78 - wednesday

back in 2008, I was working just outside of boston for a big, international public health foundation.  the combination of long work hours with the intensity (and human urgency) of our projects could, at times, be very stressful.  at the stress-relieving suggestion of one of my colleagues, I started practicing bikram yoga 3-4 times a week at the studio near our office in quincy.  it was love at first class.  bikram is practiced in a room heated and humidified between 95-100 degrees, lasts 90 minutes, and consists of 26 poses done twice and bookended by breathing exercises.  the amount of sweat that is produced during this yoga is unrivaled.  I like it because it combines two of my favorite things: intense aerobic exercise, and long, deep stretches.  it's the most complete workout I've ever had.  best of all, when we later moved offices to boston proper, there was another awesome studio just two t stops away.

the bikram pose series

now that I'm through college and no longer working in boston, it's been a struggle to find a studio that's nearby.  there's only one here in rhode island, and the quality of both the instruction and facility pale so much in comparison to the quincy and boston studios that I've honestly only been once.  what I love about the summers here is that the combination of heat and humidity are just right so that I can practice bikram alone, at home, fo' free.  

yoga studio, apartment edition.  

the mirror helps me keep my balance during the standing series - every (real) studio is mirrored on all four walls.  

bow pose is my favorite. 

I hope that by incorporating a more regular yoga practice into my summer routine, I can keep my stress levels lower and be more focused on my classes.

77 - tuesday

today was another one of THESE days...

whyyyy, mother nature, why?!

I lived in tanzania for seven months, and the weather was like this every day.  what made it bearable was the constant, cool breeze that blew in off the indian ocean, and the daily afternoon thunderstorm that cooled off the night.  no such luck today on the east coast of the united states, unfortunately.  this has led me to a state of heat delirium, and prompted all sorts of odd behavior, such as:

last night, I slept on the floor on a towel laid over my yoga mat.  I swear it was at least 5 degrees cooler down there than up on my bed. 

and this morning, I ran a pair of socks under the faucet until they were soaked, then threw them in the freezer.  I realize this is something pregnant ladies do, but this can also be something that extremely overheated non-pregnant ladies do, too.  

anyway, the REAL story is that I had a meeting with my practicum team today, and we finally met our research interns!  they're an incredible group of super motived high school kids from all over the city, working on youth civic engagement and community organizing.  

they come from the toughest of the "failing" schools - schools like Hope High and Central - where more than half of their peers are the children of immigrants who don't speak English at home, where nearly a quarter of their high school class will drop out, where one in four kids will move homes at least once during the school year, who daily face gang violence and the incredible, suffocating social expectation that they will fail no matter how hard they try.  what makes these kids awesome is that they ARE trying, and they ARE succeeding.  most significantly, they are using their own success to serve as positive role models for other kids in their schools and citywide.  I'm very excited to be working with this team for the next month.  

76 - monday

I am hereby declaring myself entitled to two panic attacks this summer.

the first one is happening at this very moment.  I will spare you a detailed, hyperventilating rant about my stress level and my post-marathon mood swings and how many tens of thousands of dollars I am asking the government to loan me to pay for grad school and all of my duedates and timelines and calendars and how hot it is in my apartment and how for the third monday in a row I went to my office with one simple task to do and couldn't, for reasons beyond my control.

after three f*@%ing hours of getting nothing done at work I left the office very calmly and went to my parents' house to feed and let out the dog (they're at the beach for the day, it must be nice!).  I opened the pantry door to get out his kibble, and that's when the blue box special caught my eye.

yes, it's true, I'm (usually) a food snob.  but sometimes there's not a thing in the world that can beat the comfort factor of good old mac n' cheese.  yes, I ate the whole box.  no, I haven't been running in almost a week and have been feeling like a sweaty, stressed, miserable sloth because of it.  but thanks, kraft white cheddar mac,  I feel better already.

I anticipate another meltdown around the end of July when everythingisdueatonce.  don't say you weren't warned.

75 - sunday

happy birthday, america!

ben and rachel win the most patriotically dressed couple award

I went to boston this afternoon to spend some time catching up with friends, enjoying the gorgeous weather, and celebrating our great country.  the boston fireworks are awesome.

this picture doesn't do the awesomeness proper justice, but I tried.

 and now that the 4th is officially behind us... we are into the home stretch! less than one month until t comes home! after this long stint of counting the days since he's been gone, I can start a new countdown of days until he's back in the usa :) 

74 - saturday

I don't know what is in the water but I have had some pretty serious nostalgia today for all the things 12-year old me loved best.  oh, how I would have killed to lie on my belly in front of the tv all day watching "now and then" and giggling and eating flav-or-ice with my middle school friends.

instead, I settled for buying a pitcher and filling it with lemonade ice tea, and spending the afternoon reading for school.  being a grown-up kind of blows sometimes - but summer still tastes like summer if done right.

but of course I had to make a trip to the grocery store in order to buy the ice tea and lemonade mixes, and in my fit of nostaligia made a beeline for the frozen treats section to see about that flav-or-ice.  and then I saw it: haagen-dazs "five" lemon ice cream.  five ingredients (milk, cream, sugar, eggs, lemon), the tiniest flecks of lemon zest dotted throughout.  creamy, but so refreshing.  and all dressed up for the fourth of july (happy birthday, america!) with some of the fresh fruit I've been noshing on all week.

oh, yum.  I think grown-up me has a new favorite treat (but 12-year old me can keep a special place in my heart).

73 - friday

dance of peace at narragansett towers

becca and I decided last night that rather than sit in our sweltering apartment chewing ice cubes and wishing we had more free time, we should go to the beach.  I had to work today, so we were only able to stay for a few hours in the morning, but it was so worth it.  this photo is of one of my favorite sculptures, called dance of peace, that sits at the entrance to narragansett beach.  we had a great morning and I hope for more just like it as the summer goes on - even if it means taking my readings for school along for the ride!

72 - thursday

if there's one thing about brown I've truly come to appreciate post-graduation, it's the grad center bar (or as we call it, the gcb).  it opens at 4:30 every afternoon, and plays host to all walks of academia, from deans and professors and the university president down to newly-minted 21 year old undergraduates.  the annual membership fee is a pittance ($30) and is waived if you're a grad student (which I am now, woop woop!).  the main benefit to a members-only bar is deep drink discounts: top shelf vodka and tonic, which would cost me $7-9 at a "normal" bar, costs me a whopping $3 at the gcb.  who can argue with that?

another major benefit is that ed and mark, the bartenders, know who I am, what I'm studying, and what else I'm into.  meaning that during my senior spring, when I rolled in solo at 4:30pm, crosseyed and weighed down by my laptop and thesis readings in my backpack, they knew exactly what I wanted (vodka and no talking) and were right there to deliver the goods.  similarly, when I was getting to the peak of my marathon training and came to the bar with a tupperware full of food so that I could fuel for a run the next day, no one would hassle me about it.  two full years since I've started coming to the gcb, I still enjoy the same rapport and level of mi-casa-es-su-casa comfort as I did back then.  I just love love LOVE this bar.

tonight at the gcb: antonio's pizza and my signature bev, ruby red vodka and tonic with a lime (but ed always gives me a cherry instead, no matter what)