life

Getting Back On Track

8 July 2012 / life, pictures, videos

I’ve spent the last week kinda slacking off. Here’s an instagramalicious summary:

1. Aidan & Lena
2. Homemade chips and salsa
3. Oreo-topped molten cake (Sweet Jesus, it was delicious)
4. Me being a dork
5. Aidan sitting in a very interesting way
6. Moksha!
7. Free snow cones!
8. Planner
9. Fourth of July Jello poke cake
10. Little Lena
11. Sadie Nardini – who told us how much she will make this year and well…. holy crap.
12. Awesome bird that cost $550 ON SALE (we did not buy him)

It LOOKS like a lot more than it really was, I promise you. That’s because I thought I’d do the Photo a Day July thing but meh. I’ve lost interest already. I suck at those things. I spent quite a bit of time playing games on Facebook and rereading Harry Potter books and rewatching Harry Potter movies. I did manage to teach Aidan a little bit of yoga, though:

That was fun. Eventually, he said “Mom, you do your yoga, and I’ll play the Wii.” And I had a decent practice that night!

So I had an OK week, despite feeling pain in my side again, which I’m working on treating, and not eating nearly enough fruits and veggies. 🙁 And also feeling inexplicably cranky too often. Definitely moody. And getting tired of all the screens. The TV is constantly going. Adam’s constantly in the room on his iPad. Aidan’s constantly staring at YouTube, and I’m constantly staring at MY screen playing games, reading blogs, or obsessing over Tumblr. No bueno. Now that the weather has cooled down (no lie, I’ll take the searing heat over the dead of winter ANY TIME but it was even a bit warm for me at times), I really want to go outside (somewhere there is a lot of trees and grass), sit under a tree, and read and listen to my iPod and let nature recharge me.

I need to focus again. Teacher training and my apprenticeship did not take place last week due to the holiday but next week, we’ll be back, working on standing twists (oh joy–time for me to topple over in class!) and whatever else can be squeezed in. Wednesday I have to teach a sequence during my apprenticeship session. I’m only a little bit nervous now, but I know I’ll be SUPER nervous come Wednesday. I’ll be teaching to the public, y’all. *bites nails*

I have to do work for teacher training, work freelance clients, and I have library books I need to read before Saturday. I also need to start reading yoga books for my book review. BUT I get to spend Friday with my dear friend, which I am looking forward to more than anything. It’s also Adam’s birthday and I believe brunch at Bleeding Heart is going to happen (Lord knows what we can find for Aidan to eat there but I can see him going for the chicken) so that should be fun.

For now, I leave you with a video of the fireworks on my neighborhood from the Fourth:

Later!

9 Comments

Full Speed Ahead

17 June 2012 / life, living in chicago, pictures

flowers outside Honey Jam Cafe

I *think* I can safely say we’re done with any type of 50F weather for several months now. [1. I really hope I’m not jinxing myself by saying that.] Even though the official first day of summer isn’t for a few days, it’s definitely been feeling like it’s here. And folks, I approve of that 100%! 🙂

So far this month, I’ve helped my friend Deborah look for wedding dresses, gotten the best massage of my life, had brunch at Honey Jam Cafe (yummy!), taken Aidan on a ghost tour, dropped way too much money at Half-Price Books (I REGRET NOTHING!) and spent time with my family.

The next week is going to be super busy, as I will be either working in an office or doing yoga teacher training stuff every day except Friday. Wednesday is going to be particularly long: early morning meeting, yoga class, apprenticeship, work, and homework review. It’s going to be a 12 hour day for real. and I haven’t had one of those in a very long time. That means I need to get lots of good sleep and eat lots of good food. The eating good food will be easy. Getting good sleep will be a challenge. My neighbors have not been very conducive to such things. If it’s not people out back having screaming fights, it’s the people next door talking loudly outside my bedroom window at 3:30 in the morning. I’ll be utilizing my iPhone sleep apps like a boss. Proofreading when you’re tired is a recipe for disaster.

I’m grateful for the chance to make some extra $$$, though. Erin Condren has the 2013 Life Planners out for pre-sale and I will definitely be needing one. [2. I guess I don’t NEED one, but I love having one and it’s been great at keeping me on track.]

It’s Father’s Day today, but Adam got *me* a present. He got me the Yoga Teacher Barbie.

I think she’s cute. 🙂

All right. I’d better get everything ready for the next week or so. ‘Til next time!!

