Category Archives: yoga

Jul 30 2013
6 Comments
adventures, fitness, food, fun, life, nachos, travel, vegan food, yoga

7ish Months… and a ton of traveling and other stuff

Wow. I haven’t blogged in seven months. I could have almost had a baby in that time! HA! Or I could have gotten in amazing shape. Or I could have… well, I could have done a million things but I’ll start by telling you a couple things I HAVE done in the last seven months.

Ok, well, one thing I didn’t do: I didn’t run that half marathon I started training for last fall. It was supposed to be in February. I ended up having to travel for work that weekend and when I found out about the trip I lost all my momentum (and I lost my entrance fee I’d already paid too). I also injured my hip somehow and was getting acupuncture treatments for a few months… and then I FELL on my hip while stepping up on a curb while running… so anyway, I stopped running altogether. Maybe I’ll get back to it at some point.

The very most awesome thing that has happened is that I got a NEW JOB that I love! I am still a Marketing Coordinator. But now I am working from home for a not-for-profit society. I won’t go into detail because its a very specific green construction industrial segment that will likely bore you… haha. But it’s not boring to me and that’s all that matters! I’m just absolutely thrilled with my new position.

I have travelled A LOT this year for work (old and new jobs) and a bit for pleasure:

  • January- Houston
  • February- Denver
  • March- Sacramento and Las Vegas
  • April- I stayed home!
  • May- Orlando
  • June- Las Vegas (for fun!!), Cleveland (I loved it there!), Omaha (for a wedding…)
  • July- Orlando… again

And coming up the rest of the year:

  • August- Chicago
  • September- no work trips so hopefully I can go on another mini-vacay
  • October- Chicago again- I love it there so no problem with this!
  • November- Calgary- my first trip to Canada!
  • December- Hawaii with my Fam! :)

Whew. I’m still cooking lots of vegan food. I’m still Instagramming all the time (obsessed might describe it). And I’m still NOT on Facebook– which is seriously awesome. I never miss it. It’s been months and months and months. I was seriously addicted to Facebook so this was a necessary cutting of the ties. I tweet every now and then, but it’s pretty few and far between.

I want to start blogging on a more regular basis again. I’m trying to find my path though for that. I guess this is a just a general lifestyle blog and my space so I can do whatever I want. I’m thinking maybe some posts on my plants, my home (which we’ve been working on quite a bit lately), nachos of course, my fitness journey, yoga…

I’ve been working from home a little over a month now, but just got my office set up last weekend. I needed to hit up Ikea. I plan to do an office tour soon- when I get it all set. In the meantime- here’s a pic of the cheerful rug I picked, and my beloved Nathan checking it out.

Cheers! rug and nathan

Dec 18 2012
4 Comments
fitness, life, yoga

I have a life!

Today is my third day of taking a break from facebook and twitter. I actually just shared two instagram posts on twitter and responded to a tweet from a friend, but I didn’t scroll through my feed or anything else. Also, I’m about to log into FB just to adjust my settings so I get the email notifications if, say, someone invites me to a party or something! But, I must say, I feel more calm and centered without the constant facebook checking that was happening before!

Yesterday after work, I went for a three mile run and then headed to a 90 minute restorative yoga class. When I was done I felt like a zen pile of mush. And I mean that in the best possible way! In the past I would probably have gotten in the car after yoga and sat there for 10 minutes checking my facebook feed before driving home. That is how addicted I was. It’s gross, really.

So, I’m feeling good about this decision. Really good. And it is so nice to remember that I have a real life beyond facebook and twitter!

Dec 15 2012
5 Comments
holidays, life, yoga

Taking a Coffee Break of Sorts

Today I decided to take a social media sabbatical for an undetermined amount of time. It might only be a day or two. Or it might be forever (highly doubtful). There is just too much sadness going on in the world and I can’t control what is coming into my line of sight. Several years ago I made the conscious decision to stop watching the news and reading newspapers (print and online). It made a huge difference in my anxiety level and my mental well being. I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder and I don’t want to treat it with pills so I treat it with diet, yoga, and careful control of outside stimulus. Lately I’m having trouble keeping my diet clean, my yoga practice regularity has fallen off, and of course, every time I log into my facebook or twitter accounts I see horrible news. Not just national tragedies but friends and local neighbors facing devastating realities. Living in a bubble is an act of self preservation at times.

