One of my good friends, Hershel Reese, is a fantastic yoga instructor here in Madison.

He will be debuting a new yoga class starting January 8th at the Perfect Knot. He is teaching 28 classes, Tuesday & Thursday mornings from 6:00am – 7:15am.

The Perfect Knot is located South off Willy Street on Few Street. It is a great studio! See Hershel’s Kundalini Yoga Blog for more details.

His class is starting from the basics so you don’t have to be an expert in yoga. In fact, Kundalini Yoga is much more meditative/spiritual in nature & incorporates various poses/motions/breathing techniques to achieve a meditative/relaxed state of mind. It is not a traditional Hatha Yoga class, although some of the same poses are sometimes used. It is for all levels, and all people.

Please feel free to pass this Spirits Awaken Madison Yoga Class Flyer to anyone you think may be interested!

Wow, wow…and wow. If you have never been to Oktoberfest in La Crosse, Wisconsin you are missing out.

Jess and I went up to La Crosse to visit one of my absolute best friends, Andrew Goehner, and crash at his place during the festivities. We also met, and hung out with all weekend, one of Goehner’s friends originally from La Crosse, Erin. She is currently a reporter for News channel NBC 15 here in Madison WI.

Oktoberfest reminded me a lot of St. Patrick’s Day in Milwaukee; the city shuts down for a weekend of partying, streets are closed to traffic, bars have bands, and food can be purchased on every corner.

Unfortunately, Jess came down with a wicked head-cold that she has been fighting all week. Soaked, standing in the rain throughout the 5 hour parade I’m sure did not help things. On the bright side, I finally got my hearing back, from Saturday night. Between the Dweebs on the Oktoberfest grounds and the 80s-90s rock band playing at John’s Bar it was just a tad too loud for my delicate ears.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend and we are looking forward to next year. Thanks Goehner!

This weekend we snagged the old roomies (Jon and Mel) and headed a few miles down the road to this great little Norwegian Apple Garden, appropriately named Eplegaarden. (Located at 2227 Fitchburg Road in Fitchburg, WI)

We spent most of the afternoon wondering the orchard, eating an apple here or there, and looking for the perfect apples to take home. We selv plukkin and wound up splitting a 10lb “Uff Da-full” bag of assorted Cortland, Red Delicious, Jonee, and Golden Delicious apples.

Additionally, we all purchased some wonderful apple cider. Which we drank later that night with a hearty cinnamon stick. If that doesn’t say FALL, I don’t know what does.

Besides making a great centerpiece on our dinning room table and assorted lunchtime snacks. I believe there will be Apple muffins in our near future. Mmmmmm. Mmmmmm.

Here is a link to the latest happenings and events at Eplegarrden.

So, with all the weddings done and summer coming to a close, I’ve been trying to keep busy with other things besides work. My latest adventure? Cooking. We got so many neat kitchen and cooking gifts for our wedding, and I’ve been trying to put them to good use. My favorite is the box of Penzeys Spices we got from Boone’s old co-workers at MSOE. There are lots of grilling, dressing, and pasta spices to try out.

We are also part of a CSA (Community Support Agriculture) and get a box of veggies every two weeks. If you are not familiar with CSA here’s how it works: a regional farm grows local fruits and veggies, packs them, and sends them to local communities. The veggies are organic, it supports local farmers, and reduces our use of gas (you don’t need to ship veggies across the country in trucks). Our CSA program is Harmony Valley in Viroqua, WI and they ship to West and South WI, and the cities. They also have a stand at the Dane County Farmer’s Market and are always busy. The best things we have gotten are the sweet corn, edamame, and asparagus, but we also get tomatoes, strawberries, peas, cucumber, raspberries, and others. The veggies are really fresh, and sometimes we get some weird stuff that we aren’t use to cooking with, so it’s been interesting to try to come up with ways to use them. Luckily this farm sends a newsletter with recipes and tips with the boxes, so I at least have a place to start with my kitchen adventures.

A few months ago as a wedding gift, Caleb and Amanda Olson (Newlyweds and Best-man in our wedding) bought us tickets to see Monty Python’s SPAMalot and a weekend get-away in St. Paul Minnesota. Yesterday was the culmination of the two month-long wait.

For those of you not familiar with SPAMalot, it is the musical rendition of the classically hilarious movie, Monty Python and the Search For The Holy Grail. This show debuted on Broadway in 2005 but premiered in England before landing in the Big Apple. Included in the all-star cast was Tim Cury, Hank Azaria, and David Hyde Pierce.

This musical is absolutely fantastic! All the classic movie characters remain the same, new characters are added, and all the characters that you wished had greater character development, get their chance in SPAMalot. (aka. Not-Yet-Dead Fred, the Tower-Trapped Boy who wants to sing, The Frenchmen, and more)

WARNING: The songs will get stuck in your head for weeks!

If you have the chance to see it GO.

Thanks Caleb and Amanda for a SPAMtastic weekend!