Hiked to Oyster Dome yesterday

My favorite time of the year in Washington is now. It’s the warm weather but still the chance of rainy days, sunny days, whatever…but its light. It feels light. You wake up and all the birds are chirping, the sun is rising at 5:45am, and it stays light longer.

This is the best time to go hiking. Someday it would be nice to just leave and travel the world just to go hiking and see the beauty in every country that way. Then I would at some point return home, teach yoga, and hopefully someday start a yoga studio somewhere.

My life does not have the same heart as the others around me…I know we are all different but sometimes I feel I am REALLY different for I want nothing materialistic, I don’t even know if I want a family, I don’t know if this is a hint of lack of commitment towards everything showing right now…but that may be the case. I don’t want a 9-5 job; I don’t even really care if I ever make a lot of money.

Have you ever noticed that the more money you have, the more you feel entitled to buy something expensive like a car, house, wardrobe, vacation, and a lot of others, because you deserve it! You work so hard, you deserve to buy something… but have you noticed you then have this expensive object, you then must keep up the payments, or fix expensive repairs, worry about things getting stolen, worry about buying security for your expensive things? I think you should buy things that make you happy, but sometimes the most freeing feeling is that no matter what leaves you, what breaks, what gets stolen, will never hurt your little soul. Its true. When you have a LOT OF STUFF, you also have a lot to lose.

Anyway I got off topic. What I’m trying to say is that sometimes you need to just buy what money cant buy, and that’s your health, its hiking that mountain and being grateful for what is free like the beauty of this world. Its spending time taking care of yourself and forgetting all the media and materialism in this world. It was so beautiful out! We saw two snakes, a few chipmunks and squirrels, and at the top of the cliff a HUGE eagle flew right next to us! It was so amazing and close, maybe just 8-10 feet away, it was massive. Below us were also bat caves! We wanted to go see them but the trail was closed off today.

Yesterday was a great day. I go to yoga teacher training in a month exactly!!!! Been working on letting go a lot:), and living light.

Love&Light,

TT

“When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl

Good morning! Today is my only day off this entire week and I am up by 6:45am with more energy than usual. At 9:30, Ashley and I are going to Bassline for a Lean Arms/Abs class so I’m excited to get my workout in. Last night I went to an amazing power yoga class…

Gosh I love yoga. I get so caught up in work and running outside, kicking and pushing hard at Bassline and sometimes I neglect my yoga. I will go a couple days, sometimes 3 days without ANY yoga. That has got to change, because the peace I feel at the end of the day after practicing is incredible.Everything feels right when I am practicing yoga. I find my practice to get deeper every time I get on my mat. Last night the whole hour and fifteen minutes flew by with ease…I was sweating like hell, but at the same time felt no pain, no wandering of the mind. Then I leave and it’s still a beautiful day out.

So last night I slept early and relaxed; I feel like I’m turning into Carrie from Sex and the City yet I’m not talking about all the people I date on this blog…because I really don’t date. I am dating myself right now…I’ve come to that conclusion a long time ago and its true. Some days I feel great, some days I feel lonely like there is something deeply wrong with me. All around me, friends are getting engaged, married, moving in together, traveling together, having a bajillion babies together…and I am alone. I spent a vast majority of my teens and early twenties dating douchebags and players and I learned a lot from it but since then, every person I dated ended in drama, I’m scared to commit to anyone, or anything. I don’t even know how ill ever meet another male human when all I do is work and yoga and workout. I don’t even know if I want to date anyone. I’m trying extremely hard not to care about the place I am in life and the negativity that I create feeling like I will die alone.

Must push negative thoughts away.

I was always in relationships, I must embrace this…

But sometimes I just want to cry…but that’s not really like me so I throw myself into my workout routine, my self-medication.

I always return to my mat.

