40 Days

No, not the movie (although i do find Josh Harnett to be quite the cutie). I'm embarking on my own 40-day adventure that i *hope* will be as empowering and life-changing as it promises... See below for details.

40-Day Personal Revolution focusing on Mediatation and Asanaas

June 27th - August 5th 2007

The 40-Day Personal Revolution Challenge is a breakthrough program designed to radically change your body and awaken the sacred within your soul. Are ready to break those old patterns that hold you back from living life to its fullest? If you have never practiced yoga before or have practiced for years, Power Vinyasa Yoga is the secret to a healthy mind, body and soul. Flush the toxins of your life and discover your true potential. Live life to it's fullest everyday and every moment. This program includes 40 days of unlimited yoga, mediation, a blog site for questions, 40-Day Personal Revolution book by Baron Baptiste, the workbook from the Baptiste Power Yoga Institute and three days of juice from the Daily Juice here in Austin. At the end of this program you will feel light, free of stress and toxins. Your body will open your mind will soften and you will find peace in your heart. Take the challenge and tap into to your own personal power.

Free Food for Millionaires

I didn't think much of this book at first. In fact, I had to remind myself to go back to it, to read a bit more each week, so that i could finally cross it off my list. The idea of a novel with a Korean-American heroine was more than exciting to me. Finally! I've read enough Amy Tan to know more about what it's like to be a Chinese than Korean. And while I could relate, it was never the same, and I became easily frustrated by the italized words I didn't understand. So when I discovered this one, this book by a living, breathing Korean-American woman, I had to get it.

I was about 1/4 into the book as of this morning. I had planned to devote this Sunday to my reading, and after a great deal of procrastinating, i finally made myself a cup of tea and re-opened Free Food. And guess what? It got good. Really good. I am now 2/3 into the book and hope to finish it tonight. I'm not sure what happened, but it just... got to me, ya know?

I was reading about the heroine's little sister's wedding. It was the rehearsal dinner actually, and the bride and groom's families both respectively exchanged gifts. The bride's family was dirt poor; the father and mother worked at a dry cleaner and lived in Brooklyn. The groom's family were wealthy many times over. The bride's mother spent a small fortune buying the groom's large family expensive and thoughtful gifts. The groom's parents gifts totaled about $500 and all came from one shopping trip to Macy's. The heroine discussed the exchange in detail. The pain she felt for her parents. The way the groom's parents probably thought her family was trying to show off in the typical Korean way. The way the groom's parents' gifts to her family were a way of putting them in their place, telling them "hey, you're much poorer than us, and your daughter is lucky to marry our son." The way her own parents, though fully aware of what was occurring, remained humble, grateful and positive. I'm not explaining this well. But reading this passage killed me, and i was forced to put the book down. 30 seconds later i was sobbing into a pillow. What's going on? Had i not just journaled and even written a blog entry about how content i was with life? I can't explain it, but I felt as if i'd been stabbed in the heart twenty times. Nobody, nobody can possibly understand what it's like to be the child of poor Asian immigrants unless you are one. It's indescribable. And to have someone put it into words, so blunt and naked... it was hard. I can't explain. It was so hard.

Le Weekend

This weekend I...

~Napped
~Ate delicious BBQ
~Went crazy at Hobby Lobby
~Spent quality time with my Sista
~Ate an entire artichoke from top to bottom (delish!)
~Almost passed out in yoga... and secretly enjoyed it
~Journaled daily
~Bought stickers
~Managed to keep the kitchen relatively clean
~Cooked and ate all the produce I bought at CM last week: corn on the cob, asparagus, artichoke (see above), cantaloupe (didn't involve cooking, but you get my drift)
~Successfully assembled a delicious salad of mixed greens, broccoli, sugar snap peas, dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and GOAT CHEESE!!
~Spent some quality time with 2 adorable, miniature donkeys

Suffice to say, it was a delightful weekend. Can't believe i'm starting my 6th week of work tomorrow!

Weird

It's so strange to be... content with life, you know? Not like overbearingly happy or annoyingly optimistic, but just... content. That's not to say i don't have my happy moments because i really do. Like last night at the game, for example. I was absolutely delirious post-bat spinning, and today after yoga i went to Central Market and couldn't stop smiling. Eventually i had to because people kept staring, and i must say, i'm not one to smile when walking around the grocery store, even CM. I mean i can't remember the last time i was truly sad. I can't even remember the last time i cried! I think it was around finals when i got into that horrific fight with my mum. God that was a long time ago. ANYWAY the point is that i'm pretty OK with my life right now. Work is busy and often stressful but it's rarely dull. I am tres excited for my upcoming trip to D.C. and have already reserved my spot in my idol's yoga class. And after the yuckiness of finals and the MPRE is all done, i will be spending 7 glorious days in Costa Rica with the hip tranquil chick herself. I can't WAIT!

Quickie

This is gonna be quick (which i'm certain is OK since i don't think many people read this anyway, haha) because i've become such an old woman and am exhausted by 10 p.m. BUT i just wanted to share a few fun things going on in my life right now...

Tonight the firm had its summer party at the Roundrock Express game at the Dell Diamond. It was pretty fun until i learned that summer associate "initiation" included a surprise activity on the baseball field after the 5th inning. If you were there, please forget you ever saw that. Oh and i promise i wasn't drunk. That plus seeing the health law partner dance disco were the highlights of the evening for sure. :-)

Met Sista at Leaf for lunch today, a new salad bar in the 2nd street district. It's going to become a big favorite of mine, i can tell. That being said, i probably shouldn't build my own salad (they have a menu of salads as well) because i love everything, but not everything i love goes well together. For example today i had avocado, boiled egg, roasted corn, goat cheese and.... beets. Now i personally love love LOVE beets in my salad but they don't quite mesh well with goat cheese... Sooo we'll see. I'll try again next time. Felt so grown-up meeting a gal pal for a "business lunch." If only we had time to do some shopping afterwards. Or mani/pedi anyone?

I'm SO proud of myself for waking up at the crack of dawn and going running this morning. I haven't been able to go to yoga all week, but i finally have a free night tomorrow. So it's yoga at 6:30 followed by a lovely nesting sort of night at home, my favorite. Thursday i'm getting pampered at the hair salon, and Friday i have another date w/ Sista. I think we might do a sleepover and then brunch at Taverna on Saturday (it's supposed to be faaabulous). Mmmmm this summer has been so delicious lately. Despite the work , impending deadlines and sometimes absolute craziness at the office, i am really enjoying myself. The pay doesn't hurt either. ;-)

Comfort in Solitude

My mother has taken to calling me almost daily, asking "Are you ok? Do you like work? Are you lonely??" My reponse: "Yes i'm fine, Mommy. Work is fine, too. And no, for the 100th time, i'm not lonely." In fact, the opposite is true - i am loving my "me" time, relishing every savory moment of it. I crave that time, especially after spending all day in the office. My evenings are full of quiet dinners, journal-writing, internet surfing, book-reading, music, and catching up on my HTC podcasts. I have no real desire to go out, party, or drink. I do enjoy going out for a nice dinner or movie with a friend, but i'm also perfectly content with spending my evenings in bed with Puffin, a good book, and a hot cup of tea.

That being said, there is one place that i rather dislike being alone, and that's at the office. What is it about being stuck in front of a computer and a big lonely desk that i just can't stand? My first few weeks have been so busy and new that i never really had that much time alone in my office. That and i had an office-mate for a little while, and that helped break the silence. But now that it's just me in that big ole office, at that big ole desk, sometimes i just want to scream. I officially entered the "I CANNOT HAVE A JOB WHERE I SIT AT A DESK FOR SEVERAL HOURS A DAY" zone this week. It was bound to happen sooner or later, no matter how much i enjoy the firm. Oi vey. I have made some serious effort into improving the state of my office. After my office-mate moved out, the firm had the extra furniture removed, and my furniture rearranged "per [my] preferences." Now i have ample space, my ginormous desk faces the door, i have two huge windows directly behind me, and it's nice. I've tried my best at making my office a happy place... Colorful pens and file folders, framed pictures of my family and my Puffin (don't hate!), lavender scent sticks, a bright green pen holder, my huge bottle of ALIVE! vitamins... Still the office is pretty boring. If i were to ever become a partner in a law firm, the very first thing i would do is paint the walls pink. That's a promise, my friends.

I'm going to Dallas this weekend to visit the parentals, and i'm tres excited! I have wild plans of sleeping with Mummy and Puffin in her big, comfy king-sized bed, reading into the wee hours of the night, eating delicious Korean food, SHOPPING at the oh-so-fabulous Dallas malls, and trying out yogasport, a flow studio on Lemmon Avenue. One of the teachers there visisted Breath & Body (my studio of choice here in Austin) and guest-taught a class, and she was amaaazing. So i'm going to try to take her class Saturday morning in Dallas. Yay!

I stopped by BookPeople tonight on the way to "First Wednesday Prayer" (to be discussed below) and picked up a book entitled, "WORLDCHANGING: A User's Guide for the 21st Century." It was a book that piqued my interest after having read a review of it in a magazine some months ago. Well, BookPeople is having a great sale, and certain items were 50% off, and surprise surprise, this book happened to be one of them! So i picked up this rather large and heavy book for half-off. Don't you just love sales?

