I love this little froggy so much! I say this as he sits by my left hip, nudging my elbow lol. Once you earn this boy's trust, it's something beautiful, he's such a bashful, sweet, goofy little clown.  :)  He makes me smile :)

- xo

Life lately through pictures

View from the mat. A kyi-Leo, a rare dog breed even I didn't know about. Saturday morning wake up and snow on the ground. Driving. Indy showing me his Downdog and accentuating his ridgeback :). My afternoon 45 minute walk in the bush with a Rhodesian ridgeback and a pug. :) Gray. At the parade. Finally put the picture frames up (!!). One of my most prized possessions- my Swarovski cabinet and elephant figurines *love* Its a bitch to clean though haha. Charlie and Baxter on a lazy Sunday. :)

Random

Randomness:

- Life is good when you get to practice yoga multiple times a day. 

- I love Annie Lennox

- My friend Danielle said I was buff last night.  Never been told that, but can't say I mind either ;)

- Another lovely compliment, I was told by three people in the last week that I should teach and that I could teach with where I'm at in my practice today.  That was a HUGE compliment, especially coming from one teacher that said that. 

- I don't seem to have thyroid issues, but I do have dangerously low vitamin D levels, which explains a lot.  It can also be a symptom of a whole slew of bullshit, but I suppose I'll find out more tomorrow and in the next week or so after I go in for my ultrasound tomorrow.  Pray that I don't piss my pants or have to wait a long time in the waiting room before going in.  LOL.

- My spiritual challenge is to create growth and forward movement.

Wow three in one day, this must be a record!!

I seriously am baffled at some of the shit that comes out of my husband's mouth.  If you haven't got anything nice to say, keep it to your fucking self.

And I don't like hypocrits.

And lastly:

An Ode to Faith

When you have to come to the edge

Of all the light you know,

And are about to step off 

Into the darkness of the unknown, 

Faith is knowing that

One of two things will happen

There will the something solid to stand on

Or you will be taught to fly.

- Patrick Overter

Pictures

I think I need the hubby to take a look at the pictures and figure out a more manageable way to look at the pics instead of the long scroll you have to do.. or tips appreciated...

Nasty cold, possibly hypothyroid, yoga retreat & dog grooming

Let me first start off by saying that I've been really sick with a nasty cold that is still plaguing me.  Jeff is still sick as well.  Seems that many people are also plagued with this lovely cold and it seems to be one that lingers for weeks.  Good news is, I had my family doctor listen to my chest yesterday and while I'm still wheezing, she said my lungs sound good.  Speaking of lungs, I've been 1 year smoke free as of November 14th.  Crazy!!!  I still want to smoke but I figure in time, that'll fade away.

Among my laundry list of shit I had to talk to my Doctor about, she seems to think that I may have a thyroid issue so I had to run around and get my blood taken at another lab across town, and additionally, I have to go for an ultrasound on Saturday to see what's going on with me.  If it's thyroid, that might explain most of all the symptoms and shit I've had recently.  If it's not, then I likely have fibroids or some sort of tear in my uterus.  I know, not exactly something you wanted to read, if anyone is reading this.  But hey, that's the beauty of this, this is MY blog and I can blog about any damn thing I want to.

Moving along... I guess we'll stick with sequence of order here.  After my blood tests yesterday, I had to go pick up the dogs as they were with Maria since the morning getting all handsome-fied.

So my friend Marah and I went to a Yoga Retreat on Friday night, this was the retreat that I was desperately trying to get better for, as we had the thing planned since the summertime.  Anyways, Marah and I took the train up to where I live, we missed one train and were delayed a bit.  That's what happened when you're lugging around a piece of luggage with all of her stuff. LOL.  We made it to the retreat after we went by my place and Jeff made us dinner. 

We were staying in the cabin and lo and behold, we get there and put our things in the cabin and then go in for some relaxing tea and introductions with people before bed.  Well, I was about to put my hat and mitts under my pillow, when I discovered long horned beetles.  EVERYWHERE.  Like a gajillion of them. Alive.  Couple that with 3 other girls that are terrified of bugs and spiders.  We literally screamed for about an hour and took turns who was killing the next ones.  It was awful and stressful.  It was the anti-thesis of relaxation.  After about an hour and a half, we figured we got rid of them all and by this time it was midnight and we were supposed to be up for a morning yoga class at 8 am.  Yeah, not fun.  We thought to turn off the heat because it was perhaps that that had lured them all in from the cold.  So not only were we worried about bugs, we slept in the fetal position, in our jackets and woke up with wrecked backs, freezing and tired. 

Saturday proved to be better.  Got up, had some tea then we settled in for some morning yoga and meditation, then a delicious vegetarian breakfast was served.  Following that we had some free time, so we read some, walked around the property and took some pictures and hopped in the sauna while Marah had a massage.

Around 1 we went to the Palgrave Conservation Area and did a japa meditation walk, which was really nice.  Afterwards, we headed back for a cooking class with Shaylie, Merrell's daughter, who also happens to live just around the corner from Jeff and I.  Dinner wasn't long after and the evening flew by.  We had a restorative yoga class at 8 pm til 9 and it was perfect just before bed.  We killed a few more bugs and that was that.  I think we were also just too tired to give a shit.

Slept much better, although the beds were too soft and every one of us said our backs were killing us.  Whatever, c'est la vie, we were going home that day anyways.  We had a morning yoga sesh, followed by meditation and breakfast and after that, it was time to go, packed up and waited for Jeff to come get us.  We took many yoga pics down on the dock by the water, many that Jeff took for us when he arrived and he saw us trying to get self portraits.  Some really great shots.

 

All in all, a nice retreat.  Would I go back? No, I think I need something more challenging next time, I swear the teacher only knew the warriror series, for crying out loud we didn't even do any sun salutations!! :(  It was nice and peaceful though.

We drive Marah home, got a coffee (I was in caffeine withdrawl mode and my head was just killing me), we went home and chilled the rest of the evening.  It was nice to be back home, I missed Jeff and I think he missed me.

Must go for now.  xox Namaste and much peace, love and kindness.