Back Up, Back At 'Em

After three days home sick, I'm finally back in the game. Back at work and off the meds, I'd say I'm about 95%. That's not bad considering how terrible I felt on Tuesday morning - achey, sweaty, cold, congested, the skin around my nose so dry that it hurt to sneeze. We didn't have any tissues in the apartment, so I was stuck with toilet paper - owie.

After calling in sick and writing a quick self-pitying blog post, I spent the rest of Tuesday sticking diligently to K's Plan: stay warm, stay hydrated, stay medicated and don't exert any unnecessary energy. My adversaries - boredom and an endless internet, that pile of laundry in the corner and the paper that isn't going to write itself. Allies - my snuggly blue robe, Dristan Cold medicine, season one of Dexter and, most of all, K.

K doesn't work on Tuesdays, so he was available to bring me hot chocolate, a scone, soup, a sandwich and a quesadilla. (As you can see, I didn't lose my appetite.) He even went to the store and got some moisturizing lotion-infused Kleenex, which are amazing, by the way. We saw on tv later that same day that some environmental groups are currently campaigning against this type of super-soft face and toilet tissue, saying that the ultra plush varieties are made from the pulp of really old trees (decades or even centuries). Is it not possible to make über fluffy tissue out of recycled paper products? If not, we definitely need to work on it.

Anyway, I spent all of Tuesday reading, sleeping and watching Dexter. And more of the same on Wednesday, except K was at work so I had to refill my own water glass and make my own food. Later, I found myself in a bit of a conundrum. I had previously purchased a ticket to see Audrey Niffenegger read from her new book in Andersonville. I convinced myself that it was reasonable for me to go: I'll bundle up and sit in the way back and if it goes long, I'll just leave early... And so, after 45 hours of Sticking To The Plan, I finally broke step.

I woke up this morning feeling much better and so, so happy for it. I might have burst into song but K was still sleeping soundly and I didn't want to wake him. We'd both been woken up a few times in the wee hours of the night by our new neighbors' six-month-old baby. Well, we weren't woken by the baby actually - more like the baby daddy. When the baby woke up, the dad would start singing really loudly. It was muffled like the adults in the Peanuts movies, but really exaggerated, sort of like - dare I say it? - Barney the purple dinosaur. This would keep us awake for fifteen minutes or so at a stretch. Then we'd fall back asleep for a while until the next performance.

Despite the relatively poor night's sleep, I am having a wonderful day. Being sick even for a few days is a humbling experience and makes me so thankful to be healthy and alive. Leaving work at 5, I felt so good that I decided to go to my regular yoga class, but halfway there, I remembered that my gym was hosting some sort of art event in the studio. So neighborhoody, which normally I love, but sometimes I just want my gym to be more gym and less community center. Oh well, I suppose I can make room in my heart for local artists. I can always just curl up on the couch and watch Dexter. I may be getting a little too good at Plan K.

Puppets and Washboards in Welles Park

Saturday afternoon saw K, his folks and I making our way to the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival in Lincoln Square's Welles Park. We were greeted by a beer tent and several market stalls specializing in stuff like hemp and handmade jewelry. The for-sale folk art pieces, like those pictured at left, made for an interesting walk through. A few artists were painting big music-inspired murals.

Also present was the Puppet Bike, an Andersonville summertime classic. I mean, here we're talking about puppets that dance - no, rock out - under a disco ball, pop out of surprising little doors below their stage and interact with their audience. Umm, how could you not love a Puppet Bike?


As we made our way over to the main stage, the man with the mic said, "The first one to fall in the mud loses." The previous night's rain had apparently wreaked a little havoc in the park, but we found some nice dry grass and settled down. What a gorgeous day!


Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole played a dance-able set, sung mostly in French.


K's mom has been to New Orleans numerous times and told me that this washboard player was nowhere near as good as others she'd heard. Nevertheless, coming as I do from a long line of non-washboard players, I was quite impressed. Dude makes a living playing a washboard!

