random thoughts for a Monday morning

Hi hi friends! How are you? How was the weekend? Ours was a good one. The weather was a dream – it felt like San Diego, plus it rained every day – and P had a soccer game. We smoked chicken for dinner, met up with friends, caught up on chores, and enjoyed relaxing as a fam. We sat on the back of the Pilot’s SUV and watched the girls run around in the rain for almost an hour.

Today’s post is a little all over the place. I didn’t take a ton of pics, but I have some random thoughts to share with ya and would love to hear what’s going on in your world, too.

Random thoughts for a Monday morning:

– We replanted for fall, and I’m so pumped for some new veggies in the garden.

Usually I plant too much and certain plants crowd others, so I only did carrots, beets, and broccoli in the raised bed. In our flat garden bed, we have swiss chard, romaine, arugula, and butternut squash. I have no clue what I’m doing with the butternut squash, but I’ve found that it’s best to just plant whatever you want to learn how to plant, and you figure it out as you go.

(See those poor smashed onions in the bottom left corner? You just figure these things out along the way.)

– This thought crossed my mind during my last hot yoga class, and I was thinking about how much I enjoy hot power yoga. It feels like a hug from a workout, and while it’s still taxing and challenging, it’s simultaneously restorative and a huge treat. It made me remember the Bikram yoga days of yore, which were a start contrast in the yoga world.

I got scolded frequently. 

The first time was for drinking water before Eagle pose (don’t you dare), and for little things, like not transitioning fast enough to the savasana portions, keeping my eyes on myself (I had to look around to figure out what I was doing!), laughing during the intense breathing section (once, a friend and I got the church giggles during class) and who knows what else. The incredibly steamy and sweaty rooms were always carpeted (disgusting), smelled like hamsters, and I loved it????? I loved it! SO weird haha.

Needless to say, I’m glad the Bikram phenomenon has come and gone, for various reasons.

– We tried a new-to-us restaurant in Tucson: the Parish.

We’ve heard so many great things over the years but have never made it out there. We met up with friends for a lil double date, and it was SO good. They have twists on Southern food, so we shared popcorn, hushpuppies, and the best brussels sprouts for apps, and the entrees were things like fried chicken sandwich, gumbo, I had an extremely flavorful salmon salad, and meatloaf. The drinks were also an A+. We’ll definitely go back! Check it out if you’re a Tucson local looking for something to try out.

(Also three cheers for madre and nana taking the crew to the movies while we enjoyed a night out! They saw Lyle Lyle Crocodile and raved about it. I want to see it now, too!)

– Figured out the secret to paying attention to audiobooks: I listen to them at 1.1 or 1.2 speed.

I love the idea of audiobooks, especially when I’m doing chores or taking a walk, but will often get distracted. Speeding it up makes all the difference! When I listen to them at regular speed now, they sound like they’re in slow motion. If you have any audiobook recs, please send them my way! Currently sucked into 11//22/63 and have about 27 hours left. 😉

– I tried cryotherapy for the first time at Icebox Tucson.

They also have multiple types of skincare and facials, red light therapy, localized cryotherapy, and compression. I was very nervous for my first experience – let’s be real, I hate being cold – but have really been wanting to try it.

They gave me a cozy robe to wear into the ice chamber, along with socks, a headband to cover my ears, gloves, and a mask to keep my face warm. When you get inside, they play a song of your choice on the noise canceling headphones, and you remove the robe for the session. It was three minutes long and I was FREEZING. Frozen. My body was like WTF is happening to me.

I didn’t know what to do with my body, so instead of shivering, I flapped my arms like a bird, which seemed to help. Thanks to the music, the three minutes went by fairly quickly, and I felt great afterwards. I immediately felt a surge of energy which stayed with me throughout the day.

After the cryotherapy, I tried out the compression booties, which felt amazing. I can absolutely see myself adding this into my routine when I want a little energy boost, or when I’ve had a particularly hard workout. Hiking season is officially back, so I’m looking forward to some long hikes coming up, in addition to the usual teaching, yoga, Peloton, and strength training rotation.

– Speaking of energy, I’m really looking forward to the 7-day Dr. Cabral detox starting one week from today.

So many of you have joined in and I can’t wait to do this as a community. If you’re interested in learning more, you can sign up here with the code FITNESSISTA20 for 20% off. You can check out the IG live I did last week with Dr. Cabral answering the top questions we’ve received, too.

If you know you’re in, I would definitely order by tomorrow to ensure you have everything you need!

So tell me friends:

anyone else with intense Bikram stories to share, or any other fitness misadventures?

Have you tried cryotherapy??

Hope you have a lovely morning and I’ll see ya soon.

Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today!
xo

Gina