I love couch.

I am a big believer in listening to your body.

If you feel antsy, go for a walk. If you want to go to sleep at 8:30pm, do it. If you want to eat ice cream for dinner, you should.

That said, I typically schedule a lot of activities for myself in the evenings, without doing much listening. A typical week of post-work activities usually looks like this:

Monday: Yoga (Arrive home at 7:15)
Tuesday: Tutoring (home at 8:30)
Wednesday: Yoga and French class (home at 8:30)
Thursday: See friends, go grocery shopping, or stay home and frantically do laundry and dishes
Friday: Stay home from sheer exhaustion

But a few weeks ago, I went to Mexico on a work trip. I was gone for eleven days. It was amazing. The end was a little rough though...I came back sick and with some pulled leg muscles. So since then, all my nights have looked like this:

Come home. Sit on couch with electric blanket and watch Gilmore Girls. Feel grateful that my mom gave me throw pillows. Read books. Take baths some nights to mix it up.

My couch tonight. My mom made that blanket. And oh yes, that's a coloring book on the left.

I am a big fan. A very big fan. I feel like I am living an alternate reality, where I do nothing all the time. Is this my life? So I am learning, (for like the millionth time) that I need to schedule less things. The message I am getting, loud and clear, is that this is a season of receiving. Of not squeezing the life out of every last second of my day. Because there is something beautiful that happens when time passes slowly. You look out your window and finally see the sunset, or the clouds move across the night sky. Time turns into slow time. You stop hearing the clock ticking and start taking deep breaths.

I trust the seasons and I trust myself. Eventually, I will want to peel myself off this couch and go outside or to see friends. (Heck, I went to yoga on Monday and today.) But until then, I am going to be here, writing, resting, dreaming, and of course, watching Gilmore Girls.

Do you have couch nights? Or weeks? Or months? Do you overschedule too? 

Ode to piriformis

Dear Piriformis,

First of all, my deepest gratitude for connecting my leg to my spine. Seriously. 

I had no idea how big of a deal you were, though I'd heard rumors. When you are happy, I am happy. When you are tight and upset, you impinge on my sciatic nerve, and then I am sad. I promise to do everything possible to keep you moving and groovin'. 

You are such a teeny muscle, really, only the length of my thumb. But somehow, you can control my whole leg. Incredible. Thanks for being awesome. 

Love,

Ellen

Sanskrit + Spanish = confusing

I was looking through my photos for the best ones for this post. I think these are a nice combination.

I am in the process of becoming a yoga teacher. This has involved learning many Sanskrit terms, which, as a linguist, I LOVE. Sometimes, I get confused because some of the words look the same as Spanish, but mean very different things. Personally, I think there could be some hilarious confusions... What do you think?

Examples:

Ama

• Spanish: he/ she/ it loves; love (command)
• Sanskrit: toxic sludge inside your body

Tapas

• Spanish: lids or covers; delicious small portions of food in Spain
• Sanskrit: Can mean many things but most commonly used to talk about internal heat, fuel, fire

Tejas

• Spanish: Texas (the state)
• Sanskrit: Kind of complicated, but refers to inspiration, vitality and health, vision.

Hasta

• Spanish: until
• Sanskrit: hand

Ojas

• Spanish: this is not really a word in Spanish, but it is similar to ojos (eyes) and ojala (to wish/ hope for)
• Sanskrit: your internal reservoir of energy

Banda

• Spanish: band or gang
• Sanskrit: to lock or close off. Technically it's spelled bandha, but you pronounce it the same

she's the best

My mom is one of my biggest supporters. 

I know yesterday I posted about how Caleb is the best, which is true. I would now like to give a shout-out to my mom, who is the best in a different way. In a "sure I'll come over and fold laundry and wash dishes and feed you soup while you work and then nap" way.

I know - it's like we're twins!!! Except she's taller. 

