Category Archives: travelin’ moon

best. weekend.

6/21/2009snapshots, travelin' moonali

We went to Austin this weekend for R’s friend Juliane’s wedding. We really had the most divine time relaxing, playing, dancing, boating, celebrating, eating, laughing, hugging, boot shopping and sunning.

First, we flew into Houston, taking advantage of the fact that my work has a studio there. I am staying in Houston a few days extra so that my plane ticket was subsidized. It turns out there *are* advantages to having a hub in Houston. (I may not admit I wrote this later). We drove to Austin in our retal car, but not before we found my new favorite lunch spot “The Spicy Pickle”. It turns out, upon further investigation, that they are planning new locations in Los Angeles. I knew it was going to be a hit!

You can’t see my spicy pickle in this photo because I had already eaten it…

We arrived safely in Austin and made our way to “The Salt Lick” for the rehearsal dinner. Talk about meat. Check it out. You know you’re in Texas when…

We ate our faces off…and began the celebration of Jules & Adam!

Later, R tried to capture the wind (which was very warm, if not hot) by photographing it blowing through my hair, which caused us to laugh. The second time he got it…

The next day was the wedding, held at a gorgeous location called “Barr Mansion”. Seriously, people. This wedding was the most wonderful…

After the ceremony we celebrated wildly with RJ’s friends from college, all of whom I now adore madly…

Since the wedding was on Friday, we kept playing well into the next day. We went boating on Lake Travis! Here we are ambling down to the water and then it’s Jules, Adam, Sam & RJ in the boat…

We went tubing and swam in the water which was a cool 81 degrees. Yes, 81 degrees was cool at this point in the 100+ degree weather.

Here he waits to go…

And here I go!

Didn’t boating do wonders for our hair?

Finally, we went out for the most decadent dinner. We ate ourselves silly again and just had an overall splendid time. Yes, splendid…

Congratulations to Jules and Adam and thank you for the best wedding weekend getaway ever!
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late night freak out

2/23/2009journal, snapshots, travelin' moonali

I am still in New York, where it is cold. Earmuff cold…

I am having trouble changing my internal time zone, so about this time (11pm EST), I freak out. My mind starts racing and I suddenly feel wide awake when I should be going to sleep. There is so much. I am filled with mixed emotions; I need to dance, cry, jump-for-joy, scream and melt all at the same time. I am making a big transition and I have to have a conversation I dread.
*more anon.

Meanwhile, I am still in NY ~ so back to that.

I spent Saturday in Brooklyn with Lindsey. What a wonderful, long afternoon-evening we spent wandering Smith and Court Streets looking in all the little independent shops. At one point we took a tea break (hooray for tea-bag messages!)

In the evening, we went to see “The Wrestler” which my friend Rie worked on. (She helped to prepare Marisa for her role). Yeehaw for Marisa and Rie!
After the movie, I found out that Jesus lives in Brooklyn…

Finally, we rounded out the day with a lovely Thai meal before I got back on the subway to Manhattan. Here is Lindsey with our heart-shaped rice…

I heart Brooklyn and I heart Lindsey!

And since there can never be too much Lindsey, tonight she came over to my cute little Manhattan apartment after work and we ordered in. It was nice to have some time to just vegg-out with her: that doesn’t happen very often anymore, what with 2000+ miles between us.

Then, we both walked outside in the frozen wind, she to the subway, me to the gourmet market for some dessert. Look at this crazy selection and the chocolate-covered creampuffs I chose…

Um, hormonal much?
I miss R, so I ate chocolate. And I don’t even really like chocolate.
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free in nyc!

2/20/2009snapshots, travelin' moonali

I arrived in New York on Wednesday evening and am loving this work/getaway trip so much. I arrived to my dear friend and co-trainer, Rie standing on the stoop of our rad little apartment in Chelsea ~ it’s a 3rd-floor walk-up and is full of charm. There will certainly be photos taken of this sweet apartment.
Rie and I shared a day of training on Thursday before she left this morning for Chicago and then for home. I miss her spirit already.
Last night some of the teachers and trainees went out for dinner to say goodbye to Rie and hello to me. We had a fun time with a flirty waiter who kept trying to offer us free shots. We’re not really shot takers, but he convinced Rie! (usually a non-drinker) and Beate to shoot Tequila…

Then Rie and I walked home in the rather frezing wind. We both had on hats and thought we might have red noses, so we tried to take a picture. We were only a little successful…

More fun to be had as the days go by, including a full weekend of seeing another dear friend, Lindsey, rendezvousing with Megan over here in the East and dining with Mike. Yippee for “business” trips to NYC!
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merry mexico

2/10/2009family & friends, snapshots, travelin' moonali

My family vacation to Mexico this year was relaxed, restful and rejuvenating! We were a smaller group this year including only my parents, grandma, RJ and me…we missed everyone else.

