Three Yoga-less days :/

      That is right... three days of no yoga...... I'm saddened by this fact. I feel lost a little bit. I didn't do yoga on Sunday because I practiced on Saturday (original off day from yoga). So I intended to practice yesterday but this was avoided due to the necessity to get up early and get a move on to get an application in the mail and moving to its destination before tomorrow.
      We ended up getting back home around 2 something that afternoon and, now that I'm trying to think, I can't remember what we did after that. OH, we went to look for a pair of slacks and shoes (gotta love country boys and their minimal attire haha). Anyways, then it was time to change the spark plugs in my car. He did that while I swam and cleaned the pool—he joined me once he was done. By this time it was dang near 5 o'clock and we went to visit friends and see some remodeling they did on their house. Next up was child birth class! That lasted from 630-840.... Needless to say, I was maxed out on time for yoga. Either I had food in my stomach when I had time or I didn't have time. :(.

      Well that was yesterday. Today on the other hand... I woke up later than I had planned and was just plain lazy. No other way around that. I don't remember what I did first but I think it was coffee. After that Zack and I spent time in the pasture with my "training deprived" horse. It's been months since I've worked with her because this blasted heat crap going on. It was 100 degrees at 830 last night!!! Ridiculous. Nevertheless, we were out there and giving her a re-lesson on something she's already learned. I'll probably have to start from scratch again when I start over. Mostly because I don't want to get ahead of myself or her for that matter. Give her time to get reacquainted and such.
      Anyways, off topic again. After the lesson it was breakfast, shower, then off to Camp McCain. I needed a new Military ID, had to fill out a voucher, and then sign an award recommendation. After getting home it was lunch time and then I had to pack up some glasses and mugs from the camper so that we could start moving our stuff out of the camper and into storage for moving purposes. By that time it was 315 and Zack had to get ready for work and I was hungry... again. Baby making= always hungry=not good for yoga on days when morning practice is avoided. I intended to do an evening practice... yet again it was canceled due to food in the belly.
      TOMORROW I hope to rouse myself early enough to have a few gulps of coffee before making my way to my mat and completing my practice. Whether it be 30/45/60 minutes long. I INTEND to get in my practice. I need to... I feel lazy all day if I don't. Therefore, my alarm is set for 6:30 and 7:00 (just in case I feel lazy again).

I'm setting a mid-year resolution: Practice 6-days a week (minus pregnancy recovery time) so that I can be ready for my teacher training (whoever I decide it be with) next year!

I need to print out some pages that say this so that I can be inspired by it. I may just do that too :)

This picture, and many others, of Tiffany Cruikshank is my inspiration and drive to practice.

Tiffany Cruikshank

Interesting Yoga Practice

      This morning was such a lazy morning. I rolled out of bed at 8:30 after resetting my alarm about four times. I could NOT wake up to save my life. I'm not even sure why I was so tired. It's not like I didn't sleep like a rock last night or anything, I just so happened to not want to wake up. Nevertheless, practice was inevitably delayed again today due to the fact that I ate breakfast instead of practicing. Breakfast was mediocre, but my smoothie was awesome! :) First one of the day was a mix between banana, blueberries, pineapple and peanut butter with almond milk and a few ice cubes. Oh so delicious.
      After breakfast I ended up watching the bike race for the olympics. Interesting stuff. Some guy ended up rounding a corner too fast and crashed. This crash supposedly changed the whole race. Odd that one crash can change the outcome of a 150-mile race. Craziness. Nevertheless, the fella who won totally deserved it. His timing was impeccable. When the race was over it was time to get cracking on lunch for the hubby. Waking up late made me behind on a bunch of things. Namely... lunch.
      What was lunch, you may ask? Well it was delicious. Seared salmon with a salad. Ohhhh NmmNmmNmm. Thats kind of like yum yum but with a N haha. Anyways, it came out better than I imagined really. I wasn't sure if the salmon would be too fishy or if the salad would be too plain, but everything came out great. Yay for a healthy meal. Next up, nap time with the hubby before he went back to work. Luckily, my belly isn't big enough to kick us both off of a couch yet so we were able to snuggle up quite nice for a little reprieve. :)
       Nap time over. He went back to work and I came home and worked on my Senior Seminar Final paper. Ugh, I really can't wait until tomorrow to through my hands up and say "I'M FINISHED SUCKAAAAAAAA."I will relish in the thought of actually and truly finishing my degree. I will be a graduate finally! Then it will be on to doing something else haha. Anyways, after I quit working on my paper I decided I wanted to quickly work on some yoga before Zachary got off of work. So I opened my laptop and went to YogaGlo and looked for some prenatal/Vinyasa style yoga. Here I found Kathryn Budig's Prenatal-Friendly Flow practice....................... Yeah, the name is quite deceiving. Wonderfully so though. It ended up being almost Ashtanga Vinyasa mixed. I was quite relieved. Not only did I recognize most of the sequence but there were extra tidbits thrown in during the practice.
        I was amazed at how my body moved through this sequence. My Chaturanga's were strong and stable and my stomach didn't get tight like it had been. I was shocked. I may continue with this practice, modifying the further I become, since it sat so well with me today. Definitely a great practice and I even broke a sweat!!! My treat after practice? You guessed it!! Another smoothie :D. This one was just the nanners and peanut butter with almond milk.

