S.C. 1.4-6: A Post from "The Post"

I know you've all been in suspense, as you waited to hear whether or not the HONK continued.  Thankfully, I report to you that the exorcism seems to have worked -- my hub, the car exorcist.  Who knew that I would one day count this skill as one of the many reasons that he is stellar!  It's a good thing he worked his magic, since many travels were planned, both locally and out-of-state.  

I haven't been to yoga class since Thursday, but I find that I am developing a better groove in terms of home practice.  Friday, I did the Standing Warm Up Practice on my "101 Yoga Poses" iPhone app.  I have enjoyed this app for quite some time; 1) it can be downloaded for free or for $.99 to avoid the ads 2) It has a nice variety of practices already set up, as well as a timer that notifies you when to flow into the next pose and 3) it is very useful for travel and completing a guided yoga session wherever!  I also recently downloaded "YOGA free"; this app has more poses, but no set practices.  However, I am excited to try crafting my own asana series and setting it to my own music.  The Fri. session was a lovely stretching opportunity to prepare me for 6 wonderful hours at the farm.  Between Thurs. and Fri., my arms feel the burn for sure!  Yesterday, I ended my day with the "Relax" practice on the 101 app; I haven't tried practice at this time before, as I generally enjoy the energizing element of morning yoga.  I found that it soothed some soreness and peacefully closed a day filled with an enjoyable driving experience and the happiness of being with Grandma.  This morning, I plan to redefine hot yoga, i.e. yoga by the fire.  With the beginning of the forecasted 8-12" of snow, what a wonderful way to enjoy and invigorate myself this morning!

In terms of cleanse eats: Friday -- I enjoyed round 2 of the Magical Fruit Bowl and Mom G's Salad.  Quick note on the latter: the servings will depend on the size of your cabbage head; mine was pretty tiny, so we only got three main dish servings out of it.   Yesterday, I snacked on rice cakes with nut butter and fruits/veg. as I drove west; then, at Grandma's request, we had the mushroom burgers with sundried tomato spread and a salad for dinner.  Delicious.  

Grandma -- with our eats and a "distraction" --
Running Brook Vineyard's White Pinot Noir
(a local (to me), limited release wine)

Tonight, we are going to have a brown rice pasta smorgasbord.  I was curious to try both the tomato spread and the spinach artichoke dip as pasta dressing, so we will taste those, as well as Grandma's homemade pesto and another big green salad with Grandma's homemade raspberry vinaigrette.  To start our day, Grandma awoke to my sweet potato homefries in the oven; I enjoyed these over steamed swiss chard while Grandma had them straight up with a touch of ketchup.  Grandma can't have chard (among other things) because it interferes with one of her medication, and this inability perpetually irks me -- a food doesn't get much better for one's health than greens!  I understand that there is something about the Vitamin K that is an issue with the med, but given what the med. is supposed to be addressing, one might say that more greens would actually help remedy the issue!  We discussed this conundrum last night, but the only remedy is apparently upping the med. which doesn't sound like a great solution.  Sigh.  Back to happier things like what we CAN enjoy together: the barley soup is on the menu for lunch (same recipe that I posted the other week, as my aunt sent it to everyone, and of course, we all made it immediately and love it!).  Then, I predict that there will be much reading and merriment by the fire, as we "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."  Grandma's daffodils better prepare themselves.

Feeling great in terms of the cleanse...though I admit I haven't been perfect.  However, I think back to Camille Kingsolver's words about distraction awareness.  I chose my two distractions yesterday and in doing so, I actually feel that this cleanse is more successful than last time, because I have learned through those mindful distractions.  Thus, as I continue with the cleanse and with the process of establishing a cleaner diet post-cleanse, I have a better sense of how this lifestyle might work for me.  Keeping a food and exercise diary on my phone via the "Lose it" app (free and can be linked from phone and web) has also been helping with this process.  I've used this app before but inconsistently.  Although it is in no way the perfect nutritional/calorie burning measure, it provides a good sense of one's intake and output and one's calorie spread.  As the title makes clear, the intent of these entries is to facilitate weightloss, but it is also an easily accessible tool for keeping track of consumption/exercise that has worked much better for me than web-only based tools.  

I leave you with promises of spring on this snowy day -- both were taken at the farm.