Chapel Hill

Where are you from?

This innocent social query has always been difficult for me to answer. Partly because we moved a lot as kids, I was born in NY, lived two places in Ohio, back to NY before settling in Chapel Hill for 7-12 grade. and then there was college and grad school and at some point, I realized I've lived in Waco longer than any where else, but I'm definitely not "from Waco." The most correct answer to that question is Chapel Hill. I really was just flat out excited about going to see the place itself again.

Well, Treeby, Laura and I had an absolutely fabulous time. I got into RDU around 4:00. Laura picked me up and we checked into the Franklin. The Franklin is lovely, very new, right in the heart of all the downtown action. We had drink at Dead Mule Bar, right next to the hotel while we waited for Treeby to arrive. Friday night we walked up to Crook's Corner. Their website has a great quote from the NY Times, 'sacred ground for southern foodies.' Indeed, it is. Eating there really did have this pilgrimage feeling about it.

Crook's has, quite simply, the greatest shrimp and grits in the world. They have quite excellent french fries as well. We got french fries as an appetizer and spilt shrimp and grits and a really good eggplant dish also. The fries and the shrimp were every bit as good as I remembered them and really I think the shrimp was even better than I remembered it, though that could have something to do with not having eaten bacon in over three years (I did make a couple minor exception to the vegetarian regime. I did not, however, have a chicken and cheese biscuit at Time Out, I settled for cheese alone, which truthfully was what I ordered a lot in high school during my early foray in the vegetarianism. We decided not to have dessert at Crooks due to the scheduled post midnight Time Out run. We hit several bars, Henderson Street is closed now, but we went to a nice wine bar and He's Not Here and the Cave.

Saturday, we slept late, walked around campus and met Molly, another friend from high school, and ate at Mama Dips. ( Lenore, you would love this place). Saturday night we ate at 411 West. Lovely Italian food, we got a wild mushroom polenta that was yummy, a seafood pasta dish and red snapper. It was also even better than I remembered it being. And we did get the Peanut Butter Pie for dessert.

Well, obviously, it wasn't just all about the food, but Chapel Hill is a food town, one of the many things I loved about living there and that I love about Austin. I've often thought that one of the reasons I like Austin is because it reminds me of Chapel Hill, but actually they are quite different. Austin really is a city compared to Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill doesn't have a skyline... There's the liberal college town ethos, of course, but mostly what Austin and Chapel Hill share has to do with the energy that pulsates in a town that people love to live in and that's the similar energy as much as anything..

It was great reconnecting with Treeby and Laura and hearing all about their lives and their kids. It was great reconnecting with that part of me that they know. We've decided to make it an annual event.

Gone to Carolina

Due to some pressing personal business in Waco, I didn't get down to Austin until late this afternoon. Dylan was super happy to see me. I went to Christina's Yoga marathon Tuesday. She helped me a lot with my shoulder issues. I am sure that my etheric shoulder is really perfectly in the socket and my etheric shoulder blades are on my back, but my shoulder of prakriti, my shoulder of the be here now, is a long way from that (see Teaching Blog).

Anyway, it was great fun and I am very much looking forward to the arrival of Pink Pearl apples having heard about them for the first time from Tabitha who also triple dipped today.

Went to Whole Foods for great macaroni and cheese.

Tomorrow I go to Chapel Hill for the first time in about a decade. Laura, Treeby, and I have a 48 hour eating extravanganza planned.

Anne Teaching October 4th in Austin

Hi Everyone,

I'll be teaching for Charlie Thursday October 4th at 7:30 PM Yoga Yoga Westgate.

Christina will be out of town that week, so no conflict with the yoga marathon.

