Friday, December 28, 2012

Thursday

Ok, boring title I know.  But whatever.  It was kind of a blah sort of day.  I had to go to work...which initially wasn't the plan but it was a blah day at work so not all bad.

I also got more invisaligns so i have 6 more pairs to get through.  I may get more but we'll see.  So my mouth is sore.  Its funny you forget if you don't get one for awhile but it was this moment of "oh yeh...this is what the tight ones feel like"  yay for shifty teeth.  At least I will have killer teeth after its all said and done :)

I went to Crossfit as well.  It was a deceptively hard work out.  But it was a good one and did suck as bad as I thought. 

Strength portion
Back squats 5 X 5 - the goal to end around 70% of your 1RM.  I ended at 130lbs.  Which is pretty good since my 1RM is 185lbs currently.  So i did it pretty much planned.

Metcon
AMRAP 11
2 power snatches
4 hand stand push up
8 over the bar burpees

The last move definitely sucks the big one.  I just have visions of myself catching my toe on the bar and doing a mega face plant. But I managed not to do that.  I also managed 5 rounds and 7 reps.  Which is pretty good I think.  I did the power snatches with 45lb bar and the hand stand push ups on a short green box.   So not really hand stand...more like inclined push ups.  But i kept with the box even though about half way I wanted to transition to regular push ups.  I kept going.    The only think i don't know is how i stacked up with everyone else since the gym is switching to an online system of recording so i couldn't scope out the scores before we started.  But considering I averaged a round in a little over 2 min each thats not bad.  Especially since my over the bar burpees are really really REALLY slow.  I just tried to do all 8 without breaking.  And i did. 

All in all a great work out. I'm looking forward to my yoga nap today before assisting with A....assuming she made it back from Maine ok...with the impending blizzard and all :)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas Day

So I'm a couple days late... I know I know.  But i've been busy.  Like I previously posted christmas eve was pretty typical except my grandfather won the dinner game.  Which was awesome.  He also go to tired to come to church with us...for which my brother was quite ok with staying home with him. 

So Christmas Day. 

I woke up at a decent hour and got ready to head out.  I had to gather a number of things because I was making multiple stops.  I showered and then put on my new christmas pjs.  I'm not really a fan of clothes for christmas day...even if I have driving to do.  It makes it that much more relaxing. 

I got over to the Holm homestead around the pre-determined time, and once all the Holm's were gathered we did gifts and stockings.  Its always amuzing to me to see the receptical my mother uses for stockings...this year.  Target bags.  We are a classy bunch.  My grandfather sat with us for most of it, until he got tired.  And I did the passing out.  Which does involve throwing anything lightish at the recipients head ;)  Its really fun.  I got some fun stuff...shampoo and tooth paste.  Hey I use alot of toothpaste.  It  was a good haul.  I also ACED the giving this year.  Everyone liked their gifts from me.  Boo yeah.  I felt good, especially since I was excited about the gifts.  Its nice to know you're not completely off base.  The Holm family portion of the gifts ended up taking longer then excepted.  Which was great.  But after we were done I quitely slipped out to drive my butt to Providence. 

I had another engagement with my sweetie. 

I'm still not sure what sort of excuss was given but I am curious.  Since I only told one Aunt that I was leaving and did it quitely.  But I didn't think a million questions on Christmas morning was the time or place.  So I just left. 

The drive to Providence was uneventful.  And then i got to my sweet heart :)   I'm so thankful that I have someone extra special to spend the holiday with.  I had many bags since I was in charge... by my own design of christmas dinner.  Thank you Practical Paleo for suppling the recipies :)

We had :
Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs
Broc- cauliflower soup with Bacon garnish
Roasted brussel sproats and fennel
and Processco for some bubbly

(can you tell we like bacon )

The meal came out pretty good if I don't say so myself... i think the broc-cauliflower soup could have used more kick but otherwise excellent. And I only set the fire alarm off three times.

After dinner we did gifts and watched Miricle of 34th street...the new one.  It was a great. Christmas. 

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Morf wins the prize

Christmas eve was tiring this year.  Thanks to the emergency room visit yesterday so I just felt a little drugged all night.  Well I am drugged.  Thanks to the dayquil.  But anyway. 

The meat fest was its usual deliciousness and heavy as usual.  And akavit is still gross.  I had my usual one shot glass full.  It was gross and I managed to eek out 3 shots into the one glass.  But everything was good. 

The funniest thing that happened was with our usual game.  We always put an almond in the food and whoever gets it wins a prize.  This year we used these chocolate pudding cups. There were actually more cups then people so it was a guess of who would get the prize.  But off all people, morf got the almond.  It was pretty funny because we  all sort of saw it on his plate and then he wasn't paying attention and put it in his mouth.  Then just got wide eyed and said "oh wait I got it"  it was hilarious. 

After dinner we did the dancing and gifts.  And went to church. 

Merry Christmas eve.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Eve at the HOLMs













Wanted and unwanted

Pre warning - this may be a bit whinny so just to warn you.

So this has been a good and bad week. I'm writing this on Christmas Eve while waiting for the dinner festivities to commence. Should be fun and I'm excited to eat some tasty food. My dad is making the ribs with bacon and potatoes as usual. The main difference with this year is the lack of rice pudding to start the meal. We always play a game at the beginning by hiding an almond. But this year we're doing it for pudding dessert. We'll see who wins... Almost never is it me.

I'm a little subdued this year for a variety of reasons. The least of which is that I was in the emergency room last night. I don't need to go too into detail about why I went but I not have internal hemoriods ... Woohoo! Lucky me. So at least it wasn't anything too serious... Though I need to follow up with GI to be sure. That will be a project for next year and unlimited sick days... Since I'm currently scrapping the barrel to get any time off anyway.

The other reason I'm subdued is that I don't have my sweet heart here. Things transpired with my family that made it so shes not here... By no fault of my own, but I still wish I had company sprawled out on the couch next to me.

Lets continue to back track though.

Yesterday was fun two different reasons. I went to the trans-Siberian orchestra with my cousins and I met Ks family. The orchestra was interesting and way cool. There was this story telling component that was odd but the music itself was awesome. And I had so much fun meeting Ks family. They were so warm and inviting it made it a lot easier.

Back tracking once more... We went to the nutcracker, which was awesome.

The family is starting to arrive so I'm off :)

Picture is me and Sister at trans Siberian orchestra

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Week of workouts

Ok. More like two days of workouts. It's been a big week at the gym. Monday we did our 20 rep max back squats again. And I do say again because I feel like it just happened. And i think it did but maybe a month ago.  The total work out is below.  I managed 128lbs.  Which is pretty good.  Though in thinking about it I may have gone heavier the previous time.  I was hesitant to go too heavy this time because i haven't been feeling that strong lately....thank you work plague... when everyone in your office comes in sick its bound to effect you eventually.  For the rest of the workout I used a 15lb (or maybe 12lb ) kettle bell.  Turkish get ups are ridiculously complicated and i did them ridiculously slowly...finished ways after everyone else.  Though funny I found out the next day that at least one person didn't finish it so YAY me for pushing through.


