Admission Wednesday: Falling on My Face Twice

I admit... I've kind of forgotten how to write a proper blog post. It's just so easy to put things in bullet points and add some pictures. I mean, honestly I'm not blogging as much because I'm not doing much more than wedding stuff, yoga, and the occasional jog. There's not much to write about when you do the same stuff every day, you know?  

So, sorry in advance, but this post is gonna be all over the place..

Some nice sky shots to get us started.

I admit... I'm getting a little too confident in yoga. I just get in this zone and try things, which I'm sure is encouraged, but I keep getting injured because of it. I'm kind of prone to getting injured since I feel like half of my posts mention me with some kid of injury.

During yoga on Saturday, I ended up pulling a thigh muscle. I think we were doing Wild Thing (basically the link explains it, but instead of a bent leg, it's straight and off the ground), and I was trying to use my core to lift my leg, but my thigh just ended up trying to do most of the work. I spent the next three days stretching it out, before it felt better, as shown here:

Be jealous of my socks.

Yesterday, in Power, I was in Crow pose (sometimes called Crane), and playing around with going from that to Tripod Headstand, where you lower your head slowly and then go into the headstand. Well, I've done it a few times before, but I guess yesterday I was going too fast and I basically slammed the left side of my head into the floor. Neat.

But that's not all. Today, in Power, we were in Dolphin pose, playing around with lifting our legs/torso, hopping, and seeing if we could balance on our forearms in a kind of forearm-stand. I felt a little too confident, hopped up on my first try, and immediately tumbled over my left shoulder, slammed my LIP into the floor, and felt the back of my neck crack. Yeah, it was great. I was okay, but now I have a fat lip. If you can even tell....

Pity me.

 Now the whole left side of my face hurts.

I admit... I wish I was running more. Reasons are twofold: it would make me blog more. It would make me be outside more. I would be generally happier. But alas, because of the aforementioned injuries and a general desire to not run, I haven't been. Though, I do have two runs since the last post!

The first run was completed in desperation on Saturday night, around 9. Even though I had really bad hip pain, I just wanted to clock 3 miles for the week, so I went on the treadmill and pounded it out. It hurt really, really bad.

Hurt enough that I made a note about it!

At least I got negative splits...?

I'm just used to being sweaty and gross now. It's my new normal.

I was happy I got the run over with, but I paid for it the next three days. I didn't run again until this morning, when it was a glorious 56 degrees and partly cloudy. It was glorious!

This run was hard. I was really, really trying to keep the pace - as you can see, I succeeded those first two miles but then that last mile I completely failed at it. At least the overall pace was faster than the pace on the treadmill.

The view wasn't bad.

Sweaty and gross, take 3!

I admit... I love seeing musicals, and I love my friends. I love combining the two. Last Thursday, I went to see my old castmates in A Little Night Music at Second Story Repertory, and it was fantastic. Even though I went alone, I still really enjoyed it. Everyone's voices were exactly where they should be, and really it just blew me away.

On Friday night, we went over to our friend's house to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit- our friends had never seen it before! I was aghast. That movie is awesome. After that, we went to a friend's birthday party at Cowgirls, Inc. and scored a parking spot right in front of the bar. In Seattle, this is nothing short of a miracle!

At Cowgirl's

 Cowgirl's is a bar where you can get up on the bar and dance. I may or may not have participated....

On Sunday, I went with my friend Lauren to see our other friend Chelsea in the closing performance of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Seattle Musical Theatre, which is the same company that put on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which I was in last October. It was wonderful! I had a great time catching up with Lauren and was really entertained.

I admit... I'm super excited to fly to Texas on Friday and have my first bridal shower on Saturday! I am also so pumped that I've gotten so many wedding related things done this week. We ordered the Bridesmaid dresses, picked the Bridal Portrait location, decided on the Tux shirt/tie colors, decided on a florist, and started researching makeup artists for the big day. I've also gotten the invitations all stamped and ready to mail!!

Tall stack of envelopes ready to go!

Hope everybody's week has been stellar! I'll try to update more often!

Previous Admission Wednesdays:
February 19: Valentine's Day, and Tread Lightly
February 12: Control
February 5: Diets and Side-view Mirrors
January 29: Weights On and Off My Shoulders
January 22: Yoga and A Bunch of Wedding Feelings
January 15: Yoga and Pain

Admission Wednesday: Valentine's Day, and Tread Lightly

I admit... I've been feeling a little unmotivated on all fronts. I know I've been lacking on the blog posts lately, so here's to changing that!

