Fall fitness and friends meet up!

Have I really not updated since April! Haven't eaten in months,hospital went computerized, kids were needing to be everywhere at the same time....and the thought of blogggin it all was too satanic.....

Anyway, I'll get onto the Kettlebelle way challenge next post, kind of going backwards from here.

Wednesday the 23rd, flew from Richmond to Atlanta and then to Lax...knew LA immediately by the atomic mushroom cloud emerging in the distance from the desert...

2 nights in Venice - not much changed...in fact I swear the same underemployed, overtanned "artistes" are the same ones I saw decades ago!
Highlight- beautiful Sandra met me and we indulged in a beating at a Chinese massage establishment....Oh the pain, oh the joy afterward as we had some vegetarian Thai food and a good night sleep with the ocean breeze, commplete with smog,flew in the window....
Dragged my jetlagged self to Exhale and squeezed the sludge out of my thighs, abs and arms....lovely showers...but it is hot....saving energy you know...heaven forbid they get rid of the damn CARS that are bumper to bumper at all hours of the day!!
Met up with Jen and we did another Exhale class, visited and awaited our RCR girls
Friday - personal training with Valerie Waters and the beauteous MB....we were observed by Ryan O'Neal, and the girls saw Meg Ryan and David Duchovney....
Later that day, another exhale workout! YIKES my arse hurt!
Saturday, 7fricking 30 workout with Val, day of shopping,visiting, and dinner at Val's with the Healthy Irishman, the lovely Pilates guru Anne, and Sheila - fascinating part of Live 360...It all went too fast..especially getting up at 7 for 8am with Bryan Kest...His wisdom and teaching made the trip...Jen and I sweat like crazy and indulged in ....vegan smoothies..low call with St.Johns wort!
Red Carpet Ready was just a lark that I tried to keep toned as I backed off my intense decades of abusive fitness....and I found lifetime friends.

Sometimes I think the biggest secret in my life is that I'm the lonliest person in town....but for one week-end, I had a sorority of kindred souls with me that I'll never forget.....

But now, back to fighting peripause fat.....new goals, new intent, new plan....but we'll get to that......

Skwigg challenged us to disclose our sometimes bogus,often effective,occasionally obsessive,always dedicated fitness habits through the years.....so here goes:
Started at 12,latchkey kid,alone during the day,puzzling my way out of pre-teen pudge, I found Lilias on one of our 4 channels (oh how empty was life before cable!)and in weeks had some body changes! Hooked, I forged ahead to pounding,bouncing my way into regimes I read about in Teen and 17,that were followed by Olga an Nadia - and learned to drop weight and twist into a pretzel by 13...
Then came disco and Fosse and 2 hours of dance daily, certain to grow Ann Reinking legs...legs didn't grow, but sure looked long at 100lbs..and I sure could fly through the air!!!
College at Stately GCU(then GCC!)-I gamely jumped into my water rat proclivity and became a lifeguard of our Georgian marble indoor pool and spent hours writing term papers,crying over calculus,making pals with the other kooky peeps who swam millions of laps with me in NJ in January...
Junior Year in France! Rediscovered dancing stretches to soothe my screaming joints and muscles from the cold at night in our non heated dorms,as,at 21,the body was beginning to show early signs of over use.....learned to live on even less, and came home incredibly skinny, could walk 20 miles in a day - not by choice, tres chic,not terribly strong, but ready to be vigorous....
Senior year - JANE!!!!!!!! Jamie Lee!!!!!!! Say what you want about Jane,but she produced a product that made it possible for poor kids to get fit....2 of us WENT IN on buying the CASSETTE, and after my lifeguard/swim detail, we'd donkey kick and arm circle our way to...what was this...TONE?!!!
Early professional Life, in the 80's - Let's talk NYC Health Club..Soho Yoga,Steps dance club(for has been dancers)...it was all about the club, the look,the HIGH impact...let's say 2 hours a day,7days a week...little weights were finding their way to classes, but curiously still frowned upon....I got IDEA certified, and bellowed through my share of circuits, steadystate brutal step, for the next decade..
Marriage, motherhood and VIDIOCY!!!!
The Firm changed it all......one hour a day, and had a body and ripped arms that got my post partum shape zapped back in months in 1991...and again in 1996....
Then add in horseback riding and Tae Kwon Do.....further assault on my back, but hit 40 in the same jeans - literally, that I wore at 29...still a loose 6 or fitted 4 (Gap of course).....Home teachers-Kathy,Cathe,Chalene,Kelly,and even Cher!
OK!!!!!!TIRED of it all!!!!!!
Enter Body for Life and idea of working out LESS....oh yeah, big difference in 6 weeks, and was eating more....onto certification in Yoga,Hot Yoga, Turbokick,Bodypump,Zumba,and bring on heavier weights!Hello Afterburn...I hate you ,so you must be great....not.....because....
Good bye shoulders...gone...zap...gave out...overuse,overworn,not poor form, just no rest in 30 years...none...and WHAT!!!! 9 extra pounds?!!!!! 46 was a long year!!!!!

