Bahamas Vacation: Part 1 Arrival and Settling in

      From October 11-19, 2013, I was in the Bahamas with my wonderful boyfriend. Since we are long distance and don't get to see each other often due to work and flight costs, we decided to go on a trip to celebrate our 4 year anniversary. Here is how the arrival went. I hope to get the next parts up by this weekend. Enjoy.

        On October 11^th, I left Chicago to meet up with my boyfriend, Brian, in Ft Lauderdale, FL. Our plan was to spend the night in Florida and then take the plane out to Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas in the morning.

                Well I landed in Florida at about 11pm Florida time and found out when I landed that Brian didn’t make his connection flight in Detroit. So I was alone in Florida for the night. I finally made it to the hotel and it felt like it took forever to check in even though there were only 2 people in front of me, but it was midnight and I was ready to put my bags down and hop into bed.

                The bad luck continued as I thought my room was on the 6^th floor and it turned out I was reading the number wrong and it was a 5, but it was handwritten and not very clear. I finally made it to the room, got online, found the HGTV channel and talked to Brian for a bit before heading to bed.

                The next morning, I left the hotel around 9am and met up with Brian at the terminal. Our flight was leaving around 11am. We got through security and everything and then had to wait. The waiting time just made me more nervous. I was nervous because it was going to be a small plane and I wasn’t sure about the turbulence. The only small planes I have been on in the past were in Hawaii and I was not fond of the turbulence and roller coaster like ride that it was. I hate roller coasters.

                Eventually we boarded our little plane and boy was I glad I am not a claustrophobic type person, because the plane was teeny tiny on the inside. I got out my piece of gum for the ride and was chewing it to calm myself. We took off and reached 10,000 feet fairly quickly and you know, it ended up not being that bad. I was totally calm after take off and enjoying the flight until the long lengthy landing came. We reached the island and started to land, turning around and flying over the island starting at the northern tip till the airport which lies in about the middle of the island. . The landing was so dragged out. I felt like it was an eternity and just stared out the window, just keeping to myself, not even wanting Brian to touch me. I just wanted to be on the ground.

                We finally landed on what looked like a road for cars, but was actually the airport. The smallest airport I’ve even been to for sure. We went inside and waited as they carried the bags inside and then we went one at a time to open our bags and make sure we didn’t bring anything over to the islands that wasn’t allowed.

                We got our rental jeep and drove to the cottage, stopping at the biggest grocery store on the island, which was hardly big considering American grocery stores. In addition the prices were high since everything is brought over by ship. I found some baked beans, apples, peanut butter and crackers so I was happy.   

the beach outside our cottage, look at those beautiful colors

our cottage

first day on the beach enjoying the weather

                We got to the cottage and I immediately found my shorts in my suitcase and then had a snack. The rest of the afternoon, we were settling into the island life, walked along the beach outside our front door and took a drive down the main road. Since it was the off season, not many restaurants were open, but we found one just around the corner from our cottage and got some Grouper Fingers and salads to go. I don’t normally eat fish, but I like breaded fish. The food was amazing and we got to enjoy it outside on our porch while watching the waves crash onto the beach. 

That's all for the arrival. More to come soon.

Yoga Rave and Pink Hair for Hope

     The weekend begins and I'd say I had a pretty good kick off to start my weekend. Yesterday I participated in my first Yoga Rave, the second annual Yoga Rave for Lifetime Fitness. A demonstration of Acro Yoga began shortly after 7pm. It was so cool to watch and they made it look so easy. I definitely want to try Acro Yoga sometime in the future.

 Before the rave began, I did a bridge pose or two.
  

        The yoga rave began at 8pm. There were 200 people or so in the gym ready to have a dance party and do some yoga. We warmed up with some stretching and sun salutations. There were definitely some challenging options for balancing poses that even I was unable to do. But yoga is not about how advanced your pose is, it's about breathing. I enjoyed some of the flows we did through warriors and lunges and sun salutations. There were points at which I was a bit lost as we kept facing different directions, but whenever that happened, I just did what worked for me for the flow and enjoyed it.
    In addition to the yoga there was some dancing around the room, twerking and more. It was a blast and the hour and a half went by so fast!! Great way to spend a Friday night.

      Onto Saturday, since it's October, it's breast cancer awareness month. I got my pink hair for hope today. It's too bad I didn't have it yesterday as it would have matched my shirt perfectly at the yoga rave.

        If there is a salon near you participating in Pink Hair for Hope, you should do it. Have an awesome weekend everyone!!
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5K Weekends

                 The last two weekends, I participated in two 5Ks. I’m not a runner, but I love to support causes and one 5K was really for fun (the color run). I'm hoping one day in the future after some training and maybe eating better I can really run an entire 5K. 

