Homemade Lotion Recipe

This is honestly my favorite lotion. It is simple, smooth, creamy, absorbs well, no chemical smell or feel, much easier on you or your kid's sensitive skin. I love it. So I had to share(Thanks again Corrie, for sharing this with me). It is so easy to make, and so much less expensive than storebought, eco-friendless lotions.

1/4 cup olive oil (I haven't tried yet but I bet other oils like jojoba, coconut and grapeseed could be lovely too)
1/4 cup emulsifying wax (veggie based NF kind, here is where you can buy some: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70570537/emulsifying-wax-veggie-based-3-oz-to-10)
1 1/4 cup water

Microwave wax and oil for 1 min
Microwave water for 1 min
Pour the water into the wax/oil combo
If it separates stir till it stops separating.

I have mine stored in a mason jar. You can keep it plain or you can add essential oils. I have one jar that has lavendar, clary sage, and rosemary. I have another jar that has cinnamon and orange. It only takes a few drops to scent the lotion so don't overdo it. The mixture thickens over a few hours and then is ready for use.

So easy, right? I don't think I will ever buy storebought again.

Try it out, see what you think!

Hugs and Namaste.

Sharing The Love

I have received so many wonderful emails lately from yoga students about their experiences with yoga, that I felt I had to share some of them with you. I have also received a lot of love and appreciation in these testimonials and I wanted to send it right back out to my students. I try to let you all know on a regular basis that I feel you teach me as much as I teach you. You help center and guide me just as much, and your dedication and attendance in my classes has brought me so much  perspective and joy. My gratitude to all of you is abundant, and I hope we can continue to help each other along our path for a while to come. Without further ado, here is how yoga has influenced the lives of some people I teach:

"I have to say I have really enjoyed yoga! The mind body connection is fantastic. It is feeling good to get my body a little more flexible after all the spinal taps and chemo treatments. I'm noticing the neuropathy from nerve damage from chemo treatments on the bottom of my feet is getting less intense. Seems like yoga is helping me recover and getting back to normal.Thanks for your help."

"Thanks so much for class today, I really needed it.  When I'm practicing yoga I forget about feeling hungry, exhausted, bloated and lacking in good digestion, slightly queasy, fat, hampered by painful boobs, and distracted by a wandering mind.  In yoga I feel light, long, lean, strong, beautiful, and like my body is serving a higher purpose.  I love it."

"I read a quote today that I wanted to share with you... because it says perfectly how I feel after one of your classes.

"In play, it is as though he were a foot taller than himself" Lev Senenovich Vygotsky. You always support our yoga practice with a sense of play and letting us know that its ok to be where we are as individuals without judgement.. you let us know its ok to be childlike and imperfect ... just being to be. and I think we all leave standing taller because of your positive energy and strength of spirit that you give to us each week."

"This weekend I worked at home and at the duplex.  I didn't even get sore.  Yoga helps me SO MUCH. "

"Just thought I would say I can tell a difference from when I came to when I have not.  I was not sure I would like Yoga, a friend who does it liked it so I tried it.  I do like Yoga and you are a great instructor!"

"I had such a great time at yoga today! I have missed coming since my mom was hurt... I have been on FMLA taking care of her and have barely kept my head above water around here! I can see now that I SHOULD have been making your class a priority each week... I have not felt this relaxed and energized since my mom got hurt!! THANK YOU!!"

"yoga was AMAZING today!!! I LOVED it!! I was 3 hours late today... long story and debated on if I had time to come or not and I am so glad I listened to the reasonable part of my brain that said...YOU NEED YOGA!! Thank you for always putting together such great classes for us!! Seriously I don't know how I would survive everything with my family right now if it wasn't for you! Your an angel in yoga pants!!"

"Thank you for all you do to help keep my mental health in check and my life in balance. Thanks for always making my day go better!!"

"btw, I'm loving how I feel after just one class back! I'm sore in places I've never been sore before - great workout! "

"Just wanted to let you know how truly restorative yesterday's yoga session was for me. I have back problems and I really felt good after the session and all through the night last night. Thanks for giving your time to this effort. I appreciate it very much."

My heart is overflowing. Thank you all and thank you yoga. Namaste.

Evolution

It has been a while since I have written. Adjusting to pregnancy has definitely been a process. I have had to reevaluate and redefine a lot of major aspects and perspectives in my life. This challenge, like many others, is an opportunity for evolution. A tearing down and rebuilding of self. The tearing down part can bring out the deepest darkest corners of vulnerability and sit them down front and center, giving no choice but to watch and be with them. But great expansion comes from the tearing down, greater space to be and grow, greater distances to see from. I think the most important thing to remember is to not label emotions and experiences as good or bad, but to allow for what comes with an inquisitive introspective eye, not a reactive one. Believe me, with the hormones I have flowing through me, that can be tough. I was thinking about how much hormones can affect the way a person behaves. So much of what we define as personality seems to be moreso a mixture of chemicals and their reactions to one another, and a simple change in the concoction can lead to drastic changes in a person. So if hormones dictate so much of our behavior, what differentiates personality or soul? I asked my friend this and she said, "Maybe it isn't necessarily what the hormones make us think and feel, but how we choose to react to them that defines our personality." I thought that was a really good answer. P.A. Bernard says that, "Body and soul are coexistent, one is but a manifestation of the other. the best way to perfect the soul is through the body and senses. Purify the body and through the body improve the spirit."
This is why for me, yoga is not simply a physical practice. It is therapy for the body, mind, and spirit. Not only does physical well-being benefit, but through the practice of yoga is a cultivation of deep awareness and mindfulness. This skill translates over into every aspect of our lives creating a greater foundation of peace, stability, happiness. This does not mean we do not continue to experience every emotion under the sun, and that life won't continue to throw curveballs, it means that when it happens we will assume less and less that what is happening is wrong or bad. Negative judgement and reaction to a situation will decrease, and so will our suffering.
I invite all of you to join me for a restorative, restore, or yin class this month with the intention of practicing for the mind, and not just the body. Hope to see you there.
Namaste.

For You, Mi Ciruelo, Always

The Truelove
 David Whyte

There is a faith in loving fiercely
the one who is rightfully yours,
especially if you have
waited years and especially
if part of you never believed
you could deserve this
loved and beckoning hand
held out to you this way.

I am thinking of faith now
and the testaments of loneliness
and what we feel we are
worthy of in this world.

Years ago in the Hebrides
I remember an old man
who walked every morning
on the grey stones
to the shore of the baying seals,

who would press his hat
to his chest in the blustering
salt wind and say his prayer
to the turbulent Jesus
hidden in the water,

and I think of the story
of the storm and everyone
waking and seeing
the distant
yet familiar figure
far across the water
calling to them,

and how we are all
preparing for that
abrupt waking,
and that calling,
and that moment
we have to say yes,
except it will
not come so grandly,
so Biblically,
but more subtly
and intimately in the face
of the one you know
you have to love,

so that when we finally step out of the boat
toward them, we find
everything holds
us, and confirms
our courage, and if you wanted
to drown you could,
but you don't

because finally
after all the struggle
and all the years,
you don't want to any more,
you've simply had enough
of drowning
and you want to live and you
want to love and you will
walk across any territory
and any darkness,
however fluid and however
dangerous, to take the
one hand you know
belongs in yours.

What Do You Crave?

My diet is a continuing process. By diet I don't mean the ways I have damaged my body over the years by eating only cabbage, grapefruit, or meat( remember when Atkins had a heart attack?). By diet I mean the foods I habitually consume. I don't label myself vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, raw, carnivore, ovo-lactarian, etc. By a slow process I have cut back on things I have found to be unhealthy, and integrated more healthy foods into my diet. It has come through years of constant research and frequent habit revisions.

I share this because people often ask me for my secrets, my recipes, my plan. So I am going to share some of the things I have done on my road to a healthier me, mind you I still have a ways to go, we are all somewhere along the spectrum from unhealthy to healthy, and we are all making progress in our own ways.

I believe most of us know the basics of what is healthy and what isn't. Where it gets difficult is knowing how to prepare healthier foods, knowing what is out there, and overcoming food addictions. When I began looking closely at my diet I looked at all the foods I ate and drank most habitually. I began with the thing that would be easiest to cut out of my diet, soda for example, and I did. I didn't worry about anything else for a couple months. I just focused on not drinking soda and a healthier alternative to drinking soda that I enjoyed. If you try to do a complete diet overhaul it is overwhelming and very difficult to maintain. One habit at a time is doable. It gives you time for your body to adjust to something different. It usually takes about 3 weeks for habits to change and tastes to change. Often times once you get used to the healthier alternative, when you taste the unhealthier, you find you prefer your new healthier habit. Now I may have a bit of soda once in a blue moon, but it is in no way something my mind immediately turns to as a beverage.

