We grew coffee in our backyard. And we liked it.

Happy National Coffee Day!

A few years ago, our dear friends, Gene and Pam sent Eric two little 3 inch coffee plants for his birthday. They thought it would be fun for us to grow our own backyard coffee.

So we added the little plants to our kind-of-chaotic-we-just-like-how-they-look backyard garden. We watered them along with everyone else who lives out there and the little coffee plants grew.

And thrived.

And we began to notice.

"Have you seen the coffee plants lately? They're getting so big!"

We repotted them and kept them close together so they wouldn't be lonely.

And last year, they produced little white flowers. WUT? "We've got COFFEE BLOSSOMS, people!"

Look at us! Growing coffee!

And then....

The little red cherries appeared. WHAT DO WE DO NOW? (<--Can you read the panic in that question?)

We sent photos to our friends. "Remember those coffee plants you gave us a few years ago? Look at what's happening to them!"

Apparently it was time to harvest. Who knew?

So, Eric set about the task of choosing the ripest red coffee cherries.

We had planned a weekend trip with our friends (the ones who originally gave us the plants) and decided it would be fun to bring some of the magic beans. Gene happens to be quite the coffee snob aficionado and has his own roasting device.

Coffee talk.

He took the beans home and after a few days sent us this:

Success!

We did some of our own harvesting, shucking, drying and roasting (If by roasting, you mean stirring the beans around in a small skillet until they're brown) when we got home.

I personally hated the idea of pulling off those beautiful, bright RED (!) coffee beans from our plants, but that's not important right now.

So we somehow managed to scrape together two small (freakishly small!) cups of our own Backyard Brew.

Also, those 2 cute little plants are so much taller than me now. I know. Shut up!

There were two things we decided after this experience with the Backyard Coffee:

1. As much as we enjoyed the process, we will, from now on, leave the coffee making to The Pros.
2. We have added a descriptive name to our Backyard Coffee. We're calling it, Mission Viejo Brown.

We're. On. Vacation.

Every year we look forward to our week down in the beach town of Del Mar, California. It's about an hour south of where we live.

What a difference that hour south makes.

We've been coming here to this same beach house in Del Mar for the past 4 years and it always manages to feel both fresh and familiar. Unpacking and cooking is easy. I know my way around this kitchen just like I know my own.

Part of vacationing for me is attempting to un-plug from social media. This is HARD. (I said, attempting, okay? I know my limits.)  So, I do it in baby-steps. I start by limiting my reading-what-everyone-else-is-doing-right-this-minute on Facebook.

And I only post photos on Instagram. Also, because I work on Project Life all year, sharing on Instagram helps me remember and organize where we were and what we were up to on certain days, but that's not important right now.

Vacation. (On Instagram.)

The first thing we do when we get here is... drop everything. ("You can unpack later!") We head down to the beach immediately (It's exactly 238 steps from our front door) to get sand in our toes and feel the breeze in our hair.

Some days we make a big, fat, bacon-and-eggs-with-all-the-trimmings breakfast. Other days, there's cereal-that-reminds-them-of-childhood and coffee. Either way, it's all good. We're on vacation.

Our first day here, the kids asked,  "Can we just order a pizza from the beach for lunch?"

Answer: "Of course. We're on vacation."

Eric unwinds best when he surfs, so the first thing he did was wax down his board. There's something to be said for a happy husband. He's obviously on vacation.

We're usually here on the week that we celebrate our wedding anniversary and Lucy's birthday. Our tradition has been to go to Little Italy in San Diego to our favorite Italian restaurant called Filippi's Pizza Grotto.

Lucy was in LA for the summer, so we bumped our vacation to this week. But that's not stopping us from celebrating. It just means our celebration has been postponed.

Little Italy is all kinds of charming. You have to wait in line inside the Italian market to get to the restaurant in the back.

Our theme for the dinner was "Red Food." (I cracked my self up right there. Can you tell I'm already relaxing?)

Eric decided to surprise us and took us to the epic Mr. A's for dessert. It was a beautiful and clear night, with the lights of downtown San Diego just below us. Quite magical.

And that was just our first day.

Most days we sit around unwinding in our own distinct ways. We spend most of them on the beach for at least part of the day. We will have friends come down and visit sometime during the week. We play lots of games and take long walks on the beach. And we build sandcastles.

Also, we are definitely getting to the Del Mar Racetrack because that's one of the things on my Summer Manifesto. Of course.

The only rule is that there are no rules. This is our one week when we've given ourselves permission to do everything or nothing. This is our week to be very deliberate in re-charging, collectively and independently.

We're. On. Vacation.

I share my day-to-day vacation silliness on Instagram. If you're on there, you should follow me. I'm Smrtqbn.

I have to go now. The sun just broke through the clouds and my beach chair is calling...

The Birthday Adventure

Lucy's been in Hollywood for the past month. She's doing an Improv Intensive at Improv Olympics West and has been living up there during the week and coming home (briefly!) to do laundry, regroup for a day before she goes back on Sunday afternoon to prepare for the next week.

Yesterday, (Sunday) was her twentieth birthday. (I know. It seems impossible to me, too.) We were a little stuck trying to figure out how to carve time to celebrate. 

So, last week, my friend, Jana and I decided to drive up to visit Lucy mid-week to celebrate her birthday. We took her to dinner at an impossibly trendy place in the LA Arts District. (That just sounds über-trendy, doesn't it?)

But wait. Let me tell you about the LA Arts District.

It's located in what appears to be an abandoned industrial area. Lots of warehouses and chainlink fence and graffiti. Jana had found the restaurant featured on the Design Love Fest Blog and we decided it looked to be worth our time.

It's just that the "neighborhood" (I use that term in the loosest way possible) looked a little, well, "urban." (I am trying to be kind here, therefore the use of the many quotation marks, because really, the more fittingly descriptive word is "sketchy.") Maybe it just depends on the way you drive in?

But we were on An Adventure.

Eat Drink Americano

Eat Drink Americano • 923 E 3rd St #101  Los Angeles, CA 90012 • (213) 620-0781

Amid the windowless warehouses and empty lots, there were lots of beautiful cars and barely enough parking. We figured that was a really good sign. This, we concluded was one of LA's best kept secrets.

I took this photo looking from the outside in to the restaurant. Notice the graffiti-tagged decorative building behind me.

Once inside, the atmosphere, was lovely. Welcoming, relaxed, artistic, but with a bit of an urban edge to it.

The beautiful hand-lettered wall seriously took our breath away. (You know I'm a sucker for giant chalkboards, right?)

The food was a little different, definitely delicious and (to my utter delight) served on carving boards. *makes note to self to collect carving boards for her next dinner party*

The service was fantastic. I have nothing but praise for Eat Drink Americano. We will definitely return. With friends. (Just to watch the look on their faces as we make our way to the entrance of the restaurant and take in the "local decor," but that's not important right now.)

They brought my birthday girl homemade peanut butter and dulce de leche ice cream (they saved her the last scoop!) and their "Pull Me Up" - A trifle of coffee and amaretto soaked lady fingers topped with custard and chocolate ganache. (Yes. It was as amazing as it sounds.)

They put a candle in the tiramisu-like confection. And we sang, "Happy Birthday." I may or may not have wiped away a tear or two for the joy of the perfection of the moment.

My girl is 20 years old. She's already experiencing so many new adventures in her life.

I'm just grateful she lets me come along once in a while. Even if I don't quite "get it."

Aging Gracefully

It's one of those things that has to be done. And, for the most part, it's out of our control.

Unless something catastrophic happens, we are all going to age. Some of us will look better doing it. Some of us will just handle it better.

Some things about aging are liberating for me. I seriously don't have to worry anymore about how I look in a mini skirt. That ship, as they say, has sailed.

But I have gotten much more comfortable in my own skin.

I took this self portrait last week. No makeup. No concealer. No lipstick (!). No photoshop. This is me in all my natural glory.

I was taking the photo to document for a friend how far along my curls have come since I started growing them out last year. I was surprised to find, after I took the photo, that I thought I looked pretty much like myself and it pleased me. (I also like how the summer sun has given me these natural highlights, but that's not important right now.)

I just wrote an article for MamasLatinas.com for their ¿Que Mas? section. It's titled 5 Steps to Aging Gracefully. I started off by writing, "I'm 58 years old. There. I said it."

They used a stock photo of a beautiful, happy, laughing woman to illustrate the article. That's okay. That's exactly how I feel.

But this is really me. I'm the one with the really contented look on her face. I'm 58 years old. And it's a good place to be.

(Please go visit MamasLatinas and read the article, then come back and tell me what you think.)

The Great Cronut Hunt

If you're not up on your foodie news or have not been privy to any media for the last couple of months, or maybe you've been hiding in a cave, you may have missed the Cronut Craze.

Started in New York at Dominique Ansel Bakery, the cronut is a delicacy designed by the aforementioned pastry chef in his self-named bakery. The best way to describe this delicious treat is as a cross between a croissant and a donut. (Although purists will argue that it is neither.)

Since I was going to be in New York a few weeks ago, I thought I'd get myself to this wonderful place and try these babies for myself.

However, there are strict rules to be adhered to when attempting to acquire a cronut. You must arrive at the bakery 2 hours before they open at 8am and be prepared to stand in line. There's only a limited amount of cronuts to be had each day and only of whatever flavor the chef chooses for that day. So even if you get there at 6 am (I can't quite completely wrap my brain around this), you may not end up satisfied with your ($5.00 apiece!) pastry purchase.

Getting up that early to attempt to be somewhere in NYC at 6 am was a little bit too challenging, even for a die-hard croissant/donut lover like myself. And there apparently were none to be had later (at more reasonable hours) in the day. So I came home with an unfulfilled cronut^® craving, but that's not important right now. *sigh*

Where to Find a Cronut In LA

Lucy is up in LA for 5 weeks doing an Improv Intensive, so I went to visit her the day after I got back from New York. Ulterior motive: Find the elusive cronut^® somewhere in Los Angeles.

Señor Google (along with Yelp and Urbanspoon) pointed me in the direction of DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Only they call theirs DKronuts^® so as not to be infringing on any Cronut^® trademark issues. They promised a variety and they swore that they make them fresh all. Day. Long.

Could it be true? I decided to give it a shot.

DK's Donuts • 1614 Santa Monica Blvd  Santa Monica, CA 90404 • (310) 829-2512

I drove up to Santa Monica in the afternoon and arrived at DK's around 5:00 pm. The place was empty except for one other customer, but to my great and everlasting delight, the cronuts DKronuts^® were in and there was a huge variety to choose from. *insert angelic chorus*

Cronuts. Cronuts. And more cronuts! Or lots of flavors of DKronuts...

I was floored by the variety I found in this off-the-beaten path donut cronut DKronut^® shop. I snagged a maple-bacon one, because well, bacon. And there were Cronut DKronut^® Holes, people. Genius, I tell you.

Of course I had to get a Nutella one for Lucy.

Lucy and the layers and layers of Nutella Cronut DKronut^® goodness.

They were just introducing a Guava Cronut DKronut^® the day I was there. Serendipitous.

Guava syrup and light cheesy cream in between layers of cronuty kronuty love. My day was made.

How to describe this goodness? Well, it was flaky, like a croissant. And light. Surprisingly light, like a serious French-type pastry. But with a real donuty taste. And not greasy at all, which was a happy surprise. But rich. Oh-my-how-have-I-lived-this-long-without-tasting-this rich. In other words, it's too hard to describe. Go on your own cronut hunt and join the other True Believers.

Also, you know what's fun to say? Cronut.

Coming up next week: I think I figured out how to make these beauties at home. Stay tuned.

Pageant of the Masters - The Big Picture

As I mentioned the other day, I have a Summer To Do List. I call it my Summer Manifesto. I'm quite proud of us. We've been busy scheduling and checking things off the list which has made it quite a lovely and busy summer so far.

I just got back from a weekend in New York, which I will write about later (I have sooo much to tell you!), even though it wasn't on my list. I promise.

So, every summer, Laguna Beach turns into Art Festival Central. It is THE place to go for all the local art fabulousness which Orange County has to offer.

And every year as part of the Festival of Arts they put on what is called The Pageant of the Masters. We don't usually go to the pageant every year, but this year the theme is The Big Picture which encompases two of our favorite things: art and movies. Yes, please.

The bowl in which this takes place is a beautiful outdoor amphiteatre which I could show you, except for I took my life in my hands trying to take our silly-grainy-hand-held-we-were-here photo. It's a good thing the iPhone Photo Police were so quick to stop me from revealing the Secrets of the Bowl, but that's not important right now.

The show started after dark, which was around 8:30 pm, so the first decision (clearly) was where shall we eat? Laguna has dozens of terrific little restaurants, but my people reminded me that we have that beautiful, brand new farmhouse table, and didn't I say that I wanted to eat outdoors as often as possible and could I please make my picadillo, please-mom-please?

