Happy Halloween!

Cuddly Halloween greetings from Sam and Max. . .

And a cute Halloween greeting, from the Lord Of Cuteness himself:  Des!

 Scary Faces!

 

 And Happy Faces!

The anticipation is palpable!

It's pumpkin carving time (which is serious work)

The finished products!

The boys approve!

My hubby is 'Da Man'! (The Husband Song)

Well, today is dear hubby's birthday--so I decided to dedicate this post to him and found a song that I'm SURE he'll 100% agree with. . . after all, he's DA MAN!

Enjoy sweetie--this one's for you (and all the other manly hubbies out there)

 

Happy birthday Dear Hubby!

There's Parkour. . . and then there's 'Office Parkour'

Unless you've been living under a rock or perhaps only visit this planet on occasion, you've heard of 'Parkour'.

The Frenchy French thought this one up.  It simply means the art of moving.  And what a way to move, eh?

The participant runs along a route and tries to navigate obstacles in the most effecient totally cool way possible by jumping, spinning, tumbling, leaping, flying, defying gravity and the laws of physics in every way possible.

I am a die hard fan of the sport--and am currently trying to get my body in shape just to navigate the coffee table and couch in my living room without breaking my toes.  (which, alas, I have done TWICE before)

And just as there are 437, 984 coffee combinations at Starbucks--there are many subtle and not so subtle rankings of Parkour. . . from the novice to the not so novice.  (I'm still working up to the novice level)


Just to give you an example--here is a guy whom I will dub 'The King Of Parkour'   His name is Damien Walters.  This is on the 'Hardcore Parkour level':

And then there is the 'Office Hardcore Parkour'  which is in a category by itself and should not be attempted without an 'idiot meter' present:

I'm not going to say 'don't try this at home'--because face it, you can try it ANYWHERE.  Just be sure you look really cool doing it and either give the 'thumbs up sign' when you've mastered a particular tricky move--or shout 'HARDCORE PARKOUR' for effect when you look like a total moron.  That way, everyone will totally understand and think you're amazing.

I will be attempting to hurtle from my parked car into a shopping cart and careen one-legged all the way up to the sidewalk, whereupon I will leap through the automatic doors into the Target store this morning.  Wish me luck. . . .

Beach Dance at Cannon Beach. . . Amazing!

Cannon Beach is such such a beautiful place along the Oregon coast and one of my favorite easy access quick getaway places when I need a  bit of beach time.

On my recent 'gal's getaway' one of the most amazing things we did was participate in 'Beach Dance'

the last Saturday of  September--AND it happened to be the last beach dance event of the season.

Only one of the gal's in my group had participated before and she talked the rest of us into giving it a try.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning--and I had absolutely no  idea of what to expect or how I would feel--but I was willing to just live in the moment and let the music and the ocean and waves and sky and sun and nature take it's course.

I picked my spot over by these cliffs--because there was an inlet (opening) among the rock face where I could go and be alone if necessary and not worry about anyone else watching.

The instructor gave us all iPod Shuffles with an hour's worth of all types of music and we all turned them on at the same time and just went and 'did our thing'

There were no rules, just complete freedom  to move and feel and just BE.

 

 

I didn't know how I would feel or what I would end up doing--but the music flowed, my body moved and lo & behold! emotions started pouring out of me. . . so much so, I had to take a break halfway through and get a grip!

It was WONDERFUL.  It was freeing.  It was exhilarating.  It was empowering.  And I ended up using every muscle in my body and performing moves I hadn't done since I was a kid.  (the next day I was sore in places I didn't even know I had!)

I absolutely LOVED it--and I think the other 15 participants that day felt the exact same way.

I talked with the 5 women I came with--and we all agreed we want to make this an annual pilgrimage and participate next year. (although secretly I'm hoping I don't have to wait that long)  I'm now tempted to get an iPod Shuffle of my own and get out there somewhere in nature and start moving and grooving amongst the flora and fauna and birds and bees.

A big thanks to Lisa our fabulous beach dance instructor---and to my friend, (whom I'll call Elaine) for suggesting this idea in the first place. . . and a big thanks to the friends who participated with me that amazing day.

If any of my blogger followers want to try this out for yourselves--just click on the beach dance link I provided in that second paragraph and perhaps you can find a location near you. . .

Hope to see you dancing on the beach--I know I will be!