Hello Friday. Hello August.

Happiest of Fridays and happy August! I’m not sad to say goodbye to July. It was HOT! I  am definitely not trying to rush fall but we’re smack in the middle of those summer days in the south that are so hot and humid that you feel trapped inside most afternoons. And that’s hard with a busy toddler! I’m also ready for the first freeze of the year so that the mosquitos go BYE BYE! I just bought a high velocity floor fan at Home Depot yesterday to use outside while I am throwing the ball to Zoey or Finn is playing with his water table. I’m hoping if I have it aiming towards us, it will prevent the mosquitos from landing on us. They’ve been just awful.

RELATED…I’ve been wanting to ask this question for a few weeks. How do you guys store outside toys like water tables, wagons, cozy coupes, etc. so that they don’t get covered in dirt, grime and leaves? I don’t have a garage and I also don’t love having all that stuff in my house.

Well, that was a tangent. 🙂

A few Friday favorites and things to share with you today.

ENTERTAINING FRIENDS

On Wednesday night I had a few girlfriends over to hang out and catch up. I had so much fun putting together this cheese plate. There was so much good stuff on here!

• Three kinds of cheese
• Marcona almonds and cashews
• Fresh figs and dried figs
• Fig jam
• Charcuterie
• Two kinds of crackers
• Blueberries
• Cherry tomatoes

My friends brought a salad, chicken meatballs, dark chocolate and wine. Perfect dinner!

I loved the excuse to light candles, get out some cocktail napkins and use some appetizer plates from my china cabinet. My friends commented that I had set a very “romantic” low light atmosphere. Don’t have anyone else to do it for so might as well for my girls. 🙂

Many moons ago, I used to entertain a good bit. I really miss it and hope it’s something I can get back to in the future.

TREVOR HALL

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I am feeling deep love for Trevor Hall right now and you will rarely find a yoga class playlist that I’ve made lately without his music. I’ve also been listening to Trevor Hall Radio on Pandora. Some of my favorite songs include Moon / Sun, You Can’t Rush Your Healing, A Reminder (East Forest Remix), The Fruitful Darkness, Karma, Free, Everything I Need and Jagadeesha to name a few.

Here’s a link to Trevor Hall on Spotify. Give him a listen!

A GOOD POST-OP APPOINTMENT

Obviously this photo has nothing to do with my post-op appointment but it’s a lot cuter than a picture of my Frankenstein toe!

I had my post-op appointment yesterday. It was 13 days after the surgery on my big toe to remove my toenail and repair the nail bed. Let me tell you, while I was thrilled to have the dressing taken off, I was not one bit excited to look at my toe. It’s not pretty but I have to admit that it’s not as bad as I thought. It’s definitely weird to have my toenail missing and it’s stitched in two places where the doctor had to fix the lacerations and damage to the nail bed. My doctor said he was extremely pleased by how well it was healing and with the minimal amount of swelling or bruising that was present.

Here’s where I’m at with recovery.

• Two more weeks restriction from teaching hot yoga because of infection risk. Until the wound is fully closed and stitches are dissolved, he doesn’t want me in a warm, wet, germy environment. Makes sense to me…but ready to be back to teaching.
• Four more weeks until I can swim or fully submerge my foot in water. I can shower and have water run over it. That was a game changer.
• At least four more weeks until I can cycle, run, yoga or do things like lunging, jumping, etc. Possibly longer into the 8-12 weeks out range depending on how the break heals.
• I am able to weight bear as my toe tolerates so that means no crutches and I can graduate from the surgical shoe to a tennis shoe. He also gave me the clear to start walking as long as I’m not in pain. Starting slow, of course, and gradually building up. I’m not going straight out to the trails for a three mile walk. 😉 That’s just not possible anyway because I can’t walk with a normal gait quite yet so walking for long periods of time just hurts in all sorts of places other than my toe like my heel and opposite foot. I don’t want to injure something else while trying to recover from this.
• I can do as much upper body, core, some glute stuff as I want as long, as well as very modified yoga practice, as long as I keep pressure and flexion off of my toe. So for example…I could do a forward fold in yoga with no problem but a down dog would be a no. I could do a deadlift with weight in the heels but not a lunge high on the back toe.

Overall, my doctor’s biggest message to me was not to overdo it. He stressed the importance of giving everything the best chance to heal correctly. He walked me through all sorts of bad scenarios like popping stitches back open, bone not healing right, etc. I am committed to compliance to his guidelines.

In my book it was a huge win to get cleared to start doing some walking! I can work with that for as long as it takes.

YOGA TEACHER TRAINING

Kinda obsessed with these 13 humans and so proud of their big hearts, commitment to growth and receptiveness to change. We have three more TT weekends in August to wrap up their 200-hour and I’m so looking forward to spending this time with them.

Once I wrap their TT, I’ll have a three week break and then kick off my next TT in Tennessee at VIDA Hot Yoga! I am so pumped to be returning back to VIDA for another training. We still have a few spaces available if any of you are drivable to Eastern TN!

Stay tuned for details on 2020 trainings. Lots of stuff in the works.

That was quite the rambling post. Thanks for being here!

Give me your tips for storing outdoor toys and keeping them clean. 

Any musicians/artists/bands you’re loving right now?

Do you have any fitness/career/hobby trainings, certifications or continuing education events coming up?