vignettes: 2.27.15

This little “whenever I feel like it” series serves a few purposes. One, it acts a bit like a digital gratitude journal. Second, it’s a way to just keep at it—the business and often hard work of writing, that is. Third, it’s just a fun way of leaving little tracks in life. Even though the digital world is jam-packed, I’ve always loved the medium of blogging and I intend to keep at it, in some form or another, for a long time. (This one has already morphed from a food blog into a health-and-fitness blog…what’s next?)

I was inspired to post today by one of the local bloggers I follow, as well as the fact that I haven’t done one since October.

The season starts now » My first race of the year goes down this Sunday in La Quinta, Palm Springs. The Desert Tri Sprint and Olympic race (Saturday and Sunday, respectively) is a local favorite; a friend recently dubbed it the “Southern California world championship.” I’m excited to do the race this year with a very different “training equation” than when I did it in 2013, two weeks before Ironman Los Cabos. I did it last minute that year, choosing to prioritize my upcoming Ironman instead. (Meaning a 90-mile ride the day before). This year…well, I’m going to resist the urge to “pull a triathlete” and just say I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to race close to home and alongside so many friends and training partners.

Me two years ago at the Desert Tri.

YTT » As I wrote about recently, I’ve enrolled myself in a three-month yoga teacher training course at Yoga Six. The course kicked off last weekend, and I made it through 15 hours of sitting on a block, listening to and learning from our leader Katie Brauer. (Check out her TedX talk to see what I’ll get to chew on through this training.) I got pushed out of my comfort zone (I haven’t done a skit since my camp days!), and got to have little thought adventures and see things in new ways. Right up my alley! There was a ton to digest, but it feels good to be full again.

This was waiting for each of us on the first night. Our manual, a necklace, and a little photo of Ganesh.

Grammarly » I discovered this genius plug-in by simply Googling around for a daily grammar lesson email (we all get rusty, right?). Within a week, I was addicted. It’s only compatible with browser-based editors (Gmail, CMS’s, Facebook, etc.), but the interface is slick and unobtrusive and I’ve already had my English-major ass handed to me. Go technology! Grammarly.com

Grammarly in action.

Coffee » I’ve been enjoying the fact that the coffee scene is hitting its stride here in North County. When we first moved here, there was nothing. Nothing. When Lofty came to town, they raised the bar; now Sugar, Zumbar, and the brand-new Ironsmith have joined them to compete for my mid-day quest for caffeine and wi-fi. Some of my Groove teammates and I have even started heading there straight from Friday morning Masters the last few weeks, to giggle about claw toenails and other triathlete problems. (Have I mentioned how much I love my teammates? Mid-week intervals, 6:00 a.m. Saturday ride partners, you know who you are.)

Mornings at Ironsmith, and one of the best lattes I’ve had in awhile at Lofty Roastery (photo by my mother-in-law Illa, who’s in town visiting for the week)

The Activity Report » A woman I greatly admire turned me on to this site, of which she happens to be one of the founding editors. It’s an online women’s adventure magazine, rich with tales of travel, adventure, and other twists and turns of life. It features writing like this, that is fearless and honest and exactly what the Internet is good for. Theactivityreport.com

A screenshot from the Activity Report.