Some serious (and some not so serious) questions about yoga...

Since moving to Pennsylvania, my new workout routine is based solely on something wonderful I've discovered - fit tv. Jason and I get about 10 real channels on our television (plus 100 more informercial and home shopping channels), but one of them is fit tv. For those who don't know (because I certainly didn't), fit tv features many different trainers and lots of choices for fitness activities.

I've always liked workout videos (I even remember doing them as a kid at my house and at my Granny and Papa's house), but the one fall back is that they get kind of boring. I love the Biggest Loser videos, but those are my mom's so I don't have them for my use anymore! The best thing about fit tv is that you can always find something new and different to try. There have been a few repeats, but they are spread out so far (usually by 2 weeks) that it's okay.

My usual routine is to do the All-Star Workout at 9 in the morning. Sometimes my friend Kate comes over, sometimes I do it on my own. It's great fun - we've learned belly dancing, Afro-Latin dancing, some Pilates/yoga combinations, and some cardio sculpting classes. It's a different trainer each day, and it's fun and interesting.

There is a show on a few times each day called Namaste Yoga, and I've been a little bit intimidated by it. It's serious yoga. I've done plenty of classes that incorporate yoga inspired moves, but this is something altogether different. It's incredibly serious and difficult looking, plus there is no leader, just a whispering voice. I've avoided it for almost four months. Too much for me!

But today, I turned on All-Star Workout and was so sad. The host was someone who really annoys me, plus it involved a lot of equipment that I don't have. So I went to the tv guide to see what my options were and found a cardio sculpting class. This class was only a half hour (All-Star Workout is one full hour) so I figured I'd do the class after as well. It was... Namaste Yoga.

Now I'm done with the yoga class. I feel relaxed and stretched, but I do have a few questions....

(Disclaimer: I do not want to offend anyone who does yoga, but these were the actual thoughts that came to my head during the past half hour. Some of them obviously do not require answers, but some of them I really would love to hear people's thoughts!)

1. Why exactly is the host lady whispering? I'm sure it's supposed to help with the whole relaxation thing, but I could barely hear her. And being a beginner yogist yogaer (What do I call myself?!) yoga person, I need those instructions. So I turned the volume up. However, being a television show, there are commercials. And at the first commercial break, I just about lost my hearing because I had the volume turned up so high. So, now I'm just wondering, you know you're on TV? Why must you whisper?

(Speaking of commercials, this was the only show I've watched that didn't ask you to keep working during the commercials. Most of the instructors leave you with one instruction and ask you to do it for the entire commercial break which is quite long. Kate and I plop on our butts and sit for 3 minutes. It's heavenly. I wonder how many people actually keep working.)

2. Will I still get the same benefit during this yogic workout if I'm wearing flannel pajama pants as the lady on tv wearing her underwear? It's cold here people! Plus I'm doing this in my living room, right in front of my husband's school playground. I don't think I should be prancing around in my underwear in practically a public place. Plus it's cold. (I feel it's necessary to say that again.) So to summarize....

Yoga lady....

Me...

Do you see why I'm concerned??

3. Is the Warrior 3 pose a joke?? I know, I know, it gets a lot harder, but is this for real? Because I have a sneaking suspicion that these girls were held up by invisible harness, and I want to know where I can get mine.

4. Why do I keep having to touch my third eye? I know what it is, but I don't understand it. What I am doing, and how does it help me? (Also, I just googled third eye and found this. It freaks me out.)

5. Can I do yoga if I'm a Christian, or I am worshipping some Eastern god without realizing it?

6. Is it bad that my favorite yoga poses are the ones when you're laying flat on your back and barely moving any muscles? I know that's part of the relaxing stuff, but I could do that for the whole half hour and be so happy! I mean, honestly, which would you choose?

Relaxation:

Danger to your body:

Relaxation:

Danger to your future children:

I think you get it.

Answers, please!

Shopping, anyone?

Jason and I spent the day on Saturday at a nearby outlet mall. I was in desperate need of some cold weather clothes because when I looked through my closet, I realized I had two long sleeve shirts, 4 sweaters, one pair of black pants, one pair of brown pants, a lot of jeans, one pair of tights, and a pair of Cozy Crocs. Sounds like a lot when I type it, but I was running out of warm clothes to wear every day. And one of my long sleeve shirts had little tiny holes all over it, but I was wearing it anyway! And as cozy as my Cozy Crocs are, they are not exactly the fanciest shoes. So it was time for my Florida blood to get some warm clothes.

We left in the morning and spent about 5 or 6 hours there. This place is HUGE, and we were exhausted by the time they were done. But I think I'm going to be warm now! Some people told me they wanted to see some pictures of what I got, but it's cold in our house and I didn't feel like changing my clothes a bunch of times. So I found some pictures online, but because it's an outlet mall, some of this stuff is not on the websites. So I'll show you some stuff now, and maybe later, I'll put some of it on and take some pictures. (Maybe!)

Here we go... (By the way, my husband is a very nice man, and took good care of me by getting me all of these clothes. I love him very much!)

We went to Gap. I love that store. Sometimes their clothes are weird, but they're just so comfy and good. I got:

- a pair of casual khaki pants (for an option besides jeans),

- an AWESOME pair of black and white pants. Sort of a herringbone pattern. I'm not good at describing stuff like that. I'll take a picture later.

