Oh It's Such A Perfect Day, I'm Glad I Spent It With You. ~ Lou Reed

What a perfect day. It was 80° in Portland! I guess it never gets this warm this early in the season. I am so happy. I have missed the warm sun. I have seen the sun since I moved here but it hasn’t been warm. In Denver, we can have wonderfully warm days in the middle of winter but here you see the sun, get excited, run outside, and it is freezing! So not fair. ☺

Anyhoo, I went to Bikram this morning. I grabbed my right foot in the Full Bow pose! I still can’t grab both feet without some help but I can now grab each foot by itself! This is exciting for me. I have blown out both of my knees in skiing and mountain biking accidents. I have babied my knees for years. I would baby them in every yoga class, Nia class, or during any kind of exercise. I was so scared of the pain I felt when I injured them. Now? Now I charge forward in these yoga classes. I am bending my knees as hard as I can. There are some pretty loud and gross pops and creaks but it feels SO good. I still baby them while I am at home but in that heated studio I am knee squatting fool!

After class, I was in the locker room and two different women told me that I was improving so well. One girl, “C”, has been so supportive since my first couple of classes. She told me that my poses are looking great, my breathing is almost perfectly calm, and she can’t believe how quickly I built up my endurance. Then she gave me a great big hug. She is such a nice girl. I hope we can become friends outside of the studio. I am scared to ask her to go get coffee or something because of the Seattle Freeze. Yes, I live in Portland but I have been warned there is a Freeze here too.

Here is a description of the Seattle Freeze by the Seattle Times:

Those who move to Seattle also have another kind of story. But you don't broadcast this one. You keep it to yourself or whisper it to other transplants. It goes something like this:
You're talking to a co-worker/someone at a party/fill in the blank. In any other town, this person looks like someone with whom you might be friends. Potential friend asks, "So what are you up to this weekend?"
"Oh, I don't have any plans yet. I just moved to Seattle and don't really know anybody . . ."
You try not to look desperate.
Friend-to-be smiles and, for a brief, shining moment you think to yourself: Finally, someone is going to ask me to do something. Invite me to a party. Happy hour. Brunch with the girls. It'll be just like "Sex and the City." She'll be Charlotte; you'll be Carrie!
You feel a chill coming on. Still smiling, Friend-Not-On-Your-Life politely excuses herself, "Well, have a nice weekend then."
Ouch.
You've just experienced the infamous Seattle Freeze. It's the flip side of Seattle Nice. Welcome to Seattle . . . Now please go away.

I am scared of the Freeze. I don’t want to ask her to do something, get the cold shoulder, and then it be awkward at classes. Wow, it sounds like I am asking her out on a date. I have experienced this already with moms at playgrounds and mom groups. Very, very cliquey.

This having to make new friends is new to me. I have had my same group of friends in Denver for over 15 years. My best friend and I have known each other for 20. How do you make new friends? I sound really pathetic. LOL

Back to my perfect day. After class we drove up to Vancouver to sign some papers. From there we drove to the Multnomah Falls. What in the hell were we thinking?!?! The warmest day of the year so far and it’s a Saturday. We saw the falls from the road and quickly hightailed it out of there back to Portland. We stopped for lunch at Seasons & Regions for a late lunch. I hadn’t eat since 630 a.m. and I was starving! I ordered the eggs benedict with crab cakes. Holy moly it was good. Crab cake, eggs benedict..seriously YUM! I am proud of myself. I only ate the benedicts. I didn’t eat the freshly made scone and home fries that came with it. We headed home, changed clothes, and then walked up to the playground to let the Bug run free. We were up there for about an hour and then it was time to come home.

Agnes is asleep, Sean and I just a couple pieces of a Cheese deLite (1/2 carbs & ½ calories of regular pizza) pizza from Papa Murphy’s.

What a perfect day.

I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time. ~ Anna Frued

Inspired by my best friend Jody I went to an intuitive painting workshop this weekend. It went from 10 until 5 both Saturday and Sunday. What a nice break! It was so much fun meeting and connecting with some really great women. There were a lot of laughs, tears, and overall joy.

It was nice chatting with these women about every aspects of our lives. I told them about my almost lifetime struggle with weight issues. It was really nice to get it off my chest to a group of people who weren't going to judge me. They all gave me suggestions and encouragement. Then we all discussed our favorite recipes! It was such a blast. I really cannot wait to hang out with these women again. It is like we were all suppose to there with each other.

There is something very similar to this in Denver but this was so much better. Unlike the workshop in Denver we were allowed to expand our paintings to make them as big or as small as they needed to be. We were allowed to use as loads of brushes, paints, sponges, and other materials. There was a such a feeling of creativity, freedom, and being a child!

The pictures are small but there are a lot of them. I wish they would have come out bigger. I have asked Carolyn (the woman who lead the workshop) to send me the full-size pictures if she still has them.

The very first strokes. I was kind of nervous and didn't want to make a fool of myself.



Scattered chaos



Is that a boob?



I think that might be a boob!



Down on the floor painting. It was so fantastic!



Filling up more space



Hmmm, it seems to me that I am painting upside down



Yep, I was definitely painting upside down



I love how it keeps changing



Another layer



Some flowers...



Still blooming



This was the last photo taken Saturday evening



Sunday morning. Shapes are starting to emerge.



Oh, hello birdies! It is really strange that birds were coming out. I don't really like birds but I could see them in a bunch of different brush strokes.



They just kept popping up



Spider legs have disappeared into a cloud of purple



This is my favorite picture of my painting. The big red bird is my favorite. She came out of 4 different shapes that had been painting on over the weekend. Truly incredible that she appeared.



Thorny rose bushes for protection. These were the last things I painted. After I painted them on I just knew I was done.



My finished painting. I love my painting so much. I want to seal it and hang it in Agnes' bedroom. There is something so fairy tale about it.


This was truly a life changing weekend.

My journey with weight loss took me on a path to this workshop. I wasn't hungry once while painting. Maybe there is something in the smell of fresh paint that works as an appetite suppressant!!!!