God Lovers

On my way to work this morning, I stopped by the post office to mail our tax return stuff and exchange John's Christmas present I got him for a different size. Um yeah, it's February 28th, I'm really on top of things.

I'm walking through the parking lot back to my car and the car that has parked beside me has a license plate that says, "I <3 GOD." (that was a heart) The first thought that went through my head...gay. Then I'm on the freeway and I see a van that's license plate says GODSVN. God's van, wow. I just want to know what people are thinking when the get these license plates and I wonder what they're like. I mean, you drive past them after reading their license plate and stare at them to see if they are as weird as their license plate choice; well that's what I do.

But don't get me wrong, I'm not an atheist or anything. I just have a really hard time accepting the fact that people pay an extra fee at the DMV to publically announce that they're a god lover. Why? I guess this just strikes a chord with me because I can't stand people that push their beliefs/values on other people and I can only assume that someone blazingly religious enough to tell me they love god before I even see their face might do just that.

Amen.

Burning Time

I'm burning away the last hour of work by doing everything but work. Today has been one of those days where you feel like if you shut your eyes your face would instantly smash onto the keyboard. I am sleeeepy. Well, I need to find some energy because I have to cycle for an hour and then go to swim practice for an hour tonight. What in the hell did I get myself into with training for a triathlon?

I just got a plane ticket home to Northern Virginia for a long weekend at the end of March for my brother's birthday. I haven't been home since Thanksgiving and I miss my fam so I am definitely looking forward to going home! I hope it snows!

Triathlon

Last year I joined Team In Training, a fundraising arm of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and ran the Long Beach Marathon (26.2 miles). It took me five and a half hours and my knees are still reminding me what I did last October. I was fortunate enough to get a job with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as a Campaign Manager which is pretty sweet considering my previous job was being a servant for someone who thought they were god's gift to the earth. Yeah, I was over that pretty fast.

So now I manage a marathon team who will fundraise to participate in either the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, and Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska. Like I said, this job is great because it's flexible, it's an active environment and of course we raise money to help find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, hodgkin's and myeloma. I've never been able to say before that I like my job. It's pretty nice not to dread going to work.

Working here I've met some awesome people, one of which basically peer-pressured me into participating in the King's Trail Triathlon in Maui, Hawaii June 8th. After my marathon, I knew I wanted to do a Tri so...here I go. Now I have to "walk the walk." I will be fundraising to meet my goal of $4700. (I can do it, I can do it) I have to keep telling myself that.

Hopefully I can see Ian and Tracy when I'm out in their neck of the Pacific and smooch their adorable, crazy children Raden and River!

But yeah...if you want to donate to this awesome cause or know anyone else who does, send them this link http://www.active.com/donate/tntors/KristenChristafore send, Send, SEND!

Heavy Handed Tracy

So, my last post to this blog was February 28, 2007. I can't believe that almost an entire year has gone by since my last gay blog post. It's funny to see that date because I'm in a completely different place, all the while being in the exact same place.

I actually went into my email archives to find Tracy's new blog address or link or whatever it's supposed to be called because she said she posts pictures of her beautiful children up there all the time. Clicking on her link I expected to see Rad doing flips like a crazy man (which actually I did see) but the first picture I saw was a destroyed armoir that Tracy bashed into pieces after she realized her sunglasses were blue. hahah (I'm kidding!) But I definitely want to attempt to use this blog so I can keep in touch with people I miss :) And of course talk trash too!

Tracy, Ian, Meg and Joey have all said, "bitch, why ain't you bloggin?" (I swear...just like that) And honestly, I've tried to log on a few times in the past but the blog guards wouldn't let me pass. So finally I took more than 20 seconds to investigate why I could never gain access to my everso awesomely named blog. Basically all I had to do was click some magic link to reactivate my dealy and poof...I'm a nerd again!

So here's to catching up with you fools! Hope all is well and prepare to see many a pictures of JAKE! Peace out.

