Life/Inspiration

Last Saturday (August 22nd), I made a pilgramage to the coast. I forgot to regal you with details in my excitement about school, so here’s a brief outline of my exciting mini-trip!

First stop: gas station. I stopped in Calistoga to fill up Beatrice’s tank (which is much easier after the trip cross country during which we accidentally left the gas cover on the roof. I’m sure it’s started a happy new life somewhere along the Kansas highway…). At $2.29/gallon of regular, it was a bit of a torturous first stop.

Next I followed Petrified Forest Road to the famed Petrified Forest, where I expected to be awed by a dense forest of petrified and crystalized trees. Alas, this park was a major let-down! Hello! Since when does a petrified forest = 6 trees that look like rocks?!? The PF did have some interesting living trees, which I enjoyed (and photographed: soon to appear in Photo Gallery). I made three loops around the trail to get my $5’s worth, and quickly headed out in search of saltier waters.

After the forest, I headed west over mountains and down valleys and boy did I find the Pacific Coast! If you check out this map you can get a better idea of where I was. Starting at Goat Rock Beach I drove South to Bodega, stopping at just about all of these beaches (in the opposite order):
4. Bodega Head
5. Bodega Dunes
6. South Salmon Creek Beach
7. North Salmon Creek Beach
8. Miwok Beach
9. Coleman Beach
10. Arched Rock Beach
11. Carmet Beach
12. Schoolhouse Beach
13. Portuguese Beach
14. Gleason Beach
15. Duncan’s Landing
16. Wright’s Beach
17. Shell Beach
18. Blind Beach
19. Goat Rock Beach
The Beaches here are very rugged and wrought with various rock formations. I have to save some exciting tidbits for the upcoming photo album page, so I won’t tell you exactly what happened at the beaches just yet, but it was definitely a cultural Californian experience!!

On my way home (around sunset), I stopped in Santa Rosa for some crackers and peanut butter (and to check out the city a bit). Had fun getting completely lost downtown and decided I better get back before the roads became horribly dark and treacherous.

Saturday Night Fever struck and I decided to walk down to the grocer’s and hit up the local video store for some Personal Party supplies! Queen Motifa says: When you don’t know anyone else in town, throw a party for yourself! Ding! I purchased some tasty California garlic and chicken white pizza, some Mike’s Hard Lemonade, a sampling of Ben and Gerry’s Frozen Yogurts and How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days. I kicked up the pizza with some baby heirloom tomatoes from the St. Helena Farmer’s Market I had gone to the day before, and some leftover chix I had in the fridge. Yummers!! It was quite an enjoyable and relaxing evening! (Don’t bother renting that movie though, it was deplorable! The only redeeming feature was that Matthew McConaughey starred, and he’s frickin’ H-O-T. But, I can’t believe he accepted a role opposite Kate Hudson, whose performance was TERRIBBBLLE).

I’ve begun a new morning regimen (read: walk/jog/skip/leap/hiking) that involves waking up with a conscious effort to be happy. On my walk this morning I encountered an extremely large quantity of fauna in a 15 minute period: 1 deer, 1 bunny rabbit, 1 groundhog, 3 chipmunks, 10 butterflies!! Anyone can adopt this new way of being, all you need to know is that during one’s walk, it is imperative that one shouts at the top of one’s lungs “HEY!!! I’m ALIIIIIVEEEE!! (insert BIG grin and hysterical laughter here) I’m Alive!!!”. It’s a good start to the day.

The sun was really bright this morning–this is most of what inspired me to get up early and begin the “Don’t worry be happy outlook” (Or rather, the “Only-worry-when-effective-and-absolutely-necessary Outlook”). In essence, it’s a lifestyle change. Here are the main components:

“A” Acts
Acts of appreciating the world, life and me.Acts of appreciating the world, life and me.
I am Gumbo
A conglomerate of my favorite exercises– based on T’ai Chi, Yoga, Pilates, Butts ‘n Guts, Kickboxing, Absolute Abs, and some of Cindy Crawford’s favorite moves (I feel a special bond with Cindy since we have the same beauty mark above our lip). Motivating/relaxing music is an essential component for this routine. This morning’s music of choice: Pink’s Remix of “Get the Party Started” featuring excerpts of “Sweet Dreams,” Tatu: “All the things she said,” and I don’t remember the artist but the song is called “Sex Machine”–it sounds like “Get up! Get on up, ah! Get up, get on up-ah!”

I’m hoping to expand my appreciation of leafy greens. To this end, I would like to introduce to you !! Each week I will create (or perhaps compose is more the more accurate term) a new salad –and EAT it. My goal is that by bombarding myself with positive exposure to lettuces and vegetables, I will learn to love and even CRAVE them (crave–I know, can you imagine?!) We’ll see how it goes. Starting out easy:There’s much more, but I’ll have to continue later as my lemonade has rendered me quite intoxicated. Night night!