New Year's Resolve

I ‘ve become undisciplined from blog posts once a week to every other week to barely once a month. I’m chalking it up to the hectic pre-Christmas month.

Pre-Christmas December included:

4 round trips China, ME to White River Junction, VT

4 batches of Almond Bark

9 batches of home made Chex mix

23 snap bag coin purses

4 pies

9 December birthdays to celebrate

10 out of town/out of country packages of Chex mix/almond park sent

150 Christmas cards set

The Hobbitt in 2D

Lincoln in the theater with Judd

1 secret Santa project (tie-dyed silk underwear)

TNTC* presents/ wrappings/on line purchases

*Too Numerous To Count

Post-Christmas December included:

Driving to Quechee on Christmas afternoon with Malindi right behind me

2-day snowstorm visit from Malindi  (Les Miserable sold out so we did movies

   in-house)

Judd visits for a snowy weekend, both of us with varying degrees of cold/laryngitis

Quechee Covered Bridge reopening ceremony

Paddleboard yoga**

**As I get closer to thinking I’ll be a Vermont resident soon, I decided to go on line to look for gym memberships, exercise classes with new resolve for the new year. I found the nearby Upper Valley Acquatic Center with pool, group classes and land fitness. I’m pretty picky about how I like to exercise or sweat in public and I have a pretty tight schedule – I’m not available Mon-Fri 7 to 4:30  and IF I’m around on a weekend it’s late afternoon Sunday. I discovered a FREE trial: paddleboard yoga.  Here’s the webpage below.  Now, perhaps I was confused by the picture. People stepping up on boards--It didn’t look like yoga. I thought that a  paddleboard was this thing 

sportsfansworld.com 

I used to have  (at least it was when I used to play racquetball and paddleball.) I couldn’t imagine using it for yoga. But it was New Year’s Eve Eve and if I was going to be resolute about exercise maybe it would be something new and daring.  It was most providential that there was an added 5pm Sunday free trial (and I was looking this up at 4pm on Sunday.) I knew I was meant to go.

            So I dug out my one sports bra, one-t-shirt-in-Vermont (having moved all my work clothes but very few play clothes) and my one pair of leggings and off I went to the gym (after putting on all the other warm layers because it was 19 degrees out.) When I arrived and asked for directions, some staff were confused because they said the 4:00 class just got over and they were not aware of a 5pm class. The lady behind the desk directed me to the women’s locker room and then out through the pool door over to the far side of the pools.  I trled going out that way but kept getting my socks wet stepping in puddles where little kids and parents were dripping back from swim lessons. I thought this cannot be right.  Yoga is supposed to be all warm and fuzzy and calm me down so I shouldn’t arrive irritated by wet, cold feet. I finally went back through the front of the locker room to the lobby and bumped into the instructor, Adam. Adam was a calm, slow-talker in baggy pants and a long sleeve T-shirt. He was wearing an earth-toned cotton turban and I saw grayish hair peaking out. I started to feel less intimidated. I asked where the yoga room was. He said the extra 5pm session was in the pool. I said, “huh?” a couple times and looked less than intelligent and explained that I had misunderstood---I hadn’t come with pool attire.  I was trying to be spontaneous and I would have to come back to a land class some Thursday evening. He asked if I had a change of clothes. I said yeah. “So? “he said. I got a flash view of me in a cartoon-like bubble over my head, in my leggings and a t-shirt in a pool , drying off with my skirt afterwards and wearing only one layer of clothes home under my coat. It didn’t look too ridiculous in my brain so I said okay. I asked Adam if I was going to be the oldest person in the class and he said it’s not about that.  “Oh yeah, “I mumbled, “that’s right, I’m freeing myself of these kind of encumberances.”