So First Wednesday... Well this is my first, and i'm not sure what i was looking to get out of it, but it certainly didn't deliver. I guess i had hoped for a lot of what i discussed above - comfort, quiet, and solitude in a group of bodies all conversing with God. A little worship here and there, communion... you know. Instead i got a small room full of loud, annoyingly chatty people who couldn't even shut-up when the leader asked everyone to sit and prepare. Then we broke into small groups of 3-5 people and "prayed together" after each of the leader's 4 prayer prompts. It was awkward to say the least. I think i would've gotten more out of group prayer if i had actually known the people i was praying with/for and if the leader wouldn't have kept interrupting us. I hate to sound so negative about an experience that is probably very beautiful for most, but it just wasn't what i expected. I won't be rash enough to say that i'll never return, but i think it's safe to say that i won't be going back until i can bring a friend along with me.

Speaking of religion, one of my favorite partners at the firm took me out for a coffee break this afternoon, and we got into a deep conversation, that lasted well over an hour, about love, relationships, marriage, religion, and even the love of my life, Chris Tomlin. It reminded me that lawyers, even successful partners, are human and can often be very, very cool. Well... maybe that's just Austin lawyers. ;-)

Happy Birthday, Sista!!

Ok so it's not really her birthday yet, but definitely close enough! And since blogging at work is probably a bad idea, i thought i'd give my beautiful J.Y. a pre-birthday shoutout right here. J.Y. and i will be celebrating her big day with her annual birthday dinner @ Ruth's Chris, and then perhaps a viewing of Pan's Labyrinth. And dessert - of course! It wouldn't be a "Sista" date without something sweet. :-)

Today's been wonderful, as has the rest of this weekend. Attended the 10:45 a.m. service @ the Stone this morning, and WOW. Worship and Matt's message were both so powerful and uplifting and emotional that it caught me by surprise. I relished every moment of it. Afterwards i attended the church's Discovery Lunch where i met some of the elders/pastors and learned more about the church's vision. Somehow i ended up at a table FULL of former Aggies!! They were pretty nice though, mostly cause they were on my turf. Austin? HOLLA! I was able to make it 4:30 vinyasa although i really must remember not to eat at least 2.5 hours in advance of doing yoga. It makes for a very unpleasant experience. There's a new yoga studio downtown on seventh street that i think i'm going to try out this week. As much as i'm not minding my job, i can't wait until it's over so that i have more time and flexibility to go to yoga more than 2x a week. With how much i'm paying, i should be going 2x a day...




I really really REALLY want a bike, and i found this amazing site full of fun, colorful beach cruisers. This one's my top pick. Isn't it purty? I totally dig.

Ok... lids are getting heavy. Goodnight, my darlings. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Weekend

Is it really Saturday night? This weekend has flown by. Last night the firm indulged us in a boat cruise on Lake Austin, which was absurdly fun. Who knew lawyers could laugh like that? God i had so much fun that it almost scared me. Later that night i met up with my favorite graduates to celebrate big D's birthday. It was the first time i'd been out and drinking in such a long time. Loads of fun, but i cut the night short and proceeded to pass out cold by 1 a.m. Today i've been running errands, did some South Congress shopping and ice cream eating with my little Laoura... Btw, i am never stepping foot into Goodie Two Shoes again. The woman who runs the shop, and her employees, suck. They are rude, not helpful, and ugly inside and out. I didn't appreciate the treatment I received, especially since i was actually buying a pair of shoes. Where do they get off being rude to me? Not being able to stand in there any longer, i went next door to Therapy where i KNEW i couldn't afford a thing, and received the nicest treatment and customer service. It was there that i purchased a fabulous pair of black wedges made of 100% recycled plastic. They are also 100% recyclable so after i've worn them out, i can toss them in a bright blue bin along with my water bottles and milk cartons. Neato huh? I also got a great black wrap top on sale. I don't mind spending a bit more at places that don't discriminate against someone who may not be a typical-looking Austinite. Tattoo-free and carrying a Chloe bag is apparently a crime in some parts of this city, and that just ticks me off. That's not Austin. You're being just as discriminatory and snobby as those pathetic yuppie salespeople in uptown Dallas. Ugh.

ANYWAY... despite that petit incident, the rest of my day has been wonderful. I just finished watching, "Deliver Us From Evil," a documentary investigating the life of a 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady. It exposes the corruption inside the Catholic church, and it's just heartbreaking... I mean i've heard all the stories before, but wow, it's just incredible that something like this happens. The saddest part was when the father of one of the victims, a Japanese man married to an Irish woman, basically said he didn't believe there was a God. Once a devout Catholic, this man has lost all of his faith because of how the Catholic church has dealt with the entire situation regarding O'Grady, his daughter, and the thousands of other children who were raped. While he said this, his daughter sat beside him and burst into tears. She still has faith. She went all the way to Rome to seek some sort of help from the Pope (to no avail, of course), was plainly rejected, and still has faith. Even i have trouble understanding that one.