Remabulous

Wheat's not gonna have me beat.

So. I really opened quite a can of worms when I took on my skin condition this year with the promise to myself that I would conquer it once and for all.

When you've spent 5 years covered in welts that the literature helpfully describes as "resembling leprosy", it can get a bit depressing at times. I have had fantasies of the nunnery creep in more than once. Although... not at the moment as I have had a gentleman caller recently, but he reads the blog so I will leave that topic at that.

Just know that goal #6 is still on my radar. I don't slack on this list, people.

But back to the leprosy.

For all the years I have been shuffling between doctors, immunologists, dermatologists, acupuncturists, chiropractors and basically anyone who stayed still long enough and commented on my skin situation: "Did you bang your elbow?" or "Wow- did you burn yourself?" being common conversational openers on the topic, no one has ever been able to give me a cause for this.

Granuloma Annulare isn't genetic. People with it don't even consistently respond to treatment. Some of it just goes away out of nowhere if you have it less than 2 years. (Insert sad trombone here for me).

The one refrain that kept coming up, though was "It seems to be some sort of strange autommune reaction." They responded to this by turning my immune system off for a number of months last year, which resulted in a total remission of the condition, followed be a full relapse once my immune system recovered, and I got sick enough that I had to have my tonsils out before they killed me with ever higher fevers. (104.8 being the winning temp)

So now there has been a new development. Thanks to the amazing September of Red Carpet Cleanses, I was off everything except yummy raw juice for a week and then did a detox process with Healing Waters in Burbank to get the obscene amount of Candida that was clogging up my system. Yay!

As I started to reintroduce food at the end of the cleanse period, I had a rude awakening. Wheat sent me into an instant digestive disaster. See the bastard grain pictured above. (I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say I spent more time in the bathroom than at the table when out to dinner having pasta with my parents a couple of weeks ago.)

So, things started to add up. Skin problems, autoimmune problems, digestive problems since I was pretty young. And Celiac disease- gluten intolerance- is pretty much right on for my experiences. Hmmm. Inability to gain weight- just ask all my angry high school classmates who used to dig through my lunches to see what I was eating. Plus the fact that I could never give blood because I was too puny. Still am kind of build like a teenage boy, but I do my best.

Stakeout #2, family style...

This year, I went to the mall. On Black Friday. With my family. Don't worry... it was for a stakeout. I decided I wanted to try another one with the new computer now that the lovely eyeball camera was working and so we went out in spitty Boston weather to take on the joy of the mall.

So I have now gone on two stakeouts! I am killing goal #32. Excellent. We did go in the mall afterward and peek around. We were astounded at how deserted the place was. I guess this downturn thing is really hitting us. Also, we were way too lazy to get up and go to any 4am madness. Nothing is worth that much effort. Not even cool gadgets and whatnot. I restricted my sale shopping to online, thank you.  

So, if you'd like to support the project by checking out the episode, please do so at www.stakeoutgirl.com. The chatroom was quite silent this time versus the first episode. Granted, there was no cool trailer or lead time for promotion for this episode. We did get one viewer about five minutes before the end who said "Damn yerr ugly." All three of us were visible on the screen, so we decided not to try to figure out who was being referred to. I do have a bit of a zit outbreak at the moment, so it might be me. Boo. More on other items on the list below...

image: francisco osorio

My goodness, so many adventures and a brand new look!

I am so excited to show off the new banner that the amazingly gifted Jessica Kewson of Design Krew whipped up for this site. It makes me want to blog all day every day. So... here goes on the latest adventures here at Remabulous.

I saw Where the Wild Things Are a week or two ago with my friend Erin, and find that I am enjoying the thoughts I have had about my life after having seen the film. I have mixed feelings about the movie itself, but the thought of going off on an adventure and thinking about who I really am in this wild life I've made is more and more essential as time goes on...

This time of year is always a mixed bag. I am especially shocked this year to find myself in November. It feels like it's impossible that and entire year has passed. I have done so much, met so many amazing people I didn't previously know since this time last year and am so grateful for all I have learned.

And yet, a year feels like a much smaller unit than it used to, doesn't it?

Too much living, too little blogging.

I have been terribly neglectful of this site, despite the fact that it is one of my very favorite projects. Really, I swear.

But the thing about the 32 for 32 project is that there is an awful lot of doing involved in plowing through this list and that leaves less time for writing about it.

I have been busy though...

Here are my updates: (they're pretty awesome...)

Really they are.

Back from the beyond, AND: Stakeout tomorrow!!

Hello all of you out there! I am back from Vegas and am now no longer sleeping until noon to recover as I was the entire weekend. Wow. David Neagle's ERS was a last minute opportunity for me and it was such an incredible gift to be able to go.

And now... I jump back into my life at home. I am back to my client calls, hearing about businesses and where they are headed- so much fun!

However, the really big announcement I want to make as this is my fun 32 for 32 blog now: #32 will be in effect tomorrow.

That's right. A REAL LIVE stakeout. I can barely contain myself. Just two short months after my birthday I am going to be in a car with a thermos (see left for our thermos, purchased for us by my wonderful friends Erin and Jesse) and trashy magazines. And the lovely Catherine Cassidy, who is going to try to explain to me and all of us WHY ON EARTH women dress the way they do when in line for bars on La Cienega.

