fun – Page 2 – Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

PLANK STORY: The Competitive Spirit Starts Young

We met friends in the Poconos last weekend. Their seven-year-old daughter is a blast and abnormally easy going for a human being. But I saw a whole new side of her when we rode Go-Carts, an activity I haven’t done in years, but highly recommend. It’s so much fun. Evelyn had to ride with an adult, so for the first ride she picked Uncle Matt. We drove the course. Matt and Evelyn did well. On our second ride, she opted to go with me. I told her that if she wanted to win she should join Uncle Matt or her father. After a brief consideration she opted to stay with me.

Picture this one in hot pursuit of every single go-cart that zoomed passed us.

We get in the car. Keep in mind I’m changing from the single passenger to a double. Before the race starts they have you drive out of the shed and stop. I pull out behind the other doubles, but when I need to break, the pedal is so much farther away on the doublewide […]

PLANK STORY: The Competitive Spirit Starts YoungMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:12-04:00

Twenty Steps to Make A Rainbow Igloo

This project was so much fun. I’m so glad I did it. That being said, I doubt I’d ever do it again. But it’s totally worth it. Here is how we did it and what we learned along the way:

Collect over 500 half gallon, cardboard containers. If you get about 520 to 530 that should be more than enough with some room for error.

Notes: Fake stuff smells the worst. Year old soy products, coconut milk and lactaid milk smells even worse than year old egg nog. You’ve been warned. Also, most people don’t use half gallons, so get as many people collecting for you as possible. If you think that on trash night you can go recycling bin-to-recycling bin and find half gallons, don’t waste your time. People just don’t use them. Find your friends, family and local businesses that do and ask them to collect them for you.

2. Rinse them out and open the tops.

Notes: I didn’t rinse all of them, which I came to regret. And the ones I opened froze faster and were easier to fill and carry. It’s more work in the beginning, but will pay off in the end.

3. Fill with water and a little […]

Twenty Steps to Make A Rainbow IglooMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:13-04:00

Mission Impossible Laser Game

I totally forgot to mention that in December Matt and I went to San Antonio, Texas where we discovered the BEST game ever. It’s a laser game where your job is to get through a room of lasers—from one side to the other—without ever touching any lasers. You feel like you’re in Mission Impossible, partly because they are playing music from the movie.

You lose points if you hit a laser. Once you are through the room you can pick a more challenging level or try to beat your own time.

We were lucky to be the only people there so we could just keep playing the game over and over. Matt would go, I would, etc. for an hour and a half.

It was a reminder that games can be exercise and exercise can be fun. I like to exercise so I don’t always need that reminder. Still, I didn’t realize I was getting a workout until I […]

Mission Impossible Laser GameMaggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:17-04:00

Belly Dancing

Four times a year, the Personal Euphoria staff tries to get together and try something physical that isn’t Pilates. This time we tried belly dancing. I was really looking forward it because my Grandma has often told me stories of the time she took belly dancing classes. They used cues like, “dust the stool,” “figure eights,” and “Tarzan-Jane, Tarzan-Jane.” They are pretty self explanatory. In the first you pretend you are dusting a stool with your butt. The second you circle your hips making a figure eight shape, and finally you pull your breast bone in and then stick your chest out to depict the clear different between Tarzan and Jane.

The class was even better than I expected. It was hard to do right, but fun even when I was screwing up (which was a regular occurrence). Shalimar was a wonderful teacher. She explained the moves well and was encouraging. Years […]

Belly DancingMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:29-04:00

Have Fun Gluten Free

I’ve been experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. When I have the time I actually really enjoy it. And I’ve had a lot of success. I bought Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s gluten-free cook book and only had one bad meal from it. The rest have been delicious. My favorite is a cherry and cocoa smoothie with avocado. It’s wonderful.

When I’ve gone out to eat I need to be very careful and I’ve ordered items I would never have gotten in the past. I’d never go out and order plain chicken and vegetables, but I did last week and it was really good. So far being without gluten is adding a little more variety into my diet.

And it’s fun. I’ve tried gluten-free pizza, gluten-free blueberry muffins, gluten-free dumplings. I’ll admit the pizza and the blueberry muffins are not as good as the ones I normally make, but it’s […]

Have Fun Gluten FreeMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:35-04:00