P90X -- Workout Day 1 (Not!)

Today was supposed to be the first day of my P90X workout. Unfortunately, yesterday's little mishap left me a little more bruised and battered than I originally thought. Those things that hurt the most immediately after have now taken a back seat to aches and pains all over my body.


In hindsight, it was a good thing my hands were full when I went down, or I probably would have tried to grab onto the adjacent bookshelf and pulled it down on myself. So I'm pretty lucky the damages are as minor as they are.


I will definitely start this thing tomorrow. And I'll give you a full report when I'm done.


Have a great weekend everybody!

Working Out

I'm not a gym rat, but I do like working out.  My biggest problem is motivation.  I can ALWAYS find something better to do and my promises to myself to work out "in 15 minutes" never seem to happen.   My second problem is know what do to when I get there. 


Last year I committed the time and money to work out with a trainer 3 days a week and what a difference that made!  He kept the workouts interesting and allowed me to work all parts of my body without having to put too much thought into it.  But who can afford to keep that up?


For my birthday I requested and got the Wii Fit program.  It's great for testing your balance, core strength, tracking your progress, etc.  But it doesn't give me the level of intensity I'm used to.  And the trainers are a bit corny.


So this year at Fantasy Fest I saw four friends I hadn't seen since last year that looked absolutely FANTASTIC!  When asked what their secret was I was surprised to find out they were all doing the P90X workout.


For those of you that don't know what this is, it's a set of 12 DVDs by Tony Horton (http://www.beachbody.com/) that are based on keeping your muscles "confused."  Each of these people said it was very difficult, but "fun" because it was always something new ... and their results were undeniable. 


So I ordered the discs.  I was surprised at how inexpensive they were compared to a personal trainer.  For the price of all the DVDs I could only get about 3 training sessions, so right there I'm ahead of the game.


Well, the discs arrived today.  And with all the anticipation of Christmas I dove right into the boxes.  First up was assembling the chin-up bar.  Right there I got my work-out.  I'm pretty handy and am used to assembling things, but this was a real challenge.  The stay-tight screws were very difficult to get tightened and 45 mins and a lot of tools later I had it completed.


Now came the fun part ... mounting it on the doorway.  It's not a permanent mount, but you do have to install brakets that hold it in place while you're using it.  So to my office door I went (best place to mount it).  I got the screws, anchors, hammer, etc.  But with my hands that full I didn't wasn't able to carry a ladder as well ... and who wants to make two trips!  Luckily (or unluckily) I have a desk chair in my office that I thought would work perfectly.


Dear readers ... please DO NOT try this at home!  I rolled my bar stool-height chair to the door and began my measurements.  Oh dang!  The chair kept turning.  So I thought it would be "smart" to steady myself by putting one foot on a shelf inside the door while I began marking the screw holes.  Bad idea!  The minute the chair began turning and I put weight on my "support" foot the shelf gave way and me, my tools, the shelf and everything on it went crashing to the floor!

I'll let you contemplate that visual for a moment ...


I am now sporting a severly banged up thumb and a scratch/bruise on my hip that is going to leave a lovely mark for a few weeks.  Still trying to decide if I need a Dr. or not.


Once I get the status of my thumb and am able, I'm going to start a daily blog on my workouts.  You, my reading audience, are going to be my motivation ... and I'll review the product for you as I go.  When I work out, I'll tell you and let you know what I thought of it.  The days after, I'll let you know how bad I hurt or how good I feel.  If I don't work out, I'll tell you that as well, but I expect you to hold me to only GOOD excuses.  No "I was just too lazy" posts will be allowed.

For today,  I think I've had enough of a work out.

Answers to Some FAQs

Every so often we hear from people with feedback on our website and they often have the same comments/assumptions … that we were raised to be living this life.

So I thought it might help others if we set the record straight. I was raise in a very religious family and attended private, church schools through my first year of college. It wasn’t until I was married with my own child that I started looking at who I really was and what truly made me happy.

That did not always create a harmonious environment with my family. My actions are not to be disrespectful to them, but to honor me and how I have chosen to live my life.  Luckily, we finally came to an understanding that they shouldn’t ask the question if they couldn’t accept the truth. It still took a couple of years for them to full accept the life that Tony and I have built. I’m sure there are still things they don’t know, but overall they have come to accept and love us as we are.

