Mewsings

post christmas
Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Having a quiet evening, enjoying a bit of tea and homemade Stollen whilst checking my favourite blogs and watching my husband build Legos. We managed a fairly stressifree bit of Christmas Sale shopping, only visiting four stores (Clarks shoes, Hatchards, Fortnum and Mason and Harrods.) We went to Harrods to see the giant dinosaur made of Legos (180,000 bricks!). My husband is a little bit obsessed with legos. I don't mind. There are worse vices.

Posted byKarma at Wednesday, December 28, 2005 2 comments  

Labels: holidays

monday
Saturday, November 12, 2005

Feeling very posh. I have lived for 6 years in England and for the first time I have my own car!! It is just a little used car, but it was generally well taken care of, and it has a sunroof. It is a Ford Mondeo.

I have been driving all around my neighborhood and the surrounding towns today and have come to the conclusion that it is much nicer to live here when you see it by car! Somehow it is not so great on the bus, or the train, but I did not need a car until 2 years ago when I moved from London to Kent, and we kept taking extravagant holidays in lieu of buying 'stuff' until recently.

Funnily, it cost twice the cost of the car to insure it for the year, and nearly £50 just to fill the gas tank (nearly $100, so be grateful, my USA friends, I know your fuel costs have risen sharply in the past few years, but you still have a way to go to catch up to the UK.)

I will still take the bus to work, because it takes 5 minutes and is so convenient, and it is nightmare to park near my work. But it will be great to visit friends and not have to rush to catch the last train (which is usually around 11pm!) and to be able to take little weekend trips and see more of England.

This country really grows on me...

Posted byKarma at Saturday, November 12, 2005 2 comments  

Labels: indulgence

a game
Monday, November 7, 2005

Guess what this sound is? Click here.

maracas





thunder









snow leopard

Posted byKarma at Monday, November 07, 2005 1 comments  

Labels: fun

missing california
Saturday, October 29, 2005

I went to a mexican restaurant for a friend's birthday tonight. The food was ok, not like Cali-Mex (the chips looked scary and the guacamole was brown but tasted ok) but it was so smoky in the restaurant I felt a bit ill by the end! Miss the whole 'non smoking restaurant' thing. Hope it happens soon here, but can't imagine it very soon. Would rather have been poking the giant whoopie cushion at D's Halloween party!

Posted byKarma at Saturday, October 29, 2005 2 comments  

Labels: home

quick bite
Thursday, October 20, 2005

I have been catching up on the Incurable Insomniac's blog and clicking on just a couple of links, feeling absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of blogging that goes on in the world. Linking to one site led me into this world of retiree sites, fascinating. Wish I had more time (I have about an hour every few days) or made more time for this. It really puts things into perspective and helps me crawl out of my self involved cave!

Stolen (again) from the Insomniac's games:

Three things:

1. what you like about yourself: my sense of humour
2. what others like about you: my eyes
3. what you don't like about yourself: my harsh self judgment

Posted byKarma at Thursday, October 20, 2005 1 comments  

Labels: fun

driving license
Wednesday, October 12, 2005

To celebrate that I have held a California driving license for 20 years in January, I am going to get a UK driving license! That way, when we get a car (which is happening very soon) I will legally be able to drive it. Get this, when you first live in the UK, you are legal to drive with a foreign license for the first year. Thereafter (unless you are EU, in which case it is fine) you must have a UK driving license to drive legally. So the first year, when you have no clue what the signs mean, how to manouvere roundabouts or which side of the road to drive on, you are cool to risk life and limb. Thereafter, no go.. bizarre.

I started reading one of the DSA (Driving Standards Agency) manuals today. This test will largely be a matter of learning British english. For example, there are at least 4 different names for a crosswalk. Like most British names, they are really cute and twee:

1. Zebra Crossing - marked by zig-zag lines
2. Pelican Crossing - a signal controlled crossing (flashing amber lights)
3. Puffin Crossing - like a Pelican but no flashing lights
4. Toucan Crossing- like a Puffin
   

I was just looking for a picture of a zebra crossing and discovered that there is logic behind the twee-ness, two of the crossings are anacronyms:

• Pelican = Pedestrian Light Controlled Crossing (sort of)
• Puffin = Pedestrian User-Friendly INtelligent
  

Posted byKarma at Wednesday, October 12, 2005 0 comments  

Labels: life

broody
Saturday, October 8, 2005

Ok. I am going to find us a proper apartment because I want my cats now. I have been waiting for years and years to have a cat family and I am ready now.

