uh...hi

yeah. I guess if there's one thing I do consistently, it's "fall off the face of the earth."

I mean, it's not really falling off the face of the earth, though. I still tweet. And I definitely read everyone's blogs. But yeah. I get busy at work, I can't spare enough time first thing in the morning to put together an entry, and then I can't seem to scrape up the energy to do it when I get home at night.

BAH. Regardless, here's what I've been up to:

A couple months ago, Leslie posted on Twitter about a fabulous LivingSocial deal - $25 for five classes at Philly Power Yoga. I bought my pass and then immediately started stressing about it. I was more than a little anxious - I'm a casual yogi, if there is such a thing. I love yoga, but I can go weeks or month(s) at a time without practicing - and when I do practice, it's usually the P90X yoga DVD, which is vinyasa-style, but with more of a focus on fitness than on proper form and meditation.

When I think hot yoga, I think "real yogis." Whatever that means. I start picturing a room full of skinny, ripped experts in lululemon hot shorts with high quality mats - not the $24.99 nike special I picked up at CitySports, or even the Wunder Under crops I've made my uniform, being that I'm not particularly comfortable in anything spandex that stops anywhere above my knee a the moment.

Frankly, I was too busy being intimidated by my imagination that I wasted a LOT of time that I could have been practicing the best yoga ever.

I finally bit the bullet and just WENT one Saturday a couple weeks ago, and I was instantly hooked. I'm pretty sure I didn't even sweat that much during Broad Street 2010, for starters. I got there about ten or 15 minutes early, which gave me enough time to cram myself into a back corner of the room, far away from the mirrors (clutch) and to get adjusted to the heat (double clutch). And, okay, I'd be lying if I didn't spend at least a little bit of the class fighting away negative thoughts about how much more flexible I could be, or how much stronger I could be, or how my love handles get uncomfortably in the way of any kind of side bend. But honestly? I can't even tell you whether or not the class was full of experts. I was too busy focusing on my own practice, and even the negative thoughts didn't stop me from leaving with a fantastically relaxed and cleansed feeling.

Also bonus: after sweating out buckets, I get to stop on the way home and grab an iced coffee from my favorite neighborhood shop.

So good.

I had to miss class yesterday - I had an engagement party to go to at 1pm, and I chose to spend my morning getting my nails done rather than at yoga. That opened up a little extra time beforehand, so PhillyGuy and I took advantage by having breakfast at Ants Pants.

I had the mediterranean omelet special, with black olives, feta cheese and argula and a side of fresh fruit.

And, naturally, we split an order of sweet potato fries. These are hands down the best sweet potato fries I've ever had - long-cut sweet potatoes fried up so that they're slightly crispy at the ends, but soft and delicious in the middle, sprinkled with kosher salt and served with sour cream and a sweet chili sauce to dip.

Amazing.

Time for me to head out. I've been having a lot of knee issues these last couple of months, but I'm going to give running outside a shot today. I really, really want to run Broad Street this year, but I need to take stock of where I am. Can you believe it's only six weeks away?