Our home has many pieces of art, and many of them feature the naked female form. As well, there are several nearly-life-sized nude photos of me throughout the house. Over the years, it has been very interesting and amusing to see people’s reaction to them.

There was the elementary school mom who wouldn’t allow her daughter into our home after she saw the photos and there were the neighborhood boys I caught peering through the windows to see the pictures. I began telling parents ahead of time that we had artwork featuring a naked woman in our house before we got into an awkward moment at the door (I admit I didn’t tell them it was me!).

My favorite situation was when we had our son’s little league team over for a post-season BBQ. Everybody was out back and we though the boys were playing baseball in the cul-du-sac. I was in the kitchen when suddenly our son came in asking if I’d see the boys. He found them in the living room starting at my nude photo over the fireplace. His reaction was priceless! He said, “Come on guys! It’s just a naked woman. Let’s go play ball.” I was so proud!

The funniest and most liberating story was for my mom’s 60th birthday. We had invited her friends, her conservative, religious friends … one of whom had been my orthopedic surgeon since I was a kid (see my previous blog about my feet!). Some came into the house, took one look at the picture and retreated into the kitchen, never to return. Others purposefully seated themselves in so their backs were to it. Towards the end of the evening as the group was getting smaller the orthopedists said, “I see you don’t have your feet showing in the picture.” And that was all it took. It opened the flood gates with questions about when I had them taken, where I had them taken, was I nervous, etc. Turns out everybody wanted to talk about it, but nobody was comfortable bringing it up.

In hindsight I think that was a major turning point for my parents as well. I know they were nervous having their friends into our home, but bless them for not asking me to take the photos and art down. And after they saw how their friends didn’t judge me (or them) because of it I think they really realized it was okay.

I am also often asked if it isn’t difficult to walk on the street in Key West with nothing on but body paint. My first thought is that after standing still for up to three hours being painted, I am painfully aware that I am not naked. On the other hand, walking down a street naked would not be a problem for me. It’s not a sexual thing, it’s just how I am comfortable.

There are also a lot of photos taken at FF that might appear that I am more “open” than I really am. In general, I am not one to show it all just for the fun of it. However, over the years we have become friends with many professional photographers, who ask nicely for certain shots. And I do accommodate these requests. Of course it is impossible to ensure that only they get “the shot,” but as soon as they say “Thank you” the pose ends. I don’t sit on the bikes or get body painted to draw attention to myself; although I realize both of these things do draw attention to me. Again, if people are respectful of me, I am willing to accommodate them.

So, yes, we live a very liberal lifestyle. But we weren’t raised that way. It took us testing the waters and finding out which ones worked for us … and then being willing to stand-up for what makes us happy.

There aren’t a lot of people around where we live that know about, or would understand, how we live our lives. And many that do know and don’t get it. I had a friend introduce me once as her “nudist friend.” I was horribly offended! It might be what I do, but it is not who I am. We have lives very similar to 90% of the population … we volunteer in the community, attend sports games and are parents and grand parents.

We just have found what makes us happy and comfortable, and pursued it despite what others might think. And as long as we’re not hurting anybody else, what harm can there be in being happy?

Real World Re-Entry Complete

It has actually taken us a full week to re-enter the "real world" after Fantasy Fest.  I have to admit it's strange to go from crowds and friends and festivities and drinking to the quite life of home.

Once we get home, things really slow down for us.  For day to day, it's back to work for both of us ... and because our offices are in the house it's pretty quite work.  On a personal level, we don't really have many friends in our area, and especially after a week life FF we turn into almost homebodies while we get caught up and rested. 

We returned home to cooler temperatures, wind and rain, which meant our wardrobes have changed significantly.  Gone are the shorts and skimpy tops (or no tops at all!).  We're into jeans, sweatshirts and coats.  We also both had to jump back into our work right away.  For Tony that meant hours (and days) in his home office doing paperwork and for me it meant begin up early, running all over town, and getting to bed very late. 

So this weekend was really our first chance to begin settling back in to regular meals, healthier meals and some much needed sleep.  Fortunately the weather cooperated by producing a mid-winter type storm that made yard work impossible and laying on the sofa watching movies acceptable. 