Anne

What a day

I taught my first class at yoga yoga this morning. It went really well. Several people asked when I was teaching other classes. Then I came home for a while and headed up North to Geneieve's lovely home to do the BEOTCH, Baby Eye of the Tiger Practice. That was loads of fun as were the after practice snacks and drinks. It was nice to met Meg and Elaina. However, the real highlight of the evening was doing Acro batic yoga tricks. Jason, another member of the Kula I had not met yet came at some point and started getting us to do all these cool partnerish, acrobatic things. Christina and I used to do these as kids and we called them daggios. (Actually, I'm not sure how to spell daggios, because I've never actually written, the secret sister language word down). Anyway, it was a total blast. Great fun and my shoulder even feels okay. Ari has tons of pictures, so a link will hopefully be forthcoming soon.

Vegan Potluck

Okay, on the face of it, a vegan potluck does not sound like all that exciting a social event, but Eileen, Owner of Austin Kula, invited me and it turned out to be great!. The food was fabulous, including a TVP and saffron rice dice that really did taste like sausage! and a great dark chocolate tofu cream pie. Starting with 82% Dark Scharffenberger Chocolate doesn't hurt any dessert!. Eillens' house was lovely and I met a lot of people I've seen in various yoga classes, Like Cooper and Carolyn, and various people in the "you must be Christina's sister" circle of acquaintances. Anyway, it was a fun evening.

Prior to that, I went over to CM on 35th and Lamar to get my brussell sprout contribution (taking a cue from Stuart who always brings brussell sprouts to pot lucks). It was a zoo and I remembered I was supposed to go hear the african drum guy with Jesse, et al, but after the Temple, I had to go get a yoga chair and some Aruyveda stuff and then I really wanted to practice. I Actually haven't practiced a lot in Austin because there are so many classes to go to, so it was nice to sink into one of my all time favorite sequences, the sinus sequence from the BIG iyengar coffee table book. Dwi Pada Viparita dandasana is the pose that made me realize I'd do yoga for the rest of my life and wow, it came through today!!!

Just got back from walking Dylan (Dylan had a visitor Reggie earlier today. Reggie is a sort of lab-ish looking dog, with short stocky legs. He who like to lick you on the face! Still Dwi Pada was good.

Anne's Second Yoga Class in Austin

I'll be subbing at Yoga Yoga North for Mandy's Hatha Star Class Sunday morning 10:30.


Today was fun. Baylor has been sort of non-stop Baylor all week and I was almost like, oh what's the point in coming down for 24 hours, but the point is it is Austin and not Waco and it was great, a really nice break. I took Connie's class, had my orientation at YogaYoga, I'm now officially on the sublist and even have my first subbing gig re above. Connie is a great teacher. Manouso is her main teacher and seeing her take on what she learns from him always makes me want to study with him more regularly than I get a chance to do.

I also went to Devon's restorative class and she helped me some with my shoulder. Mostly I think I need to rest it rather than just ploughing through it.

Checked out the take out food place near the house. I think it is called FOOD FOOD. Got cheese soup and garlic broccoli. Then other normal stuff, did laundry, walked Dylan, Talked with Lenore, read tons of email, gave some thought to class tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to next semester when I can spend more time down here. This semester is hectic with all the Friday stuff and then I have a slew of trips coming up. But it is great to have a place down here, a marker for my new life.

More Fun

This morning I went to Connie's first class at Kula, great class. The studio has a lovely feel to it. Very mellow and welcoming. then to the neighborhood Starbucks, came home and walked Dylan. I finally got up with Shannon for brunch. Shannon is a really good friend of my from graduate school. We had awesome enchilada's at Cuerra's despite the wait and the construction on Oltorf. Good to touch base with her. She and Jenny are having a baby girl in December. They've decided on the baby's name, though they are open to suggestions, they aren't telling people the name because of people's basic inability to offer unsolicited opinions on said name, which I think is a great stance to have.

I'm going to try to write a bit and then go to my acupuncture appointment.

Saturday in Austin

Well, I had a fun night up in Waco at I35 Prime, got up this morning and came down to teach for Jessica at Austin Kula. It was a lot of fun, Jeri, Ari, Pamela, Genevieve, and Ross were there. We worked on inversions, dhanurasana and parsva dhanurasana. Then we went to eat at La Madeleine, Yummy. Yet another thing that would be great for Waco to have, that would do really well there and yet it doesn't. Ongoing puzzle. Class was really fun. A really nice studio space. I found out that Genevieve's dad is Henry Rosemont, a very famous Asian Philosopher. I've actually had dinner with him twice. We have a very gifted student in common, Erin Cline. Small world!

I went to Peggy's update from Pune workshop this afternoon, then Devon and I ate at Zocalo.

It sounds so cliched, but there really is just so much to do here.

Anne's Austin yoga Debut

I'll be teaching a class Saturday at 10:30 at Austin Yoga Kula.

Very exciting.

lots of inversions for sure.

Fun weekend in Austin

Yoga immersion for sure. Jaya taught a workshop this weekend as did Christina so I floated back and forth between Iyengar Yoga Land and Anusara Yoga Land. It was my first class with Jaya since rooming with her in India. It was great to hear her perspective on our shared experience of July in Pune. Christina did a fabulous job at her immersion. She is a really gifted teacher. She also has really fun students that I'm enjoying getting to know.

Lenore and Henry and H.W. came back Sunday evening for a visit in my new abode. H.W. didn't quite know what to make of Dylan the Dog. He is much larger, even than Miro, the largest domestic cat on the planet, okay maybe not the planet, but Miro, L and H's cat, (one of three) is QUITE LARGE.

Mostly, I just totally dig being in Austin. So much to do, see, eat....

Had a great day in Waco, lectured on Hinduism, taught a fun yoga class, the cats are happy to see me.

Yoga Teaching in Austin

Starting January 11, 2008, I'll be teaching a Friday Morning Yoga class at Clear Spring Studio.
9:30- 11:00. Clear Spring Studio is conveniently located just off South 1st, right across from Austin School for the Deaf.

Information about other public classes in the Austin area to follow.

The Week in Waco

After the Labor of Love festivities, I drove back up to Waco. Went to a fun dinner party at Anne and Mark's house. Tuesday was a catch up with the domestic dimensions of life sort of day. I wrote a bit and taught yoga. Wednesday- a whirlwind of Baylor activity. Dan and Janelle gave presentations on the Crito and I listened to an excellent lecture on the historical context of Exodus. Who knew that the structure of Hittite treaties had such relevance! This morning, I'm writing a bit and then heading down to Austin for a day of yoga. It is a little hectic this going back and forth, but well worth the effort!

Labor Day Morning

It is really nice to have Labor Day as a holiday again! When I first started work at Baylor, we had it off, but then there was a ten year period of time when we didn't get the holiday. However, order has been restored to that particular domain of the cosmos as Anne experiences it.

I'm getting ready to revise some of the Republic chapter. Then I'll head down to San Marcos for a visit to Anusara Land and then brave the traffic back up to a party I've been invited to in Waco.

Had a great weekend down here. Devon, Elana and I walked in the new park. Great views of downtown. Then, we ate at Galaxy Cafe. It is owned by the same people who run the Zocalo Taco place Christina and I went to Thursday night. Great food, great atmosphere, very reasonable prices. Though Macaroni and Cheese is not a high priced item. Sunday, I went to Gioconda's class again and did various Austin like things, BookPeople, Whole Foods, Central Market, acupuncture treatment. (okay, I probably could get acupuncture somewhere in Waco!)

Saturday afternoon

Had a fun time in Waco Friday night. Gabrielle and I checked out the new wine bar in Hewitt, but left after a glass (of one of their three chardonnays) and went to 135 prime, which is really the coolest place in Waco to hang out. Then, I met Lewis and Angela for dinner and looked at their wedding videos...

This morning I went to Jessica's first saturday morning class at Austin Kula. Great class. Great space and after a brief run down south to talk with Lori at YogaYoga, I met the pancake posse at Magnolia Cafe. Spent the afternoon resting and hanging out with Dylan. I'm getting ready to meet Alana and Devon for a walk and dinner.

I really just love being here.

A