Spring Break & Eating Your (metaphorical) Vegetables

So, during the summer of 2012 I did this program with Desiree Rumbaugh and Cate Stillman called the Eat Green Challenge. The Challenge was essentially 30 days on a low-fat (almost non-fat) vegan diet, but the purpose was really to stuff as many fruits and vegetables into your diet as possible. During those 30 days I learned three very important things:

1) Fruit and leafy greens are REALLY expensive. My grocery bill doubled at least...plus it didn't help that I became pretty addicted to cherries during this time. Those babies are not cheap.

2) ...I would not make it on a raw vegan low fat diet. I was hungry ALL THE TIME. I ate so many bananas, and still I was hungry. So, so many bananas.

3) But - and this is probably the most important piece - I learned that we really do not need all the things we think we need. I love fruits and vegetables...they taste great, and they make me feel great. I also love junk food, but sometimes junk food does not make me feel great. What I found was that, when I made a concerted effort to eat a certain number of fruit and veggie servings in a day, I just had less room for the other stuff. It's not that I don't like cheeseburgers or M&M's, but when you prioritize the things you really need, there's just less space left for the things you don't.

I've decided to take a similar sort of approach to the rest of my life. I'm just going to keep piling on the greenery - things I love, that are good for my soul - and eventually I'll either go completely insane, or I'll run out of room and something will have to go. And whatever goes, that's the thing I know I do not really need.

Ben and I will probably be living in a box in the woods in two months.

Not really.

Moving on...

In related news I am finally doing my damn yoga teacher training. Long story short (long story forthcoming in a separate post probably) I'm flying to LA on Thursday night for our first training module and I have soooo much work to do to get ready for this thing. So much. Endless pose scripts and shape studies, and somehow I need to get my hands on a copy of the Mahabarata. I don't know.  BUT. I am so excited.... like, way more excited than I've been for anything in a long time. It's going to be great.

Oh hey, also I was in Florida this last week, and while I was there Minneapolis received 12 inches of snow. Here are some photos of not snow.

Blue on blue

I live for this view

...and some from my instagram that I'm too lazy to upload.

Anyway, I will try to post before I leave on Thursday but given my schedule this week it seems unlikely. I can see this going one of two ways:

1) I hunker down like a responsible human and get all of my work done (work-wise and yoga-wise) while still maintaining a somewhat reasonable sleep schedule. In this case, you definitely won't hear from me.

2) I end up doing so much work that it cuts into my already reduced sleep schedule, at which point I'll just say fuck it it and not go to bed ever. In this case, I will be blogging at 2am while making a seven layer cake and/or scrubbing the shower because at this point, why not.

Talk to you soon provided we all survive Monday.

Yes.

The haps

Well, I'm sick as a dog. Big shocker, after attempting to be in 3 choirs, sub for Laura's yoga class, keep my own yoga practice up, and plan MBE's April fundraising parties during one of our busiest times at work. And I definitely haven't been getting enough sleep. I should have known this nonsense would eventually come back to bite me in the ass, buuuut somehow I still managed to get caught off guard. No worries though. I'm working from home and am fully stocked with tea and mac & cheese, so all is right in the world. 

So since I know you are all dying to hear about my super exciting life, here are a few things I've done in the last couple of weeks:

• Took a nice 9-hour drive to...Madison, Wisconsin. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of the midwestern United States, the trip from Minneapolis to Madison normally takes about four hours. Lucky for us, we decided to hit the road right around the time a semi jackknifed on I-94, shutting down the entire eastbound lane (thankfully, no one was hurt in the accident that I'm aware of). Anyway, all traffic was diverted onto a 2-lane highway through Menominee. It started snowing buckets, and long story short we finally rolled into our B&B at 11:45, having left home at 3pm. GOOD JOB.  On the plus side, we had a great time. The main purpose of our adventure was to see my favorite band, Cloud Cult, at the Barrymore. I'm going to miss their St Paul shows in April and hadn't yet gotten a chance to catch their acoustic set so we planned a special road trip to Madison. It was well worth it - probably the best show I have ever been to. I was on the verge of tears (in a good way) from the second they started playing. We made some lovely concert friends, AND we ran into a friend of Ben's from his hometown! Such a crazy random happenstance.

Ben and Meredith, reunited!

