Here are some of my favorite moments from the last two weeks of our trip.

In Berkeley with an amazing view of the San Francisco Bay. We stopped off to visit my just-back-in-the-States cousin and his wonderful family.

We saw some beautiful elk near Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park

I often refer to my darling husband as "my giant". He looks downright puny next to that redwood. That's no small feat.

Here I am, crouching inside a fallen redwood trunk.

With my dear friend, Melinda (of www.ICookWithWine.com), in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Wine tasting with our San Francisco hosts Melinda and Kevin, the ever-gracious oenophiles.

Michael took this great shot of one of the vineyards.

Doing my requisite yoga in the tasting room. Normal, right? No?

The green roof at the California Academy of Sciences made me feel like I was living in Dr. Seuss book.

This was my first visit to Alcatraz, and I was mesmerized by the decrepit buildings.

Our friends' dog, Grey, who happens to be awesome.

This rhino, in the San Diego Safari Park, is one of only SEVEN of its kind left in the world. Seeing it was at once awesome and heartbreaking.

I have so many thoughts about this trip–from what I learned about how to stay healthy while doing extended traveling to trying to sort out my feelings about zoos–but I’m still reflecting on much of the last four weeks. I can’t wait to see how the next adventure, which is less than a week away, is going to boggle my mind.

• visited four different branches of family (Mike’s mom and dad, my parents, and my sister’s family) and a solid handful of friends across four states
• welcomed the most perfect nephew ever born, the ever-handsome Ronan
• celebrated my brother’s 28th, my 26th, and my very, very dear friend’s 60th
• gotten engaged to my best friend in the world!

As you can see, it’s been quite a busy–though wonderful–couple of weeks, which should help explain why it’s been so quiet on here. I have lots of updates to post (including the full, perfect engagement story, as well as plenty of health related thoughts), which I will soon. Please be patient as I’m planning a wedding a six months from 7,000 miles away. If you’re curious about that whole process, by the way, I’ve just started a wedding blog for guests and curious netizens over at We’re Gettin’ Hitched.

Stay tuned for all the latest, and I hope everyone’s had a wonderful month!

Ronan

with big sister

Congratulations and thank you to my big sister and her wonderful husband for expanding their awesome family.

We were inspired to do this by two sources. First was watching No Impact Man, about Colin Beavan and his family who go without electricity for six months. We are not that hardcore. But stepping away from TV and computers a few times a week? Yes please! Also, as part of this Spent program, I’m not supposed to be around a screen after 10p.m. This isn’t entirely practical for me as some days I get home after 10 and have work to do, or if I want to talk to anyone Stateside, it has to be late given the fourteen hour time difference. But less screen time is certainly good, and I try to step away from screens by 11:30p.m., unless I’m talking to family. For example, last night I spoke to my sister and her family on Skype around midnight, but seeing my niece wiggle and tell me about “snow that came up to [her] belly!” was well worth any sleep disruption. As I’ve said before, for me, it all comes down to balance.

The great discovery has been how much better I feel after our no screens nights. It gives us a chance to really connect because I’m not half watching a movie while clacking away on my computer. We sit down to a real meal, bust out a board game, or a puzzle, or a crossword, and catch up while doing something fun, face-to-face.

I also can be a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to TV. I don’t like them, I don’t want one, and when I lived on my own, mine sat in my closet, unplugged, until I finally gave it away or sold it, I don’t remember which. That said, you give me access to a host of TV shows, good and bad, and I can easily spend hours staring at the screen like a zombie. Our apartment in Seoul came with a giant TV, though, and my darling man did a stint as an actor in Hollywood and loves movies. As a result I wind up spending far more time in front of the boob tube (usually all too willingly) than I would otherwise.

This won’t be a surprise to many of you, but our no screens nights have proven to be much more relaxing than our couch potato evenings. I find it easier to do yoga, I don’t mind doing the dishes (as much), and I have time to take a long, hot shower. (I know, I know, very un-green of me, but I only shower every other day in the winter (my hair and skin get too dry otherwise), so that means I get to shower twice as long, right? Right?) And when I crawl into bed, not only is my seratonin production not all whacky from the screens, but I also feel that I’ve had a real chance to share my day and hear about the fella’s, which makes me feel nice and fuzzy inside.

