Snow day . . . and stuff

So, as usual, getting back into the school year has consumed my life. One of my non-teacher friends even joked to me a couple months ago that she has so many teacher friends that her social life goes dormant once the school year starts.

Anyway, I've been a busy girl. I started a staff yoga program at my high school as part of our wellness program--so I was teaching yoga twice a week to teachers and staff. I've also continued teaching yoga twice a week to Bellevue Public School bus drivers as part of their wellness program. Add to that my own yoga practice, running (still doing that!), work, family, and trying to eat healthfully, and it's been pretty crazy around here.

Mamie loves snow days with me!

We did get a snow day today, though, so I thought I'd use this gift of time to write up a few blog posts. :)

First, a few more updates!

As I mentioned, I've been teaching a lot of yoga to adults. However, I've really been wanting to start a student yoga program. Through Donorschoose.org, I was able to get almost 20 yoga mats donated to my school. I'm planning on having our first informational meeting sometime in the next week or so, and then start teaching yoga after school to students once a week! I'm pretty excited about this--yoga has so many benefits, and I wish I'd had this opportunity when I was younger.

Ugly Sweater Run, with my friends Julie & Marie

On the running side--I had been running about 3 times a week since school started, but had to take a few weeks off in November. I still came back strong in time for the Ugly Sweater 5K Run in December, though. It was really cold that morning--but even more exciting/holiday-like when it started snowing toward the end of the run. :) And it only got better when we went out for a huge brunch afterwards and went home to enjoy hot showers and a food coma.

It was actually hard to find an ugly Christmas sweater for the run, since everyone in Omaha was also looking. Luckily, I found a co-worker who loaned me this atrocious Snoopy sweater--which was huge, but allowed for me to wear more layers under it. I also had just bought the cold-weather compression leggings that I'm wearing in the picture, so I could run outside more comfortably throughout the winter. They work great--I've even been running on 15 and 18 degree days. As my sister put it: "Wow, you've become one of THOSE people." I guess I have... and it's hard for me to believe, trust me.

RunnerID bracelet

Since I've been running outside so much, though, I also bought some new bling: a RunnerID bracelet. It's a rubbery bracelet with a metal plate with my name, year of birth, and emergency contacts. Don't get me wrong--I run pretty safely. I am always alert and looking around me, I don't always run on the same days/times, I switch up my route regularly, and I try to stay on a sidewalk/trail whenever there is one. But still...accidents can happen, and I wanted to make sure I'm as safe as can be.

And so, I'm off to finish shoveling the driveway and try to make it to a 12:30pm yoga class; then it's to the grocery store, and home to deep clean (I was sick last weekend, so nothing got done), write a few more posts, and get ready for tomorrow!

Look for some more posts in the next week or so-- roasted balsamic vegetables, mock spaghetti and meat sauce, and eating out are just a few things I plan to post about in the near future. :)

Stay warm today!