Just really pumped for Cloud Cult

Amazing, multitalented musicians

Craig Minowa

CC artwork 

• Last friday I went to a delightful hips & hamstrings class co-taught my by dear friends Shannon and Becka at CPY downtown. After class I went to Target to buy socks. I left Target with nail polish, earrings, a DVD, a new yoga strap, easter candy, and a tank top with a dinosaur on it. And no socks. 

typical

• In other news, I just discovered the #booksinyourpants hashtag. Endless entertainment.

last nights winner, after careful consideration and 2 glasses of wine

Time to drink some tea and watch New Girl. And do my yoga homework...sooo much yoga homework. So much.

UK Trip Part 3: Last days in London

Hey remember that time Ben and I went to the UK like 2 months ago? And how I was going to write all these blog recaps about it? Yeah...that didn't happen.

But I am determined to finish this even if you guys are still reading about it in December. So help me.

Anyway, the day after our Harry Potter adventure, we decided to hit up Westminster Abbey. We went pretty early in the morning and still had to wait in a long line, but it was so worth the wait. I have kind of a thing for churches and cathedrals - St Peter Cathedral in Rome is one of my favorite places I've ever been, and in Japan, India and Thailand I hit up as many temples as humanly possible.

Westminster is not only huge and gorgeous, but it's also home to poet's corner and is the burial site of many famous politicians, musicians, artists etc. Obviously I geeked out over Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, GF Handel, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Henry Purcell, and probably others I'm forgetting. The coolest thing about Westminster is that while it is an amazing historical site, it is also a living, breathing part of the city with daily Evensong services, its own choir and an amazing organ. Photos are not allowed inside the cathedral, but I did snap a few shots outside and in the gardens.

Big Ben & Houses of Parlaiment

Westminster Abbey - and the long line to get in...

Walking towards the courtyards just outside the cathedral

After Westminster, we took a walk through the city and past Buckingham Palace, stopping for some cheesy tourist shots along the way. Mostly I hate being a cheesy tourist but sometimes I kind of love it, when the occasion arises.

I guess everyone must have thought the baby was coming THAT DAY, because there were huge crowds around Buckingham Palace who looked like they were waiting for something really exciting to happen. This is why I do not have a picture of BP...too many people standing in front of it and I couldn't get a good shot :/

British things!!!

Ben pointing to Big Ben...super cheesy

Also cheesy - the obligatory phone booth shot

After our royal jaunt we walked to the New Globe theater! Again, a piece of history that's also a living, breathing part of the city. This might have been my favorite site we saw in London - it helped that our tour guide was AMAZING and I wish I remembered her name so I could give her a rave review. She was awesome.

Obviously the New Globe is not the same building as the original Globe - actually it's not even in the same place, just basically nearby in the same neighborhood. And, since the original Globe burned down we don't even really know what it looked like, so the New Globe is an approximation of what the Globe *probably* looked like, based on writings from the time which described the theater, and from looking at the design of other theaters built in the same time period. Whatever, it is awesome. I wish we had been able to see a show there, but sadly no time :/

Putting up the set for their upcoming show

Seats in the New Globe

After the Globe, we went back to our hotel, showered and changed and took the train to St John for our 2-year anniversary dinner! A friend from work recommended St John because of their Bone Marrow dishes - Ben is a huuuuuuge fan of bone marrow (I really like it too, but he is basically obsessed) and based on the website and reviews it looked like our kind of place. We shared a bone marrow salad for our appetizer - not even a salad, basically bone marrow that you spread on toast, and then put some greenery on top of which I guess is the 'salad' part. I really love how they served it - they literally bring out this plate with four huge bones, and you have to dig the marrow out with a tiny fork. It sounds disgusting but is actually kind of awesome. I didn't get a photo and I'd feel bad stealing someone else's but if you look for 'St John London bone marrow salad' in google images, you'll see what I mean. For our mains I had a rabbit dish and Ben had some sort of delicious sausage concoction, and we split a Raspberry Fool for desert. YUM.

We had to catch the train to York the following afternoon, but before heading to King's Cross, we dedicated the morning to the second of our three favorite British things (the first being Harry Potter obviously) - Sherlock Holmes!!  First, the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street:

YAAAAY

221B Baker Street

Where all of the deductions took place, allegedly. Because Holmes and Watson were totally real people right...?

Antique books int he living room

Hats and a pipe, just waiting for their owners to return...

Sherlock's favorite pastime - beekeping!

Next, we headed to the site of BBC Sherlock's '221B Baker Street' which is not on Baker Street at all, but is the street/house they use for filming. I cleverly dubbed this site 'Faker Street'...just take a minute to marvel at my genius.

Moving on.

Speedy's cafe is a real place, and there are probably actual people who live in '221B' and I'm sure those people are sick of random tourists and Sherlock Holmes-obsessed nutcases such as myself taking ridiculous photos in front of their door, but too bad for them.

