Imagining A Fountain

Told my aunt Girt the price, $15, of a replacement case for the Fitbit and the price of the device and she was shocked by the $99 dollar price tag.

Well, not only is my Fitbit case in tatters but my Fitbit is not doing well. I've been troubleshooting with the Fitbit team but no luck so far. I'm considering a Garmin Vivofit as a replacement. I miss tracking my steps. I'm intrigued by the waterproof spec on the Vivofit.

This is day three of a staycation. I was butting up against too much vacation time again. St. Louis was making me feel claustrophobic and I wanted to get out of town but it wasn't in the cards...

Went to Rebecca's yoga class. You know what they say: be careful what you ask for.

Rebecca had us start out with our legs crossed. She then asked us to connect our index fingers with thumbs while placing our palms upright on our knees.

Imagine you're a fountain, she said. The breath moves from the tailbone, up the back and out the head -- overflowing. 

Imagining a fountain was a very gentle and relaxing way to begin class but that's were the gentleness stopped.

Survived Rebecca's class then headed to Alison's for crepes. Post-crepes, sat on the porch and finished reading Open Your Heart while Alison put more plants in the ground and watered others...

Crepe One

Crepe Three

The Water

Found this article about New Yorkers and walking interesting.

Boss Me About

It's my third straight day of yoga and I can't help but think of Gingerzingi and her recent stare down with it.

Went to the Earth Day Festival yesterday and it was like a yogi's paradise with classes starting at 11 until 5. The space, close to the Muny's main stage, was beautiful and aptly named the Yoga Buzz Zen Den. The weather was perfect.

The Zen Den

Earth Day Weather

I had planned to attend two classes with Alison and asked her which combination of classed looked good to her. Just boss me about Alison finally wrote so I made the call only to miss the first class because I underestimated how may people would be at the festival and had a 20 minute walk to get to the Zen Den.

I arrived about five minutes after class started and debated about whether or not to go in. It wasn't a studio but still. Hit the Kindle ap on my iPod and picked back up on Open Your Heart. So I read about yoga while I waited for yoga.

What I Was Not Doing, Acro Yoga, While I Waited

Cursed many times during practice tonight. Did strength training days ago and my armpits are still tender. Chatu who? I struggled and felt a tinge of regret for not staying at home.

After savasana Joy started talking the talk. You are you. You are uniquely you. You matter... And about yoga: Head stand is not the goal. Serenity is the goal. Balance is the goal. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

Other Clovers

Yesterday was my 15th anniversary at work. Of course, I didn't spend all 5,475 days behind my desk since I only worked the occasional Saturday. Plus, I got days off for good behavior.

The 'Fugee got me a bouquet as did the Spanish-speaking cleaner. I also got a gift  bag with Chobani, a mango and blueberries.

It's been even busier at work than it usually is but I often joke that I have a 12th man so even when it's supremely hectic, I feel like I have key people on my side. Still, my soul looks back in wonder. I remember a note that a former colleague wrote -- What some people do and still stay sane...

My 15th anniversary didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked for it to have gone. It was as if it was someone's mission to sabotage the occasion but as someone told me on Friday: This too shall pass.

Got up this morning and went to a health festival. Hit the 10:00 a.m. yoga class led by Yoga Buzz. YB a.k.a. Elle does a lot of events at breweries. She's reaching out to people who might not come to a traditional yoga class and she often mentions accessibility and there's nothing more that I love than accessible yoga.

We practiced with Motown in the background and I found a four-leaf clover right in front of my mat. I even pushed aside other clovers just to make sure that I wasn't seeing what I wanted to see.

Yoga Is Good

Eye Candy, 4/21

Went to yoga class last night and Joy asked if we wanted to work on anything.

Losing forty pounds this woman said. Joy measured her response and said that Yoga is good but...

The forty pound comment was a bit awkward. I remember reading an article about yoga etiquette and the person said to put your cell phone away even if it's off because you don't need the visual reminder of hectic things.

