recap

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! 🙂

8 Comments

What a Week!

18 March 2012 / geekalicious, life, living in chicago, pictures, recap, yoga teacher training

Time really is flying. Is it really already March 18? How did this happen? Spring will OFFICIALLY be here in just a few days! But Chicago’s been having some wonderful Spring weather already. Seriously, every day has been gorgeous out! I love it.

Monday, I went to a yoga class, then I headed downtown to do some shopping (I needed some school supplies, a new yoga mat bag, and Old Navy is having their stock up sale. Buy one tee/tank, get one free.) and to get a mani/pedi! The mani was just OK but the pedi looks fantastic!

yay shiny!

Tuesday was my first day of yoga teacher training! An entire day of learning about downward facing dog. Everything you ever wanted to know about downward facing dog. And we didn’t even scratch the surface. There is so much. I was honestly a bit overwhelmed, not just at that, but at the amount of information I have to learn overall. I was also overwhelmed at how excited I was to be learning all of it and how eager I was to share what I learned to help my friends with their downward facing dogs. My friend Missy doesn’t believe for one second it will ever become a “resting pose” for her. I told her that takes time. It took me six months before I ever thought to myself (while in class) “Thank GOD down dog!!”

Wednesday, I took it easy. It was soooo super gorgeous out! We took a very exciting trip to The Home Depot, where Adam got a new grill, some charcoal, and other assorted grilling fun things. I took to the back porch to sit out in the warm air.

I look like I have a football head here.

Thursday, I was back in the office at VSA.

All right, misspellings and grammatical errors.
It’s ON.

I like it there. They give me the work and leave me alone to do that. When someone does that, it means they trust me to do the work they hired me for. And that makes me feel good. Plus, the person I work most closely with? She has bleached hair with BLUE TIPS, and she likes Doctor Who. She HAS A TARDIS ON HER DESK. HOW awesome is that? There was also free breakfast that day. ROCK. ON.

some of MY Doctor Who toys

I got of work out early enough that I was able to go to the yoga nidra class at Moksha. Very nice. Friday was another day at work, but I was done at 4:30!

Which takes me to Saturday. I was awakened at 5am by sirens and sirens and sirens. I’d heard sirens stop on my street before, but it was usually an ambulance or something. Not this time!

[via]

Yeah. That was happening. Across the street and down a few doors. I didn’t get that close; Adam found this picture on his instagram feed.

It scared me. Once I realized everything was under control, I couldn’t stop shaking for ten minutes. But the floors were unoccupied, and one of the businesses in the building was open at 8am! I didn’t get back to sleep until 7am, then I rolled out of bed at noon. Spent the day doing a few errands and cleaning the living room like a MOFO. See, part of teacher training is that we have to do a 15-20 minute home practice every day. That’s kind of difficult when the living room is so cluttered that one can barely walk across the floor. So, I handled that. Then I was cruising through practice when Crookshanks happened.

Crookshanks ALWAYS happens, and it’s going to be interesting as I progress through the training, to see if he’ll get in my way every single day.

I moved to Chicago on March 17, 2008. It was an overcast, cold day. Temps were in the 30s and there were flurries. I didn’t know what to expect. And I definitely didn’t see myself where I am today (except for the being married to Adam part). Life is funny, don’t you think? And also wonderful.

Also:

Only 4 DAYS, 22 HOURS ’til THE HUNGER GAMES! (I’ve already got my tickets.)
Only 6 DAYS ’til I get to see s00j again!!

OK, I’m hungry. See ya later!

6 Comments

2011: A Year in Pictures

1 January 2012 / pictures, recap, reflection, year-in-review

I was totally supposed to post this before my “Looking Ahead” post *points to post below this one* but I forgot that I had the Looking Ahead post scheduled already. So it posted and it took me a while to realize it had posted, and I wasn’t about to UNpost it because let’s face it, it’s a perfectly fine post.

And I used post WAY too many times in that last paragraph!

So, this one is a bit out of order, but I worked so hard on it that I decided not to trash it. So, without further ado, here is 2011 (and maybe a tiny bit of 2012) represented in pictures.

