Searching for 50 pearls of wisdom!

So after listening to your tweets and comments, I am SO pleased to announce that the pearls of wisdom are back for 2010.  I would love love love to have 52 pearls for this year, and post one a week as a regular feature.  I have a couple of pearls from last year, but I need about fifty more! So in order to do that, I need your help.  Won't you please submit a pearl of wisdom? I know many of you submitted some, but you can still submit more.  And if you have not submitted one yet, please consider submitting one.

By pearls of wisdom, I mean things you really wish you had known earlier in your life. Think of it as writing a postcard to your 22 year old self, or your 17 year old self, or your 13 year old self, or your 30 year old self - the only requirement is that it has to be an age you are not currently at. It could be an age in the past, or in the future. Please send submissions to citygirllifestyle at gmail dot com and be sure to include how you want to be cited {this is especially important if you blog anonymously} - you don't need a blog to participate either.  Please also feel free to send pictures with your pearls {whether your own or pictures you like that can be reproduced under Creative Commons licensing}. When you were submitting pearls last year, many of you have said the exercise was any number of the following: powerful, cathartic, fun, unexpected. 

Not convinced? Here are more links: 
*More background on the pearls project
*Pearl prompts
*All of your pearls from last summer


Photo credit here (thank you Melita for discovering it).

Antidote for the Monday Morning Blues

I do not usually have the Monday morning blues - but the combination of cold weather and back-from-a-few-days-off did not help this morning.  As much as I was looking towards the promise of a new year and a new week, I ended basking in the glow of what I have done the last few days, which is shining through despite the blue:

*Enjoyed yummy guacamole and ceviche at Oyamel, a favorite since the summer
*Visits to the National Portrait Gallery to see photographic portraits of the American West followed by the Smithsonian American Art Gallery (same building) to see the outgoing exhibition on the New Deal and art
*A bento box lunch at Teaism with a law school friend from out of town
*A couple of sushi dinner, including at Tono Sushi where I had lots of delicious yellowtail and salon sushi
*A trip to Barnes and Noble, where I browsed to my heart's content and picked up Vegan Yum Yum
*A pedicure with soba cha tea from Teaism in hand (I highly recommend this approach to winter pedicures by the way)
*Discovering that there is a metro-accessible craft store (A.C. Moore in Rockville is a short walk from the White Flint metro)
*Caught up with several friends
*Full Moon yoga on New Year's Eve, followed by a yummy dinner cooked by husband
*Collaging a dreamboard for the new year

Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt / CC BY 2.0

Julie & Julia and Urban Grit

Husband and I watched Julie & Julia last night - I was so excited to received this DVD from My Pretty Pennies as part of the Holiday Swap.  I had seen the movie in theaters over the summer, and had enjoyed it, so it was lovely to watch it again at home, away from 3 degree weather (yes you read that right).  Since I saw the movie in theaters, I read that Julie Powell said that the movie was a romantic comedy version of her book (of course, now I can't find the quote) and I find that very accurate.  You see, the movie is lovely, but it does not have the not-so-pretty side of Julie Powell's Julia story, where she deals with frozen pipes, no water, various pest problems, and overcrowded subways.  It's the stuff I call urban grit.  

[As an aside, and speaking of not-so-pretty, I am completely avoiding Julie Powell's second book, Cleaving, based on the reviews and her response to the reviews.]

Anyways, but back to urban grit, which is really what I am thinking about today, insofar as it relates to portrayal of a true story and blogging.  You see, Julie & Julia touches on urban grit, but very delicately, which makes sense, because that's not what you want to see in a movie.

This is all relevant to someone whose blog is called City Girl Lifestyle and who likes to blog about pretty and nice and positive things, many of which relate to living in an urban environment.  And there are many, many positive things to blog about and I really do believe that a blog is about putting one's best foot forward.  That's why, if I was not reflecting about urban grit specifically, it would never occur to me to mention things like, there was a dead frozen rat on the sidewalk of Mass Ave, a block east from fancy Dupont Circle, for FIVE days, before finally, someone removed it.  Speaking of rats, they are far far worse in Washington, DC than in New York, though sidewalk roaches in summer are pretty horrifying.          


