Shanti

Holla. Made it to yoga. It wasn't NEARLY as wretched and harsh as the first time I went to yoga post-bebe. OH IT WASN'T GOOD BY ANY MEANS, just not AS BAD as last time. I'll try not to L&B too much this week although I make no promises. :)

Here is what has sucked about my yoga experience in the last couple years:

Pre-Baby: Not being able to do stuff I KNOW I should be able to do because I could have easily done it when I was younger. This encompasses a lot of poses. lol. But then I remind myself that I haven't cheered in 10 years so hello, that's a long time.

Post-Baby: Not being able to do stuff I KNOW FOR SURE I can do because hello, I could do it like 9 months ago. lol. e.g. ultpluthi:

I used to be able to hold this for 10 and wow, guess what! Now I can hold it for 0. Mainly because I can't get to it at all. And I'm pretty sure I could never get THAT far off the floor. lol.

I was SHOCKINGLY able to bind in a couple of poses this week that could not the last time. One was Marichiasana (spell!!) C. I just said, oh well, I'll try to grab. I got it! Granted it was like by the fingernails at first (lol) but I was able to catch my fingertips and even skipped the vinyasas to continue holding it on both sides.

This girl is ripped, btw.

Anyway, that is my yoga scoop! :) Tomorrow it's back to the lame old gym. *yawn*

Mucho love,
~Ann :)

Limp/B!tch, Same Story/Diff Year

Happy 2010!!

Went to yoga today. OMG, either I took off 10 months from yoga or I gained a bunch of weight. Oh yeah, I freaking did BOTH! So it's been a little over 3 weeks since Baby Will's b-day! I decided it was time to hit the shala!!! My practice was pretty terrible but not as bad as I expected. I am definitely already sore though and it's not even tomorrow yet! Yikes!! I'm all set to limp & b!tch tomorrow :) I was sooooo happy to get back to yoga though! =Love!!

I then weighed myself. I am aware it's only been 3 weeks but patience is not a virtue I've acquired during my 31.8 years. I have 11 lbs to lose to get back to my "first dr. appt. weight (I was about 10 weeks I think)" and 14 or 15 to lose to get down to my "wedding weight." So I guess I'm off the ice cream diet. Hahaha.

Mucho love to y'all!
~Ann

Yoga Update

I have started like 5 blogs since last Thursday. They all suck but this is the best (which isn't saying a whole lot). Truth be told, I'm working a sweet blog about music but it's takin' me awhile (a long while).

So it's no secret I haven't been going to yoga as much (until now). This is unintentional. As soon as these freaking godforesaken classes are over, it's so on again.


It's crazy how a "lil'" time off can really hinder your yoga progress. It's particularly evident in ashtanga since we're obviously doing the same sequence on Sundays. In other words - I used to be able to stay up for the 3 backbends, now I have to take a break in the middle there. LOL. This is not the only pose that has regressed. Even my triangle feels more like a trapezoid.


HOWEVER - an insanely awesome once in a lifetime event for me DID occur in Sunday class, though: I could miraculously do a yoga-style headstand. After I flung myself into the wall, I could just do it. Weird. Usually I'm like back and forth from the wall with at least one foot. IDK... I've been taking a break from headstand for awhile so this is really weird. I can easily do the tripod-style headstand without wall but not the yoga-style. I tried the headstand again when I got home. I have an issue with over-flinging myself up and ending up in a backbend/headstand combo. Not cute nor safe for anyone practicing in front of me. LOL. I'll give it a whirl again in Mark's class tomorrow but not expecting much.

Something like this also happened in Shannon's class a few weeks ago: I could do the freaking feathered peacock. RANDOM. Not anymore. So alas, the headstand gig is most likely over. Oh well. We all remember the fateful garba pindasana pose.

Also, in an effort to spice up the blog in "real time" (yeah right), I JUST tried a drop back to backbend and stood back up. I wasn't stretched and it could have been better but oh well at least I can do it. YAY!

Who's lookin' forward to a lil YOGA NINJA, HUH??????

Namaste y'all!!!

Luv,
~A~

Sooo....yea...."Ommmm"

Alright, I admit life has been getting in the way of my yogaliciousness, which is so uncool. In my next life, I will have NO job and yoga every day. Followed by shopping. This requires marrying someone who does not balance their checkbook and credit card statements to the penny and who also does not hoard cash like he survived the Great Depression (i.e. I can't marry Kurt - total and complete sadness!). Kurt's idea of running low on funds and my idea of running low on funds are totally on opposite ends of the world. Hence, I'll be working til I'm 90, people. Kurt's the greatest guy in the world though :) (side note: but no way in hell will I live under his checkbook rules). :) :) Love you, hon!

ANYHOW...back to the hiatus!

Has anyone ever gotten really wasted and woken up and thought, "OMG how did I get home (presuming you are, in fact, home)?" Well, I have "HEARD" of this happening to people. Of course, I would never do anything like this... lol.

No, I did not drink last night and I felt pretty damn good when I went to bed. Of course, I sleep tons better post-yogaing so I slept until about 5 am. I woke up in a semi-panic (review paragraph above if needed). So...yesterday's Vin III was a harder class than normal (esp. considering my hiatus) but in no way did I imagine WAKING UP and WONDERING how I broke EVERY bone and pulled EVERY muscle in my entire body. I seriously wondered (for about five minutes) if I fell off the Space Needle or something.

