yoga

Weekend update – and recipes!

I can’t believe the weekend is over already! So many things! Friday, I went back to my Hatha 2 yoga class, and lo! it was good. I’m definitely slower than I used to be an getting into poses, and I just watched everyone else do the arm balances, but overall, it was great – challenging but not TOO challenging.

After yoga, I caught up on my yogathon duties since I’d missed my meeting the night before – I’m on the planning committee again this year, and will be talking more about that once I know more.

The rest of Friday was spent writing – I am thisclose to being done with my capstone. All that’s left at this point is about 2/3 of the conclusion and some formatting! YAY!

About 8 pm Friday night, I realized I hadn’t gotten up from my desk in almost 7 hours AND that I hadn’t eaten in about 8 hours. I also realized that we were nearly out of food. I ate the last of the eggs and then waited for the architect to get home from his guys’ poker night. I would’ve loved to go to sleep, but I can’t fall asleep when he’s not home because the power of my awakeness keeps him safe when he’s driving. This probably does not bode well for having a teenage son who might want to stay out past 10 pm.

Saturday, I was back to yoga – this time the prenatal class. It seemed WAAAY harder than the Hatha 2 class. After I got home, the architect & I took loads of stuff to Goodwill. I feel so much lighter! Then, we met with a new doula candidate – and I think she’s the one! (The one now equals the one much less likely to QUIT on me.) Then – a walk. It was such a pretty day! I’m not sure when I turned into an elderly invalid, but that 1.5 mile walk was too much; I could barely move the rest of the day. I guess it’s swimming & yoga for me from here on out.

Sunday was groceries, writing, and a little project. I love coffee (this is well-documented, I believe), and I love flavored coffee creamers. However, I do hate the creepy ingredients in most flavored creamers. I usually deal with this by ignoring the ingredients lists. But no more! Yesterday I made my own coffee creamers – vanilla & hazelnut.

I looked at a lot of different recipes, and then ended up going with a mixture.

French Vanilla Creamer

1 cup half-and-half

1 cup heavy cream

2 TB maple syrup

1 vanilla bean

Scrape the seeds and whisk with the rest of the ingredients. Heat up to a gentle simmer. Turn off heat & allow to steep for 30 minutes. Strain & chill. (I skipped the straining.) Cool.

Hazelnut Creamer

1 cup half-and-half

1 cup heavy cream

4 TB hazelnut syrup

Whisk together. Heat to gentle simmer. Turn off heat & allow to steep for 30 minutes. Cool.

They smelled awesome, but as of this writing, I hadn’t tried them yet. I’ll add a note to let you know how they turned out.

Not the most ambitious of DIY projects, but the most ambitious I’ve been for awhile!

Have a good week, everyone!

Weekend in Review – a bit late

Dec 20th, 2011

by gazelle.

2 comments

Yeah – this usually happens on Monday. As it happens, I spent Monday on the couch, moaning dramatically (which did not seem to impress the cats, at least not enough for them to fetch me important things like cocoa or the remote).

I had a great weekend. Really awesome. BUT – I may have overdone it a bit. This is something I struggle with ALWAYS, and especially now.

Anyways – on to the fun!

Friday, I hit the Hatha 2 yoga class with my friend & fellow preggo Emily. It was pretty awesome, although I totally tipped over once. I’d like to blame my balance issues on pregnancy, but am pretty sure that they’ve always been with me. After yoga, we did a 5-mile hike in Forest Park (in 90 minutes, bitches!), and then refueld with brunch at Besaw’s. Yum.

Then I shopped at the Nike Employee Store (Yay!) and picked up gifties for the architect. I also really had to resist buying tiny UO onesies for Alvie. CUTE.

By the time I got home Friday, I was wiped out.

Saturday, I planned on going to the prenatal yoga class, and got up and dressed in my yoga finery. I knew the class was at noon, but just before 10, decided to check to ensure it really was noon and not 11:30 or 12:15 or something. Yeah. It was at 10. I didn’t so much make it. The Wednesday prenatal class that I’d previously attended is at noon. Not so much the weekend one. Oops!

Instead I went grocery shopping and then made a delivery to east Vancouver before heading home to collapse in a pile of sore and mentally prepare for Zoolights! I have never been to Zoolights, even though I actually worked at the Zoo for the first couple of years I lived in Portland AND have been a Zoo member for the entire time. I have worked at the opening night of Zoolights, but never actually went in.

The architect & I met up with friends, and we rode MAX over to the Zoo. It was fun – and I’m glad we went. However, now we know that we ride the train FIRST, and not after walking around. Due to the 1 hr and 20 min wait for the train, we decided to just leave. We went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner (the architect was likely reminded of home, as this is a pizza chain common in the South) and then home to bed.

Sunday was naked santa nut brunch day! (hee.) Some friends and I got together for brunch (delicious french toast bake, bacon, chocolate croissants, mimosas, OJ, toffee), then a naked lady exchange, then secret santa gift exchange, then the Nutcracker! So fun. (There was no actual nudity – sorry!)

