Long weekend in pictures and words... (yes, I pigged out a little)

Hot bar at Whole Foods for lunch on Friday...

(mine)




(Josh's)



Followed by some yummy goodness at Sweet CeCe's (I can't wait to go back there!!):


...and a little trip to Anthropologie...





where I found these great labels to use for my canning! (side note: also found a recipe for a Honey Fig jam that I can't wait to try!):



The rest of the weekend consisted of lots of time with these guys!













(P.S. Pablo killed 3 birds in 3 days. He just jumps straight in the air and plucks them out of the sky. He is a killing machine. Birds are bad enough, I will be pretty distraught when he finally bags a squirrel. He has gotten very close!)







Enjoying the backyard...



Putting on a cute dress to combat the 95 degree temps:


A last minute dinner/cookout with friends. I got to use my summer plates!



Complete with "stolen" hydrangeas from Tim and Meredith (they have the most enviable Hydrangeas in the neighborhood. She told me I was welcome to them but it still felt like stealing since they were out of town!):



Even a couple for the bathroom!:



And of course, a LOT more of this guy (who the day after surgery and 3 pulled teeth was acting like nothing ever happened):







Not pictured: reading, shopping, running (!!!!), gardening (added more peppers, a tomato plant and strawberries to the garden and a fig tree to the yard), and NAPPING!

Yoga - round 4!

I had a long (4-day!!) weekend, and on Friday I decided to go to yoga at my gym, since when our regular lady is on vacation I will need to take yoga elsewhere for 2 months.

As I already knew it would be, it was a completely different environment than what I've gotten used to. For one - flourescent lights. Ugh. Second - no meditation or getting your mind into a good place before starting the moves... this made it hard for me to feel really rooted on some of the poses until about halfway through. The instructor was a nice enough (and super flexible) hippie type. But he was very soft-spoken and I had to struggle to hear him. He also didn't really explain the moves, he'd just say "now go into (fill-in-the-blank) pose." I am glad I have at least a rudimentary understanding of yoga, or I'd have been lost.

Overall, it was a decent experience, I got to do a few new (to me) poses like Tree Pose (so much harder than it looks to hold for a long period of time... the old ladies in class really kicked my butt at this one):

and Camel:

We also did a variation on Boat that I absolutely LOVED. And I got to do Pigeon again, which I find so comforting... I just love the poses where I'm all hunkered down.

Even though the old ladies totally owned me on the Tree, there was one pose (not sure of the name of it) that I amazed myself on and was star pupil for a second. It was kind of a forward lunge - one knee in front, one leg bent behind, toes curled under. Pretty basic. He said we could either stay there, or to make it more advanced, elevate back knee. I did. Then he said take it one step further and extend one arm. I did. Then extend the other arm. I did. Everyone else stayed in the basic pose and I felt like a complete and total rockstar.

The next day, Josh went to the gym and was talking to one of the instruuctors and she told them that she just found out there WILL BE NO MORE YOGA THERE due to small class size.

*Insert scream here*

So now I'm scrambling. After tomorrow, we only have two more weeks with our current yoga lady until the end of August! I am desperately trying to find another class that works with my work schedule and is either close to work or home and more spiritually focused. Hope I find it in the first few tries!

Pilates tonight! There will be a different instructor than the one I had last week, so I am wondering how different it will be.

Yoga, round 3, and Pablo

Pablo got neutered yesterday and 3 teeth pulled, but it isn't slowing him down a bit. I just got a one minute video from Josh of him playing like crazy. He is immune to the pain medicine, apparently! It made Julio sleep non-stop, but I think it just dulls Pablo's pain enough to make him feel like his old self.



Crazy booger.

Last night was yoga, and I was totally off my game. I was ok at first, cleared my head with no problem, but then I kept messing up the moves, losing my blalance, wondering why my knee was hurting so bad - um, because I forgot to use my toes on some poses! I would not engage my foot at all and just kept coming down hard on my knee, like an idiot! It was nearly impossible to get back into a good headspace after that, I and I did not get my usual release, which was disappointing for me.

