So begins another school year...

This was me at the Houston airport en route from Michigan to Austin, tired after 3 hours of delays.

School has started. My long weekend will be spent writing papers and reading (hopefully by my pool). I was very apprehensive about jumping back into things, but feel much better about it now. If only I didn't get so used to hanging out with people all the time, I'd be much better at buckling down and studying.

My roommate's parents are visiting us this weekend so Mandy and I have been scrambling to clean and finish setting up the apartment. It's pretty much done except for the dining room. I'm selling our current dining room table (we saved it from the junkyard) on Craigslist since I bought a cute black dining set from IKEA. We've only assembled 2 chairs before I hurt my wrists and decided to quit.

Here is the updated living room (the big wooden thing on the left is actually our entertainment system). The only thing left to do in the living room is to install our chandelier light.

On another note... I don't know if it's a cultural thing, but I find that I am constantly plagued by shame. I leave many interactions I have (school, yoga - including classes I teach, friends) regretting things I did or said. I know it's completely stupid because I'll find out later the other party left the same interaction with a pleasant experience. And I find that if I carry myself with a shameful and apologetic attitude, people respond accordingly. So even if I feel ashamed, I fake confidence and joy. But the more I fake it, the more it bothers me within.

I wonder - does anyone else experience this? And how do I get over this propensity toward shame?

My prayer for the school year

Own Me by Ginny Owens

Got a stack of books,
So I could learn how to live;
Many are left half-read,
Covered by the cobwebs on my shelf.

And I got a list of laws,
Growing longer everyday;
If I keep pluggin' away,
Maybe one day I'll perfect myself.

Oh, but all of my labor,
Seems to be in vain;
And all of my laws,
Just cause me more pain;
So I fall before You,
In all of my shame;
Ready and willing to be changed-

Chorus:
Own me
Take all that I am,
And heal me
With the blood of the Lamb.
Mold me
With Your gracious hand;
Break me till I'm only Yours-
Own me

Oh, you call me Daughter,
And you take my blame;
And you run to meet me,
When I cry out Your name,
So I fall before You,
In all of my shame.
Lord, I am willing to be changed

Marta got hitched!!

No pictures of the ceremony yet (forgot my camera at home) but here are some previews:

The bride getting ready at the salon:Her besties celebrating at the reception:

Oh the horror!

I'm one of the yoga instructors for my school's recsports program, and a few weeks back, I was invited to be in a photo shoot for our promotional material.

Today before teaching, I picked up a copy of our '08-'09 informational booklet.


To my horror I found this:


Yes, I am the girl in green sitting in the lopsided lotus pose.

Not only did they not choose any of more impressive postures I held (for what seemed like forever), they photoshopped all my hair out!! (You can't see it, but there's a stray wisp of hair on my shoulder that is coming out of nowhere due to photoshop). Talk about flattering!

Green War

The word "eco-friendly" has been on my mind a lot as of late. My otherwise fantastic roommate and I have one major difference. I'm eco-conscious and she's... well, as far away from it as you can get.

Besides having minor contentions over the thermostat level (I'm arguing to turn the air up to 78-80 degrees while she's more comfortable at 68-70 degrees), I've found myself developing some new habits:

1. Buying eco-friendly and recycled household products such as toilet paper, detergent, and cleaners. Although the brand Seventh Generation is a little too pricey, I was surprised by the selection of less expensive environmentally conscious brands
2. Shutting off the air vents in my bedroom so there's one less room for the central air to cool off.
3. Following my roommate around the apartment, turning off light switches that she left on (gotta figure out how to be more subtle about this one).
4. Digging through the trash can, salvaging any recyclables to take to the recycling center.
5. Driving less. Carpooling more and taking the bus to school whenever possible.
6. Canceling subscriptions of magazines I don't read anymore. Opting out of paper catalogs. Also, opting out of junk mail through DMAChoice Mail and opting out of prescreened credit card offers.
7. Being more vigilant about using reuseable shopping bags. There's been many a time when the wide-eyed bagger watched me stuff more than he/she ever thought possible into my two bags.

There are a few things I'm still trying to work on, however:

1. Using less water when I shower. I still have a hard time shutting off the water when I'm soaping up, but I do try to keep my showers under 7 minutes.
2. Buying local. There's a Farmer's Market down the street from campus on Wednesdays that I'm going to start frequenting between school and community group in the fall.
3. My car. Something is up with the engine and it's now only getting about 20 miles to the gallon (it's supposed to get 27 miles in the city). I don't know why since it's passed all the inspections and everything. I've been perusing craigslist for a cheap car with better mileage so I can sell this car, but nothing falls within my price range (and by price range, I mean the amount I'm willing to ask my parents to loan me). I'm taking it into the shop tomorrow morning to get it checked out and hopefully I can get it to run a little more efficiently.
4. I'm considering buying a bissell sweeper instead of using a vacuum cleaner. They come pretty cheap and are easier to use, in my opinion, than a vacuum.
5. Using less paper at school. I have a nasty habit of really marking up everything I read, and find it very very difficult to read papers on the computer.
6. Buying recycled school supplies.

It's really hard to make some of these changes especially on a tight budget. Organic or local produce sometimes just costs more than regular produce. But I wonder if spending is just like time management. Sometimes you don't need more time, but better time management. Maybe what I need isn't more money, but just better money management.

Keeping Steady

I feel like my Ashtanga practice is has multiple personality disorder. Monday through Thursday of last week I felt like I was clumsily trudging through. Friday was strong and smooth - was able to work through some of second series and just felt like a million bucks. Sunday I hit the mat and felt like dead weight. Today, however, I felt physically crappy all day, but had a smooth and strong practice in mysore.

On the upside, today I had a minor victory - I finally was able to touch my ankles in urdhva dhanurasana. I didn't grab my ankles, mind you, but I did touch them.

On the downside, I'm on the verge of a hamstring injury. My right hamstring has been getting incredibly tight to the point where I can't fully get into the janu sirsasanas and any of the wide legged forward folds. I'll have to back off majorly on any posture involving the hamstrings in the next week or so or risk an injury more serious than my sprained shoulder.

A few more days and I head back to Ann Arbor for Marta's wedding. Pretty excited about the festivities followed by a week of rest and relaxation.

Adjusting to North Life

Minus a few minor decorations and the acquisition of dining room chairs, our new apartment is up and running. I'm adjusting to the new location and a new routine. It's been awesome having guests at my apartment more often - I forgot how much I love hosting and having people over!

I took the bus to school today. Minus the commute time (1 hour) it is actually really really convenient. The bus picks me up pretty much right at my front door and drops me off 2 blocks from my building. If I can manage to get reading done on the bus, I'm all set for the school year.

It's hard to believe that school starts in 3 short weeks. I'm beginning to get anxious to know what my fall schedule is going to be like - both in yoga teaching and my teaching assistantship for school. One thing for sure - I have to take a step back in the amount I'm teaching yoga. It's beginning to get in the way of my schoolwork as well as my own personal yoga practice!

On another note, this past weekend some friends and I went to a lakehouse in Marble Falls and spent the day on the lake, rafting, boating, and waterskiing. It was an amazing experience!

New Apartment (details to come...)

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

Living room before:

Living room after:

Bathroom before:

Bathroom after:

My pool:

Barbeque area: