rough

life is out of control when you dont have time to blog.  :P

it is getting down to crunch time at school with all the wrap up work and final projects.

the bout this weekend is between the PrissKillas and the Women of Mass Destruction. it may be a long shot for us, but i think we can beat WMD. we almost had them the last time we played.

and i have not been feeling up to maximum capacity lately, its probably a mixture of seasonal change and bikram whipping me back into optimal strength. although the past two days i have felt much better.

mentally- im a bit on shaky ground but i feel confident that i can pull myself together.

i guess my point is i am just taking it one day at a time for the next month in an effort to not get overwhelmed.

monday night is grill night

my fabulous mother in law gave me this grill pan a few weeks ago. monday night is steak night at the Workman house and usually it is just the boys- that is the husband and his friends Randy and Scott.  i finish yoga at 6:15 ish and then go entertain myself in an effort to not put a damper on all the testosterone in the house  :)   (really it is more like an effort to not be trapped in the testosterone sea that was once my dwelling)  sometimes i meet one of my girl friends for dinner or crash dinner at the parent's house and other times i catch up on the endless graduate student work. but last night, the guys were unable to make it. Brandon grilled his steak outside and i made curry grilled tofu "steak" from Veganomicon in my handy new grill pan. i only wish the tofu would have been more cooked in the middle. otherwise, yum. onlookers would giggle at the differences between our plates. 

practice yesterday was quite nice. i actually did not ball up my fists and secretly swear at the third part of locust. something about "kiss the towel" invokes rage. but i was surprised when my legs easily lifted from the floor using my back strength. 

simple- one pot (rice cooker) meal

an effort to get back to blogging about food.

so after rushing around all day yesterday i realized that i had not prepared anything for dinner and i was at a total loss. i threw some lentils in my rice cooker and added some salt and garlic.  right before the lentils were done i added spinach and chopped carrots and let them cook in the rice cooker until tender. this meal is yummy because it is so fresh tasting and simple. it also helps that it took little actual work and not very long at all.

on the yoga front, i have been reading blogs that people kept during teacher training and i am finding them very interesting.  during teacher training, each participant completes two yoga classes a day, lectures, and posture clinics. it is non stop learning and is exhausting physically and mentally but well worth the effort. im considering taking on the 30 day challenge- going to Bikram 6 times a week for a month. i am even wondering if i could do two classes in a day.... might be an interesting summer project.

and look at what mean Buddy did to Brandon. it looks like he was mauled by a wolverine even in this over exposed photo....

this is only one of about eight scratches all over his arm from playing with our SPASTIC Boston Terrier. 

my triangle is droopy....

yesterday i took class with Gregg. i have always taken class with female instructors so it felt a bit strange to hear a male saying The Dialogue. my usual spot- in the corner near the wall was taken so i had to put my mat in the middle of the floor directly in front of the instructor. apparently, i have subconsciously been trying to avoid instructor critique by hiding over in the corner. well, i had my fair share in class to make up for the days i have passed under the radar.

this is Bikram's triangle pose. it looks a bit different from some other forms of triangle. the benefits of this pose are listed as follows:

An excellent cardiovascular workout.

Intensely stretches each side of the body.

Opens and increases flexibility of hip joints.

Good for kidneys, thyroid, and adrenal glands.

Opens shoulder joint, good for frozen shoulder.

Strengthen and tones legs and buttocks.

Helps regulate hormone levels.

Works all muscular groups simultaneously.

Helps conditions of constipation, colitis, low blood pressure, appendicitis, spondylitis, menstrual disorders.

it is important in this pose to make sure that the top of your bent leg is parallel to the floor. i have limited strength in my hips and i have been crunching my upper body to get into this pose when i should be keeping my back straight. my lower body was not deep enough into this pose to allow me to put my hand in between my big and second toe properly. it looks like im going to have to work on triangle outside of practice in order to correct my posture.

yoga

ok. im about to brag, try not to be annoyed. 

i am married to a brilliant man who is observant enough to tell me to go to yoga- now. it is more clear to him than it even is to myself that i am more energetic and happy when i am practicing Bikram faithfully. 

grad school forced me into a sort of hiatus and i justified by claiming that getting hot and then cold because of the winter weather would just make me sick. (to those who may not know about Bikram yoga- the room is heated to about 105 with 60% humidity.) what i should have done instead is treat my own winter depression crap by going to yoga. especially on days when i did not want to. well, consider the hiatus over.

