This is Just the Beginning

First, let me apologize for the delay in posting....Last week I was in training for work (TFAD), and had a great deal on my already full plate workwise....

Soooooo, the moment that Nemo and I have been waiting for.......WE GOT OUR FIRST CAPOEIRA BELTS!!!!! 

2 Belts...Somebody betta' watch their backs....#imjussayin!  LOL!

This event was held at the Brazilian Cultural Center's Capoeira Ginga Brasil CDO http://www.capoeiraconnecticut.com/ first Women's Encounter and Semi-Annual Batizado!  Let me start off by saying that the weekend was nothing short of amazing and Nemo and I are blessed to be amongst such a wonderful group of people!  Women came from all over CT, as far as Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and even Canada!  Well attended!

First, special shout out to my Mestre Guilherme Torres aka Mestre Gui aka Pinga Fogo for your guidance, leadership, direction and most of all sense of "family".  Obrigada!  :-)



The Best Mestre EVER!!!!  Obrigada!

Next, to my girls Madame, Marcia, Amy and Analisse for all of the hours that we have spent together leading up to this event!  I <3 you girls!  Pretty girls Rock!  <3  Obrigattttttttta!!!!  ;-)

Friday night was a whirlwind...After the first two workshops and the roda (circle in which you play Capoeira, with another person, all while singing songs to the beat of the berimbau, and other instruments), I can honestly say, I realized I was a beginner!  These women were serious!  No joke!  Sooooo, feeling a little, ok a lot defeated and intimidated, I went home with my proverbial tail between my legs...

Needless to say the mouth guard (TFAD) was in full effect Friday night as I tried to sleep with all of my nervous energy!  Did I mention, me and the girls had a performance had to do in front of all of the women and the Mestre's that had come in from all over?! 

Sidenote:  My back got twirked, Thursday night....It had been tight for a few weeks and because I did not allow myself the proper rest (TFAD), in a deadlift WOD, I was presented with a back issue.  I will talk about my mini-meltdown at another time.  With no time to feel sorry for myself, I called on Bonnie ECC's resident sports masseusse.  Let me just say, I love her!

Here is how my Saturday went in a nutshell....
4:45A - Woke up for the first time
4:46 - 7A - Woke up about 5 more times with a couple of loads of laundry in between
7:45A - Went down to ECC for a sports massage by Bonnie....Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!!!!
9:30A - Get Nemo to his tutor (TFAD)
10A - Start on our second day's workshops
My SaturdDAY ended on Sunday AM at the Diner after a night with our Capoeira friends at Jake's!

The day was filled with a music workshop, a review of Capoeira sequences and some agility activities (i.e. kicking using no arms, or playing Capoeira using one leg...)

But my favorite was the Samba workshop put on by Quenia Ribeiro http://www.sambasambasamba.com/ .  This little woman has so much energy, so much fire with a Brazilian New Yorkan swag (whatever that is... LOL!)  All I can say is I had a ball...I'm still trying to figure out how you move your feet and your butt so fast yet still to the beat!  She teaches at Alvin Ailey's Extension Center.  Needless to say Mama is making a trip to the City since my dreams of being a Luke Dancer never panned out (TFAD!) 

We then had another Roda as we prepared for the performance and the Batizado. 

The moment arrived.  It was time for all eyes to be on us as we performed the dance...The applause came as we came out.  We performed, had a teeny nervous energy hiccup, that hopefully the crowd didn't notice, but it STILL kills me and we were done! That fast, it was over :-(

Analisse aka Bolivia and Amy aka Maizena

Madame and Paraiba



Me aka Figura "We're Done!"

Next up, was the Batizado!  This is a "baptism" where we earn our corda's aka belts.  First up were the kids.  Below is a video (compliments of Dad) from Nemo's take down along with some photos (compliments of Carla M. - Obrigada!)

This is how it always starts :-)

She's in front of you Pops!

Nice Ponce baby!



Nemo with his takedown Contra-Mestre Marisa of Chicago



Nemo and his beautiful schoolmate El-Lana...Too happy babies!  xoxoxoxoxo

 

Then, it was my turn for the take down...Funny, this was the ONLY video that Ed took that did not come out!  I will have to thank him later for that, because needless to say, I got my tail handed to me!  The anxiety that I already had was heightened when I realized I would come face to face with Professora Gata Brava.  Below are a few photos from my takedown!  As SOON as I get the video, I will upload the content.  It's only fair!



How can I escape?!

Please don't kill me!



You can tell by her face, that she is about to give me the BUISNESS!

