life

Every Day I’m Amazed

1 November 2012 / life, living in chicago, pictures, yoga teacher training

Things have been kind of nuts lately! Teacher training, work, just trying to get stuff done! But it’s been great. Hmm, what have I been up to the last time I posted?

Well…

I got my nails done. We had some freakishly warm weather last week, so I took advantage of it, wore shorts and short sleeves, and headed to Pinky Nail to get pampered:

I did the early voting thing:

And….

I’ve been attending many video reviews. See, in addition to my own video review, I have to attend five others. I’ve gone to four others, so I only have one more to go. They make for long days; we have a practice for about 90 minutes, then we head to Daren’s (my teacher) loft to watch the video and listen to his critique. We also learn a lot more about cueing, watching the students, adjusting, and correcting them. This goes on until about 5pm or sometimes later. Then I usually end up hanging out and chatting with Daren and/or various other trainees. Not only is this a good learning experience, it’s a nice way to bond with my fellow trainees.

I’ve been hanging out with some trainees/yogis as well. Sunday, I ran into Fatima at King Spa, and also met up with Daren and his partner Lance for dinner while we were there. Monday, I attended a video review, and then Carmen and I had dinner and went BACK to King Spa. Yesterday, I got to spend hours with Graham and Milena as we explored the next phase of Moksha’s growth.

Graham, who is working so hard on getting this thing going!

SO. King Spa. Let me tell you about King Spa. Oh, glorious King Spa. It’s a Korean spa in a suburb north of Chicago. My friend Jen and I had vouchers, so we headed up Sunday, late afternoon. King Spa is open 24/7, and it’s not by appointment, so we knew we could arrive anytime. I’d never experienced a Korean spa before, so I didn’t know what to expect. But for the low regular price of $25 (we paid $15 for our vouchers), we got two lockers: one for shoes, one for the rest of our stuff, access to the steam room, the spa, many types of saunas, and a movie room, quiet rooms, meditation rooms…. basically, it’ a place to max and relax, for realz, yo. There are loads of extra services you can pay extra for: scrubs, massages, facials, etc. And there is a food court that serves yummy Korean food and yummy juices.

Sunday night was my first time there ever. If you want to get in the spas, you have to get naked. I was OK with that, though. I also got a body scrub. They really do scrub you down. I was cleaner than I’d ever been in my life. They also shampoo your hair (mmm scalp massage). The spa is unisex, but the rest is co-ed, and you are given uniforms to wear. Pink for women, grey for men, yellow for kids. 🙂 The saunas range in temperatures from 19F to 400F. Yes, you read that correctly. I like to go in the 400F one and then go right into the 19F after. Mmmmm. There is something for everyone and you feel like a million bucks when you come out. I plan to frequent that place a LOT. Now that I’m getting more comfortable driving. It only took me more than four years, right? I still have not driven downtown yet, though. Mostly I drive up to Jen’s place (way North), to Moksha, or out to the suburbs, like I did today.

Because last night, I found out that John Barrowman (along with his sister Carole) was going to be at Anderson’s tonight. And with Adam completely booked with ghost tours, I knew if I wanted to meet him, I’d need to get myself out there. And believe me, I NEEDED TO MEET HIM. I’ve been a fan of his ever since I saw him playing Captain Jack on Doctor Who, so I was excited.

I made my way out to Naperville about 1:30pm, so I got there about 2:15pm or so. I got my book for him to sign, and then just hung out. I ate lunch at a yummy BBQ place where the guy behind the counter was really great. He made every single customer that walked into the place feel welcomed and wanted, and you very rarely see that anymore. I shopped a bit (and picked up these gems)!:

Then I returned to Anderson’s (OK I may have shopped a little bit in between), sat down with my new books, and started reading. I chatted a bit with some other fans, and then the really cool lady in purple next to me belted out this amazing opera note because John had come up to her to hug her! (She’s known him for years.) SO, I offered to take a photo of them together if he wouldn’t mind posing with me for a quick photo as well. 😀 Then I hung out for the next two hours, chatting with the lady in purple (Linda) and any other random people, and then it was my turn to go meet him! 🙂

John Barrowman, Carole E Barrowman, and Me

Yeah. THAT HAPPENED YOU GUYS!!!!!!111!!!!!!

He and his sister signed my book!

The week is only halfway over. There is more to come.

