365 Inspirations—152: Gardening and Beethoven

Irises in our front yard

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life."—Ludwig van Beethoven

I had hoped to take a crack at the 75 plus tests I have to grade over the weekend, but gardening and Beethoven took over.

After a long walk at Discovery Park in Seattle, I came home and mowed the lawn and Yoon put our new weed wacker together and got to work. We even weeded the circular flower bed in the front yard and then we were pooped. We have a small fenced yard in the front and a HUGE backyard that we never even got to today. It was very rewarding to spruce up the front yard, but it left me exhausted. I like gardening, but I don't do it often enough and can only do it if it is in small spurts and not for hours and hours.

After a couple hours of work on the front yard, we cleaned ourselves up and got ready for a concert at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Yoon bought tickets last night online, but one of his yoga students ended up comping him tickets right in the orchestra section because she plays in the symphony!

He gave the extra tickets to two friends for a good price!

The concert was excellent. We got to see a violin solo by Alina Ibragimova. She was fantastic.

Anyway, It's now 11:30pm and I'm going to hit the hay with the sound of Beethoven still ringing in my ears! Before the weekend started, I did not plan to do either of these things, but sometimes what we didn't expect to do turns out to be the weekend's highlights!

Did you do anything spontaneous this weekend?

365 Inspirations—150: Going Out

"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."—Marthe Troly-Curtin. 

I don't normally work on Thursday night, but I was subbing for a friend at work. I just got in, ate a salad, had a Kombucha and I'm about to go out to a movie with Yoon as soon as he gets back from teaching his yoga class.

My weekend begins today! However, it's going to be a BUSY weekend because it's test time at the college and I have a bag full of tests to grade.

I had planned to make a dent in those tests today, but I think I need to give myself at least one day of rest.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend and tomorrow there will be a very special guest on this blog, so please stop by! I'm doing a Q & A with author Torre DeRoche and she has some very good advice for all you writers, bloggers and/or adventurers out there. Stay tuned!

Do you have any special plans for the weekend?

365 Inspirations—100: One Hundred Tins of Tea on the Wall

"The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go
Downtown, things'll be great when you're
Downtown, no finer place for sure, Downtown, everything's waiting for you."—Petula Clark

I made it to post 100. As soon as I finished my class at 9:40pm, I headed STRAIGHT for the BRIGHT LIGHTS of the grocery store to celebrate. I needed a transition from 5 solid hours of teaching. Good thing Central Market is opened until 11pm!

To treat myself for making it this far, I allowed myself to choose a few of my favorite items for my little celebration. Not only is my class over, but my week of teaching is over. I teach a full load on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and have Thursday and Friday off.

I headed over to the refrigerated drink section and picked out a D.T. Dave's Kombucha. Have you ever had Kombucha? I think I could make an entire post on Kombucha and its health benefits. It's live, fermented tea and has loads of naturally occurring probiotics and antioxidants. My friends who live out in the countryside make it. Fermented anything is so good for digestion. The Kombucha I drink tastes great too. My favorite is Cosmic Cranberry. It contains organic, raw Kombucha tea and pure, unsweetened cranberry juice. It's not sour, because natural sugars form during the fermentation process. I LOVE it. Makes me feel so GREAT!

I also picked up a few Amy's Samosa wraps for later and a few sushi rolls. I love Futomaki and Inari sushi. I lived in Japan for two years, so, needless to say, Japanese cuisine is one of my favorites. I couldn't help myself, I also bought some 72% dark chocolate. What's a celebration without a little dessert?

I browsed through the health and body section of the grocery store. Let me tell you, this isn't really your typical grocery store, it's a LIFESTYLE. They have meditation cushions, incense, soaps, shampoos, vitamins, candles, essential oils, bubble bath—you name it!

Finally, as I headed towards the check-out line, I paused in the tea section. This isn't any ordinary grocery store tea section either. This store has 100 tins of tea on the wall (or more). And since I'm on post 100, I thought the title was fitting! Not only do they have teas, but they have all kinds of gadgets to make the very best pot of tea.

Since our home is full of tea, I passed on buying any. It's amazing what one trip to the BRIGHT LIGHTS of our local grocery store can do for me. Just walking in there makes me feel rejuvenated. 

I had my little celebratory snack and now I'm going to go read a book and sink into the bathtub!

Do you have a favorite store or shop that you love to go to?

365 Inspirations—68: Sleeping in the Sun

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."—Buddha

The weather has been warm and sunny in Seattle. When we see the sun around here—that mysterious orb in the sky—we want to be out with it.

Today Yoon and I had the day off, so we both woke up late. We had breakfast at around 9AM, relaxed a bit and then headed out to Richmond Beach, a beautiful spot near our house. People were out with dogs, kids, picnic lunches, frisbees, balls, beach stuff—it was crowded!

We found a spot away from the crowds and both of us fell asleep. For a moment I swear it felt like I was in the tropics. It felt so good to be in the sand with my head on a log listening to the sound of waves. I just melted into it.

I fell into one of those deep sleeps where you wake up and don't know where you are. I was happy to discover that I was on the beach.

I climbed up on a log and Yoon took a few pictures.

 I also got a shot of him resting on the log. He looks like he's in perfect peace in the picture above.

We had Thai food for lunch and then went to see Oz the Great and Powerful in 3D. It wasn't the best movie I've seen this year, but it was entertaining.

Now we are back at home and resting again! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Is it typically sunny where you live? How do you like to spend a sunny, weekend afternoon?

365 Inspirations—18: Fridays

"Make each day of the week like Friday and your life will take on new enthusiasm."—Byron Pulsifer

It's been a long week of full-time teaching, full-time blogging/writing and doing a number of other things and Friday is finally here!

 I don't teach on Fridays and it is usually my day to decompress from the week. I don't usually plan much for this day. After a week of sticking to a schedule, I often feel I want to have a day of just doing whatever inspires me.

 I hope to start the morning off with yoga class at my husband's yoga studio. I haven't been able to go all week! I usually go 2-3 times a week, but was especially tired this particular week. Hopefully I can finish off the week with yoga on both Friday and Sunday and get my walking routine back on track.

Sometimes life seems to go at full speed. I know it is just an illusion. Life goes at the same pace, but it appears to go faster depending on what we do and how we spend the time. I have had more on my plate than I'm used to.

Now it's finally Friday. I don't want to say I live only for Fridays, because I try to make the most of every day, hour and minute of my week. Writing 365 Inspirations this year is helping me to tune into all that is around me. I'm finding that even the smallest things can provide me with inspiration. It's just a matter of tuning in to what is already there for the offering.

Tuning in to what's around me helps me to stay present, focused and appreciative of what I have.

Today is Friday and I'm so appreciative of this day. I have some ideas of what I want to do, but nothing is set in stone. After yoga, maybe I'll take a nice walk with my husband, go to a movie or go out to eat. I'm going to take it as it comes. It's the start of a long weekend in the USA. I don't have to teach on Monday because it's Martin Luther King Day! That's another special treat!

Do you like Fridays? Do you have anything special planned for the weekend?