Mother-Son Dance

I can't not share this.The local Rec Dept put on a Mother-Son Dance this past weekend. When I asked Holden if he wanted to attend, I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed without question. God forbid I keep things simple, so I opened my big mouth and said, "You wanna cosplay it?"

Which thanks to a friend who made the dress (because "Stolen Earth" Rose wasn't nearly dressy enough for a dance) we went like this:

Nope, not a soul had any idea we were cosplaying. Pretty sure they all just thought we have really odd fashion sense. But true to form, we didn't care. After they fed us and everyone really started dancing, I encouraged him to move to the front of the dance floor to dance with the other boys. He's not a shy kid, but he declined and said, "No let's dance back here where there is more space." And then proceeded to swing dance with me. I've been teaching him basic spins forever, but it's only very recently that he's grown tall enough to spin me and really lead. Which is the reason why I didn't bother getting the pink heels that would complete the Rose Tyler outfit. With heels on I am too tall for him to spin.

We had a great time, dancing to the beat of our own drum. (kinda literally) Here's hoping he can get through his teen years with the same Zero F**** to Give (in a good way) Attitude.

Incidentally, I posted the pic on r/cosplay and someone commented, "So who won the Motherboy Award?" 

I am soooo bringing one of my nephews to this event next year and making him wear a mechanical/fake hand.

**Lots of Geek/Internet Culture references in this post. If you have no idea what I'm talking about with all this, stay tuned. I'll go back to Paleo/Crossfit/Travel/Race chatter shortly.

I am an athlete.

The Indian River Rowing Club took part in National Learn to Row Day on Saturday. An old friend stopped by the library to personally invite me. The canal where they practice is practially around the corner from my house. Plus, I've always been curious about the sport. How could I refuse?

Here's me desperately trying to appear as if I have any clue what is going on.

It was really interesting and the people were very friendly and welcoming. I absolutely love sucking at something. Well, for a time anyways. I love, love, love the thrill of trying new things and learning to get better at them. Which is one of the reasons why I love Crossfit so much, sooooo many skills to learn and with the combinations always changing you never get perfect at it. Which is good. Always something to strive for....but I digress, as usual.

Will I join the Rowing Club? Unfortunately, probably not anytime soon. I enjoyed it, but not so much I would give up weekday Crossfitting for it, or any of the weekend activites I do that Crossfit prepares me for. But if I was retired or didn't work? I would totally make it part of my repertoire. There was something extremely zen-like to it. I would get into a good rhythm and just focus on the cadence of the person in front of me. I foudn it to be very calming, for lack of a better word.

That said, a tiny little comment by one of the Club Members made my day and made me think again about how far I have come in the past 2 years. As we were chatting, and I was explaining that I had never had any experience with this kind of rowing, she very obviously looked me up and down and said, "Well sure, but you're an athlete, no?" And she said it very matter of factly. Naturally, because fat-brain still takes auto-pilot duties a lot of the time, I started to say, "Oh, no. I'm not an..." 

But I stopped myself and said, "Yes. Yes, I am."

I do Adventure Races, they may only be 3 hour versions, not 3 days, but we usually place pretty darn well, dammit. I'm a Crossfitter. I am by far no where near the fittest in my Box, I'm no where near the bottom ether. Throw a Warrior Dash, hell, a Tough Mudder even and I'm in like Flynn. Want to so dome rowing? Hell, sign me up! I'll barely even break a sweat. HA! I'm lying. I'll totally sweat, but I'll not tire.

So yes, I am an Athlete. But not because of the races I do. Because I am out there, moving my body as much as I can, as often as I can in the time/space my life allows and continually striving to to be the fastest, strongest, most tenacious I can be. That's what makes me an athlete.     

Tough Mudder - Jacksonville 2013

It was tough. It was muddy. But we were ready for the challenge. Dave completed every obstacle. The only one I didn't do was the Funky Monkey.

Yeah. I can maybe do 1/4 of that...trust me, I've tried.

But thanks to my awesome teammates and my own stubborness, I made it over/under/through all the rest.

Not neccessarily all that gracefully, but I did it.

Seriously you guys, that mud was slippery.

Naturally, the obstacles I thought would be difficult were a piece of cake and the ones that I wasn't so much concerned with kicked my ass. For example, I thought this one was going to be pretty mentally taxing:

But as it turns out, it was quite relaxing. I float like a cork, so I just slowly pulled my way through. No joking, I wished that one was longer because it was nice to just pull myself along, chill as f***k in the cool water. 

I really hadn't given the Arctic Enema (ice cold, literally) and the Electric Shock obstacles much thought because they were just about pain. I've pushed another living thing out of my vagina, I've had major surgery...I'm a Crossfitter, damn it! I have learned to make friends with pain. It does not scare me. And it didn't. But I'm not going to lie to you. The electric shocks hurt like a sonuvabitch. You had to run through the last one, (you crawled through the first) and the shocks dropped both Dave and I to our knees. The Arctic Enema, once you were out for a minute or two, actually felt great. My muscles really enjoyed it. But for the moments that I was in it, my body was so shocked I started involuntarily breathing REALLY quickly as I was working my way out. But through all three of the painful obstacles, I did not lose my shit as I saw some folks do....just pushed through the pain and did what I needed to do to get myself out of there as soon as quickly as possible. 

Kinda felt like this in my head:

Our teammates all had varying levels of fitness, so we took lots of walking breaks. So between that and the waits at the obstacles it took us about 4 hours and 10 minutes to finish. Which was fine, as with our crew  I was thinking 4 hours would be our best case scenario. By the time we were done, I felt...well, fine. A little beat up and bruised from the obstacles, but in terms of muscles/cardio I could have done another 12 miles if required. My legs felt perfectly strong. I've felt worse after ten mile forest hikes in the past.

Why did I feel great? Finished super-strong and no muscle soreness, even today when so many I know who have done it are in pain afterwards? 

Yeah, you knew what the answer to that question was going to be didn't you?

I never did any long runs to prep for the Tough Mudder, just kept up my regular Crossfit schedule. And BAM! Killed it. Just like with the Adv Races. Quit doing the chronic-cardio type workouts, just stuck with the Crossfit and BAM! Times improved. Of course, if I was looking to put in faster times, and/or marathon type distances I would assume supplementary workouts would be in order. However, I continue to be amazed with the actual real-world-getting-shit-done results Crossfit provides me. So much result, with so little (time) investment, IMO. Not saying it'll work that way for everyone, just saying that it works for me.

Also, I learned a new trick at this race which I think contributed greatly to my recovery. One of our teammates is an ultra-runner and he suggested I add a pack of salt to my first of three cups of water I would drink at every stop. Which I did, two or three times throughout the race. I'll definitely be incorporating that into my Adv Races, especially when we try our first long one coming up in September.

After the race we decided to make the most of having the kid at grandma's all weekend and stayed the night in Orlando. To further prove (brag, whatever) how quick our recovery was, we went out dancing until 2:00am after the race. Not to say, Mr. Fuchs is without soreness, he definitely is feeling it a bit. But to be fair, he got a much harder workout than I did. Not only was he the only person on our team to complete those long-ass monkey bars, he (along with the ultra-runner) had to boost me and another female teammate over all the huge walls and stuff. They even hung out at the the top of Mt Everest for awhile after we got up there so that they could help some other folks get up. Very cool.

Which reminds me of something else I learned at TM. You know how in action movies you see someone danlging from a cliff or a bridge or something and they are holding on by fingertips and still manage to only sloooooowly slip away, or maybe not. Maybe the hero pulls them up by just a hand's grasp? Uh, no. The burns on my knees are proof that if you don't grab wrists, it ain't happening my friends. Just grab hands and you'll immediately lose your grip, if you're talking full grown human beings anyways.

My cellphone is still MIA so I can't take a pic of my skinned knees for you, nor can I find a gif that illustrates my point so here's one of stars orbiting around a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.

Because, Muse.

So what's next for this dirty, dirty girl? Beat the Gauntlet, a 6 mile mud-run with ropes course is on June 8th. Even thought it kind of alters our vacation plans a bit, it's a must do. It's local (as in 2-minutes-away-local) and we'll be able to finally get our hands on that ROTC ropes course. 

If you're in FL, check it out! 

The weekend after that is the Father's Day/SCAR Adventure Race, put on by Pangea. Holden did this race with us last year. He enjoyed it. And by enjoy I mean he liked spending time with us doing something we enjoy, but we totally had to bribe him with a new Lego set to keep him motivated and not whining when he got tired. When it was all said and done he committed to doing this race with us each year, but that's it. Which we found fair. And actually prefer since at the Adv Races (as opposed to the Mud-Runs) we are pretty competitive and are trying to go as fast as possible/place well. I have to admit I can't wait until he is old enough to do the Mud-Runs. I know he is going to love them, and a low pressure environment is much more conducive to family togetherness. 

