Swimming Pending New Suit Still Needed

DAY 400

I am afraid the "six word memoir" concept has taken over my brain. Will use in moderation I promise (6 words).

I have decided to start swimming again after watching my 9 year old nephew, Jonathan in a couple of meets now. He is GOOD and I'm not jus sayin that because he is my relative and gets all his talent from me - haha. I have gone to a few of his Saturday 7am practices, watched him prep himself to race - event/lane/heat written on his arm with a sharpie, cap, goggles and shake out the arms and legs - and cheered him on for the brief seconds he flys, strokes, and freestyles his way to the finish. This along with flashbacks to my high school swimming days, reminder of past fitness in my life and the recent spotting (not stalking) of Dara Torres (2008 Olympian at age 41 among other achievements), I am prepped to go to my town rec center and get my @#* back into the pool.

I am making the decision to my a new suit, cap and goggles - these are such *personal* items - so getting them used is not interesting to me. Got advice from Jon on the best color for a suit - green, black or blue is best.

Starting May 18 I will head back into my second year of Nothing New fueled by renewed energy from the pool chlorine, gardening successes and the vision of further financial stability and freedom. Yay!

Have a Nothing New Day! Kristin

Live Free or Die

DAY 399

Had a nice talk with student employees at the University of New Hampshire about Nothing New - thanks Dave Zamansky and crew! Cool discussion along with a learning opporutunity for me that people seem way more interested in my actual experience perhaps than in the leadership implications...hmmmmmm....good to know!

My 7.5 hour drive to NH from Rochester gave me tons-o-time to think, dream and marvel at the lack of driving finesse on US highways. I actually saw a woman leaning back on her arm with her eyes CLOSED. For real. I honked at her and she "woke up" and showed me her "angry eyes". I also had the pleasure of listening to some classic New England NPR (NPR always sounds hipper in New England) and got inspired the the idea of a "Six Word Memoir"...check it out...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18768430

The idea is this (from the website):

"Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that novelist Ernest Hemingway responded: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."

In this spirit of simple yet profound brevity, the online magazine Smith asked readers to write the story of their own lives in a single sentence. The result is Not Quite What I Was Planning, a collection of six-word memoirs by famous and not-so-famous writers, artists and musicians. Their stories are sometimes sad, often funny —and always concise."

Here a a few of mine from today - in the spirit of Nothing New and that less can indeed be more -there are no real rules - one or several 6 Word Memoirs a day (or in your life) is perfectly acceptable, offered freely and of course, never judged...

Malted milk eggs not as hoped.

Overnight success fifteen years of toil.

Choices made vulnerable life of love.

Rooted in faith free to live.

You know it’s gonna be alright. (Thanks Bob Marley)

And one more:

Enough in the garden is enough. (Deep, I know)

Your turn...

Have a Nothing New Day! Kristin

Black Bean Quest

DAY 397

Just when I was convinced and had all but given up on finding black beans grown in NY State, there was a ray of hope this past weekend!

This belief (now a confirmed myth!) was bringing me down. In my second year of Nothing New I am working hard to eat only locally grown seasonal foods with very few exceptions. I have also decided to go back to being vegetarian. My big concern is protein because I cannot eat soy and dairy so I have been thinking deeply about beans (in my free time).

I had dashed hopes for local beans given what I thought was a fact. Based on the research I had done last summer, I really thought that black beans were not grown here... Along with the longest winter ever this has been a real downer, man. Perhaps I should have tried harder. I must forgive myself and move on.

As I was mentioning my protein/black bean woes to some lifetime Rochesterians on Saturday, I received this response, "What? We have black beans here, what do you mean you can't find black beans grown in NY?" He was a tiny bit upset and in disbelief, as if I had suggested that paper is made from cheese.

He gave me a farm name and the farmers name...well, that was easy!

So the NBBINY (No Black Beans In NY) myth is busted! Right up there with the Easter Bunny and that you can die from eating Pop Rocks and drinking Coke, the Black Bean mystery is solved.

With a little research on the WWW, I found my source. One phone call to John at NY Beans and I was on my way to Caledonia, NY to buy 25 pounds of black beans grown in my 100 mile radius. Woot!

http://nybean.com/

The only other thing I will check on is how to buy directly from the farmer...but maybe he sells to NY Bean first...I will keep you posted.

Black Beans - yay! No more dread, the cloud is lifted! Joy! Rapture!

Have a Nothing New Day - Kristin