As far as what foods to buy. I go to Sunflower Market and Whole Foods and buy new things to try. Sometimes I find something delicious, sometimes it is disgusting. I have a good community of health conscious friends with whom I share ideas. Pati Reiss, owner of Wholisitic Gourmet, is a great example. She holds cooking classes on a regular basis giving great ideas on healthy alternatives.

People ask me for recipes, but honestly I don't have many. I was blessed with a grandma who taught me how to cook without measuring. I was instilled with a love of cooking and playing in the kitchen. It is rare I follow a recipe 100%. I find great joy in looking at what I have left in the cabinet and fridge and seeing if I can make a delicious meal out of it. I know that not everyone has this love, and therefore; I want to share this book with you.

Breaking the Food Seduction by Neal Barnard, MD. This book most closely models the path I am taking with my diet. He discusses the chemical properties of food and how a great deal of what we eat in the U.S. has the same addictive properties as some major drugs. I think most of us have felt those cravings whether it be for chocolate, cheese, meat, salt, dairy. Dr.Barnard explains what is causing the cravings and what these foods are doing to the body. He described some of my own personal issues symptom for symptom.

I really like this book not only for the in-depth scientific explanations, but also for his awareness of how everyone differs. After he talks about the major foods that can be problematic he discusses ways to break the addiction. The end of the book has a bunch of recipes. The recipes follow most closely the things I try to eat 85% of the time. Once you lose the addiction and habitual grab for the unhealthy food it is easier to naturally choose the healthier route the majority of the time. Anyhow, even these recipes I modify a bit. I will add organic unsweetened applesauce for oil to lower fat. I will put even less sweetener in the recipe or I will add some stevia instead(stevia is a calorie free herbal sweetener).

Dr.Barnard also writes about foods that help fight pain and other illness.  I think the more that we can connect with the idea that what we eat actually does affect how well our mind and body function, the more we can use natural methods to find the healthiest versions of ourselves. Namaste.

Excerpt from The Thinking Body by Mabel Elsworth Todd

"In order to come into balance we have to stand astride several worlds. We have to be able to feel at the same time as thinking, accept at the same time as judging, receive at the same time as giving. We have the opportunity to live in a state of antagonistic flow, balancing all the contradictions that make up our reality. We are all perfect just as we are, and we are all very imperfect, and that's perfect. Instead of opting for one side of the contradiction and letting the other ossify, and be projected onto the outside world, we can sit in the middle of our conflicts and learn to balance the different energies, and in doing so the conflicts become less extreme, our judgements become less harsh, we discover an inner dynamic equilibrium that does not create stillness at the expense of suppression of important parts of us, but finds a harmony in difference. This is peace. It is an inner liveliness, not a static inertia. It is the balance of life and death, light and dark, the goddess and the monster. By owning our own monsters we need not create external monsters. If we accept our internal wars, and let them come to rest, we may not need to create external ones."

Am I Born That Way?

Throughout my years of yoga practice I have attended many classes, retreats, and workshops. Often times the instructor or their cronies would walk around the room as they taught and evaluate who looked ‘right or wrong’ in a pose. They would then proceed to try to mold you into what they felt was the right way. Many of the adjustments I have received over the years from instructors, even ‘yoga masters’, haven’t seemed helpful and sometimes seemed hindering.


In my career as a yoga instructor I have been very hesitant to physically manipulate a person in a pose. I have done a bit here and there, but remain reserved in the practice of it. I often felt my hesitation was due to inexperience on my part(which there still is), but after watching Paul Grilley’s Anatomy for Yoga DVD, I think that a good deal of it may have been due to an intuitive understanding of the versatility of the human body.

The focus of the lecture was the differences in human anatomy that we are born with, specifically the skeletal structure. The four main reasons people vary in what they manifest in a yoga practice have to do with compression, tension, proportion and orientation.

-Compression is where the connection and shape of the bones physically stop the range of motion from continuing.

-Tension is the stress of tight muscle or connective tissue.

-Proportion is the length/width of body parts in relation to one another.

-Orientation is the adjustment or alignment of oneself, their relative position.



Of these four components only 2 of them do we have the ability to change, tension and orientation. Compression and proportion we are born with and will forever affect how we will be able to manipulate the joints and the body.

So how do we know when it is compression or tension that is preventing us from going deeper into a pose? Grilley says that if the sensation stopping you is originating from the direction you are moving then it is compression. If the sensation comes from behind the direction of movement then it is tension. For example, when you are in a squat, if you feel sensation in the Achilles tendon or calf that is tension. If you feel sensation on the front of the ankle, it is compression.

Here are some good Grilley thoughts for your practice:

-Don’t let the tail wag the dog. Don’t compromise the axis joint to move the extremity deeper.

-Don’t predetermine what is good or bad. As humans we want to create closed systems based on right and wrong. Anytime you say- This is right, especially as an instructor, you are hurting someone it does not apply to.

-Hypo/hyperextension isn’t necessarily good or bad. More accurately, how does the person feel in the pose?

-Muscles close joint space. When we are in a muscularly energetic pose it can affect our range of motion.

-If there is compression, use props as a tool to get to tension release.

-Your body is a reflection of your mental and emotional life as well as your physical history.

-Take what works and create your own yoga.

We are ALL different. Every day we practice yoga we are looking to prevent gravity and time from collapsing our body inward. Movement itself opens us up, sends energy out. Grilley says how we look aesthetically doesn’t necessarily enhance or diminish the emotional, energetic, health, mental, spiritual benefits of playing with our edge.

For more information, check out Grilley’s website at http://www.paulgrilley.com/

Breakfast Shake: Get it all in at Once!

I've never been good at taking my daily multivitamin. They make me gag. Then the rest of the day I am burping up disgusting vitamin taste in my mouth, Ewwwwww. I have finally found a great alternative thanks to the help of my partner in nutrition exploration, Corrie. Corrie introduced me to what I believe is the best tasting nutrition shake I have had. The chocolate flavor is rich and full, and the shake itself  is one of the most nutrient dense I have seen, right up there with the Alive! brand powders( but soooo much better tasting). I will not deny that it is more expensive than other shakes out there but no more than what i've been paying for a tasty coffee drink from a cafe, and if you use it as a meal replacement it is quite a deal. It also comes with some recipes for a pie, cookies, and different shake combinations. Corrie gave me this great container you can order with the shake that has a grated top so that you can pour your milk in the cup, then add the powder, shake shake shake, and there's your shake. For some reason that makes it a lot easier for me to make and drink, knowing I don't have to use and wash the blender. A serving of the powder is 160 calories. I add either unsweetened coconut or almond milk which is only 40-50 calories a cup. Eat some fruit, protein or veggies with that and you've got a great start to the day right there, but I add more.
http://myshakeology.com/esuite/home/corriegus/the-science

The best multivitamin I have found is the Raw One for Women(they have one for men too) Capsules. The capsules are the least flavorful(in a good way), and best combo of vitamin/minerals I have found. I have vitamin D deficiency issues and just one capsule contains 1000 iu's, and 200% daily folate to boot. One of the greatest aspects to this vitamin is that it is a powder inside of a clear capsule. Instead of swallowing it like a pill, I open the capsule and dump the contents into my shake, and then I can't taste it at all. I have never been better at taking my daily vitamins.
http://www.gardenoflife.com/ProductsforLife/THEVITAMINCODEsupsup/MultivitaminFormulas/RAWONEForWomen/tabid/1834/Default.aspx

The last thing Corrie showed me that is a great addition to the shake when I want to change up the flavor is powdered peanut butter. For those of you that love peanut butter but don't want all the fat and calories, this stuff is only 45 calories for 2 tablespoons. Regular peanut butter is 190 calories per 2 tablespoons. You can also use it like traditional peanut butter by adding water. They have a chocolate flavor I haven't tried yet, but knowing my love of chocolate, it'll probably be a hit.
http://www.bellplantation.com/nutrition

I have loved having this new treat every day. I feel healthier. I hope some of you can benefit from it as well!

Namaste,
Reina

Someone Should Start Laughing

I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
How are you?
I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
What is God?

If you think that the Truth can be known
From words,
If you think that the Sun and the Ocean
Can pass through that tiny opening
Called the mouth,
O someone should start laughing!
Someone should start wildly Laughing -

Now!

-Hafiz

Yoga For Cross Country Skiers Workshop

February 19, 2011, 2-4pm, $25
Spots are still available!