That's it for now dear readers, I've got some snatches to prepare for this evening.

That doesn't mean what you think it does....or maybe it does. I'm not asking questions.

  

You can rob me, you can starve me...and you can beat me and you can kill me. Just don't bore me.

That was my husband's Senior Yearbook Quote. It's from the movie Heart Break Ridge. Mine was "I'd rather laugh with the Sinners, than cry with the Saints," from 'Only the Good Die Young' by Billy Joel. That explains a lot about us, doesn't it.?

I warned ya'll I'd be late with my next post...'course I didn't think I'd be this late. But whatevs. I'm here now, so quit fussing. That said, since it's been a busy few weeks and I am crazy-stupid-banana-pants busy at work and home right now, you get the highlight reel.

Dave and I took a few days off and rode up to the Concours Owners Group's Run with the Wolf Rally in Suches, GA. I just finished the first draft of the article I was asked to write for the COG magazine. I'll post it here as soon as it is done. But some pics that won't be in the article:

  So this happened:

We got there early and spent a night in Helen, GA, famous for being a faux German town with very real German food.

They have Fat Tire in GA. WHY DON'T THEY HAVE FAT TIRE IN FL??!!!

There was much merriment made with my Bear Hat.

And much silliness around the Campfire. The SE Coggers freaking ROCK!

It rained on Friday, but we goofed around the campground all day and still had fun. 

By the way, if you haven't noticed we are A-dorable.

On Saturday the weather cleared and we made the obligatory Deal's Gap run.

Oh right, like I wasn't going to buy the Killboy shots?

Does this bike make my butt look fast?

Why won't this guy get off my ass?

*******

The following weekend, my college buddy Kelly came to visit. We shopped, we ate,

We hiked.

And we beautified and went out and partied. 

Sara joined us at Hiram's one night too. There was also a sighting of the rarely seen Library IT guy that night as well. And by sighting I mean he drove our drunk asses home.

We had a blast and the weekend went far, far too quickly as it always does.

*******

Last week, several chapters of Women in the Wind got together for an overnighter at Destination Daytona. On the way there, Liza, Sabrina and I took our bikes swimming, but I think I'll save that story for another day. Once in Daytona, we shopped, ate, drank, ate and drank some more. It was one of those days.

What? We shared the bucket!

Good times.

*********

Which brings us to this weekend. We hadn't had a Shop party in awhile, so since Dave C and my bro just got new jobs this week, it was Lindsay's birthday AND it was the 2nd anniversary of Cantaloupe Day; a celebration was in order. 

Yes, it's a couch. And no, we could not be more redneck.

What you're looking at here is my awesome friend Jacqui, who I had not seen since elementary school (Yay, FB!) and the Vodka Watermelon that my brother made. Jacqui took her entire first Fellsmere/Shop Party experience in stride, and proved just how amazing she is by not being freaked out by a bunch of goofy, couch-burning, karaoke signing hi-tech rednecks.

Did someone say Karaoke? It ain't no Shop Party if there ain't Karaoke.

It was a great time, as usual...though unfortunately  it appears that my iPhone is the sole casualty of the evening. Holden had it all night, so he could play his music in the house for the other boys. Come morning it was no where to be found. 

I am now on Day 3 without my iPhone. Things are getting desperate. I had to call my IT guy/work-husband at the other branch to peak at my desk calendar to make sure I wasn't forgetting to do something today. And I had to listen to the radio on the way into work this morning...like some kind of Barbarian.

Happy Monday! (No, really)

My two weeks of spending far too much time on r/LadybonersGW and playing with my make-up/hair is coming to a close.

Co-worker: Why is your hair blue? 

Me: Why not?

Because Dave is coming home tonight! I realize the last several posts have been heavy on the Horn-Dog so I'll try to keep it in my pants for this one. There really is no good female equivalent for that cliche'.

 Though it does remind me of this:

But needless to say we are looking forward to uh...

seeing each other tonight. 'Nuff said.

Ahem.

In other news, I went to see a rockabilly band called the Sweet Chariots with some friends at the Kilted Mermaid Friday night. As usual, it was a rather hipster experience, but I'd  be lying if I said I didn't have a great time. The place has really good food and an amazing beer selection. They even have at least five different hard ciders and one of them is on tap! I know, right? I really do need to embrace my inner hipster and stop fighting it. 

