Posted by terrepruitt on March 16, 2018
Ooooo! One of my husband’s co-workers was in Mexico and brought us back this bowl. Beautiful, huh? At first I had it on my counter with fruit in it. But then I realized I couldn’t SEE the super pretty part of the bowl when it has stuff in it. So I have moved it to my dining room table and there is nothing in it. Now I can see it when I walk by. It is so lovely. I wanted to share our beautiful bowl for my Friday Photo post.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: beautiful bowl, co-worker, Friday Photo, gift, Mexico | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 14, 2018
Do you like to burn candles? I do. I love to burn candles. I love scenes on TV shows or in movies where the room is just filled with candles. But I always wonder how long it took them to light all those candles. I mean, in reality they have a team of people come in to light the candles – or so I think. But if it were the character in the show, how long would it have taken them to light that many candles? Do you know the scenes I am talking about? The ones where there are at least 40 to 75 different sized candles burning. It would take a long time to get that many candles lit. And then you have the danger of the candles being knocked down. Ok . . . so even though I love the look, I wouldn’t necessarily have that many candles burning all at once. And with cats who at times seem like something is after them and they have to FLY through the room into the next, I prefer not to have too many candles burning. I also prefer to have the candles I burn be jar candles or tea lights in a “jar” or votives in a “jar”. Something where the flame is not exposed. If I am sitting in the room then I can handle a bare flame candle, but I am most comfortable with jar candles.
There are so many that I love. There was a candle at the grocery store that I was buying at least once a month. I stopped when I ended up with a small stockpile. But when I ran out the display seemed to have disappeared. I think I saw it at the other end of the store, but I don’t walk in that way and forget about it. So . . . I don’t have a stockpile of those ones. But I do have a stockpile of my other favorite candles.
They are Terra Vela candles you can buy them online from www.TerraVela.com, but we usually stock up at an Art and Wine Festival. They are the kind of candles that smell good without even having to burn them. The room a candle is in will smell like the candle just by being in there. It is so awesome. That means, for me, I can get the scent of the candle without having to burn it. I can just have it on the table next to me for a bit. Then when I burn it I can smell the scent, too. To me those candles are like double the time you get to enjoy the scent.
As you can see there are several scents that we like. Actually a couple of these are new to us. We bought them the last time we saw her. As I was taking the picture the scent was amazing. I am looking forward to using the Khaya. I have another one, Creme Brulee, I think, on my table right now. It is almost done and I think Khaya will be my next one to burn. Nag Champa is my favorite. I don’t know how to say it, but it smells divine. That is my FAVORITE.
She has a lot of different scents so I am sure you can find something you love. But one of the reasons I like to buy from her at a festival is so that I can smell them all.
It is raining here, to me that is candle burning weather. So I have candles on my mind. That is why I am posting about them because I was thinking about the lovely scents of these candles and I thought I would share in case you love burning candles as much as I do.
Candles make a great gift, too. Another thing I love about candles.
What do you think? Do you like candles? Which do you like to burn? Do you have a favorite scent?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: art and wine festival, candles, jar candles, Nag Champa scented candle, open flame candles, tea light candles, Terra Vela candles, votives | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 12, 2018
There are eight different limbs to yoga. The poses or asana is just one of them. That is probably the one you are familiar with, the poses. Modern Western yoga is primarily about the poses. When you hear yoga, you more than likely think of an exercise where people bend and stretch. Well, as I mentioned there are eight limbs to yoga, meaning there is a lot more to yoga than just the poses. I often compare yoga and Nia because there is a lot more to Nia than just the dance exercise. A lot of what we do in Nia or the way we approach dancing and exercising can be applied to everyday life – and that is just like yoga. One of the limbs or aspects of yoga is Pranayama. Prana = Life Force Yama = Practice / control / restrain. Pranayama is controlling your breath.
There are many types or ways of doing Pranayama. There are also many schools of thought when it comes to it. Some think you shouldn’t do it until you have mastered the asana . . . but then for many of us, that would mean never doing it . . . or doing it very late in life. Some say it must be done in a seated position. Some say not to do it while in Shavasana. Some say each Pranayama has its place. Some say you can jsut do it whenever. Some say Pranayama is a silly practice.
