Tri Stories- Yayyyy!!




Yes, I am...

  Tri Stories- Yayyyy!!



Yesterday marked one month of my blog! This is a big deal to me, last year I started writing on my blog, with the intention of sharing my growth, and life experiences. Though I received positive feedback from family, friends and strangers, I was not prepared to receive the feedback……I began to feel exposed, I mean like really exposed….I did not expect to receive so much feedback, the final straw came while I was sitting in a business meeting and my blog popped up on this persons computer…..GASP! “are you kidding me I say to myself”, …....... “I really enjoy you’re blog” she says….GASP! ‘Um, thanks” I say wanting to sink down into the chair and disappear……I know I posted the blog for public reading, but I never really thought about who if anyone would read my blog……I write from my heart and I speak the truth about myself, my feelings and emotions…..I don’t know what I expected, but feedback was NOT something I expected, well aside from my family.

I slowly began to back away from my blog and returned to my handwritten journal (now I do both)….It felt safe……The problem was I really enjoyed writing on the blog, I loved the positive feedback and knowing that others were inspired (the healer in me), but, at the same time I was not emotionally ready…….I would often look back on my blog and become a little disappointed within that I had given it up, it provided me with a release, but here I was letting my fears of what others may think, hold me back……I was internally upset with myself, but the fear won and I stopped. People stopped asking me about my blog, and I pushed away my desire to write……







Yup!



November 2010.….I head home to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with my family & friends…..My pops and I were talking and I mention that I stopped writing my blog, also telling him why, pops looked at me and said “you should start writing again”, I didn’t say anything, he continued ‘just write”…..My pops is one of the most loving men I know, he supports us all in whatever we do, he will never give us false advice…..I think about that as he continues, “I know this is what you want to do, and if people are enjoying it, follow what you love doing” My eye’s well up ( I’m a straight up baby with my pops ), “I know, you’re right”, a tear drops, “but I feel so exposed” second tear drops…..”I don’t know” I continue, “we’ll see”…….silence….Pops does NOT like the site of tears, I think they make him nervous….Lol…..we hug, I say “thanks pops, I hear ya“.….conversation over. Later, I think about his words, and I revisit my emotions on the situation, I let it go……I meet up with two dear friends of mine Gina & Lori…….we’re hanging out at Lori’s house and she ask “hey Tone, why did you stop writing?”, “I really enjoyed the blog, you should write a book”, I tell her why I stop, Lori looks at me and with more confidence in my writing than I had, she say’s “you should blog again”, I look away, “yea, we’ll see’….Uggh, first pops, now Lori……ugghh….I know they're right. Jean (my sister) is as honest as they come, I share with her my conversations with pops and Lori, and in her *I already told you that voice* she say’s “Toni I already told you that”, I say “shuttt uppp” we laugh……it was right then I knew I was going to revisit this bloging........Thanks Pops, Jean & Lori!!



My snow & ice boots (good traction, feet stay warm & dry!!)










I was more than ready to leave my apartmentt this morning, after being in all day yesterday and most of Tuesday (all my eve classes were cancelled), I was ready to GO! Looking forward to Julies spin class, I sat for a nice meditation and lovely personal practice…along with my regular sun salutations, I added in holding of poses that I’m focusing on alignment (I’m BIG on proper alignment), while getting deeper into the pose, with the guidance of my breath…..down dog is one of those poses, I can hear a teacher of mine saying “ belly button to the spine”, each time I practice this pose, lol….so I work on that as well as getting deeper into Trikonasana (triangle), spinal twist and my hand stand inversion with variations (holding ), then I  bring it back down I move into some breath work before Savasana (final resting pose)….NICE!



My hood last night around sunset....Peep the clean streets & expressway



 It was -6 degrees here in Chi-city this morning so I had to pull out the Eskimo coat, hat and  ice & snow friendly boots (not a day to play with mother nature), I bundle up pack my bag, check the CTA bus tracker online and head out……As I arrive at the bus stop, the bus is pulling up….Yayyy, no wait! I had  to climb over a mountain of snow in order to catch the bus, a really nice dude held the bus for me and even helped me over the snow mountain, extending out his hands to catch me as I let out a loud “EEK!!!” slipping on the snow “come on I gotcha” he said….l was so grateful and could not thank him enough (nice that people stop to help people!!). I must say my hood was looking good last night, aside from the snow mountains, everything else looked good (perk of living smack dead in the city!)………melikesthat!



I enter the spinning studio and was pleasantly surprised, there was a nice amount of spinners who came out, I spotted my ride partner from last week, I throw up the peace sign and he shoots me a smile. Since there is someone next to him already, I ride in a solo lane …… as per usual Julie (spin teacher) did not disappoint….she had her trivia question, I can’t remember the group, but it was a cool 80’s song……I was so into the sequence today, she focused on our quads….we made it around the course four times, lot’s I mean lot’s of jumps!! Not much running........jumps, and climbs, jumps and climbs…..INTENSE…..high resistance, steep standing climbs and heavy resistance sprints…..Rrrrraaahhhh! LOVE IT!  One song that I remember and can’t get out of my head is by Starship *We Built This City*, I loved this song as a teenager, I began to sing it at the top of my lungs and Julie shouts out “yea, sing, ya, know ya wanna sing ” lol, she makes spinning soooo FUN!! After class I decide to hit the steam bath, I’ve never used the steam bath here so I peek in first (I‘m such a creature of habit), it was much smaller than the other location……newer, but smaller…..Anyway, I was the only one in there and the steam was....WHEW, NICE!! My skin was thanking me over, and over again…..I was a bit tight on time, but all I needed in there was 15 minutes….I showered, then I was off to teach my noon class (grabbed a light snack in between)…..I left the gym feeling so refreshed so light and happy, the day old snow looked beautiful to me, even the slushy, muddy snow…..the sun was shinning I was out of my apartment, Moby playing in my ears and Chi-city was waking up from the Blizzard of 2011……VERY NICE moments in time!

  

 

Front Jan 3, 2011



Front Feb 2, 2011

  

I had a few pictures snapped today to honor my one month of bloging & training……I’m not sure if I’ll do this every month, but I had my camera with me today and decided to take a few……John’s BACK (my swim coach!!) We’re meeting up tomorrow, I can’t wait to show him what I worked on while he was away!!




Side Jan 3, 2011

 




Side Feb 3, 2011

 






















Thank you all that read, share and comment on my blog……It inspires me to keep writing! Yes, I have the organization that I’ll be raising money for, I’m just finalizing things before I make it public…….BUT……SAVE THE DATE May 15th 2011.…I will be hosting a fundraising event for my cause!!



Love, Peace & Happiness Y'all....



Peace,
T