You do not have to be a skier to participate.
Make 2010 the best ski season ever with greater flexibility and strength, and fewer aches and pains. Yoga has many benefits for skiers. Yoga improves core stability and strength, builds flexibility and balance, strengthens bone, enhances muscle flexibility and tone, and boosts lung capacity. Learn Yoga techniques you can use at home to improve your skiing, and how to get the most out of your Yoga practices when you do attend class.
This workshop will be led by Reina who has just returned from studying Yoga and Ayurveda in India! Come ready to learn and enjoy exploring movement, whatever your level.

One Step at a Time

I know many of you are wanting to hear all about my trip to India. Those two weeks contained an overwhelming amount of experience that I am still processing, so I am going to take it a bit at a time, and that philosophy goes quite well with my topic today.

I haven't had caffeine for 3 weeks, minus a bit of chocolate. We all have aspects of our lives that tempt us out of balance, and coffee is one of those things for me. I go back and forth arguing the health benefits versus risks of caffeine consumption. Because there are both, as in most things- it isn't an easy decision for me. Part of my ayurvedic treatment included a no caffeine/chocolate diet for 2 weeks. Man, coming off Disneyworld, a cruise full of motion sickness, 2 days of travel to India, and no caffeine- the first few days in India were a physical challenge. I decided it was an opportunity to try no caffeine for a while. I gave a six month timeframe to notice how my body and life are different without the sweet brown nectar in my cup every morning. At that time I can make the choice of how much I want caffeine to be a part of my life.

I love hot drinks though, so luckily Ayurveda is a big proponent. Ayurveda believes that cold drinks aren't good for digestives fires(agni in sanskrit). Every day we drank warm herbal water and chai. The chai we drank consisted mainly of ginger, cumin, jaggery(raw sugarcane), and unpasteurized goat milk. Tasty and easy, but I didn't get the exact recipe. Another herbal tea that is supposed to be good for you is CCF Tea. Equal parts Coriander, Cumin, and Fennel- just add to boiled water. The recipe I have been using I got from an Ayurvedic Workshop I took a couple years ago. It has been a delight to have all these spices each morning, and I have read they are good for the body in a number of ways. I suggest waking a bit early one morning, making some chai, sitting somewhere quiet and being present with the senses for a bit. Notice how the rest of your day goes when you start it from a place of presence and warmth.

Chai for 2-4
2 cups water
2 cups milk( I used coconut milk, but you can use soy, almond, cow, goat, yak etc)
1/2 to 1 in. fresh ginger root, peeled and cut up
5-10 cardamom pods, crushed (or just sprinkle in some ground if its all ya got)
2-5 cloves (can crush)
Cinnamon stick
dash of nutmeg
1/2 tsp fennel seeds (can crush)

bring water and spices to boil, then simmer 5 minutes. Pour in milk. Can add vanilla bean or extract, saffron, and turmeric also. Simmer a bit more, then drink. Mmm mmm good.

Suggestions: you can blend all the dry ingredients ahead of time and use powdered ginger, then in the morning just add to water and heat. Milk is optional as well. Once you get used to making it you can play with the amounts of spices adding a bit more of what you like, cutting back on what you don't. To add some sweetness try Succanat, Jaggery, Agave. Some are tempted to use honey, but according to Ayurveda honey loses its beneficial properties when heated and should only be consumed raw and uncooked. Enjoy and Namaste.

Thoughts and Stuff while on a cruise:

1. You know when you get a medication and it has a long list of possible side effects that you hardly pay attention to because those side effects apply to the .05% of the population that isn't you. Well, I was a part of that .05%. I tried motion sickness patches while on the week long cruise, and poor Rich had to deal with me that whole week while I had no short term memory. I was tired, out of it, and had the blurry vision it warned about that made it hard to read. Therefore I learned that...
2. Cruises are not my bag. I'd rather fly to a location and stay there, as opposed to being stuck on a rocking boat for days. Even when you get off the boat, everything keeps rocking, this computer is rocking as I type. Somebody stop the rocking!
3. Polygamists go on cruises too.
4. The food isn't all that great, but snuggling in bed with nothing to do for a week was grand.
5. I am not too claustrophobic. I was very happy to stay in my dark dungeon state room the whole time, but I think many would have had anxiety attacks(I think you wouldn't like it mom.)
6. Grand Turk was my favorite stop off. Warm beach and sand. Well, Virgin Islands ended up being cold and rainy and we couldn't even stop off at Half Moon Cay due to gale force winds. So all we had was Grand Turk and Puerto Rico to explore.
7. I want to watch a bunch of Esther Williams films, anyone have some I could borrow?
8. My body is ready to be physically still for a while, but it will have to wait until Tuesday.
9. I did see dolphins while at sea.
10. It is hard to be home, after flying from the east coast, just to turn around in a couple hours and fly back. So tempting to crawl home to bed. But I will perservere, especially with words of encouragement, text me!
Namaste.

15 Things I Pondered at Disney World:

1. No matter how you enter, you always exit in a different place(this goes for the soul and the street.)

2. The Pirates say "Dead Men Tell No Tales", so while your still tickin' live life to the fullest and create some great stories to share.

3. As Dave Clark quoted from a former president, "Planning is everything, but the plan is nothing." It is good to have an idea of what you'd like to have happen, but you never know what life will throw into the mix so it is important to be flexible and keep the plan dynamic to save a lot of suffering.

4. I want a pet cat-goat, "Bleeeowwwwwt."

5. It's all relative. And there's a clever pun if I ever saw one, being a family trip and all. Our world is made up by our experiences in relation to our perception of those experiences. People are more comfortable when they know what to expect. Previous experience dictates their current actions. The trouble that can come is pulling in the worst possible scenarios from the past to create fear in the present. Little kids are a great example. They don't have a lot of experience, everything is a big unknown, so they either go for anything because their short past has shown them there is nothing to fear, or they fear everything cause they have no experience telling them it's no big deal. What am I talkin' about little kids, I still get nervous on a new ride, I just think I am better at not crying and saying 'I want my mommy!'

6. Doesn't matter how you peel it, watching someone eat a frozen banana is hot.(Rich told me to write that.)

7. When I think a line is too long or my feet are too tired, I remember that it is 70 degrees and sunny, I am with great people eating tasty snacks, and I am very very very lucky to even be able to be here.

8. Relativity again, the ridiculous (not the boggart spell) lines at Harry Potter helped me appreciate the complete lack of lines at Magic Kingdom even more. Experiencing the 'bad' helps one appreciate the 'good'. If we didn't go through the 'bad', we'd have no frame of reference. Even so, i think in this country, our frames are hung pretty high in comparison to the life most people in the world live.

9. I put quotes around 'bad' and 'good' cause I don't think they truly exist.

10. I do, on the other hand, believe that wizards, fairies, brownies and sprites exist, just maybe not in the way that Disney says they exist, more in a good at video games gender specific tasty treat kinda way.

11.You can have your dream come true, maybe I wished upon a star, and by star I don't mean Johnny Depp, although I'd share me booty with him any day, but by dream I mean finding the person that compliments me perfectly. After being in half a dozen serious relationships that never felt right and wondering if my expectations were too high and if I should just learn to settle, I finally am with the person who not only meets my ideal, but far surpasses it. With him there is no doubt, no question, no disconnect. For the first time I feel with complete confidence that he is my other, the person to be a witness to my life and who can share a grander view of the world with me( he is 10 inches taller.)

12. Captain Eo was as awesome now as it was 25 years ago.

13. The Yoga Sutras say that aggression and avoidance are two paths toward suffering. A harmonious path is neither purposely causing pain nor avoiding pain to the point that it simply perpetuates suffering. I am getting better at learning not to purposely aggravate my motion sickness to satisfy my ego, but to also not completely avoid an experience for fear of what may happen. In the end, the fear is almost always worse that the actual outcome. And even though I got a little queasy I rode a hippogriff and helped spiderman defeat his enemies!

14. Disney marketing is brilliant. They create magic that you want to take home with you, and so they package it for purchase, but when you get home you quickly realize the item you purchased cannot contain the magic of the experieince, it is the mind that can do that, so instead Rich and I took pictures of the things that called for us to buy them, and then we didn't spend a bunch of money on stuff that would end up junk in a box.

15. There is an internal pressure on the last point to say something super profound to wrap it all up, but all I really want to say is that I spent 7 days with 21 in-laws and it felt like being home. I couldn't think of a better family to have spent a week with in Disneyworld. This experience has shown me the wealth of love and human connection I have in my life. Thank you all for sharing your life with me and inspiring me everday with your interactions. Namaste.