Weekend Recap – Page 32

Massage and Shopping: MIMM#29

March 30, 2015 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Back to Monday, but I am feeling quite refreshed today and excited that it is a short week. This weekend was the most fun weekend I have had in a long time. Maybe shopping therapy actually works haha. Beginning Friday night, Brian was here since we are moving tomorrow and so he picked up some food from the Thai place down the street from our apartment. I will miss that place so wanted to eat there one last time. We enjoyed the food at home. I actually wasn’t too hungry after going out to lunch with my boss so I ate the spring rolls and a few bites of my pad thai. Then we headed to the movie theater to see Insurgent (Divergent 2). Since I read all the books last year, I didn’t exactly remember what happened in the second one, but parts came back as I watched the movie. I am always amazed at the acting in these movies for some reason.

After the movie we just came home and went to bed. Yep we are pretty boring.

Saturday morning I got up around 8am. I don’t remember the last time I have slept in so late. I am usually up by 7. I had some breakfast and watched some tv before heading out to the bank and my massage. It has been over a year since I got a massage and I have been wanting one since Christmas time and finally got around to finding a place. It was great to have a one hour massage and I definitely felt lighter afterwards and less stiff.

I got back to the apartment and Brian was finally up. We ate lunch and then I headed out to meet up with some yogis to practice adjustments in poses. I only stayed for an hour and then Brian and I headed to the Philadelphia Outlet mall. The mall was packed when we got there at 3pm. First Brian got something to eat. He decided on a Philly Cheesesteak so I tried a bite. It was my first time trying a cheesesteak. I am not really a fan of cheese and all that oil kind of grossed me out. However it wasn’t too bad. I mostly enjoyed the fries though and picking out some of the steak from the sandwich.

While eating we looked at a map of all the stores. I needed sneakers so I was happy that they had an Asics outlet store and we decided to head that direction first. It took a while before I figured out which shoes I wanted, but I was happy to have a new pair of sneakers to break in for the spring. We continued making our way around the mall, stopping in a few stores that interested us. I will talk more about what I got tomorrow for Treat Yourself Tuesday. Brian also got me a very nice birthday present.

A couple hours later and we started to make our way home, trying to figure out what to have for dinner and what to eat until Tuesday when we move. We got a few items at Wegmans and stopped at the King of Prussia mall. We wanted to eat at this great Mexican restaurant but the wait time was 50 minutes!! Then we tried a few other restaurants, but they all seemed to have an hour wait. Eventually we ended up at Panera which was fine by me. I wanted something light so I got the chicken avocado salad, which was good except for the cheese they added. Luckily it wasn’t mixed in too much so I was able to pick it out.

Finally we were on our way home, but then we passed Home Depot and knew we needed boxes and a mattress cover for moving, so we stopped there. Unfortunately they were out of mattress covers but we got a couple boxes and some foam wrap stuff for the kitchenware.

The one thing that was disappointing about the evening is I wasn’t able to get a pastry treat at Panera with my rewards because it was so late in the day there were no good ones left so I saved that for another time but I was thinking about cookies, so we made a quick stop at Insomnia Cookies. Their cookies were fresh out of the oven at 8pm which was awesome. They are open until 3am and they deliver too! I got a chocolate chip cookie and oatmeal raisin which were both consumed right when we got home. Brian got a peanut butter cookie and lemon cookie. I loved the cute box they put our cookies in.

To end the evening, we watched Big Hero 6. This movie was hilarious!! I definitely recommend it. I already want to watch it again.

Sunday morning I again stayed in bed until 8am. We were up pretty late anyway so it was nice to stay in bed and not be in a hurry anywhere. The sun was out and coming through the bedroom window which is my favorite thing. I love waking up to the sunlight. I made some protein pancakes for myself and I made some bacon egg cups for Brian for breakfast (forgot to take a picture but he said they were really good).

