Time to Purge

No, not because of Thanksgiving. But it is true, I ate too much. That’s just what we do in this country in order to celebrate one of my most favorite holidays. Not that I’m in the business of advocating excess eating… quite the opposite. But sometimes we just need to have a feast! And feast we had – but I’ll get to that at the end.

Back to purging. And I mean healthy purging. My husband and I have been spending our precious spare moments on the weekends, when we have them, not relaxing like we should, but systematically going through our 1000 square foot apartment closet by closet, room by room and purging all the useless built up crap that we never use. And damn, after 3 years of living in SF, it feels great!! Pretend that you’re traveling abroad and you’re having a fantastic time. Are you thinking about that new whatever-you-just-bought item the week before? Or the sweater from 5 years ago that is lost in the back of your closet? Maybe. But likely not. That’s what I’m talking about. Get. Rid. Of. It. The crap, clutter, sh*t, knick knacks, papers and useless items – Donate it, recycle it, sell it, take it to waste management for e-recycling or other recycling. Just off load it (but *please* try not to throw it away). *Stuff* can be such a burden, weigh us down – so why keep useless items around?

I was reading this article this week and I love the author’s approach to *stuff.* I agree, we too have enough hiking, camping, skiing gear to outfit a few Marines. I too am fond of my things. I cannot even bear the thought of parting with my Le Creuset enameled cast iron pots or my fat Vokle Kiku skis. But what I’m addressing here are the non-functional and useless items that we all have.

Here’s what I challenge you to do – attack your closet. Go through your clothes and donate or sell everything you haven’t worn in the past 6 months or year. And for the next 6 months, only purchase clothing that you really need. I mean something that is functional, beautiful, skillfully crafted and made of materials that will last a long time (bonus if it’s 100% cotton – double bonus if that cotton is organic, 100% wool and made in the US). Try this for 6 months and see how you feel. Or tackle that linen closet that is bursting with products, chemicals and items that you’ve been hoarding for the past 3 years, where half the items are expired - if you cannot stomach your monster closet.

I’ll be honest; R and I had reason to purge. Getting married and getting new *stuff* will tend to make you have to purge. Especially in our apartment with limited space. But I can tell you after finishing our filing cabinet over the holiday weekend that I feel lighter. My apartment feels lighter. And overall, there’s less stuff to think about and have around me. Give it a try, even if it’s only one small corner and see how you do. Also, be sure to watch the “Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard. It’s brilliant. Think about what you purchase. The impact it has on your life, the planet and all the peoples’ lives that the item you want to buy impacted. Do you really need to purchase it?

This holiday season R and I have requested that no one purchase or give us gifts unless they are edible. Back to the whole wedding thing- we really, truly have everything we need. We also are not giving gifts, except edible ones and donations. I plan on gifting my adorable nieces and nephews with a yearly membership to the aquarium. I’m on a kick of only giving things that will be used and cherished.

Back to Turkey Day. We were invited over to our friend J & D’s loft to celebrate as we stayed in the city. About 10 bottles of wine, turkey sausages (I hate turkey, but sausages will do!), porchetta (also known as the new turkey), my family recipe of mashed potatoes, sweet potato spoon bread, kale and shiitakes and cranberry/cherry pie pops (J even made gluten free ones for me!) – and of course, copious amounts of Bi-Rite ice cream (OMFG - yum) – later, we were stuffed, a couple pounds heavier, and very happy to have enjoyed another yearly national past-time. Cannot wait for next year!

Mashed Potatoes on the left, ready to be baked, Sweet Potato Spoon Bread on the right.

Cranberry/Cherry Pie Pops

J & D getting the Porchetta ready

Yoga update: I went to hot yoga on Saturday! It was awesome, but really kicked my ass. A 1.5 hour class and it was so great. I perspired rivers. I did so many sun salutations, I don’t even remember the pain. And, I had a bit of a sore throat. It worsened and I saw J, my acupuncturist, on Monday. She chided me for doing hot yoga with a sore throat and joked that if I went to school for TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) training, I’d know that hot yoga with a sore throat is a huge no-no. Oops. Also, I told her I was drinking sage/ginger tea. Another oops as ginger is not so great for a sore throat either! Word to the wise, sage tea is awesome. Just steep some sage leaves in hot water and voila – sage tea. Great for sore throats (thanks to E & W in Portland for sharing this article)! J patched me up with some acupuncture and herbs and by yesterday, I felt as good as new. One thing I do love about her, though, is that she told me that if my sore throat didn’t get better in a few days to see a medical doctor (I had white crap growing on my tonsils – my inner microbiologist wanted to culture it). I love this idea of East meets West. If I had continued to feel bad, I certainly would have gone to a MD and received antibiotics. Lucky for me, it wasn’t necessary and the herbs/acupuncture did wonders.

Avoiding dairy update: yeah, uh, Thanksgiving sort of threw that one out the window. How does one make our family’s recipe for mashed potatoes without sour cream and milk? Yeah, that wasn’t going to fly. Then there was the left overs… ugh. My type-A self must eat leftovers and must not throw away food. I have noticed that I’m less phlegmy when I don’t eat cheese and milk, so it’s worth exploring for a few more weeks. So I started over again on Monday, but have decided that I will avoid dairy as much as possible, but in some cases it’s really hard. For example, I write this post from 38,000 feet up in the air on my way to Portland to visit the parents. We were in a rush, so I ordered tacos from the airport and forgot to ask for no cheese. What did I do? Ate the damn tacos. And they were pretty good for airport food. Can’t wait to get to Portland and see the look on my Dad’s face – our arrival is a surprise as it’s his 60^th birthday!

Be well.