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Dance Class Fail

I’ve been trying since I moved here to find any kind of dance class that is fun, gives a good workout, and fits somewhat into my schedule. Most of the studios I’ve found are almost exclusively for children, and if they do offer adult classes, it’s like once a week at 8:30. I’m not inclined to hang around Wilmington for over 3 hours after work before a 45 minute drive home…

I thought I struck gold when I found a pole dancing studio nearby, but after trying 3 classes, it’s nothing short of a big joke. Overly simple, boring, and poorly organized. You know it’s bad when the other students are asking me how to do things and complimenting MY muscles (they don’t really exist…LOL.)

I’m going to give it one more shot (a more “advanced” class) before making a final decision and committing to a series, but I think I just may have to wait till we move to start dancing again. I sure do miss it though! Here’s to continuing the dance party in my own living room. Gotta love iPod shuffle 🙂

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Anddd I Found a Winner!

…In churches, that is. Chuck and I tried a few last year, and being the picky and critical little Christians that we are, we remained vastly displeased and gave up altogether.

Yesterday I tried one that I’d had a positive hunch about for a while – just a middle sized Methodist church near the beach. As soon as the pastor started talking about how life isn’t sunshine and roses just because you are a Christian, I was hooked. One of my biggest issues with churches these days is the false sense of security they’re giving people. I’m tired of all the “look to the Lord and He will fix your problems because we are special” bull crap. Umm, no. Doesn’t quite work that way, Reverend. Not even for the original Christians who were actually good at it.

Anyway, the service was Biblical, relateable, and even-keeled. I learned something from it. The community was not too big or too small. People actually noticed I was new and came to say hi. The congregation was mixed with the old, the young, and children. There were plenty of embedded support and mission focuses that I liked – hunger, children, military families (that’s me!)

Definitely beats the hokey rock star churches Chuck and I tried last fall, so I think I’ll just stick with this one. I hope it continues to please! I’m really just looking for a supportive community and an engaging approach to Biblical study. I would love to get some sort of intellectual connection with the pastor. I have so many questions and am fascinated by many religious/theological topics! I just have a hard time discussing it with the 100% spiritually focused… so I am encouraged by what I’ve seen so far.

Maybe now I won’t be such a lazy heathen anymore 🙂

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Sure enough…

It is SNOWING in Holly Ridge! I’m not sure how I feel about the whole snowing-at-the-beach concept. I was rather enjoying the Indian Summer. Of all the things I miss about northern Virginia, snow was certainly not one of them!

At least I’ve got nowhere to be and can just relax and get cozy ❤ Girls’ night in with my Bean!!

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“Winter” Weather Advisory Here in Holly Ridge…

There’s a high of 51 degrees today and supposedly there will be 1-3 inches of snow. HA. I will believe it when I see it! 

In other news, I started taking Pure Barre classes in Wilmington 2-3 times per week, and while it’s not as fun or as active as a dance class, it’s still pretty awesome. The first place I’m noticing results is my abs!! Pretty exciting! Most of the moves can be done at home too, so I plan on incorporating them into home work outs, for those days when I am particularly motivated.

I’m not sure how long I will continue to pay for classes though. They are SO overpriced, and I’d still prefer to find a fun pole class or something. I can let off more steam when I move it n’ shake it, rather than do isolated tiny muscle movements over and over for an hour 🙂

A young new military wife from Chuck’s unit posted this today. It’s a little negative and dramatically put for my taste, but true nonetheless. And we’ll go way longer than 3 days without talking, most likely. Last deployment, I went as long as 4 weeks without hearing anything! It’s not easy hearing a friend complain about a measly business trip. Such is the life… we are more independent because of it 🙂

Anyway. The first weekend was soooo quiet here by myself. I have felt drained and moody though, so I needed a weekend to unwind. Basically all I did was clean and nap. Hopefully things will pick up once the weather warms up… otherwise it’s gonna be a long ass deployment in this lonely little town. It is just the first week, but I can already tell it will be worlds different from the last deployment when I led an interesting, dynamic, and engaged life up in DC, where there was bustling activity and various forms of human interaction as soon as I stepped out of my apartment.

