Hair products I am loving on right now

For evening (smells soothing and exotic, rinses clean so my hair is not gross the next morning):

For morning (invigorating citrus smell, lots of body):

 

For after workouts, when there is no time to shower. Smells great and makes post-workout hair look clean and pretty:

 

 

Today!

I ran. 3 miles in just over 30 minutes. Yeah me!!!

I am wearing a Suzy Shier clearance sweater with a white tank, skinnies and boots (picture it):

Coordinating gold and coral eyes:

And an awesome bracelet from citrus mangoes on ETSY.

Making a change

Ive been considering moving to a new yoga studio for a while now. I love Spynga…but I don’t spin much during running season. As for yoga, there are 2 yoga classes I love there (Monday and Tuesday night), and they are pretty well what has kept me there. I should add…Thursday morning and Sunday morning there are also yoga classes I like but at a time I can rarely attend. There is also a beginner yoga class, and a yin class I’m just not do into. I am adding this to say Spynga is an AWESOME place with lots of spin and yoga options, as well as boot camp type classes every morning (I’ve never been, but they are very popular). Also, the south studio has a great schedule if you can make it there (I never could) so don’t let me turn you off…if you’ve been thinking of checking Spynga out…do it! I’m sure I’ll be back there for spinning when it’s too cold to run!

So, for the past few months (since I started running more) I’ve been considering if it is still the right place for me, or I’d I should find somewhere devoted to yoga and get my cardio from running and the elliptical…especially during running season.

This week, I decided. My beloved Monday vinyasa was changed to yoga bootcamp, and my decision was made. I HATE that kind of class. I like weights, I like circuit training, and I LOVE yoga…but I am a purist. Especially with yoga. A lot of people love this classes, but it’s not for me. Nor is a yoga studio with only 1 class a week I can/want to attend. This class change was made the very day my membership expired, which made my decision easier.

So, yesterday I joined Yoga Tree for a 40$ introductory month (normally 99$ a month if you commit to 4 months, otherwise 160$ a month. I’m good to commit if I like it though. I’ve proven if I like a place…I’ll use it.)

Right off the bat (before I even went): The good news is, there are two local studios I can attend, and loads of classes. The bad news is…many of them are heated. You may remember I don’t exactly adore hot yoga. But, since it is the closest studio to me and has lots of options…I decided to go for it!

Last night I attended hot detox…a hot vinyasa with lots of twists. I loved the class. The instructor was great, she gave lots of options and modifications and assisted respectfully, and it was a practice that would have been fun and challenging without the heat (my main problem with hot yoga…besides being hot…was that I would have been bored and unchallenged without the heat). With the heat…well I was hot and could have used a cooler space…but it was fine. I was certainly able to tolerate it. I did not walk out feeling like I’d made a mistake joining Yoga Tree…but rather like I was excited to see what’s next for me there!!!

The studio was also great. Nice helpful staff, large clean open space, clean change-room with lockers and showers…a really nice atmosphere.
As for today, I’ll be taking my ankle for a little run this afternoon. Wish me luck!!!

My Current “running favorites” playlist

I just posted elsewhere and thought some of my readers might be interested in some of my favorite running (or elliptical, or walking, or kitchen dancing) songs. I’ve probably shared some before. Deal.

Ass Back Home-Gym Class Heroes

Call Me Maybe-Carly Rae Jepsen

Domino-Jessie J

Don’t You Wanna Stay-Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson

Escape-Enrique Iglasias

Fallout-Marianas Trench

Fix You-Coldplay

Glad You Came-The Wanted

Haven’t had Enough-Marianas Trench

How To Save a Life-The Fray

Like How It Feels-Enrique Iglasias and Pit Bull

Is Anybody Out There-K’naan and Nelly Furtado

Lose Yourself-Eminem

Numba 1-Kardinal Offishall and Rihanna

One-Mary J Blige and U2

Raise Your Glass-Pink

Jai Ho-Pussycat Dolls

Slow-Group love

Stuttering-Fefe Dobson

Super Base-Nicki Menaj

Take Care-Drake and Rihanna

U2-Beautiful Day

Who Says-Selena Gomez

Starships-Nicki Menaj

What Makes You Beautiful-One Direction

Somebody that I used to Know-Walk off the Earth

I know some of them seem slow for running…but the slow songs are all ones that speak to me and make me feel great..perfect to pace and inspire myself on long runs, on hills, or when I am not really feeling it for some reason but want to keep going at a slower pace. If I hit them at a time when I want to run faster, I just skip!

Aloha, it’s Sunday!

Well, it is Sunday. A whole new week! Last week was full of suckdom, hopefully this week will be better!

Started out good! I went to free yoga at Lululemon this morning. The teacher cancelled, and they asked if anyone could lead the class. After a long moment of silence, I offered to do it, since I practice on my own at home and I’m comfortable building a practice. I led the class through a one-hour practice, I got lots of compliments afterwards. They could’ve been lying, and I could’ve sucked. That’s okay though, because I had fun, and got a free tank top for my efforts! I haven’t talked about it much, because is is not happening soon…but I really hope to take the Yoga teacher’s Training course sometime. It is quite time and money intensive.,..so now is not the right time for me…but one day. I really think it would deepen my practice, and also I love to teach (I’ve never taught yoga, but I have taught English in Korea, and also have supervised many social work students, and taught many people how to install car seats, and wear their babies…yup…I love to teach!) and inspire!

My running news is not so great. My ankle has continued to be achy and swollen all week, and I know running on it is not a good idea . By today though, it is feeling a lot better. I probably could have run today…but since it is the last day of the week (my training week is Monday to Sunday…I do it that way so the end of the week long run can be whichever day is better for me depending on the weekend) I decided it was better to leave it alone and try my next short run Tuesday. That said, I did the elliptical 3 times and did one spin class (ouch, worse for my ankle than the elliptical for sure. Elliptical has been fine. Walking a lot and spinning bugged it) so I did lot of lower body cardio/endurance work…and made sure the elliptical sessions were as long as my runs would be, to keep up my stamina. I think I’ll be fine for my upcoming races if I get back on track this week. Fingers crossed that I can please!

Back to today…after that awesome experience at Lululemon, I came home to prepare for Zoë’s 9th Birthday Party. It was Luau inspired, and a good time was had by all! Unfortunately, I only got pictures at the very start, because my phone was doing double duty as an iPod, and my dad’s camera battery died. Also, as always, I avoid sharing pictures with other people’s kids in them. I think Adam has some more pictures, I will share when I get them.

The table (cake, cupcakes, cookies and make-your-own fruit Kababs came out later):

The loot bags (we also gave Hula hoops and the coconut cups) and the palm tree…which was the freeze dance prize (had to gewt it out of my house somehow!)

The girls:

Zoë showing off more decorations:

The family:

The cat (and Zoë’s top), who never moved from the couch yet looked grumpy and annoyed the whole time!

Close ups of myself and Zoë, from my dads camera: