Anton & Mommy's Top Car Songs of 2016

Having a snow day has produced a great thing...time for me to go through iTunes and burn a compilation (yes, I use CDs and iTunes, judge away!) of the greatest hits of 2016. These are the  tunes Anton and I  (and sometimes Papa) listened to on repeat as we traveled to and from karate, the coast, Portland, and all of the other car trips we took. The music rotated but a few things stayed constant: 1) Anton would always get passenger seat even if there were other adults in the car 2) Anton would immediately search for gum or candy before applying seatbelt 3) Anton would immediately change whatever music was currently playing (probably a good thing since it was usually explicit rap) and navigate to the EXACT song he wanted to hear, even if it had been the same song for several weeks (months). The kid knows what he likes. This compilation is a of taste of those songs...although not ALL inclusive. Weird Al Yankovic was purposely left off of this list...we are all a little burned out right now on Weird Al as much as we love him. Also, for the music 'splainers, I realize that most of these songs did not actually come out in 2016, I'll do that later but it won't be kid-friendly.

Without further delay...here are Anton & Mommy's Top Car Songs of 2016! ***drumroll***

1. "Rock Your Body" Justin Timberlake
2. "Stars 4-Ever" Robyn
3. "No Promises" Icehouse
4. "Keep You In Mind" Gourdan Banks
5. "Not The Future" Bad Lip Reading
6. "Please Don't Turn Me On" Artful Dodger (Disclosure Remix)
7. "Born This Way" Lady Gaga
8. "White Noise" Disclosure feat. AlunaGeorge
9. "Moody Mondays" Eric Prydz feat. The Cut
10. "Rumour Mill" Rudimental feat. Anne-Marie & Will Heard
11. "Hey Boy" Take That
12. "Seagulls! (Stop It Now)" Bad Lip Reading
13. "WTF (Where They From)" Missy Elliott feat. Pharrell
14. "iT" Christine and the Queens
15. "Doin'It Right" Daft Punk
16. "Boss" Disclosure
17. "Hang With Me" Robyn
18. "Can't Stop the Feeling" Justin Timberlake

Emmy Cleaves workshop Seattle- 9/10/16

I spent a glorious day in downtown Seattle on Saturday. The weather was perfect, my hotel was baller, and I got to learn more about yoga from Bikram's first and foremost teacher, Emmy Cleaves. She's in her 90s and looks amazing in a unitard. One of my favorite tips was one she asked the men in the room to close their ears for but it was REALLY helpful! On the last part of Stretching pose (on the floor) she told the ladies to "make sure your VJ is flat on the ground"! That really helped because sometimes my VJ has a tendency to creep up...you don't want that! The room was PACKED though not hot enough but who can complain. This was a once in a lifetime experience and I enjoyed every second of it. I even enjoyed walking in downtown Seattle during my break. I find Seattle to be sort of an ugly, urine soaked downtown but on this day it looked lovely...or maybe I was just seeing things differently!

8.24.16- 6am

Had a really strong class today...felt extra focused. I think this has to do partially with some new literature I have been reading that has helped open me up more to listening to my thoughts and having more control over them and ultimately freeing myself from them. Reading "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. It's all about getting rid of the ego...that inner voice, the need to identify with form that we all seem burdened by. Slowly letting go of that opens up things I could have never imagined unless I saw/felt it happen to me, and it's starting to...a little bit at a time. Yoga is such a great way to help sharpen that focus. There is SO MUCH to discover!

Angel of the day: Compassion (hopefully this angel is with me every day even if I don't pick it from the bowl)

8.16.16- 6am

Being able to curve in towards your belly during compression poses like Stretching and Standing Separate Leg Head to knee is a real challenge for me but as I start to go deeper in my practice I'm feeling the benefits. There are parts of the neck that are so bound up with tension and lack of use. Allowing the neck to release in to these poses, and then curling in towards the abdomen releases so much good stuff in to the body!

8.3.16- 9:30am Aspen, CO

I took a very interesting yoga class today. It was very different from the ones in Corvallis or Portland, or anywhere I've been so far. The main differences:
-music and loud talking before class...music varied from Lionel Ritchie to Daft Punk to some sort of new country song which was unfortunate. During the standing series I recall Warren G "This DJ" and some other random R&B.  Loud talking was mainly about luxury hotels to stay at in Boston. Apparently the Mandarin Oriental is really the best in terms of location and spa and there is a Soul Cycle right next door. #themoreyouknow
-I couldn't see myself in the front mirror (we were packed in mat to mat people in front of each other) but when I did a backbend I could see myself in the back mirror and it was REALLY cool! Until I almost lost my balance on the forward bend...but wow, that's a view I have never seen before. Especially while listening to Dr. Dre.
-The class was only 75min long but we did all of the 26 poses. They offer an hour long one as well...I guess you just don't hold the poses that long. I was told in class "we like to get things done quickly in Aspen".

7.30.16- 9am

I was feeling a little extra motivated yesterday in class. The reason why is a bit petty and involves vanity, something I am working on letting go of ...but it served me somewhat well in class because I was able to hold Standing Head to Knee better than I ever have before.

Angel of the day: Communication

7.27.16- 6am

Today was a small class and moderately silent though Jeannie's silent classes involve less silence...she loves to do the dialogue. I had a new sensation doing Tree Pose that seemed worth recording. On the second side I was able to bring both hands to namaskar and I felt a new sense of grounding in the pose I've never felt before. As I was able to press my knee forward and down more I felt an interconnectedness up my entire body. Hard to explain other than I just felt stronger than I ever have in that pose and I am excited for the opportunity to continue to build on that feeling!

Angel of the day: Awakening