Sabrina Beachamp and the Sorcerer’s Soap

Last night I wiped out* HARD running, the first time I have really done that, ever. And today, sitting on my bum all day, half cocked sideways to avoid my right hip? Eek.

So tonight, I treated myself to a bath, which, hell, I do every other morning and have written about before. BUT, this time I added, not only bubbles, but also a glass of wine (red, which I’m not so sure about with the heat of the bath, next time I will try champagne (or, more likely, it’s cheaper, trashier cousin, cava)), a tiny little piece of bitter dark chocolate (in this cooking class I took the instructor raved about how one tiny piece of bitter dark was as satisfying as a half-pound of milk; verdict = um, no.), and Harry Potter.

I have resisted Harry Potter, for, lo, these many years since he took hold of readers everywhere. I developed my resistance to NY Times bestsellers when I used to review them for a now-defunct women’s website and HOLY COW, the stuff that passed for readable? “She’s Come Undone,” do not get me started (no offense if you liked it, plenty of people decry Joan Didion, one of my favorites). Oh, the swamps of ill-begotten metaphors and teenage logic I had to trudge through.

See, I am completely thrilled to read crap that is sold as crap (Sidney Sheldon and Dominick Dunne, I heart thee), but I hate reading crap that is sold as Literary when it is actually Crap. You know?

In any case, I have finally succumbed to my family’s urging and taken up Harry. At first I was nonplussed, yeah, this is fun and I read the first one in about 45 minutes, but what is the Big Deal? BUT, now I am heading into book 3, and I have to say, I am hooked. So much so that my fingers and toes got extra prune-y in my bath, and I’ll probably finish up the book in bed tonight.

And that, for someone who reads contracts and regulations all day and comes home with tired eyes, is MAGIC.

*This reminds me that my first two 45s ever? “Wipeout” by the Fat Boys, and Boy Meets Girl, “Waiting for a Star to Fall.” Oh, the awesomeness.**

**Now THAT reminds me that my first musical purchases were 45s. I AM OLD.***

***Which reminds me that I cannot believe NKOTB is staging a come-back. Has anyone heard their new song? Any good?

The Final Frontier

Dude, it has been SEVEN WEEKS since I had a full weekend off. Now I understand why sometimes we don’t hear from Miss Doxie for months. Being a lawyer certainly can suck.

I can’t believe I worried a few short months ago about being able to fill all the space left by The Boy’s abrupt departure from my life — ha, suckah!

Now, I worry about how I’m going to fit in everything in.

In the end, maybe that’s a good thing, certainly better than the alternative, watching the hours stretch out in front of you like a prison sentence, right?

In any case, being stuck in my apartment for two of the weekends “on call,” I did manage to make some improvements to my living space:

Painted another nook (why can I not commit to an entire wall, only nooks?):

Painted my kitchen (an enlarged, nook, really):

Painted a paint-by-numbers frame that I fell in love with at $70 in another store and denied myself because that’s too damn much to pay for a picture frame and then later found on sale at $28, suh-weet!:

And then finally, this weekend, I had the full-ish weekend off, and Neeta and Kevin and I explored my neighborhood space, including the Good Microbrew & Grill.

It was so much fun just wandering around trying cumin cheese at The Cheese Store of Silver Lake and checking out the hipsters at Intelligentsia.

I felt ridiculously like some kind of proud mother, showing off my neighborhood to them, isn’t it the cutest, isn’t that the awesomest, probably it will be president one day and I’ve already started a 529 savings plan for it and don’t you think it has my eyes?

I’m not quite sure where my ridiculous love of my neighborhood comes from, but Neeta and Kevin didn’t seem to mind my motherly adoration, so no harm done.

I also finally caught up on Project Runway this weekend, and, um, am I crazy or was Heidi wearing sparkles on her lids this last episode? I had sworn off sparkly eyeliner, my favorite, because I thought it was passe. Can I resurrect? Please tell me yes!

There’s always space in my life for sparkles.

Ramblin’ On, In Lieu of a Decent Post

Oh, hello, is it Monday?

1. I am in a daze, people. It is a sad, sad state of affairs when you get the Blackberry message on Sunday morning at 11:30, when you’ve already been up for two hours SO ANXIOUS, to hear that you don’t have to come in to work that day and you WEEP FROM GRATITUDE.

I am too old for this crap.*

Also, when you have spent many, many hours at work and your poor family and friends call you to check on whether you’ve gone insane or not, you have a tendency, to um, ramble on. Because you’ve had no one to talk to all week except for your coworkers, who do not want to hear about your bed frame issues, they want to know, HAVE YOU FINISHED THOSE UNANIMOUS RESOLUTIONS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN LIEU OF A MEETING OR NOT?

