Bikram 30 Day Challenge: 13 days down

oof.  last night was definitely unlucky number 13 for me.  i felt like absolutely garbage.  probably had something to do with the lousy cafeteria non-protein filled lunch i had plus a super hectic day which gave me a bit of a stomach ache!  tuesday night class is always one of the toughest for me anyways, the teacher's good but the room gets unbearable sometimes.  it started out okay last night, but midway through i started to feel really sick and weak.  so my yoga practice was nothing other than pathetic and i at one point i was laying there freaking out in my mind and wishing i could just take a day off!!

but then i got home - late, per usual.  side note: that's definitely one of the downfalls of a 90 minute class that's 15 minutes away from my house and that you need to get there early for and you definitely need to shower afterwards.  the whole thing ends up being close to a 3.5 hour process! that's a whole lotta time!...

oh right, back to my original thought...i got home and found this package waiting for me and inside it had the most wonderful thing ever!! new yoga clothes!! as you may know, i love 'gear' but i've held back a lot with this whole yoga thing.  i've picked up some cheap stuff to get me through (like these tops from target and these shorts that i usually find on sale at sports authority), but had a hard time justifying new duds...so instead i've just been really jealous when some of the girls walk in with their cool yoga gear.

well i don't need to be jealous anymore because my sister sent me this awesome early bday gift from shakti!!

i'm SO excited (as exhibited by the extreme amount of exclamation points that are about to follow)!!! totally what i needed to get me pumped up for the remaining days of this challenge!!

thanks kara!! i LOVE it!! xoxoxo!!

hello world: aston john piazza

last night i got to meet this little guy...

Aston John Piazza

2.17.2011

so cute and so tiny!

my little buddy Alexander is lucky to have such a great new brother...

Aston barely cried the whole time we were there and so far sleeps non-stop.

Congratulations Andrea & Alex!!

can't wait to go back and do a real photo shoot in the daytime. 

more pictures here.

Bikram 30 Day Challenge: 5 days down

if you haven't realized by now, i'm pretty much obsessed with bikram yoga.  what started back in october as a way to get back on the exercising band wagon has become a full fledged love for this discipline.  bottom line, i drank the kool-aid and i want MORE!!  you'd think that after a few months of doing the same 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises it would become easy or boring, but it's just the opposite.  i keep learning how to do it a little different/better or how to stretch further and so it's actually gotten way tougher!

when i started out, i had a few things that i wanted to work on and i think for the most part i've made good progress and noticeable changes.  at least to me since most of you aren't inside my brain so you'll have to trust me on the de-stressing and quieting the mind bit :).  i still have a ways to go though, which is a-okay since i don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

tonight i'm going to my fifth class in my 30 day challenge.  30 classes in 30 days, no skipping.   it got a little trying already this weekend when i had to wake up early to go to the saturday morning class...i arrived at the studio just 12 hours after i left from my previous class.  not a lot of time to hydrate!  but it's worth it and i know that there will be days when i want to quit (especially tuesdays when the room feels like it's on FIRE), but i'll keep reminding myself that i'm worth it (oh yes, l'oreal commercial is playing in my head now), so i'm going to kick this challenge in the butt!

after my intro week, i knew i wanted to do a challenge (there are 60 day challenges too) and the timing was just right for me now.  mz is working a ton with busy season, saturdays too, so i needed something productive to fill my time.  plus i knew it was a 30 day stretch without any planned travel or events - which is so rare.  so i went in last thurs, paid my fave teach and committed myself to 30 days of self-awareness.  30 days of healthy, consistent, eating.  30 days of really taking care of myself.  30 days of laundry every stinkin' night.  30 days of feeling tired but invigorated at the same time.  30 days of sweating like no other.  30 days of drinking so much coconut water i might float away.  and 30 days of quiet me time...but not in a selfish way.  in a way that makes me better at other stuff...like smiling, laughing...ya know, the good stuff.

off to my hot date (literally) with mz and the rest of the crazy bikram yogis in berwyn!

happy heart day.

although i'm not a huge fan of valentine's day, i like hearts. 

and a day dedicated to eating chocolate isn't so bad either.

xo!

busy bee.

hi there, i'm back from a whirlwind trip to florida (fort lauderdale to be precise)...weather was wonderful but i was inside for most of the trip since it was for a business conference/seminar.  busy day at work and now off to sign up for my bikram 30 day challenge.  eek!!  30 classes in 30 days...hopefully i have some time to blog about it soon!

a bit more boston...

aside from walking around the snow covered city, we had some good adventures in boston last weekend too...but i didn't take many pictures, so use your imagination :).

when i arrived friday night, kara was there to meet me at the airport...which was a nice surprise but i think maybe she read my post and was afraid of losing me, hahaha.  for the record, i would've made it, i'm not a total spaz, but it was nice to have a travel buddy!  we made a stop at her apartment, picked up her roommate emily and then headed out to the north end for diner at a place recommended by our crazy cab driver (aka 'the cab king').  the food was good but the 50 year old waitress in her velour track suit was not the friendliest of characters.  luckily it was a quick meal since we had to make it to our show at the improv asylum.

the show was so good!  i really had no idea what to expect, even though i had read the website.  it was a small audience in a neat little space and the sketches were super funny.  best part was that it was a pretty reasonably priced outing and on top of it kara had a groupon which saved us...and then on top of that, the night we went was part of the magners tour so they had 2 for 1 20oz bottles.  crazy cheap event! unfortunate that i was only there until sunday afternoon though because aziz ansari was performing in the sunday night show. whaaaaatttt?!?! that would've been really insane to see!

on saturday, after our long walk, we went to bikram!  it was cool to see where kara practices and get to see her sweat it out like a champ.  the room was a little less humid than i was used to and i'm pretty certain the heaters they used made me feel i was in a hockey locker room, but it was all good and it was perfect way to end the afternoon and get prepared for the damage we were about to do to our bodies with some good ol' fashioned BARBECUE!!!

when k told me we were going to go to Redbones for dinner on saturday i could not contain my excitement!  i'd heard about this place for the past few years, from her and other friends and work colleagues so i knew it had to be amazing.  and oh yea, it was.  the menu is huge, especially for a bbq place.  it's totally laid back and just down right delicious.  we waited for quite some time since they don't take reservations - and they too had had a groupon recently and sold 10,000 in the first 4 hours!!!  we got some hushpuppies, ice tea in a giant mason jar, and i had a brisket sandwich that seriously had over a pound of bbq on it.  unreal.  i want them to cater my life.

me, k & em...full and happy!

after redbones, we stopped in at two bars...21st ammendment - weird crowd that night, left shortly after...and emmet's - which was randomly having an 80's night party, haha.  there were lots of older people dressed in heinous 80's garb dancing to all of the classics...provided by this dj who loved his job more than anyone i'd ever seen.  couldn't stop watching him! hahaha, too bad the picture doesn't do it justice!

 sunday we had a leisurely morning and a delicious breakfast at The Other Side Cafe.  fresh pot of tea on the table and beligan waffle with egg/bacon/cheddar omelet inside...not sure i can ever eat another breakfast sandwich without waffle 'bread'.  it was divine!!  in case we hadn't had enough to eat for brunch, we made our way over to Sweet after popping into a few stores.  we met up with kara's roommate from school, emily, and had a tasty snack before catching the T so i could make my way home.  such a cute shop and the cupcakes were awesome.  kara and i shared a banana's foster and a karat cake...we also both drank some sour milk, not so smart, but didn't let it ruin the sugary goodness of Sweet!

thanks for a great weekend kara!! hope you're staying warm up there!! xo!

kara at the T stop...someone used her black mountain bumper sticker bookmark to decorate!

winter walk in boston.

last weekend i spent a whole lotta time walking around the cold city of boston with my sistaaa and having lots of laughs and plenty of good food!  luckily i had these awesome little cashmere hand warmers in my pocket!  fyi - they're on sale right now, stock up!  

we walked around southie for almost three hours and saw tons of people shoveling out their cars from under the heaps and heaps of snow that was smothering the city.  the city was actually loading up dump trucks of snow and moving it out of the city (maybe into the bay? who knows?).

 oh hello sister! getting ready for bikram with some tasty coconut water!  best stuff ever, yum!!

our walk ended at castle island which was a really neat place with a walk from the beach out into the old harbor.  really cool experience!  if you check out the picture in the link, imagine the snow completely covering the benches and then you'll have an idea of what we were dealing with last weekend!

 trying out my new camera's fun features...like a fisheye shot of the city skyline and shipyard...

could've walked all day...but we had some big plans for the rest of the weekend...

etsy purchase

i've been looking at these three prints for a few weeks now...ever since i found the philly one while doing a google image search to build up my 2011 inspiration board (which i might share sometime soon!)...decided to bite the bullet and buy them today.  yay!  can't wait to see how great they look in person.

thanks artsharkdesigns!