I’m only five days into my ’30 Before 30′ challenge and rewarding has never felt so exhausting and amazing at the same time!   After a brief hiatus, I started running again and afterwards, instead of ‘stretching’ – I’ve been getting down on some yoga and meditation (#12) .  I wanted a way to quantify my efforts and figured a great way to measure my yoga growth was to master a new pose a week.  That way, I can grow my repertoire of poses and incorporate them into a weekly yoga routine.  First up, Dancer’s Pose (Natarajasana);  it’s been a bit of a battle, but I’ve truly enjoyed  putting in the daily work and seeing results.  What started as an absolute joke (I might have almost fallen on my face….several times), has turned into a full three or four deep breaths on each leg before I teeter-totter myself back to stability.  At the end of the weekend I hope to have a picture or two to show for my efforts, but beggars can’t always be choosers.  What’s even better is that I’ve been able to knock an item off of the bucket list!  I pickled some cucumber and mushrooms (#7) the other night and my word, they are delicious and that was easier than I thought. With the long weekend ahead  and so much I want to accomplish – I thought getting a little perspective and wisdom under my belt would be a perfect way to kick things off on this beautiful Friday in LA; enjoy!