Good times... Good times.

Friday was the perfect day of me time. I took a vacation day to rest, relax and get my head back on straight.

I started my day off with a full body massage.  My first ever.  And it was AMAZING.  Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhmazing.  DeeAnn is a fantastic masseuse and she's also just an amazing person.  I met her through Zumba at the Y and I'm so glad I did.  The massage was a full hour of just pure relaxation.  She spent a good amount of time on my back and hamstrings since they've been so sore in the last week or so.  I felt relaxed and rejuvenated at the same time.  Best hour in a long time.

I followed that up with a manicure, pedicure and eyebrow wax.   It was nice to be so pampered. 

The evening was even more awesome.  When I was younger I found and fell in love with MST3K.  Well, parts of the cast and writing crew have gone on to two different awesome projects.  RiffTrax and Cinematic Titanic.  Well, last night I got to go with Marshall, Matt and Chip to see the Cinematic Titanic crew LIVE.  It was unbelievable! I laughed so hard I cried a few different times.  So awesome. 

We also got to have dinner at a pretty cool Irish pub called Bull McCabes.  I, of course, had to get Shepard's Pie.  MmmMmM.

Today we had a kick butt Zumba class to start the day off and I've spent the rest of the day working on Zumba routines and hanging out with Matt.  We just finished watching the Winnie the Pooh movie and I feel like a kid again!

We also did a bit of shopping earlier.  I bought some more workout clothes and some various food stuffs for tomorrow and the upcoming week.  Tomorrow I restart TurboJam and I'm also doing a 24 hour Shakeology fast. I want to try to get the salt and fat from the last week or two out of my system.  The steroids got my eating all wonky and I want a day to try to get back on track.    So, tomorrow I will have 3 Shakeology shakes, snacks of fruit and veggies and green tea and that's it. I may do a salad for dinner too.  Depends on how I feel.

I'm in the process of setting up another 30 day Shakeology challenge to start April 1.  So far the March ladies have been seeing amazing results.  I can't wait to see their final results at the end of the month!!

Enjoying the ride.

For those of you who know me in real life it will not shock you to find out that I didn't do a lick of driving yesterday on our long haul to Kentucky.  Marsh, Matt and Chip are my designated drivers unless it's just not possible.  Why?  I don't know but it just happened that way over the last few years.

I don't like driving at night because headlights kill my eyes but I do love the feel of relaxing, listening to music and just driving.  I used to revel in that hour commute back and forth to my job at the hospital and back and forth to school my senior year. 

Now, I'm lucky if I drive myself to Zumba because Matt worries about me driving after dark.  It's sweet that they care.  Also, I think everyone is safer for it!

Yesterday we got up early enough for me to hit up TurboKick with Karen at the YMCA before hitting the road. After class I rushed home to shower and make sure I hadn't forgotten anything (which I still did anyway!) and we were on the road a little after 11. 

Relaxin' in the back seat.

We drove in to Durham and had the most awful experience trying to find a parking space.  We found one and off to Cosmic Cantina for lunch.  A burrito with pinto beans and vegetables was consumed.  A chicken quesadilla was procured for eating at a later time and we were back on the road.  At which time I took a carbohydrate induced nap.

I woke up in time to eat the last little bit of chocolate and powdered sugar covered chex and see the sun start setting over the mountains of Western NC.

Must. Have. More.  It's delicious crack!

So pretty! I wish the colors had come through!

After much more driving, a dinner at Panera Bread and several more mini naps, watching several episodes of Community on my iPod and lots of bad jokes. we finally arrived in Kentucky about 12 hours after we started our journey. 

A good nights sleep was on tap before getting up around 8:30 this morning to the smells of Chip making breakfast. We've just been kind of lounging since we got up, just messing around on the internet and taking turns getting ready for the day.

Matt gives me a foot rub while I talk to you all!

Shortly we are headed out to do some shopping in a nearby town before returning to the house to hang out and be lazy some more.  I plan on learning at least 2 new Zumba routines while we hang out though.  I have big plans for the Zumba crews at the Y, ABC and T2T in 2012.  Woohoo!

Most importantly, I'm trying to just be in the moment, enjoy the ride, and enjoy my travel companions.  This trip only happens once a year and I want to enjoy every moment of it!

Simply Restful...

That's what today was and dear goodness was it needed!

Yesterday, after the Zumbathon, I knew I needed a good day of doing nothing and I finally got it.  Last night I went to bed a bit before midnight because I was lost in reading A Game of Thrones.  I had planned a much earlier bed time to start my day of nothing early. Oh well!

Could you say no to these two cuties?

I slept in until around 10 am and woke up to a snuggly Robin and Napoleon demanding my attention. 

I took half a shower and changed into fresh pajamas for a day of pure indulgence. My goal for the day?  To do my best impersonation of the kitties - lounge, eat, get someone to pay attention to me and more sleep.

It was a splendid day but I am just not built for being a lay about anymore.  I kept thinking "You should do a pilates workout! Get those muscles working so you can try Pi-Yo"  or "You should work on refreshing Footloose! The studio crew really wants to do it!" or "Those dishes aren't going to wash them selves."  I fought the urges though and was successful at embodying sloth as much as it was possible!

Things I did do today include;

• eating pizza
• eating a giant Reese's cookie
• going to Big Lots for candy for trick or treat
• met up with Sarah and grabbed Moe's for dinner
• bought way too many songs on iTunes
• playlists! playlists galore!

I was music buying crazy person earlier this evening.  Sarah and I both love to use random pop, R&B, or rock songs that were favorites of ours as cool downs in class and I found some awesome ones on the cheap today! The ones I'm excited to do the most?  Motownphilly and Faded.  Been listening to them on repeat all afternoon.  They're still upbeat but you can groove to half time moves and sing along while you stretch.  So fun!

I've got playlists for this entire week 95% done.  I've got a core of 8 songs on each and am still playing with the 8 others and warm up/cool downs on the lists for later this week but that's one less thing on my plate this week.

It's been a good, restful, relaxing day.  I'm not quite ready to go back to work tomorrow. I'd much rather be at home, on the couch, with the kitties!