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“Yoga Porn”

| cheriarmour

First, please allow me to thank all of you who sent your kind thoughts and prayers my way for my dad and his heart.  My father is feeling much better, and the stents are doing their job – he has been able to sleep through the night (for the first time in a long time) without chest pain.  Thank you, thank you!

“Yoga Porn”

I’m starting to question why I ever started to follow Yoganonymous on social media.

Admittedly, I’m not as regular with my yoga practice as I should be – I really enjoy getting some quality time with my yoga mat, but often times, when I’m trying to quickly squeeze in a workout between teaching classes and scheduling for the following month, my first thought is to jump on the treadmill really quickly rather than to get down to the mat (that I purchased from Craigslist when I was too poor to afford one a few years back).

But at any rate, I feel that yoga, like many forms of exercise, prayer, or meditation, is an important and valuable practice that does a lot of good for a lot of people.  So why this hate?

There was this a while back, I Don’t Do Yoga and It’s Because of You.  And then this, End Yoga Porn: Focus on “Real People and Stop the Selfies.

[Please allow me to point out that that quotation mark in the second title was part of the title, and not a typo on my part.  I think it was for emphasis?]

So, let me break it down for you.  “Yoga Porn” refers to those photos that you’ll often see on Instagram and Facebook, the ones of your healthy friends and sometimes your fitness inspiration in various yoga poses.  Sometimes the women are professionals, long-haired lithe beauties like Laura Sykora, and sometimes, it’s some chick with a lot of tattoos from Cary in a bikini.  Either way, typically I look, will watch videos, check out their alignment (which is not always perfect, but I’m certainly down to learn something,) and move along.  Sometimes, if I’m being honest, I’ll check the yogi in question out, and take mental notes on how great her (usually) body is, and remark to myself, that though I certainly don’t look like this when I do yoga, I hope that I look like this some day.  And that’s the extent of my feeling.

But these articles that Yogaonymous is guilty of circulating on more than one occasion are, for lack of a better word, silly.  To succinctly sum up their arguments, the authors assert that:

  • Yoga selfies are indicative of an ego issue (the person in the selfie has a big fat head).  The selfier (stay with me, I had to make that word up), only cares about looking good.
  • Yoga selfies are discouraging to folks who want to do yoga because of…
    • The beautiful people that they feature.
    • The beautiful people that they feature wearing bikinis.
  • Yoga selfies aren’t “real” yoga.
  • Yoga selfies are a competition to see who can outdo whom.
  • And the most troubling and sad assertion, that “I don’t do Yoga and it’s because of you [selfier]”

::deep breath::

Typically, you won’t catch me posting a ton of yoga selfies (or selfies in particular) because I’m awkward, and I don’t practice a ton of yoga.  However, I snap pics of my running shoes, trails I’m running on, and foodstuffs I create.  Not because I have an ego problem, or because I feel like I’m in competition with anyone else, but because these are the things that I do on the daily.  And I’m willing to bet the perps of this “porn” are doing the same.  They spend a lot of time with their mats, and if they happen to be in bikinis?  Guess what, they probably spend a lot of time in bikinis as well.

To the authors of these articles, or to people who see these yoga selfies and snarl, please don’t try to get into the yogis head and parse out what their intention is.  Take the selfie for what it is.  A FRICKIN SELFIE!  And not something that should have the power to make you feel bad about yourself, discourage you from practicing, feel “less than” about your body or your form of exercise, critical of whether it is “real” yoga or not, or in any way, impact your mood or well-being.  In fact, I might even suggest that you look at it, and perhaps feel inspired.  Heck, I can appreciate a pretty girl in a bikini with some decent alignment in a downward dog, and pray, that one day too, I might not look like a lost bison in my yoga classes.

As an aside, I will say, the one area of merit that came from one of the authors was when she mentioned poor alignment in a lot of selfies, which can be concerning, especially for someone who is a yoga pro, like she is.  I would caution folks who like to scroll through yogsperation on IG not to try to imitate those poses or recreate them without first warming up or asking your yoga teacher for appropriate cues – it’s a good way to end up hurt.

