Puke, Faint, or Die

I remember reading a quote by the workout guru Jillian Michaels, “Unless you puke, faint, or die, keep going.” Before Monday at 7 pm, this quote used to just be in the back of my mind, never thinking that it could actually happen during a workout. This quote now has brought on a whole new meaning. On Monday, Robert and I dared to try hot yoga. I wish I recorded my exact thoughts during and immediately following hot yoga, but I will do my best to replicate my thoughts and feelings.

I guess I should start by explaining why Robert and I decided to take the plunge in trying hot yoga. Stupidity. Just kidding. There is a hot yoga studio that we drive by everyday and for such a long time we always said we should try hot yoga. Recently, a friend of ours started going to hot yoga on a daily basis and raves about it. We finally decided to just go for it.

Monday night we walked into the studio with our yoga mats, two towels (yes, two towels for each person), and water bottles; all ready to go. We signed up, and got a really good deal! 10 classes for $10—who can go wrong?! As we finished signing our lives away, people were already lining up for the class a half hour early. Robert and I were both shocked, but it also calmed us down a bit because if people are lining up a half hour early, this must be worth it. We peered into the class that was occurring and there were people lying on the ground who were completely covered in sweat, others who were dripping in sweat, people using weights (!!), and the feeling of death. We turned to each other and asked each other what we have gotten ourselves into. However, there was no backing out. We needed to rise up to the challenge.

The current class finished and the eager people waiting rushed inside to claim their spot. As I walked in, it hit me like a ton of bricks. There was nothing that could have prepared me for what I felt when I walked into that humid, overbearing 100 degree room. After I finished setting up my area (which was an accomplishment in itself) I turned to Robert and said, “I am outta here until we have to be in here.” I was in the room of death for less than 5 minutes and I was already sweating. The only thing that continuously went through my mind was, “How in the world am I going to be in that room, completing 26 different poses, for an HOUR?!” As the time hit about 5 minutes before 7, we reluctantly walked back into the room to try and acclimate our bodies to the heat.   

Class starts. After the first pose, I am sweating bullets. What is the first pose? The first pose was standing with our hands facing the front. That is it. However, I am starting to remember one of my favorite sayings, especially knowing that you are working hard...

Before we continue through the class, let me pause. I have taken other yoga classes before and hated them for various reasons but one big reason is because you shouldn’t be talking or laughing. There is one point in every yoga class that I have to try containing my laughter, every time. During yoga you are supposed to have controlled breathing so at the beginning everybody is taking deep breathes and letting them out. During this time, you are supposed to be as loud as possible when letting out your breath. There is no way of saying this nicely except, some people sound like fog horns and it makes me laugh every time. Every time. I control myself and anmy laughter; I am not that inconsiderate.

Continuing with the story. As we are moving through different moves my entire body is just a waterfall of sweat. I never thought a person could produce so much sweat. The good news is...

Let me tell you, I did not look cute. Not at all. I must have trained hard. Anyway, I realized during the class that it is more of a mental workout than anything. There is no clock so I had to continue telling myself it is mind over matter and that I can do this. I have ran half marathons, trained hard with trainers, but this was probably the most difficult workout I have ever had. There was no clock in the room so I couldn't even pace myself, and knowing whether or not we were close to being done. Normally if I am mentally tired, if I can see I am close to the end I can push myself. Around the second water break, I had to lay down. My body was definitely ready to quit on me. Luckily, this is common in hot yoga. As I was laying down on my mat, the only thing I could keep thinking was, "Jen, you can do this, you are laying down on a mat, you can stay for the entire time." Next to me, Robert was doing fantastic. He continued through a few more poses and then laid down as well. One thing that truly surprised me was that, even laying down, my heart was pounding. After I had another pep talk and the instructor opened the door to the outside and serenity rushed in with cool air, I was able to push through a couple more poses, and then laid back down. Once the class reached the poses on the back, I was thankful. There was a pose called 'Lying Baby' (I think) and Robert was laughing, he said he didn't know what to think of it-- he just gave me this look and laughed. We were laughing about it later Monday night as well.

