Seven Days of Yoga; Week 8

Wednesday night I taught mommy & baby in the morning. One of the babies was getting over a cold, so I got to hang out with her while mommy did fun planking exercises. That night I was in a funk and, it turned out, so were a lot of people in power yoga. We were just a low energy crew, so the class started out kinda slow, but it really picked up. We built a crazy long series and then a bunch of people started working on handstands. It was cool.

Thursday night I did yoga with my friend Jenny. We did some new stuff. I was in a weird rewind mode, so we'd go through a series and then to do the other side, we'd switch sides mid-series and go backwards. It was fun. We also did a lot of core and leg work, which is easy to forget you're doing in yoga because you don't have to do a lot of reps - you just hold a lunge and breathe for extended periods of time.

Friday  I had a lump in my throat, but I took a bunch of vitamins and went to Ashtanga. I felt great afterward, but as I look back it probably wasn't a good idea.

Saturday I cancelled my private yoga lesson and for exercise I WALKED on the treadmill. It was excruciating not being able to run because I didn't want to push myself and stay sick longer, but I did want to be active in some way.

Sunday I thought maybe I could do an easy workout, but I ended up doing nada. My big adventure was a trip to lululemon to pick out my top to wear when I teach there on March 10th. My husband went to the gym and went to the driving range and I sat at home on the couch and ate too much.

Monday I cancelled my private and got a sub at the studio, and only worked a half day. I did a baby bike ride before the sunset just because I needed to do something. Other than that, it was me and the couch all day.

Tuesday night I brought my yoga mat up from the car and I did a slow/easy yoga practice on my own. I just did a series of half suns, sun As, and sun Bs - about 10 of each. Then some light stretching and a shoulder warm up for the #inversionsmakeyouhot pose that day.

Then & Now

Last week, my friend Alyssa from All Things Beautiful tagged me to participate in a Then & Now series. Even though I look back at my 19 year old self and cringe a little bit, I thought it would be fun to see how much I've changed over the past decade.
I even popped by my parents' house this morning to look through my old albums (2004 was the last year I printed my 35mm photos) and saw pretty much exactly what I was doing and how I was looking this time ten years ago.

Then: 2004 - Age 19
Now: 2014 - Age 29

Crushing On
Then: Johnny Depp
Now: Chris Helmsworth. Thor, all the way. (And my hubby, obviously)

Attitude
Then: Aloof, independent, a little dramatic.
Now: Probably still a little aloof, but every day I work on being more in the moment, friendly and aware.

Hair
Then: Long and messy, lots of kinky, frizzy curls with lots of product
Now: Medium long and slightly more tame. I like to think of it as "hippie chic"

Style
Then: I don't know if you could call what I had back then "style" - a little rocker-ish. I just wore what fit... A lot of black and I had a lot of piercings.
Now: I still wear a lot of black, but usually its yoga clothes. Other than that I'm typically in jeans and sandals with some kind of loose, flowy top.

Watching
Then: The Bachelor, Sex and the City
Now: Being Human, True Detective

Listening
Then: Metallica, Tool, A Perfect Circle, Foo Fighters,
Now: Everything  - from new age yoga stuff to metal to classic rock to pop to country. I am in it to win it.

Reading
Then: What are these books you speak of?
Now: I have a whole list of books I'm trying to get to this year, but so far I haven't gotten to any of them!

Leisure
Then: Rock concerts (the above bands), the beach, shopping
Now: Travel as much as I can, trying to explore more in my own backyard too, going to fun new restaurants

Dreams
Then: Sing in a rock band, become famous, the usual.
Now: Be awesome and happy and spread awesomeness and happiness around. Very vague, I know.

And just for fun, I've decided to tag some of my blogging buddies - Claire, Amy, and Kim. I hope you will join in on this too! My ten year HS reunion was a year and a half ago, (Kim was there, actually - Hi Kim! ;P)  so I did a lot of reminiscing somewhat recently, but it's been pretty cool going back to just those first couple years of college. HS was not my jam, but college - college, I kinda dug.

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 7

Wednesday I taught mommy & baby yoga in the morning. I knew I wasn't going to have time to exercise that night, so I warned them we'd be working harder so I could get my daily workout in. The mommies have babies/10 lb weights to use in class for arm work, whereas I carry around a 1-2 lb stuffed monkey. I feel like I'm cheating, but at least I got some exercise in.

Thursday night I had a full class and then I ran over to the gym and ran 3 miles before going home for a late dinner with my honey.

Friday was Valentine's Day! I worked out at home with my X2 Core DVD before our romantic valentines dinner.

Saturday I taught a private yoga class in the afternoon, and then we went to the gym and I ran 4 miles on the treadmill. It was a late day.

Sunday morning I taught a private yoga class, by the time we got out the door and were heading to the gym, there was going to be a flow class starting, so I decided to take Vinyasa Flow at the studio.We also went to a dinky little local skating rink that night and I got the hubs to skate around with me for a while. Woohoo!

Monday I rode my bike to and from cardio barre, and a little later my honey and I went to to the driving range.

Tuesday I was back on my mat at Power Yoga. I've been trying to get to yoga more often, so I'm super happy I've been able to go.

How was your week?

My Beauty Arsenal

1. Boscia B.B. Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 27 - I just started using BB cream - after hearing about it for ages, I finally started selecting the BB cream samples with my semi-regular Sephora orders. This was the first one I really liked. It goes on smooth and really makes me feel like my skin is damn near flawless.

2. Sephora Classic Brow Brush - I pair this with #6 to fill in my uber-light brows. It's the perfect size and shape.

3. Diorshow Iconic Mascara - I am a stickler for mascaras that are high quality and come in brown as well as the usual black. This was I can go brown for the every day and black when I go out in the evenings. I haven't been using this mascara very long, but I am already loving the brush. It goes on even and doesn't clump. I just wish it weren't quite SO waterproof. It's great for sweaty yoga classes, but kind of a pain to take off every night.

4. Sephora Microsmooth Baked Foundation - I like to just do a light dusting all over my face after I put on my BB cream and it stays all day.

5. First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream - Possibly my favorite thing on the planet. It doesn't have sunscreen, so it's part of my evening regime - but I can't even begin to tell you how amazingly refreshing it is to put this stuff on every night. It's like my face can breathe. It's only just now occurred to me that I can use it during the day as long as I pair it with my BB cream, which has SPF 27. Win.

6. Benefit Cosmetics Brow Zings - I decided to try this when my former go-to brow color was out of stock. It's worked out fantastic. No regrets whatsoever.

7. bareMinerals All-Over Face Color - I use this in place of a full on bronzer - just applying lightly under my cheekbones and under my chin to slim out my naturally soft looking face a bit. I like that it comes in a variety of shades so you can determine how dark you want to go.

8. Stila Smudge Pot Gel Eyeliner - I only wear this when I'm dressing up, but it's awesome. I originally bought it for my wedding makeup, and I still use it pretty regularly. Though I don't dress up all that often. I pair it with an offset eyeliner brush, like this one and get a perfect black line as thin or thick as I want, all the way across my upper lid.

9. mark Eyeshadow Brush - I like the way this eyeshadow brush tapers to a subtle point. It allows me to get more color in the crease without getting color everywhere. It's also a really soft brush and it holds color really well, so you don't need to keep going back for more shadow.

10. bareMinerals Broad Spectrum Multitasking Face - I really only use this on days when I feel like my skin does not look awesome - if I broke out or am feeling splotchy or puffy. It's a fantastic concealer and it will stay in place all day as long as you're not messing with it.

11. mark All Over Eyeshadow Brush - This is the best eyeshadow brush I have ever owned. I probably should get a new one, but I am attached to this one and it still works fine, so I keep putting it off. It just looks a little worse for wear. I just swipe it across the shade I want to use all over my lids, the swoosh swoosh and done. It's magic. I also like to go back over lightly with this brush for a little subtle blending.

12. Clinique All About Shadow Duo - My current go-to eyeshadows. I use the light all over the lid, and then I do like a half moon shape catching at the my upper liner and curving around into the crease. I love these nuetral colors for every day. The dark is just the right amount of dark that it can be taken to either extreme for a super nuetral look, or a night out look.

