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.