Disney World January 2011

Smooches in Magic Kingdom

Aidan and Weird Al Yankovic

Spring Blossoms

Hanging with my Plurk friends J and Rho

Meeting Sarah Dessen again!! 😀

Ginger Doss. LOVE her music.

SJ Tucker, me, and Bekah Kelso.
Too much awesomeness for one photo.

Love getting my toe nails done.

Disney World June 2011

Rockin’ Out with Phineas and Ferb
(I know this one was posted before,
but it’s too awesome not to repeat!)

Three Generations
My mom, me, and Aidan

Sparkly toes!

The Rosie Show taping #1

Getting to know Jessy

Amish Country in Ohio

Me and Claudia Gray.
How I’d missed her.
Why’d she have to move so far away?

Orange toes!

“Sing Yourself Awake” Workshop
with Suzanne Sterling

The Rosie Show Taping #2

Thanksmas in Georgia

Christmas in Chicago

Happy Birthday, Aidan!

Me and my favorite kid in the entire universe in all of space and time and dimensions.

12 Comments

Autumn and Ohio (Lots of Pictures!)

26 September 2011 / family, friends, life, ohio, pictures, recap, vacation

Happy Autumn!

Now that it’s here, there is no good reason to keep fighting it, right? Getting out of Chicago and to Ohio to visit friends and family really helped me remember what I love about autumn. First of all, the colors. The glorious colors! We were in Ohio for six days and every day I watched the trees get more and more brilliant. Then, harvests and pumpkins and apple cider and all sorts of neat things. So, yay for autumn. Just wish winter didn’t have to happen after. But not gonna dwell on that. Instead I’m going to dwell on the fun trip to Ohio I had this past week!

I got to eat yummy Mexican food and drink a delicious margarita, I got to feed a giraffe, see a camel up close, and ride a horse. I met a friend who I’d been emailing with for years, and I saw Andy, one of my best friends. Chris and Matt brought up Aidan and we all went to Amish country, where I bought lots of pies, cookies, and cheese. My camera was on hand, and of course I got loads of photos.

We hit the Amish country in the middle of the state. First place we stopped was Hershberger, where there was lots of good desserts and breads, and animals (including a HUGE Clydesdale) to pet. Then we went to the cheese barn, and then to Berlin. Adam and I agreed that the more authentic Amish/Mennonite places were better because they weren’t mired in touristy gimmicks. Just yummy food.

I got to ride a horse for the first time ever. My friend Amy (who I’ve known for years but only through email) arranged for us to get together at the stables. There, she saddled up Jessy and let me and Adam take turns riding her. By the end of the ride, I was going a pretty good job of getting Jessy to walk and go in the direction I wanted her to go in. We also go to ride Pablo bareback. That was neat, too.

We got to eat good food, have good laughs, and have good times. The Mexican restaurant, El Camino, was delicious. I had an enchilada and a tostada, and a yummy raspberry margarita. Delicious!

Most of my extended family is in Cleveland. I don’t get to see them often, so a lot of us used this trip to reconnect. It was good. Some of these people I hadn’t seen since 1996. I hadn’t seen all of them for many years. That’s a long time. It was nice to see them again.

So many new experiences. I got to feed a giraffe! Do you have any idea how much I love giraffes? They’re so graceful and beautiful. They’re definitely in my top five of animals. Getting so close to one was amazing. Also, I never knew how gorgeous camels were until I saw them close up. Petting zoos are cool, especially when they have animals like emus and llamas and zebras.

Another really cool thing. I am an Ohio State alumna, but I had very little OSU clothing. I’ve been slowly, slowly building up a collection of tee-shirts, but I really wanted a hoodie. They’re expensive, though! Well, we went to Marcs to get snacks and groceries (and my BBQ Fritos and Snyder of Berlin chips that are not sold in IL) and they had OSU gear. CHEAP OSU gear. So, I got three sweatshirts and two tee-shirts for a grand total of $40.00. I’m wearing one of the shirts in a few photos above. I really, really, really wish we had a Marcs in Chicago. I’d go all the time. I love that place.

Anyway, I had a great time. What a wonderful way to start off autumn 2011. It’s just gonna get better! 🙂

11 Comments