too many books!

as usual, there are just too many books to read.

i just finished "prep" - great novel about high school, very genuine teenage girl voice.

currently reading:
- "anger: wisdom for cooling the flames" - a buddhist perspective on anger by thich nhat hanh. seems good for people who are just starting to deal with or read about anger. it's an easy read, with memorable metaphors and practical advice.
- "the wisdom of no escape" - more buddhist musings, from pema chodron. some are pretty funny. it puts me in a good mood to read this.
- "the sivananda companion to yoga" - a classic. love the '80s haircuts! but it's really a fantastic reference to the poses, breathing, and lifestyle.

but now that i've finished "prep," i'm eager for another novel. i've got four books in the wings (3 novels, 1 nonfiction), and just ordered two more (nonfiction). i am having this crazy craving for books, books, and more books right now. i need to stop! :-) or slow down, anyway. not stop reading, just stop buying. no more new books till i get caught up! you heard it here. it's a promise.

taking a break - soon!

ok, enough about my insides! on to the funner stuff :-)

what i was *going* to say last week but put on hold until i had told everyone that i needed to tell first, so they didn't, like, read it on my blog, is that starting march 1st, i am going to be taking a 3-month leave of absence from my job!! YAY!!!

this is something that's been in the works since the fall, but has been on my mind for much longer than that. i've been here now for four years and seven months, and it has been a pretty crazy ride. i am extremely fortunate to have started working here when i did, to watch the company grow like mad, and i am extremely fortunate to have been a part of so many great teams and product launches: froogle, adsense, blogger, answers, and most recently, google apps for your domain. my time on the training team has been invaluable. but it's time for me to check out for a while. like, REALLY check out. finish my projects, hand them over to someone else, disconnect from my corporate email and calendar, close the door, and go home.

"so, what are you gonna do? where are you gonna go?" everybody asks.

i'm planning on spending march in tahoe - if we ever get any new snow up there! we'll probably go to whistler for my birthday, and then spend april actually just right there in san francisco, enjoying the city. and then, some roadtripping around the southwest in may: grand canyon, arizona, joshua tree, santa barbara for lightning in a bottle...

but i am also planning on writing a lot. writing a LOT. i have three books that i've been trying to work on, but i just haven't had the time. although, i did get 12K words written of my novel while we were in mexico - that was nice :-)

and lots of yoga! more hooping and staff spinning. having time to spend learning some of those advanced poi moves that i haven't given myself the luxury of time to learn yet. meditation and reading. surfing. cooking. painting. sewing.

write in the morning, snowboard in the afternoon, read at night; yoga in the morning, hoop in the afternoon, write at night; meditate in the morning, write in the afternoon, spin fire at night; surf in the morning, write in the afternoon, paint at night... that kind of thing.

i am really looking forward to it, and i will be sure to blog while i'm on leave. there's a lot more that i can write about this subject, of course, but, that said, i AM at work right now and i need to finish up my lunch (banana & yogurt, it's all i can eat right now!) and get back on track. but i'll keep y'all posted on my whereabouts and whatsabouts. i promise, i won't just disappear.

remember that scene in "alien," where the monster comes screaming out of sigourney weaver's body?

it turns out that this "stomach flu" that's been plaguing me on and off for the past 10 days isn't really a flu at all, but more likely something nasty that i picked up in mexico - bacteria, or maybe even a parasite! yuck! i'll know for sure some time next week. in the meantime, i've got a prescription for cipro and doctor's orders to pass along my body's inner workings to a lab, who will determine whether my guts have indeed been overtaken by invisible little critters. ooh! life is interesting. but waah! i just wanna feel better. hopefully the cipro will work and i'll be better, totally, by monday. otherwise, we'll get to decide next week what other miraculous modern drugs they can put me on, to help blast the nasties away. isn't this fun??

damn you, montezuma! i never meant you harm.

no betta, no metta

alas, my stomach virus decided to still kick my butt, so i did not go to the metta workshop like i had wanted to. i didn't go anywhere, actually. i went to the couch, then i went to bed, then i went to the couch again.

please, let's get over this real quick.

oh yeah ;-)

this is news, too. dave and i celebrated seven years together today. (hee hee! can you believe it? i can and cannot, it's nuts). that's like... i mean, if we were a kid, we'd be in first grade by now. if we were a short-but-growing-out haircut, we'd be down to our bellies by now. if we were a new internet technology, we would be SO obsolete we'd be retro (hahaha! we had dialup when we met! i had that crazy old, green acer desktop. and an analog cell phone, really! OMG that is funny stuff to think about.)

so, cheers to us (we've already celebrated, it's ok), and cheers to all you young and old lovebirds out there. feliz navidad y prospero ano nuevo! ... or, well - you get the idea! love and all that yay-ness. pass it on.

mah belly & metta

dave & i went up to tahoe this past long weekend (i had monday off) for our first weekend back snowboarding this season. except... i got the stomach flu! :-( and wound up spending all of sunday and most of yesterday in bed and on the couch, not on the slopes. boo hoo!

oh well. the weather was, like, 14 degrees out, and we probably wouldn't have ridden anyway because it was too cold. but still.

i am feeling mostly better, but a full day at work nearly brought me to a horizontal position by 5pm. going to meetings, running between buildings, and running meetings seemed to be a bit much for my currently delicate constitution. i feel much better now, relaxed and at home.