Tuesdays workout (listed below) was extremely complicated and even two days later i'm feeling it.  Which is the sign of a good workout.  Snatches are probably one of the most complicated movements in Crossfit so it was great to work on them.  But consiquently its easy to hurt yourself.  Solution...do less weight.  I maxed out around 60lbs..didn't write it down...shoot.  But I did #3 with 40lbs...around.  once again don't really remember.   It was a killer, and this is the kind of thing that my speed, or lack there off, really causes issues.  Because I would finish or almost finish the round when it was time to start the next one.  Killer.  But i made it and now I have a sore bumm....WOOOHOOO.


I decided to take the next two days off...well yesterday and today mainly due to scheduling but probably a good idea regardless.  We'll see how things are tomorrow for yoga time.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

WTF blogger

Ok so I had a great post that just got deleted. Totally annoyed. I did fight gone bad at crossfit yesterday

Below is my score

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Delicate flower

I have begun to realize I am a delicate flower of a person. Mainly I mean in regards to health and more specifically digestively. But also sort of emotionally too. I mean I consider my self to be a pretty tough cookie but sometimes and depending on the topic I just melt with emotion.

Health wise I have a lot going on. I mean obviously. If you are reading this you sort of know that. But now that I'm back from vacation my body has sort of freaked out. Which I was expecting but still am annoyed by it. I mean two weeks of less the ideal eating has caused the heart burn and hot flashes to come back with a vengeance. I mean I don't think the hot flashes are back due to that, but it is due to the lack of acupuncture. Which is still hard. I mean three weeks off and my. Body is flipping out. See delicate flower.

Emotionally is a little different.  I consider myself to be generally stable and calm.  Which is something that i definitely strive to be.  The one thing I've always had to work on is sticking up for myself.  I tend to over compensate one way or the other, and then of course get myself into trouble.  That is not to say that my generally laid back demeanor isn't the truth which is it.  I'm talking about the times I have an opinion about what should be done and, especially when people don't agree.  I either say nothing and then hate myself or I explode and completely over react....both does not achieve the desired results...believe it or not.

Recently though I've been instituting a tactic which I think will serve me well.  I have a number of friends out there that I trust their opinions and their rational so lately I've been running my ideas by them to make sure they aren't too rash... and surprise, or maybe not they agreed...on multiple occurrences.  Go me.  The delicate flower is growing up into a slightly heartier fern.  Its good though to know that my emotional reaction to things in no longer completely off base. 

Woohoo.  Personal Growth :)

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Den siste dag

Hello from the flytoget...
I'm officially starting my journey home again which will end at 6pm EST. I'm trying not to think about the actual time it will take. Lets just leave it as long. After what was a surprisingly quick trip to Oslo, but excellent.

What did I do on my last day you ask? Well let me tell you.

It started nice and slow which I'm quite ok with. I had been pushing myself so much before the trip I definitely needed a reminder about taking it slow in the morning. I had some breakfast and tackled the suitcase. I was admittedly nervous and still am about the weight but I will soon figure out if its a problem. But anyway I don't think so.

After that L and B and I got ready to meet S and E at the julemarket. It was at the folk museum out on the island, well sort of an island, is Oslo. I say sort of because you can drive there. Whereas an official Island you can't.

It was a very cute market and fun to sweet folk museum all done up for Christmas. They had an apartment building there with apt from the different eras which was very cool because there were definitely a few that reminded me of my grandmothers old apartment. I also got a couple of nisen there to add to the collection of the family.

After we did the luggage pass off to S and E and we made our way over to R and c for dinner and I was spending the night there. It was really great to get another night with the cousins and we had a lovely meal... Reindeer oh yeh talk about Norwegian and talked a lot more. I also got to see my final Oslo aunt which was great. So I managed to see all the direct Oslo people in the 6 short days I was there. Mission accomplished.

We retired pretty early because I started today at 415. What is with me and early flights? Anyway, R very generously drove me down to the train station where I boarded the train to the airport.

Now I'm in heathrow waiting for my second of three flights to commence. It was an easy connection since my bag got checked all the way to Boston.... Yay!

Now just have to kill 2 hrs with a lot of chocolate and cheese strapped to my back :)

Friday, December 7, 2012

One year ago today

One year ago today I woke up really early, I want to say 5 in the morning, drove to the hospital to have a bi-lateral mastectomy that kept me in the hospital for 2 days and I came out with no chest.

Today was a bit different. I woke up in a very comfortable bed in my cousins house in Oslo Norway. I got some clothes on, had a nice breakfast and got out the door to take the train to crossfit Oslo for one more workout.

The workout today was 5 rounds of
3 power cleans
3 front squats
3 push jerks
I used a bar with 30kg on it. Not super heavy but enough. I'm not great at jerks so I wanted to make sure to go light enough to have good form the entire time. Which I think I did :)

After the workout I changed and went down to Oslo center to do some shopping. I always, as certain relatives have put it, have a weird shopping list when I come and this was no different . I had to buy silver flatware for the family. Which isn't really weird or anything but still kind of special. So I wanted to get that out of the way first before I did anything else.

I pretty much just walked around the rest of the time downtown, got some lunch., and enjoyed being appropriately attired. I wasn't freezing so it wasn't too bad walking around for a bit. I popped into a few shops too.

The. I went to meet L, B, H and my final unseen cousin S for dinner and we were going to a Christmas show. It was great to catch up with S because of course she ha missed the cousins evening a few nights ago.

After dinner we went to a boys choir concert at Frogner kirken. The choir came from the famous church in Trondheim and apparently has been around for 900 years. Which is pretty cool to. There was also a really famous violin player, who's name of course escapes me. But they sang and played some good song ( intermettzo from cavliara rusticana, handels hallelujah chorus) and at the end of the show they had a sing along of delig er Jordan... Which was sing at Christmas at the Holm house. So that was fun too.

And now we're just relaxing a bit before going to cuddle down in the comfy bed again. :)

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Oslo Thursday

Today was a pretty basic day. First I finally made it to a Wod at crossfit Oslo. It was wicked fun and ironically almost the entire thing was conducted in English. Both of the coaches I've met at crossfit Oslo have been British and Australian so not native speakers. The one today heard me attempt Norsk and immediately answered in English. I mean it was nice because we did snatches and muscle ups. Both things that I don't know well so lots of instruction was a good thing.

The workout
2-2-2 heavy dead lifts with snatch grip.
"Amanda" 9-7-5 of snatches and muscle ups - in about 15 min

So the dead lifts were not a problem. We had done those at crossfit Boston a bunch of times so no biggie. I hadn't don't snatches in a year so that was tricky. I ended up only using the bar 15kg. Which was a bit light but even going up to 20kg was causing my form to go to shit. So wawa.. Light it was. And it was hard enough. We did a nice cool down too, which was a good thing so I can probably go tomorrow without being too sore.

After that we went to S and A. One of my uncle aunt combos. Actually yet are two out of three of my uncle aunts in Oslo. I think I'll be seeing the third on Saturday. We just had alittle lunch and tea and chatted for awhile. My Norwegian skills have definitely gotten worse since my summer school times but I can follow the conversation decently... Enough that I'm not completely lost most of the time, when only one person is talking. It's definitely ways harder when there is a lot of people talking.

