One year ago today I got the news that my Poppa had passed away.
This day one year ago was the beginning of the worst year of my life. It was also the last time I will ever get to see my beautiful cousin Jodi. Today was not an easy day for me, and I just want to share so much love to all of my family, wherever they may be today, especially Nan.
I don't really feel like saying a lot so I'll just say it with some photos celebrating a little bit of me and Poppa. I really miss Christmas and birthdays and chats waiting to hear that gruff and strong but gentle voice loudly saying 'okay then, Poppa loves you!' without fail, every time. I know - I love you too!
He always loved to do things with all of us grandchildren!
Best of all, he could always be counted on for a good snuggle.
One of the softest and most loving men that have ever existed.
This to me is the ultimate Poppa photo - most of my memories involve camping in the
mountains, he loved it almost as much as he loved his family!
I hope everyone can take a moment today to show the people you love, and remember how lucky we all are to be here each and every beautiful moment of every day.
So I've been really good at that posting every day thing! I feel like I start every post with a version of that lately ...
Monday was my last day of the cleanse! So exciting for me, so I made some of my favourite cleanse foods (although let's face it, I had about eight things that I rotated for twenty one days). For lunch I made my absolute favourite garlic quinoa pancakes, this time with sliced cucumbers and grape tomatoes and roasted garlic hummus. I was able to spread the batter out more this time and make them flatter and crispier. The combination with the veggies and hummus was so delicious and refreshing; I knew there was a lot of garlic in this meal, but didn't appreciate the full effect until I went to give Jamie a little smooch and he recoiled with a 'what the hell did you eat??' Oops! I cannot believe how much garlic I've eaten while on this cleanse. I'm fairly confident I had it every single day, and only recently was I using the garlic press. I mean, I love trying to practice my knife skills (especially after slicing off the tip of my thumb with an exacto knife making Jamie's flyswatter Halloween costume!) but I've never been great at chopping garlic. A press is just so much easier and more my style! Anyway they were obviously delicious. Since I'd gotten the fresh basil for the pancakes I decided to try the tomato basil pasta again since my attempt with the dried basil was fair at best. I'm so glad, because that sauce is just so delicious! The fresh basil is oh so yummy. I don't know if this makes me a crazy person or not, but lately I've been noticing a black licorice-type smell when I chop basil. Is that normal? Does anyone else ever notice something like that? Or is it likely I am going crazy? Either way, I love it and can't wait until we get the setup to plant some fresh herbs! I majorly dropped the ball Monday evening though and fell asleep reading (what is it about warm summer sun and a good book that makes a perfect nap??) missing both Yin and my meditation workshop! Yikes, super successful day Maia! It's okay, to make up for it I did what's been my favourite at-home routine lately - this hip-opening sequence and nighttime practice, both from Yoga Journal. I find it so relaxing and restorative, and also good for waking up from an evening nap when I don't necessarily need an energizing practice. Lately I've also been a huge fan of reclining bound angle pose, whether I'm in beginning or final savasana in class, or practicing at home, or just laying in bed for that matter, I always find myself drifting into this pose. I've really grown to love and revel in the sensation of hip-opening poses, relishing how much more open and flexible my body feels. Another thing I love about home practice is I can go at my own speed, if I feel like staying in a pose for as much as five whole minutes, or as little as five breaths. I've been feeling such a great stretch in the back of my legs lately when I'm in downward dog that I can get my foot flat on the ground! It's really satisfying and I feel great when I can look back and see my soles flush with the mat - or sweat-soaked towel if I'm in the studio - even if it doesn't necessarily happen every time! Since I had a major nap Monday I was up late and was able to catch the season finale of Top Chef Canada when Jamie got home from work (it was a late night!!) He offered that since it was after midnight I was technically done my cleanse - but I decided to wait anyway.
Tuesday morning I awoke with one and only one thrilling thought in my head - 'I can have milk today!!' Yes, it's been a long twenty-one days, or five hundred four hours, if you'd prefer: thirty thousand, two hundred forty minutes, and finally one million, eight hundred fourteen thousandfour hundred seconds !!! For those of you that have been reading since the beginning, or know me in any capacity in life know that I have a deep love for milk. I would like to share with you, an ode to milk.
an ode to milk a Maia Leggott original
for as long as I can remember : you have been a colossal presence in my life .
i know my whole family loves you, but i think it was me and dad the most, in my memory.
it really until I lived on my own and was working to support my own ass that I realized just how much of your succulent nourishment i actually drank -- four mouthwatering litres that don't stand a chance for more than two or three days .
i will not hesitate to say that you
are my most favourite
beverage of all time - every morning
when i wake up, the first thing i do
is either pour a glass or take a huge gulp out of the jug
-- this is okay because Jamie and I have separate milk preferences, mine being skim and his 2% - and let's face it, everyone chugs from the jug --
to coat my
cat-shit morning breath infused dried-out
tongue and throat. the warm lemon
water substitute is first-rate at
accelerating the poop process
-- but
not as satisfying to drink.
you are always my go-to - the ultimate
hangover fix
-- i have to give some love tochocolate here because your thicker consistency coats the hungover stomach in a delicious way --
accompanying any meal,
any junk food category -- salty/crunchy, sweet/candy, and chocolate --
to cool off on a hot
day, if i'm running late for something and
don't have anything else to fill my stomach
you provide the creamy coating i need
to survive an hour or two.
if this cleanse has revealed that my body
does not love you any more, i want you
to know that my soul will love you
forever, and probably still indulge
-- more
than i should.
That is my ode to milk, just to show you how much I've missed it. And because let's face it - I'm sitting at home writing my blog with reruns of How I Met Your Mother and The Office on in the background - why would I not be inspired to write an ode to my favourite beverage??
