Ahhhhh August....

August has felt like a breath of fresh air after some very hectic preceeding months. I met my August goal too - yep - I took a nap every Saturday in August - how divine! I totally noticed a difference in my energy level and over all feeling of well-being. This past Saturday, I sat down on the couch to just take what I thought was going to be a 20 minute nap and I ended up napping for an entire hour. It was funny because it made me realize that I have become so good at pushing through being tired that I almost don't even notice it until I allow myself to sit still for more than a few minutes.

It has felt lovely to really give my body some time to restore and as we move into September (yay for the start of a new month - I love new months and the coming of FALL!) I fully intend to continue this trend of honoring my body. I hope you do the same!!!

Kickin' off the weekend with a little love song...

I'm in love with this one this week! Enjoy!

love, love, love...

I have about a million and one thoughts swirling through my head about love right now. (Thank you Eat, Pray, Love and NY Times article - Questions Couples Should Ask (Or Wish They Had) Before Marrying)

If I can gather all my thoughts into something comprehensible - I will be sure to share with you all.

beautiful words

"If I want it I am going to have stretch, to reach further than feels comfortable. I’m going to have to believe—in myself; in my decisions; that I am deserving of my own dreams.

I’m going to have to have faith.


I'm not quite there yet, but I keep on walking. Keep on trying. Keep on stretching."

via a beautiful post from Tea & Cookies

http://teaandcookies.blogspot.com/2010/08/faith.html

Summer Cookin'

Last night, loverboy said, "Hey, you know what? We spent just about our entire weekend either preparing food or eating it."
So true, we totally did....

From peach and blueberry crumbles...

Have I told you that I'm endlessly amazed by the colors that exist in nature?

Peaches and blueberries mixed up with lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and flour in preparation for somethin' yummy.

Individual desserts so you don't have to share :)

Voila! We brought these over to dinner at Shana and Luke's and they made us....

Watermelon, orange, mint and feta salad.

Barbeque chicken, feta stuffed tomatoes and yummy parmesean rolls. And as if that isn't enough...

On Sunday morning after an essential trip to Philz to meet up with an old San Diego girlfriend (and more importantly - to satiate loverboy's craving for coffee) we stopped off at the Farmer's Market and picked up this fun assortment of tomatoes - green, yellow, red, purple! Holy Moly, I was in food color heaven - and it was so fun to watch loverboy start to salivate as we came accross his favorite Dry Farm Tomatoes.

When we got home, loverboy cut up a slice of each tomato for a tomato sampler plate. I couldn't believe how many different flavors came out of these guys!


And in between tastes, we got busy making a big pot of tomato sauce.

Which ended up looking like this. And as we let that cool...

We met up with a few of our favorites at Benihana's to celebrate Erik's bday! Here's a pic of our dinner being prepared right before our eyes (the lobster is loverboy's).

Rest like you mean it...

Read a lovely article in my Oprah magazine today about the importance of rest, loved it, here were a couple of my favorite quotes,

"If nothing's working for you, if you feel as though you're pushing forward against the grain, the most productive and proactive thing you can do is nothing. Nature is turning you inward, to gain power through peace, rather than outward to gain power throughg activity. If this feels alien to you, watch animals. When nothing's working for them no matter how hard they try, they curl up or stretch out and surrender. They love the valley of the shadow: It's a dim, quiet, perfect place to gather strength. In Africa I watched a pride of lions, tired from an unsuccessful hunt, lie down and purr like tractor engines for hours. One of my friends observed, 'You know, they rest like they mean it.'"

"Most humans rest in a state of anxiety, guilt and unease. We don't mean it. This keeps life's down times from fulfilling their natural function, which is to restore and heal."

"So, though we often see life troughs as the universe's conspiracy to ruin us, they're actually our own true nature inviting us to lay down our weary heads."

A little more JOY...

I got back to my Tuesday night yoga class tonight after a 7 week absence. Phew, remind me to never miss that many tuesday night classes EVER again. I don't know what it is about this class, but it absolutely makes my heart sing. One step into the studio and I already feel stress and tension melting away. Our teacher has this amazing presence about her, she always looks like she is glowing and she exudes this simple peacefulness that is contagious. I felt so grateful to be in class tonight and as we closed our eyes for a moment she led us in an intention setting process to focus on finding joy in our bodies and practice. About half way through class tonight I started to cry - I couldn't control it - I'm really turning into a big sap in my old age, but I just felt so incredibly thankful for my body and the things that it allows me to do. I felt so thankful for the practice of yoga and the wonderful saint of a teacher that I have - she helps me to remember just how much joy is inside of me and she helps me to believe that despite the aches, pains and exhaustion as of late - my body and my heart are strong.

There is no Z in Boise :)

So I have been absolutely spoiled rotten this past week. I've spent the past week hanging out with some of my favorite people in the world, in some incredible places - from 2 days in Carmel with my mom and dad, to 3 days in Boise and McCall, ID with the F4L to being picked up at the airport by loverboy (who had a lovely dinner prepped for me upon my arrival :)) to having dinner with Kat, Lindsey and Laura tonight. I just can't get over how lucky I feel to have so many amazing people in my life.

This crazy group of girls hold a very special place in my heart. Our trip to McCall, ID marked our TENTH summer vacation trip together!! I can hardly believe we have been summer trippin' together for so long and feel so grateful for all the sacrifices these girls make to continue prioritizing the friendship we share.