Phew....just missed!  She spared my life!

It's almost like she's laughing at me!  Silly naive girl!  LOL!

I still thought she was going to trick me and take me down!



It was all love in the end!



In the end, we got our belts! :-)

 Finally, the day ended with another roda!  Some pics and video from this!

Use it Moment:

Every day I walk into the Academy I know that I am blessed!  Four days a week, (2 days for Nemo, 2 days for me) I go where I feel as though me and my family are a part of a family.  NEVER in a million years would you have caught this former Cheerleader say "I think I'm going to take martial arts!"  I use this as yet another connection with my son!  He is truly a Daddy's Boy, which is GREAT, but I am sort of left out since I don't do the "boy things" that they do!  (TFAD)  Nemo and I have played Capoeira in the living room.  He has learned the Maculele beat and we take turns using the hardwood flooring to play Maculele while one of us plays the drum....He gets such a kick out of the performance that Ed & I put on....  I use this to show him that it's cool to have an active Mom.  That shows him I love him and I want to be on this earth as long as I can for him!  Love you Pops!

Lose it Moment:

I was so intimidated by all of the talent and skill of the lovely Capoeiristas I had worked myself into a nervous frustration.  Why can't I hold a handstand?  Why can't I get as low as they do?  Why can't I have the flexibility that they do?  But then I realized, I have been doing this for less than 6 months.  I have gone outside of my comfort zone and have so much more to go!  This, my friends and family is Just the Beginning!

As long as I have these two beautiful people leading the way, I will have nothing but Axe!  Obrigada Mestre Gui and Madame!  Obrigattttta!  :-)

The head of our Capoeira Family Mestre Pinga Fogo and Madame  xoxoxoxo!

1 Down 5 to Go!

As I mentioned in my initial post the 2011 CrossFit Games season is upon us http://games.crossfit.com/ !  It's hard not to get excited as the competitive spirit is getting athletes to perform some things that they have never done before!

The first WOD is as follows:
10 Mins (As Many Rounds as Possible) AMRAP

• 30 Double-unders
• 15 Power snatches (75lbs / 35kg)

Believe me it looks a lot easier than it is to perform!

Somewhere:

• An athlete completed their first double under. 

• An athlete lifted 55lbs in a power snatch for the first time!
• An athlete got past that little voice in their head that said "you can't" and "they did"!

See what is great is that as long as you did not scale the WOD every point counted!  So, if you had 9 minute 58 second double under fail and in the last two seconds you got one...You, my friend are on the Board!

Use It Moment:
My nerves had me all types of messed up from the night before.  In my head I knew that I hadn't trained like I did last year.  In my head I knew I was a year older.  In my head I knew I had three or so glasses of wine with my Capoeira Girls!  (ooops did I say that out loud?!)

So, I woke up Sunday morning (I started waking up at 4:45A and continued to wake up/go to sleep, wake up/go to sleep until Nemo finally got out of bed at 8:45A).  Then there was the question to eat or not to eat?!  I stopped at Starbucks, then went to 7-11 to get some hold over food.  As I walked out of 7-11, I realized my nerves had caught up with me and I began grinding my teeth!  Thank GOD I packed my dental guard.  Can I tell you that this is the best invention EVER?!?!  Popped it in, drove to ElmCity CrossFit (www.elmcitycrossfit.com) and began to warm up for my WOD!  After watching a team go before me, I knew this was not going to be easy. 

Then it was my turn, enter hair pins, black elastics, and head band.  It's GO time!  My Judge gave me the heads up as to where he wanted me to be points wise.  I honestly had NO CLUE where everyone else was as it relates to points!  Thanks Jon!  (His wife Bad A$$ is an amazing athlete and owes herself way more credit than she takes!  He's a great athlete as well)

I wanted to get 5 rounds but that 4th round of double unders took everything outta me!  It was like my hands weren't spinning the rope fast enough, my feet were too big tripping up the rope and I had no wind!  Dang it, I forgot to take a hit of the inhaler pre-WOD!  Long story short, after a few "no reps" I ended up with a score of 216.  That was 4 full rounds plus 30 double unders and 6 power snatches!  Do you want to know what that looks like when you are done?




I'm done!

Lose It Moment:
One of the best things about CrossFit and the competition is the drive to want your team mates to succeed!  This is when you lose the "all about me" attitude and think of others....I can honestly say that cheering on your team mates is JUST as EXCITING as competing yourself!  You hope that your words can get in their heads in a positive way to push them a little further.  Each and every athlete "showed up and showed out" today!  I am proud to say I am a CrossFitter.  Even prouder to say that I am an ElmCity CrossFitter.

