2017, The Universe, Yoga I Can Stand

Hello and Happy New Year!  It's 2017!  Can you believe it?  When I was a kid I used to calculate how old I would be in THE FUTURE...Well, I don't think I ever went past the year 2000.  And here I am, in 2017.  No hover car, no personal robot, no trips to Mars....But it's close, right?  I have the mars curiosity rover on instagram and that just blows me away!!  Pictures of Mars, the red planet, on my phone?  Way cool!

Ok enough of my ramblings....here's the photo of Mae you've all been waiting for, waiting in the snow for snowballs.

I have a couple of things to share with you....remember the Altras?  The shoe to end all mountain running shoes?  Well sadly, I ended up returning them after about 3 months.  They were perfect, great shoe, scrambling around the mountain, running , hiking.  they kept me comfy and dry through October, the wettest October on record in Seattle.  They were warm and great into November.  And then, one day, my feet were WET!  They were leaking at the seams and also had really broken down after only about 100 miles of use. No cushion, dead shoes.   I spoke to a rep at Altra and he confirmed that because they are new shoes/boots for them they didn't really know what to expect.  The "neoshell" is not actually neoprene but a gortex like material.  Anyway, they went back....I couldn't justify the $160 retail price (I paid $140 thru Road Runner Sports and they have an excellent return policy).  I got a really ugly pair of Asics that are doing the job well enough for half the price.

Ok, The Universe....so I don't mean this in a Carl Sagan way, though I LOVE Mr. Sagan.  I am talking about all that Karmic stuff, you know, things working out in the end?  squaring up the score. settling accounts.... My daughter was complaining about how she didn't get a discount on her rent after a friend said she referred her AND a manager called and told her she would get $300 off rent....a different manager told her NO.  Because the friend didn't fill out the referall form correctly.  What??  As my daughter was telling me the story, the Boston Irish in me came out and I wanted to call said manager and tell her what a *#@! she is, but then....and this is pretty amazing for me....but then I thought "no, the UNIVERSE can handle this".  You know why?  Because the Universe can dole out some really nasty shit!  What can I do?  Swear into the phone?  Use my wit and language to come up with some mean, but to the point, derogatory insults?  sure...But the Universe....the Universe takes care of revenge and getting even in a BIG way. I have seen this first hand .  I have seen some terrible things happen to people that have not been very nice to me.  Really awful, life changing things.  And that's sad.  So, I am letting go of anger (yeah right, at least this month ok?) letting go of righting wrongs.  I'm not using my life energy on that pursuit.  I'm gonna just let Good ol' buddy Universe do it's stuff.  I will stand up for my rights, take matters into my own hands when it's logical.  Ask me how this is going in a few months though!

Yoga.  So I have always tried to do yoga and have literally hated it!  Hated the often false, mumbo jumbo breathing crap (all that breathing!) and the little outfits and mats and the stupidly presented calm.  Plus, physically it kills me!  And I am no slump when it comes to athletics.   But....I have this friend.  He is a really awesome person, the 70 side of 60.  I met him in grad school more than 25 years ago and, well, he's one of my favorite people on the planet.  He's an antsy one.  Always on the move, he runs, works out with weights, swims and DOES YOGA.  So, if your friend, a friend whom you love and trust, tells you something is good?  That's right,  You gotta check it out.  I managed to find YOGA I CAN STAND!!  Yoga, I will admit, I actually LOVE!  It's Yoga With Adriene, and I am 10 days into the 30 day yoga challenge.  She's real!!  She's like "yo, dude, we are gonna DO YOGA".  Well, maybe not quite like that, but the presentation fits me, fits what I look for in any fitness instruction, honest, straight forward, no nonsense guidance.  Fabulous personality,Yoga with Adriene works for me.  If you are thinking of adding yoga to your life, check out her youtube channel .  There are a lot of sessions to choose from and they are short and so do-able!  

Happy 2017!  Hope the year is filled with all good things for you!  We will be out playing in the snow, enjoying this beautiful mountain day~ ciao!

2015

There's a wish most of us have, to start anew with the new year,  to reaffirm our goals, be they any of the many forms of self improvement: get fit, lose weight, eat better, be kinder, sleep more, drink less, give up smoking, give up smoking weed, take a vacation, take a break, take a yoga class, call friends, call for the colonoscopy, call the dentist, get new eyeglasses, get new sneakers, get a haircut, get a foil, save money, save a date, save a life, donate clothing, donate cash, donate time.   Perhaps you see something on this list familiar to your own life? Or perhaps you want something different.  Perhaps you merely want to maintain the status quo...... keep your job, keep your lover, keep your spouse, keep your sanity, keep on keeping on,  keep on trucking, keep it up.  Ask yourself, Are you hep to the jive?  Do you know the score, following the script, following the story?  Do you know your lines?  Do you know where you are?  Do you know where your cat is?  

Well, deep breaths people.  It's only January 15th.  Take a big chill pill.  Put on some soft music.  Pour more coffee.  Look out the window.  2015 is still out there, waiting, in all it's bloated promise.  It's waiting for you to get on it, get on your game, put your best foot forward, make a plan, get with the program, stir it up, kick's it's ass, grab it by the neck and shake the shit out of it.  Run with the pack, leave the fools behind, do what you must.  But don't let 2015 be a big double goose egg on your back window....

Now go on out there and chase down that DREAM!

4:14.

My daughter was crying and complaining about an itchy rash on her legs.  I picked her up and carried her through a field of tall grass.  At the bottom my HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND was waiting in a van parked by the side of the road. We reached the van and tumbled inside, it was warm and comfortable.  But my daughter suddenly turned into a cat and tried to jump out the half opened front window.

I woke with a raging headache to the sounds of truck noise on the highway and fumbled around in the dark for a bottle of Excedrin.  I was quiet, trying to not wake my husband, but after ten seconds stealth mode became bitch mode and I let out a loud "FUCK".  Husband later admitted that he was already awake because of the back up beeps of heavy equipment over in the sledding hill parking lot.  I medicated myself and got back into bed, cradling my head in the softest pillow I could find.  But it was no good.  Solid sleep never again arrived and I finally officially got up around 6 am.  

I was annoyed, filled with a sense of fleeting anxiety over my daughter . She is not 4, not small enough for me to carry.  She is 19 and at that time of day she was in fact nestled into her own bed, an hour away, probably with her cat.  I was annoyed at the truck noise, a constant here in our home, in the mountains yet far too close to the highway which brings us here.  I was in fact mostly annoyed at not getting to spend more time in the van with my HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND.  It was warm, filled with golden light and a sense of peace.  Why am I thinking about HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND?  Jesse.  That's right, I've watched too many episodes of Breaking Bad and "Jesse" is strikingly a dead ringer for HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND.