I did it!

I finally achieved one of my lifetime goals. I did a round-off back flip flop by myself!!!

That is a huge acheivement for me. I wasn't sure if I would ever actually be able to get here. In my mind I did, but it happening in real life was another thing.

After never being able to do one while I was in high school gymnastics, I really had given up on the idea that I would ever be able to do a flip flop on my own. It only took me until age of 33 to accomplish one of my youthful dreams. Since I never had accomplished one in my prime years, I never thought that I would do one now. But, it happened! I almost can't believe I actually did it (actually three times yesterday). And I actually can't believe I wouldn't have been able to do one before this.

I started taking gymnastics class last fall in 2008. I was surfing the internet and looking for fun classes, as I always do, when I came across an interesting class that caught my eye. I found it through the Time Out Chicago site that was listing cool classes to take if you were bored with the regular tedious exercise that you do in a gym. The first article I read was called, "Excuse No. 5: Working out is boring." It talked about jump rope classes, hip-hop dance classes, and even strip tease workout classes. Those classes all sounded interesting, but I noticed that there were other articles detailing why people do not get in shape and decided to read the rest of them.

This lead me to the article "Excuse No. 4 I hate gyms." It talked about the hubbard street dance studio, which I had already attended with my sister for ballet lessons (I loved it and hope to take more classes in the future). They also talked about jazzercise, which I had tried previously, but found a bit to easy for me. But, the last suggestion had to do with the circus. Interesting I thought! The woman who wrote the excerpt had gone to circus school (an Aerial Circus Arts class at the Actors Gymnasium in Evanston) and it kicked her ass. I thought to myself, " I didn't even know they taught circus style stuff for regular people." I decided to check out their site, actorsgymnasium.com. I browsed through it and noticed that they taught all sorts of acrobatic skills. It sounded fun to be able to hang on ropes and work on a trapeze. But, then I noticed that they not only taught the circus arts, they had an adult gymnastics class. I repeat, an adult class.

I had searched the net before and never found too many classes that taught gymnastics to people who were older. There were many clubs out there, but for girls from the ages of toddler to late teen age years. I found one in Chicago that I was debating whether to try, but I finally found one much closer to home and that was the one in Evanston. I wasn't sure if it was going to be advanced or to remedial. But, fortunately when I got there it was the perfect pace for me. I hadn't done any kind of gymnastics except for cartwheels and handstands on a regular basis. Me and my sister had spotted ourselves on backwalk overs and front walk overs almost killing my knees and back doing them for the first time in a long time. But, other than that nothing and I needed to get my flexibility back! This class has done that.

We start off with a warm up that consists of running and lots of stretching and then we get into two lines to do simple to gradually more difficult moves across the blue matt floor. When I starte there the first time, I was so glad that we were starting with forward rolls and backward rolls. And the teaching is great, because she leads you gradually into something harder by practicing drills that you add on to the more basic movements.

Anyways, in this class I have done things I had never even tried before. We have practiced aerials, front handsprings and punch fronts onto a huge matt. That was scary, but extremely fun the first time I did it. Again we started with dive rolls, and trying to get them higher and higher. And that led us into the punch fronts, because it is the same basic movement.

Our teacher spotted me first on a regular back handspring. It is really tough to do from a standing position. But, she said she wasn't doing much and thought I could do one on my own. I thought they weren't bad, but still thought mine were pretty slow. I still don't know if I would be able to do one of those on my own. But then, one day, she decided to have me do some drills. She made me do a back flipflop from a handstand. The two teachers spotted me. It was hard, but I did it. I guess she wanted me to do it, to get used to the idea of the backwards movement out another trick. This same thing movement is done when you do a flip flop out of a round off. After I did those, she was ready to have me do one from a round-off. I did one that day with the assistant coach spottingme. What a feeling that was! I though, "maybe I could do this...better than I even imagined!" How different the back flip flop was from a round off then from doing one by itself from a standing position. With the power that I get from a round off, I guess that gives you enough to basically flip on your own as long as you just reach back! After doing that and feeling that I had enough power and it not feeling slow at all, I decided to try some yesterday.

I tried the first one with her there to spot me & I did it! She said she really didn't even spot me. For the two others I did, she was there for moral support. But, I did them by myself! So, now I just have to gain enough confidence to do some on my own without her there for moral support...but for now, I am happy with notion that I can do them on my own!

