how have I gone this long without posting about yoga?

So maybe it wasn't exactly hippiebouge, but it was most definitely San Francisco.

It's finally summer here causing my usually artificially heated donation-based yoga class to be a comfortable 95 degrees by pure sunshine and mat to mat body heat.  We always start off class centering with some "oms" and a traditional chant accompanied by a hand drum or two, but the rest of the class could go one of two ways: maintaining that calm meditative state with rhythmic songs in languages I don't know and instruments we don't come across on this side of the world, or party mode.  I must say, the latter of the two was welcome on a Monday like today, when I wasn't quite ready to part with the weekend.

The party began with, "No diggity" (which after watching the music video, I am determined to learn the dance). Then disco balls and rotating color lights went on.  And to top it all off, reaching forward and twisting into the last part of our warrior series, reverse triangle, the lovely voices of TLC filled the room.  "Waterfalls" was an appropriate pick since the rivers from our legs, which had created puddles on our mats, now formed a nice slippery coating on the floor.  Somehow I sensed Rusty had that song in his bag of tricks and I know I wasn't the only one singing along.

Before I moved out here I never imagined I would be attending, let alone embrace, "disco yoga,"  but it really makes those back bends worth it.  Plus you pay whatever you want and he gently urges everyone to "go vegan" at the end.  What's not to love?

Addendum....Minutes after I wrote this on BART, I heard a flute from outside the train doors.  The next thing I know, there is a young man dressed as a goat (thanks to Wikipedia, I learned he must have been channeling the Greek god, Pan) serenading a young gypsy woman carrying a basket of apples.  They do their bit on the train.  She flutters her eyelids as he tries to woo her with his flute, which at one point took a hip-hop turn.  When that does not work, he hops over to serenade a man who just will not lift his head from his book.  I'm next, and I can't say I have ever before been wooed by a flute-playing, fake-fur wearing man with horns on his head band, but he certainly made my BART ride worth it.   Oh, what will tomorrow bring?

how much is too much for a cup of coffee?

 

• I think I am all San Fran and give in to a $4.50 cup of coffee at a local overpriced made-to-order roaster (don't even think it was fair-trade, shade grown, HB, Emmy Negrin_ and a fly lands in it.  Just re-affirming I am not a hipster.  
  
  
• • 

    Erica Leigh Getto who the hell sells a $4.50 coffee in the city?

    5 hours ago · 
  • 

    Emmy Negrin gross! I just rollerbladed like a tool across oakland and purchased a local, organic (insert --overly healthy words--) cup of soup. HB. Thanks for keeping us humble.

    4 hours ago · 
  • 

    Becky Herman stop making me miss you people

    3 hours ago ·  ·  1 person
  • 

    Erica Leigh Getto it was a cocunut based tomato soup to be exact. served with homemade croutons.

    about an hour ago · 
  • 

    Emily Luhrs it might be time to blog again...

    30 minutes ago · 
• 
  

SUSHI

OK-

I need your opinion.

We're scheming ideas for new, exotic vegan sushis we can make. Yes, sushis. on a scale of hippie to bouge where do you think these ideas lie...?

[this fucking knit sushi bullshit is ridiculous - just sayin'}


1.) sauteed kale with onions, garlic, and fresh ginger
2.) flax plus granola
3.) raisins and craisins
4.) avocado, cucucumbers, sun dried tomato
5.) homemade pakora
6.) fried okra
7.) tofutti cream cheese, spinach, cucumber.
8.) roasted beets and sweet potato
Nine [my nine button is broken]: Magic sushi


Thanks for participating!!!!!!!

[ps - my roomates are harassing me about noting their creation tonight - brie and fig jam sushi - which I obvi don't care about cuz da vegaannnnnnnnnnnnnn]

xoxo

are you a BOBO?

Thanks Jake... Not quite the Parisian equivalent of Hippiebouge, but definitely worth noting: 


From Wikipedia...  "Bobos are noted for avoiding indulging in high acts of conspicuous consumption in favor of spending the greatest amount possible on the "necessities". Brooks argues that they feel guilty in the way typical of the so-called "greed era" of the 1980s so they prefer to spend extravagantly on kitchens, showers, and other common facilities of everyday life. They "feel" for the labor and working class and often purchase American-made goods rather than less expensive imports." 

Burl Blog

Last week, when I was in California, I bought what you see in the photo.

"Oh now what in the name of hippiebouge is that?" I'm sure you are asking yourself. It's a redwood burl! No, no, it's a LIVE redwood burl! And -- as the recycled packaging tells me -- if I keep it in a bowl (NOT metal) with a 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch of water around it at all times (and clean algae off its bottom) I will be "rewarded with beautiful fern-like foliage". Isn't that nice? I'll be rewarded for taking such good care of my burl.

Basically, I was at a redwood forest (Muir Woods), and I had a very magical day, and then I saw I could purchase a living memory of my magical day. It was only $15. Come on, you'd pay $15 for a wet piece of wood that might grow ferns, right? Especially if you had a connection with the woman who told you all about it, right? That's what I thought. Oh, and don't worry -- it was sustainably grown and harvested.

To sum up:

a) sustainable [HB]

b) in recycled packaging [HB]

c) I connected with the woman selling it to me [HB]

and

d) natural beauty [discussions open for HB]

Stay tuned, I just may have to start a burl blog for the life and times of my burl. HB!!!!

A new exotic fruit every week

Because Berkeley Bowl is a mecca for produce and I frequent it much too often, so I have made it a goal for myself to get to know the produce block a bit better.  Since I'm unemployed, the only money I should be spending should be on food right?  Right.  So, I took my friend Molly (soon to be guest blogger!) on her first day in California who was visiting from snowy Massachusetts, to the Berkeley Bowl to fully experience the range of produce in a local California grocery store.  Tourists are all about trying new things.

The produce section in the Berkeley Bowl, which I am realizing I recognize less than half the produce there, regardless of it being labeled "exotic," needs to be tackled.  A new fruit every week is what we decided would be the best approach.  After telling the nearby stock-boy of our plan, he advised us on the Cherimoya. The what?  He repeated it a few times until we pronounced it correctly and told us it was sweet,  assured us we would like it, and to eat it in one to two days.  Well, a whopping $4.24 later we cracked it open at a picnic awaiting it's splendor.

It tasted a bit like how the  China Town in Oakland smells.  A slimy stringy white meat-ty texture. Nuff said. No one finished their whole portion except for me, 'cuz I felt bad for the thing. We concluded it would probably be good in a smoothy, which it was because you couldn't really taste it.  Funny enough, the next day there was an article in the local paper devoted to our beloved fruit saying just that, not quite in season right now so best for smoothies. It also warned readers not to eat the skin or seeds because they could kill you. Berkeley Bowl, you need a warning by this thing!

What will my overpriced exotic fruit purchase be next week?  A Buddha's hand? A kumquat?  Stay tuned.

Damnit, I forgot to sage my crystal

So I think the main inspiration for this blog is the fact that we live in the mecca - the epicenter - the all encompassing nature of hippiebouge...Berkeley, California.

People here are so funny. Last night (granted I was in Oakland), I went to the extremely popular first friday Art Murmur walk with some friends. People drink their tall boy PBR's disguised poorly in a paper bag while walking around in their Toms (you buy someone without shoes, shoes! HB), chrome bags (fucking expensive, but a bicyclist's best friend, HB), and talking about shit like crystals and meditation.

Okay, I love all that stuff too, don't get me wrong. Even with a part of me giggling, I loved it. Saging a crystal. Emily and I love to sage our "new surroundings"- our new apt, a big redwood tree we found in a park with strangers (we definitely had a ceremony). It smells nice. It's ceremonial. It has different purposes in different cultures...

People use crystals for many things - they have healing powers, protective powers, line your chakras - whatever it is. But the fact that this woman was saying that - damnit! I forgot to sage my crystal.

It almost made me fall over in hippiebouge delight!

After 3 months in Berkeley, this is who I am...

My room is so Hippiebouge right now.  I have...
a) Massage Chair
b) Massage Table
c) Yoga Mat
d) Exercise Ball
e) incense
f) smudge stick
and
g) a plant.