Hi Pals:
Well, it's officially the holiday season. Hustling and bustling to get to and fro, in and out, about and around. Unless you're 24% hippie like me, or think the horse-and-carriage setup needs to make a come back, going anywhere nowadays involves a car.
Nowadays, there are so many rules, and so many possible distractions. Texting. Talking on your cell phone. Watching a DVD. Yelling at your kids.
There is also the craziness of other drivers. Road rage. Drunk driving. A 90+ year old man driving 35 on the freeway.
Though it's not 100%, the best way to keep yourself safe during an accident is to wear your seat belt. Which brings me to my inspirational video of the day, one of YouTube's Ads of the Year:
Watch it with a tissue handy, and may you all have a safe and fun holiday season!
-meredith
ps. This week is FREE ZUMBA! Leave your punchcards at home, tell your 20 best friends, and I'll see you on Thursday!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Nov. 22: Thanks!
Hi Everyone:
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to thank all of you for coming to my Zumba class. It doesn't matter if you came once and discovered it wasn't for you, or if you come every week religiously, I'm thankful you came by.
And a special thank you for the regulars. I know it's not easy to try new things, and I know it can be difficult to keep up with a project or routine. I am grateful that you make me a part of your week, every week, and I am happy that you make time for yourselves and your health. It's so flattering when you recommend the class to people.
On a final note, I have a blog now! It's basically just the Monday emails, but saved for all future generations. Whoo hoo! If anyone has something they want me to post, or a link they'd like me to put up (nothing dirty now, people), it will be my pleasure. Here's the link:
http://zumbamer4ie.blogspot.com/
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and see you in December,
meredith
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to thank all of you for coming to my Zumba class. It doesn't matter if you came once and discovered it wasn't for you, or if you come every week religiously, I'm thankful you came by.
And a special thank you for the regulars. I know it's not easy to try new things, and I know it can be difficult to keep up with a project or routine. I am grateful that you make me a part of your week, every week, and I am happy that you make time for yourselves and your health. It's so flattering when you recommend the class to people.
On a final note, I have a blog now! It's basically just the Monday emails, but saved for all future generations. Whoo hoo! If anyone has something they want me to post, or a link they'd like me to put up (nothing dirty now, people), it will be my pleasure. Here's the link:
http://zumbamer4ie.blogspot.com/
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and see you in December,
meredith
Nov. 15 post: Kinky
… That’s the word for today. Kinky.
Last night I watched “Kinky Boots,” a movie about a small shoe factory in Northampton, England. Apparently the area is known for its shoe factories, generations-old places where shoes are hand crafted. In the movie, a son inherits the family shoe factory, only to find it is going bankrupt, due mostly to cheap imports flooding the market. A chance encounter with a drag queen leads him to make, instead of brogues, thigh-high fetish boots for drag queens and transvestites.
Like all the craziest movies, this is based on a true story. The factory’s real name was W.J. Brookes, Ltd. and their “Divine” line kept the shoe factory open until 2000. In real life, the company was so successful that cheap, overseas shoemakers (the same group he was seeking to escape) copied his designs and eventually put him out of business. Today, Steve Bateman (the shoe factory owner) continues to make shoes—both fetish and not—out of his home.
So, it seems like kind of a downer, right? But let’s unpack it a little, before your break out the Kleenex. Although no longer on a factory scale, Steve still makes shoes: it’s in his blood, and there’s success in doing what you love for a living, even if you can’t save the day, Hollywood style.
In the movie, two interesting points are made: that a handcrafted pair of shoes can last someone their whole life, and that the factory had to “find its niche”—its kink, if you will—to be successful. By finding what you love to do and what only you can offer, you create something high-quality that’s beautiful and lasting.
Finally, it makes me smile to think of all the happy drag queens out there, wearing their thigh-high boots for Talent Night or Zumba Gold class at the old folks’ home.
So, find what makes you kinky, and have a great week!
-meredith
Nov. 8 post
Hi Friends:
Happy Monday! What a beautiful Monday it is--after a weekend of rain, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's all blue skies and green lights! But, how can this be that I'm in such a good mood on a Monday?
Simple: I'm playing hooky today.
Not only am I playing hooky, I'm doing all the self-indulgent stuff I can between now and when my kids get out of school: sleeping in, reading a trashy novel, facebooking, going out to lunch, and doing a little shopping. Alas, no time for a pedicure, but I will at least take off all the old, chipped polish that looks like a bar of color across the middle of each toe and repaint, as opposed to what I usually do, which is just paint over the whole thing and hope nobody looks too close.
So that's my thought today: play hooky sometime, and let yourself do all the stuff you usually put on the side for the nobler pursuits of being an adult and a contributing member of society. Not only is it nice to get a break, it also kind of puts you in your place. Sometimes it feels like you're the only thing that keeps civilization running, and playing hooky can remind you that the world can, indeed, function without your constant tending.
