As this article in Live Science attests “The conceptualization of time in terms of money primarily emerged as a product of the Industrial Revolution…”  We are so attuned to hard work that attaining happiness during leisure activities can make one feel “..more impatient and received less enjoyment from leisurely activities…”

During most of my working life leisure activities came as an after thought.  Exercise was only important if I was training for a race or if the employer had onsite group exercise (Thanks, Mahalo/ThisWeekIn).  During my time at EarthLink I had gym membership but rarely went to the gym.

At EarthLink the nature of my specific role had me answering email, texts, or testing products at any given time during the day or night.  While there were leisure activities sponsored by my workplace – Happy Hours, Project Dinners, etc – they were still work related.

Once work and the social (work) life was gone I had to find things to do.  By things I thought being productive, hard working.  I started to volunteer here and there, and that soon felt like a job (I was making it that), instead of something fun, so I was back to square one.

Eventually, I added yoga to my weekly underemployed life.  In addition to being good exercise yoga also has the meditative quality to still the mind.  I practicing mindfulness meditation but the physical aspect was missing.  Eventually, I was able to add a bit more cardio into my exercise routine.

Personally, I felt the balance of the yoga, meditation, and cardio helped to motivate me to do more and consciously try new things and take more risks.  Prior to that my life felt a bit stagnant for awhile.

A few weeks back a friend who just recently became underemployed asked about advice on how to keep busy.  I suggested volunteering, exercise, and meditation, not in any particular order.  These are all leisure activities.  Common sense tells me she knows how to look for a job and know she is doing that on her own.

As much as we celebrate work finding time to do those things that makes us happy and keep us healthy has as much value.

I could completely relate to his ennui to hiking.  About a decade ago I was a runner, trained and completed a marathon, and kept running post my marathon days.  I loved running solo, with friends, on trails, on hills and then one day I was over it.  The runner’s high was gone.  I gave running a break to see if a short absence would help, but after quite a few trials of this I never again got the same feeling.

Eventually, I found yoga, hiking, cycling, and swimming gave me the highs I used to get when running, during my training days those exercises were what I did when not running.  The process of finding the right ones for me was a long one, I tried a few yoga studios, hiking companions, and indoor vs outdoor swimming/cycling (outdoor always wins) and tried other forms of exercise – crossfit, burlesque, etc.  While both swimming and  (recreational) cycling are my less frequent forms of exercise they are just as important to me as hiking and yoga.  There were times when I completely gave up on exercise and cultivated hobbies that were less physical – thrifting, reading, etc.

My friend is opting to try a few different forms of exercise along with cultivating other hobbies that do not involve physical exertion.  I hope he finds what is right for him.  Hope you do too.

2000 Chicago Marathon

Hiking

Chinese Water Dragon

The year started and is ending in a similar note.  At the beginning of this year I was taking care of a friend’s Chinese Water Dragon and as this year comes to a close I am taking care of friend’s cat.  I grew up with dogs and birds all my life so taking care of other types of pets is new to me.

I would be lying if I said I was not a bit apprehensive to cat sit and lizard sit.  I did what I normally do I did some research and when the pets were dropped off I asked questions.  Then I just went along with the flow.  It was fascinating to watch the lizard devour its prey – crickets. The first couple nights I was completely confused when the cat slept all day and played all night, there was a party in my room and I wasn’t invited.

Cat

The rest of the year was a lot of doing new things or revisiting activities I had stopped doing. In winter and spring I had the opportunity to volunteer at Rising Lotus Yoga and in return I accrued yoga hours.  I still practice at least once a week…I love that I can choose from the many classes and each teacher has his/her own unique style.

A pastime I pretty much stopped doing was going to the movies, it was one less expense.  This year I started attending free screenings via AFI Fest, Envelope Series, and other free screenings around town.  This year I had the opportunity to volunteer at AFI Fest on their social media team.  Everyone was amazing – the staff, volunteers, and film aficionados.  You can check out some of my photos here.  Loved the experience!

My neighborhood saw some awesome additions.  The NoHo Alley Retrofit came to our neighborhood, we are the pilot neighborhood.  While one stretch of alley was left out due to the budget (OH via worker on the project) I am hoping the remaining portion will be retrofit soon.  NoHo got a Farmer’s Market and the Laemmle’s NoHo7 opened a week ago.  Both are much needed and appreciated in the Arts District.

This has been a great year of experiences, visiting with old friends, and meeting new friends, and spending time with family.  I hope that 2011 was a good year for you and your loved ones.  May you leave 2011 behind and meet 2012 with an open heart.

Sunny Day

During the Fall of 2007 I took Jeremy Hunter’s Practice of Self Management Class, you can read a bit about the class here.  One of the exercises was creating an appreciative list every day for about  2 or 3 weeks; list 10 people/experiences/etc we appreciated and we could not repeat ourselves over the course of this project.  In addition, to this each class member was meditating 3 times a week or more and reading about findings in neuroscience.

For someone like myself who lost my job of almost 7 years the week before class started, was hit head on the day the Practice of Self Management started, photo here, I was definitely a good candiate for this class.  If you had told me that those two would pale in comparison to what happened over the course of the next year, I think I would have just wanted to crawl into a cave and not come out.   Look for a movie and/or book in the future regarding what happened the following year, truth is definitely stranger than fiction.  The class helped me immensely in preparing me to deal with life in a different way than I had been before.  This exercise along with the many others really cemented all that I was learning.

Here is my list for today:

1. Quality time with family and friends
2. The many years we celebrate with my Thanksgiving Dog, yes got him over a Thanksgiving weekend, & his brother.
3. The ability to walk from point A to point B
4. The sense of smell that will be overstimulated today with the wonderful smells
5. Smiles from family and friends
6. Hugs from family and friends
7. My laptop that has seen me pen so much writing
8. The people I have had the opportunity to meet this past year
9. Learning everyday
10. Falling and continuing to get back up

Happy Thanksgiving!

Roller Skates

This is the 3rd CicLAvia I attended.  The 1st one I volunteered at Hel-Mel in the morning then took the metro to MacArthur Park and walked from there to 7th Street Metro.  Took some photos along the way, you can find those here.

For the 2nd CicLAvia my friend and I both borrowed bikes and did the whole route, Hel Mel to Hollenbeck Park and back (roughly 14miles).  I thought I would not get a chance to see many of my friends because I was on the bike, but did run into quite a few on and off the bike.  Luckily got a chance to run into the friend who lent me his bike.  Photos from that set can be found here and the blog post here.

Now I have a bike but it needs some major repairs, which I cannot afford at this time, so I decided to roller skate.  Going in I knew I would skate a shorter distance at a slower pace.  I never realized how much more time it takes to skate on a street.  Some friends and I started at MacArthur Park, they were all on bikes.  Let’s just say I lost them within the first 5 minutes.  I will admit I have not been as diligent with my work out routine, a bit of hot hula here, some weights there, but nothing consistent.

One of my thoughts as I skated was, hmm it would be faster running this, as I saw a few runners pass me by.  Roller skates were made for smoother surfaces thats for sure.  There were a couple of times I literally ate it as I was standing and just taking photos.  A nice man helped me up and looked really worried, I assured him the fall was worse than it looked.  I did get a few compliments mostly from kids about my cool skates, old school.

Luckily, my skating gave my friends time to take a break as they waited for me.  At my stop City Hall I got a chance to eat a nice cold paleta while checking out Occupy LA.  Friends and I spent some time refueling and chatting.  A few photos from Sundays CicLAvia are here.

I am really happy I was able to try all those modes of transportation at CicLAvia and for the next one in April I’ll be sure to have my bike fixed.

Save the Date it’s on April 15, 2012 (Tax Day)

NoHo Arts District Farmers Market

This past Saturday NoHo welcomed a Farmers Market. A good selection of fruits, veggies, food, clothing vendors, plants. Just like the NoHo Patch writer mentioned I hope they add a coffee vendor soon too.  I had to run to the local Coffee Bean to grab a cup.  After strolling through the market and having the chance to taste test almost everything there (all delicious) I decided on a spicy potato plachinta (see photo below) from Anca’s Romanian.  Doughly, spicy goodness.

Plachinta from Anca's Romanian

I have had the opportunity to taste the jams made by From the Robin’s Nest at some of the food swaps and happy the rest of the city gets a taste of the jams and granola.   The story behind the name and business is truly inspirational.  There were many wonderful vendors and here is a video (scroll towards bottom)  from Patch to give you a feel for the market.

I am very excited that NoHo finally has a Farmers Market.  I grew up in Hollywood and got to see 1st hand the start of that Farmers Market to what it has become.  I see many similarities in both cities.  Hollywood was a place you drove through back in the day and has become a major destination.  NoHo with all the revitalization going on is becoming a destination.  I look forward to the future of NoHo.

