A lot has happened over the last couple of months. First of all, I took a 6-week leave of absence from my company, Room 214. The impetus for the time off was this: I moved to New York! It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to live in the City, so a few months back my boyfriend and I started seriously considering the move and whether or not we could make it happen. We weighed the pros (career opportunity; excitement; adventure; good food, shopping & theater) against the cons (further from family; leaving our friends; small apartment & higher rent in the city) and decided that it was worth it.

I grew up on a farm in an isolated part of eastern Colorado. It’s basically Kansas, only dryer. There were 7 kids in my class until I got to high school, the closest town had a population of about 100, the nearest shopping mall was 2 hours away. I love so many things about my childhood, but I was always antsy to get out and experience more.

After high-school, I ended up in Boulder to go to the University of Colorado. Why I stuck around for 8 years after that is pretty simple: Boulder’s an incredible place. From the beautiful Flatirons to Pearl Street to all the amazing friends that I’ve made over the years – Boulder was not an easy place to leave.

BUT, flash forward to now, being in New York just feels so right. I actually live in Brooklyn, just across the East River from Manhattan. My neighborhood is called Williamsburg. I absolutely love it. It’s young, hip, artsy and edgy, yet it has a neighborhood feel. Exploring here has been amazing. There’s a cute coffee shop that sells baked goods and fresh bread on the corner, a music hall, a German Biergarten, a waterfront park, an awesome bike path, the best bagel shop I’ve ever experienced and multiple farmer’s markets that run week-long – all a few blocks from my apartment. Oh, and the froyo…. holy cow, this stuff is so good! Throw some mango and mochi on top… there are no words. YUMMM.

I’ve also just started back up with work. I’m doing business development and public relations. It’s good to be working again. To be honest, I didn’t really know what to do with myself when I had time off. I think I can safely say that I’m happiest when I’m busy.

Anyways, that’s the quick update for now. Life has been crazy the last couple of weeks, so I don’t have as many pictures as I should have so far. This one is actually from an art gallery in SOHO. It kind of encapsulates how I feel right now – with all the mystery, energy, excitement and strangeness that’s surrounding me in New York. Love it.

I have some really fun spring clothes that I HAVE to share with you. The first pic is of rain boots my boyfriend brought back for me from Burberry London (lucky girl, I know). I wore them for the first time at Ignite Boulder because it rained and was very happy to splash around in puddles worry-free. The second are the classic Hunter Wellie’s in green. I got these about two months ago and have worn them at every possible opportunity. The final four are things I ordered from Urban Outfitters – they arrived about 2 weeks ago and I can’t wait to wear them! Man oh man, am I ready for some warmer weather.

*Note: I’m having a hard time getting the sizing on these pics right but if you click on them, they get bigger.

I was kind of a pill as a kid. I took true pleasure in antagonizing my older brother, all the way up until he punched me in the arm or put my doll on a shelf I couldn’t reach or retaliated in some other mostly harmless but nevertheless infuriating big-brother way. I don’t know how many times my mom had to tell me, “Don’t antagonize your brother!” before it sunk in that if I pissed my brother off and he punched me, it was no one’s fault but my own. Thankfully that lesson did eventually sink in. And go figure, it still applies.

Definition: Antagonistic: in active opposition, mutually opposed

But this post isn’t about me being an annoying little sister. It’s about my concern that antagonism seems to have become the go-to mode of “entertaining” social media discourse. And I don’t like it. Why do we create conflict for others’ entertainment? Why do I have to witness people saddling up to their “high horse” every time I login to Twitter? What is it about the internet, and social media in particular, that makes perfectly good people forget or disregard what they had learned about the cause-and-effect relationship of antagonizing?

I mean really, there are so many better ways to approach a situation that we disagree with or dislike. We can be provocative, insightful, informative or genuine. If there’s an occasion that calls for making a point that we’re right and other’s are wrong, I think we’re more likely to get the response we’re going for (most often, it’s change of some sort) if we frame the subject in a manner that is anything other than antagonistic.

I’ve pondered the reason for the dichotomy between IRL and online life many times over the years. I’ve wondered about it when I read incredibly offensive and rude blog or news article comments. I’ve been puzzled to meet very shy, introverted people who have a blog or online persona of an outgoing, social charmer. I’ve seen really sweet people post rants on blogs and on Twitter casting broad nets of poorly-founded judgment. I’ve been personally offended. I’ve had to console friends and clients who have been offended. I’ve watched some of these very people ruin or hurt relationships, tarnish their reputation and lose respect in the eyes of their acquaintances. I’ve seen real life retaliation to online antagonism. And yet, it doesn’t stop.

I know that the internet is an easy way to share information, and I believe that more good has come from social media than bad. But I also think that antagonism has become the go-to manner of trying to appear entertaining in part because people see others doing it and think that makes it OK. I want us all to do our part to start minimizing the disconnect people seem to feel they have between what’s OK to do in real life and what goes online.

Because we all have the opportunity to share ideas, let’s all start taking more responsibility for the effects our statements online can have on others and try, not necessarily to avoid confrontation, but to adhere to a standard of who we each are as people – both online and off. Before you post something online, check yourself to make sure you would be willing to say this to anyone in real life. If the answer is yes, even if the statement is controversial or confrontational, go for it! If the answer is no, take a second to think about why that is and if/how the statement can be altered to be something that you won’t need to feel ashamed for having said later on. Thus ends my rant.

Featuring Piggy the kitty and Nerm.

You know that saying, “April showers bring May flowers”? Well it’s May 7 and last night it snowed, enough to leave about an inch of powder on the ground when I woke up this morning. I’m so ready for spring, I can barely stand it. I want to be walking on Pearl street in sandals with the sunshine on my shoulders, enjoying rooftops, hiking without a jacket, leaving the windows open all day long, riding my bike in a dress, putting sunscreen on at the farmer’s market and lazing my weekends away sitting on a patch of warm green grass while I read a book and sip on an iced drink. Spring is being a grouch this year, with way more cool/rainy/snowy days than warm sunny ones and, frankly, I’m impatient. Here a few pics of spring from last year that I can pine over until it finally arrives this year…

Hours spent over a 4-week period in a room heated to 108+ degrees with over 40% humidity: 45

Times I managed to actually do the full standing head-to-knee pose properly: 2

Yoga mat, yoga clothes, water bottle: $125

30 day unlimited pass to Bikram’s Yoga Studio of India: $150

Lessons learned from doing Bikram yoga for 30 days: Priceless

Doing any one thing for 30 days in a row is hard, no matter what that one thing is. Like my boyfriend said, “Even trying to take a nap every day for 30 days would be tough.” I knew going into it that it would be difficult, that was part of the appeal. I hoped to prove to myself that I could stick with it no matter how hard it was and walk away with a sense of accomplishment and a new skill, maybe even get in shape. I really had no expectation that I would learn anything new about myself just from doing hot yoga for 30 days in a row. In fact, I finished the challenge just over a week ago and it’s taken me until now to actually sort through everything I walked away with.

I can say without a doubt that the lessons learned from the whole experience are helping me refocus to make happiness more of a priority in my life. Why? It’s pretty simple. My free time inherently became more valuable when it dropped to just a few hours/week. And the more valuable something is, the better I tend to take care of it. While on the challenge I came to realize that certain things were worth dedicating a precious chunk of my free time to and other things weren’t. For example, I’m not one of those people who can just sleep less in order to fit more into her day. Sleep is not expendable for me. Quality time with friends, taking time to think, plan & set goals are not expendable for me. Working out isn’t expendable for me. I’m starting to look at anything that doesn’t fit into one of my priorities as a bonus – something additional I get to do that may enrich my life even more – but I’ve realized that whether or not I’m doing all of the “extras” there are a few core things in my life that I need to be doing to be happy, and those come first.

All-in-all, the 30 Day Yoga Challenge was absolutely worth it for me. Aside from the health benefits (better skin, more energy, more flexibility, muscle tone, etc.) it helped me realize that I need to actively seek balance in my life and make time for what makes me happy. Not bad for 30 days…

I’ve officially made it through 15 days IN A ROW of hot yoga. Yes, I am proud of myself for making it this far. Yes, I plan to complete the 30 days. Yes, I’m seeing changes in my body and mind. But it definitely has not been easy. In fact, it’s one of the harder things I’ve ever done.

Here are a few things I’ve been surprised by so far:

1.) I haven’t lost any weight. Considering how much I sweat, it seems impossible that I wouldn’t be burning enough calories to drop at least a pound or two after fifteen 90-minute workouts in a row. The scale disagrees with me. What I’m finding is that this form of yoga is much more of a toning exercise than one for weight loss. The heat makes you feel as though you’re burning more calories than you are. I’m cool with that… I guess.

2.) While it’s been relatively easy for me to slim down in the past, I’ve always had a hard time putting on muscle. After 15 days of Bikram yoga, I can actually feel, though not really see, some muscle toning going on – primarily in my legs.

3.) There’s more to this yoga thing than just the physical changes. It effects how you structure your day, what you prioritize, how you deal with stress and how you manage your time. If nothing else, this challenge has driven me to make healthier choices. Struggling through a 90 minutes class in a 108 degree room where the odds are good that you’ll be posted-up next to a smelly person is the best motivation I’ve found so far to make sure I don’t do anything to myself to make those 90 minutes any more difficult than they already are.

