Into 2014...

Yous guys, the end of the year is upon us. We are in our last hours of 2013, so I thought I would take a moment to recap some of the more wonderful (and sometimes challenging) things that took place in 2013.

This year...

In January, I figured out this headstanding business ;)

In February I got officially certified as a yoga instructor and started teaching my very own class on Thursday evenings.

March I ran my second 10K ever (which was brutal) and went to a self defense workshop.

In April, hubs and I went on a weekend getaway to Catalina - where I had never been before.

We went up North for the Livermore Wine Festival in May. We also cleaned out and reorganized the garage.

June, I took a long weekend to visit my baby sister in Portland.

In July, I celebrated entering my 30th year.

In August, we went to Vegas.

In September, I saw the Backstreet Boys in concert for the first time since 2000. I ran a half marathon and the following weekend, we went up to Santa Barbara and Los Olivos to celebrate our second anniversary!... oh yeah, and then I went to Hawaii.

October was mostly cooking. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen - making oatmeal, pesto, and granola.

In November, we finally painted the master bedroom - after living here for 3 years. It was time. I also did 108 sun salutations.

And December I ran another 10k, had a wonderful Christmas, hosted a photo challenge, and realized that very soon it will be the year I turn 30. Like, whoa.

I have lots of ideas about what 2014 will be like, but you never really know, do you?
I'm excited to see what the future brings.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 52

Whelp, that's it, I guess, isn't it? The final full week of 2013! Dang.

Sunday I tagged along with my friends Chelsea and Kim to Equinox for Chelsea's Fit Ballet Body class. Oh my! My legs! It was a nice change of pace.

Monday I didn't manage any exercise. I don't even remember why. We'll call it a rest day. :)

Tuesday morning we got up early and went to the gym together before my in-laws arrived. I just did a quick 3 mile treadmill run and then showered at the gym before my honey and I went out to relaxed Christmas Eve breakfast.

Christmas day I managed to eat well most of the day, but no exercise.

Thursday I taught class in the morning and the evening. I planned to get in some P90X2, but never did. By the time I got home from teaching, it was late and I was tired.

Friday I got to work CRAZY early. So I had a full and long evening of free time and gymming. I ran 3 miles, did a good amount of stretching and foam rolling, and then did 100 pushups (in sets of 20)

Saturday afternoon we went to the gym together, but I was lagging. I just barely managed to motivate myself to get on the elliptical for a half hour - and it was boring - but running seemed like too much stress for the minor aches I was having, so I took it easy-ish.

Only 2 more days left in 2013! My workouts and I will see you on the other side!

Our Christmas in Photos

We started the Eve by trying to stay out of the house as much as possible since we were having our house cleaned that day.

Hubs and I got up early and went to the gym. We showered and changed there and then had a lovely breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien.

Yoga Photo Challenge; Week 3 Recap!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. We're nearing closer and closer to 2014 and I am having so much fun with these photos. I hope everyone participating is enjoying themselves playing and starting to get to know and love yoga.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays 

from our home to yours!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I doubt I'll be at my computer much over the next few days. Just thought I'd take a moment to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I'll be back at the end of the week with this weeks photo challenge recap and perhaps a lovely recipe or two! 

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 51

I've been tracking my workouts every day of every week for almost a year. I'm pretty darned impressed with myself in this regard.

Perhaps I'll keep it going in 2014?

Sunday the extent of my exercise was walking from one end of the mall to the other. The joys of Christmas shopping.

Monday I started P90X2. I don't know if I'm going to do the whole program yet, but I'll at least be sticking with it through Christmas (and possible New Years). The first workout in the program is X2 Core. I forgot how tough some of those moves are. Whoa, man.

Tuesday I had a brutal headache, but I ate a protein bar and took some exedrin and 30 minutes later... BAM! Ready for plyocide... which may still be my absolute favorite P90 workout ever of all time.

Wednesday I got a call in the middle of the day to sub an evening class last minute, so I taught 2 classes - one before work and one after. I got home around 8, ate a healthy dinner, watched TV and crashed.

Thursday I taught my evening class and then came home and cleaned the house. It was a mildly disappointing evening. Eating was bad too. All around.

Friday morning I had some extra time to kill, so I go outside and went for 3.9 mile run. I was at about the 2.5 mile mark when I decided that instead of just doing 3 laps or 4 laps for an even 3 or 4 miles, I would make the loop wider, which added not quite a full mile to the last loop. It was good. I started to lose my motivation in the 3rd lap, but I wanted to keep running, so I just made it take longer to get home. :)

Saturday no workout was had. Day times. My brother in law was staying with us and an opportunity to workout just never presented itself.
Oh well.

How was your week? 

Yoga Photo Challenge; Week 2 Recap!

These look so amazing! I am so proud and so happy. You'll probably recognize most of these faces, but I am loving the creativity happening here.

Kitchen Adventures; Oatmeal Scotchies

Remember how I mentioned that my husband thought it was borderline blasphemy that I put oatmeal in my chocolate chip cookies? For him, oatmeal cookies weren't chocolate chip - they were butterscotch... "scotchies" as he called them. I'd never heard of these "scotchies", but I love butterscotch, so I was willing to give it a go.

