My happy place

Here are some pretty tree pictures... again I apologise for not having their links... they have been stored in a folder for some months, please feel free to claim them if they are yours.

My last 3 posts have been about my trivial tribulations ... my sincere apologies. Today has been a beautiful and reflective day, I have done my yoga practice, made our meals with intention (not breaking any dietary guidelines), fine tuned a few more of the details regarding my trip and grounded. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I am a blessed soul who lives in abundance in many forms... so today I just want to express a little gratitude.

I have 2 beautiful families, I have found my true love, I have my health, I have opportunities and potential, I have dreams and accomplishments, I have memories and stories to tell, I am grateful.

Today over lunch, The wondering wanderer pondered over the ridiculous human tendency to take things for granted. I am pretty sure we all do this to some degree, maybe some more then others. Do we take what we have for granted because we are constantly desiring more, do we no longer see what it right before us because we always have our eye on the next prize? I don't think it is wrong, especially in our youth to have goals and dreams, but I do think we do ourselves a disfavor by not appreciating what we have already and what we have already done.

Sitting inside with the best husband in the world, eating our hot veggie soup, while a freezing, Siberian wind howled and rattled around our house, I felt quite comforted that there wasn't anything else I wanted right then. So here (for me) is a list of things I am grateful for, in no particular order...

family, the best husband in the world, trees, trees, summer, avocados, juicy~ dribble down your face fruit, red wine, yoga, sunsets, sleep ins, candle light, harmonica music, acoustic guitars, marmite, good books, pretty pictures, hot baths, chai tea, paper cups, bunting, butterscotch flavors, men with beards, old cars, surfer boys,trees, charity stores, Winnie the poo, henna paintings, sun dappled patches of earth, cheesecake, twilight, incense, the colour green, organic clothes, traveling, trees, photographs, soup, ugg boots, old jeans, cuddling, tear jerkers, picnics, braais (bbq's), fresh air, open space, the beach, little hands and feet (obviously not me... I appreciate them on little people), laughing, smiling, tickles, kites, sail boats, fairy lights, snowmen, origami cranes, flowers, bicycles, vanilla, long walks, smiles on strangers, holding hands.

That's today's list.

The bane of the jet plane...

Dreamy solutions to my 'bleh' day... a beeeeeeewtiful bed, and a good book....

Some days... I wake up full of zest, inspired, motivated to save the world (or just help it out a little), other days, like today, something just feels off. It could be the cold, the crazy dreams I had last night, being mildly homesick for South African summers, family, friends and big, beautiful open spaces... or nothing in particular. This "off" feeling however, has this nasty tendency to turn into a murky spiral of... 'yukkiness'... for lack of a better word. Being uninspired and unmotivated inevitably results in being totally unproductive which in turn results in guilt. Throw in a tiff with the 'not so sweet ladies' at the Mexican embassy today (who were not Mexican) and an 'in-box' that is not giving me anything I am patiently waiting for, and you have the perfect recipe for a ... well, not so inspired Tam. Then to top it off, I came across this fascinating site and did this even more fascinating quiz, and discovered that even though we don't drive a car anymore, try to eat organic produce, are vegetarians, are conscious of our electricity usage, have no heating, reuse bath water in winter, shower in summer, don't use plastic or PET bottles, don't have a TV etc etc etc, we would still need 2 and 2/3 earths to sustain us if everyone lived like we did! Good Grief!!!! Sorry guys... but the truth is that the damage is done in all the fuel consumption used to jet set. Traveling by air has let us down... and well, we live in the very, very far East... so going anywhere means an airplane... or a ship? I have done no homework on this matter , as I mentioned before it was an unproductive day, and therefore I have no anecdotes for this dilemma... please free to comment or mail me at treehuggersblog@gmail.com if you have any suggestions... or funny jokes... or inspiring words.

I am now taking myself and the tail between my legs off to bed with every intention of having peaceful dreams and waking up a little more zesty!

Please note: I unfortunately collected these images ages ago and no longer have the links, I have searched- I have not found and I am more then happy to add links if anyone knows where they come from.

Re: Solution # 3... Qualify as a Yoga teacher

(This picture was taken 2 years ago on top of a mountain, in a gale force wind in Mongolia, probably not the best place to attempt Vrksasana... a balance pose)

With all the emphasis I have placed on my other 6 re:solutions, I have been awfully quiet about #3 : qualify as a yoga teacher. There are a number of reasons for this... none of them intentional, but as the time to make this leap rapidly approaches (18 days to be specific), it is naturally working its way to the front of my mind... where I intend to keep it for a bit, and thus it has earned a mention on 'oh beloved blog'. In 18 days I will board a plane and make my first ever journey to the Americas (Mexico to be exact), where I will engage in 16 days of intense study and practice, that will hopefully see me return as a RYT 200 (or... registered yoga teacher). I have had an on/off relationship with yoga for years, I have a tendency to get thoroughly immersed in my practice and then disconnected due to relocation or lack of finance, routine, time..... and so the list goes on. Early last year however, yoga and I became well acquainted again as it turned out that my landlady taught classes in the apartment next door and the degree I am pursuing delved considerably into it. The acquaintance turned into a love affair and before long the wandering wonderer and I were spending our evenings practicing at home together. During one of these at home sessions, I had an epiphany... (this happens a lot when you are alone with your thoughts and breath on your mat), why be dependent on location and teachers and money for yoga... if I became a teacher (which technically I am already), I would always have the knowledge and expertise with me. The challenge however, (a theme), was finding a place to do a course that would coincide with my time off from work and my bank balance... no mean feat at all! Needless to say I did find a suitable solution and promptly enrolled and booked flights. Although yoga is very much a part of my life and I have 'upped' my yoga practice quite considerably recently in preparation... I am quietly a little nervous. I love yoga, but I am no yogini, yet! My body does not do a lot of what it should do and my mind does a lot of what shouldn't. BUT... one of the first things you come to understand about yoga... is that patience is most certainly virtuous! Just as all bodies differ in appearance so do they differ in tempo, speed, agility, flexibility and strength. I am perhaps pushing a little hard now, but I am hoping my hips and legs rise to the challenge! (watch this space)

" Life has been insane.... but today was ok"- Emiliana Torrini

Yesterday I woke with that slightly anxious/ expectant/ excited, Christmas morning feeling. Why? Well, I found out on Saturday, while I was at work, that Emiliana Torrini (if you are not familiar with her music... treat yourself!) was playing in Japan for one night. I couldn't do anything about tickets that day... or the following two as it was Sunday, which bled into Monday which was a public holiday and the number listed to call only offered me a very long voice recording, in Japanese ( which I am very ashamed to admit I don't understand). So yesterday was all about acquiring tickets. I need to point out as this stage, that this sort of thing actually terrifies me... I mean having something purposeful you want to achieve in a country where you are illiterate and cannot speak or understand the language. It terrifies me, because it has on various occasions ended rather badly, like the time I wanted to donate some money to charity, and the bank assistant transferred ALL my money to Africa, irretrievable for 2 weeks! Other times, the not so "life and death" ones, it is just a little frustrating. Anyway, I had my heart set on this concert... and when I have my heart set I am like a Pit-Bull with a bone. So the best husband in the world, (armed with his far superior Japanese skills) kindly offered to accompany me on my mission. The ticket purchase was basically an electronic issue machine ALL in Japanese... and after an hour and much assistance from various bystanders, it was determined that the tickets were sold out at this vendor. Up flared the never-surrender, Pit-bull, and off I went in the ice cold, sleety weather into the city to an actual Ticket Office to try again. After a considerable amount of gesture it appeared to be yet another 'no go'.

Mentally my blog post was rapidly becoming a stormy rant about the trials and tribulations of being perpetually lost in translation ... when surprise The best husband in the world, suggested we just go and try and get tickets at the door ( A gamble, I'll admit, but a far better option than tainting my pretty, happy positive blog space). A bit of Internet searching suggested this might be viable. So again, in the nasty weather we set off, into the night, on the hour and a half train trip to the venue to try our luck and VOILA! Two tickets in hand!

