Category: yoga

Not wasting my vacation

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, friends, Holidays, local fun, movies, restaurants, shopping, tweens, yoga

I think that it’s very important to get out of your rut–I mean, routine–on your vacation week. This is especially challenging, of course, if you are taking (yet another) staycation. Having part of your time off fall during the holidays can make it a little easier to break out…as in the  “Hel-lo? What day is it?” situation in which I found myself just after Christmas. Still, the gym on Tuesday and Thursday, food shopping on Saturday line up could definitely stand some tweaking.

Sunday: Christmas. ‘Nuf said.

Monday: Clean up the house, rest up from the holiday, dinner at Olive Garden. Happily, I found the $4 off dinner coupon prior to paying and then remembered to use it.

Tuesday: Friends came over to make home-made, authentic egg rolls. Last time we made chicken and shrimp. This year, to change it up some (hey, it is vacation!) we made a third version: spicy pork, which ended up being a hit.

Wednesday: Pirates game (a present for the fam) after dinner at Binga’s Wingas (a present for Dad).

Thursday: Friends day. Lunch with former colleague for our rescheduled gift exchange, then scrapbooking for the first time in a year and a half, with more friends. The understanding kind that are not shocked that, despite your good intentions, you did not remember to organize your stuff and print out the Christmas pictures to use that day. Hey, it’s all about friends, right? UPDATE: This event did not actually happen and will be rescheduled. Instead, I went to Kohl’s and bought some cute things on clearance. Yay!

Friday: Shopping at the mall with my tween with her gift cards. Got an $89.50 fur-lined hoodie at Aeropostle for $10!!!  This was followed by eating w/reckless disregard for the future at the Buffet of Gorging and Obscene Excess at the mall. Then we saw We Bought a Zoo at the movies. May I just say: Go. See. It. It was excellent. We both loved it. Movie watching was accompanied by popcorn and Peanut M+Ms (aka “the devil”).

Saturday: New Year’s Eve. Chinese buffet at East and Just Dance 3 on the Wii to work (some of ) it off. Yoga first thing in the morning.

Sunday: New Year’s Day: Pajama day! Read stack of books and magazines that have been piling up. Went for a walk. More Wii. And…let the healthy eating begin!!!! Egg whites, soup, salad were on the menu. Really.

One of the best vacations ever. 🙂

Time is on my side

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, friends, local fun, Midlife Crisis, yoga

I went to see my friend Stacey for a massage at Mainely You Massage a few days ago. I had picked the time so that I would not have to rush around to get there. I had the entire day off from work and had planned things to do (lunch and book-browsing with my friend Kristen, visiting another friend Teresa at her ice cream shop to try some new flavors that she created, dinner out with both of my children at the same time!) to which I was really looking forward and about which I was very excited. I arrived 15 minutes early for my appointment, after seeing my daughter of to school, my husband off to his job.

Stacey said, “How are you feeling this morning?” and I paused (completely uncharacteristic of me) and considered this question for a second before I responded. “Rushed!”  I was feeling like there wasn’t enough time. I felt pressured. “And there’s not one reason for my to be feeling this way!” I admitted. I pretty much always feel like I don’t have enough time to do the things I want to do, yet here I was, at the beginning of a day filled with exactly that, and I was still carrying this feeling around!

“That is a mantra that you created,” Stacey offered, inviting me to be focused on the thought, “I have plenty of time,” which is true, instead of  “I don’t have enough time,” which is (usually) not.

Wow.

As I went about my day, I started to really notice my thoughts, and was shocked at the number of times just that morning that I thought, “I don’t have enough time”!

Louise Hay, in many of her books, writes about the idea that, basically, “What you think is what you get.” I’ve believed this but for the first time I considered it in a different plane, almost, because even when I really did have all the time I wanted, it was right there in front of me, I didn’t see it.  Wasn’t appreciating it.

Has this ever happened to you?

Summer vacation (day 4)

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, family, italian, local fun, yoga
    1. Broke with routine and went to a second yoga class at Windsong Yoga.
    2. Housework (like taxes, no one gets a vacation from that!).
    3. Finished the book I was reading, Oxygen by Carol Wiley Cassella; didn’t like the ending much.
    4. Spent an hour at the library leafing through magazines. Fun for free! 🙂
    5. Sea Dogs game at Hadlock Field. Ate Italian Sausage with peppers and onions, french fries, 1/3 of a pretzel, ice cream sundae. Bleah.
    6. Found the copy of  The 17 Day Diet by Mike Moreno that I bought at the library book sale a few weeks ago. Sigh. Will peruse.

