The awesome Alternative Apparel now has accessories - in LOVE with this beautiful bag.

Image: source.

I thought this article ("Confessions From A Christian"), was interesting; while I come from an entirely different family and background than the author, I could relate to some of what she writes about being a progressive Christian. While I'm not comfortable calling myself a Christian, and haven't formally joined my church (although I apparently call it "my church") even discussing my recent church attendance with friends proves challenging. And I find myself thinking that I don't even want to tell Christians I know that I attend church because I'm "not like them," and my church is "not like theirs" (I know, how very un-Christian of me). However, the Ashland UCC remains a place of great power, comfort, and challenge for me, and my exploration of my own theology and faith continues. (Check out one of Reverend Pam's sermons here, the most recent (from Jan 30th) is a wonderful discussion of social justice and faith. "The Rev. Jorge Lara-Braud once said, God knows it is still a serious risk to be merciful, to keep one’s heart pure, and to make peace with one’s enemies. But the much greater risk is to confuse privilege and self-protection with the good life . . . Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth, scripture says. Reina is quick to tell you the meek should organize.")

Right on. 7-year-old donates money to LGBT charity: "Given money to donate by his parents, Malcolm decided to split it between the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation."

"David Biello has a thought-provoking slideshow up on Scientific American today. It features eerily beautiful snapshots of industrial processes and fossil fuel development that are, simultaneously, necessary to our current way of life, and kind of horrible to look at. " via Boing Boing.

Very cool. I wish this had been in place when I was at Bard: Bard College Freshmen Get Crash Course in Science: "In an intensive new program, freshmen at Bard College, a campus with a decidedly arty bent, have had to take a crash course in science."

Image: source.

Wow. "Watch as Chuck Patterson skis (not surfs, skis) the Jaws surf break in Maui." Maybe because I'm not super comfortable with the ocean, I love watching video of big waves. Gorgeous.

Image: source.

Today's planned workout: bootcamp. Today's actual workout: bootcamp, Bikram, soccer game. Epic!

I went to acupuncture yesterday and got "cupping" for the first time - very cool! Not sure if it "worked" or not, but I adore and trust my acupuncturist, so I'm always willing to try whatever she thinks will help me the most. I do have some pretty funny looking marks on my back today - I probably should've warned my bootcamp ladies before I stripped down to my sports bra.

Apparently my yam/sweet potato confusion continues! This article says that the dark orange veggies with brown skins aren't yams at all, just mis-labled - ah well, either way they are delicious. And here are some more ways to enjoy them.

I'm looking forward to checking out the new tv show The Chicago Code. I loved The Shield, and adore Jennifer Beals and cop shows both, so it sounds promising.

I would love to see this film. Sounds very intense, but like a much-needed exploration of a complicated issue: Sundance Film Festival 2011 - 'How to Die in Oregon': "A penetrating look at death and dying, How to Die in Oregon is an HBO-produced documentary that explores the lives of people suffering from debilitating terminal illness. Oregon was the first state in the nation to legalize physician-assisted suicide in 1994, and, since then, over 500 terminally ill Oregonians have ended their lives."

Love it: The Lisa Simpson Book Club.

From the wonderful The Hairpin, on the benefits of even the most minor health changes: "Our tiny brains ask for so little. 'Please,' they whisper. 'Shut up,' we say. 'Help me solve this Jumble.'"

Um, woah: man runs 365 marathons in 365 days.

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Interesting discussion on women and self-promotion over at Jezebel.

The sweet potato v. yam explanation. Yams have been a pretty reoccurring part of my winter meals this year, mainly in the form of oven fries - just slice them up, toss them with some olive oil and Ms. Dash, and then bake at 400 for 40 min - the best.

Today's planned workout: 45 minute swim, 30 minute run. Today's actual workout: 45 minute run (was hoping to make it to Bikram but didn't. Life happens.) I ran outside today, which felt great.

Final note: a few people have asked how to get ahold of me recently, so I set up this email address: yumyukblog at gmail dot com.

I finally finished "A Visit From The Good Squad" last night. I don't even know what to say about the book other than I loved it! It's unusual, with each chapter having different characters (sometimes it takes a while to realize how they are related to previous chapters), different settings, and different styles. All of this forced me to exist in a state of trusting the author to tell me what I needed to know, and encouraged me to be comfortable with the discomfort of not quite knowing what was happening. (Reminiscent of the amazing "Cloud Atlas"). All of this, in lesser hands, could've easily been disjointed and unsettling, but somehow, even through weak points, Jennifer Egan's wonderful writing carried me along. A great read!

Weird but true: A beautiful time-lapse of a slime mold’s pulsing growth.

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So accurate. Thought Catalogue: How To Be 1990's.