Yipee!!!

It's two days before my birthday

...or maybe one day since it is night time already.

So far the celebrating has gone really well. Yesterday, I went with my sister to a dance club in Naperville called Blur nightclub. One of my favorite djs from B96, a station here in Chicago that I listen to, plays music there. I always wanted to check it out, since I heard he would play euro and other types of dance music. I didn't hear really all that much euro, but they played all the top 40 pop/dance/r&b type stuff so it was really fun to dance to. The people there were really into there dancing there too. You could feel that everyone who was dancing there had the music flowing in their blood. They were happy & all really enjoying themselves out there. You could see it in there faces and in the way that they moved. It was funny to see all the different people there and watch what they did. Not too long after our drinks did we get out there to dance the night away. I am glad my sister was game, because I really love dancing. It is my way of expressing what I love most, which is music. The rhythm & sounds flow through me making my body want to move. I love it and nothing make me happier than to dance to a song I love without thinking about anything but feeling the music. I danced to all the latest hits by artists like Katy Perry, Lady Ga Ga, Britney Spears, & oldies like Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven on earth" and "Party All Night Long."

By the end of the night I even danced on a platform twice. Once to win a cd, and then the second time just for the fun of it. Great way to celebrate an upcoming 33rd b-day.

Today I headed out to a breakfast/lunch place with my sister and friends. The place is called M.Henry and was delicious. I had heard good things and to my pleasant surprise it was all really tasty. Both my friends really liked it too. They had lunch and I shared a delicious breakfast with my sister. I had the Latina Omelleta which was eggs with salsa and black beans served with savory potatoes and sweet plantains. Oh it was sooo good! Then I had the blackberry pancakes. The batter that they made it with was oh so light & cakey. Perfect for the blackberry sauce they doused it with and the yummy custardy cream it came with. That sweet taste was the perfect ending to a delicious meal. I really enjoed the company with my friends and I think they did to. We had a happy & satisfying brunch. Yay!

And now with only one day left...I have tomorrow to look forward too. The American Music Awards are on. And it seems like they are going to have so many good artists on this year. I love watching it every year no matter who is on, because I just love watching live performances of the latest singers on tv. But, this year I think there is going to be a variety of singers. So much talent and really good music this year. It should be fun to watch. For some reason it si one of my favorite things to do too. Watch any music award show. So, that is exciting and it is the night before my birthday.

For my birthday I am taking the day off of work! Yay!!!! Double Yay!!! :D I plan to eat dinner with my usual annual lasagna. Yummy! It is one of my favorite dishes! For lunch I plan to go to the John Hancock building to their restaurant on the top floor. They serve buffet/lunch and you get a view at the same time. It should be fun! I love going downtown and seeing the all the tall buildings! I hope the food is good. I am excited just for the views!

Well, until the next time. I probably will be 33! 32 has been good to me...and I hope for just as good or better for the year to come!

Hasta pronto!

Morning and McDonald's

Two great things to start of the day.

Happy Halloween everybody! Or maybe I should say Happy Halloween Gisela, since I don't have any avid readers. I would like to think I do sometimes. :)

I love mornings! I don't really always have that much time to think about how much I love this time of day. Usually I just get up, take a shower, get ready for work, drive to work and then plop myself down right in front of the computer in my isolated, articial lightgiving office. But that is not a real morning. Not one where you get to enjoy every aspect of it. The only time I get to enjoy it is on the ride here. Riding in my car, listening to the radio and being just awake enough to delight in just sitting in my car, noticing my surroundings & doing nothing. I really do enjoy that, but then I have to end up in the office.

Today, as I was looking for some more dark purple nail polish in my car to repair two that had gone wrong, I thought to myself, "Should I go get McDonald's?" I didn't bring my wallet or purse down, so it was a spur of the moment idea. I looked in my little backpack that was left in the car to see if I had any money lying around. Nothing to be found. Then I thought to look in my car's cigarette outlet where i keep all my spare change. "Maybe I have enough change to at least by me an egg mcmuffin!" I looked in the little compartment and found a lot of change and to my surprise, a dollar bill! So, I decided to take a little drive from the office to get my morning breakfast. McDonald's is really close to work since the corporate offices are right here in Oakbrook. As I pulled out of the lot a sense of happiness came across me. I would be getting my protein for the morning, something that nowadays I have a hard time missing.

I ordered my egg mcmuffin and even had enough spare change to add a hashbrown to it too! What a delight, since hashbrowns from Mcdonald's are my favorite part of breakfast! As I pulled away from McDonald's and headed back for the office I noticed the sunny morning sky and the way its light was hitting the trees. How beautiful it all looked. What a sense of tranquility.

"I love mornings!", I thought. I really hadn't contemplated it as much as I did until today. Everytime I get up on a free day of mine and actually get to be outside and take advantage of the brilliant sun, I am so happy. There is a sense of freedom & peace when I am up in the morning. I get to be by myself and with nature. The sun greets me with a hello, almost saying, "Why don't you enjoy what you have on earth today." But, usually since my mornings are usually spent in the office and not outside, I don't really have time to enjoy it.

For now I will have to take pleasure in those unusual times where I take a break to see the light of day. Those days will be special & will make my soul sparkle. And I will love them always, because I have actually taken time to appreciate the special time that God gave us.

Go ahead, live a little, enjoy your morning today. I give you permission. :)
Drop whatever you are doing, get outside, & soak up all the pleasurable ways it makes you feel today.

And now I will see if I collected any goodies from my Monopoly game piece that was placed on my beloved hashbrown...

Wish me luck!

My favorite dress

I am wearing my favorite dress of the moment.

It's so nice to wear something that actually looks good and fits right.

I bought the dress sometime ago at H&M, but am now starting to wear it out more. The first time I spotted it on the rack, what caught my eye was the simplicity and modesty of the outfit. It looked like something from the past. Something a la 60s. It reminded me of Jacky O and ladies that used to wear cute jackets and skirts that matched and looked very ladylike. I decided to try it on, and I liked it. My sister did too. As with a lot of the fashions that I buy, sometimes I wear it only couple times the first year I buy it before finally wearing it more often the next year/s. I decided to start wearing it to work and not just leave it to special occasions.

I like it. It's classic yet very stylish at the same time. It made my day a little brighter today, knowing that I like how my body looks in this dress. That I look a little special, even though it isn't a special ocassion or anything.

Cars stress me out

Oh yes they do! I am actually dizzy today after hearing how much it would cost to fix "the problems" that my car is having this time. And when I say dizzy, it is not just for the fun of making this entry sound interesting, I really was feeling everything move around me.

My car is getting old and yes like anything it will need to be maintained and cared for. That means spending money on it. But, caring $3,000+ dollars on it? That is a bit much. $3,000 was the last quote from the dealership or should I now say... stealership, as I read from so many various owners on the web. I have never been quoted that much. $1,000+ threw me over the edge last time, but three times that amount? Is anyone else confused?

The funny thing is that I brought my car in for the most basic tuneup, just an oil change & to check fluids and a couple things here and there. Then they decide that they are also going to check up tire rods, cam shafts, and anything else that they can find going wrong. All I wanted for them was to check to see what was going on with the heater, and they find so much more. Another thing I find hillarious is that they said that even though we are getting into winter, that the heater is probably the last priority on the list. Granted, I have been able to take it so far with lukewarm air that comes out of the vents, my coat and other outwear, but what is going to happen in the winter? I guess I am going to have to find out!

I ended up letting them know that I was going to think about all of this. It is too much to handle and figure out all at once. I really want to think constructively and sensibly about how much money I am going to spend on all this.

I wish that I was able to commute to work and not have to rely on my car for transportation as much. I wish I wouldn't have to deal with the headaches that servicing the car every so often gives me. Don't get me wrong, I love my car. I have had it since 2001 and I love cruising in it. I really love Volkswagens too. They just drive better, smoother. I wouldn't trade my car for another right now, and would possibly buy another in the future. I just wish I had more money to service them when they get old. Or even better, I wish that Volkswagen would lower their prices on their parts and labor. They are really expensive compared to the other cars on the market.

That is why I wish I didn't have to use my car so frequently for my hour long commutes to work. Think if I could somehow slash those two hours of driving back and forth to work. That would save me so much mileage, wear & tear and energy. I just don't have that option right now. Maybe in the future. Hey, I don't want to give up my car completely, I just want to spread out the agony of car repairs.