If it’s all so great, why don’t we give up screens all together? Part of the reason is where we live. Sometimes, we just need to escape to a mindless, English-speaking world, and our laptops are how we stay close to our friends and family. Part of it is that we really enjoy sitting down and watching a movie or TV show (um, have you seen The Wire?! Crazy good!) together. If we really like this Monday/Wednesday no screens thing, though, there’s a very good chance we’ll add more. Or, at the very least, stop making it our default activity.

In fact, I’m typing this early and posting from work because tonight I have a writing project I want to (finally) get started on–using good old fashioned paper and pen–but I’ll save that for another day.

Don’t forget to enter my very first giveaway if you haven’t already done so! You can enter to win a copy of The China Study, Eating Animals, or Spent (which comes with a complimentary email session with the author, Dr. Frank Lipman, a special offer for The View From There readers!). Click here for details and to enter.

I felt particularly connected to my breath, which made such an impact. It sustained me through deeper stretches, and helped me stay balanced as I hung out in tree pose to strengthen my knees. (Though I have yet to master tree pose with my eyes closed.  That’s hard!) This time, instead of rushing off to do something, I spent time in savasana, allowing my body to just melt into my mat. By the time I crawled into bed, I felt relaxed and joyful.

As an added bonus and nod to the family theme of the practice, I played some songs my brother’s very talented girlfriend recorded. Made me feel just a little bit closer to everyone back at home.

Keeping all that in mind as I went through my practice allowed me to push myself just a bit more. My 5 surya namaskaras served as a warm up rather than my entire practice. It was also a wonderful change to do my yoga at the start of the day rather than at the end; I felt comfortable being more vigorous because I wasn’t going to bed right after. I added warrior I and warrior II, did some wide-leg forward bends (one of my all time favorites), and then what I realized was a rather avian-inspired series of poses: pigeon, crow, and eagle.  Finally, I worked up the courage to try working towards doing a proper headstand, something I’ve been thinking about for months and months.

Following these instructions from FitSugar, I decided to start with the modified beginner’s version. It was pretty pathetic — I couldn’t do much beyond properly positioning my head and hands. On the upside, now I have something else to work towards. At some point this summer, I will be able to do a perfect headstand. I am determined.

Unfortunately, at some point in the practice, I did something to aggravate my knee. Early in the fall, I had gone for a short run and somehow managed to seriously hurt both my knees. In fact, part of my motivation for starting this yoga practice is to strengthen my leg muscles and therefore improve my knee function/pain. I suspect I cocked my leg at a bad angle during pigeon yesterday, and that’s what’s causing the pain now. It didn’t hurt during the practice, but started to ache on my walk to work, was worse heading home from a delicious dinner (more on that later), and throbs whenever I walk on it today. It doesn’t feel like a serious injury, but I’m frustrated that it now feels as bad as it did four months ago when I first hurt it. I try to be particularly protective of my knees during yoga, but must have missed the mark. I’ll be reading this article in YogaJournal later to reacquaint myself with the the proper ways to protect my joints. As yoga can be a great healing tool, I plan to continue with my practice as before, but with extra attention to my knees.

By way of example, Michael likes to say I come from Shiny Happy Land.  When he called me last Christmas, shortly after our first date, he asked what I was doing. “Oh, you know, we’re all just cleaning up after dinner.  Dad put on a Blues Christmas CD, India and I are doing silly dances while we clear the table, Anders is wiping down the placemats…” There was laughter and music and general merriment in the background. It’s pretty tough to beat.

Which makes being 8,000 miles away at Christmastime (aka, the best time of the year to be Swedish) extra tough. So I’ve developed a three-prong plan of attack:

Part I: Focus on all the good parts about living in Korea

Part II: Do everything I can to keep my health (mental and physical) in order.

Part III: Bring as many elements of a Swedish Christmas as possible to Seoul.

It’s not the same as having my amazing rugrat niece crawling all over me while we open presents in front of the fire, but it should help make it all a bit easier. I’ll try to post details soon. And until then –
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!