AfricanKelli

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I’m working on a super secret project with my grandmothers that includes scanning a lot of family photos. I’ve planned on it taking several months and am glad I have the time; I love this kind of chronicling.

In the process, I ran across some pretty fabulous photos:

My parents are so damn cute in this photo! My mom says it was taken at the state fair when they were in high school. I love how soft focus glam my she is and how long my dad’s hair is.

Speaking of hair — mama mia! This is her high school graduation photo. Meow! So pretty!

Back to my secrets,

K

Angel food cake for the golfer in the guest room*; Matty starts a new tournament today. Go Pink Golfer Go!

Current Mind Candy List:

~A friend of a friend has a book coming out this week that looks pretty fantastic. I’m all for supporting new novelists, and hope to get my hands on a copy of this soon. Doesn’t it look great?

~I have a whopping total of 10 billion friends having babies this Fall. In all seriousness, I anticipate making/buying a least a dozen gifts between now and Thanksgiving. Watching my girlfriends transform into mothers is magical. I marvel at their maturity and selflessness. Plus, all these little ones mean more tiny toes to kiss and wee ones to rock. I’m hoping to create my own pattern for a baby hat that will look a little something like this.

~The garden is growing like mad. The recent rains we’ve had have pushed the chiles, planted by seed, and the tomatoes, transplanted, into awkward pre-pubescent teenagers, with limbs arching one way or the other and maturity right around the corner. Once upon a January, I thought a nursery of 23 tomato plants was a smart idea. We are soon to have an overgrown dormatory — a teeming tomato hedge. I think an Italian dinner party or two is in store.

~And finally, I’ve been wildly disappointed in myself because of the dozen Lent-related habits I planned to change, I’ve kept with only a few. I know I’m not super-human, but I never cease to push myself to cape-worthy behavior. Then this morning, during another drippy yoga session, the solution dawned on me. Rather than spend time beating myself up (a hobby I’d really rather abandon all together), I could simply start over. If Christianity is about anything, it’s about your choice to start fresh. So today, I reset. And you know what? I feel remarkably less unencumbered. Reminds me of a brilliant bumper sticker I saw in traffic last week: “Faith is a journey, not a guilt trip.”

Giddy up!

~K

* The Golfer in the Guest Room sounds like a torrid Jackie Collins’ book, right?

I’ve been spending a lot of steamy time lately with a certain hot Indian. Not to be too politically correct, but the way my heart races! The fluttering in my stomach! The sweat pouring off my shaking frame!

That Bikram yoga challenge* is, in all seriousness, doing some good. Today was class 38 of 60. I’m down a couple pounds, have newly discovered muscles in my stomach and an empowered state of mind that I can imagine is highly annoying to those who spend time with me outside of the sweat lodge yoga studio.

Recent observations:

1. If there is an instructor you truly dislike, it is probably because he/she pushes you to be better. Give in. Suck it up. Keep taking his/her class.

2. Figure out where the scapula is on your body and keep this in mind. I’ve taken plenty of science classes and had no idea . It’s pointed out as an area you should be thinking of about 10,000 times per class. Scapula = shoulder blade. Got it.

3. If you are taking an afternoon class, eat at least 4 hours prior. (Better yet, just take the morning class.) Otherwise, the first Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Janushirasana** – Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee Pose — will result in revisiting your lunch. I haven’t yet figured out the best timing, which means I’m eating less; nothing is worse than vomiting in public.

4. My car smells like yoga. My closet smells like yoga. The workout clothes I wore last week and have since washed twice smell like yoga. It is a particularly distinct combination of sweat, feet and incense. Sounds disgusting, but in a very weird way you begin to love it.

5. Coco water is just about the most refreshingly powerful thing I’ve ever drank. After class, I sip one of these 60 calorie containers and it’s like someone plugged my battery back in. The potassium is high so you don’t cramp and it is all natural.

6. Aside from the physical and flexibility stuff I can do all of a sudden, the mental side of this challenge has been a bit of a roller coaster. There are weeks where I am so fired up. I race in the door, throw my sticker on the 60-day challenge chart and burst into class ready to namaste it like the best of the spandex-clad monkeys. And there has been one week in particular where it took sheer grace to get my completely exhausted frame to class each day, pushing through one sore pose to the next. Thankfully, I didn’t give up.

I couldn’t.

There are stickers.

And a chart.

And if there is one thing this type A spandex-clad monkey loves, it’s public accountability and a challenge that seems pretty insane. Even if I have nightmares where people randomly shout “LOCK YOUR KNEE!”

yogi in training,

k

* I almost titled this post, “Namaste that, Bitches!”

** Trying saying that three times fast. Jeez, Bikram. I bet you rock at Scrabble.

Paired with some greens for dinner last night. The new farmer’s market at ASU started yesterday and I spent way too much money on way too little — but the flavors were wonderful. Plus, I’m learning that it is often not cost/time effective to do the best thing for your community (farmer’s markets, carpooling, low energy use electronics) but it is still the better option. And so, we very much enjoyed the $5 tomato — sliced with a bit of salt and savored before scallops and greens.

Today starts lent, and those who’ve been around for a while know that traditionally means the kickoff to Calculated Acts of Kindness (CAOK). I’ve done this for 4 years. This year, with a variety of new challenges in hand, I cannot. I fully believe CAOK is something you do regardless of the season and I hope my excessive efforts of the past have encouraged others. My one hiccup was the jaded feedback I’d misplaced humility to seek praise for good deeds. Noted. This year, my lenten journey will be private.

If you are participating in CAOK, I’m happy to praise you. Keep me posted on what you are doing!

~K

My friend Kim was given a gorgeous gray cotton three button wrap at Christmas. I fell in love. I watched her open it and as soon as it was polite to do so, I picked it up and started counting rows. I knew I had to have one. Thankfully, Ravelry agreed and I found the pattern. With a bit of holiday money burning a hole in my pocket, I splurged on a cashmere blend yarn and some coconut shell buttons.

One month later…

This was particularly tricky to photograph by myself; it is supposed to look like this, but my version is considerably smaller. It is still warm, soft, pink and perfect! I am very pleased with how it turned out. And as crazy as it sounds, I may make myself another one in lime green. I want a bigger one too.

~K