clothes shopping success

I went to the mall with my mom today in search of new spring clothes. The trip was a great success!

Boscov's: one green short-sleeved collared shirt, good for work, on sale for $6.99
H&M: one long-sleeved brown v-neck shirt, which I've been needing for a while; one really cute black top with black and white flowers, three cute pairs of panties
NY&Co: The real triumph! Usually shopping at NY&Co is a stressful disaster. There's always a coupon, and a lot of math involved in figuring out what exactly I must buy in order to use the coupon, but I never realize when I walk in that the coupon can't be used on clearance/sale/purple/whatever items, and then I wait in line 467453476 minutes only to be told my coupon won't work and I refuse to pay full price and I walk out of the store screamingly annoyed. But today! I made all my calculations correctly! My mom found a cute orangey top she wanted, and I found: one cute dress that will be great for work and will look good with my brown boots, one amazingly awesome dress that makes me love my body again that I can wear to one or more weddings this summer, and a pair of perfect, perfect yoga pants that are stretchy and fit well and are long enough for me, even perhaps TOO long, which is a goddamn miracle. We saved $30 with our effective coupon use, for a total of $95 for all that stuff.

When I got home I was all blissed out on the shopping. I really needed new stuff.

yoga # 21.5

About 40-45 minutes of yoga tonight. A really good solid practice. Did a lot of strength-building work. Tonight I was able to hold my warriors for seven full breaths each, even on the left, without shifting the bent leg to straight and back again. That left thigh has been an issue for me, so I'm excited that I had some more strength there to rely on tonight. I rocked my crow again. I had some serious difficulty getting up into my headstand, because I was just sort of heaving myself up there without being mindful and thinking it through, and I was getting very frustrated (R in the living room: *thud* "dammit" *thud* "motherfucker!" F in the kitchen: "Ah, the sweet zen sounds of yoga..."). But I stopped, sat quietly for a moment to collect myself, and then went into it more thoughtfully, and was able to lift myself up and into the pose.

Tonight, having a shorter practice, I realized that I really do want a full hour of yoga. I spent most of the practice doing the more intense poses, which is good for stamina and strength, but I didn't really have enough time for cooling down and working on the gentle wrists and neck and ankle poses I've been trying to work on lately. I really need to do both in order to take good care of my body--the wrists and neck and ankles are happier with some gentle attention.

Also, I decided at the very end of the practice that I wanted to try a full wheel rather than the easier version that I usually do. It was good to do the wheel, it felt good and I found I'm stronger now than I was a few months ago, but it was NOT good for my wrists. I'd already done some nice wrist stuff, and doing the wheel right at the end of the practice kind of screwed it up. So, I learned tonight that I should absolutely do the wheel and practice it, but I need to work it in earlier, when I'm doing the more strenuous work, and then save the gentler poses for last. My old teacher Gene used to do the wheel/upward bow pose almost last in his class, but that's just how it worked for Gene's class--I don't have to do it that way in my personal practice.