Posts from the “Wellness (or lack thereof)” Category

Coffee Talk

Posted on August 31, 2015
writer

 

A friend of mine forwarded me this picture over the weekend.

I thought it was funny.

But then I realized I had a deep, dark secret.

Would you like to hear it?

Here goes: I can’t drink coffee like I did when I was younger.

You are full of shock and awe, aren’t you? Because what self-respecting writer can’t guzzle cup after cup of Joe?

(Raises hand sheepishly. Waits for your disapproval and jeers.)

I had a good run, folks. Really, I did. And it was a run fueled by 4-5 cups of coffee a day.

But these days all I can manage is a cup of dark roast (black) in the morning. Anything more than that and you’ll have to peel me off the ceiling. Lionel Richie may be able to dance there, but as a writing space, ceilings just don’t work for me.

Go ahead. Call me Ole One Cup. I won’t mind, especially since i just got “Dancing in the Ceiling” stuck in your head.

You’re welcome, by the way.

The good news is that despite this inability to get my coffee on in the mornings (or even the afternoons), I’ve churned out 20,950 words so far. That’s almost one-quarter of the manuscript that’s due on June 1, 2016. Not all of those words are perfect. But they are down and that’s the most important thing. You cannot revise, refine and rearrange anything unless it is down on paper.

Although I may not know as many baristas as I used to, I’ll take little victories like these when and where I can.

Your turn: Do you have a deep dark secret you’d like to share? If so, what is it? Otherwise, tell me about a little victory you’ve had recently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: Books, Following Your Passion, Lifestyle, Wellness (or lack thereof), Writing

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No-Bake Granola Bars

Posted on November 28, 2014
Photo: Paige Bowers

Photo: Paige Bowers

Confession: I have been buying oats, nuts, seeds and dried fruit to excess this past year. Of all the fatal flaws a person could have, this is probably not the worst. And yet, my husband has been dropping gentle hints about how maybe I can find something to make with all this stuff…so it will, you know, disappear from the pantry, and (in my mind) make room for more of it, or (in his mind) make room for the homemade beer he is forced to ferment in his office closet.

Domestic bliss, right?

But yes, I have a seeds/nuts/oats/dried fruit problem. It began earlier this year when I had romantic notions about making healthier snacks for the household. It ended (sort of) when I blew up my food processor trying to make some sort of raw candy bar out of cashews, chocolate chips, coconut and I-forget-what-else.

“Is that smoke coming out of the food processor?” my nine year old asked.

“No,” I told her, before sniffing the air and realizing that yes, it was indeed smoke…and…oops…my food processor was no longer working.

So much for those candy bars.

dates

Photo: Paige Bowers

The dream died there, if only for an instant. Ever since that ill-fated evening, I’ve been eating oatmeal and dried fruit and/or nuts and honey for breakfast, which means the unrelenting need to have these products on hand has not ceased (in my mind alone). But today, I decided to go back to this healthy snack idea. I decided to make chewy granola bars. I found a great David Lebovitz recipe on his website and adapted it a little bit to reflect the ridiculous amount of seeds and almonds (slivered and otherwise) that I have in the pantry. After toasting the oats and such and leaving them out to cool, I added dark chocolate chips and chopped dates to the mixture just to keep the flavor simple.

Photo: Paige Bowers

Photo: Paige Bowers

Then, I combined almond butter with raw honey and a pinch of salt to create the oozy, chewy sauce that binds it all together.

mixture

Photo: Paige Bowers

I added the sauce to the contents of the picture above, mixing it in with my hands to get it fully incorporated. After that, I smoothed the mixture into a parchment-lined baking pan. This is what it looked like:

Photo: Paige Bowers

Photo: Paige Bowers

I froze this for thirty minutes, then took it out and sliced it into bars. Mine didn’t look pastry chef perfect, but they tasted fantastic.

Here they are:

Photo: Paige Bowers

Photo: Paige Bowers

 

Categories: Food, france, Lifestyle, Wellness (or lack thereof)

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The Power of Habit

Posted on July 15, 2014

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with New York Times-bestselling author Gretchen Rubin, who is finishing a new book about habit formation called Better Than Before. Here is a recent post she wrote that distills the ideas she’ll cover in her book, which comes out in March, 2015.

I interviewed Gretchen because I was working on a forthcoming story about exercise for USA Today‘s Best Years Magazine. The story will give pointers on how to get back into the habit once your kids become more independent or leave home altogether. Although I interviewed several excellent health and wellness experts who could speak to reps and research about how 10 minutes of walking a day will benefit your blood pressure, I thought Gretchen would be a good source about starting a new habit and sticking to it.

Some notes from our conversation that didn’t make it into the final piece:

* She got the idea for Better Than Before while she was working on her blockbuster The Happiness Project. She found during her research for that book that people who tried to become happier and succeeded could often point to some sort of habit they developed as the reason for their success. It didn’t take long for her to become “obsessed” with how to change habits.

* If you’re having a hard time starting a positive new habit like exercise, she said it’s important to look at the reasons why. Maybe the gym is located in an inconvenient place with bad parking. Maybe you hate the music they play in the gym. Maybe exercise machines aren’t your thing. “Rather than saying ‘I hate exercise,’ you need to face what it is that’s actually the problem so you can see the solution,” she said. “If you hate loud music, find a place that plays music you like or go for a walk in nature. If you don’t have time to shower after your workout, do some sort of exercise where you don’t sweat.”

* Some people say they want to start a new, healthy habit because people say they should, or because there is some other sort of external expectation. But deep down, they don’t really want to make that sort of change, which makes them feel worse. “You really need to look within and see whether this is something you actually want to do,” she said. “It’s better to say [that this habit is] not a priority than to pretend it is and feel like a failure.”

I hope you’ll look for the piece when it hits newsstands this fall, because Gretchen was a lively and fascinating interviewee. In the meantime, have you ever had trouble starting a new habit? If so, what was the habit and why did you have trouble starting it? What steps did you take to make this habit part of your everyday life? Please let me know in comments.

In the meantime, check out Gretchen’s web site  and visit this link to start a Happiness Project of your own.

 

 

Categories: Books, Following Your Passion, Lifestyle, People, Popular Culture, Wellness (or lack thereof)

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Friday Interview: Katherine Warren, artist

Posted on April 18, 2014
mainpainting

Nepotism alert: Katherine Warren is actually my younger sister. I wanted to feature her because I’m really proud of her for a wide variety of reasons, one of which is that she has decided to follow her passion after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis about a year and a half ago. At the beginning of April, her work was featured in a juried art exhibition in Fredericksburg, Va. Although she did not win, it was good exposure for her and work and something that gave her the added confidence to keep doing what she’s doing. Because the thing is, she’s really good at it. What follows are excerpts from a recent conversation I had with her about her work and life:

When did you decide to become an artist and why?

It never really dawned on me until I was applying to colleges that that was even an option for study. But it was all that I really wanted to do because it made me happy.

How long had you been painting before you decided that you wanted to pursue this line of study and work? What about the discipline appealed to you?

I can’t even remember when I started painting. It was just who I was. It was a complete escape that helped me express myself. It’s really that simple.

Why did you turn to painting as opposed to sculpture?

I preferred two-dimensional art because I saw things as pictures. I thought it was more artistically exciting for me to explore on a 2-D surface. And to be able to add shape and volume and texture on a 2D surface was more of a challenge.

You didn’t originally go into painting as a career. Why was that and how did you journey back toward your passion?

Art school does not show you how to be a professional working artist. In my twenties, I worked as a makeup artist and I worked well into my thirties in that field. That was a creative outlet for me because I was able to paint faces. Now I’ve had some changes in my life where I have been afforded the opportunity to focus solely on my art.

You’re referring to your diagnosis of M.S. How has that diagnosis helped your art and how has it been therapeutic for your disease?