After we left S and A I got dropped at the train to go for a walk down town / shop. In typical me fashion though I couldn't really see much I wanted. I went to the mall, Oslo city, and the Christmas outdoor market at Karl Johan's gate. It was fun to walk around and any outdoor market that sells liqueur is ok by me. I didn't drink but still felt very Christmassy.

And now I'm on the train back to Ls to warm up and have some dinner :) another great day in Oslo.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Mini crossfit and blogging fail

So I had a bunch of stuff written down but because I didn't press publish it didn't save. Damn it.

Today I finally made it to crossfit Oslo. Of course the fail part was the fact that the class I though I signed up for was at 4pm not 2pm. Damn you military time. Fortunately the very nice Australian man I talked to let me do open gym.

It's always harder to motivate myself alone which is why I tend to go to the Wods but I did. And I did a bunch of different stuff including "grace" at almost rx... Since I have no idea how heavy the bar was. But it was likely between 35 and 45 kg total weight. In 11:45. So not bad. I could have definitely done it faster but like I said hard to motivate when you're alone.

Otherwise it was a very relaxing day. Took the dog for a walk, and now off to have a cousins evening with almost all the Oslo girl cousins... Or I guess in this family you have to specify... All the first cousins :)

Let the fun times roll

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Epic crossfit fail

So I may sound like a bit of a broken record but its still freezing. I just looked up how cold it actually is in Fahrenheit and its probably been below 5F since I got here. Since -17c is 2F and -20c is -4F. The highest I've Seen is -10c which is 14F. But that was briefly in the middle of the day.

So what did I do today. I had a nice slow start to the day. Got up without an alarm and had a nice leisurely breakfast. L and I sat around for a bit and then took the dog for a walk.

When we got back and I got ready to go to crossfit. Which was great in theory because B was going to pick us up so I didn't have to walk... Woohoo. But of course I got dropped off at what we thought was the address and I could not found it. I circled around building until my ass quite literally was numb. And I had already missed the class.

Then I hopped the bus to Aker brygget. Which was a place I actually knew where was. I knew I would need to get inside, so I basically headed to a part of town I knew there was shopping places so I could get inside.

Once I got down there I puddle jumped my way around the shops and had a grand old time... Trying not to get too cold.

I then went to meet cousin I to get together. We had a lovely time getting coffee or in my case hot chocolate, and some dinner. I love coming to Norway because its so chill and family oriented. . Basically I spend the entire time making the rounds to family members and walking around the city. Though this time walking around might me walking around Oslo City (the big shopping mall in the center of Oslo) but anyway.

After we'd had dinner I got me on the right train and I made my way home. For so couch time with L and B before bed :)

Monday, December 3, 2012

Made it to the ice box

Ok, any guesses at how cold it is outside right now... Or was when I landed... Any takers. Ok it was -17c when I landed this morning in Oslo. Aka. Freekishly cold. But I've made it safe and sound.

The flight was uneventful, which was good. Except for it being full. Found my bags and made it through customs. It wa funny when the guy checked my passport cause he said hello in English and then saw my passport and said I think you speak alittle Norwegian right... In Norwegian. Which was two fold fun. Because of course I understood him and he bothered.

I took the flybussenexpress to meet L in Tasen. We connected easily and made it back to their place.

I've stayed at L and B's place before so it feels very familiar. Though I've never been here in the winter so it's a different experience.

We just hung out in the afternoon, and did things like have cocoa and these amazing buns with coconut and cream in the middle which are called something I definitely can't spell. And we went to the grocery store.

How we're relaxing in big sweaters in the Living room with a fire going. I may doze off since I've been up since 4, or technically 5 this time. But I'm tired. At least I'm warm for the moment.

London last day

Well maybe this post should be Oslo first day since technically I am writing from heathrow airport waiting for my flight. But let me wrap up yesterday for good measure before I start the second leg of the trip.

I got up and went to crossfit central London again. It's a really nice facility for sure and it was good to experience their version of an hr long WOD. We did two 7 min AMRAP. One was cleans and box jumps and the other was front squats and shoulder to overhead. I did good and was definitely dead by the end. Success.

Then I went to meet A at the V and A museum of childhood. Basically it's a museum of toys, both old and new. How cool is that. I'm not particularly museums in general but I can get behind something like that.

After that we went to Kensington Gardens to walk around. It's a huge park and is where Kensington Palace is, which we sort of missed because the famous side doesn't face the park... Oops. It was in a really swanky neighborhood which was quite the difference from the lunch time walk through the less nice part of town (though that included a food fair... So totally worth it)

Once we made it through the park we walked down toward Bond St and did some shopping along the way. Hey, two girls together.... It was bound to happen.

Then we met F and went to dinner at this really nice pub near their house. And I got my fish and chips. Quite tasty :)

After that it was off to pack and fall into bed and now we've come full circle. Just waiting to board the plane so I can pass out for a bit

London last day

Well maybe this post should be Oslo first day since technically I am writing from heathrow airport waiting for my flight. But let me wrap up yesterday for good measure before I start the second leg of the trip.

I got up and went to crossfit central London again. It's a really nice facility for sure and it was good to experience their version of an hr long WOD. We did two 7 min AMRAP. One was cleans and box jumps and the other was front squats and shoulder to overhead. I did good and was definitely dead by the end. Success.

Then I went to meet A at the V and A museum of childhood. Basically it's a museum of toys, both old and new. How cool is that. I'm not particularly museums in general but I can get behind something like that.

After that we went to Kensington Gardens to walk around. It's a huge park and is where Kensington Palace is, which we sort of missed because the famous side doesn't face the park... Oops. It was in a really swanky neighborhood which was quite the difference from the lunch time walk through the less nice part of town (though that included a food fair... So totally worth it)

Once we made it through the park we walked down toward Bond St and did some shopping along the way. Hey, two girls together.... It was bound to happen.

Then we met F and went to dinner at this really nice pub near their house. And I got my fish and chips. Quite tasty :)

After that it was off to pack and fall into bed and now we've come full circle. Just waiting to board the plane so I can pass out for a bit

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Market day!

Today A and I went to some local London markets. It was really awesome.

I started the day with a quick run, which ended up being kind of a shitty run because it was freezing and I was tired. But I went and that was what was important. I mean vital to get out there and let's be honest I still went running while I was on vacation so bravo to me.

I got back. I got ready for the day leisurely. Which is great. It's nice to not have to rush around.

We headed out to the antique market called boy rough market. So not how you spell it but whatever. It was in Notting Hill. As in the movie. It was an awesome sort of meld between walking street, flee market and antique market. I scored some good stuff for gifts and then something for myself...... I mean its my vacation and all. And we just walked around aka down and back the road.

After getting some gelato for lunch. We headed over to this other food market f to get stuff for dinner.

This one was called portabllo market. It had all sorts of fresh food and meat and street food vendors. It was soooo neat. And totally up my ally. There were stacks and stacks of baked goods, olive oil, smoked meats... Just to name a few. We picked up dinner stuff and walked around.
I did not have the infamous duck sandwich. But I did get the whole experience. So I was thrilled.

