{.retta} » books

2,340 Words and Counting

retta — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:03:21 +0000

While I have no plans to write my own life story anytime soon or pen a best selling piece of fiction, I do want to be a better writer. I want to be able to effectively communicate my thoughts here in this space, on twitter or anywhere else for that matter and hopefully be interesting while doing so. Let’s face it, writing is intimidating for me. Sitting down in front of an empty screen and trying to express myself is scary enough sometimes that I avoid doing it. I guess it is much like sitting in front of a blank canvas or empty sketch book page.

Several years ago I read the book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron that had this great exercise called Morning Pages. The premise of Morning Pages is to write at least three pages in a journal, in a stream of consciousness fashion, immediately on waking. The thought behind this is to free your mind of all the often negative self talk and fragmented thoughts that we have going on to make way for more creative, interesting thoughts. I enjoyed the Morning Pages and they worked for me but I eventually stopped doing them and haven’t been able to successfully start again for any length of time.

Recently I discovered a web site through Gwen Bell called 750 Words that reminds me a lot of the Morning Pages concept but it uses a competitive, game-like interface with visual stats and the ability to earn badges. I’m currently a turkey. The site lets you set up a schedule for reminders and they send you an email daily to encourage you to write at least 750 words. The part that I find really interesting is how they break up your metadata and analyze your thoughts and focus for that day. Seeing your subconscious in pie charts is very telling.

I have only been using the tool for a few days but I’m committed to using it through the whole month of September to see how it works for me. I read once that the best way to become a writer was to write, so here we go.

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inhabit your story

retta — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:41:30 +0000

I’m currently reading the book “Life is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally” by Patti Digh and it is loaded with inspirational stories and yummy bits to think about. It is one part short stories and one part journaling prompts. It is the perfect read for me right now.

I learned today: Tall Garden Phlox smells super sweet and Quinoa elbow pasta with whole tomatoes is good healthy southern comfort food.

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books, fashion and living the good life

retta — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:22:36 +0000

This past weekend I attended the second ever Barefoot Works book club meeting and we discussed “Hip Tranquil Chick: A Guide to Life On and Off the Yoga Mat“. I really enjoyed the book and gained a lot of great information and things to think about but more than anything I enjoyed the two hours of hanging out with other smart, funny women, talking about self-care, getting the most out of our yoga practices and how to find balance in this crazy world.

One of the topics the book covers is how to dress and show your own style, by using a few great articles of clothing, while also learning to shop mindfully and only purchase things that work well for you and that enhance your wardrobe. She also suggests, for every item you purchase, choosing an item in your closet to give away. I love the idea of this but that is something that I will have to work on! I really don’t shop a lot but I always think that I may need the old items later. I rarely ever do.

In thinking about clothing that I love and feel like matches my personal style, I always think about this great etsy store called Treehouse 28 that I discovered last year. I don’t personally own anything from this store…. yet…. BUT I will once I reach a certain milestone on my fitness journey. The clothing isn’t cheap but it isn’t unreasonable either, especially since the items are made specifically for you. You have to send in your measurements when you order. They are also very versatile and so beautiful. I’m in love with them.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

3/4 SLEEVE TOP

ARMSLEEVES

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the happiness project

retta — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:03:12 +0000

I have been following Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project blog for about a year now and just recently read the book, “The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun“. I REALLY enjoyed the book. I enjoyed it so much that I have been following people around, reading the notes I took from it.

Here is Gretchen on the Today Show talking about the project and the book. I love what she says about mindfulness being one of the keys to being happier. It has inspired me to pay closer attention to each day instead of putting so much focus on the future and checking off goals.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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2,340 Words and Counting While I have no plans to write my own life story anytime soon or pen a best selling piece of...
books, fashion and living the good life This past weekend I attended the second ever Barefoot Works book club meeting and we discussed “Hip Tranquil Chick: A...
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Best of 2009: Book

retta — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:54:11 +0000

I once had a friend tell me that I am a “book snacker” and he is right. I used to sit down and read a book entirely and then the internet came along and I got all my information in bite size chunks while also checking twits and status updates and all those other numerous attention grabbers. I would like to say this has been positive, and in some ways in may be, but I have missed the ability to lose myself in another world and let everything else go. I have currently started reading no less than 5 books and I have a stack of others that wink at me suggestively to pick them up and see what wonderful information they are hiding between their covers. One of my goals for 2010 is to start reading more books from cover to cover and to really digest them and less skimming of many books at once.

One of the books I have started this year and have really loved so far, although I have not finished it, is Pema Chodron’s Taking the Leap.

I have read over half of this little book (it is only a little over 100 pages) and already it has been wonderful in helping me to be more aware of my habits and fears that ultimately cause me to limit what I think I am capable of. Fear has always been a paralyzing thing for me. I can talk myself in giving up before I even try if I think there is a chance that I will fail what I’m setting out to do. I often run from negative feelings, like sadness and anger, and this book made me realize that those things are no worse or better than more positive feelings. They are simply energies that I need to examine and ride out rather than react in my usual unproductive, negative way. I’m looking forward to diving back into this book.

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