my fitness routine // yoga

Over the past year I've been getting more into yoga, especially in the last couple months.  Before I started Insanity last fall I was attempting to cultivate a home yoga practice, but I just didn't know enough for it to stick and I ended up focusing on Insanity instead.  The climbing gym where I'm a member has free fitness classes for members, and I always felt silly for not taking advantage of them, so this summer I started making an effort to go to them more frequently, specifically their yoga classes.

I was first exposed to yoga in college, I took pilates for a couple semesters and once when I missed a class I had to make it up by taking another class, so I ended up in a yoga class.  I didn't take another yoga class for many years, but I remember liking it at the time.  Back then I think I was probably a bit put off by the spirituality aspect included in yoga, so I was more comfortable in fitness-oriented pilates classes. 

 

Now I'm exactly the opposite.  I absolutely love the way that yoga not only focuses on pushing my physical limits, but it also teaches me to listen to my body and learn more about the vessel I inhabit.  It links the physical to the spiritual, which is something I had never really thought about much in the past, but makes so much sense to me now.  There is such a disconnect in our culture between body and mind and spirit.  Climbing, for me, links body and mind because theres so much of a mental aspect to reading routes and figuring out how to climb them.  Yoga links all three.  Not only do I stretch my mind and my body, but I have to focus on what is happening in me spiritually/psychologically as well. 

Another thing that I like about yoga is that, while the goals are a bit more vague, I can still see progress.  My favorite thing about climbing is how simple it is to see my goals, literally.  Not only in the short term (get to the top of the route) but in the long term too (last month I could only climb V4 routes, now I can climb V5 routes).  Yoga is similar, but it's not so cut and dry.  Still, I can feel my body slowly changing.  After working on loosening and opening my hips, I can tell that there are certain poses where I couldn't fully get into the pose, where now I can!  It's exciting to realize that progress is happening, slowly but surely.

Something that was a side effect of yoga that I didn't realize would happen is having more of an awareness of my body and a realization that I'm not as good as I'd like to think.  It's amazing how much our body "cheats" to make us think we're doing something well.  Plus, it's interesting to see how unbalanced my body is.  My left hip is less flexible than my right.  My chest is very tight and my upper back is slouched (oh hai, hours spent crouched over a laptop).  It's amazing how much work it takes to rebalance what your body's natural unbalanced tendencies are.

I'm definitely still a beginner, but I have been enjoying yoga's presence in my life.  I'd like yoga to become as much a part of my life as climbing has.  The two compliment one another nicely and I love that the culture of yogis and climbers is very similar.  I'm hoping my climbing gym gets more yoga classes going, as it'd be nice to have all my favorite things in one place.  Though, I have started looking around Tacoma for another yoga studio where I might start practicing.  I'm still not very good at practicing at home, I much prefer the guidance of a class and teacher for the time being.  I get too distracted when I try to practice at home, even with a video.  I think once I get a better understanding of sequences and what poses compliment one another I'll be better at putting together my own personal yoga practice for home.  However, I do love how being in a class pushes me.  I know that, for instance, I work harder to stay in arm balances longer in classes, whereas at home I'm more prone to fall out of them.  It's also nice to have a teacher present to correct bad alignment and to offer options for deepening a pose.

I'm just discovering what a cool community of yogis there is online and on instagram.  So many inspiring people, it's fun learning new poses and tracking progress.  A lot of these photos are taken from earlier this summer, and there was a photo of my crow pose in the set.  I took another photo of crow just a couple weeks ago and I could see visible progress!  Having photographic proof of progress is nice, especially for things like working out because the changes happen so slowly.

a delightful giveaway with juicydealz

Today's giveaway comes to y'all from JuicyDealz!  One lucky winner will win everything in the photo, which is $150 worth of pretty jewels!  I've started to become a statement necklace type of girl, and I'm absolutely in love with the necklace on the top right.  Of course, what I would wear it to, I have no clue.  Erryday bling, I suppose.  Enough about me, though, what is JuicyDealz, you ask?

JuicyDealz is a brand new, up-and-coming daily boutique and handmade deals site. Founded by husband and wife team Cat and Andy, JuicyDealz stemmed from a simple idea: create a dynamic, online marketplace featuring an eclectic mix of American-based artisans and small businesses offering fabulous items at great prices.

Every day, a new crop of deals pops up. Be it designer-inspired jewelry, personalized note cards, infinity scarves, trendy women’s clothing, accessories, home goods, or stuff for the kiddos, each and every day brings a new treasure trove of unique finds. You’ll need to purchase quickly as most of the deals only last 3-4 days and can sell out fast!

You’ll feel good every time you make a purchase because you are getting not only a super unique, fun, and often one-of-a-kind product (at an incredible price!), but you are also helping to support a small business owner who is striving to support their family while doing what they love. It is the passion, creativity, and hospitality of these amazing entrepreneurs that make up the heart of JuicyDealz.

Follow JuicyDealz to keep up with all the amazing steals and get some sneak peeks of new deals!

Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest

a Rafflecopter giveaway

leafscape

Somehow over the past couple weeks I've forgotten how to get dressed.  I spend most of my time in yoga leggings, tank tops, and sports bras, simply throwing on fancy looking coat and boots when I leave the house so I don't look like a total scrub.  I haven't felt inspired by my closet, and I think my brain has been preoccupied with taking care of all the chores and errands that piled up the past few weeks.  Hopefully I get my groove back soon because while leggings and sports bras work well for comfort, they don't make me feel particularly inspired.  Although, I have been wearing these boots pretty much nonstop because even if the rest of my outfit is lame, they make me feel pretty great.
Despite feeling overwhelmed by everything that has happened the last month, it does feel good to knock out some big things that have been looming over my head.  Some things have been looming for many months, so taking care of them and finishing big projects has been simultaneously stressful and relieving.  I have a bottle of wine that I bought on my Winne trip at Benziger Winery in Sonoma (back in 2010!) and I've been saving it for a special occasion.  I think once our last really big project gets done (hopefully in the next few weeks!) we'll finally crack it open to celebrate.  