My dad had his birthday on the first full day we were there and he spent the rest of the trip saying “It’s my birthday, I can do what I want”. I tried to object that he was overusing this privilege, but he’s so funny that we let him keep using it. Here are my parents at his birthday dinner…

And here’s my dad modeling his gift of a new lululemon shirt, which he then wore to yoga for the rest of the week. Notice his “model face”…

~~~

We spent a lot of time lounging at the beach, but no pictures were taken of this lazy lifestyle. We did however take some photos of RJ’s new margarita concoction: The Spicy Margarita. This drink is your basic RJ margarita with some jalapeno peppers for a kick. It is surprisingly delicious and we enjoyed them frequently throughout the trip…

RJ and I spent Thursday morning on a Canopy Adventure, which meant zip-lining through the treetops of a nearby canopy of trees. We were understandably not allowed to take any photos (can you imagine? happily zip-lining and trying to take a photo while promptly smacking into a tree). We assume we looked something like this…

~~~

We had such a great time and decided we prefer adventure excursions to romantic excursions. Next year we plan to try out the Outdoor Adventure, which includes more zip-lining, some donkeys and a waterfall (I know, funny mix, huh?)

On the last night we did make it to Fajita Republic for our annual dinner and silly face contest, but the silly faces made it onto my dad’s camera instead of mine. Hopefully he’ll share, but here’s what I ended up with…

~~~
We ate way too much as usual and rounded out a wonderful week…
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hawaiian retreat

12/30/2008practice, travelin' moonali

After a lot of processing, I have decided to keep most of what I learned about myself while doing yoga in Hawaii to myself so as not to “end” the growth by tying it up in a little bow and presenting it in words. What I will say is that I had a fantastic time, learned a lot about myself & about yoga and happily gobbled up the amazing and healthy food they cooked (3 square meals per day, which is something I never have). I did this while listening to the frogs sing loudly and proudly ~ the little dreamers who shout their desires out into the night enthusiastically. While there were several warm rainstorms, there was enough sun to feel like I was actually on a Hawaiian island, although I never made it onto a beach. (This was surprisingly ok with me and I kept busy on land).

I did, however, sit by the pool, where clothing was *optional*. Personally I chose option B: to wear my bikini, while doing my best to act nonchalant whenever anybody who chose option A walked by. (Kirsten, you would have died). And then I would pretend later that I hadn’t seen that person naked when I met them again doing yoga in their clothes. This was a very new experience for me and while I consider myself to be fairly progressive and liberal, I can say for sure that I will never sunbathe in the nude, unless I am deserted on an island by myself and my bikini is lost at sea. It’s not that I am offended by nudity: if you’re up for it, go for it! I was less uncomfortable that these other people were nude and more uncomfortable that I seemed to be in the clothed minority.

On the morning of my departure I rose at 5am to go to the edge of the island where the active volcanic lava pours into the ocean. We woke up early in hopes of catching this awesome sight in the dark, but we unfortunately got lost and didn’t make it there until sunrise. Luckily this was still a once in a lifetime sight. It was impressive to watch the red hot liquid of our earth pouring into the powerful waves of the ocean. I’ve included my photos of the whole trip right here, most of which are from this excursion…

I am so glad I gave myself the gift of this vacation and I hope to get the chance to experience more Forrest yoga in the year to come. I have narrowed it down to two different kinds of yoga training that I am interested in doing: Forrest & Anusara. Both of these styles inspire me in exciting ways and now the choice is which one to do first…I’ve set my goal to be teaching yoga by November 2009!

And I leave you here with this quote that I found at work the other day which seemed to beautifully and simply describe what I learned in Hawaii…

“Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
~Chinese Proverb

NAMASTE.
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Gemini Alley

The Family K