It was very, very worth it! Emiliana Torrini bares her entire, vulnerable soul when she performs. There she stood like a tiny bird of paradise, one hand clenched around the microphone, the other clawed in effort, perched on little stilettos (for a very brief period before they were cast aside), clothed in a lotus colored tunic that seemed to flare up as her voice ascended. She was breathtaking, honest and humble and ( without sounding enormously over dramatic) I honestly feel my life has been enhanced by the privilege of being amongst the 100 or so people that filled the little venue as her audience. Thank you Emiliana for coming o Tokyo and thank you Best husband in the world... for being the best husband in the world!

CCCCcccccrrrraaaash!

That crashing sound you hear... uuurrggg... that's me caving! I made it a WHOLE WEEK... on raw food only... I made it through lunch, rummaging through the croutons in my salad, picking the veggies off my sandwich, and then on the way home, we stopped to load up on a few more groceries (at the only supermarket where I can read the labels to check the ingredients are organic) and I didn't make it down the sweetie isle, nope, the culprits... Jelly belly... damn you Jelly Belly and all your colorful towers of pure delight, damn you and your multitude of mouthwatering flavors! I didn't even make it to the till... no, I paid for an almost empty bag of vanilla and cafe latte resolution destroyers! I have to admit it was inevitable... I had been eyeing out those Jelly Belly towers since the first time I laid eyes on them, yet managed to resist their evil, tempting cries. Then there I hovered.... looking down into the deep, dark hole that was my developing guilt. I hovered, I teetered and then I thought bugger it! I'll just try to undo it as best I can... a couple of bottles of water, a run, and an Internet site promising me organic jelly beans in the future, and I'm back on my horse! Shoooweee, twas close I tell ya, for a second there I had that "well ...I've blown it this much I may as well... " but I didn't, because I had yet to come home and write my blog, and to be quite honest I couldn't face lying or describing the intensity of my crash... So here's to you little blog, you are working your magic!

To be or not to be (a nightmare to feed raw foodie~ the first social challenge)

So with a successful 3 days of re:solution under the belt ( including the first run of the year and a good dose of yoga, woohoo!), I feel I am somewhat entitled to create post regarding what may or may not be the trials and tribulations of my choices ( do not snigger or roll your eyes, there is officially such a thing as the "3 day resolution hump"). As I mentioned in my list of re:solutions I have embarked on a journey to a happy, healthy raw food lifestyle, I should perhaps at this stage point out that throughout my life, I have embarked on numerous other weird and wonderful journeys~ some stick and some seriously do not, but I have yet to loose much from the effort of trying. Needless to say, so far so good. I have to give due credit to the wandering wonderer, my ever supporting husband, who has kindly offered to join me on the first legs of my journey, both for his own benefit and perhaps to help me ease into things (preparing two meals; one for me and well, one extra yummy one for you, doesn't lighten the load much). The other fabulous thing about this journey is that it is very much a transition thing, it does not happen over night, so I have been able to cling to some of my life supporting bad habits i.e. my morning coffee and the odd glass of wine ( although there has been a serious reduction of the latter, I am proud to say).

So last night was the first social challenge. We were invited to celebrate New Years with our gorgeous land lady/ yoga teacher and her parents. New Years in Japan, might be likened to Christmas in the west, sans all the Hallmark, excess and hypocrisy, and so it is an honor to be included . It is a time of family and reflection and eating specifically prepared food. They call the food oSetchi and it consists predominantly of pickled bits of pieces that will keep over three days to avoid anyone having to slave in the kitchen over that period. In the past I have not taken particularly well to some of these bits and pieces, I might go as far as to say, that the thought of some of the bits and pieces creates a nasty feeling in the pit of my tummy and the back of my throat, but I gallantly went forth. I also managed to politely slip in my sentiments on one of the items on the way there and was very relieved as it played some leading roles in the meal and definitely does not feature as a raw food.

It was a lovely evening and I got the opportunity to don a kimono for the first time since I have lived here, but, the thing that is always highlighted for me during these occasions, is that even though there is a massive language/ culture/ generation barrier and so many opportunities for misunderstanding or stilted moments, the evening runs beautifully. To me this is a result of people wanting to understand one another and trying to enjoy each others company. So often in our everyday lives, there is miscommunication, misunderstanding... so many misses! We are so easily offended, so over sensitive, so insensitive and yet we have all the tools for good communication at our disposal... I wish we all wanted to understand each other more, I hope 2010 will be year of understanding!