Delicious! (I think I'm obsessed with smoothies)

Energy Wane...

    My alarm wasn't set this morning, and therefore, I was woke up at 7:10 when my phone rang to inform me that my husband (who is sleeping) was supposed to be at work for 6:00 this morning. Hm, he thought he didn't go to work until 1 this afternoon. Nevertheless, things were a bit rushed this morning as he dressed to get out the door and to work. I forewent my morning practice of Ashtanga for a bowl of oatmeal, a glass of almond milk and proceeded to get things thawed out for lunch. Baked Chicken with ravioli for lunch and I had no idea when I was actually going to have lunch. At least, until my husband informed me that his break was at 1.
     Sweet, that meant I could let my oatmeal settle, get started on the chicken, AND find some kind of yoga to get worked into my day. For my practice today, I hopped over to YogaGlo to find a sequence. My back was hurting from last nights sleep, so I wanted something a little more laid back than my Ashtanga practice. So in that case, I settled on a third trimester thirty minute yoga sequence by Stephanie Snyder. I'm not quite at seven months yet but I figured it would be a gentle practice that I may like. Luckily for me, I did like the practice. It was gentle enough for my back, but not too gentle to where I didn't feel like it was a flop. I may reference this site more often for "try out" practices. I've kept with my Ashtanga practice this long, but even the sun salutations are proving hard to get through. I want to cut it down to three of each set but I feel like that would be cheating. I may ask about that. The stretching aspect of the series is wonderful but the beginning warm up makes me engage my core too much.
      Yoga aside, I feel like I need to eat better but can't. My body wants things that my mind says no to. I like smoothies so those are easy to consume and they're healthy, but when it comes to other foods... I just can't seem to get them past my tongue. I am trying though. The baked chicken from today wasn't too bad. It was chicken smeared with dijon mustard and topped with crumbled bread crumbs. The ravioli was made by Bertoli and topped with a pasta sauce. I think I may have had a handful of those so it wasn't an extreme portion. I did, however, come home from lunch (probably after an hour of eating) and blended up a pretty easy smoothie.

Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie

- 1 banana chopped
- 2 spoon fulls of peanut butter
- cup of almond milk
- ice

Blend together and enjoy :)!!

Addiction...

Almond Milk mmmmm

      I think I'm becoming addicted to this stuff. It's so yummy! Of course, I don't have the unsweetened kind but the sweetened isn't all that sweetened. Oddly. But it still tastes amazing. I added some to my coffee this morning before my practice. I think I'm beginning to be addicted to that too. I know I said I was going to try that DVD again this morning but I ended up doing the two sets of 5 sun salutations that begin the Ashtanga practice and stopped there.
       I am going to set up an appointment with a certified instructor of prenatal yoga and yoga therapy to ask her some questions about my practice so that I can have the best benefits for me and Connor. I want to deepen my studies of yoga, but I also don't want to hurt me or my unborn child. Is it possible to become addicted to yoga? I feel like, after my practice is complete, I just want to keep practicing and moving with my breath. Of course, I could do a small practice in the evening but is there such thing as too much yoga in one day?