Needless to say as soon as I woke up Tuesday I rushed to superstore (I'm surprised I didn't buy it the night before in all honesty!) and bought a two litre - just in case I'm intolerant, wanted to start slow! I came home to pour a half cup of delectable creaminess and kissed the glass before I hastily gulped it down (this is not a joke- I am sincerely that lame). It was the most cold and delicious drink of milk I can ever remember having. As soon as it was gone I wanted more, but I wanted to do my best to follow the reintroducing foods regimen Brittanie had laid out. I tried to watch out for any signs that I had to say goodbye for good, but I'm so flatulent normally that any excess would probably go unnoticed. into mid-evening things still seemed to be going smoothly, so I had some milk with dinner, a bigger glass, and hot damn was it delightful! I also might have been a little bit bad food-wise - I figured since I'd done so well with dairy I could dive right in, I was just dying because Jamie had mentioned having perogies for dinner (one of my other most favourite things! I have a lot, in case you haven't noticed!), so I decided to be bad. We fried up some perogies in a mixture of sesame and sunflower oil, salt and pepper and fried separately a bunch of red, green and yellow bell peppers, onions and an assortment of seasonings and barbecue sauce and then tossed the two together -- oh my lanta was it delicious! Such a different and interesting combination. I had meant to make these perogies, substituting quinoa flour for a while, but never got around to it - this was just perfect timing! I still want to try them, especially after having frozen perogies and realizing how much more delicious fresh ones will be!
Wednesday morning began with an volunteer interview at the IWK, the children's hospital here in Halifax, which I have wanted to get into forever now! I'd stopped in the day before and they thought that showed real initiative and I deserved a spot - so I'll get to spend my summer playing outside with kids! I am so excited, because getting to play outside is such a major thing for a lot of these children, and I can't wait to be a part of that!
The afternoon was a hot one in Halifax, so Jamie and I hauled a blanket and our books over to the Commons to soak up some sun for the afternoon. I definitely had some time to get into my book, Rescue by Anita Shreve. In fact I had a hard time putting it down! It was a sweltering day, and we only lasted a couple of hours before heading home to fire up the barbecue! I have to say - I'm somewhat ashamed of what I have to say next, since Wednesday I was supposed to gradually introduce wheat by having a slice of whole grain bread with nothing on it. Instead, I had three hot dogs in top-sliced white bread buns.
It was so effing delicious oh my lanta.
I knew with every juicy, slightly charred, barbecued, ketchup-filled bite that I deserved it if I felt miserable afterwards. But I felt so proud of myself for just finishing the twenty one days that I rushed into it a little! I'll give myself credit for reintroducing dairy slowly, but my cravings got the better of me (just like when I tried to be vegetarian in grade ten and was sabotaged by my desire for Caitlin's ham sandwich on a white dinner roll) and I caved. But I will not be too hard on myself, because aside from the bloated feeling one would expect after crushing three barbecued hot dogs and buns I felt pretty much normal.
I couldn't wait to get to Jivamukti at 5:30 - I've been bad and hadn't gone to a class since Saturday!! Of course I've been doing it at home, but class always challenges me in different ways, especially Jivamukti! I was especially vigilant not to fall asleep this time, as I did before my last Jivamukti experience! Kirsten talked a little about how we were going to focus on the balancing part of Jivamukti tonight - and did we ever! It was probably one of my most favourite classes I've ever been to, but wow was my balance majorly off! I was shaky, I was falling out of poses like revolved half moon, revolved side angle, prayer twist with a lunge, and other poses that challenged the - apparently absent for the day - stability of my legs. I fell out a lot, but I tried to laugh at myself. I didn't always, but it just reminded me how beneficial it is for my body to go to a class every day! Between the heat outside and the humidity inside I was drenched within the first few minutes. I just love the energetic flow of a vinyasa-style class like this! I definitely want to get some more experience in this style of class, I've decided I'm ready to branch out into more styles - well, as soon as I start getting paid of course. Another part of class that stands out to me is when we did this Jivamukti version of full lotus, alternating sides and then having our arms bent underneath our knees with classic meditation hands. It was very cool, a pose I definitely want to try again. This class introduced me to a lot of new things, and also to the realization that I still have oh so much to learn about yoga!
We did three sets of wheel, although by the third set I had to come out of it early because I was shaking. We did shoulderstand for an extended period of time today too, and I really tried to make a conscious effort to roll myself up onto my shoulders and engage and lengthen my core while stacking my hips above and in line with my shoulders, whilst trying to keep my elbows tucked in rather than splayed out to the sides. I did have to come out once, but was pretty proud of how long I held it for! Needless to say final savasana was a welcome melting sensation for my tired body. I probably could have laid there all evening if I didn't have to pee so badly! I was the second to last person to leave though, as usual! I did surprisingly feel relief as I left and wandered out into the sunshine, the breeze giving me major sweat chills.
I came home and made some delicious creamy avocado pasta for dinner, giving myself a fairly hefty serving. I used smaller garlic cloves this time, and it was just delicious. I love how creamy it is! I felt absolutely exhausted, and was in bed before midnight, which hasn't happened in a little while! I'd wanted to spend some time finishing my book, but I think I barely made it three pages before I fell asleep. It's pretty much routine for Jamie to come home from work to find me fallen asleep with a book either on the couch or in bed, what can I say!
Thursday was another delightfully hot and sunny day in Halifax, and I got to spend the whole day outside for work! It was beautiful, albeit incredibly hot and sweaty. For breakfast I made a smoothie with soy yogurt, orange juice and frozen berries with a little matcha green tea powder (now that I can have caffeine again) - soo delicious! The matcha gives it a delightfully sweet taste while the soy yogurt has a very distinct tangy flavour that dairy yogurt doesn't provide. For dinner I sauteed some more peppers with barbecue sauce, salt and pepper and a little Montreal steak spice and had it on top of rice - yummy! Quick and simple, although I was too hungry to remember to take a photo, oops!
It's late now - this post took way longer than I expected it to, so I'm going to go do my sleepy stretches and head to bed! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful week, don't forget to get outside for your daily dose of vitamin D and appreciate the beauty in your day!
Ohh once again I found I've fallen behind on my blog posts. I can only assume that everyone was out enjoying the sunshine over the long weekend like I was and didn't notice!
Warning: this post will probably be gargantuan, with lots of photos!
