Dance Walking

I don't know about you, but now that the weather is getting a little warmer and I'm shedding my layers of winter, I'm feeling way out of shape.

Too much time spent sitting in front of the computer.  Too many afternoons noshing on comfort food.





A new season means moving is the name of the game for me and I think this You Tube video below showing how to Dance Walk is the perfect way to kickstart some outdoor motion and burning off those almighty calories!

Even if you don't need to tone up, check out this Dance Walk video because it's fun and we all need to find something that makes us feel fabulous by the end of the week, right?

SNL -- Wrapping With Justin Timberlake & Jimmy Fallon

A good laugh is worth a million bucks.

 

Justin Timberlake & Jimmy Fallon on Saturday Night Live

There are a few of my friends and family members who can make me laugh so hard that I can't get my breath and I love that they have this special talent.  They are usually imitating someone or just have the ability to see life in a quirky way and I always can use a dose of their sense of humor.

 

Fortunately, there are also a few shows on television that also make me laugh.  One of them is "Saturday Night Live."  When I came home from a Christmas party this past Saturday night, I turned on the television and "Saturday Night Live" had just started airing and I immediately started laughing at the Wrappingville skit (link & video below) featuring the multi-talented Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon.

 

When we laugh, we forget about our sadness or anxiety, at least for a little while, and life seems less threatening.  In other words, laughter gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.

Check out this ridiculous yet clever Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon skit about rappin' or should I say wrapping paper and gift bags:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD5hLarHyZo

Strangers Become Friends

When walking down the street, with a destination in mind, lost in my thoughts about work or something happening in my personal life, I admit that I am not always aware of the people around me.

I know that physically there are groups of people or singular people walking towards or past me, but the details of what they are wearing or what they look like are an instantaneous blur.

It's not because I am walking and texting.  If I hear the ping of a text received on my phone and I need to answer it, I move out of the path of the pedestrian traffic and use my telephone keyboard in a self-made safe zone by an office building or a sidewalk bench.

I know that there are people on the sidewalk with me or in a store or a restaurant and I make sure not to bump into anyone but I'm not always looking at people and spontaneously saying "hello" or smiling.  Most of the time I think I am unaware because I need to be somewhere or need to get something done and it is almost as though I am on my own express track.

 

Photographer Richard Renaldi Poses Jenny Wood & Dominek Tucker
Photo Courtesy CBS News

I can't imagine what it would be like if I was walking down the street and a photographer asked me to stop and pose with someone I didn't know at all.  A total stranger.  Someone I might never see again.

 

I'd like to think that I would stop and that I would enjoy the spontaneity of the moment.  The unexpected things that happen to me sometimes make me stop and laugh at the amazing adventures that life can bring.

 

It's fun and it gives me a lift.  We all need those moments, don't we? . . .Those moments when the walls come down and maybe, just maybe, we're vulnerable in our actions.  And when we are vulnerable we are usually our most authentic selves!!

 

Watch this short CBS On The Road piece and see what these strangers on the streets of New York City discover about the human connection:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57596845/new-york-photographer-turns-strangers-into-friends/

Friday Jammin'

We made it guys!!  It's Friday!!

 

And it's the summer!! So let's jam and enjoy as we roll into the weekend!!

 

I love, love this song, "Take Back The Night," because is has a funky, old school sound that gets you movin' and groovin'.  Dancing always makes me feel better about life and moving forward and I bet the same things happens for you too, right?

 

Plus the video is filmed in my favorite city!!!!!

Chrysler Building in New York City

I dare you to sit in your chair and watch the whole video.  Hope you like it too!!

Take it away Justin. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEzREJbln-o

My SNL Experience

One of the items on my so-called bucket list actually happened and I still pinch myself about the experience.

 

After watching Saturday Night Live on the television for many, many years, I finally got to go to a LIVE SHOW!!

It was fascinating, it was great fun, it was high energy, it was pure entertainment!

It was everything I ever thought it would be and more!!!  Talk about kick down the door, put yourself out there, over-the-top creativity!!

