Amber & Tomorrow Will Be Pretty Much Like Today, Only Maybe A Little Snowier

When, on Monday morning you check the weather as you are leaving the house to make sure you are wearing enough socks and you see this...

...you are not then surprised when you step outside and see this.

It is pretty and grounding and good for your soul and Robert-Frosty, and you enjoy it.  (You come, too!) And then by the end of the day it is over.

But then, the next day when you wake up and bundle up (two pairs of socks, Expedition Weight long johns, a thermal shirt under cashmere and fingerless gloves) and step outside into this...

...you are a little surprised.  It's less of a "wintery mix" and more of a full-on snow storm.

And then you check the weather again, and find this.

I love that the NWS releases are in all caps.  It conveys a sense of URGENCY and also vaguely suggests an old teletype machine.  Highlights:

* HAZARDS... HEAVY SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS... 8 TO 12 INCHES OF SNOW.

Huh.  Even an unreliable weather app is right, although perhaps understated, twice a week.

I wish the weather app had little icons showing you which level of Capilene to wear.

Amber & New Year, New Waffles

2011 is already off to a fabulous start.  Yesterday, there was plenty of petting kitties, then La Palapa brunch with friends, and then cider at DBA.  And, there was the acquisition of what may prove to be the most life-changing piece of technology introduced to my household since the Swiffer Sweeper:

a waffle iron.

Making waffles is a process, and it will take several batches before I get them toasty enough and spread all the way to the edges.  But, that's reinforcement of key life lessons.  Everything is a process.  We are constantly changing.... and breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

And, just like life, investment in your foundations can reap buoyant, soul-lifting rewards: you can make lots of waffles in advance and freeze them and then enjoy them for quick toaster breakfasts during the work week.

2011, I already love you.

Amber & Hello, 2011

I look forward to your arrival, new year, and I embrace you with this motto.


Upward.

I also offer you this rhyming resolution.

From the roots upward
My spirits to leaven
In two thousand and eleven.

And I sing you this theme song.  (Or, really, I sing along with Joe Pug.)



I look forward to your arrival.  Whenever you want to get here, I will be ready.  And so will my first chakra.

Amber & Cardamom

I am currently obsessed with cardamom.  If you took my How Well Do You Know ALH?  Facequiz, you probably learned that I could eat Indian cuisine eternally without fatigue.  No doubt that's because of the breadth of the spices and offerings, but it's also because I love cardamom so much.

You can add it, along with some salt and cayenne pepper, to yogurt with cucumbers and tomatoes and get a really simple raita.  You can add it to black tea with some cinnamon, ginger and cloves and get chai.  And it's one of the most important ingredients in my favorite spice blend, garam masala.  That's not to be confused with the film, Garam Masala, which one would be a fool to watch on Hulu just because it was named after one's favorite spice blend since one would be very disappointed that there is actually nothing about spices in the entire movie.

Also, cardamom makes an earthy, first-chakra-grounding essential oil, which in turn makes a nice perfume (especially when mixed with a little vetiver in a base oil), that is said to have a warming effect and "reminds of life's true abundance when we feel deprived of opportunity or generosity."  I think that means its zesty and rich.

Cardamom should not be confused with coriander, another awesome plant to be recognized another week.  Coriander is what we here in the Americas called cilantro (often with loathing since there seems to be some kind of weird cilantro backlash), but it also comes as a nice dried spice which is just as versatile as coriander.

But not as zesty.

If one did happen to watch a film named after one's favorite spice blend, this would be the big dance number that references the spice blend.  If.

Amber & Some Things New, A New Thing Old

I feel like I am constantly in a struggle with the Entropy of Clutter in my home.  It's hard to carry out myself and the trash and the recycling--especially since the refuse area is down five flights of stairs, around the corner, and in an alley out behind the building frequented by what I like to think of as sleek-tailed squirrels.  And, I seem to accumulate stuff: direct mail samples, Fresh Direct boxes, books of to-do lists, cat fur, etc.  It's crucial to do a weekly Junk Round Up to make room for new, magical space-occupiers.  For example, I'd much rather have this weird sushi wind up robot that Nick gave me than a stack of Con Ed billson my desk.

(Seen here with Big Nose Felted Guy, another keeper from Nick.)

That's two pieces of inari on the left (my fave) and two pieces of tuna on the right.  And I can't show you because I got my phone before they invented video for iPhones (drat to early adapting), but the two sushis sort of bicycle up and down and round and round when you wind it.  Why?  Because it's amazing.

Gifts are not always keepers, but this new Ganesh statue that Diana brought back for me from India sure is.

(Like the mechanical sushi, Ganesh is not as blurry in real life.)

And that reminds me that my blurry-making phone is actually another place to collect wonderful, and muladhara chakra comforting, things.  Like this Ganesh application.

 (See how the bell is all lit up? You can pick it up and ring it. That is mostly what the app does.)

And, Jimmi referred me to this absolutely essential app where you can gong a mokugyo or the metal gong on the left and induce nagomi ("harmony").

(I won't spoil what "With Cat Mode" is.)

And, speaking of cats, this guy came to live with us a few weeks back.

(He's actually laying on a pile of books to return to other people, on the theme of getting rid of old stuff to make room for the new.)

This new buddy is actually an old artifact from the Boxing Day Heritage Booty.   I molded him from greenware, painted his eyes, paw pads and nose, and then glazed the heck out of him in ceramics class.  Proof?

Every great artist signs her work.  In 1981, I was apparently trying something new with my R's.

Amber & Vetiver

I know it's been the Plant of the Week before, but vetiver is totally my B.P.F.  (Best Plant Forever).

It's in the same family as my other close grass friends, palmarosa and lemongrass, but vetiver and I are so perfectly matched that it earns a special place in my pantheon of plants that yield essential oils.  It's cedary, musky, earthy smell is calming and grounding when mixed with oil and applied to my pulse points-- making it a wonderful match for my issue-laden first chakra.

To quote the folks over at Ananda Apothecary...

Vetiver essential oil is used for emotional grounding and stabilizing the emotions. It is considered relaxing to an overheated, hyperactive mind an nurturing to an insecure self-identity. The oil may then be suited to the type of individual who constantly strives for perfection, but who loses touch with the ability to absorb and replenish, not letting things just be.

I sure let things be on my walk to the 168th Street station this morning.  A normal 10 minute walk mysteriously took me about a half hour.  Oh well, that's just the way it is.  Sigh.

Amber & Amtrak

Trenton-bound! Can I please not go anywhere for one day? My root chakra is killing me.