Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas from Mexico! I found myself in the internet cafe again, trying to get a handle on the new happenings in my SLO yoga community.

Yesterday was Christmas Day, and what an amazing one it was. We started off, as many days do, with mom's scones, followed up by small gifts, jugo de mango and huevos y papas fritas. As Christa cooked, I sat blowing my nose, mom danced around singing the 12 days of Christmas (Reggae Remixed) complete with hand movements for each day... the geese a laying and maids a milking were the most entertaining. I laughed and laughed :O)

It seems we've all shifted roles in this family, with Christa being the mom, and mom being one of the kids. I've never laughed more.

We then went to a place that has dolphins in the open ocean fenced off so that they're captive... strange. We all had mixed feelings about it, but then learned that they are born in captivity and have much longer lives kept there, and there's plenty of space for them to swim freely (well almost freely).

We sat on the beach first and drank pina coladas out of coconuts... mine wasn't strong enough so I had 2, the second with extra rum... that was bliss. We then snorkeled around for a while, I prefer still swimming with my goggles, so that's what I did, but used fins to swim around like a dolphin :O)

Then we went for our dolphin adventure, where we learned a few tricks to perform with the dolphins. It was pretty cool. I still felt bad that they were captive, but they truly seemed happy and loved all the attention. Pretty unreal.

We topped off the trip with a hike through the 'ruins' which turned out to be the tourist version, and seemed to be concrete casts of things looking like ruins. Mom walked through before us and came back screaming about 4 foot iguanas. Well she has a tendency to exaggerate, so we laughed it off and continued on. Sure enough when we came to the iguana that scared her, it looked to be 2 feet or so, but then we came upon a group of people feeding a few small iguanas... and as they kept feeding, bigger ones came out of the woodworks until really a 4 foot orange scary looking thing came out. I was taking pictures with the camera on 12X zoom when it lunged at us, making me jump and scream. It looked a lot closer, but really, it was creepy.

We took a taxi back and napped on the couches in the condo. The four of us are so lucky to not only be able to vacation like this, but to truly enjoy each other the whole time. We ran together this morning around town, with mom telling the locals that we were crazy white people.

Good times from Cozumel, Mexico. A few more days and a long trek home back to reality. Sometimes I wish I could be on vacation forever.

Me duele la cabesa

I'm in Cozumel, Mexico with significant pressure in my head. What was an itchy throat turned into a stuffy nose and head. URGH.

It's absolutely beautiful here... white sand beaches, palm trees... it's quite an interesting tourist stop though. Each day big cruise ships pull into port and unload hundreds, maybe even thousands of 'coneheads' into town. You can see them waddle about, knowing their from somewhere in the midwest... Americans at their finest, following one person with a big red sign, waiting to buy and eat, exactly what the locals want and need for survival.

The horses pulling buggies wear sombreros, which flop about on their heads as they trot down the street. Everyone wants and needs our business, and there's a piece of me unnerved by the concept. There seems to be no pollution control because all cars and scooters smoke ridiculously.

The rest of the family is diving today, and here I sit at the Internet Cafe trying to figure out the yoga community I teach in and how to keep my own steam rolling into the new year. The new location of the Yoga Centre is going to be at the Academy of Dance off of Orcutt, but I'm hesitating about riding my bike down 227 at night. Am I just being a baby? Is it time for me to not teach for a while, or teach at Kennedy or Club 24, or at a public church?

I know I may very well be building classes from the ground up, so I want to be certain that I'm doing it in a place where I'm sustainable. These thoughts are swirling in and out of my head as I try to sleep breathing out of my mouth.

Yesterday we toured the island in a jeep... drove to the east side and had yummy fish tacos, made friends with a Siamese cat named Tequila, a hound dog named Fox and a bunch of horses. Mom finally went snorkeling naked, a dream come true, and we made it back to our relaxing abode with a few Blockbuster rentals... they have Starbucks here too!

I can't tell if all the decongestants have gotten to my head, or if I'm really just this sick, but I feel terrible, dizzy and ill.

It may be time to go back to the room and put my feet up.