            I found 2 other people (both older-looking , overweight men, but no judging) by the pool with Adam and so I began paddleboard yoga. They call a paddleboard what I call a surfboard, which, if you’re all balanced and relaxed and smooth, you can apparently do all the yoga poses (even headstands) on without getting wet.  How is it that it’s almost the year 2013 and I have never heard of this? If they’d said surfboard yoga I would have gotten it (and not gone.) Adam told me a couple times how brave I was to come out and try. I began to have doubts. He held a board so I could get on and pointed out the center of gravity on the board so I could balance. He failed to mention where my center of gravity might be. I could kneel on the board—I could paddle around. But the first challenge was to anchor the fin of the board over one of the lane markers so it didn’t float all over the pool while attempting poses.  You can try to do this by moving so far forward on the board that the back of the board tilts up and then try to go in reverse until the fin is over. One man fell in. (He was wearing his swim suit.) Since he was in the water, he helped the other man get the fin of his board over the float.  I paddled down to the edge of the pool, got out of the water, and lifted my fin over the marker and got back on the board. This must have been some kind of cheat, but I was okay with it because I was still dry and had my dignity intact.

            Instructor Adam got us settled and started us breathing and he exuded calmness and serenity but then his board was not in the water. He faced we brave three from the dryness of poolside.  About two breaths into it while I'm trying to quiet my mind, I recalled that I had left my beeper and cell phone in my sweatshirt in the locker room. I worried the rest of the hour that it would go off and someone would take it to the front desk and the hospital wouldn’t be able to reach me and I wouldn’t be able to retrieve the beeper and did this child’s pose make my butt look big, and then I couldn’t find my left ankle with my right hand. But Adam re-focused everyone and even I could clear some of the worries and my racing thoughts.  I did not fall off the board.  I breathed and stretched and re-focused (several times.) Afterwards, I found my beeper and phone right where I left them. And if I choose to sign up for the 4 week session, I still get a 10% discount.  It might happen.  I’d have to commit to leaving Maine by noon on Sundays.  I’m deciding if the stress/calm ratio makes it worth it.  To get to the Thursday evening 4:30 land class the only stressor is either leaving work 10 min early or being 10 min late to class.  I’m going to think about it for a day or two. It isn’t even New Years yet so no need to rush into an exercise regimen.  

Here is their brochure page:

FITNESS

• FREE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSION FOR ALL NEW MEMBERS

• Free personal training session for all new
 members

• Nationally certified trainers

• Most affordable personal training in Upper Valley

• Economical small group training programs

• Fully equipped strength and cardio room

• Kinesis training--check out what a Kinesis wall is here: Technogym Kinesis Wall

CHECK OUT THE NEW CLASSES!

NEW YEAR'S DAY SPINNING
8:30am

FREE PADDLEBOARD YOGA CLASS
Sunday, Dec. 30 @ 4pm.
Registration for free class starts 12/19 only six boards available, so sign up early!
Due to high demand a second class has been added at 5pm!

PADDLEBOARD YOGA
Sundays @ 4pm 1/6-1/27
4-week session. Get 10% off when you register by 12/30. Space is limited.

So, I'm about here:

yogapeach.com -

fingerlakespaddleboard.com 

Not quite to headstands or bikinis yet, but catch me in March.....

funfitandfabulouswithlauren.blogspot.com 

A Veteran's Day find

First I made the usual joke, “at the VA, we honor the Vets by taking the day off.” So, I took the long weekend home in Maine with my family.  I was up in Malindi’s old room sorting through drawers of old photos and memorabilia looking for a special kindergarten document. By accident, I came across old baby rattles, some kid’s first lost tooth and first haircut hair….And then a little box labeled BRONZE STAR.  Inside, I rediscovered my Dad’s Army medals. There were three metal bars with colored little stripes and a couple other pins.  I thought it very fortuitous that I should find them on Veterans’ Day weekend.  The boys were polite to sit with Judd and me as we searched the Internet for the meaning of the little ribbons. 

Some for National Defense Service Medal /Korean Service medal/United Nations Korean Service medal; his first sergeant patch; a rifle for infantry.

Bronze Star (with oak leaf cluster for a second award of the same) Critieria: Any person whom while serving in any way in or with the United States military after 6 December 1941, that distinguished himself or herself apart from his or her comrades by brave or praiseworthy achievement or service, that did not include participation in aerial flight. The act justifying award of the medal must be performed while fighting an enemy of the United States, or while involved in conflict with an opposing/foreign force. It can also be awarded for heroism while serving with friendly forces engaged in combat against an opposing military in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

It was a little disturbing—the boys noted that on the website you can apparently buy various badges for .98 to $1.49 each.

Many Moves

Sitting at Omer and Carol’s kitchen counter on a Friday night, rather late for a “happy hour,” eating tuna wiggle, telling stores,  I do not recall how family vacations (or lack thereof) came up.  My parents moved, packing up the entire household and setting off to new Army housing every 2 to 3 years until 1969 when we moved to San Diego. My Dad retired from the service there . I attended 6^th grade through  4 years of undergrad college in San DIego. That’s why I call it my hometown.

The Moves:

Ft. Carson, Colorado (my birthplace) to Ft. Eustis, Virginia – a car trip with me as a 1.5 year old

Ft. Eustis, VA (where my brother, Brent, was born)

Chicago, IL while my Dad was in Korea

Ft. Mason, California to Green Bay, Wisconsin – 4yo me and 2yo brother (started kindergarten)

Green Bay, WI to Ft. Bliss, (El Paso) Texas

Ft. Bliss, TX to Lamont, Illinois – 6 yo me and 4 yo brother

Lamont, IL to Portage, Indiana

Portage, IN to an American Army base in Illesheim, Germany

Illeisheim, Germany to San Diego, California (by car from Washington, DC to San Diego)  with 11yo me and 9yo brother

That’s 9 moves before 6^th grade and a lot of car trips.

The LAST thing my mom wanted to do on “vacation” was pack up the car and drive anywhere. We didn’t.

Judd’s remembrance is packing up the car EVERY spring break with some combination of his 4 brothers and having his parents take turns driving overnight from Maine to Florida to go camping at Juniper Springs.   Mapquest puts it at 24 hours Kittery to Ocala but that’s 2012 highways….  I believe it took longer in 1965… in a station wagon with no seat belts…. How did they ever survive?

Carol says HER parents used to drive to Florida every year for vacation and camp in Ocala National Forest too. She remembered fondly one year  (she must have been 13 or 14 yo) when a boy from a neighboring camp came by and asked if she wanted to hunt for armadillos. She told the story with little hearts in her eyes like she had instantly fallen in love the “boy next door.”  Judd said HE used to hunt for armadillos there. “Wait a minute,” says Carol, looking astonished, “How old would YOU have been.”  They do the calculations. “What year was that?”  “Did you actually catch any armadillos?”  and all the while Omer and I are thinking this is a buzz word for something else that goes on in the dark in Florida….like cow tipping in Maine or watching the submarine races from the scenic points of San Diego.

Maybe it was the post-prandial beverages talking after that, but we left quite convinced that Carol and Judd knew each other in a previous life and perhaps were childhood lovers….. at least for one night.

p.s. they did NOT catch an armadillo that night. (Sounds suspicious, huh?)

Most embarrassing blog post to share….thus far

(how many times have you said “thus” in the last year?)

It came up because my departing VA colleague K… asked about my blog and I said I’d send my link.  And then I looked the blog over to see what would be the most embarrassing thing to have “out there” with a work friend.

And, I couldn’t send the link….. (yet)

Ottauquechee River

I had recently overheard (partook in) a conversation [Spell checker did not underline ‘partook’ so it is really okay to say that too] about (implied) stupid people who take pictures from the driver’s seat of their moving car.    There had been a gorgeous sunrise one morning in Vermont and someone at the VA said they had pulled off the road just to snap a pic…… and that’s how the topic came up: that some people DON’T pull off the road to snap a pic, and how dangerous  ( read: DUMB) that is.