For those that think it is silly I would just like to point out that controlling one’s breath is a very common technique for many things. Sometimes we take a deep breath before we are about to say something important or difficult. We might take a deep breath when our thoughts are racing and we want to calm them down. We might take a deep breath when we are excited and need to calm down. We might do a bit of a pant when we are experiencing pain. There are many common breathing techniques that pretty much most of have participated in. So Pranayama should really be too far out there for people to accept. Doesn’t mean everyone has to do it, but I feel it means pretty much everyone could agree that there is merit to it.
The ones that I have previously posted about: Samavrtti (Equal Breath), Ujjayi (Victorious Breath), and Sitali (Cooling Breath), I feel that I can do. The one I am posting about now is not one that I can do. It is very difficult for me. I can get part of it but not all of it. I am talking about Dirgha or 3 Part Breath.
With the Dirgha Pranayama you breathe into your torso in three parts. I was taught that you practice this Pranayama lying down. First you inhale, gently expanding the belly, as you continue to inhale you expand the ribs, allowing them to open up to the sides, then complete the inhale by expanding the upper chest, lifting it. To complete the breath you exhale starting with the upper chest — don’t let the ribs or the belly move — then exhale from the ribs allow the rib cage to shrink, then finish the breath by emptying the belly area allowing it to deflate. Repeat this process with a smooth and relaxed breath. So the breath is not done in three parts, but the breath is brought into three different areas one at a time.
It is an extreme challenge for me to separate each area on the exhale. One technique that can help with the separate or at least give you a visual as to the separate areas is to place something on each area. Yoga sandbags are the perfect tool. Something with a little weight seems to help for me. But a towel or whatever can lay across each area and indicate movement is great.
Pranayama is practiced – just giving a few – to help improve lung function, to steady the mind (when the breath is steady the mind is steady), and to relax the body and mind. So, if you want to achieve any of these, then you might want to try the Dirgha Pranayama.
When you read it, did you try it? How did you do?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: breathing techniques, Cooling Breath, different limbs of yoga, Dirgha Pranayama, equal breath, fourth limb of yoga, Nia, Samavrtti, sitali, three part breath, ujjayi, Victorious Breath, Yoga | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 9, 2018
As you may know because of one of my recent Friday Photo posts, it was my hubby birthday recently. I took him to one of our favorite “occasion” restaurants. This is the view from the deck.
Oh, another deck view for my Friday Photo
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: beautiful view, birthday celebration, birthday dinner, Friday Photo, Grandview, sunset | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 7, 2018
A long time ago, I used to country western dance. In fact, that is how I met my husband. I started off line dancing. It was super fun, but I never seemed able to keep up with all the dances. I learned a few, but by the time I learned them the crowd was already onto a new dance. So then I decided I could try couples dancing. Well, perhaps a few months into it (actually I don’t remember when at all, but-) – at some point I bought some dance boots. They looked like cowboy boots, but had a suede bottom for dancing. Well, these were the most expensive pair of shoes I had ever purchased in my life so I wanted to protect them. What a lot of dancers do is they bring their dance shoes/boots in and put them on in the dance venue. That way the bottom of the shoe does not get wet or worn on the ground outside. This also protects the dance floor from any sand, dirt, grit, grime, or whatever being brought in from the outside. To me bringing in my dance shoes and changing into them there was kind of inconvenient, I always hated having to keep track of my shoes I wasn’t wearing. So somewhere along the way we found Robby’s No Wet Foot.
So cool. These are like the shoe covers you see on medical TV shows they wear in surgery or when there is a really immune compromised patient. They are booties that go over your shoes but these are made of a vinyl. So easy to just slip them over dance boots or dance shoes and take them off once at the dance floor. They just roll up like a pair of socks and can be stored in a jacket pocket or purse. When I went dancing I would not bring a purse – because I didn’t want to have to keep track of it. I would, on occasion bring a jacket and these fit right in the pocket.
I have no idea where we got them, but I am guessing it was at a dance competition. I am thinking there was a booth and we bought them there. But when I look online they are marketed to bowlers. Bowling shoes have suede on the bottom too and just like dancers you don’t want to get stuff on the bottom. It interferes with performance. Bowlers and dancers alike also don’t want to get the bottom of their shoes wet. So with a bowler it could be a matter of putting them on while they are walking around the bowling alley and/or going to the restroom. A wet suede bottom does not slide and that is not something you want when bowling or dancing.