Enter RCR - clean diet,lighter weigts, cardio that was refreshing,not punishing...and te first 4 lbs of peripausal weight came off....Loving Valerie Waters forever for her calm reassurance and support.....
BUT....CHALEAN! My Turbokick guru! New program......onto THAT For 3 months, heavy weights and intervals, though no more grueling Afterburn kind of workouts....arms popped back out, and new sanity and perspective in place...well, for me...until I found
KETTLEBELL WAY!!! The shiny red ball and handle dazzled me,but even with the impulsive purchase,my fear of shoulder wonkiness kept me at bay.....UNTIL I saw all the instructional videos on youtube!!!! Sooooo, coughed up 50 bucks for Kettlebell Way, and now the Kettlebell Way NYC...and I am HOOKED....HIIT meets long lanky weight training...takes 40 minutes, I"m worn, but energized.....adding to Squeeze and some Val circuits with the RedCarpetclub and I'm bound to be bikini ready by June!(oh yeah, that's our challenge...no prize, no gimmick, just fun among like minded gals all over the world!)

24 months until I hit 50.....40 was a breeze...with the discipline at doing LESS imposed by my balking body, I expect 50 to be a warmer breeze!!! Not sure what I mean by that,but I have 2 years to figure it out....

I don't hate March quite so Much anymore

I always feel like crap in March. I'm tired, sleepy, weary,cranky - must I go on?!....yes, EVERY March...since I was a kid...the winter is cold, dirty, sloppy, the days are short and cold,work has become mundane and repetitive...the gray outside matches the tin color of my mood.....its so miserable a month, almost everyone in my family picked March to be the month to die in.

I remember one Long Winter of 95-96,where in N.NJ,a not horrible climate,the snow and cold began in October.....and after one warm day in February, our hopes to an end were met with an ugly ice and snow blizzard.....that was the year the water heater failed in 5feet snow, where influenza A struck our nursing staff,requiring OT that knocked us into zombie states,where death came to my family,our dog died, my 2nd miscarriage,cancer to my in-law...and I blamed it all on March.

But then,that horrible month, the 15th came, and as I trudged out at 6am to tiptoe to the car hoping not to bang my ass yet again from an ice skid.....I saw something red.....through the ice, through the blackened dirty snow....I remember it clearly...I dropped my purse,lunch and nurse stuff into the snow....and looked closer....a crocus....spring would come, life would renew, spring would come,and I'd have another child before the next March....I looked up for the first time in months and the light was different,soft,tentative,and warming...and I made a point to check out the Light in March every year since....vowed I would never have to endure another long winter to appreciate the reprieve of the Light in March....

The trees in Southern Virginia, in the colder light of March this year,as the sun sets,stand out and look 3 dimensional - as the air takes on a moist smell to it.....the bluebirds are back, the cardinals,who stay the year are clammoring at my window to fill the feeder....this year also, a long winter for the unusual cold and the lonely chill of economic recession.....and I should've remembered to keep my eyes open....

