I got off early cuz I was working so much I was going overtime, drove to her job and off we went. The Wallflowers opened the concert and they were great as well. When "Slow Hand" himself came on it was electric. He played blues from the Blues Breaker days, acoustic, Cream, Derek & the Dominos, amoung his hits on his own. I cried during "My Fathers Eyes," G. & I both cried during "Tears In Heaven," We sang, danced and had such a great time together. The only problem was the guy sitting next to me. He was rather high-strung and very intense. We got to our seats, which he & his companion were sitting in, to begin with. G. had bought the worlds most expensive Bud and had set it down as most folks tend to do when this guy just barrels through and yup, you guessed it, he knocked the entire 24 oz. beer over. Now he's pissed because he has to buy her another one. He comes back and yells at his companion that he can't get back in without his ticket. I'm serious here people. He was yelling. Now this next part I admit he had a point but he was way over the top and never tried to calmly, respectfully rectify the problem. A woman 2 rows in front of ours felt the impulse to stand and wave the entire concert. Now, there was 1 chair between me & this guy (very grateful for small gifts) and told him that I could see just fine if he wanted to move over but he must've been happier to scream and fester in his anger. We even offered to switch seats with them but no, "I wanna go home!" was his response. I was fine with that frankly, GO! They finally did leave early but not until almost getting, starting, a fight along with the couple next to them against the couple in front of them. Good grief! These folks were older than me. Oh well, some people never grow up. G. & I had a wonderful time in spite of the drama. If Clapton comes to your area, go, go, GO! By the way, his guitarist is one tall drink of water too. Just sayin'.
It was so much fun just gettin' outa town, listening to an amazing artist, dancing & singing, laughing etc. It's also an important thing to do for yourself. Just a quick get-away. It helps clear things out of your head. Breaking the the normal pattern of life, work, home, eat, sleep can give you just the right amount of fresh energy to re-kick start your self. We get so caught up in the work pace and taking a little mini vacation can utilize different neural pathways in the brain allowing you to disengage from work. We all need that don't we. Here's a bit from a site I found titled YourWorkPlace, and written by Karen Richardson. www.yourworkplace.ca
Here’s why you should book that extra day off for your mini vacation
- A mini break can allow you to rethink and prioritize work and life goals and commitments.
- Vacation is just as important as sleep. “Just as lack of sleep impedes your ability to think clearly and act decisively, lack of play time keeps you from taking in information effectively and seeing the totality of a situation,” says Monster contributing writer/blogger Barbara Reinhold. “Every time I have clients who tell me their direct reports are slacking off, I respond with the question, ‘When did you have your last vacation?’”
- By taking part in an activity that uses different pathways of the brain — an activity that “disengages” you from work and reignites that spark in your life, you will return to work with new ideas and a more balanced perspective, according to authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz of the book The Power of Full Engagement. Just as athletes need rest to allow for recovery, so do workers need rest from their daily work.
- Manage your energy, not your time. You will be happier and more productive when you disengage periodically and seek renewal.
- Your work performance (and those who have been putting up with your grumpy moods) will thank you.
Now this last week, I got pretty busy again and was way too tired to make it to dance class last night so I'll have to go tomorrow. I've got alot of cleaning and yard work to do this weekend and thankfully, I don't have to go in to work on my days off. Time for what I need to do at home. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I did discover that I finally broke my weight loss plateau. Yipppeee! I lost another 1/2 # this week too. So, another 21/2 #'s down. Lets keep the momentum going, right? I managed to get in a couple of workouts along with the teaching classes and need to get to class myself. It does feel so good to let go of the reins from time to time and just focus on myself and my own technique.
Sometimes trainers/instructors forget to go back to the drawing board, so to speak, and take lessons themselves. Or, they just wait to go a fitness conference and take a bunch of different things at one time, which is fine but I like to use those to get more info and see where I can try something new and really begin to train in it. Much like I did with kettlebells a year ago. Yes, that's kettlebells not kettleballs, people. It just cracks me up when people call it kettleballs. Goofy, but true. Anyways, I went to a conference in town, took a 11/2 hour workshop on kettlebells and liked it. I then signed up for a 5 hour workshop for trainers at a studio in town a month later. I thought it would be a good way to pre-hab my knee. I do still use them today and try to help folks use them correctly. As usual I see alot of interesting variations on the theme as I like to call it. If you don't get my drift, I see horrible form, dangerous form and I feel as a professional, it's my duty to help inform and correct it. I am a little more subtle than it sounds here.
I totally disagree with trainers that don't feel any responsibility to correct people that don't pay for their services. Most of the time people are grateful to get the help. Yes, occasionally, I run into someone who doesn't think they need my help, big deal, as I've said before, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. All you can do is try and be genuine about it. I will always try to help if I can. Thats why I got into this business, to help people. And...sometimes people tell how much they appreciate the help and advice on form so to those that don't, a raspberry to you. Just kidding, I'll probably bug ya again, just try to remember it comes from a good place.
Well, as you all know Spring has arrived and I will be trying to hula hoe my backyard bit by bit each weekend so that it looks decent (like dirt) for the annual house party/Bar-B-Que in May. I'm also going to put my raised bed garden up this weekend. I'm going to plant some tomatoes, green & yellow squash and I can't remember what other organic seeds I picked up are. My asparagus, thyme and garlic chives have returned from the arctic freeze and seem to be doing well again. I'm sad to say that the dill, basil and tomato from last year didn't make it. They put up a grand fight but alas it just wasn't enough. Sleep well my dears, sleep well.
I'm pretty much death to anything that flowers or cactus but I keep trying. House plants I'm great with. Who knows, one day I might finally get lucky. I did plant broccoli at my old apt. before moving to my house. It was quite yummy but I woke one morning to find my then cat C.C. blowing a gasket at the bedroom window along with another sound I just couldn't make out. Turned out the javelina family liked my broccoli too. They got 5 crowns to my 1. Oh well, at least I did get 1. I do love the taste of fresh foods. So much more flavor than from the store. I was trying to go to the farmers market about 7 miles away but it was all so beedin' expensive. I finally stopped going. So I just keep trying to find a way to not kill my plants and grow some of my own veggies. Wish me luck.
A friend at work has chickens and right now they're laying eggs like crazy. I've bought a few dozen and he's given me a few. Problem is, I just can't eat that many eggs! I took 1/2 dz. to my mom today. She should enjoy them. They are delish.
The temps are getting high but should stick around the mid-70's through most of next week. Hard to believe that only a few short weeks ago we had a blizzard in Tucson. Hmmmm, global warming? Yikes!
Things are starting to look pretty good for Buck and Judy's Dang Rubs. Hopefully we'll be able to get them on-line soon. I'll probably begin my own on-line store with them so I will keep you posted. You'll love them, I promise.
On a whole other topic, my friend Babara Applebaum's new wellness book, Live In Wellness Now, is about to be released in a couple of weeks. I'm so excited for her. Please look her up if you haven't done so already. www.applebaumwellness.com Best of luck to ya Barb, I'm so happy for you, congrats.
I'm kinda excited about Dr. Igor Burdenko being at work this next week. He's here to train a couple more staff on his work. They'll be learning Part 1 of his land and aqua work. He wants to meet with me to give me updates on the work. His new book just came out and he sent all of us Master Trainers a copy. I must admit I haven't had a chance to do anything more than skim through it quickly but I'll get to it eventually. It always makes me smile to hear my name called out in that heavy Russian accent.
I am having a bit of trouble trying to add a page onto the nutrition page with the High water content foods. I will figure this out and get it on there but I'm going to put this to bed for now before I throw this thing out the window.
Have a fantastic week people. What do ya think of the new site?
Peace out