First day post-challenge - Happy Birthday Canada! I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't get out to any patriotic activities. I had a very much needed sleep in, and spent the sunny afternoon gobbling up Still Life, which I finished and enjoyed thoroughly! I did celebrate Canada by enjoying some of it's great literary talent then I guess! But mostly I just relaxed and took the day to myself. I did whip up some delicious 15-minute creamy avocado pasta, which I hadn't had since the beginning of my cleanse. It was delicious and fresh and creamy and a little too garlicky, but that's oh so yummy. I started
another book called Rescue by Anita Shreve, but am having a hard time getting into it for some reason. Sometimes I need to step back and try something else and then revisit, we'll see! I did what I've dubbed my 'sleepy time' routine and went to bed anxious to make it back to the studio in the morning.
It felt so fantastic to get back in the hot room, even after missing only one day! It was a quiet class, and a little challenging! I went into eagle expecting the kick-ass performance of the day before, only that didn't so much happen. It's okay though; I'm getting a lot better at being okay when I fall out of things. Kirsten always teaches a fabulous and inspiring class, and we both commented on how great it felt after not doing yoga for a day! I always love it when I go into the studio and it's grey and damp outside, only to come out ninety minutes later to warm, smiling sunshine. Yoga and sun is always a recipe for a wonderful day!
I love my job right now because I can just spend my time walking around outside, and lately that has been pretty easy! I had walked by the Mi'kmaq pow wow at the Commons quite a few times and Jamie had gotten called off work so we decided to spend our Saturday afternoon wandering around the festival. The artwork for sale and crafts were beautiful, it certainly made me want to have money some of the pieces were so incredible. It was a little torturous for still-on-a-cleanse me, seeing the never ending stalls of Indian tacos - delectable looking flatbreads topped with a literal mountain of ground meat, vegetables, and cheese ... oh the cheese! Jamie didn't get one, I think partially he felt a little bad devouring that in front of me - even though later on he had no problems destroying a big slice of Sicilian drenched in donair sauce while I formed a small puddle of drool on the table. Even looking at this photo is making me want to cheat, on my last day. Jamie, don't hate me for posting this, I love how much you're enjoying it because you needed to savour it for both of us! At that I was anxious to work our way home because we were grilling for dinner and I was making tofu and veggie skewers! So excited for my first cleanse barbecue! I spent some time hunting down grilled tofu and veggie marinades online and found the two winners. We also chose a grilled potato salad, number 49 on the food network magazine's pull out booklet of 50 potato salads. Jamie was making one of his succulent-looking four new york strip steaks (I hope I remembered that right!) but I was anxious to try out my marinades! Here's what I decided on:
1 block extra firm tofu, well pressed
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Carefully slice tofu into 1-inch thick cubes or strips. If you're using skewers, cubes are best, but if you'll be placing your tofu directly on your grill, larger strips are better. I went against the grain and decided on triangles. Whisk together all the ingredients, except tofu, and place in a shallow dish. Place the tofu in the dish and spoon some of the marinate on top of the tofu. Allow the tofu to marinade for at least one hour, turning once or spooning more marinade over the top. You can also use a zip-lock bag instead of a dish.
Lightly grease your gill and cook tofu over medium flame for 6-7 minutes on each side, basting with extra hoisin sauce marinade.
1/3 cup olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Combine in a bowl and use to baste veggies on a skewer - I used red, yellow and green peppers, grape tomatoes and zucchini, yumm!! I basted them before the grill, and used the rest of the marinade to brush while on the grill. 'But won't that make a huge mess??' I asked Jamie, only to have him reply 'Um ... it's a barbecue, that's sort of a requirement.' Right. I'm so new to this, I've maybe barbecued two hot dogs in my life and that's about the extent of it. Don't forget if you're using bamboo skewers to soak them for at least 20-30 minutes, I did and two of them still caught on fire and burned away! But still, I think we did pretty great! Jamie tried the new Rickard's Blonde, which looked delicious and light and just beyond my reach. Instead I had Perrier with frozen raspberries and cranberries in it. Still delicious, but not the same as a bubbly, foaming beer on a hot summer evening. Check out our barbecue!
this is your dinner: grilled edition
I always feel fancier when I drink out of my favourite wine glasses - they've got a diamond-like shape perfect for cupping your hand around. I love how the thawing raspberries dye the water a vibrant, bubbly pink!
Potatoes, onion and lemon grilling in rosemary and olive oil for our grilled potato salad! The smell coming off of this was heavenly ...
I love this photo! Grilling with such intensity and love.
Yumm ... herb-marinated veggie skewers and Asian-inspired
hoisin-marinated tofu.
No contact between the steak and my veggie half! Ohh what a tease ...
Dinner turned out simply scrumptious! A few of my tofu triangles broke, but they still tasted delicious! I saved some marinade to dip it in - uber-delicious! I absolutely loved my grilled dinner!
Jamie's grilled dinner subtracted tofu, added a dry-rubbed new york strip cooked medium rare with sauteed mushrooms and onions.
We both deemed our first big barbecue night together of the summer a huge success and both collapsed in two heaps of well-fed contentment!
Jamie having two days off in a row, let alone a Saturday-Sunday combination, is a rare thing so we decided to go on an adventure on sunny Sunday! We found a park online called Victoria Park only about eighty minutes away by Truro that boasted meandering trails and waterfalls, so we decided on a nature adventure! I was anxious to get out and enjoy the sunshine with my love and hopefully finally get some cool photos of myself doing yoga - let's face it, it's not like I haven't wanted to! I loved getting out in the sunshine and the trees. One of the attractions the park boasts is the 175-step Jacob's Ladder, which we climbed, me probably a bit more begrudgingly than Jamie. We did have to stop part way up for a pep talk, but we did it!
Check out some photos from our adventure!
Just heading off on our adventure! Jamie doesn't like me taking photos of him so I always have to catch him off guard. The best part about those kinds of photos is they are always the most beautiful!
Okay, maybe not always .... but that's why some genius invented digital cameras!
Yup, we decided to conquer the massively looming 175 steps of Jacob's Ladder. The wooden steps were spaced so close together I had to take them two at a time, which meant I had to go sort of fast because I had to put all my weight into it. Needless to say, as much as yoga has helped me get in much better shape, that is a lot of effing stairs!
