Simple Joys of the Week, August 3rd Edition

What. A. Week.  I got a crazy case of hives (yes, this kind of stuff happens to me all the time!), enjoyed an almost sleepless night due to the combination of Benadryl + caffeine that I ingested to help the hives (and allow me to function), taught a bunch of Level 1 Teacher Training sessions, spent time with my mother-in-law-to-be (crazy!?) who was in town for work, and finished polishing up my ATT thesis--in addition to my normal weekly class-load and work-load. This is life, isn't it? Phew!

Among all of the craziness of this week, I was still able to enjoy a bunch of simple, sensory pleasures, so lets take a look at some of my favorites below...

Image via afterhoursmusicblog.blogspot.com

Hear: "Whatever It Is" by Ben Lee

During our Advanced Teacher Training final teachings, one of my fellow teachers played this song in her mix. Instead of just asking her what the name of the song was, I went home and spent about an hour searching for the song on iTunes. When I had no luck, I gave up and forgot about it--until I ran into her this week. I finally asked her about it, and this is the song! It's amazing! You may think I'm totally cheesy for loving it, but I think it's really sweet, inspiring, and uplifting. When I heard it while practicing, I was totally moved by it. You'd better believe that it will be on my August playlist that I plan on making this weekend! Listen to the song below:

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Image via washingtonpost.com

See: Olympic Swimming

I've caught myself off guard by being really into Olympic swimming this year. Some people are total Olympic people--they're always obsessed and watch every single event that they possibly can--but I've never been one of those people. And I'm still not, but I am totally on the Lochte/Phelps/Franklin bandwagon this year. Why is Olympic swimming just SO fun to watch? I've been loving it. I know I'lll be very sad when they're over...

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Image via delish.com

Taste: Guacamole at Rosa Mexicano

Have you been to Rosa Mexicano yet? If not, you must go. I just found out that it's located in a bunch major cities now (Atlanta, Boston, LA, Miami, NYC, etc...I had no idea?), so even if you don't live in DC, you can still take a trip there. Why would you go there? One reason = their guacamole. It's incredible. They wheel their little guacamole ingredient cart over to your table, make it in front of you, and it tastes just as fresh and amazing as it looks.  I'm a total guacamole snob, and I would say this one is the best I've ever had (besides our homemade recipe, of course!). Nothing like a good avocado, you know? 

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Smell: Chlorine (while swimming laps in our local indoor pool ;)

Ben and I have a new Friday afternoon tradition--swimming laps in our local pool! It's so much fun! I know, it's kind of weird that this SJOTW post has such a swimming theme, but I promise, the two aren't that related ;) Ben has been taking Adult Swimming Lessons all summer (cutest thing ever? Yes!), so he's been a lot more interested in "practicing swimming" lately. I swam in my neighborhood swim team when I was younger (woohoo!), and have always enjoyed swimming laps, so it's been a lot of fun to get back to it with him over the past few weeks. I had forgotten how amazing it feels to swim--it's a tough workout, but it sure is meditative and relaxing once you get into the groove...

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Image via dancingmindyoga.com

Touch: Teaching hands-on assists to the Level 1 Teacher Training students

One of the things that I love most about teaching yoga is giving people hands-on assists while they practice. Touch is such a powerful tool, and as a student, it can be wonderfully encouraging, empowering, nurturing, and grounding to be assisted by your teacher. Because of this, I always really enjoy teaching new teachers how to give assists when teaching. Plus, it's always really inspiring to watch teacher training students get more and more comfortable touching others while teaching. Have I mentioned how much I like hands-on assists?


So that was my week! How was yours? I hope it was full of little moments of joy, pleasure, and unabashed happiness, no matter how busy, exhausting, or chock full it may have been.

Here's to a marvelous weekend for all! If you're local, join me for a "Jump into Yoga 2" Workshop at TSA on Saturday at 5pm--all of the details are here :)

Namaste,
Mary Catherine

PS. In addition to teaching a workshop this weekend, I have my final wedding dress fitting (eek!) and am going on a tour of the White House (finally! It's embarrassing to have lived in DC for 3 years and never have done this....). I'll let you know how both go on Monday!

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