 


 

dress/courtesy of marshalls :: pashmina scarf/gift :: tights/target :: coat(similar)/lulu e. bebe hat/courtesy of tittle millinery :: boots/vogue footwear 

diy instagram magnets

Happy hump day, y'all!  Here is a super easy DIY that only takes about 10 minutes to complete, and leaves you with some really fun, personalized magnets to use on your fridge, or wherever else you may need magnets.  I made my magnets out of some of my favorite instagram photos, printed out using the Printic App.  You can send them to print straight from your phone and then they come in the mail a few days later, printed on photo paper with a fun polaroid frame.  You could use almost anything for your magnets, though, as long as the adhesive on the magnet sheets can stick on!



For this project you'll need:
Photos, or whatever you want to make into a magnet Scissors A pen Magnet adhesive paper (I found mine on Amazon)

 

1. Take one of your photos and lay it on the magnet adhesive paper. Hold it still and trace around the edges so that you know how big to cut your piece of magnet.  
2. Cut along the line you drew and then lay the photo over the piece you just cut to make sure the piece isn't larger than the photo.  You don't want to see the magnet, so you'll want to cut it slightly smaller than the photo.  If you can see the magnet, go in and trim the edges of the magnet a bit until you can't see it when you lay the photo on top.
3. Remove the backing on the magnet to reveal the adhesive surface.  Carefully line up your photo over the adhesive and then stick it down.  You only have one shot to get this right because the adhesive is pretty sticky and it'd be difficult to pull it off and try again.  If you didn't get it quite right, you can take your scissors and trim any excess magnet that is showing.
Done!  The magnet is pretty decent, so you can even use the little magnets you made to hold up papers and such.  I think it'd be fun to have a whole fridge covered in photos of friends and family and pretty little details.  In a digital age where most of our photos are online or on our phones, it's nice to have tangible, physical photographs.  One of my favorite things to do when I'm at other people's houses is look at the photos they have on their fridge.
I have a bunch of magnet paper left over so I'm brainstorming more fun magnet projects now!

life lately

It's been getting so cold lately, it seems like fall is almost already slipping away!  Lots of trees are nearly naked, which is sad because this is my favorite time of year to take outfit photos!  I've already brought out all my winter coats, scarves, and mittens and have been using them quite frequently.  Taking Dusty on walks means bundling up these days.  I went through my cookbooks last night looking for a dessert to make and found a bunch of really great pumpkin treats, so I might try to make some and share them here on the blog.  It's not fall until you binge on pumpkin things.

Excited about: The climbing competition this weekend!  I've never done a climbing competition before, but it seems like they're pretty fun, and the one that I'll be competing in is a black light competition!  They turn off the lights and turn on black lights so all the holds turn neon, like so.  I'm resting up this week so hopefully my muscles will be all healed up and ready to climb at the comp.

Annoyed with: Dealing with bureaucracies.  We've been in a sea of signatures, forms, taxes, and inspectors these past couple weeks between all the different things going on in life, so it just feels like we're getting hit from every direction with more red tape.  Thankfully the end is in sight, so we just have to hang out for a couple more weeks.  I'm hoping the holiday season will be a time of renewal and relaxation.  Thanksgiving is so close and I'm really excited to spend the weekend with my family!

Thankful for:  Good news in the sea of stress.  It's kind of felt like every email I get is just asking for more from me or piles on more stress, so getting an email with good news was so relieving and a bit rejuvenating.  It's been one of those moments in life where you know that if you encounter someone just slightly mean or something little goes wrong you're just going to cry on the spot.  I had to swiftly leave the DMV the other day to avoid crumbling into tears in front of the lady helping me.

Playing: a ton of Magic the Gathering!  It's our guilty pleasure now.  We'll play a couple games here and there.  During breakfast, over dinner, in between errands... it's been a nice (and free!) way to hang out.

Getting into: Yoga a lot more lately.  With all the stressful situations happening, yoga has been a wonderful respite.  My climbing gym has a few yoga classes per week, and I've been trying to go to those consistently and I tried out a class at Samdhana Karana Yoga last night and enjoyed it quite a bit.  I love that yoga simultaneously pushes my body and also lets it rest.  It forces me to let go of whatever is happening in life outside the studio and only focus on strengthening and stretching myself.

Happy with: How well our home is coming along.  I pretty much have our bedroom done now, which is a room I've been excited about working on, but needed to work on the more public areas of the house first.  It's feeling pretty cozy and homey these days.  I'm proud of the work we've done on the house in under a year!



 

 
  been working on pincha mayurasana every day lately // flying lizard and firefly poses pollack at the SLAM // a favorite collection from STLFW: bluebird apparel fall boots and porch plants // dead dusty + alive dusty big pumpkins // little pumpkins  Such an amazing artist. The control and finesse is just mindblowing.
 So thrilled to partner with Wallsneedlove.com to create a wallpaper version of my handpainted herringbone wall!
 RUN, IT'S A STAMPEDE!
 Wise words from Bill Waterson. (and cute comic too)
 Bring on the penises, HBO
 I watched this documentary recently and it was wonderful and awful.  Wonderful that people are working to dismantle the sexism that occurs in our culture and media outlets, but awful that we have to work to dismantle in the first place.  It's on Netflix instant if you want to watch it!
 For the next time you get a text inviting you out for drinks while you're at the gym.  No need to head home to change!
 A beautiful project.  Touch is powerful, even if that's hard for someone like me to admit, as a non-touchy person.