Yikes!

But don’t forget to enter the yoga giveaway.

Or make some marmalade.

And apparently all three groundhogs predicted an early spring.  Judging by today’s temperatures and flickering sunlight they might be right (even though they are a continent away).  So there’s my things i love for this thursday.  Groundhogs.  And Spring.

I’ll be back Monday, with an interview and a winner and some musings on the future of this blog.

Wish me luck on Saturday!

The first signs of spring – snowdrops + pink cherry blossom + the very tips of tulips – when it’s cold + dark, damp + grey I take my pleasure where I can ~ February is love yourself month on Gala Darling - have you signed up? ~ excitement for the upcoming Writing as a Spiritual Practice e-course and the Writing Our Way Home forum (three cheers to Fiona + Kaspa for such great sites) ~ Seville oranges ~ leaping cats ~ deep breaths ~ a truly awesome (if exhausting) start to 2011 ~ a whole week without the kitchen ceiling leaking (touch wood) ~ sencha green tea with mint ~ choosing what seeds we are going to plant this year ~ starting to make proper plans for Australia in April ~ the rain stopping just in time ~ coffee + networking ~ feeling my shoulder crack back into place as I roll back over my Pilates ball ~ teaching kids yoga ~ finding out a disappointment wasn’t a disappointment at all – this little thing called life….

Et tu, readers?

The first full moon of the year.  Did you see it readers?  As I cycled back from the studio last night it hung above me in the sky, so bright + beautiful! I didn’t have my camera with me so you’ll just have to have this picture instead.

Unfortunately I always find the energy of the full moon rather draining, and this month especially so.  I haven’t had a proper day off in 11 days (not that I’m complaining about being busy – far from it, but….) and so today, apart from the full moon, I love being self-employed.

Because when I wake up more tired than when I went to bed, eyes almost unable to focus, legs aching from the 10 miles I cycled between appointments yesterday, I can wake up on a Thursday knowing I have nowhere to go and nothing to do until 5pm and get back under the sheets to catch up on some zzzzzzzzssss!

I’ll see you world at lunchtime!

Furry moulting balls of feline wonderfulness ~ it’s finally stopped raining ~ a wonderfully busy start to the year (yes I’m shattered but sooo good to have so many clients in January!) ~ a day off in London tomorrow ~ Fiona Robyn’s Writing as a Spritual Practice e-course (are you joining too?) ~ Garudasana – the perfect antidote to cycling miles and miles with a million towels strapped to the back of your bike (am I the worlds first bicycling massage therapist?)

A short list, but a good one.

What are you lovin’ this Thursday?

And remember folks, the special offer 6 month subscription to my podcasts for £19.99 only lasts until the end of January!

A beautiful clean house – while I saw my first clients of the year this morning, Himself took the Christmas decorations down and cleaned the house.  I always get upset at the end of the festive season – the house always looks so bare and boring – and it was lovely not to have to take part in the deconstruction of my Yuletide home.  And even nicer to come back to a clean house.  Plus he’d moved the furniture around so things didn’t look as empty.

Getting back into a routine – I love Christmas so much but it is a relief to get back into a routine again.  All those days of  unstructured time, endless films and mince pies, never really knowing what day it is can get a bit much after a while.

Clearing out – my desk, my hard drive, my RSS feeds, my dressing table drawers.  Making space to let the future in.

The January Resolutioners in my yoga classes – I love introducing new people to yoga!

Planning adventures.

(last day to enter the giveaway!)

(image source)

This week I am still prostrate with the cold of doom.  Blergh.  But I am trying to let myself love the downtime it is giving me.  I’m not well enough to do too much (I wore myself out yesterday I’m afraid) so I’m letting go, reading, watching films, catching up on my DVR, napping.  Returning to teaching next week seems a lifetime away.

Other little things this week:-

christmas cake ~ family ~ handmade presents ~ the chronicles of narnia (books not films) ~ the delighted christmas squeals of the visiting toddler next door (which makes up for my grouch about thin walls) ~ Himself’s new bird feeders which have brought a plethora of different birds to our garden (Himself has taken marvellous pictures – I will get him to post some) ~ paracetamol ~ kleenex balsam ~ fleece blankets ~ Miranda ~ kitteh snuggles ~ sleep ~ all of the wonderful readers who have kept this blog going in 2010

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(image source)

January Intentions

* take part in A River of Stones.  This is Fiona Robyn’s new project, to write a small stone every day.  A small stone is a short, published meditation on something that you notice each day.  It makes us sit up and pay attention, breaks us from our every day routine and, in my case at least, kickstarts our writing for the year.  You can read more and sign up here.

* take two mock anatomy exams + pass (and the real thing of course)…

* keep Fridays as my day off + don’t be tempted to book clients in.

* practice yoga either on or off the mat every day.

* eyebrow wax, facial, pedicure.

* start to make space every day away from the internet and work.

