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the treadmill : today's "place to be"


It's Sunday and Sunday is pretty much a non-training day for me.  My Sunday "workout" is to go for a walk of at least 1 hour in length.  Not bad, eh!  Usually, I take advantage of this "easy" day and take a Sunday stroll around the neighborhood, I wander rather leisurely, I make phone calls while I'm strolling and catch up with family and friends.

Just didn't seem like enough this morning, though.  I woke up feeling not so great in my little noggin.  Nothing terrible or earth shattering, but just one of those unmotivated, uninspired mornings.  I had a good cup of coffee and tried writing in my journal.  eh.  Tried writing a blog post.  eh.  Perfect time for my Sunday walk - get the blood flowing, clear my head.  I started to get ready for my stroll, but was still feeling, eh.  As strange as it may sound, what with all the dang training I'm doing, I actually felt unfit this morning.  A little full, flabby (what did I eat yesterday, sheesh) and, well, I guess I was just a bit down.  Somehow a leisurely Sunday stroll through the neighborhood just didn't seem serious enough.

So, off to the gym I went to spend an hour on the treadmill.  Walking, mind you - not running, not biking, just walking.  Egads, I thought, this is going to be boring. B.O.R.I.N.G.  Well, boring though it may be, I though, I needed the intensity of the machine, I needed it to be an intentional workout, so I went.

I was wrong.  I was wrong, wrong, wrong.  Boring?  Nope.  Quite the contrary.  With no distractions, no phone calls, no yards to peek in, my little noggin started whizzing, zinging, having thoughts, making connections.  My head turned upside down, blah to yea!  Inspiration and ideas for a new project I'm thinking about appeared seemingly out of nowhere.  Since our decision to be more flexible on the Vienna move, I realized that I want to still blog, but feel too constrained by the title and format of what I've created here (no surprise to those who've been following along in the past few weeks).  So, I've been toying with the idea of creating a sister blog/alternate blog/blog in place of An American Girl and trying to think about what I would want to do with that.  I've had major brain stall, though, and have been mentally frustrated about the whole thing.  But this morning, on the treadmill, obviously today's place of power for me, the connections and ideas and thoughts started flowing.  What a relief!  What a great feeling!

An hour went by far too quickly.  I think I may go back.
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I am back from LA.  I am still alive.  And I will be writing again soon.  Like, this weekend.  I promise, I swear!
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An assortment





...of goodies for you today.  It's been a busy week of work and training and the quick flash of a cold that showed up Wednesday morning and was gone by Thursday (mostly, at least).  Not a whole ton to share, but here are a few tidbits.


~ Training for my upcoming Figure Competition is going quite well and I’ve stepped up the focus and intensity of my workouts.  I can see and actually feel my body changing; getting tighter, leaner, developing more defined muscles in places I never thought I’d have defined muscles.  It’s pretty awesome!  This week, I purchased the “posing suit” I have to wear (click here to see, if you dare!) and a pair of 5” clear plastic heels.  Oh boy.
7 weeks to go!


~ My husband and I are headed to LA for the weekend.  Yay!  We’re going to a Figure Competition (of course) to see one of his client’s on stage.  Oh yeah, she’s also going to be at my show, in my height class, in October, so, yes, that means I’m going along to scope out my competition!  The bonus – family in LA to visit!


~ Speaking of family……waiting ever so patiently for news about my soon-to-be-born nephew who was officially due on August 10th.  My sister and brother-in-law are waiting (maybe not so patiently) for him to make his appearance and my mom is with them, hoping he makes it during her visit. 
 

~ I’m loving this month’s Glamour. I don't think I've mentioned here before, but I have an unhealthy a strange attraction to animal print fashion.  Particularly leopard prints.  I own a pair of slippers, ballet flats, sneakers, two coats, and a dress.  Yes, all in some form or fashion of leopard print.  I think my mom would like to disown me because of this, but there it is.  I will fully accept and shout my love of leopard print from the top of my blog!

Ahem, anyway.  Considering this obsession, it is no surprise that this month's Glamour cover attracted my attention in the grocery store check out line.  I'm not a huge fan of Jennifer Lopez, but I love this whole shoot.  It made me think of Ann Margaret immediately.  Not exactly sure why, but I found a couple images of her, not so much in leopard as with a leopard.   Funny.








 




Off to sunny Southern California in a few hours.  Sadly, I have no leopard print clothing in my suitcase.  How boring.  I may need to reassess.

I hope you ALL have a lovely weekend.  Until next week...




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The world at my fingertips



I heard this on my local public radio station this morning....take a listen if you have a couple minutes (really - I think it clocks in at just about 2 minutes).

KQED Radio: The World in Your Pocket

What a delightful reminder and how grateful I am that I have this kind of access to, well, just about anything.   Here I am, in California, "talking" to people from Vienna and all around the world every day, learning about a culture in a way that would not have been possible, maybe not even imagined, a few decades ago.
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I just ironed my yoga pants.



I kid you not.  Getting ready for yoga class, I noticed an unacceptable number of wrinkles in my stretchy workout pants.  You didn't know that wrinkles were unacceptable in workout pants?

I stood there for a moment."Seriously, Carrie?"  I asked myself.  "Seriously? Ironing yoga pants.  Don't you think that's a bit much?"  And then I laughed because I felt something stir at my core.  "Yup," I said to myself, "seriously."  I am simply being me, despite the fun that others might poke at this little ritual (and by that, yes, I mean my husband).  I'm just being me.  


I had never consciously thought of it before, but as I stood at the ironing board, I realized that that I have an overwhelming desire to present myself as perfectly as I possibly can in all situations.  Yes, even at the gym, in a yoga class.  I blame (and love) my parents for instilling this neuroses trait in me.

Now, off to Downward Dog in my perfectly pressed pants. Namaste.


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The international sound of relaxation?



I had a deep tissue massage last night.  It was my first ever such experience and I won't lie - it was pretty painful.  I knew that my shoulders and neck were in knots, but my feet?  My calves?  My quads? Wow.

The residual soreness is not bad at all today, but I had to "breathe through the pain" quite a bit during the massage.  Well, my gal didn't use the word "pain," she liked to refer to it as "intense" or "hard."  Hmm.  Yes, intense, hard....and painful.

Anyway, while I was taking loooong, deeeeep breaths to get through the "intense" moments, I also tried to concentrate on the music to distract and relax myself.  You know the music ~ the gentle, tinkly, slightly Eastern, somewhat nature inspired music that is the ubiquitous spa soundtrack.

Or do you?

I began to wonder if this same music is used worldwide to foster serenity and create a sense of calm?  Is there truly an international soundtrack for relaxation? Or are there entirely different kinds of music used in other parts of the world to elicit the same state of being.  If I were to get a massage in Vienna, would the background be familiar?  Or will it be one of those unexpected differences?

The questions were a bit of a distraction for a few minutes at least.  And then she moved on to a new body part.
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Today's connection to Vienna


The dessert table at my friend's wedding






was inspired by a scene in Sofia Coppola's movie Marie Antoinette.



click HERE to watch the scene




Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, who became known as Marie Antoinette when she moved to France and married Louis XVI, was originally from Austria.   






She was the youngest daughter of Francis I, the Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia and ruler of the Hapsburg dominions.

Madame Antoine, as she was known in the Austrian court, was born at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna in 1755





and spent much of her childhood at the royal family's summer palace, Schloss Schönbrunn, built at the outskirts of Vienna.







I visited both palaces when we were in Vienna earlier this year, but just wandered around the outsides.  I'm saving the full tours for our return to the city. 








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