Procrastination is the name of the game

It is Saturday afternoon, I just had my flax meal breakfast shake, the dogs are lounging around, John is wandering from one room to the other, the dishwasher is going, the windows are open blowing in a perfect October breeze, my hair is still drying, everything is in it's neat little place. What does that mean? We'll I'll tell you. It means that I have a disorder called procrastination and it is in FULL effect right now. We are moving out of Fayetteville in four days and not a thing has been placed aside that we'll need to bring with us so the movers don't pack it, no clothes have been hastily thrown in oversized luggage, basically not one morsel of our lives has been moved. You may be thinking that I am bummed about moving out of our awesome house, well yes...I am, or that maybe I don't want to leave Fayetteville...baa haaa haaa, we all know that isn't the problem, so what is it? Yes yes, it's procrastination. I will literally pack up a wad of clothes, shoes, and whatever toiletries and little knickknacks that I need to take with me Sunday night before the movers come Monday morning. Packing is for suckers.

PEACE.

I ran across this quote today while sifting through my yoga journal...

PEACE

"It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart."
(unknown)

Hot Yoga

My yoga buddy, Rachel, and I wanted to be adventurous and find a local yoga studio that we hadn't yet been to. So after searching Fayetteville and the surrounding area, we found Santi Yoga Studio in Southern Pines, NC. We attended a Barkan Yoga class which is a form of Hatha yoga that I assume is similar to Bikram, since both forms involve heat. This was a new experience for me and it was so centering and blissful. We stepped into a heated room which basically felt like a steam room, but it wasn't foggy, laid out our yoga mats and prepared for our hot yoga class. Barkan, or hot yoga stretches and strengthens various areas of the body while balancing and restoring all bodily systems into optimal health. Hot yoga is also very mentally challenging. I had to concentrate extra on my breath and drishti (gaze) so as to maintain my balance and also so I wouldn't get light-headed. It must have been at least 100 degrees in the room; it was awesome. The movement of the class is slow, flowing, and erogenous from the heat and sweat. It was organically sensual to see the sweat beads on my body as well as on the bodies of the other yogis while engaging in the aesthetic yoga poses. If you haven't tried this type of yoga, I highly recommend it. It mainly has the same characteristics has a traditional yoga class, but the addition of the heat brings your mental focus and your body's physical potential to a whole other level.

Ahhh San Clemente, California

Here is where we're going to put some roots down for a while...

Bizarre, but not really

Every morning Jake wakes me up with a sigh, stretch, yawn, followed by soft whimpers so that I'll get up and let him out so he can go pee. Of course Dakota just stays in his bed like the polite little dingo he is. But I know that Jake just wants to get up and stuff his face with dog food. I oblige. I put the water on and brew myself some Yerba Mate tea, stand outside on the deck to watch the pups do their business, get their sniffs in, romp around and realize, to my surprise, that it's chilly! Not just early morning chilly, but smoky-blue overcast, crisp, fresh air, and gentle yet at times a brisk breeze. It truly felt like fall to me this morning, and look it's only October 13th. Oh yeah, it's Friday the 13th! Rad. I like this day, always have. Makes you almost yearn for something bizarre to happen.

I'll tell you what's bizarre, is that I wear a magnetic anklet because I am convinced it helps my bum knee (no that's not the bizarre part) but that apparently I am a runner that kicks my inner ankles sometimes and haven't gotten smart enough yet to realize that I should take off the damn anklet before I go running so I don't have to unknowingly kick it off, then search for it for an hour while saying fuck over and over. Uh, well I guess that wasn't very bizarre either, hey..maybe I just like saying BIZARRE! What of it?!?!

Well we have only a few more weeks left here in Fayetteville and I am pretty stoked to be trekking out west to California, but at the same time kinda bummed. I am definitely going to be missin some good friends I have met here. I don't let the fact that I'm moving sadden me too much because I know that our paths will cross again in the future.

Oh, and Oasis Rules! O'Doyle Rules, O'Doyle Rules!

Bluegrass Epiphany

John and I were watching an Alison Krauss and Union Station concert today on HDNET and I never knew it was her and her band that sang so many of my favorite bluegrass songs. The song, "Let Me Touch You for Awhile," is one of my favorite and I absolutely love her voice, it is so pure and alluring.

Word Verification Trauma

God, I get nervous when I have to key in word verification to post a comment to somebody's blog. I just had a good laugh at myself as I posted a comment to Meg's funny blog about the absence of fall and summer having a long, flabby arm...hahahah flabby.

Anyway, as I finished my comment and began the word verification, I realized that I hunker down in my chair, hunch over a bit, get really close to the screen and type with one finger, ever-so-carefully (as if, if I were to make a mistake it would be like the episode of The Simpsons where Homer "eeny meeny minie mo's" a possible total nuclear plant meltdown) I type a complete random batch of letters that almost makes the top of my butt sweat. I ask you, why...why is this moment so intense?? Am I the only one?

Headdy Astrology Hootenanny

I have always felt a pull to the sky and especially to water. My entire life I have been interested in astrology and believe that since the Universe is so vast, that it definitely influences who we are and where we go with our lives. Recently I have had some extra time on my hands (sorry Meg) and have really become quite engulfed in astrology, horoscopes, and what mine (Gemini) truly means as well as how it reveals itself in my day to day life.

So, if anyone is familiar with the clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, I did a Past Life Report. "The report integrates the work of the gifted medium with your astrological birth chart to create a glimpse of your past lives and the circumstances that have led you to your current reality." The following is a small section from my report that has really, really shown true in the past week...

You may experience particularly painful emotions at times of feeling unloved and unappreciated. The Moon is reflecting those emotions back to you from your past relationships and experiences, both in the Venus dimension of love and in previous incarnations in the earth. Your vulnerability and hypersensitivity involving affection is probably linked with one who in your previous life was, or in this life is, your mother. Also in a past life you may have been unloving and uncooperative. This may be blocking you from experiencing more love and cooperation from others in the present.
You can balance this part of your akashic account by continually giving a great deal more than you seem to receive and by bending over backwards to compromise in your relationships. Then you will see more and more love coming back into your life. To have friends one must be friendly and to receive love one must give love. Thus your subconscious tendency to feel unloved, neglected or rejected will be overcome by actively, willfully CHOOSING to be more loving and cooperative.

My brother might get pissed at me for writing this, but hey, I'll deal with that when it comes to a head...recently he and his fiance broke up and it has caused me to have a heavy heart, so I can only imagine how heavy and sad his heart is. But anyway, because I persevered with my unconditional love and support, he has "let me in." I only hope that this means as much to him as it does to me.

At times I do feel unloved or rejected by those most important in my life, but this past week is proof that my love, compromise, and support that I give to others, gives back 10 fold to me. It really is a great feeling.

Lucy and Ricky

Ok, so I have been itching bad lately for a new duvet cover. The one we have now is nice, about 4 years old, it was John's before we started bumping uglies, so now it's mine too. Can't stand the thing...mainly because I want a fresh feel for my bedroom. I almost want to sleep in the guest room, no not really but I just want a new duvet cover dang it!! And after all my searching, I found it at West Elm...........in twin size only :( SO, I was thinking that John and I will get two twin beds and arrange them like they used to in the olden days so that I can have my duvet cover. Let's be honest...you don't really need to sleep right next to your spouse do you?!? We'll be the modern Lucy and Ricky, just unfamous, no chemistry on screen, and well, lame.

This will be missed

I am sitting out on my back deck. Perfect weather. Pups and kitty laying all around me. Drinking yerba mate tea. Listening to the wind, the birds, the bugs, the leaves on the trees gently rustle (well the normal trees at least, the ones with leaves, these NC pines don't make any noise.) With all this peaceful energy around me, I stopped and thought, "Wow, I will definitely miss this when we move." John and I have been blessed with such a wonderful house in such a natually beautiful location. Despite my feelings of Fayetteville, there truly is beauty in everything, and all around us. We just have to stop to see it.

We're 2

Yesterday was mine and John's two year anniversary and we were going to go sky diving, but it was too windy to jump and John's surprise was spoiled. But still, he is so cute when he gets all on a mission to surprise me.

