happiness

“happiness is an attitude. we either make ourselves miserable or happy and strong. the amount of work is the same.”
- judith olney

rudolph

i took this the other day while shooting (with a canon, not a red rider) the paoli courthouse. my eye caught just what you see above and it made me giggle. talk about seeing things out of context. floating, electrical reindeer. i love it.

sweat it out

source

in an attempt to keep this post shorter than britney’s denim jorts, i’m going to make this as concentrated as possible: i’ve been practicing yoga for a while, mainly vinyasa classes here and other classes on my own via here.

while i find amanda’s vinyasa classes thoroughly challenging, the next step in my yoga journey, and the point of this post, happened last weekend: my first hot yoga class. since i moved back here i’ve been looking for an excuse to try the studio at hot yoga louisville. if you’ve been thinking about trying hot yoga, i hope you find my experience informative. i decided to try their hot fusion class (vinyasa class in a hot room) since i have found a love for vinyasa classes (fault #1). i underestimated how long it would take to get to the studio, so i arrived rushed and stressed (fault #2). the first thing i noticed when arriving to the studio was how beautiful, bright and clean it was. then i noticed how nice and inviting the instructors were. i was really nervous as this was such a big step into an incredibly challenging world, but i felt at ease as soon as i checked in. i just did a drop-in class, which was $15 and i found that totally reasonable, especially considering they have very clean (and very cold) showers for after class.

i grabbed two towels, my sigg and headed into the studio. holy hot desert, batman. 105 degrees, to be exact (i looked). i think i can honestly say that i’ve never been in such intense heat in my life. onward ho, i picked my spot and sat down. and sweat. i noticed everyone had water with ice (fault #3) and a vitamin water (fault #4). carrie came in, started her playlist (of CONTEMPORARY music, thank GOD) and began class much like a drill sargent, which i kind of liked. as soon as that happened, i knew i was done for. this class was not to be relaxing or time to think about rainbows and ponies, it was time to WORK. and SWEAT. during the hour and 15 minute class, i had to leave twice (fault #5), which after the 2nd exit i was informed i should stay in the room if possible bc my body needs to get used to the heat, much like getting used to altitude. i was amazed at how my muscles responded to the hot room. not only was i more flexible, my balance exceeded any other class i’ve done. i had to take plenty of child’s pose breaks, but i am very proud of myself for completing my first hot class.

it wasn’t until after i had showered and pulled my skinny jeans (impossible task when your body won’t stop sweating) back on that i realized i probably should have done a true bikram class first, before i challenged myself with a hot vinyasa class. bikram focuses on 26 set poses, while vinyasa is more of a cardio workout….in a 105 degree room. side note, while looking for some facts i stumbled upon a calorie counter site that informed me i burned approx 650 calories during my 75 minute class. wowzers.

ok so my reaction: i loved it. i sweated like i never have before and i felt AMAZING after. i felt amazing because of the practice as a whole, which left my body singing (and sore for 4 days) and i was so proud for myself for pushing my mind and body harder than i ever have. i spent that day and the next drinking more water and gatorade cocktails (half water/half gatorade) than a hung over college kid and also dealt with some very, very sore muscles.

meanwhile, however, my mom is saying hot yoga is bad for me, which lead me to do research to prove her wrong (what else do daughters do best?). there are pages upon pages of sites which mention the benefits of bikram yoga and a few that talk about the cons. most of the negative warnings come for people with pre-existing illnesses, duh. but i am a healthy, relatively in shape 26-year-old so i see zero reason i should stop. just some of the benefits are:

• the heat of the room speeds the warming up of the body naturally (you wouldn’t run a marathon without warming up first, so the room does it for you)
• sweating detoxifies the body
• as the blood thins, the circulatory system is cleared.
• the output of cells which fight infection is increased, therefor increasing your immune system
• weight loss is made easier because your muscles are warmed and can burn fat more easily
• it is widely known that practicing Bikram yoga enables many of your bodily systems and functions – digestion, respiration, endocrine, lymphatic and elimination – to work in harmony

so with all that said (sorry, tried to keep it short), will/would i do it again? absofreakinglutely. i can’t wait to do it again. however, i will make a few adjustments: arrive earlier, bring a nalgene with ICE and a vitamin water, i’ll do bikram rather than vinyasa and i’ll stay in the room the entire class. oh and i’d love a yogitoes towel rather than a bath towel, as i was doing the slip and slide on my mat. and another warning, the one thing i DID do right was wear proper clothing, like that should come as a surprise. i wore simple, tight yoga shorts a tight yoga tank. two key words in that statement: tight and spandex. be appropriate, people.

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Betsy’s Hot Yoga Louisville
4414 Shelbyville Road, Suite 201
Louisville, KY 40207
502.899.9966

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first frost

i knew it got cold last night when i woke up this morning shivering. literally. my first thought was, “am i in chicago? oh thank god, i’m back.” only to realize that i was not in chicago. but rather, the weather from the north was all, “ha ha, suckas, welcome to winter. here’s some frost.”

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chicken pizza

i’m not sure why it took me nearly a month to do so, but i have failed to write about the other, more educational, part of my mexican trip, which resulted in me looking the way i did in the above picture. but first, let me rewind.

i am an art history junkie. people have bucket lists, i have one too, but i also have art bucket lists. pieces of artwork, ruins, museums to see before i die. i knocked a good chunk of these off when i studied abroad, but my list is still incredibly long. when angela told me she was going to have her wedding in cancun, my first thought wasn’t “tequila and suntans!” it was, “CHICHEN ITZA!!!” i know most don’t share the same feeling i do when seeing a piece of artwork for the first time, so allow me to attempt to explain. for four years i spent a minimum of 6 hours a week (that’s just class time), every semester, studying pieces of art that covered the gamut from ancient to greek to modern to rococo (bonus points if you know what that means). during all those hours i developed my favorites and usually ended up writing multi (and by multi, i mean 10-20) page papers on said pieces of art. this time and energy cultivated a love for art of all kinds. i love learning what went into that piece of art, why the artist painted it and what was going on in that time, causing its creation. places i want to visit, to track pieces of art, run from spain (Picasso’s Guernica and Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights both at the prado), to brussels (to see David’s The Death of Marat), and to istanbul, which is the top of the top of my list, to see, well….the entire city. i could keep going, but this entry is getting long enough and for the sake of putting you to sleep, i’ll get on with my story. bottom line: art+history+fabulous cities=meghan’s passion for art ≥ meghan’s love for shopping. i really can do math!

back to mexico. upon my arrival to le meridien, my first stop was not the pool, it was to my concierge to book my tour of the mayan ruins. 7:30 am the following morning, i was on my way. thankfully, there were 2 girls on the tour who were around my age and took me in until their wing for the entire day. it was so comforting to have them to group off with and, as you’ll see, endure the catastrophic weather. perhaps the most memorable thing i took away from them happened on our way to the first stop (ik kil, massive sinkhole) when 2 adolescent boys across the aisle from us whined, when they weren’t fighting, the entire trip. lisa’s response to them, “all children are precious snowflakes. precious, precious snowflakes.” insert sarcasm code here.

so, first stop, ik kil. when i was told we’d be stopping here on the way to chichen itza, i was less than amused. giant sinkhole? not on my bucket list. however, upon arrival and first glance into it, my sass was uncharacteristically  silenced. this place is more beautiful than i obviously could have imagined or appreciated and i am so glad we made the stop. according to alfonso, our tour guide, central america is the only place in the world where sinkholes of this size exist. also according to him, they were created by huge meteors hitting the earth. ok, alfonso. the water is about 75 degrees, entirely rain fed and i wish i knew how they built the steps down to the entry of it. it’s pretty spectacular.

moving on to chichen itza, or as alfonso corrected, it’s not “chicken pizza”. it had sprinkled off and on the entire day (it rains 300 days/year in the yucatan) but as our bus pulled up to chichen itza, the heavens opened up and spewed. i mean buckets upon buckets. the soil in mexico is only 6-10 inches deep before you hit solid limestone. the result: flooding. lots and lots of flooding. the result: wet tourists. ruined shoes. bare minimum amounts of pictures taken (grrrrr). and pissy tourists.

