Hello out there in Yoga Journal land. After a small hiatus wherein insanity was dealt with, I'm back. Kind of.

It's been a rough few months since the last post. I rejoiced at finding a local yoga class at the YMCA, but found the 6am start time really impossible to adhere to (I'm very much a night owl). I tried, though. Really, I did. I also didn't like the studio space, however, where the workout room looks into the yoga/dance studio room. Very much a fishbowl feeling.

In an effort to keep up with the practice, I switched back to home practice. Enter life.... house renovations began in the kitchen this time around, and while the kitchen looks fantastic (now), it took about two months of 7am contractors trudging through the house and an endless stream of questions that really didn't seem to be necessary in my view, but I answered patiently as possible.... at least until the contractor walked into my office a month and a half later, Thanksgiving already over and done with no kitchen, and said 'We have a problem.'

I replied, smiling, 'This project has gone way over the estimated timeframe, and it has really become more than inconvenient at this point, so no, we don't have a problem, you have a solution, you just need to find it.'

I think it's the closest I've ever come to leaping on someone in a fit of rage.

On top of that, I was invited to be part of an international anthology of short stories, which became a huge time-eater and a massive source of stress due to poor planning on the editor's part. I'm still hopeful that the project will be published in early 2010, and I'm very satisfied with the stories I submitted. The project gave me a real chance to stretch my literary legs and write something other than vampire horror and show that I can indeed be almost poetic if I want to be. :)

There is also a Literary Night at the Virtual Hotel Chelsea in Second Life that I've been hostessing. Feel free to IM me if you have an account in SL and would like to come out and read your writing. I also write as a guest on the Virtual Hotel Chelsea Blog now, too.

Add to that my endeavors and research to put together an historical novel about Gettysburg, and a sudden urge to learn how to make bobbin lace, and you've got..... BUSY!!!! In a good way. :)

Fast forward...

I'm happy to say, renovations are officially done in the house now. The most we might do after this is fix up one side of the attic to be an actual living space.

Also happy to say that the anthology (at least my part in it) is done and awaiting final edits.

Happier still is my intention to get back into the swing of all things yoga. At home. With peace and quiet instead of air compressors and hammering and constant interruptions for questions.

No fishbowl effects (although I will continue to check out the classes at the Y, as they're doing some expansion and it may include a separate yoga studio space in the end- sans windows looking into the room), no interruptions, and hopefully some time!

I'll get some pics posted of the kitchen as soon as the cabinet doors are finished. It really is pretty stunning to see the difference of before and after, and to know we'll never need to remodel it again. :) :)