...the countdown begins

Tomorrow is the big day! I am as studied up as I'm going to get. I can't study anymore. If I hear one more sanskrit word or anatomy part, I'm going to have a meltdown.
On the good side of this, I have to think this is truly the most passionate I have ever been about anything. I have NEVER studied for anything as hard as I have for this test. Once completed & graded, I will be able to register w/the National Yoga Alliance. Then I can officially put letters after my name... like, "Kristen Neill h.o.t" Hee hee hee

Tick, tock, tick, tock

I have 2 more classes left. You have NO idea how happy I am! Not only to be completed & ready to move on, but to have an entire weekend to myself!!!! YIPEEEEE!!!!!
I have been studying like a banshee all week. I was informed on Saturday that we would be given 4 hours to complete out exam this Saturday.... 4 hours!!!! I don't know if I've ever taken a 4 hour exam outside of taking the SAT in 1986!!!
Thank God for Julian. He has been the most amazing study partner. He drilled me questions for days while he was here, and now that he's back home, he's doing revisions with me via webcam. True dedication that boy has... true dedication.
I have Sanskrit words and anatomy parts floating around in my head 24 hours a day. Its beginning to disturb my sleep.
Well, wish me luck as I test this Saturday. I've been working on a few projects to get the teaching ball rolling and I'm about 99% completed with one of them. I'll keep it under wraps until it's a done deal & then I'll share the news.
Hope everyone is having a good holiday season & enjoying their friends & families.
Oh yeah, we're buried in snow up here!!!! The Fudd hat is in full swing!
Chat soon :)

Wow, did I fall off or what?

I have fallen off of the face of the earth due to this school thing. I have 6 classes left over the next two weeks and then I am a certified Yoga instructor!!! I am super duper jazzed about this!
I have taught twice the past week within our class and next Thursday I teach my first real class with strangers. Part of me is cocky and confident with it, the other part is scared shitless. I guess it's all how I prepare myself to go into it.
Okay so with that, the holiday is right around the corner. Is it wrong not to do any shopping when I'm working full time and going to school the equivalent of full time hours??? I will be going to Big D for Christmas and I really want to go empty handed and take the family out for a nice event. Any thoughts? Opinions on that? I am still trying to decide if it sounds selfish or not. I am more concerned simply with spending time with the family VS. getting stuff.
My materialism has finally fallen completely to the wayside... I guess that is the true meaning of Yoga.

Me old bones...

Okay I am LOVING my yoga certification classes BUT my body is still screaming every week from doing 3-5 hours of a yoga practice 3 days a week. I guess since the sore muscles hurt in the good way AND I am feeling muscles I've never felt AND I'm getting super toned... it's all okey doke.
I took my first test on Saturday. It was over the Sanskrit language and sequencing. I got the highest grade in the class... a 98! Yipeeeee! The only one I missed was the only one I didn't answer because I didn't know it. I am pretty freaking super jazzed about this.
Coming soon to a studio near you... Yogi Neill

Lordy Lordy... or Holy Shit!

Well who knew.... I made it to age 40!

I don't think I look it, act it, and I certainly don't feel it!

I was given the most amazing surprise party last weekend. Thank you so much to Julian and everyone else involved. He did a fantastic job of pulling it off and bringing together the most important people in my life. He continues to amaze me every single day. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

Thanks also to those of you who couldn't make it but sent your well wishes.

I had 5 people fly in from Dallas for this event! Imagine my surprise when I not only heard, "SURPRISE!" from the back of Morseland, but even more so when I saw the screaming blond hair of my mother as I went up the stairs! Yup, mom & dad flew in for the event. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. Brian, Wayne, & Nolie also came in... so we had the full Neill/Foose party crew!

Oh yeah... and who knew I would ever dance with my mother? See, miracles can happen!

I just ran across a saying that really made me think... "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"... mmmm...food for thought. I'll have to get back to you on that one... maybe 29? Maybe 59 after the after party we had! That's okay, if Nolie Foose can hang until 3:00am at 72 years old, then I will be just fine.

Control Freaks

I've been talking lately to friends of mine about how sometimes feeling out of control can be a very empowering feeling... especially after the fact. During, however, you tend to feel like you want to choke someone or curl up into a ball in the floor and bawl your head off.

In hind site, I think that moving from Dallas made me understand myself and who I am by about 1000%. Even more so was going through quite a bout of depression. I never really got the definition of what depressed really was until I was deep in it. It's like that person who calls into work with a migraine... someone who doesn't get migraines thinks, "good Lord, take a Tylenol and come to work"... the ones who get migraines think, "oh no, poor thing, I feel for you... do you need any good drugs?". It's empathizing through association. If you haven't been there then chances are you really don't get it.

I've been depressed, I get it. The funny thing is, as shitty as it was going through it, it was probably one of the best, most informative things that could have ever happened to me. I honestly think I'm a better person because of it... how crazy is that?

Everyone wants some sort of control whether at home, work, or internally. Control the house, control the kids, control your boss, control your employees, control the finances, control your spending, control your bad habits, my hair needs extra control, mission control, etc...
Isn't being out of control much more liberating and how you learn the most about yourself?

I thought this was a great article to pass along.

Yoga Journal - Yoga Philosophy - Break Away

You're kidding me....

I'm so not ready for this...
My heater came on today....

Namaste... or ZZZZZZ

I started school last week. For those of you who didn't know, I am going to school to get certified as a Yoga Instructor.
I've been interested in doing this for some time, but stopped looking into it seriously when I realized that no studios/programs/schools worked around work schedules.
I stumbled upon this totally by mistake. Long story short, this program is 2 nights a week and Saturdays for 13 weeks.
Today was the first day reality hit and I thought, "Holy shit, I'm working full time and taking 15 hours of school, no wonder I'm tired". Not to mention that each class is 3-4 hours of poses straight through. Not in a steady flow, but being held for some time while we breakdown the makeup of each pose. Needless to say, my body is screaming at me.
The way I look at it, it's 13 weeks out of my life (11 after tomorrow's class!) and it's going to pay off big time in the long run. This will totally be worth it.
Until then, I must go get some rest... and figure out when the hell I'm going to do things like laundry!

Vintage Fun!

I found this little gem at the Randolph Street Market a few weekends ago. Not only was it a steal but it works and makes those pieces of crap that are sold today look like hunks o' junk! Solid metal, super quiet, and mixes up to like 100 mph!

Not a bad break for $20...

I guess it's time to break out my apron & get to whippin'...

No time like the present...

Wow, Labor Day hit and the temperature dropped. I guess we can blame good old Gustav for that one. Or is it the fact that I live in Chicago? I can't refresh my memory enough to last year to remember how quickly summer ended but at this moment... it's too soon.

One thing I did remember from last year was my winter panic mode. I began buying and planning about this time for my bundle-up package. I think I may have actually had my coat by late August!

Well, knowing how quickly things can hit, I must admit...I'm a sucker again this year. Last years snow boots (made by Totes I must add) had a blow out after a very successful and harsh winter. At least the locals tell me it was rough. I just thought that was how it was supposed to be so I wasn't really all that shocked.

So, I bucked up and bought my snow boots this week. I am the consummate sale shopper (except in the case of the bad ass shoes posted a few weeks ago) and know there are plenty of good deals out there. I got a GREAT pair of Sorel snow boots, brand new, for $40. I must say, I'm super jazzed... and my feet will be super dry. Now I'm just waiting for my local Walgreens to put out the bins of winter gear so that just like last year I can stumble in to get an RX filled and come out with a great pair of Thinsulate gloves for $8.99. Those too railed right through the winter up until the bitter end when the webs between the fingers also started to have a blow out.

I'll even be nice again and share a great web site: www.sierratradingpost.com This is where I got the AMAZING deal on my boots and if I remember correctly, where I got the AMAZING deal on my North Face jacket last year. It's all overstocks and discontinued styles that go from 30-50% off MSRP. My boots were 50% off.

...and once again, the knitting needles are starting to fly... but for me only. I'll be damned if I'm making ONE Christmas gift this year!