Category: no fear

White-knuckled driving

by Karen, posted in no fear

That’s me: get a flake of snow on the ground (or even the threat of a flake) and I go into panic mode.

When I have to drive in bad weather, you will know me by my 20 mph speed, hazard lights a-flashin’, both hands firmly placed on the steering wheel as I softly mouth the mantra: “10 and 2; 10 and 2″…the classic (safest?)  hand position when driving, as recalled from my high school drivers ed classes.

I trace this back to a car accident January 11, 1996 (okay, so what if it was  fifteen years ago! It feels like it was just yesterday!).

I had to leave for work early that day, so I got myself and my son ready to go and we headed out the door. First stop was grammie’s house to drop my son off for the morning (for babysitting purposes) and then I would continue on to work.

We had experienced one of those storms that is composed of the “dreaded wintry mix” (rain, freezing rain, snow, sleet, or all of the above) the night before, and then the temperature dropped and froze everything. In the morning, a light snowfall began that covered up all of the ice that was on the roads from the previous night’s storm.

I was a cautious driver when it snowed, but not overly anxious or anything. I was going fairly slowly down my street and as I approached an intersection with a stop sign, I applied the brakes…and nothing happened. My car continued to sail along the snow-covered ice and, instead of slowing down, it started to actually pick up speed. I had just about enough time to see the car heading for me from the right side of the intersection, and that was it.

Next thing I knew, my (then) 5 year old son was shaking my shoulder, “Mom! Wake up!” Why was everything so blurry? Ah…my glasses (not to mention my cell phone) were missing in action.

It took me several seconds to realize that the air bag had deployed, which had knocked me unconscious for (probably) a minute or so. A nice man who heard the crash from inside his home across the street called 911, and was there telling me that help was on the way.

Anyway, all of my injuries (fortunately) healed over time. I am now left with just a residual Driving in the Snow Panic that descends every time there is a chance that I might have to (you guessed it) drive in the snow.

May I just say that it’s been a tough winter so far?

Give yourself a break

by Karen, posted in family, friends, local fun, no fear

Is your birthday coming? Are you wondering what to get yourself for Christmas? Have a really good friend that  you want to appreciate?

Stacey Brooks from Mainely You Massage in North Berwick

Stacey at Mainely You Massage  is there to help you. Never had a massage? Don’t be scared. It will be both the fastest and the slowest hour you’ve ever experienced. You can just lie back (and you won’t even need to think of England!) and relax for the duration, with no demands made on you (except, you know, to turn over). Short on time? You can book a half an hour session instead of an hour; do what works for you.

Like a meditation the way it should be (but often isn’t because of the monkey thoughts that are ravaging your mind, increasing exponentially the more you try to quell them), you will probably notice that your thoughts are taking a very nice rest. One or two might meander to the surface of your consciousness, but they will most likely take the form of a non-urgent question to ask Stacey, nothing too distressing.

Of course, sometimes some unpleasant emotions can and should be released. If you feel the tears a-wellin’, just let ’em come. You will feel so much better after you let them go.

Massage might help you if:

  1. You are a cube-dweller by day, sitting for hours hunched over your keyboard, on your way to carpal tunnel syndrome and sciatica.
  2. You are an athlete of some sort (runner, gym person who overdoes it, yoga practitioner or teacher with a misbehaving muscle or two) with some annoying aches and pains.
  3. You are on overload, too busy doing things that you should/must/have to do, most often for others (e.g. not for yourself).
  4. You suddenly realize that there are only 7 more shopping days until Christmas (How did this happen?)!      HINT: Mainely You Massage Gift Certificates are available now! Call Stacey!

Call to book your massage (or buy your last-minute gift certificates)!

