revisit. revitalize. renew.

i'm going to make a conscious effort to blog on a regular basis. life is just too short and it goes by so fast, that i want to document it anyway i can. this seems to be the easiest and most efficient way as i can hop online and post from anywhere in the world.

today is December 28th, 2008 and i have a new passion. that passion is yoga. Bikram yoga to be exact. what is that you might ask? Bikram yoga is also known as Hot Yoga, it was developed by Bikram Choudhury and is usually practiced in a room heated to 105 degrees F with a humidity of 40%. Classes are guided through dialogue and include 26 postures as well as two breathing exercises. Each class lasts around 90 minutes.

this past Thursday I took my first Bikram class with K. we bought a couple weeks of unlimited classes and have gone each day (with the exception of Christmas). the energy, renewal, and refreshed feeling that washes over you the minute you step out of the studio into 16 degree chilly Minnesota weather is like none i've felt before. this type of workout isn't comparable to running on a treadmill or lifting weights... using the body by tightening and holding postures that are sometimes really difficult, in a room that is as hot or hotter than our July summers, is challenging and extremely rewarding.

this morning was my fifth class and i can already notice differences taking place in my body, muscles and joints. the great part about this style of yoga is anyone, at any age can participate. each morning class holds younger adults like myself, older men, as well as middle-aged women and everyone in between.

at the end of the 90 minutes, our yogi gives a small inspirational speech about feeling the gratitude and positiveness of our yoga session extend throughout the rest of our day and bids us farewell with "namaste", (pronounced na-ma-stay) which is said to mean "The light in me honors the light in you". It's basically a salutation recognizing and appreciating the spiritual level we were on for the previous 89 minute adventure...

to you I depart with, namaste.

nut label design

My uncle is starting his own business with a mixed nut product and I'm designing the label for the jar... this one's my favorite so far!

parking tickets

I found these parking tickets to stick on cars whom deem themselves unable to drive a vehicle as a result of their parking skills... they hail from a site called ShineBox Print

Really, I cannot wait to stick one on the windshield of the next nimrod parked downtown.

phenomenal video

on a regular basis, I watch videos on www.ted.com about every subject ever contemplated by humankind. this is a phenomenal video titled "Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity". He is humorous and entertaining in his attempt to make a case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Plus his accent is one of the greatest things I've ever heard!

Watch it!

sea otter pup takes a water nap...

I've just decided what my fourth favorite animal in the whole wide world is....

1. Siberian Tiger
2. Polar Bear
3. Panda Bear
4. Sea Otter

This little guy is to die for.

how dare they.

in an era of stressful financial burdens and a poor economy in which absolutely everyone's 401K's halved and stock profits were eliminated.... how dare Caribou Coffee raise their prices? an originally absurd amount of $4.10 for a large vanilla skim latte is now $4.59. I don't condone spending the equivalent of purchasing 3 gallons of gas on a drink easily consumed in 10 minutes but its hard to get on the mother figure about her simple pleasures in life. like a freakin cup of coffee.

let me update you.

here are the lyrics describing what is on my mind. try and guess what they're about. click the picture to read them easier. :)

my new business

I just started my first business called, Emily June Designs, specializing in custom birth announcements. Mention the code: sunshinehawaiian and receive 20% off your order!!!

those were the days

Tiger Base Camp at the MNZoo with R.

couldn't have said it better myself

I've thought this way before. :)

MN Zoo Tiger Tracks 5K & Women Run the Cities

Here are the race results from my last two 5K races. Gettin' faster!

MN Zoo: 47th out of 325 finishers
Women Run the Cities: 17/18th out of 499 finishers

MN Zoo 5K: Race Results

Women Run the Cities 5K: Race Results

I promised myself, this afternoon, after watching the news coverage of the Twin Cities Marathon that I would run a marathon within the next 365 days. :)

poor little otters

One of these otters, notorious for holding hands together in their zoo exhibit, has passed away. Watch until the end.. the regrasp in the last 10 seconds is to die for :(....

Women Run the Cities 2008

K flew home from AZ! And surprised me by registering for the Women Run the Cities 5K tomorrow. I decided a while back to take part in this 5K since it will be on my birthday! Tomorrow! So, we are going to get up early and run around downtown for a little bit with hundreds of other women!

What better way to start my 21st year of life?? :)

Emily's Book Club

I'm reading books like mad whenever I find myself not working on my new business, working in the studio, working out, or just working at loving life....

"The Monster of Florence" by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi.

Just got through reading the Introduction and the last part really gave me goosebumps. This book is based on real-life facts that occurred in the last couple decades.

Here's the ending of the intro for those whom are prepared to be intrigued:

"Between 1974 and 1985, seven couples-fourteen people in all- were murdered while making love in parked cars in the beautiful hills surrounding Florence, Italy. The case had become the longest and most expensive criminal investigation in Italian history. Close to a hundred thousand men were investigated and more than a dozen arrested, many of whom had to be released when the Monster struck again. Scores of lives were ruined by rumor and false allegations. The generation of Florentines who came of age during the killings say that it changed the city and their lives. There have been suicides, exhumations, alleged poisonings, body parts sent by mail, seances in graveyards, lawsuits, planting of false evidence, and vicious prosecutorial vendettas.

The investigation has been like a malignancy, spreading backward in time and outward in space, metastasizing to different cities and swelling into new investigations, with new judges, police, and prosecutors, more suspects, more arrests, and many more lives ruined.

Despite the longest manhunt in modern Italian history, the Monster of Florence has never been found. When I arrived in Italy in the year 2000 the case was still unsolved, the Monster presumably still on the loose.

Spezi and I became fast friends after that first meeting, and I soon shared his fascination with the case. In the spring of 2001, Spezi and I set out to find the truth and track down the real killer. This book is the story of that search and our eventual meeting with the man we believe may be the Monster of Florence. Along the way, Spezi and I fell into the story. I was accused of being an accessory to murder, planting false evidence, perjury and obstruction of justice, and threatened with arrest if I ever set foot on Italian soil again. Spezi fared worse: he was accused of being the Monster of Florence himself."

They say the Hannibal Lecter movies were based off the case of the Monster of Florence.

It's 12:29 in the morning and I'm already loving this book...

night.

cute fluffy ones.

french toast recipe

These are delish! Click to make image larger!

muffin recipe

You will appreciate this K and M! Enjoy! I like mine with slivered almonds!~
(Click on the image to view it larger)

The Holiday quotes

If you know me at all, you know "The Holiday" is bar none, my absolute favorite movie. Any man who can watch that for a date movie and be satisfied, is without question, a quality fellow. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

These are quotes from Iris (Kate Winslet):

-I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmas', the worst Birthday's, New Years Eve's brought in by tears and valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms.

-I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn't know you had inside you. And it doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends... you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new. And you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little pieces of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.

-

i'm fox-ay....

beautiful. they must be lovers. i love the ear nibble.

possible?

Is this display of hampster bravery and flexibility even possible? I feel as if a touch of Photoshop might have occurred... from my muse' over at Cute Overload!

Starbucks obsession

Ever the dogs are obsessed with the coffee-giant... do they make turkey flavored Frappachinos yet??

where can I buy this puppy?

I must buy a Havanese puppy... this one is just too cute, the end is my favorite!

Buenos Aires Zoo commercial

Who ever thought we'd get the opportunity to see a commercial for a zoo... in Buenos Aires, Argentina? This one'll pull at your heart strings!!

eCreamery = love

As I was flipping thru the August issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray, I came across a fabulous article about eCreamery. Due to the fact that I'm o-b-s-e-s-s-e-d (so much that I felt the desire to seize all conversation and focus 110% on the magazine.)

Please welcome, eCreamery. It is on that very website that you can create any gourmet ice cream combination imaginable, right down to the percentage of cream base used. The flavors vary from avocado (?!) to Lavender to Chocolate Merlot and even the title of the ice cream can be customized.

The only, and I mean only downside to this venture is that a 1/2 gallon of your delicious creation is $49.99 while 1 gallon is $79.99. If I wasn't trying to save money for my future, I would splurge in a heartbeat. But, yes, reality sets in as I wave my mouse cursor over the "Checkout" button and my dreams of devouring "Beautiful Sin Gelato" die...

Maybe one day my significant other will read this blog posting...

this is adorable!

I've always wanted a tiger cub...

run for rewards

I decided to push myself again to run yet another 5K. Yesterday my time was 30:45. Today my time was 28:20. My time improved by 2 minutes and 25 seconds... that's pretty damn good if you ask me.

My reward was this delicious breakfast. Cascadian Farms granola, vanilla yogurt, strawberries, bananas, and blueberries.

strawberry fields

Tear up romaine and baby spinach leaves. Sprinkle sliced strawberries, chopped pineapple, blueberries, and mandarin oranges. Top with halved pecans. This is the perfect salad for a summer day!

deliciously creative cakes

"Ace of Cakes" is a show about a bakery in Baltimore, MD called Charm City Cakes. They make the most PHENOMENAL cakes and I'm bumming that we are across the nation from one another. Here are some of my favorites.

Minimum cake order: $1000

See the Hogwarts one? Quidditch? Ritalin!?!?!

rescued: wet, beautiful, handsome male.....

Yesterday I remembered there was a living animal trapped in Heather's room. She hasn't been home for weeks so I braced myself for a deadly sight.

Low and behold, her Chinese Fighter Fish was alive and kicking. So I snuck in there like a thief in the night and stole the poor guy.

I found a beautiful vase that suited his technicolor scales better. Fed him a double-dose of his food. And relocated him up to my room.

He shall be called Frenchie. He is beautiful, neglected, and needs a home. I'm really not a fish girl but I refuse to flush him down the toilet, or leave him in Heather's "deserted dungeon", or toss him in the depths of soon-to-be-dry Snail Lake.

You can have him, for free, email me.

(I'm serious!)

Lake Delton = Snail Lake in 2 years???

These are images of Lake Delton in Wisconsin Dells.... this could be what Snail Lake looks like in 2 years. They aren't going to pump into it, and there sure isn't enough rain these days to lift the water level to average... what would we do with a bunch of docks facing in a sand pit?... yikes.

crazy kids....

You know how parents are always telling their kids "No running in the house?"

How in the world does this happen!?!?!?!?!?

reading corner

There are only 5 days until Breaking Dawn is released and I've just started a new read. "Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Bach. I believe it is similar to the other great books like "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "The Millionaire Next Door", only better because it's geared towards women.

Wonder if there is anyone else I know whose read this...

Kudos to the Shoreview Library for having inspirational, amazing books on their shelves 24/7.

breakfast

One Kashi waffles. Top with blueberries, slivered almonds, drizzle of agave nectar.

Shoreview Represent!

I always knew Shoreview was a kick-ass place to live. It was named one of the "Top 10 Best Towns for Families" in the August issue of Family Circle Magazine.

Interested in seeing the article for yourself? Go ahead! Represent!

breakfast of champions

The Torchlight 5K went well tonight. K and I finished with a time of 30:05. I'm happy with that for my very first 5K race. There were thousands of people running with us and it's an indescribable feeling to be flying through downtown amongst a throng of other healthy runners. I can't help but think a good reason for the energy is the delicious breakfast I made this morning.

Two Kashi blueberry waffles with sliced strawberries, blueberries, and banana. Peanut butter spread on top. Drizzled with agave nectar.

The breakfast of champions.