Iced in

We were hit with a terrible storm a few days ago here in Toronto, and our public systems are still struggling to restore power and hence, heat, to thousands of homes.

For my humble little home in North Toronto, we were cut out of electricity in the early hours of the 21st. When we got up in the morning, the floors were freezing cold and the dog was shivering. It was pitch black out, but the blue flashes of light in the distance reminded me that we were only one house out of hundreds of thousands out of power and heat.

It was like we were suddenly transported north of the Wall.... without even a stop at Winterfell....

Once the sun came up, I took the dog out. I was surprised to find so much damage even in our neighbourhood.

Also, Two-Two's leash froze solid in the 15 minutes we were outside.































By late afternoon, we knew we needed provisions for dinner... for us and our neighbours. We found a restaurant open quite far north of the city, and ventured out to pick it up. Nearly every single traffic light was out, but we made it there and back.

At home, we had a few families in our neighbourhood come over to our house to eat hot food. We lit candles and kept each other warm. During dinner, the lights did a quick flash, and then the sky struck blue again and power went out. This happened 2 or 3 times, until we stopped cheering and just silently hoped that this time the fix would stick.

Eventually, we got too cold just sitting around the house, so we ventured out again for a hot drink.

By the time we got home, lights were on! We went to bed in the warmth and woke up in the warmth! It was marvelous, but plenty of our friends had to sleep through the night in the cold. So we're currently playing warming shelter and charging station to a bunch of friends until they can get power restored.

What an ordeal. Driving is still a headache as so many intersections are out of power, trees are blocking lanes, and some people are being aggressive assholes. I'm not looking forward to driving to work later today, but I know I'll be glad to be there when I finally get there.

About an hour ago, we got TV and internet back, so now I finally feel like we're back in civilization.

Hoping all of you Torontonians out there are keeping warm!

Back on the Ashtanga bandwagon

I didn't know if I would...

But I did.

I'm back at the Ashtanga Yoga Centre of Toronto.

We will see how this goes.

:)

There's a deer in there!

Coming back to Toronto from nearly a year spent abroad, the jet lag has hit me hard this week. I've been waking up constantly at 4AM, wide awake, unable to fall back asleep.

Luckily, exercise is supposed to help with jet lag, so I went for a run this morning.

I didn't bring this little girl, though. It was still dark outside when I left, and she showed no interest leaving her warm bed.

I'm glad I didn't end up bringing her because I saw two deer on my run (she would've scared them away)! 

It doesn't look like it, but I swear there are deer in these pictures!!!

This one was a young male. I could see the beginning of antlers.

This was a female deer. She's quite deep among the trees, but she's there!

My stats: 

We're coming home, Toronto!

I cannot believe it's been 10 months since we've left home!

And I cannot believe it's time to go back! This last month around Asia has been an absolute whirlwind.

Our paws feet have been all over Asia; Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. And within each of those places, we've truly done our duty as good tourists and took massive amounts of transport/patience/lining up to get that perfect tourist picture. I'm officially DONE with living out of a backpack! DONE!!

I'm looking forward to driving a car again, walking on real sidewalks, practicing yoga daily in a real yoga space (basically, anywhere except a hotel room) and having some good vegetarian home cooked meals.

I'm also beyond excited to see this little lady:

Remember that face? Yup! She'll soon be back regularly on the blog!

Also, running! I can't wait to begin running regularly, along my favourite paths and trails. Add in Two-Two and running all together and I'm probably going to explode with happiness!

See you soon, Toronto!

V-day in the Haus

So it turns out my boyfriend doesn't just sit around, eat fried chicken, and scratch his armpit hairs, eh? 

Because isn't that what men do on Valentine's Day?

Not mine! He got me a bag of coffee.

A pack of Caramel Tim Tams (by far the best version).

And a scrunched up face of joy.

The best part may have been the water bottle EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE I LEFT IN CANADA.

No wait, the best part may have been this:

Unfortunately, these turned out nowhere as good as Prairie Girl Bakery back in Toronto. Why is it so hard to find really good fresh cupcakes in Sydney? And can someone ship me a Prairie Girl to bake me some awesomely soft and fresh red velvet with cream cheese frosting please? Or ship me this girl. That's cool too.

Anyway, I got Steven a couple of ties because all the moving had ruined one of his nicer ones.

Not sure if he likes them...seeing as how they're kind of hard to match with shirts. Who knew that ties would be that hard to buy?

Steven wrote me a wonderful card: 

"Dearest Sandy, 

Roses are red & violets are blue

These are the givens that we take to be true

But not our relationship,that I don't take for granted

Just like a strong tree, it's not enough to be planted

It must be cared for and nourished and given plenty of food

So on this Valentine's,

If you're keen we'll go for some curry, possibly green

Be my date and you'll be in for a treat

Desserts are a-plenty if they survive this heat."

And then we went out for curry. 

And it was green.

How was your Valentine's Day?

Teaching my last Ashtanga class

It's my last week here in the T dot O dot. So, it's a week full of last classes and sad goodbyes!

Last night was my final night teaching my beloved Ashtanga level 1-2 led primary this year.

Among the people I'll leave behind is this great guy over here.

Nobody else would let me take their picture (not true, I just didn't have time), but basically everyone who showed up last night (including you!) will be missed so, so, SO much.

Corner guy also got me this:

"An apple for the teacher," he said.

There are no words for how awesome this is. Especially since I own this:

Yes, I wear this in public and IT IS AWESOME.

OK, I don't always dress like an 11-year-old child. Especially since dating this guy, and all the gifts he gets me, I've become quite well dressed! See?

Anyway, the point of this post is that I will miss teaching Ashtanga. A lot. And that coming back to see my friends will be fantastic. I can't wait to see how much, in a year's time, they would have progressed along in the series, and in their lives!

Being 26 on the 26th

This is the last day of 26! And a good riddance, too.

Onwards to my late-twenties and perhaps more maturity (but probably not).

Today, I slept in---meaning I woke up at 7:30 feeling refreshed and ready for my pre-birthday celebrations.

I put in a decent effort at the shala. I did Marichiyasana B and D for the first time since upping the running ante. I'm going to have to keep my running miles low in order to keep my Ashtanga awesomeness up, eh? Alas.

After Ashtanga, I raced home and grabbed the dog. She had an appointment to get shots into her Two-Bum.

Here, and here.

Sorry for the laundry basket and piles of wood in my house. It doesn't look pretty, no, but there's a reason, I swear! The reason might be "lazy" but that is besides the point.

What is the point, you ask?

Don't ask me, I'm only 26. I'm a kid.

"Sorry your bum-bum hurts, Dog. I'm sorry you don't understand why walking up and down the stairs hurts you or why you feel lethargic. I'm sorrryyyyy!"

For dinner, Jenbeans took me to Agra on Yonge and Sheppard.

Jumbo Tandoori Shrimp. Jen, Eric and Ferrari-Boy indulged in these.

Why am I calling him Ferrari-Boy instead of Strawberry Jam-Boy like he should be called?

Because he's afraid everyone will think he really likes strawberry jam and will buy him strawberry jam when they go to France (ahem...). He made sure to clarify that he likes it, but would rather be called Ferrari-Boy if it means people buy him stuff for his birthday or as souvenirs.

He makes a good point though.

BACK TO AGRA!

Okra! Delicious.

Palak Paneer. Good, but a little too oniony and not the greasy creamy stuff you usually get. Not that I'm complaining!

The butter chicken that I didn't have.

My plate!

Overall, Agra is good, but Banjara is still my favourite.

The sister did something silly and bought me stuff from Lululemon, even though I get a discount there since I'm a yoga teacher (sort of).

She got me arm sleeves for running and a light running zip-up.

AT FULL PRICE.

SISTER! You kill meeeeee....

But she shoved them in this tubey thing and wrote "To Sandy Beans". Which is awesome-sauce.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL THE CHAMPAGNE OCT-27-ERS OUT THERE!

This can't be utopia!

Yesterday, my other half-chromosome set and I went for a run.

It was 5.3 miles of hills and trying not to choke on her dust. She runs fast.

Luckily, I finished pretty strong, and went home to eat a ginormous breakfast.

The sister was complaining of knee pain, so I taught her "Thread the needle" pose as Moksha calls it. It's a really important runner's stretch because it targets tons of external rotators and especially my pain in the ass.

Here she is modeling it, while The Dog looks confused.

For the knee that pains her, I taught her how to get into it without torquing the knee.

Two decided to join the party. She is also a fan of healthy knees.

Later, Steven and I were scheduled to go to a housewarming, so we ate an early dinner at a restaurant highly recommended by friends: Utopia.

Steven had the chicken quesadilla. He said it was very good, but the coleslaw was weird (it was, I tried it), and the rice and beans mediocre. 

Our friends had the bison burger, which he said was AHHHH-MAAAAHHH-ZING!

I don't have a picture of it, but I ordered the Veggie Souvlaki.

It sucked. The pita was hard and stale, the veggie "meat" was cold. The only redeeming feature of my dish was the hot fries and some nice tzaziki (which they charged us 95 cents for an extra little dish anyway).

Later that evening, I had dumplings at home cuz I got hungry.

Alas, it has been proven that Sandy Cannot Live On French Fries and Tzaziki, Both Of Which Are Obviously Nutritious and Filling so This Finding Comes as an Absolute Surprise.

Before the house party, we walked around Queen St. W. Loblaws and found my new future home.

Down the street, we also saw this:

Is it weird that I want it?!

Yoga Burnout?

I woke up yesterday and I didn't want to do yoga.

For me, that is weird.

WEIRD. 

I almost always want to do yoga--I love it as much as I love eating.

More and more often, I'm second guessing what I'm doing with my life. There is no job security with teaching yoga, no benefits, no ladders to climb or advance. You work to be a better and better teacher, but you don't really know if you're doing "life" right.

Luckily, I came downstairs and I saw this:

So I felt better about my life.

Yoga is really the only job that lets me spend tons of time with her, with my running, with my yoga, with all the people I love and all the activities I can't bear to live without.

And it gives me tons of time to do my second favourite thing in the whole wide world...

Eat:

Tonight, we went to one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants. 

Everything is vegetarian, even the sushi!

It's Buddhist vegetarian, which means everything is garlic and onion-free.

I don't get it either, so don't ask me.

After dinner, we went to Yogen Fruz, the classic "mall-frozen-yogurt-place".  I found one north of the city that's eat-in, so we had to visit, especially with the warm days of summer nearly behind us.

Bad news, they were closing when we walked in.

Good news, Randy, the nicest owner ever, said he'd make us froyo anyway.

FROYO FTW!

Bad news, he ran out of mochi balls.

This is Steven's sad face. Zero mochi balls.

My "no-mochi-ball" face was more like "falling-to-my-knees-screaming-WHYYY-DO-YOU-HATE-ME-WORLD" face.

Dramatic? ME? Nevah.

Yogen Fruz has superior yogurt. Hands down.

Real fruit.

No ice chunks.

And it doesn't melt into pools of sweetened water.

Now if only we had mochi balls.

Randy, make the mochi balls happen.

Big Ashtanga moment

I did so good running yesterday, that my legs today are full of knots and tension.

Hurrah?

I hobbled over to the shala.

I did my practice.

And then Tiriang Mukha happened.

I'm not sure how David Robson noticed me, but I must have made a noise-that-sounds-like-pain. Because it hurt.

He came over and started teaching me how to roll only the outer part of the calf out. And then folding forward, and squeezing the tiriang mukha leg back, and pushing the extended femur forward.

It worked!

And then my nemesis, Marichiyasana Series, loomed before me.

There was the murmur of pain in Marichiyasana B, but it was perfectly tolerable. I had hopes of recreating the nearly-complete Garbha Pindasana I did yesterday.

Then, Marichiyasana D slapped me in the face, "No dice, home slice."

"Why don't you modify today," suggested David Robson kindly.

I think I pouted.

Garbha Pindasana wasn't happening.

Well.

I rocked the backbends instead.

After the first dip back, David Robson asked me, "Do you do your backbends by yourself?"

"No."

"Okay."

Little did I know....

Later, in the long paschimottanasana that followed, David Robson stuck his fingers into my hip and made me cry.

"There is tension here," he says, like I'm not paralyzed and whimpering.

But oh my, it was a goooooooooood day at the shala.

In other news, my hair is growing out:

 

See that nub of hair in the back? That's a ponytail! I can tie it up now! 

Before you know it, it'll be 8 inches or more, enough to donate again! 

And if you thought that was it, I'm going to hit you with a double-punch of cuteness. 

Because Two-Two loves DinoToy. And it's the perfect pillow height. 

Here you go: