a walk on the beach

As you might guess, there's not a lot to do on Cape Cod in the winter time. As I've said in a previous post, I've been doing my best to occupy my time this break with crafts and yoga and longboarding and cooking and life-appreciating activities. Today I decided to talk a walk on my favorite beach, Long Beach in Centerville on the Cape. It was chilly but sunny and I got to catch the most amazing sunset. I met about 10 friendly dogs who were all running around to their heart's content along the beach. They were chasing and sniffing each other, having the time of their lives. I could see their doggy smiles. Watching them made me realize how much fun you can have when you don't seem to be "doing" all that much. Happiness is simplicity and good people.

Those are my words for the day. A friend posted this funny video that makes me love lululemon even more. Enjoy and stay tuned for more crafts/random thoughts/pictures!

Spaciousness

wise words from Anna Guest-Jelley, via curvyyoga.com...

Spaciousness.

And that’s really what yoga is about, isn’t it? It’s the ocean in your knee, the constellations in your lower back, the mountain top in your left shoulder, the endless horizon in your jaw. What I’ve found is that when I can really feel – widely and deeply – into my body, then there’s no other possibility than that freedom finding me off the mat, as well.

And when I find something that feels good? Wow. Maybe it’s my pinky toe in Warrior 2, or a shimmying openness in my shoulders in Urdvha Hastasana, or a centimeter of give in my always tight quads. Or maybe (and on some days this is a big maybe), it’s the breath after a good cry about my dad, the way my dogs roll over on their belly when I walk by so I’ll give them a rub, and putting on my pants and not worrying about how my butt looks (or noticing how it looks and choosing to feel good about it).

If you can find even one thing today that feels good, even if the context sucks, it may just be a gateway to finding even more blue skies in the expanse of you.

see the rest of the article here.

Happy holidays to beautiful you :-)

gettin' crafty

One of my goals during this holiday break is to spend my time at home in the most creative and productive ways possible. That means limiting time in front of the tv and computer and maximizing my time doing arts and crafts, cooking and baking, and helping out around the house. So, my first project was inspired by a closet organizer that my roommate Ainslie owns. On a totally random note, Ainslie is a wonderful photographer and she just started a blog displaying her photos. You can check it out here if you're interested. :-)

I used two different-sized metal rings that I got at Michael's, and then wrapped each one with twine, securing it every few inches with some Krazy Glue. It was a really cheap project--it probably only cost around $10 because I had the twine already, but it was time consuming. My poor little fingies were not having a good time after a while. I think the whole thing took me about 10 hours. Anywho, here's my blood, sweat, and tears in the form of metal twine rings!

Beginnings

El Producto Final

El Centro

It works!

If you have any questions about how I did it feel free to shoot me an email, melb17@comcast.net.
Wahoo. Now I get to go wrap some Christmas presents!!!

clouds

I was running errands around town today (using the phrase "running errands" makes me feel very adult, just in case you were wondering) with my younger brother and we stopped at Dowses Beach in Osterville on the Cape. It's a cool beach in particular because it has this awesome jetty that you can walk out on and at the end of it you're basically surrounded by water. It was windy and cold and the water was calm and at low-tide. The lack of waves and biting air gave a serene and peaceful energy, and I watched a few birds bob softly in the water. Then I glanced up and saw a marshmallow sky. I don't think I've ever seen the sky look this way before. Anyways, here's a picture my brother Mike took with his iPhone. We really do live in a beautiful world.

Dowses Beach, Mike Black                                                                                

"Before we had airplanes and astronauts, we really thought that there was an actual place beyond the clouds, somewhere over the rainbow. There was an actual place, and we could go above the clouds and find it there." Barbara Walters

Using Your Creative Genius in Yoga

Yoga postures, or asanas, have both Sanskrit and English names. Sometimes they can be really long. For example, one of my favorite hip-opening poses, one-legged king pigeon pose, is in Sanskrit, "eka pada rajakapotasana".

Say it slowly. Then faster, because it's more fun when you say it faster. I know a lot of the English names for poses, and am still learning lots of the corresponding Sanskrit names, but they can be tricky. Sometimes I make up names for poses for myself, which is why I chuckled when I came across the following image here. No, lots of the names are not politically correct in the yoga world. But as I've said before, I try not to take things too seriously. I particularly like the rocket ship one and I think I will make an effort to think that I am one the next time I find myself in tree pose. As I've told some of my classes, sometimes when I'm in warrior II (shown below as "The Land HO!"), I pretend that I am casting a spell with a wand like in Harry Potter.

(note: you may notice that this image is a bit different than the one displayed on the website I got it from. I apologize if that image offended any of my readers out there, I was clearly not paying close enough attention to what I was posting. Forgive me and I won't let it happen again)

Can you think of any other silly names for yoga poses?

Stay tuned for the final product of a craft I have been working on today! I can't tell you what it is though so as to maintain an air of mystery.