So much about yoga is appreciating where you're at and the health that allows you to practice. If nothing else, it's a leave your worries at the doorstep space and it was almost as if she invited the hectic thing into the room...

Drove to work but left my car when I went home for lunch. Continued listening to Ski, Poe, Spa and Towers as I walked.

In the ...Spa portion of that Moth podcast, the storyteller talks about going to a clothing-optional spa as an overweight person and how this lithe woman looked at her and she could tell that there was something that the lithe one hated about herself and she thought about all the time that she'd spent disliking her body but she ended up thinking about and being grateful for all of the things that her body had done.

Listening to that episode, which I really like, made me think about my favorite Moth episodes.

1). Korea, Colons, Pickups and Pranks

2). Gaggy's Blessing (with Krista Tippett)

3). Unidentified podcast about an older woman having a child that most people told her she should not have...*

Told Alison how I could listen to the ...Colons section over and over again but Alison was pretty suspicious about a colon story being poignant and funny.

*Before Fergus...Lynn Ferguson

What You're Not Supposed To Do

Walk Eye Candy

Was on Twitter at 11:30-ish p.m. -- exactly what you're not supposed to be doing at that time.

Anyway, saw It's A Downward Dog Eat Downward World. Kind of funny. Kind of not. There are small incidences in my area and I know it wouldn't be funny if I had to deal with this kind of situation on a regular basis. Glad that I don't have to resort to "desperate pre-class moves." Although, the double workouts might not be such a bad thing...

As I walked home from work, listened to Ski, Poe, Spa and Towers. Didn't finish it but when the storyteller in "...Poe" talks about being recruited for caretaker and docent for The Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, it reminded me of my father who didn't really know what to think of poetry but loved to recite Annabel Lee. It also reminded me how my father liked Danny Boy. Funny what triggers memories...

I'm still tripping off of a CBS Sunday Morning segment about Kate Mulgrew. When I watched season one of Orange Is The New Black, her face had a certain familiarity but I had no idea that she was the Star Trek woman or that she's been acting for 40 years! Guess it was easy to get past my radar since I haven't watched much Star Trek. It was intense listening to Mulgrew talk about how she was urged to give up her baby for adoption then regretted the decision just days later.

...Have To Look At You

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I bicycled the one less traveled. A little

Saturday (kind of) humor. Actually, I was quite taken with the dandelions and their yellow show.

Stumbled across The Moral Bucket List, an article that I found poetic...

On Friday wore my white\peach pants and a few people were surprised by my Wear More Color campaign. Also wore my white/blue tie-dye-ish shirt that I got from Marshalls for $10 bucks.

Got this other shirt from TJ Maxx and the 'Fugee said if she could dress me, this would be the type of blouse she'd always put me in.

The 'Fugee and I watched a kind of weird but definitely intense movie, Force Majeure, last night -- a bit too intense for a Friday.

Lately I've been watching a bit of Travel Bug on Netflix and also Layover, another Anthony Bourdain show. Someone on the Singapore section said that you should reserve one visit just to experience the cuisine.

New Yorkers gave tips to tourists on another segment and one woman had me cracking up. She advised people to dress up -- You might not care how you look but we have to look at you.

Never Too Much

Spent most of yesterday trying to work a wicked tweak out of my shoulder. Felt like a tight fist was lodged underneath my scapula. Kept thinking that I would pay someone to resolve the tightness in my shoulder but since there's no massage therapist hotline, I did arm circles, downward facing dog etc. Later on in the day, popped Cathe's Stretch Max into the DVD and that helped a lot.

Not sure if it was the stretching at the end of the day or the relatively quiet evening spent reading Everything I Never Told You and drinking green tea or a combination of both but I slept well and felt really rested this morning.

The pack rat a.k.a. me went through my iPod pictures because I remember snapping a photo of this little piece about downward facing dog and the amygdala. I have no clue where this article was published and can't find it via Google. I would love to read the whole thing in its entirety even though I don't need to but that's me. I should have been a researcher of something since I like to look up stuff and one reference is never enough for me...