With the exception of leaving my Bean alone all day, I think I will look forward to going back to work on Mondays… apologies for the momentary lapse in positivity!

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Super Annoyed!

Can a pharmacy just switch out your medication without telling you?? I get home and open my refill of birth control and it’s a totally different brand. I looked it up and apparently there was indeed a switch (to something “cheaper”), and lots of patients were taken by surprise. Even more annoying, the replacement gets terrible reviews, almost across the board…

I was very happy with my pill and don’t want to change it. Switching birth control pills is no walk in the park. Grrr. 

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I’m really not sure how I feel about this article that a Facebook friend posted condemning Beyonce for her sexy performance during the Superbowl.

I’m so torn on the issue of female sexuality. On one hand, I agree we are overly sexualized, and that creates all kinds of problems – from body issues in girls, to objectification and abuse by men. On the other, I think it’s a positive thing for women to embrace their sexuality and be equal to men in their sexual confidence, especially after so many generations of repression – not to be hidden away like some forbidden fruit. It is natural, after all…?

Religion tends to demonize sex, and while I agree the context of marriage/monogamy is the healthiest way to do it, I disagree that it should be repressed or portrayed as anything close to satanic (yes, this writer actually evokes Satan’s name in describing Beyonce’s image…)

Like many things in our human condition, sex can be abused… but I grew up fearing it, and was overly self-conscious and under appreciative of my body, thanks in part to the religious approach. Modesty has its place, as does the celebration of the female body – and I guess I’m just unsure of where to draw the line sometimes.

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Apparently “Vagina” is a Dirty Word…

I was watching “Mean Girls” on MTV last night and was all prepared to giggle when the chubby girl in the gym scene at the end says, “I can’t help it that I have a heavy flow and a wide-set vagina.”

Except, MTV decided to bleep out the part about the wide-set vagina.

Okay, I thought. Weird, but whatever! In the next minute of the same scene, however, MTV left “bitch”, “slut”, and “whore” decidedly UNbleeped. I was flabbergasted! Since when is “vagina” a dirtier word than “slut”?

I don’t want to get all feminazi over here, but it does go to show how our culture regards women and how it defines misogyny. Am I crazy to prefer my kid coming to me asking about vaginas than bitches and ho’s? Maybe it’s just me.

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Our Next Big Change

Any day now, Chuck and I are supposed to find out where our next assignment will be! I think I’ve mentioned he was selected for some specialty billet, which narrows our options a great deal. It seems that Monterrey, California, and the DC area are the two most likely! We’d most likely move late summer, when Chuck gets back from Afghanistan.

We both have a preference for Monterrey. It would be a grand adventure, something new, and the billet would eventually send us overseas – an even bigger adventure!! DC is a great option too, of course, for many obvious reasons. We already have a social and professional network there, it’s fun, and it’s accessible.

At this point, my biggest hold-up to going to Cali are all the rapid-fire weddings we have. I’m starting to get super nervous about those. Two are in September, two are in October, one in November, and one in January. Chuck and I are in pretty much all of them.

They are going to be crazyyyy costly if we are in California. Like, thousands of dollars costly. And then what about the holidays thrown in the mix, when we’ll be expected to fly home again? I’ll have to be the Scrooge that says “no, we just can’t do it!”

Otherwise, Chuck and I will just have to go to each (or most) solo, which sucks, but it will cut our costs in half. I’m trying to avoid backing out of any – you can’t really back out of a wedding you’re in. I don’t want to stop pulling for California… but if we do get it, I’m going to have to pace myself so I can enjoy the experience, as well as the weddings! But the craziness of this fall/winter definitely makes DC atypically tempting…

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but luckily the USMC will make that decision for me 😉