The New Guy

There is a new guy in our newly married lives, and his name is Sirius Black. 

He is just about the sweetest thing there ever was. 

This is his story: 

Back in July, my favorite bakery in the whole world (Muddy's Bake Shop- what what!) posted on their blog that a sweet dog had walked up to their off site bakery (where they make their big orders and such). A sweet lady working there had taken him home and to vet and they had named him Sirius Black-- and did anyone want to adopt him?!?! My husband (!!!) and I had been talking about adopting a new dog post wedding and naming him Sirius Black. We saw this blog post, and though- THAT'S OUR DOG! However, I was going out of town that week, and we just kinda figured someone would adopt him right away- he was just so cute!

Cut to my bachelorette weekend- Muddy's posted ANOTHER blog post that Sirius still hadn't been adopted. Nate and I texted and agreed that we should contact the lady who was taking care of him. I sent her an email, but she said that he was going to an adoption event that weekend. She told me that she would let me know how the event went and get back to me. 

Of course, about 4 different people put in an application for him. He quickly went off to the home of the first lady who put in an application. We were sad, but just figured we would adopt a dog after the wedding- after all, adopting a dog right before a wedding and a honeymoon is just a stupid idea.

BUT- a few weeks later, we got an email from the Muddy's lady that the trial period hadn't worked out and the other families who put in applications had adopted other dogs--- were we still interested?!?!

The answer was YES- of course we are still interested- but we are getting married in a few weeks SO can we figure this out?

Well turns out Sirius had heartworms (I have learned WAY too much about heartworms but the skinny of it is- DONT EVER MISS A MONTH WITH YOUR DOG'S HEARTWORM TREATMENT), and he was due for his first round of treatment on August 15th. Well apparently when she took him in to get treatment, the vet asked if she could come back at the end of August. The adoption group (yeah Streetdog Foundation) wanted to make sure he did okay through that first round of treatment which happened to be over RIGHT WHEN WE GOT BACK FROM THE HONEYMOON!

I arranged with the adoption group and the Muddy's lady to pick him up the day we flew back from the honeymoon.

My husband (!!!) had to fly to Chicago to go on tour (Life as  Musician's Wife, by Me) so I flew into Memphis to complete the adoption and drive him to Nashville to live FOREVER!!!!!

We stopped by my dads house to grab Luna (she was partying with Dad's puppies while we were on the honeymoon).

So after a few minutes of butt sniffing and meeting Uncle Milton- Luna took up the back seat and Sirius curled up in the front with me.

The drive was totally easy- no problems. I even shared some of my turkey sandwich with him.

When we got back to Nashville, I took him on a short walk around the block like Cesar says to do, and then I walked him around the house on the leash --- rules, boundaries, and limitations people.

He and Luna are just the oddest set of siblings. They are pretty much opposite in every way. Sirius is a snuggle bug, super calm and easy going. We all know Luna is high energy, only snuggles when she is tired, and a little bit neurotic. But here are they- fast friends.

Sirius had to go through another round of heartworm treatment in early October. He has to keep quiet and calm- no exercise, has to go out to the bathroom on a leash, no playing with Luna, you get the picture. So when we leave the house- he has to stay in his kennel. (Don't worry he gets to play after Thanksgiving!)

I have discovered, through the evidence of disheveled bedspreads, that Luna sleeps in the bedroom with Sirius while we are out of the house. SO SWEET. I CANT HANDLE IT.

They really are precious together.

And they both love peanut butter!!!!!!!!

The truth is that we both have fallen in love with this guy. He is cuddling with me while I write this blog post. Nate fell in love the minute he walked through the door. Sirius and I had a moment- a special moment. 

See, it took me a little while to know what to do with a second dog. I have raised Luna since she was a month old. I know everything about her - I know her barks. I know her quirks. I know what she might do and when and why. When I got Sirius home that first week, I felt uncomfortable. I didn't know him. Everything he did was new to me. It just felt so awkward. How on earth was I going to love him like I love my Luna? 

Well turns out, all it took was a trip to the vet. 

Sirius had to stay overnight at the vet for his heartworm treatment. As I was paying, I felt a little nudge on the back of my legs. THERE WAS MY LITTLE BUDDY! The vet tech had brought him out, and he was so excited to see me that he he was waggling his little tail and giving me a big smile just like this one.  

 I fell in love with his little face right then and there. The vet tech said it was the happiest they had seen him during his visit. He loved me and I loved him- plain and simple.

Everyone who comes to visit loves our sweet little man. He is the perfect fit for our family. He and Luna are just dying to play together. They will get to do that very soon.


But until then- it is just snuggles on the couch. I think I can handle that for a little while longer.

ALL KINDS OF ULTRA LOVE,

Elise

How long's it been?

To any Georgetown Hoya, the appropriate response to the questions is to begin singing our fight song... "It's been so long since last we met, lie down forever lie down!" Etc...

But for my blog people out there, the answer is over 6  months. Sorry folks.

Much has happened since Luna's injury.

I spend most of January and February rehabing my girl. First week- 5 min walk. Next week- 10 min walk. Third week- 15 minute walk. 4th week- add in 5 minutes of running. You get the idea.

We finally seemed to be totally healed and got the clear to play moderate fetch (hah- as if Luna is capable of this) but then I noticed she had this tumor type thing on her bad knee. the vet looked at it and said it was an inflammation spot. What does that mean? Well, it meant that we had to start rehab all over again. But really- we just had to stick with 10-15 minute walks until the spot was gone. We have an appointment next week, and I think we will get the clear to play again. Poor Luna- even dogs get injuries and have to rehab it up.

