Flexibility Rollercoaster and A Few Surprises

Talk about a whirlwind!

This year I got my front splits!
And then illness hit and I lost flexibility and learned to deal with it.
Then I got my splits again!
But had to boycott them.

I stuck with what I am best at, backbends, of course.

As much as I love my splits, wherever they may be hiding, losing them twice was worth it. Yep, even worth not having pictures of splits in front of the tree after two years of trying for Xmas splits. That reason is sleeping as I type these words.

Meet my flexy little baby, here at one week of age and already too big for this newborn outfit. This was taken around November 19th and he's already a month and a half!

2013 was a chance for me to be inspired by some of the most amazing, strong women I have had the privilege to know (and a few awesome men too). In the Pole Dancing Bloggers Association we share ideas, critiques, frustrations and all together support and inspire one another. This blog post is part of our many #PDBloggers blog hops and our way of bridging the pole world and making it stronger--you can check out everyone's "Best of" posts at the bottom of this. Some of my best Weekend Crushes were my fellow bloggers for this very reason. The best surprise was that despite how awe-inspiring these ladies are they are also expremely helpful and humble.

Speaking of blog posts, one of my most popular posts surprised me--who knew so many people would find my little corner of flexibility and pole dance bliss searching "dog peed on yoga mat?" Err... good to know. A lot of people were also curious about pole dance.

As a site you may have noticed a few small adjustments but there has been so much percolating in the background, ideas that I hope to fully develop in the coming new year... but that is a post for tomorrow ;)

I Reserve the Right to Fangirl Out

Why is flattery always assumed to be fake? I was helping my husband study for his Business Interviewing class when I read that in an exchange you should not use a lot of flattery because it comes off as insincere and makes people feel uncomfortable. Well haul me off to flattery corrections! (Weekend Crush, anyone?)

Cape Flatter Trail (c) mlcastle
CC Attribution 2.0 License

I will concede that flattery can make people feel uncomfortable. I believe it should not. This is something conditioned in so many places to keep people from acting like arrogant snobs so I can understand the feeling. I liken it to the crippling need to qualify self-flattery. Women are very guilty of this--ask a woman about her best feature and you can bet she will also point out a flaw. Stop!!! You can take a compliment and you can boast about your best attributes without being snobby. It all comes down to tone and moderation. Sometimes it's okay to boast. I would even say as humans we have a need to do so.

So I try to limit my flattery. The truth of the matter is that if I tell I love how you dance or that your hair color is absolutely gorgeous, I mean it. There are certain people that I would have made my Weekend Crush several times over and mentioned in more posts if I did not hesitate to make them feel uncomfortable (like this magical goddess or my continual source of inspiration). Besides, I have a feeling I might seem like a bit of a stalker after the umpteenth time of saying how their posts light up my day. Just a little. 

I reserve the right to fangirl out. 

The magic of fitness and pole dance in particular is that everyday people make the best idols. People that have real jobs and real commitments to family on a real budget that manage to change to a healthy lifestyle inspire me. People with no dance background who learn lyrical pole dance inspire me. Being an everyday person is not an excuse I will ever let you use to get out of being one of my inspirations--it's part of the reason any one person would be.

Weekend Crush: Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilar (c) Raffaele Fiorillo
CC Attribution 2.0 License

Yes, Christina Aguilera is pretty much the epitome of sexy song bird--but that's not the part of her I love. Her "Dirrty" days still make me cringe even if I am learning to love her over-the-top sexy boudoir look. But that's Christina Aguilera--always doing exactly what she loves and staying true to herself. That and belting out some ultra powerful songs. You know those songs that help you make it? The ones that keep you from falling the last few degrees down into insanity? Those are what make me adore her. Music and running kept me sane in the hardest times of my life. There is something pretty irresitistable about listening to songs that rebel against the things that make us "work a little bit harder" and gasping out "Fighter" while pounding the pavement. You just can't help but to believe in her as she belts it out--and to believe in yourself. Songs that make the best quotations like this are the ones sung as if the singer's life was poured out in them. Considering how passionate Christina is, I suspect that is exactly the case. As a fellow Latina, I love that she's representing with strength and individuality. It also helps that I got to play this song as one of the first flutes ahem... Proud band geek here. There is nothing like seeing the scoring that goes into the song for understanding it's depth.