So, fitness friends, tell me.  What do you think of yoga porn?

Spoiler alert:  I kinda like it.  Who doesn’t appreciate beautiful people doing beautiful things, right?

 

Brokenhearted no more.

| cheriarmour

My boss told me that he wanted me to take Friday off – that I’d been working a ton and that I could use it.

“When was the last day you didn’t do something for the Y?”

I couldn’t really answer that.  Now, I love my job, and I find it incredibly rewarding, so work doesn’t always feel like work, and sometimes I think I let it get away from me and I overdo it sometimes.  Plus my husband works out at the Y, so a lot of times, if I stay late, I get to see him for a while before we both head home to do dinner.

Ok, so at any rate, Friday started like most random days off.  I got up, chugged some club soda, filled up the Kia, grabbed a donut from a local shop, and fell asleep on the couch while watching The View.  I remembered my dad had a stress test scheduled for that day, which fueled a little bit of anxiety for me, but I tried to push it out of my mind and convince myself that it would come back clean.

Rise Donuts

Rise Donuts 2

Kia Soul
Had to…I drove my Kia down 40 to the donut shop with a little bit of sunroof action.

A little history on my anxiety about my father’s heart.

This is going to sound really silly, but I’ve had recurring nightmares about my father suffering a massive heart attack since I was really young.  The first one I remember, I may have been in fourth grade, and I dreamed that my father had suffered a heart attack and I was the one responsible for taking him to the hospital.  The hospital where I was taking him was uptown, and in the dream, I remember getting lost, and not being able to find the hospital as my dream-dad was dying.   The dream freaked me out so badly, it’s stuck with me for the better part of a decade, and I think I’ve had similar dreams since.  So when my dad, months ago, started describing chest pain a few months ago, I was completely filled with dread.

So, I was asleep on the couch when my sister texted about my father’s stress test.  The text was accompanied by a photo of my father in a hospital bed, shooting the thumbs-up at the camera.

During the stress-test, which involves a treadmill and some electrodes thingies, the tech saw something ominous in the reading, and got on the phone with the doctor immediately and rattled off some medical jargon to the doctor which my dad said he didn’t understand.  My dad said at that point, he wasn’t really worried because although his chest was hurting, he’d been experiencing it, and he assured the tech not to worry, that it would pass.  The tech seemed worried.

My dad said that the tech seemed to be masking some panic, and that when the doctor came, the doctor seemed to be masking some panic as he explained to my parents that my father had a 99% blockage in one of his arteries in two spots, and that they would be shooting him up with some dye, shooting a camera into the artery, and then placing some stents in the artery to open it up.  Right then.  Now. Today.  Happening immediately.

Without having applied a single shred of deodorant, I hopped off the couch, brushed my teeth, threw on a sweatshirt, and started the drive down to Charlotte, all the while making calls to get my classes covered and make sure that everything was continuing to run smoothly at work.  I arrived to the hospital, navigated the building, and found my father’s room where he was resting with the rest of my family.

He looked good for having been in surgery, and seemed to be in a decent mood.  I ended up spending the night in the room with him, where I discovered that if you’re looking to get rest, the hospital is NOT the place to do it.  Literally, there was someone in the room every hour or so.  We went to bed around 10:30 on Friday night.  A tech came in around midnight.  The nurse came in at 2 to unhook my dad from his IV.  Around 4 or 5, a nurse with an Eastern European accent came in to take my dad’s blood for blood work.  Around 7, a nurse with no inside voice came in, shrieking and laughing.  And that was that for the night.  I ended the day of too much excitement by having to speak in a strong voice to the nurse who was trying not to feed my dad breakfast.

I think at the end of this episode, I’m a little freaked out.  If anything, this surgery is a great reminder to get checked out regularly.  Though my dad suffers with diabetes, he maintains a healthy weight, eats well, and the doctor told us that the blockage most likely started when he was a teen.  Scary.

Whew. What a weekend, huh?

 

Weekend Buzz + The Best Holiday for Candy

| cheriarmour

I hope your weekend was the tits.