12 Comments

…And The Madness Starts Again

4 June 2012 / life, pictures

After two weeks where I didn’t feel all that busy, things are kicking into high gear again. Teacher training starts back up tomorrow, and my apprenticeship starts Wednesday. I have a date to help my friend Deborah look at wedding dresses on Thursday, and Friday I have an early massage out in the ‘burbs. In the midst of all this, I have a lot of freelance pages to edit, not to mention trying to keep the place looking somewhat presentable for my own sake as well as others. Oh and somehow getting ahold of a copy of KEEP HOLDING ON by Susane Colasanti, and getting that gong meditation CD downloaded. Plus I’m feeling off and a bit nauseated, but I don’t want to miss class tomorrow unless I’m like, SUPER SICK because it’s already been two weeks and I need to get back into student mode.

I’m tired just thinking about it! At least next week is fairly empty… for now.

Thursday night, I got acupuncture for the first time.

the needles are in my ears

I attended a workshop at Soulistic, where the speaker explained about Traditional Chinese Medicine (of which acupuncture is a part), and then we got a stress relief acupuncture session. It was interesting. Everyone keeps asking me if it hurt. Here is my honest answer. There was a pinch when the needles first go in, but it was almost instantly gone. On my right side, I didn’t feel anything while the needles were in, but on my left, I still felt a little bit of sensation from a couple of the needles. I lay down and tried to be still, but it was hard. However, when she took the needles out… well, within 30 seconds I felt like Jell-O. I was so amazingly relaxed and floaty. It was awesome. I thought I’d sleep very well that night, but the cats made sure that wasn’t the case. Hmph.

Friday morning, I went wedding dress shopping with a bride-to-be. The first store we went in was a nightmare, so we headed to David’s Bridal, which was a much more successful and much less scary experience for her!

Friday night, Aidan arrived!

He’s here for the summer! It’s awesome! We stayed up very, very late. We also stayed up late Saturday night, and last night as well. It’s starting to catch up to me. I need to make sure I get a good night’s sleep tonight so I can be good to go tomorrow.

We hung out Saturday, heading out to the porch to bask in the warmth that had finally come back.

Saturday night, I went to see Kino MacGregor speak, and she was so good. Very engaging, adorable as all heck, and fun to listen to. She’s into Ashtanga yoga, which is so not my practice, so I didn’t attend any of her workshops. Maybe I’ll like Mysore when I actually get my butt up and go, but guided Ashtanga is not the thing for me, at least, not at this point in my life.

Yesterday, we ran errands, then we CLEANED THE FRIDGE AND FREEZER. Exciting, right? Believe me, it was needed. You don’t want to know some of the dates we found on stuff on there. It’s really awesome to have a clean fridge. LOOK at that organization, yo.

Nice, right? I hope I can keep it clean!

OH. So. OK. KALE. YES. See, I grew up eating greens. I’ve always loved greens (well, since I was about 9 or 10). Turnip and mustard greens slow cooked with some ham hocks or neck bones. Delicious. Seriously. Even Aidan loves them. I remember trying kale when I was younger but not caring much for it. I thought it tasted too much like broccoli, and I can only stand broccoli sometimes. (I’m not even sure how to spell it.) But…I recently tried kale a new way, with olive oil, nutritional yeast, and a bit of soy sauce. OH MY GOD. SO FREAKING YUMMY. So, most people dehydrate that or bake it to make chips, right? Yeah, it doesn’t make it to the oven for me. I just eat it raw. So FREAKING GOOD. I just wish kale wasn’t so “trendy” (read: expensive) but you know what? I don’t care. I buy and eat it anyway. Mmm.

And let me tell you, finding the nutritional yeast was NOT easy. I had to go to this desolate corner of the bulk foods section at Whole Foods. It’s worth it, though.

This evening, I’m going to try to take it easy. I do need to pack my bag for tomorrow, and also pack my lunch. Charge my phone and iPad. Pick out outfit. Make sure I have my train card. And take a bath, and…. oh boy. The madness is starting already.

‘Til next time!

10 Comments

Some Like It Hot

30 May 2012 / friends, happy, life, living in chicago, pictures

I’m a stickler when it comes to the seasons. Everyone’s saying it’s summer. The pools are open and it’s safe to wear white shoes. In my heart, though, it won’t be summer until the Solstice: June 21. However, I am sunburned like a mofo and my shoulders are like “What the ever loving HELL did you do to yourself woman?”

Sunday, it was 97F. Blazing hot. It was hot even for me, and you all know I like it hot. I was out in the sun almost all day, hanging out with awesome people and having a wonderful time.

cloud gate aka the bean

downtown

cloud gate, my favorite landmark in chicago

riding the blue line home

I didn’t wear sunscreen. I guess I underestimated the power of the Sun. I did notice my bag starting to hurt my shoulder, but I attributed that to me thinking it was getting heavy after lugging it around all day. It wasn’t until after I took a shower that I realized… Oh. I know that burning feeling. And sure enough, my shoulders were bright red. Oops.

