Him: Lets go upstairs to bed.

Me: If we go upstairs, we can’t watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Him: Do you have any idea how many times I’ve seen this movie?

Me: Probably as many times as I’ve seen it.

Him: Its over anyway. We missed all the good parts… And all the parts Steven Stamkos is in.

Him: Babe… why are you killing me slowly?

Me: I’m your future wife. Its my job.

Him: Well… that just gives me a whole new perspective on things.

Me: Why do you think your dad asked you if you were sure about getting married?

Me: Are you coming with me to see Star Wars in 3D on Friday?

Him: Ugh. I dunno, Babe. Which one is it?

Me: Phantom Menace.

Him: That doesn’t mean anything to me. Which one is that?

Me: Uh… Its the first one of the last ones?

Him: So its the 4th one?

Me: Its episode 1.

Him: …

Me: Its the first of the newer ones.

Him: … 

Me: Liam Neeson is in it.

Him: Oh in that case, yeah I probably will.

In some last ditch, desperate attempt to correct these issues without going back to my doctor I opted to take a more holistic approach.

If you follow me on twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, you probably know that I’m a student of yoga. I love what the practice does to your mind, body and spirit and its on my mat that I started my hopeful road to recovery.

Yogis will tell you that doing any pose with a twist is the best way to start detoxing. Twists wring the toxins from your organs like water from a washcloth. When I went to class last night, I was careful to pay close attention to all of my twisting asanas.

Ironically, it was these positions that my body had the most trouble with. I noticed that I had to breathe my way through all of them and take a lot of breaks. Discouraging maybe but its yoga. I found confidence in the fact that I stopped to listen to my body.

In addition to my yoga practice, I’ve opted to go on a 2 day cleanse that I found in an article of Women’s Health Magazine.  The article is here: http://ow.ly/8bIt2 and I’m doing the last one, Green Veggies and Tea.

So I woke up this morning and blanched some asparagus and chopped my cucumbers and made my breakfast Smoothie.

I really hope this works…

So if you could read my thoughts about a month ago, you probably would have seen that the things I wanted the most for Christmas was an engagement ring, anything for the kitchen and clothes for Monty.

Yep. Clothes for Monty was pretty much number one on the list because that’s just kind of like the cool girl that I am. And sure enough… He got a sweet sweater today from Grandma Judy which he’s so stylishly modeling in the picture above.

Equally, I got so many new toys for my kitchen from Santa I don’t even know where to start with everything or where to put it but I CAN’T WAIT to use it!!

And while I didn’t get an engagement ring, I know it will be coming eventually and my boyfriend gave me a beautiful Irish Silver claddagh with my aquamarine birthstone set into it.

I’m super lucky and so thankful to be able to enjoy the holidays bountifully.

Next year, its my hope to spread some of the Christmas cheer by donating money or toys for those less fortunate. Every child deserves to have gifts to open on Christmas morning and every family deserves to be able to provide that. I can only hope I’m in a place where I can offer to help in any way I can.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell you if it’s the holidays or wanting to do well at my new job or what… but my anxiety level has gone through the roof.

Usually whenever I find myself in a situations like this, my first reaction is to retreat to my yoga mat.  On my mat, I find acceptance and gratitude for who I am and what I can and have accomplished.  On my mat, whatever I do is good enough.  On my mat, I am in control.

Unfortunately, my health problems have severely impacted my practice.  It’s been 4 months since I was able to functionally practice yoga.  Forward bends, back bends, plank positions and sun salutations have become utterly impossible to do without getting sick.

To say the least, it’s been frustrating.

My last practice was devastating.  I spent more than half the class in child’s pose telling myself not to be upset and that I needed to acknowledge what I could do, not what I couldn’t do… but when I realized could do absolutely nothing, I ended my class in tears.

I went home that night and did some reading.  I found that there were a lot of women that suffered from IBS and have had similar problems when practicing Yoga.  There were message boards and blogs and articles surrounding the issue, all of which contained suggestions and studies and trial and error.

In this age of instant gratification and immediate results, I wanted a quick fix that would let me practice the next day.  Obviously, this didn’t exist.  However, what was equally obvious was the suggestion I found to take 2 antacids immediately prior to beginning practice.

This seemed too easy and too perfect to actually work.

I decided to try it.

It worked.

I couldn’t even believe that it worked.  It wasn’t until savasana that I realized that I had made it through an entire class without getting sick.  It felt like a miracle.  The only word that can really describe my emotion during savasana tonight is elation.  I was almost moved to tears, it felt like I got a piece of my life back.

With all this going on, I kept in mind that I saw Yoga Journal tweet about their 21 Day Challenge starting on January 9, 2012.  I’m so excited to actually be able to participate and I really want to invite anyone and everyone who reads this post to join me!!

The link below will take you to the sign up page.  Its an awesome way to kick start your practice if you’re a total newbie or if you’re like me and fell away from it and need to get back into it.  If you’re looking to start your New Year with a work out resolution, this is a fantastic option!

21-Day Challenge – Yoga Journal.

When you sign up, let me know.  Social Workout is sponsoring a “support group” to get people from 1/9 to 1/30 and I’m dying to know there’s others out there as inspired as I am!

Unfortunately for me, my phone died on the way home tonight.

The 12 was late so I missed my connector.  As I sat at my stop, debating on walking home or waiting for the next one, I was approached by an unassuming and soft spoken gentlemen who asked if he had missed the Perrysville outbound.

“No,” I said. “The inbound just went by not 2 minutes ago.”

He joined me at the stop and we sat in silence on the bench; me on one side, him at the other.

I was texting my boyfriend while I waited. I was furious that I couldn’t connect my phone to 4G to check the bus schedule. He asked if he should come get me.

“No. I’m being stubborn and mad.”

As if on cue, the man to my right shifts his weight uncomfortably and says, “Excuse me.”

I looked up at him, expecting another question about the buses.

Instead he politely says, “You are very pretty.”

I smiled at him and said thank you and immediately texted my boyfriend with 2% battery left. “Ok yes. Please come get me. Please… Now.”

So neither my boyfriend nor myself were completely thrilled with how the tree came out last night. We felt that it needed more simplicity of color in order to achieve the elegance we wanted.

Basically we thought the green blended too much into the tree.

We took to the aisles of WalMart today in order to solve our problem. We felt that silver would match better with the red so we spent $100 to make sure.

The audio is from the small “Christmas Jukebox” on the mantle.