old office, new yoga studio

upward cat approves of downward dog

I think Husbando approves of Annabelle and me turning his office
into my morning exercise spot. Have I thoroughly cleaned out
everything here? Hell, no, it's only been two years and he left
a mess of papers, photos, boxes, secrets, cartoons and books.
YouTube has a bunch of free yoga practice sessions ~ hooray.

fun in the sun salutation

Joe and I both thoroughly enjoyed Yoga Play at the SF Playhouse
yesterday. He recently returned from a long trip to India and there
were lots of references to places there to make it more personal. As
someone who went to yoga class for years (and still practice it at home
every morning, almost) I loved it. I'm a huge fan of yoga but that
doesn't mean we can't make fun of it and this was a comedy. (I do
believe that Husbando benefitted greatly from yoga too and he would
do his stretches religiously for more than 1/2 hour each morning.)
Namaste.

always carry the camera

An unexpected delight in our nabe last week. Now I'll tell you
a bit about having days off and learning to be a part-time worker,
full-time person. Let's get this out of the way first ~ no, I am not
writing and I'm OK with that right now. I love the idea of NaNoWriMo,
but it's not for me at this time. It's just too much work (1,600 words
a day, WTF?) and I can't seem to dig up any inspiration, let alone
talent. So no guilt. I will write something for Tiapos next Thurs.
night, but probably not more than 300 words.

So what do I do? Read, yes, some, mostly New Yorkers and the
Costco Connection. I walk every day with my iPhone and try to keep
my eyes peeled for little surprises like the above. I have a To Do List,
but it's so much shorter than it used to be because I have all this
time to get things done. I do the yoga every morning overlooking the
city at home and once a week I take the class where they fix every
thing I've been doing wrong since the last session.

Oh, and I cook. I make the salad every night and fix a light lunch
or dinner every 2nd or 3rd day. And mostly I try to get used to
having time and not stressing about work. I am sleeping better and
if I have a restless night I can nap in the afternoon. Husbando is
adapting to me being at home, but he doesn't mind one bit when I
head out for some reason or other. Vice versa, needless to say.
We both love our alone time.

So far so good. Thanks for asking...

picture perfect Thanksgiving

Turkey cooked to perfection

Rita brought the famous Sacripantina from
Stella Pastry in North Beach

The after ~ lots of food, talking, laughter and thankfulness

And today? For probably 20 years I had to work retail on Black
Friday. Agony. Today I went to yoga ~ just me and two teachers.
I am feeling peaceful and now for my daily walk, maybe a nap
and start on that Xmas 2011 list. Well, I mean I'll set it up on
the MsBook, not actually shop.

my (sort of) writing life

The daily writing online Round Robin course ends tomorrow,
with a thud. I don't know what's going on with me, but every
morning it was a struggle. If I don't write in the morning it
is even worse, so I forced myself to type away and shoot it
via email to my partner and to Mistress Jane. We are supposed
to write for 10 to 12 minutes, but some days I was lucky to
get 5 minutes in.

On the other hand, I did it. I did not miss a day for nine
tedious weeks. I responded to every partner's piece and some
of those were horrid. After taking so many of these Robin
courses I've come to believe that the partner makes all the
difference. At one point I wrote Jane and begged her for a
GOOD partner: Linda, Will, Jennifer, Seth, Dale ~ some of
the writers I've grown to know and love. I'm so much more
comfortable with them and it's sort of like just sending a
warm little email. Relax, I'm among friends.

And yes, I'm going to skip the next session. I've already
decided to do yoga exercises every morning instead of
writing or trying to write. There, I put it down in the blog
and that means I have to do it. Eeeeeeeek, what have I done?

yoga, the dawg and so. africa

It had been too long since I stretched and chanted, so yesterday's
yoga was most welcome. After a salad lunch I walked to Big Lot's
and then met a v. fine friend at the Nervous Dog on Mission
Street. We had coffee and a sweet and some nice chit chat. My
these non-work days do speed by, but I try to get one or two
things done from The List everyday.

Last night after the news about Egypt, we watched White
Wedding which is filmed in South Africa. It's all about young
love and marriage and friendship. Worth seeing, not great,
but some beautiful scenery and people.

stretch, chant, groan

It had been three weeks since I had attended yoga class, so
yesterday I trudged up the stairs and gave it a try. Ouch. I
decided to start doing a few stretches every morning now and
because I can so easily talk myself out of this kind of thing,
I brought my purple yoga mat up and placed it next to the
kitchen table last night. It worked! And yes, I feel better.
Then I walked and now, perhaps, a little nap.

This is the closing weekend of Orsay and they have booked
customers later than usual. I work until 10:30 tonight and
tomorrow night ~ very Big Box like, no? Only 9:30 (so far)
on Sunday night. So you understand why I need the calming
effect of yoga. Ommmmmmmmm.

Orsay 2 opens Sept. 21st. A little break until then...

a rare customer-free Saturday

I'm starting the day with yoga at 8am and then jumping on the
Muni for downtown and the Morbid reading/signing at noon
at the Big Box. I hope they have found the books by the time
we arrive. I practiced reading last night and only stumbled a
few times over a few words. Husbando said, "good job!"

More sunshine today I think (it's still dark), but these are the
golden glory days of October that we look forward to during
our months of fog and sullen summer mist.

I'll pack my camera right now, thanks for the reminder.

where is the real Mary Ann?

I'm heading off to yoga to find my "center" (eeeeeeek) and to
cleanse my heart and mind. To stretch and chant and doze
a bit during deep meditation. My full-time job is great, except
that it's still retail and it's full-time stressful. But that's my
problem and yoga will help me solve that one again.

See that little round window up on top? That's the Temple
where our class will be, I hope. They have many softly
carpeted class rooms, but I like the top room the best.
Ommmmmmmm.