Some spectating pics (all photos compliments of Danielle Smith-Jones and her baby girl!)  Danielle is another AMAZING athlete who came in day 1 and made her mark at ECC!  Let's get it Danielle, President of the ECC MILF Crew! 

80's Headbands are ok, as long as they are Lululemon (so I try to convince myself!)  Me and Danielle :-)

The sweaty bib and pit look is super hottttt!  I guess Danielle's little girl thought her Mom's pose was too provocative for the camera!  She is supposed to be in this pic too!

So, bring on WODS 2-5, I'm ready (as long as it's not pull ups, push ups, hand stand push ups, pistols or weighted anything!)  Other than that, I'm ready!  LOL!

Just a Minute...

Today was one of those "good" days.  I refuse to have or claim a bad day!  It all started around 8:10AM with Nemo Spedeemo's dental check up.  Basically, the dentist told me to schedule an appointment for 3 months because we will need to see an orthodontist sooner than later...He's got teeth crowding all over the place, growing in places where teeth aren't meant to be...Poor baby! 



Million Dollar Smile and Gazelle's aka Safety Glasses.

 While at the Dentist's office, check my emails (Smartphones were the beginning of the end ~ TFAD), and everything seems to be blowing up...While talking to my co-workers I proceed to drive to the office.  When I get about 15 minutes away from the office (I work about 40 minutes away), my co-worker friend reminds me that I am supposed to be in New Haven at an appointment!  DANG it!!!  (Trying to keep this PG-13) but KD knows the rant that I let out...Clearly, I had to reschedule as I was closer to work then I was to my appointment.

Operation hustle and flow was in full effect in the office...filled with faulty desktops, fire drills, no follow-ups, too much to do, not enough time.  Stress and anxiety was at an ALL TIME high!!!  I still had to make it back down to New Haven to fulfill my appointment obligation before 5P.

Appointment done.  On deck...ElmCity CrossFit for my Workout of the Day (WOD).  The WOD consisted of 10 power cleans at 105# with a 200M overhead walk 1 Round for Time (RFT).  As most CF WOD's, are ~ it was a Monster to get through, but you feel so much better when you do...

Use It Moment:
With all that I do, (I know most of it is self-imposed, but that's my choice...TFAD), it's important that I take "Just a Minute".

• When I walk into the office, I have a ritual, I put my laptop on the docking station, put in my password, remove any cups of water left over from the day before, go to the kitchen get my tea, and THEN I turn on the lights to my office.  Not a second sooner.  I need just that minute to transition from my commute to my work day.
• If I WOD at night at ECC, before I change my clothes, I sit in the kids room, once again lights out, in solitude, while the previous class is finishing up their WOD, and do nothing!  I just need that time to once again transition from my commute to the intensity of the WOD.  I guess you can say it's "gettin' my mind right".
• When my little guy is having a meltdown, or perhaps he is working on his remix CD with "Mommy, Mom, Ma, Mommy, Mom, MOMMY!!!!", I have to take a minute to walk away breathe and come back to him.  It is not his fault that I may have had a bad day or even if he is having a bad day.  He deserves the best ME!  I learned this when he was an infant and if there was a cry that I couldn't soothe, instead of getting all riled up, I took a minute.
• Just tonight, I was in the ladies room and he found it CRITICAL to wash his hands THEN.  I told him to just give me 37 seconds to myself, he proceeded to tell me he had his eyes closed so it was ok.  I let him know that it was in his best interest to give me a MINUTE!

Lose it Moment:
Have you ever not taken that "minute" and regretted it?!  I know I have.

• In heated discussions, I have to work on taking a minute before I retaliate.  There are so many hurtful words that have been said just because of not taking a minute.
• Before WOD'ing, not properly warming up, or post-WOD, not properly rolling out...The next morning, I wish I would have just taken that minute when I can't walk down the stairs without going sideways or sitting down is filled with grunts and heavy breathing.
• At work, have you ever had a deadline that it was imperative that needed to be met and there were errors in it because you did not have that minute to fully review it, look at it with fresh eyes?
• There are times, I am ashamed to say, yet honest enough to admit, when I have snapped at Nemo during one of the "remixes".  The disappointment and hurt in his face after I snapped cannot be erased.

Don't lose those "minutes"....There is always someone/something there to steal your time.  But everyone, even our President needs "Just a Minute" to fill out his March Madness brackets (TFAD). 

Are you taking your minute?  I know I am taking mine.  So, if you don't mind, please excuse me, I need Just a Minute.