That pretty much covers it for my current makeup regime. Do you have any favorites you're obsessed with? I'd love to hear about them.
My favorites are changing all the time. There are so many great products out there!

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 6

Happy Valentine's Day!
Here's what I did for my workouts this week...

Wednesday night I went back to Cardio Barre for the first time this year. They changed the schedule a little while back so they don't have advanced classes at 630 on Tuesdays anymore, which was really the best time for me to go. I have to leave work a little early to make it to the 530 class on Monday or Wednesday, so I don't go very often anymore, but it was a great workout on Wednesday. I was home by 645 and able to have a nice dinner with my honey.

Currently; February 2014

I feel like writing these posts make the time go by faster. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Currently, I'm...

Reading...

I'm still working on Lost at Sea!  It's a great read, but since it's a series of short stories, it's hard to get addicted to the story, ya know? I'm really eager to start A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. I read one of his other books, Slam, a while back when I was travelling a lot in grad school. Also, A Long Way Down is being turned into a movie coming out this year, so I'll probably want to see that (starring Aaron Paul and Toni Colette and really, where can you go wrong?!)

Valentine's Loves

1. Chloe + Isabel Stud Earrings

2. Miss Dior Eau De Parfum 

3. Hershey Chocolate Raspberry Hugs

4. Formula X in Mastermind 

5. Cora Cardigan

6.  Seychelles All Smiles Pump

I don't usually do posts like this, but I was inspired. Happy Love Day, y'all!

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 5

Wednesday morning I taught Mommy & baby - we had a good little workout going. I wasn't even doing all of it and I worked up a sweat. That night I was back in the studio for another bad ass yoga practice. By the time we were finishing up the flow, I was exhausted. She cued an arm balance for those who wanted to try it and I didn't even try... but then we went through that whole series on the left side, and something told me to try it. So, from lizard, I tucked my shoulder underneath my left knee, straightened that leg, shifted my weight forward and BAM! I was flying! I've tried this arm balance before, but was never able to get the right weight distributions. I couldn't get my back toes of the ground. This time I was even playing with taking my back leg to different heights. Hooray for new accomplishments!

Thursday night I taught a private yoga lesson with my wonderful friend. It is such a joy to be able to spend time with her and teach and practice yoga. I get to do most of the practice while leading and adjusting. So, I don't feel like I missed my night of exercise. It's pretty awesome.

Friday night I decided to get back to Ashtanga. Last time I went I wasn't super challenged, but I think that had a lot to do with the number of beginners in class. This week was very different. There were so many different levels in the class - some brand new yogis, some ashtanga pros, and me, a seasoned yogi with very little ashtanga experience - they for the last half hour of class, he guided us individually. It was weird, but it worked.

Saturday I took Antigravity yoga in the early morning and in the afternoon I headed over to the gym with my hubby and just did a half an hour on the elliptical and some stretching.

Sunday was boxing. I wasn't totally wiped out afterward, so I ran a mile and did some fun stretching.

Monday I went back for more antigravity yoga - level 2 this time! Word. It was about the same level of difficulty, but it moved so much faster. We did some really cool stuff. There's a workshop coming up next week that I really want to try. I'll let you know if I make it to that.

Tuesday boxing again! There was traffic, so class started a little late. I guess Joseph felt like he needed to make up for the late start, so he put on some crazy fast music. The whole idea is that you move/hit with the music, so keeping up was a huge challenge. I definitely felt like I got my full workout in.

How was your week?

January Cure; Week 5

January came to a close on Friday. This past weekend was Super Bowl partying and Super Bowl prep.

I'm really not sure if any of the items left in the living room or spare bedroom will get finished any time soon. For example, instead of fixing the coffee table, we may just buy a new one. The current table is looking rough and it gets moved around so much - though I really couldn't tell you why - that the legs are just going to get wobbly again. We have talked about tightening the legs and refinishing it though, so who knows what will happen (or when).
And I tend to just get lost in the spare room. There's a light at the end of the tunnel in there, but I really couldn't put a timeline on when I think I'll actually be done going through that stuff. One thing at a time though. One thing at a time.