Dancing Down the Moon

Ten Things I Love - Post-Bad-Week Edition

I know I've been scarce this week--as you can imagine I'm pretty worn out, although Cosmo is healing up and behaving pretty much like his old self.  (Meaning bitchy, grouchy, and demanding, just like his Person.)  We're almost done with the last round of antibiotics, much to our relief; I've about had it with having to chase him out from under the bed with my Hitachi Magic Wand.  (It scares him.  I might think it threatens his masculinity in some archaic way, but really, what has he got to threaten?  He's got no balls.)  Overall it's been a genuinely crappy two weeks. 

At any rate, since I haven't had much time this week to write, I give you a list of things that have been keeping me reasonably sane lately, mostly in the realm of mindless entertainment.  More spiritually juicy posting will resume shortly.

1 ~ I love that Geoffery Chaucer Hath a Blog. 

2 ~ I love Annie Lennox, in particular her albums Bare and Songs of Mass Destruction.

3 ~ I love that Garfield is much funnier without Garfield.

4 ~ I love that Juno will be out on DVD in two weeks.

5 ~ I love Alton Brown.  I want to have his geeky babies.  I've learned more from watching Good Eats than I learned in culinary school. 

6 ~ I love that there's a sequel to Hellboy coming out in July.  Guillermo del Toro is a freaking genius...although I wonder what kind of scary landscapes exist in a mind that can invent terrifying monsters like the hand-eye demon from Pan's Labyrinth. 

7 ~ I love Chipotle's veggie burrito bowl.

8 ~ I love that doing lots of Nia and ecstatic dance is having a noticeable effect on my body.  Things are shifting around.  I'm becoming more flexible, which is saying something, and my legs are getting stronger.  The only thing I have to watch out for is my knees; the left one has been injured a number of times, so it's weak and prone to being yanked out of shape.  However, Nia teaches you to become aware of the feelings in your body, to listen to tightness and discomfort and work at a level that challenges you without stress or pain.  I'm learning how to sit back into my hips instead of leaning forward over my knees, and learning what it feels like to stretch the joint without going too far.  I've never had this level of body awareness before, and I think it's fantastic.

9 ~ I love the agonizing sexual tension in television shows like Bones.  I love to yell at the screen, "Kiss him, dammit!  Throw him down on the autopsy table and ride him like Seabiscuit!  AUGH!!!" 

10 ~ I love raspberry sorbet, it turns out, which is weird, because up until about a month ago I hated all things raspberry.  Funny how your tastes change as you age.  Next thing you know I'll be eating avocados.  *shudder*

Enjoy your weekend.  I hope the weather where you are is more inspiring than what we've had here this week.

Ten Things I Love - Body Sacred Edition

1 - I love the color of my eyes.  Sometimes they're a sort of sea-grey, sometimes almost brilliantly blue.  They have been described as "mischievous" and "mysterious," which pleases me.  I also have dark lashes, so I don't have to wear mascara--good thing, too, as I am apparently allergic to it and most if it is made of dead bats and gay baby whales and other horrifying things.  (Actually I hardly ever wear makeup at all, thanks to #7.)

2 - I love my feet.  They're cute, and small, and I have nicely-formed toes that I always keep painted some form of dark red or purple.  Even the blisters and calluses forming on the soles are good to me, for they mean I've been dancing and am toughening up.  When I was a kid I ran barefoot on hot asphalt all summer long, so I had very tough feet.  I still go barefoot in places I probably shouldn't, like my apartment parking lot, but my feet enjoy it.  My feet have carried me throughout my life and hopefully will continue to, bad ankles and fat girl knees and all.  As they say in Nia, your feet are "the hands that touch the Earth."

3 - I love my shoulders.  They're strong and have a graceful line, especially when I'm standing up straight and proud (which thrusts my breasts forward, so it's a win-win situation, really).

4 - I love the overall shape of my body.  I have an hourglass figure with about four extra hours poured into it (I have time on my ass), but regardless of size I like having a defined waist and serious curves.  My torso is short and my legs are comparatively long, so long skirts with slits look outrageously good on me.

5 - I love how flexible I am.  It always surprises people that I can bend myself in so many interesting shapes despite the tummy and thighs in the way.  I've always been flexible; I was a gymnast as a child, and actually won ribbons and such on the balance beam.  Then someone told me I was too fat to ever be a real gymnast, and I took it to heart, unfortunately, and quit.  It took me decades to regain my love for movement--this time on my own terms.

6 - I love my hands.  They do my work, and the work of the Goddess and God, in this lifetime; they're also small and cute like my feet.  The only problem I have with them is that I have Essential Tremor so they shake almost constantly, which makes it very hard for me to paint in detail or handwrite for long periods of time.  When I'm really tired I look like a traveling earthquake.  They do so many other things, though, that I don't mind so much.  I even like the v-shaped scar on my left ring finger from a kitchen shear incident when I was 18. 

7 - I love my skin.  I was blessed with remarkably clear, porcelain skin that has miraculously few blemishes and only develops mild acne right before I bleed.  I freckle like a redheaded stepchild if I'm out in the sun, but I try not to do that, as I like being pale and creamy like the flesh of a cherimoya.* 

8 - I'm not as fond of my internal organs, to be honest--my digestive system is afflicted with IBS and I have a sinus arrhythmia that makes life a bit hairy sometimes--but I must say I love how my body is able to adapt to whatever insanity I put her through.  She'll put up with crap food and no sleep for a while, then start sending out reminder notices that I need to get my accounts balanced or there will be hell to pay.  When I take better care of myself, she responds with praise and rewards galore.  People talk as if the mind is smarter than the body, but I think the body has its own wisdom, a wisdom that reaches back much farther than the development of the human intellect.  If I give my body half a chance, she'll step up to any challenge.

9 - I love my hair, though it drives me crazy.  I have a lot, lot, lot of hair.  Always have.  The older I get the more I appreciate it.  Several stylists have gotten panicky when they stuck their hands in it, and the usual line is "Damn, girl, you have a lot of hair!" Even though I've dyed it every color you can imagine (I have no real memory of my natural color except that it's mousy and uninteresting), it's still healthy and soft.  We argue constantly about its refusal to pick a direction and that one spot that tries to curl no matter what, but overall, Iove my hair. 

10 - I love my tattoos.  I want more.  Lots more.  At present I have three:  a butterfly on my right shoulder blade, a spider on my left shoulder blade, and a snake on my left upper arm.  I'm a one-woman zoo over here.  I'm thinking of getting tattoos to celebrate dance on my feet, and possibly "ahimsa" on my right arm with a lotus or other symbol, but those designs are all in development and I'm not in any particular hurry.  I love that I deliberately took on the pain in order to seek beauty.  A friend of mine often says, "make the pain count."  As with skin, so with life, I pray.

All right, it's your turn.  Go forth and make a list of ten things you love about your body, inside or out.  If you love the little mole on your elbow that's shaped like Missouri, or the way your eyes crinkle, or your mastectomy scars, or your right pinkie finger, say so.  We spend too much time talking about what is wrong with our bodies, what we hate, what we wish we could change--let's talk about things we love.  Your body will thank you for it.

* - You must try a cherimoya, also known as a "custard apple," sometime if you find one and can afford it.

Ten Small Things I Love for No Big Reason, 4th Edition

1 – Dagoba’s Organic Hot Chocolate mix.  Vegan, dark, and just sweet enough when heated with vanilla soy or almond milk.  Warm, sexy comfort in a mug—not to mention it’s also available in their famous Xocolatl flavor with chiles and cinnamon!

2 – My new tattoo.  I posted a picture a few entries ago.  I loved it even as I was having it done, but now that it’s mostly healed I love it even more!  I designed a snake in black and red with spiral markings in honor of the Dark Goddess as well as the transformative power of Fire.  It covers almost my entire left bicep.  When I’m in the kitchen chopping vegetables in a tank top with a bandana on my head and my tattoo showing, I feel tough as nails and powerful as all get out.  Every woman should have a big tattoo.

3 – Catnip.  Any legal, natural, healthy substance that makes my cat do the backstroke across the living room floor is more than all right with me.

4 – Victoria Moran’s new book Fat, Broke, and Lonely No More.  Pretty much the opposite of what it sounds like, this book is a spiritual guide to letting to of  unhealthy habits and self-image and embracing a more positive outlook on health, money, and relationships. 

5 – Irises.  Don’t bring me roses; bring me deep purple irises, and I’m yours.*

6 – My new Laptop Lunch!  It was an extremely thoughtful and unexpected birthday gift from my friend Nadia.

 
7 – Kiss My Face Chinese Botanical Moisturizer.  Lightly scented, gentle on the skin, and cruelty free, this lotion has been a lifesaver for the aforementioned Big Tattoo.  My artist told me to use something unscented, but the unscented lotion I had made me itch (I found out later it has lanolin in it, which, EW, and also tends to irritate me).  The Kiss My Face lotion is soothing and lightweight, and the scent seems to loosen some of the knots I habitually carry in my nerves.

8 – Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Blood Amber perfume oil.

9 – Chococat.

10 – Two Lumps, especially these three strips.

* - Some restrictions apply.

Ten Small Things I Love for No Big Reason, 3rd Edition

1 ~ I love, love, love the Six of Water from Joanna Powell Colbert's Gaian Tarot deck.

2 ~ I love "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers.

3 ~ I love the Harry Potter Quote Conjurer from The Leaky Cauldron. 

4 ~ I love Pilot P-500 Extra Fine black pens.

5 ~ I love Dagoba chocolate, especially the Xocolatl and Mint bars.

6 ~ I love beagles.

