you can't see me.

while in chicago we brought a super yummy lunch to the beach and the kiddies played like crazy.  my cute niece of course ran off again and again.  she came back one time and had taken off her shoes and socks, it was really cold but she didn't care.  big boy nephew would hide in the tall grasses while his dad would count and then wait to be discovered.  most of the time though he'd get impatient and jump up to try and scare his dad.   

hide n seek.

awesome doesn't begin to describe my weekend with them :)

oh chicago.

and the token converse shot.

may all people walk in beauty.

this time last year i was living in chicago with my sister's family and finishing my forrest yoga teacher training.


i booked a trip back to chicago today :)


so excited!!

to infinity and beyond.

every time we'd leave the apartment it was a race to the elevator. who would get there first to press the button!?

my (too tall) brother used to wear a red satin pirates vest everyday when he was about 4 years old. i love that nephew has the same passion...for pockets, sunglasses, superman cape, even the wings on the buzz lightyear costume that we have taped to his clothes day after day.

happy new year to me!

i got a surprise email with lots of pictures

from the beach in chicago that my sister valery took.

yay!!!

the beach in the chicago is quite cold in october. the water is freezing. yet this little girlie has no fear. she walks straight for it, val or i will pull her away setting her down in the sand and she immediately heads for the water again.

b the w. she is the most darling little thing. check out her skinny jeans and way cute shirt (buttons up the back :). seriously...if only that shirt came in my size. of course she is still rocking the pixie cut 'a la' michelle williams:

oh liva...i forsee a stylin' future little miss.

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my nephew the photographer 2

my nephew's latest camera escapades. he definitely likes to get up close and personal with people, see last year's.

[photos by nephew ]

this will be my sister valery and me for the next few days. talk talk talking. of course insert adorable babies jumping across the bed :)

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glorious fall weather in chicago. so much for all the fuss about how cold it would be.

a bunch of fellow trainees and me on the beach here. truly amazing ladies.

so at the forrest yoga training we paired off with 'nutrition buddies'. someone that became an automatic friend/confidant. we talked about our nutrition issues (mine being sugar), we played the secrets game together, essentially it is someone that is available for support/to talk to during the training.

well one of our homework assignments was to discuss our own personal ethics and jenna (my nutrition buddy) and i decided to shop and eat while chatting :)

we hit up lululemon (b the w yoga teachers get 15% off everything...woot woot!) and ate at flat top grill for dinner. way yummy. you grab a bowl and it's buffet style stir fry. pile as much veggies, rice, noodles, sauces, etc, that you want and they stir fry it up for you. i got brown rice and noodles (in retrospect jenna and i both think we'd go with just noodles next time), asparagus, carrots, green peppers, pineapple, potatoes, broccoli, and chicken with garlic black bean sauce. so so so tasty. it's a flat price so we piled our bowls super high (the guy in front of us demoed how to get the most stuff in your bowl...noodles on top) and ate the left overs for lunch.

unfortunately i didn't take any pictures even though i thought about it and brought my camera. suffice it to say it was yummy and makes me want to have stir fry more often (lams and j-dawg remember the stir fry we had at the villa!? so good).

three more days of early morning intensive yoga practices. two additional days after that of instruction. it's crazy how fast the time has flown.

i've been spending around 11 to 12 hours a day at generations yoga studio in wilmette, illinois. i was caught doing this during our lunch break a few days ago:

sleeping in the bolsters :)

this little guy climbs into bed with me most nights.

he says, "kay kay, cuddle wif me."

it really is just so melt-to-the-floor cute.

p.s. lams he loves the shirts :)

much of our teacher training has been focused on change. ana provided us with her formula for change:

1. catch yourself doing behavior

2. take many deep breaths to reset your energy

3. congratulate yourself for having caught behavior

4. take a step that puts you in a healing path or direction (as you do this you will develop a repertoire of steps)

one example of something that ana says to investigate is our addiction to foods or certain types of foods. me, sugar. me, addict.

so when i'm craving sugar because i'm bored, sad, tired, etc., i should catch myself in the craving...hopefully pre-ice cream scooping process (because as saint like as i'd like to be, once a bowl is scooped there's no stopping). congratulate myself on being self aware enough to have caught the behavior. then do something.

keeping in mind, "don't make changes to the extreme as it sets you up for failure". one thing recommend was if you're craving something 'sweet' then do something that feels sweet to you.

now it's hard for me to conceive of something that would be a sufficient 'sweet' replacement but even just recognizing what was the catalyst behind the craving i think is a step in a good direction.

hmmm. interesting.

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ana asked us on one of the first few days to stop saying the phrase, "i'm sorry" for the duration of the training. she said that many of us walk in the door with the attitude of apology. we need to stop apologizing for taking up space on this planet.

it makes sense. so we've tried to stop apologizing. and seriously, i had no idea how often i said the word sorry.

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we are slowly becoming forrest yoga teachers. the above (awesome awesome) group and i taught a 2 hour beginner class last saturday. in the words of ana forrest, "you guys rocked it".

:)

so i always knew chicago was on lake michigan. i did not realize there were bona fide beaches. unfortunately this was definitely before the forrest yoga training started. but i will visit again :)

happy birthday cutey niecey!!! nephew calls her baby unless she's messed with the tv remote and then he screams her name.

cutey niecey has gotten cuddlier. just this morning she was snuggling into my neck while resting on my shoulder. she is very defiant. most kids figure out what no and stop mean. not this girl. she just looks straight at you and continues :) she is beautiful. truly gorgeous. her hair color, those bright blue eyes, her huge smile. i love this little babia so so so much.

happy birthday!!!

life has been a wee bit crazy for the last week or so. finished up teaching yoga classes. put on my church group's camp out (muchas gracias to nycole and danya for majorly helping :) spent time hanging with lamia...which equals really good food and conversation. packed packed packed.

ward camp out pic.

and, now i'm in chicago! b the w...the babies are fantastically entertaining.

one week till i leave for chicago!! i'm starting to get incredibly nervous about the forrest yoga training. today i went to a core yoga class feeling really weak. i came out encouraged. one thing i love about yoga...it's incredibly uplifting.

so today i was able to move into crazy 8 or astavakrasana (pic above) on both sides. yay!!

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