san diego sunshine

After patiently waiting for one of our tour vehicles to get fixed, we finally made it to san diego!  This beach town has so much beauty and character to it.  It was hot, hot, hot, while we were here - but nice to feel the sun on my face for a change...don't worry mom, i wore sunblock!

The first day we were here, Dia (tour mate) and I hung out in La Jolla all day.  We visited the seals on the beach, walked through town to explore the shops and food, and ended up on a grassy area in between town and the ocean to relax.  It felt great to explore around, without having definite plans for once.  

Over the next few days, I was able to hand out with my good buddy, Leslie, who lives one block from Pacific Beach in San Diego.  It was so great to see her and spend time bumming around her new (temporary) home town.  Leslie is a travel nurse, so luck would have it that we were in the same place, at the same time.  I am glad it worked out like that.  I miss the hell out of that girl, so i got my leslie-fix :)

We went all over the place...Del Mar, Solana Beach, Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, La Jolla.  It was great.  There are so many parts to this area.  All beautiful, but all very different from the last.  

Our event was downtown in Little Italy, Saturday and Sunday.  It was nice to be in Little Italy, reminded me of being back home on The Hill.  The smells, the community, the food... it was a fun place to have an event.  The event itself was the artwalk.  There were all kinds of artists, food vendors, people everywhere.  Much different feel from our last hippie event :)  Kashi's headquarters is in La Jolla, so several folks from Kashi were there.  It was great to watch them experience the event in action.  Such great people to work with.  I am not going to lie, 7 hours of straight yoga does get a little exhausting.  Good thing I love yoga so much!  It's so amazing to watch people experience yoga for the first time,  I don't even have time to notice the exhaustion with all the excitement going on.  Those San Diegans love their yoga!  It's nice to be in a community with such a great appreciation for yoga.   I could get used to this CA stuff :)

Well, have to go pack up and head out.  Next stop, Santa Monica!

much love and hugs back home!!!!   Feel free to come visit anytime.  It would be nice to see some familiar faces on the road :)

xoxo,

Brigette

hippie fest (a.k.a. "Earth Day Festival")

Well, San Francisco was a blast!  I loved the scenery, the wonderful yoga community and most of all, the native hippies!  

So, the rest of my week consisted of sight seeing, eating great food, making lots of new friends and hosting our first Kashi event at the Earth Day festival on Sunday.  The first few days i was in San Francisco, I got my feet wet.  The last few days, I really got to know the city.  

Our first event went really well.  People there loved the Kashi "Day of Change" exhibit and my yoga tent was full all day.  At times, the tent was overflowing with people.  It was great.  So many eager yogis in san fran :)  I even had a few visitors from newly acquired san francisco friends.  

The event was on 4/20, it was in celebration of Earth Day AND there were 3 great bands playing (Brett Dennen, Yonder Mountain String Band & Citizen Cope).  People everywhere were high on life...not to mention high on everything else!  The place was packed with hippies, young and old.   I loved every second of it.  It felt like I was in that scene from Forrest Gump when Jenny is in San Francisco.  It really did look like that!  Click on each photo to enlarge each one, you will see what I mean.  Anyway, that city is alive, happy and very green (in more ways than one).  

I can't wait to go back - good thing San Francisco is on our tour list two more times!

slowing down

Hello from sunny san francisco!

Everything is beautiful, here.  Our hotel overlooks the bay area and we are just a few miles from downtown.  Yesterday was our first "day off" since we arrived.  To be honest, I didn't really know what to do with myself... since last fall, my schedule has been so jam-packed trying to simultaneously feed my love for yoga and teaching, while maintaining a career in

 advertising.  Now that I am focused on one thing, yoga, my brain is overwhelmed (in a good way).  The fact that i now have only one major priority, is pretty amazing!   I am starting to understand what it feels like to be "focused." 

So, yesterday I took it slow for once.  I spent time outside, caught up on a few emails, and went downtown to visit the local Anusara Yoga studio, Yoga Kula.  Two people from the Kashi tour crew came with me, which was a lot of fun.  The teacher was great.  He had a really interesting approach to sequencing the class.  We focused mainly on hip-openers, but his interpretation of hip openers was different than what i am used to.  He basically took all different categories of poses (standing, arm balances, back bends, etc.) and worked in a variation that opened the hips. Parts of class were pretty challenging, but so much fun.  This practice feels like a game to me, always learning more and trying new things.  Doing yoga is like playtime! We walked away basking in the bliss from our practice.  It's that feeling that keeps me coming back.

Today I am going downtown to hang out in the sunshine and eat some yummy seafood on

 the street.  Probably going to another class tonight at yoga kula... our event isn't until this weekend, so we have a few more days to explore.   

Thank you for all the sweet messages, keep them coming!  It makes this adventure somehow feel close to home.

much love to everyone!

Brigette

first foot forward

Well, I am officially on the road... 

It was a little hectic getting things together to leave home, but it all worked out. The yoga studio is in good hands, Kava is living with Joe, my house is rented out, I sold my car and quit my day job.  I am officially a full-time yoga instructor.  YAY!

Thanks to mom, dad, Tim and Ellen for helping me get things organized.  Whew!  Glad that's over...now, for the fun part!

I had training all last week with the Kashi "Day of Change" crew.  Everyone is great.  It's going to be an adventure, that's for sure!  Lot's of unique personalities, making up an incredible team.  Looking forward to where we take this :)  After learning all about Kashi as a brand, what they stand for and understanding their mission, I am even more ecstatic than before.  I can finally say that I am 100% behind the brand i am working for, on a personal level.  It's a really good feeling.  

So the road trip part has been fun, so far.  Seeing so many different states, at an easy pace is really great.  We have a beautiful country on our hands.  There were times when I couldn't believe my eyes, when driving through the mountains today.  Incredible.  I spent most of today in Nebraska, Wyoming and crashing for the night in Utah.  Tomorrow, we will coast through Nevada and stay put in California for a bit.  The first event is in San Francisco.  Most events are 2-3 days, but the first one is only one day.  Since we arrive in San Francisco tomorrow evening, I will have a couple days off to explore before the event set up on Friday morning.  I am visiting a few yoga studios on my days off.  Can't wait to work with some of the senior yoga teachers there.

I better get to bed.  Below are a few shots from the road in Utah this afternoon....