I must remember everything is perfect the way it is, and that we make life more complicating than it needs to be. Our twisted minds screw everything up. This is why I go to yoga everyday. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo Weekend!! I often forget about all these holidays because I don’t exactly celebrate them anymore…to me, its amateur night. Where people get CRAAAAZY because it’s a holiday, they overindulge, blackout, wake up, and TADAAAA where am I and how much tequila did I have last night? And where did all the tacos go?

I used to be crazy about partying and celebrating anything worth celebrating. I’m a much different person today. I can get a huge buzz off one glass of wine, I’ve had my fair share of trouble, so I’m here to help you health conscious readers. For all of you that CAN handle it, have a great time! I will be spending Cinco de Mayo working, doing yoga, and maybe going to my family’s house.

I’d like to have a Cinco party, just not this year…

I thought of a great idea though! Buy some Lime Sorbet, tequila, and have the sorbet over tequila for a refreshing not-as-bad-for-you marg…if anyone tries it let me know!

image from: http://www.myrecipes.com

I am in a state of detox. I haven’t been drinking; I’ve been fitting in a lot of workouts, reading more, and getting mentally prepared for Sedona yoga teacher training. I have been trying to cut ties with some unhealthy people, as well as letting go a lot. Staying present. Not focusing on anything else other than just being myself. I have spent SO MANY YEARS being a fake version of myself uplifted by alcohol. I look around and truly see the true friends in my life now that I’m not partying. Its kind of sad how many people fall away when I wont go out for drinks with them.

Over everything here are a few tips for the day of your cinco de drink festivities:

• Get a workout in first thing in the morning (get it out of the way so you can enjoy the rest of the night without guilt).
• Eat normal clean eating meals throughout the day (before you go out. Make sure your well nourished so you don’t reach for things without thinking)
• Have a designated driver…or CAB IT! (Cops are out full force this weekend, make sure you stay smart).
• Drink LOTS of water throughout the day. (You want to stay well hydrated, obv.)
• Get smarter when you reach for those margs! (Get a skinny bitch marg while out or at a party….just tequila, lots of fresh squeezed limejuice and soda water…you don’t want to drink a million calories in a night)
• Get lots of rest the day after! And continue to drink lots of water…and maybe hit up a detoxing hot yoga class to get out all those toxins:)
• Be safe!

Love&Light,

-TT

Follow me on Bloglovin!

If any of you are on here, let me know and i will follow you also! It’s a great way to get your blog out there to reach others:) Anyway, I’m off on a run out in this sunshine! Everyone have a lovely day.

<3 <3 <3

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

Fitness is my outlet. Especially when times are not so pretty. Tonight was one of those nights. I wanted to pick up a drink and drink my problems away. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t let myself fall into that because it cures nothing.

So I hit the pavement and ran to the gym to get on the treadmill. Old Tiare thought nothing of treadmills, and hated the thought of running for fun indoors. It was one of those nights though, one of those moments when I didn’t feel like venting to another friend about the same problem I have been dealing with. So I got there and magic happened.

Since I have started at Bassline Fitness, I have seen tremendous results in my running program. A few years ago I hit my breaking point when I started having huge popping and pain in my left knee under the kneecap. I would literally go to work limping, sometimes in tears, sometimes unable to do normal workouts like the elliptical. It was horrible. That was after years of running everyday around the golf course. I swore it off and did some physical therapy and did strictly yoga and light cardio.

There is something about running that just frees EVERYTHING. Since I have started yoga, my knees have improved and I can run as long as I keep up with my yoga…I’ve heard this from other yogis as well.

I have gained a trick on the treads that burns a serious amount of calories as well as the ability to not stop. I can now run for two hours without stopping and at a sweaty fast pace. It felt amazing

If you want to try it out, do it. Here’s what you do:

Turn on your favorite upbeat dance station on Pandora. As some of you know, my favoriteeeeee swear-by-everything station is Afrojack. YOU MUST TRY IT AT LEAST ONCE.