After that we jumped on the tube home. And stopped at the grocery for the extra items. And headed home to have A make dinner. And me "help" .... Or sit and chat



Friday, November 30, 2012

Oxford bound

Today we went to Oxford. As in Cambridge and Oxford. Well A and I did. We had a leisurely morning getting ready then headed out by car.

It was a little over an hour drive but not bad, especially since I didn't have to drive. We parked and made our way to Magdelean College. The whole town is set up with these little colleges.. Which apparently are all their own entities. Which I didn't know. So that is pretty cool. So we saw Magdelean first which was super pretty and apparently has a deer park.

Then we went to New College. Which was one of the two used for Harry Potter. Which quite honestly all of the places reminded me of the movies. So that was so fun :)

Then we went to HIGH TEA!!! It was so fun and tasty. I got English breakfast tea, and found out I at least like that kind with milk. Go figure. I wouldn't have guessed. But it was so English :) and really cute.

The last college we went to was Christ church college. The stairwell was from the first Harry potter. And the dinning hall was the inspiration for the hog warts dinning hall.

We walked around a bit, and then headed home.

All four of us went to a kabob house for dinner :) tasty tasty

Indian food in Britain.... Yes please :)

Twofer

Greetings from London. Time to update about the last two days. It's been a great two days and I can't believe I only have three more on this leg of the trip.

Yesterday I started the day by sleeping in a bit. It felt good after being so exhausted from the pace that we'd been keeping up. It was a bit intense so I needed a slow day.

I went running through A s neighborhood. And got lost. I didn't bring my tube pass. Admittedly stupid cause I ended up about a mile and a half away with the only way to get was to walk and run back. So a quick 20 - 30 min run turned into a 50 min run. Oops. And the annoying part it didn't even end up being that far.

I made it back and changed to go to central London crossfit. There again I got a bit turned around. The gym door was actually a bay door so it was a bit confusing to figure out where it was. I also ended up on the wrong street. So I ended up going to the elements class a half hr later. Which meant I was a half hr behind schedule... Which meant I was late to meet S. oops... Shit happens. I got to press series myself so all good.

Once we met up again we headed to Buckingham Palace. They only change the guard every other day but not the day we went . Still cool and got to see the guys in the fluffy hats :) all worth it. We roamed around that area for awhile.. And then I decided I needed food so we grabbed a sandwich and walked some more. Around the area.

We ended up in a shopping area that was very swanky. There was a huge burberry, among other things... Not exactly the places I shop but still really fun to walk around.

We went to a very local pub for dinner. Which had really good food. Then we went back.

The next day started off with an early crossfit workout again. 8 rounds of 200 meter run, 20 kettle bell gobblet squats and 20 sit up. So I was dead after that.

Fortunately the next location I was headed too was actually close to the gym. So I walked over to the Globe theater, or the replica of it, since the real burned down. But it was really cool to see. I mean I've never been to an outdoor theater and it was cool to see what a theater replica was like.

After that I walked along the river and over the bridge to St Paul's Cathedral. It was so pretty pretty. And I went up to this place in church called the whisper gallery. It involved a large number of stairs. I also went to the crypt... Yes dead people but it was good.

I then went to get some food and make my way to Oxford circus. I was going to take the train but I actually passed a bus. So I got my double decker bus experience. Woohoo!

I walked around Carneby st and did some shopping. I really like those shops. They are very eclectic. Which I like. :)

I went home and got ready to go to the theater. Then A, F, S and I went to kiss me Kate :) awesome blossom. And such a good show.

Then it was off to bed

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Bonjour Paris

Today started very early... We're talking 440 or so. Why you ask? Because today we were off to Paris and the train was at 7. So I rolled out of bed with very little sleep and made my way to the tube to meet S. We made it to the train with plenty of time to spare and proceeded to chill of the two and half ride.

Minus my drink tripping while I was dozing on the grumpy man across the table from me. Not too uncomfortable.... Oops... Train bends and no cup holders. Can't be faulted. Fortunately we got there about an hr after that so it wasn't too awkward for long.

Once we departed the train and did the requisite pee stop. We set about getting metro cards.

I've come to an interesting conclusion over the last few days. I'm actually a laid back traveler. I used to think I would always be high strung but traveling with someone, S, that is extremely high strung and basically goes against the flow whenever he doesn't follow something or understand completely even if I do... Makes me realize hey I'm mellow and actually very laissez faire, as the French would say. It makes me sort of miss when I visited a different S in Amsterdam. It was an awesome yet extremely chill trip. And that is what I need even while sightseeing.. Which isn't exactly the rest on the beach sort of vacation.

Anyways back to the adventure.

Once train tickets were procured we made our way to the metro to go to Norte dame. Always a favorite and always awesome. And it did not disappoint. Apparently it's celebrating its 685, or something , year which is pretty amazing. The rose window was gorgeous and I definitely felt good about going there. And with my new camera I may even have frame-able pictures... Shocker right... If you know me well you know I'm not the best photographer. I didn't light a candle this time because I didn't see st Therese. But I did internally offer some prayers up.

After that we tried to go to St chapelle. I say tried because we got all the way to the front and then found out we had to pay. Which was a downer and decided not to do it. Because we'd just come from a church. And the main reason to go is to see the sun through the stained glass. And it was definitely raining. So we pushed on.

To the Eiffel Tower... Woohoo. This was another must. And of course I've seen it every time I've gone to Paris. But i still wanted to go up. We went up to the tippy top. Which actually involves an elevator change. And we're able to get the amazing view of Paris. I can't wait to download my pictures. Now that I have the mega zoom camera I hope so of the potentially cool shots were actually cool.

We stayed up there for about a half an hr and got really cold. Then it was time for lunch. Of course by the time we found a cafe our brains were significantly hungrier then our stomachs. I got onion soup... You know what we call French onion... And it was very awesome eating onion soup in a cafe in Paris near the Eiffel Tower. Then I got a croque Madame. Basically a glorified grilled cheese with meat, it may have been rabbit but I'm not really sure. I didn't remember exactly what they tasted like but I remember it was good. So I got it but I was a lot of food. So eating again any time soon was out of the question.

After lunch we went down to the arc de triumph. Another good one. I still remember that our hotel the first time I went to Paris was right around the corner. So that area holds a special place for me. It also has the true tomb of the unknown soldier. Or well the first one I ever saw. So I think of it as the first, even though I would guess that most countries that participate in WWI have one. But who cares about the details :p

When we did that I'd sort of run out of a plan but S suggested that we go to basilica sacre coeur. Which we did. The stairs up to the top still such, because of course Montmartre is on a hill, and a big one. But it is completely worth it. Sacre coeur is really pretty and had a completely different feel then Notre Dame. So they are my favorites in Paris but for different reasons. And I saw a real nun:) I mean I've seen them before but it's always cool to see the real habits and stuff :)

After we'd seen that we didn't really have time to do much else but we walked a little and S got another coffee. Then we got a snack... Nutella crepe. YES!!!! And walked to the train station.

We got to the train station ridiculously early so I ended up doing laps around the neighborhood, essentially. Cause the idea of sitting in a train station was completely gross to me. So I didn't. And the neighborhood around Gare Du Nord... Kind of shady. But I made it work.

