Guest Blogger

Sarah Palin would like to wish all the readers of Maria In Denver a Happy Halloween :)

Ahh the Car

If you're wondering why I haven't posted too much lately about not having a car, I think the reason is that for the most part it didn't change my habits and I really haven't missed it. This week however, was the first time that I really wished I had a car, or at least a bike. I've had a pretty full week and in the midst of it I had a couple of errands that needed to be run. Right now these errands take me about an hour. With the car, 10 minutes. It's those 50 minutes that I was pining over actually, not the car. Thankfully I have great friends who helped me out.

In other news I'm so excited for Halloween! Festivities this year include a Ghost Tour and dancing and I can not wait. Like 50% of the population I'm going as Sarah Palin this year. I'm really excited about my costume! I'll post some pictures so that you can enjoy the fun.

I Heart Candy Corn

For at least the last month there has been a basket of candy corn sitting out in my office. It is never empty and sometimes it even has those little orange and green pumpkins. I heart those pumpkins too. While I was on the detox it wasn't so hard to resist these sweet little gems, but since I've completed the detox and am eating limited amounts of sugar again I am having a hard time walking by the ever-full basket of candy corns.

Then I learned from this website that candy corn is gluten, dairy and soy free. Now they're completely irresistable. I wouldn't be surprised if they were full of corn syrup, which I'm also trying to avoid, but something in me doesn't care. I can't stop! I may have a problem.

Ladies and Gentlemen, well mostly Ladies, I watched a great movie, in great company last night. Sheralee hosted a movie night where we watched (with many discussion pauses) Iron Jawed Angels. It's an HBO movie starring Hilary Swank, Angelica Houston and Julia Ormond, among others, that chronicles the story of the Suffragettes who won women in the US the right to vote. I have to say that while I have actively avoided talking politics on this blog, this movie reminded me of the huge sacrifices women made just so that I could have the right to vote.

There was a time in this election hoopla where I had decided not to vote. Not because I didn't think my vote would count. Not because I didn't want to stand in line. Not because I was too lazy to figure out the issues and what I thought of them. No. Mostly it was because the United States I would like to see, is so radical that neither of the major party candidates come close to reflecting my views. Since declaring this I've realized that while I'm still torn about a great number of things I can step off of my ideological high horse and vote for a candidate that is closer. Until I'm ready to run, or until I'm as brave as these beautiful women, that's the best that I can do. It's the small, small way that I'm raising my voice.

Also, with that voice, I highly recommend adding this film to your Netflix cue. I know I'm glad Sheralee did.

Detox Update

Caption: Maria is jealous of a friend who escaped work.
OR - Maria is a little disspointed in the Detox experience.

Well - I finished the official 14 days of Detox. I have mixed feelings about the experience: I don't feel any better than I felt before I started the detox, and at the same time I think there are things to learn that may have not been discovered (at least for a while) without going through the detox.

I met with the nutritionist this morning and we talked through a lot of this. The main conclusion that she drew from my experience is that while some of my issues may certainly come from the foods I eat, there's something else going on. She has a load of suggestions for me, some of which I may follow through on, and some that I may not. The thing that she really wanted me to walk away with is that there are options. I don't have to live the rest of my life feeling a little bit sick all the time. I'm trying to find what that means for me, and how much more I want to sink into getting to the bottom of this, and how much I want to work to maintain where I've come to.

I walked away from the meeting pretty bummed out. I had hoped that I would see great results from this Detox and that I would feel great and work to maintain that healthy feeling. Instead, I feel just as I did before starting the detox: better than I did 4 months ago, and still not like I would like to feel.

The next official detox steps are finishing off the shakes in low dosages while slowly reintroducing foods into my diet. For right now I'm planning to do some version of it that will work for me. And by that I mean - I need a drink!

blah aahg glauhgh woiuglad

I was reminded this morning of something I've believed to be true for a while - laughter, specifically giggling can certainly help the mood! Here's my story:

I work in cubicle-land. It's not as bad as a lot of office plans I've seen but in the room I work in there are 12 cubicles, about half of which are inhabited by support staff like me and the other half house junior brokers who are on the phone a lot. It gets noisy. I'm on one end and on the opposite end is a loud man with a low voice who on occasion gets really excited on the phone. The thing is, the only noise that gets all the way to me is his laughter and some muffled sounds. So from where I'm sitting it sounds like he is a crazy person who roams the 16th Street Mall talking to the voices in his head. It bothers me usually. However this morning I decided to share my frustration with a friend who sits in the cube next to me by chatting with her about it on Gchat - and it turned into this hysterical conversation. I'm slightly afraid that it's one of those you-had-to-be-there moments, but I typed the above phrase "blah aahg glaughg woiuglad" to describe what I heard and the two of us dissolved into giggles. It certainly helped to dispel some of the monotony of office life.

I'm hoping this little life lesson reminds me to keep laughing and to try to keep things light to dispel the boredom that often hits working in cubicle-land. Here's to more laughter.

Come Skiing!

I live in a state that is crazy fun and crazy strange. There are two ski areas - Arapahoe Basin and Loveland - that compete every year to see who will be the first to open. Tomorrow, October 15, they're both schedule to open at 8:30 am. October people. This is just crazy to me - especially since in June of this year Aspen had enough snow that they decided to open for a weekend or two. In June.

It pains me to say this, but part of me is enjoying this change in the season. I'm not enjoying shivering the days away at work, and at the same time I am enjoying long hot baths, candlelight, snuggling up under a blanket, and surprisingly the smell that comes when the radiators in my building are running. That said, it is still crazy to me that ski season here can be 8 months long. I think my next move might be to San Diego. Thankfully they're predicting that Denver will be back in the 70s by the end of this week.

In short detox news, two things. 1 - it was so nice to have breakfast back this morning. I've been having detox shakes for breakfast since Saturday and I miss a hot breakfast. 2 - it is strange to me that as I'm coming to the end of this detox it's starting to just feel like a routine. I'm afraid that coming out of the detox might be as much of an adjustment as going in. That said, my time on the shakes may be extended due to the fact that I haven't been digesting them too well. More on that later.

Detox: Day 11

I'm just coming off another low-key detox weekend. Winter or at least something that felt like winter, visited Denver, and it was nice to cozy up. I read, watched movies, lit candles, took a bath, and generally did nothing. The detox was starting to drive me a little crazy. This weekend marked my highest dosage of the supplements and my body was having a hard time adjusting to all of it. I talked to the nutritionist this morning (after she talked to some doctors at the manufacturer) and it turns out, the symptoms I'm experiencing are in line with someone who has IBS. We're now taking some steps to get me back on track and I'm hopeful that now I'll start feeling better. Feeling better being the reason that I jumped into this detox in the first place.

Not surprisingly this weekend turned quite introspective for me as well and I was struck with two things. First, I think I'm a little more affected by a recent break-up than I would like to admit to myself. Second, I let the fear of making mistakes, or of not doing something perfectly, stop me from trying things a lot of the time. This idea of trying, and then trying again, and not worrying too much about making mistakes struck me over and over in the things I read and the things I watched this weekend. So, I'm going to try and go with it. I'm hoping to try things and see what happens instead of trying to do things right or perfectly all the time. Maybe it'll be life changing. Who knows.

Detox: Day 8

Well it's day 8 and I talked to the nutritionist today about all these symptoms that I'm not having and I feel a bit better after talking with her. When we met to talk about the detox and what I might expect she told me about a number of different negative symptoms that people often encounter. So I had myself all geared up for that, and when it didn't happen I was starting to worry that it wasn't working.

I shared these fears with the nutritionist, and she assured me that yes, it is working. She also said that since I had been cutting gluten, dairy and caffeine out of my diet for quite a while before beginning the detox, I would most likely not experience some of the side-effects that many of her clients experience. In essence, some of the side-effects people experience, I already took care of months ago. I'm starting to see a bit of a difference where I'd hoped to - in my digestive system - and so I'll keep on until the thing is done.

In other news fall has hit Denver. It's downright chilly and grey out there today and part of me is looking forward to a weekend of cozying up and staying in.

Detox: Day 6

Here I am at Day 6 with the worst side-effect to date being that I am breaking out like crazy. I'm starting today to start feeling run down and a little headachy - nothing horrible, just that feeling that comes when you feel like you might be coming down with something. I'm told this is normal, and to not worry too much about it.

To this point I've felt pretty good. I've kept things low-key and acted "as if I were sick". Let's just say I've been watching a lot of movies. ;)

Things for me haven't been all that introspective to this point, so I'm sorry to report I haven't had a breakthrough, or even what feels like a decent thought. I did have a random bonding moment with a tough boss yesterday over the pain of going gluten free. Her nutritionist suggested it also, and so we kvetched.

At the end of tomorrow I'll be halfway through. I hope the second half goes by as quickly as the second half :)

Detox: Day 4

Well it's Day 4 of the Detox and I think I'm just starting to see some of the effects. I think that the hardest part thus far has been drinking the shakes that contain my supplements. The powder never fully dissolves and so they're pretty chalky. I'm perfecting my shaking technique, and I think it's working. I've also learned that it's easier to stomach when mixed with fruit juice or rice milk. Ah the joy of learning.

Until yesterday afternoon and this morning I was starting to worry that this was all bullshit. (Pardon my french) However, I've begun feeling some of the side effects in my gut, and the nutritionist assures me that this is how things should be happening. I won't be on full dosage of the supplements until Friday of this week, so I guess that maybe I should just be a little patient.

The diet itself has been fairly easy to keep. The only exception being the rice cereal I had for breakfast yesterday morning. I think perhaps my 6 month old niece and I had the same thing for breakfast yesterday. If the menu planner suggests that for me for breakfast again, I will choose something else!

So, the moral of the story for today is: so far so good :)

Detox Journal

I have a gut (no pun intended) feeling that this blog may turn into a detox journal for the next two weeks. Today I started a two week cleanse - under the supervision of my nutritionist. So please don't worry, this is safe.

The detox consists of a restricted diet - no gluten, no dairy, no soy, no oranges, no corn, no refined sugar, no caffeine and a short list of meats (i.e. I can have chicken but not beef). This is not much different than the diet I'm already on per her recommendations this summer - and I've been feeling like a different person. On top of the restricted diet I'll be taking some supplements. They're from a company called Metagenics and the regimen I'll be taking is called SUSTAIN. Feel free to google it if you're really interested. :) It works (in the words of the nutritionist) like a broom to sweep out all the toxins that my body is housing. Right now they're tucked away, not causing any specific harm, but the idea is that the build up is what may be causing some of my discomfort.

When those toxins are released I may see some side effects and that's where the Detox Journal comes in. I may just need to vent, or keep track. Or - the nutritionist suggested that a lot of times this process turns very introspective - and as longtime (if you can call 2.5 years longtime) readers of this blog know that for me turning introspective sometimes means putting the things I've learned or that I'm thinking about out there. As though stating them for all to see makes it more real. More like something I can't avoid.

As an aside - I'm not sure about getting to the farmer's markets this weekend so I'm trying out a new service: Door to Door Organics. As the name suggests it's a delivery service that brings fresh fruits and veggies right to your door. (or in my case right to the office.) They're active in Denver and Grand Rapids - so I'll let you know how it works out just in case you're interested in trying it. I've also been tempted lately to utilize the local grocery store's delivery service. But I think I'll hold out on that until it gets really cold.

Wish me luck :)