The band was great. In fact, my only beef with the Kilted Mermaid is the fact that there is no room to dance. Don't get me wrong, we still danced. I don't ever NOT dance. But we were forced to do so in a way that really invaded my personal space and that of those around me. Just as well though, because I was really missing my numero uno dance partner, and had he been there it would have killed us not to be able dance to that music the way you're supposed. Ie: swing, as opposed to the white-boy-two-step everyone was doing, and I don't mean the cool Two-Step.

The eye-candy was good as well, particularly the band...especially in my company's opinion. They are both so shy and entirely too well-behaved so I decided to throw them under the bus. When my friend Dave was talking to the lead singer, I butted in and asked him to take a pic with them. And ordered him to stand in the middle, when he tried to stand off to the side. He seemed afraid. That was probably a legitimate and rational emotion given the circumstance.

 

This is not a flattering pic of any of us. But it's funny, so here ya go interwebs.

Incidentally, Dani turned into a giant that night.

What sorcery is this?

The rest of the weekend was quality time with Holden and preparations for our trip to the Run with the Wolf Rally this coming weekend in Suches, GA. The RWTW is an annual rally put on by the Kawasaki Concours Owner's Group. That's the kind of bike I own, for those new to the show. I'm really looking forward to ridin' it like I stole it and partying with the boys around the campfire. There should be around 100 people, so not a massive rally, but a pretty good group for a regional owner's-group get together. 

          While we are in the area we may run up to the Dragon so I can get a sticker for the new bike.  

See my old BMW in front of the orange and white thing? Awwww, old Blue.

It seems cliche' as there are so many other roads just as good and better than the Dragon, but it's such a thing. I've ridden every bike I've owned (plus a loaner) on it, so I feel like I just have to ride it on the Connie. We'll see where the roads take us. Plus, it's really fun to hang around and just watch the show. And did I mention all the hottie sport bike riders in their leather one-pieces?

It really does always come back around to that doesn't it? I'm sorry.

No, I'm not.

Anycougar, I'll be late with next week's post as we'll not be getting back until Monday. And then priority number one, writing-wise, is putting together the Rally Report for the COG's quarterly magazine. Supposedly there's to be at least a handful of us women-folk riding our own at the Rally. More than one or two is cause for celebration apparently, so I have been assigned to report from the CVOG (Concours and Vagina Owner's Group) perspective.

Till next time I shall do my best to keep the shiny side up. You do the same.

I got nothin'

I didn't want to let down my adoring readers (all two of you) by not doing my weekly post today. However, I don't feel like I have anything interesting to share, not that has ever stopped me, so here goes...

Dave's been away for a week and as I suspected I'm having a hard time not eating crap when he is away. I'm about eleven pounds heavier than I'd like to be, I've had a low grade cold a/o bad allergies for the past week and in general am not in the best of moods. I badly want to Crossfit tonight, but I really feel as if my body is more in need of quality food and rest more than a workout. We're leaving for a motorcycle trip to North Georgia in a little more than a week and I have to kick this before then.

Last night, I did get my act together enough to make a bunch of Primal Shepard's Pie. Enough, in fact, that I'll probably be sharing it with co-workers since I also left (Paleo) Enchilada Chicken in the crockpot this morning. So I got that going for me.

So in the interest of not whining my way through this entire post, let's talk about the things that are making me smile lately.

This guy.

Who I seriously miss. I mean, I've always missed him when he's gone away on a trip or something. But things have been so great lately, that I really miss him. And not just in the biblical sense. That too. But not just that. And I don't mean to imply we were having rough times previously either...it's just..well, store bought apple pie out of the fridge is great. But homemade apple pie straight out of the oven with real vanilla ice cream is even better. I'm not sure I know where I'm going with that analogy. But the point is: he rocks.

Also this guy.

Unnnf.
I'm on season two of Torchwood and I can't help but fall more in love with Capt Jack with each episode. And if I haven't made it clear already, I totally get now why guys think two hot girls kissing is hot. (Because, HOT) But guys....MEN. Like Captain Jack and uh, Captain Jack. And Captain Jack and Captain Hart. I haven't even gotten into the real Ianto episodes yet.  Not that I have anything against two girls kissing. Hell, I'll watch two good looking people of any sex (and combination there of) get busy...but I digress.