If you have ever met my mom, you know she is like a ray of sunshine. She can walk into a room where she knows no one, and fill it full of joy and sparkles. She can (and does) make friends with anyone. She gives great advice about relationships, hosting parties, interior decorating, and basically everything else you can think of. She is unbelievably talented at mailing awesome packages, organizing events, and coming up with creative ideas. She will drop everything to help someone who needs her help, whether it means driving one of my friends to their kid's doctors appointments or filling in as (a very talented) photographer at the last minute for an event.

She taught me how to dance around the house while singing and hang out in my pajamas until dinner. She taught me to eat sugar peas straight off the vine in the summer, and how to cook desserts with four sticks of butter. And she's the best.

That man in the background? That's my dad. He is pretty incredible too.

he's the best

This is my husband. He is the best.

I got back from an international trip on Sunday. The trip was great, but ended sort of roughly, in the way that some international trips can. Digestive things, pulled muscles. But all my flights went through and so, Sunday evening, Caleb picked me up in a snow storm.

He's been making me food and homemade electrolyte drinks, washing the dishes, cleaning the house, and dealing with all the little stressful things that come up. He took me to the doctor and did not mind when I forgot our address, or how to spell his middle name, or where we kept plates and glasses in our kitchen. (Seriously, I don't know what happened to my mind.)

And so this blog is for him. My best friend and husband.

Christmas 2014 in photos

Amanda time!

VCB, red wine, and Amanda. It's tradition.

JW gets magical on Christmas Eve

Caleb and I were SO happy to have our annual awkward Christmas photo get photobombed on two sides.

Luminaries

Woods shenanigans with my bro, as usual

My mom always supports me

Michael is the largest member of our family. 

Christmas 2014

Best. 

For Christmas Eve - Il Signore ti ristora

Il Signore ti ristora, Dios non allontana, il Signore viene ad incontrarti. Viene ad incontrarti.

The Lord restores you, God does not push you away. The Lord comes to meet you. The Lord comes to meet you.

I love mantras. They are simple phrases you repeat over and over again as meditation or prayer. Christians have a tradition of mantras too. Above is one of my favorites. It's in Italian and comes from a place called Taizé ("tih-ssay"), in France. If you also love mantras or contemplative prayer and Jesus, you will love Taizé.  

The chapel at Taizé

I don't think I need to explain why this one is relevant for Christmas Eve. But what might take some explanation is why Christmas makes me think of migrant workers, Ferguson and brick makers in India.

Here is part of a traditional Christmas hymn. If you go to a Christmas Eve service, you might sing this:

"And you, beneath life's crushing load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow."

Christmas-y, right? Jingle bells. Let me tell you, while sometimes I feel like I have a mentally "crushing load", my daily life is about as far away from that as you can get. I haven't weighed in on here about Ferguson, but I have had some good conversations about it. To me, the actual facts of that evening are important, but regardless of what you think happened, look how it resonated with communities all over the country. It's pretty clear we have a problem. People feel crushed and hurt and rightly angered by discrimination. When President Obama was elected, people said, "Look! We're not a racist country anymore! We have a black president!" And it was a huge step. But it's clear we have a long way to go - because everyone pointed out that the president was black. After we've had two or three or seven black presidents, skin color will not even be worth commenting on.

Il Signore ti ristora.

And let's talk about the men and women who are making our Christmas decorations or picking our crops or packing our meat. They work long hours away from their loved ones and come home sweaty, exhausted, and probably not smelling great. Sounds a lot like a shepherd to me.

"And in the same region, there were migrant workers, from another country, out in a field, picking crops by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear." - Luke 2:8-9 (adapted)

Dios non allontana.

"And you, beneath life's crushing load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow. Look now for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing. Oh rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing." Do you know what song it is? It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.

There are more slaves in the world now than ever before in history - 29.8 million. That's more people than live in Australia. One organization, International Justice Mission, is working to free enslaved people. In June, they rescued 179 people from a brick-making factory in India. After being rescued, one man said, "Today I believe God is alive, in different shapes and in different people." "Look now for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing."

Il Signore viene ad incontrarti.  

I truly hope you have a joyful Christmas with your family, friends, loved ones. It should be full of laughter, fun, and celebration. And, at some point, may your understanding of Christmas collide with the news to transform both things.

Viene ad incontrarti.