Hot Yoga

Last night I had the pleasure of experiencing a completely unique form of exercise. Oren and I decided to finally go try out a yoga class we had been talking about doing for months. We walked into Bikram Yoga thinking it would be somewhat similar to other yoga classes we'd taken in the past. Boy were we wrong!

This was "hot yoga," where they basically heat up a room to 100 degrees more or less and then have you do the more physically intense forms of yoga poses (26 to be exact) for 90 minutes straight. I have never sweat so much in my life -- not even when I ran a half-marathon! I know now not to ever wear yoga pants in that class...the fewer the clothes, the better.

It was all very overwhelming and some of the positions seemed downright impossible. But others came to me easily as I have done them in the past. Of course it takes practice to build up to those difficult poses, but some of them I just didn't even get how they were doing it! Our instructor was great, very encouraging to the new guests and reinforcing the fact that if you got too tired it was OK to give yourself a break.

The last 15 minutes were the most grueling. I even got a bit of a headache as well as some nausea. But I kept going because the instructor was slowing down a little. When I walked out of the hot room at the end of the lesson, my body felt amazing. I had worked it out literally from head to toe and it felt so relaxed and free-flowing. Not to mention the overall euphoric state I was in. I knew right then I was a little hooked.

I made the commitment to sign up for a month, consisting of 10 classes. It will be quite a challenge but I am so curious to see the kind of results I am thinking I might see since just one class made this much of an impact on me.

Today, I'm pretty sore. But it's a good kind of sore and I am going back this afternoon since that is usually the best cure for soreness. Stay tuned on this new element in my life...

25 random things about me

So, in keeping with my friend Elizabeth's blog idea, I decided to post a Facebook concept to my blog so that all my readers can learn a little bit more about me. The challenge was to list 25 facts, opinions, life goals about yourself. It is actually pretty difficult to come up with on the spot. But I'm long-winded, and therefore I enjoyed this exercise. So here you go people. A little more about me:


1. I am one who needs lots of time when it comes to getting ready, especially in the mornings. If someone tries to rush me I get really pissed off and it can potentially ruin my mood for the rest of the day.

2. I have three brothers, one is my twin, and I love them all in so many different ways. Oddly though, they were never those intimidating, over-protective types who scared boys away from trying to date me. I'm OK with that. I'm happier knowing they allowed me to learn my own lessons.

3. I have a cat who thinks she is a human being. She is the neediest thing I have ever seen...always wanting to make some kind of bodily contact with me. She even reaches up and cups her paw on my face and looks lovingly into my eyes. I know it sounds unreal, but I promise you it is.

4. After the brutal ending of my last relationship, I picked up and moved to Bilbao, Spain for six months to rediscover myself and remember what it was to be on my own and comfortable with that. I took intense Spanish courses and taught conversational English. That period of my life will always hold a special place in my heart.

5. I have one niece who is about to turn 1 year old and I recently found out I will be an auntie for the second time because my middle brother, Ben, and his wife are pregnant.

6. I am addicted to coffee. It's not even my favorite thing to drink. I began drinking it in high school in order to stay up late to cram for my very challenging Advanced Placement courses which was almost impossible to do after an entire afternoon of intense cheerleading practices.

7. Yes, I was a cheerleader in high school. We competed on an annual basis and won the NCA National Championships in 1998 in Dallas against 40 other small co-ed squads.

8. I am now living in Houston, a place I never thought I would end up after leaving for college in the year 2000. Surprisingly, it suits me very well and I am loving re-discovering the city and being close to my parents.

9. This past summer, I gave in and bought a Blackberry because I hated my last phone. It is seriously one of the neatest devices I've ever seen. And I love the new ease of texting with a full keyboard.

10. Although my boyfriend, Oren, tried very hard to find a good singing voice in me, it's just not there. I am not tone deaf, but I definitely need some form of training.

11. No matter how hard I try, I cannot whistle. And no matter how many different ways you teach me, not so much as a pathetic little noise comes out. This drives Oren crazy and it is one of his life goals to get me to whistle.

12. My two best friends currently live very far away from me and it has been hard not having them closer. They are my sisters and I love them and I am comforted to know that in the future we will have the ability to see each other much more.

13. In 2007, I trained for and ran a half-marathon by myself. It was one of the most strenuous things I've ever done and I couldn't feel my body from the butt down for about 3 days afterward, but it was one of the most rewarding personal accomplishments of my life.

14. I am technically 4' 10 3/4 " tall although I tend to tell people 5 feet (which is usually true with most of my shoes). I have always wished I was a little taller, mainly because weight is such a bigger battle for such a small person. But there are benefits to being petite as well.

15. My hair used to be naturally curly, but over the past 5 years or so, it has progressively converted to a wavy, trying to be straight sort of state. I'm not sure how I feel about this. But I've been told it will probably totally change again once I get pregnant.

16. My biggest passion is writing. I'm currently a writer for the editorial department of a petroleum information company, but my life dream would be to become an author of nonfiction novels. Words are one of my most favorite things in life.

17. Travel is another one of my passions. I am fascinated with other cultures, languages and different forms of beauty in exotic, far-away lands. Another one of my life goals is to always try to surround myself in beauty.

