TT in full swing

just completed the first weekend of wakeup teacher training (TT). woah nelly. lots of info. lots of talking. lots of asana-ing. i love the group of women i am learning with. we have 3 awesome teachers. i am seriously looking forward to every meeting we have together. wednesday nights are now a staple of my week. i don't have much to blog about, but i did get to teach a lunging surya namaskara. i didn't fail completely, but wasn't exactly on point. i need to find my "voice."

i'm stoked for our retreat together. i'm stoked for david keil coming in november. i'm stoked for some manorama-ji. i'm stoked for jill-ji's winter solstice workshop weekend.

my friend in california has this tattoo on his ankle. "fun is fun is fun" it's in a circle. so it keeps going and going and going.

remember to have fun! it's so important.

things for me.

swinging. yoga. yin yoga. biking. eating well. sleeping well. being present.

tina-ji says:

"when you practice yoga, you practice love."

love, practice. practice, love.

ass up in the air.

i think it's inappropriate to come talk to a yoga student about things other than that asana while her ass is up in the air during supta konasana.

done. and done.

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on another note. i'm stoked for teacher training this weekend.

on another note. my bosses decided last minute not to send their child to playschool today and expected me to answer their phone calls and texts at 8 in the morning. i told them i would be at yoga. (and i was because i didn't have to work until 11ish and i didn't rush through my practice and i didn't rush to get there and it was nice!) so i answer bosses pleas around 8:45.. i think they were having a collective heartattack because they needed to get to work and i was nowhere to be found! hilarious. they asked if i could pick j up from school (as it turns out they tried to take him to school as a last result because nanny was missing.) and i told them fine. even though i had a morning of reading to do and coffee to drink. and now i have to keep my cell phone on my mat on vibrate if i ever practice on tuesday or thursdays so that i can be reached in case of "not going to school today" emergencies. BULL SHIT.

the journey starts today.

day one of yoga teacher training.

2 hours. all women. lots of info. my brain feels full and i decided for my brain's sake i will NOT look at TT manuals tonight, but will bring them to work and will dive into them tomorrow.

this upcoming weekend is our first intensive. i'm excited for them, but more excited to get to know the women in my class.

i'm partnered up with a woman in fishtown, there wasn't a third person that lived close enough to us, so for now, it's her and i. maybe someone from the southphilly group will join us eventually. who knows. i'm looking forward to getting a mentor.

i'm not gonna lie.. i totally totally totally, FOR real, cried during the opening chant at TT tonight because i missed jill so much. i know that this training WILL BE AMAZING, but i can't help but think of how fun it would have been to have jill as my TT teacher.. i also just miss her saturday morning classes, drop back workshops, practicing at y2, drinking coffee at la colombe.

i'm so beat. night.

the life and times.. or the basil versus the bonsai.

the bonsai is asher's. the basil is mine (well, ours..)... hmm. look who's thriving in my no.libs. apt! the basil! apparently the bonsai is having a rough time.. i heard they are hard to keep alive and i think that is an understatement!
my mom gave me a slow cooker (crock pot!). we are initiating it's use on the same day we got it! that's pretty rad. me and the asher and the morgan decided to make a beef stew: carrots, onions, garlic, 17 beans and lentils mix from tj's, potatoes, and some kind of beef stew meat on sale. it's going to cook overnight and when i come home from work tomorrow, dinner is served!

yay.

Elvis Cake.

go to a full plate. eating elvis cake. smile. enjoy. xo, amanda

ps. i took myself on a date to the movies yesterday after work. i saw the september issue which is a documentary on anna wintour and the making of the vogue september issue. i loved it. i love fashion. i think i will start taking myself on more dates. maybe once a week if i have a time. if not, then 2 times a month sounds good. you gotta have fun with yourself.

10 days off, back to work.

it's hard going back to work after not working for 10 days. seriously hard.

i went to providence. i practiced. i ate good delicious food. i rejuvinated.

i came back to philly. did an immersion practice with corina on friday. rejuvination!!

jp came to town and we hung out for the weekend. fun times. coffee drinking. amazing weather yesterday. i also made it back to y2 to a solid practice yesterday.

i didn't make it to y2 this morning, but i just threw down my mat for a few sun salutes. i feel really sluggish. not sure if it's the work thing. or the staying up late thing. or just whatever... i might try to hit up wake up tonight for a class. i think starting this week i have tuesday and thursday mornings off until 11:30, which will be awesome because i can go to practice later! yay.

ummm. yoga sutra closed down in philly. didn't expect that to actually happen. wow. ok.

back to work. back to work. back to life.

ashtanga yoga providence.

the seeds have been planted... all around town. a flyer for ashtanga yoga providence outside of julian's (we ate there last night).
me on jill's comfy chair being comfy in my sweatshirt. 

after practicing, we ordered delicious mexican food from la lupita and ate it while hanging out in the park by the armory basically all afternoon. we played this frisbee game, sat and talked, did a little sun salutes, talked to strangers.. then we went home and made dinner and had some drinks and played this crazy card game that has little beans on the pictures. bohnanza.

i'm loving this town. i'm loving hanging with jill and mike and their RISD buds and RISD wives.. everyone is so nice and we're having a blast. we're going to flyer the city some more with ashtanga providence flyers. this city is so ready for some mysore style lovin'.

also, i dropped back without fear today in the presence of my friend and teacher jill. thank you for sharing your practice and your space with me. i loved it. tomorrow i will work on standing up solo. 

also, i've been taking pictures with the digital camera adam gave me and some pictures with my holga. i will post the digital ones when i get back but for now you get these lovely phone pics! night night!

blogging from RI

i left philadelphia around 12:45 yesterday and made the solo journey to providence to visit jill, mike, angie and charlie. i missed the nj turnpike, but other than that, it was an uneventful trip. hit a little traffic around the g.w. bridge in ny. i remember driving through new york when i was a kid and always being fascinated with the scenery. i had to remind myself to keep my eyes on the road. i had an awesome trip. listen to good music. ate some dried mango, beef jerky and pumpkin spiced granola. i made it to providence by 6pm, with one bathroom stop and on less than a tank of gas!! killer!

when i got here i was freezing, so i changed into warmer clothes... and we went out to dinner with some friends at julian's. good food, good friends, good times. good sangria! 

came back to the house and lounged around a bit and then went to bed. yoga room to guest bedroom in less then 5 minutes flat. it's peaceful here. i wouldn't mind living here for a little chunk of time. life is nice and i like it here. 

just practiced in the yoga guest room with jill-ji. now off to eat and play some frisbee in the park and relax on this lovely labor day.

welcome morgan!!

This is Morgan in foreground, Asher in middle ground, Stranger in background. We went to Higher Grounds (pictured) this morning! First time there. What a lovely place to drink coffee. Great atmosphere, lots of art, lots of space. I like it better then OneShot merely because it's bigger and you don't feel like you're sitting on top of strangers. We also went to N. 3rd for brunch, I had two fried eggs with chili on top of a delicious corn bread. The food was fab! We hadn't been there either. A day of firsts. We also went to Art Star and I bought a pair of earrings. That store is going to be where I spend money on things for me or special gifts for friends. It's truly amazing.

I'm enjoying having Morgan as a roommate. I love being on vacation. We went to Ray's Happy Birthday Bar in South Philly to celebrate J.D.'s bday last night. It was crowded, smokey (they allow smoking apparently), and kinda nutty, but it was nice to be there with a bunch of good people I know. We biked there from No.Libs. It's a little over 6 miles round trip. Now I am relaxing. Off to Providence tomorrow for a mini-road trip to see Jill and maybe connect with my Holga again.