We did it! What an accomplishment to stand at the top of those stairs and be able to say that! Then I saw some little kids doing it later on ... but it's still a lot of steps!
Jamie was a great photographer, instructing me to 'gaze off over my left shoulder at the beauty of nature.' It was pretty spectacular to have this pretty much right in the city! It was such a treacherous uphill climb, Jamie was a much more adventurous vertical climber than I was, and he was so brave!
On a completely unrelated note I love how many different ways you can make something look with different camera angles!
Well we made it to the waterfalls! Part of them, anyway. It was such a beautiful little slice of nature, and not as many people around as we would have expected. We both just stared for a little while, listening and watching the water cascade over the rocks.
I just love those moments when I catch Jamie off guard! So sue me, I like to take photos of my boyfriend because it drives him crazy! Secretly he loves it, I know, but he pretends not to!
But seriously, how beautiful is this view! It's a small falls, but we passed by another where the pool was just full of people swimming! Then we found this little gem hidden away. I really could have sat there all day and reveled in it. That being said ...
It seemed like the perfect, inspiring place to do some yoga! I was dying to get into it, and just loved the calm beauty here. I think Jamie did an amazing job with the photo! The water almost frames my warrior; I can't lie, it wasn't easy to stay strong and grounded on two different rocks straddling a pool of water, but I managed! I just love the strength of this pose, especially being able to do it outside, opening up my chest and my heart to the warm sunshine.
I had to open up into my dancer's pose because it's such a beautiful one! I'm not loving my form in this photo, especially my expression and it just reminds me how badly I need a haircut - but I do love the freedom I can feel my body experiencing in this photo, like I feel every time I open up into dancer. It's funny, the first thing I thought when I looked at this photo was 'two feet to the left and it would look like I'm peeing. Awesome.' What a wiener. A gorgeous photo of a beautiful pose in these surroundings and that's what I notice. Some things will never change I guess!
Yup, we are definitely that nature couple. That's what I said as soon as we snapped this photo - well, about nine of these before we got the lighting right. Every time we take a photo together I have to make Jamie laugh - to induce a natural smile, of course - by saying things like poopy diapers, boogers and farts, boobies to make us both laugh. It doesn't often turn out looking pretty or natural, in fact it most often catches us with eight chins, squinty eyes, or in my case, my bad side (I know I know - she can't possibly have a bad side! It's true, I'll admit it). But sometimes it catches us in that perfect moment, doing what we do best - looking naturally beautiful and whimsical. And being modest. No one ever has to see the other eight photos where our six-year-old-boy sense of humour wins over our stunning good looks. (I mean seriously, does potty humour ever not make everyone laugh? Or saying boobies?).
Eventually we came upon another of the many bridges and I brilliantly decided to do bridge poseon the bridge! Except I didn't want to put my head and shoulders on the ground so I opted for wheel instead, which was actually much more exhilarating! Staring at the sparkling brook below me while inverted is really mesmerizing! Jamie took about eight photos of me here, and although by the end of it my arms were shaking uncontrollably and he had to put his hand in the small of my back to help me up, I stayed up for a long time just completely losing myself in the glimmering water. It was so calming, and definitely a feeling I want to bring with me into my practice.
My boyfriend loves me so much he suffered injury to take photos that I demanded he capture. What a wonderful guy ;) and so tough! He wouldn't even take a band-aid! Which is good because I forgot to put them in the bag ...
As we were walking along the trail we commented on how we had seen absolutely no wildlife. It seemed very odd! So when we were walking on a fairly isolated and quiet part of the trail, when I heard a noise I stopped to look! Jamie made a few comments likening my attention span to the dogs in the movie Up! Who doesn't love this part?? It's true, I stopped to look at just about everything along the path, but when I heard that noise I was so happy that I stopped ...
Down in the grass I saw the ochre-coloured scales of a Nova Scotia garter snake (because I just know these things). I guess it was pretty small, but secretly I thought it was big! I was so excited to have seen a snake! It made me think of when we were younger and we would always go for hikes through the woods, or to waterfalls. Dad would always point out and name animals and creatures, Mum would always remember snacks and water. It was great, almost made me feel like a kid again. So we decided this summer we're going to go on an adventure every week. Spending time in nature doesn't cost money, and a lot of us take it for granted every day! Unless of course you venture into a provincial park, then maybe you might have to pony up - at least in PEI we do! Moral of the story: I forgot how wonderful and simple it is to just get away and enjoy the beauty of the earth.
The only covered bridge in Victoria Park! I knew I wanted to do something, but when I got up there I panicked so I dove into crescent moon! I just love how this photo turned out, with the colours and the slightly-skewed symmetry of my body and the harsh lines of the arched covering.
After this I tried for an inappropriately excessive amount of time to get a photo of a shimmering spiderweb between two trees that refused to focus. I don't understand why, but I just couldn't get one - very frustrating!! Then of course the camera battery died, so that was it for photographs - ah well, one less thing for me to carry!
It was a really stunning day, it made me love life and feel a lot of pride in Jamie and I - to both of whom going for a three-hour hike is a pretty foreign thing in recent memory! After the long walk and having forgotten to bring snacks (awful move on both of our parts) we were anxious to get home and fire up the grill again! I got my tofu marinade ready right away, so we could sit and relax a bit while it absorbed the delicious flavours. This is what I went with tonight:
Yummy Grilled Tofu From Book of Yum
1 lb of firm tofu - I used extra firm! 2 tbsp GF soy sauce - I used Bragg's seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp rice vinegar - I only had apple cider, close enough!
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 pressed cloves of garlic
Drain water from tofu, and cut horizontally in thirds or half. Wrap in towel and leave for 30 minutes or so until water has absorbed into towel. (I definitely didn't leave it for 30 minutes and it was fine!) Mix marinade ingredients, and marinate tofu for at least 30 minutes. If possible, grill, if not, broil or pan fry.
