Mindy Carlson

This weekend was loaded with all kinds of wonderful things! – My yoga retreat, a visit from a friend who currently lives in France, and Halloween.

The yoga retreat was amazing. The theme for the weekend was Discovery and Transformation. Our instructors did a great job of encouraging us to play with poses that we wouldn’t normally do in our class and give ourselves permission to play with the poses.

The biggest thing for me was that I ACTUALLY DID A HANDSTAND!!! I haven’t done a handstand since I was in grade school. My arms need some further strength, but with the assistance of 3 other people I was able to get my toes above my head and stay there for awhile. It was one of the more terrifying things I’ve done in recent memory.

All together I did 8 hours of yoga this weekend – 5 hours in one day. I’m sore, but very pleased. And the food was A-Mazing. Any hopes and intentions of actually losing weight this weekend were completely tossed aside one I had the first dinner.

The whole weekend was what I had hoped it would be: restorative and rejuvenating. I got to meet some really cool people, bond further with my teacher and her daughter, and push myself. I am definitely going to sign up for next year as soon as possible.

And then our friend Liz came to visit for the evening. Liz is currently living and working in Paris, France. (Yes, it is a sweet gig.) But she brought herself and a bunch of students here on an educational trip about Washington, DC. And then she had an evening off so she came to our house for some truly American ribs and the joy of handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. It was wonderful to see her, although we missed her husband, Alan, whom my husband went to grad school with at Berkeley. But believe me, seeing her is just as good. It was really fabulous conversation, good food, and some really cute trick-or-treaters. We can’t wait until they come back here to live.

And speaking of trick-or-treaters, out little trick-or-treaters were adorable! E was, of course, a dinosaur. The Concavenator Corcorvatus to be specific. It’s a newly discovered dinosaur with a hump on its back. I made the costume since none of the stores were up to date with their dinosaur costume varieties. The Little H was a Japanese Samuri Warrior. Mark’s friend, Kim, lived in Japan for awhile and brought this back for our first son. We decided it would be a waste for us not to use it again for H. It’s really a wonderful outfit.

We saw some great costumes this year, although we didn’t have the crowds we had last year. That means we now have plenty of candy in the house. I’m going to do my best not to start sampling it. Once I start it’s hard for me to stop.

I love Halloween. It’s all about fantasy and really cute pumpkins for me. I think that’s what it is about for the kids, too, so far. I think next year it might be about the candy for E. He was really jazzed about getting it once he was home, but he didn’t want to gorge himself on it. (Clearly he gets this from his father.)

But here are their costumes.

It was quite a busy weekend, but I feel very rested and relaxed this morning typing this up and sipping my coffee. I think this week will be fun, right up until Mark has to leave for a 3-day conference.  🙂