I could go on and on about the skits, the people, the host, the musical entertainment but then this post would be about SNL's content and there is really nothing to debate about SNL's content.  It's just the best!!!!

Bill Hader Playing Stefon

Instead, I would like to talk about what I learned from my SNL experience.  What I learned, no really what I soaked in from this live television experience, is that even though you might be scared out of your mind (Or Not), taking a risk is something everyone should do.

 

Find out something new about yourself.

 

How will you know if something will work if you don't ever try doing it?

 

When my son comes to me and asks me if he should pursue something, I almost always say, "Yes! Go ahead and try it.  If you don't, you will always look back and wonder what would have happened if you had done it."  And I know that regret is not a good feeling.

I also know that risk is a relative term.  Something you consider risky may not be risky to me at all.  But that's okay.  The point is push yourself, dig down deep and break some new ground for yourself.

 

Surprise yourself!  But most of, my SNL experience taught me once again the value of being with people you love and just having a good time.  

 

Having a good spontaneous out loud laugh.  Laughing so hard you can't get your breath.

 

We have to be able to laugh at ourselves and at life's humorous situations.

 

Laughter is very powerful medicine and here's a dose that should make you feel A LOT better; it's a quick clip of a very popular character -- Stefon -- played by the incredibly talented Bill Hader:

 

Texting, Texting, Texting

You can file today's post under the category of silly -- but true!

It's a slice of life that may be about to arrive in a community near you.

Seeing. Eye. People. 

That's right.  Seeing Eye People.

A Seeing Eye Person In Action

As in: hold on to me (a person, not a dog) and I will guide you and be your eyes while you continue to walk and text.

 

The idea of offering Seeing Eye People as a service is performed by Improv Everywhere & BuzzFeed as a bit of street comedy but it not that far fetched. 

Every day in DC, there is either someone texting and walking right into me or others or there is someone on a crowded sidewalk walking slowly and texting at the same time, gridlocking the pedestrian traffic.  Incidents of people texting and walking out into traffic and getting hit by cars, tripping and bumping in buildings and people has also skyrocketed across the U.S. 

 

My son just told me about this concept and I had to Google it right away to see what this whole thing was all about.  Watch it for yourself and see.  Please notice that the people who are walking and texting continue to text and walk  as though this is perfectly normal.  It's the reaction of other people watching that's so funny! 

 

Cheers!

 

 

Healing Therapy

 

Drawing By NYC Multiple Medium Artist Joe Mangrum

One of my sister has a shoulder that is frozen and she is going to a physical therapist to work through the incredibly stiff shoulder muscles and joint.  If the physical therapy doesn't work, then she may have to have surgery and she really doesn't want that to happen.

 

We were talking about her physical therapy and she was telling me about how the therapist told her that to really get the exercises to work and unlock the muscles and joint that the therapy would have to increase to another level and she asked my sister if she was prepared for the "wall of pain" that she would have to work through to achieve her goal.

 

My sister said she was prepared and she knew it was going to be bad; that it would be so painful that she probably would cry.  But she still is committed to the next level of therapy, know that it's going to be awful, but also feeling hopeful that this increased therapy could be successful.

 

This may sound random to you but the more that I talked to my sister about her "wall of pain"  the more I felt I was talking to her about processing grief.

 

New grief can be so painful that it feels as though a part of your body has been amputated and you are walking around in a state of hemorrhaging.  You need to just take each day as it comes and little by little, you will start to feel that the pain is decreasing. 

 

But there is still a core amount of pain that requires work from you.

 

I think this concept was the hardest part for me.  When my husband died, I was stumbling around and in a state of numbness.  Every day I was full of grief and pain.  What was I going to do?  I had just lost my husband and everything was falling apart.  I thought I could read about grief and think about grief and it would eventually disappear.  Not!

 

Months and months of just feeling terrible finally made me realize that I had to do some of the work myself.  I had to actively figure out how to make myself feel better.  I found a support group at a local hospital and in the beginning I talked to someone on the phone for one-on-one time.  Later on, I joined a group and went to sessions twice a month to talk about grief and rebuilding my life all over again.

 

It was exhausting but I am so glad that I took the first step and asked for help.

