Adults are Obsolete Children

If you’re offended by the title then the hell with you.

No one could’ve said it better than Dr. Seuss, “adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.”

Today is Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday!

I remember my favorite Dr. Seuss story as a kid was Green Eggs and Ham.  As a kid I loved his books because they had funny rhymes and made reading easy.  Now all grown up (and hopefully not considered obsolete), I still find great learning in the hidden messages as I read these books to my kids. Green Eggs and Ham served us well… if it wasn’t for this book, my kids wouldn’t have eaten anything green (See my post on kale).

So in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, I double dare you to do these 10 things to tickle your funny bone… cause the sillies are the best ways to wake up your inner child before you end up on the extinction list.

10. Go see The Lorax movie and then read your favorite Dr. Seuss book before bed time.

9.  Dunk some oreo cookies into a mug of warm milk and do let your whole hand sink into the mug so you can lick the milk off your knuckles.

8.  Accessorize your wardrobe with a candy necklace and ring pop that you can munch on and lick throughout the day.

7.  Go outside and catch some bugs like ants, grasshoppers, ladybugs, and other innocent insects… but this time don’t pull off their legs, wings, or any other parts.

6.  Chew bubble gum.. the big square ones like bubbilicous or hubba bubbla bubble gum  (yes they still make them).  Since your jaw is bigger, pop 2 squares in your mouth so you get chipmunk cheeks.  Once you get a handle of the gum,  blow a big bubble and watch it pop all over your face and nose… then you’ll suck it back into your mouth and chew it again.

5.  Have a spin around contest or cartwheel contest.  First one to throw up wins.

4.  Buy ice cream from the dirty ice cream truck… My favorite one was the strawberry shortcake popsicle.

3.  Run, skip, or gallop (anything but walk) while failing your arms and throwing your body against anything or anyone in sight.

2.  Be a know-it-all… tell everyone you meet about something you learned today with excitement and gusto.. and insist they drop whatever they’re doing because what you have to tell them is much more important… in other words, keep nagging until they listen.

and the number one way to tickle your inner child-like funny bone is:

1.  Climb up a door frame… go ahead!  I double dog dare you!

Here we go...

trying to pull thru.. it's actually very hard

spider woman!

I'm slipping...

Going down!

Fun!

Ahhh… the memories…. I refuse to become obsolete!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!!

June Baby

June is also National Rose Month

Happy June 1st!  This is my favorite day of the year not only because it’s my birthday at the end of the month, but symbolically I see another birthday as a time to renew, to begin again.  This is why I spend the month reflecting on what I’ve done the first half of the year but mostly how can I be of bigger service for the remainder of the year.

For my birthday last year, I held a yoga graffiti contest to help raise money for the Africa Yoga Project.  That was so much fun!  Remember that?  I’ve been doing this type of “checking in” with myself for the the past several years and am convinced that if you don’t celebrate your birthday, you won’t get older.   It’s true… celebrating the people around you and being of service to them is an integral part of the journey toward finding fulfillment.  Happiness brings more happiness. No doubt about it.

It’s no wonder June is Rebuild Your Life Month. Life is full of opportunities and this month has been very generous to me.  To kick off the celebrations, I am attending Yoga Life Coaching (YLC)  training with one of my favorite teachers, Debbie.  This program is going to empower me so that I can empower others more powerfully.  And then little did I know that the Universe has diverted my other plans to “celebrate” my birthday, She has told me that I am going to Italy with Debbie to assist her YLC retreat at the end of the month.  My first thought was, “is this a test?”  I’ll complete my YLC and then I am given an opportunity to put it into action?  For a moment, I could hear my thoughts of why I can’t go… kids, money, no passport, yadah yadah ya… I catch myself and just say “HELL YES!”  The best part of June is finding out if I am the winner of the Jai Lao Foundation‘s School Search.  I’ve submitted my entry to have a school built in the village where my mom grew up in Laos.   If chosen, I will get to go with them and really be in service!  Stay tuned… I’m gonna need your help to vote for my village.

So dear readers, if June 1st isn’t bringing you the opportunities you want, can you create it?  If you’re not where you’d like to be, simply begin again with no rules this time.  Catch yourself contained in the rules you’ve made for yourself.  Get so excited about something that your enthusiasm propels you with momentum toward reaching your goal.  Most of all, have faith that the rewards will come with it.

In any case, celebrate TODAY!!!!

Finding Comfort in Chaos

Wow!  Has it really been since May 6th since I posted?!  So it seems the rest of the world has been up to busy work too.. My friend Nancy over at Flying Yogini sums it up well today.  She says, “..somehow I manage to keep on plugging onward in every endeavor because this chaos is where I find comfort.”