He called his mom.

Holiday Happiness; 2013

Whelp! The stockings are hung, the tree is lit and holiday cards are slowly collecting on the entry mirror. As one might expect, our decorations are very similar to last year - when I posted this way way earlier.

Aside from filling my house will sparkly decor - I finally jumped on the chalkboard bandwagon and put "Merry and Bright" on the chalkboard we used in our wedding photo booth, and got us a star for the top of the tree - I pretty much love everything about the holidays...

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 50

We're seriously counting down to the end of the year. Eeeeeeee!

Sunday I ate cookies and pizza and cleaned my house... again. Things blow up when home repairs take over your life. That's just how it is.

Monday I decided to run back into the Valley and get to the advanced cardio barre. I ate a lot of cookies at work that day, so about halfway through class I decided I needed to stay for a second class after. The second class was a lot harder this time than the first time I did two in a row, but I'm glad I did it. Needed to burn off the cookies.

Tuesday I made it out to the gym for total fit body. It was a good class - she's always great, but my mind was somewhere else, so I don't know how hard I worked. Definitely got a decent workout, but I wish I'd done more, ya know?

Wednesday I was very wishy washy about what I wanted to do for a workout. Yoga or jogging or P90X or Cardio Barre or other yoga studio or yoga at home or 10 minute trainer on XBox Fitness. Up until I pulled into our driveway, I wasn't even sure where I would workout. Then as I realized I would have to go through a whole rigmarole to get my car into the garage, it was either stay and workout at home or change quickly and get out. I decided to stay in and do Tracey Mallet's F.I.T.. It was so hard, but it was exactly what I needed.

Thursday was teaching. I had a decent size class and I had originally wanted to go running after class, but it was late and I had errands I wanted to run, so I went to pick up some stocking stuffers instead. I also started #12daysoffitness cumulative circuit. It's kinda fun so far. Day 1 was only a plank.

Friday night I went to Ashtanga Yoga for the second time ever. I really like most of it, but some of the poses are just not cool with me. For example, my arms don't fit in the spaces between my legs when in full lotus. No way. AND there's another pose that I just am not meant to do... it's called urdhva padmasana. Friday night it F-d up my neck. We're not friends.

Saturday afternoon hubs and I went to the gym. I was a little worried about my neck and didn't really want to do anything, but once we got there and I got on the treadmill, I was feeling better and I just decided to go for it. I ran 3 miles and danced my heart out as I ran. I ended up having a lot of fun. Didn't hurt my neck at all. Yay!

How was your week? How are your workouts fitting in with holiday madness?

Currently; December 2013

Whelp, it's December. Last "currently" post of the year. Panda and I went on a fun hike with my mom, big sis and all the other pups on the 1st. Panda definitely thought it was the most amazing thing ever.

Currently, I'm...

Reading...
Finally getting back into Lost at Sea, which I am loving. It's a compilation of short stories/articles - beginning with an interview with the Insane Clown Posse. Interest = captured. I also have a growing list of books I mean to read.

Watching...
OHMYGOOOOOSH! So, I knew about who was gonna die in the mid-season finale on Walking Dead, but I still didn't want to see it. That's all I'm gonna say about that.
In other news; Secret Princes. If you haven't already, please get in on that. It's TOO amazing.
I'm still marathoning Bones in my free time. I'm in season 5. It's getting a little annoying, but I like seeing how they bring in characters.
AND I signed up for a free month of Amazon Prime, so I've decided to watch Sherlock. Not disappointing, in fact, pretty amazing. Benedict Cumberbatch is unbelievably talented... even if his name makes me giggle.

How to Use a Foam Roller

Howdy friends! I hope you all are having a great time gearing up for the rest of the holiday season. A little while back, I wrote this post about foam rolling and how it really helped me with my leg pain after I ran my half marathon. A blogger friend of mine saw my post on instagram and had all kinds of questions about how to use a foam roller. When I went to answer her, I realized it would be a lot easier if I made a little video and demonstrated how I used my foam roller.

This video is only 4 minutes long, so I obviously didn't cover everything - traps, for example, totally left those out - but if you have questions, please please ask me. The magic of the internet makes it super easy for me to get you all the information you need!

Yoga Photo Challenge; Week 1 Recap!

I am so so thrilled with the response I am getting for my photo challenge! I wanted to take a few minutes as we completed each week and share the incredible photos people are posting. Mine are in here too! It's a challenge for me, as well, after all!

Fitness Things; I Ran a (third) 10K

Saturday, December 7, 2013, my good friend Katye and I got up long before the crack of dawn and drove our little selves down to Santa Monica to run 6.2 miles in the Santa Monica to Venice Christmas 10K.

First, let's all just take a minute to appreciate my awesome race day outfit - the hat I got at Target the night before, 49ers jersey from my loving husband, and amazing red tights I borrowed from my big sis. I felt a little like the ghost of Christmas football. If that's a thing. ALSO, it's been COLD, so I'm totally wearing my favorite Zella live-in compression leggings underneath the red ones.