                The first 5K was on September 21, 2013, which was the Alzheimer’s walk. My dad is in a healthcare type business and was participating for his company and invited me along. Even though the morning was a bit chilly, by the time the walk became the sun was shining and the sky was lit up with a beautiful blue.

                We got to the event early so that my dad could introduce himself to other businesses and say hi to people he knew. One benefit to arriving early was that we were able to participate in a scavenger hunt to enter a raffle. We had to stop at a few of the tables of people that were national donors/sponsors of the walk.

                After we finished with that, we got a snack provided at another table and then walked around the park while we waited for our other team members to arrive. The walk was held at Gallery Park which was a huge and beautiful park with a bike trail, soccer fields and a fountain in the middle. The walk started at 10 am and since I was walking with other team members, the walk took just over an hour to complete.

                Once we completed the walk, we took a team picture and then I had the opportunity to do a bridge on the stage. 101.9, the mix, was sponsoring the walk and I believe they took a picture of me doing a bridge but unfortunately they didn’t post many of the pictures of the walk on their website.

              Yesterday I participated in The Color Run at Soldier Field with a couple friends and my dad. I have wanted to do a color run since last summer when I saw it come to Chicago. Unfortunately the color run sold out back in July, but because it was so popular, they decided to have it in Chicago in the fall too. I was so happy when I was able to put together a team this year and participate. We were the Rainbow Runners. The run was really fun and I definitely would like to do it again sometime. I was worried with the run being at the end of September what the weather would be like, but summer weather returned this weekend. Saturday was in the 80s and Sunday was in the 70s!! I know many people are ready to move on to fall temperatures, but I am not. I just want the 70 degree temps to stay. I am trying to soak up every minute of sun I can because once fall arrives, winter is right around the corner.

                The color run was a blast!! Here are the before and after pictures and of course a bridge picture. Also I tried to save the tye dye on my shirt afterwards with vinegar and water mix and then washing...and totally failed as my shirt came out mostly white in the end. I guess I'll just have to do another color run and try again. 

before the race, me, Kristin and Elisa

before the race, my dad, me and Kristin

after race

after race (doesn't my dad look so cool with his sunglasses??)

bridge!!

Educational Vacation

I can't believe it's the last day of August already. This summer has gone by too fast. Last weekend I enjoyed a short, educational summer vacation with my boyfriend. We first stopped in Springfield, IL, because I thought I should visit the capital of the state I live in and also I happened to have a friend who lives there whom I met while I was on my study abroad trip to Australia. We ate at Charlie Parker's diner which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the food network. Apparently they have a famous 16" pancake, that's like the size of a pizza!! Now I was craving some pancakes for our brunch, but I decided to just go with the simple pancake the size of my plate, because when I saw the chicken fingers on the menu as well, I wanted some of those too. I know the new thing is Chicken and Waffles together which I personally think does not sound good, but for brunch I did have a pancake and chicken, eaten separately but it's close to Chicken and waffles I suppose.
After brunch, we all decided to head to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum where we learned all about Abraham Lincoln's life from when he was born and grew up in a log cabin to his presidency in the White House up to the time he was assassinated at the height of his success. The museum had a very modern set up and was perfect for an afternoon. We also enjoyed one of the theater showings about Lincoln too. I'd say it was very educational! Here are pics from the lobby as we were not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit.

    After the museum, we decided to drive just a couple miles to see Lincoln's Tomb. It was an amazing tomb with walls made of marble and other stones. We also rubbed Lincoln's nose for good luck.

   After that, we said goodbye to my friend and drove to St Louis where we enjoyed the view from a rooftop bar, went to the top of the St Louis Arch, walked through the park, checked out the animals at the zoo and saw a sea lion show and visited some museums.

view from the top of the arc

looking up at the arc from the ground

bridge under the arc

sea lion show at the zoo

sea lion jumping through a hoop

delicious bbq dinner

playing at the city park

playing at the city museum, a large creative playground

part of the playground outside

lots of slides

And that's all for my short, educational vacation to end my summer. I still don't want to say goodbye to summer, but I guess that I just have to remember that apple and pumpkin season is coming and I can't wait to crave a pumpkin this year again and hopefully visit the pumpkin farm. Maybe I can finally spend some time carving a pumpkin that isn't so boring (meaning more than just a face). 

Happy Labor Day Weekend Everyone!!

Yoga on the lawn

Yesterday I went to the Evanston History Center for a free yoga session outside. They are holding one each month through the summer and one in September as well. I went last month and it was perfect outside! The history center is right next to the lake and it's beautiful when the sun is shining. Of course to add to my bridge photos, I asked a person to take a picture of me once the session was over last month.

