Currently obsessing over

Baking soda: I’ve long heard it’s magical properties, but it was reading Ashley’s post about using baking soda instead of shampoo for a more natural, eco-friendly, less expensive form of hair cleaning, that made me start really testing things out. Follow that up with discovering a recipe for a carpet cleaner that includes baking soda, and now I’m Googling all the ways to use it to clean.

Suggestions? How do you use baking soda in lieu of cleaners, detergents, etc.?

Lissie. I’d heard her here and there before, but Chelsea recently turned me on to a bunch of her YouTube videos and first album (which I promptly bought from iTunes). Check out her Kid Cudi cover here.

Any new music blowing you away lately?

Sunday Potluck. Jodi started this routine within our little crew here, and I have to say – it’s probably the highlight of my week’s lately. We hosted a Dip Potluck at our place this last weekend, and have previously enjoyed a Sunday Brunch potluck, a couple over at Grace and a couple great ones at JR’s place. It is the perfect way to end the weekend and start the week – with food and conversation with the people who have made this town a home for me.

What traditions do you share with your crew?

Rediscovering balance. I recently switched job directions and left the start-up I was working at here in Boulder in favor of going back to contract work, seeking further yoga teacher training, and anticipating some bigger changes towards the end of the year. I’ve started mentally reorganizing the way I’m approaching my own business, and am a super-productive machine in the morning, and am making time for workouts and errands and input in the evenings. I’m finding a routine that works for me, that allows me to work when I’m most efficient and recharge when I need to step away.

Etsy Giveaways. I found this site (which I debated sharing with you…) to a listing of A TON of Etsy Giveaways, and so far I’ve won a vintage teacup (!!!) and am hoping for a couple of handmade pieces of jewelry.

Inspiring Women. I’ve known since I moved here that I was immediately blessed with great girlfriends. Over the summer, and in the past few weeks I’ve come to realize just how brilliant, strong, intelligent, beautiful, and inspiring this group of women really is. I am inspired daily by this group that holds me accountable, that encourages my own brightness, and that celebrates each other’s differences in such a strong way. You girls are diamonds.

Me, Elsewhere

If you want to stalk me at my various haunts online, this week I wrote:

• Collision Course, Stratejoy.com – my take on love’s role in my quarter-life crisis
• Appolicious New Site Launch, FRWD – quick review on the new Android and Yahoo! sites launched by Appolicious
• I was interviewed by Kristen about my first job. You can read about how I started at Target corporate offices advising in-store HR reps on how to administer benefits, payroll, etc. A far cry from where I am now

Up and Coming

As this posts, Boyfriend and I are on a flight, taking a little trip out to the Pacific North West this weekend, set out to enjoy and explore Portland, a city we’ve both fallen in love with in the past. I went this last April for the first time, and have been so excited to get back. While we’re there, I hope to check out a class at CorePower Yoga, spend some serious time in Powell’s Book Store, and use a Groupon I bought for a cute little thrift store.

What’d you do this week? What are you doing this weekend?

How amazing is this idea to treat life this way – with open-mouth kisses and no holds barred.

That’s hot.

So is your penmanship

I am officially the World’s Hardest Person To Get on The Phone.  I mean for more than “Where are we meeting?” and “What kind of wine should I bring?” kinds of conversation, but in my defense, I ROCK the hand-written notecard.  I make some, I buy some.  ”Postage stamps” should probably be a line-item in my budget by now, and I find, make, and send cards – even to my friends who I see all the time.

I found these notecards on Danielle LaPorte’s blog, White Hot Truth.  Many of you know her as a rockstar already (she is a frequent source of brilliant inspiration for me), and it turns out, she’s creative in the craft department as well.  You can buy these cards here* or by clicking on that ginormous photo above.

Down Dog Epiphanies

My other favorite cards are the ones by Curly Girl Design.  Leigh Standley’s collection of cards, calendars, notebooks, and other paper goods always deliver inspiring and quirky thoughts.  My favorite one is one Nicole sent me back when I’d just completed yoga teacher training.  It had a picture of a little yogini in Adho Mukha Svanasana and simply said,

“Funny, she thought, how much right-side up came from upside-down.”

Isn’t that the truth?

What are your favorite cards?  Who was the last person you sent one to?

*affiliate link

{photo: via}

It was kind of off-handed and all that I added Number 18 to my Life List.  Ride in a helicopter or a hot air balloon. As if they’re even remotely close to being the same thing.  I mean, sure they both go up in the air, but one’s you know – copter-like with engines and machines and spinny things and the other?  Just one giant sheet filled with air attached to a basket.

