I hope everyone is enjoying a peaceful day with your families - cook out on the grill today because it's hot outside and why would you want to heat up your kitchens more than you have to??? Sundays are for rest, right?
I am energized by the flow of love arrows being shot at me...and my MOM cooked me a delicious dinner last night! We ate like kings and I feel good about nourishing myself through food and love and family.
As a bonus for your reading and listening pleasure, I thought I would include a video of my musician friend Tomas Cotik performing the Brahms Lullaby for his baby girl Yuni. This particular performance was recorded at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, TX. As I have had difficulty sleeping, I thought a lullaby was appropriate.
Lacing up my sneakers now and I'm going for a walk in the park! *shimmy - shimmy*
If you would like to know more about Tomas, visit his website at www.tomascotik.com
If you would like to learn more about West Texas A&M University, visit www.wtamu.eduGO BUFFS!
It's been a while since I've written you a love note, but please rest assured that I still love you more than the moon and the stars. I love my peeps in LA and TX, and boy do I have peeps! I never realized how my sparkles and sunshine put a smile on some peoples' faces. That really makes me feel loved, knowing that people are laughing at with me as I stumble my way through becoming a full fledged New Orleanian and honoring my strong, "Remember the ALAMO!" approach to life. I wear my Fleur De Lis pin with pride, like a badge of honor. I've earned those stripes now. I'm a whole person and the "finishing school" that I was enrolled in for the past 6 weeks held up a gorgeous mirror and assisted me in my transition into who I want to be when I have finished cleaning out my house.
I just thought I knew what it means to miss MY New Orleans. MY New Orleans is EVERYONE's New Orleansand that's why I love you, NOLA. You give everyone a gracious, southern hug and a hankie when he or she needs a good cry in the proverbial bubble bath. You even feed your "chickens" filling comfort foods and tight squeezes of the hand. To top it off, every member of the restaurant/hotel/hospitality industry is kinetically infused into the pulse of this city. Combined with the efforts of the N.O.P.D. and major shake-ups in city government, and I have a front row seat to a fascinating study in city planning. I am learning the world by observing your constant adjustments to your gumbo recipe.
Let me say this: I've always been a bit of a Nervous Nelly. I'm really shy and overcompensate with my loud, VIVA LE TEJAS! attitude. I have also spent my life with the knowledge that the world IS my stage. I just have a hard time differentiating between "front of house" and "back of house". I have a slightly better understanding of the pulse and mojo going on in Southeastern LA, but by no means do I claim to know anything except what my mom and dad, friends and family have told me and through my own experiences here.
Thank you, New Orleans, for giving me a TIME OUT! so I could tuck in my slip properly. During my time out, I learned a lot about myself. I really AM a Nervous Nancy and my doctors made me realize that a 5' 9" woman in her early 30s should weigh more than 115 lbs. Watching the movie BLACK SWAN stirred up some serious self-image issues that I had been mashing down in my Pandora's box of troubles.
I now have my own label and it doesn't feel good. I am an anorexic former ballerina who really needs to eat a sandwich. I'm working with my super-fab team of doctors and mi familia now to get back to MY TRUE strong, West-Texan tumbleweed roots, cross bred with your live oak trees, NOLA.
After all, I've always been a little bit Texan AND a little bit New Orleanian.
I hope you can continue to take me as I am, 'cause I'm not ready to throw in the towel.
Welcome to all my latest followers, please feel free to take a poke around and see what this site is all about - pretty much pure silliness, if you haven't already figured it out yet!
So, on this Sunday, may peace be with you (and also with you...), and may you find some way to carve out a little bit of time to replenish your bucket. Find a book, sit under a tree and read! You gotta have something going on while you are tackling that massive pile of laundry! (Wait, is that just me?)
Have a great day, fill your bucket, go on a walk and find something unexpected today. I promise it will make your week ahead that much better!
