The trees around here....

are mind-blowingly beautiful, like they haven't been in recent years. There is a red maple just up the street that is a brilliant, stunning red-orange. And there are trees like that everywhere - brilliant yellow ginkos, yellow maples, japanese maples with pale yellow leaves, flaming orange maples and reddish-brown oaks.

I went to Bikram this morning, even though I woke up with a wine headache from one dinky glass of wine. I had a cup and a half of coffee, two ibuprofen and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese and off I went. It is amazing how much better my balance is on my right than my left...most notably in dandayamana dhanurasana....because my balance is so good on my right, I can go pretty far in the pose, but not nearly so much on my left because the more I extend, the more I wobble.

I had an awesome toe stand today - again, on my right - and stayed there the whole time, no wobbling.

I am really struggling with endurance in trikonasa, though. That's been going on since I had my little cold.

I was starving by the time I got home...Lee & the boys were gone off somewhere. I decided I wanted to get a pedicure, so I made myself an appointment, wolfed down an apple and cheese quesadilla, & got in the shower. I went and had my pedicure, then came back home, starving again and with my headache back. I ate some roast chicken, a piece of cheese, two spoonfuls of peanut butter and a Dr. Brown's diet cream soda. Lee & the boys got home, they watched a video, and we all got on our bikes and went for a ride. I'm afraid I messed up my pedicure - but that's why I always bring my own color. It was such a beautiful afternoon and we had a good time. On the way back we rode past Carpe Diem and the smell of sauteeing garlic was about to make me swoon. Alas, we have no money for eating out at the moment.

When we got home, Michael played on bionicle.com and Will played in the sandbox. I cleaned out the cabinets and fridge. I dumped a ton of stuff - half-eaten boxes of stale cheddar bunnies and TLC ranch crackers...some tins of teas that mom & dad brought me from England at least three years ago....dried out dried fruit....dregs of stale grains from the bulk bins....a few questionable leftovers. I found a cup of short grain brown rice waaay back in the pantry, so I cooked it, thinking I'd use it in a recipe this week, but when I saw it cooked up kind of creamy and starchy, I found a half jar of Newman's Own pasta sauce in the fridge, added it to the rice with some salt and parmesan cheese, called it risotto and fed it to the boys for dinner.

Lee & I had another combination of leftovers, over whole wheat rotini with the last of a bottle of gewurtztraminer (sp). I love using up a bunch of assorted leftovers...it makes me feel very Little House on the Prairie.