Chaos?  Comfort?  They both start with C.  Same thing right?  “More power to you!” someone told me this week.  She asks, “How do I do it?”  Between teaching, commuting, two kids, a dog, volunteering, and now an official PTA board member at our school.  Well as you can see some things went to the bottom of the list (aka this blog).

Remember the angry birds?  That’s what started off this year’s birthday marathon and celebrations.   Here’s a yummy collection:

Mother's day: pineapple pops with pineapple and mango frosting inside.

The next birthday: domo kun!

A cake of cake pops. 40+ bite size pieces of happiness and late nights

marshmallow krispie treats to go

late nights, chocolate crumbs, sticky fingers... all worth it for this one wish

and a party isn't complete without a custom made pinata

Of course after all the birthday festivities, I was in charge of teacher appreciation week.

for the best teacher in the 2nd grade

Our 2nd grade teacher. He really is the best ever!

I am cake pooped!  No more I say.

People wonder how I have time to do all these.  I thought and I wondered in amazement “how do I find time to do all this?”  I think back at those late nights.  I find the whole house quiet. It’s just me, cake, crumbs, chocolate, and my wild imagination. 

For those hours of molding, painting on faces, melting chocolate, wrapping, and cutting, I found comfort.  For that little bit of time, my mind is fully present to what I was doing.  Not thinking about tomorrow or beating myself up for the things past.  It is a culmination of excitement brewing up.. for I couldn’t wait to see the smiles of the ones who will get to sink their teeth into my creation.  

Who knew cake pops would be a meditation.

Sacrifice

Today I got my life back.  For the past several weeks I’ve been consumed with Thing 1′s 8th Angry Birds-day party.   I survived two hours of 17 kids, green pigs, red, blue, black, yellow, and white angry birds.  It seemed like I was preparing to sacrifice my life to defend the country.

So that’s what it seems like.   All I heard was “wow!  that’s a lot of time to sacrifice for a birthday party.”  Or “yea, I remember all the sacrifices we made for our kids.”  Or “My hubby and I just got our lives back.  The kids just moved out for college.”   Or “I’m not sure I’m ready for kids…. that’s a lot of sacrifice.”

I see it differently.  When you really come from Love, there is no need to sacrifice anything.  You don’t need to sacrifice your time or your life or your freedom or yourself for anyone or anything or any cause.  If your intentions are purely from Love, there is no feeling of surrendering or giving up of something for something else.

I see my yoga practice the same.  I don’t need to sacrifice the way I live my life to do yoga.  Some students (note:  especially students who want to teach) perceive they need to give up their way of life to do yoga.  For example, they have to become a vegetarian before they can be “good” yogis.  They have to give up coffee.  They have to chant.  They have to speak sanskrit.  They have to get the perfect pose… have to have to have to…

I say yoga helps me live my life. Yes, when you start to practice yoga and become keenly aware of your actions, your body, and how you connect with others, there are things you start to consider to let go of.

Being the force behind other’s happiness helps me find happiness within myself.  Spending my time offering Love to others challenges me to find more Love within myself.

“The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice.  Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy.  The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him.”  — Ghandi

Offer it all up!  All your LOVE!

 

It took 7 hours to sew these plush toys

blue angry birds chocolate truffles for cupcake toppers

Red angry birds for cupcake toppers

And a chocolate slingshot is a must!

Cake will be flying in the air fairly soon

Birds waiting for their guests

We're angry!!!

The leader of the flock

The enemies

Pinata... he was a tough pig to defeat... look at that helmet

NOTE:  NO pigs were actually harmed during the celebration

So good to be back in blog land again… read you soon!

A Letter To My 6 Year Old Self

About a month ago, I was re-inspired by Suburban Yogini’s post on a letter she wrote to her 12yr old self.  I did something similar to this during teacher training level 1 and have been thinking about what I would say to my 6 year old self since I am turning 6 yoga years old today.

~~~~~

Kindergarten/1st grade school picture

My Dearest Self,

Hello!  This is  a letter from your older self who just turned 34 today.  Please ask mom to read it for you…

Since it is your 6th {yoga} birthday today, I wanted to celebrate you at 6 years old.   Right now I know you are happily clueless of the journey ahead of you.  Do yourself a favor and stay that way for as long as you can.  But knowing you the way I know you, you’re not gonna listen and that’s ok because you’re gonna be given a big wake up call when you stumble upon this ancient practice called yoga.  Yoga is going to take you on a journey back to your younger self.  You are going to be the catalyst for your own transformation to authenticity through curiousity.  You are going to inspire childlike love, fun, and innocence into ordinary everyday life and transform it into a magical adventure.

I love the way you are so responsible, giving, and loving at such a young age but remember that your priority should be to explore your world, ask questions but don’t believe every answer you get and be confident about doing your own thing.  It doesn’t matter if you’re not the most popular kid in kindergarten.  Oh and forget about that boy George.  He’s cute and all but he’s just into popular girls and he’ll never appreciate you for you.  It’s better to nurture the relationships you have with your few friends than trying to be liked by everyone else.  I know it’s hard to be the smallest in the class, but you’re gonna thank me for that later.   Oh and never mind about wearing all those hand-me down clothes cause you’re gonna discover lululemon yoga clothes that you’re gonna look fabulous in.  Trust me.  Nancy, Lindsay, and Sarah would drool with envy if they ever meet you again.

I love your long beautiful hair but start practicing non-attachment right away.   Don’t feel obligated to have long hair because mom likes long hair.  In a few years you’re gonna start noticing your body and start developing your own sense of style.  Go ahead and unbraid that hair and let it down.  The sooner you can shake it wild and get it knotted, the sooner you’ll want to get it cut.  Trust me.  Short hair girls have more fun.  Besides, you’ll discover that you don’t have to hide behind a curtain of hair.

You are so smart and I know you’re smart enough to figure out that grades aren’t everything.  It’s important to study and try your best, but smarts don’t come from a text book.  You’ll later learn to value experiences and failures more than successes and awards.  Your successful career that everyone else has portrayed for you will be questioned (good job!) and you’ll discover that your ideal career will be the quest for life.

Looks aren’t everything, but know that you’ll be thankful for the braces you will get in 5th grade.  Again those popular kids will be envious of you because big cheesy smiles are one of your best features.  I know it’s hard to be railroad tracks, but every dentist you meet will think you should be on a Crest commercial and the first thing random strangers will say to you when you smile and say hi to them is that you have nice teeth.   Since we’re talking about looks, hang in there when you’re the last one to get a training bra.  Bras aren’t that comfortable anyway and you’ll never wear one again thanks to lululemon power Y tanks.

There aren’t enough pens and paper to write everything down and you don’t want to know how everything goes anyway.  Remember to just take things one step at a time and always listen to your intuition.  Don’t waste time doubting it.  Never question how amazing and smart you are and that you deserve everything you could possibly dream of.  Your beauty shines from the place that matters most and people who also shine from that place will appreciate you for you.  There’s no doubt there will be people who will be blind to your beauty and awesomeness but life very seldom gives you the luxury of time to prove who you are to these people.  Sometimes it’s best to end those relationships quickly.  Your family will always love you no matter who you become (even though at times it doesn’t seem like they do, but boy! they do!)  Keep reinventing yourself.  Stay fresh.  Stay present.  Ask questions.  Be curious.  Play.  Play.  Play.  Play some more.  One more thing:  ask mom and dad to take you to swim class.  Trust me, it’s easier if you learn how to swim at this age.

With Love,

Your 34 year old self

Birthday Marathon

I am back in blog land.  I have missed you so and can finally breathe a sigh of “Ahhhhh.”  The only running I’ve been doing lately is the birthday marathon in my family.  From March 10, March 25, April 10, May 8, May 14, and finally today May 17.  I don’t ever want to see another penguin, super mario character  or the beloved red velvet cheesecake again… yes, I said that.  It’s so yum but not to be consumed back to back within a months time

1,547 Delicious Calories

Remember these penguin cupcakes?

Jasmine's Penguin Cupcakes

I had thoughts to outdo these cupcakes and make a Super Mario themed one for Niko’s 4th birthday.  Afterall, everyone who came to Jasmine’s party now expects just as fabulous and cuter cupcakes now that the bar has been set so high.  I checked out many different designs to find inspiration:

photo from http://dragonflydoces.co.nr

Easy peezy mac and cheesy, right? (photo from Sandra - socakes flickr)

I was super excited to see that Michael’s had ready to use fondant.  Even though I’ve never used fondant, I was feeling creative until life took over and I ran out of time.  Actually it was more like procrastinating took over…