We spent the weekend jumping for joy after river rafting trips, hikes, water tubing and dance parties that last until 2am.

I loved every minute of the adventure we got to experience together this weekend. But more than anything, I simply loved the non-stop conversation that started early in the morning and lasted until the wee hours of the next morning. Although many of us see each other for holidays, our summer trips are the only time that we get to spend time together without the distractions of everyday life, family etc. etc. We always talk about, well, pretty much everything under the sun on these trips and I love it, because I always walk away learning something new about these girls - even though I've known some of them for about 20 years now. This year it was extra fun to get to reminicse about some of our favorite memories from the past 10 years of trips.

I am continually amazed by the depth of each one of these women and the strength of the bond we have created.

Breakfast at the Fogg Lifter.

Morning walk by the lake.

Sushi dinner.

The view from our deck.

Love these girls.

I love my parents....

How could you possibly resist loving these two? I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time with them in Carmel this week and gosh I just have to say that I love the relationship that I get to have with my parents as an adult. They were up in Carmel vacationing this week (these two know how to vacation, let me tell ya :)) and I got to stay enjoy a day with them and boy was it restful and rejuvenating!!! I love getting to see them on vacation, enjoying themselves, free from the stresses of work, normal life etc. -- they so completely deserve it!! And I love BEING on vacation with them, my mom always brings me fun little surprise treats - like cute gap shirts and beautiful purple necklaces. And she always has other fun stuff with her - like the perfect shade of nail polish for a home manicure, yoga journal magazines, and special dental tools for me because she knows that I had a little wisdom tooth infection - so thoughtful!! And I love that they enjoy exercising on vacation like I do - I loved getting to go to the gym with my dad and chat as we worked out on the treadmill and bike. And I loved getting to share stories of loverboy and of my bay area girlfriends with them. And more than anything I love just getting to talk and catch up in person - it's all so soul satisfying and really how could it not be when you wake up and look out the window and see this?

...and when you get to spend a couple hours taking in the ambiance and yummy food and good company at a place like this for dinner..

I so cherish the time I get with these guys...

....and most importantly, I especially love getting to take part in my dad's breakfast rituals -- can you say BIG, HUGE bowls of cereal with a cornucopia of berries. This is most definitely where I get my love of cereal from...

Retail Therapy...

Just in case you are in need of some...

These adorable black wedges are $16.99 at Payless right now.

And these fun strappy, silver sandals are $12.99 at Payless - go NOW!


P.S. - Did I tell you they painted my door red?!? I lOVE it!

So grateful for girlfriends...

.....especially the soul-nourishing girlfriends I've got. I cherish every moment that I get to spend with these girls. I leave every book club, every weeknight dinner at Sprout, every Coupa spicy hot chocolate date, every craft day, every life celebration, every outing to the city with a heart full of happiness. I'm inspired in a million and one different ways by each of these women and their positive and fearless outlooks on life.

This weekend, Laura planned a lovely book club picnic in the park. She even devised a scavenger hunt that led us from her place to a nearby park. She left the final clue in a shoe on the sidewalk...

Book club picnic was complete with wine and orangina and fun books called, "When you reach me."

Then on Saturday, we made our way to the Renegade Craft Fair. How cute is that sign? It reminds me of things I've seen Lisa and Sadina make for various celebrations at their homes.
Oooooh can you see inside - it's a craft heaven!

Look at Miss Sassy pants Laura, modeling a necklace made by Sora - isn't it too die for?!

I heart these girls and know that I am so lucky to have them!

In year 28, I resolve to...

1) Rush less
and
2) Take more naps

Whew, I think this might be the first time I have ever set goals to make more space for rest and relaxation in my life - I must be getting old!

On Friday, I posted a poem called, " A Blessing for One Who is Exahusted." When I found the poem on Friday morning, I got a little teary eyed because it spoke to exactly what I felt I had been experiencing for the past few weeks.

When I look back on year 27, two things come to mind;
1) Overwhelming Gratitude
2) Rushed frenzy

It may sound a bit contradictory, but boy do these two things completely sum up my last year of life. I can hardly believe all the wonderfulness that I was lucky enough to experience, but I can also hardly believe how exhausted the last year has left me. I think I could probably count on one hand the number of days/weekends that I actually, fully relaxed. The dominating memory I have of year 27 is is of literally dashing from workouts to errands to work to social stuff while barely breathing in between all of it. And well, I sure have been paying the price lately. I've been so exhausted in the past few weeks that, like the poem says, it has been laborious to do and get through things that I wouldn't have thought twice about doing in the past. And well, if you ask me, this is just a no-fun way of going through life.

So, I took TWO naps this weekend - napping is something that I rarely do in my life but you know what - I LOVED IT!!! Absolutely loved it. Yup, today I woke up at 8 and went to spin and then came home, took a shower and then crawled right back in bed and took a nap. It felt glorious and my body has been thanking me for it all day. I intend to truly listen to my body this year - not just talk about it and well, if I am tired during the day on the weekend, I am just going to crawl back in bed and "rest my spirits" as a good friend of mine calls napping.

When I woke up, I took my time getting to things on my to do list instead of moving at a break neck pace. Also, glorious.

I fully intend on doing more napping and less rushing this year, because let's face it, it's impossible to fully enjoy all the good coming to you, if you're not feeling calm, relaxed and energized.

"You go slowly and you will make it to where you are going."