Lazy Sunday

Today the clocks sprung forward, but not I. No springing for this lazy lass, instead indulged in utter sloth. (I did go grocery shopping & for a short walk. Would have walked further, but feared the wind would blow me away). I am hoping to kill the early signs of a cold with copious amounts of tea, food and lots of naps. Time will tell if it works!

waiting for the movie to start.

For now I thought I'd post a short update on life since my last  post, or some of it at least. Mainly I have been incessantly checking my emails to find out if I have gotten in to any of the grad schools to which I applied, so far the verdict is... check again later. *sigh*  Last month in February, the lads and I went to one of Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays at the Paramount. First off that place has the most beautiful bathrooms ever (sorry no photo). Actually the whole place is quite stunning and beautiful setting for a silent movie. Also this is one of the few events in Seattle where the average age is probably over 50. Anyway the movie was Wings starring Clara Bow, the music accompaniment was on the historic Mighty Wurlitzer organ by the very talented Jim Riggs.

The silent movie night start back up in April, not sure what the theme is, but will try and make it out again!





Oh and if you have been curious about my sugar free experience: I am off the wagon, though I am trying to keep it on the lower end (ideally around 40 or so grams a day). Though I did lose weight, my skin did not noticeably improve. I think the flushing was a little less, but that is hard to tell and it certainly didn't clear up while I was sugar free, in fact it is clearer right now. Still I think keeping my sugar intake at a more reasonable level will be a benefit in the long term and not only for my waist line. Also the very expensive skin cream sample (copper peptide stuff) was nice, but not any better than some drugstore brand, which is good as it means I don't feel the urge to run out and spend $80 on a tiny tube of it!

Also picked up an issue of Zipper Magazine at Kinokuniya book store. I'll claim I bought it to improve my Japanese reading, but really I just look at the pictures. It came with a ridiculously cute (& pink) bag... I had hoped it was a t-shirt, but obviously my Japanese needs a lot of help! Speaking of street snaps one of favorite sites to peruse is: fashionsnap.com 
(it is in Japanese, but you can use Google to translate or just realize that at the bottom 次のページ will navigate you to earlier pages. 次の (tsugi no) = next). One of these days I'll post some of my favorites, for now I'll just say I love all the fun patterned tights! I wore mine yesterday and received a lot of comments, mainly good though a few were a bit out there (but hey I work in Pioneer Square, a lot of people there are a bit out there!)

That's all for now, need more tea! (& maybe a snack...)
こんばんわ！

2 weeks sugar-free

(stock photo of sugar cubes)

It is week 2 of my sugar free diet experiment (or close enough), and despite my initial misgivings today I'm a believer! The best part is the unexpected benefit of having lost several pounds and even better I appear to have gone down a clothing size. Considering I have not been dieting, at least not in the sense of reducing calories, I'm amazed. As for my skin it is harder to tell. It doesn't look bad right now, but it tends to fluctuate so I can't say it is the lack of sugar in my diet. There is also the fact that I have been concurrently testing out the free sample I received of Blue Copper Firming Elastic Repair by Osmotic (gah what a mouthful). The lady at Nordstroms told me it was a miracle skin cream, one can only hope! I have however stopped using my retin-A (mainly because I ran out). I took a photo of my skin yesterday and will compare it to a photo in 2 weeks and see if there are improvements. I still won't really know whether it was the cream or the lack of sugar (or maybe a combo) but if it keeps getting better from here then I know something is working!

Oh and sugar seems to be making news, especially after an article in Nature. Here a article from the SF Chronicle: UCSF scientists declare war on sugar in food. Well I am not 100% sure that sugar is the root of all evil, moderation I think is usually the key. Still I am now more aware of how much hidden sugar is in foods and I think most people end up eating way more than they realize.

pretty things

The other day the amazing Mr. D. surprised me with this lovely 1940's dress I had been eying at Pickled Vintage's Etsy shop (recommended!) It fits almost to a tee, though I will probably take it in to have the waist slightly lowered (curse my long waist).

Now I am trying to justify a pair of Jeffrey Campbell wedges ( I doubt they'll go with the dress). They are completely impractical to my current life... but maybe changing my life to accommodate them would be a good thing! Especially since life right now has been very work centric. Need to get out!

Oh and my sugar free diet is still going, my big craving today was hot chocolate. I am not really seeing any amazing results, but will give it full month before I decide if it helped anything.

It finally came, it's finally gone!

After a day delay the predicted snow came, the writers of the sign on the left (and in my previous entry) got their wish! It was fun for about a day, but this city is really not set up for snow and I am happy it's gone and everything is back to normal and getting about isn't a huge hassle.

In less snowy news, though white and powdery, I decided to try giving up sugar for a month. Today is day 4, I haven't been perfect... but then again my goal is mainly to cut out obvious sweets and sugar (cookies, pastries, ice cream etc.) and I have avoided those. There has certainly been temptation, probably the worst was walking past Beard Papa cream puffs after picking up groceries at Uwajimaya. I really wanted one of their éclairs. I keep telling myself it is only for a month and if this helps my skin look better it will be more than worth it. I have rosacea and sugar is supposed to be inflammatory, so hoping by avoiding it my skin will calm down (it hates this weather). Hey and maybe I'll lose a couple of pounds, which wouldn't be to bad either! If you are curious about some of the negative aspects of sugar here is an interesting article from the NY times: Is Sugar Toxic?

Pioneer Square in the snow.