Yo Ga, Girl!

Weeknights are definitely the hardest for me when it comes to being single and living alone. I read a book recently where one of the characters compared and contrasted being lonely with being in solitude. Don't contrast and compare! I have to say there is a very real difference between those two feelings for me. Sometimes, all I really want is a good book and some peace and quiet. Usually I need that after I've met a new group of people or gone out of my comfort zone like this past weekend. But on weeknights nowadays, I find myself wishing that I had a friend to walk around the water or make dinner or sit and watch TV with. 

Chicken "snakes" and green rice.

So yesterday, after a little relaxing straight after work, I found myself wishing I could share a walk with someone around the promenade. It was such a lovely day, it seemed like a shame to stay inside. But stay inside is what I did because I realized (after my little pity party) that I couldn't just invent a friend to walk around with and I couldn't change the situation, so I'd better just move on and do something that I could enjoy by myself. In my world, that means yoga and (now) cooking. The pity party has come to an end. Thank you for joining me. Be sure to grab a favor on your way out!

Wino at heart.

Thankfully Yoga Steve has a few of his weekly practices online for free. (Side note: why do all Steves have a qualifier before their name? Scuba Steve. Yoga Steve. Random.) It's a little heartbreaking at first to realize that I'm not actually on the Pacific Beach cliffs listening to the waves crash on the beach, watching the pelicans glide through the air. Beach yoga was one of my favorite things to do when I lived in San Diego. But once I get passed the longing to be on the beach, I move onto pure enjoyment. I just the love Yoga Steve's style of yoga and I love that I can yell at him to move onto the next move without worrying that he'd actually hear me :)

So after yoga, I headed over to the kitchen to whip up some sauteed chicken strips (marinated in Filipino coconut vinegar) and green rice (from Gwyneth's recipes...we're on a first-name basis). This recipe is really going to force me to buy a proper chopping knife. I think five months of just a bread knife is long enough. Chop or be chopped! I finished the night off with one BIG glass of white wine to drink with my girls from "Cougar Town" and the chopping of Jaleel White from "Dancing With the Stars." It's amazing how much happier I can be when I focus on what I do have rather than what I don't.

Love,

Stephanie Marie

PS. Yoga Steve recently announced that he didn't get the park permit from the city, so I really hope that doesn't mean he'll have to stop doing these ocean-side yoga classes. That would be a serious loss to San Diegans.