Any dancer that doesn’t want to get stuff on their shoe, or stuff on the dance floor might be interested in a pair of “No Wet Foot”. The website shows they have the vinyl shoe covers in three colors and a pink ribbon pattern. They have fuzzy ones in seven colors. It looks as if the fuzzy ones are just fluffy on the top and the bottom is made of the vinyl.
What do you think? Cool idea, huh? Do you bowl?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: booties, bowlers, bowling, Country Western Dancing, dance shoes, line dancing, Robby's No Wet Foot, suede bottom shoes | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 5, 2018
I’ve been blogging for a long time. At least I think it is a long time. I know there are people out there who have been blogging for even longer, but to me nine years is a long time. In fact this month is my nine year anniversary to the blogging world. I started in March of 2009. Well, since I have been blogging so long and not all of you have been reading my blog that long, I thought I would point out some posts that you might be interested in. Keeping in mind the comments I have received and the conversations I have had with some of you. Also keeping in mind your blogs, here are a few posts that I thought I would point out in case any of you might be interested.
This is one about an amazing product that helps me with my bumps and bruises. Some of you may be interested. The product is Zheng Gu Shui.
Foam Rollers are COOL! is a post about two stretches that you can do with a foam roller. Many of us need to stretch more often and many of us love it when we do. These are super easy ones some of you may like.
I teach Nia, you may have heard :-). One of the things I love about Nia is that a lot of our practices within the practice can be applied to life. Here is a post about Sustain, Increase, Tweak, we do it in Nia while dancing and it can easily be applied to our every day life.
I LOVE to watch birds taking a bath in our bird bath. We used to have blue jays that would come back every year to have their babies near by. One time I got a few photos of a baby taking a bath. Even though he may look big, he is a baby. The young ones usually look larger and fluffier than the adults. Pictures do not capture the joy this bird seemed to be experiencing! This post has is about a Baby Blue Jay Bath.
Hummingbirds’ beaks are not straws they suck through, they actually have really long tongues. You can see that in my Hummingbird Tongues post.
More for the bird lovers: Silhouettes
For the dog lovers: Honey, I Shrunk the Doberman Pinscher
The comments on this one are worth a read, Lyrics Gone Wrong. Too funny!
Some nice shots of a beach trip. Do you wanna see the ocean? Check out my post Santa Cruz, California
Ahh, this one I am posting just to remind myself . . . . I need a color for that! Color Me A Reminder
Ok, sorry, I have shared more than I was planning, because I want you to look at all of them, but ten might be too much. I might just have to do another post somewhere along the way to point out some of my old posts that might be of interest to you. And get them some love.
Thanks for taking a look.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: baby birds, blogging, blue jays, Debbie Rosas, exercise, Foam rollers, humming bird tongues, humming birds, life practice, min pins, Nia, Santa Cruz, workout, Zheng Gu Shui | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 2, 2018
I am surprised I haven’t posted a picture of the lake from the deck. I really thought I had so I hesitated before deciding on this one. I have not. Baffling. Well, I am going to be posting more then, since I don’t have any.
Here is a the view from the deck for today’s Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: beautiful view, Friday Photo, lake view, view from the deck | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 28, 2018
Are you on Facebook? Do you actually post stuff or just look at other people’s stuff? Well, if you post stuff you may know this, already. Although you can still see the effects if you click on the particular words, you might not have tried that, they just happen if you type. There are some “words” that cause fun stuff to happen on Facebook when you type them or click on them. I know it is an absolutely ridiculous thing but I love it. It makes me happy. In fact recently when I was typing an e-mail (yes, I am still on Facebook and I still type e-mails) I was disappointed because my e-mail was not doing the same thing that Facebook does.
I only know of four “words” (and I say “words” because only two are actually words) that result in fun animations that float up your screen. I bet there are more.
If you type “Congratulations” or “Congrats” and post it you will get a fun animation. You can also click on the word where someone else has posted it and the same animation will float across your screen. It is like a party. Balloons and confetti!
If you post “XO” or “XOXO” (not sure how many you can type, I’ve seen up to three – xoxoxo) a fun animation will float across the screen. This one is hearts. The same applies for all of them, you can type it or click on it if someone else has posted it and you will see the individual animation that goes with each word.
