20 things...

It's no secret I love Oprah. Here is one of my favorites from her...

20 Things Oprah knows for sure:

1. What you put out comes back all the time, no matter what. (This is my creed.)

2. You define your own life. Don't let other people write your script.

3. Whatever someone did to you in the past has no power over the present. Only you give it power.

4. When people show you who they are, believe them the first time. (A lesson from Maya Angelou.)

5. Worrying is wasted time. Use the same energy for doing something about whatever worries you.

6. What you believe has more power than what you dream or wish or hope for. You become what you believe.

7. If the only prayer you ever say is thank you, that will be enough. (From the German theologian and humanist Meister Eckhart.)

8. The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you give.

9. Failure is a signpost to turn you in another direction.

10. If you make a choice that goes against what everyone else thinks, the world will not fall apart.

11. Trust your instincts. Intuition doesn't lie.

12. Love yourself and then learn to extend that love to others in every encounter.

13. Let passion drive your profession.

14. Find a way to get paid for doing what you love. Then every paycheck will be a bonus.

15. Love doesn't hurt. It feels really good.

16. Every day brings a chance to start over.

17. Being a mother is the hardest job on earth. Women everywhere must declare it so.

18. Doubt means don't. Don't move. Don't answer. Don't rush forward.

19. When you don't know what to do, get still. The answer will come.

20. "Trouble don't last always." (A line from a Negro spiritual, which calls to mind another favorite: This, too, shall pass.)

Falling In Love With Food Again

In the midst of panicking about the 8 additional pounds (I'm 5'2" and it is totally noticeable!) I am carrying around, I totally forgot that I love food. I used to make love to my over easy eggs, dipping the bread oh so carefully in the spiced yolk. Lately, after a seeing a nutritionist, I am stuffing chicken breasts and salad down my throat in hopes of sticking to a meal plan that is all about deprivation rather than decadence.

Well, the meal plan can shove it (a nutritionist is not for me). I am going back to my basic food beliefs, eating like a "French woman," savoring each bite like it is my last, and proving all the fun-sucking diets out there that you can be fit and eat fabulous.

When I was pondering ditching the diet this morning, I found this great article that summed up exactly what I was thinking (I love when that happens). The author believes we eat the way we live and our relationship to food is an exact reflection of our deeply held beliefs about ourselves and the amount of joy, abundance, pain and scarcity we believe we have (or are allowed) to have in our lives. Well said!

Oliver at 3 weeks

New pics! He is always yawning - too cute!