I’m finding that my lists that I made pre-vacation are a very useful if I use them as a guide, and very stressful if I use them as a directive.

What (I think) I am doing on my summer vacation

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Date night, family, friends, Karen's Kitchen, local fun, restaurants, yoga

Nothing gets done without a plan, right? Write it down, make it happen, as the saying goes. Well, I’m writing it down. Universe? Make it happen!

First, the not fun, obligatory things:

  1. Friday: waste the day emptying out the fridge and freezer into coolers with ice packs, then waiting for Sears to deliver our THIRD new fridge in as many weeks (dont’ ask)…then putting it all back in. BONUS: I’m really starting to get the hang of it! Here’s hoping that the third time is the (refrigerator) charm…
  2. My online class will post new lessons on two Fridays and one Wednesday during my vacation. I plan to complete them on time. (Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!).
  3. Feed, clothe, launder said clothes, and in general care for the fam to the extent that they will let me (read: do things for them that they can’t or won’t do for themselves~reference laundry).

Okay, now for the fun stuff:

  1. Saturday: Yoga at Windsong Yoga in South Berwick. Yay! Then going to the Lucky Pup Rescue Fundraiser at Fetch’n Fun in Wells ( and yes, Annie, we are bringing cash for the raffles!). Then in the evening we’ll go see the free Wells Harbor Concert. This week it’s All Together Now, a band we’ve seen and really liked in the past. 
  2. Sunday: brunch with my friend and her daughter (who is my daughter’s friend) at The Good Table in Cape Elizabeth. We’ve been there twice before with our friends and all I can say is if you’ve never been there, GO! Go on a Sunday morning if you can. They will have you at ‘cinnamon buns’.
  3. Acton Fair. Not sure which day yet, but definitely going. Probably stop on the way to or from at Ted’s Fried Clams on Route 109 in Shapleigh. Stop in at Somethin’ Sweet to see Jen the fabulous baker of said sweet somethin’s. 🙂
  4. Try for a Sea Dogs game.
  5. Saturday August 27 is The Chili Fest at the Wells Jr High School from 11-3.

Miscellaneous fun stuff to fit in where and when possible: Read. Write. Beach. Garden. Not set the alarm for any reason. Glow bowling at the Bowl-a-rama in Sanford (call for times: 207-324-2401). See Crazy Stupid Love if at all possible at the Wells Five Star Cinema. Farmers Markets. Arundel Ice Cream Shop for Mounds Ice Cream (if I can tear myself away from the Pecan Banana Bread and Cherry Vanilla Chocolate Chunk…).

Oh yeah, and eat copious quantities of cupcakes and whoopie pies. Heh heh heh…(what can I say? I’m predictable).

🙂

Spaciousness (or: A Theory of Relativity)

by Karen, posted in book reviews, books, family, friends, health, Midlife Crisis, no fear, relationships, yoga

In the book What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, she talks about the idea of spacious days.

What a concept!!!!

Mostly, my days feel jam-packed to me, without a moment to spare for anything. That’s how I usually think about them, at least. My to-do list is longer than my arm. I suspect that other mothers feel this way as well, since today I heard my friend Donna (also a mother) say those exact words.

In yoga, spaciousness is sought in your body through postures, in your mind through meditation. I’ve been searching for spaciousness through yoga for 4 years now (I’ll let you know when I find it).

🙂

Four years seems like kind of a long time to me…but as a percentage of my age, it’s not that long really. Could it be that all I really need is an adjustment of perspective?

Back to yoga class: this week, our instructor Kristen happened to mention that there was a period of her life that she would gladly relive, which sparked a conversation among the women in the class on this topic. As some of them mentioned ages that they would be interested in repeating, I did a quick review: high school? No way! Early twenties? No thank you!  I soon realized that I couldn’t think of any time period of my life that I would want to live through again, but then I reframed the question: What was a happy memory?

