anywhere is…. – Page 54 – my scramblings & ramblings

Spring Has Sprung!

21 March 2012 / life, pictures, yoga teacher training

In Chicago, Spring typically doesn’t show up. If it does, it lasts for about three days and doesn’t appear until June 23rd. So this year has been a pleasant surprise! The trees are budding! Last year, the trees didn’t start budding until late May!

I’m loving it. Adam hates it. But he loves winter and I hate it. How’s that for “opposites attract”?

Yoga teacher training is still going. I took two quizzes yesterday, got a 94% on one and an 85% on the other. I still have butt loads of homework to complete, and my shoulders are kinda unhappy from a long day of chatarunga and upward facing dog. Monday we had an orientation, and it’s going to be super busy for the next thirteen months. So many classes to take and so much homework. Still, I keep telling myself that I’ll be OK. That I can handle it and to think about how much I love sharing all the knowledge I’m learning!

Today, though, I took it kind of easy. A while ago, I broke down and ordered one of the Erin Condren Life Planners. Then I eagerly awaited for it to arrive–and it came today! 🙂 I love it. I spent the afternoon filling in a bunch of Yoga Teacher Training stuff. There is a LOT. I need to find my older planner so I can transfer the rest of my information over.

I love filling out planners. :p

Sunday, Fi hopped onto my lap. He NEVER gets on laps. I had to commemorate this moment because it was awesome. I love Fi so much.

I also managed to snap a pretty dramatic-looking photo of Helena.

So, it’s only Wednesday, and my week’s already been awesome. But the biggest thing (so far) is that Adam got me this!

My Four Year of Living In Chicago Present!

See, Saturday was my four year anniversary of living in Chicago. I moved here on St. Patrick’s Day in 2008. It was overcast, cold, and there were flurries coming from the sky. Sucks as far as Spring weather goes, but perfect moving weather. Anyway, Adam says it’s my anniversary present. How cool is that? So I’ve been playing with it, customizing it, setting it up and everything. Fantastic! And a total surprise!

Here’s what it looks like now:

Cool, huh? This is just my first page. I have five pages. I’d upload it now but Adam’s playing Skee-Ball on it.

With the exception of an emergency project for a client, I took it easy today. I need to get back on the ball tomorrow. I need to pick up my clothes and also pull out some summer/spring outfits. I also need to organize my nightstand, dresser, and general Ronni area. Bathroom needs to be cleaned as well. Then Friday, I go see The Hunger Games, then attend a workshop at Moksha, then clean some more! We have awesome guests coming to stay with us and I want the place to be all nice for them. Busy, music-filled weekend ahead, and then I have to get a lot of studying in besides.

Good times.

OK then. I’m tired. And hungry. Time to grab something to nibble then head to bed. I got a LOT of cleaning to do. 😮 Til next time.

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Me Me Me!!

20 March 2012 / meme, pictures, ronni

Let’s just face it. I can’t pass up any meme that allows me to talk about myself. And I was tagged again for the 11 Things meme by the awesome Krista from Army Wife Style.

So, here are my answers to Krista’s questions:

Where would you live if you could live anywhere?
HA. Well, it would be somewhere that never gets a winter but also no violent storms. Actually, the weather would be a perfect 75-80F every day, blue skies, light breezes. We’d get rain, but only at night. Never any thunderstorms.
It would be near all my favorite people. Like, on the same street.
There would be great public transportation.
Taxes and prices would not be insane.
My home would be a nifty brick townhouse with lots of rooms and definitely more than one bathroom, a dishwasher, and a library.
I’d live walking distance to a library, Moksha yoga studio, a grocery store, a post office, a cupcake bakery, a train station, and a diner.
Civil rights and personal rights would be a GIVEN.
There would be a horse farm nearby.
And lots of trees.

What is your favorite color?
I have two. Pink and purple.

What has been your favorite vacation?
Disney World!! All seven times!

Strangest thing you ever ate?
Rattlesnake.

Have you ever punched someone in the face?
Nope.

Your strangest habit?
I can’t even describe it really. But it’s weird.

Biggest pet peeve?
Rude people. That includes people who smoke in nonsmoking areas, people who blast music and/or TVs at all hours of the night, people who scream and yell and laugh loudly in the middle of the night, people who interrupt, people who cut me off on the road….

Do you judge people who wear pajamas in public?
Depends on where we are.

It’s 10 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?
He’s at his grandmother’s.

Favorite alcoholic beverage?
Amaretto Sour, followed closely by Moscato.

Favorite toy in childhood?

He’s still my favorite. 🙂

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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

Happy

9 March 2012 / pictures, positivity

The past few weeks have been really good. Just… lots of neat things happening to make me smile.

one
Remember a long time ago when I was talking about a life-changing decision? And kind of freaking out about it? Well, after much thought, I’ve decided to start Yoga Teacher Training. I love working for the yoga studio, and I love yoga, and I was given some great gifts from Moksha for this training to be possible. But the rub was that I’d be in Group 2, which has classes on Tuesday. You know what that means. I can’t work full time for the next five months. So that was one thing holding me back. (Not that I am working full time anyway.) Being freelance, work comes and goes. Sometimes I am honestly buried and overwhelmed. And sometimes, there is… nothing. I actually like the flexibility being freelance affords me. But I knew that making this decision could close the door to full time work for a while. I had to make sure we’d be OK with that.

The support I’ve gotten from friends and family has been OVERWHELMING. I am so blessed to have people who believe in me, even when I’m doubting myself. And I know this journeyis going to be amazing! So I’m loving and basking in it. I know this is going to be amazing.

two
If you follow my Twitter, you know that I’ve been craving cake for the past six to eight weeks. My friend Andy took note of that and got a cake delivered to my house!

(Sorry for the image quality. I was too anxious to start eating to worry about getting excellent shots!)

smiley face!

lemon with fresh strawberries

So yea. Boy did I get cake! MY FRIENDS ARE AWESOME!

three

in the office
GREAT hair day, don’t you think?

Right after Disney, I had the pleasure of working in two offices that were just great. It’s something nice when you walk into a workplace and you feel calm and like your work means something. Every single day was a good day at those places. (And you know that doesn’t happen often. Or maybe I just got used to BAD DAYS every day at former places of work.) So, not only did I get to work in nice places, but the extra/unexpected income was a nice bonus.

four
So I got these boots:

They are the Queen Boots. I already have the black pair and I LOVE LOVE LOVE those boots so much you guys. But I recently got a gorgeous brown sweater and well, we know better than to wear black boots with a brown sweater, right? These had been on my wish list for a while, and they were on sale, so it was a no-brainer, really. Because basically, WantedShoes has the best boots ever. (And those are not affiliate links or anything. I really do love them that much.)

five
Other good things:
a. I won a bunch of giveaways
b. listening to Ginger Doss and Bekah Kelso
c. The Hunger Games movie comes out in 14 days
d. …and I get to see s00j in 15 days!
e. Adam just brought me JAMMIE DODGERS! Oh yeah!!! 😀

Source: sonicola.tumblr.com via Ronni on Pinterest

Linking up with:

17 Comments

11 Things

6 March 2012 / meme, pictures, ronni, survey, videos

I’ve seen this meme going around, and I’ve finally been for it by the lovely Courtney of Baxtron Life. So, let’s get this thing going, shall we?

RULES
1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. Create 11 new questions.
5. Tag a few people, let them know.

photo of me

11 RANDOM THINGS
1. I am 100% completely DONE with winter. Wait, this isn’t so random, is it? Still. I’m ready for spring.

2. Every time I sing, Crookshanks either climbs on my lap or he stares at me, purring like a maniac. He apparently doesn’t mind that I’m kinda tone deaf.

3. I’m currently “singing” The Wind Beneath My Wings. Yup.

4. I used to hate it when Charla (my BFF from junior high and high school) would start singing Wind Beneath My Wings when we were talking on the phone. She also used to sing a Donna Summer song that drove me nuts. I can still hear her singing I’m going crazy just to let you know… in my ear just like it was yesterday.

