Bella, the Yoga Shopaholic

Since I’m getting into yoga for the next 40 days, I decided to treat myself to a few items that will help me look better (and may just help my practice).  Plus, I plan to make yoga a part of my weekly workouts even after these 40 days are up, so I thought it was time to buy a bit of yoga “gear.”

Last week when I went to Bikram, I sweated a lot. I mean, my legs, arms, back, and everywhere else was sweating, which is unusual for me.  It was a great way to release toxins, but it wasn’t so great on my yoga mat. Stinky!!

I used some Clorox wipes to clean it up a bit, I knew there had to be a better way.

And then I went on Amazon (where I purchased all of these yoga essentials, actually), and found Manduka yoga mat spray.

I got it in the lavender scent, because I thought that sounded tranquil.

Next up was something that I’d been wanting to purchase for a really long time, but wasn’t sure it was a good use of money.  But after the stinky yoga mat incident, I knew it was necessary.

Today when I went to Yoga Basics, I asked the girl next to me who had the Yogitoes skidless towel whether she thought it was worth it, and she said absolutely.  She said that even though they’re ridiculously expensive, the grip and the way that they hold up in the wash made them worth the money.

I liked this one because I have an orange Gaiam mat that my sister bought me years ago, and I thought it would coordinate well.

And then I decided that I should probably get a second mat, too.  That way, I can make sure the mats are always “fresh.”  This one was only $16.99 and is supposed to be extra thick.  I got the dark purple color, because I thought it would coordinate with the towel.

I always keep a yoga mat in my car, but I like the idea of having a second one that I can use at home for some of the floor work that the workout DVDs I’ve been doing have.  Plus, if a friend is ever interested in trying yoga with me and doesn’t have a mat, I  can let her borrow one of mine.

Next up is something that I wrote about quite a while ago, the AdoraOm plus-sized yoga/workout clothing line.  I was so disappointed when I couldn’t go to their luncheon in L.A. because I’d been wanting to check out their clothes first-hand.  Their prices are fairly expensive, but the clothing is getting rave reviews from everyone who tries it, and I think their items are the type of high-quality clothes that will hold up well.  People spend crazy money on Lululemon, so why not spend a bit on the plus-sized version?  So I decided to treat myself to two of their tops because I don’t have any sort of performance activewear, and I have a feeling that it really does make a difference.

This is the My Game Face top ($67).  I got it in gray and charcoal because I thought it was the most versatile.  (And the turquoise color I’d wanted was out of stock in my size).  These tops are popular!  I bought it in a size smaller than I wear in my shirts because I wanted it to be a bit tighter. Plus, as I lose weight, I want it to fit me.  I don’t mind it being a bit snug now if it means that I can get more wear out of it later.

This one is called My Funky Tank ($79) and I love it!  Again, I wanted it in turquoise, but they were out of stock, and this color is fine.  A neutral that will go with everything. This top has a bit of a built-in bra, so I’m thinking it will be great for me to wear along with a sports bra for higher impact activities, like Zumba or kickboxing.

I know I spent a lot of money – thank goodness for that Amazon card I got!  But these are investments in something that I love to do, and since they last a long time, I think it’s worth it.  Plus, I’m a lot less likely to skip out on a workout/yoga class when I know that I’ve spent this much on all of the gear.  And since I’m someone who wants to look as good as I possibly can, even when I’m working out, knowing that this stuff will help me perform better as I look better really boosts my confidence.  And that’s priceless.

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You Spin Me Right Round, Baby, Right Round

Oh, today has been full of irony…but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

You see, this morning, I was all set to go to a 9am spin class. As I woke up, I started trying to make excuses about why today wasn’t a good day to take the class. But I pushed those fat girl thoughts out of my head and told myself that if I’m really trying to reach my goals, there’s no room for excuses. So I got up, got ready, and even tweeted about it.

Then it was time to figure out what I was going to wear to the class. Because I’d purchased those padded spinning pants, but I knew they didn’t look good on me. But I knew I’d be sorry if I didn’t use that padding. So I decided to try them on and hope against hope that they looked ok on me.

Nope, they still look bad from the back. I hate that fold at the bottom of the skirt. And the skirt BAREly covers my ass.

It's not a good look from the front, either.

That darn skirt just didn’t fit me yet.  So I had the thought of avoiding the skirt altogether – at first I thought about cutting it off, but thought that I could just tuck it into the pants.  And since the pants are pretty see-thru because of the coolmax fabric, I decided to add a second pair of leggings on top of them. That way, I’d have the padding, but I’d be a bit more modest with the 2nd pair of leggings.  I’m so uncomfortable  showing that much of my thighs – I love/hate how tight the leggings are.  I love that they feel like I’m not wearing anything and they make working out easier, but I hate how my thighs look in them.  No where to hide, if you know what I mean.