I tossed the tantalizing-smelling marinating tofu in the fridge as we both collapsed on the couch, exhausted after our day of walking steep stairs and even steeper hills, watching the beginning of Iron Chef America's Oh Canada marathon featuring Lynn Crawford vs. Bobby Flay, Chuck Hughes vs. Bobby Flay and Roger Mooking vs. Michael Symon. A perfectly relaxing way to end an awesome summer day, with the door open and the smell of the grill wafting in! We just needed to relax a little bit first ...
... and then we woke up nearly three hours later!! Wow I guess we were completely exhausted! It was dark out now and we have no lights on our balcony for barbecuing, so we settled for kraft dinner (Jamie) and corn fusilli with tomato basil sauce (me) - except I used dried basil because we were out of fresh, and it was so not as good as fresh. What a difference! Still good, but not nearly as delicious and fresh-tasting! Ah well, it certainly hit the spot after a long and wonderful day!
I will definitely fill you in on Monday tomorrow - although it wasn't an overly exciting day! But now I'm exhausted and I need to go sleep-meditate myself into my early morning tomorrow.
I hope everyone had an incredible long weekend full of love and good times, make sure you hold it and take it with you for the rest of your week!
Okay, just because I had a major nap I can't get to sleep - we were watching The Simpsons and the episode just completely resonated with me and made us laugh hysterically. You can watch the clip here for free on megavideo (it was not easy to find the clip!), just skip to 12:13 to enjoy their organic grocery shopping experience ...
Talk about perfect timing! Hope it provides a little chuckle!
What a completely exhilarating and self-empowering feeling! I mean, I obviously knew it was coming, but it feels pretty amazing to be able to say it! I came home from the party last night to these beautiful deep purplish-magenta gerber daisies from Jamie 'just because they're kind of purple, and I love purple'. What a wonderful, sweet man I have! It was a really beautiful inspiration to take with me to day thirty! I had intentions of going at 9:30 and noon back to back today, but (as I seem to do a lot) I didn't wake up until it was juust too late! I made it to Brittanie's noon class though, which I'd wanted to because she heads to PEI tomorrow for ten days to teach! I felt really distracted laying in Savasana, it was like I couldn't stop looking around as people filed in not-so quietly. It was packed today! I figured that would make for a not-so focused class, but wow was I wrong! I felt so strong today, in everything from pranayama breathing to crescent moon and the initial standing backbend. I felt so determined today as I entered eagle pose with a slow, steady determination. I felt so stable, like I wasn't even wavering at all. I didn't drop my leg or lose my balance, I could feel my hips just naturally settling in line, the forward motion of my arms stretching out my upper back and shoulders in the most delicious way. I'll admit, I was slightly more wobbly on my left leg, but still felt pretty strong, it was awesome. Especially because I've been struggling with it so much lately! In fact, my whole practice kind of felt that way.
I tried to really surrender myself to my practice, and found myself almost floating through the postures. That's clearly not to say that I did it without effort, because that is definitely false. But I just felt like my body knew where it had to go, and it worked so hard today with really beautiful results. Teachers often remind us not to take our practice to seriously, to turn up the corners of our mouth and smile. I found myself smiling today just because I felt so proud of what I was doing! Even my runner's lunge, and prayer twist, (we know how I feel about that), felt rooted and firm. I moved into my dancer with a slow, steady determination, it felt amazing! The delicious stretch through my chest and leg extended my body so that I was basically in a half-bow pose. I was able to keep my chest lifted and tall, the shape I've been working towards basically since I started obsessively reading about yoga online and practicing. I even rocked out the ab work when we did reclining eagle on each side followed by 'yoga bicycle' (I'd never heard it called this until Brittanie used it today, I just love it!), basically on your back with your legs up, shins parallel to the floor then bringing alternate elbows to opposite knees and extending the other leg. Wow that was a mouthful. I just love the image that phrase brings to mind, yoga bicycle - I imagine a serene, meditating yogi perched on a banana seat in lotus as the bicycle rolls along.
During bridge I felt like I was strong enough that I could go up into wheel, but by the time I'd gotten to that point we were moving on, so I resolved to practice once class was over. The rest of class went really smoothly, I felt so encouraged and proud of how I ended my thirty day challenge! Encouraged enough that I practiced wheel once I was finished final savasana and held it for fifteen breaths! It was funny seeing myself in the mirror upside down so I closed my eyes and just felt the posture. I loved it! Once I was finished that I spent a bit of time in plow before moving up into a shoulderstand for another fifteen breaths. I got really motivated to start practicing my handstand and headstand more frequently, but let it be for today. I walked out of the studio feeling so happy and satisfied; it was the perfect way to end my thirty day journey, a culmination of every part of the past month in one perfect sixty minutes.
Wonder how long that will last??
It was such a triumphant feeling, putting that final red star on my thirtieth day as I walked out into the now-sunny Thursday weather. I came home to the delicious aroma of barbecue as Jamie grilled his homemade beef-chorizo burgers stuffed with jalapeno and monterey jack cheese. Good lord I can't wait to have homemade burgers!! I did have some deliciously juicy fresh corn on the cob today for lunch though, with some earth balance 'butter' and kosher salt. Corn on the cob just tastes like summer to me, it makes me so happy!
After an afternoon of working I came home to relax and do some reading - I'm currently zooming through Still Life by Louise Penny. It's the book featured in One Book One Island, a PEI event put on by the public libraries (and my Mumma!!) this summer to have everyone on the island read the same book over the course of the summer. I think it's such a fantastic idea! Still Life is a fantastic book, following a murder investigation in a small town in Quebec. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in mysteries, murder investigations, or great Canadian fiction! Anyway, reading my book on the couch by the window watching the evening sunlight giving a soft glow to the living room made for very sleepy conditions - I had a four-hour nap and woke up completely confused and in the dark. Since I'd slept through dinner I needed something quick and easy so I had brown rice spaghetti with tomato sauce - I know, I'm so creative. My nap-addled brain just needed food! Of course after sleeping my evening away I'm not tired at all now to go to sleep ... maybe I'll go read some more, that usually does the trick!
