Desert Magnolia

Like a sunbeam shining in my office, warming me, bathing my desk in a beautiful yellow glow. Like a London Fog with Blue Eyes, hot, sitting by my laptop. Like the knowledge that this is Friday eve. Like knowing tonight is Bones and Gray's Anatomy, and I'm going to watch them while wearing my flannel pjs. Like knowing that hubby is making Mahi Mahi, garlic green beans and rice for dinner. Like knowing that I bought a cool new nail polish today, Sonia Kashuk, Taupe...it's an interesting color, and I'm going to try it when I give myself my Sunday afternoon pedi. (Which, on a good Sunday, is accompanied by one of Hubby's signature lemon drop, or as in the case last week, fresh pomegranate martinis. Of course I have to be pretty much done with the detail work before partaking since they tend to be, rather stiff, ahem, but oh so delicious and now permanently part of my self-pedi routine.) Simple stuff, right? The key to life.

It's one of those weeks. A rule breaking week. One where I decide, around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, that Thursday morning for the weekly beverage treat of a chocolate steamer is far too far away. So I go an errand. A really important errand. Involving swinging by Satellite, finding a good parking spot (no easy feat since the UNM area, where Satellite resides, is nutso this time of day/year) and ordering up my new favorite almost perfect beverage. Mission accomplished. Sunbeam is shining across my desk, a promising pile of content for review awaits, and I realize that once again, it's the simple things. Always the simple things.

Each day of the week holds significance. Monday is all about getting back into the swing of things after cursing the alarm and dragging out of a very warm, comfortable bed. Tuesday is about celebrating the fact that Monday is over, and actually attacking the monstrous To Do list that Monday's organizational frenzy produced. Wednesday, well, it's about taking a breath in the middle of the chaos and knowing that at the end of the business day, the week will be more than half over. And continuing the momentum that finally occurred late Tuesday morning and must continue through late Friday. Thursday. For me, Thursday is special. It's the day I treat myself to a chocolate steamer with an espresso shot from the Grove, a treat I savor all morning long, often accompanied by an apple somewhere around 10 a.m. I rewarm my drink around then, too, since it's not quite as piping hot as it should be to warm my core and preserve the deeply warm dark chocolate yumminess. Tonig...

It's getting chilly out, which means it's time to break out the boots. Not the sissy, high heeled Steve Maddens, or the cool, saucy Kenneth Coles. I'm talkin' cowboy boots. My Western roots are showing, aren't they? Good. I like that about myself. I also like boots. A lot. Don't get me wrong, I own the high-heeled pretty black boots and the saucy tan Kenneth Coles and the warm sheepskin lined boots that everyone loves so much, too. But cowboy boots, well, they just do something to a girl. They make you work, just to get them on. But when your foot slides nicely into a perfectly broken-in, glovelike boot, it feels like home. 'Ahhh!', you're tempted to say. Or I am, anyway. They bestow instant attitude. I have never donned my Tony Lama cowhides without assuming just a bit of the badass.  I think I like the badass from time to time. Maybe the attitude has to do with the tight jeans I always wear with my boots. Maybe it's to do with the sw...

There is just something indescribable about feeling your muscles respond and pushing into the perfect running pace. It's fabulous. I love when it all comes together - form, air, energy, and efficiency. When all of the thought given to achieving each of those is gone, and the realization occurs. When it's the sun on your face, the blood flowing through happy muscles, the sound of regular, strong breaths. And the thought that 'I could do this forever if I wanted to' streams through your consciousness. Life is made up of a symphony of simple events, and a good run definitely numbers among those for me.