But, even though my little silver passat causes me stress sometimes, I really love it. I couldn't see myself with any other car. It has blessed me with pleasurable long car rides to and from work, exciting road trips across the midwest, and weekend excursions all over the Chicagoland area. It has been with me through my trials and tribulations. It has cried and laughed with me. Has it failed me? ...Okay maybe once it left me stranded on the 294 highway headed home on Valentine's day. But, that was a bad axle to blaim... not my little passat.

It will be with me until it can run no longer. I will see it to its end! 200,000 miles you ask? That, and if so, even more! Or at least until I get a better paying job...

Ello...elloooooo?

So, I am back. Back from where you ask? Oh, I came back from a trip to Miami. It was for a week and I definately needed that. The only problem now, is that I miss it. I didn't think a week would cut it or that it would be easy to get back into the routine. I think this summer I haven't received the ample amount of sun time that I usually do on a yearly basis. I think any sun this summer I got it in Miami.

It also doesn't help that it has been gloomy 4 out of the 5 days that I have been back. Where did these clouds come from? Oh yah, Gustav. It was with us when we were about to leave Miami and followed us all the way to Chicago. At least in Miami though, there was mostly a lot of wind and not that much rain. And although it was gllomy, it doesn't get as gloomy as it does here. I heard that our house flooded today too. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

I hope I didn't have a whole lot of things on the floor. I know that I have to throw away a lot of junk that is in the basement, but I thought I would have time to do it on a long weekend when I had nothing to do. Now some of it may be wet! I just hope my scrapbooking stuff didn't get the worst of it.

On a more postive note, my brother and his family are in town for the week. They leave Sunday morning. I have gotten to talk to my brother and his wife a bit as we have been having dinner together. (I can't see them during the day because I have work) I hope I can leave earlier today from work so I can try and play with Jack. I also have gotten to hold their new, suuuuuper cute baby Declan. He is so soft and has such a heart melting smile. His eyes are dark brown and when they look at you they are so intense. They go so well with his milky smooth skin. They pop, as you would say in fashionable terms. :)

I haven't gotten to interact with Jack so much this time. He goes to bed early and I get there late, so I see him when he is ready to go to bed. He has changed quite a bit and is much older and much more independant. He is also very active and loves to watch tv. I hope to give him a toy that I was supposed to give him for his birthday that I never sent. Hopefully he can enjoy it today or tomorrow before they leave to Jersey.

Other than that, nothing else is really going on. I have been reading a good book which I haven't done in a while. The name of it is, "The Other Side of the Story." It is by an author who I have read before, but this time she does not use the same characters from her previous books. This is a brand new storyline and I kind of like it that way. Althought I like the four sisters that she wrote about before, I like the fact that she can be free to write about anything and not necessarily have to relate it to them. As one of my cooworkers told me, sometimes you are into reading and sometimes you aren't. There are so many times that we have taken out a book and renewed it multiple times only to have to return it with only reading a paragraph of the book or not even a line at all. But, I have an itch to read right now. I seem to have more time or am making the time and I have found an interesting book which keeps me wanting more .

I can't believe it is Friday. In some senses it seems like it, but in others for some reason it does not. I hope the weekend is fun and hopefully the sun will come out.

I am starting to think of apple pie...my mom bought some yesterday and I am tempted to eat it right now. The problem is that I have to wait until I finish the drive home. :)

Ta, ta for now!

She won!

Nastia Liukin won all-around gymnastics gold in the Beijing Olympics. Yay! I was routing for her to do well. I wasn't sure how she would do, but she did really well. I love the style and grace she still brings to gymnastics. She is tall and has wonderful lines and flexibility during all of her routines. I love her on bars and beam, but she is still pretty solid on vault and floor. Her giants and tricks on the bars are awesome. I still can't believe she can dismount going backwards like that! Shawn Johnson did really well too. She is like this powerhouse in a little body. She usually is very consistent and on target. She ended up winning the silver. I was happy that the US won the top tow medals! Even if they got silver in the team competition. That is still good!

This year watching gymnastics in the olympics has made me hungry for taking some adult gymnastics lessons. We'll see if in the next few months I sign up for something new. I haven't done gymnastics in ages except for the handstands & backbends here and there. I saw a tumbling class which would be cool to take, since I never excelled on floor, but always wanted too!

We'll see... :)