He also got me the same champagne we had our first anniversary and two dozen roses this year. They are so beautiful and fragrant. I have my first dozen from last year dried and hanging from our hutch in the kitchen and I'll do the same to these. I think this is going to be really cool years from now because each bouquet has a precious memory that I will always be reminded of.

Like the first anniversary bouquet, that I didn't even notice, because we went to a cabin in the Smokey Mountains and I was way too stoked by nature to notice his sweet gesture. Finally John was like, "Hey babe?!?" and motioned to the beautiful flowers. A smile stayed on my face the entire weekend.

Half-assed

So uh huh, um yeah...John and I have been working for several months now to finish the upstairs to our house to get it ready to be sold. Friday John went to a local contruction site and ran into a few guys that were looking for some work over the weekend, and ding ding ding! They were going to finish (tape, mud, and sand the drywall and finish the ceiling) Saturday and Sunday. Well so four of them showed up Saturday morning as planned and did the bulk of the work. Pretty much the only thing they were not able to do Saturday was sand the walls, and that's because the compond had to dry. We paid them half of the agreed upon amount and they went on their way, only never to return the next day. John and I were totally like, what the hell??? when they never showed up Sunday. They left a pretty expensive ladder and lots of their tools, so what in the hell do we do now? We have tried to get in touch with them, buuuut no luck. John, being John, even tried all the local county jails, cause I'll be honest, these were Lumbee Indian boys and you could tell they may have been in the pen a time or two. One county jail clerk even said to John, "Todd?? No we ain't seen him today!" I mean, how funny is that?!? Ah yes, North Carolina is classy!

So as it stands, I am going on with my Monday like any regular ol' Monday knowing and believing that what needs to happen will happen. And if not today, then John and I look to another path tomorrow. (and start sanding) Hey, I guess we kind of got off good if these guys don't show back up, cause shit, we still have the other half of the money. Life is strange.

Too heavy

I had to delete the post I wrote about my anaphylactic shock episode. It was just too heavy to see it there and to read it every time I logged into my blog. I'm not going to deny what happened, but I just don't want the constant reminder.

inconsistency, then yoga, then headdy rambling, then inconsistency

Ok, so I always thought my most unfavorable characteristic that tends to set me back in my life's journey was procrastination, but I'm coming to learn that it's inconsistency. I love to learn new things, start new tasks, even daydream about starting the task, but my butt doesn't seem to always finish what I've started. For instance, I recently completed (yes, completed!) a 200 hour yoga teacher training course. Part of me knew when I embarked upon this eight month intensive that somewhere in the back of my mind the teaching aspect of yoga wasn't what I really wanted to persue. I have practiced teaching, flubbed over my words, and gotten through it, but teaching just isn't really what I want to do. I don't know, maybe I haven't done it enough to truly reap the reward of giving yoga to people. And this is not to say that I regret the course, because I don't...it is my greatest accomplishment so far. I am more well-rounded, positive, and especially egar to learn new things about the world and yoga, be it philosophy, asanas, meditation, or the environment because of the yoga course. I know that I will also go further with my training, but I feel that it is just going to be for the growth and enlightenment of my being. Practicing yoga is two fold; the poses on the mat, and taking the essence of yoga with you everyday, off the mat. I strive to embrace both aspects of yoga and feel like my soul is brighter and more exuberant because I take yoga with me everywhere. A great quote I recently heard from a documentary called, "What the Bleep?" is, "What happens within us is what will happen outside of us." Meaning to consciously create an intention for your day, week, lunch break...anything. If you create the intention and believe in it, it reveals the fundamental charastic of western religion, acceptance without proof.

I seem to have gotten off my inconsistency path...see?? I'm inconsistent! But whatever, now I'm off to learn how to make a hemp bracelet, the directions to which I have been staring at for 3 days. Peace.

For the love of god...

All I wanted to do was post a funny/dimwitted comment on Megaroo's Blog, and this is how I get roped in eh? Well....the blogging begins. I feel wayyy less cool right now. Is that normal for a new blogger?
:)