lifestyle improvements.

1. be conscious of my sugar consumption.

2. no dairy!!! (except for indian food which can be consumed on friday nights or nights before moon days only!)

3. less time on facebook/computer, more time reading

4. positive outlook on everything! (positivity= manifesting my deepest desires!)

5. will attempt to roll in garbha pindasana, even if it feels like my arms are being strangled or is scary to attempt!

6. being honest with myself, so i can be honest towards other. this is major!

7. take photoshop course so that i can eventually assist photographers in the area!!

happy new year! have a safe end of your 2008... and positive beginning to your 2009!

this is what i do on my spare time... sometimes...

i drew these asanas.. 

these asanas are the sequence we're learning how to teach...

not a great photo...

drew it a while ago...

fun times...

private lesson.

this is a photo of my friend rolling up his mat after our private lesson. it was extremely awesome to have the opportunity to teach my friend "g." he doesn't practice yoga regularly so we modified the sequence a little, shortened the breath count, cut out some sun salutations... i think we did really well in the modifications. i even brought my bamboo block and strap!! i'm such a prepared little yogi!! :)  i think that this was probably the best learning experience i've had teaching so far. i've been practicing with my teacher training friends but we all know the sequence pretty well and do asana often and teaching them is sometimes unchallenging. by unchallenging, i mean that we all know how to get into warrior 1, so if for example i messed up my description of getting into warrior 1, my yoga peeps would still do it correctly... a bunch of us decided we would practice exactly what was being taught to us so we (the teachers in training) could see what we needed to work on in terms of describing asanas... but that really only goes so far... anyway, i'm excited to do this more. i think i turned over a new leaf! thanks g!

days off= yoga x yoga x yoga. yoga tripled??

mysore in the morning at y2. (fell on my head in bhujapidasana!!!) coffee with adam!!! cleaned y2. sushi lunch box. wandered around rittenhouse. bought a cool jacket at lululemon on sale. dhyana yoga at 12, taught by jordana. taken with sara!!  hummus for lunch with sara.

home. hang out. talk to james. go to james. teach james yoga.

yoga all day long!! funnnnnn. it was the most fun day off ever!

as i sit here and eat my one alloted candy cane of the season...

my mimi's menorah. a view from above.
beautiful frontal view.
asher's menorah.. a gift from my father last year.

our final night of chanukah. they are burning out as i speak.

life at 25.

i often find myself talking to my boyfriend about our future. we talk about plans. what we want in life. what we think we'll do with our life. how to make our lives better.

i normally get frustrated during these talks because he seems to be on a path. he knows what he wants to do and how to do it. he has a career in mind and he knows he will be successful. i'm extremely happy for him. 

i, on the other hand, do not know what i want to do. does any 25 year old know what they want to do for real?? i mean, i have friends who are 25 and are married and they are lawyers, business ladies, working men and women. i'm a nanny. a noble job of sorts. it's hard work, good money... but not something i want to do for forever. i want to figure out what i want to do with my life, but i honestly have no aspirations to be a woman who wears a suit. or someone who works their life away. i want to be able to still focus on my life. my yoga practice. my dog. my family. etc. 

i want to find something that is exciting. challenging. inspirational. something that helps people. i'm at a loss.

i really just don't know what i can do. i want to go back to school to get a master's, but for what? an undergrad in art.... oiy! i have lots to think about... maybe i should start up my photography again... hmmmm.

back to black... or soy lattes rule my world.

i've made a decision on dairy.

that decision is to cut it out of my life for good. 

i've been on and off with it for a long time and this time it's out the door!

no more cow dairy, goat dairy.. no more dairy. (i'm not even going to eat dairy with lactose pills!)

i've realized dairy has been messing up my digestive tract more than i care to share with anyone. 

it's been affecting my life very negatively. so goodbye dairy, hello ricemilk/soymilk/coconut yogurt!!

i drank black coffee today from la colombe. it reminded me of when i used to drink black coffee in college because i wasn't sure how else to drink it... for example, i didn't know how much sugar/dairy to put into it... so i just drank it black.

i'm going back to the basics. back to black!!!!

notes on an in home practice

today was my first "mysore" practice at home. i've been telling myself that i would start to practice at home on the days that the shala is closed or the days i don't go, but so far, no go. i was going to practice yesterday but i ate too much junk and felt crappy... so today i practiced.

first things first, i had to negotiate with my boyfriend in order to get him to hang out in our bedroom while i practiced in the living room. he didn't want to go... so we essentially had to make a deal. the deal was that i would get 40 minutes to practice alone while he hung out in the bedroom, and my end of the deal was that i had to watch the x-files movie with him tonight. (i've been dreading having to see this with him). i said i wanted more time to practice so he gave me 5 more minutes if i paid the 1 dollar redbox rental fee. i can't believe i just made a deal with the devil in order to practice yoga.

anyway, he went to the bedroom and set his alarm. took the dog. a book. a laptop. he was talking to himself about how cold he was and that made me laugh during my first few sun salutations. he put on regina spektor which was distracting to me, but i worked on my breath and that helped me a lot. it didn't distract me that my apartment was in total disarray. i thought it would, but it didn't. i enjoyed practicing at home.

one thing i couldn't get off my mind was, "i know it's been almost 45 minutes. he's coming out soon. i don't want him to see me in a compromising position.. finish up!"

i stopped at kurmasana today. that's around the time he came out. i couldn't get past my ego on this one. i can't do supta k. alone. and i can't roll around in garbha p. alone. and i didn't want to look like fool. so i went straight to closing..

closing: i rushed through it. i was distracted majorly. a few key things during closing, a butt slap, my tits looked nice and whatever else he was doing just made me want to get through the closing and off the mat. i love the closing sequence so this was sad.

looks like i'll be practicing in the mornings from here on out when i'm at home.. pictures of my space below.. 

45 minutes to freedom.

manifesting.

positive thinking is the way to go. although sometimes it's easy to thinking negatively. 

i've been manifesting so many things in my life through the power of positive thought.

it's kind of awesome. kind of freaky. definitely cool. 

also... been learning to trust myself and my instinct. 

i find that to be exhilarating. to allow yourself to make a decision and for that decision to be the correct decision for your path. 

i'm tired. this is vague. but kind of what's on my mind currently. more later.

in philly, it's who you know..

i had a stomach virus last week. it was crippling. i didn't practice, i didn't eat. i just curled up and slept and dreamed of yoga... 

after a week of no mysore, i went back to y2 and had an enlightening experience. i told myself, "take it easy... it's okay if you only practice the sun salutations, standing and closing." so that's what i did for my first day back on the mat. 

every movement i made, i was very aware of. i knew what my hands where doing while in updog, i knew what my feet were doing in the warriors, i felt very connected to my body and the way i was moving. it was very thrilling. i also am learning how to really listen to myself and i'm glad that i didn't push myself into doing the primary series after being sick for almost a week.

the second day back was definitely good. i did my "full" practice and rushed off to work...

i took friday off. saturday i practiced with my good friend sara at dhyana yoga. we took justicia's class. i love justicia! ahh. so fun. 

today was sunday mysore at y2. it's normally packed but today there were fewer. it was icy out and it's the beginning of the holiday week so i think a lot of people are already out of town. 

i had a fun practice today. my teacher stood with me while i did headstand. i've been very reluctant to practice a full headstand. i've really been wanting to work on getting up with straight legs. so today i went up and i got to do a headstand away from the wall. fun fun fun.

also, during my backbends, i was told that i'll take the next pose (garbha pindasana) after supta kurmasana... so that's cool. moving on.

adam, a shala buddy, gave me a ride home. we got chanukkah coffee which was fun. we talked about some cool things, and something that is resonating with me is "in philly, it's who you know.." i feel like i'm making some really incredible connections here in philly. the people i'm surrounding myself with are very important and i'm learning sooo much.

adam, thanks for the coffee and ride and conversation. it was very much appreciated!