And being able to walk everywhere and rely on public transportation is the best thing ever, until temperatures are in the 0 degree neighborhood, at which point you find yourself hiding at home and starting to understand why people insist on having garages that they can step into from the comfort of their own home and why they drive everywhere. You get the idea -  mind you, the hot water is running and plentiful in my building, and the heat works, so I am feeling very fortunate, since I had several weeks of icy cold water when I lived in New York.

Enough of the venting, I do have a point, I promise.  You see, as much as I try to keep this blog authentic, I prefer to discuss the happier and more interesting topics of city living than the urban grit of every-day life.  It is also how I try to live life - while I am not in denial about the bad things, I try to not let them take over.  Try being the operative word of course.

How do you balance the good and the grit on your blog? And in your life?        

January Goals & Blog Update

My goal this month is actually going to be a continuation of my December goals and incorporating some of the words that are inspiring me for 2010:
*Sparkle and shine, whether in person, on the page and virtually
*Embrace to-do lists in sparkly pen, rather than feel like life is ruled by them
*Yoga two to three times weekly
*Incorporate more music and podcasts in my life (aka MP3 afternoon which I keep meaning to do since November)
*Collage twice a month, as I find it incredibly relaxing
*View every day as opportunities for unlocking potential

And, because we chatted on the topic of changing blogging approaches and blog identity crises, I have to let you know I am still mulling how to blog.  In fact, one of the pretty little stars above was supposed to be about whatever blogging approach I picked and would pursue this month.  Many bloggers are promising new and better blogs for the new year, with more graphics and varied media which is lovely, but I just kind of like to chat with you all the way we have been chatting for going on three years (especially if you read this blog when I mostly wrote about beauty products).  I would like, at some point, a custom header, but I do like the simplicity of the above right now.

I have done the topic for certain days concept (Beauty Monday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Thursdays focused on balanced and wellness) for almost 18 months, and while so many blogs do that, and more are moving that route, I am torn.  There are times I find the topic per day concept brilliantly helpful and motivating to write, not to mention helpful for readers, and others where I feel constrained.  I may change my mind again, but for now I think I will keep What's Cooking Wednesday, because I try several new recipes a month and love to share them with you, and also add a category called something like City Girl Reviews - beyond that, though, I do not think I will make too many changes any time soon.  Maybe I should change my tag-line from "Smiling Amid Urban Chaos" to "A Blog with An Identity Crisis"...

So, It's January...

... which means it is time to reflect on my goals for December:

*Lots of sparkle, in the form of time with loved ones, twitter connecting and notes and journaling to myself (in sparkly pen, bien sur) - YES. I caught up with several friends in person, spent a little more time on twitter (I do need to use some of the resources some of you shared with me) and journaled and collaged a bit.
*Savor every minute of days off around the holidays and be less to-do-listy about errands - YES as well, which means I got tons of rest.
*Have fun with writing lots of holiday cards - Sort of - I did have fun writing them, but work was so insane until just a couple of days before Christmas, so I finished up many cards this week.
*Upload my MP3 with tons of delectable treats that actually make me use it (see November for background) - Fail - I am going to carve out a weekend afternoon sometime this month to work on that. 
*Yoga twice weekly - Le sad, but no, that did not go well.  I did go to yoga twice this week. 

Something else I did this month which was new to me is that I really embraced December and winter.  Usually I just complain about being cold and do not even like Christmas music that much, but this past month, something was different.  I really enjoyed the snowstorm earlier this month, which is kind of unlike me.  And by the way, how cool is it that someone made snow-pandas on K Street along with snowmen?

Dreamboard for the New Year

I cannot quite believe that today is the last day of the year.  I tend to ease into the New Year sometime in January, as opposed to right on the first day of the year, and that is not just because I always order a Planner Pad in mid-December, and it invariably arrives after the first of the year.

