Last Sunday I attended “Dance Church.” It is held in a dance rehearsal space downtown Santa Cruz. A DJ plays trance dance music while about two dozen people dance to it in the brightly lit space. I arrived and took off my shoes. Lucky I didn’t wear high heels because that was definitely inappropriate. This was even more casual than “yoga casual.”
I walked in and started stretching. I was waiting for the class to begin. People seemed to be moving around and stretching; some doing what we call “kelp dancing” where the dancer sways back and forth like seaweed kelp in the ocean. I kept stretching and waiting for “dance church” to begin. Then about 15 minutes into it I realized this was it. That church had begun.
How many times have I done that in my life? Wow. It was trippy. I continued to stretch and realized how inhibited I had become. I didn’t want to dance in public without a purpose; without an agenda; without an alcoholic beverage; without the hopes of getting laid; or getting a few dollars. This was so strange. I didn’t stay that long but promised myself I would go back to Dance Church when I feel more comfortable in my body.
Later that morning I called my step-mom. We went for a nice walk on the beach at Davenport Landing with our dogs. It was an incredibly beautiful day. Then we went to Kelly’s and split a lunch entree. I was taking the day off and made it really, really nice.
This week marked the beginning of an official exercise program. I exercised last week by taking classes at the gym. I thought I’d continue doing that this week. I went to a Body Pump class. I started to set up the barbells, weights, step bench then realized I left my class pass in the locker.
The class was packed. There were hardly any spots left. I thought to myself “put your big girl shorts on and get into the weight room.” I used to love lifting weights and I actually got certified to be a personal trainer. I’m comfortable in that part of the gym. The past couple years got me all weak and scared. No more. I walked out of that class and right into the weight room and got “serious” with those things.
The routine I’ve decided on in the beginning of my journey is to weight train twice a week and do high intensity interval training twice a week. Rest of the week I will dance, bike ride and take long walks.
I’ve also been doing yoga 4-5x a week for about 20 minutes. This has been extra hard as I’ve become terribly stiff and it actually hurts to do it but over course of several months I know it will be pleasurable again. Patience is what I need most of all for any of this to take effect.
“Viva La Diva” was the first video I produced in almost a year. I wanted it to be special and a bit surreal. It was inspired by this postcard of Cher that has been hanging on my wall for months. Blue screen technology was required in order to make the whole video successful.
All year I was figuring out how to do this kind of thing. I even purchased a sheet set in a perfect color for it. The sheets were rolled in a ball in my attic so I had to iron them. That took HOURS… but first I had to dust the iron several hundred times because it hadn’t been used since grammar school.
The day of the shoot was a disaster.
Even the technical difficulties had technical difficulties.
What I was left with was some decently lit footage with a humming sound in the audio. It was too late to reshoot. Music was inserted throughout the video to mask the hum. I promised to upload the video by 3pm on Tuesday. It went up at 10:30pm. It went up on the same day and for that I am thankful.
Friday, August 9th was marked on my calendar for months. “War” the band was coming to town to play the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. They are one of my favorite bands. It was a free concert and I had wanted to go for months. It was an absolute blast. I danced and danced. “Low Rider” “Cisco Kid” “Slipping into Darkness” “Why Can’t We Be Friends” and my very, very, very, very, very favorite “Spill the Wine”
On Saturday there was a tragic scheduling conflict. My dearest neighbor and Diva of the Month, Robert and his partner were having their annual block party at the same time my friend’s daughter was getting married. I went early to the block party just to see how fabulous their backyard looked then had to dash off to the wedding. All the women of Upper Stanford Heights agreed to wear hats. The whole thing looked great. There was nothing going on all summer then the only two big events happened on the same day.
The wedding was just so special. There were 180 guests. The couple got married on the bluffs in La Selva Beach when the sun was out. I know someone who lived in La Selva for eight months and never saw a day of sunshine there. There were many many bridesmaids and groomsmen and each pair wore a color from the rainbow. The bride’s father built the wedding archway out of driftwood. It was simply lovely.
Last week I received an email from my friend, the mother of the bride. In it was a link to a YouTube video that had instructions for the choreography of a song. We were going to have a FLASH MOB at the wedding. How Fun!!!
Menopause should really be called “Sleepopause”. I haven’t been able to get to sleep and once I do sleep I wake up. However, my sleeping problems this week improved. I’m not back to being a sleep professional but I was able to sleep through most nights without waking up. Exercising and eating healthy has made a difference.
Looking forward to next week. It’s great to be back.