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The Tour and Tale of Burke and Hare
Let me take you back a few years when I actually meant to share this story! In the winter of 2021, I listened to Season 2 of the historical true crime podcast Tenfold More Wicked. Season 2 was the story of William Burke and William Hare, two men in Edinburgh in 1827 who sold freshly dead bodies to Professor Robert Knox, a University of Edinburgh anatomy professor. Knox wanted the bodies for…
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Climbing Mount. St. Helens on Friday the 13th
Climbing Mount. St. Helens on Friday the 13th
A long overdue hello! It’s been over 2 years since my last blog post and over 4 months since my trip to Washington, but at least I’m getting this in before the end of the year! And that’s what she said. Back inn August, I took two weeks off work to do two of my favorite things: visit friends and travel to places I’ve never been to before. First I went to Louisville, KY to visit J-Dalt, Brian,…
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Hiking with Goats in Grey, Maine
Hiking with Goats in Grey, Maine
In October, a friend and I booked an AirBnB experience called “Hiking with Goats” in Grey, Maine. We had booked an AirBnB in Freeport and planned to spend most of the weekend in Portland, but we were so intrigued by reading the words “hike” and “goat” in the same sentence. The experience came highly rated on AirBnB and we were sold once we read how many times the word goat was used in the…
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Conquering Half Dome
On Thursday, June 7th, two days before my 31st birthday, I conquered Half Dome in Yosemite with 3 friends. It was a grueling, 15-hour hike that I thought would never end, but looking back on it two weeks later, it was worth all that hard work.
I had been planning to visit Yosemite since first moving to California last summer, but I didn’t think I’d end up hiking Half Dome due to needing a permit,…
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Weeks 7&8: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
The last two weeks of our yoga teacher training were a total whirlwind! Week 7 was our biggest and busiest week of training yet. Thursday night, we learned what parts we’d be teaching for our family and friends community class and then completed two round robins of teaching the entire sequence together. I was assigned the triangle series, which consists of three poses: Warrior 1, Triangle, and…
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Week 6: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
Week 6: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
“You’re exactly where you need to be,” we’re told time and time again throughout our eight-week teacher training, but those seven words didn’t truly resonate with me until our Chakra lecture in Week Six.
I was not about the Chakras when we first started talking about them. Usually, I open myself willingly to other people’s passions and perspectives. I believe I can learn something from everyone,…
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I’m a week late on my week 5 post, but it’s better late than never!
Two weeks ago we had two nights of an anatomy lecture! I was looking forward to this part of the training because I didn’t take anatomy in high school (cheers to being an average achieving student.) Of course there isn’t any dissecting of fetal pigs or cats in a yoga anatomy class though. We learned the names of the major bones, joints, and muscles in the human body so we could understand the benefits behind each posture and the refinement cues to better help our future students find depth, alignment, and safety in yoga.
From our CPY manual, aka Manuel: “The genetic make-up is important to understand so we can teach our students to appreciate their individual bodies and not compare themselves to other yogis in the class.” I know I’m not alone in having felt inadequate in a yoga class before, so it was very refreshing to read that!
Here are a few things I really enjoyed learning about in our lecture series:
Why we warm up at the beginning of a yoga class: Our fascia is firm when cool and warm when soft, so we warm up our bodies to be able to access the muscles underneath our “sausage casing” (what our manual refers to fascia as…) to stretch and flow with ease.
Why the person in the front of the room appears to be much more flexible than me: All bodies are not created equal! For example, if the person on the mat next to you has a longer torso, then they’ll be able to create more space when doing a side-bending pose (such as standing half moon or extended side angle.)
And for the sake of my procrastination is writing my reflection for Week 6’s lecture, here are a few visual representations of more cool things we learned:
Now I can name all the major muscle groups and bones in our bodies. (Not from memory yet though!)
It all makes sense to me why Preston Burke was the Cardiothoracic surgeon on Grey’s Anatomy…
The mnemonic device we learned for remembering the planes of motion is to the tune of the chicken dance!
And last but not least, meet Skelly! He was a great tool for studying the human skeleton for obvious reasons, but judging by this picture here, he’d have been a great prom date if I’d known him in high school. He’s tall, lean, and not afraid to put his arm around a lady for the sake of a picture!
Namaste healthy and balanced, y’all!