After I managed to somehow get breakfast for Belle, I even took Advil, drank some Diet Coke and laid back down in bed, making my lab, Daffodil go with me and listen to me whine and moan. She's a great dog for that...I love labs! Anyhow, it's all my fault for skipping yoga lately so this is what I deserve. The crappy thing was that I missed Sunday class. I would have laughed at the thought of doing five "NAVASANA!!!"s if I could laugh without crying (my ribs hurt). Yeah, I have gone to Sunday class sore from Saturday class before but nothing like this. No way!! I can barely get in and out of the car. Ha! I always like being sore though because at least it means whatever I'm doing is working. I should be in top-model shape by Tuesday, considering the way I feel. Sweet.

Belle had a bday party at Jungle Bungle (aka HELL/Satan's Lair/Lucifer's Underworld/etc). Her little friends' parents were really nice and promised to watch the peanut so I nervously left. God, I hate that place. I wanted to stay but is it rude to invite yourself to stay? Pretty sure. Not to mention Belle would've noticed me lurking in the corner and Happy Joes might have called the cops. I hobbled into the mall and got a quick pedicure :) and then sat in the Jungle Bungle parking lot reading my new book for awhile (watching the door to see if a stranger was making off w/ my Princess).

I bought these two books to read while Belle has ballet rehearsals on the weekends. They are 2 hours long on Saturdays and Sundays. I LOVE reading but I get TOTALLY obsessed with it. Like I will not put the book down until I'm done with it. So, since I normally have stuff to do, I don't read. Anyway, so I got through a couple chapters in the HJ parking lot and the obsession started. I couldn't WAIT to get to ballet and read for two hours. (Bear with me, there is a point, here...) So I get to ballet and offer my services to a couple of other moms. I SEWED for two hours, doing alterations on the girls' costumes.

*silence*

Yes, people, I sewed. I tried telling Kurt this on the phone afterward and I had to repeat it four times and eventually spell it. Here is our 100% serious convo:

Me: "I was all homemakerish and helped sew the costumes."
Him: "You what?"
Me: "Helped sew the costumes."
Him: "I didn't understand you...?" (He's being serious here)
Me: "SEWED. Costumes."
Him: silence
Me: "S...E...W. Sew!"
Him: "Oh, wow, good job."

Haha. Apparently, he did not think the word S-E-W was in my vocab so he was ruling that out as an option. Whatever! I totally got a lobster costume altered and part of a card costume. It was pretty fun. I like chatting with other moms. But DAMN - my book awaits. This sucks!!!!!!!! So, going back to my first paragraph, I'll included READING into my list of daily activities for my next life :) Yoga, shopping, reading. :) :) :)

Mucho love, y'all.

Ann :)

P.S. We wore our boots from yesterday's post today :) :) Belle's lovin' em.

Two Days in a Row, Yo.

Again, I have no REAL points to make, but a lot to say. Shhhhhocking!!! :)

I actually got a lot-ish done for a Saturday. No lie.

10:00 a.m. - 10:05 a.m.
Jessica and I completed the Kenny Chesney Mission Impossible III manuever (spell?) starting at 9:55 a.m. Tickets went on sale at 10:00 a.m., obviously. Miraculously, her computer found the GOLDEN TICKETS: 3 Section B Floor tickets, row 14!!!!!!!!!!!! *defeaning screams* Oh yeah, baby. Center stage, 14 rows away from our beloved Kenny C. It's f'g on, that's all I have to say. ON!!!!! *Screeches!!!!!!* Seriously, I have sooooo much fun at Kenny concerts AND at ANY concert with J$, really. Truth be told, Jessica and I can have a godforesaken BLAST anywhere. So literally, this will be a night to remember! In addition, one of my high school BFF's, Jeri, will be joining us! Yay!

10:05 a.m. - 11:14 a.m.
Learned my grey cat, "Grey Babbbbays" aka "Samantha" (it's a boy but Belle named him)actually LIKES car rides and sits in the car like a dog, looking at the window and whatnot. We got to the vet but there were wayyyyy too many cars, so we ended up having to call in her script and bringing her back home. Granted, this was kind of a huge amount of wasted time but it was worth it to see people in other cars totally staring at us like "OMG they have a cat in the car." HA!

11:15-11:45 a.m.
Got Belle dropped off at gymnastics. Playdate today with her friend from gymnastics, so I was able to hit Vin III at the Shala. Yay!

12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m.
I spent this time getting my ass kicked by Evan's "cute" lil list. How can such an unsuspecting normal looking notebook be full of such EVIL??? Granted, I do love the way they put the list together but it would be nice if I'd go more often and actually be able to learn how to do some of this stuff. This is my fault. But for real, am I the only one who feels 1/2 drunk after Saturday and Sunday classes? I'm not sure this is a good thing. LOL. I wasn't sure if I should be driving as I was tooling up Brady in a state of confusion. ha. I guess today wasn't a good day to start limiting my normal a.m. caffeine consumption! I'll correct this error by having three DMD's before class tomorrow. :) :) Yum!

2:00-4:00 p.m.
Waited for Belle to get out of her playdate by savoring my scrumptiously scrumptious favorite thing in the world: Indonesian Peanut Sautee with Tofu, extra spicy, from Noodles. Then I went to Borders, picked up a bday gift for Belle's bday party tomorrow and got myself two books. Why? Ummm because starting tomorrow, I'll be hanging out 2.5 hour long ballet rehearsals every weekend day for the next two months while Belle rehearses Alice in Wonderland. I COULD work on homework then but WHY? ha.

4:00-4:30 p.m.
By now it was snowing/sleeting/hurling random frozen stuff from the sky. Belle & I were rockin' the crocs (Belle) and flipflops (me) but I need to go to Farm & Fleet to get flea meds (they sell Frontline Plus now). Since we hadn't made it to the vet this a.m., I thought I'd give good old F&F Boutique a whirl for the Frontline Plus. Damn! They didn't have my dogs' size of meds. HOWEVER, we did hit the jackpot and find these BABIES (below)!!! I have never had rainboots in my life but why not teach an old dog new tricks? I saw the rainboots for kids and decided Belle had to have some (I threw away those freakin Uggs of hers). THEN I saw the rainboots for me and we were lovin' 'em. We wore them out of F&F and she suggested we splash in the puddles. My first thought was, "No, ew" but after doing so, it was quite fun. We also stamped in some snow puddles. Never thought I'd say this (like ever) but F&F Boutique boots = HOT!!!!!!!!!!

4:30-now (8:30 p.m.)
Yesterday, Kurt discovered Belle had a book report due on Monday. Nice!! Apparently, they were supposed to read a book over Spring Break (which is almost over) and write a book report on said book. Yeah, the book was 140 pages long. OMG. Do you have any idea how long it takes a 7 year old to read a 140 page novel? Yah...about a week and a half (hmmmm...). By the time we got home, she was only on page 22. So I spent 3 hours reading her the remaining 120ish pages. Granted, this was not "truly" how the assignment was supposed to go but seriously, NO WAY could we have gotten it done otherwise. Also, it was kind of my fault for not checking the backpack! I figure kids have been through worse than their mom reading them their assignment. At least I read it to her and didn't just tell her what to write in the book report. Ha (unfortunately, I just thought of that plan now-j/k). I don't remember EVER having homework over Spring Break, including in college or grad school! Who knew - in 2nd grade?? C'mon!!! Tara, if you're reading this, don't tell Mrs. Duncan :)

Anyway, so this got kind of long and I'm sure was quite boring. :) Sorry!!!!!

Hope you all have a good Saturday night! Tomorrow holds in store my second Shala smackdown, a birthday party for Belle's little friend and Belle's dance rehearsal. Where did my weekend go?? Waaaaah!

Mucho love, everyone! Namaste, etc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ann

Lessons Learned: Sudafed vs. Vin III

So I have some scoop! I saw my yoga friend, Pat, on Kimberly Road randomly today. While talking with windows unrolled, I discovered he has also been el sicko. He's planning to go to Mark's class though...he said Kelly & Evan's class might kill him after his extended break! LOL

Speaking of illness, omg... So today I had a Thai Yoga Massage scheduled with Kelly set for 2pm...not to mention I had already said I'd go for the Shala's photo shoot. SOOO although I was feeling ill, I popped some Sudafed's and rolled. FYI - I'm not a good "medicine taker" as I get all "shaky." Ha! I don't have the world's greatest balance anyway so I was all jittery and hopped up on Sudafed while attempting some dancer's pose/hand on the floor type of deal. Not to mention I was trying to do a decent job since E&K had hired a photographer and I didn't want to be the one messing up all the shots by falling over and whatnot. Needless to say it was interesting (a.k.a. humbling) as always!! Not to mention I practiced next to Kelly, who was literally SILENT the entire time. We're all huffing and puffing and slamming ourselves around the mat while she is literally floating...you can't even hear her feet land. Except when she she slammed down from handstand into chaturanga (sp?). That was crazy!! Kelly, do tell us how you do this floating thing if you happen to read. Anyway, can't wait to see the picture of me with my leg behind my head all slouched over. Super hot!!!!! Not! :P [P.S. Did anyone else notice I like to use the phrase, "Not to mention..."].

Then I had my Thai Yoga Massage with Kelly. I highly recommend!! I had such a hard time not falling asleep the entire time (I was coming down off the sudafed plus the massage bed thing was super comfy)!! FYI - Kelly gives you 25% off your first Thai massage so do try it! Don't forget to tip your masseuse, people! Not just Kelly, but I read in Cosmo that tons of people don't tip their hair stylists, massage therapists, etc. Dying.

THEN, although I wanted to nap for like 5 hours, I agreed to meet the husb at the mall. This would have been fun except for the fact he acts like he's been killed when I'm looking at anything for me (e.g. Victoria's Secret). Now, if I were a guy, I'd think V.S. today would be awesome! You could offer to buy whatever the wife wants and therefore, your Valentine's present shopping = done. Duh. Think Pink, hello. Seriously. Not to mention (my phrase of the day again!!) there are like 20 foot high posters of Gisele Bundchen everywhere...not that MY HUSBAND would EVER look...but you know, for other guys. RIGHT HONEY!?!?!? grrrrrrrrrrrr. :)

Dined at Los Agaves with a couple of friends and now we're home. Sigh...the joys of being (almost) 31. Dude, before we left, Kurt had The Real World on. I was like, "OMG are these people children or am I just old??" Kurt rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah babe, they're...children." Ugh! LOL. Grrr. I used to love that show...now I wonder if they are planning to go to college!!!! This sucks!!!!

