Thursday, January 29, 2009

Des Moines or Bust

So...we're headed to Des Moines this weekend. Dez Moinezzzz, etc. Kurt has a farming conference up there, so he roped me into going by bribing me with good food, visiting my work friends while he's in the conference and Jordan Creek Mall.

I'm particularly fond of Des Moines as I worked up there for like eight months in 2005. I loved it. Before that, I was already a frequent Des Moineser because Heidi lived in Ankeny. Back when I was single...lol...I'd go up and visit her on the weekends and we'd go to Miss Kitty's, best country bar in Iowa! Got into some trouble but we definitely had FUN. :)

Anywho, living up there for eight months can get one attached to all of the many yummy eateries. I still really miss Cool Basil, Hu Hot, Cheesecake Factory, PF Chang's (my fave!!), Arthur's Garden Deli, Macoroni Grill, Rock Bottom Brewery and Planet Sub. GODDDDDDDDDDDD YUM. Ugh! I hate the QC!!!

I had even planned a little yoga-ing for the weekend at a sweet yoga joint in West Des Moines! I was all excited! Then *dun-dun-dunnnn* I did "the trick" on Belle: "Do you want to go to Des Moines with us or to Grandma's???" Almost always, she'll shriek "Grandma's!!!" over her other option...no matter what the other option. She says, "Des Moines!!!!" OMG... I feel bad leaving her behind. I remember what it was like to be a kid and love to stay in hotels. My parents used to take us to Cubs games during the summer and staying at the hotel was just a fun as the games and the awesome Chicago activities we'd do.

So, for now, the plan is to bring munchkina along. It's possible she'll pack her bag for Gramma's tomorrow but we'll just have to see :)

I'm sad about not making Sunday class OR new yoga "hot vinyasa" but I'm going to bring my mat to DSM with full intentions of practicing the Primary Series in the hotel room. "LOL - sure..." you scoff. LOL! I'm serious this time!! Haha.

Mucho love,
Ann

Monday, January 26, 2009

Weather = Ew

Ugh, the weather. The weather, the weather, the weather. We are all talking about it but none of us can stop! Including me! This is because it IS the horrid arctic tundra!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tundra, I say! Tundra!

I'm sooooo glad the farmboy *smiles* and I leave for Jamaica in 20 days! Yay! We're going to Negril for 8 days. Cannot wait! The weather is in the 80's there every day. I soooooo need another picture taken with some parrots on a beach somewhere! Jamaica has a lot to live up to since I LOVED the Dominican soooooo much :)


I need to start packing. Hmmmm...what to take?? I did buy some new cute-ish dresses at the mall a couple of weeks ago. This was because I didn't take too many dresses to The Dominican in July and I wished I had. I didn't take too many dresses to The Dominican in July because I had taken ALL dresses to Cancun last December and wished I had taken more capris and jeans instead. Does anyone feel like this is starting a "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" type of a conversation? I also took TONS of jewelry to Cancun and tried not to do this when we went to the DR. Of course, I was missing my jewelry with every outfit. So needless to say, this trip will take some advance planning since we'll be gone TWICE as long as DR. :) Kurt loves me! Ha! Also, I took minimal amounts of shoes. You can't tell in these pictures but the shoes were lame and the jewelry was all wrong!!! I'm not saying it's a fashion show but you should at least make an effort to coordinate. With the wedding craziness winding down, I was trying to be "carefree" and "wild" and pack less than Kurt. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!! This time, I'm loading up on clothing, shoe-thing, and accessories!!!!!
I do vow to take less makeup this time (more room for shoes/jewelry/junk). I have a Chanel quad that I adore, so that is the only eyeshadow I'll take. One blush, one Lancome lip gloss...well also my new Stila lip stain/gloss, two mascaras (one waterproof/one not). My Shu Umera eyelash curler, definitely. This is so minimal for me!! Of course I need all of my many brushes, though. Who can live without them? I didn't take a straightener or curling iron to the DR. What a mistake. I'm not really that high maintenance but I hate to not have the entire contents of my bathroom at my disposal. Am I the only one like this? This one bag, 50 lb weight limit poses a problem.

To get some perspective, a la Sophia from the Golden Girls: Picture it. Argentina. October 2004. Work trip. I left to come back to the U.S. BY MYSELF. The others had to stay a little longer but I had a vacation scheduled, I think. When I checked in, I had a large suitcase that weighed 69.0 lbs!!!! The limit was 70 lbs! I about died. Then I had a garment bag weighing 30 lbs. And my laptop bag and purse. I carried all of this crap by myself. OMG, how did I do this?? Granted, I was there for 6 weeks. But the point is, I travel heavy, people. I like to be prepared for pretty much anything that could happen. More pics of Argentina need to be posted. Soon!!!!


Probably the funniest travel story (OK, not THE funniest but one of them) I have was when I went to Paris for 3 weeks to audit the credit joint venture. I packed heavy, per usual. My dad came to my apartment to pick me up and drive me at the airport. At the very last second, I tossed my tennis shoes out of the suitcase and by the door and rolled on out. They were making a little indent out of my suitcase so I thought, how much would we really walk around Paris, anyway? "We'll take cabs everywhere." Yeah RIGHT!! I walked around Paris in these sweet thick cork-bottom Sbicca sandals or black stilletos for 3 weeks. Walked miles and miles and miles. And miles. Oh God, we walked EVERYWHERE!! LOL. I only *sorta* fell once and this was going up the stairs of the subway. I think it made me a better person because I will never again forget to pack tennis shoes for a trip :) You just never know. Ha!
























Anyway, there is really no point to this blog except the weather is WRETCHED and I sooooooooo miss traveling. :)

Love you all and NAMASTE!!!!!!

Ann :)

P.S. Requests now being taken for dorky beach yoga poses (in sanskrit only-lol). Remember, I am not an instructor by any means...so this will look really bad but could be funny!
P.P.S. It has to be something I can at least sort of do. No Warrior III! Ha! J/K, I'll throw in a III.
P.P.P.S. No G.P. We are broken up until 1 March. :P

Sunday, January 25, 2009

My Weekend!

Hooooooola! Sorry, very sorry for the posting M.I.A. I have had next to nothing to blog about...and have about 8 blogs started but not finished! So here is a little weekend update since my weekend was "action packed.: LOL. Yeah...

FRIDAY
Friday I went to Shannon's yoga at 4:15. :) Yay! A group of us from Deere used to always go, but I haven't been going due to my new j.o.b. They expect me to work 40 hours... or something... So the whole leaving at 3:45 thing doesn't fly. :( HOWEVER, I was working in my old job on Friday :) and my old manager was always very pro-exercise and networking so she of course supports John Deere yoga. Why the hell did I get a new job again?? Duh!


SATURDAY
Saturday I took Belle to gymnastics, then took Belle and Francesca to Tantra Asian Bistro on 53rd. Yummity Yum!!! My totally fave place. If you haven't been, you must go!! Then, omg, I took the girls roller skating. I tried to not skate but then right away Francesca fell and skate patrol had to give her an ice pack on the other side of the rink. So I ended up renting the damn skates and rollin' on over. By that time, she was off and making the rounds again. The girls had fun and this country girl was definitely was able to catch up on the latest pop songs. "So so what. I'm a rockstar..." (or something) by Pink, and the ingenious Beyonce song "If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it!!!" God, I love that song. Ha!!

I am still a pretty good skater...LONG LIVE KIMBERLY PINES! I used to live pretty close to the old skating rink (Kimberly Pines) in Davenport. My mom wasn't exactly overly cautious so she used to let my friend Karen and I go to all-night skates all the time. I was like 10. Is she freaking crazy??? Anyway, I had some sweet white skates with pink and purple rollers. I ruled. If you had your own skates, you were legit. Kind of like "the black mat" and yoga. BAM!

Saturday night we went to a benefit for our friend's uncle. Never has the world seen a bottle of Jack Daniels get continously auctioned off (even after opened and 1/2 drank) for over $3,000. Yes, I said over $3,000. They raised a lot of dinero for the uncle though, so that is awesome!!!


SUNDAY
Sunday I got my a$$ kicked in the primary series @ la Tapas Yoga Shala! OMG I was dying. Not sure if it was the 2,000 Coors Lights from Saturday night or if I just all-around sucked at balance from flu-skipping last week (balance isn't my forte anyway) but I was having some serious issue with the big toe balance on the first side. I kept hopping around and practically falling over. LOL. I have no idea. Basically, my practice today was a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly...

