Pricklystrawberry's Weblog

Drink a lemonade!!!

pricklystrawberry — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:40:16 +0000

So, 3 year after, I am at it again. Shopping and exercising…. I have just started to use shopstyle and I love the way I can put together looks. Also, looking at other people’s looks helps me get new ideas. Anyway, here is my favourite summer look below:

Drink a lemonade!!!

One of my all times favourite looks for summer is a yellow top with white pants. It just feels so fresh and light!

Cropped Pants by 7 For All Mankind
Wedges by NYLA

low intensity cardio

pricklystrawberry — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:43:46 +0000

OK, I know everybody got over it 1 year ago (or was it 6 months ago?) but I can still be frustrated over iTunes not getting to a deal with whomever “owns” the TV series Psych. And Monk too. I just remembered about this last night as I was trying to re-download from iTunes an old episode from The Biggest Loser (one with a low intensity cardio – more about that below…) and did not find it on their website anymore. I had it 2 years ago but lost it somehow – and was too lazy to browse on all my external drives for it. Last night, the show was not available on iTunes anymore – so, I realized that this one too was part of CBS (or NBC or any other combination of three vowels and consonants) very important wealth of episodes that are not there anymore. Forced into action, and after 10 very frustrating minutes, I managed to find my lost episode in a forgotten folder that was in a forgotten drive, so here I was, a little closer to getting fit.

I got on my running shoes and I started the show. The deceptive title (low intensity cardio workout) was giving me a sense that this is going to be not so tough. Low intensity you say? Huh. The most exhausting 30 minutes of of my last year!! 2 years ago when I bought it did seem difficult, but now, frankly, I thought I am having a heart attack at the end of it. Low intensity? Really? My cleaning lady was chuckling while passing behind me. My son was hysterical with laugther. My mother popped in for 4 seconds and she left my apartment running. I guess she was having the giggles quite bad.

On the other hand, my cleaning lady commented on the fact that I managed to keep the rhythm with the people on the screen. My son told me that my face did not get all red. I assume these were words of encouragement. But my son also told me 5 minutes in the routine “mom you look slimmer already” so I guess I should not take all he says very seriously.

pricklystrawberry — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:39:52 +0000

Yesterday I spent only 20 minutes on my bike. I was on the phone at the same time and I got so out of breath that I had to stop it. No yoga yet and let’s not even start to talk about my other 2 projects. Hm. Maybe today I will manage more than 20 minutes at least?

and here comes the reason

pricklystrawberry — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:55:11 +0000

the reason why I feel so guilty. The bag that has taunted me since last year. I almost bought in red (in a cute little boutique in Tribeca, but was saved at the last moment by a phone call). I considered it in black – as a wise investement, but gave up because it was wasteful (I have other black bags). Now, one year later, I gave in. It was the last Goldenbleu Luella on Zappos also, almost 50% down (gee – I hate it when I justify myself with discounts)! And it was in white patent! Here it is:

Luscious white patent, gold hardware, cute as a button. Big plus is the outside pocket that would fit my plane tickets perfectly. It came at the right moment as I am planning a one week vacation in Nice, on Cote D’Azur… and the nice bag will certainly help me deal with my fear of airplanes (I guess I forgot to mention that besides germs and violence next on my phobia list is flying). But the shopping ordeal is not over … this time I got it pretty bad. Another one year old crush, the Marc by Marc Jacobs white & gold watch …

I could not resist. Pure bliss in white patent hmmm? … I hope it will not remind me of the melting ice cap too much…or about the latest problems the airline industry was experiencing (or trying not to acknowledge)…

the anti-consumerist bagaholic

pricklystrawberry — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:20:45 +0000

I do, I really do hate marketing, and the mindless shopping that comes with it. All the superficial nonsense in the media that taps into our fears or weaknesses and convinces us to buy, buy, buy, and to grow, grow, grow. I loved the ideas in Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen‘s book The Entropy Law and the Economic Process (read more about it in this interesting blog Entropy and Economy « The Second Law of Life Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen), so I have decided numerous times to live frugally. And I can last for about a month or two, or even six. But then, when stress hits me, I somehow give in. I am still conscious that it is all nonsense, and in the grand scheme of things, it really does not matter if my bag is one way or another. Greenhouse effect and melting icecaps are worrying me more than the latest Valentino bag. But when I am heading towards an anxiety attack brought on by my musings at how over consumption and a growing population will suffocate the earth I resort to … bags. I window shop at first, I browse, weighing in all the aspects – color, texture, shape, hardware. In the end, I do not buy more than 2, maybe 3, bags a year, which I still think it is too much. At least I know I’m in trouble.

Finally

pricklystrawberry — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:51:46 +0000

Finally, 26 minutes on my bike! Of course, watching the last 26 minutes of a Numb3rs episode on my lovely iTouch. I gave up as soon as I realised I do have a heart and it’s thumping a bit too loud. But still, a success. Maybe I’ll finally unwrap my am/pm yoga today and do the pm part of it? Let’s see if blogging will help shape my bum (please refer to this word’s British meaning and have some fun while you are at it).

how the means somehow became the focal point

pricklystrawberry — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:13:16 +0000

I started the blog so I can have a way to keep track of what I do each day to achieve my three targets. First day of blogging left me with only 5 hours of sleep out of my usual 9, and today, the second day of accountability, I spent 1 hour tweaking my blog. No, no bike, yoga, running, writing or working on my camera skills yet. And this is how the insidious blog virus is getting into my system and usurps the point of it. I guess another cup of coffee would help with the horrible headache, and maybe, maybe, I can spend at least 30 minutes on my bike. Let’s see.

Hello world!

pricklystrawberry — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:05:18 +0000

Apparently, if I would like to succeed in making some change(s) in my life, I am supposed to keep track of my progress in a journal, blog, or any other way that would keep me accountable – says this very interesting article. At this point I am trying to write a book, run/bike and/or do yoga everyday, and learn how to use my Canon Rebel camera. I have tried before many ways to keep me on track: I bribed myself with jewelery, shoes and chocolate, I even tried the one eyed Japanese doll daruma(It’s one eye supposedly pushes you into action everyday. After I told my cleaning lady why that ugly thing is staring at me for the past 3 months she decided to push it behind a box on my shelf. She comes 3 times a week to clean my apartment and she constantly finds me in front of a book, TV or laptop so she knew it was not working. But maybe I just filled in the wrong eye?). There are some areas where my resistance to change was minimal: giving up meat or giving up smoking – but there are some stubborn things that I can’t shake off or can’t keep doing. So, off I go, just as soon as I read the above mentioned article, to find the perfect place to keep a journal.

Now, I spent over 2 hours browsing for the perfect place to host my journal (whatever – blog), finding the perfect photo for my header and write this first post … and here I am, tired and grumpy, wondering if I will be in any mood to write or exercise tomorrow, after only 7 (correction – now there are only 6!) hours of sleep. Yes, thank you very much, I need a minimum of 9 hours of sleep in order to NOT be grumpy, so 6 is really not enough. I guess tomorrow I will have just enough energy to decide on which I will focus first – book, moving about on a bike or camera.

And, by the way, if anyone cares to know, I chose the header to be from Battery Park City because, once again, I miss New York. Cliche enough, it is “can’t live with you can’t live without you” all over again between me and this place. Not even one year since I left, and exactly as 2 years ago, I want to move back in.

Returning to the main issue(s) (book, camera, exercise) I’ll write in this thing every day, and see if this will finally shame me into some sort of action.