4.) Now that I’ve painted that lovely picture, let me be clear that despite the heat, the smell, the sweat, the pain and the lack of weight loss, the class is far from unpleasant. It’s the most cleansing thing I’ve ever done. I walk in feeling stressed and worried and walk out feeling refreshed and energetic. It puts you in touch with your body, your breathing. You become more aware of the parts of your body that hurt – pains that you could probably go most of your life ignoring because your body and mind get used to the day-to-day discomfort that comes with sitting in front of a computer 40+ hours/week. Stretches that once hurt come to feel amazing. Stretches that once felt amazing come to hurt. You have the self-satisfaction of knowing that you are taking your current and future health into your own hands. Like most things worth doing in life, it’s challenging but wonderful.

5.) The class is 90 minutes, but the time commitment is more like 2.5 – 3 hours/day once you factor in getting to the studio, changing, warming up, cooling down, driving home and taking a shower. The time commitment has been the most difficult part of the challenge for me.

6.) Yoga is expensive. Doing yoga requires that you buy yoga stuff. Yoga stuff is expensive too. But if you’re going to do it, good yoga clothes, a nifty water bottle and a nice yoga towel are worth the expense. When I started this challenge I decided that I’d just use stuff that I already had rather than fork out over $100 on a tank top and yoga towel. I’ve been wearing the same 3 yoga outfits on rotation for 15 days in a row and, in addition to the fact that I’ve had to do laundry every other day, I’m totally sick of all my outfits. Needless to say, I will be investing in at least one more yoga top to get me through the next 15 days. I’m also buying a yoga towel so I can stop using our bathroom towels for my disgusting sweat sessions (sorry babe, should’ve thought of that sooner). Beyond getting bored with wearing the same outfits day-after-day, you need to do what you can to feel confident if you’re going to be looking at yourself in the mirror for 60 minutes per day, and a nice yoga outfit, cool gulp of water and absorbent towel can work wonders to improve how you feel during class.

7.) I’m more sore on day 16 than I was in the first week. With most workouts, you feel most sore on day two or three but if you continue to do the same thing day after day, your body adjusts and you begin to feel less taxed by the same workout. That is not the case with Bikram, a practice in which you do the same postures in the same order each class. However, though you’re going through the same movements, as you begin to understand poses more you move deeper into the postures, pulling more benefit from them but also putting your muscles, bones and ligaments through new challenges on a daily basis.

8.) It’s hard, it’s hot and it takes up a ton of time, but I can actually do this!

9.) People of all sizes and ages can do this yoga, and really kick ass at it.

10.) Maybe most surprising of all: I’m not sick of it yet.

We’ll see how I feel after another 15 days…

The last few months, I’ve been in what you might call a workout funk. I have a weekday alarm that I’ve shut off every morning for months that’s set early enough for me to get to the gym, eat breakfast, take a shower and be off to work by 8. As for my excuse for not going to the gym in the evenings, I’m usually pretty drained after a day at the office and talk myself out of going to the gym after work even when I don’t have other commitments AND I have my workout clothes packed. Shameful. My general lack of motivation to workout has extended into a general lack of motivation to do much of anything – a sure sign that I need to shake things up and try a different path.

That’s why I’m both nervous and excited about my plan to do 30 days in a row of Bikram yoga. Bikram’s beginning yoga class runs 90 minutes and is done in a room heated to 105°F with a humidity of 40%. I will be doing this EVERY day for the next month. I’ve done the class twice before, and both times I had to stop and rest mid-way through and felt like I was going to throw up. It’s a very challenging workout, but something that’s good for your mind, body and soul.

A happy side effect of doing this is that I’ll get to spend more time with my friend Kira. It was actually her idea. She did bikram yoga regularly a few years ago and said she looked and felt great. Both sound excellent to me. Our challenge is as follows: Both of us have to do 30 days in a row of Bikram yoga (we started yesterday). If one of us quits, they have to pay for the other one’s month of classes. If both of us quit, we have to eat a can of dog food.

So there you have it. Where mind power fails to motivate, the threat of eating the most disgusting thing you can imagine will surely succeed. Here’s to the next 30 days.

In the last month I’ve been from Boulder to Vona to Bloomington to Vegas for CEyeS and then back to Boulder. I decided to give snowboarding a try – I’ve been 3 times so far. I currently have a bruise on my knee the size of a grapefruit from falling getting off the lift. Not even a good story. I’ve met my best friend’s baby – Cashill James Ostler (love him so), wished my other best friend congratulations on her engagement to an awesome guy (yeah Courts and Owen!), worked about 120 hours (what? the month isn’t over yet!) and made some plans for an awesome February. I’ll be in Boulder for only one weekend next month so I should have a decent list of “dids” for February also. Pics of all of it coming soon. 2010, I like you so far.

The lovely Clare boards

Two days in over the weekend – done. My lovely friend Clare is in the pic. She came along for day 1 of snowboarding; a full-day class. The second day was spent trying to get comfortable with heel-side and toe-side turns on the bunny hill. I don’t think I’ve ever been this sore in my life!