Try this at home, kids

Do you know one thing I think is great about yoga?

I see people doing crazy things, and can tell they do yoga too.

Like in the very cool, under-appreciated Shakira "She Wolf" video, which has lots of shots like this:

I don't just see this and think, ooo weird, or, ooo sexy. I think, ah-HA Shakira does yoga! (You also have the line in the song that goes, "The moon's my teacher/ And I'm her student.")

And like with Lady Gaga's infinitely, infinitely watchable Bad Romance video. I see this:

and I don't have to think dismally, Damn she is so skinny....how is she so skinny...they must be photoshopping this. I know she's doing uddiyana bandha, a yoga breath posture where you basically breathe out fully, pull your stomach inwards, and raise up your ribcage and your perineal floor (your 'down theya,' if you will). It's good to practice this in the 'umpire' position and engage the throat lock jalandhara banda - put your chin down to 'lock' the air out. Basically anyone can look like this- they just have to know how! And anyways, it's no secret that Lady Gaga does yoga- she's a self-described Bikram addict.

So that's why this is one thing I love about yoga. It makes me think yoga is geology of the body- you learn the rules of how and why things take a certain physical shape, and therefore you can better understand them when you see them. Strata for humans...metamorphic, not sedimentary...

In this posture, or asana, you can tell that I am practicing self-timer mode on my camera:

Everything at the surface

That's how I'm feeling today. And I guess it's the only way to be with a blog, unless you have an actual specific purpose for it. We all know I don't need one of those, right?

It is cool to see the stats from the blog. For a few reasons. While anyone (most people) who reads this from the US has anonymity, I can see that 2 pageviews came from Canada and 1 came from Poland.

And because of my limited fame and web dominance, I can know who these people are! I have a few friends in Canada who I met traveling in Peru. And that lone view from Poland? Ah- must be my BFF Iza!! We met because we were roomies in a hostel in South Beach last spring. We called each other "bff"... I think it started because she wanted to know what it meant when Americans said it...also now remembering telling her '90210' was the ZIP code where the people on the show lived... It's funny what doesn't translate.

Anyway, given the odds, I'm pretty sure that was her, and just seeing that made me think of her. Here's us having frozen yogurt, a year ago this month:

Why is it that the most powerful feelings of longing-- the ones that go, oh my god, that was so amazing, That was the best day/experience ever-- are for the times I have traveled, met people, and seen places i had never known before? Is it just because I have more pictures of those times than I do of the regular routine? Or is it because I am so happy in those pictures? (Maybe you have to look cute AND have a good memory of the experience to feel that way.)

Other reflections on my stats: By consensus, Google Chrome is the best browser. And, contrasting my feelings upon seeing views from Canada and Poland, I felt a little bummed when I realized no one from England had viewed it. Camilla! Hmph!

Here's Camilla:

(Hey dude, it's not my fault that this is the most flattering picture I have that isn't 3 years old. Visit meee!!)

She's my BFF too. We have a sort of weird history, technically-roommatesbestfriendsweirdconvolutedyearlongnotfriendsthenfriendsagain- and I haven't seen her since the day this pic was taken (the whole England thing) but I know I will always consider her my friend. It's interesting, I've known her since late 2006, and we don't really have any connections in common. My other friends don't know her, I don't know anyone else that's in her life. Just each other.

All right, who else can I call out for not reading my blog based on one single linking to Facebook? Where you at, Switzerland (my friend Isaline)? Sheesh.

No, really, where I was going before? My feelings about travel. They were brought up to the surface again today when I watched this video about "the boy Amelie" - a guy who flew to Europe to return a lost roll of film. He captures my feelings exactly, especially about the people you meet, through his honesty and openness. Traveling makes me aware of life itself; it consists of the experiences that make you realize how lucky and weird and coincidental everything that happens to you is. We forget it, but doing something random and adventurous makes us remember. You find yourself in a boat in a jungle, in a bus in the Andes, in some totally random person's condo over Miami because your hostel roommate met another Polish girl who hosts travelers via Couchsurfer and serves them delicious wine, and you go, wow, I am alive, and anything could happen tomorrow.

Which is what life... is.

(So sayeth the 25-year-old.)

So, before the hits to this blog go through the roof and crash Blogger's server, as they surely will any day now (I just gotta get Lady Gaga to tweet me), It was cool to see those first few pageviews. They brought up thoughts of the living I won't ever forget!

Below: This is Isaline, in Pisaq, a pueblo in the Sacred Valley in the Peruvian Andes. Two years ago this week we spent a week there learning Spanish.

Eerie/coincidental/100% honest update: just checked stats. I just got a page view from Switzerland!

hello again

So keeping a blog is something i would like to do. I got myself this URL/blog name (which i like for weird/confusing reasons...it's a pun on an old Vanity Fair article about Kimora Lee Simmons, who i dont really like, as well as ironic because i do, in fact, always try to 'bare' my fabulosity) ...here we go.

This is me.

I really love that scarf. I paid something like 40 dollars for it at urban outfitters. That was at least three or four years ago and i still love it and wear it all the time.

Good for me.

Goal for future: post every picture i can find of me wearing that scarf. Won't you loooove that.

I love being in new places. Unanticipated and previously-never-thought-of places. This is what traveling is, but you can discover this in places that are very close to where you go every day- you just have to try, and not ever underestimate Earth. In this photo I am at Lake Isabella, northeast of Bakersfield (Armpitsville) CA. It was a beautiful day.

You know what has two thumbs and is also beautiful?

This guy.

He's pretty much the cutest, smartest, sweetest, funniest, patient-est, best guy for me ever.

I'm allowed to say that because we have been together a year and a half (not two minutes) and i still think that.

He likes to run around and go climbing, and i like that. He likes to listen, and i like to talk.

When he talks to people in his native language (Farsi aka Persian, he is from Iran) i like to listen. I used to feel like it was a little weird that my boyfriend's first language...the language that was in his head originally...was a different language than English, but now i think it's cool.

And i know how to say, Hi, How are you, I'm good, and Bye, in Farsi. (How inventive are anyone's conversations with their mom?)

This is my view every day from my office:

(well, in the fall, at least.)

My job has advantages and disadvantages, but most importantly, it has provided incredible opportunities to me. Because i work here, I can manage an office, plan and pull off big policy events, give 25 minute presentations, use a scanner, and i understand a good deal about how policies

are made. That's really good. I won't have to learn those things later, and I wont ever think those things are 'easy.'

When I stay late, this is my view:

My two bestest girl friends:

Alison and Xandi.

I have wondered before what i would be like - how different i would be- if i hadn't ALWAYS had some one to talk to. I definitely am the person i am because of that.

Okay, what else can i tell you that doesn't require me to upload and drag around any more photos?

I am moving to New York City in approximately two months to begin a Master's program at Columbia University. My sister Sarah gets married a week after the program starts!...that will be a crazy time.

Two (Not-So?) Secrets: I am always afraid i will mess up the whole getting-on getting-off the escalator thing. And i don't ever want to give up my ideals or settle.