"Same-sex" Marriage

Okay so this is the hot topic of the season with the catholic school that allegedly forced the vice principal, who married his same-sex partner of numerous years, to resign. I just want to put my own thoughts out there since everyone else is being quite vocal about it.

All this fuss and religious hubbabaloo over someone who married another someone that they love. What if we are all actually the same sex spiritually? The idea of female and male being different is a convention. Yes women can bear children and yes men have an organ outside their body. But what about all our happiness?

We fight for equality and freedom yet we confine and prohibit the very essence of many beings. Who are we to decide what will make another being happy? Who are we to berate and put down the choices of another that cause no harm to themselves or others?

Are those who do such things so afraid that there are no limits? So afraid that maybe the only thing that sets boundaries and "normalities" is social convention, not an actual law of the universe?

Life really isn't all that difficult when you take others into consideration. What is the point of it all if there is no love? 

Within me is an essence that recognizes the essence within all other beings and I believe that there should be no gender and no law that confines true love to the constructs of social conventions. 

Race to Abs

So my boyfriend challenged me with a Race to Abs. The point of the challenge is whoever gets abs (ahem, or the 'best' abs) by June 2014, gets one wish-- absolutely anything and the other shall grant it. The prize isn't all that exciting or motivating for me since there is nothing I would need to use the wish for. My wishes are so small, if not nonexistent, that they're granted when it's the right time.

In order to whip up an exceptional amount of motivation, I'm going to use my blog to track my progress. My plan is to take a picture of myself once a week in my underwear and post it here. If you want me to include my meals and workouts, I can though they always vary. 

Now, you know Christmas is just around the corner and I'll be heading home to PSL on Monday and staying until Friday-- so that's a challenge in itself; being vegetarian in my parent's house is about as hard as getting Rinpoche to play with his plastic balls with bells inside (if it's made for a cat, he mostly doesn't want it). 

Thinking about it, this Race to Abs is a bit different for me. This sort of goal has never been on my list before just because I thought I'd have to give up my sweet treats entirely. Well, that and I've just never had the desire to actually go for a sculpted core. I've just always wanted to be healthy and fit (and I actually don't consider a sculpted core to be a mandatory part of the fitness image). 

While my main fat store is indeed my lower abdomen, a small portion of sweets once a week won't hurt-- as long as I portion and balance my meals for the rest of the week.

So, challenge accepted, baby. Challenge accepted. Here's my photo for this week. Day 1.

Annnnnnd there's Rinpoche wondering what I'm doing. Hehe I guess I'll be taking pictures of him as well. He never allows me to go to the bathroom without him. 

I'll only post these measurements now and then at the end. I'll keep a record in Excel just to see my progress and give me that push towards the end. 

40" shoulders

33.5" chest

29" under bust

9.5" biceps

27" waist

31" belly button

37" hips

38" butt

21" thighs

13.75" calves

Alright let's do this! 

Old-fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

December 11th, did I have a cookie for breakfast? You can bet your festive stockings I did! Last night I made the best impulsive cookies ever! I was going through the 12 Days of Cookies from Food Network and suddenly got the hankering to bake cookies. I originally wanted to give Jeff Mauro's Spumoni Cookies a try but the low cooking temperature deterred me. The last time I baked cookies at 325 degrees, they ended up extremely dry and crumbly-- not an ideal cookie texture. So, it's safe to say I did not go for the Spumoni Cookies. Instead, I went with an Old-fashioned Peanut Butter Cookie recipe sponsored by Nestle Toll House. 

Now, if you know me, I rarely ever have everything I need for any sort of baking recipe. Luckily, this time, I had almost everything! The only thing I lacked was two sticks of butter; I only had one. So I cut the entire recipe in half. If you're a baker, you know that even cutting everything exactly in half, different results are given because, after all, baking is indeed a science. So, I halved the recipe-- all say for the egg. I just threw the whole thing in there. I also didn't make the dough balls a rounded tablespoon. They may have been closer to 2 1/2 tablespoons in size. It doesn't matter, they were ideal-sized cookies. 

In addition to keeping to the whole egg, and making the ball sizes bigger, I had to adjust the cooking time (of course!). I started by doing the suggested 8-10 minutes then tapped the top of one of the cookies-- too mushy still. I let it cook for 4-6 minutes more. Keep an eye on them; check in two-minute intervals after 10 minutes. This depends on the size of your cookies.

Once they did their time in the oven, I let them sit on the pan for four minutes, then I scooped them off to dry on the cookie rack (a.k.a. my toaster oven rack that I placed on the counter). 

One bite and these became Alex and my new go-to home-baked cookies (as long as we have actual butter in the fridge). They have a slight crisp on the edges, and soft buttery-chocolate goodness on the inside. A very nice treat to wake up to in the morning. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out. Maybe it'll make it onto your Holiday Cookie Gift Bag List!