And now I'm reporting for the train on the way back. It was a long day with some transit foibles but nothing too bad and
We're going home to get some rest and sleep.

Tata for now... Enjoy an assortment of pictures... In no particular order... FYI. I'm officially bad at taking self portraits with a background. It's tricky





Monday, November 26, 2012

Tired tootsies

Today was another wonderful day in London. Actually it was a pretty funny day all things considering. It started off at a decent hour. I vetoed meeting S any time earlier then 9am. So we met at 9 at the Swiss cottage tube stop. Which is the one between A's house and his hotel. I got there right on time and off course had to wait because that is what happens. But he came shortly after and we were off.

The first stop today I thought would be the Olympic village. Little did we know its not open to the public again yet. As someone who's been to the Olympic villages in Montreal and Lillehammer I didn't really think about it. But I guess there is a certain amount of reprep does happen. So we were able to stand In the shop across the way and take pictures of the stadium. I mean it was a good view but not the up close an personal view we thought. We also had fun in the department store that we had to go through getting into the Christmas spirit . And buying a few ornaments. Or at least I did.

Well that took about a quarter of the time we thought it would so we headed back downtown toward Westminster abbey, the parliament building. And Big Ben. Got lots of shots of Ben in the light. Which is much easier. And then S wanted to go on the London eye. Aka the jumbo Farris wheel in London. So have I mentioned I'm sort of really afraid of heights. But I like views... Don't ask. I have no idea why that is the case but it is. But I went and it was admittedly VERY cool. I only got light headed and nauseous in the top half of the circle. So score for me. And it was awesome.

By that point it was well time for lunch so we went to the first restaurant that looked ok. Japanese bento time :) it was tasty and came with lots of veggies. Just what I needed.

After lunch we made our way back to Westminster Abby to get a closer look at it. And I wanted to go in... Which we did. And I am thrilled we did. Cause it was both kind of creepy and completely awesome! There were basically a ton of tombs all around the outside of the building. With famous people like Shakespeare, Handel, all of the Brontes, Jane Austin, Isaac Newton. To name a few. Needless to say it was pretty awesome.

We finished that and S wanted to go back to the hotel to shower before dinner. Which I didn't think was necessary. I mean its a 30 min ish ride both ways... Ill have dinner sweaty thanks. Anyway so I decided to go to harrods.

I'm so glad I did. It's just a really really fun place. It took a little work to get there from where I was both worth it. First off the outside was done up with lights and it was just pretty. The street level displays where really cool too! For some reason they were doing a Disney princess couture theme. Way snazzy regardless. So walking was a bit overwhelming but I found a guide and was better. There was actually a person giving directions which is common. So I didn't feel to silly. The architecture of the building is just amazing... I mean they have nice stuff obviously... Think sacks or bergdorf goodman (or at least that's how I think of those stores since I don't go in them) but they have this escalators that is Egyptians themed. It was gorgeous. I also looked in the Christmas section... Ogled the crackers. They had huge ones with me chains and stuff in them. And an amazing toy store. It was awesome all around. I may have to go back.

I didn't stay as long as I wanted cause I had to meet S for dinner at Jamie Oliver's restaurant 15. Talk about fine dinning. The menu was quite lux. I got scallops which were amazing. Melt in your mouth. A perfect end to a long but awesome day.

After dinner we went back to A's so that S and A could meet and possibly get a converter. And then we all went to bed... Very late to get up very early to go to Paris.



Sunday, November 25, 2012

London day 2

I've been in London for alittle over a day. Considering I got to my place of sleep around 1pm yesterday. And I've already been able to check off a few things.

Yesterday I went to the Churchill war rooms. Which were not initially on my list but recommended by F. And it was actually pretty cool. It was all the bunker rooms that Churchill used during his world war 2 days. They also had a museum of church ills life which was ok. I didn't like the way it was set up. Because I've noticed British exhibits are kind of backwards from what I would expect. So being tired and not really getting the flow of the exhibit I didn't do so hot. But the war rooms were really neat.

Oh I forgot to mention I got to see Big Ben at night. Cause it's right outside the train stop. So that was cool. Now just have to see it during the day.

After the war rooms I decided to try to get to Piccadilly Circus. Mainly cause I'd heard it looks like time square. Which I did and it does. I just got a bit turned around in doing it. So I was so tired when I got there so I basically just saw and went home (aka back to A's house) due to tired and hungry. I stopped at white rose and got some pre- made stuff. Which F recommended as pretty good. And they had an amazing selection. So I was happy.

After eating this sicko decided to try her hand at a run. Shocker that is actually felt felt pretty good and I didn't get lost. Double score.

Today was also excellent. I met up with my travel partner S and we had a bit of a lazy morning since he just got in. I was nice and let him take a two hour nap. Thank god for netflixs on my phone. Ironically my phone lets me stream but the computer doesn't... Weird right?

Anyway, then we went to the Tower of London. Aka where the Crown Jewels are . It was way cool. And I'm so glad we payed the large-ish sum to go. The only bummer, no pictures allowed. So I got stuff of the tower. But no jewels.

There was also a very extensive collection of armor in a different building in the tower complex. Which had all sorts of stuff for the ages. We had fun in there... Me mainly acting like an idiot and S capturing it on film. So that was awesome too!

Now we are off to dinner at this place called Hugo. I will say ill be eating well on this trip because S has way better taste then I do. And I'm ok with that. Off for a good meal before I eat my arm off

Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanks and Labels

Happy Day after thanksgiving. 

I know I have lots to be thankful for....health *this marks the one year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis..so i know it could be a great deal worse.  I am thankful for the good fortune and downright luck I've had in that regard because it could have been a great deal worse.

my family - i love them, i hate them but they are still my family and I'm thankful for a family that I know cares deeply for me.  Even if I don't always like the way that they do it.

my girlfriend -  Its been a long time since I felt the love and caring of another person and I'm so thankful to have found a wonderful person that I feel so deeply for even this early in the relationship. 

Yesterday also marked the fourth year that I ran the Gobble Gobble Gobble race in Davis Square.  It was great.  I did 4 miles in 43:03 min.  Which was well below my goal of 45 min.  I didn't set too high a goal for myself because I have been so stiff lately.  And had gone to crossfit two days in a row.  So my hips and knees were not too happy to be moving.  But I did well and it wasn't even that bad during.   So score one for me. 

Then we, the holm family, went to my aunts house in west newton.  and had our usual low key lunch thanksgiving.  The best part of the meal is actually after because we all inevitably end up looking at the black Friday deals.  Its kind of fun and definitely a tradition. We also finish early enough that you don't have to feel gross going to bed and you get home at a nice hour.  Its very relaxing, shown by the fact I went to bed at about 930pm. 

Today I've been realizing my immediate family is very concerned with labels.  Possibly because I'm about to go on a long trip I've had girlfriend on the brain since we will be out of touch for the longest amount of time since we started seeing eachother (over 3 months ago)  But anyway...what I'm referring to is my sexuality.  My parents are concerned that if I classify myself as something people will get confused.  Where as I think the word bi-sexual.  Which works for now..is pretty clear.  Attracted to women and men and currently dating a women.  I am quickly coming to the conclusion most people don't care about your sexuality in this day and age because it doesn't really effect them...and there is so many out and proud people.  My family is so concerned with what people will think that basically the parental's want me to live in the closet.  Which i'm not going to do.  Granted I don't know what the future holds...but no one does and I'm attracted to women and dating women.  Enough said....I wish they would just get over it.  Whats the big deal with labels anyway? 

