My 7 Day Juice Cleanse – Day 5

Happy New Year!

If you are what you eat, I’m currently something between a fruit and a vegetable.

My husband surprised me by signing us both up for a 7 day juice cleanse. I had many emotions about that. I knew it was probably a good thing, but I love food and the thought of, well, not eating it for a whole week was scary.

He signed up for it through some online deal with Sustain Juicery in Los Angeles. They make three deliveries of juice throughout the week. The first was Monday of this week. That makes today Day 5.

The thing that has surprised me most about the cleanse is that I haven’t felt physically hungry at all. We each get six juices per day, along with as much water as we want/can take. It has been enough. More than enough! Three of the four days so far I’ve only managed to eat 5 juices.

I just noticed that I wrote “eat” instead of “drink”. That’s funny.

We were warned that the first three days would be the hardest and, so far, that seems to be the case. The first night I was cranky and I had a headache. That first night I also went to the grocery store to buy water. It wasn’t easy walking in there!

Nights have been much more difficult than days for me. I already knew that I have a lot of cravings at night and I’ve been trying to keep myself from giving in to them.

What has been different during this cleanse, is that NONE of my cravings have been for sweets. You could put a pint of Ben & Jerry’s or a key lime pie in front of me and I wouldn’t need to eat it. If you know me, you know that’s WEIRD. I’m not sure why that is – possibly just because some of the juices are naturally sweet and they satisfy that?

What I have been craving, though, is FAT. I’ve been writing down the things I crave along the way. They include:

Dumplings, ramen, turkey leg, sausage, short rib sandwich (a particular one from Fiore Cafe in South Pasadena), Hamburger Helper (which I haven’t had in decades..apparently there are like 40 varieties now?), eggs, almonds, olives, ham & cheese croissants, fried chicken, portabella mushrooms, tacos, mayonnaise, buffalo chicken sandwich, and lamb rib chops.

Where do all these cravings come from? Media! Some from actual advertisements, but a lot are from social media. It seems like everyone on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, etc. posts food-related content! Does social media make us eat more? I definitely eat socially in the traditional sense – with friends or family around a dinner table or at a restaurant… I fear I may also eat socially “with” people I don’t even actually know. If they’re eating it, I can eat it, right?

When it comes to food, I’m easily influenced. I think I’ll seek out and follow a bunch of people who are dedicated to a healthy lifestyle. Maybe some of that will rub off on me, if I allow myself to be exposed to it!

My relationship to food isn’t very healthy overall and I know it. That’s probably why I often avoid the documentary films about it. I’ll know they’re right and I should stop eating fast food and processed food and sugar and sodium and…the list goes on and on. Last night I sought one of those films out. My thinking was that for the last few days I haven’t been eating those things and for the next few days I can’t eat them, so I will have less guilt and anger (yep, guilt and anger) while watching it.

I chose Forks Over Knives. It examined the trends in eating and disease over the last several decades and demonstrated that food can be our medicine. Eat to live, don’t live to eat.

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human body, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” – Thomas Edison

The film showed how, by adopting a plant-based diet and avoiding animal-based and processed foods, disease can be prevented, controlled, and even reversed.

This was the first thing that has ever tempted me to become vegan or vegetarian. I haven’t made any decisions on this yet, but I do think that I can limit the bad stuff in the future and that I can be more aware of how they make me feel. I’m proving this week that I can control my cravings and that most of those cravings come not from my body telling me what it needs, but from outside sources. They’re not the boss of me!

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but today I feel really good. Energized and happy. And I’d like to continue feeling that way.

P.S. I just came back to add this…I’ve lost 6 pounds so far. I know it’s weight that could easily come back, but hopefully I can make changes that will keep it off.

I really should post more often…

Here’s what I’ve been up to! I scanned all the paintings today, so using those images instead of the iPhone pics I was using before.

Painting #36 – Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants:

Painting #37 – George of the Jungle:

Painting #38 – Bandit from Johnny Quest:

Painting #39 – Witch Hazel:

Painting #40 – Wawel Dragon (from a Polish cartoon):

Painting #41 – Princess (Agatha June/Aggie) from G-Force. This one was hard!

Painting #42 – Gir:

Painting #43 – Grape Ape:

Painting #44 – Dudley Do-Right:

Painting #45 – The Abominable Snowman & Daffy Duck:

Painting #46 – Pigpen:

Painting #47 – Dumb Donald from Fat Albert:

Painting #48 – Pinky (from Pinky & the Brain)

Painting #49 – Mr. Horse from Ren & Stimpy:

Catching up…

Oops! Haven’t posted in a long time. I’ll skip the writing and just post the paintings I’ve done since the last post, in order that they were done!

Gadget Hackwrench (Rescue Rangers):

Linus:

Krusty:

Rainbow Dash:

Captain Huggyface:

Peko Chan:

Cindy Lou Who:

Mr. Magoo:

Pebbles Flintstone:

Magilla Gorilla:

Odie:

Gilligan:

The Great Gazoo:

Dot from Animaniacs:

Animal:

Kenny:

Thumper:

The painting thing hasn’t gotten old…and it has been a whole week!

I’ve been continuing the painting thing. I like doing characters because there’s so much material out there…there’s always something that suits my fancy in any particular moment.

I have this grand idea of completing 100 character paintings and then throwing them up on Etsy for cheap, getting ‘em outta the house, and starting something new. Can I do it? Will it keep my interest? Not sure yet, but that’ll be my goal until I decide otherwise.

Meanwhile, it’s serving a purpose… I’m starting to understand the advantages of having some heavy body paints, how various brushes can be used, how layering colors (instead of just painting what I see where I see it) affects my paintings.

Remember – I’ve never done this before and have had zero training. I didn’t look anything up online…just went at it.

The latest paintings…

This one became one of my favorites right away. The other day, I was channel flipping and came across Teen Wolf Too, starring Jason Bateman. I did a status update on Facebook and a contact suggested I paint Teen Wolf. I then remembered that there was actually a cartoon version for a little while. I watched a video on YouTube, and picked a frame that amused me. He was moping at the dinner table and said “It’s hard being a teenage werewolf.” Poor kid.

Next up was Arnold from Hey, Arnold! I had an odd fascination for that show for a period of time.

Then I did Mighty Mouse. This is my second mouse painting (also did Uncle Pecos). I think I should move on to other critters! I think I made him a little heavier than the original. He’s working hard to suck in that gut.

After that, I realized there was a severe lack of female characters in my paintings, so I set out to change that. Yesterday I finished three.

First, Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons.

Then came a suggestion from my friend Davey to do Penelope Pitstop. She is one of the characters from Wacky Races, which Rick had also suggested I look at. It was with this painting that a couple things clicked and I started having a sort of system to my painting. It was cool! I thought that my painting was pretty close to the image I worked from, but when I looked at them right next to each other after, I realized I made mine a little more “come hither”. Which is fine!

After that I wanted to work on Josie and the Pussycats, as it has been suggested a couple times. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out a configuration yet that I like. It’ll probably eventually be a triptych, but I need more time to figure it out. So I turned to a different trio – the Powerpuff Girls! I painted Bubbles because she has cuteness enhancers (ponytails). I expect to do the others, but maybe not immediately.

I’ve made 15 paintings in 8 days. Rock.

I keep painting and painting…

Today I experimented a lot…made lots of mistakes…painted over a lot…and learned a lot!!

Then I went back to trying to complete paintings and these are the two I finished…

Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther:

Totoro (a super-cute popular Japanese character):

I think Totoro is my favorite so far… I just finished it and it’s 3am. I don’t feel tired. I just want to paint.

This is weird.

And awesome.

Painting

I went to Blick the other day with an idea that I would spend a day making as many paintings as I could. When I got there, I discovered that they were having a sale on canvases – if you bought 20 or more, they were 70% off, making the little ones I wanted only about $1.20 each. So, I loaded up the basket!

The next day I put myself to “work”. Damn, painting is fun!

This is what I did, in the order that I did them.

Jabberjaw:

Camilla:

Captain Caveman:

Uncle Pecos:

Gossamer:

The next day I tried to have a non-painting goal, but got bored very quickly and decided to paint Marvin the Martian:

Friday afternoon at the mall.

Today I decided to go to a Border’s a few miles away to see if there were any deals, as I’d heard it was closing down.

I punched the address into my GPS, not knowing exactly where it was. When I got there, I discovered that it was at the Santa Anita Shopping Mall.

I’ve spent the last 20 of my 37 years living in cities (New York & LA) and, therefore, have spent very little time around or in malls. I’ve occasionally visited them, but usually with a very specific purpose – in and out in no time.

When I saw it, I considered turning around and going home. But I decided to go in. Once I was in, I ended up staying for several hours – wandering, people watching, eating, and shopping a little bit.

Here are some of the things I saw and did…

Super-fancy strollers made for small dogs:

Silver, gold, and ruby slippers:

A pink Hello Kitty bicycle:

An Orange Julius, which I didn’t know still existed. I associate it with the mall in Burlington, Vermont, where I would go with my friend Andrea when we were in junior high and high school. I’m pretty sure there was a cute boy who worked there and we’d ride up and down the escalator and peer over at him.

Lots and lots of sunglasses. These were at Nordstrom, where I tried on some jeans. I can barely squeeze into the largest pairs of the fancy brands of jeans that cost $200. Sigh.

Plenty of candy in machines:

An indoor carousel, that has this bunny on it:

When I got hungry, I went to a place called Cilantro. Is it normal now for malls to have organic fast food? This was organic Mexican… I had a vegetable and cheese quesadilla, which was quite tasty!

I did go to Border’s and spent quite a bit of time browsing, but most items were only 25% off and everything was a bit of a mess. I figure I can get the same discount by buying things online and get exactly what I want. So…I left empty-handed.

At H&M I tried on some dresses. One I liked quite a lot for the cut, but decided the print wasn’t all that appealing.

The last place I went into before leaving was Old Navy. For the heck of it, I tried on a bunch of jeans. Whaddayaknow…they fit and were comfortable and were on sale for $25. They’ll do until I find a more fashionable pair someday…

It wasn’t the day I planned or expected, but it was oddly fun and kept me busy all afternoon without costing me very much dough.

Maybe I’ll spend another afternoon in a mall sometime in the next 20 years!

Flash Gordon @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery

The last time I saw the movie Flash Gordon was at a theater in 1980, at the age of 7, so I was excited when I saw that it was being shown as one of Cinespia‘s Saturday night screenings at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery!

If you’ve never been to a summer screening there, what are you waiting for? It’s super-fun! Screenings cost $10 per person. Just plan on a long evening… People start lining up to get in by around 5:30pm, the gates open at 7:30pm, and the film starts at 9:00pm. You can bring blankets, low-back chairs, picnics, booze, etc. Some people just bring themselves and others have elaborate setups! It’s fun to go with a group. No matter how hot it is during the day, make sure you bring some layers for the evening – I almost always end up a little chilly, even with a sweatshirt and jacket! So many girls go in with tiny little skirts and shorts, but…I wouldn’t recommend it!

Waiting outside the cemetery:

The “screen” and settling in on our blanket:

Finally getting dark – film about to begin:

Flash Gordon was the second film I saw at the cemetery this summer. (The first was The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and there was a special guest appearance by Werner Herzog.) I had two main memories from seeing FG as a kid. The biggest was something to do with green blood. (I also have some vague memory of maybe my sister telling me that my blood was also green, until it came in contact with the air and turned instantly red.) The second was a fight with spikes. In my head, it took place on a roof. I guess because there was an edge that could be fallen off of.

I really had no idea if my green blood memory was even really part of the movie, so was very satisfied when it happened. Not the end with Emperor Ming, but the hand in the hole death game thing… Apparently pretty fascinating to 7 year-old me.

I was going to list some goofy quotes from the film, but in searching for them, I found a 1979 draft of the script and randomly came across this, which struck me as funny:

“FLASH and AURA emerge from a pool of water. FLASH staggers across and collapses on a fringe of beach. For sure, AURA’S wet clinging robe doesn’t make her look any less sexy. He stares at her.”

FLASH! Ahhh-ahhhhhhhh! King of the impossible!

Greek Theatre Dine & Ride

As part of our effort to do LA things before moving back to NYC, Rick bought tickets to see Los Lobos at The Greek!

I’d never been to The Greek Theatre and had never seen Los Lobos before, so YAY!

One difficulty with going to The Greek (and I guess lots of places in LA) is parking. Rick discovered Dine & Ride! For about $50 per person, you park at one of a selection of restaurants, eat/drink, and get shuttle service to the venue. All tax & tips are included in the cost.

We went to a restaurant called Rockwell. When making reservations, you choose whether you want dinner or appetizers & cocktails. We chose latter. We each got to choose two appetizers from the Dine & Ride menu, as well as have two drinks.

I chose Asian filet skewers and a wild forest mushroom brick-oven flatbread. Rick got the Margherite flatbread and the ahi tuna tacos. Oh…and dirty martinis. I think the tacos were my favorite…”spicy tuna, cumin avocado puree, jicama slaw, and cilantro on taro root shells. (Six mini tacos were included.) Quite delicious!

Once we were fed & watered, we got on a shuttle and headed towards The Greek. It wasn’t until we were on our way that Rick asked “Do you like Los Lobos, by the way?” I answered “Um…La Bamba, right?” I really didn’t know anything else! You probably hear them a bit more growing up in Southern California than New England, right?

We got to The Greek and felt super-young! Lots of couples, older than us, smoking pot and having a fantastic time. I had a great time too! Their music makes me want to dance – very fun. And The Greek is a great place to see a show – outdoors and more intimate than, say, the Hollywood Bowl.. There are a bunch of seats on the sides that aren’t in use and are just covered in vines. I should have taken photos!

Here we are that night:

And here’s Los Lobos:

About an hour into their set, the people in front of me started occasionally yelling out “La Bamba!” I was glad that even people who knew and loved them wanted to hear it… Sure enough, they ended with it – the crowd went nuts, dancing and singing along.

When they were done, they autographed things for their fans:

After the show, we headed back out to the shuttle, which was there waiting for us and within a few minutes we were back at our car, far away from the venue traffic.

Dine & Ride also works with the Hollywood Bowl and the Kodak Theater… I’d definitely do it again!

Wakka Wakka Wakka!

I finished (kinda) my second painting. It’s Fozzie Bear. Wakka wakka wakka!

Rick has been working on his paintings too… I love what he has been doing!! So cool…