Yoga Class and Fun Updates!

Hey Gang!

It’s an exciting day all the way around.  Today I leave to head South for my big brother’s wedding (tear!). I’m thrilled for this weekend and literally just can’t wait to be down with family and friends to celebrate.  It will truly be a magical weekend.  AND…today is my first yoga class! Yep, you heard that correctly! Recently my gym at work started offering fitness classes during lunch and after work.  Talk about score!  Since I can’t run during the lunch hour like I used to, I decided to look into a nice alternative.  And brilliantly enough there are Mon/Wed yoga classes.  Double score.  Before I dive into the exciting events of today, let’s take a look back on the past week!

Visit from Adam!

Remember him?  Yeah, my fiancé was back in town this weekend.  The past two weeks he was on an outpatient rotation that allowed for weekends off.  Can you imagine, two weekends off in a row?!  Gosh, pure heaven.  We had a super productive, yet relaxing weekend.  In terms of wedding things, we finalized our ceremony and music (I LOVE it!), we had a bachelorette dress fashion show (see below), we went to THREE of our premarital requirements (including a half day premarital retreat with other couples), and we worked on printing labels for our invitations.  I have been blissfully giddy with all our productivity.  It is INCREDIBLE how much I love wedding planning when Adam is around, and how much I hate it when he’s away!  It was great to feel wedding-refreshed and really jazzed up about the whole thing.  Wedding planning seems to go in waves of excitement/stress, so this weekend was perfect.

We also had the chance to be fancy people and went on our first date in forever.   We dressed up and I even put on make-up (gasp!) for a visit to the symphony. It was a fantastic show and we really had a wonderful time just going on a date.  So. Much. Fun.

Oh yes, such fancy people!

We even had fancy people drinks!

Funny story about this outfit: we bought it about an hour before our date. Adam forgot his dress clothes in Nashville!

Bachelorette Dress Showdown

My bachelorette party is coming up in a few weeks (crazy it’s so soon!!), so it was time to get more serious about finding a dress. I really hate shopping.  I know, I know, what’s wrong with me!?  Well, let me rephrase that: I hate shopping for specific items that I must find.  If it’s just a casual day roaming, great.  But a marathon day of hunting for every white dress in any store – BAHHH.  Somehow my sister talked me into a bachelorette party in New Orleans.  Yep, you heard that right.  A whole ridiculous weekend.  I have long felt ‘anti’ any big inconvenient weekends for these sorts of events…it somehow felt like an imposition on my friends.  My sister used some pretty good logic to talk me into it though: people won’t come if they don’t want to (true), AND all of my friends are incredibly spread out…meaning 90% of them would have to buy a plane ticket to come to the party no matter where it was, why not give them an awesome tourist destination and perfect weekend getaway.  I followed her logic, so to New Orleans we go!  12 girls will be there in total, so Julie was definitely right that it would be a hit decision!  For many of us, it will be the first time to NOLA :)  So onto the dress dilemma, here are the runner-ups and winner!

Runner-up! I LOVE this dress, but it was deemed not “bachelorette” enough. My sister wants a real bridal look, and I’m happy to oblige.

Runner-Up! Adam deemed this dress ‘a bit aggressive.’ Haha. Let’s be honest, it’s a little more risque with the leather skirt and tight fit. The picture doesn’t show off it’s full “aggressiveness.” Back to the store it went…

Runner-Up! A comfortable dress, but didn’t have much of a wow factor. I ended up wearing this on our symphony date instead ($15.80 at Forever 21, score).

WINNER! This dress is flappertastic and amazing to move in. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but all the tassels are so fun and flattering when I move. Can’t wait to wear it!

Winery Wedding

So this weekend is my BROTHER’s wedding – and I couldn’t be more excited about it.  I’m heading down early in order to be a slave happy, helper wedding bee.  I am so happy I could take some time off to be there to help get things organized and hopefully reduce stress in any way I can. My sister is flying in from Seattle, my Dad from somewhere (he’s a pilot, haha I don’t know where he is), me from Indy, and my Mom drove down so we’ll have a car for pick-up and errands.  I can’t wait to post pictures next week from the whole weekend.  The wedding is set in a winery, which is the place my brother and his fiancée went on their first weekend getaway.  Aww, so romantic.  They have been working so hard to make it a comfortable, beautiful, and memorable wedding.  I can’t wait to experience it.  Both my sister and I are bridesmaids and I will be singing with Adam in the ceremony.  Should be nice.

Remember this dress? Time to wear it!

Yoga Benefits and Nerves!

Alright, onto the whole point of this post… my first yoga class.  Well truthfully, I believe this is actually my second yoga class ever, but this will be my first in what I hope is a new regular habit.  With all my dancing and strength training, I really wanted to add in a new activity that will help in flexibility and injury prevention. Especially now that my knee is even worse (don’t want to talk about it :S), I think yoga could be just the ticket.  I brought my own mat from home (yeah, I’m a total yogi) and will head over there around lunch time.  Honestly I’m a bit scared.  I’m so used to the comfort of my own living room to do yoga, and more specifically, the comfort of being ALONE! I’m not incredibly balanced or flexible so I know I will feel a bit silly.  I’m hoping this class will push me, help me have correct form, and make me more confident in my yoga skills. AND the big thing – make me enjoy it.  I’ll be honest, I’ve pretty much always hated yoga.  But I do understand how helpful it is, and over the last year I have learned to like it.  Or is it, tolerate it?  Either way, I know I do feel more relaxed and calm after I finish yoga, I just don’t know how I feel about the actual doing yoga part.  :) If you’re on the fence or just can’t get your mind around yoga, I’d suggest starting with a beginner DVD.  Forcing myself to do it just once a week has been very doable and has eased me into yoga very gently.  To help pump me up for class today I did a little research to find some health benefits of yoga.  Here’s what I found:

Yoga Health Benefits

• According to the Mayo Clinic, Yoga can help reduce stress, lower blood  pressure, and improve heart function (sweet).  And it can be done by almost anyone.

• The Yoga Health Foundation even goes as far to say it can ease chronic back pain, depression and nerve impulses with diabetic patients.  It also listed something very near and dear to me: asthma and breathing. Several studies have shown increased lung function with regular yoga practice.

• The Yoga Journal lists myriad benefits including improving blood flow, warding osteoporosis, and improving strength.

And that’s just after a quick google search!  The benefits are there, and I’m looking forward to stepping up my yoga practice from a once a week video to a twice a week class.  I look forward to more variety…  I feel like I’m ready for the next level!  Honestly I always hated yoga because I wasn’t good at it, and because it wasn’t a huge calorie blaster.  But, with my chronic knee pain I want to work out not only for a svelte figure, but for my health and longevity of being active.  I think yoga is a great answer for me.

Remember, Adam and I got engaged using my Yoga Mat, hopefully those happy thoughts will push me through today :)

Send me your positive vibes as I nervously step into my first class today – I really hope it isn’t too hard and or ‘in touch with my feelings’ for me, fingers crossed I can get some practical yoga ;)

Happy Wednesday and have a great rest of the week!

-Kelly