we interrupt these very important yoga messages to announce the 5 year anniversary of me and my boo. yup, count 'em! 5 big ones!
on february 23, 2007, a boy with a generally pleasant disposition and super long eyelashes agreed (via instant messenger) to see the movie "23" (starring jim carey, but not funny. the opposite of funny, actually. scary and weird. not a good combo.) with me at crossgates cinemas. he picked me up in his gold saturn- a car which i would later find out did not go in reverse- and we listened to jack johnson the whole way there.
a few months later, after we had somehow, unofficially become 'official', someone asked us how long we had been together. as we tried to figure it out, our dear friend geoff offered us this sage advice- "dudes, you dont know? you gotta pro-rate that shit back to your first date." so, after geoff (the business major) explained to me (the art major) what pro-rate meant, we did just that.
and every year since then, on february 23, my joey, (aka buster, my boo, thee fiance, and, lovingly, josephine) wishes me a happy anniversary... and then shouts "we made it!". how sweet...
so, i would just like to say,
happy 5 years, buster... we made it!
love, katie
(aka rascal, boob, tookers, and lovingly, your stink-butt)
p.s.- i know we use really weird nicknames.
p.p.s.- i dont really have a stinky butt.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
but all i ever need is everything
yoga training #8
for our eighth training session, we focused almost completely on alignment. my teacher wanted to make sure that we were holding our poses correctly before we began to instruct others, which makes total sense... so i was all pumped and ready to get my pose on, until i realized that "checking our alignment" was just sneaky yogi-code for making us HOLD EACH POSE FOR A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF TIME while my teacher looked at every toe, finger and tiny little muscle to make sure that it was doing what it was supposed to.
boy, did that burn (but in a good way, of course!)
the best part is, i actually learned that i was over-working some of the simpler poses that we take for granted, like downward dog and warrior one. in dd, i was pushing away from the floor so hard that i was over-extending my shoulders and that was causing all sorts of problems. my teacher suggested that i pull my shoulders back in, which improved my balance and made my heels reach the ground with ease.
and when it came to w1, i discovered that i had basically just gotten lazy, which i guess is pretty easy to do with this pose. to make sure your warrior one is the best it can be, make sure your back leg is straight, and that you are tucking your butt under and pulling your stomach in with little to no arch in your back. i had been treating it similarly to crescent moon, which is hard on the legs but easy sleezy on the torso. well, no more!
so now we are preparing to teach our very first class, which we've decided will be an express class- a quick 15 minutes is just enough time to squeeze everything in without feeling overwhelmed. i think this will be good for me to start out with, because i tend to move pretty quickly through my at-home routines anyway. and, just in case i get stuck, i have soooo many yoga apps on my new iphone!! honestly, i hadn't even considered purchasing an iphone until my teacher told me there were all of these incredible yoga apps- is that weird? or awesome. i pick awesome. im so pumped to try them all! let me know if you guys have any suggestions...
AND, remind me to tell you about my super awesome, yoga-tastic, summer plans which involve one of the best states in the US, good music, peace, love and lots of posing!!!
xo
for our eighth training session, we focused almost completely on alignment. my teacher wanted to make sure that we were holding our poses correctly before we began to instruct others, which makes total sense... so i was all pumped and ready to get my pose on, until i realized that "checking our alignment" was just sneaky yogi-code for making us HOLD EACH POSE FOR A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF TIME while my teacher looked at every toe, finger and tiny little muscle to make sure that it was doing what it was supposed to.
boy, did that burn (but in a good way, of course!)
the best part is, i actually learned that i was over-working some of the simpler poses that we take for granted, like downward dog and warrior one. in dd, i was pushing away from the floor so hard that i was over-extending my shoulders and that was causing all sorts of problems. my teacher suggested that i pull my shoulders back in, which improved my balance and made my heels reach the ground with ease.
and when it came to w1, i discovered that i had basically just gotten lazy, which i guess is pretty easy to do with this pose. to make sure your warrior one is the best it can be, make sure your back leg is straight, and that you are tucking your butt under and pulling your stomach in with little to no arch in your back. i had been treating it similarly to crescent moon, which is hard on the legs but easy sleezy on the torso. well, no more!
so now we are preparing to teach our very first class, which we've decided will be an express class- a quick 15 minutes is just enough time to squeeze everything in without feeling overwhelmed. i think this will be good for me to start out with, because i tend to move pretty quickly through my at-home routines anyway. and, just in case i get stuck, i have soooo many yoga apps on my new iphone!! honestly, i hadn't even considered purchasing an iphone until my teacher told me there were all of these incredible yoga apps- is that weird? or awesome. i pick awesome. im so pumped to try them all! let me know if you guys have any suggestions...