When I asked myself this question, I got a very clear image in my mind. It was in the summer: August 1991. It was in the first apartment that I shared with my husband after we got married.  The sun was streaming in through the large windows in the dining room, shining on my infant son, born just a couple of weeks prior. I remember being in that room, gazing at the baby, standing in the sun, and realizing that I’d never been happier than I was at that moment. Twenty years later, I can still stand in that room in my mind’s eye, and still feel that happiness just as strongly as I did that day.

So, I guess time is relative, just ask Einstein. Or Liane Moriarty.

Or me.

🙂

The day I ate whatever I wanted: Part 2 B (the day of)

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, fitness, Life in the cube, local fun, Midlife Crisis, restaurants, yoga
Chocolate Croissant from Standard Baking Co.

My friend Susan told me to have a: “Happy Birthday!!! Enjoy the whole day and do what YOU want!!”

My response: “Well, since I’m working it will be hard to DO whatever I want, but instead I’m going to EAT whatever I want!”

🙂

So here goes: Day 2B of “The day I ate whatever I wanted”…I’m starting to fear that this is a slippery slope…better reign it in after today. This is what I did on the actual day.

I decided not to go to the gym so that I could sleep an extra hour. Good decision. I decided not to do any laundry and not to stop to gas up the car. Those things could wait. My mantra for the day: “If it’s not ‘all about me’, I’m not doing it.”

Breakfast: Decided to wait until I got to Portland then sprinted over to the Standard Baking Company (no website, unbelievably) to get a chocolate croissant. Monument Square was packed with dressed up, suited up people at 8am; usually it’s a ghost town on the weekend at that hour. I heard there was some sort of a convention going on which almost made me late for work (reference: “sprinted” to the bakery!).

Note: Around noon I started rethinking the whole shorts thing;  may not have been the best idea…it barely made it out of the 50’s in Portland.

I continued to go where the whim took me. I didn’t follow any plan at all. I had two days to celebrate: the day before my birthday with my husband (which was awesome), and the birthday itself, which was kind of the icing on the (cup)cake after Friday.

For lunch, Micucci’s Pizza was a no-brainer. I was in luck too; they were just putting out the slabs of pizza when I ran up the stairs and grabbed one out from under the noses of the slower people assembling boxes to my right. When I ran down to pay I got to say “Hi” to the baker, Stephen Lanzalotta (author of  The Diet Code), who was just putting out the fresh cannoli…I resisted, since I had a piece of tiramisu from my son and a chocolate coconut cupcake from Two Fat Cats waiting for me for later on. A colleague at work, Laurie, handed me a chocolate shortbread cookie chaser after lunch, which enabled me to save the cupcake for later.

🙂

Had to miss my regular yoga class (with Kristen of Windsong Yoga)  in the morning so I was thrilled when a colleague Mary Ann said “Hey, want to do this yoga dvd with me at 2:00PM?”  I just happened to have my mat in the trunk, so that’s what we did.

To balance it all out, I ate half the Micucci’s slab for lunch then had the other half with a salad (with greens from the garden) for supper, followed by the cupcake and my favorite  (which is unfortunately seasonal) Keurig coffee that I saved from Christmas: Spicy Eggnog.

When I got home from work at 8:30PM I had a surprise waiting for me: gifts from the kids:

  1. An adapter that allows me to play my MP3 in the car from my son Anthony that I’ve been wanting forever and
  2. A handmade card with 3 dark chocolate covered cherries from my daughter Izzy.

What can I say? My kids know what I like. 🙂 My husband gave me my gift The Day Prior, but actually started it last fall. He got all of the raised beds ready for my fruit and vegetable gardens (not to mention most of the actual planting and watering thereof), and he bought many more lilac bushes for me (my favorite flower) and scattered them around the yard.  He knows what I like too. :D.

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This was the best birthday week ever.

Write it down, make it happen

by Karen, posted in books, Date night, family, fitness, health, Life in the cube, Midlife Crisis, no fear, Someone's gotta say it, tweens, writing, yoga

Okay, it’s a book (not mine!) title. It occurred to me to apply the philosophy of: “If you build it, they will come” espoused by James Earl Jones and put into force by Kevin Costner in the Field of Dreams movie which coincidently (?!) contained a female lead character named “Karen” (not sure how she spelled it!) played by Amy Madigan.

I decided to build my perfect work day.