Speedy's!!

Wonder if anyone's home??

Sadly, after Faker street it was time to say goodbye to London. We packed our bags, took the underground to King's Cross, and hopped on a train to York - but not before taking one last cheesy Harry Potter-themed photo:

Can I take the Hogwarts Express instead...?

And no, that barrier is not actually between platforms 9 and 10...I think it was between 4 and 5 which was where we had to be to catch our train. We were running on a tight schedule and didn't have time to go too far out of our way, so this will have to do.

Next up (er, the next time I get around to writing a recap post) - York!

Long runs, short trips

In case I haven't mentioned, Ben and I signed up to run the Medtronic TC 10-Mile in October. The 10-Mile is part of TC Marathon weekend and is easily one of the most popular races in the state. It's really tough to get an entry, but luckily there are a couple of 'qualifying' races over the summer which buy you an automatic entry. Not that you have to get a certain qualifying time, you just have to run the race and you receive a link to register for the 10 Mile. One such race was the brand new TC Urban Dash, a 5-ish mile urban scavenger hunt in the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis. Ben and I ran The Urban Dash two weeks ago and it was a ton of fun! I would probably run it again even if it didn't result in a 10-mile entry.

Anywho, training for the 10-mile has been...interesting. As you are probably aware, I definitely do not consider myself a "runner." I'm a yogi who sometimes runs, but running has never been my main bag. I know cardio is good for me and I generally feel better when I'm running regularly but I know I won't do it without motivation, hence why I sign up for races. For training, I've been doing two shorter runs (3-6 miles) during the week and a longer run (6-9 miles) on the weekends. My training plan also instructs me to do 'cross-training' three times a week, and I'm sure Hal Higdon understands that for me, cross-training = yoga. Sorry, no intervals or tempo runs here...I am doing this for fun, not for speed ;)

This morning I did a six mile run around Lake Calhoun before work. Normally I hate exercising in the morning but it's been super hot and humid here, so I wanted to get my run in as early as possible to beat the heat. I have a 3-miler scheduled on Thursday and an eight mile run on Saturday. It is supposed to be balls-hot on Saturday...eesh.

In other news, we spent this last weekend in Montana celebrating the nuptuals of our dear friends Krista and Paul! Krista is one of Ben's best friends from childhood through high school and she was a Groomswoman in our wedding so now it was Ben's turn to be a Bridesman in hers!

Enjoying beer and s'mores with Paul and Krista in Glacier, Summer 2012

Some of the fantastic wedding decor

As always, it was great to be back in Montana and the wedding was lovely! It was held at Krista's parents ranch in Hall, Montana which is barely a town. Literally blink and you will miss it. We all stayed in nearby Phillipsburg, in a cottage with several other members of the wedding party (also HS friends of Ben's). Paul is from Manchester, UK and a number of his friends from Britain made the trip out. We had a fun time introducing them to the delights of Montana dive bars.

The ceremony was gorgeous, and we had perfect weather - that is until a massive storm blew through right after dinner. It was more a wind-storm than a rainstorm, and it completely came out of nowhere but we quickly realized that we needed to get all food and breakables inside ASAP. 

As I was rescuing some items from under the dinner tent, a HUUUGE gust of wind came through, and I turned around and quickly realized that the tent was coming un-grounded and was about to fly away over my head. It felt like it was happening in slow motion. I just kind of stood frozen to the ground with my drink in one hand and a teapot on the other, but at NO POINT did it occur to me to put either of those things down and run for it?!? I mean, it was homemade limoncello. Come on. There is no way I was abandoning homemade limoncello to a sad death by tent-pole.

Luckly, the pole and tent missed me (and probably 3 or 4 others who were also under the tent) and slammed into the fence behind us. We all yelled that we were fine, and then proceeded to run into the garage with our drinks and china in tow.

The rest of the night was a total blast. We danced, drank, and ate a lot of cupcakes. Or maybe that was just me...I seriously ate about 4 of them, but I couldn't help myself...the red velvet ones were amaaazing. Plus, gotta get all those calories back in my system somehow, after I burn them all off running ;)

Sadly, we had to fly out the next day because a) I burned most of my PTO on England/Scotland, and b) Ben had to be back for inservice on Monday so...womp womp. Our trip came to an end.

Old barn near our cottage in P-Burg

Krista's family decorated the entire ranch - it was amazing!

Literary table decor - now you know why we're all friends ;)

Ben looking dashing as a Bridesman

The lovely couple

Bride's side

Post-ceremony wagon ride!

The aftermath of the storm....

Hope you're all having a great week! Things are generally good here. It's been a rough week at work so I made a cake in an attempt to compensate. I will now proceed to eat my third slice.

Goodnight!

UK Trip Part 2: Harry Potter, Yoga and ...bugers

Uggghhh...obviously I did not intend to go this long before my next trip post, but things just got out of hand. It has been a crazy couple of weeks since we returned to the US, in a lot of ways. As I should have expected, work pretty much blew up on me and a couple of decisions that were made in my absence have had disastrous consequences. DISASTROUS. Not like, world ending disastrous...just...very time consuming for myself and others. Yesterday at 9am I was literally quintuple booked with meetings.

Now I know why Hermione needed that time turner.

SPEAKING OF

GUESS WHAT WE DID IN LONDON

If you guessed the WB Harry Potter movie studio tour YOU ARE CORRECT SIR.

As you may or may not be aware, I really, really love Harry Potter. Like, have read all of the books multiple times and analyzed them at length with friends, re-watch the films regularly, own a wand and have a mini-Hagrid on my desk at work. Two years ago, Ben and I took a road trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, and as soon as I heard about the studio tour opening near London I immediately added it to my bucket list.

We woke up bright and early, had breakfast at the hotel, and caught a train to Watford. From there we hopped on a bus to the studio for our 10am tour. Obviously, I was excited.

OMG HARRY POTTER
The face only HP can inspire

One of the first things I saw, outside before the tour even started, was a display of the giant chess pieces used in the first film! They are actually huge and look SUPER COOL even out of context.

The first stop on the actual tour was the Hogwarts entrance and the great hall! I took SO many pictures on the tour, so I tried to include only my favorite shots. I'll stop yammering now and let the photos speak for themselves but if you're an HP fan I'm sure you'll appreciate a lot of these :)

Fake McGonagall and Dumbledore

The Fat Lady! (Early version)

McGonagall's portrait in Gryffindor Common Room...one of those things
I never noticed in the films but now that I know it's there,
I'll be looking for it ;)

DUMBLEDORE'S OFFICE

Umbridge's office at the Ministry of Magic...this might have actually been my favorite set

THE BRIDGE!! This was the set piece I was probably most excited for.
So many meaningful conversations happened on that bridge...le sigh

OMG BRIDGE

Diagon Alley, obviously

Sketches

THIS was maybe the coolest thing I have ever seen. This model of Hogwarts was used for pretty much all exterior shots of the castle. And it is HUUUUGE. 50 feet across!!!

Hogwarts at night

The tour was so cool. Where the theme park in Orlando aims to make you feel like you've turned the corner and stepped into the magical world of Harry Potter (at least, as much as you can in 90-degree weather surrounded by other tourists), the studio tour is really about the magic of filmmaking. There is intention behind every set piece, every prop and every detail which is partly why the world comes alive on film. Nothing is by accident, and nothing is filler or random. Even the book covers and papers are actually written out (and very clever if you read the fine print). The OWL exams even had actual questions! I just loved seeing how much love went into making the HP movies, and the next time I watch them it will be with different eyes.

After the tour, we bussed/trained it back to London (a few dollars poorer, but having gained a scarf, two keychains and a small poster advertising the Quidditch World Cup). Back at the hotel we changed, relaxed for a bit and then hopped on the underground to catch an evening yoga class.

I surveyed the Asana Junkies FB group for studio suggestions in London and couple of people mentioned TriYoga. I signed up for a 6pm class with Aki Omori, and as soon as she pulled a life-size plastic skeleton out of the corner and started talking about the SI joint I knew I had come to the right place!

Yogaaaa

After class we walked to Soho and wandered around looking for a good place to eat. It was one of those nights where I was so hungry that I didn't really have any specific cravings, but I was pretty sure that I'd know what I wanted when I saw it. Apparently what I wanted was greasy fried things and a milkshake. And some Elvis lovin'.

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

Suddenly feeling the need to watch Lilo and Stitch again

The Breakfast Club was a great find - one of our favorite dinners from the trip! Partly because we found it on our own just by wandering, and partly because the food/shakes were delightful. I had a veggie burger with fries, and Ben had a fish sandwich. After stuffing our faces, we went book browsing!

All the books!

And then, we took a small detour. If you recognize this building and if you understand why I am standing in front of it making a sad face, you are now my best friend. If you do NOT recognize this building, you need to watch the entire series of SHERLOCK immediately.
Just do it.
Do it for the children.

Womp womp

Well that's all I have the energy to write at the moment. Back with more soon! I get to work from home tomorrow, so that's exciting.