The Good:
1) OMG I did Marichyasana D by myself for the first time (w/o Evan or Kelly wrenching me into it). This only happened on the first side. The second side, I was wrenched by Evan. Kelly may be small, but trust me, the girl is strong...especially when she uses her leg as a brace to contort you into craziness. She was able to wrench me into Marich D during the Intro class one day. I haven't been able to do it for the five months since...so no idea how she did this when I first started yoga! Ha! As a side note, I'm looking forward to my Thai Yoga Massage with Kelly on Feb. 7th!!! :)

2) I was able to Baddha Padmasana and catch the toes! OMG... I think I've only been able to do this one other time, then I couldn't do it for like a month and now I can do it again. I have no idea. Weird.
3) I've kind of been working on vinyasaing. It's kind of sort of working but I can't jump back yet. Okay well I CAN jump back but it's very "bowed" if you will. Ha.
4) I can "jump through straight legs"-ish and do the slide!! I finally tried this on the kitchen floor at home (per Kelly's suggestion) and it worked. Bueno!!! This does not look like Evan/Kelly/Shannon's.
5) I held the utthi pluthi (spell?) for 10 counts again. This is the 2nd time this has happened. Judging by the soreness in my shoulders today, I expect it to be another month before I try this again. Ha!

Now for The Bad:
1) As mentioned, the first Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (right toe thing) was HORRID. LOL. I'm dying just think of it. I was thinking of throwing in the towel for the day at that point.
2) My chagrasana (aka backward somersault) wasn't so cute. Today was exceptionally bad because I somehow (lol - no clue) hit my thumb on the wood floor and got a splinter under my thumbnail. Yikes.

And finally The Ugly (very, very ugly):
1) Ok, seriously. Garbha Pindasana and I are parting ways until March. It's kind of that love/hate relationship. While getting sprayed down is funny and feels pretty damn good when you are feeling the Mysore-style heat in the room, this pose just sucks. Today I could get the first arm through but not the second. This led to a SERIOUSLY ugly 1/2 Kukkutasana/1/2 scale pose combo. Not cute but at least I stayed up. Ha!! I have broken the news to Garbha and it agrees we should "not talk" for awhile and "just see what happens." Shanti, G.P.

2) Uttana Padasana. Only made about 1/2 of the counts on this one, if that...in an up one, down two, up two, down one, type of tired-person pattern.
The quote of the day was definitely Pete saying to me, "God, he counts slow." Love Pete!!

Post-yoga and post-shower, we went to Los Agaves for late dejeuner. We then met our friends, Luke and Carrie, for bowling. It was awesome and trust me, people, Carrie and Luke will definitely be the first people I call if I ever start a league. Okay, my dad will be the first, but C&L the second. This league will probably never happen though, as I am not a good bowler!! Belle had lotsa fun, even though her favorite part was the glowing blinking thing I bought her and the Spree candy machine. :)

We came home and worked on some more Disney planning on where to make dining reservations. We're getting pretty close. Any suggestions would be mucho appreciated!!

Love you all and NAMASTE, SHANTI, etc!

Ann :)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Resurrection

Sorry, Clarice.

Okay, so I am back to the land of the living. This means no more skipping yoga!!! Here is my list of excuses why I hadn't yoga'd since last Sunday...for anyone that cares.... ::notes train passing in distance, followed by silence::

Blanket excuse for Mon 12th - Fri 16th: Closing week at work = week from hell since I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Hell. There, I said it again. We all know this blog is not for virgin ears. :P

Specific excuses for Mon 12th - Tues 20th.
Mon 12th - No yoga at Indigo or Shala = party day/recovery from the 11th.

Tues 13th - Belle was el sicko.

Wed 14th - Belle was sick so couldn't ballet, so therefore, I couldn't Indigo or Shala. :( Also, Indigo was closed, I think. I was supposed to go to class @ Ambrose but didn't do that either due to the weather and Belle being sick.

Thurs 15th - Indigo was closed and I worked until midnight at home due to icky weather.

Fri 16th - I def couldn't leave work in time to get to yoga by 4:15 at Indigo. No yoga at Shala.

Sat 17th - On my deathbed staring at the wall during Vinyasa III @ Shala. Head hanging over side of bed, suspended over a trash can. I looked HOT!!!!!! Not!!!!

Sun 18th - Still on deathbed but now watching Golden Girls Season 4 on dvd...sulking about missing Ashtanga and my concert in Des Moines.

Mon 19th - I did a couple of yoga poses on Wii Fit! I was a yoga master at Warrior II and Sun Salutation. But I was only two stars at tree! LOL. I can't believe I never wanted a Wii. Greatest invention for families EVER! I have to do some more super hula hooping to unlock another yoga pose!

Cometh Tuesday the 20th. OMG I can tell I've been on yoga hiatus. Some poses I could miraculously sort of do for the first time ever (firefly). Some poses I was dying (downward dog - lol). I don't expect to ever do the fly again. I have no idea what happened and it was definitely not too cute, I'm sure.

Anyway, I had the scare from again, hell, today in yoga. I took the last open spot in the room (now I know why it was open). After only a couple poses I felt this weird freezing/sweating/chilled/overheated combo going on. I thought, OMG the BIRD FLU IS BAAACK and started scoping for the nearest trash can to throw up in. Then I noticed I was Warrior I'ing in front of the space heater. Duh. Never again. Kind of like Sunday yoga by the radiator. As a side note, am I the only one who sometimes wishes someone would rip the radiator off its hinges and hurl it into the middle of Brady Street mid-vinyasa?? :P

No Warrior III today so that is good. :) :)

Namaste, y'all! I guess I better see if I have an assignment for tomorrow night's class. :)

Mucho love,
Ann

P.S. I realize all of these excuses are pretty lame since many of you know that I have the super-duper-new "The Black Mat" and the Ashtanga book like Kathy's. HA!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

::cues Pam Tillis::

"Just hurry back to the land of the living...
Things have changed, since you've been go-o-ne..
The world is turning in the land of the living...
Take a deep breath, life goes on...life go-o-es on..."

Okay, so that song is technically about a bad break up and a girl realizing she wasted a lot of time on a guy. But it seems to fit my most recent "situation."

Oh my God, that SUCKED. Here's what happened: Last Sunday, Kurt and Belle went to breakfast with Tim and the Shaffer lil ones. Sunday night, Kurt fell ill with the flu. Monday night, Tim got it. Tuesday night, Belle got it. Thursday, Mandy had it. I was thinking I was sitting pretty and even started wondering if yoga was improving my previously low-tolerance to germs. Then it happened...

I woke up at 4:30ish a.m. on Saturday morning with the feeling I knew I was going to throw up. Of course I thought, "OMG..." and tried to ignore it.. You've all been there. Unfortunately, and I do mean UNFORTUNATELY, I had asked for a random vegetable grilled sandwich at Granite City the night before. It wasn't on the menu but it was a mix of various veggies grilled with garlic and olive oil. UGH UGH UGH. Never again!!!

I just went downhill from there and I had about 10% life in me all day/night Saturday and Sunday morning/afternoon. I called my mom crying like three times. My day mostly consisted of laying in my bed blankly staring at the wall in our bedroom, thinking of foods I hate (omelets, sausage pizza, etc) and throwing up 5,578,016 times. I didn't even get on the internet for 2 whole days!!! Thank god for the b.berry as I occasionally checked it for emails and facebook updates from my death bed.

The husb :) made me a cooler of full of blue-gatorades and 7-ups to go by the bed. He also changed my beloved Golden Girls boxed set DVD's for me. I made it through the entire Season 3 and almost Season 4. I made my mom come over and sit with me for awhile. I was so happy to see her so maybe we do get along after all. I literally stayed in bed from Friday post-Granite City until Sunday night around 7pm. Got back into bed around 10pm.

Finally, by Sunday night, I was starting to feel a little better. I watched the only two shows I watch: Rock of Love III and Tool Academy. Ha!!

Damn flu! Here are all the things I missed this weekend b/c of it:
Shopping with Jessica. Taking Belle to gymnastics. Vin III at the shala (thanks for the well wishes, Z!!!!). Thai yoga massage with Kelly (I was so looking forward to this, too!!). Trivia night in Dixon with my friends. Ashtanga at the shala (grrrr). Playing the new wii fit with Kurt and Belle today (Yay! Kurt was doing yoga!!) Rascal Flatts concert in Des Moines. I'm pisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssed. Entire weekend, gone. Luckily, I have off work tomorrow :)

Well, I better get back to finishing Season 4 of "Thank you for being a friend..."