Tomorrow, I start teaching karma classes at Moksha every Thursday from 12-1pm for the next seven weeks. The cost is $8, so if you’re near the Riverwest studio, and you have some free time, come on by! It’s a very basic level class, so no experience necessary. This is a requirement to get my certification! Eeek!

There is anatomy class tomorrow night (next to last class!) and Friday, Suzanne Sterling is back!! If you were around last year, you might remember how I came floating out of the Suzanne Sterling workshop. I won’t be able to attend the entire thing this year, but I am going to a few of the sessions (well, one at least) and I know it’s going to be amazing. I can’t wait to see her again!

Friday night, I have a brainstorming party at Daren’s loft, and Sunday morning, I have a lecture with Wendy Doniger, and she’ll be talking about death and rebirth in the history of Hinduism. Should be interesting.

So, November is going to be crazy and it’s not going to let up until Thanksgiving. I’ve got almost 400 emails to answer, and a guest post to post on my blog (I haven’t forgotten you, Celeste), a few giveaways, and more coming up. I’ve only done Christmas shopping for my mom so far, but I’ve got time for that, so I’m not too worried. 🙂

OK then. I’m tired and I have to teach tomorrow, so I’d better start heading toward sleep. Plus, Adam is bringing himself some McDonald’s and I don’t want the scent to tempt me. I haven’t had McDonald’s since March 24, 2012, and I want to try to go at least a year without giving in. I know, it’s stupid how it tempts me so much. It’s terrible for me and will probably make me sick since I haven’t had it in so long, but dammit if those fries and McNuggets don’t taste amazing. And it’s not like they aren’t SUPER aggressive with their advertising. But still. I AM STRONG. ROAR.

‘Til next time! 🙂

2 Comments

What I’ve Been Up To

15 October 2012 / life, living in chicago, pictures, ronni, yoga teacher training

Hey there, hi there, ho there! Thanks to the folks who entered my giveaway. The winners have been contacted and all is well.

So how goes it? I’m aware that it’s been a while (ten days, exactly) since I’ve posted a “what’s up” kinda post, but I had good reasons.

1. I was temping in an office for a few days, and then I was working a lot from home.

2. I FINALLY got some macarons. I’d been craving them for months.

3. I discovered that I love Luna bars. Certain varieties of them are soooo good. I know, I have a problem. I love BARS. Those Trader Joe’s “A Blueberry Walked Into a Bar” cereal bars. Quaker granola bars and Dipps. Cocoa Puffs Treats. They’re so easy to eat. Easy to carry around with me. But at least Luna bars are 70% organic and have lots of vitamins and nutrients, so I don’t have to feel *as* guilty for loving them so much.

4. Saturday, I got the pleasure of studying with master teacher Seane Corn (and she is 10000x amazing) and I attended a master teacher roundtable with her as well.

5. Sunday night, I went to the 2012 Kellogg’s Tour of Olympic Champions show with my silver VIP ticket. I attended the Chalk Talk (pre-show Q&A) and had 4th row seats for the actual show. I also got a souvenir gold medal. I bought a program, a pin, and a leotard but I don’t know if I am brave enough to post it here. Although if you do some digging, you’ll be able to find it…

In the meantime, take a look some girls who definitely look amazing in leotards. You might recognize a few of them….

[more]

But there was one HUGE thing that pretty much consumed me. You see, I had my video review today. The video review is an important milestone in my yoga teacher training journey, and boy was I stressed out about it. Those of you who follow my personal facebook or my tumblr got to see firsthand my freakout sessions about it. The prep for it took a lot of time. Practicing, writing sequences, editing sequences, running the sequence out loud to myself in the shower, running it through my mind in the wee hours of the morning when I couldn’t sleep and my bladder was constantly needing to be emptied and the cat was wailing outside the door. Yea, good times.

Because I wanted to do a good job. For numerous reasons. And so I got to the studio about 30 minutes before class started to help set up mats and props. People started arriving about 5-10 minutes before class. Those last ten minutes FLEW by. And then it was time for me to start. I taught the 30 minute opening sequence while Daren (my teacher) sat in the back taking notes on his laptop and Graham (one of my YTT classmates and Daren’s personal assistant) recorded us. There were three of us, 30 minutes each.