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      Nevertheless, I applied for a position at Lululemon in Memphis..... probably the worst possible idea in the world but I was curious if I would be given a call back. Sure enough I was sent an invitation last night!!! I hadn't even been in the system a day. Too bad Lululemon is about 120 miles from my house. I couldn't drive that everyday and actually make any money. All my money would be spent on gas. :( I wish they had one closer to me. I've considered actually going to the interview just to see what stuff they have in the store haha.
      Right now I guess I'm just stuck in no mans land as far as a job goes. Well, outside of substitute teaching that is. I sub at an elementary school but that is about as sporadic as it is stable. While the assistant principal says it will be mostly a full job this year, I'm not so sure. Heck, there are probably two women on maternity leave but that only helps me temporarily since I'll be going on one in October/November myself.

Mmm breakfast. :) (Random I know)

Tried Something Different

      I've been having uterine irritability lately and I kept trying to figure out why or what was causing it. I don't have a UTI or a feminine infection, so those weren't the culprits. Last night at my first birthing class, I asked the ladies that were giving the class what could be causing my uterine irritability and we went through my daily routine pretty much. Apparently standing, walking or engaging the core muscles too much is enough to cause bouts of uterine irritability. The part that caught my attention was "engaging the core muscles too much". I engage those things in Ashtanga, right?
      Anyways, I thought I'd try a softer, yet different approach to yoga this morning. Grudgingly, albeit. Prenatal Yoga developed by Elena Brower. She is an Anusara Yoga teacher and created a dvd for pregnant and postnatal women. It was a lot of standing poses (not that I'm complaining) and the breath holds are a bit long. I'm not sure how the person that was demonstrating the sequence was able to take and hold breaths that long since her belly is much larger than mine. I'm not sure if you folks have been pregnant before, but a growing fetus tends to take up the space that allows for truly deep breaths. Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga, nevertheless, was interesting and depending how I feel the rest of the day, I may do it again.
      If, however, Ashtanga was not the culprit of my uterine irritability (I'm seeing my doctor today and will be asking about it again) then I will be well back on my way of my Ashtanga practice. But if Ashtanga has been the culprit, well, then I guess I'll have to take it easy and try something different for now. I can always re-begin my practice once my pregnancy is over. Not to mention, for some reason I feel like I've read in Yoga Mala, that pregnant women were not supposed to practice Ashtanga. I'm going to check that out again to make sure.

On to breakfast and coffee :)

On the Mat Again

Serenity in the water.

     Woke up early this morning despite the fact that I would have, and could have slept much longer. My husband was up at 6 this morning to go fishing with his stepdad and I decided to just get up rather than sleep through the morning. It still took me a good forty-five minutes to get on my mat for some reason. I haven't practiced in almost a week it seems. My practice started slow... real slow. I made my way through 5 rounds of Sun Salutation A, and then started working on Sun Salutation B. Sadly, I made it to number 4 and decided to skip the last and move into the Fundamental series part of Ashtanga. Yet again, sadly I only made it to the end of the Fundamental series before calling it quits. Finished with the three closing poses and laid down on my left side for corpse pose.
      It seems like I'm stuck... I think so far, the farthest I've made it lately in my Ashtanga practice is to the first three seated postures. Granted, some I can't do for the obvious reason of being pregnant, but it still saddens me not to make it far into the practice. Is it possible to become lopsided from not completing the full practice? I hope not, because I'd be one lopsided pregnant lady if that were so. I've been tempted to just switch to a prenatal yoga practice for now but I don't want to leave my Ashtanga practice. I find comfort in the stability I have.

