What's New

Alright, so I got over yesterday's ennui and worked for most of the afternoon.  But while working on this morning's Morning Pages (which I am insanely fastidious about doing) it occurred to me that maybe yesterday's boredom and frustration came about because I had kind of hit a wall with work.  I did allow myself ten minutes to rearrange the kids' art room yesterday, but that really just amounted to cleaning up and moving a table.

I needed more.

Yes, I realize I have a cushy life.  Yes, I realize that the wall I hit with work isn't too far out there.  But rather than just ignore it by shopping/overeating/pushing myself until my back seizes up, etc., I'm getting better at noticing when I actually do hit it, and saying, "Hey, miss jenny-jen, how bout giving yourself a break today?"

And why not?  I work a lot.  I do good work.  And it's okay to rest and play.  In fact, it makes me better at work.

So that's what I did today.  This post is just a smattering of things tickling me fancies lately, things about play and rest.  Here goes.

Guilty broadcast pleasure:  Jillian Michaels' new show Losing It.  I haven't really followed weight loss shows, but somehow saw this one on tv one night, and now I've seen all of them On Demand.  I think, secretly, I want Jillian to come and yell at me.

I mean, hello.  Also, I like how she yells at people until they breakdown and start screaming at themselves and their spouses.  It pleases my more sadistic parts.

Those pelvic bones are a bit scary, though.

Also, and this is a little embarrassing, I've been kind of motivated by the show, and have been "hitting the gym."  I'm not really a person who says or does things like that, so much, but here you have it.  My new best friends:

The weird thing is that, for the first time in my life, I'm enjoying running it.  I did it for a while last summer, but didn't really like it.  Or don't remember liking it.  But I'm kind of liking it now.  Though I make no commitments.

Jillian wouldn't like that last part.  She'd yell at me until I broke down and committed.

Also, our new carpet looks hideous in that photo.  I'm realizing that it might, in fact, be hideous.  But it hides dog puke, coffee stains, cat hair, and kid detritus.  So it works for us.

Next.  A tiny, wee addiction to Land's End Canvas.

This is particularly weird because I had mostly given up on buying new clothes, hated the idea of buying clothes on the internet where you can't try them on, and always thought Land's End was kind of boring.  But their Canvas line isn't boring, it's cute, and they just had a gnarly 75% off sale, and you could ship everything back for free, and so I did, in fact, buy some new clothes.  And when I want to veg out I go and look at their website.  Their new fall stuff is there.  Sadly, it's a little boring right now.  But I bet it will get better.  And cheaper.

Don't even get me started on how I veg out on this site.  I even tried to copy this dress, though I'm not sure how well I did.

I did some sewing today, and have a new box ready for Nest, including some final summer dresses like this one.

Sorry the color is weird.  I'm still figuring out the photo software on this new thing:

My brand new, finger-print covered macbook pro.  No, smart-asses, I am not a designer, or hip.  But I did get tired of my old PC, which only lasted two years before taking twenty minutes to load websites. I'm not kidding:  the day after I got this thing set up, the Outlook on the PC shuddered and died.

And you know how I need my Outlook.

But I like Entourage even better, and the Mac better, and it has made my life better.

Not that new things always do.  They don't.  I'm wary of the shine on the new.

But sometimes it's sweet, too.

Hope you have a sweet weekend, with a little shine.