Spring Cleaning

   This week I am on spring break. What better time to spring clean?

   This week I am cleaning mind, body and house :)

   My mental health cleaning for the day was a yoga class I took this evening. It was a power vinyasa yoga class which is yoga done at a fast pace in a hot room. Afterwards I felt relaxed and mentally clean.

   My physical health cleaning is a cleanse that I began today, it includes skin brushing , oil pulling , an epsom salt bath in the evening and drinking a detox tea 2-3 times today as well as lemon water throughout the day, about 8-10 glasses. This weekend I will write about what I think of each of these treatments.

   My house cleaning for today was the kitchen, specifically the pantry. I could not be more pleased with how it turned out, here is how it went down.....

Before (the madness!!!)

First I pulled out everything. Makes me think twice about complaining about not having anything to eat.

     With everything pulled out I was able to wipe down the shelves, I made 3 piles of food...

1. Keep (yummy whole foods)
2. Donate to our local soup kitchen (unopened non perishables)
3. Throw away (opened food that is old/we wont eat/smelled funny)

my little helper

 With all that organized I went over the Dollar General and for $40 got canisters, baskets and containers to hold the KEEP food and here is the final result.......................................

TAA-DAA!!!

 I could sit and stare at her beauty for hours :)  Its just so............clean.

After the pantry was done I took my Mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner and went to town on the cabinets, counters, walls and appliances. Lastly I took baking soda, a splash of vinegar and a squeeze of dish soup and scrubbed down the sink. The whole kitchen sparkled! When Tony got home he asked what I changed to make the kitchen look different, just the magical combination of elbow grease and organization, my friend!

 Stayed tuned for tomorrows cleaning update!

xoxo
Ashlea

P.S sorry for the bad quality pictures, my camera was dead so I had to use the iphone!

Ohm

     When we lived in Boston and winter lasted 6 months I joined a gym because I wasn't able to get out and exercise (hiking, running etc) for most of the year. The gym I joined had classes available for members, I tried most of them, kickboxing, Zumba and spinning but the one I enjoyed the most was yoga. I never thought I would, my mind is always full with to-do lists, work stuff, dinner plans and things of the like. So the thought of quietly sitting and not thinking about those things seemed unlikely. But once I got there I actually enjoyed and benefited from it.

    I haven't done yoga in almost 2 years now and haven't really though about it. Then my friend Lindsey started going and reminded me of how much I  loved it. So this morning I went and signed up for 5 classes at a yoga studio down the street and took my first class. It was wonderful! It was a good mix of breathing exercises, stretching, poses and meditation. With my week being jam packed, like most peoples, it is so good both  mentally and physically to take 1 hour and focus on my body and how I am feeling.

    If you have ever toyed with the idea of doing yoga I highly recommend it, even for the most busy, type A personalities. You don't have to be named Sunshine and only eat raw vegetables to be the type of person to enjoy and benefit from yoga! Now that my morning has been started off focused and calm, I am off to conquer the day and hopefully have a post with some easy peasy DIY projects for tomorrow.

Namaste :)
Ashlea