Mental gymnastics.

I've been struggling with yoga lately. It's definitely my preferred workout of choice, but I'm just not getting out of it what I used to.  I was initially so drawn to yoga because I felt like it did a lot for both my mental and physical health, but recently, going to yoga has seemed like more of an obligation and has felt more stressful to me than relaxing. Probably because I have been so crazy busy this fall... but despite that, I have been trying to sprinkle in some other ways to maintain both my mental and physical health. Here is a look at how I have been trying to keep a balance over the last few months and find time to enjoy the fall (which apparently means random 90 degree days in November here...).

MENTAL HEALTH: Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
As we speak, I am sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine. And I skipped yoga today. It was rainy, chilly, and I was in a bad mood. The traffic getting to yoga and parking would have been terrible and I wanted nothing more than to feel cozy and cook some comfort food. Shocking I know, that cooking and eating mac and cheese relaxes me. But I needed it tonight. There is just something about dancing around your kitchen, listening to music, and making-up an ingenious culinary creation.  That's right, totally made this up and I am super proud of it.  (The recipe is at the bottom of the blog post for those who are interested.) Then of course, putting on fuzzy socks and eating a bowl of the stuff is pretty divine too.

PHYSICAL HEALTH: Heroes of Hope 5K
As many of you probably know from Facebook, I ran a 5k last Sunday with some girls from my sorority Alumni group to benefit brain tumor research. It was a great day to run on the beach, a bit warm, but really beautiful. This was actually quite a big accomplishment for me. Since breaking my ankle 4 years ago and getting hardware to repair it, I have really struggled to run like I used to. I have had a lot of problems with leg pain and sciatica and have been really frustrated and annoyed with myself and my body.  It was really great to balance running with yoga to train for this and I really focused on not pushing myself too hard, too fast (my main problem post-new ankle). I'm proud to say that I ran the entire 5k in 29:16. My goal was to run it in 30 minutes, so I was spot on. The best part is that I feel great and more pain free than I have felt after running in a really long time.  And all of my wonder friends and family almost doubled my fundraising goal for the race. THANK YOU to everyone that donated.  It means so much to me and of course to those who will benefit from the research that is being funded at all the major hospitals in the LA area.

This adolescent bear is quite proud of me.

Dream Big: 2012 Summer Fun Goals

So far, we are just about half way through June and the gloom has been manageable.  I can only remember one or two days where the marine layer hasn't burned off and even more days where there has been no layer at all!  However, when the gloom sets in, it does make it a bit difficult to get out of bed in the morning...

Regardless, I have decided that in order to take advantage of my first summer on the West Coast (also known as my first summer that feels only moderately warmer than winter), I've set some "goals" that I would like to accomplish:.

Barcycle Ride
So last week, I was driving down Main St. in Santa Monica, and I saw this:

A Barcycle.  It's a bar on wheels that is powered by the patrons pedaling it.  I think I may have seen one of these before in Boulder (?), but that's not really the point.  The point is that I want to take part in this. In Santa Monica. This summer.  Accomplices welcome.  Nay, encouraged.

6/17/12 UPDATE: After looking into the Barcycle, we discovered that there is no alcohol allowed on board. So basically you pay $30 to ride this thing three block down Main St and go to a few bars.  Totally not worth it...


Vino, te amo.
Way back in my first post of substance, I promised that I would be enjoying wine country soon after making my way to California.  That hasn't happened yet, and I can think of no better time to take a drive up PCH to the SoCal wine regions than the summertime.  Thanks to my lovely friends, I believe this trip is already in the works.

Challenge accepted.

Saturday was quite a day.  James, Emma, and I had all signed up to participate in the L.A. Challenge, an urban scavenger hunt put on by Challenge Nation.  We really had no idea what we were getting into until we got started, so I'm going to allow you to have the same experience by figuring out what this whole shindig was as you read the post...

After registering and deciding on our team name, "The Wild Westsiders," Emma purchased matching team t-shirts and we read the website and gleaned that we would be wandering around Downtown LA solving clues.  Before the challenge, 5 hints to the 12 clues we would get the next day were posted on Facebook:

Yeah... this gave us no advantage at all...