Somehow I equated the two and number 18 happened.

I’ve never really made an effort to accomplish this one – it’s long been one of those “I’ll get to it one day” after the homemade granola (done!) and the Pacific Ocean thing (also done – you can see that here).  Except life slash The Universe slash the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority had another idea and decided to email me one day all “you! plus Reno! plus hot air balloons! plus food! and wine! and more surprises!” and I was all “Whaaaaaa?!” and they were all “sshhshhp! come on over!” so then I said yes.

Because that’s what you say when they say all of the things about the balloons and the wine and the food and the wine.

And suddently the RSCVA was hosting me (and Boyfriend!) in Reno for a weekend of hot air balloon rides, foodie adventures, and sight-seeing.  We’ll be there during the Great Reno Balloon Race, and I’m honored to get to scope out the scene and surrounding areas by x number of feet high (how high do those things fly anyway?) in the name of we’re-honored-to-be-media and other such things.

I don’t have all of the details yet, but Boyfriend and I are making A Trip out of it.  Road trip from Boulder through Salt Lake City, into Reno, around Reno, and then back a different way.  16-ish hours each way, Mini Cooper on the open road, camera in hand (or around my neck like a good tourist oughtta do it), and cooler packed full of Capri Suns and Coke in a bottle.

I don’t know why I said Capri Suns.  They just seemed portable and road-trip appropriate.

Road trip?  Balloon race?  Sight-seeing in a new city?  Food and wine?  YES, please and thank you.  Stay tuned here and on the food/travel blog – this is an adventure I can’t WAIT to share more of.

*Disclosure: the RSCVA invited us both to come out and participate.  Neither of us are receiving compensation for participating and attending and we’re under no obligation to write, but you know that’s how we do. They’re kind enough to cover our food, lodging, and adventure experiences.  We’re covering the road trip out there and back ourselves.

{via}

I’ve held these truths to be self-evident and have worn them like a badge of honor for years:

• I’m afraid of heights.
• Buttons and wires scare me.
• Wanting more money means I’m greedy or that my priorities need shifting.
• I don’t wear heels.

Or am I, do they, does it, and can I?

That first one – the part about being afraid of heights.  I said that off-handedly to Boyfriend once when we were talking about something… something like skydiving or hot-air balloons, and I started spewing all of the reasons why I either couldn’t do those things or, conversely, why “being afraid of heights” wouldn’t keep My Stubborn Self from doing some of those things.

I’m afraid of heights, I said.

No, you’re not, he replied.

I mean, yes I am.  I’m not afraid of being in tall buildings or anything but the idea of being on the roof of one – however guard-railed – makes me dizzy if I can get near the edges.  The idea of jumping out of a plane terrifies me.  When we drove up Trail Ridge Road last month, I got nervous being on the edge-of-the-mountain side of the road.

I fixed my bike once

I remember being eight years old and riding my bike one day when the chain came off.  Independent Doniree didn’t even consider having someone else fix it for me; I propped it up by the kickstand, stretched my little fingers, and put that sucker back where it was supposed to be.  I was one of those 8-year olds that was somewhere between girlie girl and tomboy.  I climbed fences and played Ninja Turtles, but I liked makeup and jewelry like any plenty of other little third grade girls (and some third grade boys).

It was that girlie part of me that beamed with pride over my greasy hands and working bike.

I don’t know what happened to that girl, but somewhere between eight and twenty-seven, I developed this aversion to chains, and wires, and buttons.  I think it started when we needed more than one remote control all of a sudden: TV, stereo, DVD player, video game consoles.  That’s like, four remotes.  Times about 20 buttons.  Which is just Too Many Buttons.  So I had this idea that I just wasn’t good with buttons and things, until I got my Wii this summer and set it up all by myself.

Snide remarks about how easy the Wii is to set up can kindly step left.

The point was, I did it and suddenly realized that the whole buttons/wires aversion was something I’d assigned myself for some unknown reason and maybe if I just channeled Bike Chain Doni, I was capable of more than I thought.

The one percent

I believe that thoughts become things, that craving a healthy, passionate relationship enabled me to find one, that it’s possible to attract great people, the right opportunities, dream jobs, deep relationships, and even tangible things with a very basic formula: focus on having those things you want.  Do things that honor that and serve those goals.  (Some people call this “working hard for your dreams.”  I call it Crushing It, but that’s a another blog post for another day).