Swallowed my ego and brought store bought cupcakes and decided to keep Niko’s party simple.  Oh no!  Simple didn”t mean plain for this creative ego.  Found some star shaped candy molds for chocolate stars and simply added eyes.  Paper punches, photo shop, a printer, and voila!

Chocolate stars for my Birthday Star!

Again simple didn’t mean plain.  Two sleep deprived nights later of designing, cutting, and gluing, I had a SUPER “Super Mario” party waiting to be ooohhh’ed and ahhhhh’ed  by kids and parents who wished they were kids.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to get their hands on these goodie bags:

The goodie bags.

The lucky birthday boy, got these special surprise boxes filled with dinosaur wind up toys and what else would you find in a question mark box?   chocolate coins of course!

Niko's presents

I think I might submit an idea to Nintendo to add dinosaur enemies in their Super Mario game

Simple toys = Great fun!

All the sleepless nights paid off to see these faces:

And this face:

But no time to rest yet, cause Darren’s birthday was in just 3 more days.  Fortunately, I learned my lesson after two rounds of crazy birthday planning back to back (at least til next year that simple should just be simple.  Poor Darren who is the last of the birthday round gets a simple, plain, homemade pop-up card and no more red velvet cheesecake.  Just a H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y! and homemade breakfast.

This is why I love you!  You are simple and plain, but full of L O V E and L I F E that always brightens  my day.   Happy birthday, sweetie!

Now off to think about running again… especially after those red velvets!

Non-attachment (Part 2)

When did non-attachment taste so good?  These little penguins took about 4 hours to complete and were gobbled down within minutes. The process and time involved made them taste even so much better.  Even Jasmine forgot about busting her penguin pinata friend after sinking her teeth into these gooey friends.

The prize is definitely in the process.  No matter how many hours I spent on these, seeing the gratification on the kids faces was well worth it.  I find that cultivating a feeling of gratitude makes our attachment to things or others less intense when we do indeed have to let them go.  Our attachment doesn’t end with things or people, but often overlooked is memories… especially unpleasant memories.  We hold on as tight as possible as if they will not get repeated if we remember them.  Or we hold on dearly to pleasant memories hoping to recreate some of those again.  However, the idea of non-attachment to anything and everything gives us the platform to experience each moment as we experience it in full gratitude.  What a great lesson I’m learning as I try not to hold on so dearly to my children has they grow up right before my eyes.

The easy part - baking the cupcakes

It gets challenging from here - first resisting the temptation to taste them cause they smell so good

Here's the body

On with their heads

Going for a swim in the chocolate frosting

Penguin invasion in my freezer

And they taste soooo good

Off with their heads

Non-attachment can be fun too

N is for Non-attachment (part 1)

(from Himalayan Institute)

“N is for non-attachment, the art of living the simple life, without too many needs or desires.” — Himalayan Institute

This has been the main theme in the Wong household the past few weeks as I organize and plan Jasmine’s 7th birthday party.  The lucky #7 and also the biggest party she’s had so far.  I’ve spent countless hours planning and creating her penguin themed party.  I’ve tried to keep it simple but as it turns out convenience never took my side because everything that I needed (rather wanted) for her party was no where to be found (for a reasonable price that is).  She’s been in love with penguins ever since seeing the Happy Feet movie.  She’s even gone as far as devoting her first entire science fair project to the study of penguins.  Naturally I wanted to penguin out her party from a penguin pinata to penguin games to a penguin cake.  Ended up making everything from scratch. The pinata was the most time consuming because we had to cut all the tissue paper.

We both fell in love with our pinata and the closer it got to being completed, the more attached we both became.   Instead of being happy when it was done, we both became sad.  Jasmine said she would cry if people hit him with a bat.  “I don’t want people to break him.  All the cutting and gluing and we’re just gonna break him?” she asked.

Oh boy!  How do you teach a 7 yr old the idea of non-attachment when the candy doesn’t motivate anymore? She’s getting too smart for me.

Aparagraha, one of the yamas of yoga, or non-possessiveness/non-attachment teaches  us that holding on to possessions or ideas causes suffering.  In trying to explain this concept to my 7yr old, I had to remind myself to not be attached to the idea that she might be sad at what is suppose to be a joyous occasion.  As a parent, it’s hard to not be attached to the kids (like a relationship bond) and at the same time cultivate a love in such a non-attached way when all I want to do is protect them from hurt and injury.

So I explained the best I could about letting go and how all things don’t last forever.  I didn’t want to tell her to “look on the bright side” because I wanted her to recognize the emotion that might be there when the penguin burst into pieces.  For us, the prize was really in the journey and not the destination.  She recognized that the whole process of putting the pinata together was tons of fun and we got to spend many hours working together.  “My friends are gonna love him too,” she says….  More on non-attachment experiences from the party for the next blog

The penguin body that Niko wanted to be in

Giving Mumbo some quads

Giving Mumbo some curves

Had to dress Mumbo since it's a PG13 party