Bikram has too many benefits for me to just not go.  the spine series is a big challenge for me. when i am skipping out on yoga my back hurts even when i am just going to sleep. there are not many other options for me to strengthen my back muscles in such a complete way. 

yoga also makes me more aware. i am more conscious of what i put in my body which reflects in my weight and overall health. concentrating on myself also allows me to better deal with anything going on around me. i can better monitor my response to the environment and people around me when i practice awareness. if life is how you respond then Bikram is constant preparation.  i have heard the owner of Bikram Memphis, Lori, say during savasana "Life is not always going to be comfortable." She went on to talk about how 105 degrees is hot. you know how hot the room is before you step into it. hot is going to be uncomfortable but it serves a purpose of keeping your muscles safe while you stretch. "Just be here. Be ok with being uncomfortable." that is really profound to me. this type of yoga is just you, your breath and your will. you learn determination despite difficulties. you learn how to find stillness where none seems to exist.

reason #332 to be a vegan

prepare your gag reflex....

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

does ANY of that look vegan?

no.

it looks like people trying to kill themselves.

technicalities

well, Brandon's paintball team won the tournament this weekend (if you ask me). in actuality, they were given the second place trophy. now mind you, second place for a pump team pump the gun, shoot, pump shoot) against all semi teams (15 balls a second, no pump), is not bad at all! but the problem was the refs unnecessarily assessing penalties and not being able to adjust scores after the score card was signed after each game.... all that to say- they won but took home second.  i was proud regardless. Brandon turned around a poor outcome on a dime.  he was alone against three semis during one of the final games and managed to take two of them out, no problem. next month Dark Covenant is coming after all of those teams and they will take home first.

one recipe- two meals

i, the vegan clearly living under a rock, had not tried River's meatless loaves until today. i made one recipe and used half for a meatless loaf and half for meatballs. 

i did not have any bread crumbs so i just used what i had and put some grape nuts in the blender until they were the consistency of bread crumbs. instead of the mrs dash concoction, i used chipotle peppers in adobo. the peppers gave the meatlessness an extra zing! 

 after my meatless balls and meatless loaf came out of the oven, i decided on going with a "pasta" dish for dinner.  i baked a spaghetti squash and topped it with marinara and meatless balls. you know what that means? tomorrow night, im having meatless loaf.

i was really excited about the way this batch of faux meat turned out and that i was able to make two separate meals from the same batch. (nevermind the non-loaflike qualities of the photo....)

River's recipe is as versatile as it is delicious.

hit the switch

humor me for a minute while i get a little geeky. i just made the switch from windows operating pcs to a macbook. i'm surprised that i have lived this long without throwing a laptop out of a window now that i have such a user friendly laptop with so many cool features. take iphoto for example- i took photos this weekend when it snowed and within 2 minutes of uploading them, i created a slideshow to let my mother in law see the snow fight she had missed a few minutes earlier.

love it.

and i dont have to fight to get on the internet, it is just an automatic.

in a world where i find myself frustrated about school work load and other junk, the macbook makes my life easier. and im ok with being geeky.

here are more photos even!

the snowbunny hubby with his brother chunking a snowball at him.

him again shooting his traditional bow.

snow in memphis- march 1st

so a couple of days ago it was 70 degrees outside. i went to school wearing flats and no socks. yesterday it began to snow. and snow. there was at least 4 inches of snow on the ground this morning. Brandon and the puppies had a fun time playing in the snow.

we then went to his parent's house and played in the snow even more. here is Brandon chasing his sister Hannah.