Again, I was totally wiped out, and spent the rest of the day doing….nothing? I don’t even remember. I made chili and cornbread (which was delicious), but am not sure I did anything else.

We clean up nice, don’t we? Also, I am short. And blueberry-esque.

Anyways – I have all of next week off, and am planning on sleeping and working on my capstone, and sleeping. I cannot wait. I just need to get through this week of crazy work, and then 11 days in a row of no work! YAY!

Happy week! AND Happy Chanukah to all who will begin celebrating tonight!

Updates and Shoes and Pictures and Weekends (OH MY!)

Jul 12th, 2011

by gazelle.

6 comments

I finished out Thursday with a great trail run with Sarah and then got to sleep in a bit (’til 7:30!) on Friday.

Friday started off fantastically. I had a great morning yoga class and then spent the rest of the day doing homework and packing for our camping trip.

The architect got home about 4:45 and we loaded up the truck and were off! We stayed at Elk Creek Campground in the Coast Range. It was really pretty, if a bit too close to the highway (6) for my taste. Next time we’ll leave a bit earlier and get one of the more tucked away campgrounds.

Friday night we started the fire, set up camp, roasted weenies and marshmallows, and relaxed.

Sometime in the middle of the night, some crazy person started yelling obscenities and being a general crazy, disturbing nuisance. I slept through it.

Saturday morning, we were up and at ‘em wicked early (i.e. 8 am!). We had a lovely breakfast of instant coffee with hot cocoa stirred in and organic pop tarts. HEALTHY!

We were going to do a long hike that day, summitting two nearby peaks. We grabbed the day pack, the water filter and the camera & headed to the stream to fill up the water bottles for the hike.

As the architect filled up the bottles, I decided I needed a picture of that. And that’s when I realized that the camera batteries were dead.

Shortly thereafter, we also realized that the water filter was dead.

This was not an auspicious beginning!

We reevaluated our plans, and since it was now nearing 11 am, decided that the 8-10 hour extremely (according to the trail map) difficult hike with only 32 oz of water might not be the way to go.

So, we took the moderately difficult option instead. We did a 7 mile hike, which took 3 hours and all 32 oz of water. We did see an elk that crashed through the forest and crossed the trail ahead of us, so that was cool! It was a pretty, steep, and fun hike. The way back, I rolled my ankle, bruised my heel, and almost fell in a hole (not to mention the stinging nettle that I traipsed through), and was sure glad to get back to the tent!

We split a beer and napped before getting down to the business of more fires, more roasted weenies, and more toasted marshmallows!

I fell asleep hard that night, and about midnight was woken up by the sound of rapid gunfire not too far away. There were a LOT of shots, and it was really nerve-wracking. The architect tried to tell me that it sounded really far away, but I didn’t believe him (although I appreciated him trying to assuage my fears). After the shots finally died down for good, the campground became a swarm of activity. A couple groups packed up their cars and got out of Dodge. All the flashlights bobbing about & the hushed conversations did nothing for my nerves. It took me forever to fall asleep again, and then I had dreams about being shot the rest of the night.

Sunday morning, the whole campsite was pretty much packing up & leaving early. We loaded up the car and headed to Kookoolan farm to pick up Colin!

Doesn’t he look delicious? Plus, bonus Ikea bag for all my open water swim needs!

We started on our way home, stopping Forest Grove for lunch and then spending a lazy afternoon at home.

Yesterday was my first “work at home” day, and it was wonderful! I got so much done, had fewer distractions at home than work, and generally felt way more productive. I took off & picked up Jen so we could head out to Klineline for a swim. It was perfect weather – a little overcast to keep us cool. We did two long loops in the lake and it felt really great!

Last night, the rain woke me up and it’s still gray and drizzly today. I love a break from the heat & sun every couple of weeks in the summer, and my rain barrels and garden need the break, too!

Speaking of the garden, check it out! Baby ‘maters and peppers!

The other great thing that happened yesterday? My new Kate Spade shoes arrived! Huzzah!

Happy week!

Monday, already?

Jun 6th, 2011

by gazelle.

1 comment

When I have a 2-day weekend, Monday totally takes me by surprise! I did fit a lot of stuff into my two day – although not as much as I’d hoped.

Friday morning started out with an exciting event! The architect was in the shower, and I walked downstairs to make coffee. And there it was: A giant puddle of water with a solid drip stream coming through the ceiling.

I ran upstairs yelling “get out of the shower! shut it off!” which made him think that maybe the house was on fire & we were all going to die. I was having flashbacks to streams of water pouring through light fixtures, followed by months of moldy walls (thank you, wonderful Venice, CA landlords!).

