Happy Easter!

It has been fantastic having a couple of days off! I spent most of Friday afternoon driving around with the sunroof open, hitting up HomeGoods and similar places looking for "art." The walls in our house feel so naked, and I've been wanting to fill them up forever...but I never find anything I like. Friday was no different. I did manage to come home with a few artificial plants -- PhillyGuy has been bugging me to get "more plants" (aka, ANY plants at all) in the house for at least a couple of years.

I was really, REALLY looking forward to Friday night's yoga workout. I think of it in two stages: the moving asanas, followed by the balance poses. The moving asanas kick.my.ass. Period. Lots of transitions, lots of Crescent and Warrior 1 and 2 and a little Warrior 3 (which I can't do well yet). Lots and LOTS of transitions from Plank to Chaturanga to Upward Dog to Plank to Downward Dog. It lasts about 45 minutes, and I am sweating like a pig by the time it's done.

Then, we get to move on to the best thing ever: another 45 minutes of "balance poses." The moving asanas are really humbling for someone like me -- I've always been decently flexible and I took yoga casually in college and law school, until I moved to Philly and left my "real" gym. Then, I try to do the full Warrior sequence and I'm twisting and tumbling and realizing I'm not really even that far down into it with my leg -- yeah, it's humbling. When I get into Tree and Dancer, I feel a little bit renewed. SEE? I can balance on one leg! Not only that, but my left-leg Dancer doesn't even suck that bad!

This week kicked my butt, too, though -- I was proud of myself. I held Crane for about 3 or 4 seconds at a time -- which doesn't sound that impressive, I know, but I actually yelped with pure glee when I did it. PhillyGuy is such a good sport. By the time we got to Bridge/Wheel, my shoulders were SHOT -- I can typically do wheel without much issue, but this time, I couldn't even push myself up. Bridge it was.

Afterwards I felt so fantastic -- the first 45 minutes are so, so tough, and can even be discouraging, but that last 45 makes it all worth it.

Yesterday, I skipped my planned legs-and-back day in favor of a long nap. I stayed out really late (for me!) on Friday night catching up with an old high school friend, and we were up decently early on Saturday to get the place cleaned up for a puppy playdate with my cousin, her boyfriend and their adorable 8-month-old pittie mix. Those three knuckleheads ran around at the dog park for about two hours, and I have to say it wiped me out almost as much as it wiped them out.

So, on deck for today is a run (probably 4 miles or so) and that legs/back workout. PhillyGuy is doing Kenpo, which I simply don't like. I am not particularly coordinated, and the difficulty I have following the moves keeps me from performing them effectively enough to make it worth the strain it puts on my knee. Besides...IT'S SO GORGEOUS OUT! How can I not hit the pavement??