30x30; See the Golden Gate Bridge in Person

For my big 3-0, I planned a trip to San Francisco for my honey and I. We would do as many ridiculous touristy activities as we possibly could in one long weekend.

Part of the reason for this was because I had two specific to San Francisco items I wanted to check off of my list; see the Giants play the Dodgers and see the Golden Gate Bridge in person.

Though I'd been to San Francisco before - and even walked along areas you can typically see the bridge from - it had always been too cloudy to actually see the Golden Gate Bridge from where I was standing, so I told the hubs I wanted to see it, and he made it happen. He did one better, actually. He wanted us to walk across it.

It was a beautiful day in SF and we walked all the way from the Financial District up to North Beach to get to the bridge. My feet were killing me.

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 30

Wednesday night was another no workout night. I taught in the morning (mommy & baby) and I did do a lot with the class. Then in the evening I taught again, Yoga 1/2 this time. I walked around a lot throughout the day, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a workout.

Thursday I needed some power yoga. My hips/legs were driving me crazy from the moment I woke up through the rest of the day. It felt fantastic to get on my mat and just stretch and flow for an hour and a half.

Friday I didn't have a chance to workout. It was spa day with my grandma and travel to San Francisco day! Luckily our flight was delayed because traffic was turrible.

Saturday we did a ton of walking - almost 17 miles over the course of the day. No further exercise was needed. My feet were killing me.

Sunday (my birthday) I managed to do a little - much needed - yoga in the morning. My feet and ankles needed the most stretching. Then we got back up and walked another 10 miles that day.

Monday was another travel day. We got home early enough that I could get out to my friend's house for our weekly yoga session. My legs needed it sooooo bad.

Tuesday night I was going to try to make it to spin, but I decided to opt out of rushing around and I ended up at a late yoga class at my studio. It was a good workout. The class was called Flight School, so we did a lot of inversions and arm balances. The arm balance section was a little frustrating for me because I couldn't do most of them. They were arm balances that required major belly squishing and my belly just don't squish. I still had fun though, and Thor had a little party in savasana... kind of like he's having right now, actually.

How was your week?

Beach Yoga; Round 1

This post is 98% pictures. #sorrynotsorry

Last week I organized some beach yoga with ma friends. It was great. We're doing it again. I'm super excited.

First of all, it was an absolutely stinking gorgeous day.

Kitchen Adventures; Kale, Quinoa, & Sweet Potato Salad

It's my birthday weekend! Since I'll be out and about eating terribly, I thought I would balance it out with a little health food up in this joint.

I learned some fantastic salad recipes at the Sunday Prep class I took about 2 weeks ago. So far, I've made two of them. I managed to remember to make this one while it was still beautiful and bright out over the weekend. That's why it's going on the internet. ;)

I love this salad (and most of the other salads we made) because it's completely customizable. Your base components are roasted kale, sweet potatoes and quinoa, but pretty much everything else is up to you.

My assistant Panda will show you...

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 29

Wednesday morning I decided to make mommy & baby a little bit more of a workout that usual. My girlfriend and I were supposed to take our dogs for a walk, but it didn't work out so we just walked around the mall.

Thursday night yoga in the park. Savasana is the best time to feel baby barrel rolls.

Friday I taught in the morning, so it messed up my plans to take spin in the evening. No biggie though. The way the studio I was at runs their classes, I ended up doing most of the class with them. They're big on demo-ing there. That night I managed to go to the gym with my honey. It was a mellow night for me though. Just 40 minutes of treadmilling - no jogging., just walking at a pretty good clip.

Saturday morning I met up with some friends for yoga at the beach! It was awesome! My only complaint was that I had to yell everything because the waves were so loud. Ha. We had a great group. I'm so happy it worked out.

Sunday I was going to go to boxing, but when my alarm went off at 8:30, I said F THAT and slept for another 2 hours. It was much needed.  That morning I still went to the gym with my honey, but I was feeling drained, so I walked on the treadmill at a decent clip for a little over a half hour. Later I went to prenatal yoga. I am loving this little studio.

