Category Archives: Motivation

A Night of Private Lessons!

Good evening!

Tonight was my belly dancing class, just in case you have been hiding someplace and hadn’t heard me say it for the umpteenth time!!

BELLY DANCING THURSDAYS!!!

WHOO! HOO!!

Hee! Hee!! Hoo!! Hee! Hee!! Hoo!!

Ok, I have gotten myself back under control!! 😉


Tonight I wanted to share a bunch of pics that I took this morning while I was taking a walk to go into the office. It was very cold here, and foggy, and I thought that the world seemed very ethereal and magical this morning with all of the hazy fog. So, I took some time just finding some shots that I thought were BEAUTIFUL! I would love to hear your thoughts about them!!

Ok, onto my class this evening. When I started this belly dancing class about a month ago, there were 5 of us, then we became 6 for a couple of weeks, last week we dropped to 4, and I am not sure what happened this week, but there were only 2 of us there, and the other lady had to leave early! BUMMER!!


BUT TO MY SURPRISE! I got to have about a 20 minute private lesson with the dance instructor and one of the students from the advanced class! That was really awesome, and that means that I know some dance moves that everyone else doesn’t!! YEAH!!!


HOWEVER!!! There are two moves that I am going to have to really practice on! They are both spinning moves and you do this thing with one of your feet that you do a 180 degree turn, and let me tell you MAMMA IS GONNA HAVETA FIGURE OUT TO SPIN THIS SHIP IN A SPLIT SECOND!!! SHEESH!! Let’s just say it is going to take me some practice, and maybe some slippy socks!!! LOL!! 😉

I can’t say it enough! I truly LOVE this class, I look forward to it all week!! It is exhausting and energizing all at the same time! I am becoming better coordinated, balanced, and graceful, three things I thought could never be associated with me, and through lots of practice, I am getting better, and better, a little every week!!

While I was waiting for the instructor to get there, I was sitting out in the waiting area with a tall, graceful woman, who looked to be in about her 80’s. She was VERY OBVIOUSLY a dancer, with a dancer’s body and a dancer’s posture! So I got to talking to her, asking her questions, like I have a tendency to do, and I found out that she has been dancing since she was 6, she has 4 dance instructors because no one can keep up with her, and she tells me,

“I can’t help it, when my feet hear the music, they just can’t hold still, so I have no other choice but to get up and let them dance!”

She was right, not 5 minutes later, there was a private lesson going on in the next room, and the music started playing. She got up to watch, and before you know it she was dancing all around the waiting room, and down the hall! It was actually quite beautiful and made me smile all the way down to my liver. 😉

I pray that when I am 80 something, I am able to say,

“I can’t help it, when my feet hear the music, they just can’t hold still, so I have no other choice but to get up and let them dance!”


If only we were all so lucky to find a physical activity that gave them this much joy and pleasure!! I am truly blessed!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Chunky Dunker’s Night, Week 11!

Good evening!

Welcome to week 11, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!! Welcome back to those who join us every week, including those of your who silently follow us, and welcome to those who may be new to my blog this evening. I am happy to say, that after last week’s slight hiatus, we are no back on with our regular weekly meeting.

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic: Cleaning Out the Kitchen!

There is something that I am sure a lot of you have already done, me?? Well, apparently I am having a tendency to do some of my fitness tasks a little out of order. This week for our house is a week of getting out kitchen ready for fitness, which means we need a Major Kitchen Cleanup STAT!!! That means, throwing out the junk food (sugary, processed, chemical-laden, energy sucking food) and replacing it with healthy substitutes (whole, once alive, colorful, energy giving foods).

So for our kitchen that looks something like this:

LESS OF/NONE OF MORE OF
  • Sugar
  • Nuts
  • Sodium
  • Beans
  • White/bleached/enriched flours
  • Seeds
  • Unnecessary chemicals
  • Fresh fruits
  • Processed foods
  • Fresh vegetables
  • Saturated fats
  • Whole grains
  • Trans fats
  • Lean protein
  • Polyunsaturated fats

Now, I realize that that is easier said than done, but I have to tell you that the man that I have been married to for almost 17 years, the man I love, the meat and potatoes man made me the MOST DIVINE vegetarian dinner this week, and I WAS SHOCKED!! It was light, delicious, filling, and we both commented on how GREAT we felt after we had finished eating it!! Not only were we not overly full, we felt good about having made such a healthy choice! I want to have more nights like that!!

And knowing that Jason has lost about 6 pounds, and I am down a little over a pound from last week, I have to say that we must be starting to doing SOMETHING right!!! 😉

So, in the comments section tonight tell me how you are doing, but also what changes you have made in your kitchen to help make your fitness goals easier!!

I am rooting for you!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

I Want My MTV!!

Good evening!!

I want my MTV, HGTV, Discovery, and OPB!!! Who am I kidding I REALLY want to watch the tele right now!!! ANYTHING!! I am only on day 3 of my no television, magazine, books, movies, internet right now, and I AM TELLING YOU!!! Mamma is having some SERIOUS withdrawals!!! I never realized I used television as a crutch! I had a rough day at the office, and all I could think about was getting home, plopping down in front of the tele and watching me an episode of Bones!!! But alas, no! Not tonight!!

Our girl Faye – “Uhm…when can I take this leash off?”

Our Girl Sophie – “Hey, mom? Where’s my sunglasses?”

But, I guess that is the point isn’t it??? To realize what silly things we fill up our time with instead of spending time working on your creativity!! Last night, I got a MOUNTAIN of laundry put away, that had been sitting on the table in my bedroom for at least 3 weeks. THEN when I got all of that put away, I decided to go through my closet getting rid of anything that no longer seemed to fit my idea of who I am – or who I am becoming!

If it didn’t fit, it was out!

If it made me feel like frump girl when I did wear it, it was out!

If I’ve never worn it, it was out!

It is time that the “things” in my life better reflect who I am and what I love!! I realize that “Christina” is still a work in progress, and “I” am rather fluid right now, but I DEFINITELY know what I am NOT!! So, I have gotten an itch to start editing, and purging some belongings that no longer represent or honor my authentic self! I think that my Artist’s Way journey has made that much easier to do than it was in the past! Making room for new but clearing out the old!!

“Mom, we have to tell you what daddy did!”

So, I may just end up with a REALLY ORGANIZED HOUSE!!! Which I am kinda the idea of!!! 😉

“Tag, daddy! You’re it!”

So, tonight instead of watching the tele, or reading of any kind, I decided that I was going to take my girls out for a walk – it has been a while! My sweetie decided to come out with us too!! WHOO! HOO!! So, that is what all of these pics are!!! My girls!!!

“Which way did he go? Which way did he go?”

Our little brown dog is Faye, and the white one is Sophie!! Besides my sweetie, who is my gentle giant, they are the loves of my life!! Faye is deaf, has been since birth, her little tongue is always sticking out because her jaw is too short, and she is the older of the two!! She is as sweet as can be, unless you are a little kid, in that case she is just TERRIFIED of you!!! 😉

“Hello? Anybody in there?”

Sophie, on the other hand, is little diva of the two, and she has got her daddy wrapped around her tiny little paw – because that man of mine, SPOILS HER ROTTEN!!! and she basically LOVES ANYONE who will sit and pet her!! LOL!! 😉

“RUN!!!”

We knew it was time to go back to the house when we got the signal from Faye, which looks something like this:

“That is it! I am starting to perspire, and I am sure that is NOT healthy!!”

I love my little family!! I can’t wait until we have our little farm so the girls are able to run free whenever they want to!! They just LOVE playing in the grass, and so do we!! It makes me feel like I am a kid again!!!

Maybe there is something to this no TV thing??? Who would’ve thought???

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunkers: I will see you for our weekly meeting tomorrow evening!!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! 😉

A Challenging Weekly Challenge!

Good evening!

As many of you may already know, I have been following the 12 week program, called The Artist’s Way. I am in week 5, and I have to tell you that doing this program may be ONE OF the BEST things that I have ever done in my adult life to in my quest to bettering myself!! I have been consistent with my Morning Pages, every singly morning, whether I want to do them or not, and I have gone above and beyond on making sure that I get my artist’s dates and weekly questions done EVERY SINGLE WEEK! However, I think that week 5’s challenge is going to be the one that REALLY tests my resolve!!!

This week’s challenge is supposed to help you listen in on what your inner voice is saying by avoiding any and all outside media. So, the challenge for this week is that I am not supposed to read any books, or magazines, watch any television, or movies, or play on the internet.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!

I didn’t realize what a crutch these things have been for me until I tell myself I am not allowed to do any of these things!!! I think I have used a lot of these activities to just “numb out” over things in my life.

How many of you do that?

Is it only me??

Let’s just say, it may be a very long week!!!

I know that every step of the process so far has been, just that, a process, and so far I have learned something new about myself all along the way!! So, for this week’s challenge I thought something that might get me through this challenging week would be to have some activities on hand, so that I don’t have to try and figure out what to do at the last minute – a la “I’m bored” style!! Not that I would really have anyone, but my poor sweetie to whine to about this, but I digress!! 😉

Some optional activities for this week will be:

  1. Writing
  2. Drawing
  3. Painting
  4. Cleaning
  5. Organizing
  6. Kissing
  7. Swimming
  8. Walking
  9. Cooking
  10. Baking
  11. Skipping
  12. Dog walking
  13. Photographing
  14. Miniature golfing
  15. Sculpting
  16. Bowling
  17. Dancing
  18. Stretching
  19. Sleeping
  20. Meditating
  21. Day dreaming
  22. Recycling
  23. Volunteering
  24. Making Love
  25. Twirling
  26. Laughing
  27. Card playing
  28. Any game playing in general
  29. Dressing up
  30. Playing make believe
  31. Making a video
  32. Playing with makeup
  33. Listening to music
  34. Blogging
  35. Decorating
  36. Furniture arranging
  37. Collaging
  38. Nature walking
  39. Yoga
  40. Mani/Pedis

That is a pretty healthy list, and some of these things really excite me to think about being able to do this week!! There will be no need to “Numb out” this week, I can just get out there and

LIVE, LIVE, LIVE my life!!!

You know what Auntie Mame always says,

“Life is a banquet and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death!”

OK, so I realize that is a movie reference, but I didn’t watch it, I am just recalling it, so I think that counts as being compliant!!! LOL! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