There was a breaking point close after the baby pose and I turned to Robert and said, "I can't finish, I am too light headed." I quickly rolled up my mat and left. When I walked outside, the coolness engulfed my body, but at the same time so did accomplishment. I looked at the clock, I made it through 55 minutes. I was so proud of myself! A few minutes later, Robert walked out. He felt exactly the same way. After we sat for a couple minutes drinking water, I realized...

So why do I want to torture myself again? The answer is actually quite simple, love triumphs over hate. The instructor is excellent and she offers cautions about overexertion, and suggestions on how to do each pose with various levels of challenge. Yoga is also noncompetition, so you should not be comparing yourself with your neighbor-- you don't even have the same body type! It is all about strengthening yourself that day-- don't even compare yourself to the previous day. Be at peace with yourself for that day. Hot yoga is definitely a challenge, and as all of your know, I thrive on challenges, so this is up my alley.

Although I didn't puke, faint, or die I stopped because for that day, that is the farthest I could push myself.

Here is to a challenge. Here is to something new. Here is to something that will strengthen my body and mind.

Next torture hot yoga class? Tonight!

Halfway Gone, Half Left

Robert and I were in Fred Meyer the other day and there were massive displays of school supplies. As I saw these displays, I turned to Robert and said, “Already?! We haven’t even been done with a school for a month and there are already school supplies on sale!” A couple days later as I sit down to write this blog, I realize that summer is halfway gone but I still have half left to enjoy. One month until reality sets back in.  I have enjoyed my summer this year, which is the reason why I cannot believe it is flying by so quickly.

One thing I have truly enjoyed this summer is relearning my joy for cooking. It has been truly enjoyable, searching for new recipes and actually having the time to cook to try the recipes. During the school year, I come home, toss a bunch of random food items to make something magical (or not so magical) for dinner. There is now, a solid foundation of recipes to use throughout the year that I can turn to for dinner. I have to give Robert the credit for the last amazing dish we made on Sunday together. It was grilled salmon with a glaze, asparagus, and sweet potatoes. It was quite the little dance we created to execute this magnificent dinner. It definitely took two people to prepare this dinner. Robert was the one who made the entire salmon portion, but we had to coordinate the rest of the dinner to put on the grill and take it off and specific times so it would all finish at the same time. Coordination and communication was imperative, but as you can see below it turned out perfectly. It was a nice day that we could enjoy eating outside with a glass of Pinot.



The next day we spent a little time with my parents before our cooking class. Our cooking class was Sushi 101. Long story short, it was fun learning how to roll sushi! Not to be egotistical, but I rock. Rolling sushi is not as difficult as it may seem. It was quite simple! As you can see below it isn’t a piece of artwork yet, but for a beginner I would say it is quite good.



Although summer is halfway gone, I am so happy with my summer. The good news? I still have half left! What am I going to do with my half that I have left? Enjoy the time! Although August is going to be insanely busy, I am going to enjoy the extra time.

To and Fro

To and fro, but we made it home! Robert and I were able to take an extremely relaxing vacation for a week in California. From this week, we were able to chalk up endless memories, stories, and laughs.

As we left Washington, we had huge smiles on our faces just waiting to arrive in sunny California and drive to Napa. Once we arrived in San Fran, we just needed to grab our luggage and rental car before leaving for Napa. As we were standing at baggage claim, I turned to Robert and said, "This is where I always start to pray that my luggage arrives." As the last of the bags descended onto the baggage claim belt, Robert was still bagless. Needless to say, Robert went up to talk to the baggage claim representatives. The entire staff was not too helpful in the situation. The manager told Robert and I, "Somebody must have taken the bag." Awe-some, so helpful. Wonderful. The other representative gave Robert a claim number to follow online, but once he asked what the airline would do if it was never found (a.k.a receive compensation for his clothes) the representative, again, not too helpful.