18. This past year has been one of the best years of my life. I have fallen in love with a person who is everything and so much more that I've ever wanted in another half. He is truly wonderful and I feel so lucky to have him in my life.

19. I love wine. I think it's a wonderful beverage full of different flavors and elements. Each time I drink it , I feel like it's an experience. I love how it is made and that it comes from nature.

20. I love food too. I'm very open-minded and like to try all sorts of different ethnic varieties. I think cooking is an art and am slowly working on mastering it and finding my cooking style. Top Chef is one of my favorite shows and it inspires me to continue working on my craft.

21. Photography used to be a big hobby of mine. I have published several photos in several publications back when I was a journalist. One of my photos even made it to a large billboard in Austin (although I never saw it) as I helped my friend in advertising with a breast cancer awareness campaign.

22. I have met some pretty famous people, including Julia Roberts and Kevin Spacey. Kevin is awesome. Yes we are on a first-name basis.

23. I'm really tired of always feeling poor. Although money is not the most important thing to me, I feel like I can never make enough to feel comfortable and/or to be saving for any big things. One day.

24. I want many children. At least four. I may change my mind but I'm pretty sure Oren is scared to death. Sorry babe.

25. I am strongly considering getting laser eye surgery. My doctor feels I am at the prime age and prescription level to do it. The expense of it is a little hard to stomach right now but I do believe in the long-run it will be well worth it.

i'm that age

As I look around me at the age of 26, I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed at life. Although I must have known this was the age most people decide to settle down and start families, I guess I never thought I would get here so fast. It was more of an imaginary place where when I would speak of my future I would pre-determine how my kids would be raised and what kind of home I would be in. But it always seemed so far away.

Now, every which way I look almost every single one of my friends is engaged, married and/or having children. I look at them and although I know they are grown adults, I still see them as the 10-year old girls I met and would ride bikes and go swimming with. Where has the time gone?

I can't express enough how neat it is to watch them transform into wives and mothers and continue on the beautiful life cycle. But it's all so surreal at the same time. I know when the time comes for me that I will be ready but until it happens, I kind of feel like I can't quite relate. I still have the younger lifestyle of going out and being social whenever I want to. I have downtime with only my boyfriend and I get to enjoy unlimited amounts of fun things to do. (Not that the other stuff isn't fun).

I like to tell people I'm not in "the club" yet, although my friends desperately want me to be. It's really funny. I always say, it will happen when it's supposed to happen and I'm not in any hurry. I'm still a little bit in denial that i'm that age. Everyone who knows me knows that I can't be pushed or rushed. That's just not how I work. My time will come and maybe I can make someone else feel the surreal emotions I'm currently feeling as I watch from the outside.

Life is so strange. But it's great too.

Childlike spirit

In one of my favorite chick-flicks, Under the Tuscan Sun, there is a line about how to find happiness: "Always keep your childlike spirit." I love it.

In childlike fashion, I decided to "play" yesterday. Oren wanted to go play shuffle board at Dave and Busters. We invited his sister along and made an evening out of it. Although Donna (his sister) and I lost the shuffle board game, we both rocked at some of the other things we played in the main game room.

I know it's old school, but Skee ball is one of the coolest games out there in my opinion. I don't know why, but I have always been good at it even if it's been years between playing. If it were up to me, we would have played that all night but since it had been who knows how many years since I've been to Dave and Busters, I thought it best to take a look around and see what other kinds of games we could play.

Although there were some cool new ones and other ones where you could definitely earn more tickets, Skee ball still comes in as No. 1 for me. Even though I stayed out way too late for a weeknight, I had a great time. There is something very refreshing about good old-fashioned playing. :)

Bright lights, cold city

It's funny how you take a vacation and when it's over, you feel like you need another one. Don't get me wrong, Oren and I had a wonderful time in New York City for the week we were there. But the problem is, there was so much planned and so many people to see that by the end of it we were exhausted! Of course it was all worth it and even if I was busy...it's not "work" so that makes it better. I say it was cold in the title but it was actually warm for that time of year in Manhattan. It progressively got colder during our stay and by the day of New Years Eve, it snowed and reached a chilling 12 degrees outside!

For those of you who don't know, Oren and I took a week-long vacation to New York City from Christmas day to New Years Day. One of my best friends lives there and I was definitely owing her a visit (She came all the way to Spain to see me last year). Oren also has several friends from school and his former band that now live there so he wanted to see them as well. I won't go through all the details of what we did, but I will mention the highlights. :)

Let's start with the day we arrived: Christmas. While I just assumed this was a traveling day and we wouldn't get much accomplished, we actually did a whole lot and it was one of the best Christmas' I can remember. After we checked into our hotel and ate an awesome dinner at a Zagat-rated Vietnamese place called Laan Nan, we made our way over to Rockefeller Center to see the huge Christmas tree lit up. It was truly gorgeous. I still don't understand how they find and transport trees that big but if I have learned anything about New York...anything is possible.