Monday evening is yoga with my buddy. I was feeling draaaaained. Yoga was rough. It's especially hard because I want to give my friend a good workout, but I just don't have the energy to do the things I want to tell her to do. Womp womp. When I got home that night, hubs and I took Panda for a short walk. It was nice to get out and do some extra walking about.

Tuesday night I had dinner with an old friend after I taught my class. I didn't end up having time to work out, but no sweat. I'll make up for it later. :)

How was your week?

Kitchen Adventures; Blueberry Banana Nut Muffins

My mother in law left a lonely banana at our house after 4th of July weekend. It's a mystery. Hubs and I don't eat bananas once they're past a certain point of ripeness, so this one was destined for banana bread or muffins of some kind.

It continued to sit there for longer than I'd like to admit, until one weekend morning I got up and decided today was the day for muffins!

I found a decent looking recipe - using blueberries and coconut - and I got to work.

It wasn't until I'd mixed the oil and sugar together that I realized we didn't have any eggs.

Yoga Baby; Week 20

You'd probably see more of a difference between weeks 19 and 20 if I were in my standard Friday foldover skirt outfit, but I'm teaching this morning, and changing seemed like a pain. 

Week 20

This here is madness. How are we already at the halfway point???????

Here's what's happening with me and the tiny one...

Cravings: I really wanted strawberries with whipped cream 4th of July weekend. Someone posted a picture of berries with cream and that was the end of that. I also kind of got annoyed with someone over the weekend talking about cravings. They were just saying things like "its what the baby wants" and "baby's in control"... and I was thinking to myself, "Me control. No baby control. Me." When I say things like that I am definitely joking around, so I got annoyed. Like I said two weeks ago, my cravings aren't desperate. I just decide something sounds really good, and usually, because I'm pregnant, I use that as an excuse to get it. Sorry for being mini ranty.

Aversions: I really did not want brussel sprouts last week. but I'd hardly call it an aversion. I am still trying to like salmon. It just... its so... bleh. I can stomach it. I'll eat it because it's good for *us, but I still don't like it.

Energy:  Great some days, barely there others. I would say I'm about 70/30 good days to bad days.

Missing: I told hubby I wanted a coffee cocktail served with a raw egg and unpasteurized milk last weekend. We all laughed. In all seriousness though, I could totally go for some tuna sashimi.

Feeling: Still getting headaches. I am taking magnesium every day now though. Still waiting for that to kick in. I think it's helping. Someone recommended I try adding a B supplement too, so help me hold on to less tension  and have more energy or something?  Which would in turn make my head hurt less? I'm not sure. I'm all for trying things though, since I can't take *most medicine. The midwife (as well as a friend of mine) told me that a little caffeine won't hurt. So I've been having some ice tea or iced coffee in the afternoons when I feel them coming on. So far so good.
I was having super fun sharp cramping pains the last week or so, which I've since learned is round ligament pain. I was a little worried for a minute there, but since it's totes norms. I have peace of mind.

Wearing: Maxi dresses and *gasp*... my first pair of maternity jeans. My mom and I went shopping and she treated me to a really nice pair of jeans that I should be able to wear for the duration - provided my butt and thighs stay roughly the same size. Plus, I figure, it's summer - how often am I really gonna want to wear jeans? I ended up with two pair of sexy stretchy topped shorts too. ;)
I am having SUCH hard time finding tops I like to go with them though. I don't like clingy - especially not when its 90 degrees and sticky outside - but add to that the furnace that is my belly and I really really don't like clingy. So, my shirts need to be flowy and relatively long. I got a Stitchfix this week, and I even adjusted my sizes in my profile to accommodate the whole giant front of my torso, and I told them I wanted long and flowy... and it was still a fail. I sent everything back except the necklace they sent, which I wasn't even that crazy about, but I didn't want to have wasted my styling fee.

Other: My belly button is a little stretched out. It looks a kinda weird - not abnormal or anything - just round, which its never been before. It used to be long and skinny, so now it's just a little stretched out. It's the most noticeable where my belly button piercing used to be.

Gender: They's a HE! We're having a baby boy!

You may have already seen on facebook or instagram. Were you right?

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 28

Wednesday night I ended up back on the treadmill. I'm longing for the days when I would run 5 miles without even batting an eye. I walked for the most part. I ran a mile, then took a short break, planning to do that same thing I'd done the day before and knock out another mile, but shortly after starting my second mile, my body just said "no". I wasn't tired or out of breath. It just didn't feel right. Kind of a bummer, but it is what it is, right?

Thursday I taught Vinyasa Flow and then I took Power Yoga. I felt really good about class. I only skipped one vinyasa. I did draw a little attention to myself when everyone else was doing twisting chair and I just plain skipped the twist. Plus I don't lay on my stomach for bow and locust. I FINALLY officially told

Friday night unforeseen circumstances (a car getting towed from our parking lot and subsequently blocking all of us in) made me miss spin. I was sad. I didn't get back to the Valley until 15 minutes after class started. I took an hour to get my crankypants off and then decided to give Jillian Michaels 6 Week Six Pack a shot. I was a little disappointed when each workout was only a half hour and (duh) mostly abs. I can still totally do crunches, I just feel pretty silly doing them, so I got really into the cardio and general core strengthening stuff. I ended up doing one and a half of the workouts. About 50 minutes in, I decided I was done.

Saturday I tried some treadmill jogging again. I made it two miles - just like last week, with a quarter mile break in between. I felt good and almost decided to try another mile, but I took the safe option. I didn't want to wear myself out. Another day.

Sunday morning I took boxing. I had to finagle a spot under the AC this time. Last time I just ended up there, but this time I asked the woman sharing a bag with me if we could switch sides and she said no. I didn't want to pull the pregnant lady card, so I just asked someone else. This guy was RIGHT under the vent and willing to swap with me, so I ended up in a prime spot.
But you guys, I love boxing. I love it so much. Baby does too, by the way. They were showing off their skills at our ultrasound on Monday.

Monday night I did yoga with my friend. I love our Monday yoga dates.

Tuesday night I wasn't feeling up to the total fit body class I've been taking. Too much spine compressing step moves for this already compressed spine, so I opted for the Tuesday night Power Yoga class. I figure I'll spice it up with something different on Thursday. The teacher kept coming over and having me widen my stance to make room for the baby. It was odd, but nice that he cared.

How was your week?

Currently; July 2014

It's mid July. My 30th birthday is this month. I haven't quite figured out how I feel about that. I mean, it definitely feels real, but also very surreal. On the one hand, I feel like I'm already 30, and on the other I ways thought of 30 as being old. Why is that? 30 isn't old. That's dumb.

Currently, I'm...

Reading...
I just plowed through the entire Divergent series. It's a fun read. I have to say, I liked Hunger Games better as far as dystopian femme hero young adult lit goes, but still. Fun. ;)

Watching...
Nothing on live TV. Ha. I only caught a few snippets of the world cup games on TV at the gym. We started watching Sons of Anarchy last week. Most nights we'll watch an episode or two.

Listening to...
I'm bored with music. I listened to the Hair soundtrack a week or so again. That was magical. I sang What A Piece of Work is Man and Good Morning Starshine to the babe. It was fun. Then I proceeded to have the former stuck in my head for the rest of the day. It was kind of great, actually.

Struggling with...
Same ol' same ol'. Except my organs are feeling especially squished lately. It's very uncomfortable, almost to the point of painful some days

Inspired by...
This little human, mostly.

My workouts are...
Varietal? Is that a word that can be used when not applied to wines? I've been taking spin and barre and prenatal yoga and boxing. Anything and everything. On the days I feel good, I feel great and on the days I am tired, the workouts totally kick my ass and I feel dead to the world.