Here’s a link to the video (Google + YouTube = YOU CAN FIND ANYTHING!):

5. I totally just posted a link to that video on Charla’s Facebook wall.

6. Now I’m singing this along with the video. It’s a fun song to sing. I get it now, Charla.

7. Here is a picture of Charla with Ricky Luna:

8. If you’ve been reading my blog for at least a year and don’t know who Ricky Luna is, shame on you. For those of you who don’t know, check out this post to learn more.

9. Speaking of MMC, I can get lost in a YouTube MMC spiral for hours.

10. I wanted to be a Mouseketeer on the 90s MMC in the worst way. There’s no way you’re surprised by this.

11. I am meticulous about tagging all my mp3s in iTunes. I hate when there are blank spaces (like missing album names or artists), I hate when the genre is wrong, I hate when there are 14 different spellings for the same artist. I will go on amazon and download proper album artwork. I’ve spent many happy hours organizing my mp3s.

11 QUESTIONS FOR ME
1. You just won a trip, all expenses paid — you have to choose the destination now, where will you go? Who will you take? Why?
BAHAHAHAHA. OK if you’ve only been reading my blog for two seconds you should know the answer to this! Actually, I have many places but the first thing I’d do is plan an EPIC Disney World vacation with all my favorite people in the world. Two weeks, we’d take over the Polynesian or Port Orleans French Quarter. I’d take Adam, my mom, Aidan, Chris, Matt, Rosa, Richard, Aimzy, Charla & her kiddos, Amy R, (I’d invite Jen but I know she wouldn’t want to come), Seanan, s00j, Ryan (but I’d have him avoid it’s a small world–he got stuck on it for hours when he was a kid so he’s had enough of that for a lifetime), Vixy, Amy V, Deborah (and Jeff if he wanted), Adam’s mom and dad, Cassidy, Lola… am I missing anyone? Consider yourself invited if so.

2. Dark, Milk or White Chocolate?
Well, definitely not white chocolate. It’s a toss up between dark or milk. It’ll depend on how sweet I want it. But dark is winning. Which is funny because when I was little, I thought dark chocolate was pointless and disgusting. Now I love it.

3. Have you ever succeeded in giving up something that was bad for you? What was it?
Not really. 🙁

4. You have four ingredients: eggs, milk, cheese and bread. What is the most creative thing you can make?
Scrambled eggs with cheese, and toast on the side.

5. Zoo, Aquarium or Circus?
Zoo or aquarium. Better yet, zoos with aquariums included!

6. If there were no other factors to consider except for pure joy’s sake, how many children would you want to have?
MAYBE one more.

7. Do you wear glasses or contacts?
Yes.

8. Have you ever been in a bad accident?
No. I’ve been in a scary accident (totally Charla’s fault), but not very bad.

9. How many pets have you had / do you have? What kind? What are their names?
I currently have three cats. Crookshanks, Helena, and Fi.

not my best but probably the only time
they’ll all get close enough to be in one shot

10. What is the funniest joke you have heard lately?
*shrug* Can’t remember.

11. I like the dream car question, so if you could have any new car of your choosing what would it be?

audi tt roadster, $47,500

MY 11 QUESTIONS
1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
3. What is your favorite scent?
4. Would you rather have the perfect body and your current face, or the perfect face and your current body?
5. What is your guilty pleasure?
6. If it didn’t cause any bad consequences (weight gain, high cholesterol, etc.) what is the one thing you’d eat tons of?
7. What is one thing you would eliminate from the world if you could?
8. Would you rather sky dive or go mountain climbing?
9. What is one talent you wish you had?
10. What is one song that makes you want to rip out your eardrums?
11. Are you a PC or a Mac?

… and I tag Mandi, Jenn, Adam, Firinel, and Lauren! Anyone else want to join in? Go for it. Comment and let me know so I can go read your answers. 🙂

(If Charla had a blog, I’d totally tag her, too.)

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