relaxed

This is a picture I took yesterday on my iPhone while waiting for my lunch at Blue Barn. It pretty much sums up the weekend. Things have been busy- aren't they always? We all seem to love talking about how busy! we are- but I've also found myself feeling profoundly relaxed these days. A glass of rose over lunch always helps.

weekend in bolinas & point reyes

Over the weekend, Daniel threw his surfboard in the car and we headed out to Bolinas. 

Bolinas is a tiny town a little ways north of San Francisco. Daniel told me that when he was growing up, locals would rip down the street signs in order to make it more difficult for tourists to find it. He learned to surf in Bolinas in a teenager and was hoping to spend some time out on the water while I sat out on the beach.

The surf turned out to be sub-par and the weather was too damp and chilly to permit any lounging on the beach so after a short stroll, we piled back into the car and headed out to find better conditions.

Inland, the weather was sunny and hot. We drove through Point Reyes Station and decided that lunch was in order. The Station House Cafe has a back patio that's particularly lovely on sunny days, so we stopped in for fish tacos and restorative libations. 

After lunch, we drove to Drakes Cove. Again, the surf was disappointing and the beach gray and foggy. But as it turned out, the Marine Mammal Center was releasing some harbor and elephant seals back into the wild.

We stood with the crowd and watched the seals wiggle speedily down the beach. The harbor seals in particular were fascinating to behold- their bodies were like immense gray sausages, bouncing up and down as they made their way towards the water.

cleansed

I eat everything. Well, almost. I've never been able to stand ketchup or barbecue sauce and American cheese makes me want to heave. I avoid cold soups and spinach salads. But in general, I love food and spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about/eating it. 

And yet. Every once in a while I find myself in need of a reset. Food habits- a nightly glass of wine, a sweet after dinner- occasionally need to be shaken up. When I feel this way, I have found that it helps to do a cleanse.

I'll backpedal a bit here. The term "cleanse" means different things to different people. I remember reading something about celebrities who cleanse by eating nothing but honey, cayenne pepper and lemon juice for days on end- an idea that leaves me feeling angry just thinking about it. For me,  a cleans is more about recalibrating the way I eat than overhauling my entire diet. I eat more vegetables, more fruit. I eschew pasta and bread in favor of quinoa and brown rice. I cut out coffee and booze and dessert. I drink more water, more green tea. It's basic stuff, really, but after a few days, I find myself feeling better- a little sharper, a little more energetic. It's a great reminder to be mindful about the food I eat.  

I always go back to wine and coffee, cheese and ice cream- life without such things would hardly be worth living, in my opinion. But all the same, a little break helps me remember to keep everything in balance.