When I got to the front of the room, there were times when I just forgot myself. I forgot I was teaching. I just got in the zone. I stumbled over some words. Said some silly things. Used the word “just” wayyyy too much. But overall? HE SAID I WAS AWESOME. He said I exceeded his expectations. He gave me so many compliments, and the constructive feedback was very gentle. He has a really amazing way of delivering feedback that does not make you want to beat yourself up for messing up a cue or forgetting to do small things. I had on my Team USA leo under my shorts and Moksha tee-shirt, but only a few people knew it was there. I felt like it was a good luck charm. He told me that he thinks that teaching yoga is my dharma. (I plan to write a post on dharma sometime….)

At any rate, I PASSED MY VIDEO REVIEW, and now I get to teach eight karma/community classes to actual, paying customers. *gulp*

So… that’s what I’ve been up to these days. Now the the video review is done, I can let out a huge breath I’ve been holding, get a decent night’s sleep, and tackle my next to do list. Also, we’re going to Morton’s Arboretum this week. I’m super excited for that! Trees seem to be peaking so this will be awesome. Can’t wait to take lots of photos!

Til next time….

3 Comments

Now That It’s Getting Colder….

5 October 2012 / life, pictures

Now that it’s getting colder (when I left this morning, it was a terrifying 42F), it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming holidays. I mean, it’s only 26 days until Halloween, and I haven’t been to a big box store in a while, but I’d imagine that the Christmas decorations have already snuck onto the shelves, competing with the Halloween costumes and candy.

I’ve already gotten a gift for my mom, and it arrived safely a few days ago. I’ve only begun thinking of ideas of what to get for Adam and Aidan and other people.

I don’t care for the cold, but I don’t mind this lead up to the holidays so much. The cold weather is accented by the pretty oranges, reds, and golds of autumn, then the festive greens, reds, and silvers of the holiday season. There’s Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping and wrapping gifts and Christmas music to listen to. Lots of opportunity for photos, and even I can admit that evergreen boughs with red bows sprinkled with snow is gorgeous.

But once the holidays are over, it’s just nothing but dirty, grey, slushy snow. Slick, slippery ice. Cutting winds. Bitterly cold temperatures and the depression that comes with it. As far as I’m concerned, once Christmas is over, the snow can go away and the temps can start being in the 70s and above. If the seasons went this way: Spring-Summer-Fall-Spring-Summer-Fall, I’d be happy. The ONLY good things about winter, in my opinion, are Christmas, Aidan’s birthday, and our February trips to Disney World. Summer really does go too fast for me.

But I still have several months until January, and I still have lots to look forward to in the meantime, so YAY. 🙂

6 Comments

Short Update

29 September 2012 / family, life, pictures

Early this week, I drove out to Ohio to visit my mom. I hadn’t seen her since Christmas and was missing her. I had a really great visit with her! We stayed up til 3, 4, 5am every night talking. It was so nice to reconnect with her.

Adam and I arrived Sunday morning around 1130EST. (We left home about 430CST.) I drove the entire six hours with direction from the Hungarian Grandmother I downloaded to my GPS. I probably wouldn’t have stopped at all for more time than to get gas and/or pee but Adam woke me up and started asking for food. He didn’t want the food I’d packed. Hmph. I listened to my three playlists (The Commute Mix, Elventified™!, and The 90s) and had fun singing along. The only hard part was when the sun was rising. I was driving East. You do the math.

It felt SO NICE to drive like that, you guys. When you’re on the Interstate between 4-6am, it’s pretty much empty. I was able to sit back and really just become reacquainted with my car. I am not comfortable driving her in the city, but I certainly enjoyed bonding with her on the highway.

I ate terribly when I was there. Well, except the home cooked stuff. Somehow that doesn’t count, right? 🙂 But I ate fast food three times (shh, don’t tell my yogi friends) and I snacked a lot more than usual. My mom and Adam said I don’t eat enough. Three meals and day and two snacks just sound like SO MUCH, though, and I just can’t do it. I don’t get hungry enough.

Here are a couple of new things I tried:

OH MY GOD this juice is soooooo freaking good, I can’t wait to get more!!!

I know right? But they tasted really good. I shared this little bag with my mom and Adam.

We don’t have Bob Evans very close to us yet, so I ate there twice on this trip. This is the French toast topped with blueberries. More please.

I visited with some cousins and Aidan and Chris came up to visit too! So I get a bonus Aidan visit! 😀

I’ve been home for a few days now. Still worn out and I have yet to unpack. Haven’t been to a yoga class in well over a week. But I did make it to my anatomy class and I worked yesterday. I spent all day today reading and being lazy.

I promise to get back on track tomorrow. There is a rogue cat turd in this house and the scent is driving me up a wall. That’s how they punish us for leaving, by the way. Pooping all over the place. Ugh. There is always one that is hidden very well and I literally have to sniff it out. Gross. I’ve got to eradicate that ASAP; my nose can’t take it.

OK then. Til next time.

4 Comments

Autumn 2012

21 September 2012 / life, living in chicago, pictures, to do

Well, there was no more denying it after today. Temps in the low 60s/upper 50s, rain, grey. Adam’s favorite but blah to me. Still, it was a good day and for that I cannot complain. And as you can see, I’ve updated my site’s theme to reflect the new season. Do you like it?

Today the iPhone 5 came out. Adam and I were both due for upgrades. I was going to wait because my iPhone 4 is still great, but when Adam came home with his new phone and started ordering Siri around, I decided I wanted to go ahead and upgrade today as well. Especially because he told me that he’d only waited in line for 20 minutes. By the time I got there, there was no line at all!

I got the white one. It’s so fast and lightweight and the screen looks great.

I also got another big purchase. Remember last year when Disney released a bunch of Designer Princess dolls? (I didn’t post about them here, but I did on my Disney blog.) This year, they released a bunch of Designer Villains. Well, they’re not all out yet. I only wanted Maleficent and surprisingly, getting her was NOT at all the big deal it was to get Jasmine and Tiana last year. No long lines. No getting up at 6am. No hoping to get a number and the disappointment when they ran out right before me. No crashing websites. I just sauntered on to the Disney Store’s website early this week and she was there. Easy as pie! I got cash back from ebates for that purchase, too!

She’s GORGEOUS. And this photo does her exactly zero percent justice.

Maleficent-Disney Villains Designer Collection

I am going to visit my mommy for a few days. I can’t wait to see her. I haven’t seen her since Christmas. WTF. So I’m looking forward to the drive (I typically hate road trips, but I plan to make Adam sleep while I listen to Lana Del Rey, Mariana and the Diamonds, and Purity Ring) and just cruise for about three hours. Then I’ll wake him and make him drive the rest of the way. Hee hee. I have a lot to do before I get there.

· back up the computer
· charge iStuff
· go to Bari and get Italian subs for Mommy and Greg
· pack (clothes, electronics, homework & textbooks, books, bathing suit (my mom’s place has a pool!), snacks & sandwiches for the road trip–will help me avoid being tempted by McDonald’s)
· clean out the car (gonna suck b/c it’s going to be cold and rainy tomorrow too)
· straighten up the place so we won’t come home to a dump

And while I am there, I need to (in addition to visiting with whomever I can):

· work on anatomy homework
· write book review for Fire of Love
· write out apprenticeship sequences
· email Zoey private lesson reports and info about the class I took outside Moksha
· email Susan at VSA re: next friday
· work on freelance projects (I’m expecting at least two to come in—finding Internet will be tricky but I think I can manage it as long as there is a Starbucks around)
· personal yoga practice and/or hit the treadmill

I already know this trip isn’t going to be long enough. I’d wanted it to be somewhat relaxing but it won’t be, because I’m taking a to-do list with me. And once I get back, I’m going to have to hit the ground RUNNING. It will be exhausting. I will have to make sure I get good sleep and take care of myself so I won’t get all overwhelmed and stressed and stuff.

But hey, see how I mentioned anatomy homework? I’m enjoying that class! It’s three hours every Thursday night, and the teacher, Shanna, really makes it relateable. For example, she will talk about certain muscles and have us feel the muscles on our bodies. And I don’t know, I just like the way she teaches and the stuff I’m learning. We have a big binder and every week we focus on something different. Last night, we did bones and joints. Here I am, randomly before class started:

Wow. That is SO not flattering.

OH. And remember last months when I was talking about how I was going to try to clean this place up? Here are some of the fruits of my labor. Only one before/after because I forgot the other times.

My Nest

Bedroom

Bathroom

What do you guys think? 🙂 I mean, you can’t tell what my interests are at ALL from those photos, can you? And why yes, we do have a bookcase in the bathroom, what?

I got hit with a horrible stomach flu type thing Wednesday night. I was so sick. Managed to stumble into work Thursday but it wasn’t good. I was so tired and weak and COLD. Maybe that’s why I look the way I do in the photo from last night.

Anyway, that’s my life update for now. Till next time!

6 Comments