June 2012
63 posts
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May 2012
76 posts
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Any meal you don't have to cook
My mom is visiting for a few days. We had sandwich thins with tuna fish (mixed with some olive oil mayonnaise and Penzey’s ranch dressing mix) topped with a thin slice of smoked Gouda, and then I stuck everything under the broiler. This is my favorite I’m-too-hungry-to-cook meal.
She’s gushing over it.
Nutella mug cakes are next. (Leave out the sugar—the Nutella is sweet...
Talking to my brother about a recent surgery
Me: I'm getting a new family. This one's medical history stinks.
Brother A: Maybe you should have done better research before you were born.
Me: It's just sad when I'm the healthiest person in the family.
Brother A: Yeah, you and your gut.
Me: Hey! My beer belly is mostly gone now!
Brother A: That's not what I meant, Miss I-Throw-Up-Everything-Delicious-and-Good-in-This-World.
Me: Touche. And I haven't thrown up in months. How about I punch you in your thyroid?
Brother A: Can't. Don't have one anymore.
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Just breathe
The first thing that struck me in yoga last night was the sound of breathing. My own breath and I know each other pretty well, but I’d forgotten what it was like to be in a room of people who knew their breathing. This was strong ujjayi breath with inhales and exhales going on right on top of each other. One habit I had to break myself of was matching my breathing to someone else’s....
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I'm a big cheater
Good news: my home practice has paid off. My yoga instructor thought I’d been cheating on him with another studio. Guess I never really filled him in on the whole whirlwind move.
I was a little worried about practice tonight. A) I haven’t practiced in 8 days, and B) this is a class that regularly left me collapsing on my mat when I was at my peak. (I high-fived the friend who brought...
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Yoga fashion
I see/hear a lot of things about what you should wear to yoga. My preference has already been made clear, but obviously I’m not going to inflict my cellulite on anyone else (unless you’re at my apartment pool in the early hours of the morning, in which case you should deal with it). My first yoga class, I wore a pair of workout pants from Target, a sports bra from Target, and a cotton...
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Bad News: I haven’t done yoga since Sunday.
Worse News: I see no way to be able to do yoga until next Monday.
Good News: I will be home by then and can properly get my butt kicked at my home studio.
*goes to put yoga mat next to suitcase
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I’ve got crepes, I’ve got wine, I’ve got a pile of papers to grade. Something went wrong last night…
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New morning concoction
vanilla almond milk + 1 t. cocoa powder + frother = frothed chocolate milk
2 t. turbinado sugar + Caribou blend K-cup = sweet coffee
frothed chocolate milk + sweet coffee = delicious morning mocha
And it’s such a pretty color…
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I’ve got pizza, I’ve got beer, I’ve got a pile of papers to grade. This could go very well or very badly.
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Apples and peanut butter have to be the best thing ever.
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Dear Diary
I started a food log towards the end of undergrad. It wasn’t so much about weight as it was getting healthy from the inside out, literally. My older brother had been having a lot of problems and his doctor’s explanation was that he had a genetic disease, one that caused 100% of people with the disease to have colon cancer by the time they’re 40.
I’d been on a low residue...
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Dear Sugar
I have to give you up in two weeks. I really don’t want to do this. Yes, you’re in chocolate, and I have a lot of chocolate left over from Teacher Appreciation Week, but I can deal with that. You know what’s going to be so hard? Giving up my morning coffee. Just a teaspoon of you makes things so much better.
I’d like to say “it’s not you, it’s me,”...
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Canned it is
My attempts at domesticity are so not worth it. I’m making crockpot chicken tortilla soup, but I decided to use dried beans instead of canned to lower the amount of sodium.
This is a ridiculous amount of work, my stove is a mess, and this whole endeavor started at 11:00 last night. From now on, chickpeas are the only beans I deal with dried.
But the smells coming from my crockpot are...
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Asteya
I need to make a big financial / life decision very quickly (like, this week), and it’s causing me no end of stress and list-making.
I’m not sure how this happened, but I was remembering an Ashtanga class I took back in January (as part of my second 30 day challenge). My journal entry from that day:
We did one of the eight limbs of yoga today—yama, which I guess are sort of...
Grocery shopping with a basket on the weekend should count as strength and agility training.