  1. Get up–not too early.
  2. Get some exercise. I like Stephen King’s idea from his book On Writing where he would take writing breaks and jump on the treadmill that was next to his writing desk (if memory serves). A little bit of yoga couldn’t hurt…
  3. Get some coffee–oh wait! That should be first!
  4. Get some breakfast (ABO…or “Anything But Oatmeal” :)).
  5. Write until noonish.
  6. Get some lunch.
  7. Check email, blogs, FB (you know, all the usual time-sucking suspects) etc.
  8. Read until 4pm. This is when I get to make a small dent in my pile of books, magazines that I am dying to read but have no time to.
  9. Get some more exercise…go for a walk? At the beach! Look for sea glass, sand dollars, unusual rocks and shells. Sigh. Life is Good.
  10. Watch DVD’s or preferred TV series of the moment (The Good Wife, Survivor, Breaking Bad) with my husband.

What does a perfect day for you look like? Quick! Go right it down; then maybe you can figure out a way to make it happen! 🙂

The best yoga class ever!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, fitness, friends, quest for the best, yoga
Kathy, Alexis, Kristen (our teacher!), Janna, Me, Jeannie
Last night was a special yoga class at Windsong Yoga Studio in South Berwick. My friend Kristen (right in the center) is the instructor, and she teaches nice blend of many different styles of yoga. She has studied with some of the top teachers in the United States,  including Doug Keller, Desiree Rumbaugh, Sianna Sherman, and Judith Lasater, to name just a few. A bonus: she teaches women (no men allowed!). 🙂
She planned a special class to celebrate the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year).
After this excellent class, we were treated to an excellent meal, prepared for us by Kristen. A Tempeh Wreath was the main course, accompanied by a side salad of mixed greens, lightly dressed. Dessert was partially by way of Whole Foods  (and may I just say, OMG! Especially the chocolate covered figs? Unbelievable!). There were also some delicious Christmas cookies made for us by Janna, because, after all, what is Christmas without the cut outs? I ask  you.
Now, if you are someone who practices yoga, and midway through most classes you start thinking about pizza and/or assorted baked goods, this was like a class made in heaven. Thank you, Kristen! Put that Tempeh Wreath recipe in your cookbook!
What holiday celebrations are you participating in this year?

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Life in the cube

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, fitness, health, movies, yoga

I was sitting in my cube at work (hour 10), checking out Mayo Clinic’s website for anything new. I found a video of people working at treadmill desks.

I do not have a treadmill desk. Currently, I sit in my cube (to borrow a line from Sandra Bullock in the movie While You Were Sleeping) for 10.5 hours a day  “like a veal”. I am not burning the 10% more calories that people who are blessed with bad backs and get notes from the company’s contracted physical pherapy associates and are awarded “sit-stand” stations. So I sit, not stand.

I recently attended a yoga workshop led by Judith Hanson Lasater. I learned many things from listening to Judith, including that the optimal angle for the hips while sitting in a chair is 120 degrees. I am currently sitting in a chair at my job that gives me about a 45 degree angle of hipness. Not good.

I attempted to remedy this. I rolled up a blanket and put it on my desk chair which afforded me a hip angle that more closely approximated the goal. I was feeling smug about having saved about $50 on a new cushion for about an hour, when I started noticing that my right shoulder (which was now clearly at an untherapeutic angle) was killing me, thereby proving once again the theory that “the thigh bone’s connected to the shoulder bone”.

Darn! I guess I also need to attend a workshop about shoulders. Or ergonomics. Back to square one.

yoga workshop with Doug Keller

by Karen, posted in education, fitness, health, no fear, yoga

Doug Keller came to give a series of workshops at Newburyport Yoga Center ; i attended one last night.  the schedule includes 4 workshops friday4/30  through sunday 5/2.  as i headed there with a friend, i realized that i didn’t even know what the title of the workshop was; i had chosen it because it was the only one of the four that my scheduled allowed me to attend! in the end, it really didn’t matter; i was going to meet him and find out why my yogi friends speak so highly of him and to see if i agreed with their assessment. i DO.

reasons to take a yoga workshop with Doug Keller

  1. it will pull you out of your comfort zone.
  2. the price is really reasonable
  3. he is not threatened by questions from the class
  4. Doug is a very mellow, calm, kind teacher
  5. do the thing you (think you) cannot do

here’s Doug’s website: http://www.doyoga.com/

if you are interested in attending a workshop, there may still be some space: contact Newburyport Yoga Center fmi:  http://www.newburyportyoga.com/index.php