The key that I learned from Bassline is to run to the beat. Anyone can run at 6.0mph for half an hour and zone out….but the trick is to zone in. When the beat gets fast, go fast, when the beat is at the highest level of energy, SPRINT. When the beat slows down, go down to 5.5mph to cool off (or lower if you need. Even walking is ok).

• So my typical song will start off walking at 3.8mph to warm up.
• The base picks up, I start a light jog at 5.7mph or so…
• Then the chorus begins and I go to 6.5mph or 7.0.
• Then at some point, everything gets really intense in the song and ill sprint at 8.0mph to 8.5 till it subsides.
• Then as the beat slows, I adjust my pace to a lower speed
• When the song is over, I may drop down to 5.5 or walk to bring my heart rate down…and as the next song starts, I start over the same routine!

Some songs are good for rolling hills, and some are good at just throwing the incline up a couple points every 30 seconds, then when you are at your peak, bring it down a couple every 30 seconds.

I will share more if you are interested, but it works for me. I get off the treadmill an hour later dripping sweat.

I walked home and felt great. And that is how I cure a bad mood:) Night loves~

I was driving home from yoga this evening chomping on some almonds wondering what I was going to make for dinner. I knew I had some squash, an eggplant (which I’ve actually never used before), and some random other veggies and chicken sausage. Then all of a sudden I had this weird craving to use my almonds to crust something! I knew I didn’t have any meat or fish at home, and I didn’t want to go shopping when I still had a lot to work with at home so I tried this idea.

Almond Crusted Eggplant! It was really easy to whip together. Here is basically what I did to make it if you want to try it out also.

1. Slice the eggplant in half/inch thick slices.

2. Turn the stove on to a medium high and use the oil of your choice. I usually use coconut butter but today I just used extra virgin olive oil.

3. Get a small bowl and whisk an egg with a splash of milk together.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the crushed almonds, a couple handfuls of flour, some garlic powder, salt/pepper, whatever you want basically.

5. Then take the slices one by one and dip into the egg mix, then dip on both sides in the almond/flour mix then throw on the frying pan

6. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown and flip over and do the same on the other side.

7. Then when finished, add to a paper towel over a plate to let cool and let excess oil absorb.

It’s as simple as that. I’m sure there are other great recipes out there but this was what I randomly threw together. It’s very filling and good for you for the most part. I’m a meat lover so I threw together a little more, and added some chicken sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes and a little goat cheese to finish it off! I wish I had some rosemary I think that would have been great in the mix also!

So here was my final product:

Somewhere in between breaking up with my last boyfriend and yesterday on my yoga mat, I found myself. Not my happy-perfect-live-happily-ever-after-self but my TRUE self. It has been a rollercoaster, a loss and gain of friends, and burning bridges with things that cause me pain. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, be grateful, or feel sorrow. I can be around people I’ve known forever, and feel like they are strangers. I can be in a crowded room of strangers, and feel like I’ve known them my whole life. I don’t know where the emotional eating also pulled in, or the addiction of strenuous exercise without rest came in but it happened.

I see it.

All in front of me.

My true self spread out in happy, sad, and tired mixed emotions. But one thing is, I’ve accepted it. I’ve accepted that I love working out, but after my edge, I find myself covering up an emotional burden with it. I find myself reaching for food without thinking because I feel a little empty. I find myself missing random ex-boyfriends and then a second later; I hate them and remember how bad they were. I find myself just ALL OVER THE PLACE.

After reading Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth”, I realize everything is okay. I don’t need anything other than myself. I don’t need to try to be something that I am not. I don’t need to write on my blog about fitness even though it’s called tiarefitness.com. Sometimes I just want to start all over, maybe on Blogger so that I can just ramble on about my day without having to have it relate to fitness. I may love fitness but I do OTHER THINGS…sometimes.

I have a few goals in mind but I’m not sharing them this time. I will work on some goals in absolute silence so they happen without feeling like it’s a chore. I have to make some changes. I have to get through this rough “finding myself” and just forget everything, turn the page, and start from scratch. Start BEING myself.

  “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

OKAY Albert I got you. I get it. I must start over!

There are some things I will keep, like my yoga and fitness lifestyle.

But starting today I will TRY TO MAKE A LIFE that I can truly pursue and love. That starts with acceptance.

I will accept what was, what is, and what will come.

I will start enjoying.

I will gain enthusiasm.

If you are struggling with something in life, just ACCEPT it. You can’t change what will happen but you can accept…and then it will give you peace of mind so that you can handle difficult tasks with ease.

You must enjoy what you do. Do things you enjoy, make the most of your days with hobbies, clean eating and fitness that makes you happy. Why be unhappy and spend your life doing things you don’t love?

Have enthusiasm. Make a list of your goals and dreams. Now remember that without enthusiasm, those goals will seem much farther away. Find something you love, and KNOW you will get there and have some enthusiasm and everything will fall into place.

Ok I will work on that. Sorry for the rambles but sometimes you have days like that and all I care about is being myself. Bye loves.

Washington (where I currently live), is known for our rain…”it rains all the time here”, “how could you live here”, “how can you live without the sun”, “doesn’t this place depress you?” are all common examples I get from people travel here…I even get these from people who DO live here but rather than embrace what they have, they stay inside. They work their 9-5’s and come home and stay indoors. Most the time, you can find people chugging coffee to stay alive, bundled in their North Face jackets, and the typical drinking after work or like myself, indoor gym’s and hot yoga throughout the rain season.

Sometimes you need to just realize that some things will always be constant, like our weather. You can’t change the weather, but you CAN change your reaction and attitude towards it. You can jump in your rain boots and rain jacket, and hike a mountain, drive out to the coast, go run on a rainy run, head to eastern Washington. There is so much beauty if you open your eyes, and there is so much opportunity to be active and get in a workout at the same time. I have nothing much to say other than I’m sharing some beautiful pictures of this state that I love so much. Anyone who hasn’t been here needs to explore sometime. (I even got a little yoga in:)

“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.”

 -Rosalia de Castro

Yesterday afternoon I decided to try something new. I had a Groupon to Bassline Fitness just over in Kirkland that I haven’t tried yet. Its 8 weeks till the lovely bikini season and the last thing I want is to be self-conscious.

I decided to give it a try. 

I fell in LOVE.

I mean in LOVEEEEE. I did the Lean425 Butt & Legs workout today and left feeling amazing. You start off doing 15 minutes on the treadmill where music is blasting techno beats and the instructor had a ton of energy. Half the class is on the floor doing weights, and half on the treads. We switch after 15 minutes and then I find myself doing a mean leg/butt workout. Then 15 minutes later its back on the treads for more cardio….and then back to weights. It’s safe to say I got my bottom kicked! I found myself halfway through class, a sweaty mess, saying to myself “I must go back tomorrow!” Its also really affordable and gives me the feeling I would get after an intense training session with my old personal trainer, but cheaper.

another pic of Bassline Fitness

I love when I find gems like this.

Workouts are getting so creative these days.

So here I am now at 7:30 the next day signing up again on the Bassline Fitness page…this morning I chose the Lean/Yoga class which is half a vinyasa flow class which you all know I LOVE…and its half treadmills. I can’t wait!

I haven’t been writing because I’ve felt uninspired. I’ve been anxious, I’ve been procrastinating, I’ve been blocking out the things I “should be doing”. I’ve been injured:( All my pushing in power yoga has wreaked hell on my shoulders the last couple weeks and I try to rest but things don’t feel better. I try to take more restore and hatha classes but sometimes the cramps in my shoulders are so bad that I want to cry.

This is just a small milestone. I will get over it because I have such big goals in my head that nothing will stop me. Everything is temporary. I have yoga school in a couple months I cant believe it! I also have the ACE test to take that I completely threw to the sidelines in my life….I am going to start planning a huge study session everyday for this because I’d like to have my certification, I feel that it will be beneficial for yoga teaching.

ANYWAY, let me discuss the 8-week plan:

We have APRIL

We have MARCH

Then it will be June…in 8 weeks…where will you be with your body? 8 weeks is enough for a body transformation. With enough focus on your diet and upping your workouts and trying new things, you will get that body that you want before summer. Usually its best to just keep a healthy lifestyle all through the year but shit happens I know this….that’s why I want us to all challenge ourselves!

picture of my Paleo dinner the other night…cooked kale is my FAVORITE with my choice of protein

I found my April routine: adding new Bassline fitness classes in my life (because there is no way your body wont change from these classes) and keeping up with my power/hatha/restore yoga classes. I’m back into Paleo and know that without all those crazy carbs and upping my fruit/veggies and protein my body does well this way. Find what works for you. Once May hits, I may get back into barre but based on this Bassline place I found, I might not have to do that. I’m also going to add more hikes to my weekends once it gets nice out. Let me know what you plan on doing and make sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram since I always talk about my tips and diet plan and exercise ideas on there.

Motivate each other to be the best we can be.

Above: Eivind Andreas Endresen

It’s not everyday that I meet people who absolutely intrigue me, I usually see the same people and have the same conversations and after awhile, nothing really stands out. This week I met a man named Eivind Andreas Endresen. Eivind is a man from Rogaland, Norway and he was on vacation here in Seattle. Everyday he wakes up and has breakfast exactly at 6:30am. He walks in with the biggest smile on his face. He tells me that back home he owns a bike repair shop, and a hat/clothing store in Australia. Every morning he has a huge omelet, sausage, sunnyside eggs and a pastry saying, “Norwegians believe that breakfast should be very rich, and to never let anything go to waste”. After this, every day he chooses a bike shop to walk to. The first day, he walked to R.E.I., the second day to Fremont, and the third day to Ballard.

The first day he met me, he said how much he loves Seattle and that the people he’s met here are very sympathetic and kind. He also threw out a ton of life lessons in every story that he shared with me.

• He talked about how he loves traveling alone—he says you get to meet interesting people and share your story and listen to theirs.

• He said that there is no such thing as loneliness. As long as we have our memories, we are never truly lonely.

• And this: “All we have is time. No matter how much money we have or whatever it is, over everything all we have is time. These 24 hours”

• He says underneath everything “we are all just human beings” we are all the same. We must treat each other as such…the same.

• He said that in the next generation, he fears we will lose all face-to-face contact because we are so consumed with being glued to our cellphones and “liking” things and “adding people as a friend” that we forget the power of connecting through communication. That’s why he stresses communication, even to strangers.

• He said that stores have nothing unique to offer. Its all about selling what the consumer wants and volume and money, but fashions fade and people are too easily accessible to just buying things over the internet and we have lost the need to walk around, buy things in person, meet the creators of product.

Anyway, our conversations were long for the last few days but today I finally had the time to sit down and talk to him. He said to me: “You have sunshine in your eyes, it may be raining outside but there is sunshine in your eyes” and told me to follow my dreams whatever they may be.

I loved this man! I love anyone I meet that has more to offer than just the surface. I love getting to know complete strangers and the ability to connect on a deeper level than just “what you do for a living” conversation. It reminds me of that part from The Invitation by Oriah:

It’s very true. Too many of us don’t take the time to get to know ourselves. We have no idea what we like or who we are….we only see what we want to become and what we think we should be.  When we don’t know who we truly are, how are we supposed to be genuine human beings to others? Are we ever being ourselves? Or are we putting on different faces for different people so that we may get along? Eivind was definitely a person who did exactly what he felt was right in his heart. It may not be anything extravagant but you can tell that when this man gets up every morning and goes to bed every night, he is filling his time with exactly what he wants to do and being exactly who he is. I think that it’s important for all of us to remember. As Eivind says…. “All we have is time. No matter how much money we have or whatever it is, over everything all we have is time. These 24 hours”

Take the time to create your story.