 

It's important for you to recognize that you need time to work through this loss of your loved one.  There is no way to know how long it will take you to process your feelings.  Everyone grieves differently and takes different paths in their grief journey.  I do think it's fair to say that healing can come in cycles of ups and downs.

 

You have to confront your "wall of pain" and feel it.  The processing of this pain is hard for you are giving yourself permission to remember all the good things and all the bad things that your loved one was to you.  Write it down, shout it out, talk to a therapist, talk to a friend, paint it, take a shower and cry or go running and cry.

 

But get it out. 

 

Vent your feelings and thoughts and work through you "wall of pain."  You are releasing the pain and the hurt and the anger and the frustration and the confusion of not knowing what you are supposed to do next.

 

And in releasing your "wall of pain" you are empowering yourself and moving forward. 

 

For grief that you hold within yourself only keeps hurting and hurting.

 

 

Courtesy of NYC Multiple Medium Artist Joe Mangrum

 

 

"Loved You First" Cover - Owen Danoff

Music can change my mood in an instant!

If you are anything like me, you probably have songs in your iPod that you listen to only when you exercise and those songs are probably different from music that you play when you want to relax or just chill. 

I think from the moment we are born we are sensitive to sounds and how those sounds make us feel. 

 

Listening to music can be therapeutic and soothing; truly a stressbuster.  I believe that music can truly heal your soul.  Or it can get your creatives juices going and help to push you through a project.  I think we are definitely hardwired for sound.  That's the only way to explain why when we hear certain songs or even certain sounds, it can instantly bring back memories and transport us to the time and place when we first heard it. 

 

You can't explain why you connect to a singer's voice.  You just like it the first time you hear it.

 

That's the way I feel about Owen Danoff's voice.  I first heard him singing with a group on a clip that a friend sent me.  There were a few places in the song where he sang by himself and I didn't know it was him until I asked.  I liked his voice right away.

 

Owen Danoff is a young Washington, DC singer songwriter, a multi-talented artist who is starting to make a name for himself in the music industry by writing songs and playing gigs in New York City, Boston, Nashville, Los Angeles and of course, DC.  He is a graduate of the Berklee College of music and a 2012-2013 artist in residence at the Strathmore Music Center (www.owendanoff.com).

 

Check out this jammin' cover of  One Direction's "Loved You First" that Owen recently cut with the also multi-talented singer Mike Squillante.  Mike is in the middle playing the guitar and doing vocals and is accompanied by Adrien Godat on bass.  You can also find this on YouTube:

 

 

Dancing Dreams

Pauline Clark has got it goin' on.

Today's post is about holding on to a dream that you know is good for your soul.  Pauline Clark is my inspiration today and she is featured in the story below that I read in the New York Daily News about how Pauline's lifetime dream of dancing with the Rockettes finally came true.

 

I think Pauline Clark, who is 87, has definitely heard about the idea of "use it or loose it" and has taken it to heart as a lifetime philosophy.

 

The idea behind "use it or loose it" is essentially this:  if you don't use the strength and mobility of your body on a regular basis as you grow older, then you might loose those functions.   I try to practice it as much as possible.  If I don't walk or move around every day, I just don't feel right and neither does my body.

 

Pauline Clark must feel the same way because she has been dancing since she was a young child and has always wanted to dance with the infamous Rockettes, New York City's iconic female dancers known around the world for their kick line.

Her age is definitely not holding her back from enjoying life to the max and it just goes to prove that it is never too late to make a dream come true:

 

Florida woman, 87, lives dream of dancing with the Rockettes

Pauline Clark, 87, from Clearwater, Fla., realized her lifelong dream of dancing with the world-famous steppers Saturday after the Wish of a Lifetime foundation teamed up with her senior center to bring her to the Big Apple.

By Nicole Lyn Pesce / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Saturday, December 8, 2012, 9:36 PM

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Pauline Clark in New York City
Photo Credit: Enid Alvarez: NY Daily News

 

The Rockettes had better watch their step, because this great-granny is hot on their heels.