I believe all of that, and I have all of that.  A strong relationship, perfect job opportunities, deeply moving friendships, the ability to travel.

I believe all of that, with gusto, with every part of my being, and as a part of that had long ago decided that those choices – moving around, working freelance, and doing a helluva lot of yoga meant that I would need to accept a mediocre-to-average income.  Get used to living simply, stop wanting ‘things’, and better learn a budget.  I believed in abundance in every single aspect of my life except for one: money.  I believed that wanting more made me greedy and ungrateful.  That wanting more meant my priorities were backwards.  That I didn’t need it, wouldn’t get it, and should get used to living without it.

And I was asked why I held this belief when every single other aspect of my life was governed by the complete opposite framework, and I started to slowly consider what might happen should I undo it.  I wouldn’t say it’s undone (and I’m not rich), but I would say that I’m starting to incorporate this framework around every aspect of my life – even finances.

Stiletto girl

I blamed it on the Barbie feet (you should SEE these high arches), and have always been a flip-flops and sneakers kind of girl.  Until this summer when I wore heels in NYC, summer wedges with my sundresses, and broke out my longer-fit jeans just so I COULD wear those peep-toes.  And you know what?  I haven’t fallen down once.

I can wear high heels.  I do (just not that often).

That’s just how I am

No, actually it’s not.  Or at least, it doesn’t have to be.

The point of all of this is this: we assign ourselves these “identifiers,” and suddenly we’re not just talking about fears, personality traits, or random little quirks – we’re wearing these statements like it’s a badge of honor to be afraid of heights (it’s not) or to never wear heels (also not).  When we take the “fact” out of the equation and maybe try something on like “I love the view from this rooftop terrace,” or “I know the perfect pair of pumps to go with that dress,” – maybe we might see some changes?

Walking Contradiction

In true contradictory nature – and to balance things out, here are a few concepts I’ve “adopted” of which I’m more than happy to continue the self-fulfilling, because they’re not at all limiting beliefs.  These truths, I’m totally cool with:

• I am a morning person.  No really, I am.
• I won’t out-beer-drink you.
• I might out-wine-drink you.
• I don’t do my own nails.

Who are you?  Who aren’t you?  And what are you telling yourself now that could use a little change in verbiage?

Just a little PSA for all of my fashion-forward, budget-watching, Groupon-loving friends – today’s Groupon is a national deal for The GAP.

The deets: Buy a $25 Groupon worth $50 in GAP stores. I also heard a rumor about Foursquare offering a check-in discount between now and the end of August.  I doubt you can combine the two, but hello fall fashions!

I already bought mine.  I’ve been looking for some really great pieces, and I keep finding awesome accessories and shirts at thrift and vintage stores, but I need a couple of specific things like: a blazer, new jeans, basic cardigans.  Something tells me that I can find these pieces without a problem at The Gap, right?

What will you buy?

Disclaimer: affiliate links

{photo: via}

The changes in seasons often mirrors our own life changes – living space, career objectives, new relationships, and personal decisions.  There’s something “new” and “fresh start” about the back-to-school season, regardless of how long you’ve been out of school, or whether or not you’re still in it at all.

Blank notebooks, sharpened pencils, new clothes.  It’s a new year, in a sense. Like the leaves turn from green to red, the pages of our own stories turn, closing one chapter to begin the next.  The leaves are still green here in Colorado, but I can feel the change coming in the evening breezes – it’s cooler and crisper than it was just weeks ago, and that’s a refreshing and delicious feeling.  And if this Midwesterner knows anything, it’s how to recognize Autumn as she creeps in around corners before being seen in broad daylight.

Summer Lovin’

When I first moved to Boulder, one of the first things I did was take on some contract work with one of our local tech startups.  Lijit Networks provides a sweet search and stats service to bloggers and online publishers, so being a blogger and online publisher who got to work with other bloggers and online publishers, it was an amazing fit.  I learned the ropes and worked 20 hours/week from February until May, when I accepted their offer to go full-time.  It was exactly the right choice, allowed me to be fully present in the job I was doing, and learn from some of the brightest minds in Boulder.  I’d also never experienced any real work environment other than large corporation and ad agency, so experiencing “startup” life in a startup rich city has completely rocked.

However, big changes are around the corner and new opportunities are arising.  I’ve made the choice to first of all continue my yoga teacher training here at the Core Power studios in Boulder.  CPY offers what they call an “Extensions” program, which is basically an apprenticeship and will provide some one-on-one mentorship, followed by some in-studio teaching opportunities.  Hopefully this helps me get over the nerves and jitters I have about getting up in front of a class, and will totally erase “because of fear,” to the excuses I’ve made for not teaching yet.

Yoga, Writing, and New Gigs

Starting mid-October, I’m back in a shorter round of training and by mid-November hope to be actually putting into practice all of the energy I’ve put into studying.

Meanwhile, I’m still writing for the Minneapolis-based media agency and have also accepted a communications position with a non-profit that I am thrilled about.  It’s part-time (so a great integration with the contract work I already do), and allows for telecommuting.  The group is HQ’ed here in Boulder, and I’ll get to bounce between the offices here (on campus!) as well as go back to the working-from-home option when needed.

No, I’m not taking on more. I’m letting go a little bit, and my last day with Lijit is this Friday, August 20.  I’ll mark the transition with a camping trip with friends, and then be an official part of the communications team with a non-profit with a focus on women in technology and the information, research, and mentorship that surrounds that.  Exciting, huh?

This fall is going to be a big one.

What changes are you anticipating this Fall season?

(All you Sanskrit experts out there, forgive me if I spelled that wrong).

The first of the Yoga Sutras, atha yoganusasanam means:

“Now begins the study of yoga.”

An interpretation I heard when I first started studying these old texts was simply, “now this is yoga,” or “now is yoga,” and it’s something I’ve carried with me ever since.

Now begins the study of yoga.  Now is yoga.  Not tomorrow, not yesterday, not the class you just finished.  Now.  This very moment, this very breath.  This is your yoga.

This is my yoga.  My yoga is an asana (posture) practice.  My yoga is a study of texts.  My yoga is in my framework, my structure.  My yoga is “how I do anything is how I do everything.”  It’s the gift of a calm presence, and the constant asking of myself what it truly means to live with an open heart.

It’s my full bind, and a full expression of ardha chandrasana (both of which I moved into this week for the first time) just as much as it is the space behind my eyes and the stillness in my heart.

My yoga is honoring my need for input and taking a break from output.  It’s striving for balance in a world that wants my extremes.

Now, this is yoga. Now, this is commitment, dedication, study, perspective, authenticity, calmness, openness, love, abundance, self-study, and joy.

Now, this is yoga.

What are you honoring right this minute?  What are you letting go of from yesterday and tomorrow?  What is your now?

Photo credit: me!

]]> http://doniree.com/2010/08/12/now-this-is-yoga/feed/ 11 http://doniree.com/2010/08/03/qlc-wine-tasting-photos-and-nyc/ http://doniree.com/2010/08/03/qlc-wine-tasting-photos-and-nyc/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:00:45 +0000 doniree http://doniree.com/?p=3332

{photo: via my own bio info on Stratejoy}

Just a little love note to let you folks know that I’m not here today, but lots of other places!  Awww, you miss me?  Check out:

Stratejoy | Today, Yesterday, and the Time Before That

I’m thrilled to be joining the team of guest bloggers at Stratejoy for Season 3.  I’ll be sharing stories from my life as I kick through this Quarterlife Crisis business.  Oh, you can relate, can you?  Thought so  Today, I share Part One of my story. You know, the part where I tell you where I’m at now and how I got there.  Follow along, won’t you?

Nomadic Foodie | Denver’s 5280 Wine Tours

Boyfriend and I enjoyed an urban wine tour date day, and we toasted our way through Balistreri Vineyards and the four wineries at Colorado Winery Row.  Photos (the best part!) and notes can be found on the food blog!

Project 365 | 8/365 : Bullseye

Rachel, Lacey, Michelle and I decided to start Project 365, wherein we post one photo per day for 365 days.  It’s fun not only having some girlfriends to do this project with, but I also love having a place we can share those photos.  I posted my 8th photo last night.

Up and coming

I leave for NYC on Thursday for the weekend to “crash” BlogHer like I did last year.  By “crash,” I mean not attend the conference but spend time catching up with some of my favorite blogger girlfriends (and finally meeting others!) on Manhattan’s playground. If you’re going to be in town, let me know!  I have plans to check out a couple of parties (including Nintendo’s again!), meet-up with some 20SB friends on Saturday night, and play photo-shoot in the city with Rachel and others on Sunday.

Also – I promise!  More videos coming soon

Where are YOU today?

“The best gift we can give anyone is our calm presence.”

I don’t even know where to begin with where that first started to sink in, but I’ll try.