     The above picture is of Tiffany Cruikshank. Her photo shoots for Nike are very, VERY inspirational. I fully intend to accomplish this pose one day and know that the only way to achieve such a goal is to not give up in my practice. Sometimes the end seems so far away though. Patience has never been one of my virtues. At all. Heck I'm working on 26 weeks of pregnancy and I'm already anxious for that to be over haha. (Although I think the anxiousness of pregnancy and the anxiousness of yoga are a bit different)

Coming Soon

I will be posting a blog either tonight or tomorrow once we get back to home station. Right now we're about to load on a charter to head home. Nevertheless, I shall update and fill everyone in.

Ciao.

Ashtanga Yoga and Pregnancy

      I've begun to get a bit discouraged. I'm taking two steps forwards and three-four steps back it seems. Granted, I know I hadn't practiced for a few days, but I wanted to do at least some Sun Salutations this morning. Well that was a flop. I was able to get in the first 5 Sun Salutes before I gave up. For some reason my muscles were tight, it seemed, like right behind my knees or above them a little. I tried walking it out in Down Dog but that didn't really help. I'm going to try to do a half-primary for lunch and see how that goes.
      Pregnancy and yoga are seeming to be not compatible right now for some reason. I'm going to try to keep tackling it though. I don't want to have my muscles tighten up all over again. Some yoga is better than no yoga. Whether it's 5 minutes or 50 minutes. I'm going to aim for something each day. Heck, I'd even be ok with sitting on my mat in Lotus pose to meditate.

      On a side note here, I've been reading over Pattabhi Jois Yoga Mala, and have to say I am liking what I'm reading. I know I will definitely be reading it all over again though. I want to find the texts that is referenced in the book so that I can read them. I think it would give me a greater understanding of what is being said in Yoga Mala. Even though I've only made it through approximately half of the book so far, but I feel like I need to re-read the beginning of the book. There is a lot of good information in the book though. I know I need to concentrate on the drishti (sight or gazing place) for each pose so that I can memorize which goes with what.

      On another side note, I want to know why pregnant women crave ice..... I have wanted anything that has crushed ice in it, whether it's a smoothie or just plain ice in general. Other than that, I'm back to the writing and reading block for school. Yay...... two weeks and I'm done.

I'm not dead..... but it is Saturday

     Ok, so between homework for my two school classes and being stuck in an office all day, I have had no real desire or even will power to think of a blog to write. I've either spent my time reading or writing. I'm about reading and writing out for now. Fifteen pages is zapping my brain power. I haven't even been able to get in a good yoga practice. There are females constantly come in and out of the barracks and so concentration completely sucks. They're loud, always asking what I'm doing, "what's that pose", "why are you doing that", and I can't concentrate at all. My breathing becomes sporadic and I can't find my balance. Therefore, I basically have said that until the group of females, that came in last night, moves out on sunday... I'm not going to even approach my practice. It would be pointless. I was up early yesterday and made it through the first three rounds of Sun salute A before the lights were flicked on and I was interrupted... It was 430.
     I'm not getting up at 330 to try to get a practice in because the females stay up so freaking late.

Ok no more ranting. I will be getting back on schedule Monday. Basically, I'm going to have two rest days today and tomorrow. I hope you all have a great weekend. :) Think of me while I'm here on a boring post and you're at home comfy on the couch or wherever you decided to be.

Au revoir!

Set Your Intention

      Tiny Devotions posted on Facebook asking their followers to post their intentions and take photos to document it. I decided to draw out my intention on a piece of printer paper. Probably hard to see here in the drawing but that object the girl is leaning on is supposed to be a boat. Nevertheless, my intention is to "forgive my enemies and amend wrongs done to others"and by amend wrongs, I meant the wrongs I have done to others. Such a small space for words, so I just compacted them. 

      Had I more room, I think my intention list would have been a bit longer. I fully intend to forgive my enemies and amend wrongs, but I also intend to obtain a yoga teacher certificate in order to speed the wonderful enjoyment of yoga. I don't live in a yoga enriched area but want to bring yoga to the area so that I may help others lead healthy and happy lives. 

      That being said, I am at a stalemate in regards to getting my certificate. I found a wonderful program that I could attend but I'm lacking in the funds. I want to find ways to try to raise the money, but I'm not sure what I could do to raise the money. Not many folks are willing to donate for a lady to take up a practice of yoga. Well not unless you're in a yoga enriched area, which I'm not. I'm going to be praying. Hopefully, God will touch my heart and lead me in the right direction.