Also, my friend Carrie (who we met at Los Agaves) randomly hung out with Mike from yoga and MARK at her friend's party the other Saturday. What a small world!

Mucho love and see you at Ashtanga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait!

Love & Namaste & Get a Thai Massage,
Ann :) :)

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

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 :)

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!

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...

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

"Hellllllllo Louis!!!!!!!" + What I'm Doing

In an effort to give "Louis" a proper intro, Kurt and I made a laughable, impromptu attempt to re-create the Audrey Hepburn photo (see top right hand corner of my blog for Audrey photo). Granted, the outfit, background and hairstyle are all wrong, my red eye apparently wasn't working during this time, and I look nothing like A.H., but work with me here, people!!! I am thinking of doing some others like this, when I go on trips, and doing like a "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiago" type of thing. Thoughts?? **Silence** Ha!!

OMG so we celebrated like 9,000 Christmases over the past week. Which was coolish, just took F.O.R.E.V.E.R.! I love the holidays but we are all ready to have our old lives back. Even TODAY, we celebrated not one but TWO Christmases. The first with Kurt's mom's extended family and the second with my mom and brother.

Speaking of Christmas #1 today, it was at NOON...on Sunday. Yes, Ashtangs, I gasped as well. It was ACTUALLY supposed to be LAST SUNDAY, but Kurt's aunts canceled at the last minute due to inclimiate weather. I decided I absolutely couldn't miss two Sundays in a row, so I went to Ashtanga until headstand, and had to boogie on out. The POINT of this long story is that Kurt's entire family is uncomfortable-ish with eachother anyway. They all dress up pretty cute and go sit and talk about the weather. Hmmmm...exciting. I fly out to the farm and arrive on the scene 1.5 hours late in a hot outfit: teal fleece v-neck pullover, lime greens pajama pants with dogs on them and "yoga hair." HOTNESS!!! Oh well... P.S. If you are questioning if I showered before arriving on the scene, the answer is "no." GAROSSSSSSSSSS! I did shower before yoga, of course, and after I got home from the gathering!

Yoga class was a rough one. I skipped yoga all last week due to the insane amount of Christmas gatherings, so I was feeling muy "ew" and out of shape. I could definitely tell a difference in how long it took to warm up compared to normal. This might also be because I didn't get out of bed until 10am...yikes!! I decided to be "cute" the night before and drink too many Bud Lights in a can at the Eargasm show. It was a certainly a fun time and a great show but I'm definitely never drinking again!! :)

Muy loves, hugs and namastes to y'all.

Love,

Ann

Yoga Quotes of the Day + What I've Been Doing!

Good Lord, J.C., etc.. (sorry, Clarice). Who thought Vinyasa III yesterday was a good idea? Yikes! I will start (lovingly) calling it Classfromhell III. During the hell, there were some funny quotes mentioned.

"I didn't feel any breathing..." -Evan. "That's because I can only do one thing at a time, panic or breathe." -Kathy (Evan's mom) on backbending/breathing at the same time.

"That's quotastic!" -Kelly in reference to the above.

"Ummm, this does not feel 'cute'." -Me on Chakra Bandhasana. Followed by "hahaha." -the other Kathy (not a good sign). I looked up this pose and it means 'binding wheel'. This girl doing it? Great. The FEELING of me doing it? Lovely... Just effin' adorable...NOT! Note: I couldn't quite reach my ankles! Maybe next week...

"Seriously." (Between gasps and lingering on the verge of death) -Me after Tolasana. The good news is that I actually held that damnable thing for 10 count! OMG!!! Before I have only made it to count 4 before taking a 1-count rest, going up 2 counts, down 1, up 2...does that even add up to 10?? I can assure you it's not 11. No one goes the extra mile in tolasana. The bad news is that I don't ever want to do that pose again b/c my arms are totally sore! Ha! When I first started taking Intro to Ashtanga in September, I seriously thought my arms just were not long enough to ever do this pose. Weird.

"'O.M.F.G...'" -Evan who was apparently reading my mind at some point during the class.

"Just keep doing it... It will get looser." LOL!!!!!!!! -Evan commenting on me trying to sit up straight after I got my leg behind my head. Yay for the leg. Definitely no yay for sitting up straight. Yikes. This quote is really the story of our lives at el shala. (Bill, I know what you're thinking. Ew.)

E&K reminded me of Madonna doing yoga so here is the yoga queen herself doing the leg thing. ::cues "Like A Prayer"::

For some reason, below is my most despised yoga pose. I'm not really sure why because it's pretty easy. Conveniently, I was dying of thirst at that exact time yesterday so I went to get a drink! Hah!

ANYWHOOOO - ON A LIGHTER NOTE AND WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:

WELCOME TO: Ann's Blog Hiatus Recap (a.k.a. What I've Been Doing)

Since Tuesday, I've been on a blog hiatus. Trust me, I'm fairly pissy about it.