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Winds of change

So I'm such a lazy ass lately. It's not even like I've not been doing anything blog worthy. It's just I'm too lazy to write about.

Today my focus is digestion or in my case lack there of. The last few weeks I've been having more trouble then usual which has led me to inch toward a more extreme diet change. Anyone who's known me for awhile knows I go in and out of fascination with the paleo diet. It at times had felt to extreme. And others just too hard to follow. But the I started to listen to the Balanced Bites podcast and realized that I was focusing on paleo perfection. And that was unachievable. I needed to work out what I could do and be successful with. Like do I want to completely give up diet soda.... No.. And I that is ok with me. And I hate to subject other people to my dietary choice but I want to heal my gutt so off to paleo lad I go. It does help that it get rid of some excess weight too.. And who doesn't like a diet that allows you to have al the bacon you want :) I mean come on

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Over doing it

This week I have felt like I may be over training a bit. I did a 5k row on Monday. Then we did. A mile run and back squats on Wednesday. Tuesday I did a training run which just flat out sucked from start to finish. So today I am enjoying a rest day and some acupuncture. But there will definitely ve some reevaluation of the level of training. I think deloading next week.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Totally weird

So today I'm definitely doing something I never thought I'd get to say that I did. I am at the cape code natural body building championships. Oh yeh. Body building. I have been helping my friend S prepare by taking pictures of him for the last 3 months ish. Not sure when I started doing it. But it's been a totally weird and kind of interesting experience. I am 100 %surr I don't have the discipline to do something like this. At least not at the present but it has a learning experience. Especially since its the natural. So obviously different then the non natural.

But it's been fun and will be a busy ass weekend. Between driving to Quincey Thursday and Friday and then getting up early to do a training run. And we are talking 530 early. Or 540 so that's pretty freakin early for a Saturday. But I'm determined to at least try and follow some sort of plan and today's plan said 2mile run. I made it 1.87. So I'll take it. The other thing I'm determined not to do is freak out about it. If I get out there and run close to what it's says at least 2 time a wk. I'm going to be happy with that.

Oh boy it's starting!!!!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

All dolled up

So far this weekend has been excellent. I assisted a tiny class with my girl A on Friday night. Tiny mean there were 6 people practice. So I got to take my time and give lots of love to people and take lots of breaks because I was totally nutritionally screwed up. So it worked out great.

I was nutritionally a mess because we had our biogen idec outing for bio pharam development at cranes beach. It was super fun and hey any time they let you get paid for eating and shooting the shit on the waterfront is ok by me.. It was a good time and I got to chill with m for the whole afternoon which is always a good time. Especially since she knows a lot more people then I do. I guess that's what eight years and being outgoing will do. Anyway it was an awesome afternoon except it was cold.

After yoga I boogied home and got ready to head down to providence for the evening. I have decided I'm a weirdo because I came back from yoga and decided it would be a good idea to throw in a load of laundry and vacuum. I really don't know how to sit down. Though in this case it was intentional since I knew I'd be driving to providence at 10pm.

Fast forward to today I had a relaxing morning, and easy drive home. I got home with time to spare before my eye exam and I got knew glasses. Yay for eye insurance and we're talking good eye insurance. That's all I'm saying.

Now to the title of the post. I sort of didn't realize I had so much back story. But I am off to hear itzack Perlman at the opening night at the Boston symphony. So me, a, j, j's hubs and m#2 are getting dolled up and going to the festivities. Should be good and all Beethoven program... Yes please.

And now it's after the concert and it was awesome. Perlman is an amazing player and an amazing conductor. It was a quick program because it was just Beethoven romance 1 and 2 and beethoven 7th aren't super long and there was no intermission. But it was an awesome concert.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Rest days

Rest days are important. I know they are but it is something that I struggle to actually do. I am constantly on the move pretty much where ever I am. And I frequently don't slow down really until quite literally my body gives out. Not the best tactic I have to admit.

This week as been a light week due to some scheduling things in the evening. I went to crossfit on Monday and had an awesome workout. We did squats, thrusters, toes to bar... All sort of great moves some of which I'm good at and some not so much( hint: I call toes to bar... Toes up) anyway I digress.

I woke up Tuesday with the plan to do some running but I felt sort of shitty all day. So the best laid plan did not happen. And I was fine with it cause I've been oddly sore lately and I think cause I've been pushing myself really hard. So the rest of this week has been light. I assisted at yoga yesterday and will again tomorrow but otherwise I don't have much physical stuff going on. Do I feel bad that I didn't do two crossfit days... Alittle but I know I need to take care of myself so that's more important and taking it easy this week will pay off in the long run.

Additionally I started to be much more cognizant of my meals. And I've felt really good for the last couple days. So there is definitely the motivation to keep it going. Paleo all the way babe.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Weekend fun

In providence... And elsewhere. I feel like I could also call this post.. Don't stop moving. Because basically I don't and didn't since Friday after work.

Friday night I went to yoga and had a lovely practice. An then I did some assisting. It was great as always and great to have my usual teacher back from her vacation. It is definitely a great deal easier to assist when you know the teacher well because it's alot easier to predict where the are going to go in the flow. It feels much more natural. Also one of my buddies came to my assisting class so that was fun too :) after class I boogied home and went out to the parentals for my brothers birthday. The funny thing about it though was we actually had cake without my brother because he was out on his boat with his friends. It's a bit weird but makes perfect sense. If you know him.

Saturday I got up early to go look at a car in west Roxbury. Which I ended up purchasing it. Woot woot. So I now have a Honda fit. Good bye squirrel car. I still have to go back to the dealership one more time but it is all done.

After a long time at the car dealership and I was zooming down the highway to my honey. I got to spend a nice afternoon with my boo. We went apple picking. And then I got to meet some new people which was fun. It's always good to meet new people.

Sunday I went on the Boston arthritis walk. A nice three mile walk with some Aopi. Alums some of whom I hadn't seen in awhile. So it was great to catch up. But I'm exhausted now and off to bed.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Runner time

I did a river run tonight and it was good. Minus the eating the bugs. That was less desirable. But anyway I did 9 intervals of 50 seconds..with 1 min breaks in between. And then did 5 intervals of 21 sec with 1 min in between. The 50 second intervals were brutal but good and I did the Harvard to river street bridge circle. So it was like 2 ish miles... Hurray

Monday, September 10, 2012

I'm back

That's right. Today is my first follow up with oncology. It actually felt weird coming in because it has been so long. And I am definitely having a bit of a visceral I don't like this reaction. Not that I'm expecting any sort of problem but maybe that's to be expected when you go back to something that is associated with so not warm and fuzzy feelings.

On a bright side I didn't miss the afternoon snack cart. Yay for apple juice in a can.