We are all having a blast here, snorkeling, diving (them not me), and really just spending quality time with each other, not a regular experience anymore. This family is so eccentric, as I'm sure all would claim to be, but really, these are the most entertaining three I know, always adventurous, always hilarious, always happy and hungry. There will be a detox when we get home I'm sure. It's near impossible to find a whole grain on the island.

I'm off to relax in paradise... hoping this Christmas Eve my head clears up, and I figure out just what I need. I miss the Musician, but luckily he loaded me up with groovy tunes before I left... so he remains in my thoughts. After all the years and the ups and downs, maybe we can work it out someday. I've learned that I can't hold on too tight, but just have to release it into the universe, and if it comes back, it has the potential to be a beautiful thing.

Adios :O)

Opinions and Judgements

I've noticed a few things as of late. The way I am living my life right now provokes many people to create strong opinions of me and also strong judgements.

Sometimes it's the car-less factor... making some feel insecure about the amount they spend on transportation or even just on gas. Those environmentally savvy people couldn't be more stoked about my decision. And then sometimes it's the 3 job factor, or sometimes the no insurance factor, or this that or the other.

Now I'm a strongly opinionated person, and the more opinions I collect from my peers, clients, friends and colleagues, the more I want to push them all away.

Is it just that it's different, or am I making people uncomfortable... so uncomfortable I'm receiving unsolicited advice. I can only take so much... and there are only a few in my close circle whose opinions I solicit... because I genuinely care what their opinion is.

So... I've been playing Ani Difranco's album Imperfectly a lot lately. It's got Ani's depth, but just enough light to it. There's a line I can't get enough of...

strangers are exciting
their mystery never ends
but there's nothing like looking at your own history
in the faces of your friends

I've been thinking of relocating on a few different levels... mostly because I get tired of looking at my history in the faces of my friends... or ex boyfriends rather...

Can't get enough of that album... well, until enough is enough.

And... Pinecrest Calendar is 90% done!

Clouds

I've realized much in the last few days... especially how one certain person whose intentions were only positive, was tossing me around like I was a rag doll on the end of a whip.

I cared too much. I think that's a common Scorpio trait.

So now we prepare for Cozumel :O) Christmas in Tahoe started to lose its steam after a few too many injuries on icy slopes. The snow in California is not like it used to be!

As cold as it is, as tired as I am of working, as many stuggles as are present, I love my life.

I feel like a huge cloud was lifted.

Oh and the bare bone structure of my site is up if anyone still reads this thing :O) jennahealy.com

THINK Manifestation

Friday night played out just as I'd expected... a glass of Pinot, the Red Curry with Tofu, good company and good laughs. Someone made a comment about the boys and girls on opposite sides of the table... and sure enough, there were 4 guys sitting across from 5 girls... then I noticed, I was the lone girl, and furthermore, the lone person wedged between 4 couples. Great. I'm that girl. After a drunken phone call from a certain someone, I called it a night.

Saturday was productive, lots of laundry, Tay time, cleaning and more cleaning. I pretty much sat myself down at about 5 PM and never got back up, only to eat. This morning, Betsy and I took the dogs to the beach and had breakfast, which meant now I had a sandy wet dog, clean floors and an over stuffed belly.

Tonight was the Kennedy Fitness Paso club dinner where we toured the club and were served horrible things--pizza and Chinese food. Healthy.

I ran before the dinner tonight, to try and warm my body and clear my head. Here's my summary, yet again... 3 jobs, no car, paying over half my income in rent, poor, frustrated and alone, oh and my insurance ran out on Friday. And the more my life sucks, the more I eat. The feeling of running is so good, except this time I ran to pound my legs into the pavement. By about 5 miles my shin bone started to ache like a stress fracture. I decided it would probably go away if I ran lighter, but it didn't. My entire run I was on the verge of tears... how do I keep getting myself into the same place over and over again? What am I doing wrong? The harder I pounded, the better I felt.

It may be time to move... soon. Problem is, when it's time, it will be summer and everything will be warm and beautiful. I started to apply for a position at Google, and started looking for other part time work, but it's not out there at the right price... I inquired about making my position at the City full time, and apparently it's not even up for discussion until 2009. It all makes me want to cry, and I'm not even pre-menstrual and I'm sober.

I can manifest anything right?