I showed up at the history center yesterday morning and I saw that this part of the lawn (in the photo above) was under construction and I didn't see anyone there for yoga, so I walked around the beach for a bit and then decided to check back at the history center. I saw a couple people near the front door so I grabbed my mat from my car and walked over to them. There was no teacher in sight and we checked around the whole house and no one seemed to be there to teach yoga. Once more people arrived, one person called the yoga studio that was hosting the free yoga session and they said there was a misprint that the free yoga was supposed to be next Saturday. Well that was disappointing since I will be out of town next weekend but also we were all already there. We all talked about who had experience with yoga and since I seemed to have the most experience doing yoga at least once week, the 10 or so people there decided that I could lead the yoga session on the front lawn.
I had never taught yoga before but have been thinking about becoming a certified yoga instructor, because I do love it a lot and I think it would be a great weekend job for fun. So I led the yoga session for 45 minutes or so, since we started a bit late. I did some sun salutations, warrior poses and more. I had a great time leading the class! Everyone really enjoyed it and it was the perfect weather outside! At the end of the class, one person asked me if I had ever taught a class before and when I said no, she was so surprised and said I did so well and asked when she could sign up for one of my classes. It's great to have that kind of support from people. I am glad that they enjoyed it as much as I did and I can't wait for the last yoga on the lawn in September!!

After the class, I couldn't just go home, the weather was too beautiful so I walked on the pier and the beach for a bit, enjoying the sun.

108 Sun Salutations

              Last night for the first day of summer, my gym was holding a night of 108 sun salutations to kick off the summer. 108 sun salutations is part of a ritual in yoga to celebrate the changing of the seasons. There are many interpretations of what does 108 mean. You can read about one here and here. I really found the second article quite interesting. Last night, my yoga instructor  told us  the meaning of each digit in the number 108. The "1" stands for the one and only, the "0" stands for nothing but at the same time everything and the "8" when flipped sideways, represents the infinity symbol.
               I wanted to be a part of this yoga ritual for the experience and to see if I could really do 108 sun salutations in a row. I thought I would get really tired and have to stop, but we did the sun salutations in 9 sets of 12 and it actually was not bad at all. However, afterwards, my shoulders started to feel it from all the upper to lower planks within the sun salutation. If you have taken a yoga class before, you have probably done at least one variation of a sun salutation, but for those that do not know, here is a picture of sun salutation A that we did 108 times.

source

        My favorite part of this experience was being able to do yoga right on the pool deck and at night as the sun was setting. Though it was a pretty rainy and cloudy day yesterday, I was happy that the rain had passed by the time of this event so that I could enjoy yoga outdoors.
        As we went through each sun salutation, I did not focus on the count of how many we were up to, but instead listened as the instructor called out "breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, hands up, hands to heart center..." With each yoga class that I go to, the instructor always reminds us to breathe because yoga is not about the poses and how flexible you are, it's about breathing. While I stayed focused on my breath, I was able to relax and just flow with the sun salutations. Sometimes, I missed a movement, but I was always able to find my way back.
      Here are some pictures from the evening:

the moon over the pool

Watermelon Baby Carriage

So I have been a terrible blogger as I haven’t blogged much in the past few months. I was so busy studying for the GMAT test that I didn’t really have anything to say, but now I have resumed my life somewhat and I wanted to share my beautiful creation I made this past weekend. We were throwing a surprise baby shower at work for 2 of my co workers in my department who are having babies one month apart from each other. Being that I go on Pinterest and am always wanting to try to make new things, it was the perfect excuse for making a watermelon baby carriage! I had been looking forward to it for weeks. I watched some youtube videos and it looked pretty easy and it was mostly easy, other than carving out the watermelon fully and getting it even. Here are some of the pictures as I was working on it:

scooping out the watermelon...this took probably the longest of the whole process

this is going to be the baby's head

baby, half a grape for each eye, a piece of watermelon for the nose, cantaloupe for the ears

baby in the carriage

filled with fruit salad

me with my beautiful and first watermelon baby carriage. I do plan to make more in the future :)

In addition to the baby carriage, I also made chocolate chip scones, which I hadn't made in a while and they were so tasty. The surprise party was a success as both of my co workers were so surprised and there was tons of delicious food and fruit, lots of fruit. It was a great way to start off the week and get through a Monday. I think we need more parties, but my sister already thinks we have parties like everyday...LOL 
I will try to post more often now with any fun activities I've been doing, especially since it should be summer any day now...After a couple weeks of 80s, it has only been like 60 here, though at least that's better than below 0 like the long winter. I just want the sun back, as it has been too rainy lately.