2015-03-29 08.48.42 — pancakes topped with strawberries and syrup

After breakfast, it was time to start packing. In an hour or so I had all my clothes except for what I might be wearing for the next two days packed. Then we got out the boxes we bought Saturday and I started figuring out how to pack up the kitchen. When I moved out of my house last year I didn’t have to pack kitchenware because I already had my box of a few random things from college still taped up, so it has been interesting packing up all the kitchenware and pantry and spices that I have. I am glad that most of our things are packed (aka I haven’t unpacked the boxes that my dad and sister delivered last August nor some of my own things). My desktop will probably be taken apart today while I am at work and Brian is home. Then it will just be the little things to sort through and stick into boxes or bags. We are hoping that between my car and Brian’s truck it will only take two round trips to the new place to get everything there.

In the afternoon I had to head down to the city for a meeting about Yoga on the Banks. I am hoping to assist some teachers for good experience to keep up with my yoga. Then Brian and I got some dinner at a BBQ place around the corner from my meeting. I went with the pork ribs.

Once we got home, I decided to quickly whip up some rice krispie treats with Easter colored M&M’s for work as well. I wanted to bring something for Easter this week but with moving wasn’t sure on a good day. Finally decided on Monday. These were quick and delicious. I had to taste one or two of them of course.

That wraps up my weekend. More packing to do after work today and then moving day tomorrow. I find it so hard to pack up the kitchen when I like to cook/bake daily.

Thanks Katie!

Weekend and Yoga Teacher Training #11

March 23, 2015 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Another weekend gone too fast. Friday was the first day of Spring and we got at least three inches of snow….

That picture is from when I got home after yoga teacher training on Friday night. There was no snow in the morning when I left. So it didn’t really feel like Spring with the cloudy snowy weather :/

Friday night I had yoga teacher training. The 3 hours went by quickly with going over our homework and next assignment. Just one more paper to write and then time to study a bunch for the final. Then we had a student led class that was nice and relaxing for a Friday evening class. Then we talked about mudras. I need to print some pictures so I remember what each one is, but it was definitely interesting.

Saturday morning, the roads were good and the sun was out, quickly melting the snow away. I drove to Wegmans for my weekly groceries. I am trying to not buy too much lately since I am moving so I have been eating a lot of meat from the freezer that I have stocked up. While I was at Wegmans, I came across a display of coconut water and the lemonade flavor caught my eye. I know that coconut things are so good for you (or at least that is what I hear) but I really can’t stand the scent or taste of coconut, so I just can’t use coconut oil or flakes. I even bought coconut flour once and that had a strong scent too. I am sure if someone made me something with coconut flour it would be fine. However, back in December, I had coconut milk chai which was actually pretty tasty and the coconut milk didn’t seem to have a strong scent or taste of coconut, so I thought I would give coconut water a try when I saw the lemonade flavor. I also bought a regular one as well as I have seen some green smoothies made with it.

Once I got home, I put half of the lemonade coconut water with some mango and strawberries I had in the fridge, added some ice and blended it up. It was a nice refreshing drink and I can’t say I tasted the coconut so it was fine by me. I was drinking it pretending it was summer as I stared outside to the winter wonderland…

Basically before yoga on Saturday and Sundays, I try to eat and drink tons of water all morning. I set my alarm for 7 so I have 4 hours before catching the train. Between my walking to the train, waiting, taking the train, etc, I have at least 1.5 hours to digest food and I never know when our breaks to eat will be so I find it works best for me to just eat constantly and drink tons of water before. That was another reason for my picking up some coconut water because I hear it is good for hydration and staying hydrated is something I struggle with especially on Saturday’s at yoga.

Moving onto yoga, we began with an hour practice that was student led. It was a great flow class! Then we discussed awkward situations when teaching and it made me question why am I doing this again, but it is helpful to discuss certain topics and ask our teacher, what did you do or what would you do. We then had a 3 hour Power Yoga workshop. So we began with an hour of Power Yoga and then talked about the basic structure of a power yoga class. I had never done a power yoga class before so it was interesting for me. The funny part was that our student led class had a very similar sequencing, so I guess the positive to that was we were warmed up for this sequence. I have heard if you do a class and then do it again later in the day, you might be able to get deeper from having that opening.

After that workshop, I stuffed my face with food. We didn’t really have any good time to eat Saturday which was kind of annoying. After eating we were headed right into backbends and adjustments so we were told not to eat too much, but I was hungry and my stomach was crampy so I needed the food. I actually felt better after I ate and the backbends weren’t too intense, not like a backbend workshop or anything.

Then the day was over, just like that. Once we ended I was thinking tomorrow is Sunday already. The weekend was ending so quickly.

By the time I got home, I talked to Brian on the phone and headed to bed.

Sunday morning I got up and could already feel the soreness from the Power Yoga on Saturday. I then made myself some protein pancakes and sausage and spent some time foam rolling out my soreness.

Then I used the rest of my lemonade coconut water to make a blueberry smoothie.

The rest of my morning was spent watching movies, writing and relaxing before heading out to catch the train to yoga.

For yoga training on Sunday we had a student led practice and then meditation. The last part of our meditation series. I will miss those on Sunday. Now we only have two weekends left of training. The end is coming up quickly. We are now on “spring break” from the training though so I have 3 weekends “free” and then back to back weekends in April. Now I just look forward to this weekend as I will be treating myself to a much needed massage Saturday and then packing up to move.

Busy and Relaxing Weekend: MIMM #28

March 16, 2015 by Alicia 1 Comment

Wow, apparently it has been a month since I participated in Marvelous in my Monday. This last month has been so busy and these last two weeks I have been so tired/stressed. This weekend I had a lot to do and I was wondering how I would get it all done, but then I remembered I didn’t have to squeeze everything into a 4 hour time slot in the morning before yoga. I had way more time, which was wonderful! Thanks Katie for hosting!!

Friday I left work an hour early and walked over to a bowling center where my work was having a party to celebrate our 1 year as our own company, since we split off of a much larger company last year. I had not been bowling since last year when I was part of a bowling league at my last company so I was super excited! We had tons of food and I got to bowl 4 games in the 2 hours. I was sad I never broke 100 in any games, but it was still fun. I felt like I was finally getting the hang of things by game 4. Oh well. Of course I decided to do some yoga in the lane once we finished.

After bowling I ran to the train station because I only had 11 minutes to get there and then I was 1 min early but the train was 12 min late…at least I burned off some of that not so healthy food I ate at the bowling place right?!

So I waited for the train and eventually got home. Once I got home, I knew I had to finish writing out my yoga sequence. Even though I have already taught I had to come up with another sequence to completely write out that is due this Friday. I was happy to finish off a draft of it and knew that Saturday I would be able to check with a few of the other trainees if it looked ok. Now I just have to run through it and make sure it is long enough for a 75 minute class.

Friday night I was excited to turn off my alarm and just wake up when I felt like it on Saturday morning, which was 7:30am, but since I have been waking up at 5 or 5:30 everyday and the time change last weekend, it was a wonderful 9 hours of sleep Friday night.

Saturday morning was rainy as I headed to Wegmans to get food. Then I came home and made another half batch of mini apple pies, because Saturday was Pi day!! The ultimate, once in a century pi day 3/14/15 because pi is 3.14159265359… So after my Pinterest success on Thursday night with a half batch of pies, I made more pies Saturday morning to share with fellow yogis.

My co-worker got me that awesome Pi day shirt as an early birthday present!! Love it! (note: my birthday is next month) After those were done I ate lunch and relaxed. I had time to make myself cozy and just read for fun which was amazing!!

At 1pm, I headed over to the yoga studio to be in a practice class with a few trainees who are teaching this coming weekend and wanted to run through their class and get feedback. It was a great session. I feel like it is easier when you are bouncing ideas off of one another for a sequence. I also was able to bring my draft in for my written sequence which they said looked good but also gave some great suggestions for some other poses I might try to weave in.

By the time I got home, it was dinner time. I ate earlier than usual, but that was fine. The rest of the evening I watched some tv and then snuggled in bed reading for a while, finally finishing a book I have been reading for 2 months. Then I went online to pick out a new book for my kindle. I am trying to read 15 books in 2015. So far I am only at 2 and I feel like April is so close, but I know once yoga teacher training is done, I should have some more time to read.