At this stage, I’m just looking to create beautiful things that make me happy and touch people. My diagnosis has taught me to slow down, be more aware, and to really listen and see what’s around me. I don’t stand every day when I paint. Sometimes I have to sit. But I still have the same emotional meditative relaxing experience when I pick up a brush. The act of pushing paint will never change for me. It’s magical.  Being able to portion out the right colors, mixing the right amounts makes me think a little more. I’ve messed up and I’ve created colors by accident that I’ve put in sealed containers for use at a later time. I’ve learned to balance and I’ve learned to create ways to simplify the process, such as I have my paints organized by tone and my brushes organized by the technique they offer.

Tell me about your series of flower paintings. How did that come about?

Fatigue is a common symptom of MS. With that said, when I was finally prescribed a medicine to address that fatigue, suddenly my creative juices started flowing. I became consumed by the idea of growth and reaching toward the sky. It became a metaphor for me and my life. And I do prefer wildflowers, things that grow in abandon, things that aren’t planned.  I’ve made 40 paintings over the course of two months.

How has social media helped you get attention and buyers for your work?

When I began painting again, I had posted a painting on Facebook. But it wasn’t as a “look at me. Buy me.” That was never my intention. I just wanted to show people I was painting again. Within the first hour, I had sold two paintings. Shortly thereafter, I gained two commissions and I built a body of work. Now I am looking forward to exhibiting on my web site and becoming more active in my community. I believe this has given me the opportunity to stay active, even with my MS. This is my business and I can choose to do it in any way that my MS will let me. I think that what draws me to art and painting and drawing is the process of seeing something, not just looking at it. I want to embrace the lights and darks of it. I think that’s the thing you have to learn in life, that there’s always light and dark, and you have to find the balance and accept that.

Categories: Art and Design, Culture, Following Your Passion, Lifestyle, Wellness (or lack thereof)

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New Year, New Goal

Posted on January 10, 2014
A dose of sweetness at Pierre Herme.

A dose of sweetness at Pierre Herme.

This time last year I was returning from a research trip in Paris. I spent two weeks there by myself, both sifting through archival material about an architect who captured my imagination and indulging in goodies like the ones pictured above. In my waning moments in the City of Light, I told myself that if I did one thing in 2013, it would be to turn this research interest of mine into a book proposal that would capture a literary agent’s imagination too. By September 11 of last year, I did just that and I am beyond grateful to be represented by Jane Dystel of Dystel and Goderich Literary Management. I spent the latter part of last year refining my book proposal to her and her fabulous business partner Miriam Goderich’s standards. Now that I’ve completed that milestone, I have a new goal: If I do one thing in 2014, it’s to become a published author.

Yes, I did say “goal” and not “resolution.”  Jane wrote about resolution-setting this week on DGLM’s blog, and like her I tend to set goals, rather than resolutions that seem made to be broken. It’s because I prefer to work toward something in my own little imperfect way, rather than resolve to do something, fall short of my resolve and then feel like I’ve bungled everything in my efforts to get from point A to point B.

All the same, it’s the beginning of the year, and beginnings are a good time to reflect on what you’ve done before and tweak where necessary. This article that Jane shared has a great list of things worth working towards, for better or for worse. Better sleep and less smartphone are my favorites on this list, along with supporting local businesses and donating to charity (my pick: The National Multiple Sclerosis Society because my sister was diagnosed with this a year ago).

I’d like to add the following to my own personal list:

1. Reacquainting myself with my yoga practice. My mat spent more time in the closet than under my feet at the end of 2013 and I need to change that for my own sake. Shame on me.

2. Improving my public speaking skills. I probably won’t be the first (or last) writer to say that I get a little nervous speaking in front of people. But I’m steadily working toward changing that. Last fall I spoke to an elementary school class about writing, and this spring I’ll teach my first class at LSU. Other speaking engagements are on the horizon and it is my hope that after each one I’ll get better and more confident in front of crowds.

