mini vacations

For a variety of reasons, we don't go on vacations very often. We married in Jamaica, and we took a trip to Mexica two summers ago to celebrate finishing my graduate degree. Those are really the only two big trips we have taken together (besides going to Colorado, but we drove and didn't fly, so I'm not counting it as a "big" trip). I would definitely like to travel more in the future. This summer we've decided to do a little in-state, budget friendly traveling.

This weekend we are off for a little retreat in the woods with my mom, step-dad, and one of our favorite couple friends. We will be staying in cabins that were specifically built in order to create jobs during the depression. Our cabin is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath cabin overlooking the river. It has a screened in porch and air-conditioning (thankgoodness!), but no computer access, so I will be taking a small blogging break. We will spend our time relaxing and floating down the river in rafts before heading back home. I always enjoy a short retreat into nature (especially when we stay in cabins rather than a tent!) to connect with the simple, yet grand, beauty of the earth.

Another mini vacation we have planned for the month of July is going to Kansas City. We will be hanging out all day at the Plaza, staying in The Q Hotel & Spa (it's a green hotel located on the Plaza, you can see it here: http://www.theqhotel.com/index.php) and then going to the Market the following day.

In Aug., we will be doing another mini-vacation to celebrate our 4 year anniversary. We haven't decided where we want to go or what we want to do just yet! Any suggestions? (Think mini-weekend getaway on a budget!)

Here is your yogathought for the day from one of my all time favorite transcendentalists, Henry David Thoreau:

"Let us first be as simple and well as Nature ourselves,dispel the clouds which hang over our brows,and take up a little life into our pores. Do not stay to be an overseer of the poor,but endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world."

"...let us first be as simple and well as Nature...take up a little life into our pores... and endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world" Love that!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Namaste'
Leslie

yoga at noon

I'm about to head out to take a noon yoga class downtown. My "normal" life doesn't allow me to take noon classes or do anything outside of the school building during the day for that matter (until summer, that is). It's always interesting to me when I go out for activities during the day when I'm on vacations, and I see all the people out and about, also. Are they on a vacation, too? Are they able to leave their work during the day? Are they independently wealthy and don't have to work at all? Although I completely love my life, sometimes I think it would be so interesting to experience a typical day in the life of another person...Oprah Winfrey, Seane Corn, Michelle Obama would be the first three on my list!

Off to yoga now...

Here is your yogathought for the day:

"Neurocardiology proves what yoga sage Patanjali prescribed in the second century C.E.: put your attention on wholesome states. Soak in love, compassion, and creativity, and in time the ways of seeing and feeling that produce suffering will fall away and the wholesome state will remain. When you focus on love and appreciation, your 'heart brain' affects your cranial brain; it actually changes your brain structurally, creating new neural pathways that make it easier to feel positive and to return to this positive state more quickly when you are stressed, exhausted, or in pain. Your cortisol levels fall, and your immune system may get a boost--in other words, you physically become what you are feeling!" --Jennifer Louden

Namaste'
Yogadiva