Round and round she goes

True confessions time:

I am not what you would consider an "athlete." I try hard, but I'm miserable at team sports. I lettered in marching band! Plus I'm not the most coordinated (we all remember the scooter incident, right?). Also, gyms kinda skeeve me out and running on a treadmill makes me want to poke my eyes out with a spoon. BOOOORING!

Until recently, this hasn't really been a problem. Sure I've carried a few extra pounds around my middle, but it wasn't enough to make me increase my exercise beyond afternoon walks in the park, hiking on the weekend, and the occasional pilates session. Then I wrote my dissertation, defended, and got a job where I sit all day. Suddenly those few extra pounds were getting friendly with a few more, and then a few more after that. Not the kind of friends a girl wants!

So I upped my walking, going at lunch with some ladies in the office and attempting to jog after work. Still boring, but I stuck it out. The scale budged almost inperceptibly, and I wasn't falling over myself to get home and exercise in the evenings. I needed excitement! A challenge! Something that doesn't require running! Or a trainer yelling at me (no, you do those sit-ups!)!

Then the most random thing happened. The daily Groupon (an online coupon thingy), which is usually for bum-expanding delicious food discounts, was for a hula hoop class. Seriously. I had vaguely remembered reading a Southern Living article about an East Nashville hooper, and here were her classes--on sale!

This gal can't resist a sale.

I was a bit apprehensive when I joined 11 other grown women for the first class. But that soon melted away as I hooped, dropped my hoop, hooped some more, and laughed. A lot. Folks, you have not seen ridiculous until you have seen a room full of women hooping! But the funny thing was, I haven't had that much fun in a long time, expecially exercising! Hoop class became the highlight of my week.

You'll never guess what happened next:



Yup, I'm the proud owner of my own, adult-sized (and pretty!) hoop. And yes, I do practice in my yard! (Well, out back. When the neighbors aren't home. And they aren't doing construction on the house across the alley. Baby steps, here). I'm officially addicted...I actually look forward to going home and hooping!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. My final level 1 hoop class was last week. But have no fear--level 2 starts on monday! You haven't seen the end of my hooping yet!

Cute overload

Have you ever made something so cute that it causes you to squeal "ohmygoodnessthatissoooocuteeeee!!!!" (and then look around to see if anyone heard)?

Yeah, that's how I felt after I made these:


Ridiculous. It kills me.

And of course, you need pants to go with your fancy shirt/tie combo:


And shoes:


Baby showers rock--All of the cuteness, none of the poopey diapers!

(both pants and booties from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones Oooh, bargain price right now! Snatch this up!)

Vegas, baby!

Mr. McAwesome and I just got back from a little vacation in Vegas. (No, we didn't elope!) The first real vacation we took just with each other--is that crazy or what?

Speaking of crazy, Vegas is a crazy town. We managed to stay out of trouble, and just enjoyed seeing the sites:



We stayed at the New York-New York. Getting this shot took a lot of contortion and planning. Surprisingly, our antics were not the weirdest thing on the street that day and barely registered with passerby.




Saw a couple of shows. Cirque du Soleil Beatles LOVE and Terry Fator. Both were awesome.




Land sailing in a dry lake. SOOOO cool! Highly recommended.

Finally, we just toured the strip:


Giant slot machine


Paris


Mirage


Bellagio

Fun times, but good to be back to reality!

A sinking feeling

My poor city is under water.

After over 13 inches of rain in 2 days, there is wide spread flooding in Nashville. Many have lost their homes and businesses, and downtown is under water. The pictures are staggering--just Google Nashville flood (or check out twitter tags #NashvilleFlood and #OtherSituation2010)

On Sunday, I had no idea that the day was going to turn out like it did. Seemed just like a little rain, and my biggest worry was that the rain would make it hard for me to get to my class with Natalie Chanin at Textile Fabrics. Mr. McAwesome started making pancakes; by the time he was done we were bailing water out of our basement.

We bailed about 4-5 gallons per minute by shopvac and bucket for over an hour before we realized this would be an all day project. To save our backs, and our basement, we had to get creative. Thankfully we are DIY packrats--we cobbled together a system using 2 decorative fountain pumps, some tubing, a very large pot, and Mr. McAwesome's beer brewing pump to get the water out of the low lying area and into the laundry sink.




About 4 hours later we were dry. The same can't be said for our local park. The golf course and greenway were completely swallowed by Richland Creek (river?). When we walked by, the water had already subsided from its highest and the damage was heartbreaking.


A heck of a water hazard...

the cart path is gone.

The 6th tee.

where the water was earlier in the day

I feel lucky that we escaped the "storm of the century" relatively unscathed. Please keep Nashville and all its flood victims in your thoughts.