We left United Airlines not too thrilled, but we didn't want it to ruin our vacation. We got our red Chevy car (Robert would know what kind of Chevy, I on the other hand, not so much). Each time we road in the car I couldn't help but laugh because of the uncomforting sounds Spit-Fire (the name we called the car) would make. As we started driving, we ended up taking the incorrect exits numerous times (we can now look back and laugh). AND once we had found the correct roads to take, we forgot that there were tolls in California and neither of us carry cash. As we were drawing nearer and nearer to the tolls, I was rummaging through my wallet, counting the coins I had. In eye sight of the toll, I only had $4.65 and we were in need of $5. Rummaging more through my wallet, I found $5 I saved for the last day of school, for coffee but never used it!

Robert turned to me and said, "Things ar looking up! YAY!"

Needless to say, we made it safely to Napa, where it was warm and gorgeous.



That is the temperature the day we arrived in Napa.

You could walk everywhere in Napa. This is part of downtown Napa where there are gorgeous stores, wine bars (of course!), and endless restaurants.

Since we arrived later in the afternoon and after being up since 4:00, we just walked around Napa and went to various wine bars that evening before crashing. That night around midnight we got a call in our room informing us, that yes, Robert's baggage had been delievered to the hotel! YES!

The next day, we signed up for a wine train. First, the bus took us up to Raymond Winery to tour. There, we spent about an hour and a half walking around the winery, learning, and soaking up tips about tasting wine. 

Also at Raymond, there was a chance to interact with the animals, as you can see above. There, Robert is feeding the goat rosemary. Who knew goats ate rosemary?! I definitely did not. From the winery, we hopped on the train for a fantastic lunch as we went through endless vineyards for about an hour and a half. It was definitely beautiful, to say the least.

The next day, Robert and I had scheduled a couple winery tours. The first tour was wine tasting with a cheese pairing at Robert Mondavi. At first we were skeptical because Mondavi is such a big winery that we thought it was going to be just this huge tour and commercialized. And on the contrary, it was not. We ended up having a private tour of Mondavi and the tour guide let us ask any questions we wanted and took us places that other tours were not going.  

 This is a picture of Robert and I in the aging room. There are a lot more barrels that what is pictured!

Just the beginning of the tour. We were starting to go through the vineyards.

This is a picture of just some of the acres that Mondavi owns.

 Another picture of the aging room-- more barrels.



These are the wines we had with our cheese pairing. They were all fantastic wines.

After Mondavi, we had another wine tour that we set off to find. This tour was a bit of a shock, especially the location and drive. 

To even start driving up to the winery, you had to radio up (which Robert is doing above) to open the gate. CRAZY!

This is a picture from where the winery is located. We started down by the lake.

Another picture from the same winery.

That was our last full day in Napa. Before leaving on Monday, we decided to go to this winery that we both wanted to see. It was absolutely beautiful. It was fun just sitting outside on a gorgeous day wine tasting, without having a care in the world. At this winery, we found a merlot that I like. I never like merlot, but this was a perfect creation of merlot. 

This was part of the garden we were relaxing, wine tasting in.

After we were done wine tasting, we started our journey back to San Fran for a couple days. In San Fran, we road the cable cars, got lost, saw a worker's demonstration in the street, walked around the pier, froze of bootays off, and so much more.



On the 4th of July, we spent the entire day down at Pier 39. It was such a fun day. First of all, the sun was shining and everybody was having a great time. Down in the pier, there were bands playing, shows, tons of people, and just the vibe was so much fun. Once night was setting in, Robert and I were starting to get cold. It never occurred to us to bring heavy sweatshirts to California, so we had to go buy cheap $10 sweatshirts (matching lime green) to keep us warm for the fireworks. After the fireworks, we were going to ride the cable car back to our hotel, well, we found out that the cable cars were not running after the fireworks (go figure). Instead of riding the cable car, we ended up walking from the pier back to our hotel (only about 2 miles, not bad).

It felt great getting away and relaxing. Everybody needs to relax and walk away from the everyday stress in life. Needless to say, to and fro we did make it back home.