Halloween plans...

Not much... a little croquet perhaps...

Followed by some restful moonbathing at the beach... Perhaps with a Bloody Mary or two...

(fantastic art by Lucas Samaras!)

Whole lotta shaking goin' on!

Dang, that 5.6 lasted a long time! Dave & I were in the bookstore, and he kept saying to me, "Don't be scared, don't be scared." But I'll admit, I was. I haven't felt a temblor like that in a long time. Silly California, being all shaky and shit. Scaring us Chicago girls like that isn't funny!

Although, I will admit it was a good Halloween treat to have an actual spooking!

New shoes make a girl happy

I did it - I got my shoes! It was a beautiful, sunny day in Berkeley, and I'd just finished teaching a great class, had lunch with a fellow yoga teacher, Sarita, whose sunshiney energy is contagious - and decided, what better day to finally treat myself to a great, new pair of shoes. Even better - since this is "last season's" color, according to the guy at the Earth shoes store, AND it was their last pair in this color, I got a huge discount, and walked away (wearing the shoes, of course) having spent 25% less than if I'd bought them elsewhere. I'm sure that the combination of great weather, my yoga class, and Sarita's sunshine energy helped manifest this great treat! Yay, for new shoes - especially ones that are super-comfy, and super-cute.

Things I'm up to, things I'm loving, etc.

Wow, it has been a while. I hereby reinstate my dedication to this blog (for now - ha!). It's nice to know these things don't just disappear if you don't post in a long time. Thanks, Blogger friends, for making that so! ;-)

What have I been up to? you ask. Thanks for asking! Here's what:

• I've started teaching yoga - at a studio in Berkeley, no less. Yippee! Dave referred to me as a "yoga teacher" yesterday and I had to realize, OMG, yes. I really am now. Funny how these things actually happen. I mean, I made the effort and took the training and quit my corporate job and all that, but still. Here I am, a yoga teacher. (You can read more about it at my yoga blog: http://shapeshifteryoga.blogspot.com/)
  
• Still sending out my novel to try to get an agent. Mostly rejections so far, but I have started getting personalized rejections (oooooh!), which makes me think I'm making progress. Also made contact with a friend of a friend who works in film production who is doing something with my manuscript - ideally reading and then passing along to a top tier agent, or selling to Warner Bros. for a million bucks, but I dunno for sure. Keep yer fingers crossed, ok? If I sell my MS for $1m, I promise I'll add you to the Evite for my celebration party!
• Doing some freelance proofreading at an ad agency in SF when they need me. It's nice, mellow work for a nice, cool paycheck. I may check out some of the other ad agencies here sometime soon, too, to see if I can get added to a larger roster of freelancers. It's quite a nice life.
  
• Litquake was a whirlwind of events and readings and whatnot and yes, someday, I'd like to be a featured guest there :-) Kemble Scott's SoMa was great - just finished reading it. It's great to know that another SF (San Francisco, not sci-fi!) writer also just published a bizarre-sex novel set in the South of Market district. Hey! That's where my yoga-center-turned-sex-cult novel takes place! I thanked Kemble in advance for opening the doors for my book. Let's see if they stay open long enough to get mine actually published! Hahaha. I'll invite him to the launch party if so. For sure.
• Also - seeing Noah "Dharma Punx" Levine in conversation with Mark Morford was awesome!
  
• Boy, I've read so many good books lately. I should have one of those scrolling things on my sidebar that says what I've read this year. Maybe I'll start that in 2008. Anyhoo, here's just a few:
• SoMa by Kemble Scott - fetish clubs, hardcore gay scenes and lots of sexual ambiguity, yet a lightweight, fun read!
  