Mile 1
I felt like I was moving at a good clip, but everyone was passing me. I also felt like I had a lot of rust to shake off, so that first mile was actually kind of hard. I committed to myself that I would keep my pace as long as I could and before I knew it, the mile marker showed up and I started mile 2...

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 49

Sunday I went on a pretty decent hike with my mom and my sister. It was about an hour and a half, but I don't know exactly how far we went. I wore my heart rate monitor, so I know I burned just over 400 calories.

Monday I was exhausted. No reason for it either - just freaking tired. I think I wore myself out emotionally over stupid stuff. By the end of the day, I was fine, but still not motivated to go to the gym, so I did some pushups and situps, some free weights in the living room. Not a huge workout, but at least it was something. I even did some yoga in front of my Christmas tree. :)

Tuesday I jogged - like I'd told myself I would do on Monday, but was too tired. I only did 3 miles. I was kinda in a funky mood, plus I had a little cramping in my right ribs, so I didn't do 4 miles like I'd planned. I decided that I definitely needed to get back outside and run so I could just go at a natural pace and stop when I get where I'm going, not when I just don't feel like it anymore.

Wednesday! Power Yoga! I needed it after I neglected to stretch after my run on Tuesday. My IT band was going cray-zay. Unfortunately, yoga did not solve all of my problems. There are only so many poses that target that part of your leg and if there is one spot that's killing you, you may not get to it in a led class.

Let's talk about Thursday though - for reals. I put a gym bag together for myself on Wednesday night. Deodorant, hair goop, makeup and a change of clothes. I got up at 6:15, put on my workout clothes and trotted downstairs to drive my butt out to the Bu for my planned 6 mile run. Panda was pumped. It was a day to play at, her friend, Blue's house. AND THEN...
... the garage door motor was busted. I went downstairs to open the garage to *click*click* instead of the sound of the garage door opening. The next hour was spent making phone calls and sending texts. Our garage door mechanism is so old, the lever is stuck so someone stronger than I am needed to unstick it. Tim's installing a new motor this weekend, but Thursday morning I had to call my parents to come pick me up so I could borrow their car to get to work. No jogging for me... and kind of a big chunk of money to spend on a new garage door motor. Happy Christmas. Life. Happening.

Friday I cleaned my house... because it was a huge freaking mess. I don't even know how it happened, but I was overwhelmed by it, so I cleaned it.

and Saturday I ran in the Santa Monica to Venice Christmas Run 10K. It went great and I am super happy. I'll have a whole separate post about that.

How was your week?

Just for Fun; Family Photos

Hubs and I were apart on Thanksgiving this year. I would normally enlist a family member to snap a few quick shots of us with the pup outside before dinner, but this year since we were in two different places, that was not an option.

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 48

Thanksgiving week! How was your Thanksgiving? I taught all the classes in the universe this week while battling a cold. It was crazy week.

Sunday I did my 9 sun salutations, but I didn't have any mommies and babies to teach, so I took Cardio Barre. We had a sub, but it was still packed, which was nice and also a pain - just because 3 people to a bar stinks.

Monday I felt great when I did my 9 sun salutations. Then I did a "juice cleanse". I put it in quotes because by 3 sips into my 4th juice, I was ready to throw them all out. I was heavy and tired and had a headache looming I knew would only get worse... and it did. By 7pm, I was laying on the living room floor, having had only 2 more sips of juice since I'd left work at 445, and everything hurt - my brain, my bones, my muscles and tendons. I ate half a wrap I had leftover from Sunday and spent the rest of the evening trying and trying not to throw it up. No workout happened.

Tuesday I put my 9 sun salutations off until the evening. In fact, I was in my pajamas when that happened, but I did manage to get myself into the studio and onto the mat for Power Yoga. It was a really hard class - probably harder still because I was battling a cold. She had us do a ton of core work.

Wednesday was kinda cray. I worked a full day and taught 2 classes. My honey and I went out for Chinese that night. First night of Hanukkah and all, it felt appropriate. I don't feel bad about it at all.

Thanksgiving Thursday I taught bright and early and then took yoga class a few minutes away because I still have a Groupon I need to use! I actually did a lot of the class with them in the morning. I just didn't really hold things. I opted to walk around and check form, which was spot on for the most part. I was impressed.

Friday I got up and felt like crap. I didn't even eat that badly on Thursday. I had one plate, one cookie, and one piece of pie. No snacking! I did have a couple glasses of champagne though. :P I brushed my teeth (which helped a ton) and then opted to drive instead of bike to Cardio barre because it was threatening to rain. I was/am still getting over a bit of a cold, so every stretch in the beginning of class felt amazing and terrible. There was no getting around it though.

Saturday I got up earlyish and took power yoga! It was a challenge. I was achey and a little stuffy, so I held back appropriately when I needed to.

I'm hoping to get back to working my butt off in the gym this coming week.

How was yours?