Pauline Clark, 87, from Clearwater, Fla., realized her lifelong dream of dancing with the world-famous steppers Saturday after the Wish of a Lifetime foundation teamed up with her senior center to bring her to the Big Apple.

“I feel like a celebrity,” she gushed, giving a gleeful kick while gripping her walker under Radio City Music Hall’s iconic marquee. “I have marveled at the Rockettes ever since I first saw them on TV.”

Clark, who has been dancing since her brother insisted she get lessons at age 7, enjoyed a matinee performance of the 85th annual “Christmas Spectacular” (which is two years younger than she is) before taking a backstage tour.

She had never seen the Rockettes live before.




Pauline Clark dances with the Rockettes
Photo Credit: Geoffrey Hauschild/Camera 1

 
“I loved it from the beginning to the finish,” she said. “It’s much better in person.”

Of course, the highlight was becoming the oldest person to dance with the long-legged lovelies during the Rockette Experience, when about 50 guests took a dance workshop and posed for photos with three Rockettes.

“They’re just gorgeous girls, and very nice,” said Clark. “It was a lot of fun!”

A choreographer walked them through the troupe’s signature kick line.

“They were telling us to kick with the left foot and then to kick with the right, and so forth. I made out OK!” she said humbly. “I can always kick. I’m always dancing and using my legs.”

The silver-haired siren has eight decades of dancing under her feet, including her years teaching at the Arthur Murray School of dance in Tallahassee, Fla.

Clark still tears up the dance floor at the Brookdale Senior Living center’s senior happy hours on Saturdays.

“We do the jitterbug; we do the old waltz,” she said. “I’m just one that loves dancing.”

npesce@nydailynews.com

Gangnam Style

I'm taking a break today and enjoying the popularity of "Gangnam Style."

 

"Gangnam Style" makes me laugh and laughing helps you cope with life.  Laughter is very powerful medicine and I try to use humor as much as possible to get through the ordinary hassles and crises I face.   

Courtesy of The Levo League, I saw the above picture yesterday posted on its Facebook page and had to share it!  The man pictured in the blue tuxedo jacket is South Korean rapper Psy.  I didn't even know rap existed in South Korea but there you go!

 

The "Gangnam Style" song and video are a hoot and I bet you've seen Psy's dance moves imitated by everyone from Britney Spears to the Royal Thai Navy.  If this somehow got past you, then please Google the hit song and check out the popular video on YouTube where it has been viewed over 470 million times.

 

Basically, "Gangnam Style" is poking fun at people who are trying hard to be something they are not.  Gangnam is a district in Seoul, Korea where people are wealthy and supposedly hip.  According to Wikipedia, Psy likened the Gangnam District to Beverly Hills, California, and said in an interview that he intended a twisted sense of humor by claiming himself to be "Gangnam Style" when everything about the song, dance, looks, and the music video is far from being high class.

 

The Levo League, which is an online social and recruiting network based in New York City, offers a wide variety of multi-media career resources to young women and it took the "Gangnam Style" themes one step further to make the point that being confident is positive and one of the essentials in building a career.

It's just pure fun!

Mary Chapin Carpenter




Grand Central Station, New York City

I haven't heard this new song yet, but the story that inspired Mary Chapin Carpenter to write "Grand Central Station" truly reflects one of the hundreds of quiet heros who worked to clean-up Ground Zero after 9/11.  Please listen to it........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04L5_cnFVC0

Thanks Ryan!!!!

Pause & Remember

Before the mantra was jobs, jobs, jobs, it was security, security, security.

The security of our nation, the security of our borders, the security of our everyday lives was at the top of the agenda.  No one could do enough to make America safe and secure.  And we were willing to do whatever it took to make it happen: reduced civil liberties, metal detectors and wands, pat downs, no shoes.

A decade later, 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden is finally dead as are some of his top operatives.  But how safe are we?

When the 10th anniversary of 9/11 arrives on Sunday, Americans will pause and remember where they were when they first saw or heard the shocking news of the attacks on New York City's Twin Towers, Washington, DC's Pentagon building and the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA.   

It was a horrific and terrifying day; a day when the unthinkable became reality.