Once again, congratulations and so much love to everyone who completed the thirty day challenge today! You are such a strong and inspiring group of people and I feel honoured to have had this experience alongside all of you!
Happy Canada Day everyone! Wherever you are, go out and celebrate this beautiful country of ours and spend time with people you love!
I love this quote to start off day twenty seven of the challenge! It's such a perfect description of myself and what I need to do more!
I can be very hard on myself in the studio, and sometimes maybe a little more than I should be. It's hard to stop those expressions of frustration or silent berating for falling out of a pose, or not being able to go as deep as I did the day before. I've gotten a lot better at not being so hard on myself, but this inspiration really helped me to accept the fact that I've improved so much over the course of this challenge, and giving myself grief over falling out of a few poses should not be overshadowing the pride I feel when I do them and do them well.
My day started off with the 9:30 class with Henri, who I hadn't taken a class with in quite a while! It was a wonderful class, with an 'ode to Melissa' during our ab work section - basically staying in a plank position from our forearms and holding it. And holding it. And holding ... you get the idea. Just another reminder of my weaknesses, but I quickly tried to shoo that thought from my mind as I remembered to try and focus on my potential. Class went well, although I've been finding lately that in some poses I can feel it more in the front of my hips than I used to. Maybe that just means I've reached an edge and now have to push through again, but it's almost as though I feel like I'm regressing. Pigeon is always one of my favourites, especially when I fold forward to rest my head on the mat. Lately I've been feeling like I need to support myself more on my forearms because I feel more pressure in my hip of my bent leg if I lean over farther. I find it an odd and interesting development, as I am usually pretty capable of laying there for a few minutes at a time. I guess my body is just changing, and maybe it's actually moving in a more open direction and I just feel tight because I've made so much progress in the past thirty days. I'll go with that, it sounds better!
I also managed a successful binding of my Lord of the Fishes pose by reaching my arms around my back and grasping on to each other, like you can see in this video I found on doyogawithme.com. With a little coaching from Henri on opening up my shoulders, I felt really fantastic! I really like the way he talks you through something and makes sure you're doing it correctly - and then asked to make sure I was okay once I came out of it! It was a really great class!
Tuesday was a gorgeously stunning sunny summer day so of course I wanted to be outside. For lunch I made garlic quinoa pancakes again, except this time I halved the recipe and made two slightly smaller, thinner pancakes. Topped it off with my homemade pico de gallo and mmmm was it delicious!! These pancakes are definitely the easiest thing to make and just delightful for the taste buds. I'm sure any flavour combination would be divine on these savoury cakes of goodness. Thanks Kirsten for an awesome recipe!
It was off to work for the afternoon, and by the time I came home I was famished and finished off the last of my vegan alfredo with spaghetti - I got four servings out of the recipe I made! I will most certainly be making that again. And again.
I had to make up my class from Sunday that I missed, and I wasn't putting too much faith in myself to get up for the 8 am class (I'm just being realistic) so I did a practice at home Tuesday night. I started off with this totally relaxing hip opener sequence from YogaJournal, and then wound down with the night time routine that I usually do from Morning, Noon & Night yoga. It was a really serene way to end my day and I just love getting into bed feeling like I am completely stretched out. That feeling is aided by the fact that Jamie was working late that night so I literally got to be completely stretched out in bed, at least for a little while!
Day twenty nine (!!) I had full intentions of doing the 8 am and 9:30 classes back to back. It's a damn good thing I did my evening sequence the night before - I have a horrible habit of turning off my alarm and going back to sleep, so I single-handedly managed to miss both morning classes, but was able to make it to Kyla's noon class! I just had a weird feeling that I'm getting Tuesday and Wednesday's classes mixed up ... so much for staying on top of things! Oh well, either way they were both fantastic! I did feel a little wobbly on my feet that day, it took me a little while to get grounded and really into my practice, but I made it. It certainly wasn't my best practice, but I tried to really take today's quote to heart and really make the effort to feel every part of my body adjusting through each moment of the postures. I definitely notice a major difference the slower I go into each pose, I tend to be one of those yogis who can often find myself reaching to my depth kind of quickly, and then that can make me fall out a little more readily as well. My new goal is definitely to go into poses much more slowly, and feel every moment as I bring my body into the pose, each muscle fiber and joint and ligament gradually joining the conversation of body love.
Wednesday afternoon I had to make another batch of pico de gallo, as I'd finished it off the night before with a few blue corn chips. I really cannot get enough of it!! Lunch was another simple kale and garlic saute topped with pico de gallo, such an easy and quick fix and a lot more filling than you would expect!
Wednesday evening was party time! The challenge party was at the Red Stag Tavern in the Keith's Brewery, and lots of people came out! I got to sit and enjoy my water and some veggies and fruit while everyone else chowed down on delicious looking bruschetta and cheeses and chips & salsa (tortilla chips, just my luck) and beer and wine and other delicious alcoholic beverages. It was so wonderful being able to chat with everyone that I've been seeing every day at the studio for the past month, and just spend some time comparing our experiences and chatting about yoga. An inevitable conversation about farting in class came up, which relieved me to no end knowing that I'm not the only one who struggles to keep it in. We all compared coverup strategies (mat squeaking along the floor, coughing, clearing the throat, etc) and just accepted the fact that we've probably all done it at least once ... or more. Brittanie and Kyla had some prizes for everyone who had done the challenge and the cleanse, so we spent some time drawing names (which took a little while since everyone's name was in, but you had to actually be there to claim your prize. I had just finished commenting about how I never win anything, and how badly I wanted a 30 day challenge 'sweaty stuff' bag, when Brittanie pulled my name for a bag! Soo excited! There was also some moksha yoga tshirts, class passes (including a free 3-month unlimited pass!!) and more bags. Then they moved on to the cleanse prizes, which included more of the same plus the big prize of a grocery shopping trip with Brittanie. I was really hoping to win that one, because I still find I struggle a bit at the grocery store, but was still content with my sweaty stuff bag. But go figure - she drew my name, again! Of course I wasn't going to take two prizes, so I gave up the bag in favour of the grocery shopping trip instead! I am soo excited to head out sometime with Brittanie, I have no doubt it will make a major difference in my shopping choices for the future as well! Annd just to rub it in a little more, my name was somehow drawn a third time, for another prize. How that was managed I have no idea, but I was very content with my prize, and let's face it, we've gotta share the love! I had a really wonderful time getting to know everyone a little better, and can't even express how proud I am of all of us who completed this incredible month! As well as the cleansers, we've all been through such a remarkable life-changing experience and it was really wonderful to share it with everyone, and get to know some really fabulous people! Thanks to Kyla and Brittanie for putting on an awesome party, and organizing such a successful challenge / cleanse combination. I can't wait to do it all over again in October!