Slainte ~ Everyday is a Celebration!

I remember March 17, 2002 like it was yesterday.  I was in the car driving up 91North between exits 22 and 23 and it hit me like a ton of bricks...This was the first Holiday, that I realized I would not celebrate St. Patrick's Day with my Mom.  It hurt me to the core.  I wouldn't understand until later why this hit me so hard.  Between my tears, I got on the phone with an old friend who knew what a big deal my Mom made over EVERY Holiday and cried, it was an uncontrollable, unconsoleable sob! 

Why St. Patty's Day?  Why such a blow?  Valentine's Day had come and gone and I had celebrated with my new "love interest" ~ aka Ed and I was perfectly fine!  Then I figured it out...

My Mom found a reason to celebrate any and EVERYTHING!  She would buy me St. Patrick's Day Cards, and throw in a few Gold Coins.  She would make sure I had my corned beef and cabbage (even in college and the later years...)  If you haven't figured it out yet, there is not any clear Irish blood running through these veins (from what we can tell, that's a (TFAD) topic for another day...), but that didn't matter in the least.  Glenda Boyd celebrated and made sure she spread the "Slainte!" (cheer, good health with me).  I didn't appreciate it then, and actually thought it was corny, but MAN, on that day, at that minute I missed it.  I knew that no one was going to wish me a Happy St. Patrick's Day or buy me a St. Patrick's Day gift and that hurt and they had no clue what emptiness I felt.

My Use it Moment:
From that I have learned to use every holiday to celebrate.  Tomorrow is never promised and it is not only a "pick me up" for you, but for others as well.  Today, Nemo and I rocked our green.  When I walked into Starbucks (TFAD), the Barista smiled from ear to ear.  She asked if we were having some sort of contest at the office.  I may have overdone it with my green, but it started up a counter conversation where one girl on her way out reassured me that today "we are all Irish" (TFAD).

St. Patty's Day is over for the Moore's but here's our gear (minus my kelly green pea coat!)

As much junk as I talked about Ed and his dang on parades, we went (and I was secretly excited to see the bagpipes and the traditional Irish dancers).



Check out our Lt. Governor Wyman rocking the stilletto's for the whole parade.  Get it girl!



Their dancing was on point, but I am SURE all of them had headaches from the big wigs they were rockin'!

My Lose it Moment:
I say all of this to say that if you do not take advantage of the little celebrations, you will be overwhelmed with all of the other "stuff" (and Lord knows there's plenty of it).  Nemo even said to me one day when I turned on the news...Mom, can you change the channel, there's nothing but bad news?  I asked where he heard that, he said nowhere, it's just always bad stuff there.  WOW!

While there is much to be debated about the contributions of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick secured his spot in history.  St. Patrick's primary contribution was that he successfully converted Ireland from a pagan to a Christian land.

Today, we celebrated, because we are all one (I knew I was related to my Uncle "Teddy" Kennedy somehow! (TFAD)  LOL!  And had a fabulous time doing so!

To all of my friends and family Slainte! 

I Got Next...

So after much contemplation and not very much prepration, I am throwing my hat in for the 2011 CrossFit Open.  I am still trying to figure out the new format, but I am super excited about the number of ElmCity CrossFit members who have also made the commitment to this event! 

If you know me, you will know that CrossFit is perfect for me.  The "constantly varied" philosophy of CrossFit aligns perfectly with my "constantly varied" lifestyle. Everyday I have to be nimble and quick on my feet and CrossFit prepares me for this. I have been CrossFitting for a little over two years now and absolutely adore my ECC family!

My ECC Crew - Bad A$$, Canadian QT, Coach Wheels & Coach Joe

I had the pleasure of competing in last year's sectionals and was humbled and amazed at regionals.  I still smile both on the inside and outside thinking of how I attempted and failed miserably at my first hand stand push ups!  Whose idea was it to have me TRY them outside on concrete in front of spectators for the first time?!??!??!?!?!   I kept trying and trying and trying.  First trying to get inverted, then trying to push myself out of the bottom.  I just remember looking at my Coaches and my husband and thinking..."I am too old for this crap!"  Wait, how about when I went down for a hand stand push up and my hair product made my head slide OFF of the mat....I couldn't write a better comedy

Attempt number 2 zillion at hand stand push ups

But after a helluva year, I still decided to come back for more.  All I can do is my absolute best, bubble gut and all...So, after the scaled divisions go off this weekend at the box...when I hear 3-2-1 and the infamous beep...know..."I Got Next!"  Good Luck Everyone!