I'll try to make my next blog more cheerful :)

After being out of bed for 3 hours today, I need a nap... *yawn*

Namaste!!
A.

PS - Thanks to everyone who sent me get well texts, emails, phone calls and FB messages. I know I'm totally drama when I'm sick so all of this really helped!! :) :) :)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Water, please...I mean DMD

DMD = Diet Mt. Dew = Love

God, this blog is dry as a bone. Ew.

Okay, so here are the things I could blog about (obviously no plan exists here): Do another Ann's favorites/hates?? The weather?? Random updates/weekend plans??

F it. I'll do the updates!

Vegan Update
Goin' well, goin' well, y'all. I almost didn't even think about thinking about and breaking down and ordering a grilled cheese (extra cheese) and curly cheese fries with a side of cheese on the side at lunch today...and two bags of Nacho cheese Doritos...didn't think about it or plan it whatsoever. J/K. It's cool. Really, as long as Almond Joys don't rear their ugly coconutty heads in my totally vegan life, it's all good.

Job Update
Closing stinks...amongst other things. My PLR friends can hear my on this. Let's just say I can't wait til the big move to Floor 6 of the EOB, my old stompin' grounds. Thank you, BD, for the Renuzits. Seriouly.

Yoga Update
Yah, I skipped tonight! Sadness! I am sad but Belle has the flu. Lovely. Kurt came down with the flu on Sunday night and was on his deathbed on Monday all day. I thought both her and I were covered because we had the flu shots (remember the first few posts of my blog? anyone??? anyone???) but apparently I was wrong. My mom informed me that the flu shot only covers respiratory flu. WTF!!! So poor 'Trelle' keeps throwing up gatorade and saltines. :( Sadness! Too bad this sista is closing so I couldn't miss work tomorrow to save my life. Cheers to grandmas!

Yoga Mat Update
Oh yahhhhh. Got the new yoga mat ("The Black Mat"). It rocks but I swear it's laced with iron ore...or something reallyyyyy heavy. The thing weighs a freaking ton!! But that baby doesn't slip whatsoever!

Blackberry Update
Yah, I got a blackberry. That thing is worth it's weight in diamonds...and I mean expensive ones. I love the thing!!! It was only $100 and I needed a new phone anyway due to the extreme junkiness of my old phone from me dropping it 10,000 times.

Computer Update
LOVE the laptop but something is wrong with it. Absolutely despise with a passionate hate DELL now, so I will never in ten million zillion years order another one from dell.com or let anyone I know do this. I'm not upset the computer has an issue rendering it unusable for the most part. I mean, I'm not an unreasonable person and obviously, not every computer is perfect. However, I do expect a level of customer above the absolute worst in effing HISTORY when I threw down a grand for a laptop and it's only one day out of the box. Horrible experience. Beware, people, beware. I will write a post about this disaster from Satan's lair as soon as my new laptop arrives and I check it out.

Weather Update
This weather is, to say the least, hideous. The only thing I hate more than the weather is Dell (see above). I see it's supposed to be -17 BEFORE WINDCHILL on Thursday? That is awesome...nottttt! Glad, the husband and I are blowing this snowstand on 16 Feb for Jamaica, mon.

School Update
Many of you may know my strange obsession with school. This semester I decided to go cross-cultural. I'm taking an online international business MBA class and an in-class international accounting MAcc (Master of Accounting) class. Sucky because I won't be able to go to Shannon's Wednesday classes as much anymore. I'm already scared he hates me! Normally, I take Belle to dance at 6:00 pm, then hit Shannon's Ashtanga-style class next door at 6:30. Belle was off dance from mid-November until last Wednesday (extended break due to shows) so I only went about one time between those dates. Yikes! I'm sure Shannon thinks I don't like the class anymore but it's only because it's 1,000% out of my way if Belle isn't already going to dance at that time. (Aka - it's easy for me to sit home and be lazy if she doesn't have ballet).