We made it to the Pageant which had this fantastic life-sized mural of one of the masterpieces depicted in the show, The Trevi Fountain from the film, Three Coins in the Fountain. (Note to self: must find that so we can show it on one of our Outdoor Movie Nights. But, again, that's not important right now.)

But it made for a great photo backdrop.

No, the Darbys are not in Rome. This is Laguna Beach. Fabulous backdrop, no?

Jonathan had been to the pageant when he was very young and didn't remember much about it. He gave me the disclaimer: "You know, Mom, I'm not too much into art. " Which then led to the discussion that it wasn't so much the art, but the art of the decpiction of the art. (I'll wait until you wrap your brain around that last sentence. Okay? Let's continue...)

Living pictures! Those were live people! He didn't quite get it until the show started, but then it was, "What? What! Those are real people! I get it now! Wow. This is amazing."

Jon also fell in love. He has quite the crush on Audrey Hepburn.

An amazing show. If you're in Laguna over the summer months, you should definitely take in the Festivals and most definitely the Pageant.

It's kind of hard to understand until you can see The Big Picture. (<--see what I did there?)

Summer Manifesto

The definition of the word manifesto from Dictionary.com:

man·i·fes·to

[man-uh-fes-toh] 

noun, plural man·i·fes·toes.

a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization.

I know from experience that unless I am very intentional about doing something, it just doesn't happen. I know manifesto sounds like a big and serious word, but I like that it adds some gravitas to my summer goal making process. Besides, Summer Bucket List just doesn't sound as impressive.

Every year we make a list of things we'd like to accomplish and places we'd like to go over the summer. I've had a People I Need To See Live list for as long as I can remember.

Last year, one of my heroes, Ali Edwards turned the Summer Manifesto into a scrapbooking project (which I love). This bit about writing down intentions is totally how I work.

I didn't want to make my list too long. Also, there are things that don't need to be on there because we already do them. Much like not needing to remind myself to "brush my teeth," I don't need to write down "go to the beach." We automatically do this on a weekly basis all summer.

I wrote my Summer Manifesto down in my journal and decided to turn it into a piece of Subway Art. (Which, by the way, I plan on opening a Custom Subway Art Shop online very soon, so stay tuned...but that's not important right now.).

Here's my Summer Manifesto 2013:

1. Attend the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach.
2. Shop at local Farmer's Markets as often as possible.
3. Make S'mores (Cuban style!) over an outdoor fire.
4. Take a Lake Cruise.
5. Visit the Orange County Fair (and eat decadent food, but that goes without saying).
6. Go to a Dodger Game. (Usually this would say Angel game because I love live baseball on summer nights and I think it's cool that we all get to wear RED, but hello! Yasiel Puig and Dodger Dogs!)
7. Build a Farmhouse Table and have lots of meals outdoors. (Check!)
8. Enjoy lots of Outdoor Movie Nights.
9. Build a Sandcastle. (Not just a flip-your-plastic-bucket-over Sandcastle, but a serious all-day one. This requires a trip to Del Mar. Yes, please. Oh, wait! Did I forget to add "Go to the Del Mar Horse Races?" Consider it added.)
10. Make ice cream. (I tend to forget that I have an ice-cream maker stashed away in my cupboard. And I'll be really mad at myself if I don't make my famous Homemade Dulce de Leche Ice Cream.)
11. Take the train to San Diego. (The train station is just blocks from Little Italy and our favorite Italian restaurant, Filippi's Pizza Grotto, so technically this should really read: Take the train to San Diego and go to Little Italy.)
12. Take the LA Bus Tour. (Lucy will be in Los Angeles taking an Improv class for 5 weeks and my friend, Jana and I decided we would visit her while she's staying up there and do the whole touristy-tour of movie star homes and point a lot and say things like, "there's the Hollywood sign!" and all that.)

These are all the big things. The little things that I don't have to remind myself to do are to go swimming as often as possible and as I mentioned before go to the beach every week. (On Wednesdays, if you must get technical.) Eat outdoors as much as possible on my new farmhouse table? That already goes without saying.

And I know I've forgotten things, but we'll continue to add over the summer as we come up with different ideas. And, trust me, I've always got ideas.

Maybe this fall I'll also do a "Best Cuban Places to Eat in Los Angeles" tour. *starts doing research and making notes*

That's my Summer Manifesto. It's in a prominent place in our home and we're already slowly working our way through the list. It's shaping up to be a fabulous summer. And of course, I'll definitely be Documenting the Magic.