Ready to sleep my way into day thirty ... I can't believe we've made it this far!
Wonderful job everyone, and happy day thirty!
"To be beautiful means to be yourself. You do not need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself." -Thich Nhat Hanh
I just absolutely love this quote to start off day twenty six of the challenge. It's amazing what this thought can bring to your practice - especially as someone who tries not to glance around at how much better everyone else is. I have learned not to do that so much, to try and stop comparing myself to others. It's hard to focus on myself in the mirror, but usually it just makes me laugh so it helps to remind me to loosen the eff up!
All of that being said, Sunday was a little belated spring cleaning in our apartment; new entertainment stand and speaker system, rearranging the entire main level and the most daunting task - cleaning out the fish tank. Luckily we powered through all day with snacks throughout the day (corn chips and guacamole ... muy bien!) and some more leftover vegan alfredo for a hearty post-cleanup dinner! Jamie finally got to set up his barbecue. I'm excited to try some grilled veggie-tofu skewers ... any good suggestions ?? Also just excited to be able to eat some MEAT!! I know there are tons of things we can barbecue other than meat - I am excited for corn, pizza, veggies, fruit ... this will be fun! I love this whole learning to cook thing. Anyway Sunday was a long and tiring day, I had full intentions of taking a break for the 4:00 class, but I completely lost track of time (how often does that happen cleaning??) and missed it. Then I had full intentions of doing my evening wind down practice. And then I collapsed on the couch and fell asleep, and I think Jamie did the same. It was worth it, the apartment looks fantastic!
Day twenty seven I couldn't wait to get into the studio, and got there to learn that one of the instructors, Melissa gave birth to a healthy baby boy yesterday! What a wonderful thing to carry with us into practice today.
I actually felt really strong in my warrior series today, which was a really great feeling as I often feel tired arms and legs. Sometimes I feel like I'm regressing in some poses, but I have to keep reminding myself of the overall progress I've made, and that every day is so different for my body. Prayer twist continues and probably will always be the bane of my practice. It's like ... I know I need to work on my leg strength and my arm strength. Probably my core strength too. And I think there must be other things I could be doing to build strength. But I don't do them. Then in yoga once again I feel weak if my arms drop in warrior II or if my garudasana (eagle pose) hasn't been nearly as strong as it used to be. I try to remind myself that doing this every day is definitely a huge step from where I was before, so that I am doing something to strengthen my practice. Kirsten taught a wonderful practice, as always! It had been slightly overcast when I walked to yoga just before nine am, but it was sunny and warm when I left closer to eleven! What a gorgeous feeling to walk out into that radiant sunlight ready to take on the day.
The challenge has been such a good incentive for me to go every day, or at least make up for classes so it's equivalent to every day. As incredible and motivating as that has been, I'm excited to just go every day for the sake of going. I feel like this has helped make yoga the integral part of my life I've been wanting it to be. The challenge has really been the kickstart I've needed to maintain a daily practice, and set aside that daily time for myself. The real challenge will be maintaining it - I figure this is a good way, because if I'm making myself discuss my daily habits in a public forum (because I'm so trendy like that) then it will be that little extra encouragement to maintain the things I'm doing. Maybe that little extra encouragement for others to do similar or completely different life-changing things. If that happens for one person I would be doing a good thing! If it happens for no one that's okay too - I'm still doing a good thing for me! The inspiration for the day just really stayed with me in my thoughts through the day, and so did Kyla's words that came along with it ...
When you do what you've always done, you get what you've always gotten. If you're scared or tentative to go somewhere new, go there anyway. It is then that you begin to realize the possibilities of your life. There are great opportunities waiting out there but you'll never experience them until you take that first step.
This challenge has been exactly that for me - the first step, the step outsize my comfort zone. It's changed a lot about the way I look at my life and the way I go about my days and I'm so grateful for that.
I was inspired by the beautiful warm sunshine today and have been dying to make a pico de gallo for what seems like ages now! I pretty much followed this one I found from Emeril Lagasse on foodnetwork.com. I also added diced cucumber to mine because I just love cucumber in everything!! For lunch I used it as a fresh topping a kale-garlic saute. Soo simple but soo delicious!! The earthiness of the kale was wonderful with the fresh, crisp taste of the pico de gallo - and it was so easy to make! I still suck majorly at cutting tomatoes, but what can I say. I'm getting there, slowly!
Tonight was also my first of five weeks of a free meditation course being offered at Dalhousie by the Sri Chinmoy Centre. I had seen a flyer around on my walks to yoga and figured I'd give it a shot! It wasn't quite what I expected (although I wasn't sure what I expected - candles? dimmed ambiance? tibetan chant background music? big fluffy cushions). There was a small altar with a photograph of Sri Chinmoy, some fresh flowers and two candles - oh I guess there was candles - and rows of chairs where a multitude of different people were gathering. We were talked through a bit of the history behind Sri Chinmoy and did two exercises - a deep breathing/relaxation meditation, and a 'concentration' where we all had to focus our gaze on one of two candle flames in the room. I will admit I got a little restless. I love the idea of a meditation workshop, but I'm not sure how I feel about this atmosphere. All knowledge is good knowledge though! Next week the discussion is mantras and chanting, which I am excited to delve into! It will probably be weird, but I'm looking forward to trying it. Who knows!
Oh yes, and as for the colour change - purple is pretty much my favourite on everything, an inspiration and my favourite colour since I was about four years old. I just felt like it better captured me and was nicer to look at. For me anyway. Just playing around with this blog thang. (Dork?)