Excuse #1: Jobby Job

So while a new job sounded like a good idea, I now remember that I HATE having a new job and not knowing what I'm doing. This means way longer hours, way more tiredness and feelings of ickyness and way more SWOB cafeteria food (gross!!).

Excuse #2: "Ho Ho F'g Ho." -Jeff C.

WHY OH WHY OH WHY OH WHY do I procrastinate the shopping every single year. Why oh why oh why. Year after year after year. Granted, I do like the energy and Christmas spirit to an extent (e.g. shopping with holly and weird wreaths hanging every which way but loose) but seriously it's the fact I'm so behind on every little gift. I could have bought tons of this stuff in advance!!

Excuse #3: The Arctic Tundra/Barren Wasteland

Pardon my francais, but this weather is for the f'g birds. Penguins, specifically. I mean this just flat-out SUCKS. Yoga was cancelled TWICE this week since it was raining ice and no one (including me) could/should get there. The icing/snowing is totally delaying all of my ho ho f'g ho'ing, which just makes the Xmas prize shopping that much more painful every day it's delayed due to weather. It takes hours on end to get to or from work. My pant legs always have salt lines at the bottoms, etc. etc. etc.

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OMG, I do have some good news. In anticipation of our awesomely awesome Jamaica trip that will ensue come Feb 16, I say with great joy that I tell you all that I look AWESOME in my bikinis!!!!!! Fabulous, really!!! AS long as I'm wearing a baggy sweatshirt and Old Navy flannel pj pants OVER THEM! So I lied, this is actually BAD, TRAGIC NEWS! Sister needs a serious tan (spray, of course) and a few less SWOB curly fries/Reese's Christmas Trees (genius, pure genius, those things). Bill assures me that while not in closing week, we lunch outside of the cafe...and I only have one Reese's tree left. Thank God, mon!!!

"I'm dreaming of a...

beachhhh Christmas...."

Well, good evening, everyone and welcome to Hell...oh I mean the Winter Wonderland! It took me not one but TWO fun-filled hours to get home from work. I love winter so much. Nottttt! :)

The ONLY decent thing about living in the arctic tundra is Belle loves to play in the snow and always appears to be unphased by the cold (in contrast to me who watches from the window shivering under a heating blanket and three comforters). I'm trying to convince Kurt to order the eskimold for Belle and to help her to make an igloo (a.k.a. Kurt makes it, she plays in it). We found some cool cat's blog who made one. It was a pretty sweet snow shack but it took him 3 days to make a 6ft circumference igloo. LOL. He had a little video we watched until we found out about the three days part. Ha! He only had ONE eskimold. The pic below shows several, which could dramatically cut the time. However, considering Belle only weighs in at 40 lbs and can't do much, and I would rather kill myself than stand in the freezing snow and eskimold it up, we really only need ONE...for Kurt (3 hours). :)

Mark's yoga class and Tapas class got cancelled which was okay-ish b/c I really couldn't have gone anyway (see paragraph about taking 2 hours to get home). Also, I am still rocking the slight "limp & b*tch" from Sunday's Ashtanga so all is probably for the best! Still sad I couldn't go, though. Update: still can't bring myself to do the 4 a.m. thing. Sorry, apparently I lied about that one! ha!

I did think of one additional prize you could get for a significant other/spouse: a remote start. Kurt bought me one a couple of years ago but for some reason I couldn't use it on my Explorer and now Lujack's "strongly recommended" not to put anything aftermarket on my current ride :( How lame is that! Kurt's truck has one and I'm super jealous every time we take it and he can start it from the restaurant or wherever. So, I highly recommend this gem of an invention to anyone who's looking for a last-minute prize idea!

OMG this blog is so unbelievably lame compared to yesterday but really, how do you top yesterdays???

Baby: [voiceover] That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman's... ::cues "Big Girls Don't Cry"::

That's a little better... :)

Namaste, y'all and STAY EL WARMO.

Mucho love-o,

Moi

Ann's Favorite Things Vol. II / New Shoes OMG / Dirty Dancing

Who loves the movie Clueless? I do! I do!

Cher's dad: "What the hell is that?"

Cher: "A dress."

Cher's dad: "Says who?"

Cher: "Says Calvin Klein."

So yesterday we Christmas shopped for like five hundred hours. We were walking through Von Maur and HALLELUJAH! The Red Sea parted and "Hello, shoes." "What's that?" you may say (or "Eh?" if you're from Canada/N. Wisconsin/MN). I said, "Bonjour, Aloha, Guten Tag, Hola, etc. SHOES!!" Yes, they are now mine and I want to marry them. I 100% believe in love at first sight. It's happened to me twice. When I first saw Kurt (seriously!!!) and also yesterday when I found these shoes. My life is complete. Granted, they look kind of ugly in this picture but I can assure you they are not. :)

In an effort to put a direct gift lifeline to my husband (who may or may not be buying me more prizes) or any other guys that have no idea what to buy their gals (it may give you guys some ideas), I will make an "All I Want For Christmas" list! This is going to also serve as my Fave Things Vol. II. Below, are the things I would love to have for Xmas prizes (he better check this!):

1) Gift certs to Tapas or Indigo, hello. http://www.tapasyogashala.com/ or http://www.indigowellness.info/.

2) H20 body products from Von Maur. Fabulous!!! More specifically, body butter and sugar scrub in Sugar Plum. Men, buy this for your wives/girlfriends ASAP!!

