Sometimes, it just helps to think of your favorite things when those moments come where you wish you were in a better state of mind...
Like when I'm in the middle of jogging and I start to hear those lazy thoughts in my head about going home instead of finishing my last lap around the park, or when I've spent too many hours in front of the TV screen and then feel too sluggish to do anything and therefore feel guilty about having spent that long watching TV, I'll start thinking about the things that literally put a smile on my face, and so the rest of my day becomes infinitely better. :) For me, it's the littlest things that make me truly happy--My 2 year-old cousin's smile that can light up a room, remembering my uncle's many instances of shooting out his fireworks of energetic humor that always makes my day, the sound of birds chirping early in the morning, the smell of freshly brewed coffee, the rich and subtly sweet taste of Honey Lavender Ice Cream at the Molly Moon's homemade ice cream shop (one of many reasons Seattle is a lovely place to live...), the way that the sky looks on a clear Summer night when you can see all the stars gleaming quietly yet beautifully in the endless rush of navy-violet hovering above you, the Sunday mornings where I have just finished making a warm batch of pancakes and am watching rain gently fall outside the kitchen window, with jazz music from the stereo mixed in, as I wait for the rest of my family to wake up... What things make you happy in an instant? What little things do you hold dear, in that just one thought of each of those things makes your mood shift entirely in a second? They can be sounds, tastes, certain memories you only feel you could have experienced out of all the people that exist in this world...And you can list every one of these things down, just so you could feel that sense of gratitude once you've realized how lucky you are to have experienced these many, lovely things in your life. :) Enjoy the rest of your day and all the bowls of Honey Lavender Ice Cream and batches of pancakes that come with it! ~~MC
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7/14/2011 0 Comments Spilled MilkWhat's a good way to take a break from listening to music, if you find yourself in the midst of a desperate crave for something refreshing?
Weeelll, I advise you to feast your ears on a podcast I recently came across, called Spilled Milk. It would have made sense for me to write this post on my Foods for Fantasizing page, but since this podcast has personally made my lazy mornings just a bit more vibrant and exciting, I felt that it therefore would fit more nicely within the terms of Life au Cochon (i.e. ways to make your life just a bit better). :) This entertaining and thoughtful dish of conversation is served once every week or so by Molly Wizenberg, author of one of my all-time favorite books titled A Homemade Life (which I briefly touched on in a previous Life au Cochon post), and Matthew Amster-Burton, author of the acclaimed Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father's Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater, who accompanies Molly on the air as an amusing complement to her intellectually stimulating reflections on certain foods... These two cuisine devotees will leave you in a mindset of fireworks about food that people would usually ignore and leave unappreciated. They will allow you to unearth the things you may have forgotten to admire at every encounter, or within every memory you may have visited. With their lovable sense of humor that wakes you up like a steaming cup of coffee served in the warm atmosphere of a Seattle coffee shop, perfectly blended with the syrups and spices of an utterly contagious passion for cooking, trying new and familiar foods and everything else under the Sun, you cannot help but feel your inner chef coming alive, energized and readier than ever to tackle all cuisine-related obstacles that might come your way...and of course, readier than ever to devour every opportunity of a delicious chocolate cake or piece of fudge that arrives along the way. :) So pour yourself a cup of green tea (or coffee, if you wish to become highly stimulated even before listening to the podcast!), sit down in your comfiest chair, and take a listen to Spilled Milk, where two voices will simply urge you to dive into the pleasure and experience food the way a skydiver leaps into their daring yet exhilarating journey! http://www.spilledmilkpodcast.com/2011/07/ (Here's the link) ~~MC Have you found yourself waking up in the morning to pains, aches and an irritated mindset?
Well, I have one solution for you: Try out some yoga moves! :) Yoga has been part of my daily routine for about a year now, and I can honestly say that as soon as you adopt yoga as part of your daily routine, you will notice the difference in your mood, posture (the importance of which I feel has been underestimated in society these days...), and general health. You can feel the difference even immediately after you've done a yoga session--Your breathing is calmer, slower, more naturally rhythmic, and your body is opened up, literally and figuratively... Basically, you will feel rejuvenated with a fresh way of breathing, thinking, feeling, and living. So sign up for a Summer yoga class (that you would hopefully extend to after Summer, because yoga isn't a season-long activity!)--or even, to save money, just look online or in the library for useful yoga routines to pick up on (which was what I did--I checked out a book from the library that had helpful descriptions of each yoga move and that came with illustrations)! There is always hot yoga to try as well; it's quite a challenge in the first three or four sessions, but once you have traveled over that hill, you will feel a great sense of pride that will take you further than you can imagine. :) Personally, I like hot yoga better because it allows your entire body to move more smoothly and to have more flexibility...Plus you're losing loads of calories even in just one session!) And if you are afraid of messing up the tree pose or of not becoming a yoga expert as quickly as you'd hope, you have nothing to worry about, because I can tell you that yoga is really all about turning your breathing and mindset from foggy/irritated to the highest place you can be, where anything is possible and where all the obstacles coming your way will be handled with patience, appreciation for life's challenges, and full determination...Leading to those little moments of personal growth and inner, quiet confidence that life is meant to be lived for. Once you have started integrating yoga into your daily life, please let me know how it is going, I'd love to hear all about it! :) ~~MC 7/12/2011 0 Comments Exceptionally Lovely. :)Hello!
I know I just elaborated on the greatness of nature in my last post, but I must do it again because of how effective it is to put yourself in that kind of surroundings! Last weekend (and yes, on the same day that I had my memorable taste adventure at Top Pot, as featured in today's Foods for Fantasizing post!), there was a family gathering at Greenlake that I attended to. I had forgotten how beautiful Greenlake can be especially in the summertime, and that is why I urge you to take a jog, walk, or even just a quick visit to a park or lake that sits near where you are...It is definitely a sure way to relax your senses, calm your thoughts and release any tensions you may have had during the day. :) Greenlake is a place where people of all ages will meet up and hang out, and do various activities--walking/jogging side-by-side while having decorative and meaningful conversation, boating together, eating frozen yogurt, jumping in the cool sensation of the lake water, throwing little picnic parties (which was what my family and I did), and even just sitting on the grass to admire the sunset as the brilliant light reflects off of the calm-sitting water. Nature enhances whatever experience you are going through, as it brings you to an inspired state of mind and to a feeling you don't want to escape from...So especially on a clear, warm day in the Summer that already makes the day quite lovely, it's a great idea to spend some free time taking a walk in nature, or taking in a natural scenery in order to turn the day from lovely to exceptionally lovely. :) ~~MC 7/6/2011 0 Comments MagicWas there a time when you were walking among nature or just natural things in general, and you suddenly found yourself with the inexplicable urge to take snapshots of everything around you because of how beautiful it was?
Call me a Seattle stereotype, but this happens to me almost all the time! I am a lover of nature--I love taking pictures of pretty sunsets that take over your mind and imagination; of the emerald green, origami-thin leaves of the Japanese maple trees that stand and reflect the glowing Sun in my backyard; and I also think it's worth taking snapshots of times where nature may surprise you, such as the photo I posted here. :) This picture was taken on my last night in California, when my family and I were about to leave a shopping center after enjoying a feast of sushi and egg drop soup at one of the many restaurants there. These rows of palm trees were standing in the central parking area...but also, they were standing against the lovely backdrop of the clear sky turning quickly into night; the Sun had just finished setting, as the string of lights that wound around the trees' standing bodies were glowing just as brightly. This scene had surprised me because even though the trees were in the middle of a suburban area that consisted of pavements and buildings instead of pure damp dirt and rushing streams, I still found myself feeling that same peace with nature as when jogging in a trail. This is not to say that you would get the same experience from jogging a trail as standing in the middle of a shopping center at nighttime...But I do mean to say that these palm trees hadn't lost their magic despite where they were. :) So if you all of a sudden find yourself wanting to take a picture of that sunset above the lake in front of you, or of that row of trees that always caught your eye during your morning jog, don't hold back because you don't know when you're going to see that same feeling of magic again! ~~MC On this lovely sunny day that surrounds us, I wish you to do one thing (besides enjoy the sunshine of course)...
And that is to indulge yourself with a warm cup of green tea. :) It probably doesn't make sense to have a warm drink in the middle of an 80 degree day (at least that's what the temperature is in Seattle right now), but a beverage that calms the mind and warms the soul is suitable no matter the weather that occurs outside your window. Yesterday, I sat on the balcony to type a blog post (in case you're curious, I was working on my latest Artistic Appetite post); it was in the late morning, so the Sun was still going about its daily greeting to the world as it was rising high up in the clear baby-blue sky. I felt that I needed some sort of fuel, something that would clear my senses in order to write my blog post in the best way I could...And so I ran back inside the house, poured in a waterfall of boiling water into a cup that was begging for some warmth, and dropped in a green tea bag (one of many that my dad brought from his last trip to Korea and Japan), letting the nature-hued green slowly fill in the entire cup. A cup of green tea is known to be healthy for the high metabolism it brings, and for stimulating the process of making your skin glow like the warm, blurry-golden hue of a candle flame on a late Summer night. But also, a cup of green tea gives a great sense of comfort to a person, like when he/she was tucked into bed every night by his/her mother during childhood, being safely enveloped in the cascading folds of the blanket and the mother's calming words, taking him/her to the world where nothing goes wrong and everything smiles. Who doesn't want to encompass this feeling? I guess this all explains why people love drinking tea in the wintertime (besides that tea is hot and so it's for escaping from the blistering cold..)--People love to snuggle up in the memories of when they felt the most safe and protected, as they take their warm sips of quiet heaven and watch the rain/snow fall in the outside world that fails to interrupt this personal, peaceful moment of theirs. And in this time of the year that is already surrounding us with warmth, there's no reason not to envelop yourself in the same comfort you felt when your mother tucked you in bed and wished you sweet dreams. :) Enjoy a cup of green tea, and the rest of your day! ~~MC 6/29/2011 0 Comments Italy, Yoga, The Finish LineLast night my family and I visited a group of relatives for a dinner party. And as we sat around the dinner table that was filled with the colors of food and conversation, my mother and her cousin got in the subject of my plan to take a study abroad trip this next Spring to Rome, Italy, for an Art History program. When my mom's cousin realized that the program was only one quarter long, he began to persuade me that spending only that much time in a country that you want to grasp as much as you need and yearn of is practically useless, that in order to really get something out of the language and art and the country itself, I'd have to stay in Rome for a year instead.