3. Cultivating patience. I have a history of not waiting well, but I’m working on that. Although I made some strides in 2013, we can always stand to improve ourselves, non?

4. Sharing more here about writing, publishing, entrepreneurship and the latest and greatest reads. Plus, keeping up the eclectic and random stuff. Blogs and social media always seem to be a work in progress, something that shifts shape depending on a writer’s interests. This year, I’d like to open things up to readers who have questions about writing or publishing, share interviews with interesting folks and bring activity from my Goodreads feed into longer, more thought-out posts. If there’s something you’d like to see covered here, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line via my contact page, or shoot me a tweet on Twitter. You can follow me @paigebowers.

What goals have you set for 2014? Please share them in comments and let me know how you’re doing with those goals. And, if you’re not setting goals or resolutions, let me know why you don’t.

Here’s to a fruitful 2014!

 

 

 

Categories: Books, france, Lifestyle, Photos, Wellness (or lack thereof), Writing

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Yogalosophy

Posted on November 13, 2013
Photo: Seal Press

Photo: Seal Press

My yoga practice has fallen apart over the past couple of months, in part because of various work projects that have kept me busy, but also because of a back injury that has been flaring up off and on during this time. With the holidays right around the corner, there is no time like now to get back on the mat (once I can move painlessly), because the breathing, twists, turns and stretches have a way of helping anyone (not just me) stay calm and focused when things get hectic.

ModernWomanThat’s my Yogalosophy, but in the recent issue of USA Today’s Modern Woman, I talked to celebrity yoga and fitness expert Mandy Ingber about hers. Ingber, a former actress, believes we already have the perfect body. It just may be hiding behind layers of fat, or (in my case) compressed spinal discs. What you have to do is love the body you have in order to get the body you want.

Ingber speaks from experience. After being “all over the map” with her own body, she overcame her own eating disorders and body image issues through the self-love she preaches. “I started making better choices as a result of loving myself,” she told me in an interview. “I used to think that if I did something wrong (like gain weight) that I ruined everything. Now I don’t have that black-and-white thinking about myself anymore.”

Now she’s known as the yoga and fitness guru behind some of Hollywood’s hottest bodies, among them, the actresses Jennifer Aniston and Helen Hunt. Her latest book, Yogalosophy: 28 Days to the Ultimate Mind-Body Makeover provides readers with an easy-to-use wellness overhaul that includes traditional yoga poses, toning and cardio exercises, recipes, music playlists, journal exercises and other action items that support physical and mental wellness throughout the day.

“This is really a ‘Start where you are, take what you like and leave the rest’ type of book,” she says. And it’s one I’ll have to reacquaint myself with very soon.

If you practice yoga, what is your favorite type of class to take and why? Or, if you’ve read Ingber’s book, what did you think of it and what sort of results did you get from following her program? And finally, what sort of fitness or wellness ideas do you have for making it through the holidays? What is your holiday-related health or wellness downfall? Please leave your insights in the comments section below.

Categories: Books, Lifestyle, People, Popular Culture, Wellness (or lack thereof), Writing

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Blossoming

Posted on October 23, 2013
floralpainting

 

My younger sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis late last year. Shortly after her diagnosis, I signed up for two M.S. fundraising walks, one in Baton Rouge, the other in New Orleans. I was beyond grateful to the people who sponsored me on these walks because I was so sad about what my sister faces on a daily basis. I can’t make her ongoing pain and struggles easier (which is always frustrating for someone as anal and eager to please as I am), but I can walk in her name to raise money so that talented scientists and doctors can work to find a cure.

If you don’t know what M.S. is, here are some facts:

* It’s a chronic and often disabling disease of the central nervous system.

* The disease occurs when the immune system attacks the myelin (or fatty protective tissue) that surrounds nerves, damaging it and the nerves themselves. When the myelin is attacked and scarred, nerve impulses are interrupted or distorted.

* Person to person, symptoms vary and range from numbness in the limbs to paralysis and loss of vision.