I admit... we spent Valentine's day at home. We figured the restaurants were way too crowded, anyways. The day began at 12:01am with him surprising me with beautiful flowers:

And ended with cake, wine, and a home-cooked meal.

watching Monty Python extras :)

I admit... We officially dropped an anniversary. Our "old anniversary" was February 15, but that date was already kind of wishy washy - it was the day when we "officially" declared that we were exclusively boyfriend and girlfriend, but we've always really treated December 26th (the anniversary of our very first date) as the actual anniversary of us getting together.. because it's true.

But, we still ended up going out to eat at Ruth's Chris to celebrate.

It was rainy and cold, but at least we looked cute?

The table had little hearts all over it :)

JW's cufflinks are actually USB drives!! So cool!

Our table of delicious food

Dessert... of course.

We DEVOURED it.

I admit... On the topic of eating, this weekend was absolutely terrible. Pretty sure I gained 5 pounds. Oh well - the week after a weekend of indulgence is always the hardest, but I'm trying my best to get back on the healthy bandwagon. It's a journey, right?

I admit... I take things way too seriously. I've said this a lot on the blog, but I have to say it again. My yoga teacher told us today, to take our practice lightly. Practice with a sense of humor and laughter, just like you should go through life. There's a quote that my friend has as the cover photo of her facebook - 

"There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair." Just... lightly. Do everything lightly.

I admit... I really want to lose myself in a book, but I can't decide which one. Any recs?

Previous Admission Wednesdays:
February 12: Control
February 5: Diets and Side-view Mirrors
January 29: Weights On and Off My Shoulders
January 22: Yoga and A Bunch of Wedding Feelings
January 15: Yoga and Pain

Raw Cheesecake and Girl's Night

Happy Valentine's Day! I know there are thousands of recipes floating around today, so here's another one for you. Now, this is definitely not my own, but straight from The Detoxinista's website. I know, I know - I'm just a stealer. But it was just too good to pass up!

Crust: Wording is straight from her website! Pictures are mine.

• 1 cup raw pecans
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or stevia, to taste) (I used agave)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil

1. Grind pecans in a food processor until crumbly. (Be careful not to over-process, or the oils will be release from the nuts, leaving you with a more glossy, oily crust!)
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend in food processor until it all sticks together, like cookie dough. Press the dough into a greased or lined pan, and place it in the freezer to set.

I don't have a small enough pan - so I tried at first putting the crust into a small bowl.

Wasn't really working for me. So, I transferred it into a large pan, where it filled up about halfway.

Filling: Yep- her website. Pictures are mine, again! :)

• ½ cup zucchini, peeled and chopped
• ½ cup raw cashew butter (I didn't know cashew butter was so crumbly!)
• 2½ Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2½ Tablespoons raw honey (or agave nectar, for vegans) (I used agave)
• 2 dates
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

1. In a mini food processor, blend zucchini until finely processed.
2. Add the lemon juice, raw honey, dates, vanilla, and sea salt, and blend until smooth.
3. Finally, add in the cashew butter and blend until well combined.

1. Pour into a spring-form pan, over a raw graham cracker crust if desired (uh DUH), and FREEZE OVERNIGHT until set.
2. Serve frozen for an authentic cheesecake texture.

I obviously couldn't wait until it was completely frozen and had a skinny row of these bad boys after only about an hour in the freezer. They were ADDICTIVE. So, this morning, I cut them into little squares and took some more pictures.

So tiny!!

Last night, I went out with my girlfriends for a night of food and salsa dancing at the Pacific Science Center, and we had a blast talking about everything under the sun - relationships, jobs, life goals, boys... it was awesome. I definitely need to get out with just the girls more often. Shoutout to my girl Sam!

Hope you're having a great Valentine's Day!

Admission Wednesday: Control

I admit... Yesterday, I didn't feel like going to yoga, but I did feel like running. So I ran on the treadmill for a total of 3 miles, but with walking breaks it totaled up to 4. It was a dismal run and I felt so tired - maybe I'm still recovering from giving blood? - but I'm happy I at least worked out and got my run in for the week.

I admit... I have a control problem. I think everybody inherently does, but by varying degrees. Some are full blown, some are minor. I'm somewhere in the middle, but pushing the "full on control freak" part of the scale. I like knowing what's going to happen, aka being in control of the situation. I hate being thrown for a loop, and being unprepared. It knocks me off my game.

Today in yoga, our teacher mentioned how the only thing we were in control of was our emotions. We can't be in control of anything else, because it's just not possible, so why even try? What we can control is how we react to situations. So, focus on that.

I admit... I am so jealous of the Texas snow and multiple snow days. I really love it when it gets cold and you have to bundle up and sit next to the fireplace all day just to stay warm. I guess because it screams "Vacation!" to me. In Bellevue, the weather has been mild, except for the one snow day last week. But, these views aren't the worst:

However, the sun isn't half bad.

