My regimen

I kind of vaguely posted back in January that my new year's resolution was to not get sick this year. Well, it's a lot more complicated than that. I'm attempting to take my health and well-being a lot more seriously than I ever have before because the older I get the more I realize that these are my best years, and if I want to have many more amazing years ahead of me it's important to take my body seriously. I know that frame of mind may come naturally to a lot of people but it's honestly taken me years to get here. In my early twenties I used and abused my body and when I think about my lifestyle now compared to then, the difference is vast. I used to smoke two packs a day, eat nothing but Lean Cuisine, take anti-depressants, never work out, and drink like a fish. Now, I'm three years off cigarettes, cook most my meals, take multi-vitamins, exercise regularly, and drink rarely.

So far this year the only issues I've had with my health have been allergy-related, and I'm afraid where I live it's next to impossible to avoid some kind of allergies. Apparently cedar, hickory, and willow do bad things to me.

But aside from allergies, I've avoided sickness altogether and I'm pretty sure it's a lifestyle thing, considering how often I used to get sick in my early twenties. For me, my health is broken down into categories of fitness, food, supplements, and mental and emotional well-being.

Fitness
I run three times a week, sometimes outside and sometimes on the elliptical machine (depending on my allergies) for 45 minutes, followed up by several repetitions with small weights for toning.
I do yoga at least twice a week, one "kick-my-ass" class (usually Ashtanga Yoga at the Y) and one Hatha Yoga for stretching. I'm also about to start taking this class at Black Swan Yoga called Sweaty Yoga, where they do yoga in a really hot room so you basically detox the entire time. Black Swan is donation-based, so you just pay what you can. I'm going on my next day off, I can't wait!
I also ride my bike, duh, about forty miles a week I'd guess. I do two social rides a week, one on Wednesday night called the ladies ride, put together by the awesome people at Fast Folks Cyclery, and another one Thursday nights called the Skellies Ride. The Skellies crew is full of amazing people who are quickly becoming some of my favorite people to chill with.
And now that it's getting warmer here in Austin, I am incorporating swimming at Barton Creek into my schedule. There's a free swim from 8-9 every night, so I'm definitely hitting that up.
I'm hoping to get more into hiking and climbing one I obtain all the appropriate gear necessary.
Something I started getting into, thanks to Josh Verduzco, a very talented Austin photographer and close friend of mine, is tightrope walking. He has a zipline tied up between two trees at his house, and it's a lot harder than I thought it would be to stay up on that sucker. It really engages your core and tests your balance. Twenty minutes on that thing and I was sweating like a pig. It's fun!

Food
If you haven't already, I highly recommend watching Food Inc. Because of that movie I stopped buying overly processed food (ahem, Lean Cuisine), and for a long time I only bought my meat from Native Roots Market (back when I lived in Oklahoma) because I wanted to know exactly where my meat was coming from. Unfortunately my morals and my wallet do not always agree with each other and I get my meat from HEB now, but that movie pretty much captures my whole food philosophy.
My diet is pretty much this: a banana, yogurt, and juice for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and a meat, grain, and a green for dinner. For snacks I munch on pickles, almonds, carrots, or fruit. I let myself eat as much fruits, vegetables and juice as I want. I figured out the perfect salad design: any dried fruit + any nut + any crumbled cheese + whatever dressing = the perfect salad. For example today I had dried cherries, pistachios, crumbled blue cheese and strawberry vinaigrette on a bed of baby springs...to die for. I'm pretty sure you can use any combination and it will still taste amazing.
I eat meat for the protein, and up until recently I only ate turkey and chicken. But since moving to Austin I've ventured out and started eating PORKCHOPS. Wow. Maybe someday I'll even try steak. I actually had a barbacoa taco a few months ago but it made me sick. Then I found out it was from the cheek of a cow, and I wanted to die. Little by little.
Also, I drink a lot of water, try to limit myself to one cup of coffee a day (not easily achieved sometimes, I must say, I freaking love coffee), and when allergies are bad, tea with locally-made honey. It helps, I swear! Something about the locality of the bees combating the local allergies. Plus tea is awesome, but I drink a lot more of it in the winter than the summer.

Supplements
I take a multi-vitamin for women and a calcium supplement because it's supposed to help ease cramps in your muscles, and my feet are always cramping up. The potassium from my daily banana is supposed to help with cramps as well, as well as lots of water.

Mental

This is so small and so minor, but instead of watching TV until I pass out at night, I started putting ambient music on and reading until I fall asleep. I'm currently reading Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières. It's a Turkish novel and it's very good so far, I'm about halfway done. I'm going to read What Is he What by Dave Eggers next.

Emotional
I had a conversation with my sister's husband on Easter Sunday I found interesting. He said he only has two people he could call his close friends, that he could count on and tell anything to. Maybe it's because he's older, and has a full life of kids and family and work to tend to, and because I'm younger and single have more time on my hands, but I really think I have at least 8 best friends that I can tell anything to and rely on for anything. I find that by doing all the aforementioned things and spending my spare time with my friends and family, that emotional fulfillment follows, without having to spend too much time trying to be happy, because I just am. I am constantly focused on how fortunate I am to have the amazing friends and family and life that I do.

I may not have much money, but I am very rich, and live a rich life.

Save the Earth, Ride your Bike

So I designed a poster for a poster contest in Austin promoting the use of bicycles as a means of transportation. Here is my design:



And you can vote for me here. Or, you can vote for whoever, I don't care, just vote!!

How I've gone soft.

I really think I used to be dead inside. For such a long time I really never cared about anyone but me. I was heartless, and hollow. But I feel alive now, more than ever. Awake, finally. Aware. So much to do, so much to see. There is so much beauty in the world, and inside ourselves. What's the point in being selfish, it takes too much effort anyway.

Graphic dee.

Some new cards for Sky.

Also I am starting up a new portfolio/flickr site here, and I would also highly recommend this article to art students for a little encouragement from someone who can sympathize. It inspired me!

Evan Prince

These pictures were taken by my former roommate Evan Prince on Garden Street. The perks of having photographer buddies!

The Other Side of the Hill

I've been thinking a lot about the other side of pain. For every action there is a reaction, and the world has a way of course-correcting and balancing itself. For every hill you drudge up, there is a lovely ride down. The duality of pain is interesting, two sides of the same coin...how can we truly be happy unless we know what it's like to be completely miserable? How can we know what we've got until we lose it? To really appreciate the full spectrum of emotions, we have to climb up hills so we can appreciate the glide down.

When I tell my clients about my wreck, I hear some people say "I used to bike, but I fell off once and it scared me into never biking again." I guess I just don't get that mentality. Getting into bike wrecks makes me appreciate my body even more. To know that I (usually) have a fully functional body, with functional limbs and a functional brain...that is just amazing to me. To have it taken away so abruptly really makes me appreciate what I have when I have it. It makes me want to ride even more, so that I can fully appreciate this vessel while I can, and use it to its fullest extent! To think some people live such sedentary lives seems like such a waste. We are capable of so many things, it really is incredible.

I guess I've had a bit of a rough month. I am dredging up this hill of life. I had this wreck, and have had some other personal stuff happen...my house, job, and love life have been stressing me out. It's been so long since I've slept soundly. I just keep telling myself to keep putting positive energy out there and it will come back to me on the other side of this hill. I just have to keep pedaling (figuratively, of course, I'm still "taking it easy" for now).

It sucks when your stress outlet is taken away from you, which for me is usually biking. So I've turned to the guitar lately. We are old friends, me and the guitar, but it's been a while since I was really into it, so we've got some time to make up for.

I think I somehow turned my art blog into a blog about biking, so I'm going to post pictures of recent projects to keep this more art-friendly.






This is a painting I made of my dad for Christmas. I made one of my mom too but don't have pics yet.







And various candids:





And this is entirely unrelated, but quite indicative of how much I hate being cold:


And that's it for now. See you on the other side ;)

Take it easy.

"Take it easy," he said, "and wear a helmet."

It's impossible to ride as often as I do and not encounter the occasional bike wreck. About two weeks ago I hit a patch of gravel in a turn and hit the ground pretty hard on my left side. I fractured my collarbone and sustained a mild concussion. I was taken to the emergency room and after an MRI scan and a few hours later, I was released with a prescription of hydrocodone and specific instructions to "take it easy."

Which was easy enough at first because all I wanted to do was sleep anyway. Everything wore me out. I took naps at work in between clients. But even though sleeping was all I wanted to do, it didn't come easy, and I woke up in fits of pain and couldn't get comfortable. I still can't get comfortable, and I've regained most of the mobility back in my shoulder. So I do my physical therapy exercises every day, take hot baths often, and ice my shoulder down after work. And I pop a lot of advil (I ran out of the hydrocodone about four days ago). But now I'm finding it very difficult to "take it easy" because in spite of it all, I still just want to hop on my bike (helmet on!) and ride around.

So I walk. A lot. Everywhere.

At least I got a cool scar out of the deal.


This is the day after the wreck.

I was completely out of it this day. Definitely still reeling from the concussion, my boss said I was very zombie-like. I just remember sitting up front and staring straight ahead, having absolutely no thoughts. I was in a daze.


2 days after


3 days after the wreck, and by far the worst day of them all. The swelling started to go down in my shoulder, my endorphins were long gone, and bruises started popping up all over town. My joints were achey, and for some reason the area beneath my eye just puffed up and I could barely see out of this eye. Sleeping was almost impossible.


5 days post wreck and the outskirts of my road rash started receding.


8 days post wreck and my face is ALMOST presentable to the outside world.


10 days post wreck and I almost feel cute again.

And here I am today, 15 days post wreck, and in good spirits:




I gotta say, a week into it I was feeling pretty blue. Nothing gets me down like forced laziness. It sucks to have no energy and to get worn out so quickly. The last time I went running I ran five miles and then went to a party. A few days ago I walked two miles and had to take a thirty minute nap. If I could give any advice on dealing with a bad bike wreck, it's this:
1. Wash your road rash with soap and water every morning.
2. Douse your road rash in neosporin after cleaning it and wrap it up in nonstick bandages for half the day.
3. For the other half of the day, let those suckers breathe! They need to dry out. Sleep without bandages on them. The next day, repeat 1-3.
4. For broken/fractured bones, if you can stand it, save the strong stuff for night time, you will need them to get you through the night, sleep is KEY! If you can handle it, just alternate advil and ibuprophen during the day. Tylenol is bad for your liver.
5. Physical therapy, hot baths, and cold packs are your friend.
6. TAKE IT EASY!!!! If you're like me, this is the hardest one to follow.

Of course this would happen two weeks before SXSW. Fortunately I live close enough to downtown I can walk to everywhere I want to go. Thank god my legs are okay! I've definitely learned my lesson, helmets are to bikes what seat belts are to cars. Message received, universe!