But Luna isn't the only injury prone Addington. I tore a disc in my back. It's the very last disc in my spine- between L5 and S1 for all you medical folks out there. I have no clue how it happened- I just noticed that my back was hurting more than it should have been and the pain wasn't going away. At first, my new back specialist thought it was a stress fracture or arthritis (what?!) but an MRI confirmed a disc tear. The pain is a result of my disc touching my nerves.

I opted for the trifecta attack on the pain- anti-imflammatories, physical therapy, and a steroid injection. (My handsome fiance wants me to do acupuncture... any thoughts?
So Luna and I have been PT buddies. My physical therapist informed me that my legs are disproportionately strong for the rest of my body. My body then defaults to using leg muscles when I should be using core muscles, thereby causing strain on my lower back. My PT thus includes crazy amounts of core strengthening exercises. Next entry will be a run down- they are pretty fun.

On top of that- I had to quit the yoga for about three months while we figured out what was wrong. I am back in the game though, but it is a totally different class when you have to spend the whole time focusing on tightening your lower abs. I also have to sit out all back bends and spine twists. My doc says I can probably do those again in about a YEAR. Yes, discs can take almost a YEAR to heal. Ugh.

In addition to all those things, I have been:
- aggressively wedding planning
-putting on 7 Youth in Government Conferences
- buying a house!!!
- taking 3 students to Colombia, South America for two weeks
- taking 25 students to a conference in North Carolina

and generally going a mile a minute. Perhaps I can get back on the blogging wagon- it might be therapeutic.

Ultra Love,

Elise

A Birthday Disaster

Friday was January 11- the day Luna entered this world (Praise Jesus!)

That morning I woke up with grand plans- we were going to play TWICE just for Luna's birthday. We marched down to our field, and I threw the ball. Off she went. After a couple throws, I thought her run looked funny, but I wasn't sure. So I threw the ball one more time- and she ran back on only three legs. I just knew something was wrong, so we headed back home.

Once back home, I kept an eye on her, and she started to limp even more after about 20 minutes. I called the vet and scheduled a 10:15 appointment. My handsome fiance took her because I was a mess. And by mess I mean I just cried and cried all morning.

Our vet thought that she might have partially torn her ACL and directed us to see a specialist. In the mean time, we were supposed to keep Luna fairly sedentary (HA) and make sure she didn't jump on or off anything.

Today, we had our appointment with the specialist who was AMAZING. I can't say enough good things about this guy. He checked out her joints, reviewed her x-rays, and told us that he didn't think she would need surgery. THANK GOODNESS. He said if she tore her ACL, it was probably a very small tear, and she had a good chance of healing just fine over the next few months.

However, he said that in all likelihood, she would eventually fully tear her ACL. The surgery they do to fix this is crazy. They basically cut out a chunk of Luna's bone and reposition it so that there is no need for an ACL to stabilize the joint. Apparently, dogs recover about 95% of their previous activity capacity after that. Impressive.

The solution to all this is that Lu has to be eased back into activity- aka- no fetch for about 3 months. She will be miserable. We have to take her on slow, short, easy walks for about 1 months before maybe adding in jogging. It will be rough around these parts with an active lab who will want to run and play, but I am so glad that she isn't badly injured.

Ultra love,

Elise

I WILL!

Good news, y'all.

I'm getting hitched!

A couple weeks ago, my handsome man planned a romantic evening and changed his status from "boyfriend" to "Beyonce", I mean, "fiance."

This is why I heart him so much:

And this is how exited we are about getting married. 

I don't think this will become a wedding blog, but if I post some wedding related things, forgive me.

Also- In the Episcopal church, the couple responds with "I Will" instead of "I do." My personal favorite part of the whole service (makes me cry every time) is when the congregation is asked if they will love and support the couple, and they reply "We Will!" So beautiful. I am more excited about planning the service than flowers and table decorations, but I am fortunate to have bridesmaids who are good at the latter. They make me feel like I can do those kinds of fancy-crafty things. SO MUCH LOVE EVERYWHERE.


Ultra-getting-married-love

Elise

Roids

I am currently taking steroids, and after day 1, I am 99.99% sure I would never take them to be better at a sport.

Lesson of the day: Taking steroids doesn't make you ripped. Steroids help you body recover more quickly. This means that you can get back in the gym doing higher weights and reps than you would if you weren't taking them.

Example: Most people can only lift their max once every 3 days. On steroids, you would probably be able to lift your max twice in one day.

I am taking steroids to reduce the inflammation in my ear (caused by the car accident/driver's side air bag deployment) that is causing slight hearing loss and a ringing in my ear. My new ear specialist tells me I have a 50/50 chance of this working.

Basically, I am on a SUPER high dose of roids for 2 weeks. I started today, and I am not a fan. By afternoon, my heart was racing a little bit. Now- I have a raging headache. And in general I can tell that my body doesn't feel normal. All things that I would rather not have. Therefore- I will not be taking roids recreationally.

The benefits are obviously important- we need to fix my ear. But these also might help my poor knee that is trying so hard to heal. It has made progress, and maybe a little inflammation relief will do the trick.

We shall see what other side effects I have, but until then- you can find me in the gym, beefing up. HA just kidding. But I will be at the gym because I do that anyway.

Ultra love,

Elise

PS- a lady in my fundraising department ran her first ultra this past weeked. she had a gnarly cut and bruise on her leg to prove it. can't wait til I get my chance. put me in, coach.

Never let anyone tell you how to....

Drive.

A week and a half ago I had a car accident. I was driving down a major street- 2 lanes both ways and a 3rd right turning lane going my direction. Traffic was heavy, and the two main traffic lanes were back up about 3 blocks. The right turn lane, however, was wide open. Since I was about to turn right at the upcoming intersection, I got into that right lane.

