent years trying to figure out where I'm supposed to be, what I'm supposed to be doing ... you know ... desperately seeking a true authentic self.

This would be an awesome blog post if I could shout "Eureka!" with conviction and share all the wonders of my discovery. Alas, that isn't exactly the case ... but I may be getting closer. *shrug* And really, isn't forward momentum an important element in finding our true self? I choose to believe so.

In addition to engaging in fun, intelligent conversations and surrounding myself with words and music and people who genuinely care for me, I've been eating well and walking daily.

There's also an unwanted squatter that I've been trying to evict ... my inner masochist. Maybe you have one of these in you as well. That rotten little voice that seems stuck on Repeat as it recalls all that you've done wrong, said wrong, thought of doing wrong, or actually did right, but perceived as being wrong, ad nauseum ... you know what I'm talking about. What a vile entity THAT is! No one -- and I literally mean not one person living or dead -- can beat me up like I can. *shaking my head* It is not a pretty trait ... and not one good thing will ever come of it.

Several months ago I managed to somehow fall into a website that has helped bring things into a more positive perspective and quite often has provided a bit of validation for the things I've been "getting right" all along!

So a shout-out to the creators and contributors at MindBodyGreen! What an inspiring website!



http://www.mindbodygreen.com/

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thirteen things I'm grateful for ...

1. Good health
2. An eccentric family that drives me crazy, but who are all decent humans I'm proud to call mine
3. Friends who are always in my corner fighting for me, even when I feel like throwing in the towel
4. Our growing business
5. Healthy food in my pantry and refrigerator
6. Fingerless gloves
7. A creative mind
8. Clean water
9. Technology (specifically IT) -- for better or worse, it has changed the way I live
10. To have been born in the United States
11. Daily walks that keep me sane
12. Words
13. Laughter

Broken

Fun photo shoot.
(Paying homage to one of my favorite songs and videos.)



Masks

With Halloween just a week away, it seems like an appropriate time to mention masks. There are all sorts. Mardi Gras masks. The silly plastic Halloween masks of my childhood.

And the grease-paint masks of clowns. So often, clowns are shown in such an unfavorable light that the vast majority of people find them terrifying ... myself included.

Most of the time.

The ones that always tug at my heart though are the truly sad ones with their painted on smiles.

By the way, if you follow me on Facebook, I'm taking a break from that social networking site for a while as I concentrate on finishing up some works in progress. So if you send a request or such, please be patient.

I'll be back though.

Right now

Haven't done this in a while. Five things I'm into right now:

1. Hula-Hooping (What's not to love, right?)
2. Twisted By Love by Jasmine Haynes (Fascinated by reincarnation)
3. Kenny Chesney's Come Over (Well ... it's KChez without a hat ... and a sexy chick without much of anything)
4. Sudoku (for pre-beginners!)
5. Non-scary Halloween movies ('cause I'm a wimp)

Out with pretty ...

And in with practical.

Yep, when the temperatures fall to the low 30s, it's time to say bye-bye to the cute summer feet and pull on the warm woolies.

Good Evening!

Welcome to Autumn! I can hardly believe we're already a week into this gorgeous season with the added bonus of being the host of my two favorite holidays: Halloween and Thanksgiving. I've heard Autumn referred to as the evening portion of the Wheel of the Year. I love that! Evenings to me are about settling down, reflecting on the day, then letting go.

There are also the fun things that come along with the cooler temperatures ... like football (I even updated my profile photo to illustrate where my loyalties lie ... *shaking my head* Can't help who ya love, right?), bonfires, sweaters, and cider mills ... maybe even a hayride. (<< The link will take you to a little partial flash from a while ago. Sexy fun with Kit and Ethan! **I'm noticing several photos from my blogs are simply not showing up anymore, so I apologize for the missing eye candy.)

A couple of things are currently in the works -- I know they've been "in the works" for oh-so-long, and I thank you for your patience as my life jerks the reins from my hands and runs wild! I've been doing the read-through/revision/expansion for the re-issue of Hearts A Plenty and am really [really!] anticipating it going live again in late fall! YAY!!! Followed in the spring with the release of Tattered Hearts.

I had no idea just how dear to my heart this series would become. When the idea for Vintage Love first came to me, it was fairly straightforward ... small town, sexy people, lots of secrets. Originally it had been planned as a trilogy to begin with Frank Britton and Lydia Sharp (Salvage My Heart, now VL #3), followed by an as-of-then list of characters I wasn't really sure of. Then the Thanksgiving challenge was issued and I decided to have Hearts A Plenty begin the series with a steamy m/f/m introducing Claire Mason, Jared Young, and Mark Pierce. That would be followed by Stella James and Eric Mason in Tattered Hearts, then Frank and Lydia's story, before finally winding up the series with Reclaim Her Heart, a m/f/m f/m/m featuring Charlotte Britton, Gabriel Mason, and Quinn Parker. Yes, the small midwest town of Awry has burrowed deeply into my heart. Looking forward to sharing it with you!

Also on the drawing board are several Bedtime Stories featuring Bicycle Built For Two, and Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, as well as "loading the toad" for Three Men in a Tub and Waltzing Matilda.

And on that note ... I wish you a wonderful evening!

Delicious ...

Those who know me well, know that my favorite color is green ... though there is one exception that most probably wouldn't suspect. Panties! Slipping into a pair of fun, sexy pink skivvies never fails to make me smile ... or slipping out of them if need be.

I also love testing the resilience of muscle with my teeth. The hard curve of a bicep or pectoral ... or hip flexor ... mmm. (Zero calories too!)
 

What are some of your naughty pleasures? A sexy lotion or perfume? A piercing/tattoo no one would suspect? A handwritten note from your lover?

 

Come on ... don't be shy.

Just DO IT already!

If we're lucky, we know just how wonderful it is to have an orgasm on a regular basis. When people tell me they haven't had sex in weeks, months ... or YEARS even, I am sad for them. I love sex! It's not just about inserting Tab A into Slot B though. It needs to be fun ... and most importantly, it needs to end in a climax.

As if a toe-curling, mind-numbing orgasm in and of itself isn't reason enough to engage in sex with a partner or have your own party for one on a daily or every other day schedule, here are a few more reasons to start penciling in some quality bedroom time.

• Kick insomnia to the curb ... naturally. (Tossing and turning in the wee hours? Grab your partner ... or let your own fingers do the walking. Nothing settles a restless mind like an orgasm.)
• Reduce the risk of prostate cancer. (Okay, I couldn't find any hard data *tongue in cheek* to support this claim, but there were several websites that swore that a high ejaculation frequency decreased the risk of this type of cancer. *shrug* I say it's worth a shot!)
• Reduce stress. (Sexual arousal tenses muscles, but orgasm causes complete relaxation.)
• Get some more cardio into your day. (The heart rate during climax increases to that of a vigorous workout. Sure beats 15 minutes on the treadmill!)
• Boost your immune system. (Having an orgasm 1-2 times a week has been shown to increase antibodies by 30 percent, though supposedly more than that will cause you to lose the antibody benefits. Since one or two are not nearly enough, I'll continue with the multi-vitamin and take my chances. *grin*)

Veggies ... with a side of veggies, please

If you follow me on Facebook, you have heard me talking about a pretty significant lifestyle change that occurred just about three months ago. My husband and I switched to something called a "plant-based diet," which for all intents and purpose was Vegan. And we switched over completely from one day to the next. We eliminated meat, dairy, and eggs. If it had a face or a mom, it was out.

For I'd say a solid two months, that's how it went too, with a couple areas that I would let something slip in. I'd have a piece of cheesecake or a couple of Girl Scout cookies.

I cooked some amazing food too. There are a lot of really helpful websites with easy to follow recipes: www.veganhousewives.com, www.dailygarnish.com, and of course the website based on the documentary that got us going down this road, www.forksoverknives.com. Some I followed precisely, others I added a little of my own flare to; but either way we've eaten some delicious meals. Still learning new tips and tricks to make things easier and faster.

