Announcing...

The fruits of my labor....
www.traveling-yoga.com
Check it out & pass it on!

:(

I am so sorry I have been gone for so long! Unfortunately my day job that pays all my bills has gotten a little insane.
Now, the YOGA is going smashing! I just picked up another 10 week session at Crate's corp. fitness center, I love teaching at Know-no-limits gym in Andersonville, AND I have contracted a gig at the Beneteaus Rendesvous in Annapolis, MD at the end of May!
I am also currently building a web site which I will reveal when it is complete. I spent way too much time last weekend in front of this screen so now I'm jumping into it in bits & pieces.
On random other things....
I am attempting to be a greener individual... both for the planet, my yogic beliefs, and my wallet. I am making a conscious effort to unplug anything I can when not in use, and especially when I'm out of town. I think it has visibly lowered my electric bill! I'm on a crusade to reuse/recycle what I can. I am disgusted with all of the plastic I am accumulating. Anything that can be reused at this point is taking up space in my bathroom cabinet. I know I'm a girl & all but even trying to clean out all of the freebies & samples that I've gotten (by actually using them) has brought on a stupid amount of plastic waste. If I didn't already have a zillion things going on... I would attempt an art project about this.
Another weird thing... I recently read an article which stated that it has been proven that plants leaves perk up when their owners walk into the room. So in the interest of experiment, I have begun talking to my one, lone, plant. Not only have the leaves stopped turning brown, but it is FLOURISHING with growth! It's a type of palm tree which was really doing poorly. Now it has busted through the side of the stalk with an entirely new branch of greenery! I am super jazzed about my horticultural efforts... in other words, I am a dork.
That's all for this shitty weather Sunday morning in Chicago. I hope all of you in the rest of the country (and beyond) are enjoying spring/summer like weather as it is 45 degrees here on April 25th, 2009!

Things are a happenin'

I picked up another teaching job! I am on a roll!
I will be teaching at Know-No-Limits on Clark Ave., Saturday's from 12-1pm. Yipeeeee!!!!

what time is it?

This may sound stupid and/or not much of a "wow" factor but I spent 2 days not knowing what time it was. I am amazed and stunned not only at how difficult it was sometimes but how liberating it was simply not to care.

While camping in St. Augustine this past week, the watches came off and the cell phones were turned off after about 3 hours. That evening it didn't really occur to us what we were doing but the next morning it hit home. As my eyes opened (to a confused little dog), one time it was dark outside, the next it was light. The first instinct was to look at a clock & wonder "what time is it?". When I realized I didn't have a clock, the next instinct was to find one. Instead I just layed there & thought, " do I really care?" "does it really matter?".
It's sad how our lives revolve around the fucking clock. So the order of the day was... No Time. We ate when hungry & slept when tired & showered when dirty... and gaged the time by the sun.

How primative and lovely all at the same time. I can only dream of living an entire week this way!...but wait! What about my Facebook addiction???

Health Class 101... or not...

I just spend the weekend in a 3 day Ayurvedic workshop. My head is totally spinning. Not only did I completely fill my head to capacity with information... but I think I have found one of MY teachers.

As someone who got my certification through a program not associated with a studio, I have been wandering the city like a nomad in search of a studio to call home, as well as hoping to resonate with more teachers as I have with Bhakti at Chi-Town Shakti.

James Tennant presented the workshop which covered how to apply Ayurveda to your asana practice. His teaching was amazing, the content was insanely comprehensive, I could just feel the passion he has for Yoga and Ayurveda in how he presented the material, the practices we did made a huge amount of sense, and well, he's pleasing on the eyes (bonus) even if he's not on my team AND, well, I'm head over heels in love with my Brit...

I am STOKED about going to one of his full practices. It's like when you find the perfect pair of shoes... I think that he might be my perfect pair of shoes... for yoga.

For you yogis & yoginis out there, I recommend checking out Moksha Yogas studio at 700 Carpenter if you haven't been there before. The staff was super friendly and they have a great boutique full of yummy yoga goodies.

Namaste :)

Give me the flip flop

... not in terms of the weather, although I'll take that too! ... but in terms of career. I can't complain, I'm working a full-time job and a part-time job... but the place I spend the most time all week is the one I loathe the most. I should be and I am, greatful to be employeed in this oh-so-shitty economy. But does that mean I can't complain about REALLY NOT LIKING the job that I do? In addition, I KNOW what I want to do when I grow up, but once again, we are in an oh-so-shitty economy so pounding the streets for a new job ain't the easiest of tasks.
In the spirit of yoga, I will say that I am happy with what I have. I have a good paying job, an amazing relationship, family, and friends, and the most super-uber cool dog.
... but that damn day job is truly sucking the life out of me. If it sucks anymore I'm gonna start looking Lohan...

The luck o' the Irish... and British

Saturday Julian & I went to the Chicago St. Patricks Day Parade. I was SO excited about it! I am Irish, (duh, booze!) and have wanted to attend this since I moved here. Chicago has the 2ND largest Irish population in the country so this has to be balls to the wall right?

Wrong... Before I criticize, let me say that about 1/3 into the parade I looked at Julian & said, "okay I guess considering that we are in a horrible, global recession, a parade is the last thing that anyone wants to put there money in". This I understand. So there were a handful of marching bands, and LOTS of random family's of politicians walking behind banners. Not my idea of a super exciting event. BUT whoever was supposed to be organizing the parade did a fairly crappy job. A great bagpipe band would march by & get everyone geared up, then POOF!... nothing... for, like, 3 minutes. There was no flow & huge gaps of space in between groups. There was little or no excitement from the crowd and overall everyone seemed bored.

Maybe I'm spoiled 'cause my idea of a PARADE is what cruises down Cedar Springs in Dallas every year for Gay Pride. I mean come on, even in the worst of times, you KNOW those G&L's can do some mean shit with some crepe paper and no recession is going to stop that!!!

...and what the HELL does Ronald McDonald in a humongous red shoe have to do with Ireland????

Working on da J-O-B

It's really frustrating knowing you've finally figured out what you want to do when you grow up and you can't do it fast enough.
That's how I feel right now. I feel very fortunate to have the classes that I do but going to my FT job every day is sucking the life out of me. I am EXTREMELY blessed to have a job in the current times so don't think I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth. I do realize that there are millions of people who would kill for me job.
I just continue to think positive and pray hard.
Today it paid off... I went to yoga myself at Chi-Town Shakti and I was the only person there so I got an amazing private lesson with Bhakti! I can't believe how much I learned from her in an hour & 1/2... she rocks.
Then I went to Lululemon in Evanston to poke around and after much conversation with the girls there, I signed up for the Research & Development discount ('cause I'm a teacher!)... bought a great top, and got signed up to teach a community class in May! Who knew....
The weather was crappy but it was bright & sunny inside my little world.

going holistic part 1

I forgot to mention my change o' diet.
I did start to eat MUCH healthier this past weekend since I was sick of being sick. Couple that with some major exercise and I felt like a million bucks... until Monday night when I got the most KILLER migraine I've had in years. Not so much the intensity of it as the length of time I had it. It crept in behind my right eye around 2:00 in the afternoon & I didn't finally crash until 4 migraine pills later at 2:00 am... good Lord.
The migraine is a bitch. I don't care for her, she's ugly, she's mean... and she'll borrow your favorite jeans and never give them back... whore.

The early bird catches a plane

I have a 5:50 am flight tomorrow. What the hell was I thinking booking that???? I think that means i have to rise & grunt around 3:ish. The good part about it is that I will be in FL by lunch time. I'm flying Delta who I haven't flown in forever. I will be doing a comparison between them and AA. I used to be a huge Delta fan until they pulled back from DFW. AA has much better non-stops & their pricing is awesome... BUT, their flight attendants tend to be kind of crabby bitchy.
It's sad, there are no more restrictions that say you have to be thin, cute, & perky... now you can be fat, old and bitchy... and WE pay for these people to be rude to us and serve us cranapple? I'm in the wrong business....