It's a reality playing over and over again this week on television, newspapers, the web and magazine.  I have watched a few television specials this week featuring the live 9/11 footage of the planes crashing, the towers falling and people in NY and DC running to get out of the way of the attacks and find safety.  I think I've seen enough and will probably not watch any more 9/11 television because my memory of those events is clear.  I can flash back to those raw and gritty images all on my own.  The repetition of seeing the events is not a healthy or healing process for me.

Instead, I am looking for stories about people who courageously pushed through their pain and chose to rebuild their lives, turning their losses into the pursuit of a positive cause honoring the memory of the loved one they lost on 9/11.  One touching story that particularly stood out for me is the story of Jack and Lauren Grandcolas.  Lauren, 38, was pregnant when she died on United Flight 93, which was hijacked by the terrorists and crashed in a field near Shankesville, PA.  After battling grief and depression, Jack started a foundation in his wife's name that financially supports a state-of-the-art birthing room at Marin General Hospital in California. 

Here is a link to a short video and story about Jack and Lauren Grandcolas:

http://news.yahoo.com/pregnant-flight-93-victim-honored-by-husband-s-lasting-tribute.html

Gratitude

In her best-selling book Simple Abundance, author Sarah Ban Breathnach recommends spending a few minutes each morning and evening listing five things for which you are grateful.  Once a day is good enough for me but at the end of a particularly great or horrendous day you might want to think again about some of the unexpected things that happened to you.

Focusing on the positive aspects of life is what's it's all about.  After a week that started with me taking my son back to college for his senior year in New York City, then an unprecedented 5.8 earthquake in Washington, DC and now the arrival of Hurricane Irene this weekend, I find that I am immediately grateful for many things because I am just trying to go with life's flow of events and remain calm about whatever the future brings.

Here's today's list:

1. Good Health -- a great gift

2. My son -- a very special gift

3.  My job -- an essential gift

4.  My house -- a basic gift

5.  My friends & family -- an emotional gift

What's on your list?

The Twin Towers, the Pentagon & Flight 93

When President Obama officially announced on television late last night that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan, my thoughts went immediately to the relatives and friends of the thousands of people whose lives were lost in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93.

For almost ten years, these people have been trying to put the pieces of their shattered lives back together so that they may heal and perhaps build some kind of a future after having their loved ones violently taken from them.

 

I wondered how and what they were feeling now that bin Laden was confirmed dead:  relief, closure, happiness; maybe all of those things at the same time.  I'm pretty sure that as time has passed and each anniversary has been publicly marked, these relatives and friends have probably experienced every phase of grief and gone back again.

 

There is no official resting place for many of those lost in the catastrophic events of that day.  There is no cemetery marker for them to visit because there wasn't a body to claim and bury.  There is only the hallowed destinations of Ground Zero, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania where Flight 93 crashed.

Firemen, policemen, window washers, waiters, stockbrokers, investment bankers, pilots and flight attendants; all were living their lives and carrying out their normal daily routines unaware of the destruction ahead; unaware of Osama bin Laden's evil plan.  As New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on the one-year anniversary:  ''They were our neighbors, our husbands, our children, our sisters, our brothers, and our wives. They were our countrymen and our friends. They were us.'' 

And the lives of those left behind to grieve were forever changed.

Each person who loses a loved one eventually comes to understand that they are on a personal journey that has no single path or prescribed time line.  Eventually, resilience can be learned and acquired for life.  Doctors say that good, strong relationships among family and friends and a sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself are essential in overcoming pain and suffering and starting the process of recovery.

Just as everyone remembers where they were when the tragic events of September 11, 2001 started  to take place,  most Americans will now also remember how they heard the long anticipated news that Osama bin Laden had finally been found and killed.  Neighbors and colleagues I talked to were filled with mixed emotions.  Initially, they were happy but then on reflection they were filled with sadness and fear for they said they know that the finality of this act for bin Laden doesn't put an end to the possibility of more acts of terrorism.

In Rome today, The Vatican issued a statement that came surprisingly close to striking the right tone:  "Osama bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions for this purpose."

"In the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred."