two to tango, uno to yoga

Good morning sleeping beauties! How is everyone feeling today? Happy I hope. I just read a study that revealed that optimistic women have lower rates of heart disease or mortality by any cause than those that are pessimistic. Yet another reason to smile, right?

Smiling’s my favorite. When I was about eight years old I went with my grandparents to Friendly’s for gooey grilled cheese and a Reese’s pieces sundae. As we followed our waitress to be seated I remember passing an older woman dining alone. She looked up at me and, although I can’t recall if I noticed the sadness in her eyes, I smiled. Well, it ran more deeply than I could have imagined, and within minutes she was standing at our table. “Thank you sweetheart,” she told me warmly, “I really needed that today.” And that was that, she was gone, and I’ve forever been amazed at how the smallest acts of genuine kindness are received ever since.

Life isn’t perfect and our day-to-day ups and downs certainly aren’t either but the less negativity in the world, the better. It’s the least we can do for ourselves and for the sake of others.

Sometimes I really surprise myself with how philosophical I sound ;). I was reminded about the experience this past Sunday when I went to my grandparent’s apartment in Mt. Kisco for dinner. It was so nice, just my grandmother and I catching up and thoroughly enjoying beautiful food.

I absolutely loved the salad, and I was lucky in that she made extra for me to bring to work the next day. And I finished this container fantastic spinach hummus. Oh my deliciousness.

As you can see, we had quite the colorful and healthful spread and I helped myself to a little bit of everything. Okay, maybe I did go back for seconds and thirds of the salad ;)

I swear everything tastes better when it’s presented in such an aesthetically pleasing way!

Later on we sat in the living room where my grandmother finally put up this photograph. My uncle travels for work and during the time I was in Ecuador, he, my aunt, my cousins, and my grandma stayed in Buenos Aires. She purchased it there in La Boca neighborhood… I would have done the same if they had been cheaper so I’m glad to have a piece of Argentina somewhere.

I also was checking out oldies. To the right is a Christmas picture of my siblings and I that we gave to them as a gift but I didn’t recognize the one on the left. Turns out that my grandfather just brought it home from their house in Florida last time they went and it’s the first time I saw it. Ah, wedding pictures, I'm such a romantic lush.

In other news, look what came in the mail for me recently! Yoga is yummy, especially when you’re practicing with a sunshiny girl like Polly. I’ve done both practices so far (15/30 minutes) and adore them both. I very highly recommend the DVD if you’re at all interested in guidance for at-home yoga practice. Happy thoughts darlings, and have a great day! More exciting happenings to come.