And then I hit them.

The people in the lanes next to me had waved a left-turning car on through so they could turn into the white castle. The car that was turning left didn't even see me coming- perhaps didn't even look.

At impact, my side airbags deployed. Either the airbags or the shock of the accident caused me to lose my hearing for minute. I just sat in the car- my ipod still playing the Lord of the Rings. Once I came back to my surroundings, I got out of the car to see if the two people in the other car were okay. But at that moment, 4 men in the Army came running across the busy street to help. One gentleman walked me out of the street and the other 3 checked on those two people.

At this point, I still can't ear out of my left ear. I am also shaking and crying. The nice man asks me if I have  phone/my insurance etc. I tell him it is all in my purse in my car (thank goodness I was not texting or even looking at my phone). He graciously goes to grab my things, and hands me my phone. The phone is my new iPhone 5- which I had activated 20 minutes before and had no idea how to work. Through my tears I manage to tell the man that I don't know how to use my phone and he calls my boyfriend for me. Unfortunately, my boo was in the studio with his phone off. Thankfully, my boss had texted me minutes before and thus, her number was in my phone.

She came to pick me up. By that time I had spoken to my dad and he told me to go to the emergency room to have my hearing checked out. My sweet wonderful boss took me there, and stayed with my until my boyfriend picked me up after I got checked out. I have an appointment at a hearing clinic tomorrow.

The people I hit:
1. had no insurance
2. had a suspended driver's license
3. did not own the car they were driving
4. were most likely not wearing seat belts
5. had to be cut out of their car
6. went straight to the hospital in the ambulance

I have no idea what happened to them. But I do know what is going on with me. I am jittery driving in the car and hyper-aware of everything. I have had my neck adjusted twice, and I got great relief from going to yoga the day after the accident. My soreness went from 100% to about 10%. But I also struggle with how to feel. I feel bad that I hit these people. Yes, it was 100% their fault in many different ways. The accident should have never happened because they should never have been driving in the first place. But I have changed their lives in a HUGE way. The driver might go to jail, and I am certain that their injuries were worse than mine. I know that I am not supposed to feel bad about this, but I do. And i suspect that I will feel bad for a while, much like I will be jumpy in the car for a while.

At the end of the day, I think that I just will plan on not ever having a car accident again. Can I get an amen?

Ultra love,

Elise

Awesome.

THIS.

I spend most of my time with these two people: The man in the socks and the sweet sweet face staring at you.

I spend the other parts of my time at work and working out.

I recently went on a lovely vacation to California with the sock man's family, sans sock man. It was very relaxing and very fun. what did I do? I ate food. I slept. I read books about dogs. I played with a baby, a toddler, and two 4 year-olds. I went on a 45 minute barefoot beach run. And I went to California Bikram Yoga.

I am about to describe that experience to you. However, I have been informed (from various other renditions of this story) that most Cali studios are NOT like this one. Most are super intense- like, the front row can't sit down ever or drink water .

(Side note: Luna just licked the WHOLE top of my man's recently filled with Arnold Palmer Tervis Tumbler. HA!)

This studio was the opposite. I am going to run through a few bits of dialogue, and please read this in your most breathy California female accent.

"You are doing soooooooo awesomeeeeeeee. This just feels sooooooo gooood. Okayyyy, now if you are comparing yourself to anyone else in the room, just laugh at yourself. This is not a competition. You should not be working hard. This is about just breathing and being in this room. Don't push yourself" ---------- if any of you have ever been to a bikram class, you would know that the WHOLE FREAKIN POINT is to push yourself. otherwise you wont make any progress. I wanted to ask this lady if I should just leave....

and to top it all off- this is the story she told during our rest times.... dont forget your breathy voice...
"So a few years ago, I had to get my neck adjusted like every week. One day, my chiropractor was like, When was the last time you cried? I think you need to have a really good cry. So I was like, whatever. But that day, my grandmother was in the hospital and I went to visit her. When i got there, I just cried and cried and cried.... I swear, I never had to have my neck adjusted again."
I nearly lost it. For real? really? what is this story?

Needless to say, I did not go back to that studio after that. I dont need any of that feel-good BS. That's why I have a dog. When I go to work out, I want to work out, ya know? So i just ignored her for most of the class and imagined what Tu would have been telling me to do. Worked fairly well. :)

Next blog post is going to be about Gerry, my favorite work out teacher man, and his Cardio Blast class. Gerry is the ultra best. YEAH.

Ultra Love,

Elise

Barre None

My whole body feels like jello. If you could have seen how many times I had to retype that sentence because my fingers won't even go to the right keys, you would believe me.

I am going to type this next sentence without any edits as proof:
myboyd feels like hello becuase i tried out a new fitness thingyu. I'ts called the Barre Method. (enough of that)

This is what the website says about the Barre Method:

"BarreAmped is an intensive body shaping experience designed to produce reliable results, no matter the client. The method is influenced by classical and modern dance (though it is not a dance class) and utilizes a barre to achieve optimal positioning. Insights from Pilates, yoga, and orthopedic stretching also balance the method’s unique approach.

The precision-oriented technique focuses mainly on small, isolated movements within deeply held and challenging postures. BarreAmped is proven to increase metabolism, burn fat, and lengthen tight muscles. With commitment to the technique, you get recognizable results exactly where you want them."

In this post, I had planned to try to explain to you what we actually do in class. However, I only have memories of intense burning sensations in all of my limbs as well as excessive shaking throughout each exercise. Therefore, you will have to wait until classes 2-5 (I bought a 5 class groupon) for a more in-depth prescription--- I mean, description. See? the whole jello thing still going.