I want two boys, an abyssinian and a blue russian. Aren't they adorable?

Posted byKarma at Saturday, October 08, 2005 1 comments  

Labels: cats

googling around
Friday, October 7, 2005

This was fun! Stole this idea from the Incurable Insomniac's weblog. You google "(your name) needs" (put it in quotes) and see what comes up. This is what I got. Unravel the cosmic message...

• YOUR KARMA NEEDS ADJUSTING
• Karma needs a nudge
• Karma needs to be solved
• Karma needs to be plugged into USB port and show as active
• Karma needs to be redirected
• Karma needs to be met and dealt with
• Karma needs to eat his own deep fried penis while singing the Canadian national...
• Karma needs to be understood in the context of rain formation
• Karma needs to be 1/5 higher than your age, also be at least 60 days old
• Karma needs the agitation of the mind to stick
• Karma needs to be connected
• Karma needs surgery to repair his ailing heart
• Perhaps "karma" needs to be replaced with the words "narcissism health meter"?
• All karma needs to be dissolved in divine love

Posted byKarma at Friday, October 07, 2005 0 comments  

Labels: fun

Grandpa (29 January 1911 - 13 September 2005)
Monday, October 3, 2005

I miss you grandpa. I thought of you all during this song at rehearsal. I wish you could have heard me sing it. I wish I could have seen you one more time before you died. You will always hold a warm place in my heart. Thank you for loving me completely and unconditionally, and for believing in me.

Hug you and kiss your precious hands.

Posted byKarma at Monday, October 03, 2005 1 comments  

Labels: family

yummy shells
Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Pasta shells are so cool. I cooked some conchiglie and stirred in a big dollop of sun-dried tomato sauce, with spinach and pine nuts. Sometimes I get this big squishy bite of sun-dried sauce that has expertly hidden in one of the shells, sometimes its just a bit of sauce flavoured around the outside of the shell.

This has been the highlight of my day so far (how sad!). It is one of those blah..zzzzzzeee....days off days. Simon has a concert in east London tonight, I have to get ready soon. I will bring a book for the train journey. I have been reading The Fragrant Pharmacy by Valerie Ann Worwood (still really keen on essential oils!). A woman came into the shop yesterday asking for a relaxing massage oil, and I made up a nice custom blend - vetiver, lavender and chamomile. It is so fun, like cooking (I am going to try cooking with essential oils next, more on that later) I am thinking of taking a one year course in aromatherapy and massage next year- (NYR runs one year accredited courses). I am currently trying to decide between aromatherapy/massage, homeopathy, or natural medicine. The nice bit about the aromatherapy is at the end of the year I would be able to practice professionally...

Posted byKarma at Wednesday, May 04, 2005 1 comments  

Labels: epicurious

spring
Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Haven't really had any time to write lately! Its funny, but when life is going well, I tend not to write, so I guess its been a really great few weeks. For one thing, I have been permanently hired on with NYR, and that feels good. I was struggling when I first accepted the management position, largely because I felt so resentful that this was very much NOT the professional singer job I had been dreaming of and working towards for most of my adult life. I felt frustrated and low about it until I was at one point actually threatened with losing this job, and I realised that I had to make a decision to work at it 100% or drop it. Ever since I decided to commit fully to it, I have felt so much better about the work and about myself in general.

The company is really committed to training, which I love. Yesterday I took a company-run day course on aromatherapy.

