bikram – kristilynk

Off to Fat Camp!

It is astounding at how quickly the universe and her sneaky ways can trip you up and make you feel like you have fallen flat on your face.

Since November of last year I have been doing so well at eating right things, cutting out horrible habitual habits * aka nasty smoking habit * exercising, drinking a ton of water (well for my standards) and in general just being good to myself.

All was rolling along great until one stupid day…nasty nasty flare up of eczema! Absolutely ruined everything..slooooowed my roll. I had to stop going to the Bikram room – heat only agitates this stupid skin allergy, I became completely obsessed with “how to fix it”, naturally of course.

In the meantime..me completely stressing about it is doing nothing but making the problem worse. I would show you pictures but it’s just gross..seriously..google eczema if you’ve never seen it before. Not only is it gross but it itches beyond belief. Not a fun time..

Long story short..I ended up having to take 10 days of steroids. Here I am three weeks later and my exercise habits are NIL…AND..I intensly crave nothing but food that is so not good for me. Like cheeseburgers and cupcakes. That is all I want to eat.

In fact 🙂 Just the day before yesterday I was driving back from lunch, turned my head to the right and spotted HEAVEN ! CLICK IT …I DARE YOU!

I ordered a strawberry cheesecake cupcake and immediately fell into addiction. I went back the next day 😦

They didn’t have the strawberry cheesecake one so I chose the tiramisu hoping I would hate it. I was wrong it was just as moist and bursting with sweet deliciousness as yesterdays. It’s confirmed..I officially have a problem and must report to fat camp immediately!

Be prepared for a change in posts…wine intake must sadly be reduced, no more cupcakes and I MUST get off my squishy butt~!

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has sprung! Not that we here in Arizona have any type of season other than summer and light summer but spring has sprung and its time for some springy things..

Of course there is the ever popular spring cleaning (which I really don’t think anyone ever really accomplishes but it’s a brilliant concept)

We have spring breaks but I am neither a college student nor do I have little kids in school so..no reason for me to take a week long vacation.

What else is a girl to do? AH! It is time to refreshen thyself! First thing to tackle on this wonderful Saturday..Nasty winter feet!
I am sorry, I know it’s disgusting but people lets face it we need to get the word out there.. Our feet need attention.

Starting out in fixed firm pose yesterday morning in yoga, I glanced down to make sure my hands in feet were in their proper position.

** This is not me..really? How am I supposed to take a picture of myself doing such things? 😉 I stole this from the internet…

I was appalled to find that my heels looked like the lady standing in front of me in the Walmart line (oh don’t you act like you don’t know who I’m talking about..mmhhmm).

Promptly, I sent message to a girlfriend (aka..my nut-ball friend who is currently training for a M-A-R-A-T-H-O-N) who I KNEW would benefit from a little foot and lower leg pampering..we were soon set!

We strayed a bit off the planned course of just a pedicure date and ended up starting with lunch at The Pita Jungle.
I don’t like to throw this out to the inter webs but I have to, …I have been to this Pita Jungle like four times. I think I love the Idea of the place more so than the actual place itself. They have a great menu, it’s fresh, vegan/vegetarian (not that I am either of those) friendly, they also support meat eaters..its a pretty nonjudgmental place. The only problem I have is…the acoustics of the space. Horribly loud..unbearably loud..they really should figure out how to fix this.
I was pretty excited to find they did have outdoor seating! It was a beautiful day and of course it had to be much more quiet outdoors so we scooped up the chance to dine outdoors!

And yes..it was nice and the food was great ~ I had the pesto pita pizza (so good)

Problem with the outside? It was a breezy day and our outdoor dining area was just downwind of the DUMPSTER.
No…bueno…

Sorry…three strikes..you’re out. I am done with the Pita Jungle.

Bellies full – because the only bad part of the Jungle experience was the environment – we headed off to the salon for the peak of our Saturday!

Shockingly, the wait was just long enough to allow us to select the color of the week. It took me some time by I finally chose the shimmering pinkish color on the thumb:

Yep..I left the place with all of my nail painted in this manner and I will leave them as such as long as I can 🙂

I will spare you the before picture of my walmart feet and cut straight to the pretty in pink end result.

