Weekend Visit Turned Week-Long Stay

Oops, I'm missing a week of class
Thanks to Hurricane Sandy, instead of missing one class of two courses, I'm missing an entire week of class. I anticipated airports being closed Monday, so I preemptively changed my flight to the first day they'd let me change it (Thursday), and it looks like I made the right call since my flight was canceled. I didn't want to risk not being able to get back in time for my professional responsibility exam on Saturday. Hopefully things are cleared up by Thursday!

I'll be doing a lot of skyping with my dog (oh, and Sourabh) -- I miss my doggie! Mason is unamused. 

Friday
I had to wake up early to finish up some work for my pro bono project before a call with the attorney I'm assisting. It was kind of rough, considering that I was exhausted from not enough sleep Wednesday night and a full day of travel on Thursday, but I was rewarded with a nice breakfast with my family when I finished the call. My dad is a great cook and he took Friday off to spend with me, so we all sat down to almond meal waffles. He has a great, healthy recipe for the waffles that I'll have to steal from him and share. I'd already eaten breakfast as I did work before my phone call, but I nibbled on half a waffle. It's so nice to be back around the family dinner table.

post-breakfast cuddles with one of my parents' two dachshunds, Fritzy 

After breakfast, I unpacked and then we headed to the gym. My dad didn't want to do anything high impact since his ankle has been hurting a bit and we were doing a race on Sunday (race recap is coming tomorrow!), but I led my sister and mom in a circuit-style class that left all of us very sore the next day. And Sunday, unfortunately -- I'm still feeling it in my legs! I'm posting the workout below. It was really fun and, to be honest, I loved being a tough instructor and pushing them hard. My favorite motivation, "you can do anything for 20 more seconds!!" definitely made an appearance.

Saturday
Yesterday started with my dad's yoga class. He teaches a vinyasa-style flow class several days a week at local gyms in our county. I always like my dad's class because he provides a lot of variations so that everyone can get a good workout. He gets a lot of seniors who need to take it slow, and I think it's great that he's able to craft a class that everyone can gain from.

surreptitiously taken while my dad was in down dog

 After class, my parents treated me to brunch at a cute new French-inspired cafe in our town called Cassoulet. Although the area is still pretty rural (my town is the second largest in the county and only has 12,000 people), there have been more interesting restaurants opening lately. Unfortunately a lot of the local storefronts downtown are empty right now, but restaurants seem to be doing a bit better. Our brunch dishes were really tasty and the service was extremely friendly and accommodating when I asked for changes to the largely-meat-filled menu. I hope the restaurant does well!

the cafe is very shabby-chic and cute inside

Since I'm not home very often, I get a bit spoiled when I do get back. My mom treated me to a pedicure with her at my favorite local place, Front Street Spa. Some much-needed girl time -- and much-needed foot time! Linda immediately asked if I was a runner. I guess my feet weren't exactly glamorous looking.

I feel like I have new feet! I opted for a fun, fall-ish purple 

Post-pedicures, I made us a pre-race dinner of my quinoa pasta, kale, sweet potato, and shrimp dish. The shrimp tasted extra fresh this time since Pacific Northwest seafood is SO good. After dinner, we drove down to Skagit County for my dad's concert! He's the principal French Horn for the local Skagit Symphony Orchestra. It was so nice to see my dad perform since I haven't been able to go to a concert in a long time. My parents were professional classical musicians for ten years, before they had me, and they still like to stay active in the local music scene.

I happened to snap this right as he was warming up -- he's standing in the back! 

Circuit Workout
I tried to model this on an Uplift Studios-style circuit class, which always kicks my ass. I led my mom and sister in some stationary jogging and light stretching to start. We then did each circuit twice before finishing with more stretching.

I love doing timed exercises because you can try to beat how many you did the previous time!

Has Hurricane Sandy messed up any of your plans? Hope everyone is staying safe and dry!!