Blank Slate

I swear, it feels like I have nothing to talk about at the moment. I'm a broken record of yoga, and trip anticipation right now. I have been writing some fiction of sort... little short stories with very little in the way of beginning-middle-end, but they are not quite ready yet.

So! I'm taking the week off.  😊

Back next week with new things to say!

More Hours in the Day

I need more hours in the day lately. There are all the chores to be done, emails to respond to, yoga classes to write and teach, yoga practice to do on my own, a stack of books a mile high, a dozen shows waiting on Netflix. There are occasional coffee dates, or tea times. There are endless hours of play and reading with Gwen, homework to do, swim lessons to attend, showers, hair brushing, and endless dinners to cook. Easy things I can cook without thinking too hard about are the name of the game lately, though I have dozens of recipes saved for things to cook and bake and make that take a little more effort, but are perhaps a little more fun and different. One day I will cook them all.


Oh, what I wouldn't give for another hour or two during the day.
(And a corresponding extra hour or two to sleep at night!)

Our New Mexico trip should be a nice break from  ::waves hands wildly around::  well, all the things. But then its right back into it all. I'm looking forward to the travel I'm doing in May for so many reasons, but more and more I find myself excited about the break, and about all the reading I'll get to do on the plane! Ha, is that sad?

Could you use a few extra hours in the day?

Semi-Wordless Wednesday {Food Glorious Food}

Some of the comfort foods I've been making lately...

Potato Leek Soup (with some rutabaga!) - super thick and filling!

Chicken pot pie. I cheated and used a roll of Pilsbury dough
(its crescent roll dough, but without the scours to pull it apart)

It was damn good!

Happy Spring!

Although its been much like spring - off and on, for the past 2 months - today it is official!

Me, for pretty much all of the winter... 

I'm excited for more days outside, longer stretches of warm. Gwen and I leave for New Mexico this weekend, which is just about the perfect start to spring that I can think of!

Its also time to break out the sunscreen for real, and the protective outerwear! Ha. Oh Colorado, you crazy beast.

Happy Spring, friends! 

Mid-Way Through March

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here we are, mid-way through March already, celebrating in our green best. Time has just been trucking along lately, so perhaps we'll play catch-up? I'm adjusting to teaching 3x a week, plus regular subbing (I've subbed the past two Wednesdays, and am subbing next Wednesday as well). I've been feeling both constantly busy lately, and also like I have more free time then normal. I think it helps that this month we're doing Gwen's swim lessons on Sundays since the timing didn't work out for our normal Monday/Wednesday lessons.

At the beginning of the month, Gwen had her most recent parent-teacher conference and things are going swimmingly! Excelling at reading, writing, and math. A full grade level ahead in art! She got a lot of great new books for her birthday, and we've been tearing through them. We read the first four in the Boxcar Children series in about 10 days! She had a birthday party for a friend/schoolmate recently at a Tae Kwon Do school, and man did she love that. She's all flailing arms and legs at this point, but she did a great job of really trying. It was damn sweet watching a whole group of 6-7 year olds proclaim "yes sir!" and do deep bows.

This past Tuesday I cashed in a gift card I won (drawing at our apartment complex) for a free massage. I cannot tell you how much that was needed! Even doing my best to take care of myself, I still get sore and achy. Its good to have someone work those knots out, and a full hour to be completely lazy and relaxed. If I won the lottery, one of my splurges would absolutely be weekly massages. Wednesday I had a girlfriend over for lunch, which was a nice treat. Its brings me such joy to cook for people I love! Roasted cauliflower and fancy grilled cheeses were enough to make some happy bellies.

As for today, its yoga and house chores, and finishing up my classes for next week. Have a great weekend friends!

Wordless Wednesday {yoga yoga yoga}

New Bed, Rearranged Room

Gwen and I ran out on President's Day to finally take care of an errand we've been talking about for, well, years honestly! Until just after her birthday Gwen was actually still on her same crib mattress she's had since she was born! Her crib was one of those convertible ones, so we had changed it into the toddler/daybed when she got old enough. Well since she likes to sleep in a bit of a ball, it never really became a big issue to convert it the rest of the way into a Full bed. That mattress was 7 years old though and it really was time to replace it, and give my long girl the room to spread out a bit.

Before

So President's Day out we went to take advantage of some sales and let Gwen try a few mattresses. She found one that she really liked, and the following weekend we finally changed her bed over.

She now has room to stretch and grow! Plus having real sheets gives her options for days when a blanket is too heavy.

I'll admit... she wasn't super happy at first about the change. She was excited to pick out the mattress, but sad to change her bed over and have to move her room around.

Sometimes change is hard! But we talked about how goldfish will only grow as big as the container they are in, and how we were giving her room to grow! (Whatever works, right?!)

She did come around, especially after feeling how comfy her new bed was, and seeing that we could actually fit on it next to her! She's slept well in it, and we're all happy with the change.

Good Days and Bad Days

In the interest of honesty, lets talk about life lately... beyond the day to day, beyond the fun excursions. I've been having some bad days lately. Thankfully there are more good days then bad, days when I feel like I have it together, busy active full days where I can wipe my hands off at the end of the day and feel accomplished. Days with lots of check marks on the To Do list, the errands run. Yoga classes taught, happy students, and a tired but happy body.

Then there are the days when I spend all morning at the computer trying to update my website, respond to emails, etc etc; when I get lost in distraction, bogged down by details, and I look around at the end of the day wondering what I really got done. Days when I answer yet another inquiry email, only to have it go nowhere and I wonder if I'm ever going to get more doula clients. Days when I feel like I'm not contributing enough, when I feel like the money I bring in isn't enough and the stuff I do around the house isn't enough, and like I'm just disappointing everyone. When I'm frustrated by it all and get short tempered and Gwen gets the worst of me and I feel like a bad mom. Days when I feel like only the dog isn't disappointed in me and then she wants to go for a walk when I'm in the middle of trying to finish something up, and now I've let her down too.

I love my jobs, but I find myself in this awkward place of trying to find the right balance between things. I wonder if I'll ever find a happy balance with two such different setups... one where I have regular hours, and one that's on call. I've turned down yoga classes because of wanting to be there for Gwen after school (and not wanting to pay for a sitter), which I'm so grateful I can do, but also feels crazy. I also need one more birth to get my certification, but a lot of the meetups and resources to connect doulas with people who want a doula, require you to be certified already; and I'm just having trouble connecting with clients. Everyone I've worked with has been thrilled, but that doesn't help when I just can't seem to make those initial connections.

The majority of the time things are good. Really good. We have so much to look forward to this year (travel and weddings and new parts of my careers)! Gwen and I have a lot of fun together. Travis and I laugh all the time. I love teaching. But I want to keep this place real and honest, and I wouldn't be honest if I didn't acknowledge the struggles too.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday {Colorado Sunsets}

Living in Colorado has gotten pretty routine at this point. This is our home now, and the scenery is familiar.

Sometimes though, I'm struck by how truly beautiful Colorado is. The mountains, the endless skies, the gorgeous sunsets behind them.

I was leaving the airport  the other week (having gotten coffee with a friend there who was flying out), and I got to witness this beautiful sunset as I drove towards the mountains back home.

What a beautiful state I live in! While Pennsylvania will always be my hometown, Colorado has grown on me nicely.

Yoga With Friends

Yoga is such a personal practice, but its fun to change it up and practice some partner poses now and again!

Adding someone else to your practice really teaches you about control and makes you very aware of what your body is doing.

When someone else is literally connected to your body you have to make sure that your actions are safe for everyone!

Thankfully I trust Marissa completely! So not only is it a strong, intense practice, but also a fun one.

Pretty shapes and a new way to enjoy one of my favorite activities!

Travel Planning

Did I tell you that Gwen and I are heading to New Mexico at the end of this month? A new state and the start to our 2017 travels! As my excitement for the trip grows, so does my desire to prepare. I can't pack yet, but I can start my lists. I thought I would record them here for posterity, and to help others who might be intimidated about traveling with kids (more advice here!).


Gwen's Stuff
Clothes to Layer
Extra Socks and Underwear
Warm PJs 
Brown Bear and Blankie (things she sleeps with every night)
Toiletries (Toothbrush and Paste, Hair Brush and Ties; depending on how long we'll be gone: Wash [hair and body] and Conditioner)
Books, Crayons, and a few Toys for the car

Food (to eat in the car and over the fire) and Hydration
Water (~ 1 gallon per person per day; Gwen needs less, but that extra we use for cooking - we freeze half of what we take and use that to help keep the food cold)
Gatorade (a treat for Gwen and good for long hikes) 
Peanut Butter and Bread
Soup (to cook over the fire)
A variety of Fruits and Mini Carrots
Hot Dogs and Breakfast Sausages
A variety of Nuts 
Pretzels, Granola Bars, Crackers, and Goldfish
A few pieces of Candy for treats!

Camping
Tent
Sleeping Bags and an extra Comforter
Fire Starters (some or all of: newspaper, lighter or matches, fire starter log, lighter fluid or gel; packed in a ziplock to keep dry)
Camping Pot and Skillet, and Utensils
Baby Wipes
First Aid Kit
Camping Lantern 
Depending on the Time of Year: Sunscreen and/or Bug Spray
Depending on Location: Bear Spray 

My Stuff 
Clothes to Layer

Extra Socks and Underwear
Warm PJs
Toiletries (Toothbrush and Paste, Deodorant, Hair Brush and Ties; depending on how long we'll be gone: Shampoo, Conditioner, and Soap)
Camera 
A Book 

Extras
Our National Parks Passport! (We love getting the cancellation stamps at all the Nat'l Parks, Monuments, and Sites that we visit!)

Snow Tube (this is a special extra this time - to use in White Sands!)
An Extra Little Toy (something small, but a surprise for Gwen - for a day when we're all just over it!)
A Jumper Box for our car (this is unusual, but a must for me because of the distances we travel)

What do you pack when you camp?

Wordless Wednesday {Random Things}

When auto-correct goes wrong...

My super hero in her very warm cape!

A girls night out a number of weeks ago... love my yoga ladies.

Dragonfruit! Eating this reminds me of China.

Mustache day at school!

Tea date with a girlfriend... soooo much tea!

Hell yeah!