Everyday Goddess

Welcome to the January BuckleDown

Fit October 2011 - unlike Fit October 2010 where I was a Health Ninja - was a bust. I'm big on giving myself enough time for things, and October was too close to the breakup/company's closing/new job trifecta of necessary adjustment. I could tell I needed more time spent relaxing and focusing on my new job, so I quickly let Fit October go to the dogs. I didn't want to get back on the health track in November or December, so Hello, January! (And Hello and Goodbye, Beer Belly!)

Welcome to the BuckleDown, which is up and running and already feeling good.

I toyed with doing South Beach Phase One again, and will *definitely* be monitoring Kalyn's Kitchen for South Beach Phase One recipes, but ultimately I decided to focus on portion control and Phase Two eating. In large part because I'm getting vegetable delivery from CSA California (my first box was very happymaking), and I'm going to be eating the fruits and potatoes. So no sugar/carb cleanse, just a return to consistantly healthy eating.

I'm using My Fitness Pal to track my eating, exercise, and progress. So far, it is very cool and works really well for me. And Vegetarian Times had a big article in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue about portion control. I may join their Portion-Control challenge which starts on January 15th. I'm aiming my daily calorie consumption at 1400 calorie's a day, but not being *too* militant about it.

In terms of fitness, which I seriously need to kick up a notch, I'll be continuing my mediation and yoga on Sundays, and adding 45-minute Firm workouts two mornings a week before work. I'm going to be rotating my Firm Basics tapes through January, and if I meet my workout goal, I'm going to reward myself with some new Firm workouts from Collage Video.

And I'll also be looking for opportunities to add in some biking or hiking.

But the BuckleDown is not just about fitness. It's also about my creative work. I have much to do! And I'm really looking forward to getting to it. This Saturday day will be my first personal work day of the year, and I can't wait! Really happy about my current choices and scheduling.

Also, with the dating. The dating is fun, and I expect to have a few new dates this month. If they involve exercise, movies, healthy food, and/or entertainment industry talk, all the better.

Now, this post was very with the linky, because I like to share what resources and products I use. None of these links were sponsored or requested in anyway.

January BuckleDown! WOOHOO! FTW.

Resolved in 2012: Ask. Accept. Give.

I love New Year's Resolutions.

I differentiate them from goals. My workouts and diet goals in January, for example, are goals. I set them short term and revisit frequently.

Resolutions, on the other hand, are yearly and more conceptual. I thought long about this year's.

For a while, I thought I might not have anything for this year, but that couldn't be. I just needed to work on how to articulate where I'm at and where I'm going. I'm ready to take on some pretty big challenges. And so, here it is. In 2012, I resolve to:

1. Ask for what I need.
2. Accept what others can give.
3. Give what and whenever I can.

My 2012 resolution starts with the hard part and progresses through to the easy bit.

Since arriving in Los Angeles in 2002, I've always tried to help others when I could. I've visualized throwing as many people up over my head as possible. And figured someday, maybe a hand would come down to help me up. Or over. Or just give a hearty shake. I'm not keeping track. It's not about tit for tat. It's not about expectation. It's certainly not about vested interest. It's about doing what I could when I could and being beyond happy if I was ever in a position to help anyone.

Because I'm pretty far down the entertainment totem pool, so really, it's a rare day when I can truly help someone. I'm very grateful when I can.

And I'm kicking it up a notch in 2012. Doing some volunteer work. But that's the easy bit.

The second part is aptly two-pronged. Accepting what others can give in terms of respecting where someone's coming from and what they are able and willing to give is fairly easy. I'm big on respecting what people say about themselves, and so what someone says about their current abilities and desires in any given situation, I would tend to accept naturally and graciously.

But, it occurred to me after I wrote the sentence, that there is also the actual accepting of something being given.

That's much more difficult for me, and starts to get to the overall point.

I'm very self-sufficient. And I can't get where I'd most like to be by myself. I've known that since film school, but never really said it out loud, in a sense. It's been the elephant in my usually empty room. It scares the crap out of me.

I once sat and listened to a panel, years ago now, where a director said that if you didn't have significant family and spousal support to become a director, you weren't ever going to make it. I didn't give up then, but I didn't really let myself hear it, either. The truth of it is that you can't do it alone. Not by a long shot.

I need to gracefully accept help when it is given. I need to be open to what others can and will give.

So, OK.

Then there's the biggie. The reaching out. The asking. The believing in the impossible and asking others to join the crazy team. Dreaming and sharing and saying, Hey, Here's what I think would be awesome, want to help? Want to join us?

1. Can you...
2. OK, That would be great. Thank you. And no matter what...
3. What can I do for you?

Happy 2012, everybody. It's going to be adventure.

2011: My Year in Quotes

2011 wasn't my easiest year, but it was pretty awesome in the end. I had many, many firsts, lots of challenges, and I learned a ton. Got a great new job I love, and really found happiness in myself and my life.

And, I decided that my paper calendars are here to stay, for at least a few more years yet. This year's is a fabulous pink color that I love. Gallery Leather makes some seriously beautiful products.

In February 2011 I said:

2011: This is the year I find a new full-time position, start plotting my move to Silver Lake, upgrade to a smart phone (is it September yet???), and... get a pad product with a calendar application I can use for 2012.