So, what's on your Summer Bucket List Manifesto? Tell me.

"If you build it..."

I'm a sucker for lifestyle magazines. You know the ones where everyone is super well-dressed and chatting and dining in gorgeous surroundings? Sucker. Me.

I'm the one who tears pages out of said magazines and puts them into an idea file. That's right, Pinterest, I was way ahead of your time.

I'm not casting aspersions on Pinterest in any way. I love it almost too much, but I really, really love to have the glossy pictures to look at and dream over. (Note: You are welcome to track my obsession follow my boards on Pinterest. Thankyouverymuch.)

Back to my infatuation with lifestyle magazine layouts. I think my favorite photos always include a group of happy people sharing a meal together. There's something so inviting about a crisp, white tablecloth and an abundant table settting. If all this happiness happens outdoors, I'm practically delirious. *insert a longing sigh here*

So, I've been working on my Summer Manifesto (I promise to write about this really soon) and one of the items on it was that I wanted to serve a meal outdoors at least once a week. Ambitious, I know. But if there's one thing I also know for sure, it's that unless I'm proactive about doing some of the things I dream about, and formally write them down, they tend to stay right there in Marta's Perfect Life Fantasy File.

I've been dreaming for years now about a big, long farmhouse table that seats at least 10 or 12. Like this one:

NOTE: This in NOT a photo of my home. This is from the PB catalog. It's priced at $1,899. (Isn't it fabulous, though?)

Our house is, of course, freakishly small cottage-like and a table of this size wouldn't fit. But wouldn't it be a wonderful thing to have a table like this outdoors?

"We can make it ourselves!" I say this with as much enthusiasm as I can muster, because of course, we both know that when I say, "we," I really mean, "you." (This logic seems to work on my husband most days. Nod your head if you agree, please.)

The reason I know that this beauty can be made is that my good friend, Jana, has a couple of tables like this that her husband built. She was the one who turned me on to the genius of Ana White and Knock-off-Wood and her Free and Easy DIY furniture plans.

That's me, going all Fangirl on Ana White when I met her a few years ago at Blogalicious in Miami. Also, she is a beautiful, gracious and very down-to-earth lady.

So, The Farmhouse Table...

We're talking about my Dream Farmhouse Table over dinner a few weeks ago. Technically, I was just fantasizing out loud about it, (but that's not important right now) and my daughter, Lucy, who has been building sets and creating stage magic in college for the last couple of years, speaks up...

"If you have the plans, we* can build it, mom." (*we meaning her and The Beau.)

I have the plans. I know about Ana White and her DIY magic. (I am winning.)

Lucy and The Beau dutifully went off to the local Home Depot with the list of supplies and for $143.00 and change came back with everything needed to build the $1,899. farmhouse table. (I'm seriously winning here.)

And they started building.

The DIY Farmhouse Table

It seemed to come together almost effortlessly. Let me insert a caveat here: It seemed to come together effortlessly for people who know how to build stuff, which they do. They're quite the formidable team, in fact. But that's not important right now, either.

There was clamping and drilling and hammering and all sorts of happy building noises. They started the table around 2:00 pm and finished around 7:00 pm.

Here's Lucy tap-dancing on the table to show off it's sturdiness.

And there was much celebrating and over-sharing on Instagram and Facebook. (Shut up. I know.)

I waited until it got dark to feed them. 1) Because they still had to clean up and all that. 2) I wanted The Full Effect of the table and the candles and the lights and the flags.  3) It was quite a feast and it was totally magical. 4) I think the food actually tasted better outdoors.

There will be many, many more outdoor meals this summer. And I'm well on my way to fulfilling the items on my Summer Manifesto. 

I have to say right here that I am supremely blessed to live with such an amazing collection of talented people that I get to call my family. They are not only encouraging, but also enthusiastic about all my crazy projects.

Kudos to Lucy and The Beau (he's still a little new to this group and a bit shy about having his picture shared so publicly, so I'm going to respect that...for now) who both worked so remarkably hard to make my wish come true. Thanks, guys.

Did I mention I lead a charmed life?

“If you build it, he will come.” ~Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams

“If you build it, I will cook. A lot.” ~ Marta Darby

Hello, Outdoor Movie Nights

I know this might sound odd, but at the beginning of every summer, we make a Summer Bucket List. I may just have to blog about it soon, but today is not that day.

We've always been pretty intentional about the things we choose to participate in and the places we go. I think it's a holdover from being homeschoolers for so long. There's always a plan.