3) Seriously, I ADORE Dirty Dancing!! What woman doesn't? If she says she doesn't, she's lying. Granted, it won't be near as awesomely awesome as the movie, but I would love tickets to DD on Broadway in Chicago! "Nobody puts baby in a corner."-Johnny Castle. HELLO!!!!!!! *Swoons*

[Disclaimer: My friend Bree told me Penny is HOT in the show (blasphemy!!) as opposed to run-down and icky with mascara and unexpected pregnancy drama all over the place. In other words, Penny's hot instead of a hot mess (= Annoying). ALSO, the Australian-born Johnny *raises eyebrow* YELLS the afore-mentioned quote instead of sexily stating it and subsequently claiming his woman before "doing the last dance of the season" with her.]

**SCREAMS!!!!!!!** OMFG! You tube has the clip!!!!!!! Check It:



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4) Liteally anything from Tiffany's will do. Literally.


5) A spa cert 5 Star Salon or William Wesley. I like 5 Star's atmosphere better but LOVE my girl Yvonne from WW. I wouldn't mind trying a thai yoga massage either! Gentlemen, the moral of the story is you can never go wrong with a massage/spa package for your woman. Don't fall for the, "I don't like people touching me" line. The only girls that say that are the ones who haven't yet realized that life without massage is just like life without parole: prision-ish. Ew.
~"We're spa whores." -Heather Bozek (about us). lol.


6) I really love those nice photo albums from Von Maur. Guys, it can't get much easier. They are adorable and your chica will really think you went shopping and picked out a good prize. They have like five different styles plus free giftwrap. Voila!


7) Any type of Chanel perfume = love. (P.S. Dear C-bine, I already have Chance). :)

8) Okay, I hate to say it but it's doubtful I can roll for an extended period without an LV wallet. I mean a Coach wristlet in a Louis? I don't know... I'm thinking no....I'll have see how much they are... But we'll have to see :) *slyly logs onto louisvuitton.com*

I will add more gift ideas if I think of any! In my lovely husband's defense, he did already get us and awesomely awesome trip to Jamaica! Love him!! These are just prize "ideas" for...ya know, other people to get their wives/gf's. Yeah. That's it. Hi, honey!!


Love you all and happy shopping!!!!!!!!!!! ::cues Jingle Bells::


Love,
Moi

New J.O.B. / Check It

Started my new J. to the O. to the B. today. No, I didn't quit Deere to "work" on watching more episodes of Golden Girls or Design on a Dime (my dream job, hello). I moved from Ag Customer Support doing budgets, forecasts and chargeouts to the Product Line Reporting department doing...hmmm...I have no clue yet! Well, it's actually the North American Ag forecast by product line. For all of you non-accountants, I know this sounds super exciting! Gotta love accounting!

It's sooooooooooooo TRAUMATIC to go from a job where you know everything to one you know nothing...literally. Ha! Luckily, the chica training me is really nice so I don't feel like too much of an idiot YET. Yay.

Then I went to yoga at Tapas! http://www.tapasyogashala.com/ Go there, people (the site, then the shala). They uploaded (? - I am so IT-illiterate) a new website so def check it.

Tomorrow I'm going to my first Thursday Mark class. I have to make up for skipping on Tuesday due to the inclimate weather. I wouldn't mind scoping the shala's Vin I but not thinking that will fly for closing week to leave at 3:45!

I hate to admit this is all I got!!! Quiet today, I KNOW!!! :)

LOVE Y'ALL!

Ann :)

Kelly Sr. Is Right / Somethin' for the Yogis

Way back when I was just a meager intro student *sigh* trying to learn the sun salutations (ya know, a couple months ago - ha!!!), I read one of Kelly's blogs that referenced "limping and bitching" on Mondays after Ashtanga Sundays. "Eh!" I would say, it can't be that bad... lol.

WELCOME to Vinyasa III on Saturday followed by Sunday class (ahem, JESSICA! BG?). I'll admit it's getting a little easier from when I first started Sundays and hung on the verge of death before, during and after the boat poses. Anyway, I'm ALREADY "limping and bitching" and it's only Sunday night so that can't be good.

After class, we had an Ashtanga info session that was pretty awesome with snacks and these yummy sugar plums. Sugar plums = love. It was cool to hear Evan & Kelly talk about their three-month trip to Mysore, India. My four highlights of today's meeting:

Learning Highlight Uno:
Not very many natives of India practice yoga. WHAT!?!?

Learning Highlight Dos:
In Mysore, all the chicas sit outside the shala and say "OMG!! I totally got to Pasasana today!! I was soooo not expecting it!!" and their friends go, "Omg! OMg! OMG!!!!!" Seriously - is this sooooo my gig or what!?!?!! OMG!! lol. Too bad I could never take off work :( and the India trip is where my lovely husband would probably draw the line! Damn.

Learning Highlight Tres:
The reason the primary series does the same poses over and over every practice is to take the thinking out of it and really concentrate on the practice. I never really thought about why we did it before, I was just too busy trying not to collapse. Makes total sense and truly the more I do it, the less I think about it and just do it. Nike.