In the spirit of playing hooky, I'm not going to spend too much more time at the computer, but really quick I wanted to see who was up for class this Thursday, Nov 11. It is a holiday. We are definitely NOT having Zumba on Thanksgiving, so if we don't have class this Thursday, it will be only 2 times we're meeting this month. I don't know if you guys have any fitness goals as we head into the holiday season, but if you do, us not meeting could affect those goals. And your motivation. So, email me back if you want to have class. I need a minimum of seven people to come, otherwise it's just weird. Voting opens now and closes Wednesday at noon. I'll email everyone Wednesday afternoon whether class is on like Donkey Kong or off like Smirnoff.
Either way, have a great week!
Nov. 1 post
My inspirational thought for this week is: know your limits. Doesn’t sound very inspirational, does it? Just follow me on this one…
This past Saturday I went to the Zumbathon at Kailua Elementary School. Super. Duper. Unreal. Fun! Met a ton of great people, learned some new moves, did Zumba for 3+ hours. I got home, jumped on the scale—hey! I lost four pounds. Good news? Not so much. It was probably about four pounds of water I sweated out that morning and wasn’t able to replace fast enough. Sure enough, that afternoon I felt nauseous, and had a headache all Saturday night and into Sunday.
I’m fine today, and so next is the humbling task of figuring out what I learned from making myself sick. All of the lessons (hydrate, listen to your body, work smarter) fall under the header of Know Your Limits. It’s important to understand what your body, mind, and spirit are capable of handling, and to both honor those limits and at the same time push them, just a little. So, while 3.5 hours of Zumba is too much Zumba for me, maybe 1.5 or 1.75 hours would have been just enough. Or, maybe going all out for the whole song is too much, but concentrating on just the footwork is a doable challenge.
None of us should be making ourselves sick by trying to do everything, but we also shouldn’t bore ourselves to tears by not trying things slightly beyond our comfort level. I hope you have a great week of knowing your limits—and of testing them, just the eensiest bit.
See you soon,
Meredith
Oct. 25 post
And the word of the day is:
“Extraordinary.” Good morning (barely), everybody! I hope your week is opening up nicely.
I know I might ruin all the street cred I have with you by admitting this, but I kinda like Mandy Moore. Yes, the teeny bop singer (“Candy,” anyone?) of the late ‘90s. She didn’t get that much press because she wasn’t as jail bait as Britney or X-tina, but I promise you she was also a teen sensation. Anyway, she’s grown up now and not too long ago came out with a grown up album. The track that is inspiring me today is called “Extraordinary.”
The verses are pseudo-artsy, with “I’m an Artist not a pop star,” hippie-dippy lyrics, which talk about how used to be a “bay tree” but now she is a “midnight airplane.” What does that mean? She used to be still and silent, and now she glows and flies in the sky.
But the part I keep singing to myself is the chorus, which goes, simply, “And now I’m ready/And now I’m ready/And now I’m ready to be/Extraordinary.”
The difference between being a tree and an airborne wonder of modern technology is just being ready for it. A change in attitude can change your perception of yourself, and in turn change your life.
Each of you is already extraordinary; you just have to know you are. Have a great week! I look forward to seeing you “sparkle in the sky”—or at the very least, sparkle in Zumba class on Thursday.
Here’s the video:
Laterz,
meredith
Oct. 18 post
Hi Friends:
Recently, I've been cleaning out my closet--nothing symbolic, I've been literally packing up all my old crap for throwaway and/or donation. And what I've found is that I have a lot of tshirts. So, in the spirit of creativity and reinvention, I'm taking some of my old crap and making it into something new and funky (that's the symbolic part). Wanna try? Check it out:
I love this because it's like sewing, without needing any needles, thread, or skill. Just scissors=my skill level.
I hope you try to make at least one, because everyone has at least one tshirt they can spare to experiment on, and I look forward to seeing what you wear to class on Thursday!
Snippety snip snip,
Meredith
Oct. 12 post
May I direct you to the Zumba YouTube channel:
And here's a video featuring my current hero:
Oh yeah, Katie Moore is beautiful, graceful, and a wonderful teacher, but my hero is Blue Shirt Guy in the back, on the right. They don't have older videos, but this guy has been going to her class for over a year. I used to think he was some kind of old pervert, checking out the chicks, but if you watch, he's really into it. To me, he encapsulates what's awesome about Zumba--his energy and willingness to try different things with his body--and there's a certain loveliness in that. Maybe he can't do the moves exactly like how Katie Moore does hers, but on the other hand, could Katie Moore do the moves exactly like how Blue Shirt Guy does his?
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