Eating...
Tacos. Toast. Strawberries with whipped cream. Smoothies. Greek Yogurt. Pop Tarts. Not a lot of veggies, I'm ashamed to say. I need to get back on the veggie train. I'm trying.

Planning...
Repairs mostly. There's been some drama 'round these parts pertaining to a mysterious leak in our garage. We're planning and coordinating repairs and such. I get to take a backseat now, which is nice. Let other people figure it out. I would just really like the mystery puddle to stop showing up
On the positive, there's a big family vacation planned for next June (my grandparent's 60th anniversary) and we've all agreed on a location! FINALLY! There are about 25 of us, so agreeing on a locale was a big deal. Hubs and I used our trump card anywhere we didn't want to worry about travelling to with a 6 month old.

Teaching...
My Monday class is cancelled indefinitely. At least for the summer - people just stopped coming. My other classes are doing great though. Tuesday and Thursday are really picking up and I've got some regulars who make me smile.

What are you upto?

30x30; Make Grape Leaves

I made tabouli a while back. It came out bad, so I shared the fact that I did it and I did not share the recipe... because it tasted like salt. 

I will not be sharing the recipe here either. #sorrynotsorry

These are delicious, but I feel like some things are sacred, and so... I do feel a little bad for not sharing our family's stuffed grape leaf making technique. Not that bad though. 

This was an item on my 30x30 list. I wanted to make grape leaves by myself... but you know what sounded cooler when it got down to it? Making them with the grape leaf making pro, herself, my Grandma Zackie. 

My cousin Paige and I met at our grandparents' house two Fridays ago to learn from the best and help in any way we could. 

A Lack of Interest

Do you ever have those weeks? Day after day after day of "nothing special"? When all you want to do is have fun and share beautiful, creative, and inspiring things, but all you have in front of you is a spreadsheet and a bottle of water.

Or a treadmill and a foam roller.

And your clothes don't fit right, so you're not about to go bragging about this cute new peplum top you just bought because peplum? Really? Good luck. I mean, You thought it would help hide your new toast and potato diet love handles, but alas, it just showed them off more.

And all those cool yoga poses you used to do...? Last time you tried one of those, you're pretty sure you pissed off the baby. WHY DID YOU SHOVE YOUR THIGH UP INTO BABY'S FACE LIKE THAT? Poor kid. You're pretty sure he/she punched you in the liver. Payback's a b*tch.

That's how I feel right now.

Like I have a thousand recipes I want to try, and a thousand trips to the beach to take, and a thousand photos I want to take, a thousand yoga poses I want to do glamourously with my perfect baby bump, but I'm stuck.

I'm stuck in this pattern of work, teach, workout, eat what I can, deal with unfun house drama, clean when I have the energy, sleep.

So, I'm letting the blog go boring for a little while. I'll be here. Weekly yoga/workout recap posts and biweekly yoga baby bump updates will continue to happen, but that's it, yo. The blog is reflecting my life. My life is all the boring.

I have a couple of posts lined up for the coming days, and I'm taking a cooking class this weekend, which could be cool, but other than that, I'll let you know if something interesting happens.

I'll *most likely* be back with more interesting things after my birthday.

For now, c'est la vie, no?

Follow me on instagram for a full account of the boringness.

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 27

Wednesday I did the mommy & baby class with my mommies and babies, and then I taught power yoga in the evening, so I didn't have time for a workout on my own, but I felt fine about doing the mommy & baby workout, so that was it for the day.

Thursday I taught and then I took power yoga after. It has been a while since I felt that strong in power yoga. I was still skipping vinyasas and certain poses, but in general I felt great. I did try one pose that I ended up regretting a little bit. It's a twisting arm balance - eka pada koudinyasana II. I got into it, but I have decided that I'm done with that pose for (probably) the rest of 2014. I'm sad to see it go, since I just mastered it, but the belly just don't fit.