I figured that if I paired the leggings with one of the long yoga tops that I have, that would work to semi-camouflage the thighs. But as you can see from the photos above, it really looked no better than the skirt did.  Plus, the tank top showed quite a bit of “flub” around my back and arms. And really, how was that an improvement?

So I decided to just pair the leggings with the tshirt I’d originally planned on wearing.  I love Animal, don’t you?

Not great, but at least my back flub was covered.

A bit better from the back?

When in doubt, cover it all up with a hoodie!

After all of that messing around about the wardrobe, I had wasted at least 30 minutes, so I quickly set Sofi into her puppy area, grabbed some water, and decided to bring some headphones, too, just in case I couldn’t make it through the whole class and needed to finish my workout elsewhere.

I left about 15 minutes before the class started, and by the time I got to the gym and entered in my pin info at the front desk, it was 8:56.  I went straight to the spin room, all the while wondering just how awful I looked in this getup, not to mention the fact that I felt like I was walking strange because of the padded leggings.  Definitely not something that inspires confidence.  Anyway, as I walked into the room, the spin instructor was just asking people if there was anyone new to the class.  I raised my hand, while I weaved through the room, looking for a free bike.  I asked a couple of people if the one next to them was taken, because they had towels or water bottles on them, and sure enough, they were taken.  Dammit!  No free bikes to be had.

See, this is where the irony comes in – if I hadn’t been so worried about what to wear to the class, I might have actually been there in enough time to actually take the class.  Ugh.  Well, lesson learned.  Lots of people still take a spin class offered at 9am on a weekday, especially one that’s in the week between Christmas and NYE when lots of people are off of work. Spinning just wasn’t in the cards today, I guess.

But I still wanted to get a workout in, so I went on the recumbent stationary bike…

…and I burned some serious calories!  I don’t go by the calorie count on the screen, because I didn’t enter in my weight or any other stats, but I do like the pace I was going at.  MyFitnessPal said that I burned 508 calories, which is great!  I was definitely sweating and my heart rate was pumping as I was on the bike.  I am SO glad that I thought to grab my headphones.  I’m also really glad that I had just uploaded some new mixes from RockMyRun.

I'm proud of my speed.

After all of that worry, I still haven’t taken a spin class!  But I’m going to the one at 9am on Thursday.  Definitely. And I’m going to get there at 8:30, just to be safe.  Since I already know what I’m wearing, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Speaking of workout wardrobes, have you entered the AdoraOm New Year, New Look, New You Makeover Contest yet?  There are only 5 days left!

When all is said and done, I didn’t get to the class I had hoped for, but I still worked out and got in a good calorie burn.  I feel great about that. Plus, I have so much energy.  I can’t wait to tackle the rest of the day.

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New Year, New Look, New You Contest (#AdoraOm)

Who doesn’t love the idea of making themselves over?  That’s one of the reasons we are on this weight loss journey, isn’t it?  To make ourselves look and feel better?  And I know that it’s the reason I spend so much money (and time!) on clothes, makeup, and hair products.  I want to look my best so that I can feel my best.

With all of this in mind, I am excited to help spread the word about AdoraOm’s contest.  This is one great makeover contest!  Check out that link for the full scoop, but here are some highlights:

This month AdoraOm is giving 1 LUCKY WINNER a fabulous makeover for the

“New Year, New Look, New You” Makeover Contest

 which starts

Midnight November 29 & runs until Midnight December 31, 2011.

The winner will receive:

 

* A Complete New Hairdo, compliments of  Antoinette Holton of Jaeso Studio in Anaheim.

* Makeup application and tips, compliments of  Makeup Artist Nicole Valentine of Nikki V. Beverly Hills.

* AdoraOm 3-piece  active wear outfit.

* Lunch with Danielle Line (the AdoraOm spokesmodel) & the AdoraOm Founders plus a Suprise Goodie Bag  full of items to get your New Year, New Look, New You off to a great start!

TO ENTER:

*On Facebook “like” the AdoraOm fan page, Jaeso Studio fan page, and/or the  Nikki Valentine (makeup artist) fan page.

*Email contest@adoraom.com  a photo of you doing your favorite activity where you plan to rock your AdoraOm active wear. Pictures will be posted under the New Year, New Look, New You Contest album on Facebook. 

 

*Visit the AdoraOm Lounge and leave us a comment under the “New Year, New Look, New You” Makeover Contest and tell us why you want to win.

*On Twitter “follow” AdoraOm and tweet the following:

I just entered the @AdoraOm “New Year, New Look, New You Makeover Contest” and you can too! Click here to enter  http://blog.adoraom.com/

For Contest Rules & Regulations click here

The Winner will be Announced on

January 3, 2012

If you have any questions regarding the contest, please contact

contest@Adoraom.com

Who wouldn’t want a makeover that celebrates you and a fresh start for the New Year?  Good luck!!!

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Wake Me Up When September Ends!

September has been a really long month already, and we still have one week to go! Lately I’ve been feeling like my weekends are one day too short, and everything ends up being a big blur. I think I try to fit too much in, to catch up on too much that I didn’t get to during the week, and it means I have fewer chances to just relax on the weekends.

One of my goals for the remaining months of this year is to get a grip on my grading – my workload has tripled, and I have to figure out a way to better deal with it. I am going to attack this just like I would working out – I may not WANT to do it, but I will feel so great when I’ve finished and nothing beats the sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done. The fact is, I enjoy working out now, and while I’ll never love grading essays, I’m sure I can make it more bearable. The nice thing is, I can do them at home, still be with Sofi, and wear my comfiest clothes. If I’ve got to do something you don’t like, at least I can make it as enjoyable as possible. And I have lots of great music to keep me going. And maybe I can host a “grading night” with some colleagues to make it fun and social. So really, I just need to work out a schedule, put it into my iCal, and stick to it.

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Weekend Update

Friday

So I know that technically Friday isn’t the weekend, but some pretty exciting stuff happened on Saturday afternoon, so I just have to share. I’ve actually been debating about whether or not to share the news or to wait until after it happened to just report on the events, but I’m bursting with excitement, and it’s more my style to spill it.

I wrote a post last week about AdoraOm and how I was so excited for their site to be launched so I could buy some excellent plus-sized yoga/workout clothes. Well, their “curvy ambassador,” Danielle Line, contacted me and said a bunch of nice things about my blog, my writing, and my journey, but then she asked me if I was going to Love Your Body Day. I told her I live in the SF Bay Area, and she replied, “that’s not that far at all. You should come!” And right then and there it hit me – this is so out of character for me to do, but why not? I can drive to West Hollywood in 6 hours, and a day all about women’s empowerment and loving you for you sounds so fun. Plus, I’m sure there will be tons of swag, and who doesn’t like that? Then Danielle said that she would invite me as her personal attendee to the AdoraOm VIP Luncheon the following day. How cool is that? This is a great opportunity, and I’m really open to whatever they might want me to do – maybe even write about their products or try them out? (Putting it out there to manifest it).

I’ve booked the hotel room (which is right on Sunset Blvd!!), and the hotel has lots of great amenities including a pool and a gym, which I’ll be using. I also contacted Heidi to see if she wanted to meet up, which she does. Bonus – I get to meet a blogger that I admire in person! Not to mention that West Hollywood has great night life, and it’s right near Beverly Hills, so there will be excellent shopping too. Win, win, win.

The main reason I’m so excited is that I never do anything so spontaneous (if you can call something that’s a month away spontaneous). I don’t go on trips by myself, so it’s high time I did, don’t you think? I think the entire experience is going to be so much fun and I’m really looking forward to it!

Saturday

Every year I assign my classes the Letterfits project to go along with the Scarlet Letter unit, and every year the students’ letters sit in a pile on the counter until I give them back/recycle them. It’s sad, because they really do put a lot of effort into them, and the projects look great. This year, since I have so many students who completed the project, I decided it was time to get serious and hang them all up. And of course I called the master to help me do it. My amazing dad spent almost three hours with me early Saturday morning hanging up a bunch of projects in my classroom.

The photo doesn't do justice to how cool the letters look hanging in my room!

The rest of my Saturday was spent grading essays (see above). I wish I would have taken more time out and gone for a walk with Sofi or done some exercise, because I feel so much better on the days I do.

Later Saturday evening I got together with LMK, a former colleague and a good friend, whom I haven’t seen in over a year! Our schedules are so busy, and we each have a lot going on in our lives, but we both agreed that way too much time had passed. We went to a new (to us) Spanish/Latin American restaurant and had tapas. We made great choices, and my entire meal (including the wine) was 577 calories, which is excellent for a night out. While I don’t want to do it all the time, going out to eat is still completely doable with a low carb lifestyle.

