Just My Cup of Tea

“She pointed this out to Mma Ramotswe, who laughed, and said that each of us needed to find just the right way to take our mind off our problems, and it did not matter what that was – a drive in the country, an expedition to a shoe shop, a quiet cup of tea under a cloudless sky; each of us had something that made it easier to continue in a world that sometimes, just sometimes, was not as we might wish it to be.”  -- Alexander McCall Smith, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party

Surfin' USA

In the past two years that I’ve lived in Rockaway, I’ve spent a lot of time watching the surfers on the beach, my little heart filled with envy. They always look so cool and like they’re having so much fun. (Especially when they’re hoisting their surfboards through the subway car on their way to the beach, and I’m dragging my tired self to work. But anyway…)

Ready to ride the waves!

On Saturday my friend Andrea and I finally joined them! We took lessons with Locals Surf School on Beach 67^th Street.  Our surfing may not have been as effortless or as pretty as the real surfers' looks, but we definitely had our groupon's worth of fun.

We started by learning the lingo and practicing our moves on land. Apparently my “pop ups” were sub-par and I was told I would “wipe-out.” Luckily we also learned an acronym, “CRAWL,” to teach us how to fall off the boards – pretty much what I got from that lesson was to cover my head right away and hope for the best.

Once we got in the water, I continued to wipe out. I’m pretty sure I got close to "popping up" a few times, but I never actually stood up before I fell right off the board. Oh well!

 

These surfers are not me. But maybe someday!

What I did learn, though, is that I am obsessed with surf culture and surf attitude. No matter how quickly I fell off my board, every time I paddled back out to the instructors, I’d get a high five and a little pep talk as they pushed me back into the wave: “I know you’ve got it! This one’s gonna be your wave.” Then, I’d wipe out again, but somehow, I felt so good about it!

The lesson ended with a talk about surf etiquette. How to know when it’s your turn to surf, paying respect to more experienced surfers, things like that. And we learned that the most important thing to remember in surfing is to “Smile. Have fun. Put good vibes out there and they’ll come back to you.” Words to live by if I’ve ever heard them.

 

I’ve got the good vibes part down, even if my pop ups need some work. I definitely want to try again – next time, I’m pretty sure, it really will be my wave!

 

 

One Fish, Two Fish

My mom never really cooked fish at home when we were growing up, so I always thought it was the biggest treat in the world when I got to order seafood at a restaurant. Then I went vegetarian for ten years, until I came to my senses and realized that fish is way too delicious to give up forever. Now I’m obsessed with seafood again. And whenever I manage to make a delicious fish dish at home, it's like all of my little kid food dreams are coming true.

To help me with my cooking quest, my genius-chef friend Sherry sent me a whole bunch of salmon recipes that she’s worked on with Good Housekeeping. I want to try all of them!!! For my August recipe-of-the-month experiment, I went with the pomegranate-glazed salmon. I substituted couscous for the bulgur, because I already had couscous in my cabinet... and also I don’t know what bulgur is. Otherwise, it was pretty easy, and it turned out DELICIOUS!

 

 

I made a kale salad to go with the salmon. Mine had blue cheese, cranberries, almond slivers, and was dressed in a light vinaigrette. I’d never had kale before, but I might just be a convert!

 

 

Who Runs the World?

I get so lazy so easily that I sometimes forget how much I actually like to work out. I mean, I like sitting on my couch and eating Cooler Ranch Doritos more… but still. 
 

I haven’t exactly been training like I should be for the marathon in Vegas in December. But the past couple of days I’ve gotten out and had some great runs. I always have to push myself to get out and start, but once my feet are moving, I’m so happy. I love the feel of sweat on my face, I love the sound of my feet rhythmically hitting the boardwalk. I love being able to tell myself – hey, look at me go!

My most of all favorite part about running, though, is listening to all my favorite songs over and over, until I end up learning all the words and making up dance routines in my head. (I’m an amazing dancer in my head.) As my runs get longer, I’m sure my imaginary dance routines will get even fancier. I just have to remember to pay attention to my running before I end up popping, locking, dropping down the boardwalk along with the music in my head.

