happy, happy friday

good morning to everyone out there in the blogosphere! 

i woke up this morning with so much delicious energy that i feel like i could run a marathon.  the past couple of nights have been rough for me... still don't really know why... and i've been getting only like 3-4 hrs of sleep a night.  not good.  doesn't make for a happy girl come the morning.  so after dinner last night, hubby suggested i take a quick nap so i could recharge for survivor.  while, in theory, that sounded wonderful, it didn't quite work out that way.  i totally slept right through survivor and could barely open my eyes when hubby tried to wake me.  he just left me to rest and i wound up sleeping straight through until this morning!  a total of 11 blissful hours of sleep.  ahhhh.  i can't even begin to describe how good that felt. 

so today i only have one yoga class to teach because my other one has been cancelled for the next two weeks.  and while i always love to have classes to teach, its a nice break.  so i'm spending my day with my sis-in-law and beautiful baby nephew and fitting in some work in between.  so far i managed to clean the house, make breakfast for the hubby and i, walk the puggle, watch an epi of Sex and The City and sort through all of my class CDs.  I also am super excited because i'm teaching a SPIN class tomorrow AM.  i'm pumped for that!  can't wait to make a rockin' playlist and get my sweat on!  i'm gonna rock 'em!  i also am sending out my kickboxing exam and certification so i'll be able to add that to my class schedule soon as well.  yoga, spin and kickboxing?  color me the happiest girl in the world!  i'm also actively creating an outdoor group workout class that i'm recruiting friends to join.  i'm going to be running this on Sunday mornings and can't think of a bettter way to spend a weekend morning.... working out and kicking butt with friends.  love it.

tonight after class the hubby and i are getting take out and watching the DVR'd survivor epi from last night.  perfect night. and tomorrow we're doing the whole v-day celebration.  we're going to see Avatar and getting indian food for dinner.  the movies are a really cool thing  for me because back in the day, with my anxiety, i refused to see a movie.  i hated the idea  of being trapped in a movie theatre and not being able to just get up and go.  i notice that "trapped" feeling is very common for those of us with anxiety.  i'll never forget that after a year of not seeing movies, the first one i felt confident enough to see was wall-e and hubby bought me a little plastic wall-e in honor of the event!  i still have it!  and i still continue to acknowledge the movies as a stepping stone in my recovery from anxiety... so it's a real special treat for me to do this with him.  talk about appreciating the little things, huh? haha! 

hope your friday is wonderful and you have some fun plans for this weekend - v-day related or not! 

taking a mental health day

I'm sitting in my apartment, wrapped in a blanket and semi-involved in a movie on tv. I'm taking today as a mental health day and working on getting lots of things in order. Remember when I said I saw more certifications in my future? Well I turned myself into a successful psychic when I ordered my study materials yesterday! I'm very much looking forward to this new adventure and am totally excited to start the certification process in spin and kickboxing. I adore learning about health, nutrition and exercise-after all, I truly owe a lot of my health to it, so what better way to express it than share it? Nothing makes me feel better and more alive than a heart pumping spin class, kickboxing sweat session and of course my beloved yoga.

I also love meeting people on similar missions and paths. My students are truly inspiring. And its awesome to be able to bring a new element of exercise to them.

I'm teaching a class in a couple of hours and am really aching for that time on my mat. Its funny how healthy habits can be just as addicting. If I take too much time off, my body starts to let me know! Same thing w/ my food. If I OD on too much crap, my body definitely gets pissed! It just happened this weekend. I went a little (read: a lot!) Carb crazy and was paying for it. I missed yoga and my sunday night jog. But its ok. If we never make a wrong turn how will we learn? Mistakes are opportunities for growth.

So I'm back to myself having kicked butt yesterday in 3hrs worth of workouts, indulging in yoga everyday this week (yay!), gearing up for spin (gotta log in certain amount of time on the bike for cert) and back to eating food that makes me feel good. I totally fought the urge to have a cup of coffee this morning. Been coffee-free for quite some time but still desire it every now and then.

If you made a wrong turn or fell off the [yoga, workout, reading, cleaning, eating well, working on anxiety, meditation, etc] bandwagon- take a day to re-energize and jump back in tomorrow. Lose the guilt! Forget the anticipation!

And I want to leave you with something I have recently found and think its beautifully inspiring: a hugely successful marathon runner was once asked how she mentally gets through all of her super long races. Her response: I take it ONE TREE AT A TIME.