Weekend Update
Trivia in Dixon. Thank god I have the king of trivia, Mr. Bill Howe, everyone (*applause*) on my team. It was a little leary for a second if he'd have to decline the meeting notice and we were starting to panic. Everyone really wants to see Bill frantically make the impressive list of every winning Superbowl team and affiliated coaches since the beginning of time again. I've really never seen anything like it but I think he should pimp out his trivia services to every trivia gathering in the greater "QC metropolitan (???)" area. Holla. ::cues "Jeopardy" theme:: Yeah, it took me a couple times to spell "Jeopardy" --- so?? ha. See why I need Bill!! (Still not sure if the spelling is correct, btw - ha!).

Sunday I'm going to the Rascal Flatts concerto in Des Moines. ::cuts "Jeopardy" then cues "Mayberry"::

"I miss Mayberry, sittin' on the porch drinkin' ice cold cherry.......coke...where everything is black & white...."

Peace, love and namaste to all!

Ann

Friday, January 9, 2009

Lettuce = Yummy...

Hear ye, hear ye!! Alright, once again, I am bored. I'm goin' vegan again, people. Break out the lettuce. P.S. This is not tied to the new year at all. Some questions I'll answer before I get FAAQ'd:

Why, you may ask? No reason...other than the following:
a) I prefer to be a vegan but have the will power and attention span of a vegetarian.
b) I have been thinking of going back for a couple of months but have yet to do so.
c) I have nothing to blog about so what the hell. Why wait?

So what's the problem? If you like being a vegan so much, why don't you marry it?
I can't commit for the long-term, okay?? The only things I really can't avoid are cheese and chips. Regarding cheese, I'm not sure why because I don't even really like it. It's sort of like a process of elimination. Considering I live in the booming QC metropolis and love to dine out, you can either get a grilled cheese OR a plain green salad at restaurants 'round these parts. You can only have so many green salads before the thought of ordering another one makes you order everything laced/smothered/sauteed with cheese on the menu.

What is the longest you were ever a vegan?
Five and a half months 2004/2005ish). I have gone vegan a few other times since then but normally only last about two months. This time, I'm going to make it THREE MONTHS! :) Jan 10 - Apr 10, at least...

Namaste to Y'ALL!!!!!!!!

Bueno!!!
Ann

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Mini-Ommmm!!

Mucho thanks to Kelly for giving Bella a teeny tiny Tapas Yoga Shala shirt!! She was loving it so much she made me move the antique trunk/coffee table (FYI - it's not light) so she could "practice" with her yoga mat I gave her. Ha!





She needed to take rest!

She actually really likes doing yoga and is surprisingly good at it for a seven year old! I know this because before TYS officially opened, I would OCCASIONALLY (more like RARELY because I hated it) would do the Richard Freeman primary series DVD and she'd do it with me for awhile. I'm hoping she's not traumatized because one day she goes, "Oh my God, I can't do this anymore. That guy needs to put something over his underwear!" I didn't even realize that Freeman was rockin' the 1980's exercise shorts. Scary if you're 7! OMG...

Needless to say, we haven't done the Freeman video since. I don't think her teachers would dig it if she told them I let her watch some guy downward dog in his underwear and I have to admit, they do look like underwear! I then bought a Gaiam DVD to replace Freeman but although the guy is fully clothed, I decided I'd wayyyy rather go to yoga class than do it at home.
However, she apparently picked up more from the DVDs than I thought because at the end of her little routine, she laid down and goes, "I'm a corpse!" Yikes!!!!!! Thank God she doesn't know what that word means! Ha!

Namaste y'all!!

Ann & Belle (mini-ommm)
P.S. I second Z.'s THANK YOU to Evan and Kelly for putting on the Iron Ashtangi Challenge!! It was awesome and everyone had a great time!! :) :) :)
P.P.S. Iron Ashtangi blog with promised Garba 'Pain'dasana commentary coming soon...

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Pre-Hiatus

Before I begin my January through March first-quarter shopping hiatus, I had to break down and buy some stuff. I normally don't shop between Jan 1 and my Nashville trip in March. Until Nashville, NOTHING from here on out! I gotta save some cashola for the honky tonks on Broadway. Holla. (And possibly a belt or boot purchase from Nashville Cowboy on 2nd Ave). So here is my final loot of the quarter:


A) I ordered the Swenson practice manual. I had to borrow Kathy's during the Mysore class on Thursday. Definitely couldn't have gotten through the class without it (that is, without being severly annoying and asking Evan, "What do I do now??" every single pose).