Mainely You Massage

73 Elm Street, South Berwick, ME

Phone Number: 207.676.2263
Cell Phone Number 207.651.6277

Eat, Pray, Love

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, italian, movies, no fear
Eat, Pray, Love promotional poster

 

Eat, Pray, Love came to theaters in movie form on August 13, 2010.  If you read the book by Elizabeth Gilbert (published by Viking in February 2006) like I did, you may have been eagerly anticipating the release of this movie. I know I certainly was.  

Then I saw a trailer for the movie, and noticed who had been cast to play Elizabeth Gilbert: Julia Roberts, who is one of my least favorite actresses. It’s not just because she basically has one character that she plays over and over; hey, I do like Meg Ryan. I usually do end up liking movies that JR is in though…  

 So, I reluctantly resigned myself to seeing it even though Julia was playing the lead character and therefore would most likely be on the screen a lot of the time (hello? it’s a memoir; told from the first person point of view). I went with a friend so that it wouldn’t be a totally lost Sunday afternoon…at least I would get to spend time with a friend sans children for a few hours.  

So, need I say it more plainly? My expectations were low. I thoroughly enjoyed the coming attractions (3 more good-to-see-with-a-friend movies to watch for) so I was in a good mood when the feature finally started.   

I am happy to report that the book was great, but the movie was also perfectly fine! It was not a total waste of two hours and thirteen minutes (plus travel time) after all! Of course, I love all things that have to do with Italy so it helped that the first country visited in the story was Italy.  

Also, the other actors in the film were all appealing, interesting, and (a side benefit) some were pretty easy on the eyes. 🙂 

Verdict: worth seeing.

Date night

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, fitness, no fear

After 19 years of marriage plus 2 more of courtship, I’ve learned something new about my husband: he’s ambidextrous.

How did I learn this? I stepped out of my comfort zone for an hour. Way out, actually. My idea of a night out is dinner, maybe a drive to or walk on the beach, ice cream, maybe a movie. So, when my husband mentioned that he used to like to shoot pool and did I know that there were two pool halls not far from where we live, a little warning bell went off…I mean, sure; I’d seen pool tables. We even had one when I was growing up. You know, in the dining room. Under the plywood. It majored as our dining room table. Oh oh, I thought.

Well, in the spirit of  “do the thing you think you cannot do” (a la Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote) I decided that I “must” do it. So I kept my reservations to myself…well mostly. I did ask my husband this: “What if we get there and I decide that I don’t want to go in?” to which he (graciously, and smartly) replied, “Then we won’t go in!”.

Which was exactly what happened at the first place we visited. I looked around at the building exterior, and with quip about it’s bad feng shui, declined to enter. Bill said, “No problem!” …and so on to the next stop.

Old Port Billiards on Fore Street was the next stop. I was not put off by the exterior this time, so in we went. There was a woman tending the bar and six pool tables.  I glanced at the menu and noticed right away that they had brownie sundaes, so then I knew everything would be okay (see? even when on an outing to play pool, it’s really all about the food! 🙂 )

No one was renting a table yet, so we were the first, but within an hour, all but one table was rented by two others by couples like us, and 2 others by groups of (male) friends.

We played for an hour and had a great time. And I found out that after 21 years, it’s not too late for me to try new things (and that I don’t know everything about my husband!).

yoga workshop with Doug Keller

by Karen, posted in education, fitness, health, no fear, yoga

Doug Keller came to give a series of workshops at Newburyport Yoga Center ; i attended one last night.  the schedule includes 4 workshops friday4/30  through sunday 5/2.  as i headed there with a friend, i realized that i didn’t even know what the title of the workshop was; i had chosen it because it was the only one of the four that my scheduled allowed me to attend! in the end, it really didn’t matter; i was going to meet him and find out why my yogi friends speak so highly of him and to see if i agreed with their assessment. i DO.