After trying to get through an almost impossible, claustrophobia-inducing crowd we went to Grand Central Station. This experience has made it to the top of my list of all-time favorites because I felt like it was out of a movie and totally unexpected. I had been before but Oren never had so we went inside and while standing in the main corridor, this beautiful laser light show started up. Complete with beautiful images on the walls and ceiling and Christmas music, it was a fantastic (and not to mention free) show! Oren and I had a little moment that made my heart melt so I will always remember that place and time fondly. :)

Later we went to Byrant Park where there is a huge ice-skating rink and tons of little shops (that were closed by that time) and a neat restaurant/bar in the middle. After vetoing the idea of skating due to the monstrous line, we decided to go have a drink at Celsius (the bar). This is kind of a scary picture but that was how red the lights were inside. We had fun!



The next big event was venturing to the observation deck of the Empire State building on Friday morning. We attempted to get up early to avoid a horrible line. Although it took 45 minutes to get to the 86th floor, it moved pretty quickly and didn't seem so bad. We went on a beautiful, clear day and were able to see the entire city. We spent about an hour on top taking pictures and looking through magnified binocular machines. Here is a photo of me looking out at the amazing view.



Out of all the awesome food we ate, my favorite by far was dinner at Spice Market. It is Asian fusion cuisine located in the Meatpacking District in a huge warehouse size space (which is rare for Manhattan). When you walk in, you feel like you walked into a very luxurious Indian palace. The food was mouth-watering and the service was excellent. Oren and I tried to make it last as long we could...before we knew it, two hours had passed. If you ever go to NYC, definitely make this a priority!

Some awesome shows we attended consisted of a matinee of Phantom of the Opera (awesome), Wicked (THE BEST SHOW I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!) and an improv comedy troupe at the Upright Citizens Brigade black box theater that included several famous comedians from SNL and 30 Rock. The cool part of the comedy show is you never know who is going to show up and we were lucky enough to get to see Amy Poehler and Rachel Dracht from SNL!! That was pretty cool and very entertaining. It was only 9 bucks too! And seriously people, go see Wicked in New York...it's an experience of a lifetime. Here is a photo of us at the Gershwin Theater in our orchestra seats (thank you Langworthys for the awesome hook-up!)



Museum visits included the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met). While they were both nice experiences, none of the exhibits really wowed us this time around. There were some very interesting notions of art as well as entertaining ones. We didn't get to spend very much time in either museum due to always having somewhere to be next.

We got to see a lot of wonderful friends as well. Heartfelt thanks to Eva and Philip, who put us up for four nights in their adorable little apartment in Chelsea. We had a great time sharing amazing meals and seeing some great shows with you. Of course just being able to see you was a gift in itself. I got to see my dad's cousin and her family, which was special since I don't see them much. Thank you Langworthys for an amazing (and very amusing) dinner at Tartine in Greenwich Village. To my Jackie and Oren's Jackie, lovely to see you both! And it was very nice to meet Oren's other friends as well.

Last but not least...New Year's Eve. Well, due to my mother's life-long dream to be in Times Square on New Years Eve and watch the ball drop, I decided it was important for me to try to do it since the opportunity was there. The only thing was that it snowed for the majority of the day with gusting winds and a wind chill factor causing it to feel like 10 degrees outside! I also wanted to enjoy part of the evening with Eva and Philip since it was a special occasion and I never get to see them. So we all went to Chelsea Market (my favorite market) to buy fresh shrimp and live lobster to cook on the fire back at their apartment. The meal ended up being awesome (although a lot of work) and I was very glad I didn't venture to Times Square at sundown to sit and wait for hours in the cold like most tourists do.

Oren and I knew our potential of actually getting into Times Square was reduced significantly by not leaving Chelsea until 9:30 p.m. but we still wanted to try. So we walked (at a very brisk pace) all padded up in all the winter attire Eva and Philip could throw on us several miles to our destination. Unfortunately, the police kept blocking off the avenues we needed to turn down and we ended up with the late-comers at the last possible avenue you could turn down at the south end of Central Park. We still believed we could make it to the cross-section where you can make your way to Times Square, but not even a half-mile down the street they blocked it off. Initially I was very disappointed and on the verge of tears because I felt like if they let us through I could try with all my might to make my way to the ball. But, I had to accept that we were defeated by the law. There was no turning around either because the crowd behind us trapped us in. We had one of the many jumbo screens placed all around the Times Square vicinity right in front of us so we could still see Times Square and the ball. Although it wasn't the same, we were still out in the cold standing and waiting...doing the exact same thing about a million others were doing. Oren and I snuck in a couple Ozarka bottles half-way filled with Champagne. We slowly took some swigs of it to stay entertained and warm. Midnight came rather quickly and Oren and I shared a fabulous New Years Eve kiss...another experience at the top of my list! The one unique thing we had Times Square people didn't was the ability to watch the fireworks go off in Central Park. They were beautiful and it was nice to feel like waiting out there was worth while.



There is no better way I can think of to bring in the new year. Watching fireworks in New York City with the man of my dreams. (Sorry, I know it's corny but I really appreciate the happiness that has been brought to my life after some struggles) I hope everyone had their own wonderful celebration and I wish you and your families a very Happy New Year.