Learning Highlight Quattro:
I remember being traumatized in 1st grade when my mom and I saw my teacher at the grocery store. I just assumed she lived at school!!! Apparently, at age 30, I have not gotten over this?? I just assumed E&K are so good at yoga b/c they have the fabulous life of practicing yoga at their leisure, teaching a bunch of classes in the QC, hanging out in Mysore, and now opening their own shala. They seem so happy all the time!!!! It never occured to me that Kelly is a teacher and Evan is a web designer! Apparently, they are so good at yoga b/c they practice almost every day from 4-6 A.M.!?!? Then work, THEN teach all of these classes. Namaste to E&K if they happen to be reading. Seriously. God, I AM SOOO LAZY!! 4 a.m.??? Ugh!


In honour of my "OMG I'm in Mysore!!" trip that will never happen (sadness-lol...I really want a bunch of those cute scarves), I am going to get up one day this week and do the primary series at 4 a.m. With the help of Yoga Sacremento's website of course (thank you google.com). I will let YOU ALL know how (and IF) it goes! Kelly said hating it and making yourself do it is part of the practice. I can promise you I'll be hating it and I can promise you it won't be tomorrow. At this rate, I'll just be happy to get down the stairs tomorrow! :)


Quote of the Day: "You're not the trainwreck you once were." - Mark to Pat. Thanks for sharing that one, Pat. Classic Mark!! It reminds me of my first class with Mark in September. First he goes, "Have you been to my class before?" I go, "No." So he grabbed my mat and took it to the back. Later, he leaned down and goes, "Seriously. You need to work on your chatarangas." I go, "Why? What am I doing?" He goes, "I don't know. But it's not good." Ha!!! Love him and my chatarangas have since improved (I think/hope...)!

Lotsa love to y'all.
A.

Awwwwwwwwwwwww! How adorable!

Alright, I'm officially DYING!!! I logged on to post a blog about how I'd have to skip Mark's class tonight. Dire straits, I know, dire straits. ::cues 'Walk of Life':: I hate to miss it! Grrrr. Here is why:

For those that don't know, I'm semi-obsessed with school. Like as in - I already have my MBA but continue to take MBA classes just because "it's fun." I'm also going for my Master of Accounting (for no apparent reason) and have only 3 classes to go. So anyway, my prof was being uber-irresponsible this semester!!! She only gave us SIXTEEN WEEKS to write the term paper that is due THIS THURSDAY!! Can you believe that? I am so annoyed, with her and her slacker ways!!! So, if I do not show to Mark's class, she and ONLY SHE is the one to blame! It truly has nothing to do with my procrastinating ways, mind you.

So I log in to blog it up, get distracted by Facebook (shocking) and find an absolute GOLDMINE of a blog pic for the day! My homepage showed my friend, Melanie Prince, was tagged in an old school album. She went to North Scott and graduated circa 1996. I love pics from back in the day, so I clicked on the album and RANDOMLY find this:

Who can name the third lil' tyke??? AWWWWW!! Hint: print out the pic and ask your yoga teacher. :) So super adorable! If he asks, it was Justin Levsen that posted it. Thanks, Justin!

Well, thanks to the term "dire straits" popping in to my head during ingenious paragraph #1, and the 80's pictures subsequently surfacing, I cannot get the awesomely awesome "Walk of Life" song out of my head. Oldie but goldie, oldie but goldie, people!! I can sooooo remember watching that video on MTV...probably around the time Mark was at tee-ball practice. SO, as an ode to ANYONE who has any idea what in the hell I'm talking about, HERE'S TO YOU:

Here comes johnny singing oldies, goldies!! Be-bop-a-lua, baby what I say. Here comes johnny singing I gotta woman, down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay! He got the action, he got the motion... Yeah, the boy can play. Dedication, devotion... Turning all the night time into the day. He do the song about the sweet lovin woman... He do the song about the knife... He do the walk............he do the walk of life.

I highly recommend clicking on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrjBddCTCmk I'm just sayin'...

Rock on, y'all.

A. :)

So...how was YOUR practice this weekend!!??

Miss Belle had a play date at 11:00 so I hit The Gap, where I was on a mission to find this ADORABLE dark purple coat that I had been wanting but definitely do not need. Did I mention I realllly wanted it??? OKAY, so I was super happy to randomly find it on sale for $80! OMG! I threw that honey on the counter and tossed in a couple of sweaters to make up the difference between the sale price and what I was planning to spend on the purple passion. Yay…so that makes the sweaters totally free!! I thought about skipping yoga to hang out at Von Maur but decided against it since I hadn’t yoga’d since Wednesday due to T-giv and was feeling triple eww-ish.

I climbed the 555 stairs at DSY to find only ONE other chica waiting to downdog it up. I’d never seen her so if it’s just going to be me, her and Evan, maybe she’s never yoga’d before and I’ll look like I just hopped off the red-eye from Mysore. Then Evan will be too busy “helping her out” to notice I still can’t do the freakin’ Warrior III for no logical reason. Yay! (BTW – what the hell is the deal with my Warrior III?!?!)