reasons to take a yoga workshop with Doug Keller

  1. it will pull you out of your comfort zone.
  2. the price is really reasonable
  3. he is not threatened by questions from the class
  4. Doug is a very mellow, calm, kind teacher
  5. do the thing you (think you) cannot do

here’s Doug’s website: http://www.doyoga.com/

if you are interested in attending a workshop, there may still be some space: contact Newburyport Yoga Center fmi:  http://www.newburyportyoga.com/index.php

jumping

by Karen, posted in family, fitness, health, no fear, tweens, yoga

i was at my regular saturday morning yoga class and the teacher taught us a short ashtanga (http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/1366) sequence that involved jumping. one of the women said something like, “kids do it all the time, but how often do adults get to jump in real life? never!”.  i was thinking, “i do! i was jumping just the other day!” i had, in fact, just been jumping two days prior. i was sitting in my cubicle at work and suddenly realized i had been sitting for a couple of hours straight and needed to get up and move…i have a programmed alert in my outlook calendar that pops up every hour, prompting me to “GET UP!!”, but i must have inadvertently clicked on ‘dismiss’ instead of ‘snooze’ earlier in the day. so i stood up, and surprised my fellow cube mates (not to mention myself) by starting to jump up and down. i don’t know where it came from, but it was like the jumping just spontaneously sprang forth from my body, without my prior knowledge or consent. once i started, though, i realized that it felt good and i continued for several more seconds before self-consciousness gained the upper hand and i stopped.

reasons to jump:

1. it’s fun!

2. if you own a trampoline, you can get your money’s worth!

3. if you have a jump rope (come to think of it, i do), you can get your money’s worth!

4. it’s good cardio!

actually, speaking of cardio, money can be raised by jumping. my daughter recently participated in a jump-a-thon  (for the american heart association) at her school and raised $55.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=2360

how long has it been since you jumped up and down just for the fun of it? 🙂

Rule #1

by Karen, posted in family, fitness, no fear, tweens

my daughter fell off her horse at her riding lesson last week. her instructor said something like, “is this your first time falling off a horse?” fortunately, her dad brought her to that lesson, not her mom, so there were no hysterics involved. when he asked her what happened, why she fell, she said, “I let go of the reins”.  which leads me to

Rule #1: always wear your helmet!

i understand that “first time” implies there are other times to come. i try not to worry too much about this. i try but i don’t succeed (hel-lo? remember Christopher Reeve?). i looked up some info online about horseback riding lesson: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-Child-Horse-Riding-Lessons

now that i know a little more about what i didn’t know about horseback riding, i feel like i can comment a bit on this topic.

  1. about wearing jeans: my daughter did just fine wearing jeans and then one day she finished her lesson with a complaint that her leg hurt. upon investigation, we found a large round blister on the inside of her shin just below the knee from the inseam of the jeans…prior to that day she had been wearing long johns under the jeans (it was COLD, riding outside in february!) but in the warmer weather she had adjust her riding wardrobe to prevent injury.
  2. another point made in the online article was to ask your child if she prefers private lessons or riding with another person. turns out, she prefers riding with others.
  3. it is a good idea to shop around. ask for referrals from friends whose children ride (or ride themselves) but be prepared to make up your own mind. just because someone speaks highly about a facility doesn’t mean it’s right for you or yours. also, prices for similar services can vary widely.

the bottom line was that she did get back on, which i understand is a sure sign that she  really does want to learn to ride a horse. 🙂

do the thing you think you cannot

by Karen, posted in family, no fear

when i was invited to go indoor rock climbing by a friend, my immediate (inward) response was  “no freakin’ way!”, followed by a polite “no, thank you,” expressed outwardly.  then, one of my favorite quotes came to mind: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”~ Eleanor Roosevelt. i kept thinking about this quote and began thinking about the rock wall and “do the thing you cannot do” became an edict. i went. i did the thing. it was awesome. only 2 really scary moments 1.looking down from the top of the first scaled wall (they don’t say “don’t look down!” for nothing) and 2. when it’s time to come down, you let go and push away from the wall, and …dangle for a moment. really.

the bottom line? it was a blast (notice word choice is consistent with my inner 12 year old).

http://www.merockgym.com