We were given samples to smell (note quality is everything with essential oils and source organic when ever possible), and we were not to guess the name of the oil but to discern the scent layers of the oil. Each oil has top, middle and bottom 'notes'. It suddenly became like wine tasting and more, because each oil not only smells differently, but also evokes a whole range of emotions. I was amazed at how powerfully I was affected by rose, not surprising as it is all about love, forgiveness, comfort, gentleness. Did you know that rose is also fantastic for skin, especially dry, red hot skin? It is also a hormone balancer for men (infertility) and women (menopause). When I smelt lemon oil I actually felt 'uplifted', I was suddenly smiling and my mouth was watering - it is a known appetite stimulant (it acts on the bile duct), it is a great insect repellent, can be applied neat to treat acne and warts and it helps stop the spread of spider veins and varicose veins (as it tones the capillary wall), it is a circulatory/detox tonic, and a fantastic antiviral, the first oil to use for colds and flu. In Australia it was used in hospitals and they cut the incidence of MRSA by 75%...

My other favorite oils were:

Bergamont - excellent for driven, angry, hot (chinese medicine) liver&adrenal male energy, and cooling (hence Earl Grey tea is excellent in the summer).

Geranium - balancing, sweet, calming, great for anxiousness, restlessness, waking up hot at night (like menopause), children's fevers, sunburn&dry heat.

Frankinsense - an oil with depth, first sharp and bitter then rich and complex, meditative, rooted. it is about letting go, being in the moment, regenerating the spirit.

Posted byKarma at Wednesday, April 20, 2005 0 comments  

Labels: wellness

spring clean
Wednesday, April 6, 2005

I have started an anti-candidia diet based on Erica White's Beat Candidia book. It means cutting out all yeast and sugar, including fructose, so no fruit (except lemons), lactose (except live yogurt, cottage cheese and butter),no bread made with yeast (obviously), no white rice or pasta, no prepackaged soy products like sausages/burgers (basically nothing prepackaged), no vinegar, packaged dressings or condiments, but I can eat tofu and organic chicken, fish, ryvita, brown rice, quinoa, any vegetable, etc...

It takes months but it really works and really helps anything from chronic fatigue to fibroids (my friend Deb) and ibs and obviously chronic candidia/bladder problems (which is what I have had). According to Erica candidia is epidemic in western society (which makes sense thinking of the typical western diet combined with steroidal drugs like ibuprofen and the pill and long term antibiotic use).

I will stick to it until our New York trip in June.

I actually dont have to cut out much of what I normally eat, just the odd glass of wine and occasional desserts. One challenge is probably cutting fruit out of my breakfast! When I first tried it a month or so I cut out bread and I don't really miss that too much.

The biggest challenge is eating in restaurants. We have a friend's birthday party on Saturday, and I am wondering if I can get away with the couscous, do they put vinegar or some sort of sauce on it?? I had prawns on tuesday and I could feel the vinegar the next day (I am that sensitive now, which is both cool and sometimes frustrating...).

It is helpful that my colleague at work is on it now and has done it before so can advise me on supplements, and we can think of interesting alternatives to salad!

Posted byKarma at Wednesday, April 06, 2005 0 comments  

Labels: wellness

sun!
Sunday, April 3, 2005

I had a great day. It felt like I was living in the moment, without judging myself or anyone or trying to be anything. We did stocktake at work, which was actually fun, listening to classical radio and joking around with Al, Deb and Bel. And when I left at 3pm, the weather was gorgeous. Sunny and warm, and I walked though the park, sitting at the top of the hill for a bit before coming home and then laying out in the garden.

There is nothing like sun in Britain, it feels so magic because it is such a change to the often grey and rainy weather. Not only does it lift my spirits, I feel grateful for good weather! Funny coming from a native Californian. Which gets me thinking, it is really about attitude here, because some things aren't as 'nice' or 'warm' or 'rich country' as the USA, but I have a choice in how I can view that. I can moan about it the whole time, which I have done a lot (it is very difficult not to moan about British rail and the tube as it really is a farce), or I can appreciate the difference and be thankful for small things (and big things too) that happen now. Like today being sunny and me getting off work early enough to enjoy it. And feeling really good and connected on an energetic level singing today, which felt like I was discovering a nurturing way of practicing.

I am going to curl up with a book and bed soon even though it is only 10:30! Quite the opposite of my dear insomniac friend, who is the inspiration for and designer of this blog! Thanks again Steph, I really like it!

Posted byKarma at Sunday, April 03, 2005 2 comments  

Labels: life