There are always some great finds at Kind Over Matter's Friday "lovelies" - definitely worth adding to your Google Reader.

Today's planned workout: 8 mi run. Today's actual workout: headed to the gym at lunch, so we will see....I don't feel sore from all the Bikram this weekend, but I defintely feel...exhausted. Not in a bad way, just like I fully taxed my system. It's amazing how you can be "in shape" for one activity, and still struggle with another. I really think that in order to stay fully physically and mentally healthy, I would need about at least 3 hours of physical activity a day. Which really isn't that much in the scheme of things, but obviously isn't how most of our days are structured, what with 9-5 office jobs, etc....

Image: source.

This weekends workouts have been decidedly non-running based. Yesterday I went to Bikram for the first time in a loooooong time. Bikram was definitely good for my body, but wow was it intense. I thought I had done Bikram before, but this felt unlike anything else. The heat, the intensity of the instruction - whew! I almost felt disoriented and in shock afterwards. I think if I can find a way to do the class twice a week, it will really help my stiffness, soreness, etc. Today I ran 4 miles at the gym and am headed back to Bikram tonight. Let's see if it's at all easier now that I know what to prepare for....somehow, I doubt it. I don't know what to make out of my lack of enthusiasm for running right now. I guess it's normal to go through lulls and, hopefully, as the weather warms and I can get back outside and the thrill of the run will be back....

Image: source.

"Criminal defense attorneys are often asked “How can you defend those people?” Here’s one attorney’s answer...: Those guilty of serious crimes merit the wrath of our society. But almost no one deserves the hell holes that we call jails and prisons. There is almost no case I would not defend if that meant keeping a human being, as condemnable as he or she may be, from suffering the total, brutal inhumanity of our jails and prisons…" Source.

Two more races on the docket! Bridge the Gap 10K in May and CASA's Ride Through Paradise 100 mi ("century") Bike Ride in July. Both of the races also support great causes, which is definitely an added incentive.

LOVE IT. Born This Way: "A photo/essay project for gay adults (male and female) to submit pictures from their childhood (roughly ages 2 to 12) - with snapshots that capture them, innocently, showing the beginnings of their innate LGBT selves. It's OUR nature, our TRUTH!"

Image: source.

Sort of random, but these are beautiful photos of icebergs.

Gorgeous leather and gold bracelet.

Today's planned workout: 5 mi run, intervals. Today's actual workout: 5 mi run, intervals. Pathetically slow and uncomfortable. I'm having some right knee pain and it's causing right back pain (it's a little bit "chicken or the egg" with which came first at this point...) I'm really hoping that Bikram this weekend, acupuncture last night, and an increase in stretching will help get me back on track and pain-free.

Image: source.

I added on another race: the River City Half-Marathon in March. I didn't have any races planned for March (and I find races really help push me in my training. And are also fun), and Sacramento isn't too far from where I live. Hoping I get to see some friends that live there, who I haven't seen in years. I think I could really get into the half-marathon distance, even if I end up not liking marathons.

Hard to imagine anything comparing to the orginal, but check out these Lucinda Williams covers.

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A horror beyond comprehension: Girl, nine, and her father shot dead by 'anti-immigrant vigilantes': "A nine-year-old girl begged for her life before being shot dead along with her father by an anti-immigrant vigilante group, a court heard. Brisenia Flores was gunned down at point-blank range in her own home in Flores, Arizona, as her terrified mother Gina Gonzalez, who had also been hit, played dead on the floor. The prosecution alleges that the child and her father Raul Flores Jr were murdered in May 30, 2009 by a group of vigilantes set up to tackle Mexican immigrants."

From Prison Law Blog: "John McWhorter has an interesting piece over at The Root on prisoner reentry and black unemployment. McWhorter spotlights a few promising reentry/employment programs in Newark, N.J. McWhorter suggests that finding an employer willing to hire folks with criminal records is actually not the biggest hurdle for ex-prisoners — rather, it’s all the steps you have to go through before you can even think about going on an interview: The immediate task at hand for an ex-offender is becoming able to work. Ex-cons often don’t have a Social Security number — and forget about a birth certificate. … Nine in 10 clients need detoxification or rehabilitation." As a Legal Aid attorney I see again and again how "unsexy" issues like helping people get a copy of their birth certificate or other documentation can make a big difference in someone's life. It's not always about getting the not guilty or making impressive legislation - more often than not, people need help navigating the systems that so many of us take for granted.

"Rules of Life" from Tolstoy

* Get up early (five o’clock)
* Go to bed early (nine to ten o’clock)
* Eat little and avoid sweets
* Try to do everything by yourself
* Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for evry minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater
* Keep away from women
* Kill desire by work
* Be good, but try to let no one know it
* Always live less expensively than you might
* Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer

Obviously I'm more in support of some (early mornings are the best) than others (killing desire with work? Yikes, even with my Puritan roots I can't get behind that), but some good stuff overall. I love a list. (Thanks to A for sending them my way)

Image: source.