Personally, I brought several things back from FF with me this year, one of which was a strange bug that kept me feeling "punky" all week.  Tony said it was withdrawl because I don't drink much at home.  LOL  Luckily, I can finally say whatever it was I've beat it thanks to two full days of R&R.

I hope that all of you that were in attendance at this year's FF have also recovered and are back into your daily routines.  It's great to break out of them once in a while, but sometimes the re-entry takes as long as the entire trip!

Demystifying Women

I recently saw a friend I hadn't seen in about a year.  She'd lost a lot of weight and she looked GREAT!  She was rockin' her jeans big-time.  But when I told her how great she looked she said, "OMG!  I've put on like 5 lbs. in the past couple of months."

And it made me realize why men get so frustrated with us.

Let's say I weigh 140 lbs.  If last year I weighed 150, then 140 ROCKS! But if last year I weighed 130 lbs. 140 SUCKS!

Likewise if last week I put on a pair of pants and they felt tight; and today they feel loose, I’m in heaven! If they feel the same or tighter, it can flat-out ruin my day (and probably yours). It doesn’t even have to do with tightness/looseness; all it takes is something shifting a bit (which happens as we get older).

We know you think we look great, and we appreciate that, but what really matters to us is what we think. So keep the compliments coming, but don’t expect us to always agree with you.

I hope that helped a bit.  Have a great weekend!

Do We Choose Our Careers, Or Do They Choose Us?

When I started this I warned you that sometimes the topics would be random … and this is one of those. 


From mid-high school, I knew what I wanted to do for a career. When I headed off to college it was the only thing I could think of. And then I met the counselor. He promptly told me that I would never do well at that career and that business was where I belonged. It was the 80’s and everybody was taking business. Besides, he was the counselor, what did I know?

Very shortly after beginning my classes I was 100% sure he was 100% wrong. So I took matters into my own hands and left. I wandered around working various jobs in the medical field (the family business) and realized it wasn’t for me.

Eventually, I happened upon a job that while it didn’t look like a career, seemed interesting and paid the bills. It was an entry-level job doing mundane typing and coordinating mailings. Woot! But believe it or in that silly, mundane job I found my career. Or did it find me?

I’m a corporate event planner. I’m not a party planner, not a wedding planner, a corporate event planner. And 20 years ago I didn’t even know that job existed! I never applied to be an event manager. So how did I get here?

In hindsight, and my mom will attest to this, it was in my blood from a young age. I used to show horses and I was the one that made the lists, loaded things in the horse trailer in the order they came out and generally had to know for myself that everything was ready to go. I was always about organizing the details.

But, at the highest level, my job is to be invisible. And believe it or not that’s where I’m the most comfortable. Yes, I sometimes do things that draw attention to myself, but I don’t do things to draw attention to myself. I like being in the background. I’m just as happy quietly reading a book on a beach to partying on one. So hanging back, watching, anticipating is where I’ve spent much of my life.

How did I get here? Blind luck? Hard work? Probably a little of both. I often still can’t believe I found something I love to do, that comes easily, and allows me to meet wonderful people while letting me stay in my “comfort zone.” Looking back, I guess I owe my college counselor a “Thank you.” I am still sure I would have loved, and been good at, my “other” career. But when he derailed that idea, when he made me find my own path, my true calling found me. I am so lucky!

Fantasy Fest 2009

Well, so much for daily updates during Fantasy Fest.  I have a somewhat good excuse; the wi-fi signal only worked in the seating area outside our room so posting from bed wasn't possible.  LOL  On the other hand, that may have been a blessing in disguise as our late (late, late) nights left my brain tired enough that my thoughts would have been scrambled anyways.  Honestly, I am still suffering from a muddled mind because the pain in my legs/feet woke me up at 2:00a!  But more on that later.

Tony and I have a "game" we play after each vacation where we list our Top and Bottom Three things for the tirp.  So there they are (although there are more than three on both lists).