And I smiled and perhaps nodded but sure didn’t divulge that it is sometimes me who doesn’t pull over. Certainly sometimes the driver is snapping photos when there is another passenger in the car and THAT, I can totally agree, is

S T U P I D.  But I consider myself as a total exception…. I only do it if there is no one else for photo snapping…..i.e. a 4 hour commute (one way) from China, ME to White River Junction, VT by myself…… When the vistas are astounding, I have my camera at my fingertips and I can ‘click’ with one hand AND NOT EVEN LOOK THROUGH THE VIEW FINDER.  (I’m not THAT dumb!)…… so, for every 6 randomly-pointed shots, I get about one I can post on this blog….. And I’ve seen LOTS dumber distracted drivers than that ….. i.e. lighting fire to a cancerstick at the end of a face, putting on mascara, fiddling with iPod/CDs, and all manner of unidentified reasons to weave across white lines or onto the rumble strip…… now THAT’s not safe….

Add caption

But, before I am able to send my blog link to K…., I feel I must promise myself (and all humanity) that, no matter how gorgeous the view, I won’t take pics at 55mph again…..

There! Now I can tell you about K….., the secretary to the Chief of Staff

Even before I arrived at the newest work detail, I received emails from K …..to tell me where to go when. Since then, he has been my compass in Vermont for nearly 6 months. He triages which concurrent meeting I should be at and directs me to new locales with printed, collated handouts. He name-finds for me. He keeps me out of VA-jail. He runs block for me. He listens to me complain about a 4 hour commute or an onerous work task. The epitome of professionalism, he has historical knowledge, 50s-TV-shows knowledge, VA savvy, JAG court-reporting expertise, common sense and a super sense of humor. And now he’s taken another job to a southern VA…..(for family reasons, he says—not because I’m so high maintenance or dumb with a car camera.)

What?  I’m not the first to have a work spouse?

Sociological and psychological implications

With so many of the quality hours of a day spent at work, having someone there who has an intuitive understanding of the pressures, personalities, interactions, and underlying narratives of the workplace society can add safety and comfort to what can otherwise be an alienating environment.     (the ever-quoted and selddom fact-checked Wikipedia)

Back to going into an alienating environment……

(and I haven't shared the link with K......  yet)

Okay, this one is from my office window; not a drive-by pic

only bubbles

• Well, they're really only bullets but I thought bubbles sounded nicer:
• 
  
• Who says I can't post until I've written entire sentences and paragraphs...... 

•  Mums on my Vermont porch with Fall in the front yard
•  drive-by Vermont (was a rainy week) 

• Maine clouds over Portland 
• City graffiti with Malindi

View out of my office window

• 
  

Happy thoughts

Did you ever see the 1991 movie, HOOK?  A Robin WIlliams movie where Peter Pan is all grown up and has to go back to Neverland to get his kids, kidnapped by Capn' Hook?   He can't fly again, until he finds his happy thought: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3gc1J9AXgU

Here are my recent happy thoughts:

1) Pics and picnics with Malindi in Vermont:

 

 

2) Skyping for over an hour w/Ryley who was completing his "Common App" for colleges.

3) Trying to decipher little iPhone drawings from Kelcy on "Draw Something"......

4) Judd in "in jail" because someone at Erskine homecoming paid $2.00 to put him in for 10 min......

and....

5) It was 37 degrees one morning here…… and I didn’t want to leave my covers. What a happy surprise to give the thermostat a try….. and hear the crickly crackly of the base boards and then notice the slight dust-after-all-summer smell and then feel the warmth creep across the floor.  As a new renter (in an old building,) I thought there would be some landlord rule where “heat is only turned on after Oct. 15^th” or something……

so warm...