Once the shower was off, the water stopped coming through the ceiling. The next day, the architect cut a hole in our ceiling, re-caulked around the tub upstairs, and ran the water. And no water came through the ceiling! I asked if I was cleared to shower upstairs, and he said yes. And then added, “but put a bowl down underneath, just in case.” So yesterday, I showered, and when I went downstairs, there was water in the bowl, and all around. Guess the caulking didn’t work. (Hee.) We are now pretty sure we need to replace the sheetrock behind the tub (it looks like regular sheetrock & not bathroom sheetrock was used), replace the stuff that is supposed to keep the walls dry (the ugly bathtub wall thingie), and obviously fix the ceiling….or maybe not…

Per the architect: this installation emphasizes the emptiness of modern life.

Ceiling/bathroom issues aside, the rest of the weekend was great.

The architect & I went to Migration for dinner/drinks after work on Friday – it was such a gorgeous day! Then Saturday, after changing the tube in my front tire (for the third time in 3 weeks) we headed out for a long-ish bike ride (longish for me = 20 or so miles). One of my summer goals is to learn to really enjoy/appreciate biking. (Also, I have a triathlon on Saturday.) I was having a great time. There was a long downhill and we went so fast! I love going fast. After the down-hill there is a slight uphill that I seldom even notice. For some reason it was wicked hard on this ride. I was struggling. And then, I looked down. The front tire was completely flat. Again.

I flagged down the architect. He had two extra tubes in his pack. We took out the flat tube & put in the new one. We pumped it up, but before we even got everything back together again, that tube was flat. We then got out tube #3, but it was too big. We pumped up tube #1 again, and couldn’t find an obvious leak, nor could we find anything on the tire or rim that would be causing all of my tubes to flatten. We had to abort the bike ride. We put the first flat tube in as that one seemed to hold air the best, and turned around (and immediately had to ride back up the long, long hill). We had to stop one more time on the way home to pump up the tire. My overall average ended up being only 13.2 mph, which is not nearly fast enough, although on the miles where my tire wasn’t flat, I was hitting 15 mph+ consistently and the long downhill was closer to 19 (of course the long uphill was more like 8, but whatevs!).

After returning home & cursing at the bike a LOT, I changed into my 2nd set of workout clothes for the day. Sarah met me at my place & we headed to Rushing Water Yoga in Camas for a free Living Yoga yogathon class with Emily. It was two hours & really challenging. Really challenging. But good! I just wish Camas wasn’t so far away; I’d go waaaay more often. Like more than the once/year I’m averaging now!

After yoga, I made Sarah go to Gartner’s with me. My sausage stuffer (finally) arrived, and I needed ingredients! I picked up some beef shortribs for my all-beef hotdogs I’m going to make, and more pork belly for some bacon.

Then, it was time to buckle down. I spent the rest of the most gorgeous day of the year (so far!) holed up in my office doing homework. I finally finished at about 7, and made the architect go sip gin with me on our patio before we headed out to Leisure for dinner.

Sunday morning, I got up ~~bright & early~~ at about 9, and headed out to the trails for a nice, long run. I did a gorgeous Forest Park loop (Saltzman -> Wildwood -> Maple -> Leif -> Saltzman) that ended up being about 8.75 miles + 790 total feet in elevation gain. I felt great for most of the run, although there were a few sections on Wildwood (miles 13.5-15 or so) that were so overgrown and/or muddy that I had to go pretty slow so as to not slip or trip or die.

After my run (and stretching like the good girl that I am), I rushed home to shower & head over to pick up Alisa for our afternoon of shopping fun. We headed to Woodburn for some outlet action. It was my first outlet shopping experience, and I came away poorer and with a lot of great summer clothes. I need to head over to the tailor this weekend to get my pants hemmed, but am pretty pleased with my purchases and am super glad that I had someone who knew what they were doing & had an action plan (and a good eye for clothes).

I was so exhausted last night after my weekend of activity. The architect & I made a little picnic meal (the last of my homemade chicken/tomato/basil sausage, some cheese, some homemade bread, homemade mustard, and homemade beer…we are so homemade!) and watched “The King’s Speech” before I hit the hay.

This is my last week of my current class, and my last week of pre-triathlon training, so I expect it’ll be a wee bit busy. BUT THEN, I have a 5-day weekend this weekend…I don’t work Friday, and I took Monday/Tuesday off (no work! no school! What on earth will I do!).

Happy week, everyone!

Three Things Thursday

Apr 21st, 2011

by gazelle.

9 comments

Earlier this week, in response to a request for help from my yogathon (donate! see the side bar!) committee heads, I replied “just tell me where to go & what time to be there.” Yeah. I’m a bit overwhelmed this week. My current class ends tomorrow. When it’s done, I have four classes and my capstone left, and then I’ll be the Master!
or maybe more like:
I am excited to have a homework free weekend and hope the weather cooperates. I have running and biking and running and gardening plans. So far, it’s looking pretty good!
Thursdays are the last day of my workweek, and they are invariably crazy. I am planning on managing the crazy today by having the architect pick me up from work (so I have to leave) and then drop me off about 3.5 – 4 miles from home (so I have to run the rest of the way home) before doing a bit of homework and then having happy hour with one of my kick-ass neighbors! Yay!