Archive for February, 2010

Sacramento Heritage Walks

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Looks like Sacramento Heritage has a new website featuring a number of self-guided walking tours through historic areas of town.  Some look better than others, but definitely worth checking out.

This reminds me that Sacramento Historic House has been criminally neglected.  I have no excuse.  It needs a redesign and new photos and maybe add in street addresses (which I hesitated to do originally).

Community Supported Agriculture

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

I’ve recently signed us up for a CSA box every three weeks (I know, it’s not often enough!) through Farm Fresh To You. The first week we got the regular small box which had a lot of great stuff in it, but sadly I’m not much of a cook and I worried that some things (e.g. collard greens) might go at least partially unused.

So we switched to the small Fast Fruit & Veg box which is great for healthy snacking and for any of you brave raw foodies. Anyway, I can’t recommend it highly enough. I was raised on an American diet of canned chili, pizza, and burritos so having really great fresh produce is eye-opening. I literally went on and on to anyone who would listen about how good the carrots were (yep, they got eaten straight off the bat).

People ask why I don’t just go to the farmers market?  Well, I could and still plan to in the summer, but… when I go, I’m easily overwhelmed by all the people and the lines and not knowing which stand has the good stuff, etc… maybe I’m alone in this, but I like having the best of the season brought to my door in a nice recyclable box.  It’s like Christmas.

*fyi, the photo above is from our trip to England and not of what was in our FFTY box – although it’s pretty close (minus the yummy looking jam).

Distrusting The Oracle

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

On my walk through the mist this morning, I was listening to Melody Gardot and thinking about how magical the moment felt. I could feel myself starting to smile and I got a sudden burst of confidence that made me think “this is great – I feel great… I can do anything I want… I could totally go live in England I feel so good.”

And then suddenly my brain projected me into this future England where I’m (inexplicably) throwing a cocktail party. The candles are lit and I’m surrounded by a bunch of strangers whom I’m attempting to make laugh. And I suddenly feel really intimidated and anxious.

Back in the present, as I’m walking, my smile drops and I think to myself… nooooo, I don’t want that. I don’t want to leave here, this town, my hometown, where I don’t have to throw cocktail parties and I don’t have to try to make people laugh and I understand the system. As I continue to stroll along through the mist, less energetic than before, I tighten my coat and reassure myself that I’m not moving to another country anytime soon.

So here’s the thing. This is how your brain screws with you. I started feeling really good and ready to take some risks… so my brain decides to throw a wrench in and make me feel insecure enough to want to stay safe in my comfort zone. I’m here to tell you that your brain cannot always be trusted to make good decisions or to accurately predict how you are going to behave or enjoy any particular situation (read Stumbling on Happiness which talks about this at length)… and yet we treat our brains like an all knowing oracle.

The truth is… if I were to move to England (or anywhere else) where I didn’t have my family and didn’t know anyone, there would be intimidation and anxiety, yes… but there would also be joy, wonder, comfort, delight, romance, frustration, anger, sadness and boredom. Just like there is here, in this town. My brain chose to bring up a vision that would cause me some social anxiety but it could just as easily brought up a vision of me buying mascara at Boots, because that’s what life abroad would mostly be about… those everyday moments that are mostly good and not really all that different.