hot stuff baby this evening

as i mentioned in my last post, i made my triumphant return to hot yoga this week. and by triumphant, i mean awkward, sweaty and not very graceful return.

i used to be an avid hot yoga fan when i lived in florida. i went at least once a week to this cute little studio in delray beach where the vibe was do what you can and be happy with yourself. and against most odds, i did and i was. in fact, i actually got kind of good. i could do standing head to knee in a 105 degree room without falling over. which let me tell you, is a BIG FUCKING DEAL. plus, i found this like weird, inner spirituality whatever thing, which is so not normally my style. seriously. my religious views on Facebook? "clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."

so when i moved to nyc almost 3.5 years ago, i was eager to find a studio so i could continue to find my weekly release. however, i found NOTHING i liked. i go to hot yoga to find peace while getting fit, but i like the option to swig water if i feel like i'm going to pass out. call me old fashioned. i got flat out yelled at in one class, which definitely did not help me harness my inner chi. it left a bad taste in my mouth and i hadn't returned since. but lately i've been missing it.

when i saw a gilt city deal for two months of unlimited hot yoga right before i was heading into 3 days of pure debauchery at governor's ball, i immediately went to the yelp reviews for the studio to see if it would be a little more "hippie-like" of a studio so that i could take full advantage. luckily all the reviews seemed positive and mentioned how it was a great place for beginners to get used to bikram, which is exactly what i needed. combined with the fact that it's only a couple blocks up the street from my office, there was no way i was turning this deal down.

on wednesday i packed up my yogi towel, mat and sweat-proof clothes into my boys don't like funny girls tote and headed to work to proceed to drink about a gallon and a half of water. because if there is one thing you must do before going to hot yoga, it's HYDRATE. seriously, you're going to sweat out half your body weight. get some water up in that bitch. i planned to go to the 8pm class since i had read that the 6pm post work class can get really busy, and i figured some space for my first time back on the mat would be a good idea.

i arrived early to check in and sign my life away (if you die, you can't sue the studio. fun fact) and got ready to sweat my metaphorical balls off. the staff was nice enough to tell me a good spot for an almost beginner like me that would be near a window, which is not as warm as the center of the room, and mentioned that they are not yoga nazis and encourage people to hydrate if they need to.

i set up my mat and got down to shavasana (yep, had to google how to spell it), which i forgot how much i loved. any exercise that encourages you to lay on a mat with your wrists up and toes pointed out is okay by me. after 15 minutes of relaxing, class got going. there were actually a lot of beginners in my class and the teacher made sure to welcome us all and let us know our goal today was to acclimate to the heat and not leave the room. as for poses, do what you can, but don't worry about not being the best. drink water if you need to. lay down if you're over heated. just listen to your body. basically, everything i wanted to hear. love.

i wish i could say that full on muscle memory took over and i killed the class, but that would be a bold face lie. i struggled with a lot of poses that used to be easy for me (i.e. standing head to knee and rabbit pose) and couldn't even get my foot into my hands like i used to for some other poses. but it wasn't a total failure. i can still do triangle pose with the best of them. and while i did need to drink water often, i only laid down once when the heat got to be a bit much, which i think is totally a success considering the first time i ever did bikram i spent half the class laying on the ground. and no - i'm not just talking about the 13 poses you do on the floor. another perk of this studio? they have a beautiful outdoor space that they open up for students after class to cool down and enjoy the fresh air.

all in all, i consider it a successful first venture back into the world of bikram. i'm getting ready to head to my next class soon and can't wait until i'm back to my former one-legged standing status.

barefoot and boozed up

oh man. i don't think i can accurately put into words my hippie experience this last weekend at governor's ball.   but i will somehow try.

to give you some background, i have always identified as a halfway hippie. kind of into the whole mellow, music-loving,  non-shoe-wearing vibe, but i like showering, having a stable government and fine leather goods.


naturally, a music festival has always been on my list of things to do. but i don't think that i'm ready to go full on coachella or bonnaroo or basically anything that requires camping or people that are really dressed like this:

what is it with hippies and hula hoops?

which is why gov's ball was the natural fit: 3 days of music but located just 4 short miles from my cozy apartment. done and done.

if any of you live in the nyc area, and i think almost all of you do, you would know that friday was a monsoon in nyc. most people would've thought to themselves, well, i have 2 more days of show so stay home and dry and get ready for the next two days.

i am not most people. and luckily, neither is my dear friend silvia. we put on our festival gear and braved the extreme amount of rain and mud all three days. barefoot. i can honestly say that i have pretty much communed with nature at this point, and i'm okay with it. some pictures to prove my point:

ponchos and facepaint

day 1 & 2 feet for the most part

grumpy cat wasn't into the weather

day 3 with special guest star nicole. look at the ground. no grass.

day 3 feet. nicole wasn't going full hippie.

but i sure as hell did.

so yeah, it was three days of lots of food and LOTS of booze. i literally packed a fifth of vodka in my bra in my purse every day. so needless to say i am in need of a cleanse. which is why i'm heading to hot yoga for the first time in almost 4 years tonight. because i'm pretty sure it's the only thing right now that can possibly get the last of the booze and dirt out of my system. i'll be back tomorrow (since this post took me yesterday and today to write. my brain didn't work monday so i don't count that as a part of the process) to keep you posted on how my body reacted after so long away.

spoiler alert? probably not well.

i'll be missing you - kittie smalls edition

well friends, this is not going to be a super fun post, but i've got the sads today and i want to write about it to deal with it. you know, like a normal (eh, not really) person.

as you all know, i am a fan of the furry feline species. i have my very own purry pal buddy who lives with me here in nyc, plus i have four loves that live with my parents in florida that i spent plenty of time snuggling with from middle school through those couple of "boomerang" years after college.

unfortunately, it's been a bad week for connors' kitties. we sadly lost both little girl (grey tabby) and mopsy (black persian) in the past week, which to be honest, FUCKING SUCKS.

now don't get me wrong, we've kind of known for a while that things were not looking great. both had been getting skinnier, which is not common in my house. we like big kitties. more to love. so for the past year, every time i go back to florida, i say goodbye to all the cats as if i'll never see them again and feed them the milk from my cereal bowl one more time (sorry mom). but i never really thought that it would be our last snuggle. i tricked myself into thinking they would live for another year every time. and that's not grown up or realistic of me, but i don't care. i'd rather just live in the moment and then deal with it when the time comes.

so just like diddy misses biggie, i'm going to miss mops and girl - kittie smalls if you will. since i can't make an awesome music video to honor them, i encourage you to listen to the audio of diddy and faith's words (substitute snuggles for the making love, because that's just GROSS guys) while looking at some of my favorite pics of my loves.

mops napping on my books because she had to be on you.

i really wanted little girl to be a cash cat. like REAL bad.

whatcha lookin' at punk?

her favorite spot in the world was wherever you were sitting on the couch

her "judging you" face.

in addition to hugging buddy extra hard tonight, i'm also pouring one out for my fallen homies. it's what they would want. 

sweating it out.

it's officially summer. how do i know? because i have my first set of awkward tan lines, acquired from a particularly lovely day on long beach, LI.

but that's not what i came here to tell you about.

no friends, i came here today to write to you about starting my couch to 5k program, which is going to help me complete my rad color run on july 21st.

ryan, i'm doing this for you.

last night i packed up my gym bag, which happens to display one of my favorite gilmore girls quotes:

if they did, then i'd be wifed up a million times by now.

and i was all resolute about getting back on that treadmill. because while i didn't get to last week due to busy times at the office. and when work is busy, you know what that means.

you know it, sweet brown.

so i went to sleep with my AC blasting and buddy snuggled up in my side to wake up this morning with a cough that reminds me of a 70 year old woman who smokes 3 packs a day and a sore throat to accompany it. swell.

normally, i'd take this as a hint to grab some wonton soup, a vat of orange juice and lay on the couch for the rest of the week. instead, this time i'm going to try and sweat it out at the gym, and release the toxins or what have you.

i used to actually do this when i used to do hot yoga. yes, i did hot yoga on the regular for a while when i was still living in florida. i just haven't found a studio that i liked here in nyc so it kind of dropped off the mat. the mat, get it? like a yoga mat? i'm FUNNY.

back to the matter at hand: whenever i had a cold, i would sign up for a hot yoga class that day and literally feel the sweat cleansing me. so why couldn't some gym time do the same? i'm not going to go all crazy and try to run when my lungs feel like they are a quarter-tank full. plus, i think part of the reason that hot yoga worked was because i also really enjoyed the class. and let's be honest, i don't really enjoy running.

dead on, ann perkins.

what do i enjoy? shaking my shit. so thus, i am attempting to head to zumba to try and sweat and shake this bug out before it implants itself into my life this week. because governor's ball is this weekend and i need to be on my A game so that i can get my borderline-hippie experience that i've been dreaming about for years.