Disgusted by the length and coldness of this year, I almost missed mid March....were it not for my hubby's uncharacteristic animation as he bellowed to me, "they're calling me back to work!" Joyous to a an older man,whose brilliance is now antiquated,whose health is no longer top notch, who is no longer pursued by the workplace......later that week I ran into some workers at the bagel store who were also called back to work to re-do roads and infrastructure repairs....embullient as they headed out to the cold dampness to work their gig........I abruptly noticed, the weather was moist,the wind warmed and the chickweed took over the neighborhood.... Blessed Chickweed!!! As I tore at the innocent violet weed, there it was...a tiny splotch of red crocus....

By the end of every March, the defeat is replaced by a summons to get busy fixing,repairing,renewing and planting- I almost forgot!!!The sanctity of the promise of spring is too quickly replaced by the work of spring!

The light in March differs from that of the rest of the year....it comes so quickly,gives a glimse of better days to come with the burden of industry we must take on....and the relief of a winter borne,hinting at spring.

Tasha Tudor painted the picture of the girl walking her dog,stopping to catch a glimse of the Light of March.....don't we all see it this year?

I've lived through Marches that included recessions,death, loss, loneliness that I thought would kill me,winters that sucked away my health and stamina....but March always ended, renewal found the world, and redemption found me....it will again this year....its hard to dread March anymore...what follows March is all the sweeter because of it!

Its almost mid-March, I walk the dogs and watch the light and smell the wind - the light is almost right...I won't miss it this year....

Keep your eyes open, get a nap or two to sleep away the dreariness of this long month,trade is encroaching upon the sacrement of arriving Spring....




Now on to remembering I am not eating white flour or chocolate...oh yeah...about that...........




From Emily Dickenson:

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human naturefeels.

It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.

Fear not!Be not afraid! Nothing to fear,but fear itself..Are we scared yet?

I always prided myself on the saying "I'm scared of nothin' and nobody!"......God, (why not believe so if he exists, he won't be pissed!)commands us to "be not afraid,"...fear makes you get irrational thoughts,,breeds hate and jealousy,crime,recklessness...Patanjali cautioned that serenity is contagious,but requires constant vigilance on control and discipline of the mind... Lincoln,Roosevelt,Reagan,and our SuperBarack,all wisely invoke us to not be afraid......and I, half assed master of martial arts, all things fit in strength and endurance,survivor of loss and turmoil, feared nothing.....
Then I turned 46!

WONK!Both shoulders failed despite a lifetime of fitness,sleep began to overtake me in the afternoons, no longer could work 40 hours in 3 days and be up for 2-4 hours of fitness teaching without dread and anxiety....convinced it was thyroid,epstein barr or something, had physical and everything on the extreme end of wonderful...but the orthopod and internist gently suggested....its time to kick it back a notch,my body was giving me a stern warning to back off, before injury was career ending..WHAT?!!!!

FEAR 1: Being hurt......to not do my work is to not breathe....Caution,my new friend.

But then friends got cancer.

It began with a woman who I would run into who would have been a good buddy.
Life,kids, husbands, work got in the way.
She is in the end stage of cancer unless, please God, there is a miracle.
No less than 3 more friends are battling cancer or awaiting biopsies..2 more died this year under 55....

OK - FEAR 2 - Cancer scares me...be it me, my family or YOUR family, I'm scared of it....it doesn't play fair.

Fear 3 - being crippled by fear and losing judgement....so, amassing all my limited brain can from soundbites from all things wise, I cope most days with these points...

So, first point: Tragedy and loss is the ONLY thing in life that is guaranteed, so might as well put chin up and say,"Bring it on," be calm,breathe,and think rationally.

Secondly - don't eat cancer causing stuff - stay away from chemicals and try to stuff the face with all the green stuff like Kris Carr does - incidentally, who else could make cancer crazy and sexy?!That tasty wheat grass juice recipe is being developed this summer!

Third - Don't wait to bring people together...-Erma Bombeck said she wished she had friends over to her dirty house than stay home alone and wait until the day it would be clean enough....and it never was.
Do it now,its so much easier to be a recluse,but fight the urge and go visit people.

