I heard a song that reminded me of Zumba class today. If you don’t know what Zumba is it’s a Latin dance inspired exercise program and for many years it was my only means of exercise (other than hiking). I love dancing but there aren’t really nightclubs around Monterey and let’s face it, I’m not a youngster anymore, and late night dancing would wreak havoc on my body. I have a 22 year old daughter that should be out experiencing late night dancing…not me. So Zumba filled something I felt was missing in my life. Between my foot, then my knee and now my other foot though I have only done it sporadically over the past 3 years and in that time both my favorite instructors left. Unlike other exercise programs…you want your Zumba instructor to be really good. I’ve had some horrible ones and it takes the fun out of the class.

Anyway, today I heard a song that reminded me of Zumba and I texted my husband to tell him I think I needed more Zumba in my life and then burst into tears. And I can’t stop crying. I guess I miss Zumba more than I thought. Although I suspect it goes deeper than that and now I just need to figure out what it is. Some plausible reasons:

1. My body seems to face ailment after ailment these days and I never feel like I am 100% as I was just 5 years ago. Consistent exercise is hard. Maybe I just need to power through it all.
2. My body desperately needs endorphins and I am actually experiencing a little bit of depression that I was completely unaware of.
3. During my very active Zumba stage I was friends with a girl and that friendship has since fallen apart and I link Zumba with her often (even though she didn’t do Zumba with me) so maybe there are lingering feelings I’m experiencing still. We never had any closure so that may have cropped up just now.
4. The simple answer may just be that I am PMS-ing hard. The more complicated answer may be linked with my feeling older.

Anyway, I scheduled a Zumba class this Friday on my day off and hopefully it’s just what I need. I’ll keep you posted.

Jennifer

well…I missed two days for a total of three for this month. i suck at this blogging every day thing! Right now I am suppose to be studying. I have three more papers due within the next 3.5 weeks. I have a 99% in my class right now and I don’t want to ruin it by dropping the ball this close to the end of the semester. But friends…I am tired. Of reading. Of writing. Of researching. I am looking forward to a few weeks break between next semester.

What I have been doing is binge watching a couple of shows. Luther and Jane the Virgin. I am obsessed about both.

If you haven’t watched either stop what your doing and watch them both!

Anything you are binge watching lately?

 

jen

This week’s menu:

Mini Vegetarian Pot Pies (from last week…I didn’t get to them until tonight) + salad

One Pot Creamy Lentils (also from last week…Nate and I had lots of other leftovers so I didn’t cook a couple of nights) + green beans

Thai Chicken Zucchini Noodles with spicy peanut sauce (I’ll be substituting Tofu in Nate’s portion)

Pork Enchilada Lasagna-making us each one so that we have leftovers so I can not cook one evening (substituting a different protein for Nate’s lasagna)

Kale soyrizo tacos + cilantro lime rice + grilled zucchini

Quinoa Broccoli Slaw with honey mustard dressing (I’m actually going to be substituting rice since we both are sensitive to quinoa and it’s upsets both our stomachs)  + chicken(fake chicken for Nate)

I also got a few things for stir fry in case I don’t have time for something more complicated. I love how it gets lots of vegetables in us:)

Have a wonderful week!

Jennifer

Isn’t this the truth. Trying to change the picture in my head.

 

Jennifer

I had another blog post planned today but then this devastating and heartbreaking event happened and I’ve been reading and watching the news and the blog post was forgotten. My thoughts are with everyone in Paris and the families of all the victims. It’s a sad world we all live in. 

Jennifer

 

 

I had a whole plan to post the first part of our anniversary trip story to the blog today but Monday got in the way.

The day started out with me struggling to get a sock on my foot correctly (took me 3 tries) and went steadily downhill from there. It wasn’t a bad day but just one fraught with annoyances and a busy-ness that didn’t lend well to me being able to get much personal stuff accomplished. I spent most of tonight over-thinking the essay I have due on Friday. And the more I researched it the more lost I began to feel about it. I have 4 more papers due, including this one and then class is done. I just need to try to find the strength to write 4 more papers.