If you have a foot aversion…keep scrolling down because I am going there..hah..

I really wanted to go home and nap afterwards, unfortunately.. my body has no idea how to do such things whilst the sun is up 😦

Some piddle “shopping” was done followed by a trip to Total Wine. Good lord..I love this store. Beth had n e v e r been to Total Wine..her words..”I have never seen this much wine in one place”. I found myself walking through the store and pointing out the highlights of each isle. I should really work here. 🙂

All in all it was really a great day..one, I think, needed on both our accounts.

Nap time?

NOPE! Plug along into the evening! Casual evening but evening non the less!

Time for dinner! Jason and I met up with our great great friends Amy and Dan and we were ready to have a Mexican dining extravaganza!

Margaritas, conversation and great food made for a fabu way to end a Saturday night~

I will leave you with my dinner choice ( Pollo Fundido — not very fun after the fact but completely fun while devouring!!)

Tell me what sorts of shenanigans you are planning for Spring 2014?

This had to be documented…

Since the end of November 2013, I have been involved in some serious self torture. The people of Bikram say, we endure ninety minutes of torture so we do not have to spend ninety years in torture or something like that…basically suck it up for an hour and a half a few days a week..do the twenty six poses to the best of your ability – but with proper alignment – and the benefits you reap are endless.

I am not hear to preach or try to bring all of you to the “dark side” (Although..really…you should try it..I feel AMAZING..skin so soft, lungs are clear, I feel strong and tall even though I am only 5’3)…but again..I tell you..I promise I am not here for this..

I am here to say..OH..MY..GOODNESS.. I woke up at 430 this morning and made it to a hot yoga sesh at 530..IN THE MORNING…BEFORE work!!

For WEEKS now I have been hopeful and planning and setting alarm clocks only to shut them right off and go back to sleep.. On this day..I DID IT..

Admitting, I am pretty sure the only reason I was able to do so was because I stuffed my belly full of pasta, ice cream and honey fried bananas and fell asleep at 830 the night before…

None the less…I DID IT and I have not been able to wipe the grin off my face this entire day.

Bag packed with clothes for the day, mat, towel and water in tow I headed out at 0515!! Thankfully class is not too far from home: If you live in the area and you’re into self torture…come take a class with me!! The studio is new”ish” to our area, clean and the people are so friendly and encouraging!

http://www.bikramyogapeoria.com/

I don’t know if I will ever be able to make a 530 am class again but I’ll keep trying because this feeling of accomplishment is almost as good as the feeling I feel after I am done with class.

Namaste…bitches 😉

In the Beginning..Of February, that is….

Four days, ten hours and 30 minutes ago…I made a decision to quit smoking…again. I have quit before, it was about four or five years ago and I quit for a good two years. I am taking a few of the things that helped me last time and am hoping I can re-train myself.

The biggest help last time around was Bikram Yoga and I am giving it a whirl this time around. I found a studio super close to home so I signed up for a three day trial. I opened the door to the yoga room and was greeted with a not so pleasant smell. I honestly don’t even know how to describe it but it did make me scrunch my nose up.

I rolled out my mat and covered it with my beach towel, turned around and layed down in shavasana, you know, you have to mentally bring yourself to the room and into the moment. Shavasan is a great way to do this, you lay there, taking deep breathes and clearing your mind. This part used to be the most difficult for me, ADD and shavasana are a little contradictory BUT possible if you can learn to control your thoughts and controlling thoughts is an area of which I am very good! Here is a picture of an entire class in shavasana (relaxation and healing time) I snagged this picture from the internet 🙂

Check out how many people are in this class!! I bet it’s smelly in there!!

There were around 30 people in class last night which is not too crowded, I had a lot of space to myself which made me happy. I did feel like I was going to die. My heart was racing, sweat was pouring off of me and into my eyes which made them burn..note to self…wear a head band next time… my head was pounding as well. Another note to self, try to drink at least a gallon of water the day before class..I am pretty sure my head was pounding because I was dehydrated..

As sucky as it all seems (smelly, sweaty, headache) afterwards? I felt amazing. So cleansed, skin soft and I felt strong.

SO….I will go 4 days a week for 30 days and then switch back to regular yoga 🙂