Friday I vowed to pathetically attempt advanced cardio barre. I didn't do as bad as I thought I would!!! Yeah, I took a ton of breaks, and my low back and hips (especially my left hip, which has been a jerk lately) were a little achey, but I was able to do most of the workout with relative ease. I modified where I needed to and took all the breaks I needed to. I never felt like I got too hot - that may have been my friend/instructor, Chelsea, though, keeping the fans on high for me. :P I'll have to ask her.

Saturday morning I got up earlyish and headed to spinning. It was a different instructor than I had last time and I didn't like it as much - just a different way of communicating how hard and how fast we were supposed to be going. I didn't hate it by any means, but if given the choice, I choose the guy from last week.

Sunday I drove out to Encino for prenatal yoga. I was a little disappointed that there was going to be a sub, but I still enjoyed the class. I actually ended up running into a girl I knew in high school. It was a small class (they always are smaller with subs) - only 3 students. I got to catch up with a beautiful soul from the days of yore though, so even though small classes sometimes make me feel singled out, I was super happy that I ended up going.

Monday night, after working from home all day and barely getting up except for a doctors appointment, I finally got off my butt and drove out to my friend's house to do yoga. It was good. We did a little ab work, a little flow, but mostly stretching - and we hung out with her (almost) 8 month old, which is always a blast.

Tuesday night I decided to give jogging a go again. I ran a mile, walked a quarter mile, then ran another mile. I had wanted to do the whole thing in one go, but my ankles were not happy with me nearing the end of mile one, so I gave them a break. I actually was thinking I could have run a little further after that second mile, but I was in a rush to go home, so I decided to try another day.

How was your week?

Yoga Baby; 18 Weeks

Week 18

Happy 4th of July! Growing up 4th of July was always my favorite holiday because a) fireworks are awesome, and b) I loved having a holiday in my birth month. It meant my birthday was right around the corner.
Today I am 18 weeks pregnant, and...

Here's what's happening with me and the tiny one...

Cravings: Just the boring impulse kind. Still loving me some lemonade. I sorta craved ravioli last week - baby hadn't had it yet, but now they have and we've met our ravioli quota. I also wouldn't really call my "cravings" much more than being mildly in the mood for something.

Aversions: So far so good.

Energy: Getting better, but I'm really into mid-afternoon naps and going to bed early. My workouts are lame. I met a fellow pregnant lady last week after yoga and we were lamenting our dwindling workout regimes. We both used to workout for an hour PLUS every day and now we consider ourselves lucky if we manage to make it to yoga.

Seven Days of Yoga; Week 26

Wednesday morning I taught mommy & baby yoga. I had planned to do some outer thigh work, but I ended up totally spacing. We still did some great workouts though.
That afternoon, I wasn't feeling awesome. I was super tired and slightly headachey, but I had planned to take my friends barre class, so I went - knowing full well to take breaks or just flat out stop if I started to feel bad. It was a rough hour. I took A TON of breaks. I was so tired, but after class, I felt WORLDS better. I still had a lingering headache, but I was feeling much more energized.

Thursday I actually ended up teaching twice. I got an email late on Wednesday that one of the teachers was sick and could I sub her 8:30am class. I got a lot of positive feedback, so hooray there! By 2/3 in the afternoon, the day was kicking my asana, so I ended up leaving a smidge early so I could take a little nap before I had to teach again. So, I napped, and then woke up at 4:29... one minute before my class was supposed to start, so I hopped in the car and I called the studio to tell them I was on my way. We ended up started a few minutes late, but everyone was pretty open to staying a few minutes late to make up for my lateness, and it all worked out. I was still exhausted after teaching though. I decided to cut my losses and skip power yoga that night. I did, however, end up getting back to my parents' in time to join my mom's crew of yoga ladies for a much more mellow class. Much more my speed that day.