Week 5: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection I'm a week late on my week 5 post, but it's better late than never! Two weeks ago we had two nights of an anatomy lecture!
Week 4: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
Week 4: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
It’s getting real now, guys. We are officially at the halfway mark of our training. Now that we’ve learned all of the poses, we’ve moved on to learning how to offer assists to each pose. We dove right into that and it was scary!
We also completed our first Round Robin on Sunday, which means we all took turns teaching a different series in the sequence to each other. I was all nerves at first, but…
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Week 3: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
Week 3: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
On Sunday, we finished going through the entire C-1 sequence! NamaHOORAY! To learn all 42 different postures (if I counted correctly, that’s how many there are), we follow this formula: breath–>posture–> cue. For example: Inhale, Tree Pose (Vrksasana), Place the sole of your right foot onto your opposite thigh.We also learned all of the Sanskrit names for each posture and some of the meanings.…
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Week 2: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
Week 2: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
I forgot when I’m in school I’m a huge procrastinator. Hello, Universal Experience. It’s nice to see you again! Week 3 of Yoga Teacher Training starts in less than an hour, so here’s my recap from week 2:
This week in yoga class, we’ve continued to dive into learning the sequence of a C-1 class, but also, Friday night we had our history lecture. I was really looking forward to this lecture…
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Week 1: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
Week 1: Yoga Teacher Training Reflection
If you were paying attention, I posted something on my blog almost 2 years ago about being done with trying to make yoga work for me. Frustration–I couldn’t quiet my thoughts in class. The more I tried to relax, the more anxiety I became. So I gave up and turned to other activities that helped me relax and unwind. (You won’t be able to find this post anymore because I deleted it, but I know at…
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7 Last Minute Tips to Help You Prepare For The JET Interview
7 Last Minute Tips to Help You Prepare For The JET Interview
Interviewing for JET in the next week or two? Then this is for you!
Having been on both sides of the table as an applicant and an interviewer for the JET Program, I wanted to give some insider tips. I was a nervous wreck before I interviewed at the Japan Consulate in Boston four years ago, and everything turned out fine. I hope you will find my tips useful if you happen upon this before your…
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I can’t believe it’s been five years since I did my first (and only) three-day juice cleanse to jump start what I affectionately named my “Lifestyle Change.” For me, getting healthy was never about dieting–because all diets end. And my decision to start eating healthy and exercising wasn’t a new years resolution–because I never actually keep those. That’s why I started my juice cleanse on December 31st instead of January 1st.
Five years ago, I was beyond ready to make a permanent change within myself. Not just with my outward appearance, but also change the way I viewed myself.
If you want to read about my juice cleanse experience, here is my post titled “Nothin’ But Juice” from 2014.
As I look forward to 2019 and reflect back on the past five years, I realize that I’ve learned how to say “I love myself” out loud, and finally mean it.
Picture from our New Year’s Day hike to Crystal Cove in Laguna
Over the past five years, I’ve been through two big breakups, five different moves (including one move overseas to Japan, and most recently, my move from Boston to Southern California), and four new jobs. Even writing that sentence was exhausting! Despite all the constant uprooting my heart and body experienced, one part of me hasn’t wavered: my promise to myself to stay on track and keep a healthy lifestyle.
Back in February 2014, what helped me to shed 50 pounds along with changing my eating habits entirely was running. Running became my first sanctuary–I still haven’t found anything that comes close to a runner’s high for me. I can escape to a place where no bad thought can touch me, and I could just keep running on and on forever.
But today, I’m so out of running shape it’s not even funny. The last race I completed was in June of last year, and I can probably count on less than ten fingers how many times I’ve gone out for a run in the last calendar year.
I beat myself up for falling out of running shape for a while because I worked so hard to get in it in the first place. I could stay angry at myself for this, but instead, I’m focusing on being grateful. Running will always hold a special place in my heart for all that it’s given me.
Just like I replaced chicken fingers with sushi five years ago, I’ve found another activity to focus my energy on and keep me active. (I know that was a terrible analogy but I’m just gonna go with it.)
And that activity is…
Photo by Prasanth Inturi on Pexels.com
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com
YOGA!
The first time I ever took a yoga class was when I was a junior in college–which was 10 years ago. (Yikes.) I have this clear memory of me trying to do the crow pose and falling flat on my face in the middle of class.
