beer

Pleasureables

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Have you ever wondered if there is any method to my posting madness?

If not, good!  If so, here’s the deal.  Gracefulfitness is still a baby blog, well maybe a toddler, and we (eh hum, the blog and I?) are still figuring out our groove.

Over the last month or two I have gotten into a schedule of Monday-Friday morningish posts most weeks.  Occasionally, like yesterday, the day flies by without a post.  When this happens I usually post on Saturday or Sunday.

Yesterday flew by with a mix of business (taxes!) and pleasure.

On the pleasure front I ended up in a private yoga session.  I was the only student in a lunchtime power vinyasa class and loved getting extra hands-on assists.  There’s nothing like having someone watch you “vinyasa” to enhance your awareness of every inch of your body!  It made me hyper-aware of a few bad/lazy habits that I have, which I will attempt to reverse.

Another pleasure was finally getting a homemade flavored yogurt right.

Coffee!

I’ve been making my own yogurt since the fall.  Although I prefer the tanginess of plain yogurt most of the time, occasionally it’s fun to have a flavor and one of great things about homemade flavored yogurt is being able to control the sugar.

Sadly, most of my flavor attempts have been fails.  Remember chocolate and peanut?  Ginger and vanilla are winners but a little boring.

Coffee yogurt turned out just how I imagined.  I added a spoonful of instant decaf coffee, a splash of vanilla, and a stevia packet to two of my little yogurt maker jars and let it work it’s magic.

And magic is what it worked. 🙂  Creamy, slightly sweet, and just the right amount of coffee flava.

The real pleasure of the day was a low-key and lovely dinner with great friends.  I love a casual dinner “party” mid-week, especially as the days get longer and the temperature warms.

After arriving to Matt and Kath’s by bike we were greeted with tasting notes and score sheets.

Matt is an awesome home-brewer and beer aficionado.  The flavor of the evening was Hefeweizen and featured a blind taste between three bottled brews and Matt’s homebrew.

[KERF]

[KERF]

After lots of sniffing, sipping, and noting the beers were revealed.

My favorite?  A spicy and sweet brew from the world’s oldest brewery.  I am not a hefeweizen fan but matt helped my appreciate the subtler qualities and characteristics of this type of beer and I could actually see enjoying more of it in the future.

One more pleasure to leave you with.

Babies!

No (sorry Mom 😉 ), not that kind.

Now if we can only get rid of the groundhog…

Like a Fish

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I am floundering lately.

www.thefreedictionary.com has this to say on flounder

floun·der 1 (floundr)

intr.v. floun·dered, floun·der·ing, floun·ders 

1. To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one’s balance.
Humm.  Yep, that about sums it up.
I have been in transition for the entirety of 2010.  First, transitioning out of Lima (we left February 1st).  Then 6 months on the road, which, the way Tate and I do it of a new place every 2 or 3 days, is constant transition (literally in transit!).  We arrived in West Virginia mid-July and immediately started looking for houses here in C’ville while staying at a different family members house every night or two.  We bought and moved just after Labor Day but just because the boxes are (almost) unpacked doesn’t mean that all of the dust has settled.  I need a job!  I need friends!  I need to be able to make my way around town without a map!  I need a dryer!
But alas, I am facing the duration of 2010 to be…transitional.  Tate and I are working on making our dreams of a wellness center into a reality but it is a slow process.  The VERY exciting news is that we have the space secured to buy (yes, we are well aware we’ve been diving into the deep end lately) and it is an excellent opportunity.  The space has a chiropractic clinic ready to go and a lovely studio upstairs for me to teach classes and hold training sessions.  It’s amazing, it really is.  LOADS of potential. But it still feels far off and hypothetical.
Until the center is ours I am stuck making clumsy attempts at moving forward with my life, trying, desperately at times, to regain a balance I have not had since I left Portland in December 2008.  Most days I am content to organize my days around job hunting (for the interim and the slow first months), blogging, exercising, cooking, and general house wife duties.  Some days I get really down on myself for not being more proactive in getting a job and getting out there and making myself a community here in C’ville.  Very occasionally I am tearfully nostalgic for my life in Portland, the one with great jobs, great friends, and opportunities being handed to me right and left.
The teabag this morning reminds me of the important things in life
“May your inner self be secure and happy.”
Well, yes, that is a lovely idea, isn’t it?
Lots to do today on a practical note, laundry, job interview, yoga class, packing for another weekend in West Virginia, a run.
Last night Tate and I had a biking rendezvous with Kath and Matt at Market Street Wineshop for a little beer tasting.

(I think Kath enjoyed this one ;))

Kath and Matt just returned from a long weekend in North Carolina and they brought us a present
Can you guess what came in this pretty paper bag?
Pounds of seedy, doughy deliciousness by the name of Dakota.
Kath and Matt are opening a Great Harvest Bread Company here in the spring and I think their plan is to get me hooked on their bread before they even turn the oven on!  And it worked, they already have one loyal customer in Charlottesville!
Post beer tasting, Tate and I were set for pizza and a movie at home when he had a quick change of pace and decided to go play soccer.  I grabbed a giant large slab of doughy delight and went with him, it was such a nice evening I wanted to be outside some more.
I brought some supplies with me.
The game was all in Spanish (90% of the players were Hispanic) and reminded me of our first few weeks in Lima when I would go and watch Tate play there.
Time to tackle the day.  I love, love, love the internet but lately I have been spending the better part of my morning on it.   Must. Disconnect.  Now.
Peace.