Sometimes it's the simple things

What does it take for people to be happy?

Money? Fame? Power? Attention? Minions?

As we lay yet another V.D. to rest, I cannot help but notice how many of my friends have looked with loathing upon the dreaded day. Like with any and every holiday out there (and even some that have been utterly invented), big business has taken full advantage of the en-masse guilt-factor. Television, radio, billboards, and the internet have become plastered with various adds trying to convince America that if you REALLY love her, you'll buy her Product X.

I'm not sure why, but this year seems to have been even more obvious in terms of the media blitz. One cannot help but be pommelled to death by obvious ads laying out the path by which one will surely get laid on V.D. Ugh.

For us, this particular day was fairly simple. I got my honey a book that I knew he'd want. As for him, he went in my opinion - WAY over the call of duty in spoiling me. In addition to the box that he got me earlier in the week, I came home to find a new Michael Buble' CD.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - my hubby spoils me rotten. I know it. I am humbled by it. I am in awe of it. And I don't know what the hell I have ever done to deserve it. But one thing for sure - not a day goes by that I don't thank the powers that be for bringing him into my life. If there is ever a person that I wanna be when I grow up, it is my Giles. I don't need anything else...

... well... maybe the minions. :-)

An unexpected treat

As many of you who keep up with my ouch-filled yoga sagas know, I typically head out on Wednesdays during lunch to attend a yoga class. I like my regular instructor - she is bubbly, happy, and has a great energy. However, the routine itself is a bit repetative and lackluster.

One thing about the human body - it wants, more than anything, to achieve a sense of "normality," whatever that may be. Once it has reached some degree of a routine, it can just function on auto-pilot while turning its efforts towards the ever-annoying activity of storing fat. This bodes not well for an Aries like myself who also, mentally, prefers the concept of a regular "routine." In short, it is good to shake things up a bit - excercise at different times, do different types of excercises, eat different foods, and different quantities of foods, etc., etc. Shake-up, shake-up. That extra energy that the body uses to try and figure things out burns more fat.

OK, enough of my sophomoric explanation of my interpretation of human chemistry. Back to the class...

Today, my regular instructor was out, and a substitute instructor attended. Wow! What a difference! Her routine was completely unlike the regular Wednesday class. It had a different pacing, different poses, shorter-time-spent-in-a-pose, etc. Typically, I leave the Wednesday class after the first half-hour. But today, I just couldn't. I don't know whether I was into the zone, or zen, or what, but I wasn't about to lose it.

Part of yoga involves taking a moment to be thankful. I am thankful that instructors out there take the time to lead, guide, and encourage would-be-chubbies like myself to get off of our butts to improve ourselves. Thank you.