So today’s post is really about nothing. Except me feeling overwhelmed.

Here is a mantra that got me through today:

Hope your Monday was better than mine!

Jennifer

reading: Eleanor and Park. And this website. I’ve been reading all her archives. Beautiful love story.

drinking: water, water and more water. I gave up all sugar, natural and artificial, in October and while it’s been life changing on most levels it’s also very boring.

listening to : Christmas music (obviously) but also Elliott Smith (who I’ve always loved but never just sat and listened to track after track) and Taylor Swift (no judgement!)

feeling: a little overwhelmed about the holidays. Always have such good intentions for activities and crafts and such but they never come to fruition. I didn’t even attempt December Daily this year.

watching: Re-watching Inspector Lewis on Amazon streaming. Nate and I are also watching Broadchurch (so we can watch the American version afterwards)

enjoying: the much needed rain of the past few days.

coveting: a GoPro camera. For a big anniversary trip we’re planning for July. And this Wes Anderson book (swoon)

making: a baby book for my sister-in-law (it’s her Christmas gift) of my niece’s first year.

planning: a couple of vacations. a couple of blog entries, a couple of days at the cabin at Christmas time. I am always planning, you guys;)

jen

A Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. I have read almost all the books in this series. I love them. I love the characters and the main police inspector. I dare to say these are almost as good as Martha Grimes’s books featuring Richard Jury. A few years ago I plowed through those at neck-breaking speed too, much like I am with these. Unfortunately this author has only written 9 books and I am on the 9th at this point (well when it gets returned to the library I will). This one though was my least favorite of all the books. It took me weeks to plow through it and I think this was 50% my lack of interest in reading and 50% that I didn’t like what was going on in the book. I tend to get attached to characters in series and when stories start  moving in directions that I don’t like I get upset. That’s what happened with this one. I didn’t like where she was taking the story and I just wanted the book to end and for the story line to go back a different direction. I kept hoping  that the ending would have some kind of redemption and make sense of the chaos she was bringing to the story & characters but that was not to be. I was left with “what the fuck just happened?”.

 

 

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny. Redemption! I loved this one as much as I disliked the other book. I just had to have faith in the author that everything was happening for a reason.

If you like mysteries where the violence and details are not gross with details (my mother-in-law hated the Kathy Reichs books for their very detailed description of wounds and such) then I would recommend these books. I became really attached to the characters in the first Book “Still Life” and they are a well written mystery series.

 

 

 

 

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore I had so many friends on Goodreads that loved this book that I was anticipating loving it also. I wanted to love it and there were aspect that I did really love (like the message of the book) but for most of it I was pretty much “eh” about it. Which is weird because I love mystery/adventure/secret society books a whole lot. Maybe I just didn’t click with any of the characters. Maybe I just don’t love Google enough. ( Or Amazon…and I love me some Amazon). I guess part of it is that I couldn’t shake the feeling that this book was meant for a much younger audience than me. It would do well with the YA age group and even though I’ve loved tons of YA books this one wasn’t one of them. My husband, who is a bit of a computer nerd, might appreciate this story much more than I did. I have recommended it to him but I definitely don’t think this is a book for everyone.

 

 

 

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham. This book is definitely for the Millennials out there. That’s not to say i didn’t enjoy  it but she’s definitely part of the “share everything with the public” kind of girl,  like most of the younger generation that grew up with social media, in their faces, all the time. But, I really enjoy her show, and I already knew she was a woman that put herself and her awkward/uncomfortable experiences out there. She definitely captures that awkwardness, of being in your teens/ early twenties, in this book. Many of the stories made me cringe. Many made me laugh out loud. Most of us though… we’ve been in her place trying to learn how to deal with sex and changing bodies and crazy hormones so even though her experiences were vastly different from mine…I could still connect (or at least my young 20-ish self could) with the stories she was telling.

Started: Instruments of Darkness. I won’t be finished with it by the end of this week though so I’ll include it in my November book post.

xoxoxo

Jen