And of course the view ain't so back either. For a building associated with all sorts of yucky ness they do have some premium skyline

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Ugiee

I did my first self care Saturday where I assisted yesterday. And it was great. I really love assisting and it was fun because there was a lot of people there I knew. And I brought my lovely new lady friend. She was a great sport. And I got to do savasana assist on her even though she wasn't in my row. Which I realize makes little sense to most people. But it was how we sort of kept track on who got assisted and who didn't. It was an awesome event and I will totally be doing it again.

It was an awesome day because we went to revere beach and had India food and got to hang out for the entire day... It was a wonderful day :)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Points and pins

I always feel that four day weeks make the work week so much long. It's like the days slow down because the world knows there is only 4 days of work. Anyway tomorrow is Friday and im super happy it is, cause I'm pooped and want to have the weekend again. And I'm doing self care Saturday so that makes it awesome as well.

But today I went back to acupuncture. Woohoo. I got a new student. She seems nice so far. It's always interesting to get a new person cause everyone is a bit different in their needling style. So I wondered what she would be like. She was a very forceful needler. My hands are still sore. But at least she commits to the needle placement. But I came across nice and relaxed so all is good. Hopefully some of symptoms disapait. they did before so I will assume that it will continue to work :)

Now off to bed

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

No idea what to call it

So that is pretty accurate. I have a number of thoughts floating around in my head so it's hard to know where to start. Right now my brain goes right to the freakin heart burn. Since feels like my chest is burning. I took two Tums but it doesn't appear to be helping. I've been a bit nervous and edgy today so that is not helping me out. It's also ridiculous that I'm this edgy because of stuff that isn't even happening till tomorrow. It's about the car at least partially.

I need to drop my car off at garden. Itu repairs tomorrow and i realized it would likely put a kink in my weekend plan . Though... And this is where anxiety sucks.... I have no idea if it will be a problem and won't know until Friday afternoon. So typical that I'm all in knots about it And I won't know if it's a reality until Friday. Ugh. Breath and move on. A skill I am still most definitely working on.

The other main thing that has been going on has been something I've been thinking about for awhile and now that I am not living at home any more I feel like its time to say it out loud. It also helps that I have met someone. Making the motivation to stop lying to the world all the more real. And if I have lost some of you. I am talking about my sexuality. Yep I am bisexual. At least I'm sticking with that moniker for now. From what I've read and heard about female sexuality i hesitate to get to into the label but I want to world to know that I am attracted to ladies too.! I have met a very special lady and I knew that would be the impedes to coming out. But now that I have. Time to take the flying leap.

It is far time to stop keeping secrets. It's been quite the year for me and I've. Come to the conclusion being open an honest is the way to go. Life is too short to not live honestly.

Lastly i want to say How much I appreciate the normal and positive reactions that I've received from people I told In Person. It gave me the courage to keep going. I truly appreciate all your kindness.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Nosy parentage

We all love our parents. The good bad and ugly. They are still our parents and we really can't not love them. Myself included. I love my parents but that does not negate the fact that some times I want punch them in the arm with anger.

One thing I have always struggled with especially now in full adult mode was
Having an adult relationship with my parents. Maybe my struggle occurs because I've spent 4 of my 7 yrs post college living under their roof. I mean then they are sort of entitled to know more then the basics like the occasional I'm alive, works good, I'm single, I'm not single sort of basic details. But since I've come and gone so many times... Or 3. But that's alot we haven't had much of a chance to figure out how to relate to each other as grown ups.

Consequently I still have a parent that gets almost offended if I dont tell them stuff. But by the same token. I'm. A grown up I don't have to. There are certain basic things that they need to know but the line is a lot sooner then the parentals think and consequently
I get the constant . " you don't tell me stuff" bull shit. Maybe I don't tell you stuff because I dont want to have a three hour conversation about what. You think I should do about it, and how you feel about it. And sometimes I dont tell you stuff because the grand total of my day was "I watched projected runway " I mean sometimes the inane details are just that and I just don't care.

It's definitely a work in progress and there is not really a resolution in sight but now that the birdie has left the nest never to return I need to start majorly working on it.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Long time

So I'm Alive!!!! I've been super busy this month with all sorts of stuff. I have officially been a yoga assistant at Prana in Cambridge. I have really enjoyed it so far and I find it a great way go on Friday nights. I purposely picked a class on Fridays because to thought it would be a much easier way to make sure that I practiced on Fridays which I like to do anyway.

I've also been going to crossfit Boston regularly twice a week. I totally have noticed a difference even in this short of time. I still need to add some more running because I want to get ready to do the princess half marathon. So I'm definitely going to be even more busy.. But it's all good.

Now back go to project runway

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Something scary

Its been a busy time lately.  I feel like I barely sit down any more but that's not exactly a bad thing.  Though this week after Monday crossfit, I think my legs decided to go on strike.  I barely could bend for three days... oops.  Hopefully this week will be better.  I mean I'm all a fan of pushing myself but the goal is not to do it so bad that I'm incapacitated for almost a week.  Fortunately I'm all better for the most part today, so I'm going to go and do another partner WOD at 11... hopefully I can walk at the end of it :)

Today my plan is also to do something scary... hello bassoon...nice to see you after almost two years.. But I've actually been missing it.  I realized that I am such a bassoon player is so many ways because I appreciate things like
I mean this sort of thing is exactly what bassoonist are like.  Lets get together and play something silly for bassoon quartet. I mean.  Its nice to be associated with a group of people that as a collective don't seem to always take themselves seriously.  Which is me.  So i'm going to pick up my bassoon for the first time in a LONG  time today.  Wish me luck :)  

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Nash in pictures

Jack Danials Distillery
 The Hobbit as a Tree House

Walden Tree House
Japanese Zen Garden...Cheekwood TN
The Giver
Lord of the Flies
The Painted Fish
Peter Pan

Nashvilled up

Nashville and seeing the E family was wonderful. Once the travel was underway it was relatively uneventful and I was met by T at the airport in Nashville. Because baby E had to go to bed so S was on bedtime duty.

Anyways, we drove back to their place and chatted with S for a little while. Before bed. T and I played street fighter for awhile and definitely had a blast from the past moment.

The next day we relaxed through the morning while the baby played and then we made our way to the jack Daniel's distillery. Which was really neat. The science geek in me really liked it. It did smelly kind of funny, but the fact they make JD with water fro this one spring in TN is kind of cool.

After that we got ice cream :) yes please and a good thing to do after spending the day in the hot TN sun Though it wasn't as hot as it. Could have been.

The next day we went to church. Yep church. It was good to have some god time and reminded me that I need to get back go church / find a church closer to Cambridge. Cause getting out to Wellesley may or may not happen regularly. And it might be nice to go to a church where people don't all know about the cancer. Not that's its a bad thing, but sometimes I don't want the big doe eyes of how are you.

Anyways I digress. After church we had lunch and went to cheek-wood botanical gardens. They had an exhibit of tree houses. It was really cool. They had a tree for Walden, the hobbit an lord of the flies.... To name a few. It was super cool, until it started to rain. We all loaded into the car and headed home, by way of aopi headquarters. Which was fun to drive by. Just a building though.

We had a lovely evening at home involving 5 guys burgers. And T cut
The grass.

I woke up the next day and travelled home. Which was equally uneventful. And the two hour layover wasn't even too bad. Thank goodness for books and iPhones :)

All In all, wonderful trip, wonderful weekend and wonderful awesome people:)

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Anxiety driven

So the past two weeks I haven't been doing much yoga and Ive actually noticed. Weird cause it's never happened before. But interesting that I noticed. I have definitely become much more in tune with body. At least more often so that is good. I definitely not at 100% but we're getting there which is really what it's about. We are all works in progress :)

Lots has been going on lately. I started back at crossfit. At a new gym which is really close to my new house. I'm really happy that I started again because really I just had to jump off the fence and go for it. I have had to heavily modify almost everything but it's still been worth it, and just the ability to finish a WOD in the time cap has been exciting. There has also been two times in the last three weeks I've realized mid workout that I couldn't do something and had to spring it on the coach. ... I almost wrote couch...hehe. I felt alittle bad about that one but whatever. It's a learning curve for me too. So deal with it.

This weekend I'm off for a relaxing weekend to visit s and t in nashville. So that should be fun and should have lots of adventures to report :)

I just to wait the 3hrs before the flight. Oops

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Something new

Today has been a good day do far. I went to my third WOD at crossfit Boston this morning. It was a doozy. We ran Harvard stadium. Yes you heard it. It sort of sucked and was great at the same time. I managed 14 flights in 30 min which isn't bad considering a) the lack of shape I'm in and b) the fact I will fully admit to wanting to stop after the first set. So it felt really good to get 14. Which is alittle over one every 2 min... A+ for me.

Then I had all these plans of what I was going to do, but I'm just taking it easy. The original idea didn't happen cause of timing, so I said to myself let's have a slow day. And thats what I've been doing. Made some spaghetti squash, walked to Harvard square, and going to trader joes with one of the roomies.

All over great to slow down.

The site of this mornings workout

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Wanderlust!!!!!!!!!

http://c282314.r14.cf1.rackcdn.com/website-images/wanderlust_logo.png
The day started off great. I actually woke up at 6 which I don't know why I'm even surprised anymore.  But I sort of dozed for another hour and a half which was excellent.  I wanted to get up sort of early because my first class was at 10.    So I wanted to make sure to leave enough time to get there, get the wrist band and figure out where the heck I needed to get to without getting stressed out. 

So I got ready watching Rupauls Drag U, which turned out to be a makeover show.  Go figure.  Anything involving Rupaul is amusing.  So i got ready and then attempted to find the theoretical continental breakfast.  I say theoretical because not only could I not find it I couldn't find a soul to ask.  The hotel is fine and all but its oddly understaffed.  So there was no one around.  Not a big deal since I knew they'd have food at the festival.  So I packed up and headed out.

It was super easy to find because it was one minute up the road.  And because it was a ski resort parking was easy peasy.  Actually getting around in general was pretty easy.  So I got my wrist band and found a yummy vegan smoothie place.  All was GREAT!

I made it to my first class, which ironically turned out to be the only class with flow.  So not as active as intended but whatever.  Still amazing.  Anyway the first class was an intro to Ashtanga yoga with Kate O'Donnell. Who ironically teaches at Back Bay Yoga in Boston.  So I actually felt bad about taking it, but I'd always been curious about Ashtanga so I did it anyway.  So I'm glad I did.  She was an amazing teacher.  If only she taught at some other time then 6am.  I might try it a little.  But I left feeling really good.  I even went into headstand prep, which still doesn't feel good.  But I gave it a 5 breaks go.  And it wasn't bad.  Though I still don't like the way it feels on my head. 

So after that I trucked it to the Lucy tent.  Yes the store.  I caved and bought a shirt last in the day, but they were one of the sponsors so the big tent was theirs.  There I had a lecture about living like a yogi.  It was done by this guy who teaches at NYU and is a Buddhist monk, Lama Marut.   I actually bought his book cause he made some interesting points about how you follow the yoga sutras.  Little did I know I'd come away with a reading list 7 miles long.  I thought I'd just come away sore :)

After that I had some time to kill so I roamed and got some free samples.  And then I found lunch.  Rice bowl with beef.  Then the rains came, which was a total arg moment because I was just going to sit outside until my last class.  And we aren't talking about a little rain.  IT was a ton.  But it was oddly relaxing in a lot of ways because there was quite literally nothing to do and nothing I could do about it. So I curled up on my rolled up mat and started to read my book..the one I just bought.  It was good that I forgot my phone charger because I didn't look at it much and because I didn't want it to die.  But I really wanted to check out and watch netflix on my phone. which  I didn't, So it was a very interesting pull. 

Anyway I managed to kill time until my third class which was given by the dean of the Kripalu Center.  I thought it was going to be a vinyasa class.  Nope it was al ecture.  But that was cool because he discussed Patanjolis Yoga Sutras.  Which I now want to read.  But he discussed how the asanas tape into the body and make us feel things we are blocking.  Then pranayama is the life force which keeps us going also know as air.  So the breath work with asana to tap in the body.  Then daram or manomaya  Kosha is the meditation that allows us to tap into out feelings.  Which lead to the Vijnani maya kosha, which is our higher self.  The self that is not judgmental and content with life.  That eventually  allows us to reach the ananda maya kosha.  Which is Bliss.  OUr completely enlightened self.  It was a really neat way to think about stuff.  By improving the body through the physical we are able to tap into the emotional and therefore improve yourself. 

After the lecture I roamed around a bit more.  Found an interesting booth called Karma Warrior clothes, and bought a tee shirt.  I eventually found my way to one of the restaurants at the resort because i knew if I went home I wouldn't come back for a the concert.  Which was awesome.  MC Yogi and Shakti Sunfire.  Completely awesome.  Then I went home and passed out. 

There was my wanderlust experience.



Monday, July 9, 2012

First WOD

I just did my first WOD since December. Holy hell my legs are sore.
21 15 9. Dead lifts, pushups and wall balls. And I loved every minute of it.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

One of the yoga sutras





Going to Wanderlust made me want to start to look more closely at the yoga sutras.  So far they are VERY interesting. 

Wanderlust the day before

Getting up there was rough with a capital R.  Stratton Mountain is far away.  I am not a huge fan of driving, so driving three hours was a challenge.  Especially by myself.  I actually ended up doing it all in one go because there wasn't really good places to stop by the time I wanted to. Since the last hour or so was the back roads of Vermont.  I am most definitely in the sticks.  I even passed a house that had a fire truck in it.  Talk about rural. 

But I made it in one piece.    Minus my phone charger...dumbo.  I am going to have to make sure to plug it in in the car.  Fortunately if I'm conservative with the uses it should be fine.  But I wouldn't have too many instagram moments. I'm just happy I brought my regular camera so I can go crazy with pictures regardless.

On a side note...since this is a delayed post... i didn't go crazy with pictures..oops.

The drive did serve one good purpose.  I got some time to think.  Maybe a lot of time... But sometimes that's a good thing.  Anyways off to have a massive burger and poss out on a big bed. To get up early for a full Wanderlust experience. 

Below are some pictures from my hotel : )  It was a cute room.