I may not be too picky about my music or my festivals, but I will definitely plan to go back to Folk & Roots. It was a marvelous chance to get out with all my neighbors and enjoy that friendly neighborhoody vibe that makes me adore living in this part of the city. Up here, we make mud fun.

Just Me, But with Pretty Feet

From the ankle down, I don't even recognize myself. My feet are so beautiful! I had my first pedicure on Tuesday (here's the before post), and I must say, I totally get it now - I understand the allure. The foot massage and massage chair were my favorite parts. So relaxed was I that I managed to doze off while a lively Bollywood dance number played on TV and a bouncy young child demanded to know why his mother was getting her eyebrows threaded.

In fact, several women came into Sonia Salon to get their eyebrows done. Threading seems to be their specialty. I have unruly eyebrows too, I thought to myself. And I'm way too lazy to pluck them... maybe I should try threading. I asked one of the other customers if the process was painful and she said it wasn't as bad as waxing. Then the woman doing the threading explained that it is easier on the skin because it doesn't traumatize or stretch it like waxing does. Threading is also cheaper (at least at Sonia Salon) and doesn't involve any products which could be harmful to me or the environment. Thus, I was convinced. It seemed like a great idea. And I proceeded to pay someone to use a twisted cotton thread to yank out lines of tiny hairs. By the follicles. On my face. And for the record, it hurt waaay more than waxing. I would without a doubt rather have unruly eyebrows. The woman next to me was getting her whole face done - are you kidding me?! Word to the wise: if you for some reason decide to do threading, have it done before, not after, another service at the salon. That way you can leave refreshed and not as I did, with red skin and eyes watering.

When I got home, K took one look at my purple polish and said, "You have Vikings [Minnesota's NFL franchise] toenails! I love 'em!" Well, not exactly what I was going for, but I do think the purple is fun. I'm also enjoying the excuse to post a picture of my sanuk flip flops, which I love. They are made out of yoga mat = pure genius. Oooh, and speaking of yoga mat and showing off - shortly after I started practicing yoga last year, K bought me my very own mat from yogamatic. Check it out:

It is a great quality, eco-friendly mat and part of the proceeds from this particular design benefit ongoing recovery efforts in New Orleans after Katrina. I've used it so much that "Cocktails To Go" is already fading. That must be where I put my hands for downward-dog! If you are ever in the market for a yoga mat, I would highly recommend yogamatic. They even offer free return shipping and recycling when you are ready to get a new mat. Ohm.

I Can't Afford a Massage

After surviving a mentally grueling ("grew-elle-ing") Week Without Coffee, I have decided to treat myself this week. What I would really adore is a full hour massage, but I do not want to spend that much money. So, inspired by a friend over at The Martha Initiative, I've decided on a bottom-up approach (wah-wah). In lieu of whole body relaxation, I'm going to focus on refreshing my feet. Today, I am going to get my first-ever pedicure.

I'll be entrusting my feet to the beautiful people at Sonia Salon, a spa I chose because of its reasonable price tag and relatively convenient location on North Clark. I am a little bit nervous about the part where the pedicurist removes the dry skin. My colleague C said that they sometimes use a shaver tool that she likened to a cheese slicer - yikes! She also told me that Oprah said that when she gets a pedicure they take off so much dry skin that she actually goes down a full shoe size. So, ok - first of all, yuck, and secondly, doesn't that hurt?

I guess even if it is a little uncomfortable, that's all right. I still want to have the pedicure experience. From now on, if I'm with a group of women and they start discussing beauty services, I won't have to confess that in all my years on this earth I haven't had a pedicure. I will still be wholly unqualified to converse about many of the topics that tend to come up in all-female groups, but pedicures will no longer be one of them.

Before I go, I would like to take this opportunity to declare that just because a woman is generally uninterested in 'girly' things or activities, this does not mean that she should not be taken seriously in the event that she decides to pursue a feminine interest every once in a while. I certainly reserve the right to be 'girly' (whatever that word means) in any way and at any time I choose. So K, I'm not sure if you thought I was joking when I told you about my appointment to have a pedicure this evening, but this is the real deal, buddy. No watermelon nails for me, though - I think I'll just stick to pink or peach.