I admit... I am obsessed with BBC's Sherlock. Oh my god. What a good show!!! I'm a little late on the fangirl train, but man am I glad I hopped on. British shows are the best.

I admit... I really hate our apartment complex sometimes. Driving back from yoga, I ran into this:

Huh. So I had to park in the public spaces, walk around the building, and up to my apartment in my sweaty yoga gear. Gross. Generally I want the least number of people possible to see me in that state so I wasn't very pleased. Plus, then I had to go back a few hours later to fetch my car, and drive it down to my regular parking spot so it would be ready tomorrow morning. What a pain! Oh well. You can't control everything, right?

Any admissions for yourself?

Previous Admission Wednesdays:

February 5: Diets and Side-view Mirrors
January 29: Weights On and Off My Shoulders
January 22: Yoga and A Bunch of Wedding Feelings
January 15: Yoga and Pain

Snow and Random Acts of Kindness

Was anybody else as excited as I was when it started to SNOW on Saturday night???! As a Texas girl (and especially since all of Texas has been getting snow days for what feels like the last few weeks!), I always get way overly excited when I see snow fall- and Saturday was no exception! Unfortunately, I was stuck inside because of Dinner Detective, but luckily (or maybe unluckily), it was still coming down when we were released!

It was also ALL OVER my car!

I don't think I've ever seen my car that buried in snow. Don't worry, I had an ice scraper in my car that I used to get all the snow off. The drive home was uneventful, thankfully!

As a result of the snow, all the yoga classes on Sunday were cancelled. Bummer. That's when I usually take my second Yoga Sculpt class of the week, so I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to get my sweat on. But, I figured I probably needed a rest day anyways, since I hadn't taken once since February 1st. I spent the rest of the day double checking addresses and putting addresses on envelopes.

Today in yoga, one of the teachers had been on vacation in Europe for 2 months, and today was her first day back. I was pleased to be present for her very first power yoga class back at Get Zen Yoga. It was a little unconventional, which I expected, but I remember from my 1-month Groupon last year that I really liked her style, so I still enjoyed it.

She usually guides us through a meditation around the end of class, and today it was more of a pondering - she said that everybody is born happy- everyone. About 50% of that happiness is always inside us. The next 10% is finances: someone who makes 50K a year is only marginally happier than someone who makes 50 million a year. And then there's the rest of the 40%, which she says comes from helping others. Quiet acts of kindness make up 40% of happiness. Having a bad day? Go help someone else. You'll feel 40% happier. Which, in the grand scheme of things, is a lot if you think about it!

Finding beauty on a cloudy day

She said our brain doesn't know the difference between pleasure and pain - and though I don't really agree, I agree with the message she's trying to convey. It's our reactions to what happens to us that drives our feelings. If we are met with an obstacle, we can either bitch about it or laugh at it. Happiness is a choice!

So, today I decided my random act of kindness was to give blood.

What will yours be?

Zucchini Hummus

Green Juice Update: Since I tried green juice for the first time, I've since perfected the recipe. I realized that my problem was I used too many greens and not enough sweet stuff. Meaning, for the amount of leaves I had, I probably needed two more apples and a whole ton of lemon juice. So, the next time, I put all the leaves at the bottom of the blender (and probably used about half the amount from the first time), used more lemon juice, got rid of the ginger, and voila! The result was actually kind of tasty!

Looks delicious, right?? XD

Anyways, I was looking up some recipes from one of my favorite food blogs, The Detoxinista, and came across her recipe for raw hummus - one that doesn't use beans, but zucchini. Needless to say, I was intrigued, so I decided to try it out for myself.

The Recipe (straight from her website):

• 1 cup diced zucchini (peel if you like)
• 1/3 cup raw tahini
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin

(Blend all of the above in a mini-food processor, put in a small dish, and place in the fridge until chilled.)

I didn't have enough garlic and I didn't have enough lemon juice, but I went ahead and tried it out.

1 cup of diced zucchini

I had no idea what tahini looked like - kind of like peanut butter!

All the ingredients in the blender

The finished product!

Now, just because it's "healthy", or "raw", does not mean that this is lacking in calories. The tahini alone makes what's in that bowl pictured above over 1,000 calories. So, I just spooned two tablespoons of it into my bowl (~200 calories) and ate it with some cucumbers. I guess this stuff is gonna last a while!

I'm not gonna lie - it wasn't my favorite taste. It tasted kind of bitter, but with no real distinct taste...? It's hard to describe, I guess. I'll try anything once!

Any recent cooking adventures of your own?