I hope everyone had a beautiful Monday, and maybe this will help you wonder about taking a mosey outside your comfort zone and see how that tickles your fancy. You just might like it ...
Habits. We all have them - good ones, bad ones, fun ones, lazy ones.
I absolutely love the quote from day twenty four ...
If the past twenty five days have taught me anything it's probably that breaking old habits to make way for new ones is one of the most challenging things in life. I might not be perfect, but this challenge has motivated me to make a habit of doing yoga. It has given me something to look forward to and get excited about that's just for me. It is so easy to sit with our regular habits - if it works why change it? The thirty day challenge has definitely gotten me in the habit of yoga, something I am so thankful for and plan to continue long after the challenge ends!
Day twenty four started off with my final physiology exam, yay! I can't wait to have more time to do reading on yoga stuff ...
I made it to the noon class with Brittanie, which was terrific as usual! I was paying a lot of attention to my virabhadrasana series this class; attending to my leg muscles, reaching from every fiber. I'm also getting a lot more stable in my dancer's pose, probably my most favourite of all (I feel like I say that so much!). I've been finding a teensy microbend in my knee a major help - I guess I'm trained to be uber straight from all of those years of ballet!
I'm starting to really enjoy supta virasana, reclining hero. I used to feel slight tension in my lower back and no stretch in my quads. The latest helpful instruction for such cases is to engage your glutes, so if I squeeze 'em really tight it's like a miracle - instant stretch in the quads and swift relief to my lower back. I feel quite relaxed in this pose.
Another memorable part of class was during balasana, child's pose, Brittanie came around and pushed my tailbone down deeper with my exhale, making me realize just how much further I wasn't letting myself go. I love reaching a new edge every class and then inching past it, making me feel like I'm on top of the world - until it starts to get hard again, or I have a bad day.
I was soo excited to try making this vegan creamy alfredo pasta sauce! Obviously from Oh She Glows, I am a convert! I was very excited to use the 100% corn flour fusilli I'd picked up, very bright orange-coloured spirals of deliciousness! I used rice milk instead of almond milk, and allspice instead of nutmeg. The corn noodles boiled to a beautiful bright yellow colour, and the sauce smelled to. die. for. Jamie even said it was delicious! Garnish with some black pepper and a sprinkling of paprika and some parsley for beautiful colours!
I had a massive bowl because I was so famished from walking around in the chilly evening on Friday, but oh it was worth every scrumptious bite. It was hands down better than most if not all creamy pasta sauces I've had. The paprika is delicious, the creaminess from the cashews ... just perfect. In case you can't tell, I'm a pasta nut! And so far every sauce I've tried - I've loved!
Jamie and I had a nice little date night - my bowl of divine vegan goodness and Jamie's heaping plate of tantalizing spaghetti. I think I can convert him yet ...
I have to say, the online registration MYH recently started has saved my early morning practice. If I register for something online, I have to get up and go, no turning off the alarm and going to a later class. I was oh so close to sleeping past time this morning; the weather was crisp and the air was damp, and there was no way I was getting out of bed. But remembering my commitment I did it! I'm so glad I did, because the quote for today really fits my reluctance to get out of bed:
The actual fact that I got up this morning and went to yoga is a huge testament to how far I've made it in the past year. Of course I always love going to yoga, but (as I was talking about earlier) it's so much easier to stay in the habit of not going. All you need to do is get over the step of nah, I can put it off until later and that is eighty per cent of the battle! It definitely felt good that I had made the choice to get up this morning, even if I couldn't stop yawning all through class. The 10:00 was taught by the very inspirational challenge leader Kyla, and was fabulous. I remembered what she had said in her email for day twenty five ...
There are bound to be days where we just don't feel like getting sweaty, but the important part is that we do so anyway, and we are grateful for the experience afterwards. No matter where we stand at the end of our challenge, we all have hopefully created improvements (and therefore success), to some aspect of our lives.
I think that's the most important part of maintaining good habits; even if sometimes it's the last thing we want to do, practice has groomed us to do it anyway, and the body's gratitude for simply showing up is enough of an incentive.
I was definitely having a weak legs day; my prayer twist was igniting my thighs, my eagle was more of a squatting duck and awkward pose had me trembling like a leaf stuck in a vent. As thoughts of I could still be sleeping ... drifted into my head, I kept reminding myself how great it was that I did get up and come today. I had some issues with the flow - maybe just lightheaded, maybe weakness in the arms. That always seems to be my issue. I definitely need to work on my upper body strength! But my proudest moment from today was that in all of my adho mukha svanasana I found my feet flat on the floor. The stretch in my hamstrings was unreal, and I felt so proud that I was finally able to do it - consistently! The backbends we did in the standing series took me deeper than I've ever gone before, which was a totally liberating feeling. It felt like such an accomplishment to feel rooted down strong enough in my feet to bend back and gaze at the rear wall. That made me feel strong when we did camel later on too. It was so cozy being in practice today, coming in from the cold and the wet outside. A perfect way to start a lazy day inside.
Lazy is not an understatement - lunch was blue corn chips and guacamole. I still felt full from our movie snack fest the night before (I had dried cranberries, chips and guacamole) and knew I'd be cooking up a delicious bowl of pasta with some of the leftover sauce from Friday. Still enough left for one more! Can't get over how delicious it is ...
I really feel like yoga is starting to take over my life. No, not starting, it totally has. Every book I'm interested in, website or conversation I have is about yoga. It's one of those situations where I feel like I might be driving people nuts because it's all I talk about. I really hope that's not the case! I guess I'm certainly working on developing the habit! I definitely feel like I've come into something that is doing majorly good things for my life, and my outlook on life.
Well after sleepy time yoga and choking down some psyllium it's time for bed - a big day ahead of home projects: cleaning out and hopefully ditching the fish tank, assembling Jamie's new barbecue and rearranging the living room. Phew! I'm tired just thinking about it. Four o'clock class tomorrow will be a well-deserved break I can imagine ...
Start thinking about a new habit that you'd like to get into; it's never too late to try something new.