A decade later…I still haven’t mastered the crow pose. And you know what? I’m okay with that. I’ve learned that with yoga, I don’t have to be perfect with every pose. Just because someone decides to kick their legs into a handstand instead of doing Downward-Facing Dog like the rest of us doesn’t mean I’m not good at what I do.
Trust me, it’s taken me a long time to feel that way in a yoga class. I’ve been practicing yoga on and off for ten years. I’ve been that girl in the last row who the instructor needs to reposition several times during class. I’ve run out of the room during hot yoga because I thought I was going to pass out. I’ve felt fat and not flexible and overall hopeless and out of place on my mat before. I thought yoga was supposed to be relaxing, amirite?
As I’ve learned to accept myself for who I am, I’ve in turn learned to let go of my fears within my yoga practice. Since moving to California six months ago, it’s been way too easy for me to make it to class after work because there’s a yoga studio literally half a mile down the road from my office. I’d actually have to go out of my way to not stop for class.
Cheesin’ in the sun by Ballast Point in Long Beach
Now I’m that girl on her mat who has finally gotten the courage (and coughed up the money) to put a deposit down for yoga teacher training. It’s taken me many years to find a studio that works for me, and I’ve finally found it within the CorePower community here in Southern California.
This cat is ready to become a certified yoga teacher!
My teacher training starts on February 20th, and I can’t wait! Deepening my yoga practice and getting certified to teach has been in the back of my mind for many years now, but I was always too self-conscious to really take the plunge. I guess now that I’ve found myself off of my mat, I’m ready to find my flow on my mat.
And now I’m all out of terrible jokes for the night. Happy 2019, Y’all!
5th Anniversary of My Lifestyle Change I can't believe it's been five years since I did my first (and only) three-day juice cleanse to jump start what I affectionately named my "Lifestyle Change." For me, getting healthy was never about dieting--because all diets end.
With less than 24 hours left in October, I figured now is a good time to venture back to my Icelandic adventures from last year and write about what it’s like to travel around Iceland in October.
My friend Megan and I spent 7 days and 6 nights traveling around Southern Iceland in a camper van that we affectionately named “The Sheepsmobile.” After we got the keys to our van, our first stop was to a grocery store so we could stock up on food for the week. Our camper van came equipped with a portable stove, a pot, and utensils, so our plan was to make all of our meals ourselves. So for 7 days we basically survived on pb&j sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, and instant soup. After 7 days in a row of pb&j though, we never got sick of it!
Though it was cold, I’m really glad we decided to plan our trip to Iceland in October instead of over the summer. It wasn’t as crowded, AND we got to see the northern lights…twice! We really lucked out with the weather too. We had two rainy mornings that really dampened (better yet, soaked) our plans, but other than that, we had great weather to explore some of Iceland’s untouched, natural beauty. And spending a week in a camper van was so freeing! If you’re planning a trip to Iceland and can forgo your basic amenities (aka a shower), I really recommend renting a van. There are lots of rest stops all over Iceland, so we were able to use the bathrooms there and get a cup of hot coffee (or hot chocolate) in the mornings.
I did my best to remember the names of every place we visited last year. But where I lacked in name, I made up for in anecdotes. Enjoy!
First Stop: Kerið Volcanic Crater Lake
Strokkur Geiser
Gullfoss
The first of many waterfall selfies
And the first of many grazing sheep pictures
We spent our first night in the camper van at the campsite next to Skogafoss Waterfall. Pro #1 of Iceland in October: Late October is not a popular time to travel around Iceland, so we didn’t have to book our campsite in advance or worry about there being no more space.
Is this Megan and Becca, or 2 aliens?
Walking behind Skogafoss is a must!
Ready for our first full day driving around in the Sheepsmobile!
Glaciers in the background
I do not remember the name of this glacier, but I do remember the cold and the wind! And the warm hot chocolate at the visitor’s center afterwards.
Our first day was very windy, rainy, and cold, but the weather cleared up by the end of the day. We stumbled on this cool place, which I can’t recall the name of either…
On our second day, we pulled off to the side of the road and into a field because we saw another camper van there and assumed it would be a good spot to take pictures. Turns out the two girls in the camper van got their clutch stuck in reverse and were waiting for a tow truck…but the spot still proved to be an epic place for pictures!