7 ~ I love the memory of sitting by my father in the pharmacy, on a high stool, using one of his pill counters to count Skittles into a prescription bottle while he counted actual pills. It was there, behind the huge window overlooking Wal Mart, that I learned how to spell things like "acetylsalicylic acid," which would make me look both precocious and pretentious in second grade.

8 ~ I love my two stuffed frogs, Rupert (who lives on my monitor at work) and Neville (who lives in my car).  They both have beanie feet and winsome expressions.

9 ~ I love the word "frangipani," particularly in Tori Amos's song "Datura," which is another thing I love. 

10 ~ Go ahead and scoff if you must, but I love the movie Practical Magic.

Ten Things I Love, Second Edition

It's been a long, arduous day at work and I'm about to fall over, a frazzled ball of stress wishing to the gods I could still have caffeine. 

As such, I don't feel like writing anything serious, so rather than frazz myself further, let's talk about some things that make me smile.

-

1 ~ The container of fresh pineapple, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries I have waiting in my refrigerator at home.

2 ~ Rachel Weisz.  Those eyes!  Those lips!  Brad can have Angelina as far as I'm concerned. 

3 ~ Minced ginger in a jar, which is the greatest culinary invention since minced garlic in a jar.

4 ~ PostSecret.

5 ~ Cut/Copy/Paste.  One of those little things most people don't take the time to appreciate, but being able to move text and images all over the place with a couple of keystrokes is a small miracle that gets me every time.

6 ~ Potato gnocchi with mushrooms and marinara.  (Next cooking adventure: making them from scratch.)

7 ~ Witches' Brew Eye of Newt incense.  Most people prefer the Original scent, but I'm allergic to it.  The Eye of Newt is made of the unlikely-sounding combination of sandalwood, sage, and peppermint.

8 ~ The Firefly episode "Out of Gas."  Easily one of the best hours of television ever made.  Screw the Sopranos.

9 ~ Waking up on a Sunday morning to pouring rain and distant thunder, with the blankets all warm and snuggly and Cosmo snoring at the small of my back.

10 ~ Maroon 5's new CD, It Won't Be Soon Before Long.

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BONUS #11:  This:

(from icanhascheezburger)

Ten Things I Love - Pagan Edition

Inspired partially by Hecate - here's a list of ten things I love about practicing my religion, from the big to the not-so.  I didn't include "I love Deity," because that's kind of a given...besides, "love" in the context of a list like this seems like much too small a word for how I actually feel.

That being said:

1 ~ I love that we have things like the Chocolate Ritual, the Fraggle Rock Ritual, and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Casserole.  Self-parody is pretty much nonexistent in mainstream religion.

2 ~ I love the sweat-socks/marijuana/desert smell of burning white sage.

3 ~ Along the same lines, I love how most Witches' homes all have that underlying "50 Kinds of Incense" smell that permeates everything from our clothes to our curtains.

4 ~ I love the sensation of being gently but firmly pushed to the back of my own mind that occurs at the onset of Drawing Down the Moon.

5 ~ I love the fact that even though I don't speak their language, trees talk to me and I understand perfectly.

6 ~ I love that we don't have blasphemy.  Otherwise I'd be in sooooo much trouble.

7 ~ I love that when my friends and I talk, I can say things like, "Her energy was all crispy and had all these green tentacles like a hentai sex monster, and it felt like she was poking me in the third chakra," and they know exactly what I mean.

8 ~ I love that having a vagina doesn't render me inferior or less "in God's image" than someone with a penis, and that I can teach, lead, and affect the evolution of my religion regardless of biology, sexuality, or race.

9 ~ I love my athame. (The picture doesn't do it justice.)

10 ~ I love when I'm doing a Rune casting for someone who previously didn't really believe in silly things like divination, and they give me the wide-eyed "holy fuck!" look that means not only am I right, I'm scary. 

Ten Small Things I Love for No Big Reason

1 ~ I love when my turn signal syncs up with the beat of the song on my car stereo, just for a second.

2 ~ I love the way my insides tingle when I hold blue kyanite.

3 ~ I love orzo pasta.

4 ~ I love natural redheads.  For hours at a time, if I can.

5 ~ I love how every time I get a really weird song stuck in my head, I turn on the radio and it's playing.

6 ~ I love when Cosmo gets the Kitty Zooms and runs at breakneck speed from one end of my apartment to the other, then screeches to a halt and looks at me as if to say, "Quoi?" before returning to his butt-licking regimen as if nothing interesting had just happened.

7 ~ I love how on some people's skin, tattoos are raised just slightly as if they were drawn in Braille; but on others, they're smooth, just part of the skin itself.  (Mine are the Braille variety, just FYI.)

8 ~ I love my shoulders, especially the picture they create when teamed with the Epic Adventure that is my cleavage. 

9 ~ I love that I kick so much ass at Trivial Pursuit.

10 ~ I love the tiny white pencils they give you at IKEA.

Now, it's your turn--go forth to your own blog and make a list of Ten Small Things You Love for No Big Reason.