Fourth- Tell the people you love,that you work with, that you pass by that they're ok in your book...give em a smile...it might count...I once prowled lower Manhatten in such misery,I prayed I'd be killed,the despair made even the kooks avoid me that day, ...and a woman in a hippy skirt, caught my eye and said,"you look beat, want to join our yoga class?" - those 2 hours in 1985 bought me some time to think,breathe, calm the fear of living a life I detested,feel included, and creep back into life change it... It takes middle age reflection to remember people who changed your life....and you never know what crumbs of thoughtfulness may change the course of someone's life, and maybe history. I hope life treated that woman well.


Fear - its palpable nowadays....what scares you? Tell me about it, we'll laugh about it and it loses its power....

And if you pretend to be faithful and faith will be given to you, so will guts and rational thought....so for what its worth, Don't be scared of nothin and nobody!

Blink an eye.........

Connor turned 12 this week.He's lived in our town most all of his life with the peeps in the pix.As I listened to the pre-adolescent insults that boys use as endearment (i.e."here's a card with your baby picture on it"...a sharpei),I kept remembering teaching them Sunday school when they were 3, and acting out the Sermon on the Mount ("OYVAY Teacher,We don't got enough fish -we expected 5,and they heard about the free food, look at em all!")...and how they were mesmerized by my method channeling of the Ancients...One of the early conversations involved, "whoever still wears pull-ups, raise your hand!",then I was Miss chelle ....then I used to put one under each arm like boy footballs and charge down the nursery school hall way - because I was Attila the Mom...not scared of nothin'and nobody'...then they did everything but sell their sisters for candy....everything they played with was bats,balls, icky things and flying objects....preferably incendiary....and anything with a joystick, beeps,buzzers, ruled.

So yesterday, I realize they are almost as tall as me,and I no longer have shoulders to hold anyone,having worn em out in my Ninja years...they still live for anything with fat,sugar,whiteflour,salt,chocolate and guitar hero, xbox live, and online gaming replace those horrid leggos and action figures!

And it all happened when I blinked my eyes...........

OH, and as I reminisce, I try to pull my quilt onto my toes, but the Manatee-MaggieMae is on it!

History and Hovercraft

Ok,lots of land in West Virginia is going to be studded with people building huts to escape the reign of terror from either Obama or McCain - I've heard both. Being inclined to funding education for excellence,affordable housing, equitable tax rates, womens' rights to their own bodies,cuts in benefits for children born on welfare,mandated work programs,I'm hardly a bleeding heart,but I'm a conservative with a heart- liberal Republican,Conservative Democrat? Whoever helps the working person, is my candidate...God Bless the working man and woman.

Having said that, when I grew up,I remember people arguing if more women should be allowed into medical school,people saying "there goes the neighborhood," when middleclass black folks moved in - I had men tell me, at 24,with an MBA that I was taking a job away from a man, and comments on my legs, tan lines,and probable promiscuity abounded with impunity,sending me home to dissolve in tears for a year or two until I got slick.... ...and now a Black man, A Catholic man, and Old man (and I say that with respect and marvel at his stamina and drive),and a woman are in this election - and I think its marvelous...how far we really HAVE come, in spite of it all, we've evolved....

As I meditate on the profound progress of history.....after 6 weeks of fussing, mumbling, procrastinating, my hubby and son made a hovercraft in under an hour....here is the prelim picture..hoping to decorate it like a space ship this weekend....

Homemaking Gadgets continued!

This gizmo has been my one pot dinner maker for a couple years now. Stainless steel, easy to clean, make chicken salad in 10 minutes, rice in 8 minutes, stew, chili, applesauce in 1 minute....quinoa, beans, legumes, can cook ALOT in a couple minutes...perfect for haggard, ADD like moms like me....

I cannot say enough about my friend Teresa, mom of a tribe in Colorado - the cookbooks she recommends, the bread baking tips, all can be done quickly and at optimal nutrition, and after 10 kids, she is still tiny...