I did spend last night putting together a collage for Jamie Ridler's Full Moon Dreamboard Circle, which doubled as a vision for this coming year for me.  I found myself much more attracted to words rather than pictures as I was putting together this collage. It also got me thinking of words and themes for 2010. For 2009, I picked themes ("let go of guilt" and "be in the moment" and "have fun" were the three I liked) - for 2010, I am debating doing again.  As I look at the collage I keep focusing on the two themes of "radiant energy" and "unlock potential" though so many phrases and words on the page inspire me, especially "sparkle" - and it is because of sparkle that I ended up covering the whole collage in Glitter Modge Podge which is silver sparkles.  I did a collage around my birthday in October that echoes a lot of the same themes, as well as one in late November that was more about pink and sparkle.

I hope you all have a wonderful last day of 2009 and that 2010 bring you much health and happiness.  Thank you so much for reading this blog and commenting. Connecting with all of you via this blog, your blogs, twitter and email has been lovely.

Happy New Year!

End-of-Year Meme

I decided last year to make this end-of-year meme an annual tradition. I have seen this meme many places, but do check out Bleeding Espresso's!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Looking back, it seems like it was mostly food and health related things, like seek naturopathic as well as conventional medical care, give up dairy and caffeine completely, along with a host of other things for fairly long periods of time (ie gluten for several months, meat for a couple of months) and generally go on a very restricted diet for several months to isolate food allergies (I am slowly reintroducing foods to test my tolerance).  Outside of that realm, new things include: blog more than once a day several days and weeks in a row; set up my own domain name and get more responsibilities at my day job which, while I rarely mention it on my blog, provides me with lots of growth.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I had three themes this year rather than resolutions: "let go of guilt," "be in the moment," and "have fun".  I had also wanted to lose weight and generally get myself in better health after all the sinus and various other problems I had had in the past.  This year, I will also go with themes and inspirations rather than actual resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, several friends.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit? Just the U.S., but more travel is in store for 2010.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? More time with family and friends. Apartment space for guests (oddly, I don’t mind our 500 square feet for the two of us, but it does not allow for extended visits from people – I wish I had a pop-up guest room for when people wanted to come visit). Non-stressful travel.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Inauguration Day.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Working through some health issues and losing 40 pounds (I had lost about 20 pounds in the latter part of 2008).  The health issues are still ongoing, but overall I feel much better.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not enough time with friends and family.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Yes, but overall I finish the year feeling better, so that's the important part. 

11. What was the best thing you bought? Both my food processor and mini-prep (I do enough cooking to justify both) died after a combined 10 years of service, so I replaced them, and I love them! Other purchases I enjoyed were more experiences than things, like yoga workshops.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My incredibly supportive friends and family.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Don’t get me started.

14. Where did most of your money go? Bills and food and health.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Even though husband and I have lived in the same city for 15 months, I still get so excited when I compare our lives now to when we were split between two cities.  

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Beyonce's Single Ladies.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier, thinner and about the same.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Spend more time with people, gone to the gym more and done more yoga (though I did a lot  more yoga in 2009 than 2008, so that was an improvement).

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? I wish I had stressed out less about things.

20. How did you spend Christmas? With my husband, relaxing and cooking and exchanging presents.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? I keep refalling in love with husband. 

22. What was your favorite TV program? Glee really made me happy, as did Mad Men.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Not really.

24. What was the best book you read? Too Big To Fail. 

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Christmas music. I seem to have really gotten into it this year for the first time.

26. What did you want and get? Increased energy.

27. What did you want and not get? A visit with my family, though that is coming in early 2010.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I only saw a handful in theaters, but I loved An Education and Julie and Julia.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 31 and had a quiet day as husband had the flu and I had to work - I did get a mani-pedi and we went out for some lovely vegan Ethiopian food.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not getting sick.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Same as last year, lots of black suits during the week, comfy bamboo clothes on the weekends, and ballet flats.  I am hoping to branch out more in 2010.

32. What kept you sane? Some combination of time with loved ones, long walks, yoga, blogging, and cooking.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I just don' t get into celebrities.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Food safety and food supply issues.

35. Who did you miss? As much as they drive me crazy, my parents.

36. Who was the best new person you met? All my new bloggy friends have been truly amazing.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. Things really do sometimes work out.