- two long sleeve t-shirts (black and purple)

- a v-neck sweater in maroon (unlike the picture I'm posting)

- a pair of chocolate brown cordoroys (again, wrong color in the picture).

We also went to Banana Republic. I have never, ever owned anything from this store, although I'd like to own every single thing there. Here's what I found:

- a navy and beige striped sweater with sort of a cowl neck. I LOVE IT! I wore that one already!

- a navy, purple, and green argyle v-neck sweater. It sort of looks like this picture:

- a pencil skirt in this dark, grey denim color. It looks like this skirt a little bit, but the back has this cool little pleat thing that Jason said looks good on me. haha!

We also went to Ann Taylor. I shop at the LOFT a lot, but not really at Ann Taylor. This was a fun experience. I still think that I like the LOFT better though.

- a blue tweed pleated skirt

- a black and white herringbone skirt

- two pairs of pants - one khaki and one brown. These pants are modern fit which I've never bought before. They fit a lot tighter than the classic fit pants, so I was a unpleasantly surprised to have to buy a bigger size :(, but I like them a lot.

Jason was really excited to go to Eddie Bauer but didn't really like anything there (He got a booklight but no clothes.) I didn't really care about whether or not we went there, but I actually like the clothes there. They fit well and they are SO warm. I got three shirts:

- a sleeveless brown shirt. I know that's not warm but it was on sale (75% off!) and I got it for $5. I can wear it when we go to Florida, for sure.

- a dark blue long sleeve t-shirt. Like this picture, but dark blue.

- a red v-neck sweater that is really cozy!

And now.... I saved the best for last! One of the first places we went to was J. Crew. I have exactly one shirt from J. Crew, and I wear it whenever it is clean. I was actually wearing it on Saturday which I found so amusing for some reason. They were having HUGE sales, and it was very exciting! I bought:

- two pairs of the most comfortable pants I've ever owned. One khaki and one black. They are wonderful. The funny thing was that I was complaining that they had no pockets, but then the saleslady said that there are pockets, they are just "finished shut." I don't understand why you would do that, but I don't care, because now I know I can use a seam ripper and take out the seams. Because I need pockets.

- a thick cotton sweater. It's one of those fancy ones that buttons only at the top and it has a fancy ruffly collar. I wore it to church yesterday.

- a black WOOL COAT! It is soooo warm and and looks so great! It was a lot of money (but I got it for 50% off!) but I know I'll wear it almost everyday. I'm so excited about it. I was worried about it being too small when I had on sweaters and stuff, but the next size up was way too baggy. So I put on a thick sweater and tried it on again. I was AMAZED that my arms slid right in because of the SILK lining. Fancy clothes I've got now.

I also got some socks and tights to keep me warm, a pair of PURPLE and black leather gloves from Clark's (I am in love with these gloves), and two pairs of warm, comfortable shoes that look a little nicer than my Crocs. These two pairs of shoes are probably the most comfy shoes I've ever put on:

So there it all is! I think I did pretty good. What do you think? Am I missing something? It was hard to think of what all I might need as I walked around there. Anyone who has any ideas, please pass them on!

Well I don't even know if anyone actually reads this blog, but I have sort of failed on keeping up with it. Already. I got so excited to post wedding pictures and summaries of all the exciting events, but then I got exhausted from doing that. So I'm going to give myself a break, blog about other things, and continue posting wedding pictures randomly.

I've been experimenting a lot with my camera and with taking pictures on the manual settings instead of the automatic, and it is a lot of fun! I've also been playing around with some editing tools, and I love the way the pictures are turning out. Here are a few of my favorites!

I know the vignette is a little too strong in this but I was trying to block out the distractions around her precious face. This picture of my sister Cassidy is one of the only pictures I've ever gotten of her real smile. She is one of those kids who smile really oddly when you actually ask them to smile, so you have to catch her off guard.

This was on her latest birthday, just a few days before Jason and I got married. We were opening presents in the family room before we went to Boomer's for some fun. She had just opened a present from my mom and was thrilled. I love her dimples, those precious cheeks and squinty eyes, and how tight she's hanging on to that game (it's a cooking game for her Nintendo DS).

This is the son of one of my new Pennsylvania friends. Sara and I took him to a local park with games and rides for kids. He was so precious in his little hat. I tried to take pictures of him all day but all the rides were under covers and too dark to see him well. This was actually outside so I had fun with this picture! (This was probably the most editing I did.)

Now, I obviously did not take this picture or the next one. (My almost sister-in-law Rachel did, and she is a really great photographer!) However, I wanted to show off my editing because I love these pictures. I had fun with the black and white in this one. I love it because we were finally done getting ready, and we were on our way to the church. I was so so happy and excited, and a little bit in shock that I still wasn't nervous. (I didn't get nervous the entire day.) I just love this picture so much!

This one is my absolute favorite. It makes me tear up every time I look at it. There were a few pictures from the couple of minutes that it took me to get in the car with my veil, but none of them showed this look on my sister Jaime's face. She looks so happy for me and so proud to be my sister. I love it because I feel the same way about her :) She's growing up so fast and soon enough, it will be her getting married. (Yikes!) I was able to make both of our faces "glow" and I think it turned out great. I want to frame this picture. Right away.

So, thanks Rachel, for taking half of these pictures, and thanks everyone else for reading about them! I hope you enjoyed!