Sunday morning I got up and made some protein pancakes topped with strawberries. No picture because my pancakes were not very photogenic yesterday (as in slightly burnt…oops). I knew I needed to start my day off with a bunch of protein as I then headed to 2 back to back yoga classes. The all levels vinyasa class was so great!! I felt like my body got a great workout and stretch. Then I stayed for the gentle yoga, always a nice follow up after a challenging class.

On my way home, I treated myself to Panera. I drive by there all the time and I didn’t really know what to put together for lunch so Panera it was. My favorite pick 2 combo, Bacon Turkey Bravo and ceaser salad.

I also now have a reward on my MyPanera card for $1 off a pastry that I have to use within 2 months. That shouldn’t be too hard. I think there is a Panera near my new apartment, otherwise I will be sure to track one down.

Sunday afternoon I was able to continue my laid back weekend, got some laundry done, but also had time for writing, tv and baking. Some of my favorite things. Now I should finally feel refreshed for the work week and hopefully much less stressed. Catching up on sleep definitely helps! Plus last week I finally booked a massage for the last weekend in March right before I move. I have been wanting one for months and finally booked it! It gives me something to look forward to and I hope they can work out the knots in my neck and shoulders.

Hope you guys have a happy Monday!!

Yoga Teacher Training #10

March 9, 2015 by Alicia 6 Comments

I would not say this weekend was marvelous, but then that would be negative right?! I don’t want that. This weekend was stressful. Mostly I am just so relieved it is over and honestly things turned out well, so maybe I could say marvelous for the outcome. Yoga is/was stressing me out. I know that is the opposite of what should happen with yoga, but it is the truth.

Friday at the office was a pretty normal day except that half the people were working at home because we got like 12 inches of snow on Thursday (no joke!!) and the roads were terrible even on Friday. Reasons why I am glad I walk to the train station. How is this the day after?!? The only reason you can tell the difference between the sidewalk and street was that bridge of snow in between.

Luckily the city looked a bit better. I was just hoping that the buses were still running and they were.

I caught a bus after work and headed to the yoga studio. But first I ran into a fellow yogi and we headed to the little tea/coffee house by the studio. I did not want to buy anything, so waited for her and we found a seat and talked while I ate my dinner I brought. We were discussing how our yoga training is quickly coming to an end and while we are sad, we both can’t wait to have weekends back and get back to other exercises. I am glad I am not the only one. Lately I have just felt so out of balance with solely doing yoga. I miss my weight lifting, swimming and Zumba time. As much as I love the yoga studio environment, I miss the gym environment.

Personally, after yoga teacher training is over, I plan to take a bit of a break from yoga. It is a good time for me to do so as summer approaches and swimming time comes and hopefully I will find a new gym near my new apartment next month to add in some weight lifting/strength training. Once I get settled into a new routine, maybe I will think about some subbing for yoga classes, but not making any commitments right away.

So back to the training…this was weekend 10 of 13. Friday evening we began with a student led practice, discussed what she did well and what to work on and then we wrote up a new sequence.

Saturday was my teaching day, so basically I did not sleep well Friday night. I woke up super tense, thinking of yoga cues in my head. There was so much pressure in my head that I had a slight headache even. It felt like when you have a cold and your head is all stuffed. Since I could hardly sleep I was up at 6:30am. I had time and made some pancakes and bacon.

Then I headed to the store. Due to the fact that the streets were still not the best I chose a closer grocery store to shop at and stopped at Whole Foods on my way back since their produce always looks better. Grocery shopping helped me to de-stress a bit, then I came home and threw together a quick chickpea salad.

Cooking/baking definitely helps me de-stress. It is no wonder I find myself so happy in the kitchen and spend a good amount of my time in there when I am home. I was excited for this new simple recipe and how colorful my food was. It’s the simple things in life.

