New Generation of Mermaids

Today at the summer program, we showed Disney's "The Little Mermaid" to a camp full of kids for their after-lunch movie.
 
I assumed that most of the little kids and girls would enjoy watching it.  But I didn't even think that many of them hadn't ever seen the movie.

I told them that I would most likely be reciting lines from the movie, and that I would even do a bit of a song and dance routine.

As "Part of Your World" came on, I ran to the stage, and proceeded to sing and mimic the moves from the movie.  Obviously, I was trying to be really corny for the kids, but it was also just plain fun.  I got a bit of applause from the kids as I took my bow when the song ended.

Then, when "Under the Sea" started playing, a coworker joined me on stage for a little bit of a dance routine.  It was really quite fun and silly.  The kids even put on the spotlight for us.

I'm sure the kids assumed that we'd continue to sing songs, but those were really all we had energy for.  I actually got a bit of a burn on my knee when I was getting all dramatic during "Part of Your World"!!!

It still stings...but it was so worth it.

At the end of the movie, when the kids were filing out of the auditorium, one of the youngest kids came up to me.  She said, "Cecilia, I never saw The Little Mermaid before, but I love it!!!"

It was perhaps the most heartwarming and best thing a little kid has said to me in a while.  Some of the kids in my group thoroughly enjoyed the movie, also saying that it was the first time they saw it.

I'm hoping that I hooked some of the kids the way I got hooked when I first saw the movie.  I'm hoping that I'm creating a couple of new mermaid fans for the next generation.

Dance Walking - I'm Hooked!

With all the flash mobs that have popped up all over the place, it's a wonder how any one is able to stay so serious.  For the most part, they seem to be about having fun or spreading some sort of message.

Back in April, I participated in International Pillow Fight Day, and I was really eager to participate in more random fun activities.  So, naturally, when I heard about Dance Walking, I had to get involved!

Basically, dance walking involves going down the street, grooving to whatever happens to be playing into your headphones.  No one else can hear what you hear, but when you feel the beat you just have to move.

I had been trying to recruit friends to join me, but to no avail.  It honestly made me a little sad to go by myself, especially since I wanted to share something fun with other people.  I almost didn't go just because I didn't want to feel lonely.

I would have felt like an idiot if I stayed home just because I had to do something by myself.

It was SO worth it!

I made sure to prep my usual workout music with more dance tunes, and I was happy to see a lot of other eager and excited faces.  I found the group along the Commonwealth Avenue parks, and we traveled through the Public Garden and Boston Common to finish in front of the fountain near the Park St. T Station.

dance walking through the Public Garden...

getting our grooves on...

safety dance!

I think I was changing my music...

someone busted out a bit of the robot...

collective groove...

jazz hands!

It was really way more fun than I could have anticipated.  We were all hoping that more dance party sessions would happen throughout the summer.  I remember thinking at one point how much I just love random spontaneous dance parties, so this felt like a natural thing for me.  When it was all over, I almost couldn't stop myself from continuing to groove down the street and during the T ride home.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to attempt to make my kids at the summer camp do a bit of dance walking as a daily activity.  Who says it all has to be serious when you grow up?

Interesting Offers on the First Beach Weekend of 2012

It had been too warm of a winter.  And now it's been somewhat of a cloudy summer.  Still relatively warm, don't get me wrong.  But still not the consistently sunny-with-a-couple-of-pretty-clouds-in-the-sky kind of summer I would hope for.

Actually, let me take that back.  It's not even officially summer.

But, on the days when it has been beautiful, I am certain to be spending it outside in some fashion.

A couple of weeks ago, we had quite a bit of rainy days followed by a beautiful weekend.  Two of my girl friends and I made our way to Crane Beach, one of the North Shore beaches here in Massachusetts.

beach supplies

On a complete sidebar, do you remember that so-horrible-I-can't-stop-watching-it afternoon soap opera, "Passions"?  It was the only soap I watched ever.  It was so bad.  So cheesy.  I loved it!  But, if you remember, the wealthy family lived in "Harmony, New England," and their last name was Crane!  Well, Crane Beach is part of the Crane Estate, and though it's now a public area (but there's still fees for everything), I can't help but think back to Passions.

Anywhos, back to my story.

So, here we are, lounging on this gorgeous beach. The sand is warm, the water is (relatively) warm.  It's beautiful.

sparkly sand

I notice this one large man carrying a large gallon of water.  I thought about how strange it was since it wasn't that hot.  Then I realize that he spots the 3 of us on our towels, and he proceeds to park himself on a nearby spot.  I roll my eyes internally.

Within about 5 minutes, he proceeds to start doing pushups, superman's, snow angels, and crunches.  Then he goes for a jog and returns to chug from his gallon jug.

At some point, one of my friends heads to the water.  Immediately, the man, let's call him Gallon Man, stands up and slowly follows behind her.  My other friend and I are watching intently to see what will come of this situation. 

Eventually, he seems to say something to her, as we see her turn towards him.  They separate ways.  Oh, man!  I couldn't wait to see what she had to say!

We get up and walk towards her, ready to hear what he had said to her.  Apparently, he said, "Compliments on the view."

Wooooow.  Ballsy.

