Hello!  If you thought I disappeared from the blogosphere, fear not because I’m back.

I didn’t plan on taking a break but I definitely needed one.

I’m aware that everyone has their own form of busy.

Mine was a little overwhelming and my blogging definitely took a hit.

I wish I could be that person who could bang out a blog post quickly in order to keep consistent but that just isn’t me.  I’m a blogger – I share stories via blog posts but I don’t consider myself a writer.   I’m many things but a writer (in the way that I respect the written word), is not what I’d feel comfortable calling myself.

Regardless, I’m back and happy to be back.  I may not be consistent but I’ll still be here.

Let’s catch up a bit with the Tuesday Tune-Up.

In the time I’ve been away, there’s definitely been some great food.

Did you see the birthday cake that Jay and I made for Wild Boy’s 8th Birthday?  We made the entire thing by hand – cake and frosting (but not the crushed chocolate chip cookies or the mini cookies on top).  It may not be Pinterest worthy but we had a good time making it:

There were some visits to a few of my favorite places to eat in Los Angeles including:

• Lavender & Honey Espresso Bar in Pasadena (even when I was sick, I needed to have a some of the Lavender & Honey toast and a taste of the Honeybee Latte – my name does mean Honeybee in Greek, you know).

• Blu Jam Cafe – Breakfast all day (yes, please) and their Tex Mex Tofu Scramble is divine:

• and another visit to True Food Kitchen (yes, I need to give a full review of this place already):

Medicine Man drink with Chicken Chopped Salad at True Food Kitchen

I definitely need to work a little harder at making my food as interesting at home as when I go out.

Fitness is hard to discuss when you’re in recovery from an injury.  I realized that all of this not talking about not working out was making me more than a little depressed.

When you’re recovering from an injury but not in pain anymore, the temptation to do all of the activities you used to do (and love) is very, very hard to resist.  Recovery has been more than physical this time around but more on that at another time.

The Physical Therapy Mat Pilates work that I’ve been doing has been challenging but not exceptionally satisfying to my need to sweat.  Today, my Physical Therapist advanced me to the Reformer so I was very happy indeed:

My water SpineHab class is over (no more “Cocoon” reunions).  My schedule didn’t allow me to attend every class and in some ways I know I’ve cheated myself of the benefits of the small, therapeutic movements in the pool to help develop my core strength.

My instructor was very knowledgable, I loved the small class size and after every class, I definitely felt that my body was challenged but I did not sign up for the next class series because the timing was inconvenient.  I’m hoping that this won’t prove to be a mistake in the future but we’ll see.

I’ve attended a few very fun and unique fitness events recently that I’ll be covering in the near future so stay tuned.   If you’re LA local, I’ll be talking about nutrition at Fleet Feet Burbank’s Diva Night on Thursday, May 7th, so come on by.

One of other reasons that kept me from writing was family juggling.  We had family in town for Wild Boy’s birthday and then Jay was traveling again.  I will say that Wild Boy’s birthday was definitely a blast and our Los Angeles home definitely looked like a dedication to our New York roots that day:

However, I also had a different kind of family visit recently.  One of my friends, CB, from when I worked at the Discovery Channel (in the late 90’s) came to LA last week with her family.  It was great to catch up with her and husband and see our kids hang out together but it was more than therapeutic to spend some girl time alone.  I’ve been exceptionally fortunate to have a few good friends come to visit recently and it’s helped soothe my soul more than a little bit.

Hanging with my #DiscoveryRecovery buddy, CB.

Tomorrow is my 15 year wedding anniversary.  Jay and I have been together since 1991 but we got married in 2000.  I wrote this for our 13th anniversary and I’d say that all the love still applies but has multiplied a bit more in 2 years.

May 6, 2000 – Studio 450

Yes, I’m still basking in the glow of meeting SLB over a month ago.  Just check out my cheesy grin on my Instagram avatar (that’s me after meeting SLB).  I don’t care that it makes me sound like a nutball – I’m thrilled and whenever I think about it, I can’t stop smiling.

Have you seen the latest Duranasty?  What a gorgeous looking fanzine and it’s chock full of info.  If you’re a fan, you need to check out Salvo’s work.  He’s masterful, exceptionally thorough and has a great eye.

Image: Duranasty.com

Even though I wrote this Duran Duran Fan gift guide for Valentine’s Day, I realized that I did not own all the things on this list so I’ve decided that I’m going to buy myself Andy Golub’s Beautiful Colours book for myself.  Even though I don’t know Andy personally, he just seems like the sweetest guy and from what I’ve seen of his meticulous attention to Duran detail.

Image: Durandy.com

Duranies, Mother’s Day is around the corner so this might the hint that you want to give to your families.  Men (if there are any of you reading this), get this for a Duran fan and they’ll love you forever.

If you want something more multimedia to feed your Duran need right now, check out this 2003 link to an interview with the 5 original members of Duran Duran when they reunited for the Astronaut album and tour.

A fellow Duranie sent this link my way and there are a number of things that were so fun to discover while watching this interview – Simon wearing Birkenstocks (!!!), the heavy eyeliner on John Taylor, the ramblings of Andy Taylor, how much Roger actually talks in this interview and the absolute majesty that is Nick Rhodes.  The interview is about 27 minutes long but so much fun.  Get a glass of wine and enjoy:

 So that’s a summary of what’s been going on in my world this week.

What makes you feel refreshed?  

Are you a spa person or does the thought make you cringe?

(I’ll take the spa any day and in any way – except the naked full body scrub.  Too modest for that)

*******

Disclosure:  This is not a sponsored post.  All restaurants or brands included in this post are due to my own genuine love for them.  The Diva Night at Fleet Feet Sports is free and open to the public.