The Five of Swords carries an important lesson: backing down isn’t a sign of weakness but a decisive action requiring self-awareness and self-reflection.
A tribute to the city I love to hate. Or is it hate to love?
How is it that I've reached my fifties and still don't know what I'm on this earth to do?
I'm the TV contributor on DSD's "7 Minutes With" podcast.
I got a new tattoo yesterday.
We went to Lake Arrowhead to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday again.
This week's low-carb menu.
This is what my life looks like today.
Aside from the usual, not much is going on at Casa West this week. But I did want to share something that’s making me happy lately:
I’ve run hundreds of miles, back and forth, on this path. It’s where I trained for my marathon in 2006 and where I developed the chronic achilles tendonitis a few years later that plagues me to this day. For a few years, Mick and I ran this path together (well, separately, because he runs much faster than I do, but together because we were on the path at the same time). But when we moved to Venice we got out of the habit. The distance to the path, though not far, required a car or a bike ride, and instead I joined a gym nearby. Mick pretty much stopped exercising altogether.
But our trip to Peru and our Wayna Picchu climb were good reminders for both of us that it’s incredibly important that we do what we can to stay in shape. I want to be skiing down mountains when I’m 80, after all. Though by nature I tend toward laziness and inertia, I can’t imagine not being able to do the things I want to do because I’ve allowed myself to become too sedentary. It’s no longer solely about my weight or appearance, it’s about enjoying life as much as I can, for as long as I can.
I’m happy to say that in recent weeks, Mick and I have begun running this path again. It’s great to have regular access to a gym and its equipment, but running outdoors is something that just can’t be duplicated on a treadmill. It’s harder, but it’s so much more rewarding. I’m getting close to running 3 miles without stopping to walk, which is my first benchmark for being in some sort of shape. Mick, of course, can already do it, and is working on his speed at the moment.
So that’s what we’re up to. Do you have any plans, big or small, for this summer?
In less than one month, I will officially be the author of a published novel. <Obligatory promo: MISTRESS OF FORTUNE out on February 3! Pre-order your copy now>
One of the first rules of writing I learned was “avoid cliches.” And so I bow my head in shame as I’m about to commit to New Year’s Cliche #1: LOSE WEIGHT.
I’d tell you my goal isn’t actually to lose weight but to get healthy, but I’d be lying. And I won’t bore you with a long lament about how I found myself at my heaviest weight of all time. The only reason that counts is that I stopped exercising regularly and started eating ALL THE THINGS. Food is really good, ya know? And while exercise is good too, it takes a lot more effort than slathering a piece of bread with Nutella and shoving it into my mouth.
So there you have it.
What I will bore enthrall you with is a quick run down of my plan:
1) Adhere to the 80/20 principle (which basically means that 20% of the time I can throw most of the following out the window)
2) Eat a fruit and/or vegetable with every meal.
3) Avoid processed foods like cliches
4) Strength-training 30 minutes 3x a week
5) Walking/Running/Elliptical 30 minutes 5x a week
6) Whole grains only (or mostly)
7) Cut down on vino (this, alas, is the hardest one for me, as I LOVE my vino way too much)
Care to share your New Year’s goals? C’mon, you know you want to.
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