OK, no one in my office yells (yet), but anxiety is high, dude. Would you like to check my blood pressure?

2. Before I blogged, I used to, um, have pretend conversations with someone in my head, you know, to work out how I felt about things. Try things on for size, pretending I was telling a story to a friend. You can refine your thoughts in the telling. I realized tonight, walking the 25-minute walk to the Trader Joe’s (exercise + chores, I am the Master of Multitasking. But only because I have to be.): now, IN LIEU, oh good grief, IN LIEU of a pretend conversation with someone, I write a pretend blog entry. Which I never post (see #1). Has this happened to any of you?

3. My Trader Joe’s is like, the mecca of hip. Oh Silver Lake, how do I love thee, let me count the cute, bearded boys toting reusable grocery bags. And you know, I am not. Hip. But luckily! It is also the mecca of WEIRD. In Hollywood, I felt out of place because my boobs didn’t reach my chin. Here, I can wear my glasses — which, HOLY COW I NEED NOW (I really thought I was immune to the curse of my family’s poor eyesight but apparently I just wasn’t doing enough due diligence) — to the store and I fit in. And I can trot out my 1979 Steve Martin Cruel Shoes baseball tee my lovely brother handed down to me and I am golden. Or wear my mother’s 1980 wool sweaters and skirts she bought in London when I was three.* I can be weird here.

4. I have yet to paint but the one nook (see #1), but I finally finished papering my built-ins (see above). I guess, looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, which is what you do when you posted a picture on the interweb, it’s not that exciting. But for me, each shelf represents a place, a period in my life (Paris, South and Central America, China (in dreams), Redding), and that shelf fourth down on the right full of empty vases? Gettin’ shoved aside in 2008. Ramblin’ on.

*Yeah, I turned 31 last Thursday. And worked ’til 11. SWEET. Also, I realized I’ve asterisked TWO ITEMS to remind you it was my birthday. Apparently I need some birthday wishes. I am 12. Well, 31, going on 12.

Happy 2008!

So what if the end of 2007 was rough? So what if I got dumped, couldn’t go home for the holidays because I had to work the whole damn time and spent Christmas day, my one day off, cleaning my apartment because I hadn’t been able to for a week? Who cares if I spent New Year’s Eve sleeping on the couch because I ordered (and constructed) the wrong size bed?

It is 2008, man! And I am so excited!!

Every day I wonder that the above is truly my view.

And Saturday, Neeta came over and we made my first fire in the new place.

And today, I accomplished a few of my ringing-in-the-new-year fun items, including yoga, a walk, blogging, and making dinner plus lunch for the rest of the week.

Dinner, which was Coq au Vin minus the coq basically, SO GOOD:

And the soup is still going, but I got to use my new, handy-dandy page holder Christmas present from my parents:

And for the rest 2008?

I have high hopes, as it sounds like a lot of you do out there in the blogosphere, yay!

My main resolutions center around my health and getting myself out there, but there is one real personal one I would like to work on: Getting Rid of the Guilt.

I think I’ve written about this before, the constant shadow, weight of guilt tainting the everyday. I know I’m not the only one. I shouldn’t have said this, eaten this, done this, thought this, ad nauseum.

One lesson 2007 has taught me, though, was a hard one. Guilt isn’t just something you suffer through internally. If you are like me, you vocalize it. To your friends, your family, your significant other(s). You seek forgiveness, even if it’s just for a wrong you did yourself, not them. And most often, they tell you it’s OK and help you move on.

But sometimes they don’t. Like elephants, they remember, they hold onto what you’ve admitted you suck at, or want to work on. Whether they’re your coworkers, your friends, your lover, your family, sometimes they remember and bring up later as evidence that you yourself believe you are lesser, so why shouldn’t they?

Thus my two-part goal for 2008. Lower the Guilt Level to yellow, and go radio silent when it comes to vocalizing it.

Anyway, I am super excited, and am looking forward to some travel, some getting out there, and some healthy living, all with a minimum of guilt this 2008.

Which, me being me, I inadvertently started out with the most decadent mushrooms you can imagine (for which, of course, I feel no guilt!), and the scrumptious recipe for which I share with you now, Coq au Vin, minus the coq:

Sauteed Mushrooms with Thyme

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small shallot, minced
1 1/2 lbs small white mushrooms, halved
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1/4 cup dry red or white wine (or water)

1. In a skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter with the oil. Add the shallot; cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to medium. Add the mushrooms; season with salt and pepper. Cook, covered, until the mushrooms release their liquid, 5 to 6 minutes.

2. Uncover; raise the heat to high. Cook, tossing, until the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms are brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the thyme and the wine (or water). Cook until the skillet is almost dry, 1 minute. Serve hot.

Serves 4.