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Yoga people
I was in grad school when I first started yoga, so I spent the first few months just going to one Sunday class—my school and work schedule didn’t allow for much more than that. I developed a good relationship with my instructor. She knew when and how to push me, and she would tell me when to back off when I got stubborn. She was an athlete, and she had a powerful body, and she was the...
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“Our butts are a big part of our lives. They’re a reference point. Kind of...”
– Tara Judelle
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Something new on the horizon
Just had a chat with a friend on the East Coast, and we’re planning on starting the Mayo Clinic Diet together (long distance) on June 4. Food logging and curriculum planning. This will be our summer.
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“I do yoga so that I can stay flexible enough to kick my own arse if necessary.”
– Betsy Cañas Garmon (posted by a friend during my first 30 Day Challenge)
English Teacher: I'm so tired I could cry. That's just wrong.
Me: I already considered crying. But it took too much energy.
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Third servings of salad
My favorite salad is spinach, green onions, carrots, and sweet onion dressing. That is, when I’m in the mood for salad, which will last for about a week when I’ll eat a salad for lunch and dinner and then not want salad ever again.
I stumbled across this recipe for balsamic chickpeas tonight. If there’s anything I love, it’s chickpeas in all of their fine forms and...
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Will you be my prom date?
Prom is this Friday, and I’m chaperoning, which feels so weird! I think I’m being punished for deciding to skip my senior prom, returning my dress, and using the money to take my friend and myself out to dinner at Olive Garden. (Best night ever.)
It’s been awhile since I’ve been around a lot of girls, and the body image issues at my school are just… terrible....
Second night in a row
I couldn’t sleep, yet again. This is not me. I am a solid 9-to-6. Except now I’m a tossing and turning 2-to-5.
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My brain says "do more yoga"
My body says “you did twenty minutes today, you worked a full day, you had ten bazillion meetings (and by that, I mean two), I’m sick, and oh yeah, do you remember the knee you bruised on Saturday and continuously knocked against your desk today? Let me rest”.
Yes, we have conversations like this. Listening to my body is sort of a new thing for me.
Laundry and apples and peanut...
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While doing a little lunchtime yoga...
Student: Uh, miss... you're upside down.
Me: I am indeed.
Student: So... would this be a bad time to talk to you about World War II?
Me: Is there ever a bad time to talk to me about World War II?
Student: Okay... Yeah, you gotta come down, I can't talk to you like this.
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First yoga class in three years
celestegivesup:
In honor of Bethany, obviously.
I can’t wait to power the hell out of this yoga. And maybe relax. And give my tense muscles some love.
P.S. - Bethany was my college roommate for three years. She is the best. Maybe the worst. Just kidding, Bny, I love you. But not more than I love month-old peppermint hot chocolate. Or oatmeal.
Celeste is ridiculous. I still have the...
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Downward dog, my sworn enemy
I did a 30 day challenge in January of 2011, and at the beginning of one of the classes we were supposed to partner up and talk about our favorite and least favorite poses. It was the first time I’d gone to this particular class, so I didn’t know anyone, which meant I had to trust my deepest, darkest secret to a complete stranger.
Truth: I hate downward dog.
When this was shared with...
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Ham and asparagus risotto
This is my current go-to recipe when I have no idea what to make for dinner. I try to keep all the ingredients on hand at all times for whenever the craving hits. Asparagus was really cheap for awhile, and I was making several batches a week. When it’s ridiculously expensive or out of season, I make it without the asparagus. I should experiment with some other veggies.
Here it is, courtesy...
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The Great Rectangles of Hope
Just finished another immunity boosting yoga practice, this time courtesy of Jason Crandell. When I started doing yoga at home, I bought some blocks, but I usually only use them for forward folds. This practice utilized blocks in the forward folds but as a rest for your forehead—in downward dog, in pigeon, in child’s, in wide-legged forward fold. I’ve never needed blocks for that...
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“Use the Great Rectangles of Hope. They’ll change your life.”
– Tara Judelle
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Me: I don't like this immunity boost tea I bought. I am very unhappy.
Bea: I am going to remedy this. I can't stand your unhappiness.
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And...
I just biffed it trying a headstand without the wall. Thank goodness my desk chair was there to break my fall. Abs, you’re fired. Knee, I’m sorry. It wasn’t you. It’s me.
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Confession
I’m really bad about eating vegetables. I just need to be better about grocery shopping more often. Problem is, the two grocery stores are more convenient to go to on the way to school than coming home, and Starbucks has kiosks in both of them…