I actually had a bomb weekend because I got to spend time with my husband.  I don’t know about you guys, but a lot of times of the weekends, we make so so many plans that we barely get to see one another.  And by the time we get into bed too late on a Sunday night, we haven’t seen one another more than an hour or two.  This weekend was a little different – I made plans and drank with friends on Friday, and because I wasn’t teaching or anything, we spent all day Saturday together – cleaning, napping, working out, and finally, falling into bed, deliciously exhausted, but together.

Austin’s the bomb.  I love him a lot.  I like spending time with him.

Now.  Let’s talk candy. 

On the way to run yesterday morning, I got into a big discussion with Mama Cheri about candy.  Now, neither of us eats a ton of candy – she for health reasons, and me, because once I start, I can’t stop.  So when I eat candy, I typically do a single-serve York Peppermint Pattie, or the holy grail of candy, a Reese’s Big Cup, where the peanut butter to chocolate ratio is one that is angelic.  So I’m of the firm belief that Valentine’s Day is one of the best holidays for candy.  But I got into this argument discussion with my mother and a friend regarding the best holidays for candy, and they were not in agreement.  So let’s break it down.

The best candy, in no particular order.  

1.  Reese’s – the big cup variety is the best, which I’ve stated time and again.  NOW, the reason for this is that the peanut butter to chocolate ratio.  This includes the trees, the eggs, and the hearts.  All solid choices.

2.  Whoppers – malted milk balls are the absolute best.  Now, there IS a variety you can get at Whole Foods, which makes you feel a little better about stuffing your face because it’s made without HFCS and real chocolate, as opposed to Whoppers.

3.  York Peppermint Patties – the 140-calorie variety that you can commonly acquire at most checkouts at the grocery store.  I mean, DUH.

image via Wikipedia
image via Wikipedia

4.  Pretzel M&Ms.

5.  Sweet Tarts– you can shove these in your mouth by the handful, which makes them really convenient.  But really dangerous, as I’ve found out, because when they’re in the admin office, for example, you might eat them all every time you have to go down there.  Which is not productive.

Now, let’s move on to the worst candies, in no particular order. 

1.  Circus Peanuts – my mother disgustingly loves these.  If you read the description on these, you’ll find that they’re considered some sort of marshmallow candy, flavored artificially with BANANA?!  WTH?! Who would do such a thing?

image via Wikipedia
image via Wikipedia

2. Okay, so I’m having a really hard time moving past the Circus Peanuts thing. But my mother reminded me of these atrocities…

image via Candywarehouse.com
image via Candywarehouse.com

These guys are called Old Fashioned Marshmallow Eggs. There are a number of things that are pretty disgusting about this candy, mainly the fact that the sugar on the inside is suspended in this marshy thing. It’s really disgusting and not acceptable.

3. Jellybeans – they’re just too sweet and sort of pointless. They also get stuck in your teeth, and you run the risk of getting a horrible flavor, which is totally the opposite of the point of eating candy in the first place. Would you ever just go actively seeking out jellybeans? Probably not because they’re pointless and add nothing to your day.

4. Raisinets – I want to know who on God’s green earth decided that they would combine raisins, which are pretty disgusting on their own, and cover them in crusty chocolate? Why would I ever eat that?

image via Wikipedia
image via Wikipedia

So the holiday with the best candy?

For me, hands down, it’s got to be Valentine’s Day because of the variety of chocolate. Yum!

The worst?

Omg, so many worsts here, but I’m going to have to say that Easter provides us with the worst candy because it’s all smooshy and sugary, and that’s just not the way things should be. But Easter, don’t be sad because Easter is going to be closely followed by Christmas, because there is truly nothing fun about sucking on a peppermint stick.

All that said…

How was your weekend? What did you do?

What’s your favorite candy?

Least favorite?

Best and worst holidays for candy?

Well hello there!

| cheriarmour

I took a few days off from blogging because of how crazy things have been over the past few days.  But don’t worry, I will fill you in on everything going in.

For one, remember how I said I would never drive a minivan? This is why you never say never.  After I managed to total my car (the Lancer is a total loss) I’ve had a lot of trouble with Metlife getting any answers on my car.  Which is a completely separate issue, which we can talk about later.  But the car that I’m being given in the meantime is a minivan.  And everything about it screams “mom”.  It’s a Maroon mom color.  There are like 6 seats in the back.  But the one really nice thing about the minivan is that it’s got mom features – it’s got the hands-free bluetooth thing, which is nice because I can work in the short amount of time that I spend in my car.

Second, I’m having huge issues with trying to get the issues with my car resolved, which I may have to address in a separate post.  But suffice it to say that I’m not satisfied in any way with my experience with the insurance company.  My understanding is that provided that you pay your insurance, that your insurance company is supposed to have your back, no?  That has not at all been my experience, and I’m getting extremely frustrated – I spent hours on the phone yesterday to try and get some of this resolved.  How do people do this?

My husband is back from China!  I am really excited, and he definitely had some stories for me. He talked about the flight (17 hours from Dallas), the air (very smoggy), and showed me pictures of the food, which looks good on him.  He said that the food was not super calorie-dense, and it showed – not that he needed to lose an ounce, but without the chance to work out while he was in China, he manged to slim down somewhat – very interesting!

What has your last week been like?  

Chipotle Sofritas + Good Customer Service

| cheriarmour

How do you guys feel about tofu?

I’m a vegetarian, but I’m always really surprised at how many of of my meat-eating friends have never tried tofu, or think that tofu is something disgusting that only people who are really weird about their diets eat.  I actually probably first had good tofu at fat camp, where the chefs would actually marinate it and cook it up similarly to the way you would do a steak.  I started buying my own tofu and cooking it then, and have loved it ever since.

So a few weeks ago, I was working late, and I asked Austin to bring me a Chipotle burrito so I could split it in half and eat it for lunch the following day.  Spoiler alert:  I ate the whole things right then 😦 But I didn’t give Austin a whole lot of direction as far as it concerned the burrito, and he showed up with something called a sofritas burrito.

At first I was like “look playa, this looks a little meaty,” and after a few bites, I had to inspect to make sure what I was eating didn’t contain some sort of ground beef.  because the texture was really ground beefy.  I apologize for the disgusting adjectives, but you get it.

But the burrito that Austin got me was absolutely delicious, and we owe it all to something delicious called sofritas.   Sofritas is a tofu that’s textured really well, and is marinated in some sort of flavorful sauce thingie (helllloooo Padma), and it’s a really tasty addition to a burrito bowl

via Chipotle

A few Mondays ago, Chipotle ran this special where they were trying to get folks to try sofritas, and with each sofritas thing you tried, you got a little coupon thingie for another meal on another day. So ol’ Dave Ramsey chick over here was like YEAH, I’m about that life!

So I went to the Chipotle prepped to buy my meal, and prepped for my coupon…if you split that meal in half, that’s like FOUR DAYS of food! WHAAA! But when I went, they were running out of things, and I was turned away (really politely) at the door. But I was really relentless, and the next day, I called, spoke to a manager, and explained what had happened the day before with no expectation.

The manager of the Chipotle at Hillsborough St. across from NC State gave me my meal for free, and was very apologetic about them having run out of stuff the night before.

Now THAT is customer service, and even though Chipotle is hell bent on making me fat, I will visit there the next time I need my southwestern fix.

What is the best customer service you have ever received? 

My thoughts during the Super Bowl

| cheriarmour

I’m not an NFL fan by any stretch.  American football is really challenging for me to watch.  It’s so stop and start, and seems to drag on forevs, you get it.  But I won’t miss the SB ever, because I have a classic case of FOMO, and I adore the half-time show.

So I present to you, a few thoughts that I had during the Super Bowl in 2015.

  • John Legend sounds so good!  My brother was sitting next to me and remarked on how young he looked!
  • I’m so-so on Idina’s national anthem.  She did it a cappella, great, that’s wonderful.  But there was really no tempo to speak of, and she was having a rough time staying in the original key.  Which happens when the orchestra doesn’t accompany you.  But hey, Idina probably doesn’t have student loans, so who am I to shade her?
Rob Carr/Getty Imahes
Rob Carr/Getty Imahes
  • The game started, and I felt bored.  I WAS bored.  I contemplated taking the beagle out because I ate a lot of nasty food that day.  Shame on me.
  • Better not leave, I don’t want to miss Katy my lady.
via USA Today
via USA Today
  • Omg Katy Perry is doing a good job! Her voice sounds really good – I think she’s actually singing some of this live?
  • Loving this Katy, this looks so fun!  There’s Lenny Kravitz!  What a fun combo!  He sounds great obvio.
  • Is that…MISSY ELLIOT?!?!!!!! Omg it’s Missy Elliot!!  IT’S MISSY ELLIOT!!!! This is so good!
  • Aw, it’s over 😦
  • Why the hell are like, none of these commercials funny?
  • What the eff is up with that Nationwide commercial?  So not cool!
  • ::closes laptop:: Ohhh this game is getting interesting.  That interception is not good.
  • A FISTFIGHT?!

So those were my thoughts…my deep deep thoughts.

What were your thoughts during the Super Bowl?

She was right…

| cheriarmour

I had a post allll scheduled and planned out for today.  Lala let’s talk about running/me eating vegan burritios!  Let’s talk about my first trip ever to the chiropractor!

But yesterday took the absolute cake.

I was actually coming from my first chiropractor’s appointment (which I’ll go into, but it was all good), and I’d almost made it over to work…

Spoiler alert:

Broken Lancer

I’m going to be an adult here, and completely admit that I was at fault here. 100%. I honestly was a little distracted – I was preoccupied with my blood pressure, which registered a little high at the chiro earlier. I was obsessing, and not paying 100% attention. There was one car in front of me at the light, which I saw sort of in my mind’s eye, and when it turned green, I just started to accelerate. Right into the back of the Rubicon in front of me. I hopped out of the car, and immediately made sure the super nice guy in the Jeep was okay. He was fine, his car was beyond fine, and he was just sorry that I’d managed to destroy my car’s hood so well.

Of course at that time, it started sleeting, and the police officer, who was so kind when he finally got there, probably took 30 minutes to get there.

She was right…

When I started driving, despite my lanky frame, I would scoot the seat RIGHT up on the steering wheel.  My dear mother would often joke that I drove IN the steering wheel, and would often admonish me not to scoot my seat so far, and I’d always wave it off.  She was totally right.  When I hit Mr. Rubicon, the first thing that happened was that my knees went straight into the dash.  They will be bruised tomorrow, which isn’t the worst outcome, but when I told my mom that she was, and always had been right, she brought up a good point.

“What if you’d broken a bone in your knees?”

She’s right – I would be devastated.  Injuries happen, but to injure myself horribly in a car accident in a way that would prevent me from moving around like the clinically-diagnosed ADHD person I am would be really hard for me.

My mother was right.

But seriously. 

I was driving distractedly.  I wasn’t horribly injured, and the only thing that’s really going to hurt is my bank account, but I could have hurt someone, and I’m not okay with that.  Stop worrying.  Put down your phone (DON’T DO IT), and DRIVE.

Ever get into a silly fender-bender?

Weekend in review…

| cheriarmour

This weekend was literally bananas.  The last weekend that I said that, was probably in the spring when I had a race scheduled every weekend, but rest assured, this past weekend picked up again, and I’m hoping we slow down a teensy tinsy bit before we blink and the year is up.  First up!

Baby Lillian

On Friday night, despite some disgusting weather, we were paid a visit but some friends. Earl and Austin used to be roomies, and once Earl and his wife met, and I met my husband, those two got married, and moved to Columbia, SC last year. They got pregnant, had baby Lillian, and came to visit on Friday. The baby was so sweet, and the best part was that our cat is bigger than that sweet baby. Isn’t that totally freaky? I had a good time holding her though, and I loved being able to walk her around and give mom a break. We’re really happy for those two!