* There are treatments that can slow the progression of the disease and help people live satisfying, productive lives. But  to date, there is nothing that can wipe it out altogether.

Having said all this and being totally aware of my sister’s struggles, I get up every day and look for reasons to be hopeful. She’s handling her diagnosis with humor (most of the time) and tries to find ways to manage her limits, lessen her stress and ask for help when she needs it. Although I am fully aware that she has bad, debilitating days, and hate that for her, I’m tickled beyond words that she has begun to paint again. Above is one of her works-in-progress, an impressionistic triptych of flowers in a field. She began this piece a few hours ago, after selling two of them last night on Facebook.

Disclaimer: I bought one of those two paintings. I’m a proud big sister. What can I say? Isn’t her work gorgeous?

To close, if you would like to get involved with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, here are ways you can help.

If biking and walking and other physical events are not your cup of tea, please consider making a donation to NMSS, either as a gift to support general research and education, or one to honor my sister, Katherine Warren.

Categories: Art and Design, Lifestyle, People, Wellness (or lack thereof)

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Upside Down

Posted on April 18, 2013
Photo: Yoga Journal

Photo: Yoga Journal

I used to do headstands when I was a little girl, the graceless kind where you’d shoot your legs up quickly, hold the pose for maybe a second (maybe) and then flop over with a great thud into the grass. The joy of it (at least for me) was that split second when you could notice all the things in your world — your dog, your kid sister, the mini log cabin your grandparents brought back from Gatlinburg, Tenn. — that were upside down and then right-side up again. No matter how hard you hit the ground on the way back down, you always came out of that pose smiling, either from the momentary shift in point of view, or from all the blood that had just rushed to your head.

Eventually, you get older and stop doing things like headstands, either because you’ve lost your sense of humor, or are getting too stiff and achy to contemplate what it would feel like to hit the ground with a thud like you did when you were small. As a matter of fact, when I started practicing yoga about seven years ago, the headstand was the one thing I avoided like the plague. I had developed some back and neck issues by then and feared that if I went timber like a Redwood in some California forest, that I’d be bedridden for weeks.

What I didn’t realize is that my fears were keeping me from a pose that would actually help my neck and back, not to mention alleviate stress, aid digestion and improve mental clarity.

Last fall, I started an Ashtanga yoga practice with a marvelous teacher who has great instincts about how to get people to twist and turn and stretch beyond their perceived limits. No matter how confident you are in some areas of your life, there is always that one area where the voice of doubt can hold you back. I’ve never been much of an athlete, so I’ve come to find that the hour-and-half-long tangle with my yoga mat a couple of times of week is a lot more about me battling it out with myself than anyone or anything else.

As with anything, what I do on that orange mat is mind over matter. Some days are better than others, but I see progress overall and I’m happy and encouraged by that.

I’ve also started doing headstands again. I started by doing them against a wall, before my instructor nudged me back toward my mat so that I could work toward doing them on my own. I need a little bit of help getting up still, but I’m getting strong enough not only to hold this pose largely by myself, but to hold it for at least 11 breaths and then come down with control. It’s becoming one of my favorite parts of class.

For more on the yoga headstand, please see these links:

Yoga Journal: “Artistry in Action” How one woman rebuilt her headstand practice after realizing it was causing her harm.

Livestrong: “What Are The Benefits of Headstand Yoga?” Headstands take pressure off of your low back, which is a very good thing.

Yoga 108: “The Yoga Headstand” Includes a step-by-step guide to doing a headstand safely.

MindBodyGreen: “Ten Reasons To Do A Headstand Every Day” Headstands are good party tricks!

 

Categories: Lifestyle, Wellness (or lack thereof)

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Tiny Beautiful Things

Posted on October 22, 2012

dearsugarFor the past couple of years, all I’ve heard is “Cheryl Strayed, Cheryl Strayed, Cheryl Strayed. You, of all people, should read Cheryl Strayed.” I haven’t been able to read Cheryl Strayed, because I’ve been busy reading David Pinkney, Theodore Zeldin, Eugen Weber and (insert other French historians’ names here).

Now that I’m not reading these French historical titans at such a breakneck pace, I read Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar over the weekend and would like to take this moment to bow down to a master.

(Bows down).

For those who have been either under a rock or laboring through graduate school (ahem), Strayed is the New York Times-bestselling author of Wild, her memoir of a life-changing hike she took after her mother’s death  (Ed note: I’m reading that next). Tiny Beautiful Things is a collection of the once-anonymous “Dear Sugar” advice columns she wrote for the online magazine The Rumpus. The columns, noted for their out-of-this-world literary flair (each reply is a gorgeous short story in and of itself), hard-earned wisdom, humor and tell-it-to-me-straight advice gained a cult following. After spending the past few days transfixed by them (even reading some of them aloud to my husband) it’s little wonder why they did.

Yes, I laughed. I cried. The columns became a part of me.

I even studied their structure.

Less than a decade after Elizabeth Gilbert ate, prayed and loved her way around the world (thanks in no small part to a publisher’s advance), Strayed is telling people not to run away from their problems in search of an ever-elusive truth, but to face down their troubles and deal with them like big girls and boys. She is at turns tender, tough and hilarious, offering her readers a

+Read more

Categories: Books, Lifestyle, People, Popular Culture, Wellness (or lack thereof)

Morning in the Garden of Good and Evil

Posted on October 2, 2012

I have morning routines that set me up for working through the rest of the day. Generally, I devote an hour to yoga or a walk each day, but I also throw in a bit of gardening for good measure. I started a backyard vegetable garden when I first moved to Louisiana two years ago and it has been the site of just as many glories (tender baby carrots, sweet leeks and sugar peas in Spring) as defeats (the wilt disease that gobbled up my cucumbers and squash this Summer). But I keep at it because a. there’s something wildly therapeutic about weeding (out with the bad so the good can flourish) and b. it’s a way to bring something good and positive into the world.

After my walk this morning, I checked in with my backyard plot, which has begun to sprout fall produce. Here are a couple of highlights:

tomatilloTomatillo: I saw these seeds over the summer and thought I’d try them, largely because they’re supposed to yield purple fruit when they’re ripe. Roasted, they should serve as the base for a good salsa that could include the onions (you can see them poking up in the background in this picture) and cilantro growing in other parts of this box. The authors of Latin Chic also have a great tomatillo salad dressing recipe that was a hit at a baby shower I once catered for a friend in Atlanta. So I have big plans for this crop and hope it continues to flourish.

wintersquashWinter squash: I wish I knew what type of squash this was. I bought a general winter squash seed packet that included butternut squash, acorn squash, and spaghetti squash seeds. But the seeds were all mixed up, so I’m not sure what I planted here or on the other side of my plot. It’ll be a surprise. I like surprises. I’ll either have something that will make a great soup (butternut), something that will be a healthy pasta substitute (spaghetti), or something that will be great roasted on its own (acorn).

okraOkra: This plant is almost tall and sturdy enough for my child to climb. It is also yielding a constant supply of pods that I’ve tossed into gumbos, fried in cornmeal, or packed in my kid’s lunch. The kid will eat raw okra, which is amazing to me, especially because it took me a while to acquire a taste for them. One thing I might try this fall: Pickling okra. Pickled okra make good stirrers in a Bloody Mary, after all.

blackeyedpeaBlack-eyed peas: I’ve tried and failed with a lot of different things in this box over the past two years. But I decided over the summer that as a self-respecting Southern gardener, I needed to plant black-eyed peas. I had no idea this plant would grow the way it did, exploding with yellow and white blooms that yield pods of sweet, fresh peas. In my house they don’t last long, but I’ll be stockpiling some for a black-eyed pea hummus.

Categories: Diary of a Black Thumb, Food, Lifestyle, Photos, Wellness (or lack thereof)

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