Top

• The Artist House.  We absolutely love this B&B!  The rooms are large, the staff is wonderful, they altered their breakfast times for FF from 8-10 (who's up that early???) to 9:30 - 11:30, added an extra Happy Hour on Thursdsay and allowed us to entertain our guests on the deck out back.  Our room was called the Turret Room and was a two-story room with a King bed on the main floor and a Full bed in the upper room.  We had a small dressing room, living room area and large deck.  The house is called the most haunted in Key West and I recommend visiting www.artisthousekeywest.com and www.squidoo.com/dollrobert for the full story.  We didn't have any direct encounters with Robert, but we highly suspect he took one of Tony's t-shirts.  And the last night, as I laid there awake (couldn't sleep) there were some suspicious lights moving about the room.  I admit, I was freaked out enough that wandering downstairs at night was not something I was interested in doing.
• The Hard Rock Cafe and Staff.  We have been to over 50 Hard Rock Cafes around the world and this one personifies exactly why.  The staff is always friendly and the food is always good.  When things got too crazy on Duvall Street there was always a warm smile, a good drink and a filling appetizer awaiting us.  We'd like to give a big shout out to bartenders Andy and JC for always having a drink ready for us when we walked in.  Sorry Tony drank all your Newcastle Brown beer!   LOL
• Our "Harley" Friends.  Once again our biker friends were ever-present on Duvall Street.  We love chatting with them, sitting on their bikes (nice break for tired feet) and generally hanging out with them.  We wish they all lived closer and hope they all made it home safely.
• Watching the parade on Whitehead Street.  For years we've avoided the parade because the crowds are so unruly and the street is so crowded.  But this year we joined two other couples and watched it on Whitehead Street across from Kelly's Bar.  We had a good 12 feet all to ourselves and nobody behind us crowding us into the street.
• Pashur.  Every year I give him suggestions for designs/themes and he always finds a way to kick-it-up beyond my imagination.  The Go-Go paint job was AMAZING!
• Skipping the Fetish Party at Kelly's Bar.  When we arrived the line was over a block long so we decided not to go in.  That turned out to be a great decision as it rained that night and because most of the party space was outside everybody ended up holed up in the small covered lobby area.  Instead we went to Irish Kevin's when the rains came; there were two great bands playing, and we danced and partied the night away.
• 801 Bourbon.  Always a great show!  'Nuf said.

Bottom

• Rude people.  I have to put a dislaimer on this.  I do dress up and get painted, and I know that with that comes lots and lots of photographs.  So this should not be read as me complaining about having my picture taken.  However, my name is not "Hey you!" or "Wait! Wait! Wait" or "Stop! or "I gotta get your picture!"  My name is "May I take your picture, please."  And when you want my photo, have your camera ready.  Don't stop me then start getting your camera out of a zipped-up, well hidden case in the bottom of your purse.  I do not want to stand there all day while you turn on or figure out how to operate your camera.  As well, cell phones are not good cameras.  They take so much longer to take the picture ... especially if you're trying to talk on them at the same time!
• Mangoes Restaurant.  On Sunday night we were really looking forward to a nice quiet dinner to wind down.  We had heard mixed reviews about the food, but had enjoyed drinks there several nights and wanted to give them a try.  We stopped in our way back from the "Fat Lasy Dings party" at La Te Da and because we were in costume were asked to leave!
• The Footwear.  Tony and I laugh about this one every year.  I can guarantee you that less than 1% of the photos take of me include my feet, but it's true that everything looks better in high heels.  Unfortunately, I have had problems with my feet my entire life and my orthopedist would cringe to know I spend up to 14 hours a day walking around in up to 5" heels at FF.  By the end of the week every inch of me below my knees is in constant pain.  This year I did alternate out to my doc Martens a couple of days (these are hands-down the most comfortable shoes I own), but even they startrd to hurt after that many hours.
• The Heat/Humidity.  We actually love warm weather, but this year Key West is experiencing record high temperatures. As a result, twice my body paint literally started melting.  Once was on Thursday while we were having dinner (thanks to all the patrons who jumped up with their menus and started fanning me) and once was on Saturday.  Pashur even tried a body paint sealer on me! It was helpful for general wear, but even it couldn't withstand the heat.

All in all we are calling this our best Fantasy Fest ever ... so even the bottom list wasn't that bad.

Thanks to everybody that stopped us to say "Hi" and tell us they are members of our site.  I would love to say I remember all your names, but I probably don't.  But please don't let that stop you from saying "Hi" when you see us.  We LOVE meeting you all!