thankfully, tomorrow should be easier on my tum. i am squeezing actual work and responsibilities into the early morning and late evening, in order to attend a day-long workshop (at google! yes, on campus, very cool) on metta meditation, or lovingkindness, with the highly esteemed sharon salzberg, who is visiting for no reason that i know of other than to teach googlers how to chill the fuck out.

it should be fantastic. i will post my - ahem - results as they make themselves available to me.

suffice it to say

patience and gratitude cure most relationship ills. and humility and apologies :-) and kisses!

party cow, i am honored that you care. don't get yer panties in a bunch, though - my news will really not be that exciting to you. i am just being dramatic because i like to see you squirm.

thank you!!!

i am so happy and grateful right now.

peace and love and ... well, peace and love. that's all.

the hidden truth

i had that dream again last night where it turns out my mother is an alien.

it went a little longer this time, but still didn't get too in-depth with the explanation.

also, weird dream about partying in thailand, which i've never done. yet.

happy hump day

heh.

i am up and down and all around.

the good:

• yoga! yay for monday vinyasa with a new teacher; yay to be back with kim for her great hatha on wednesdays. yay for vital stretching and renewing!
• Adrenal Health "Liquid Phyto-Caps" and Adrenal Support Tonic Eleuthero Licorice Compound... scary words, but they are doing something good, finally, for my poor, maxed-out, stressed-out adrenal glands.
  
• weekly craniosacral with mia
  
• weekly integrated awareness with carole
  
• weekly counseling sessions with cezanne
• daily meditating on the shuttle, with my brainsync MP3s
• sleep, deep deep reviatlizing sleep on my wonderful, dreamy bed
  
• seaweed power wraps from rainbow grocery
  
• fresh-squeezed juice from slice! ("rock & roll" - carrot, celery, tangerine, and beet tonight was my favorite so far.)
  
• slice, any time i can get there to hang out
• wearing scarves
• avocados, one a day
• OMG - chai tea kombucha!!! why have i not made this before??? this is my next batch, for sure! the yummiest ever!
• red wine, yes, that too.
• my li'l cosmo kitty
• positive, forward-facing thoughts, consciously reprogramming my brain
  
• gratitude
• stretching my hamstrings and my hip flexors
• fluffy pillows
• tempur-pedic everything
  

the bad:

• lots of work, lots of deadlines, lots of expectations and responsibilities - lots of running between buildings that are almost a mile apart, 12-lb. backpack in tow
• it is damn cold right now. (i could, of course, change this by closing the door, but kitty will mew mew mew to go out if i do, even though all she really wants to do is sit inside next to me and stare out the door. she wants the option to run out if something exciting occurs, i understand that. still, it's damn cold.)
  
• our photo shoot - we are getting back some pictures from the freezing-ass night at mclaren park. they are pretty good, in fact, many to come will probably be fantastic... but why is craig wearing blue and silver in all of our red & black photos?? and why are we only noticing this NOW? oh, yikes. who sent the memo? were we drunk??

the ugly:

• eh, not much really ugly. some is pretty ugly, though - my stressed-out body is all kinds of whacked, and my brain ain't too far behind, not to mention my poor, dear relationship and my ability to handle an ounce more pressure right now. yikes!! that is why the absurdly high-maintenance plan (see "the good," above) is in the works.
  
• how did i ever get to be so sensitive? (not that that's ugly, mind you - just curious)
• oh wait - I KNOW WHY! :-) read the three articles if they resonate - they may be very helpful!!
  

but the best news - ehh... i can't blog about it yet! don't worry, it's not that huge of a news story, it's just that i haven't told everyone yet - i'm not getting promoted, i'm not quitting... i haven't won the lottery, i haven't bought a house, i'm not joining the peace corps, and jeebus chrissums, i am NOT getting married just yet (read "the ugly" above! :-( and send us some love and healing vibes if you get a chance, btw) - so, chill out! please. sorry. (yes, anger management and impatience are a couple of those big things i'm working on.)

anyway, if i have run into you recently, i have told you - the rest of y'all, stay tuned - there are other people i have to tell first, before i tell the, um, blogosphere.

buenos noches, for now.
love,
spacegirl, your ever-ready but oh-so-sleepy intergalactic truth-and-knowledge seeker

back to life, back to reality

back to the here and now, yeah! (pu-leeeze, people, soul II soul, NOT en vogue! ... damn, i am old - but really, you should know better)

happy new year! ok, yeah, i'm a week late. sorry! i was on vacation and there's all this other stuff going on that i have been dealing with, but more on that later.

forgive me?

as for 2007, here's the good stuff we're starting with:

• christabel's affirmations
  
• marilyn manson is available again, yee-ha! calling all SPF 50+ bikini-clad, absinthe-drinking goddesses - you know who you are. get yer myspaces updated!
• blogger custom domains! OMG! yay, finally! this means i can get "cats & tats" up and running without having to deal with FTP uploads? the universe is niiiiiice sometimes.
  
• violet blue, blogger for life: hilarious - check out her new tattoo! this girl is dedicated.
  
• babes with books - heehee - this one made me giggle .... ok, i will grant that most of these pics are too posed, (i could go off on a serious rant here, about the absurdity of posing girls with overspilling cleavage pretending to read books that they can't even pronounce... but ... big sigh, i will refrain for now...) because *anyway*, yay for cute pictures of hot girls reading books! or pretending to read. or pretending to know what a book is.
  
• bed. yes, my dear, sweet bed. you are the coziest, the most comforting ever. i love you eternally.