I then noticed a mermaid tattoo on new chica’s shoulder, her suspiciously boring-looking yoga mat (true yogis don’t rock my green-patterned Gaiam) and that she was wearing some seriously adorable yoga clothes. Cuteness!! I was starting to consider the remote possibility that she had taken a yoga class or two before. So (very innocently) I’m like, “Where do you normally take yoga?” (I'm hoping for her to respond with the YMCA.) Her: “I’m a yoga teacher in Chicago!” OF COURSE SHE IS, PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!! HOWWW lovely… Just absolutely lovely! “F%%%” was the only word that came to mind, to be honest.

So YAH: me, Chicago Yoga Princess and Evan!!! Just the type of situation someone new-ish to yoga but trying to be “cute” and take on Vinyasa III wants to be in. NOTTTT!!! Lol. I was soooooo hoping Evan would hand me the list to read from the window sill while him & chica did the Vinyasa Challenge 2008. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen so it was a long 1.5 hours, lemme tell ya. However, Evan was super nice and helped me A LOT while “Kelly, Jr.” appeared to be practicing for the next Yoga Journal photo shoot. She was totally awesomely awesome. If you want to feel my pain (literally, okay people), scope her website http://www.abalancedpractice.com/. Anyhow, THIS IS HER (see pics below)!! Doesn’t she totally remind you of Kelly??

Yoga is weird because there aren’t mirrors so you aren’t exactly sure what YOU look like during the poses. I was looking at her during some of the poses knowing I sure as hell wasn’t looking like THAT, though. Lol.

Anyway, I finished my Saturday afternoon with a deep tissue massage from Yvonne at William Wesley. Thank God. LOVE THE WOMAN and trust me, sistas and brothas, I needed it majora after hanging out in side plank with Kelly, Jr for what seemed like hours on end. Oh yeah, abalancedpractice can do THIS (this isn't her though, lol):

Sunday a.m., I limped (not kidding) into the ever-famous Ashtanga to “stretch” as Kurt would say. Awesome as usual, awesome as usual. Unfortunately, there is no footage of this Sunday’s embryo roll but props to Pete and Pat for the awesome headstanding that I noticed while upside down.

Namaste to y’all, to Kelly's long-lost twin sister, to 4 day weekends AND to my HOT PURPLE COAT!! Holla!

A.

Ommmm....

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Kurt (on Sunday): "Do you need to take a shower after yoga?"

Me: "Are you kidding me? It's Ashtanga."

Kurt: "I don't understand how you guys can get so sweaty from just stretching."

Me: **silence**

Accountants are not creative whatsoever so I decided to blog about my yoganess. :) I'm sorta kinda pretty much obsessed with yoga. I have been wondering why I insist on going four or five times per week when I've never gone to a yoga class before three months ago. It took me awhile but I finally figured it out:

Reason A: I'm kind of O.C.D. but I'm not a huge germaphobe or anything. Normally, my O.C.D. relates to whatever activity I am interested in at the time. Currently, it's yoga. It's sort of my "gig" though (a.k.a. - not running or wearing kleats or spiking volleyballs) so I'm hoping to stick with it.

Reason B: Anyone can tell you I have always been HORRIBLE at sports. I have never cared whatsoever or even tried to get better. Like I would NEVER play co-ed volleyball or softball. Ew!! This does not sound fun to me. Which is strange that I don't aspire to get better because I'm fanatical about the things I AM good at, like saving dogs, (sort of) yoga or grad school, or when I was younger, cheerleading, dancing, flute playing (no, I did not go to band camp), flag twirling, etc. [Side note: Who thinks I was pretty cool in high school? Anyone? Anyone? I have not even mentiond orchestra, French Club, NHS...lol! Maybe a blog for a different day...gotta get a scanner.]

Seriously, though, I realized all of the things I've been good at in my life related to me being extremely competitive with only myself, which is weird. Maybe I'm not a "team player????" Oh well! Ha! I love yoga and it reminds me of dance and gymnastics. In general, it drives me crazy to not be able to do things I think I should be able to do. Yoga irritates me in particular because there are many things I KNOW I could have done when I was younger. Grrrrrr...freaking feathered peacock (see pic) . We used to hang out in this pose during conditioning and "chat" about the boys on the rings. Can I get a "gr-rrrrr?"

Reason C: ANYTHING I like to do, of course, has underlying social aspects. Yoga is fun and it's been cool to see everyone at class. Love all the teachers (Mark's class is hilarious and challenging, Shannon is so sweet and helpful, and Evan & Kelly's classes are just plain awesome). In other words, I like chatting it up with all of the yogis at Indigo & DSY. We have a great time. My friend, Jessica, is going now so it's even more fun!!! Love seeing her and her stellar headstands.

Apparently, yoga has some principles (? help here, anyone?) and one is being content with where you are at during that moment. At least this is what Shannon says during our Wednesday class while he's doing super tortoise (see pic) and lookin' awesome and we're all thinking, "no effing way." Anyway, this "yoga contentment" he speaks of is totally not my style but I'm working at it... as soon as I can do about ten more poses I'll be happy...or fifteen...

Namaste, y'all!

P.S. Here's some of the "stretching" :) we do in Sunday's class (thanks to Google images). For those thinking it doesn't look so bad, sit on the floor and try 'em. Then let us know how that worked out for ya. I will admit the girl in pic #2 looks overjoyed to be in rooster pose. I've decided she must be on some serious druggage (crack AND heroin) as I've not seen anyone smiling about it on Sundays...but maybe her instructor counts faster than Kelly! :)