The universe gives back

   Many of you may be familiar with this theory. Put something out in the world- maybe you say it out loud, maybe you silently ponder on it, maybe you write it down- however you put it out there... the universe will answer you- or send you some sort of sign. Or maybe by chance you just figure it out on your own and chalk it up to a coincidence.
    Yesterday I put it out there like I had many times in the last 6 months- what should I do about the Yogaslackers Teacher Training? And then today during work- the phone rang. Of course I couldn’t answer it- but when I saw it I noticed that it was Adi (One of my teachers of the Yogaslackers) she was calling to check in- see what was up. After we talked for a half our- it had been decided..

I’M GOING TO SAN DIAGO FOR THE TRAINING!!!!!


Thank you universe :)

What do I do?!

   The days draw near for the final decision. Will I or will I not go to the Yogaslackers teacher training? They have been more than patient for my answer- more than willing to allow me time to heal. Yet I still don’t know what to do. I have spent MONTHS trying to decide what the best thing to do is- I still don’t know. There are so many factors that seem to play into it for me. For one it is a pretty hefty financial commitment for us as a whole right now. With the kitchen being worked on- we have plenty of bills to pay off and even more to make with the last odds and ends. The cost of the training and the flight would be close to $3000. Sure it’s not a ton of money but right now it seems like it’s a million. Secondly there is the ankle situation. Yes it’s on the mend- but it’s not going to get better than what it is right now- maybe less pain- but no more stability, no more of a guarantee that it won’t happen again.. without the risk of surgery.  A surgery that would take me out of my everyday life for at least 6 months. Lastly there is FEAR. A lot of it... I’m afraid to fly as it is.. but to fly alone is very terrifying! Another one? Well I’m just worried that I’m not going to be as good as everyone else- isn’t that always our problem? We tend to compare, compare, compare. But the reality is, I haven’t been able to spend a whole lot of time on the slackline. The ankle and the winter has held me back- not to make excuses. This is the cold hard truth. When Acroyoga comes into it- I have had a little practice with James, but that too has been limited.
    All of this together would make you think there would be no way I should go- what about how badly I want to go? There was nothing more that I wanted- in fact it was the star goal on my inspiration board this year. So what happens to the girl who gets what she wants? She spends MONTHS pondering every possible outcome, with no solid conclusion.
    I waited for the acceptance letter- I got it and I was excited- so excited! But then my nut job mind got in the way. Hmph.. I need to figure this out!
Suggestions? 

Protein Mocha Madness!

  Our Sunday was very productive- we had our coffee, we watched Hong Kong Phooey, we snuggled :) But then we got to work. Hubster’s aunt had a bunch of extra crushed stone that she had purchased in abundance and offered to us for free. 9 am sharp we drove over and James shoveled and moved it to our house-  and some to his mom’s before we started to get to work on the yard and basement. We still had some stuff left over from the demo of the kitchen, and after over 3 loads and countless numbers of contractor bags- it’s all gone!!
  Dinner was pizza while watching Harry Potter- before we headed to our friends house for hang out time and Dexter. I had a pretty bad stomach issue going on so by the time the second episode was finished- we headed home and straight to bed.
    It was a rough night stomach wise so this morning I was scared to eat much of anything. I started the morning off with some Bodyrock- the "6 pack abs” I really liked this workout- it got my hunger fires burning! I stuck to simple and small for breakfast- with a banana topped with peanut butter; though I felt like I still needed a little something. I was lost trying to figure out what else I could have that wouldn’t make my tummy sad- then it came to me...

PROTEIN MOCHA MADNESS
serves 1 :)
2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup water
1 scoop vanilla protein powder- I used Jarrow brown rice protein
1 scoop instant coffee
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp honey
dash of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
cinnamon to taste (optional)
Method
Combine in small sauce pan on medium-low heat. Whisking constantly- warm through to your desired temperature- being careful not to boil. Enjoy!

It worked out perfectly- kept my tummy happy, and was absolutely delish! I can see many of these in the future!
Cheers :)

Man the weekends fly!

    Actually it seems like the older you get the faster time goes in general- I hate that sayings become true! The days seem to run together most weeks. This week I skipped out on work to be a hair model for my cousin, she’s just out of hair school and was applying for a job- Which she got- Great job Kim! It was so nice just to catch up with my little cousin. She’s about to turn 20 and clearly isn’t very little. We drank some Starbucks and chatted it up before parting ways. Usually Thursday nights I hit up pilates before I teach my yoga class, but this week I really just wanted to spend some extra time with the hubster. We had some dinner and did some Acroyoga. Well we attempted, I couldn’t get my balance which basically means that I dropped him a few times! Good thing my legs are short so the 2 feet he dropped didn’t harm him. He’s such a good sport- I love that he’s into practicing with me <3 My class went well this week and it’s so great to see it picking up :) 

    Friday was PT and Bodyrock- 300 rep workout. This shizz is hard!! It took me just under 32 mins to complete. Why did it take me so long? Well 30 pull ups along with 1-2-3 one leg lunges and 3 knee tuck pushups.. which was of course on top of other exercises- my arms were on fire! FYI- they are still sore 2 days later.. I LOVE these workouts. Zuzana is so bad-ass!

    I went out to dinner and drinks with a couple friends and had a blast. We went to Kon’s which has a hibachi! So much fun, a TON of food (Hubster had a huge box of left overs to take to school Saturday) and affordable. The atmosphere was perfect with a big Buddha statue and koi pond right in the center (I forgot my camera of course) Afterwards we headed back to Melinda’s house for more drinks and conversation.. Great night! I can’t wait to hang out again!

 Saturday- rough start. Like I said there were drinks the night before- and I struggled to get out of bed. I did make it though and was able to sleepily make it through and hour of both yoga and pilates. I felt much better afterwards. I did some much needed cleaning and baking!! 

   

The recipe was from Veganomicon, Pumpkin cake with pecan streusel topping. I didn’t have enough pecans so I just mixed almonds and brazil nuts in there and it worked out just fine. For whatever reason I wanted to make them into mini cakes or muffcakes if you will I figured they are easier to share this way :) It came out super yummy, even without a few spices that happened to be missing- eh who needs cloves and ginger anyway?
    Once the hubster came home from school we set out to our old stomping grounds in Providence- we walked around for a good hour and a half before we started to think about dinner. We wanted to make dinner so we hit up the grocery store and bought a few things to make dinner extra special.

Oh my yum! James wanted to make twice baked potatoes so we brainstormed and put lots of good stuff in there. We sauted onions and garlic, added broccoli, scallions, feta and cheddar cheese. So good!
 Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.. time for coffee and cartoons :) enjoy yours!

Over the last two weeks..

I have lost track of the time on more than one occasion. As the kitchen projects are coming to a close, things seem to get crazier and crazier. There are still a lot of little things that need to be done in the kitchen but I’m happy to report that the major things are now done! We have cabinets, counter tops and full use of the stove, sink and brandy-new dishwasher!!! Things that still need to be done:
-cabinet fixtures and glass for the upper cabinet doors
- touch up paint that got damaged durning the installing of the counter tops
-need to find 2 bar stools
- baseboard molding, and the framing of the window
- finish getting all of the packed away odds and ends into their places
    It’s not much when you think about where we came from..

From this:

To this:

It still doesn’t seem like this is MY KITCHEN! I absolutely love it! It was worth the wait let me tell ya :)

On March 20 and the week before I put together a bake sale to benefit the victims of the earth quake in Japan- Together with the other teachers of the studio we raised over $1000! It was more than I could have ever expected: 

 That is Hubby, Dad and BB from left to right :) 

I’ve been dealing with LOTS of Achilles issues

Though it’s been tough dealing with the ankle, but I’ve been trying to push through and continue my workouts and day to day life. It’s been working but with pain.. At least its functional so I won’t complain :)

Insanity and Yoga

  Another sweaty Insanity which in reality really just made me want to vomit the entire time. Rough Nuggets..
    Hit up Classic tock yoga over at the studio- I felt like I needed a good stretch. It was good, but not exactly what I needed- I know that’s the problem with going to someone else’s class, when I should have just practiced in my own yoga space but hey I wanted some company- and that made it worth it. The studio is small which makes the community awesome :)
    Anyway my body feels pretty beat up, call it the combo of Insanity/yoga/pilates/bodyrock/gym.. slacklining- it feels very tired and my achilles tendon hates it! Rest is going to have to wait- I have to work today, and teach tonight- plus I usually go to pilates too.. Better to be busy!

Living by the number

  I think we have all done it. We weigh ourselves- no matter what the number is we always wish that it was something better. Maybe it’s less and maybe it’s more than we want it to be. I know for myself I have struggled with the numbers for more than 14 years- over half of my life. It seems not to matter what the number says when I look down- I am never satisfied.. There is something in my head that tells me that I weigh too much, there is some that I need to lose. Let’s back track for a minute...
     My obsession with the numbers started during my years of swimming, I would compare myself to every.single.girl. that was on my team. I started to see them as enemies instead of teammates. “Why can’t my legs be as thin as theirs?” “Why are they skinnier than me?” “Why do they swim faster than me?” I don’t know what number I thought I should weigh- but I remember thinking that all I had to do was stop eating.. just exercise more and more. I would do crunches, leg lifts, push ups every day. Worse I would weigh myself more than 5 times a day. That number would help me starve myself- I didn’t deserve to eat because I was a fat ass. My dad would pack me a lunch and I would throw it away everyday. I would go to swim practice for 2-3 hours on a completely empty stomach, running on powerade alone. The obsession continued throughout my teen years, and really become something that I couldn’t avoid. Lets just fast forward to get to the point. I knew that I had to get rid of the scale because there was just no way I could heal mentally with that thing in my house. At the time I weighed 118. I held strong and lived without the scale for a few years. I never felt comfortable in my skin so it was hard to judge if I had gained or lost weight- It came to the point that I saw a photo of myself and realized that I indeed had put on some weight, and I freaked out when I broke down and bought a scale.. I weighed 134.. (Now I had messed with my diet quite a bit I’ve been vegan- but then raw, and mostly fruit.. and the fruit diet really screwed my body up.... ) I immediately started dieting.. I just wanted to get back to 118. But I wanted to do it in a healthy way. I started back in August- counting calories and working out consistently- practicing yoga, and cardio. Unfortunately 1 month later- my ankle got injured, and though I did take a break for a little bit- I got right back about 2 weeks later...I went down to 127- and I have not in more than 7 months been able to break that number. I have struggled with this, seriously. I don’t know what else I can do- I eat well, I workout consistently 5-6 days a week. I’m just trying to focus on being strong and healthy.

Pure Cardio- Insanity

This is my third installment of Insanity with S.. It was a sweaty one! My legs were sore from yesterday’s Bodyrock workout and it felt good to get some extra blood flow to them, hoping that it speeds up my heal time.  Not only is Shaun T. easy on the eyes but it makes me feel good that he himself is sweating just as much as I am. Parts of the workout, most especially the stretching, are really boring- they are the same in every DVD I have done and S says they are always the same. Kind of a bummer in my book- but overall I think its a fun and tough program.

It is a beautiful day here. Still a bit chilly but I’m planning to get some hooping in. It has been months since I’ve had a really good hoop-jam and I’m looking forward to getting the sun shine on my face :) Here’s to spring!!!