goodness (gracious)

So much for speedy recovery. Apparently I have a viral infection, not a bacterial one, and I am effectively back to square one in terms of recovery. I’m behind on school work and concerned about my half-marathon training. I was pretty sure I’d be fine taking a week off – but I’m probably looking at 2, maybe more.

HOWEVER. Life is overall fabulous, and regardless of anything and everything, there will be other days that I can get a full practice session in, and there will be other half marathons (if it comes to that). Life goes on.

More than that! It thrives. What’s been good lately:

• This recipe for coconut-spinach fritters and guacamole. Honestly, I was a titch skeptical but they are FABULOUS. I left out the nutritional yeast and pink salt and subbed maple syrup for agave. Still great. Oh and I used olive oil instead of safflower, just personal preference – I love the flavor olive oil adds to dishes like this.

omnomnom. I plated with brown rice, as you can see.

• These excerpts from David Byrne‘s new book, How Music Works. He talks about how human creativity has not progressed over time; rather, it has adapted to its surroundings. My brain has been chewing on this for a few days – there are points I agree and disagree with, but I’m not going to get into my thoughts at length, at least not right now.

• Salman Rushdie‘s book Midnight’s Children. I’m about a quarter of the way through and in love with his writing style (haven’t read anything by him before). I e-booked it after hearing an interview with Rushdie and director Deepa Mehta about its movie adaptation on NPR, the transcript for which I cannot find anywhere.

• How to Die Without Regrets (blog post). I’m not in agreement with everything in this post, but I like the overarching message, and found this bit particularly interesting (my mother informed me there was also a recent NPR story on the top five regrets):

“Earlier this year, a palliative care nurse revealed the top five regrets that her patients expressed before they died:

1. I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

3. I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

• Yogi Ginger Tea, and actually Yogi Tea in general, because of the awesome quotes with every tea bag. This one is SO applicable to my life…I feel like I need to make a giant sign with this quote on it and hang it in the room where I practice violin.

love. this.

All smiles,

b