Tupelo Honey 

Tupelo Honey

So, can I be honest? I went to the original Tupelo Honey Cafe the first time I went to Asheville with my husband a few years ago. I think I remember it being the bomb, and it wasn’t super crowded because we went during the middle of the week. They opened one in Raleigh, and I’m afraid it isn’t the same. Both times I’ve gone, I’ve been a little so-so on the food, almost as if there wasn’t enough flavor. I may stick to Flying Biscuit in the future when I’m down for brunch. Which is pretty much always.

Hornets vs. Knicks

Austin and I had been talking about going to this Knicks game forever – my dad and Tony Sparber are longtime Knicks fans, even though it’s really hard this season.  The Knicks are literally the worst team in the league, but I thought the opportunity was too good to pass up.  I bought some tickets for me and the hubs off of a Buy/Sell/Trade page on Facebook, and off we went!

Hornets Game 1
Ever wonder if black people tan? The answer is YES. I start to look a little pale in the winter, and I am SO ready for some sun. I look like a vampire version of myself! My skin looks so much healthier when I’m all chocolaty!
I went to school with this girl! I actually lived in her house in 2009 with a few roomies!
I went to school with this girl! I actually lived in her house in 2009 with a few roomies!

Hornets 2

Both teams played horribly. Prior to us going to the game, Earl, baby Lillian’s dad, predicted that the game would end in the 70s, which is ridiculous for an NBA game. But he was so right. Carmelo wasn’t playing because he played for like 40-some-odd minutes the night before, and Kemba Walker didn’t play at all, I’m pretty sure. So it was kind of like watching 3-year-olds play. But it was so fun to be there, and something that I would definitely do again.

What did you do last weekend?

LucetteGrace

| cheriarmour

I like sweet things.  A lot.  I adopted a pretty wicked sweet tooth from my mother, made only worst by my copious consumption of artificial sugar.  Which blah blah, I know it’s not good for me, but my dad is diabetic, and I got into a Splenda and Stevia habit sorta early.  One thing I don’t do – aspartame.  That’s a teeny bit before my time, and to me, it kinda taste like shit.

^^

All this to say, that my copious consumption of artificial sweeteners in the past, especially during the summers at camp when I’d road trip a lot (diet sodas) has increased my sweet tooth by a ton (the crap in artificial sweeteners tends to do that), and I’m pretty discerning in my sweets.

Enter LucetteGrace.

So, about a week ago (cue Bobby Schmurda dance) a friend mentioned offhand that she’d gone to this bakery/pastry shop.  She didn’t understand how serious I was about the shop, and as soon as I left her, I hunted around downtown Raleigh to find the shop.  I found it, pulled in, and started to ogle everything behind the glass case, but sadly, I’d forgotten my camera.

The owner came out (his name is Daniel and he has a beard, btws), and saw that I was drooling, and was kind enough to chat with me and help me pick a few treats, and even slipped a few extra in the bag for me to take up and nosh on later.  So I grabbed a friend, and headed back just a few days later for a coffee date.

Lucette 4

Lucette 3

Lucette 5

Lucette 2

Lucette Grace

Lucette 6To me, there is almost nothing more therapeutic than coffee, a sweet, and some time with a friend.  I left feeling like I had filled up my belly (for one), and filled up my love tank for two.  Sweets, words, coffee, and a very golden afternoon with a good friend was so healing.

So technically, LucetteGrace, named for the owner’s daughters, is a patisserie, which a bakery that exclusively serves french cakes and pastries. Located at 235 S Salisbury St, the sweets are sweet, but in a different way than American sweet. You have to try it to understand, but the treats go perfectly with a locally-brewed cup of Larry’s Beans (919 better stand up!), and an afternoon with friends.  What’s really cool about the patisserie, in addition to the taste, is the ambiance and decor of LucetteGrace – the space is clean and decked out in yellows and grays and seems like a good space to sit for an afternoon with your laptop for a productive dessert sesh.  It’s a nice alternative to a Starbucks; no shade to them of course, I’ve been hanging out there and have gotten a lot of work done at these places for years.  Bottom line – it’s difficult to mass-produce shit that tastes good, and Daniel at LucetteGrace has captured something special here.

Where’s your favorite place to get work done?