      On a similar note, yoga today was quite amazing. The beginning of my practice is beginning to smooth out, even with the pregnancy, and I'm able to delve deeper into certain poses. I have even added back in Utthita Hasta Padangustasana A, B, and C (Extended Hand to Big Toe) and I'm less wobbly!!! :) That made me excited today that I was able to hold it longer than I normally could.

      I stopped at Purvattanasana though today. I didn't want to push my luck with the practice. It felt too right and I think I had too much energy and didn't want to go too deep into a pose and hurt myself. I felt great afterwards too. I may start pushing my own boundaries and testing the waters to see how far I can get in the Primary Series. We shall see. 

      I'm trying to actually make my way through Yoga Mala still. I was able to get a clarification on something in the book that was confusing me. Thankfully at that. Claudia from Ashtanga Yoga Mother Earth blog helped me out. I'm glad there are knowledgable people out there that are willing to share their knowledge and make things easier to understand. 

Adios!

SMOOTHIE :D and Yoga

      Ok, so the best part of my day so far has been yoga and this wonderful smoothie! Oh, that was just what the doctor ordered. Well, it was just what I ordered haha.
      Granted, I only made it up to Prasarita Padottanasana D due to time constraints and my desire to eat.  After practicing yoga before lunch I have decided that for the remainder of this AT I'm going to be practicing yoga during my lunch break. It was the best thing to wake me up and give me energy to go through the rest of the day. I felt great after practicing and am not near as tired as I was earlier. Not to mention, I was able to stretch my glute muscles since I'm sitting on them all day. Poor muscles.

    On a good note though, I was able to find a yoga studio in Memphis that centers around Ashtanga. There is also a teacher training session that will be going on at this studio starting September and ending next August. It is a one weekend a month for the twelve months. I really want to go but I have to convince my husband first. He knows it is something I want to do but he might be skeptical about it. I really want to study with the top dog of this training Manju Jois but his trainings are either in Chicago or Philadelphia. I'll be waiting a little while on that one though.
     A girl can hope and dream though. I sure do keep my hopes and dreams alive. Making a little extra cash on the side as a yoga teacher would be nice :). I'll have to pitch it good and hope for the best. Nevertheless, for now I am going to read a book and watch some Rizoli and Isles.

Oh and here is my smoothie mix:
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Chia Seeds
Yogurt :)

Yum!

Succumbing to Boredom

      It has completely and totally been one of those mornings. You know the one I'm talking about too. You wake up on the complete wrong side of the bed, later then you intended, missing out on whatever you were getting up early that day for, only to sit in an office for the remainder of the day twiddling your thumbs trying to keep yourself sane and occupied at the same time. Yeah, that is pretty much my morning and day thus far. 

       Alarm set for 5 am so that I could get up to do yoga but did not wake up until 5:53.... too late to begin practice because at 6:30 I had to be at the dining facility for breakfast. Breakfast... if they can call it that was not appetizing and only added to my day being bad. 

       I need to turn it around. Lunch time will be better though. I'm scooting out of this drab building to actually do yoga and then I'm going to fix up an awesome smoothie with pineapple, raspberries, blueberries, chia seeds and yogurt :). Bout the best I can do with what I have here on this military post. I'll snap a shot later to show you the yummy concoction that I whipped up. 

Au Revoir!

Amazement

      It amazes me how something so simple as yoga can make such a difference in a day! I hadn't practiced yoga Friday, Saturday or yesterday and I could tell something was wrong. I was sluggish, tired, and so unmotivated to do anything really. Yet, after waking up at 4am this morning and practicing yoga, I can tell a distinct difference in my outlook. Granted, yes I am tired from waking up that early. I don't usually wake up before 7 on a good day let alone 4/530. I could definitely go back to sleep right now, but my body feels completely better. Something as simple as getting up and practicing yoga can have such profound effects on the body.
      Sorry it has taken so long to post another blog. Friday was pretty much spent on writing the beginning of my research paper, Saturday was spent in transit to Camp Beauregard in Louisiana, and then yesterday I was stuck in an office babysitting a phone that never rang. I'm pretty much doing the same thing today only I have wireless internet I can use now. I still want to go back to sleep though. I am not an early riser BY far.
     Today is mainly homework-and-sitting-around day. I dread writing this paper. Fifteen pages is a lot, and granted, I have enough information to put down on paper, it is finding the way to write it all out that is becoming problematic. My thoughts aren't gathering and forming like I want them to. Nevertheless, I shall drive on and hope to have it finished in time for the end of my class.

....... On another note, my unit is attempting to find some way to keep me in the military. Promotion, money, or whatever. They're trying hard. I am not even sure I want to stay in the military. The country isn't exactly military friendly nowadays, and the deployments will kill me whenever my husband goes over seas :(.Why can't the wars just stop?

Enchilada Recipe :)

      Ok so I'm finally getting to the recipe. My husband is getting ready to leave for Annual Training and I have time alone today to sit and just think. I have to think because I left the stupid recipe at my house and deleted the copy of it from my phone.


Enchilada Sauce:

5 Seeded Ancho Chile Peppers
3 Cloves of Garlic
1 TBSP Oregano
3 TBSP (heaping) Chicken Bouillon Powder
2 tsp Ground Pepper
1 tsp Ground Cumin
3 Large Tomatoes
Enough water to cover everything.

Boil these ingredients until the peppers and tomatoes are soft and then place into a blender with half the liquid and blend thoroughly.

Tortillas:


2 cups Maseca Corn Flour
2- 2 1/2 cups Water

Knead together for about 4 minutes until the dough is smooth and then separate the dough into 18-21 small balls.

Filling:

Pretty much whatever you want to have in your enchiladas.

Cooking:

      Now we get to cooking. Basically, if you don't make a mess with this, you aren't doing it right. Ok, so you need to flatten out your tortillas and toast them in a non-stick skillet before dipping them in the enchilada sauce. I would suggest doing this in sort of a conveyor belt system. You're going to need a non-stick pan for toasting the tortillas and then another deeper pan for frying the tortillas. In the fry pan, I would suggest using lard because it makes it taste better but you can use whatever oil you want really.
      This is the way it goes, toast your first tortilla->dip in enchilada sauce->fry in lard->get next tortilla going->put finished tortilla on a plate.
       I'll break it down easily for you all because that is a lot to digest. I know. So, toasting your tortilla. You want to toast it long enough that it will slide freely around the non-stick pan and then flip. You don't want it to burn but don't under cook it either. The tell-tale sign if your undercooking the tortilla is when you begin to fry the tortilla in the lard. After toasting, dip tortilla in the sauce and immediately transfer to the lard. You want to cook the sauce into the tortilla but not to burn the tortillas (If you undercooked your tortilla in the toasting process then your tortilla will turn to mush in the lard, but if it isn't mush and you can flip it with some ease then you're doing ok). After you've flipped the tortilla and cooked the other side good, you can transfer the tortilla to a plate and repeat this process for the rest of the tortillas.
      This process is messy but it is so worth it. In the end, fill the tortillas with whatever you created to fill it with and then fold. It may be difficult but it is still yummy. For toppings, I would suggest queso fresco along with some onions, lettuce and tomatoes. Another yummy topping is created by slicing up an onion into sliver rings and soaking them in lime juice. The lime juice cooks the onions and it's refreshing on the enchiladas.
     If you have any sauce left over I would top the enchilada with it. Very delicious. If you haven't folded the tortillas already, fold and enjoy. I know I'll be making it again or maybe trying a different recipe :).

Au Revoir!!