I remember that we started with arms. There was pulsation and mini-circles. Then we did legs. Squats-ish happened. Lunges-ish happened. I think we did planks and push-ups. There was a whole slew of core stuff. I was told to zip up my abs more times than US gold medals. We stretched at the end. My legs were shaking even during the stretches at the end.

All I know is that I will not be able to walk tomorrow. I will not be able to sit on the toilet tomorrow. And I freakin love it. After my groupon is up, I am for sure going to buy a package. The Barre Method- check it out. See if you have it in your city, and be amazed.

Ultra love,

Elise

Ps. My handsome man got me flowers tonight. Perhaps he felt sorry for me? Or was celebrating my incapacitation?

Live Well & Rock On

There have been a couple things preventing me from "living well" lately. And by "living well" I mean, being able to really push it-push it real good- in yoga. and in spin class. and while running.

Let's start at the very beginning- a very good place to start... It all began when one day during yoga, I realized that my right knee really did not enjoy tree pose. See picture below.

The thing about Tree pose is that it is supposed to be a hip opener- not a knee hurter. As you can see in the picture above, the intent of the pose is to gradually push your knee back so that both knees are in one line from the side. You use your hip muscles to do this- the more your knee moves back, the more open your hip is. In general I had made some good progress in this posture, but this knee issue took be back to square one. The REALLY bad thing about my knee isssue though, was that it did not get better. I can't tell you the number of weird knee tweaks I have healed with the yoga, but this one just wouldn't go away. The really STRANGE part of this knee issue, was that I only felt pain if my knee twisted inward- like above. I could bend and stretch and whatever without any problems at all. Running didn't hurt either.

Problem number 2. When I was moving from CT to TN, I did something to my neck one night. Like my knee issue, I thought it would go away with some good old fashioned yoga shit, and, though the yoga made it better, my neck (all the way to my shoulder blade) was always tight ad painful. Add these two problems together, and most exercise generated some kind of pain.

Enter stage left: The Rock Doc.

My handsome man has been going to see the Rock Doc for a while now. He is a fully certified and licensed chiropractor who got tired of the humdrum life in an official office setting. So he decided to work from home, particularly for "athletes, musicians, and friends." My handsome man counts in the "musician" category, and I count in the "friends" category (girlfriend? friends with benefits? no idea). My neck issue finally irritated me enough (and I knew it wasn't a "go to the doctor and get surgery" kind of injury) to go with my boo to see the Rock Doc.

1. I was SO EXCITED
2. I was SO NERVOUS
3. It was SO WORTH IT
4. I love the song "What Makes you Beautiful" by One Direction. I was BORN to love boy bands. FOR REAL. This song just gets me GOING. I wanna dance and jump and sing and get funky! YOU DON'T KNOW YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!

At first, I was just on the fancy table face down. He gently pushed on my back to get a read on what was going on. I was half expecting him to be like "You do yoga! your back is perfect!"- But I already knee something was wrong, otherwise I wouldn't have gone. So sure enough, he quickly found one vertebra that was out of whack. CRACK. He pushed it back into place pretty quickly. Then he felt around a little while longer and found one more than needed some fairly technical adjusting. It was a two-parter. I don't really understand more than that, except this one was in line with my diaphragm, so when he did part one, it totally knocked the breath out of me.

Round two of adjustments was with me on my side. On the right side, you cross your left knee over your body and stick your right leg off the table. Then dude kinda sits on you. Rude, I know. But so worth it. At this point, he had told me that there was something crazy town going on with the left size of my pelvis/lower back- right where they connect. Apaprently, the muscle that connects them was just straight up contracted- all the way up my back. So, he needed to adjust my pelvis and lower back a little bit. Well, the side crack TOTALLy got my lower back, but Doc soon discovered that my pelvis just WOULD NOT move.

He said at some point I must have fallen pretty hard on that side (I'm thinking it was when I slipped on ice in CT) and then scar tissue had just turned the joint into solid rock. He said it would take a few more sessions to work that out because he was gonna have to slowly push through that scar tissue. But for real y'all, he tried a couple times and just could not get my pelvis to adjust. You know me- ultra all the way.

Next was the neck. Which was terrifying. There is a part of me that really doesn't ever want to get my neck done (it's the most important thing!!!!) but that is where I have been hurting, so I knew it was necessary. For about 10 seconds he was just kinda massaging my neck, then CRACK. It didn't hurt, but it scared me. I almost got off the table. But he promised to be gentler on the other side. And he was.  

The next part- I sat up on the table and he kind of lowered me back onto the table before smushing me- I think this gets my mid back. This was doing part two of the two-parter I mentioned earlier.

Last- he checked on my limbs. He could tell right away that my left knee was rotating in on itself. To fix this, I have to do some stretches. But I am pretty sure it is also related to this pelvis stuff. He cracked my right elbow. And oogled at my toe-thumb. It seemed like he wanted the challenge of trying to make it grow and look normal. I don't think he has a shot in hell of making that sucker grow. We shall see.

I will write another blog about my first yoga class post Rock Doc, but I will leave you with my new "rules."

1. No running until we fix this pelvis thing. It has made my left leg 6mm shorter than my right leg. NO GOOD, KIDS.
2. No more sleeping on my stomach. Bad for my neck.
3. I have to do knee and neck stretches each day.

Sorry for the long post. SO MUCH TO TELL YOU.

Ultra love,

Elise

Tu

There is a new yoga man in town, and he is the $hit.

Tu came to my yoga studio a couple weeks ago. I have had his class 4 times since then. In the past four classes I have made more progress that in the whole past year. Something about this dude, he just pushes me in the best way possible. I freakin love it.

The first class, I was kinda feelin out what kind of a teacher he was. You know, everyone always does this. Oh a new instructor, I don't have to work hard. I can just go easy on myself because he doesn't really know what I can do. WRONG, LADY. Second set of half moon, Tu says to me

"Elise, don't let procrastination become a part of your practice."

Well, $hit.

Na'mean?

At that point I knew that this class was going to be no joke. And they are as serious as a serious person would be serious. What I like most about Tu is the way that he does the dialogue. Instead of just saying everything, word for word, he picks a different person for each pose and uses them to talk through the posture. For example, with me in standing head to knee:

"Okay Miss Addington, lock your knee more. Kick out with your standing leg. Don't lose focus. *** I fall out of the posture** Miss Addington you want to end the posture pushing your hardest, not going easy on yourself."

He really knows how to give you the corrections that you can actually fix. He pushes you to a level that you can handle, and he demands that you don't wimp out. I am just wiped at the end of his class. I LOVE IT. LOVE IT. like really.

To close, I want to share the way that he does the dialogue for the breathing exercise at the beginning. He snaps when you are supposed to change from inhale to exhale, but stretches one hand up to the sky. Its amazing.

Someone come to visit me and take his class. FO REAL.

Ultra love,

Elise

And I'm BACK in the game!

please pardon my long absence, I was busy writing final papers, graduating from Yale Divinity School,

 moving to Nashville, securing a job, and then taking some time out on the beach.

The beach was fabulous, obviously. But what was even more fabulous about this time was that my handsome man and I took the time to go on beach runs pretty much everyday. I should qualify this statement with the public service announcement that I HATE SAND. I especially HATE SAND IN MY SHOES. (Or in bodily orifices slash skin folds) Therefore, we ran barefoot, which was what the cool kids would have us do anyway. My feet got tired at points (come to think of it, my legs did too), but it still was exhilarating.

The best part was on one of our last runs, I got very angry at something my handsome man said (cant remember now, but that's the way it goes, eh?) and, demonstrating my abounding maturity, I just took off, running faster than he could. Y'all, I kicked into some gear I never knew existed. It felt like I was running in a magic land of sparkle puppies and rainbows raining peanut butter M&Ms. I have never felt that way on a run before- I guess you could call it the runner's high gear. I wish that I could find it again- maybe I will someday. I probably just need to make my dude come on runs with me and push his buttons til I get mad again. I see this as being a very logical and intelligent idea.


After getting back from the beach, I started my new job. My new job has superb benefits, one of them being a membership to ALL THE NASHVILLE YMCA's. If you don't drop your jaw at this, then the Y's in your city are not nearly as FABULOUS as Nashville's. Since being here, I have jumped back into the spinning saddle. Though my butt bones are still not 100% used to the abuse, I am SO HAPPY. I get to spin on my lunch break, and I am starting to think that I will need to go to class Monday through Friday, not just M/W/F...

As a part of my job, I went to a conference in Black Mountain, NC. Besides running every day (and not seeing any bears- thank you sweet baby Jesus), we went on a hike one morning. I hiked SLASH FREAKING ROCK CLIMBED from that red roof in the background.

 (On a side note- rock climbing is NOT my thing. I have midge hands and toe-thumbs that aren't very reliable. Thus, using my hands as a main source of power is not on my list of intelligent things to do (unlike my idea of how to get back to my runners high)-- however, since I wasn't warned of the rock scaling that was at the top of this hike, I went on it anyway. Somehow I managed to get to the top. thank you sweet baby Jesus)

Besides all that exercising I've been doing, I am still practicing yoga. On Saturday I had the BEST CLASS EVER. there is a new teacher here in Nashville, and he is FOR REAL. I will do a post on his classes soon after I have taken a few more.

Get excited- now that I am no longer in school, I will be able to post some more. YEAH!

Also, Luna is doing just fine. We play fetch everyday and she has gotten to go on some great trail runs. Happy Luna= Happy me.

Ultra love,

Elise

Luna's first day at the beach

since there will be a severe lack of posts in the next couple months as I prepare to graduate and look for a job/place to live, here is a little bit of Luna to tide you over.

not sure if this video is going to work, but if it does. yay. This is Luna's first time in the ocean- notice she is scared of the waves right at first!

The New Year

my only new years resolution was to eat pizza ONLY once a week- aka, there must be 7 days in between the times I take a bite of that greasy delicious cheesy ranchy yumminess. torture.

other than being amazingly awe

some at this resolution, while spending most of my days dreaming about pizza, I have changed up my gym routine. last semester, i pretty much went to yoga every day of the week (well, i guess more like 6 days a week). I did this for a number of reasons.

1. i like yoga. duh.

2. the yale gym is dirty and smells like smelly people all the time.

3. sometimes, yoga people can be a little crazy and cause drama. i need LESS of that rather than more.

but, like any exercise routine, too much of the same thing means you stop seeing results. thus, i knew it was time for a little change up. the change up looks like this:

Monday: Run and/or gym. (sometimes I run with Luna, sometimes i run at the gym. sometimes when new years resolutioners are hogging all the equipment, i combine random bits of cardio) added to the run is weights. each week varies on what i have time to do.

Tuesday; yoga

Wednesday: Run and/or gym

Thursday: Yoga

Friday: Run and/or gym

Saturday and Sunday: Yoga

At the gym, I am alternating between 3 main workouts.

1. LEGS! wooo woo.

2. circuits- i do this mainly when i do not have alot of time. i do biceps, triceps, pushups, shoulders, one leg squats and burpies. KILLER.

3. Upper body-- full round of upper body. gotta build those guns.

Though this update is short, at least it's an update. Take it or leave it. Oh and here is a picture of Luna!

Ultra love.

Double Trouble

Last night I did my first back-to-back "Double." It's what we people in the yoga biz call "taking two classes in one day."

What was it like you may ask?


Terrible. I am never doing THAT again.

Before I tell you about this once in a lifetime experience, let me say that I have done a double before. 3 times. Just not back-to-back. Rather, I have done a 6am class and an evening class. Doubles are usually necessary while in the middle of a "challenge" like the 30 day one I am doing right now. 30 classes in 30 days- so if you miss a day, you have to do a double at some point. Keep in mind that there are limits to how many doubles you can do (in this case, 4 total).

My other doubles have been fine. Even pleasant actually. My second class of the day has been consistently better than the first. My body was already warmed up, and I had recovered and hydrated appropriately for the second class.

With a back-to-back double, your body doesn't have time to recover. I spent most of the class feeling like my muscles were going to give out any minute, wanting desperately to chug more water, and sweating like banshee.

First of all, my body started sweating within 10 seconds of the first breathing exercise. And when I say sweat, I mean...




The kind of sweaty you are in the middle of the class happened THAT fast. It was terrible. Miserable. Horrible. No good. Very bad class.

The other terrible part were the thoughts in my head. A few key phrases:

Instructor: Make sure you *cantrememberwhathesaidbutimsureitwasgenerallyhelpful*
My head: Make sure you shut the hell up.

On the floor, dreaming about iced tea.....
My head: These F*@ktards don't even sell Sweet-N-Low

Instructor: Gloriously cracks the door.
My head: *upon realizing that Robin, the owner of the studio is RIGHT BY the door*
"you sneaky mother f*$@#r, sitting right by the door, and effing telling me not to freeze my water bottles."



These thoughts! I haven't had these thoughts since my very first Bikram class ever.

After class, I even walked all the way to my car and realized I forgot my keys. Brutal.


NEVER AGAIN.




ultra love

Many Talented.

This weekend I was awesome.

I hit the trails on saturday morning- ran 2.5 miles (I know, it's not far, but it will do for now). I had to walk up a few hills because I am old and fat and out of shape, but otherwise the whole experience felt like breathing again after holding my breath for a long time. I forgot what it feels like to have your feet just melt into the terrain, to have your knees respond to the downhills and uphills. I have another short trail run planned for (maybe) tomorrow morning and definitely thursday with my Luna. My version of heaven involves trail runs, lakes (for Luna), and Luna, of course.

Later on Saturday, I washed my car for 2 hours because thats how long it takes to get bugs guts off a white car. I also waxed my car and cleaned the windows. My life with minor OCD.

Then I went to yoga. Then I went to bed at 10 pm.

Today I was awesome YET AGAIN PEOPLE! I went to early church and came home and GOT CRAFTY. yep. CRAFTY. whaaaaaaaaaaat.

I turned an old pair of jeans that were too short (I know, that seems impossible given my current and forever height, but I think they shrunk over the years) and turned them into skinny capri jeans. This involved a sewing machine, special thread for jeans, and special jeans needles for my sewing machine.

Step 1: Practice. I used an old shirt to make sure the whole "sewing" thing actually worked. see below. beautiful.

Step 2: I turned my jeans inside out. Then I lined up my pair of skinny jeans so that the crotch and the inside legs were neatly together. Then I made pretty marks with a purple marker where I should sew. I also made marks where I wanted the capri cuts to be made.
Step 3: I sewed along the line. Then tried on my jeans and realized they were just too tight around the calves. So I took out the long stitch I made and started over with a new wider mark.

Step 4. I pinned my future seams because my jeans had a tendency to bunch up. Then I sewed. Though my lines aren't perfect, they will do.

Step 5: I sewed the hems. I pinned my hems first. I kept the stitches "straight" by keeping the edge of the foot along the outside of my hem.

The hems, again, aren't perfect. But who cares?

I am freakin Martha Stewart with vibrams and a yoga mat.

Check this shit out.

What's up, playas?

After I finished my craft, which took me two hours even though the blog I read that told me how to do it said it would take 20 minutes, I washed my "mom's" car (mom is in quotation marks because really it is my roommate's mom, but she is letting me live in their house this summer and I call her mom). Her car only took 20 minutes because the bugs came off her car with just a whisper.

Then I went to yoga. And now I am blogging. And I painted my nails while I wrote this blog post.

Be amazed.

Ultra Love.

You think you know....

Raise your hand if anyone has ever said to you, "hot yoga/ regular yoga/ultra running/running is dangerous/bad for you!"

I swear. Who are these people? Why do they think they know anything about anything? Mostly I think they are just jealous of my cute running skirts and my fashionable yoga booty shorts, but other times, I wonder if they are just dumb. Tell me, what "exercise" could be more natural (obviously natural is a LOADED term, but just go with it here) than running or yoga?

The only other sport(s) that fall in this category would be swimming (but you have to eliminate the chlorine pools because let's face it, no one is meant to smell like that. people are, however, meant to wear spandex. fact. it's in the bible.) or gymnastics (but again, this is limited to the floor exercises and only floor exercises on a grassy field because real life doesn't have a trampoline floor) and dancing. by God, there will be dancing.

Football? Hell no.

Basketball? (as much as i LOVE it- no. mostly because you can get smacked in the face with a basketball. we all know that does not qualify as something your body was born to do.)

(** currently withholding many inappropriate jokes**)

Shotput? Polo? Tennis? Soccer? Rowing? (i know from personal experience that rowing is for prisoners and anyone who deserves torture)

Wrestling? (no again- ring worm. and violence.)

It's not that these sports are bad in anyway. or un fun. or un human. It's just that you can't wake up in the morning and say, "hmmmmm, lemme use my body and go do this stuff." I could run naked if i needed to. I could do yoga naked if I wanted to -- (side note- there are naked yoga classes. deep question of the day- would you want to be in the front of the class or the back of the class? think about it). Other sports require lots of stuff. It's not that "stuff" makes a sport bad, it's just that I don't understand how "exercise" that requires only the body is dangerous or bad for you. I will ALWAYS hold the opinion that any exercise can be bad for you if you are stupid about it.

Harry Potter Comparison- Skip this if you don't understand.

WHen i am running or doing yoga, I feel like I am in Book 4 in the graveyard of Little Hangleton when Voldy and Harry's wands connect and they have this electric current running between and around them. Except that I feel as if I am connecting to all the worlds before me, all the people right now, and all the humans to come. These are two instinctual activities- connections to past, present, and future. Kinda like old stones steps that have been worn down by centuries of feetsies.

Anyway.

I don't understand why people think that something so basic as running or something so fluid as yoga would be bad for you. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you are more likely to come away damaged from years of football (brain damage) or tennis (my mom has no cartilage left in her knees and my brother has had 2 knee surgeries). If i have children, not only are they wearing ear plugs everyday of their life, but they are also forbidden to play contact sports. Running only. I'm gonna be that mom who says, here son/daughter/perhaps ungendered child-- put on your vibrams and go run up that mountain in our backyard with your Auntie Sabrina and then let's dance around in our underwear for a while and THEN we can do yoga before bed to calm down and make sure you can touch your toes when you are 60 years old.

I will be the best mom ever.

And the rest of the world- the people who sit on their bumbum all day long telling other people that yoga and running are bad/dangerous for you- will NOT be the best mom ever.

The end. Stepping off my soapbox. and giving you a puppy picture to make things happy.

Ultra Love.

Proof

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! I HAVE PROOF! I CAN DO STANDING HEAD-TO-KNEE!!

Obviously, it isn't perfect. But it is a start. That is the beauty of this yoga- you can always make progress.

1. I need to get my elbows lower. more below my calf muscles.

2. I need to get my toes angled back more towards my face.

3. #2 can be accomplished along with #3. I need to kick out my heel which will also get my hips more in line.

4. As I get better, my spine will be more curved- particularly my lower spine.

Also, I thought I would post two other poses that show ALOT of my progress.

This is the "Japanese Ham Sandwich" pose. When I first started this pose, I could barely get my hands behind my calves enough to grab my heels. Now I am pretty close to locking my knees. The entire goal of this posture is to smush your body together so there is no room for light or air-- with your smiling happy face (which you cant see in this picture! but it is there- I swear!)

This last pose is the "stretching" part of "separate head to knee with stretching pose." When I started this pose, I could not even get my legs flat on the floor. after 9 months I FINALLY got my legs locked. However, it wasn't until this summer that I started making progress bending my elbows. SEE?!?!?!?!

Before I close this post, just take a minute to appreciate the cleanliness of this studio. Doesn't it look so sanitary? Heaven.

I hope everyone is making progress in whatever they are doing. Especially Sabrina.

Ultra love.

PS. I made my handsome and health conscious boyfriend run barefoot. Totally made my LIFE.

Life Lessons Learned Watching a Bikram Newbie

The other day, there was a new guy name Frank who showed up for class. Frank did everything wrong. Everything. The underlying cause was that Frank didn't listen. That is usually the cause of the problems facing newbies. While I watched Frank act a fool, Ludacris style, in the front row, I was enlightened with a fair bit of life insight.

1. Many things in life involve steps. Sometimes many steps. To get to step D, you must go through steps A, B, and C. Here is the important part: If you cant do step A well, you best not be moving on to step B. AND you sure as hell better not be trying step C or D. Otherwise, you will either hurt yourself or look like an idiot. It is true in yoga. It is true in regular life. If you don't lock your standing knee, you shouldn't be kicking out with your other leg. If you don't know how to play chords, you shouldn't up on stage playing guitar in concert.

2. Quit making noise. Shut up. Really. Making noise only complicates things. It makes you more hot, more tired, uses up the energy you need, and irritates other people. Same thing in regular life. Whatever metaphorical noise you are making is most likely distracting you from what is really important, and in the process, it is pissing off everyone in your path.

3. Your drama isn't special. No matter how hot you think you are. No matter how much you think you are going to pass out. Your drama has happened before to someone else, and it will happen again. Get over yourself. The minute you do, you will quit making excuses for whatever drama you think you've got going on and actually get to doing yoga or living life.

4. Love your body. If you spend time looking at that parts that you don't like, pondering fat pudgies, or criticizing things here and there, you won't notice how fantastic it is that your body is starting to get deeper into that back bend. You won't see how strong your legs are. You will miss the balance you have developed. If you love your body, you will love yourself.

5. Don't give up. Frank tried to leave the room. The heat is intense. Ask anyone who has tried bikram. But you can make it through. Not all of life is puppies and rainbows (thought having a Luna around thorooughly increases your odds of continuous puppies and rainbows)-- but you can make it through the rough stuff if you are just still and take time to breathe.

Progress for Progress' Sake

I know...... It's been a while... my bff Sabrina let me know that...

So how about an update on all of my ultra-ness?

If training for a marathon and hoping to someday do an ultra marathon have taught me anything, it is that you have GOT to keep going, keep trying, and keep "going big or go home." This summer I get to live all of this out in 3 different ways.

1. I have started running again. Let me be honest. Every step terrifies me- I keep thinking that my foot and/or knee are just going to explode. Thankfully, my dear old dad told me that nothing is going to start hurting until i get up to 15 and 20 mile runs. Gee, thanks.

I am taking this "back to running" business slow so as not to overwork anything. I wake up in the mornings and run 20-30 minutes. I run SLOWLY for 20-30 minutes. My body seems to remember what running is, but my mind screams "I DONT WANT TO WAKE UP EARLYYYYYYYY. GO BACK TO SLEEPPPPPPPPPP. YOU DONT NEED TO RUN." Sometimes I listen to it. Tomorrow morning, I will NOT listen to this voice. I hope....

Moral of the story is that my new running journey is beginning. My real problem is that I much prefer running trails to running on pavement. Trails are hard to come by and pavement is plentiful. Alas, isn't that the way life goes?

2. I have found an awesome Bikram Studio in my summer location! It is SOOOOOO clean and smells like a baby's bottom. Even better, I seem to be making some rapid progress at this new studio. Sometimes a change of scenery can turn an exercise plateau into a steady increase in awesomeness.

Important Progress:

THIS POSE. I CAN DO THIS POSE. ALL THE WAY.

This is called standing head to knee, and I can now put my head to my knee. It happened today actually. Yesterday I was an inch away, and today my flippin forehead touched my flippin knee. It has taken 13 months for me to be able to actually straighten my kicking out leg, to be able to bring my elbows down below my claf muscles, to be able to bring my body down, and to be able to tuck my chin to my neck and touch my forehead to my knee. But I DID IT.

The truth is that I have actually made tangible progress in about 20 of the 26 poses. Someday (probably this fall) I am going to take pictures of where I was when I started Bikram (via my rough memory of my original struggles) and where I am now. Should be a fun post.

3. I am intern for the ultra-awesome-est organization ever. It is called Thistle Farms, and you should just go read about it. It is a rehabilitation for women from the streets who have survived lives of protitution, abuse, and addiction. These women then work at Thistle Farms making all natural bath and body products that are fab. The women with whom I work are unbelievable, and you better believe me when I say that they know what it takes to go the ultra distance. Our daily motto is "Love Heals." I love working in a place where I know I am doing good in the world. Working at Thistle Farms gives me the same feeling as running 20 miles just minus the sore muscles and joints.

Runners: order some Body Butter to moisturize all your nasty skin (I know you have it... chaffing... yuck....)

Yogis: order some Room Spray or Shower Gel because I know you smell bad after class ALL THE TIME.

Everyone else: my favorite product is the Lip Smoothie. My lips had been chapped for about 6 months straight from the Connecticut winter, and this lip smoothie had my lips back to normal in 3 days.

Hows that for an update?

ULTRA LOVE, PEOPLE. ULTRA LOVE HEALS.

you will probably think i am crazy

But that's okay by me.

I think Bikram yoga actually works.

Now, I have no scientific evidence. I only have my body and the way it has responded to all of this. So here is my health story as of late. You can believe it, or you can think I am nuts.

Back in October, I felt like I was getting sick. So, I stayed home from yoga to get extra sleep and rest.... and then I got sick. Snot. Fever. Cough. All the good stuff.

In December, I felt like I was getting sick. It was almost time for Winterfest, so I thought, "I should stay home from yoga, get some rest so I wont be sick at Winterfest." aaaaaaaand I got sick. Fever. Lost voice. Nasty cough. Excessive snot. Awful.

So two weeks ago, I felt like I was about to get sick. Except this time, I was mid 30 day challenge, and, well, I don't fail at challenges. So I figured, "I am just gonna go to yoga. If I am passed out on the mat halfway through class- no big deal. I still get to put my sticker on the board." So I went to yoga. Everyday. For 5 days, I felt like I was on the verge of getting sick. I would wake up with a little tickle in my throat, and I felt a little tired. But I went to yoga.

And ya know what?

I DIDN'T GET SICK.

And thus, Bikram works. All the health benefits? I probably get them. All that talk about boosting my immune system? Well, it happened to me.

All that I can tell you is that I feel fantastic. It is hard to describe because you think your body feels fine- and then you do Bikram for nine months and you realize that you have never ever physically felt this way before. I can wiggle. I can roll around. I can stretch and reach for things. I can breathe. I have lower blood pressure. Luna is calmer. My handsome and health conscious boyfriend has noticed a change. And I am way less stressed about midterms than the rest of my classmates. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

But, it is hard to convince people to stick with Bikram. The first week is almost too much to handle. The next three months bring all kinds of weird bodily kinks (that you didn’t even know you had) to the surface. Every class is a challenge. You don't have "easy" days. You just have days where you feel a little less hot and so you work even harder. It’s tricky to figure out the proper way to hydrate, and eating the wrong kind of food can throw off your practice. And it is a 90-minute workout.

If you ever start doing Bigram- you will want to quit. You will want to leave the f-in hot room. You will want to never feel that much sweat dripping off of you again. But when you actually do leave the room, your body will be changed, and you will want to get back in the torture chamber.

I know that Bikram isn't for everyone because some people just cant take the heat- literally and figuratively. But mostly figuratively- you have to constantly work on your mental toughness for Bikram to work for you. Perhaps that is why it is really so difficult (kind of like long distance running). Your body, given the chance, can handle Bikram. It is your mind that wants to give up quickly, just like it is your mind that wants to give up at mile 20. The human body can do all kinds of wild and crazy things- just ask my friend Sabrina or watch the yoga national championships!

As I slowly step off my soap box- I know you think I am crazy for buying into all this Bikram health nonsense. And 9 months ago, I would have said the same thing. Yet, after this 30 day challenge that I completed, I think it is safe to say that I drank the Kool-Aid, y'all. Maybe you should too.

ultra love.

P.S.- My instructor, Robin, said she would take pictures of all my poses this week so I can mark my progress. I will certainly post them for all my loyal listeners, and so you can see my cute yoga clothes.