Then it reached a point where I was simply tired of cooking every single night. I've had a lifetime of either throwing the packaging away after the meal or just leaving the restaurant. Not that I haven't cooked throughout the years -- of course I have. It's been comfort foods that I could make with my eyes closed though. These meals I'm creating now consist of ingredients I'd never even tasted, much less actually cooked with. "Smart Ground" and Tofu. Silk brand dairy products. Tofutti. Yep, all new.

And there were other things that tripped me up at first. Like wanting to bake a dessert or something and not having a specific ingredient ... like an egg replacer. Or something like powdered maple syrup, which I never actually found. I just used brown sugar. [shrug]

This brings me to another point ... sticker shock at the grocery store. O.o At least initially. It was also a little discouraging to spend a hundred bucks at Kroger and have nothing at the end saying "You saved [this much] on your order!" Over these months, I've become more familiar with what's available and what works for us as far as taste, cost, and life of opened products, so we're wasting much less in terms of leftovers and such. Thankfully. No one wants to throw out food ... especially when it costs so much these days.

In the first several weeks, hubby and I each lost about ten pounds. I went on to lose about three more and Rog lost another 8-10. He's staying pretty consistently around that weight, but I have gone back to about ten overall pounds lost.

During the last month, I've really struggled with having no dairy. There are some things that just taste better with cheese: nachos, pizza, and lasagna. I realize that cheese is high in cholesterol and that's one reason I have tried to stay firm against eating it ... at least too much. I have not been doing too well the last month though. Plus it's ice cream season. But ice cream, like cheese, tends to have too much cholesterol, as well. And my cholesterol and our hearts are what sent us on this path in the first place.

One thing I don't miss. Meat. It's not that I don't love meat. I do. Or at least I did. I'm realizing though that meat is in a lot of stuff. Another thing I'm steering clear of is most processed stuff. WAY high in sodium and/or cholesterol. Even stuff in the organic and healthy areas of grocery stores.

For the most part, I'm happy with this new way of eating. I feel that I'm helping to undo decades of eating a diet filled with all the crap that everyone else was eating too. All we have to do is look around to see we've been doing something very wrong for many, many years.

I need to reevaluate where I'm at with this though. The changes I've made are good ones, without a doubt. It needs to become more streamlined and less work. Eating shouldn't consume huge portions of the day. I'm working on that.

So how do I refer to our way of eating? I guess I'd call it flexitarian ... but mainly because of the dairy products that tend to meander in more often than I want to admit. I'm still off the meat and eggs and completely fine with that. What I mean by being off the eggs is that I haven't actually eaten an egg -- like fried or hard-cooked, or in anything that I've cooked from scratch. I have eaten things that contain egg, though it's rare. A cookie or piece of cake, something like that.

I'll admit that since slacking on the dairy restrictions, my tummy doesn't feel as lean as it did in the first couple of months. Just bloated feeling and uncomfortable. Makes be wonder if it's really worth the short term deliciousness of the lasagna. Probably not. Need to dig back in to the recipes and get back on board. I loved the way my body felt during those first weeks. Healthier. Happier.

Next up ... a soft yoga program to go along with my daily walks and fifteen pushups. I feel that I've lost strength or muscle and I'm not sure why, but I want to regain it.

Then it's time to get my cholesterol rechecked. I figure it has to have improved since the numbers two years ago.

It's good though. There have been some slip ups, but this is life. All the changes that I've made have got to more than make up for any small sampling of the foods that brought comfort the majority of my life. Now please pass the veggies.

In the works

Yes, it's been a while.

After an interesting year of wild leaps and new adventures -- not the least of which was starting a company with my hubby, working hard and seeing it grow, I am happy to whisper (for fear of scaring off the somewhat timid of late Muse) that there are several projects in the final stages that will (hopefully) be completed soon.

Of course, there's Tattered Hearts, Book 2 in the Vintage Love series. Here we find Eric and Stella figuring out that to heal the adult pain they experienced while young lovers, they're going to have to meet it head on as adults. Together. The other VL stories are in progress, as well ... meaning they each have a OneNote tab designated for them and details are entered there regularly. The VL series will go like this: #1 Hearts A Plenty (currently available through my website), #2 Tattered Hearts, #3 Salvage My Heart (feat. Frank & Lydia), and #4 Reclaim Her Heart (feat. Charlie, Gabe, and Quinn).

I'm also working on a collection of short stories called Bedtime Stories: Erotic Retellings of Classic Rhymes. I'm hoping for at least two volumes, each including 3-5 stories.

YAY!!

While things are still quite chaotic, I am SO happy to be back at the keyboard doing what I love.

Something different

I'm not really a very adventurous cook, tending to stick with the old standbys. I realized this morning that I had kidney beans in my pantry, though I'm not really sure why. The only reason I can think of is that they were purchased when I was trying to figure out a way to add more legumes to our diet. Though considering they've been in there a year tells you how well that went.

Anyway, today I decided to try my hand at some homemade chili. Sunday afternoon football game and chili ... perfect combination. Since I've never made chili before, I didn't have a recipe and the internet offered over 5 million when I searched ... and quite honestly, I just don't have time to browse through that many recipes.

The back of the Bush's kidney beans offered a simple recipe with minimal ingredients. It was easy to make and absolutely delicious. Too bad my Lions lost. Oh well ... 5-1 is still damn fine. Maybe they needed some of my chili.

Digging through the dregs

I love garage sales. Hell, I love picking through other people's stuff regardless of the venue ... garage sales, auctions, vintage shops, old barns, resale stores. Even annual "junk" days -- when residents are allowed to throw away all sorts of paraphernalia ... and do they ever!

So Hoagie (the hubby) and I had already hit several garage sales and even bought a few things that we don't really need ... more books and a pair of walking stilts. [grin]

We were wandering around what we had determined to be our last sale of the day and not finding anything that we simply couldn't live without. How many board games and Santa Claus figures does one family need, right?

On the way out, I noticed several pairs of shoes and boots. I'm always on the look out for gently used leather boots and through the years I've found a few pair that made it worth my time.

The garage sale host had placed a chair nearby to encourage trying on, so that's what I did. These were perfect!

Later, my friend and I were sharing our recent finds with each other, when she says: Those are Frye boots. I replied that I had noticed that, but being the polar opposite of a fashionista, I really had no clue what that meant.

So I went in and Googled my new-to-me Frye Adrienne Button Boots and damn near fell out of my chair.

It seems these are not so easy to actually find. My eBay search garnered none and all the Web sites the search brought up, this style was sold out. What I did discover though was a fairly consistent price of $398.

Well, god damn. [grin] Not bad, considering what I paid ...

Ten bucks.

I think that calls for zipping up my new boots and doing some happy dancing!

Have you ever found something extraordinary among others cast-offs?

Ten years

There are many people with more eloquent words, but one thing is certain ... September 11, 2001 shook our country to its very core.

America. The land that I love. Heal our broken hearts. Restore our strength and hope.

Bless our troops and bring them home soon. Bless our President. Bless our nation.

Let this Patriot's Day be one of peaceful remembrance and healing.

Short circuiting

I got my first home computer way back in 1989. It was a Tandy from Radio Shack (not the one pictured here, but close) and I thought it was one of the most amazing things I'd ever owned in my life. I did all the tutorials that came with it ... and there were a lot of them. There was also a program that allowed me to connect to something called the Internet, whatever THAT meant. But it also allowed me to set up an electronic mail account, which enabled me to talk almost immediately to others who had these electronic mail accounts, too. No more waiting days or weeks to hear from friends. How completely cool was that?!

It seems like it wasn't long though and an upgrade was needed. This time I went to a computer store where they made the machine to my specifications. And so began the regular upgrades. I think we've gone through probably a dozen or more computers during the last 20+ years. Even had an iMac in there, which I loved, but the rest have been PCs.