I then had a half hour before I was heading out. I had something quick to eat and tried to run through my practice quickly but I kept messing up so I decided I already knew it well enough to teach. In the morning we had also received an email that we were switching the order of things for the day and I was no longer teaching first due to our workshop. So I would have to wait. I felt like it was back to a time in high school when you had a test but it wasn’t until the last period of the day and all you were able to think about in every class was that test.

What actually happened was we began with a discussion of the homework and received our tests back from the last time. I actually was surprised I did so well. I was really happy to just forget that test ever happened, but I was pleased with my grade. Then we did a 2 hour arm balance workshop. I really wanted to be present during this workshop as I love arm balances these days. I have realized that other than crow and side crow, most of the arm balances I have learned in the last 1 year of my doing Instagram yoga challenges. Pretty cool to think about how many things I have learned through Instagram that I never would have expected.

firefly with bent legs (tight hamstrings)

It was a really sunny day on Saturday which was great except that the studio was full of like 30 people and it got hot quickly. Normally I do not mind the heat, but my hands were sweating so much from the arm balancing and my nerves for teaching later. I was becoming dehydrated quickly. I tried to drink water throughout, but I still wasn’t getting enough. Then I got hungry and the end of the arm balance workshop was really rough. Afterwards, I immediately grabbed my chickpea salad and scarfed that down and a luna bar. I was still hungry and thirsty and just not feeling great. I ran over to Whole Foods next door (too convenient) without even wearing my coat because I was so hot. The fresh air felt great. I didn’t know what I wanted to eat, but I grabbed a ginger cookie, some kale from the salad bar and a cold bottle of water. I hate buying bottled water, but on yoga days to have a cold bottle of water is sometimes necessary. I ate the kale, saved the cookie and drank the water over the next hour. While at first I felt stuffed, once my food and water started settling as we worked with props, I felt sooo much better.

At 6pm, I finally got to teach. At first as the teaching time was approaching I was nervous, but my head felt a bit better thanks to some distractions throughout the day. After 5 minutes or so into my teaching, I felt more confident, I had practiced and honestly I think it went pretty well, except for my forgetting to change the lights in the middle of the class. That was one thing I couldn’t really practice at home since I didn’t have a dimmer. Everyone clapped at the end and gave me helpful tips. I am sure a lot of it will come with practice.

Then it was time to head home. WOW what a long day! I was relieved to be done teaching and relax, but I was exhausted. The wait at the train station felt like forever, but finally I was home. I drank a giant glass of water, brushed my teeth and headed to bed. There was no time for anything else. I just needed sleep.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling more refreshed and my head less heavy which was good. I didn’t have anything specific I had to do in the morning so I just relaxed. I drank tons of water and ate all morning. I think I was still making up for Saturday. My hips were super sore, so every time I lifted my knee up towards my chest, like when putting on boots or something, it was hard.

At 11:30 I headed to the train station. I caught up on blog reading while waiting for the train and then spent the train time writing. On Sundays due to the train schedule we always have like 40 minutes before training begins, so me and one other yogi headed into Whole Foods. I still felt like I needed more food and water so I grabbed a zucchini muffin and water which was finished before we even started at 1:30. I felt so much better than Saturday!

We began with a student led practice and then discussed how it went. Then we had an intro to backbend before a quick break before meditation for 2 hours. The 4 hours flew by! The nice thing about the time change was that it was still nice and sunny when we got out at 5:30 and walked to the train. Spring is around the corner!! We waited at the train station and talked for a bit then I read on the train home.

I got home and I just couldn’t believe the day was over. I felt like I had only been up for a few hours but the day was gone. Once I got home I spent a while writing, which was much needed. I think I am still processing everything that happened Saturday, but at least there is one less thing to worry about. Now I am working on our written sequence assignment. My goal is to have this done by the end of this week and then time to review it the next week. Hopefully by writing out this goal I will accomplish it. I believe I can if I set my mind to it though 🙂

And here we are back at Monday. Let’s hope the weather predictions of getting to 50 degrees are correct and there are no surprise 12 inches of snow in the forecast!! I am enjoying that the sun is making its return for Spring weather.

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