21-day yoga challenge: are you in?

In the spirit of a fresh and positive start to the new year:

21-Day Yoga Challenge

I'm a little late in hearing about this (I believe it's day 3 now), but for whatever it's worth, I'm sharing here. 

Options include beginner and intermediate levels, as well as tracking and sharing your progress by joining on facebook (or not!). The challenge includes a guided yoga asana practice (with video), a guided meditation practice, and even vegetarian meals.

But I believe the real challenge is maintaining a healthy lifestyle as best we can the other 344 days of the year.

Well, a little motivation right now can't hurt, right?

How are you challenging yourself this year?

"make the rest of your life the best of your life"

the rest of our lives...photo taken by this dear soul

I subscribe to Cheryl Richardson's e-newsletters, and I read this quote from Louise Hay in last Sunday's email:

"I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life."

It seems to me that there are 2 camps on the new year's resolutions debate. Some love it, some seem to hate it. A friend of mine wrote about "expounding on the good rather than pounding on the bad." I like that. It's not "I will give up this bad habit", rather, "I choose to adopt/practice this positive habit."

I personally find that I like taking this time to plan, and dream. I realize that the years in which I put words on paper are the years in which I took action.

Here are some questions with which to start planning and dreaming (with credit to Cheryl Richardson):

What new opportunities would you like to pursue in 2012? 

What exciting changes are you ready to make?  

Who will help make the journey fun and inspiring?

What one, helpful habit are you willing to develop to support your efforts?


I have to admit, I'm not quite ready to share them here yet... I am choosing to hold them close to my heart for now as these plans and ideas "incubate". Some are a little scary, a little outside of my comfort zone... but what is life without those experiences?

In the meantime... I am writing, making lists, and dreaming... and I hope that sometime this year, I will step outside of my comfort zone and just do it.

Big thanks to Sharon for this lovely notebook :)

new year, new haircut

Ok, since I've been on a roll with this New Year thing... ;-)

I got a new year haircut! Donated 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love, a "public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis" (see more information here)

Here's my "before" shot:

 It was SO long - and always in tangles!

And "after":

Locks of Love haircut 2011

Here is a shot of my first Locks of Love haircut, 4 years ago:

Locks of Love haircut 2006

Change is good. :)