happy birthday to me!

me in a tree, ahhhhh

I'm not shy! I love birthdays, and today is mine!!! (and my friend Daniela's, and Meher Baba's: Indian Mystic who believed in the unifying power of love....)

Today was basically the best day ever. I woke up in a sun-filled room. Ate some rice (my favorite comfort food, and I have to admit, I've been battling a cold, so despite that, it was still the best day ever and it afforded me the excuse to eat rice for breakfast).

I went to my 4th day of my yoga workshop, another beautiful day of love and connection and beauty.

I did some yoga in a tree. Ah! Combining 2 things I LOVE (being in trees, and playing with forms).

I got the birthday blessing of 37 yogis with a thai massage from all of them at once.... Oh my, it was amazing! They all placed their hands on me and inhaled when I inhaled and pressed on me as I exhaled, all at once.

Then I went out to dinner with my ol' friend from Iowa City, Genie. She treated me to a feast of wine, macadamia nut cheese stuffed dates, beautiful salads, stuffed mushrooms, and vegan chocolate cake.

Then home to my brother Ted's house to watch some Olympics and drink tea, before heading to bed with the excitement of my last day of acro-yoga workshop and my friend Amy visiting me from Reno tomorrow dancing in my head.

Ahhh, what a beautiful quarter of a century, down the hatch! I look forward to at least 3 joy-filled more!!

Love! Rachel

Genie and me at Encuentro

PS other amazing days have included Sat with Ted: my first time ever sailing, which involved his two sailing buddies ditching out on a rainy day, which meant him, a new sailor, and me a semi-open-water-phobe and completely worthless 1st mate, nearly tipping over (aka capsizing) a couple times and basically going around in circles for an hour and a half before heading back.
And Sunday which involved a day of deliciousness: Dim sum in San Francisco with Ted and Jane, then storming the puddle-filled streets of SF with my friend Alexis, and topping the day off with vegan Mexican food in the Mission.
*Note, I am not vegan, but definitely appreciate it, and most certainly appreciate the boldness of anyone who does Mexican vegan, which is basically unheard of

Ted and Jane, bro and sis-in-law

Golden February

It's the month of my golden birthday, and I am living it up!

25 on the 25th.
I just returned from the 9^th annual International Salsa Congress in Chicago (amazing). And I’m leaving Friday—using up all my PTO—and going to Oakland for a yoga workshop, to visit my brother and some good friends, and to dance one night at the salsa-rueda congress which is coincidentally happening the weekend I arrive and will be attended by many friends from Santa Fe.

I woke up this past Sunday morning after dancing until 3am and being up till 5, and suspected I was paralyzed. My body was so heavy and tired from 2 days of workshops and 3 nights of dancing, and I simply lacked the ganas to move. I got up however, and went into Chicago to see the Chinese New Year parade and hang out with my dear college friends. Without the latter two or maybe latter one, I would have had literally no reason to even leave the hotel, which had all I needed—chocolate, trail mix, and most importantly: live salsa workshops, music, performances, and dancing 24/7 from Thursday to Monday, and let’s face it, it’s February in Chicago…there’s no need to be out there.

I was inspired and renewed by the bedazzled weekend, and was happy to jump back into work—for one week—before heading off again…

In other exciting news, I wrecked my car on icy I25 a couple weeks ago, and have since bought a 2001 Jetta, which my friend Carlos had to teach me to drive, as it is a stick and I never learned to drive one. I have only stalled at about 342 stop lights/hills and gotten 1 ticket because he left reverse out of his teaching plan (which did involve dancing bachata while driving and singing “baby you can drive my car”). I did not realize this oversight in the lesson until the time came to parallel park and I had to opt to park about 4 feet away from the curb. I will be leaving my car at the dealership when I go to Oakland this weekend, because as it turns out, I don’t have a key for the trunk and cannot get into it, so they will have to somehow make me one. When I dropped by today to tell them this, they looked in the trunk via the back seat (a feature I had not yet discovered…I know, who was with me when I bought this thing? The answer: myself), I was half expecting to see a kilo of cocaine or a dead body. Alas, it was disappointingly empty.

I know I’m overloading you with excitement here, but let me just slide in one more fun fact: the air mattress I have been calling my bed for the last few months has been slowly loosing air, leaving me to awaken on the wood floor at 4 am or 1pm depending on the current sleep schedule, with the task of blowing it back up (praise theelectric thingie). So needless to say, I am in the market for a real bed, but in the meantime am sleeping on a twin that I pulled from storage in the house. I’m not sure whether it’s an upgrade or not.

Lots of love and hugs to all, Rachel

Dancing at the Chicago Salsa Congress