Traveling Starts Today

(old picture hehe)

      While today may be my birthday, my husband and I will be driving to Southaven, Ms to get ready for our Annual Training. Not something either of us are looking forward to but it's money and the military deems it necessary for us to attend. I only have one problem with this and that is the fact that I may not get to practice yoga. I'm going to try my best to get some semblance of a practice in but not sure.
      Also, I'm going to be doing a bunch of reading while I'm there, so hopefully I'll be able to finish a book and write a review on it to post on here. I'm taking Yoga Mala, Ashtanga Practice and Philosophy, and The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga with me to read. I can't promise to read all of them while I'm there because I'll be working on a 15 page research paper also. Frederick Douglass and slavery is my topic and I'll be writing/reading a lot for this project.
      On top of all these projects, I'm going to be writing queries for magazines. Trying to make a break into the freelancing business is hard work and definitely nerve racking. I've already sent one query in to Fit Pregnancy, but I plan to send in other queries to different markets. Most magazine editors want you to have "clips" or other articles written and that is where things get complicated for newbies. I'm just hopeful, I guess. If nothing pans out with that, well, I guess I'll try something different :).

      I know I promised a recipe for the yummy Enchiladas I made and I'll try to have it posted by tonight, tomorrow at the latest. Wish me luck on everything! :)

Enchiladas con Pollo

      Phewwwww! This was one of the hottest, hardest, intricately made dishes I've created in a while. Mostly, it was due to the fact that the tortillas are a complicated matter. Sure, it's easy enough toasting tortillas up for tacos or something but when you get to dipping them in some enchilada sauce... things get messy and difficult.
      I had to first find the right consistency for the tortilla dough (I don't like recipes so I just winged it). Next, it was on to toasting and frying those suckers up. This is probably the most heart UNhealthy meals I've had in a long time. The tortillas, after being dipped in sauce, were fried in lard. Yep, lard! Mmmmm. Feel those arteries clogging up already. It was delicious! I try not to eat unhealthy all the time but cutting corners to have an amazing meal sure does make anyones mood better somedays.
      To go with the enchiladas I made spanish rice and some tomatillo salsa (or salsa verde for those who know it as that). Put the salsa on top of the chicken I sautéed with some queso fresco and BAM!! You have one fine meal. A friend of mine gave me the recipe and I thought that since today was a moon day that I would take all my energy that I didn't expend doing yoga and instead make a delicious dinner for my husband and my in-laws :).
       Definitely worth the two trips to Wal-Mart! Yeah. Now it's time for bed though. I know I haven't been keeping up on this blog lately but I'll get the recipe for this dish up soon as well as an update on my practice. As for now.....

Bon voyage!

Not As Planned

       This morning my alarm went off at 6:30am, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why! Then I remembered, it's Sunday, I needed to practice Ashtanga, and then eat a healthy breakfast. . . all before 9.

      Sadly to say, this did not work out. I reset my alarm for 7:00, 7:15, 7:30, AND FINALLY woke up at 7:45. Or rather, I crawled out of bed at that time. I just did not want to get up at all. I'm not sure if it is the heat getting to me or just my body not getting the energy it needs. I feel a blueberry, strawberry, pineapple smoothing coming on in a minute.
      Anyways, after I finally picked myself up out of the bed and after walking the dogs, I decided I needed to get my mat and go outside. Yes, outside. Am I nuts? Probably, but the sunshine is much more preferred to the light bulbs lighting up the inside of the house. I prefer natural light to anything really. If glass wasn't so dang expensive I'd have a glass house made with some huge curtains to line them. :) That just seems magical to me.
      Off topic again, but to the point, I unrolled my mat and stood there for what seemed forever. Finally, I made my way through the first sun salutation and made it to the fifth of the first series. I finished three of the second series before calling it quits. I couldn't concentrate on my breathing and my awareness was everywhere BUT on me. Mainly, my grandmother-in-law was outside watering the plants and I was concentrated on her. Then someone drove up into the yard, and that was when I decided it was quitting time.

So here was my sequence this morning:

5 Surya Namaskara A's (Sun Salutations)
3 Surya Namaskara B's
Yoga Mudra (modified due to pregnancy)
Padmasana
Utpluthih
AND Corpse Pose

Very short.. very, very short. I feel lame. Tomorrow I hope to be up and about before 7:45 and well into the practice before anyone starts moving around. Let's see if I'll make it though.

If anyone has an suggestions for a healthy meal that is scrumptious, please let me know. I want to try something different for a change. :)