Old Friends and New Resolutions

"The best mirror is an old friend." - George Herbert

Over the course of the last 2 weeks, I've reconnected with several of my oldest and closest friends, and my heart is heavy with nostalgia and sadness that I've let so much time slip by between visits.  Last weekend, I had lunch with my friend Maria who I haven't seen in over 4 years.  The worst part is, she lives in Georgia about an hour north of me and has had 2 babies since our last visit!  She called to tell me that her husband accepted a new job in New Jersey and wanted to see me before they left the state.  I couldn't believe we'd be reconnecting just as she's packing up to move 900 miles away.

Maria and I met when I was 18.  It was the summer after I graduated from high school, back in 1993, and we were lifeguarding at an apartment complex pool together.  We instantly bonded and she became the friend who was always up for an adventure-- and we had many over the years-- from jumping out of a perfectly good airplane at 20,000 feet, to a wild road trip down to Miami for spring break.  

Later, we traveled together through Europe after my semester abroad, winding our way through Spain, the South of France, all through Italy and then ending our trip with 2 divine weeks in Greece on the island of Corfu. We watched Flamenco dancing in Barcelona, lay out on the pebbled beaches of Nice, and hitched a ride with a busload of rowdy, horny Italian sailors just back from sea and had to keep swatting them off of us with our Italian Vogue magazines!  We celebrated my 21st birthday at a small, family owned resort in Greece, taking shots of Ouzo and shouting, "Opah! Opah!" with the diverse, international crowd of other travelers-- all of us drunk from the intoxicating beauty of the azure Mediterranean (and the continued rounds of shots!)

There are those rare friends, that no matter how many years have gone by, time melts away, distance disappears and the connection remains.  Over several baskets of baked tortilla chips and guacamole, we reminisced about memories together, filled in the gaps left by long periods without talking, shared pictures of our loved ones and laughed until our sides hurt.  It was the most cathartic, wonderful visit!  She brought a photo album  from our trip to Europe.  This was my favorite picture of us together--- a girl's night out, in Venice, Italy. (Check out my au natural brows!  It looks like I have caterpillars over my eyes!!!)

Maria and Parker in Venice, Italy ~ 1996

Maria and Parker in Atlanta, Georgia ~ 2012

It is so easy to let friendships slip away in the midst of our busy lives, forgetting to nurture the people who know us best and love us the most.  I have made a promise to myself and to Maria that we will be better about staying in touch--- knowing us, we'll see each other more now that we're living a thousand miles apart than we did when we were a short drive away!

Yesterday, I invited my girlfriends Shannon and Katy over for a pool party with sangria and turkey tacos.  Shannon and Katy were two of my first friends when I moved here 6 years ago-- and together, we have nursed each other through break-ups, family dramas and professional frustrations.  But since JP and I moved farther away to the other side of town, we haven't seen each other regularly. I used to live just 5 minutes from Katy and we would make dinner together twice a week and work out at my apartment gym.  Shannon and I were inseparable for years-- especially when we were single and hitting the nightlife scene together!  The three of us were together constantly-- and if not together in person-- always texting and calling.

Shannon, Katy and Parker ~2009

That changed when things got really tough for me personally and financially.  I disappeared from the grid. I have a bad habit of going underground when things are not going well for me--- I hate feeling like a burden with "issues and problems" and always feel guilty when I don't have something positive to talk about.  Intellectually, I know that this is when I need my friends the most, but a combination of pride and martyrdom rear their ugly heads and turn me into a disappearing act.  It's not healthy and it's something I'm really trying to work on.

All that said, things ARE going better for me, so I guess it's like having permission to be social and return to my status as "Fun Parker" again....Suddenly, my desire to socialize and be around people has become totally rejuvenated.

I spent the morning before the girls came over in a mad, cleaning frenzy, since I am officially, THE WORST HOUSEKEEPER IN AMERICA.  In 4 hours time, I scrubbed the kitchen, living/dining room, basement, 2 bathrooms and the pool.  AND made lunch.  I'm a freak of nature and need deadlines to get anything accomplished.  Having friends over meant a major cleaning deadline which I made with a few minutes to spare!

Waking up to a clean house this morning felt soooo good.  I realized that keeping a clean house is sort of like maintaining friendships.  You can let the dust and distance grow-- and then later, put in a ton of effort to clean everything and reconnect...OR, you can do a little bit of maintenance to keep the friendships and the organization up and reap the rewards of both consistently.  I think I'll take the latter.  I officially resolve to do major upkeep when it comes to housekeeping and friendships!

Corner of my Kitchen:  Clean! Even the Dog is happy!

I swept, scrubbed and organized my basement workout space-- and I literally FEEL like working out now that it's so clean!

Clean workout space in the basement

Workout and Diet:
I'm recommitting to my morning workouts.  Now that I'm doing Hamelin D'Abell's  3 Week Challenge which is only 1 hour, it's do-able to knock it out in the morning.  Coming home from a long day, only to have that workout hanging over my head just sets me up for failure-- and missed workouts.

JP and I have been eating primarily raw throughout the day-- juicing in the morning, with veggies/garbanzo salad for lunch and a cooked meal at night.  I'm going to be experimenting with raw recipes and am intrigued by the raw diet concept.  I can't imagine giving up meat for good, but I like the idea of a 80-90% raw diet that includes sushi and fish, but cuts out most meat.  The more raw my diet becomes, the less I crave red meat.  JP made a skirt steak the other night and I couldn't even stomach a bite of it.

I will be posting my raw recipe successes and the details about what works (and what doesn't) for me!

Happy Sunday!  Pick up the phone and call a friend you've been meaning to get in touch with....you'll feel so much better that you did!

Much Love,

The Mistress

xxoo