• Into the Wild by John Krakauer - wanted to make sure I read this before seeing the movie. Loved the book, but still think the kid was a dumbass.
• Natural Highs by Hyla Cass & Patrick Holford - a cool, well-written, very informative and interesting guide to supplements, foods and herbs to help with everything from brain power to mood stabilizing to sleep to connecting with the Divine (or just with the physical world).
• The Holy Goof by William Plummer - a biography of Neal Cassady. Great San Francisco moments, but man, the Beats were soooooooo whiny, self-centered and ungrounded. Where are our heroes?? (note: not here)
  
• And two GREAT audiobooks by Judith Orloff: Positive Energy and Positive Energy Practices. I looove Judith Orloff, and listening to her speak her own words is like having golden rain shower down over my body, filling all of my holes with love and light!
• What I'm currently reading:
• The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle
• The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller - a CROCHET book, you dirty minds.
• Foods that Heal by Bernard Jensen
• and the pile of "nexts" is too long to even mention
• BUT if you're so inclined to give random gifts of literary love (and I know some of you are!), don't forget you can always choose a treat (pour mois??? c'est groovy!!) from my ever-growing and ever-changing Amazon wish list ;-)

And now, since it's already started, a brief Things I'm Loving list:

• Um, reading
• Swimming! OMG. I'd been debating, since I quit the big G where I had access to a super-gym and treadmill pool, whether or not to drop fat cash on a gym membership or just try to make do with non-gym things (like yoga, of course, but also biking, walking, runni- oh wait, I quit running in June. So, like biking and walking.). But it turns out there's a public pool right by my house that's only $4 per swim and it's indoors, enclosed, and open every day! Yay for SF parks & recreation!
• Autumn shades of green: avocado, moss, celery
• Giant, autumn ocean waves
  
• Misty, gray, rainy days followed by super-sunshiney ones followed by misty, gray ones
• Bundling up in pea coats and scarves
  
• Boot season!
  
• Organic, sulfite-free wine - even better, biodynamic, organic, sulfite-free wine!
• Roobios tea. Suddenly, this stuff is everywhere. It's the tea of the moment, and I can't really understand or figure out why. Who's its publicist?
  
• Getting 15% off at Lululemon because I'm a yoga teacher - nice!
• Practicing Buddhist mindfulness. I would like to start going to Noah Levine's Urban Dharma Friday night meditations with Vinny Ferraro here in the city. We shall see. I LOVED meeting Noah Levine last week. He's a real sweetheart, a mellow, punk rock, Buddhist buddy kinda guy. I'd like to have him over for a veggie BBQ someday.
  
• Eating vegan. Yes! Well, vegan plus fish. Dave calls it "Surf 'n Dirt" - hahaha! But I feel awesome, really (besides, he's eating that way, too). It's very cool and very fun to have this new thing to experiment with, particularly with cooking and baking. Vegan baking is so much fun! Vegan cooking, though, is funner :-) Not just incredible salads, but all sorts of delicious soups and food combinations that we haven't tried before - carrot and sweet potato bisque, YUMMMMM; slow-cooked oats with maple syrup and Granny Smith apples - YUMMMMMM!!! It's a really adventurous, fun new world of food that we're exploring, Dave & I, and the best part is, it's totally delicious.
  
• Steamed lentils and brown rice totally rocked my world the other day, and I thought, whoa. I've crossed some sort of line.
• I think we're really hippies now.
• Even worse, I'm seriously considering buying a pair of Earth shoes. There's a super-cute pair of black Mary Janes that I love. Is this somehow punk rock? Please? I mean, really. Earth shoes???
• Don't worry, my hair is still jet-black. And I still wear black eyeliner and red lipstick.
• But still, here I am - Andrea, Spacegirl, your friendly pseudo-Goth fire dancer friend: now a vegan yoga teacher in Berkeley saving up for a pair of Earth shoes. Dear God, I have become my own punchline!
• Oh yeah, and I'm taking a break from fire performance for the time being. Nothing bad, just time for a break. Just soyouknow. In case you were wondering where all those fire posts went :-)
  
• Well, yanno, it's getting late and I suppose there's more to say, but since I'm re-dedicated to posting more often, you may see more things in the future! How fun is that? Super fun.
  

Doris Lessing wins the Nobel Prize!!!!!

Yeah, this is awesome news! She is one of my favorite writers and this distinction is well-deserved. YAY for women winning the Nobel Prize for Literature ~ YAY especially for old, wonderful women with deep creativity and sensitivity and long, LONG writing careers!!!

What wonderful news to start the day :-D

Here's what the NYT has to say.