If you are my friend, you will remind me to do yoga. Do not let it fall to the wayside because of other things. It is so important to me and I am so frustrated with myself for letting it go.
When I look back as to why I stopped, I don’t really have an answer. I was going to Bikram pretty regularly with Paula in early 2012, but then it was making me so beyond sick because of the heat that I couldn’t go any more (and it was out in fucking Simsbury). We started doing it at home, in the living room, when we didn’t have time to drive out 30 minutes into the woods. That was nice…when it wasn’t interrupted (I love my roommates, but there were five of us. It will happen). Then it started…dwindling. Maybe because of the heat, because it started to get insanely hot early that year. And then we realized we were moving out, and that came with it stress of finding a new place to live, that failing, new places, Paula dropping out, and eventually I had the epiphany to listen to my heart and just move back home.
Moving back home created even more adjustments. Stress. New work, new rules. New boyfriend—Ryan took (and continues) to take up a lot of my time and attention, which is fine, but completely the opposite of the spiritual peace that I get from yoga.
Whenever I try to explain how I internalize my thoughts and how I imagine them, I find myself brought to the same mental image. Two train tracks running parallel, one racing by faster than the other. When I dabbled in a little green medicinal plant, I found that the two trains ran side by side. I felt more together, focused, and calm. I had some inner peace. Now, as I’ve drawn away, I realize that the herb was kind of a tool that I’ve outgrown. I can do that with yoga, that’s for sure. And I think travel deeper into my mind. I’ve felt like I had a spirituality that I don’t tap into enough and I think this is a step into the right direction.
This whole realization and internal (and partially external, using Tumblr) conversation reminds me of Marisa Katz. I miss her. Last I knew she was living in San Francisco. Hmmm..
So I’ve been living in Bremerton for the past few days. So far, so good. The apartment is really nice. I posted a video on Facebook. It’s in a low-crime area, nice lay-out, furnished enough (could be more…), view of the Sinclair Inlet/Puget Sound and Port Orchard, and has a weekly cleaning service for free. It has a pool, fitness center, sauna, and jacuzzi by the leasing office. I have a dishwasher and washer/dryer in my apartment. It’s a little out of the way as far as going downtown but that means its a lot quieter, and it’s near the highway. Plus did I mention we don’t have to pay for anything? I mean, that right there makes it awesome. Ryan also gets a rental car, but since he took his MINI here, I get to use it. It’s a 2013 Ford Taurus. Gas-guzzlers (18mpg?!) are not my cup of tea since I’m used to my lovely hybrid, but it has a nice interior/exterior and runs smoothly. It really is a sweet car.
Lately I’ve been checking out the local places and taking care of things at home. I found a local Greek place called The Greek Connextion. It’s take-out only but delicious and reasonably priced. They make four sandwiches: gyros, souvlaki, loukaniko, and falafel. All are 5.89 or something and come with delicious tzatziki. You can get baklava, too, and feta/tzatziki/pita/hummus on the side for like a dollar or less. It’s right next to a coffee shop called Simply Sublime Espresso that is really hippie-esque and has amazing mexican mocha coffee, something I haven’t had since I dated Roberto.
I also joined Viva Flow Yoga the other day. I already love it. Yoga is something I’ve done on and off for years and I’m so glad I’ve returned to the practice. It’s so good for my peace of mind, and it’s also obviously good for the body. Last night’s instructor, Heather, taught us this new piece she learned during some training class she’s doing where you do downward dog and then someone pulls a strap over the top of your thighs and pulls upward, lifting your hands off the ground. It completely releases your spine and elongates you. When you do downward dog afterwards, its so much easier and I swear I had a tingly feeling in my hips after. It’s great. The owner, Carla, is also great. It’s pretty accepting and loving there, a small and cute studio, and its pretty cheap. I’m doing 30 days unlimited for 30 dollars, but then an unlimited month is 82 dollars. Awesome right? Its downtown so annoying to get to, but its worth it.
I’ve had some trouble with my transfer to the Target here in Gig Harbor, but I’m honestly just been thinking about other jobs instead. I’m going to put in for a city job here and I really hope it goes through. I’d be so happy. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but you have no idea how much I’d love to work as a city employee. I am Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation, need I say more?
I also had an amazing time on my road trip across the country before getting here but…there is absolutely so much to say about it that I have no idea where to begin. I visited my aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania, then met a lot of Ryan’s family in Ohio, drove across Indiana and Illinois into Chicago. Spent the night in Rockford, drove through eastern Iowa and into Minnesota and South Dakota. South Dakota is a beautiful state, and we saw the Corn Palace, went to the Minuteman missle sites, the FAMOUS Wall Drug Store, and Mt Rushmore. We drove through Wyoming and into Yellowstone. Yellowstone was one of my lifelong goals, and I want to go back. We spent extra time there and I haven’t seen everything I wanted to yet. We saw hot springs, mud pots, painting pots, the Mammoth Hot Spring terraces, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone with their waterfalls, a few geysers (including Old Faithful), bison EVERYWHERE, elk, mountains, burned forest (its a caldera !), and the gorgeous Yellowstone Lake. I’m not sure if that was everything or not. It’s amazing. Montana was gorgeous. Couer D’Alene in Idaho, a random resort town, was pretty nice except for the weird Idaho people. lol The Coulee Dam in western Washington, the Columbia, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers..the former two being way nicer than the latter. I have so many pictures on my instagram if anyone is interested. Definitely an unforgettable experience.
I keep forgetting that I’m living an unforgettable experience right now, too.
I NEED TO EXPLORE SEATTLE MORE! We drove through on our way to Bremerton and I got to see a closed Pike’s Place and we walked around a bit, but I didn’t experience too much. We had to take the ferry to Kitsap and get to bed lol
Anyway, it’s really cold here. But not rainy. And I’ve updated a lot sooo yeah HIIIIBYE.
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Leonor Fini, Etude pour The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe
Photo dialogue:
Lady Gaga: But I want you in my performance ! I can make you a STAR!
Demon-possessed child of Whoopi Goldberg and a geisha: NOOOOOOO !
(Source: fyeahwomenartists)
Sailors, Key West, 1966 by Marie Cosindas
Half-naked sailors…key west in the 60s…..hmmm..
(Source: fyeahwomenartists)
lol asparagus shrine
Asparagus, 1967 by Marie Cosindas
(Source: fyeahwomenartists)
Clare Caulfield, Flatiron Building, New York (hand-painted screenprint)
(via fyeahwomenartists)
Slave gravesite in New York City
“SOMETHING YOUR TOUR GUIDE MIGHT NOT TELL YOU:
The heart of NYC’s Financial District is built on a huge 18th century African Burial Ground. Some 419 Africans were discovered in 1991, a large portion women and children.
The burial ground extends from Broadway Southward under City Hall, and almost to the site of the former World Trade Center. It is believed that there are as many as 20,000 slavery-era Africans in graves under the buildings in Lower Manhattan.
Abolish historical amnesia and ponder for a moment the fact that this financial epicenter of the world is built on slavery, oppression, and death.”
Literally, and daily.
(via princessdori)
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