We did get to do a new (to me) move that I love - the Boat Pose!

We also did another pose that I don't know the name of and can't find a picture of, but we were on our backs, legs up and spread in a V-shape, and then did kind of a sit-up with our upper body! Difficult, but enjoyable.

One really cool thing that happened was this... at the end of class she usually goes around the room and touches your head and shoulders (I think I mentioned this in my last yoga post). Well between the music, the hardwood floors, my eyes closed, and her bare feet, I couldn't tell where she was in the room. Until she got to Josh, who was next to me. I didn't hear her, (and I know this is going to make me sound like a new-age nutso), but I felt her energy. I just felt a sense of peaceful warmth by/in my right shoulder, and I knew she was there. And then, inexplicably, my fingers (my hands were at my side, palms-up in corpse pose) on my right hand started to curl toward her. I had no control over them! Such a strange but neat experience... it almost makes up for my lack of Zen.

However, I am hurting pretty badly today, especially in my lower back. Not sure if it is because I messed up so badly last night, or something else, but in any case, I took today off from the gym. I have a 4 day weekend coming up and I am going to use the blessing of having two weekdays off to do some daytime classes there that I otherwise miss out on!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Weight Loss, week 21 - Changing it up! (And Pilates!)

Over the course of the last 21 weeks, I have done a few different things - started with Weight Watchers, moved to Calorie Counting, attempted the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred (got sidelined halfway through due to leg and knee issues), and lost a total of 13 lbs!

I am changing it up yet again. I am over my Wednesday weigh-ins! That's not to say I won't still be weighing myself, because I will be, but since I am going to be doing so much toning and weight work now, I know the scale will most likely go up - and I don't want to report those weigh-ins as a gain, because it will be muscle gain - and that's not a bad thing. A higher number on the scale doesn't have to mean I'm getting bigger... it might just mean that I'm becoming leaner and stronger and replacing those last stubborn unwanted pounds with something more desirable (and less jiggly)!

I'm going to focus less on the numbers now (because I am by no means overweight) and focus more on shaping my body into something strong and beautiful. And who knows, I may be 5 pounds heavier but 2 sizes smaller!

I am looking forward to my new workout schedule. I thrive in class environmnets as opposed to working out on my own, and this is what my schedule is going to look like.

Mondays: Total Body Class at 5:30 p.m. (I've never been to this one, but Josh recommended it)
Tuesdays: Abs at 5:30 a.m., Pilates at 5:30 p.m. (two-a-days! eek!)
Wednesdays: Yoga at 6:15 in the Village (except late June until late August - then Wednesdays will be my off nights)
Thursdays: Abs at 5:30 a.m., Pilates at 5:30 p.m.
Friday: Free Day! (except Late June to late August when I will be doing Yoga at our gym @ 5:40 pm while our regular lady is on Vacation.)
Saturday: Free Day!
Sunday: Free Day!

I think I am going to love this schedule... my weekends will not be devoted to the gym and I can concentrate on the stuff that is important to me - hubbin, dogs, cooking, entertaining, gardening, trying to get my crafting groove back. Generally enjoying life. Instead of zoning in front of the tv or otherwise wasting time most weeknights, I will be getting myself in shape with other like-minded folks. I can't wait!

Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be hard. That abs class is a killer and Pilates isn't an easy-breezy picnic, either! To be honest it will probably take me a few weeks to build up the stamina to do both classes on both days. I will probably just do one ab class a week to start. We did Pilates last night for the first time and although it was very difficult at some points, it was pretty empowering, too! We got to do some moves on the ball

and also did some killer arm stuff with weights, too. I loved the class. When you are feeling the soreness and sweating 10 minutes in, you know you are working it right! It's similar to yoga in a lot of ways, except the breathing is opposite in most cases, which was confusing. I didn't realize how "used" to yoga I was already and how my breathing wanted to naturally go down the yoga road instead of the pilates road. I didn't know if this class would be a keeper for Josh, but I think it's going to be. It was quite a workout and we're both looking forward to unwinding, relaxing, and releasing at our Yoga class tonight. I think Wednesdays are officially my favorite day of the week!