Do I regret anything? NO. Would I do it again? YES YES triple times yes. Because I got to spend the day with an awesome group of people doing awesome things and having an awesome time.

ricky and me
(just so you know, ricky’s a super talented producer.
seriously. go see step up 4 when it comes out.
he produced that entire soundtrack.
told you i hung out with awesome people.)

yoga now!
considering making this my business card when i’m certified

Tomorrow it’s supposed to be 54F. See? THIS is why I won’t say it’s officially summer. Hmph.

‘Til next time!

8 Comments

Had A Good Week

27 May 2012 / disney, dork, happy, life, living in chicago, pictures, recap, yoga

loving the sun and warmth!

Yay! Had a happy week. Got to work at BOTH places I enjoy freelancing at, my other project’s finally kicked in, and that means $$ will be coming in for me again.

This is a good thing. No. It is an EXCELLENT thing.

Tuesday’s teacher training was canceled, which was a YAY because I got an extra free day, but the reason was a BOO because my teacher had a family emergency. 🙁 Still, I got to go to Mia‘s class, which I haven’t in months, and it was so nice to be there again.

I’m seriously drawing a blank about Wednesday, except there was an AWESOME Amber Cook class involved. But that’s all I remember. Weird, right?

Thursday night, I attended a food healing workshop with Moses & Zeina. Oh my goodness. I learned SO MUCH. And got to taste some yummy things (cheesy kale for the win!)…. and I got to taste some things that made my tongue very angry. Yeah, pesto made from cilantro and onions? NEVER AGAIN.

Friday night, I attended a Kundalini workshop (another Moses & Zeina special) that included a fire ceremony and gong meditation.

OH MY GOD.

I never realized how beautiful a gong could sound. My fault for only really knowing of them from The Gong Show, I suppose. Anyway. Every savasana should include gongs. Or wind chimes. (I once took a workshop and there were wind chimes and that was also amazing.) But this GONG. Wow. I’m actually looking up gong meditation albums on emusic.com. I don’t know if my iPod can replicate what it’s like being in the room with a gong, but seeing as I’m not going to be carting one around with me, listening to it in my iPod will have to do. 🙂

Although, I believe Kundalini Yoga In The Loop has gong meditation regularly….must research this more. AND THEN ATTEND ASAP!!

Speaking of Kundalini yoga… I’ve done it before, but wanted to try it in a class setting. It’s so so so different from what one thinks of as yoga. There are no asanas; there are kriyas, which is a set of kundalini exercises. The thing about Kundalini is that it’s hard core. It can bring up some stuff. The kriyas are uncomfortable, confrontational, and cleansing. Therefore, they are awesome. And scary.

I am so grateful for the opportunities I’m getting during my teacher training. Chances to push my practice. Chances to meet great people, learn new things. It’s seriously been insane in the best way possible. And I’m only what, 10 weeks or so into the program? There is so much more learning to be done, so many more experiences to have. I’m excited!

This journey is filling me with so much joy, and I want more! 😀

(I also got the cutest pair of yoga pants. Tie-died and pink with purple piece signs on the butt. My friend Christine says they give new meaning to the phrase “Piece/peace of ass.”)

The weather’s been great all week! Nice and warm, hot some days. Beautiful. Blue skies, sunshine. My favorite! Of course, it’s going to get cool and rainy by the end of the week, but for now? Loving it! This is the best Memorial Day weekend weather I’ve had since I moved here!!

I’d forgotten that I’d purchased a Disney Parades CD when I was at Disney World during one of my trips. Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade is a track on that album. WHAT. That song had only been stuck in my head for months since I was in the parade. OK, and only that first part because that’s the part of the parade Adam and I were in, so we only heard that loop over and over for 20 minutes BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT. The point is that I’d had this CD, and had apparently already imported it onto my computer. I could have been listening to the parade all this time! And also hearing the REST of the parade at that. So, I’ve been making up for lost time. 🙂 Brings back happy memories!

I also looked on YouTube to see if anyone happened to record and post a video of my parade, but NOPE. Someone posted one from the DAY BEFORE, though. Oh well.

**many hours later**

OK, so I started this entry many hours ago. This is what kept distracting me from finishing:

1. Aidan called.
2. I ate dinner.
3. Aidan called again.
4. I ate a 2nd dinner while watching the O.C.
5. Aidan called again.
6. I talked to my mom.

So now, it’s 1am, I’m trying to decide if I should get this gong meditation CD: Gong Suite: Six Meditations, but I need to be braiding my hair and getting to bed. LONG awesome Sunday ahead, and I need my beauty sleep!

I leave you with a photo of me reading one of my favorite magazines, more than 12 years running:

I’ll decide about the CD tomorrow/today. Right now, I’m going to sleep. Well, I’m gonna braid my hair first, probably have a snack, THEN sleep.

Byeeeee! 🙂

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