Cheesin’ at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. It’s definitely worth it to see this place in person!
Diamond Beach
This might not have been a typical Amami sunset, but it was beautiful nonetheless!
We camped at Glacier Lagoon and got to see the northern lights! Pro #2 of Iceland in October: You have a greater chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis.
I stole this picture from Megan because the northern lights don’t really come out on a camera phone. But no picture will ever do the northern lights justice. When you see them in person, the sky looks like it’s dancing with pale green lights!
I also don’t remember the name of this glacier. But I do remember this was the first stop we visited after our ice climbing tour was canceled. Instead of booking a later tour, we decided to get our money back and spend the day driving around and finding new places to explore.
Systrafoss Waterfall (Allegedly, two nuns had drowned in a lake near by a long time ago.)
Reynisfjara, The Black Sand Beach near the village of Vík í Mýrdal. It was really busy here so it was hard to get good pictures, but the most interesting thing was sharing the sand with dozens of high school students from the U.K. who were on a school trip–seriously, can you imagine going on a field trip to Iceland?! Perspective is a cool thing.
Megan is a great friend and took a long walk uphill to visit the Dyrhólaey lighthouse with me.
We were too late to see any puffins when we went to Iceland, but at least I got to pose with this guy. And because of stopping to take this picture, we happened upon our very favorite waterfall of the trip: Gluggafoss!
Before we made it to Glugafoss though, we saw a trail of people walking straight up this hill. Being the adventurers that we are, we just had to stop and do the hike ourselves. I don’t think this next picture does the steepness of this hill any justice though…it was so steep we practically had to crawl on all fours to get to the top!
But alas, the view, as always, was worth it. 🙂
Glugfoss: Megan and Becca’s favorite waterfall in Iceland (that we know of)
Don’t be fooled, I heavily advanced the colors in this picture.
Full disclosure, we hadn’t showered in 5 days when we took this picture. We still look good though, don’t we?!
On our last full day, we went to Þingvellir (Thingvellir) national park. They’ve shot scenes from Game of Thrones here!
Standing in the rift between 2 tectonic plates. We felt like Mandy Moore in a Walk to Remember being in two places at once.
When it’s time to bring the sheep in for the winter, they are all herded into this pen–they are divided depending on who their owner is.
The only time I bought food that wasn’t from the grocery store was this hot dog from a gas station. Because if we were going to purposely boycott Blue Lagoon, I at least had to try one of their hot dogs! Spoiler alert: It tasted like a normal hotdog.
Pretending like we were unimpressed by this waterfall. Although now that I think about it, I am pretty sure we were actually underwhelmed by its size…
Our last sunset in Iceland
We waited until the last day of our trip to take a picture of our home for the past week…
So there you have it! I definitely recommend braving the cold and visiting Iceland in the fall. Because the chance to see the Northern Lights is way better than sunlight until midnight!
Visiting Southern Iceland in October With less than 24 hours left in October, I figured now is a good time to venture back to my Icelandic adventures from last year and write about what it's like to travel around Iceland in October.
Turning 30 Abroad in Barcelona
Turning 30 Abroad in Barcelona
I had been talking about going to Spain for my 30th birthday for over a year, and I’m proud to say that I actually did! My birthday was on Saturday this year, so how could I not celebrate this milestone somewhere amazing? My sister and I could only spend a long weekend in Spain (she’s a working mother of 3 and my PTO was nearly barren). We didn’t want to pack too much traveling into our 4-day…
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30 Things I Did Before I Turned 30
30 Things I Did Before I Turned 30
I remember when I was 27, I saw a book on sale called something like “30 Things Every Woman Should Do Before She Turns 30.” I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, worried I had only 3 years left to do whatever I hadn’t done that was on that list. Needless to say, I never actually picked up the book to see what was inside. I don’t want a book telling me how to live my life.
Now that I’m days away…
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Better Late Than Never (4th Anniversary)
Better Late Than Never (4th Anniversary)
Well, it’s been almost a year to the day since my last blog post. I’m very behind on my travel writing, but more importantly…I haven’t written anything about the fourth anniversary of my “Lifestyle Change.” For shame!
And so it goes. Since 2013, I’ve kept up with writing a blog around New Years commemorating what I call my “Lifestyle Change.” In early 2014, I wrote about my decision to get healthy
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