tours are rain or shine, so onward we went. despite the driving rain, no umbrella and grey skies, my thought at first glance of the pyramid of kukulkán, was “holy shit.” (sorry grandma) the pyramid served as a mayan calendar, with 91 steps on each side and a final platform at the top, equaling 365 steps. it doesn’t take a genius or a professor of antiquities to realize what lies at chichen itza is an engineering masterpiece. i’m not going to go into all the historical details (you’re welcome). however, read this, it’s excellent. i will, however, share the most awesomest (lexicon) part of the day. alfonso explained that after the mayans created this “city” of sorts, the toltec warriors invaded chichen itza in the 10th century and thus combined both cultures. what most articles about chichen itza don’t tell you is that while the mayans principle symbol was a serpent, the toltec’s were eagles. evidence of the toltecs taking over and influencing the architecture shines when you stand at a certain point, in front of the main pyramid and, with dry hands, clap. very hard and very short claps. when clapping like this repeatedly, the echo produced from the bounce between the main pyramid, to a building behind and back to the pyramid sounds exactly, and i mean, exactly like an eagle. amazement. also almost as interesting is the fact that the mayans abandoned chichen itza for unknown reasons. perhaps they farmed the soil to the point where it was ‘dead,’ or maybe they were run out. according to alfonso, researchers aren’t sure. mystifying.

we hurried through the other main areas: the ball court, the temple for the rain gods (irony at it’s best) among others i don’t remember bc i was bordering on a tantrum resembling a 3 year old. archeologists are also working every day at recovering a temple they discovered underneath the pyramid of kukulkán. don’t the cuts into the earth look like a trifle? i’m not sure i’ll be back to cancun, or chichen itza for that matter, but should i or you make a visit, who knows what other structures of historical significance they will have found.

you’ll note that i said “according to alfonso” a lot. his pride and loyalty to mexico along with often indistinguishable sarcasm left me wondering if he was being serious on multiple occasions. however, after the eagle thing, i would have eaten dirt had he told me it was chocolate. bottom line: if you make a trip to cancun or any of the surrounding areas and do not make a visit to these historical (it’s a world wonder, people!!!) ruins, you’re really robbing yourself of a truly remarkable memory. weather aside, or maybe the weather is what will make me remember it, that day was one for the history books. pun so absolutely intended.

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sister outtakes

we tried to have a christmas card photo shoot at the IU/PU tailgate on saturday, but since we waited until the worst time of the day to take pictures, the above is the only suitable one we came up with. however, the following “outtakes” are quite entertaining. and oh so typical. btw, this is my favorite post ever. and that’s saying a lot. thanks for taking these.

and the best for last, obvs.

the glory of old iu

this past weekend marked the annual ‘old oaken bucket” game at iu. that rivalrous (lexicon, much?) match up also meant it was the last game of the season, since iu can’t seem to ever win enough games to secure a bowl game. we had an awesome tailgate, which, for the boys, began at 9 a.m. we were so blessed for such an amazing day (when is the last time you walked around, mid november, in short sleeves?) with great food and even more great people. we just won’t talk about who won. for now, so-long iu football season. let’s hope for better luck next year.

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self portrait via ray bans

i’m not sure how one manages to get nothing of the subject in focus, but only oneself’s reflection in said subject’s sunglasses. i don’t really care to know how i managed, because i think it’s cool.

anna’s going to kill me when she sees this. or maybe she’ll just tackle me and wrap my bra around my face until i suffocate….again. yes, “again” implies that this has happened before. in my defense, this photo is a pretty accurate representation.

drive home with a side of sunset

i was driving home from work the other night and couldn’t exactly miss this. yes, i am that girl who pulls over on the side of the road to take a picture. also to note, this was not photoshoped in the slightest. mother nature at her best.

have an awesome weekend. i’ll be cheering on my hoosiers and enjoying a weekend in bloomington.

xo

things that make me sad

lost puppies, snagging my tights (which i literally just did), family not being able to be together on christmas (abby i miss you) and now adding to that list: amazing pieces of architecture that sit vacant for years upon end.

i took these while i was shooting austin’s senior pictures and i honestly forgot to post until just now. the  building is what used to be ‘the astra’ movie theater. when i was growing up, it was the only theater in town and has since been replaced by a cold, character-less theater in town. it kills me when gems like this get overshadowed and stomped on by prefab monstrosities. the astra had 2 screens on 2 levels. i always preferred the smaller theater upstairs. perhaps a prelude to my appreciation for unknown indie films? there were many firsts for me in that theater, like holding a boy’s hand for the first time and taking luke and andrew to their first movies. this gem has been for sale for years and would be an amazing art house theater or even a small concert hall. are you there, investors? it’s me, meghan.