First, there was the fact that it was the end of a particularly challenging yoga class.  Challenging for me, anyway.  Challenging because I took up running again last week (HI, CARDIO!) and feel like that works different muscles than yoga, so I was all stretchy in different places than I was used to being.

The class was challenging because one of my favorite instructor happens to be everyone’s favorite instructor, and forty people in a yoga studio is hot and sweaty and close.  And challenging because on top of working new muscles in a packed studio, these classes are heated to 95 degrees anyway.

So, I was hot and working some new muscles groups in different ways and these aren’t excuses, I’m just saying it was a challenging class.

“The best gift we can give anyone is our calm presence.”

So, an hour passes and we’re working our way into savasana, and I know I shouldn’t say “work” because here’s where we do all of the real letting go and real just being and real stillness*.  Except it’s tough sometimes to quiet our minds and be calm after being energized, and to put aside – even for a couple of minutes – the busy that’s in our minds and just be present.

And I hear these words, and I start to breathe them in.  Chew on them.  Meditate on them.

My calm presence.

Which, is interesting for a number of reasons, the most obvious to me at the moment being this hovering feeling of over-stimulation.  Produce, produce, produce, output, output, output.

Conversely, I’ve been seeking input lately, to avoid burnout.  I love producing, creating, and expressing, but my soul has been craving knowledge and learning about my world, my relationships, and really I just wanted to absorb information without feeling as though I had to regurgitate it.**

So, I tried to absorb this, and let it sink in.

“The best gift we can give anyone is our calm presence.”

So I considered how my calm presence is and could be a gift.  How calmness during conflict, whether external or internal, could be a gift to myself and my relationships.  And I considered what it might take to find and keep that perpetual calmness during the busy times, the high levels of activity, the quick pace.  I knew from watching my body and mind react to stimuli recently that I definitely need to balance all of the output with a little more input - listen more, read more, absorb more.  Give myself permission to watch that documentary, to read that magazine, and to stop writing and producing long enough to have things to write and produce about.

OH.  Interesting concept.  Hi, Balance!  Nice to see you again.

I also determined that yoga and rest had a lot to do with it, but I also determined that what’s true for me in that answer may not be true for you.  So…

How do YOU hold yourself accountable to stay calm under pressure?  Cool under fire?  Or if you don’t think a calm presence is the best gift you can give someone – your lover, your friend, or yourself – then what is?

*I know, I know.  We do all those things in all the postures.  Yadda yadda…
**The irony of the output that is blogging is not lost on me, don’t worry.

Also – I’m thinking about making “Off the Mat” a regular, weekly series – thoughts?  Anyone else like this idea?

I know I’ve been all sorts of posting this week, but I can’t help it!  So much to say, so little space on Twitter…

Wanted: Conversations

So, this is just a quick announcement but I couldn’t wait!  Through various conversations with friends, readers, my boyfriend and other sources of my own inspiration, I realized how many questions I get from folks about a number of things – blogging itself, finding balance, how to start your yoga practice, where to eat in Boulder, etc., and I decided that I’d love to tackle broader questions that just the Formspring Fridays that you’ve submitted so far.  Granted, FF is a huge source of this inspiration – many of the questions I’ve answered there have been “How do you…” types of questions.

I’m going to answer my last round of offical “Formspring Friday” questions this Friday in a video blog (talking about balance, sandwiches, and big accomplishments!), and shift this whole format over to a much broader scope of information.

There’s now a new page in my navigation bar titled “Ask,” so go ahead and click through and ask away!  I’ve been working on this all week, and am super excited to get started.  I’ll answer anything you ask, not just “advice” types of questions, so if you really do want to know what my favorite kind of cake is, you can ask that too.  I want to learn from you what you want to get out of doniree.com, and what you want to know about me to fill in the gaps from what I might not have mentioned yet.

Coming soon

Since conversations aren’t one-sided (not in my life anyway!), I’m also planning on asking some questions myself of you!  I know I end a lot of posts seeking your feedback to help shape the idea that I’m writing about, but I’d love to know more about the other things in YOUR lives as well.  I’d love to know more about who my readers are.  I have a number of ideas of how to do this, and I’m still brainstorming around those.  Either way, I hope to have a great place for you to share everything from feedback to suggestions to your favorite movie, etc.  I love the relationships that have come out of this blog, and I’d love to know what keeps you coming back as well as what you’d like to see more of!

The answers get tucked away in a spreadsheet (thank you Google Docs) that I’ll use to structure my responses in both video and blog post.  I can’t wait to have these conversations with you!