A few years back, Eric got me the Best Gift Ever. He bought me a projector and a giant screen in order to show movies in our backyard.

One of our signals that summer is really here is when we start making plans to watch movies outdoors on our big screen.

We usually invite friends and there's probably going to be dinner or dessert, or both. Sometimes we just run over to Costco and buy boxes of candy and set up a concession bar. (I'll blog about that another day, too.)

But what to show?

We determined early on that we would keep the movies family friendly. Comedies? Definitely. Musicals? Absolutely. Animation? Of course. The key is that they must be good stories and have great plots. Or maybe movies that have lots of good lines. We love movie lines.

We choose the kind of movies that we don't get tired of seeing over and over. A mix of classics, action-adventure, cheesy love stories, old-school black and whites, and frankly, they should just be fun.

This Summer Movie List is serious business around here. There's lots of talk and arguments and suggestions. Mostly arguments. Loud ones. With lots of hand gestures.

So, in order to keep from hurting each other we started a list of the ones we all agree on.

Which usurped my menu board for a few days, but that's not important right now.

Everyone has their favorites, or what they believe to be the most entertaining. Some of these will never get old.

Summer Movie List

• The Emperor's New Groove
• Galaxy Quest
• Singing in the Rain
• Megamind
• The Italian Job
• Fletch
• Damn Yankees
• What about Bob?
• Superman
• Hellboy (don't judge if you've never seen it.)
• The Sting
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off
• Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
• 17 Again
• Bringing Up Baby
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

We're adding to list every day. Any suggestions?

Also, this is shaping up to be a great summer.

“There is a leopard on your roof and it's my leopard and I have to get it and to get it I have to sing.” -Bringin Up Baby, 1938

Plantar Fasciitis is a Big Jerk

WARNING: Serious over-sharing and ranting happening today. Proceed at your own risk...

First of all, Happy First Day of Summer!

It's only June and 2013 is already going down in history as The Year That My Health Gets Its Butt Kicked.

Let me explain...

About 3 weeks ago I got out of bed in the morning and put my feet on the floor. That's it. That's all I did. I got up. With that simple gesture (that I've been doing every single day of my entire life) the pain struck the bottom of my right foot.

And when I say "pain," I mean excruciating-dear-God-I-think-I'm-going-to-drop-dead-from-the-shock-of-the-ridiculously-painful pain.

A trip to the local Urgent Care told me a few things:

1. I have a condition called Plantar Fasciitis.
2. There's nothing that can be done to fix this, as it just "happens" arbitrarily and it's a tendon problem. Apparently, tendons are subject to different laws than the rest of your body.
3. I am going to have to figure out how to live with it indefinitely. "It might go away in a week. Or a month. Or a year. Or never."
4. "You should probably lose some weight. That would help."

Seriously, Unhelpful Urgent Care People? We can put a man on the moon but can't figure out how to treat a condition that randomly cripples 10% of the population?

I am soo not happy.

Let me sum up: I can't put any weight on my right foot without spasms of pain wracking my body. Especially when I take my first steps each day. And, okay, yes, I know I should probably lose weight, but there's that whole pesky I-can't-stand-let-alone-run-walk-or-ride-a-bike-without-collapsing-in-pain thing. How is this okay in any universe?

Ironically, I've been feeling really great lately. I have found some fantastic nutritional support for my fibromyalgia and I have tons of energy and haven't had any flare-ups for months. Except now I have this stupid Plantar Fascii-dumb.

And a YMCA membership.

Our local YMCA happens to be connected to the training pool for the U.S. Olympic diving and swim teams. So, it's kind of like a resort. With a gorgeous, state-of-the-art, always-perfectly-clean-and-perfectly-heated Olympic size pool.

And because I can't put any weight on my foot without doing the Limp of Shame, I've been swimming. (Okay, so I have to limp to actually get into the pool, but once I'm in there, I'm freaking Esther Williams, but that's not important right now.)

I'm in the pool every other day now. With goggles. And a cap. And working on my stroke. And feeling good. And strong. In spite of the stupid Plantar Fascii-hate.

Dear Plantar Fasciitis,

You're a great, big jerk. And I hate you. But summer is here and I can't pay attention to you and the stupid pain. I've got places to go and things to do.

I appreciate the blog fodder. But seriously, feel free to leave anytime now.

~Marta

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"That which does not let us walk, makes us mean." - Marta Darby