Barrowman, bless his sweet sexy soul, is the gift that just keeps giving. When it comes to making his fans happy, the dude gets it. His twitter @Team_Barrowman is a delightful peek into his life; with pics of his dogs, his co-workers, his husband and lots and lots of selfies. Most are goofy, self-deprecating shots, but God love him, he also posts the occasional pic of him in bed, or about to go out on the town, etc. He knows what we want, and he's not afraid to give it to us. Thank you, JB for being you.

Reddit.com
If you're here, you've probably been there. But in case you haven't, know that the front page of Reddit is all that is beautiful and horrible in this world. When they say NSFW, they mean it. Don't say I didn't warn you. But I learn new things all the time via it's links. I also get to goggle young men. Ladies, check out the LadybonersGW (stands for Gone Wild) subreddit. You won't be disappointed.

Most of the pics look like this..minus the sports bra and boobs. But also abs, and sometimes penis.

Pic in honor of the SEAK Foundation's Sport Bra Challenge.  Check out that "been eating sugar/grains" all weekend belly, my friends!

Lastly, Crossfit.

Yup, even recently when I feel like a big, fat, paleo phony for having too many cheats, doing a WOD still makes me feel like a badass and that I'm not a total failure. 'Nuff said.

Hey! Look at that! I managed to pull a post out of my ass after all. As my Daddy always says, "If you can't dazzle'em with knowledge, baffle'em with bullshit."

I know. We're a classy group.

The REALLY TMI Post

Warning: This post is about sex. If you are related to me in anyway or suffer from delicate sensibilities click away now.

Seriously. I warned you.

Still here? Good. I knew we were friends for a reason.

This is something I think I need to share. Not because I wanted to brag (ok fine, maybe a little). But because (and I hate how opposite-of-humble this sounds) I know there are friends who read this blog and sometimes get a wee bit of inspiration from it regarding their own health/fitness endeavors. As do I from countless other health/fitness bloggers. I think it's important to share all of the positive outcomes of our efforts, not just the aesthetic ones. So here goes...

Dave and I have been f%&$ing like rabbits lately.

And I am getting uhm...intrigued by uh...things and situations at a frequency on par with that of a thirteen year old boy. Not at the same kind of stimuli, mind you....but you get my drift.

Though if you are interested, this is what gave me a ladyboner when I was thirteen.

Why is this such a big deal, you ask? Because for years, and I mean years my libido has been crap. Like (I think) a lot of women, as I got older and of course being in a long-term relationship, I found myself wanting to want to. And if I made a conscious effort to uh, get into it, I could. But those spontaneous ladyboners thinking about your partner? Or the butterflies in the nether regions when he/she pulled you in for a quick kiss?

Nope. Nothing. Dead. Seriously, it had been so long since I'd gotten that flutter when we weren't already "into it" I figured it was just a permanent thing of the past. A part of getting older, if you will.

So why all of a sudden, am I hornier than brass band on Flag Day? Well, first off it's not been all of a sudden, but a gradual ramp up over the past few months. I can't say it's just the weight-loss and ensuing confidence building because I lost the bulk of the weight a year ago. Sure, I felt better and sexier, but there was no physical change, as there is now. Is it just the Paleo? I don't think so, as we started that back over the summer. However, we didn't start getting serious with the Crossfit until October. If I had to put money on one cause over another I think it's the Crossfit. I've done a little poking around the Googles, and I think perhaps the lifting involved with Crossfit may be affecting my hormone levels in a wonderful way.

Either way, I'm not on any new medications or changes in dosage, etc. I'm simply lifting heavier (as I can) and eating cleaner. As a result our sex life is literally what it was like when we first started dating. I'm not kidding. And I don't think I need to tell you how beneficial a great sex life is for a marriage or partnership. Let's just say the goodwill seems to bleed into every other facet of our relationship as well. It is a good great thing.

So why share that? Because  if you are woman like me who thought that that kind of passion was in your past, I really want you to know it might not be. Eat clean and lift and maybe you too can see sex, not as another chore you have to get done as a wife/partner, but the awesomely fun thing it truly is.

In other words, if feeling stronger, more energy, sleeping sounder, better skin, knowing you're making yourself better for the long term and looking sexier isn't enough....maybe knowing that you too could feel like a newlywed again might convince you to start taking better care of yourself.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go text my husband.

What? It's just a To-Do list.