Weekend!

Our weekend was pretty lovely, but busy!

Saturday morning we woke up and went to the gym. They had a circuit training class going on that I thought would be fun. Um, I was wrong. The cardio part of the class consisted of step aerobics. If you know me at all in real life, you know I am NOT graceful nor coordinated in the least bit. When I realized what kind of class it was going to be, I was quick to inform the teacher that it wasn't my forte and I would most likely get out of step. She told me as long as I kept stepping, even if I wasn't doing the right steps, I'd still get a good work out. Did I mention this class was an hour long? Yikes.

I loved the other parts of the class, though. The abs, warm up, cool down, the weights, etc. Just not the stepping. The worst/best part was there is this guy there who goes to just about every class and he always hollers things out, people's names, "wooooo!", that kind of stuff. Well, the whole time I was struggling, he kept yelling "Don't give up, Shawna! You gon' be a stepper! Wooo!" I could have died of embarassment. Even the pregnant girl in class was kicking my ass. And of course, Mr. Cheerleader never yelled out my name when I was doing something right. I would have loved to hear "You're killin' those bicep curls, girl!" Oh, well.  But it was a good workout, even if I did most of it wrong. Today is the first day that I am not sore from it. My arms DEFINITELY got it good.

After the gym, we headed for our Neighborhood Home Tour. I was really excited about it, because number one I love my 'hood, number 2 I love to see how people decorate, and number 3 I like it when the community (and other people) all come together for this event. Unfortunately, this year was a dud. There were two houses on our side of the hood on the tour, but the one was so messy... I'd hate to see how they live every day if they are that messy on tour day. The other house on our side was the same style as ours, and it's always neat to see how different the houses are even when they are the same layout. The girl that owned that one was very sweet and we talked with her a lot. She knew which house was ours in the neighborhood (hello, yellow door!) and asked us a lot of questions about our house and I told her to stop by anytime to come have a look. It has always been a dream of mine to be on the home tour, but I always think I have this or that to finish and it's not 'perfect'.  Well, it's probably never going to be perfect, but it does have a personality and lots of character (most of the other homes this year were very lacking in that department). So I made up my mind to do it next year, no matter what is still 'imperfect' or 'undone'.

After the home tour, I met my friend/coworker Julie at the Mall for a "girl date" to guide her through Forever 21 (they have some great stuff, but the store can be so overwhelming!) I ended up with 3 dresses.



After the mall I went to Whole Foods to stock up on some cheese because the next day we were going to Arrington Vineyards to celebrate my bro-in-law's bday (and you know Josh and I always get put on cheese duty!). I got great service at the cheese counter, he just kept feeding me samples! I was in heaven. After that I went to the grocery store to do our regular shopping, and by the time I got home it was evening and I hadn't sat down in my house all day! But I still had a little cooking to do. When I finally did sit down, Julio just wanted to cuddle.



Our Sunday Miracle was Pablo and Julio in the same bed! Although I think Pablo just got in there to steal Julio's little mouse, but Julio let him, so it's a start, right?





Pablo has been a challenge these last few days (and that is putting it mildly). He is scheduled to be fixed TOMORROW, and then we are going to look into a trainer for him. He is definitely not your typical puppy. I always joke that if he had a cartoon thought balloon over his head it would repeat the word "Destroy!" over and over.



Arrington was fun. So good to see my bro-in-law and sis-in-law in town from CO and spend time with family and friends. In addition to bringing the cheese plate (with crackers, fig jam and honey and red pepper flakes to accompany), and hummus and pita chips, I made vegetable pizza. Yum!



Here's me and the bday boy:


And me and my sweet seester-in-law (love, love, LOVE her):


Bros:


Chad and Katie (the couple we had over for dinner a couple of weeks ago):


I didn't take as many picutres as I usually do this weekend. :( But I DO make a mean cheese plate. :)

Gratuitous Dog Shots:




This morning I was supposed to go to the gym for a 5:30 ab class, but right before my alarm went off (at 4:50), a crazy storm hit and we lost our electricity. I would have still went in the rain, but it was still pitch black outside and it wasn't just rain, it was a crazy heavy downpour! I am hoping for decently light traffic on the way home so I can at least make it to pilates at 5:30 tonight. We'll see, but I hope so! Send me some good traffic vibes!

Cicadas are disgusting, mmmmkay?

I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but we are in the middle of a Cicada invasion here in Nashville and throughout most of the south, I think.

They are absolutely CRAZY today, swarming all over like something out of a Hitchcock movie... and so loud. Deafening, really.

If you're unfamiliar with Cicadas, or just want to be grossed out, here is a crash course.

They come up from the ground, looking like this:



Then they land on the back of my house and do this crazy stuff....

 


 

 

(Look at those creepy eyebrow things!!)

And then before long they turn into this...



Leaving THIS behind:



I'm so glad this only happens once every 13 years.

Ohio, Part 4 - We're in Michigan again!

Saturday, we drove to Leslie, MI to visit with some of Josh's family on his biological mom's side (she died when he was an infant. His other mother, who raised him since he was a toddler and even knew him while he was in his mother's belly, is his "real" mother for all intents and purposes). He has only really started getting to know his Michigan family in the last couple of years, but they are wonderful people. I'm telling you, I have been so blessed by marrying into his family... So many of them right here in Nashville, and then another set up north less than 2 hours from my family? We have more people to love that love us than I can count!

Some of his MI family were in TN in January and came by to see us before they left town and we all went out to eat. I was instantly at ease with them, maybe because they are Yankees like me (wink), but more likely because they are so warm and loving.

There were at least 20-30 people at his aunts house when we got there, and it was wonderful to all be together. We ate and visited, and one of his aunts and his grandpa drove us around the cute little town of Leslie for the grand tour.

Our first stop was their little Veteran's park with a gazebo that his Aunt and Grandpa help to maintain:




That night was Prom night and they told us that everyone in town comes there to get their pictures taken in the gazebo, and wedding pics, too. Sure enough, on our way back to Ohio, the line of prom goers getting their pictures taken at the Gazebo was down the sidewalk!

Another stop was to his grandparent's property just outside of town. They have about 7 acres and he has a few gardens to putter around in...does that sound like a good life, or what? I thought it was just the sweetest thing when his grandpa said to us "You guys like old things in your kitchen, right?" It meant he remembered how our house was decorated when he visited us, and then he gave us a very old metal pie plate with a star and a brand name (something "Master", I can't remember off hand) for our kitchen. It was just the sweetest thing to me. It's hanging above our stove now, and it makes me smile that he had that and thought of us and that it would go with our house and wanted to give it to us. Those kind of little things are certainly some of the most precious in life.

His Aunt's home that we were all at was just beautiful! Their house burned down last year and it has all been rebuilt. Check out her floors - I loved them!



Under their deck was this cement patio... I want a flagstone patio so much, but I think this is a better idea. It's just poured concrete, stained and stamped into this design!



I think we're going to to that at our place... it's a cost-effictive and indestructible option that I think will work well for us.

Before we left, we made sure to snap some pics... How good does Josh look with a baby? We need one, right?



Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pics of that little booger smiling, but he was so sweet and cuddly, and I got him all giggling. What is it about making a baby laugh that makes you feel like you're the most clever person in the world?

Here's Josh with his Grandparents:



It was such a wonderful time, I am so glad we got to spend it with them! We went back to my mom's house and had a big dinner of her homemade chicken paprikash! Josh had never had it, but we converted him.

We intended to drive back to Nashville on Sunday, but I woke up about 4 a.m sick as a dog (think: food poisoning). It became apparent within a few hours that is was NOT going to go away, and there was no way I was going to be able to ride the 8 hours home in Josh's tiny little truck with a hyper 5 month-old puppy. No way, no how. So, I spent that day recuperating and drifting in and out of sleep like only someone who's innards became their outtards could do. By Monday morning I felt mostly better and we made the trek home. And that concludes my Ohio/Michigan travels!