The Barefoot Princess

At one time in my life my nickname was the "Barefoot Princess". I received this nickname by, you guessed it, not wearing shoes, or going barefoot as often as I could get away with it.

I truly do not like to wear shoes.

However, by choosing to live in the cold, wet, rainy NW I wear shoes more often than not. I usually take them off as soon as I walk in my house, and probably wear flippy's more often than the average Portlander, pushing the limits of Spring and Fall weather.

But today I'm choosing not to wear shoes at all. All day. No shoes. In honor of all the people in the world who don't have shoes to wear. You can find out more information about my pledge here http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com.

(Weeeelllllll, okay, I did stick a pair of flippies in my purse just in case I need to go in a "no shoes, no shirt, no service" establishment and I did use them once for about 15 minutes while in Seattle's Best.)

Observations from today:

1. Asphault and concrete look smooth, but they're not. By the time I walked the 4 blocks from my house to the MAX station, the bottom of my feet were already raw.

2. Portlanders are so desentitized to wierd people/stuff no one even blinked/noticed my bare feet, which was slightly disappointing since I worked hard at painting my toenails.

3. I'm a vain creature (see observation #2).

4. By the time I got to work, my feet where cold, wet, dirty, and my toes were numb.

5. It's really hard to get warm when your feet are cold. Actually, it might be impossible.

6. I found myself choosing my walking route according to where the sun was shining to keep my feet from being SO freezing, stinking cold.

7. I'm a wimp. After I rode the MAX home from work I put flippies on for the rest of my evening. It was a compromise. I really wanted to put actual shoes on. I wanted my feet to be warm again.

8. There is nothing princess-like about being barefoot when it doesn't involve walking through warm sand or across cool grass.

My 8 hour experience being shoeless is nothing compared to the many people in our world that don't have shoes. My feet were washed, lotioned, and warmed up at the end of the day and I know that going barefoot didn't really change the life of any shoeless person. It changed mine. My prayers for God's grace and mercy to provide for the poor and suffering will be a little more earnest, informed with the memory of my cold, raw feet.

Movin' on up

Well we're movin on up,

To the east side,

To a deluxe apartment in the sky.

If you're friends with my new roommate you'll note that she also used a reference to "The Jeffersons" theme song on her "I've moved" cards. I'd like to say I'm sorry if you feel as if you've been inundated with "Jeffersons" references. The thing is, we both came to it without the influence of the other. I'm not sure what that says about her and I or maybe what kind of commentary it is on our culture as a whole.

For me the connection came when I was home over Christmas and my mom's sister Judy said, "Well, Ang, it sounds like you're moving up." I don't think she meant to reference the Jeffersons. Or maybe she did. Either way, since that moment in my parent's living room, when I think of my new apartment I hear the Jefferson's theme song in my head.

. . . but it's been a REALLY long time since I've seen that show and my memory of the melody is fuzzy at best, which means I've had a fuzzy half-hearted, really couldn't sing it if I wanted to, version running around in my head for a month . . . and it's getting annoying.

But I LOVE my new place. And I'm getting closer every day to being completely unpacked.

Of course, this move didn't come without sacrifice.

I miss my old place.

I miss my old roommate.

My cat misses her playmate Max.

Fa-La-La-La-Laaa, La-La-La-La

"Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas,

Let your heart be light.

From now on our troubles will be out of sight."

I love Christmas music. I know much of it is completely unrealistic (I mean really, "our troubles will be out of sight"?), but I love it anyway. It makes me happy and full of hope.

Last night was the last concert performed by the community choir that I sing with--Touch of Class. It was a great concert, as were the first 5. I played a solo on my Clarinet during our rendition of "Away in the Manager" and managed for only the second time out of 5 concerts to play it perfectly.

Yay me!!!

I'm feeling pretty good about that considering when I picked my clarinet up in September my embouchure was nonexistant and I had to remind myself what all the fingerings were.

Our concert finished with a moving arrangement of "Mary Did You Know?" So moving, in fact, that I had to work hard at not tearing up--which would have made it impossible to hit the notes I was supposed to be belting out.

I realized too late in the concert schedule that I didn't have anyone take any pics, so I'll just have to settle for a group pic from last Spring.

For Christmas, imagine the same group of people only the women are all in black with "lovely" red scarves/sashes around our necks and the men are in tuxes. I love singing with this group of people!

Week Three . . .

. . . . of the new gym routine is complete.

And I made it. Whew!

How long does it take to make a habit? Never mind, I don't want to know.

I'm just going to think about getting up and going Monday.

One day at a time sweet Jesus
That's all I'm asking of you
Just give me the strength
To do everyday what I have to do.

Day Two . . .

of my new routine of going to the gym every Mon, Wed, and Fri.

So far so good.

We'll see if I get to day three.

If I could just bottle how I'm feeling right now: this adrenaline high, loose muscles, body just seems to work better, full of energy feeling and drink a little of it in the morning when I'm getting ready to go to the gym--you know, just enough to remind me that I'm gonna feel great in a couple of hours?

It would make the trek to 24 much easier.