A delightful day

It's strange that doing things that are both enjoyable and good for me can be so difficult sometimes. Initiating an activity, even something I really want to do, can require an absurd amount of effort. (I guess my executive functioning skill of "task initiation" is somewhat...less developed than other abilities.) Yesterday was a day when I couldn't motivate myself to do much. Today, however, was delightful and productive (for a vacation day, anyway.)

I went to the Baptiste Yoga Studio in Cambridge this morning for a power yoga class. Unfortunately, traffic was horrible and I was 15 minutes late to the class (even though I had allowed an hour and twenty minutes to get there. Can Boston traffic please give me a break soon?) So I felt terrible for being "that girl" who shows up late and disrupts everyone. Still, I had driven all the way there...I'm glad I had the balls to walk in anyway and swallow my shame, because it felt SO GOOD. Someone please remind me - WHY do I not do yoga every day? (Oh yeah...because this yoga excursion, round trip, took about 4 hours. Of course it was silly of me to try to go to a class before rush hour was over and I don't regularly go to this particular studio that is so far away...but still. It can be kind of a time-suck.) It felt really excellent, though. I needed the physical class and all the sweat and work. It reminded me that I would like to build some strength (gosh, my arms get tired fast) and loosen up my hamstrings (wide-angle forward bend is impossible) and that even with these "difficulties" of mine...I can still do yoga. And I really do love it.

The rest of the day was spent: reading on the beach for a couple hours (first beach excursion of the year!), picking up this week's CSA produce, and cooking a yummy dinner. This week's veggies were much better than last week. Last week was sort of a bust for a few reasons...One, I wasn't much excited by what we got, and then two, I didn't properly store it. Last week we got: a head of kale, a head of lettuce, 4 garlic scabes, scallions, a bunch of radishes, and a bunch of bok choy. I used the lettuce over the week for a salad with peppers and goat cheese. Happily, I'm not sick of the lettuce. It's really fresh and delicious, and I always enjoy salads. The kale I used for kale chips (again); happily, I'm not sick of those either. The scallions and scabes got chopped up with some soy sauce and tofu for dinner last night, which was pretty tasty. But unfortunately, the radishes and the bok choy wilted almost right away in our humid fridge and I had to toss them. I'm not terribly sad at the loss, but I hate wasting food and I should have stored them in the crisper drawer.

Today, our bounty included: a head of lettuce, a bunch of kale, a pound of peas, a pound of pickling cucumbers, a bunch of salad turnips, 4 garlic scabes, and a bunch of dandelion greens. For dinner tonight, I whipped up some pasta and sauteéd the sliced turnips in some leftover bacon grease (after frying the bacon), and then added the turnip greens, too. Turns out sliced turnips + turnip greens + bacon grease + bacon crumbles + shredded parmesan, all over pasta, is super yummy. I'm excited to try the dandelion greens next...I've never eaten those before! Oh the excitement of the CSA and convincing Alex that he actually DOES enjoy fresh vegetables! (I think what he enjoys most, though, is me being on vacation and being willing to cook for him every day :) I can't say I blame him! I love being on vacation, too.)

"Life is a joy filled with delightful surprises."