Have to remember this!

My running playlist of the moment is called “I Got This,” inspired by Jennifer Hudson’s book about her weight loss. (If Jenny can do it, so can I, right?)

Top five songs in heaviest rotation right now are:
What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) – Kelly Clarkson
No Scrubs – TLC
Love Shack – Glee Cast
Million Dollar Bill – Whitney Houston
Run the World (Girls) - Beyonce

Things I love today

Sequins worn in the daytime
Beach volleyball
Running playlists made up entirely of cheesy pop music
Gold medal tears
Bouncy ponytails

All My Single Ladies

I’d wanted to try speed dating for a while but hadn’t mustered up the courage.  I’m very shy when it comes to meeting new people, so the idea of meeting a twenty or so guys at once was intimidating… but also kind of intriguing. So much possibility, and how nervous can you really get about a date if it’s only going to last two minutes?! (Also, it looked like a lot of fun when Reba McEntire went speed dating with her best friend on her sitcom, and I’m pretty sure she met someone cute in that episode.)
 

Sitting pretty, ready to date speedily!

Last Tuesday I finally went for it! I rounded up a few of my single lady friends and went to a speed dating event at Inc Lounge in midtown. Starting with our first happy hour drink, we had the best time. The four of us got to sit next to each other while the guys sat across and rotated every few minutes. It was kind of a whirlwind, but a fun whirlwind, where you had no idea who you were going to see next and what you’d talk about for the next two minutes.  With a few guys it was the standard “what do you do” and “where are you from” conversations, then with another it was two minutes about the Australian pop music scene. One guy spent the whole time talking about how he’d attended a speed dating event before, hadn’t met anyone he liked, but had been asked to come back by the speed dating company because he was “such a great dater.” He then repeated the story (with not even one hint of humor) to my two friends next to me, and later to another girl across the room.  Another guy, in a bid to be most interesting, made up a very involved story about his job creating new toothpaste flavors (none of it true, but I was amused).

We each got a score card to keep track of the different guys, but it was more fun to gossip with my friends as the guys moved on, so by the end I was having a little trouble keeping track of everyone. I didn’t end up with any matches, but I did have a lot of fun and would definitely give it another try. Maybe next time - speed dating in the South?!

The Middle of My Movie

If my life were a movie, I’m afraid it would be Bridget Jones right now.  I’ve been having a lot of clumsy heroine type of moments recently, moments that would fit right in to the middle of a Bridget Jones movie. You know, like when Bridget is trying her very best to get herself together, stop drinking too much wine and reading too many self-help books… and then she falls off her treadmill.

My most recent hapless heroine moment: I failed my driving test. And I failed without ever leaving the curb.

I don't know what happened. I didn’t even think I was nervous the day of the test. I was doing all my best deep breathing, positive thinking, cracking jokes with my driving teacher and the other student who was taking the test with me.

And then the test started. I sat down, adjusted my seat, adjusted my mirrors. I went to turn on the car and I have no idea how, but the windshield wipers came on. And, I freaked out. I had no idea how it happened, and no idea how to make it stop. Then the horribly mean DMV lady started yelling at me to “turn it off!!!” so I turned the car completely off… then turned it back on, and there go the windshield wipers again. So she yelled at me some more, and I did the exact same thing again, hoping I guess that it would go better the second time? (It didn’t.) Then, I just started frantically pushing and pressing every control I could possibly reach in the car.

FINALLY the wipers stopped moving, the car was running, and I got ready to pull out. I signaled left, checked my mirror, checked my blindspot… and I drove the car right into the curb.

And then the test was over.

So I have to wonder – what would happen to Bridget next? We all know she never becomes totally self-assured and graceful by the end of the movie… but she does end up with Colin Firth, who loves her just the way she is. So maybe there’s hope for me yet. Guess this mess of a heroine is off to schedule some more lessons…