BAD CAT!!!

My alarm went off this morning, and Henri came padding up from the foot of the bed. She came up to shoulder level and sat down looking at me.

I sleepily thought, "That's nice. I should pet Henri before I get up."

I began to raise my hand from under the covers, when out of nowhere...

"AAAAHHHCCHOOOOOOO!!!" --- a BIG cat sneeze. Right in my eye. And when I say, "right in my eye," I mean it.

I squeezed my eyes shut and blindly stumbled to the bathroom to try to rinse out any spit/snot remnants that didn't actually already make it into my eye.

So, if I contract ebola or some other unidentifiable deadly virus within the next few days, just bring Henri to the hospital to help identify the killer disease.

Best Yoga Practice Ever!

The other night I was practicing some yoga focused on inversions. Well, to be exact, I was focusing on handstand. I've been diligently working on handstand for about two weeks now. And I can't say that I've ever had great abilities with it. Even when I was a kid in gymnastics, with a much lower center of gravity, I had issues with handstand. I can't remember ever actually being able to do it freely - without a wall or in 4 feet of water.

So, the other night, I was actually able to kick up into handstand and hold it for a few seconds (15...maybe 30 at the most) without using the wall or anything else for help. Yay! I was super excited. I came back down and happily danced around for a little bit. Oddly, P&AF did not notice my display.

I get very excited about these little victories. It reminded me of a time when I spent an afternoon in my parents' basement working on front handsprings. I must have been a lot shorter when I was doing that too, because I can't imagine not destroying the ceiling in an endeavor like that now. Anyway, I finally got it down, and I ran upstairs to get my mom. I was so excited that I ran back down the stairs and jumped off a stair near the bottom. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite near enough to the bottom, and I bashed my head straight up into the little ceiling overhanging the stairs. I just collapsed onto the floor in confusion. Oddly, I can't remember if I even showed her the handspring after that.

Cats Love Yoga

I have decided that Henri has definitely developed an affinity for yoga. I had been working on a lot of backbends recently, and one day I was specifically working on cobra. So I was laying on my stomach, just getting ready to lift up, when all of a sudden I felt four (heavy) paws on my back. Maybe she thought I was working too hard and that I'd better tone it down a little. More likely she just thought my back would make a nice warm cat bed. This week I had actually finished my practice and was comfortably submerged in corpse pose, when I was brought back by, again, the four paws. This time she seemed to be using my legs as an obstacle course. She was weaving back and forth, until finally settling down on my ankles. I think she might be a slight impediment to meditation, but as far as stress relief goes, I always find myself laughing.