If you're not in LA, you have these bars in your town. I promise. These are the bars with ladies in skyscraper heels and tiny barely-there minis who flounce to the front of the line and get in.

In LA it takes more than that to get right in because everyone is dressed that way.

We will not be dressed that way, don't get excited. We will be in all black to be inconspicuous. With large thermoses of tea and soup. And trashy tabloid magazines. 

Goal #32 has gotten so big and exciting that it has its own website now!

Visit us at www.stakeoutgirl.com

And remember- the show is TOMORROW (Thursday November 5) at 5pm pacific and it is live. This means that if you log in to Ustream that you can ask us questions via chat and join us all on the stakeout, too.

It wasn't enough for me to go with just Catherine and my assistant, Jen.

I am taking all of you with us.

I have many more stories to share from my week in Vegas and from other goals, but as this is the big one, I just had to share it first. I'll report back after the show.

If you can't be on live, it will be posted on the site after the fact. Don't cry!

We can't wait... hope you'll be there with us!

How to be generous.

If you feel moved to participate in this experiment, please share what you can in the tip jar in the top right corner of the site.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey.

Much love to all.

Help me make wishes come true!

Hello all. I have undertaken a challenge and I need your help. I believe I can raise $1000 dollars by this Friday. I want to donate this money to the make a wish foundation.

Here at Remabulous, we are all about dreams. I believe that if you set your mind to something there is hope. I believe that dreams are what this world needs. And sick kids need dreams more than anyone.

I want to raise $1000 for Make a Wish. If you would like to support me, please donate using the tip jar in this post or on the top right hand corner of the site.

When we help others dream, our dreams can get bigger, too.

I'll have a new cause next week, but for this week if anything I have ever written means something to you, please show your thanks by helping me help these kids. 

I had my tonsils out last February and it shut me down for a month. That is nothing compared to what these kids go through. I am honored to help them reach a dream and live well.

Thank you in advance for your support!

32 for 32 Vegas Edition

Hello all!

I am writing this post from my almost frighteningly large suite at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Through a crazy series of events I find myself here for a David Neagle seminar. When you get one or two signs you are supposed to attend something, it's still possible to say no and get on with your usual life. However, I just had far too many signals that this was an essential experience for me.

I can't entirely say why that is, but in the 31 for 31 list, I said that I would say yes to more adventures and so I have built that habit from last year.

It is an amazing thing to look over all that has happened since last October. I was just into my new apartment then, just getting used to the east side and getting to know new friends there. And now these friends are some of my favorite people. I have met so many wonderful people in the last year: mentors, clients, friends an colleagues.

I feel so lucky!

So now I get to lie on a gold couch and watch an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer- I never watched it when it was on TV, but now I am hooked. Hooked enough to bring the season 3 DVDs with me on a business trip that I borrowed from my friend Amy.

Hi Amy! Your Buffy disks are on a trip. I think they are happy to be here.

As am I. I am not entirely sure what I am in for this week, but it feels exciting. I'll keep you all posted.

ps- I made an amazing version of Madeleine cookies that is wheat and sugar free. I am really excited about it! I'll post it as soon as I am home this upcoming weekend as I don't have the original recipe I modified with me on this trip.

It will be my Halloween present to you all.

Enter Jackie Page: List item 16

One of my big items was getting my house ship shape this year. No more beige couch against beige wall! This past weekend, Jackie Page or Alter came to visit. She is a friend whose work I've had my eye on for quite a while, so it was such a treat to have her come on down and take a gander at the house.

So far so good... above is my new, but not yet totally finished, living room. I love love love to sit in it now. Before it was just a bland and cramped area. Now it is a real live room!

More to come, but wanted to update all on what's been going on with 32 for 32...

Yay!

Today, I will go to dance class.

Given that all I have been focusing on the last week or so on the list has been stakeouts, I decided it was time to give some attention to other items on the list. #4 is "take a ballet class." Now, I have found a proper ballet class, but when I was at my knitting group last week, I heard about this.

I think this might be the most terrifying ass I have ever seen in my life.(click on the image of the lady in yellow when you first land to see what I am talking about.) It's hypnotic really, in its tiny green shorts and wrist bands.

Rest assured that I will not be dressed in the same outfit while attending this experience, so please don't start a stakeout of your own outside the class. I will be in sensible yoga attire and just trying things out.

The woman in my knitting class who told me about it was about my age and making a beautiful twisted stitch cardigan, so I feel I can trust her judgment. She says she goes about three or four times a week. If it's that good, I might actually get enough exercise to be able to run around the reservoir! Without actually having to run. Especially in the rain we've been having lately. I prefer to stay inside and read. Perfection.

So... I will dance, sculpt, lift weights with, and generally stretch myself all over the place this evening at this class. Will report back. I am not giving up on the proper ballet class, but the promise of this ass was too good to give up. If mine ends up looking like this one, I will absolutely be photographing it. But as for right now, no dice.

Send me strength!

image: popphysique.com gallery.