The best thing is, LMK and I picked right up where we left off. She and I have so, so much in common, and she’s an example of the way I want to live my life at my goal weight. She’s incredibly fit, and recently started running in addition to her yoga practice. She had the goal to run a half marathon this year, so she joined the free run club at Lululemon, and she’s participating in two half marathons within two weeks – the Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Nike Women’s Marathon (she can’t wait to get the Tiffany pendant at the end). She’s a petite girl to begin with, but very weight conscious, and she keeps track of what she eats. Even though she’s small (a size 4 or 6?), she struggles with her weight as much as I do. Being so tiny, gaining 10 pounds is huge on her little frame, and she is very careful about the types of food she puts in her body. She shops at all the stores I can’t wait to fit into – Athropologie, Nordstrom, Ann Taylor Loft, Lululemon, etc. She’s just a cool chick, and I’m so glad that we reconnected. I want to make a point of keeping in touch with her (and some of my other friends) more often, because she’s such a positive role model for me.

Sunday

What a busy day! The morning started early with Puppy K for Sofi, which led to a quick trip to Unleashed to pick up a better grooming brush and some new dog food. It was SO hard to resist buying her a cute sweater or two, but I did.

This are of the yoga studio really makes me feel calm and serene.

Then I headed to yin yoga with another work colleague/friend.  As I mentioned last week, I’m really liking the mind/body connection I feel after taking the class. I feel really centered and good about myself.  Plus, the deep stretches are so good for my body.

I have quite a To Do list to accomplish before the end of the day:

• Organize around the house – wash & fold laundry, electric broom, straighten up.
• Take Sofi on a semi-soggy walk (it’s sort of lightly misting/sprinkling here).
• Grade essays – I am committing to spending at least 2 hours today grading.
• Make a healthy dinner – I’m thinking the stuffed mushrooms I bought the other day are going to be perfect for this strange, rainy weather we’re having today.
• At home facial – time for some Queen Helene Mint Julip Mud Masque.
• Watch all my Sunday shows:
• 

So I’d better end this and get to it!  I hope you had a fabulous weekend!

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HYC Update: A bit of this and that

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!

Today’s post is going to be a bit of a mind dump, but I hope you’ll find it interesting, nevertheless.

Last night on Twitter, Kenlie had the best quote that I promptly retweeted and then posted today on FB, too.  I absolutely love it and plan to adopt it as my personal mantra for the rest of 2011:

Feed a dream…starve a doubt.” ~~Ray Davis @AffirmationSpot

This quote is perfect for me in so many ways, but most obviously because I have an important goal (dream) of getting to 266 pounds by the end of November and I’m going to need to stay positive in order to make it happen.  I can’t give in to negative thinking (doubts) seep into the equation.

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I just found out about a new company that will be selling plus-sized activewear  called AdoraOm.  It’s so new that it seems they haven’t got their website up and running yet.  I did like them on FB.  The clothes look really cute, and I cannot wait to be able to buy them!  I’m always on the lookout for yoga/workout clothes that are flattering and functional.  I can’t wait to be able to wear Lululemon and Lucy, but until I can wear those sizes, AdoraOm will fit the bill (and my butt!) nicely.  See for yourself:

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Last night wasn’t a great night for me at all in terms of eating.  I didn’t eat any one thing that was so bad for me, but the bulk of the food was just too much.  2225  calories to be exact.  I was up less than 2 lbs on the scale this morning, which wasn’t bad, but I don’t want to have another night like that again.  As I emailed ScaleWarfare today, she encouraged me to log it all into MyFitnessPal so that I had a record of it, which  I did.  I also wrote this note:

A really lazy, bored day. I need to give myself a kick in the ass on days like this. One thing I realized is that I felt very overwhelmed with all that I have to do at the moment (lots of essays to grade, part of a WASC report to write, curriculum to calendar out/plan, and household chores to do) and I just sort of shut down, which isn’t like me. Good to keep track of. (Thanks SW!)

I’m glad that I not only logged all the food but that I wrote the note, because that’s how I can avoid the same behavior in the future.  Plus, I need to stay honest and accountable to myself (and anyone who views my food log). Progress!!

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It’s been HOT here (well over 90 degrees), but today, instead of letting the heat lull me into laziness like I did yesterday, I’m heading to the pool.  I’m not even going to stop home to change  – I brought my clothes with me.  I know that if I did stop at home, I’d need to play with Sofi for awhile, and then I’d get caught up in other things, and then it would be too late to go for a swim.  This way, I can swim some serious laps and burn some good calories and then get home to Sofi and still have lots of time to get everything else done (see above).

Taking the initiative and keeping my mood positive already makes me feel so much better than I did yesterday.  I’m ready to tackle all my to-do’s head one today!

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