When we all head back to our towels, Gallon Man is back at his.  He overhears our conversation and proceeds to chime in.  I believe it had something to do with Norway and the Baltic area.  He shared that he had been to that area, also stating that he had been to "Swedish."  Oops.

After sharing a bit about his experience, he then proceeds to get up and approach us three, asking how we knew each other.  When we explained that we knew each other through Middle Eastern dance, he then explained he knew we were dancers.  We walked so "gracefully," and the way our bodies moved definitely meant we were dancers.

It hasn't even gotten to the good part, y'all.

He then tells us we're all "Goddesses."  He would love the chance to "worship" us.  If he put all of our bodies together we would be some sort of supreme goddess.  He said something about my strong legs, my friend's butt, and my other friend's lower back. 

Believe me, I was face down in my towel trying not to laugh in his face.

He continued to ask if he could "worship" us, and I had to speak up and ask him to clarify.  He said he would just love to give each one of us a quick kiss on those parts of our body he decided were worship-worthy.  He even said, in a somewhat begging voice, that he would do upside down push ups for a chance to worship us.

What the heck are upside down push ups?  I honestly feel like he would have to be on his back or something.  But my friends said he was talking about being in a handstand position, then doing the push-up movement.

Ridiculous.  Just ridiculous.

After laughing a bit about him, and learning that he was some Buddhist martial arts instructor, we settle back into our respective towels. 

Eventually, he got up to leave and began to virtually beg us to let him "worship" us.  We end up convincing one of my friends to let him kiss her lower back.  It was kind of hilarious, really.  She said it felt really "chaste," as though if was one of us giving the other a quick peck.

He then grabbed all his belongings and went along his merry way.   We couldn't believe any of that actually happened.  I wondered out loud if he was going down the beach to try it on some other schmucks, or perhaps it was a dare, or perhaps he was actually genuine.

Still.  This is the most ridiculous thing to happen to me on a beach in recent memory.

If this is any indication of how the rest of the summer is going to be, I can't even express to you how excited I am!

"Mermaids: Body Found"

Absolutely geeking out over this!!!!

The acting is horrible, and I completely get the science fictiony stuff.  But man, I love that this is "based on some real events and scientific theories." 

So, forgive me while I *squee* uncontrollably.

I Don't Plan to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse

I've been going to outdoor bootcamp for over a year now.  I've finished my first 5k, and I've participated in several of the bootcamp's challenges and obstacle courses.

So, I figured that the Run For Your Lives Zombie Run would be a logical next choice.

On the 2nd day of the Zombie Run, Sunday, May 6th, two of my friends and I drove up way up to Amesbury, MA, to see how well we would do if/when the Zombie Apocalypse was upon us.

We were given 3 flags to wear around our waists.  Once all flags were taken by zombies, you would finish the race as one of the dead/undead.  But this didn't mean that you would start ripping flags off other runners.

The obstacle course starts you off in a dark tunnel with agate and smoke at the other opening.  We went in waves, so the slower runners went first, then the medium runners, then the faster runners.  I told my friends that I was definitely planning to be one of the slower runners.  I also told them to just go for it and let me get behind them.  But, in hindsight, I should have suggested that we finish as a group.

When the gates opened, we had to run up a steep hill to where the main course was.  Immediately, we saw an open field, some parts had mud pits, some parts had wooden structures.  All parts had zombies.

The photo will connect you to the Facebook photos from the event.

There was actually a lot more running than I anticipated.  I mean, I knew there would be running.  Rule #1, after all, is Cardio.

From "Zombieland"

But I did think there would be more obstacles we would have to climb, or crawl under, or figure our way through.  The biggest obstacle was probably the Day 2 mud that had accumulated in the course. I'm pretty sure that 2/3rds of a mile was all mud at one point.

I love that it looks like I'm about
to bust into a Thriller dance...

I quickly learned, though, that it was best to jog a bit until you came across a bunch of zombies.  The zombies weren't everywhere, necessarily, but they would gather in groups.  In essence, when you were avoiding one, you were avoiding several of them.  At this point, you just sprint across as fast as you can without getting your flag taken off.

I even managed to stay "alive" a lot longer than I anticipated.  My strategy mainly focused on slowing down for most of the course, but sprinting with a group when I encountered zombies.  I definitely utilized other people as somewhat of a shield as I ran through the zombie mobs.  The ground was extremely uneven, so I got a bit nervous about tweaking my ankle, which I did a couple of times.  But, that adrenaline rush really keeps you going.

The make-up job on the zombies was awesome!  Some of it looked very detailed, and honestly a bit unnerving.  Some of the zombies would break character when they saw that we no longer were a target.  Some of the zombies didn't break character at all, and that was even more frightening.

What if there were real zombies out there who heard of the event and said, "Dude..we could totally get some brains here and people would think we were in costume....rraaaaaawwwrrrr..meeehh..brraaaaiiinnsss...."?

I wasn't really going to try to find out.

I'm actually really proud of myself for finishing this!  All muddy, wet, and tired from falling into the mud, it felt great to finish it.  I didn't know until the next day that I managed to get quite bruised from the event.

that's just my right leg

I'm so ready to do this again next year!  But it also gives me courage to try for other challenges and 5k's.  Hopefully, they're just as fun as this one was.

done and dead