Chakras

I'm out on Long Island visiting my parents this weekend (like most weekends) and I made it to yoga again today. I went to Tina Conroy's Yoga Flow class at the Roslyn Equinox. I've been to quite a few of Tina's classes over the years and she's a very good instructor.

Roslyn Equinox purchased red Jade Yoga mats since the last time I took a yoga class there. I think these are a pretty color and I also like that they don't shed black crap all over my feet like the other ones.

The offending black yoga mats are still available as well.

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The one thing I tend to forget about Tina until the middle of class is the readings and talk of chakras during meditation. That and this smelly stuff she puts on your third eye during chivasana sometimes. Today we meditated on our chakras and their colored disks. I'm all for learning about new things, except my SARS cough reared its ugly head, and instead of meditating on "I am" and "I see" and "I understand," I hacked up a lung into my towel. Then, for the second day, I had to miss out on chivasana (or as my sister calls it - her nap) because I was making too much noise. I spend the entire first hour of yoga class in yoga class so I can enjoy my 8 minutes of chivasana!

I swear yoga will make me a more centered and balanced person. No, I will not stamp my foot on my yoga mat if I do not get to enjoy quality corpse pose time.

After cleaning out my closet (who knew I still had some of that stuff?), I went up to the tailor to get some pants hemmed and then for some pampering at Angel Tip nails. I also ran some pre-hurricane errands for my mom.

Enough cigarettes to last 10 days without electricity!

Then I sat on the couch in my sweatpants feeling very satisfied with myself. And I only ate two Mallomars today after finding the box I hid at the bottom of the pantry drawer. Overall, a successful Saturday.

This is an entirely unrelated photo of my cat wearing my l.l. bean slippers

Vegetables

Some of my colleagues recently held an intervention for me at work... about my consumption of Chinese food and general lack of exercise. One comment was:

Alessandra, your lack of exercise and consumption of Chinese food has hurt me in the following ways: You never eat JustSalad with me anymore, you make me think I too can be just as amazing looking by not exercising, and worst of all, you come into work with Chinese food hangovers.

This is the sign they brought when they staged the intervention.

So this was my response:

Thank you for my fitness and healthy eating intervention. I have already attended step aerobics today and hid some veggies in my pasta bolognese at lunch. I promise to make exercise and vegetables a regular part of my life. I will never give up the 40 oz Slurpee.

We use an internal social media platform at work so these are actually real posts back and forth.

Because I am a woman of my word, I went out and bought a bunch of frozen vegetables to make consuming things that are not bacon vegetables easy. Unfortunately, the vodka lost its home.

What do you mean the 1.5 liter of vodka no longer fits in the freezer?
Ugh.

I obviously prioritized eating the lightly sauced creamed spinach - it does exist! - but I've moved onto other Birds Eye products including the green beans. So effing easy. Toss the bag in the microwave for about 5 minutes (varies by microwave or so the package advises), wait for the bag to cool off so you don't burn your hand (I got in the shower to distract myself because I cannot be trusted not to touch hot things) throw your seasoning of choice on top, and then feel good about yourself for eating three servings of vegetables in one meal.

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If you're like me, you take your sense of satisfaction to kickball and then celebrate with a trip to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

Working From Home

One of the nicest things about my job is the ability to work from home. Since my desk was given away last week and I have been exiled to the third floor until the massive reorganization of the eighth floor, I have decided to work from home as much as possible. Mostly I am annoyed that I had to pack boxes at 5:30 PM instead of getting to happy hour on time, and I am now postponing unpacking these boxes for as long as possible. I have a home office (in my tiny ass studio!) and I like using it.

Yesterday I went for a nice run along the East River before heading into the other office for meetings. Today I fit a lunchtime yoga class in at 74th and 2nd. I've been to Adrian Molina's Warrior Flow Yoga before and I remembered liking it. Good class, but God am I out of shape. However, I was able to get some of my flexibility back by the end of class. I think I've been in a rut lately, really disinterested in working out or taking care of myself. Maybe yoga should be my new thing?

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I've been eyeing Atheta's Kickbooty™ Bermuda shorts. At $46, they're not incredibly expensive, but I can't really justify buying a bunch of pairs unless I take up yoga regularly. They come in black, asphalt, and heather black. I've heard some great things about Athleta, and there's a store right near my apartment, but unfortunately these shorts are not in stock. I'd like to try a pair on before I commit.

I know I've been MIA for a while, but I do have marathon tales and some gym class reviews I could be persuaded to write. If you send me your requests, I'll get out of this funk and post these thoughts that have been swirling in my head (and the photos clogging my iPhone.) Speaking of funk, I left the gym without showering because I figured I could do it later at home after I took some calls, only to find out that the hot water has been turned off.