The Haps at ChezLinoleum

I am trying desperately to get back into a regular blogging rhythm. To that end, a two week silence is better than silence for two months. Anyhoo, here's the ChezLinoleum update...

Firstly I'm a blond now...



I've never been one to shy away from changing my coif. Therefore, I head to my salon each month for a redo. It's exciting to see what my girls, Roxy and Carrie, have in store for me upon plopping my arse down in the chair for a leisurely Friday evening full of laughter, conversation and hairstyling abandon!

Next do-wop is this Friday. Life's little pleasures you know.

Speaking of life's little pleasures, I'm finally able to concentrate on reading again! I generally love to read, but the events of the past several months have prevented me from doing just that. I just could not focus on the words. Needless to say my mind has been little more than sludge due to the pummeling my soon-to-be-ex-husband has been giving me. Sucks. Anyway, with HIS presence absent from my physical sphere I am able to enjoy reading again. So, I am doing just that!



I'm about 400 pages into Pillars of the Earth and I have become totally absorbed in the story, which is great because I started this tome upon embarking on my latest divorce odyssey (yes, this is number two for me) and as I said above, I've been a bit distracted because of this experience. As a result, the first 300 pages of this book were a rough ride for me. I can tell that I'm beginning to have some clarity again by virtue of the fact that I'm feeling totally at home in this epic adventure.

Oh, but wait, there's more!

I am also listening to the audio book Eat, Pray, Love while toiling away at the office (and when not in meetings of course).



Now, I have to tell you all that I resisted this book for some time. First and foremost, everyone I know told me that this was a must read for me. You know, you're hurting Regina. So, be at one with someone else's torturous experiences and find comfort in her ability to have gotten through her tough stuff. Whatever. I'm not into the self-help thing I told them en masse. No, no, not self-help, we swear. Okay. Fine. I'll read the f-ing thing. Cool yer jets.

Let me tell you peeps, am I getting more out of this book than I ever could have imagined. It's a lovely memoir about fragility and strength, truth and consequences, discovery and fear, love and loss, pain and solace...in short I am loving this read (or listen as the case my be). I also am really enjoying the fact that Elizabeth Gilbert is the reader in the audio version, as it should be as far as I'm concerned.

Finally, I am working my way through a third book about journey, discovery and transformation...



Nicky Epstein is one of my favorite designers. Combine her complex, interesting and sometimes quirky style with a few travel memoirs and you've got a book I'm way into! I've only just begun perusing the pages of Knitting in Tuscany, but thus far this book is a visual delight and worthy of a few bookmarked design pages to be sure.

In addition to reading, I've been thoroughly immersed in music again. I realized that over the course of my last marriage, music had begun to vanish from my life completely . You see, my mostly unemployed soon-to-be-ex-spouse was home a lot and had the television on 24/7. So, listening to music was just not an option unless I walked around with my iPod attached to my waist, earbuds affixed, the resulting anti-social behavior becoming the norm. Not wanting this to occur for fear of reprisal, I just stopped listening to music (unless of course I was in my car for the 2.5 mile commute to and from the office each day). Yeah, now? I throw my iPod into the speaker dock each morning and sing my way to a finished face and coiffed do. It is heavenly.

I have very eclectic musical tastes ranging from R&B and rap to alternative to classical to world music. I am HEAVY into the world music thing. Lately my worldly bent tends toward eastern rhythms. Lots of Indian classical stuff as well as the not so classical, traditional and not so traditional Arabic music with a bit of Tibetan singing bowls thrown in for good measure. Love this stuff.

My daughter and I have been known to whittle away the evening hours sharing songs with one another via our dueling Macbooks. She thinks my music is "weird" and/or "sad", oftentimes urging me to add more Notorious BIG to my library. Needless to say, I have a good selection of Biggie Smalls since the onset of our musical sharing sessions. Got to love the teen peeps.

So let's see...reading again. Check. Groovin' to the tunes. Double check. Stepping up the work out regimen and taking care of the old (and I mean old as I hit the ole 4-0 this year) bod. Check, check, check! Oh yes, taking care of my weary mind goes hand in hand with taking care of the body. As such, I rehired my trainer the minute ye ex-spouse left the building. The dude is at my house two nights per week where he proceeds to kick my ass, thank you very much, and I try to hit the gym the nights I am not with trainer dude, Jerry.

Lastly, when not coiffing, reading, singing along or working through 58 sun salutations in a row I've been designing. Here are my latest and greatest stuffed wonders for Crochet Today mag...

Crabius Gigantius!



And a couple of shell pillows...



Even though it's been difficult to focus, I've tried to maintain my design regimen. No small feat, but well worth the effort in the end. Um, that last statement works for literally all of the subjects that I've covered in this post.

I feel as if I have awakened from a very long, very dark dream....