Sunday, February 13, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day: What have you done for you lately?


Good times: We had ourselves a Valentine's weekend.


Dave and the kids got me roses. Tomorrow, they'll get cards, candy hearts and heart-shaped lasagna.


Max made me a gigantic card (in purple, naturally). He wouldn't let me touch it.


We all went to a Valentine's Dance at Max's school where he ditched us; he only wanted to dance with his bff. In a tragic turn of events, Sabrina was introduced to the Macarena, and has been singing and dancing it ever since.


Saturday, we went to a children's museum. Sabrina made me do the Macarena in the bathroom.

Sunday, we went to a local gym that we're considering joining. It's a Lifetime gym, and it's exceptionally nice. Max was at his Sunday morning program, Sabrina and Dave hit the pool and I took a Zumba class.

I've had Zumba on the brain ever since I bumped into a little old lady at a coffee shop one Saturday morning, who told me she'd just come from a Zumba class. It's a Latin-inspired dance-fitness program.

I was all, if she can do it, I can...I think.

I figured if it felt more like dancing and less like working out, I might like it.

I loooooooved it. Let's just say I wasn't the smoothest with the moves (I'd definitely qualify for America's Funniest Videos), but I had an actual fun time and barely noticed that I was exercising. My left knee (the one with the partially-torn ACL that looks so sexy in x-rays) is a little sore. Other than that, I feel great.

The gym has a childcare center; when we went to check it out, a mom and her daughter were leaving. The girl was in a wheelchair. I told the mother we also had a kid with special needs and asked how attentive she felt they were to her daughter, and she only had good things to say. It was comforting to meet her—that whole sisterhood of the special needs child thing.

I am glad I finally got off my butt and made it to a gym. I'm going tomorrow, too. Valentine's is traditionally a time for showing other people how much you love them but today, I showed myself the love. I didn't give myself chocolates, though.

I hope you do something for YOU this Valentine's Day.

xoxo

11 comments:

  1. Good for you! I personally believe that by taking care of oneself, you are also taking care of your family..l.because let's face, they really need you to be the best you can be. You go girl!

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  2. I'll be hitting the gym tomorrow myself. I'm not looking forward to it but I never do on Mondays. Hopefully I'll sleep in though....my favorite.

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  3. Sounds like a great weekend, Ellen! What fun! I remember the Macarena...my sister was big into it when it first came out - and I was tortured for a long time after she bought the cassette of it! :P

    PS the heart shaped lasagna sounds cool! Post a picture of it because I'd love to see it :)

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  4. Looks like you had fun!

    I bought myself a new set of wheelchair tyres, and I'm irrationally excited about them!

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  5. We'll have our family dinner and cards and presents tomorrow. There will probably be a juvenile movie in the early evening; and maybe mom and the grandparents will get wild and crack open a bottle of Bailey's!

    The Macarena is a ton of fun. Gotta watch those Brazilian dances, though!!! Don't introduce Sabrina to the Lambada just yet....that one's "The FORBIDDEN Dance!" Ha ha!!! She'll end up in the principal's office if she does that number on the playground at recess!

    I get plenty of exercise at work--I need to do more exercise at home (you know, CLOSE the frig door, PUSH the plate away; STEP BACK from the table, etc!). Hell, I like to eat! Nice that you found a gym with child care that sounds like it's a decent fit, though. That's a rarity on most days.

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  6. How good is Zumba?!?! I LOVE it! And it's okay to feel unco because after a while you realise that the only person in the room who doesn't feel unco is the instructor so it's ok!!!

    Also loving Sabrina's Macarena obsession, particularly the part where you had to do it in the bathroom!!

    Thanks for giving me a giggle!

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  7. Yes, you must post pix and instructions for the lasagna!

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  8. "In a tragic turn of events, Sabrina was introduced to the Macarena, and has been singing and dancing it ever since."

    BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Thank you for the laugh!

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  9. Good for you! and I second the laugh over the macarena...oh my!

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  10. Zumba sounds fun indeed. It is taught at my institution, but I'm blind so I think I can't do it. Great for doing something for yourself today. And heart-shaped lasagna sounds nice. Did you just buy it that way or did you make it into a heart shape?

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  11. Ah, you guys are going to be disappointed by my choice in pasta.... See pix.

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Thanks for sharing!