AND, remind me to tell you about my super awesome, yoga-tastic, summer plans which involve one of the best states in the US, good music, peace, love and lots of posing!!!
xo
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
got ben folds on my radio
yoga training #7
my seventh training took place during one of our new sunday morning classes, where i quietly observed/sort of participated in/took notes during/stared creepily at other people in downward dog. i know it sounds strange and if i were a participant in that class, i would have undoubtedly been slightly uncomfortable, but my teacher assured everyone that i was 1.) not creepy, and 2.) a yogi in training.
le sigh
i just love the way that sounds- "yogi in training". but i digress...
ok, so after class ended, i realized the majority of my notes were based on the verbal cues that my teacher was using for different poses. she has this really wonderful way of simplifying positions and helping you adjust your body without sounding critical or judgy (yea, i said it. judgy.). for example, when we are doing *mandalas (not to be confused with gondolas) she simply says, "now, bring your right arm past the naval as you turn to face the back of the room, in warrior 1." swoon.
after reviewing our notes, we moved on to.....drum roll.... teaching the teacher! i went through a quick 15 minute warm-up that i had created, complete with lunges and down dogs and cobras, oh my! it was just the basics, but i'm still getting nervous instructing others soooooo, i had this amazing idea that was, of course, inspired by beyonce. i've decided to create an alter-ego, sort of the yoga equivelant to beyonce's 'sasha fierce'. i even tried a few different accents, because, who knows? maybe my alter-ego is a 40 year-old french canadian woman who was born in ireland but raised in jamaica and occasionally roots for the red socks...? (unfortunately, that's what all of my accents sound like, despite my best efforts.) the only problem is, i can't think of a good name for my alter ego so i'm asking for suggestions... any ideas?
post warm-up, we went over the playlist i had created for my future classes. my teacher suggested that we veer away from any emotional songs, as participants can sometimes be vulnerable and affected by what they are listening to during a yoga session. so, my obvious choice of music included songs by band of horses, radiohead, and lil weezy (duh). i've added a couple of songs off my 'yoga mixtape' to my blog playlist, for your listening pleasure...i hope you enjoy!
*mandala is a sanskrit word that means circle. it also represents a movement, in which you start facing the front of the room, and transition to another pose facing the back of the room...
my seventh training took place during one of our new sunday morning classes, where i quietly observed/sort of participated in/took notes during/stared creepily at other people in downward dog. i know it sounds strange and if i were a participant in that class, i would have undoubtedly been slightly uncomfortable, but my teacher assured everyone that i was 1.) not creepy, and 2.) a yogi in training.
le sigh
i just love the way that sounds- "yogi in training". but i digress...
ok, so after class ended, i realized the majority of my notes were based on the verbal cues that my teacher was using for different poses. she has this really wonderful way of simplifying positions and helping you adjust your body without sounding critical or judgy (yea, i said it. judgy.). for example, when we are doing *mandalas (not to be confused with gondolas) she simply says, "now, bring your right arm past the naval as you turn to face the back of the room, in warrior 1." swoon.
after reviewing our notes, we moved on to.....drum roll.... teaching the teacher! i went through a quick 15 minute warm-up that i had created, complete with lunges and down dogs and cobras, oh my! it was just the basics, but i'm still getting nervous instructing others soooooo, i had this amazing idea that was, of course, inspired by beyonce. i've decided to create an alter-ego, sort of the yoga equivelant to beyonce's 'sasha fierce'. i even tried a few different accents, because, who knows? maybe my alter-ego is a 40 year-old french canadian woman who was born in ireland but raised in jamaica and occasionally roots for the red socks...? (unfortunately, that's what all of my accents sound like, despite my best efforts.) the only problem is, i can't think of a good name for my alter ego so i'm asking for suggestions... any ideas?
post warm-up, we went over the playlist i had created for my future classes. my teacher suggested that we veer away from any emotional songs, as participants can sometimes be vulnerable and affected by what they are listening to during a yoga session. so, my obvious choice of music included songs by band of horses, radiohead, and lil weezy (duh). i've added a couple of songs off my 'yoga mixtape' to my blog playlist, for your listening pleasure...i hope you enjoy!
*mandala is a sanskrit word that means circle. it also represents a movement, in which you start facing the front of the room, and transition to another pose facing the back of the room...
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