Realized this morning I have a wedding to attend this weekend.  I had a closet full of clothes but it has been pared down from various Spring cleanings, clothing swaps and such.  While I do have some great outfits, they are either better for colder weather or hot weather or drinking a zombie in a tiki bar.

Thrift stores are not what they used to be.  They are few and far between, the good ones at least.  I opted to go to one of my favorites:  American Way in Burbank.  There’s free parking and a good selection.

Halloween Costumes

I entered the first section and noticed not only did the dress section include the random assortment of bridal gowns and summer dresses but there were some fairy tale-esque dresses and pumpkin outfits.  Never too early to get your Halloween Costume.  And if you don’t find it at American Way you can go down the street to It’s A Wrap.

After Rummaging through oodles and oodles of dresses I picked a few to try on.  Beware this thrift store has no dressing room, so dress appropriately and for me that means leggings and a tank top.  You can easily try on anything the less you have on and the easier it is to pull on things over your clothing.

I tried on these lovely dresses all under $10 and if you scroll down the American Way homepage you will find coupons and the days they have specials.  My total was $3.99 and as we speak the dress is being washed.

Please share in the comments some of your best thrift store finds and your fav thrift stores?

Dresses

A few of my friends and I are in between gigs like many people nowadays.  My friend, David, decided to christen Friday – Adventure Friday. This past Friday we opted to go to the Bowl and see if we could catch Berlin, the B-52s or any of the other bands rehearsing.  We got there only to find that it was the sound check people on stage.  After suggesting a few Hollywood restaurants to the Aussie tourists we decided on the Griffith Observatory.

Having grown up in LA (our group of 4 actually) we all remembered how fun a trip to the Observatory can be.  Half of us had not visited since the remodel.  We took a mini tour of Hollywood on our way to the Observatory.  We stopped at the Alto Nido Apartments where Sunset Boulevard’s Joe Gillis (William Holden) lived and Elizabeth Short (Black Dahlia).  Our tour guide, David, then took us to Carol Burnett’s star and told us the story behind her star being placed in front of what used to be Pacific Theaters (saw many movies there as a kid).  We ended our star tour at Julia Robert’s apartment building from the film Pretty Woman, you can see a photo here.

As we drove to the Observatory we happen upon some deer.  I know they are all over the park but they tend to be shy compared to the coyotes.  The day felt complete at that point.  Since we had started our day early the Observatory was not open yet.  We decided to take in the view, but Friday was very hazy so the view was pretty limited.

Hunger pangs took over and figuring out a place to eat took precedence.  We had a few caveats it needed to be on within a 10min driving radius, needed to be $10 or less, and kitschy.  Somehow Pioneer Chicken won, I will admit I was a bit reluctant about the choice.  Oddly enough it tastes just like I remember it tasting.  According to a regular the items to try are the Specials (we’ll save that for another trip).  Something to be said about places, things that remind you of childhood – they are very comforting.

Hollywood Bowl - LA Phil & Master Chorale Rehearsing

The majority of my life I have lived in LA and I had never attended a rehearsal at the Bowl until last week.  My friend, David, suggested we go to the Bowl and watch the LA Phil rehearse.

Thursday morning we drove to the Bowl with our coffee and donut in hand…a bit odd to be going to the Bowl sans a picnic and wine.  As we walked in we noticed there were more people on stage than in the audience.  It was a mix of retirees reading the newspaper, tourists excited to hear a free performance, and kids running around the Bowl.  The LA Phil and Master Chorale were rehearsing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  Everyone was in summer attire even the Phil and Master Chorale.

The experience of listening to such a magnificent piece in the middle of the day as the birds chirped and the sun shone was priceless.

The rehearsals are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30am to 12:30pm.  Friday rehearsals are open but call ahead in the event they are cancelled, the General Info number is 323.850.2000.

Summer with my mother has listed this summer’s rehearsals here.

Heal the Bay - Coastal Cleanup

My friend, Laura’s blog Small Good celebrates small non-profs, micro-philanthropy & do-gooders. If you are interested in these topics or would like to recommend someone to be highlighted as a do-gooder, check out the blog.

Laura is a do-gooder herself, she founded Animal Care for Artists, and that is just one of her amazing accomplishments.

Laura asked me to be one of her featured do-gooders.