And I knew he was right...Especially because he told me that when his daughter was in college and spent a year in France, she had gone from telling him during an urgent phone call that she understood no French after the 3-month mark, to relaxedly saying towards the end of the year that she spoke as fluently and confidently in French as in English! And so, I will definitely keep the idea of staying in Rome for one year in mind. :) (And probably in France too, since French is my minor and the French language is one of many things I enjoy surrounding myself with...). Committment is a big thing when it comes to, really, any type of situation. Whether it's going on a trip to Italy to learn about its art history, or deciding to take a yoga class after months of avoiding exercise (I admit I'm a sort of victim to that situation...), committment is key to getting far. When one begins to face the seemingly difficult things about trying to get to the finish line, such as noticing that you can't do the tree stance as well as you would like, all you can do is place those difficulties in the brightest light possible--in the light that convinces you that rather than hurting you, they will help you gain more confidence to get to where you want to go...So really, once you have taken the time and learned to master the tree stance, you will be one major step closer to being the true devoter to yoga that you wanted to be. :) Committment means moving as far as you can without looking back; looking the obstacles daringly in the eye and telling them they will be overcome; and celebrating all the little and big accomplishments as you move along the path of long-term achievement and enhancement. ~~MC Hello! So this is a sort of continuation of my last post--about the wonderfulness and splendid aura of sunshine, and about the breeziness of Summer season. :) Especially if you're a Seattleite, one's eyes will be opened to a new world when it comes to sunny places! Before I flew to California last week, I was covering every inch of myself with warm shoes and clothes as I spent 90 percent of my days at coffeeshops, cozying up to hot mugs of heaven that helped me escape from the rushing (yet calm-inducing) waterfalls happening outside the windows... ..And now all of a sudden, I'm wearing flip flops, jumping in swimming pools, and eating frozen bananas (covered in chocolate and on a stick, otherwise just a plain frozen banana wouldn't be delicious of course ;) ), in a place where clouds and rain are replaced by an overwhelming wash of baby blue and golden yellow! Plus, not only have I actually seen my toes free from the constraints of shoes and colder weather, but my eyes have also beheld seemingly endless beaches infused with the sounds of laughter and splashes, as well as with the rich smell of flowers and Summer that linger all the way into cool nights. I do love Seattle and its cozy lifestyle, as there's no other place where I'd rather live, but it is always nice to have a change of scene from time to time. :D It's exciting that way, because without that kind of change it's hard to see life as a never-ending series of adventures--which is how people mostly want to live their lives. So whether it means taking a vacation like what I'm doing, or just switching up a few decorating pieces in your home for a fresh look to wake up to the next morning, your days will become more of an eye-opening experience than a set of routines. So put on your brightest swimsuit, take in a breath of the fresh scent of something new, and jump in! ~~MC You don't realize how big of a diffference a change of weather makes, until the weather changes...That's why I'm telling you to enjoy every sunny day that comes to you! :) (both in the literal and figurative sense...)
My family and I flew for our lovely family vacation to California, to a city about an hour-long drive from Los Angeles; and since our plane landed, I have been almost overwhelmed by the joy that comes with sunny weather--Flip flops, short pants, swimsuits and swimming pools, cold and blazingly refreshing drinks; I actually needed to take a step back to believe that I had just swtiched to these wonderful things, from Seattle's almost-completely-opposite weather (not that I don't love Seattle; but it never hurts to step out of routine and into something extraordinarily different..). So throw on your flip flops, put on your most flattering pair of sunglasses, and get yourself outside to enjoy the golden rays! It will make the rest of your day positively, infinitely, undeniably more relaxing and filled with that highly-anticipated Summer vibe. ;) ~~MC 6/23/2011 0 Comments A New SoundWould you like a small dose of entertainment today, just to get your mind off of life's worries for a few minutes? :) Well, here's your chance!
My family and I saw this music video on the huge screen at the EMP, when we had just seen their Avatar exhibit for Father's Day (my dad is in love with that movie...). We were at first planning to just stroll through this area because we thought it was only for sitting and watching if you were bored or waiting for someone to be done looking at an exhibit...But then the four of us found ourselves half an hour later, still sitting on one of the cozy benches, leaning relaxingly against the back wall, and enjoying the music videos by Ok Go and pondering at their great effort and creativity used behind the camera! So here is my personal favorite of Ok Go's music videos that were shown at the EMP...I hope you enjoy it! ~~MC P.S. Since we saw these videos I've now gotten more interested in this type of music; I usually listen to pop, jazz and French music, so it will be nice to listen to something refreshing for a bit. :) |
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