For the next few weeks I want to focus on Christmas and making cookies and wrapping gifts and listening to Christmas music and staying warm and cozy. Maybe drink some hot toddies (what exactly are hot toddies? I think of them as any hot cocktail-type drink…) And I LOVE the new year! I love a fresh start. Making resolutions and setting goals for the year. I’m training (not very dedicated at this point and that is another issue) for my first half marathon at the end of February, so I REALLY need to focus on that too. I want to do a juice cleanse for the first week or 10 days of January. I want to practice yoga daily. I want to make a vision board. I want to focus on the things I love, rather than wasting hours a day reading about crap on Facebook. So, I deleted the twitter and facebook apps from my phone. I’ll probably still Instagram because I love looking at pictures of food and kitties and pretty faces. And I’ll continue to read my blogs. My lovely, crafty, foodie, creative blogs. I love reading blogs. David called them my ‘shiny happy blogs’. :) I love that. And I also plan to blog here again. But I might not post any pics. Do people read blogs without pictures? I do.

Happy Holidays lovies!

Tagged , , ,
Sep 28 2011
4 Comments
adventures, do stuff, fitness, fun, life, talent, yoga

Let’s Get Physical

Ms Olivia!

I’ve always loved group exercise classes. I took an old school aerobics class with my mom and sister held in a high school gymnasium when I was little. I LOVED it. I took dance throughout my childhood and while I may not have been the star of the class, I sure had fun! I still love to get my dance groove on, especially with a bunch of other people having fun too! In high school I took Step Aerobics classes all the time and also a class called ‘Stretch & Relax’, which was yoga but the YMCA in the early 90s did not want to call it that!

I’ve always wanted to teach aerobics and several years ago I started taking Turbo Kick classes (cardio kickboxing). I was immediately addicted to this format and I thought- I HAVE to teach this. It is so fun! But I didn’t bite the bullet and figure out how to actually get certified to teach until this year. The first step in the process was to obtain a Primary Group Exercise certification through once of the nationally recognized aerobics and fitness organizations. I chose AFAA (American Fitness & Aerobic Association) because it has a good reputation and also because they have a discounted testing program twice a year.

I received my study materials (a GIANT textbook and a study guide, along with a supplemental text book) this summer and had a few months to learn the material. I studied my little heart out and finally the big day came!

I drove 117 miles to downtown Los Angeles to attend a day long workshop and examination. We spent the majority of the day practicing our routines and reviewing the materials as a group. The test consisted of a group practical exam where we had to show various exercises and stretches for different muscles groups as the muscles were called out. This went on for what seemed like a very long time. I was sure sweaty when we were finally done demonstrating all the exercises!

Next we had to do the individual practical portion where we basically taught the class on our own- showing a specific muscle strengthening move, a stretch, or a cardio routine, showing beginner, intermediate, and advanced modifications, whilst smiling, maintaining eye contact, continually talking about form, alignment and safety… all within one to two minutes!! Oy- that was tough, but fun! I was soooo nervous! But once I got up in front of the group I was just excited. I felt at home. I kept repeating to myself the entire day, “I was born to do this. I was born to do this.” It worked! I was born to do this! I want to bring fun, dancey, sweaty, healthy exercise to people that might not normally be inclined to do it!

I was afraid I would be the biggest person in the room. I was afraid I would be the oldest person in the room. I was afraid of a lot of things. But I was dead-wrong. There was every kind of person, from all walks of life in that room. There were 92 very different individuals with 92 different bodies, faces, points of view, and personalities. It was an amazing experience that I will remember with love forever!

It takes 4-6 weeks for the results of the testing to arrive in the mail. The test was a couple weeks ago, so I now have 2-4 weeks left? I feel confident that I passed. I’ll find out soon enough!