I did all these things! At one point this year I thought I'd actually make that move to Silver Lake, but still with the plotting...

And I won an iPad this year, so I learned that the size is OK to replace my paper monthly view calendar, but the functionality I need still isn't there. Basically, I need to be able to write on it. With my hand.

And a big reason for that is my monthly quotes. Throughout the year, when a quote comes to me, I write it across the top of that month. I never look for a quote to write, so some months don't have one.

Here's my year in quotes from 2010.

And here are my quotes from 2011:

January: "If you're going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

February: "Authenticity comes when you say and do the things you ACTUALLY believe. No amount of market research or trend data will help you make you authentic... in fact, it will do the complete opposite." - Simon Sinek

April: "I'm really tryna make it more than what it is, 'cuz everybody dies, but not everybody lives." - Drake/Nicki Minaj

May: "If we can be truly patient, we never have any problems." - Maezumi Roshi / "That tells us that all problems are problems of patience." - Karen Maezen Miller

June: "Go over, under, through!" - Tiny Fey / "I don't care if you like it!" - Amy Poehler

July: "Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo" [I call on infinite creative cousciousness, I call on divine wisdom] - the Adi Mantra

August: "Pale sunlight, pale the wall. Love moves away. The light changes. I need more grace than I thought." - Rumi

December: "Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you." - Maori proverb

Hello, 2012! I'm so happy you're here.

Books I Read in 2011

I am sad to report that I did *not* meet my annual goal of 24 books (12 fiction and 12 nonfiction) this year. By my way of counting (where I lump series together if they are easy to digest and I tore through them straight) I read 18 books (9 fiction and 9 nonfiction). Still pretty good, but there were nonreading months this year, clearly.

Hat tip to my friend Zandria who read 27 books this year. (How have I not finished Packing for Mars yet??? Someone sent it to me as a present this year, and I haven't read it yet, for shame. Definitely on the short list for 2012.)

And my friend Rebecca hit my goal (and her goal!) of 24 books for the year. Click her book category to see all the different books.

My previous lists are here: 2010, 2009, 2008.

I list my books in backwards order, so the most recent read first. A star indicates that I read it with my book club. My favorite books were 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13.

1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2. Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
3. Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life by Karen Maezen Miller
4. Sandman Slim / Kill the Dead / Aloha from Hell by Richard Kadrey *
5. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá *
6. Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
7. The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker
8. If Love Is a Game, These Are the Rules: 10 Rules for Finding Love and Creating Long-Lasting, Authentic Relationships by Cherie Carter-Scott
9. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan *
10. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell *
11. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey
12. My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers #1) by Rachel Vincent
13. Bossypants by Tina Fey *
14. American Gods by Neil Gaiman *
15. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell *
16. Start with Why by Simon Sinek
17. Dracula by Bram Stoker
18. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde *

I should mention that I do follow a bunch more comic books - Buffy, Dollhouse, Orchid, The Guild, House of Night... but it's difficult to list them here the same way I do novels and nonfiction. Y: The Last Man I listed because I literally sat down and read it all from beginning to end, thanks to a very generous friend who gave me all the books. Likewise, I read a fair bit of poetry, a lot of Rumi this year, but I didn't completely finish any poetry books this year.

Did you read anything awesome this year? Did you post a list? Link it up in the comments; I'm looking for 2012 suggestions!

Getting a jump on January

This December has been crazywonderful. I guess it proves the pendulum theory - last year was a crazyworkdisaster that dumped me out on December 23 like, Wait? What? Christmas? ---Swing The Pendulum--- This year I have a new job I love, a short commute, and I've been blessed with so many wonderful opportunities to spend time and give thanks with friends this month.

I crazylove my Christmas tree this year. I couldn't get one last year, and I just want to give my beautiful tree a hug every time I see it.

I usually make sure I have everything Christmas down and put away by January 1st so I can start the year fresh, but it's going to be bittersweet this year.

At the same time, I am totally looking forward to January. I'm thinking of it as buckle-down January - Healthy eating! Exercise! Meditation! And most importantly, diving in on the action web series I'm planning to direct next year, "Zero Sight"! SO excited to dive into all that, that I've already started.

One thing I'm planning to add to my routine is exercise at home on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Woke up this morning and thought, No time like the present! I'm going to rotate my Firm Basics tapes from The Firm (3) through the end of January. They are only 45 minutes, and a great warmup for the more hardcore tapes. This morning I did Fatburning.

Because I have been enjoying the season people. There has been delicious consumption, and there has been weight gain. In fact, I feel like I've been eating crazy ever since my breakup in August. Time to cleanse!

I'm going to do my modified version of Phase 1 in January (where the focus is on cleansing myself of sugar and carbs, and not so much on intense weight loss), and vegetables are the name of the game. I'm going to try ordering a CSA box every other week from CSA California, so I figured, why not start that next week? Can't wait to get my first box!

And finally, I've been making lists and setting up notebooks and thinking and talking and breathing "Zero Sight." More about that to come...

Until then, I'll continue enjoying this beautiful season when I have been so blessed. Happy Holidays, everyone! Good solstice. May you have a wonderful new season to come.

pic from Tourism Ireland