The Birthday Party

Today I did something fairly unprecedented: I awoke before the crack of nine in the morning. Unfortunately, this is going to be a repeat occurrence in the coming week (more on this in a bit.)

Today the reason for rising early was that my yoga instructor was having a birthday party/charity event at a yoga apparel store in Beverly Hills. You see, my instructor has an endorsement deal(!) with the store, and serves as their spokesmodel. In fact, if you see an ad for yoga clothing in the alternative newsweeklies, chances are you're seeing my instructor flamboastin' on Rodeo Drive. Inside the store, they have erected a pantheon of Los Angeles' greatest yoga instructors, comprised of banners depicting the instructors performing poses in front of LA landmarks and listing their institutional affiliations. The effect is not unlike the retired jerseys hanging from the rafters of a basketball stadium.

Anyway, it was quite the event. My instructor led a class, while the children of Beverly Hills stared at us through the windows. Meanwhile, the store employees chopped up coconuts at my instructor's request (she loves her coconuts), and an adorable chihuahua puppy wandered around the room, crawling on people's backs . This puppy noticed that everyone was holding downward-facing dog pose at the beginning of class, and decided to show everyone how real dogs do it, which caused a total cute meltdown, effectively shutting the class down for a few moments.