HAPPY CHANUKKAH!!!!!

hello adam!

tonight was eric powell's 2nd ramaswami vinyasa class at yoga squared. ezgi and i went to his class for the first time tonight. the whole class was prep work for arm balances, which we didn't do and i'm glad we didn't do... oiy. needless to say, this class was hard!!! i'm already feeling sore. next week something new... i like that. you never know what's in store. the studio was jam packed with a bunch of faces i've never seen before and a few familiar mysore folks. i'm starting to really feel like i'm part of this ashtanga community in philly. i love it. i feel like i have this family that really knows what you're going through. these past two days i got to hang out with baby julian after/before practicing. he's adorable, very mild-tempered. he makes me want a child. but not for a while of course! 

i'm tired. off to bed. hopefully i'll make it to mysore tomorrow, if i'm not tooooooo sore. :)

guriji says take rest.

it takes effort to get on the mat.

i could barely practice the standing series today. 

that's all i did. that was my practice today.

i took a 15 "savasana."

guriji says take rest, i take rest.

what a week... 

t-day ain't for turkey.

boyfriend and i cooked a mini-feast today. not for thanksgiving, just for the food! we had a rotissierie chicken, homemade garlic mashed potatoes with rice milk, stuffing from whole foods, zucchini that tasted bad (too much rosemary) and pumpkin pie from whole foods. we also had organic martinelli's sparkling apple juice! 

we went to see slumdog millionaire at the ritz east. it was hauntingly beautiful/disturbing/uplifting. there are so many films i want to see, such as: milk, revolutionary road, the reader. (all previews i saw today!) 

just had leftovers from our feast for dinner. i'm tired. but not because of turkey, just because. 

kurmasana..

bhujapidasansa today. kurmasana tomorrow. sounds good. my grandma died last night, went to yoga this morning. felt kind of off during the standing series, but by the time i sitting on the floor i was alright. will go to yoga tomorrow and then home for the funeral. i'm obviously going to miss the last day with david, but it's ok. such is life. maybe i'll take a led primary on friday night in baltimore. that's always a challenge. 

sylvia babus.

you were a character. you were classic. you were the epitome of a jewish motha. you were and always will be my new york grandma. tell god i said hello.

yoga squared.

this is yoga squared. this is where i practice. this is starting to feel like a new home. 

bhujapidasana

david keil (of yoganatomy.com) is at our shala this week. he's an awesome teacher! yay david! 

so i just started practicing mysore style ashtanga not too long ago. it's been hard to get up in the morning some days but it's always worth it to be there in the end. i guess for this first month i was stopping at navasana because that's where my teacher told me to. i couldn't even get my legs off the ground for a while because it hurt my lower back. but today i made the effort to take my legs off the ground even if they were bent at the knee...

  

after navasana, i went straight to my backbends and david asked me what was my last pose and i said navasana and he told me to take bhujapidasana. of course i've never really learned this pose so he taught me and made me try it three times. it's fun learning new poses for sure. i like learning this way. i like knowing that this is where i'll be for right now. and that something else may come along later. 

i'm really tired. i couldn't fall asleep last night and i woke up at 5. and now i have to work for 10-11 hours. i think tonight i shouldn't have a problem with passing out.. 

Blue Boy!

That's my boy blue!!! I'm so proud of you Obama. Mazel tov.

love,

amanda

25 years of contemplation.

i turned 25 on saturday. had an awesome birthday dinner at sitar with asher, quinn, lauren, katie, sara, annah, bleu and jennilee. woo woo. other highlights of the weekend: yoga class with quinn, going to the blarney stone to make my sis happy, farmer's market, buying sexy sexy sexy guess jeans and getting a new cell phone.

last week in philly, the streets bled red. the sky bled red. everything was red. everyone was hyped. the energy in the city was insane.

all has calmed down. the sky is no longer red but blue! blue for obama. the city is blue!!! i dressed in blue. i dressed j-man in blue. i thought in blue. GO OBAMA! i just voted for this amazing man! there was no line. 25 years old. obama better f-ing win! or else my late 20's might suck balls...

:) VOTE VOTE VOTE.. not that anyone reads my funny little blog.

zombie yoga!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsV1ShKtAcE

happy halloweenie, foolios.

My Mysore.

Wake up at 5 am. Eat english muffin and orange juice. Walk around the apartment in the dark, using my hands to guide me. Sage on walk at 5:30. Out the door by 6. Train at 6:05. Off train at 6:15. Walk up Chestnut to Yoga Squared. In studio by 6:30. Play with baby in studio. Get ready, practice begins.

4 women. 1 teacher. Chant. 2 dudes wander in. 

My mysore practice started today. I love this studio, the teacher, the practice. 

This is what yoga is. It is an individual practice. You move at your own speed. You have a teacher who cares about you and cares that you are doing your practice correctly. You have a teacher who makes you repeat something twice or three times in order to memorize the series. You have a teacher that does a little body work on you at the end of your practice. This is yoga.. This is yoga.  This is my yoga and I love it. 

I am. I am. I am. I am. I am...

Yoga Squared.

I landed a work study program with Yoga Squared in Philly. Yoga Squared only teaches Ashtanga!!! yay! This means I will finally be able to take mysore classes, something i've wanted to do for a while. I'm very excited. The woman who owns the studio is a photographer and a mom, which is awesome for me because I love photography and babies. Sweet!!! :) 

43rd and Osage

richandfluffy.com

Skull Death!

5th and Pine...

9th and Pine on orange City Paper dispenser.

This is gorgeous. It wasn't like this before. I look everyday. The whole side was covered in beautiful art. I love Philly.

How Acro Yoga Changed My Life.

I got to fly. That is how it changed my life. I'm learning to live without fear. Letting someone base you and put you up in the air is very scary, but developing trust with my yoga buds was amazing and fun. We did some wild things. Google Acro Yoga if you want to know more. 

So the first part of training was Acro Yoga/Partner Yoga. I definitely feel closer to our group of trainees. The second part of training we learned about Chakras. Bla bla bla. I'm not sure how I feel about Chakras and all those colors. We'll see if it resonates in me later.

Happy New Year to all the Jews! Back to Baltimore for a few days off with the family. 

Allow myself to introduce myself.

September 27, 2008. 1:30-8:30pm 

I leave the house at 12:40 to give myself plenty of time to walk to the train, ride the train, walk to the studio. I got there a half an hour early, so I went to Urban Outfitters to waste a few minutes. 1:10, I walk to the studio and decide to take the stairs up 4 flights. When I got to the top, my heart was pounding and I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing here/ this is way over my head. I go into the office and the girl at the desk tells me there are a few other people there. I was the third person there. I unroll my mat and get situated. I take deep breaths to calm my beating heart and racing mind. The room fills up over the next 20 minutes. All women, except for two men. 

 

Eventually 4 women come to the front of the room and lead us in a meditation and chant. It really helped me relax. I was sitting next to one of the guys in class and his Om's are so deep, it resonates in me and I love it. 

For the next 4 hours, we talk about our stories. How did we get involved in yoga. Why are we doing the training. Do you have any pets. What is your sign. Some people shed tears, Many people laughed. I went 2nd and of course I became extremely nervous, but calmed down after a few minutes. After our lengthy intros, we had a lunch break around 5. I got to talk to a few girls in the program who caught my interest during the intros. 

Next came our binders. They all have a quote and photo on the front, mine has a bird and it says "I am free from fear no matter what the challenge," which is something I'm working on. Fear. I've been afraid of so many things in my life and it's time to not be afraid and to finally live free. We got paired up with one or two other people who have the same binder picture as us. These people became our yoga buddies. Someone to call when you're lost or confused or do not know where training is that day. They also became our practice partners in class when we practice teaching. After going over the binders and hearing a reading we were taught how to teach sun salutations.

I thought this part of the training was lacking. We got in our pairs and practice teaching sun salutations. It felt awkward to teach. It also felt awkward to be the student learning from a new teacher. When I went home I studied my Ashtanga Yoga Practice Manual which has very good directions on how to do sun salutes. I think that along with this training, I will be doing a lot of researching and studying on my own because I want to truly understand every aspect of yoga and sometimes in class I feel like it very one sided. I want all sides. 

rockband at 2am.

imagine you're asleep at 2am. and you hear what you think is a very loud party, with lots of people and a band! imagine you're me and you go upstairs to tell them to knock it off, only to see another neighbor about to do the same thing. we knock on the door a few times and they couldn't hear us. so i pushed the door open... to see a room full of dudes, playing rock band very loudly, drinking brewskies. no party, no babes. just some boys and rockband. damn. they turned it off and i went back to bed. i just can't stop thinking about how funny it is that a room full of dudes, drinking brewskies, playing rockband, sounded like a full fledged party. hmpf!

Pesto Pinenut Puppy Surprise.

Well. Actually. There were no puppies harmed in the making of this delicious breakfast. 

Here's what you do: Crack an egg into a hot pan. I break the yolk because that's how I like, but not necessary. After the egg is about half way done, sprinkle some pine nuts on top. Now here comes the big one, now put two spoonfuls of pesto (homemade or not) onto the egg. Now fold the egg in half! Let the pesto and nuts warm up and the rest of the egg cook. Put onto plate and enjoy.

Pesto Pinenut Puppy Surprise!!!

VOTE OR DIE!!! (for obama of course!!!)

Based on the Philly LOVE scultpure, found around Penn's Landing. 

She thinks we made the guest bed for her...

awww, my cute little pig!

Sugar update.

I've been doing really well on not eating sugary sugary things, but on Friday night, Boyfriend and I drank Vanilla Vodka and Cokes and I ate candy at the bar. I'm doing well, despite the quick relapse. It was worth it. hah. I finally figured out a way to make my coffee taste good, some agave nectar and silk creamer! woo woo. 

Bathroom Wall Revisited.

Plaster is set. Just needs a paint job.

43rd and Chestnut

on a dumpster. 

northernlibertiesband.com?

check her out.

jp is making hip satchels. exactly what i wanted and needed. so i bought one. you should check out her handmade goods on etsy.com. her seller name is jpmarquardt. 

Things I want to learn how to make:

A Messenger Bag that has a spot to hold my yoga mat... I'm a city girl now and I need to be able to just carry one bag and not a bag and a mat and a water bottle, etc. 

I'd also like to make a hip bag (it's kind of like a glorified fanny pack).  They are kind of trendy for all the bike kids, but I want it for when I nanny. I can put my phone, wallet and keys in it when I take the baby for a walk, etc.  Sometimes maybe some gum and tampons. 

Anyone know good resources for learning these skills? I know how to sew. I made a bag once (using a sewing machine!!) in Santa Cruz under the direction of my awesome roomie Josie. Need to start researching!

Choose Your Future, Choose Life.

This is what you see when you walk into my apartment! We also got a Dark Knight poster that says, 'Why so serious?' but we don't have a frame for it yet. 
My dad got me this awesome lamp!!! Isn't it adorable?

My Pig.

The pig enjoying her 88 cent zebra bone that will be demolished within 24 hours. (correction: was destroyed within 20 minutes)

Renovation

My bathroom had a leak and now looks like this. That hole goes from ceiling to floor. We got a new pipe, the leak is gone and soon the hole will be as well. I hope our lungs aren't growing mold spores. Ah, the beauty of old apartments...

#2

maybe for my birthday?? alchemy goods.com. i'll be 25 on november 1st!!! 

Shopping wish list.

Sug Sug Suga.

I'm a sugar addict. There I said it. I'm totally addicted. So I decided that on September 1, 2008 I would cut out refined sugar as much as I can. So no candy or cookies or cake or muffins, etc. I'm still eating fruit sugars such as pectin and fructose. And will occasionally dabble in organic cane or agave or honey, but i'm still not eating sweets. It feels good to be in control of my habit. I still crave candy bars whenever I walk by a Rite Aid, but i'm getting this under control for good! For good!!!!!!!!!!

Sneak Peek.

This is the view from our bedroom of our tiny kitchen. Asher says it's very functional. I think it's very cute, albeit very small. 

bikes and chocolate.

This morning while walking Sage I heard a crumple. It sounded like a tin can being crushed by an eleven-old at summer camp on a Saturday, but in reality it was a dude on a bike being hit by a car. Or a car being hit by a dude on a bike. I didn't see it, just heard it. It made me want to run over and say, "hey dude on a bike that got hit by a car or vice-versa, are you ok?" He was fine. Stood up and asked the car dudes if they were ok and then went on his merry little way. Philly is notorious for bike-car aggression. People on bikes yell at people in cars and will hit people's cars with their hands while passing by. People in cars yell at people on bikes and hit them maybe by accident, but sometimes on purpose. This makes me fear riding a bike. Luckily, I don't even have a bike to ride. Asher just landed a job as a bicycle delivery dude and I'm pretty sure he has to wear a helmet, which makes me happy because if he lost his brains, I don't know if we could be lovers anymore. :)  ha. Not funny, but whatever. 

So, I was in Washington Square Park with my charge and we watched mother's work out with babies and homeless men sleep comfortably on benches. (The homeless dudes actually made me slightly envious, they get to hang out all day and just chill in the park! They also get a ton of free leftovers and can people watch for days on end.) I've been watching the dog walking folk lately. Trying to figure out who is a dog owner versus who is a paid dog walker. I can sometimes tell who is a dog walker by what they are wearing. Normally, they have a bunch of keys hanging from their pants and they wear their ipod like a cop wears a gun. Saw a cute girl twice today, walking two different dogs. I knew she was a dog walker before I saw her with the second dog due to her ipod/key apparel.

Chocolate: Been craving it. I come home every day wanting it. Been resisting it. Last night Asher and I got hot fudge sundaes from the 24 hour McDonald's on 40th and Walnut. Still didn't satisfy the chocolate cravings. Wanted chocolate today. Almost bought some, but instead got tea and fruit leather. It's hard to resist. I think I might cave one day... Ah!

CMJ

This is the first summer that I forgot about her death. I think it's because I wasn't at camp. I was distracted with babies in Baltimore. Weird. Miss you CMJ. 

Sage.

This is my dog Sage. She's sweaty and hot from our walk to the Green Line.  I love her. 

Fake Egg McMuffins.

These are Tramontina pots and pans.  They are non-stick, PTFE free! We bought them last night from Wallie's for $80, an investment.  Never buying pots and pans again. It came with a 'Free bamboo cutting board, bamboo utensils and a bamboo handled knife.'

We used our new pan tonight to make fake egg mcmuffins. We used real egg, low-fat cheese and fake canadian bacon.  Instead of english muffin, we used whole wheat toast.  Tonight was also our first time using our stove top.  We had a gas leak for a few days and finally got it fixed.. oiy. I love our place and I love being less than a block from the Fresh Grocer.  The Fresh Grocer has decent prices, is open 24 hours and has seriously almost anything you need including printer paper!! Work starts on Monday. I bought a new watch and some new three-quarter length shirts so I can cover my tats for the first few weeks of working. I'm always nervous for the first day of work. Asher says that I'm always nervous, but I always am fine the next day and excited to work. Well, time to go research local movie rental places. Night folks.

Deconstructed...

The table, folded down. Sits next to Asher's desk while not in use.  In the background, the living room with my dog licking her paws and the entrance to our bedroom, which leads to kitchen. 
The chairs we sit on while eating live next to our multi-functional bookshelf. It not only holds books, but also dvds, and other random things that don't have anywhere else to go. 

APT Continued...

Table to Eat on. My favorite part of the apt.    

 

Asher, not praying, but eating our favorite bagel from South Street Bagels. :)

APT PHOTOS!!!

      Pink and green bathroom. Claw foot tub. 
     Our ex-fireplace mantel, decorated in Judaica.

Bedroom, with entrance to kitchen. A sleeping pig. 

Double-dead bolt, protection??

RYT.

I'm officially signed up for the 200-hour yoga teacher training at Dhyana yoga in Philly. Sweet deal! Starts at the end of September. I'm excited!!

Living in color.

This is my living room. Both sofa's fold out into beds for guests! So, come soon and visit! Sage is finally starting to like the place. She got a bath last night in our clawfoot tub. More photos soon! 

Lost Boy. Our Dying Bat.

Boyfriend rescued an injured bat last night while taking care of free-range bunnies and a cat. We brought it home in a box. It couldn't fly but it really wanted to get out of the box, so on the way home we brought it to a tree and it climbed out.  Lost boy, (the bat), climbed all the way up the tree, broken wing and all, taking breaks along the way to rest.  He made it to a part of the tree that was cut off and there he rests. 

The move of a lifetime.

On Friday night, I drove the tetris packed van up to Philly and Asher and I unloaded it real fast. We live on the first floor, in the front of the building which makes moving and unloading things from cars really easy. We then proceeded to drive back to Baltimore at 11pm, stopping only for vitamin waters and hamburgers. 

Cut to Saturday morning... Probably around 10:30am we started to load up the van. This time we had to fit a bed in the van.  Needless to say, we got our full sized tempurpedic bed into a soccer mom sized van. We wheel barreled it up the hill from the basement back door. Everything else went under or over the bed.  Couldn't see out the windows, but it didn't matter because we were moving to Philly!! We also loaded up the Honda with a little bit of stuff... My parent's brought up Sage and my car on Sunday and took the van home. Anyway, we got stuck in a little bit of traffic but after the Delaware Memorial Bridge the ride was smooth and quick.  Again, unloading the van was easy. After we unpacked the van, we went to ikea to buy some furniture. We didn't get back to the apartment until 10pm.  We stayed up til 3am building a bed frame, cleaning the kitchen, organizing the bathroom. 

Sunday: Parent's came up around noon. We had lunch at Marathon Grille on 40th and Walnut. Delicious! Traded vehicles. Continued to unpack and build things. Ended up back at Ikea and Walmart for various items. 

All in all, the move was painless except for a few bruises and scrapes. We're still trying to build a crappy bookshelf from Ikea, which we're returning tomorrow for a better one.  Maintenance man is coming today to scrape rust off the bathroom wall and repaint it. I will post some photos once we are totally finished unpacking.

Love to love you baby. 

Van Tetris.

The van is out front and ready to go... I'm standing here outside your door...

I decided to pack the van tonight so that I can enjoy Shabbos dinner with the fam before heading up to Philly to unload tomorrow.  I totally went tetris crazy in the van.  I packed the shit out of it. I did it solo and I felt really hardcore. I also got to pet a frog and a slug. (Oh the creatures in the county... Here I come city life)

I was going to write an awesome blog but maybe that will happen tomorrow... Right now, i'm beat tired and need to go to bed. Last day of work with lil' P tomorrow. 

Deluxe. Dhyana.

Yesterday, D/A/ and I went into Center City to check out a hair salon called Deluxe.  It was so adorable. Deluxe is owned by Mary, Maria, Matt and Kyra. It's retro-chic,  has exposed brick, very simple yet completely divine.  Mary gave both me and D new styles.  It was my first hair cut since November 1, 2007... damn! No more mullet. Deluxe is on South Street and 21st, next to Bicycle Therapy.  If you go to their webpage and print out their coupon, you get $10 off your first hair cut.  A basic cut is $45 which is a great price! 

Today, I went to Dhyana Yoga in Rittenhouse Square on Walnut and 16th. The studio a decent size and very comforting.  Dhyana, the owner, led this morning's Vinyasa All Levels class. It was very fun and Ashtanga-based, which for me was awesome.  I've decided to do Dhyana's 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training that starts in September. More to come on that later. 

The move to Philly happens in less than a week now. I'm so excited!!!

Rat art.

Saw this in West Philly. Sent a copy to Jp in Texas. Thought she'd like it. I need to a get a digital camera. This was taken with my cell...

August 15th.

I'm moving to Philly on August 15th with Asher and Sage. We will be living in University City aka West Philly. I landed a nanny job with a 7 month old boy in Washington Square aka Center City. That's all until Philly. Here we come!!