"Small Comfort" Katha Pollitt

Coffee and cigarettes in a clean cafe,
forsythia lit like a damp match against
a thundery sky drunk on its own ozone,

the laundry cool and crisp and folded away
again in the lavender closet-too late to find
comfort enough in such small daily moments

of beauty, renewal, calm, too late to imagine
people would rather be happy than suffering
and inflicting suffering. We're near the end,

but O before the end, as the sparrows wing
each night to their secret nests in the elm's green dome
O let the last bus bring

love to lover, let the starveling
dog turn the corner and lope suddenly
miraculously, down its own street, home.

Image: source.

The risk faced by those who must go to Ciudad Juarez to process their immigrant visa applications is very real - and a very real deterrent to many living in the US or Mexico who wish to seek legal immigration. It's nice to see Mother Jones address this issue:
Dying for a Green Card: "Why does the US force legal immigrants to get their visas in Juárez, Mexico's murder capital?"

Image: source.

Yay! Serious Eats gives a shout out to bakeries in JP (I used to go to Blue Frog a lot but found it sort of unreliable - some things were far better than others. Canto 6, however, is pretty reliably delicious).

Some interesting info on running and preventing injuries. I was particularly glad to see some arguments against the pervasive opinion that running destroys your knees, which occasionally worries me. I definitely don't know enough to weigh in on the "natural running" and barefoot v. "big bulky shoe" debate, but, as I've said many a time, I do love my pretty-minimal Mizunos.

“Do not ask for fulfillment in all your life, but for patience to accept frustration. Do not ask for perfection in all you do, but for the wisdom not to repeat mistakes. Do not ask for more, before saying “Thank You” for what you have already received.” source.

Image: source.

Just stumbled on some beautiful jewelry from Rebecca Haas. I especially love her gold "Circus" earrings (3 interlocking ovals), the beautifully entwined "Verdigris," and the way she combines metal and silk cords in her necklaces.

Today's planned workout: 6 mi run. Today's actual workout: 6 mi run. It wasn't pretty; I'm very stiff and sore from yesterdays bootcamp and soccer. Ever since I went to yoga (at the always great Back Bay Yoga) last weekend, I've been dying to get back into a regular yoga routine. I'm going to start going to the Bikram studio here, but can only fit in one of their classes during the week (seriously, why do they all start at 9, 11, or 4? Don't most people work 9-5?)

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This probably wouldn't turn out as beautifully in real life, but I love the idea of a Valentines Day fort.

Bright Eyes/Connor Oberst releases a song in support of immigrant rights/against SB 1070 and similar laws.

"Fifty and Fifty is a project from Brooklyn designer Dan Cassaro that pairs 50 designers up with their state mottos." No Oregon yet, but love the MA one (of course). via.

Ha! Is Superman an "illegal immigrant"?

More races added to the schedule (see left)! A big one (the Portland Marathon in the fall) and a smaller one (the Truffle Shuffle 10K next weekend - free chocolate at the finish line? Heck yes I'm there).

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A Y&Y reader sent me this editorial from The Washington Post: The Justice Department has a way to go on on ending prison rape. So awesome to have readers keeping an eye out for awesome stuff like this, thanks!

I bought a bunch of cards from this line while at the wonderful Brookline Booksmith last week. They are really well done, have great quotes (which, obviouslym I'm a sucker for), and are "green" to boot. Awesome. Man, I love me some paper products (and snail mail).

"Walk tall, kick ass, learn to speak Arabic, love music and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers and warriors." - Hunter S. Thompson (NOTE: the 1st version of this quote I saw and posted left out, interestingly enough, the "learn to speak Arabic" part. I happened to look it up, found it had been edited, and chose to repost it in its fuller version. Enjoy.)

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"Jessica Grose has a fascinating series up on Slate about marriage and money — how couples manage their money, whether they share, and why they split or merge their bank accounts. Part One lays out the inspiration for the piece . . . In Part Two, she looks at couples she calls 'Common Potters' — people who have joint accounts and pool their money." via Feministe.

Will Oldham Sings "The World's Greatest" And Interviews R. Kelly

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Today's planned workout: bootcamp. Today's actual workout: bootcamp, plus my first outdoor coed soccer game tonight! It's been over 5 years since I played (and I was never very skilled to begin with), so I'm pretty nervous.

OSF season draws near!

“When we’re incomplete, we’re always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we’re still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on—series polygamy—until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter.” - Tom Robbins

Image: source, JFK.