Yesterday was good. The weather held for the most part, and I got a good 40 minutes of walking in. Then I lifted for 45 minutes and tried the standing part of my new Stretch tape. It felt wonderful! (for a more specific review of the stretch tape, see the exercise thread)
Gem was so cute. She isn't allowed downstairs when I lift. We have a split level, so she can look down and see me working out. She had taken off her clothes and was just in a diaper. She sat at the top of the stairs watching me. She lifted and lowered her arms as if she were lifting weights, too! I'm gonna have to be careful to make sure I put all the dumbbells on the floor when I'm done. If I leave one on the bench, and she tries to lift it, she could hurt herself. (If they're on the floor, she just won't be able to lift it at all.) I'm using 8 and 16 pounds, and will probably raise the 8 to 12 in another week or so.
Hunter finally has agreed that we can join the gym in September (I get paid every other week, and get an "extra" paycheck in September this year), and I'm getting excited. My birthday is this weekend, so Gem and I are going shopping tomorrow. I have walking shoes, but when I do cardio tapes or lift at home I do it barefooted (I know, not the best thing to do... /sigh). So my birthday present to myself is gonna be a pair of cross-trainer shoes and a gym bag. Maybe a new sports bra, too, if Lady Foot Locker still carries Champion clothes in plus sizes (I LOVE my Champion sports bras -- much more supportive than the cheap one I got at Target).
So, one of my goals for August is to get more comfortable doing squats and good mornings, since they are the only lifts I'm ashamed to do in public. Something about sticking my big butt out like that... /chuckle
As to Ren Faire, I must admit that I'm into it. I have a number of friends who are "Rennies" who work the local faires each year. Hunter and I used to belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a medieval re-creation group. Until Gem was born, we would camp every August for a week with 10,000 of our closest friends for the big Pennsic War, an SCA event that showcased medieval arts, music, dancing, crafts, and lots of people in heavy armor in the Pennsylvania sun hitting each other with big sticks. The "war" is between the Kingdoms of the East (mid-atlantic US) and the Middle (michigan, indiana, and around there). The winner of each event (battles, arts and sciences competitions, archery and fencing competitions) gains a "war point." The side with the most war points at the end of the war wins. The loser gets Pittsburgh. /lol (The original war was over territory, as all good wars are. The area around Pittsburgh is called The Debatable Lands in the SCA, since it has belonged to both the East and the Middle. More info than you ever wanted to know, eh? /grin)
http://www.pennsicwar.org/
You're in "garb" all week long. Some people put a LOT of effort into their garb and their campsites, and try to be as "authentic" as they can be. Others just get by with Ren Faire garb and focus more on partying all week long. And there are lots of people in between. We're mostly in-between. We wear "early period" garb -- mostly because I can't sew anything more fancy than that. And we stay in a Coleman tent and use a cooler for our drinks. But I do weave or embroider some of our own trim, and know how to card, spin, and dye wool. I have a number of medieval cookbooks, and know a lot of medieval songs (there's a reason I'm called "synger").
We're hoping we can do Pennsic next year, when Gem's a bit older. Or leave her at Grandma's for the week.