December in Review

* send Christmas cards to all friends and family (including those 12,000 miles away) as well as to my yoga students. DONE (and I did it before mid-December!)

* go and see the Best Band In The World play their 30th anniversary concerts in London. DONE (probably the best weekend of the year!)

* finish knitting Christmas presents and preparing contents of Christmas hampers. DONE (just in the nick of time)

*  ice the cake, and figure out vegan jelly (yes clearly I’ve finally gone mad). ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED WITH RESULTS OF THIS ONE….DONE!

*  get on my mat for at least 20 minutes five times a week. DONE

*  practice yoga off the mat throughout the holiday season. DONE (with much effort)

*  take two mock anatomy exams (and pass them naturally!) NOT DONE – things got in the way and my anatomy revision fell by the wayside.  As soon as this cold is gone I’m back on it for a pass this month (see above)

*  prepare for the opening of the massage clinic in January (buy towels, stock up on massage oil etc!) DONE

*  decorate the whole house, drink gingerbread latte and watch Love Actually at least once! DONE – although I haven’t had a single Christmas Starbucks this year

Coming up:-

* the remaining Reverb10 questions tomorrow.

* 11 intentions for 2011 over the weekend.

*  The first yoga podcast (a 55 minute hip opening practice) on Tuesday.

A very happy new year to all and thank you times a million for reading!

love + oms!

candles at breakfasttime ~ baking christmas cookies ~ snow snow snow ~ fat blackbirds eating birdseed ~ cat pawprints, various sizes ~ a river of stones (more on this soon) ~ last minutes panics ~ finishing off the christmas knitting ~ trashy films ~ midsomer murders ~ tins of quality street + roses ~ the best mince pies i’ve ever made, like tiny little eccles cakes ~ fairy lights ~ veggie sausage rolls ~ food food food (nom nom nom) ~ it’s christmas ~ it’s christmas ~ it’s christmas!!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve readers!

homemade mince pies – your christmas mincemeat will be ready now so mix it together with this pastry recipe and you’re good to go – so much nicer than shop bought ~ the final winding down, my last class, my last few clients of the year ~ reverb10 ~ the love + sequins sale ~ early bookings for 2011 ~ a new found determination to write (thanks to phil for the inspiration) ~ the great fixing of the dishwasher in time for christmas ~ champagne on a weekday lunchtime just because ~ afternoons naps (that may or may not have been champagne induced) ~ walking in the rain ~ the promise of a white christmas (could it be, could it be?) ~ the “office christmas party” next week (Himself, me, Brother + Pa Yogini all work for ourselves, thus no party, so we make our own, in the pub) ~ signs that read “santa stop here” ~ stripey tights ~ clients who pay in advance

thick frost, especially in the sunshine ~ cycling in freezing temperatures, it’s never as bad as you think it’s going to be ~ my new christmas pedicure, red and green ~ gingerbread ~ decorating the christmas tree and wrapping up old books to go under it (we’re not giving presents to each other this year but the tree looked bare without parcels, plus it stops certain wire chewing kitties grabbing a hold of the christmas lights) ~ crazy over the top christmas decorations all over the neighbourhood ~ new clients ~ christmas carols ~ Annie Lennox ~ CDs over MP3s

I’ve sung these Christmas Carols since I was very young,
they’ve accompanied my life.
Carols tell ancient stories . They are timeless and lasting.
Each one has it’s own special message encoded within the lyrics and melody lines.
While I don’t personally subscribe to any specific religion,
I do believe that the heart of all religious faith has to be rooted in love and compassion,
otherwise it serves no purpose.
For me the word “Christ” represents the sacred and mysterious divinity of life… which could just as easily be
Buddha or Allah.
The words from the Bible, the Torah, or the Koran are too often misused to justify
viewpoints that oppress, divide or create discord,
rather than engendering empathy, harmony and respect for each other,
accepting and embracing our differences whilst resalising that we are all human,
with the same strengths and weaknesses.
– Annie Lennox in the liner notes to a Christmas Cornucopia
(which is why I love CDs over MP3s – you get liner notes!)

one red chilli on my chilli plant ~ snow ~ going to see The Best Band in the World (TM) twice this weekend (if they don’t get snowed in Bradford of course) ~ a weekend in London (civilisation or hell, you decide) ~ the end of term approaching (I love my job but this time of year the tiredness is upon me) ~ holidays so close you can smell them ~ marzipan ~ anatomy revision done and done ~ working on the muscles in my shoulderblades ~ yoga ~ making podcasts ~ a diary for 2011, looking at the blank pages, wondering what adventures they will bring ~ cats covering their noses with their tails to keep out the cold ~ underneath the duvet ~ Quality Street ~ advent calenders ~ the challenge of veganising jelly ~ Sas’ carrot cake, waiting to be veganised in january ~ seeing pictures of the snow in York, wishing I was there, but kind of glad I’m not ~ crossed fingers and toes ~ cats playing pattercake ~ blog readers ~ yoga students ~ being here