B) While I fell in total love with the green peace sign covered Gaiam yoga mat, I have decided to retire it. I hate that thing!! It's all slippery and weird. That's what she said. Ew!!!! No, seriously, I'm going with the "suspiciously boring" Black Mat. I am going to be SOOOO SCARY walking into a random class next time I go to Chicago. HAH! I mean, BAM!! lol, Z.


C) I ordered a scanner to upload some old school pics. Watch out, Facebook friends!!! Also, I need it to scan some old family pictures of my Grandma's.
Def. rocking the L&B after the Thurs/Fri yoga challenge. I couldn't go today but it's on tomorrow, people! :)
Namaste!!
Ann

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Sweet Home Chicago + Why I Should Avoid Parking Ramps

::cues Sweet Home Chicago::

So on Monday, Keri and her new Chanel, Jessica and her new Burberry, and Me and Louis all stepped out to Chicago for a girls night and blissfully blissful spa retreat. OMG so the cameras were in hiding during out girls getaway for some reason. Why we didn't take a pic of ourselves and our new BFF's (Chanel, Burberry, Louis Vuitton) on Michigan Avenue, I'll never know.

We stayed at "The W" on Lake Shore (loving it), dined at The Melting Pot (double loving it) and spa whored it up at Bliss Spa in The W (triple loving it). I proposed to the girl who gave me the hot salt scrub and vichy shower but she declined due to her husband and three kids. Good thing b/c Kurt would probably be mad!! :) I did buy a bunch of Bliss body products though so I'll let everyone know if they, as expected, make it into my Ann's Favorite Things #3.

We then had lunch at Su Casa (yummo) and did some shopping on Michigan Ave. I ended up with a pair of Nine West heels, a bag of loot from Sephora (Stila lip stain, Stila Kitten lip gloss and a new Shu Umera eyelash curler), and a lil' shopping bag full of surprise American Girl gifts for Belle. I have to admit that I'm pretty stoked about the lip stain... And Belle was screaming about the American Girl stuff! Kurt gets nothing b/c he is sooooo picky about his clothing and normally hates anything anyone else buys for him. Poor him! :( He almost scored a dark reddish brown fleece from North Face but then I wasn't sure of the color (I mean, I loved it!!) and what he'd think of it (questionable).

We stopped at Cheesecake Factory for some cheesecake and carrot cake to go (yum!). Seriously, I will probably die before I ever eat carrot cake again. UGH!!!

This may sound like it was all relaxing & stuff but don't be totally fooled. Remember, Jessica and I are involved here. Jessica's $16 bomb pop martini's and my 312's led to me dropping all the fondue forks during dinner and her breaking the wine corker off into a $69.00 1/2 bottle of wine. Re: $69 bottle of wine: after dinner, we all went back to me & Jessica's room. I opted for the ten year old Corona (yuck!) and Keri opted for Ann's nemesis (9th grade at Mandy's house - ugh!!!) O.J. and vodka.. The $69.00 bottle of wine didn't work out due to the corker breakage (thank god) but Jessica was able to drink a mini-bottle of champagne that was pretty gross but better than my Corona! Ha!

Another highlight was at the end of the trip when we were going to get the car. As we had walked out of the parking garage earlier, Jessica had mentioned losing the parking ticket. When we went to get the car I was too busy staring at the parking-ticket-money-taker and thinking, "OMG what if she really lost the ticket?" to notice the arm was actually up and coming down as I walked under it. It bonked me on the head and scared the hell out of me! Ha - Jessica was behind me and saw it and said she was "frozen" so she couldn't say anything. LOL!! The B (j/k). I did find out those arms weigh virtually nothing and this particular ramp even had padding underneath the arm presumably so it wouldn't scratch someone's car. However, when it hits something, it sort of snaps in half so an attendant came out of nowhere to fix it. LOL! It was hilarious and worth the laugh. Just what we needed to finish the trip. She found the ticket, by the way!

However, I have decided, since the afore-mentioned incident, I should just avoid parking ramps in general since I can barely see over the hood ANYWAY, let alone on a 90% incline going through the ramp. Also, one time, Nicole and I got locked in a parking garage in Nashville and had to break out (hilarious story maybe for a different day).


Bliss website is http://www.blissworld.com/ - Highly recommend!!

Mucho love and hugs to y'all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A.