Note of Changes (some not mentioned above):

Halved the recipe

Kept to whole egg

1 part dark chocolate chips, 1 part semi-sweet chocolate chips

Larger dough ball size

Generous sprinkle of granulated sugar instead of the weird cup-dipped indent thing noted in the recipe itself.

Cooking time ~15 minutes

Hello There, World

It's been quite some time since my last post. I've allowed myself to be engulfed in Vampire Diaries via Netflix, along with a few other shows available to me through Xfinity. While I do indeed enjoy these shows, I look up from this screen and I see my tea untouched, my homework piled, my other half immersed in Dr. Who or Minecraft. I see the world that we, as people, seem to make into a medium rather than the actual fruit of our lives. We walk to class, the library; we go on a trip to Disney World, but are we really there 100%? How much of our lives do we spend on Facebook or watching marathons of shows and movies?
Let me say it again, there is nothing wrong with enjoying your favorite show or movie but what happens when we delve so deep that we wake up wondering whether we're finally going to find out exactly how Elena Gilbert becomes a vampire instead of wondering if it'll rain today-- or even what we will do to fill in the time between what absolutely needs to be done?
I am guilty of allowing myself to fall down a self-made rabbit whole of obsession. I've kept up well enough with my homework and yoga but I haven't breathed life into my work or loved habits... they simply were routine.
So. This is me admitting to the world this obsession.
This is also me apologizing to myself. Life is short and by dedicating far too many hours to the computer screen, I've missed out-- or, at least, potentially missed out. I may not have missed out one week but when I finally come up for air from this obsession, I see responsibilities that need to be cared for. They could have been cared for earlier to keep room open for new experiences but instead they were spent ogling Damon Salvatore. I don't want to miss out. I don't want to live through a television show. I want to breathe fresh air and meet new people, make mistakes, and feel everything that comes along with the experiences.
I need to work on moderation. Moderation with television shows as well as sweets. Two birds with one stone.
So here's to more time spent on assignments and projects, trying new recipes, reading, writing blog posts, taking pictures, exercising, and spending quality time with Alex. I wish you all the same and best.

Namaste.

My Body Is A Playground For Rinpoche

My little angel has finally joined us in our new home and, at first, I was very heart-broken because I was worried he would never adjust. He was so skittish, never wanted to come out from under the bed, and barely presented the opportunity to hold him. But now he's getting out more (even though we have to lock in out of the bedroom to make sure that he puts an attempt at being social) and is even getting involved with my morning yoga!
Upon peeking around the corner, out to the living room where I was doing my morning practice, sweet Rinpoche raced to me to rub his fuzzy wittle self on my face while in down-dog (a-choo). Apparently, my body is a playground for him and my practice is all the better for it. Instead of stepping up to forward fold from my down-dog, I decided to do another vinyasa with consideration to the little bundle of love laying on my mat just below my stomach. Excellent form. My limbs were strong and unshaken, knowing that I would squish the poor thing if I was at all lazy. With no care for my perfectly safe movements above him, Rinpoche moved off the mat in search for another way to be adorably distracting.
Oh, little Rinpoche. <3

Energy

The energy we use, the energy we create, the energy we release during practice is not for ourselves.
We use, create, and let go of things for others-- to be compassionate.
We welcome positive energy within us when we're on the mat
and release the negative, breathing in the balance that permits harmony.
The harmony of inhale and exhale that makes life not only possible, but magical.

Grad Students and Vinyasas-- Wherever They Can Be Fit In!

It's been quite a while since my last post. A lot has been going on but little worth writing about and not much time to spare. I've recently subscribed to Elephant Journal, the wonderful all-around-health-centered online journal. $13/year for unlimited reads and views. Pretty good since I always end up on the site; two free articles a day wasn't cutting it.
My yoga practice has been good though there have been a few days where I haven't done it, like today, because I've had to wake up early for work (like 4 AM kinda early) or because I partied hard (well worth it). In the end, it's all about getting right back on the horse. No time for yoga in the morning? Not allowed to skip the next day. I've noticed I have trouble with physical activity as well as mental stamina when I don't do my morning vinyasas. It's becoming more and more clear that yoga is apart of me and I don't think I'm going to ever be able to be my happy self again without it. There's only so much energy your body can accept before it becomes congested. Just like with the practice, you have to exhale anything that does not serve you-- let it go.
I really miss my yoga classes :( Once again I am without one because the instructor canceled it. I haven't encountered her since her last class so I'm not sure why; perhaps she had trouble with class scheduling and assignments. I'm definitely in the same boat with two jobs and being a full-time grad student.
I just need to kick my butt to a new class; the trouble is time. The other class I'm interested in attending is a Power Yoga class but it's at 7pm on Sundays. Very tough working and being a student... I'll need to make some more choices soon and I may have to disappoint some wonderful people at work.
Luckily my mom is always there reminding me that, in the end, I have to consider what I need and that I'm a student.
Well I'm about to crash. I'll try not to take so long with my next post.

Namaste.