So after trekking downtown on Saturday morning, we went to check in for the race/hunt/adventure thing at a delightful restaurant/bar called "Big Wang's" (really?) and got our bibs before we grabbed lunch.

When we returned to BW's we gathered 'round with the other 163 teams to receive our clues.  I stood in a circle as team captain and was handed an envelope that I had to hold out in front of me until every team had an envelope and the organizers had counted down from 10.  Then everyone ripped open the clues and ran for the teams.  Naturally, I had lost Emma and James, but fortunately they found me and we got to work on our clues:

I realize you can't read this... don't worry

We were greeted by 12 clues, 11 of which needed to be completed to finish the challenge.  All needed picture evidence to prove that we had accomplished the task.  After trying to quickly and strategically figure out the areas of Downtown that we needed to go to and what order was best, we RAN to the Staples Center.

**Disclaimer: I apologize for my extremely stupid face in ALL of the pictures.  I was trying to say in character with the clues.  In hindsight, I look really tired, sweaty, and dumb.  Enjoy!

Make a list, check it twice...

Soon after I made my trek out West, Gnat gave me a list of things that would make me a true Angeleno and measure my assimilation to the Cali lifestyle.  Since receiving those items, I have accomplished getting stuck in traffic.  That's it.  It's quite clear that I belong here as much as an arctic penguin.

With that said, it's no surprise that Gnat sending me an e-mail link to 150 Things to do in LA a few weeks ago struck fear through to my very core.  I was already sucking at one list and now here was 150 more things for me to suck at.  Awesome.

Soooo... I took a deep breath and prepared to feel overwhelmed and hickish- yet determined to read the entire list and really see what I'm up against out here.  The result- pleasant surprise!  I've actually done a lot of things! And I got some great ideas for new things to try!  For the full list of 150 items, feel free to click the link above.  Otherwise, enjoy my highlights below...

Down & Derby

"Red carpet" entry into the Doll Factory

I've never seen the movie "Whip It"- but for those of you who have, Drew Barrymore apparently did her research for the film with the LA Derby Dolls.  Since I haven't seen the movie or a Roller Derby... match? jam perhaps?  contest?  I dunno what you call it...  anyway, with this being my first Roller Derby experience, I didn't really know what to expect.  I knew it was girls on roller skates and I knew that it got physical.  I guess I kinda pictured girls randomly skating around and body checking each other into walls, hockey style.

My foggy conceptions of Roller Derby were clarified on Sunday evening at "Baby Doll Brawl"- a competition for the newest LA Derby Dolls, the ladies of the Fresh Meat program who are training to make one of the 4 home teams.  The Derby Dolls are one of the few banked-tracked derby leagues in the world, most (98%) are flat track and from my research on Wikipedia, banked-track seems way cooler.  One of Steph's friends was actually competing on one of the teams under the pseudonym "Belle Scorcho."  Yeah... so one of the awesome things about derby is that the girls compete under skater names and some of them paint their faces and add some flare to their outfits.  Yep, little bit like pro wrestling, lotta bit awesome.  Speaking of awesome...

No place like home.

Philosophically, there are multitudes of different opinions on what constitutes "home".  People, places, things, states of mind or combinations of these.  For me, it's difficult to describe how I view "home" because it's more of a feeling I get.  I feel a comfort, familiarity and warmth with floods of old memories and excitement for new ones.  For me, home is not necessarily where I live, though places I live do often become home.

I knew October in LA was going to be difficult for me- the weekend I moved into my apartment is the only weekend I have had and will have in the apartment all month.  To top that off, all of my weekends would be spent with many old friends in all of my favorite places.  This past weekend was the motherload.  First stop:

Stay classy San Diego

I'm not good with down time.  I am, in fact, so bad with down time that when I was in Australia I got a job, joined a gym, joined a club and made multiple "To Do" lists with different places, foods, activities and events to experience in order to minimize down time and maximize... well, my Type A personality...

When I was unemployed in Chicago, I baked.  A lot.  My roommates would come home to a kitchen full of literally hundreds of savory tartlets, various vegetable salads and dessert concoctions (ya know, for balance).  Packages of treats were sent to the neighbors.  It. was. obscene.

With my California  "To Do" list at a seemingly never ending standstill I really have no choice but to embrace the down time and learn how to relax and have some fun.  Not that I don't know how to have fun.  I'm really fun.  It's just usually... scheduled fun.  Earned fun.  At it's best and most wild, it's responsible spontaneity.

Hurry up and wait...

Today is one of those days were I do everything I can to move a process forward and them am left to rely on others to finish their part before real progress is actually made.  Thank goodness it's sunny and nice here or I would be going crazy right now.  These past few months has been a total exercise in patience for me, something I am not very good at.. on with the life updates!

Out with a bang

Alright, so you know when you were a kid and you would get a new toy and play with it all day, everyday for like a week and then never again??  I find that as an adult-ish person, I still have this quality though now it mostly applies to workout plans and guys I attempt to date.  I'm also concerned that this may happen to my blog.  So my first 5 posts were all consecutive (*cough* excited child) and then followed by about 5 days of radio silence however, I feel that I have a perfectly good excuse for my lapse: playing in Chicago!

Before I head out to California, I really wanted to make one more visit to the city I love enough to consider one of my three homes (Iowa and Colorado would be the other two) and soak in all of my favorite things.  It seems logical that I should have memories of having fun, knowing my way around a place and spending time with people I love before I'm lost, confused and friendless on the coast.

The moment we've all been waiting for...

Ok... the moment I've been waiting for, I'm sure my fantasy roster is not a significant priority in anyone's life but my own.  Regardless allow me to present to you:

Refrigerator of Sweetness 2011

STARTERS
SLOT	PLAYER, TEAM POS	OPP	STATUS ET	PTS
QB	Matt Schaub, Hou QB	Ind	Sun 1:00	--
RB	Frank Gore, SF RB	Sea	Sun 4:15	--
RB	Ryan Mathews, SD RB	Min	Sun 4:15	--
RB/WR	Ryan Williams*, Ari RB  IR	Car	Sun 4:15	--
WR	Jeremy Maclin, Phi WR  P	@StL	Sun 1:00	--
WR	Johnny Knox, Chi WR	Atl	Sun 1:00	--
TE	Chris Cooley, Wsh TE  Q	NYG	Sun 4:15	--
D/ST	Bears D/ST D/ST	Atl	Sun 1:00	--
K	Robbie Gould, Chi K	Atl	Sun 1:00	--

BENCH
SLOT	PLAYER, TEAM POS	OPP	STATUS ET	PTS
Bench	Josh Freeman, TB QB	Det	Sun 1:00	--
Bench	Julio Jones, Atl WR	@Chi	Sun 1:00	--
Bench	Chargers D/ST D/ST	Min	Sun 4:15	--
Bench	Roy Helu, Wsh RB	NYG	Sun 4:15	--
Bench	Steve Breaston, KC WR	Buf	Sun 1:00	--
Bench	Benjamin Watson, Cle TE  Q	Cin	Sun 1:00	--
Bench	Jalen Parmele, FA RB	** BYE **		--

I have a bye this week, so I can sit back and watch how these guys perform before I set my roster for the following week which is kinda nice.  I'm also a bit confused on how and when to trade and things like that.  I will obviously need another kicker if I play when the Bears have a bye week.  SUPER pumped about the Bears D and my wide receivers.  Less thrilled on my RBs and QBs, I had the hardest time trying to place them in my autopick strategy.  I made a last minute call to pick an RB first that cost me Drew Brees :(  It got me Gore though, who will be awesome if he's not injured a bunch.  I think.  I guess after all my smack talk yesterday, now that I have my team, I don't really know what to do with them.  It's not like I can invite them over for a team dinner and give them a pep talk or anything... meh, I've got over a week to figure this thing out...