Monday, November 26, 2012

Noooooooooooooooooooooo

Friends, going for a 30 mile bike ride on very little food, and drinking no water on or after the ride, should NEVER be followed by consuming 2 margaritas (even if they are small margaritas).

But I just had to test that theory, didn't I? I can't remember the last time I was that drunk. I really can't. I wish I couldn't remember the evening itself, but, oh, I REMEMBER.

"Liz, are you OK?"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo."
"Do you want to eat anything?"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo."
"Do you think you can make it to the house?"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo."

And then later, me saying: "I FEEL TERRIBLE!" over and over, and Mr. BP saying "It's OK sweetie, you were dehydrated, don't worry about it, you didn't know." Finally I was able to say "I FEEL *PHYSICALLY* TERRIBLE!" Whoops, sweetie, no one can help you there...

So not only did I lose some of my dignity, all of my dinner and most of Saturday night, I lost Sunday to recovery. However, Sunday's rehabilitative efforts did require a giant pile of challah french toast, so it wasn't an entirely negative experience. But here's to more food and water between the bike ride and the margarita intake from now on!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Godzillarina

It has been ages since I went to my ballet class. I went twice, then I stopped - life got in the way and I just could not make it to the class. Last week I was lamenting my inability to make it back and make it part of my life.

So this past Tuesday night, while Mr. Blueberry Pancakes and I were finishing dinner, I noticed it was just before 7PM. I said aloud "You know, if I go upstairs and get ready, I can make it to ballet in time." He said "Why don't you?" So, I did! I ran up, got dressed, found my shoes, got my wallet... and even though I was probably going to be *late* to the class, I ran out of the house super excited that YESSSSSSSSS I was picking ballet back up again!

One little aside here - I am *not* a ballerina by ANYONE'S definition. I took ballet classes as a kid and liked them a lot, but ultimately preferred soccer practice to ballet - I never even made it to pointe classes with the pretty satin shoes (and killer bunions that came with them). So, my non-ballerina self found this Absolute Beginning Ballet class for adults a couple years ago, and I started going to it regularly back then. But just like right now, life got in the way of me keeping it up.

So I get to the studio and here I am so thrilled to be back to ballet that I don't care that I am running in there late. I watch the girls inside finish up a fairly complicated combo, and I think, Hmmmmmmm, that looks tough. But the music stops and they finish and I run in the room, over to the barre. I say to JillyBean, the teacher, "Sorry I'm late!" And she tries suppressing a laugh and says "Liz! Nice to see you, but the Tuesday class starts at 6:45, Monday's starts at 7:30!" OOPS - I'm not five minutes late, I am FIFTY minutes late! Then she says "But you can stay for this one, you're fine! There's over an hour of this class left!" I thought to myself, this is definitely not Absolute Beginning ballet, but ok I'm here and excited so I'll give it a shot.

Well, all the girls in the class were definitely well above intermediate level. They were so good and had perfect form and could nail the combos on the first try! I could barely keep up, and what I was doing was on the wrong feet, or the wrong direction, or whatever. My inexperience was not hidden from anyone. But. I stuck it out. And you know what? It was way more fun than the Absolute Beginning class, even if I did look like Godzilla.


After spending the next 75 minutes in a class which felt like it was prepping people to audition for the New York City Ballet, I asked Jill what I had just taken. She told me it was Beginner/Intermediate ballet class. Beginner/Intermediate? Holy crap! I guess my face gave away my thoughts... Jill then said "I know you think you didn't do well, but you did fine and this class is probably a good level for you. I am a fan of encouraging growth and pushing yourself, you did great."

I think JillyBean was being very nice... I was trying not to cringe as she said all that, but you know what? The class was really fun. I am positive I am not at the level those girls were in. But I might be able to get there with a lot of practice and more classes like this one! I will probably go back to one more Absolute Beginner class, but maybe it is time to just move up and push myself a little. Hell, I just did!

---
HA HA! There is a GODZILLARINA! Check out this image I found!