CorePower HOT Yoga

I did it! I took my first hot yoga class and I just might be hooked.

It was hot. Like really really hot. I'm talking 100 degrees hot. It's not so bad at first but after about 5 minutes you're literally dripping with sweat. The first half of the class was focused on balance, and I'm pretty good with that. Next was when flexibility was key, and that was definitely the hardest part of the class for me. Well, that & trying to breathe in 100 degrees WITH humidity, while trying to bend in ways my body didn't want to bend.

The last few minutes of the class we were lying on our backs, palms up & focusing on our breathing. The instructor was telling us to breathe out all physical pain. To let it all out & allow it to leave our body. She told us to breathe out any difficult emotional issues we may be going through. To let it go. I know this sounds super cheesey, but it was really emotional for me and almost spiritual in a way. I know, I sound like a crunchy tree-hugging hippie, right? hehe.

Well, I just might have found a new hobby.

namaste.

Time flies when you're having fun

This is my motto, I guess you could say, for the next month. Since we're on a forced baby makin' break, I want to live it up. I want to make the most of each day and try some new things. I want to drink a lot of wine, bbq, play croquet, take the dogs to the beach, hang out with friends, try new recipes, read a book, start a garden, etc. etc. etc.

I want the next month to fly by, but at the end of the month when it's IUI time I want to feel like I really took advantage and enjoyed our break. Not that I can't continue living it up after the IUI, but IF this works there will be no more wine drinking for awhile.. and if there's one thing I love to do, it's drink good wine with good friends. :)

SO, to start this off right I have a fun weekend planned. Today after work I'm going to try Bikram Yoga with a co-worker who LOVES it. At this studio it's actually called Hot Power Fusion, but it's basically the same thing. It's yoga in a heated room and supposedly you burn around 600 calories in one class. woot! I'll dedicate a post to this experience. Given the fact that I can't even touch my toes this should be interesting.

Tomorrow Dan & I will be taking the dogs for a hike up Cowles Mountain. It's the highest point in San Diego and once you reach the top you're rewarded with an absolutely breathtaking view of San Diego, all the way out to the ocean. It's hard work, but it's amazing. Afterwards we'll probably enjoy the nice weather by bbq'ing in the back yard and playing some more croquet (My Grandpa Tom was probably rolling over in his grave last weekend when the newbie croquet player, Dan, kicked my ass).

Sunday is my first golf lesson. yay! And since I have a week free at the yoga studio, I might just go to a Candlelight Hot Power Fusion class that night. Um..working out in the dark where nobody can judge me and my rolls? Count me in!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's St. Patrick's Day today, so bring on the beer & corned beef! When I say corned beef I mean this:

Yep, smartie pants over here forgot regular corned beef is an all day crock-pot event & no corned beef was bought. Every year we (by we I mean Dan) make corned beef in the crock-pot, boiled potatoes, and cabbage. And of course I forego my red wine and drink beer instead. Instead of completely throwing our tradition out the window, I think I'll buy one of these cans o'beef and whip something up. If anyone has any clever ideas, throw them my way please!

Today is also rubella vaccination day. damn. I'm wearing green though so hopefully I'll get a little luck o' the Irish and it won't hurt. And if it does I'll be following it up with some cold beer anyways. :)

Spring Forward

The clocks were moved forward an hour which means two things: 1) My body needs to get the message & catch up 2) Spring is just around the corner - woot! (this is also apparent by the gorgeous weather & the lizard Cali had in her mouth today. ew)

Today also marked the failure of our hail mary cycle & the beginning of our "avoid getting pregnant" cycle. boo. Our first IUI cycle (& hopefully the only one) will start mid-April. More daily injections, more shoving progesterone up my vag twice a day, but I'm SO excited.

Now the plan for the next month is to keep busy so it will fly by, and enjoy our official ttc (forced) break. I'll be making an official on paper list of things to do (of course) but here's an idea of what I plan on doing to keep me busy:

1) Spring cleaning - & a vow to use my shark steam mop once a week!
2) Starting my veggie garden - this one will take $ to build the beds and buy the veggies, but I reeeally want to try to get this goal accomplished.
3) Golf lessons - already scheduled for next Sunday! Hopefully this will also be followed by many trips to the driving range.
4) A weekend with my BFF - can't wait!! She's coming to San Diego at the end of March and there will be wine-a-flowin'!!
5) Working out - I figure if I have to wait to do the IUI I can try to lose as much weight as possible for the next month.

Hope

A friend of mine recently wrote a blog all about hope & it lifted my spirits (thank you Kate). Throughout this long journey I've always been the one being pessimistic realistic, trying to fight hope so I wouldn't be hurt month after month. Inevitably I had many many months where I was hopeful. Those months were the hardest let downs, so to me hope = more hurt, more heartache. I just figured I would let the ones who love me remain optimistic and hopeful for me, while I wallowed in self pity. Healthy, eh?

Here's what President Obama had to say about hope: Hope – Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.

I have to start believing that there are better days ahead. I will get the baby I've been dreaming of for so long. I have to start believing that. I have to find my hope & allow myself to hold onto it.

When we had only been trying around 5 months and I was already getting frustrated and worried (haha), my sister gave me this:

It sits on a shelf in my living room and I look at it all the time. I love it. Lately I've been day dreaming about the day I can move that figurine into my baby's nursery, and some day I'll tell them what that figurine means to me.

So, hope.. I have it & I don't plan on letting it go. Any time I've convinced myself it's never going to happen, I'll come back to this blog post of mine. I'll read the following quotes, and I'll try to believe again.

"When the world says 'Give up', hope whispers 'Try it one more time'"- author unknown

"Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all."  - Emily Dickinson

"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rubella?!?!

Don't worry, I don't have German Measles.. but apparently I'm not immuned to it. I'm pretty sure I would have received the vaccination when I was a kid, but apparently it's one that can eventually wear off. Who knew?

Anyways, I have to get vaccinated since if I were to get rubella while pregnant it can harm the fetus. The actual chances of me getting rubella is soooo slim, but better safe than sorry. Plus, with more & more people not vaccinating their children the chances of them getting rubella and passing it on to someone is more likely.

Getting the vaccination = no big deal, BUT now I have to wait a whole cycle after getting the vaccination before we can do the IUI. Major bummer. I'm SO ready to get this show on the road and now I have to wait until some time around the end of April to do our first IUI. UGH.

This is definitely a test of my patience.

I just have to add this cartoon because..well, wtf? Rubella Credit Card? No clue what it is, but I think I deserve one.