Life after Daniel and other dirty little secrets

So I made it all the way through my Daniel Fast with minimal to no food cheating, and I’m so proud. I melted away a little belly, and my metabolism is back in  working order. Even all these weeks later, when I have one too many bites, I feel it….

And now for the grand confession….

I have a BIG dirty little secret.  And I’m almost too ashamed to admit.

Okay, here goes…

On any given day, my little green house on the hill is usually in clean to impeccably clean condition. If visitors were to unexpectedly drop by the casa that I call the bat cave – which I do not EVER advise by the way (unannounced callers are just a big fat no, and this means you, Teacher boy!) – they’d probably see nothing more than my purse draped across a dining chair. Or, at worst, a pair of shoes just inside the door.

I love to clean. I love it. Give me some Fabuloso, some Windex and some tunes and I am ready to scrub, rock and roll.

The truth, though, is that it’s all a façade.  See, hidden inside my closets is a mishmash of coats, blankets, yoga mats, Christmas paper, old answering machines, a dried cinnamon potpourri wreath that smells like dust and other items of untold foolishness that I can’t seem to get rid of. 

What is wrong with me? Why can’t I just let my high school letterman jacket go to a good home? Am I really going to listen to Jodeci’s first album… on cassette tape?

Why do I keep promising I’ll cancel my AT&T voicemail and put that TX5900XZT answering machine, circa 1991, back into rotation? (You know the one. Everybody in college had it and they all had the same passcode, so that you could easily check your cheating boyfriends voicemails at any time….but I digress.)

If a woman’s home is a reflection of her life, then what in the hell does mine say about me? Clean and shiny on the outside…jacked up on the inside? Or, am I just hoping K-Ci will call and finally make me “Forever his Lady” via answering machine?

It’s a problem, it’s a sickness….and I need help. Somebody better get Niecy Nash and the Clean House team over to my house. Just… make sure they call first….

Breaking up with Daniel

I'm thinking hard about giving Daniel the boot. It's only been a few days I know, but I feel like we're not compatible.

A life with no Dr. Pepper is really no life at all. Day 4 and all I can think about is those luscious 23 flavors.  The flipside is that the caffeine headache is almost gone. If I start now on the Dr. Pepper, what will this mean for my caffeine rehab?

Stay or go? Feast or fast? It's too many decisions, I tell you. Life with Daniel isn't at all what I expected.

See Shemika Cook

The hardest thing about Daniel is that I can't have any sugar....and Lord knows, I love me some refined, processed, extra bleached, extra fine, high fructose, powdery, sugary sugar. 

Last night, to pacify the beast, I blended together 2 small Gala apples, 1 Danjou pear, 4 strawberries, cinnamon, a bit of lemon juice and bit a of water.

It was my first ever homemade apple sauce...and it was fantastic. Better than any baby food I ever had. I can't wait to have a bowlful after tonight's dinner of brown rice with Boca crumbles.

Doing it with Daniel

This whole deal with Daniel started when a gal pal of mine posted a most unflattering image of me to her FB page. And just to be clear about the issue, in this case FB stands for Fat Butt. Now I have a pretty healthy self image, but not even that was enough to prepare me for the shock of seeing myself looking really extra healthy. 

After staring at FB Shemika for about three days, I packed away my shock and started looking for real, achievable solutions that fit my life and my acute lack of motivation. 

By chance, I stumbled on http://www.daniel-fast.com. Okay, actually it wasn't by chance. I harassed one of my co-workers so thoroughly with that FB photo--"LOOK at this, just look at THIS"--that she suggested the site to me. I'm sure she did it for her own self preservation, but whatev...

Fasts, by their very nature, are contrary to my own nature. Denial, restriction, self control. I don't do those very well. FB gets what FB wants, and she orders bleu cheese on the side. At least she did until the aforementioned pic was posted.

The Daniel Fast seems to be a less-traditional take on physical well-being through spiritual exploration. For starters, I am allowed to eat during the day. With other fasts I researched, food is a no-fly zone from dawn to dusk. I just can't see myself setting my clock for the wee hours just to make sure i break my fast before sunrise. That was disaster waiting to happen. Daniel seems doable, though.

And so, Feb. 1, I committed to doing it with Daniel for at least seven days, and hopefully for a full 14. To hold myself accountable, I'll blog about fasting, cooking and just saying no to bleu cheese. 

If, no WHEN, I make it to the end, I plan to celebrate V-Day with a nice piece of dark chocolate. I"ll deserve it.

A view from the front door

A real, live dream walked down Constitution Avenue yesterday. And today, a few of my friends can only talk about how our new President is inspiring them to be better, go harder in their own lives. Losing weight. Pledging greater civic and community action. Recycling. Turning the lights off. Building a marriage like the one we all imagine the Obamas share. Folks around me are fired up for change, and I have to admit it’s having an effect on me.

Today, I pledge to turn off the TV and open the front door. I pledge to change my mind. Make it sharper, more focused, more open. I’m on a hunt now for all the things I read about in books but never quite get around to experiencing for myself. We’re in a recession, so I doubt I’ll be heading off to Dubai or Bora Bora on a whim…but there must be some amazing vistas and funny stories and brand new memories just outside the door.

So, that’s it. I’m off. To find what's out there and “become the change I want to see.” I hope I’ll see you somewhere along the way.

There are no words...

Places to go...

Every now and again in this crazy city, I find some small thing to delight me. Recently, my friend D.G. invited me to a Wine Down Wednesday event at Urban Flats in Buckhead.

For 20 bucks and a bit of patience for refills, you can enjoy half glasses of select white and red wines, along with delicious flat bread pizzas and a chocolate fondue dessert from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. I’d done Urban Flats before, but somehow the energy was much nicer inside the city limits.

Fortunately, D.G. went early and secured us a bit of premium real estate on a cozy couch near the bar, providing us easy access to the sommelier for refills. I stuck with the sparkling Brut most of the night, holding on, I guess, to some last vestiges of New Year’s cheer. D’s fave was a mellow Chardonnay…and her friend J.E. was good with red. [I just realized how closely our wine choices matched our personalities…]

It’s a nice vibe. Just enough of a crowd to make things interesting. And, at 20 bucks, a real entertainment value. You can find me there on the cozy couch closest to the bar most Wednesdays from now on.