There is also “Rad” I am not sure if “Radical” works just like congratulations and congrats work. But with Rad there are flying blue thumbs.
And “BFF”, again, here I am not sure if you actually typed out “Best Friends Forever” if that would make the animation work. But BFF has hearts dancing on the screen.
The text of the animation words is colored. That way you can know which words will result in the fun stuff. Congrats and XO look somewhat red, Rad looks pink, and BFF looks green.
If this type of thing makes you happy you too might be disappointed when typing these words in other places. There is no animation in e-mail – at least in my e-mail.
I am not sure, but I also think that when I look at my notifications I see hearts float up the screen when someone has liked (?) loved (?) one of my posts? Again, not sure, but I do think I have seen hearts. Sometimes it happens so fast I am not sure to which notification it is happening.
I also use Facebook several places so it could be that each place and version operates differently. I mean, I think FB updates the same, but some of my devices are so old they might not support the new stuff. So my animations could be all over the board.
I bet there are more words that have animations. Are there? Do you know of any other words (“words”) that when posted cause animations to happen?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: BFF, congrats, Facebook, Facebook animations, fun stuff, rad, XO | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 26, 2018
Wow. Have you or someone you know been hit by the flu? Or something? I mean it is cold and flu season. I am pretty confident that if you haven’t caught it you know someone who has. It is my belief that with the lives we lead and all the rush and pressure to go-go-go, we don’t stop and give our bodies the rest they need in order to get well. With all the going and not enough resting it takes a really long time to get over these illnesses that get us. I have heard of some people being sick for three weeks. I am not sure exactly the extent of that. I know that it can be that long or longer before you are back to feeling 100%. Without being able to completely STOP and rest it just takes so long to get better. So I wanted to remind you that once you feel better and you resume your regular workout SCHEDULE, do not resume your regular workout. Take it easy. Take is slow.
If you have been sick for two or three weeks and you have not been doing your normal activities, if you have had to cut out your workout because you just don’t have the energy because your body is busy fighting off some cold or flu, once you think you are back to your 100% you still need to take it easy when it comes to your workout. Right? Your body has 1) been fighting off an illness for three weeks (or longer) and 2) has not been working out. As you may have experienced even when you are healthy and you take a time off from your workout, it is usually as good idea, if not necessary, to kinda ease back into working out. So it makes sense that after being sick you should ease back into it. Even more so because your body has been doing a lot of work in trying to get well. When you are feeling 100% you don’t want to go whole hog. You want to give your body time to adjust.
So, be kind to yourself. Give yourself a break. Try not to have the mentality of, “Oh my! I have been off from working out for three weeks so I have to push myself that much harder. I have to make up for what I have missed.” And/or “Well, before I got sick I could do XXXX, so I SHOULD be able to do it now.” No. You shouldn’t be able to the same things you did before you were sick and you shouldn’t do the same things. Give yourself some time. Ease back into it. Your body needs to adjust. Give yourself a break.
I know it might be hard because you may feel like you need to make up the time you missed or you may feel like you worked so hard to get where you were you SHOULD be able to be right back there. But, no, your body still needs to adjust. So go slow. Be gentle with yourself. Be kind. Understand that it is ok to take a few workouts to get back to where you were.
If you go easy on yourself you minimize the risk of getting sick again. The idea of a relapse should be enough to encourage you to take it slow. None of us want to be sick AGAIN!
Posted in Misc | Tagged: cold, easing back into working out, flu, getting back to working out, sick for weeks, taking it easy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 23, 2018
Ahhhh. It is my hubby’s birthday. Here is a picture of his birthday cheesecake that he had last Saturday. Like most people, we have to celebrate when we can. We wanted to go to a place where the view – particularly the sunset – is part of what makes the meal so great. The only way we could see the sunset is if we went the Saturday before his actual birthday. He was just about to dive into this when we noticed the chocolate said, “Happy Birthday” We almost missed it!
Sometimes it is advantageous to do the “big/special” dinner before the birthday because then ya still get all the little celebrations along the way.
Happy Birthday, Honey!
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: birthday celebrations, birthday cheesecake, Happy Birthday, special dinner | 2 Comments »
Terre Pruitt's Blog 