Ahhh. . .
I have arrived. . .
My family and I are on vacation this week in the lovely Outer Banks of North Carolina. We rented a new house this year, one with a pool and hot tub and it is just. . . well. . . ahhh. . .
We arrived here today after visiting some good friends in Dover, DE for the weekend. The drive was rather uneventful, just the way I like it. Of course, I did knowingly allow the girls to eat about 4000 M&M’s during the drive, but the way I see it? It was all to secure my sanity.
Sanity is good.
I arrived here only hours ago, but I’ve already done my pilates and practiced my sai kata’s. Yes, I managed to sneak my sai, nunchaku, and tunfa into my suitcase. Insert big eye roll from Mr. BBM here. Some may use the table in the bedroom for sunscreen. Mine is for my stash of weapons. It makes me cool. . . obsessive but cool.
I just couldn’t imagine not being able to practice with them for two weeks after I’ve been working so hard to get in good shape and make sure the kata’s and all their parts are in there. And who wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to take a set of sai out on the beach and actually be able to do the throw into the sand???
Mr. BBM says I’m a dork. I say, I’m not the one who has memorized 4,278 useless facts about Star Wars, so there.
If you’ve been a reader here for a while now, you know that last year’s vacation was quite eventful and not in the good way. I’m looking forward to having a very uneventful week; and I’ll be sure to bore you to tears with it if I can manage to put my lime and beer down and drag my derriere out of the hot tub for more than a few minutes at a time.
Oh, and if you happen to be in the Outer Banks right now and you see a crazy blonde chick doing kata in a swimsuit. . . yeah, that’s probably me. And no, there will not be pictures documenting such an event, so don’t even bother asking.
More Motivated Than Ever
Lately my blog has been more about the "mama" and less about the "black belt". It’s because my training has taken a more introspective turn as of late. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to apply my kata’s and I’ve been spending a lot more time training on my own.
Over the past two weeks, I have worked hard to dust off the kata’s that I haven’t done in a while, both weapons and open hand. You know what they say. . . if you don’t use it you lose it. I’ve been running through all my open hand kata’s every day and trying to make sure that I’m applying proper technique while using good power. I have learned the last two kata’s I will need for black belt, and now just need to work on making them all look great and work well when it comes to bunkai. I’m definitely getting there.
I have a three day training camp coming up this summer. This will be the last one before I’m supposed to test for black belt, so I want to make sure I am polished and sharp for that. There will be lots of important people there and I want to make a good impression.
In addition to kata, I’ve been working a lot on sparring techniques. Sparring becomes a lot easier once you’ve looked thoroughly at the bunkai (application) for kata. You start to see combination moves that are useful for sparring as well as for a real attacker on the streets.
Most of my neighbors know that I take karate, but this week I surprised one of my neighbors when he saw me wielding sai and whipping them around in the backyard. I’ve been getting lots of questions about what exactly those things are and how you use them since then. Several have told me they feel more secure in the neighborhood knowing I’m around. That’s me. Who needs ADT Security when you have BBM right?
I wish I was as confident in my abilities as some of my neighbors are; but I have to say that my confidence has been improving greatly over the past few weeks. The extra time each day spent running through kata’s and learning how to apply them has been of great value, both physically and mentally.
In addition to the karate, I’m going to make it a goal to continue with the pilates training which will definitely help with flexibility and core muscle strength. I’m also going to make it more of a habit to do some light weight-lifting.
I’ll be leaving for my annual trek to the beach, and I’m thinking that I might try to run a bit while I’m at the beach too. It’s always easier to run at the beach than it is at home, so if I start there, maybe I can continue the habit once I return home.
I don’t think I’ve ever been this motivated to train, and the hard work feels really good. . . bumps, bruises, sore muscles and all.
Kindergarten Graduation
Today Big I graduated from Kindergarten. I can’t believe it. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was spending my entire morning sobbing because it was her first day and she was gone.
Now, she’s a bona fide first grader and I am shocked at how fast this year has gone. The first and last day of Kindergarten. . .
She has learned so much this year. She’s learned all of her letters and how to count to 100. She can now tie her shoes completely by herself. She also learned that kids can be mean sometimes but she has done it all with incredible courage and I am so very proud of her. On the first day of school she could barely lift her chin up to say "hello" to anyone; today she led a class song during the graduation ceremony. She started school not knowing a soul; she ended the year with a best buddy that she met on the bus of all places.
Congratulations Big I on a job well done!
I’m looking forward to having my kid back to myself for the summer, and sleeping in. . . ahh yes, sleeping in. . .
For a Good Cause
I have a wonderfully talented friend (who happened to design my banner for this very website). He also answers emails that go out at 1 a.m. from a very frazzled me who can’t figure out how to center said banner and also responds to various other graphic design requests at warp speed. I knew at some point, I’d be able to pay it back so to speak.
My friend works for a non-profit called Drug Free Pennsylvania and on Monday June 4th, they are having a four day auction with all kinds of awesome things up for bid. The auction runs e-bay style and offers things such as park passes to Hershey Park, Dorney Park, Dutch Wonderland, nights at PA hotels/resorts, and awesome PA potato chips because seriously, if you haven’t ever tried Pennsylvanian potato chips you have simply not lived. (There is indeed a reason why the smallest size at some of the local department stores is a 14 people!).
They also have autographed sports memorabilia up for grabs and it’s all for a very worthy cause. If you’d like to get in on the fun, you can do so here. Oh, and if you get some of those potato chips, you’re totally sharing with me!
Adventures in Self Tanning
I’m hoping for cool weather this week. My self tanner and I had a bit of a disagreement as to how our relationship should work. I was under the assumption that a fine mist of product would produce a subtle "glow"; it was under the impression that I wanted to look like a zebra or a splotchy cow perhaps.
As much as I would like to sun bathe, my dermatologist scared the living daylights out of me and it’s been minimum SPF 30 for me since then. That doesn’t mean I have to be pasty and transparent all summer though. Apparently there are all of these wonderful new self tanning products out on the market. At least that’s what I heard from some of the Mom’s of Big I’s classmates.
At her class picnic last week, I heard all about the good ones and the bad ones. I decided that after a long break from Cheeto’s-like skin coloring, I’d give it just one more try. I tried some L’Oreal misting stuff and I really wish I hadn’t. It’s a fine mist that you spray on and it seemed like there was absolutely no room for error. I stood in the shower stall and used what I thought was flawless precision to spray on my new tan.
I’m not sure if my lack of precision is to blame for my zebra striped legs, or if I should be blaming the boys on Big I’s t-ball team who splashed mud all over my legs yesterday, making me wipe it off and perhaps taking the self tanner along with it. Notice that nice white chunk down the front of my leg. This is pretty much the theme for my entire tanning job on my legs.
Did you notice how I said I stood in the shower to spray on my tan? Well, apparently my shower floor was dry at the time and I did not think about the bottoms of my feet and their rendezvous with the self tanning mist for one second. That was, until I was inspecting a cut on my heel that I got from some random thing on the dojo floor last week during class. I turned my foot over to see how that cut was doing and was greeted with the most tan foot bottom that I have ever seen. Yes, those feet are fresh from the shower and completely clean. In addition, exfoliated like a mad woman. Mineral oil- check. Foot scrubber- check. Foot file- done. And nothing worked.
I came downstairs after discovering the new vibrant shade of all things feet and told my husband and our weekend company about my discovery. It only took a second or two for Mr. BBM to get a very concerned look on his face and flip his own feet over so he could inspect them. And sure enough. . . his feet now match mine. That’s the problem with getting in the shower after your wife gives the shower stall a nice mist of self tanner. Needless to say, Mr. BBM is really happy with me today.
I realize that there are not going to be a lot of people checking out the bottoms of my feet. . . unless of course you acknowledge my fellow dojo-goer’s who may be subjected to some extremely pigmented feet this week. I am also going to the beach in another week or so and I’m hoping that by then, they’re a more, well, natural shade of skin.
As for my legs? The question right now is: should I try to correct or just wait until it fades? There are always nylons I guess, until my little problem clears up. . . nylons in 80 degree weather = fabulous fun after all. After my stripes are gone? I think I’ll just go back to being pasty white again.
Pasty white is the new hot. . . because I said SO!
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