What I think I look like...

The Gym

A place that is sometimes dreaded, sometimes passed up for the comfy couch or bed, sometimes annoying when there are no more spin bikes, or no treadmills available, and a place that is usually taken for granted.

I had the luxury of a gym right across the street when I lived in Chicago. I didn't even have to get in the car to go. The walkability of Chicago - one of the many things I love about it, but anyway, I digress. I didn't join a gym when we moved back to Colorado. I had the great outdoors, a fitness center in our apartment, and the guilt of being unemployed caused me to think a gym membership was something I could regain when I got a job.

After the weather turned cold, the outdoors weren't as much of an option. The apartment fitness center with two treadmills, a bike, an elliptical, free weights, and four weight machines... ya, that got old REAL fast. Not to mention the temperature was set to somewhere near 70 degrees. Ugh. So I did it, I asked to join the gym!

Today, after nearly six months, I made my triumphant return! Tour, ha, no need. I know how a gym works. Questions? I think not. I locked up my gym bag and was shown the location of the group exercise room. Ahhhhh, I have arrived! Zumba class. I took Zumba classes in Chicago, but it was a "Feevha" class disguised as a Zumba class. Now, Feevha is not much like Zumba.  Sure, there are some similar attributes, but definitely not the same.

The Zumba class was fun. The instructor very good, a nice amount of people, the music was cool, and I broke a sweat. Success! But oh boy, eyes need to stay on the instructor or the people in front who know what they're doing. Because I fully understand this now:












Eek! That can't be me in the mirror! Oh, it is. Look away, look away!

Well, regardless, I went, I did, I kind of conquered. The gym has it's challenges, but at the end of the day, sweating with other people, being told what to do for an hour, and being given a reason to leave your property and go out into the world, are all good things. I should have done it six months ago. Here's to working toward what I THINK I look like!

Four legs and a surface...

It's been months. Months since I last had the desire to write, months since we moved, months and months since I've had a job.

It's amazing what a table will do. Four legs and a surface. An invitation to sit and focus. Focus on the computer in front of me, tasks at hand, things to accomplish, even eating a meal. A laptop is just that, something to top your lap, but sinking into the couch with the tv ahead just doesn't inspire the same go get 'em attitude. 

Since the last time I wrote we've been to Italy, said goodbye to a beautiful chapter of our life and friends who have become like family, been welcomed by friends and family we left behind in Colorado who are happy to have us back, and had countless conversations about "what's next". 

Dan is training, training to move his body for 140.6 continuous miles this November, working hard, and seemingly enjoying his stay at home wife. Yup, he's still crazy, all these months later.

I've become quite the stay at home cat mom. My cats are well adjusted, social, and spoiled brats, as they should be. Dinners are cooked, rooms are cleaned, laundry is done. I lunch, I shop, I nest. I ponder what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. If only I could have a conversation with my 8 year-old self to see just what it was that inspired me back then. Lots of things inspire me now, but involve skills and experience I don't have to make me a viable candidate for payment. Shoot.

Maybe now my table, my computer, my music, candles, and focus can help me dig into more ideas of where to find a job. Someplace I can go everyday, talk to people, get paid! Weird when this becomes something that seems so impossible after more than 13 months of looking.

Ah well. In the meantime.... enjoying those Rockies: