Swift
The universe seems to be telling me lately that I need to work my thighs out, or something! First it was the SUP (Acronym for Stand Up Paddleboard). Balancing on the board for three days made the backs of my thighs feel a little tight. Then I went to booty camp last night and Camille has incorporated some new songs and dances into the routine. One of them was dancy, one of them was a cool down, but the killer was a song with four reps of 16 burpees followed by prolonged wall sitting. The song was fast so the 16 burpees were like power burpees. I didn’t have time to jump, but each time I came up I was able to see Camille jumping in midair, so I know I was able to at least keep up with the reps, even if I didn’t jump. I never knew how much one needs the thighs for burpees, but yesterday… Damn.
Today I followed that up with a guilt run. Meaning, if I didn’t do it I would feel like a slacker, so I ran to not feel guilty. I started with a walk with Gigi and after I dropped her back at home I decided to get two or so miles of running in, but then I came around the corner on my run home there were my boys on a walk, deep in conversation about Pokemon, so of course I had to walk a bit with them to catch up on the happenings of the Poke-verse before I finished it out. My times are all over the place, but it felt like this was a good exercise day, even without the consistency.
The good news out of all this is that I got on the scale this morning and found that I was able to maintain, at least, and I weighed 206. I was really worried that after a week of travel and eating off plan a bit that I would have skyrocketed back up to 212 or something. To see my weight resting where I left it felt pretty good. I just need to keep on moving forward!
Later in the afternoon we made our way to sushi, then to Swiftie! My daughter has been a fan of Taylor Swift since she was three years old and we happened to buy the Fearless album at a record store that was going out of business at the Everett Mall. Our kid doesn’t have a time in her life that is bereft of a Taylor memory, so it was appropriate that her first ever concert of her choosing was Ms. Swift. I have to say that it was predictably amazing. The lights, the dancing, the singing, the costumes and the fans were all pretty incredible and showy, but what I really loved about the concert was how Taylor brought all 60,000 of us in close and talked to us like we were all girlfriends. She took a sold-out show to 60,000 people at Century Link Field, where the Seahawks play, and made it feel like we were at one of those local, small bars with a singer who looks into your eyes and speaks to you as though she seems to know you. She talked about how important it is to be cool (FYI: not important) and the value of true friendship. She talked about watching out for yourself and seeing when people aren’t healthy for you. She talked about kindness and love. Mostly she just loved us, if that is possible, and made us love her that much more. It was a perfect concert for my girl. Gigi was just beautiful and so full of joy as we watched her idol own the stage with dignity, grace and sheer awesome.
I believe she is what we need more of- that modeling of acceptance, love and kindness for our world. I know it’s manufactured, I know she’s a brand, I know she and her team know exactly how they are manipulating us, but if Taylor is intent on manipulating my world into a kinder, gentler and more loving place, you can count me among her followers.
I wasn’t going to say anything or point anything out, but I clearly have a gut in that outfit. The fact that I wore that tight shirt speaks volumes, however, regarding my self image. I’m like, “I have a gut right now. BFD.” Whereas before I would have been trying to manufacture a million gut-camouflaging strategies to hide it. Instead, who cares?! 😀