i'm just back from eastern market, having braved the heat and sunday buses to wander about looking antiques and dresses from india. i met a man who makes his own furniture who led me to a man from poland who led me to another man who lived near my grandparent's town in poland.

on the bus back from the market, we (liz and me) met miguel from chiapas. talking to him made me realize how i miss latinos in my life! yesterday, walking down the street in adams morgan drinking raspadillas, i got whistles from the pirated dvd booth on the street and it almost made me nostalgic for peru....even all the parts i hated at the time.

this week i watched oprah's interview with jill bolte taylor http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jill+bolte+taylor&search_type=
a brain surgeon who had a stroke and was able to witness as her left brain shut down and the right side took over. she was able to understand that even as her language and numbers turned into mumbles and squiggles that her connection to the world became so apparent.

she says its just a matter of trying to see the world from the right brain perspective...that so many of our negative thoughts are just brain connections that we have said are valuable time and time again and that all we need to do to change that is tell our brain that other thoughts are valuable. we don't use our right brains because society has told us that they aren't valuable and in fact rewards all left brain (judgemental, critical) behavior patterns.

this just hit home for me to hear it in such scientific terms and i feel empowered by that---if i have to use my brain in some way, why can't i use it in the way that i want? it's my brain right?

my shopping cart from the farmers market today:

-turnips with a mess of greens that i'm throwing into a stirfry tonight
-thin asparagus stalks from a woman who just took over her parents family farm that she had always vowed to stay away from
-one yellow squash and one green zucchini
-a healthy head of green leaf lettuce

things are going well with rod--which is a change from what i was thinking before. we stayed out to 2 a.m. talking in dupont circle on friday night and he showed up and watched a dense, two-hour documentary about the darfur conflict because i invited him (this earned him some major points). i still don't 100% trust him, but i had a realization in my near heat stroke at the market today, that i don't have to trust him until i am ready. until he has given me good reason to trust him. his dedication to keep hanging out with me for three weeks without even one kiss says something, but i am a cautious girl when it comes to matters of the heart (unless i've had a few shots of tequila :).

i've been so into this idea of celebrating this weekend. my creative challenge to you is to find a way every day to celebrate some part of your life.

this heat is making me sleepy crazy lazy loose heady thirsty honest and i'm honestly digging it.