Then came the cell phones. My dad had a mobile phone when I was probably an early teenager and, honest to god, that thing was like the phone Radar used on the TV series M*A*S*H. It was huge! One of my first cell phones was the Motorola i50sx with the Nextel direct connect. How totally awesome! I could talk to anyone at any time. I could even talk while I was driving down the road or in the store.

Of course as I write this on my laptop on the front porch with my wi-fi, snagging photos from the gazillion available by just typing a few words in a Google search, I gotta say all this convenience comes at a price. Not just the money either.

Don't get me wrong, I lovelovelove all the techy stuff. Hell, I'm an e-published author and proud of it. Those books were written on the virtual page and submitted via e-mail. I enjoy my Pandigital Novel e-reader and my Blackberry Tour. I have thousands of photos in Picasa 3, as well as backed up on a 1 TB external harddrive, that chronicle the lives of my family, especially my kids and grandkids. (Does anyone actually print photos anymore?)

There's TVs, iPods, DVD players, video game systems, and toys that just seem to make noise because everything has to make noise anymore. (I had a flash of the Grinch as I typed that:  That's one thing I hate! All the noise, noise, noise, noise!) I don't hate noise per se, what I'm getting sick of is the constant connection with everyone and everything. Like the Blackberry. That little device is almost never more than arm's length from me.

And because it's a smartphone that means the internet and all the distractions that come with it are always right there, too. Myspace. LinkedIn. Facebook. Blogs. E-mails. Goodreads. Twitter. And the lists go on and on and on. It's too much. Not only do you have to keep up on your own pages and profiles, it's just common courtesy to keep up with everyone else's as well. [shaking my head] I've decided I'm not doing it anymore.

There are some things that are simply required when maintaining a professional persona in today's market. For me, this is "Rosemary Gunn," my pen name. Having a Web site, blog, and e-mail are the minimum requirements nowadays. Myspace and LinkedIn got the ax quite a while ago. Up until a few weeks ago though, I had a personal Facebook profile, as well as an author profile. Then I deactivated the author profile and created an actual page. Then I just got fed up with the whole lot of Facebook madness and permanently deleted everything. Good riddance.

Then I got to thinking:  What if I fall off the grid? If I'm not "out there" networking socially with hundreds of people that I've never met and probably never will, what will become of me? When I mulled this tenative question around in the quiet of my mind, the answer that came back to me was this:  I will be right where I've always been. The words that flow from my mind to the keyboard to the page will continue to come whether I'm on Facecrack or tweeting at the top of my lungs. But I also discovered that they flow much easier when my brain isn't scattered in five, ten, and fifteen different directions trying to keep up with all the virtual Joneses out there. I simply can't do it. There are some very, very talented artists out there who seem to keep all these plates spinning effortlessly, while also cranking out book after book. That's awesome. Y'all inspired me to try to do it all.

But now it's back to my quiet, moderately plugged in existence. I like it here. I enjoy texting one on one, but I'm also getting reacquainted with the random telephone call to someone I haven't spoken with in a while -- using the land line rather than my cell, because the reception is just way better quality.

I love that all these different sites and apps are available ... so much that it feels like nothing gets done unless there's some form of post or status update. Life in 140 character bites or less is starting to short circuit my brain. They've been a lot of fun to play with over the years and, like I said, for a lot of people they can still manage to find the balance with their writing and other parts of life while maintaining all these online profiles.

I confess this is not the case for me. Lack of focus and attention span has gotten the best of me, so I bid farewell to the Facebook and Twitter. I deleted five e-mail accounts and a Myspace account that I forgot I even had. I also deleted literally YEARS of e-mails sitting in my All Mail boxes ... well over 10,000 in all. Why on earth was I saving these? It felt like a house was lifted off my shoulders.

Of course, I still have several e-mail accounts that must be maintained, but the number has literally been cut in half. Plus, there's texting. Not nearly as personal as a phone call, but it's one on one. It's time for me to find the balance again. That laid back comfort zone where my mind can settle and find the quiet.

For me that's writing my books, maintaining a nice Web site, and updating my blog regularly. (And I enjoy the Goodreads profile, too.) That works best for me. Hope you stop by often and visit.