Archive for April, 2009
Posted by terrepruitt on April 30, 2009
Tonight we are going to dinner in Willow Glen, which is San Jose, but San Jose is large and spread out so having the sections help us determine the general location. Downtown Willow Glen is where I have my Nia classes, and is fairly close to downtown San Jose.** We went with a group of people who Yelp (so they are called Yelpers) on Yelp.com.
We are going to Opa. It is a Greek Restaurant. I am part Greek. I didn’t like Greek food until recently. Since we are going to a Greek Restaurant it started me thinking about one of my favorite snacks that I have been having lately. Greek Yogurt. I didn’t even know that there is such a thing until about two years ago—and I am Greek.
There are probably as many different brands of yogurt as there is (types of) Yoga, just like there are different brands of regular yogurt, but what you will find is that Greek Yogurt is thicker. It seems creamier. And it typically has less sugar and a lot more protein.
I have been eating plain non-fat to which I added a little bit of sugar, vanilla, and some super crunchy cereal. Yum. So I guess you could say that I am using it like milk. But I won’t drink non-fat milk, but I will eat non-fat yogurt and get a lot more protein! Plus with its smooth, think, creaminess it is like dessert for breakfast!
Also, during our heat wave I decided to make chicken salad sandwiches for dinner. I didn’t realize we were out of mayo when I decided on that refreshing dinner. But I used the yogurt instead. It worked great because it is more like mayo in consistency than regular yogurt. Don’t tell my husband because it also has less fat and more protein than mayo. And I did add a little bit of mayo so it would taste like regular mayonnaised chicken salad.
So next time you are in the store you might want to pick up some Greek yogurt and do some experimenting of your own with it. It can be used a little differently than regular yogurt. Then let me know what recipe you used it in. I am always looking for new things to make!
**Good thing I looked up the event before we went, granted it was after I posted this, but we actually ended up going to Opa in Los Gatos! It is important to check on event locations and not assume . . . . . 🙂
Posted in Food | Tagged: chicken salad, dessert for breakfast, Greek, Greek food, Greek snack, Greek yogurt, Los Gatos, Los Gatos Nia, Los Gatos Yoga, mayo substitute, Nia Classes, Nia in Los Gatos, Opa, San Jose, San Jose Greek Restaurant, San Jose Nia, San Jose Yoga, Willow Glen, Willow Glen Yoga, Yelp, Yelp.com, Yelpers, Yoga, Yoga Los Gatos | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 28, 2009
Here are a few pictures from the 2009 event. I believe this is what is pictured:
Belly Dance – Raqset Wadi al Shams (Saida)
and Middle Eastern Belly Dance – Hala Dance Company (Hala)
And don’t forget Halanda Studio Celebrates Bay Area National Dance Week by offering FREE attendance for new students.
Participating classes include:
Tuesday April 28:
Zumba Fitness: 5:30pm-6:30pm
Fusion Bellydance: 6:30pm-8pm
Hip Hop: 8pm-9pm
Bellydance Basics: 9pm-10pm
Wednesday April 29:
Nia Technique with Terre: 9am-10am
Hala Dance Troupe Rehearsal: 6pm-8pm
Bellydance for Fun & Fitness: 8pm-10pm
Thursday April 30:
Yoga and Core: 6pm-7pm
Tribal Basics: 7pm-8pm
Tribal Fusion: 8pm-9pm
Friday May 1:
Nia Technique with Terre: 9am-10am (Halanda’s website does not state this, but let’s go with it!)
Near Eastern Dance: Bellydance & Beyond: 6:15pm-7:30pm
Saturday May 2:
Zumba Fitness: 8:15am-9:15am
Thursday May 7:
Dances of Persia and the Silk Road: 9pm-10pm
To attend for free, please sign in at the door and let the instructor know you are attending for National Dance Week. Please note that classes which are not specifically on this list are not able to offer free classes during this week.
This is an annual event so you can look forward to attending next year!
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: Bay Area Dance, Bay Area National Dance Week, Belly Dance, fitness, Free Belly Dance Classes in San Jose, Free Classes in San Jose, Halanda, Halanda Studio, Hip Hop, Middle Eastern Belly Dance, National Dance Week, Nia, Qi Gong Flow, San Jose Fitness, San Jose Hip Hop, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia Technique, San Jose Zumba, Terre, Terre Pruitt, Tribal Dance, Zumba | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 25, 2009
When I was studying for my Personal Trainer Certification I came across a book I thought would be helpful, The Muscle Book by Paul Blakey. After buying it, I took another class for which this book was recommended reading. The book is also recommended reading for Nia teachers. Obviously instructors think it is helpful too. It is a good book. It is very simple and easy to understand.
It has 45 pages, it is black and white, and spiral bound. Page 4 explains how to use the book, because every page that describes a muscle has a lot of information on it. Each page gives you the muscle name and where the name originated, it explains the possible movement issues, and advises that certain actions can injure or cause pain. There are line drawing illustrations, action of the muscle, the muscles origin and insertion, and the muscle’s contribution muscle (synergists). And last but not least “Finger First Aid”.
At first I thought the “Finger First Aid” was ridiculous because the book claims it strengthens weak muscles. Then I realized that it is great instructions on massage or what I am thinking of as acupressure, because the “massage” is not of the muscle itself, but of the origin and the insertion. The book claims that massaging these areas “stimulates the circulation”.
A few times when my upper back was sore, I had my husband press the points as shown in the book and it really helped. He didn’t really massage my back, but just pressed the points and it was amazing the relief I felt.
So, I wanted to share it with you because it is easy to read, which makes it easy to learn from. I really like this book and I refer back to it often, and I am a believer now, in what Mr. Blakey calls “Finger First Aid”.
I bet you can find this book in any book store in most cities like: San Jose, Los Gatos, San Ramon, Mountain View, etc. or through Amazon.
Posted in Just stuff | Tagged: acupressure, Finger First Aid, Los Gatos Nia, muscle, Muscle Book, muscle insertion, muscle origin, Nia San Jose, Nia teachers, San Jose Nia, San Jose Persaonl Trainer, San Ramon Nia | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 23, 2009
I am so excited and intrigued by the Dance Anywhere idea, I wanted to blog more about it. It is happening tomorrow (Friday, April 24, 2009 at noon PST), so I suggest you adjust your schedule and put it on your calendar. Just think the world could look like those train station videos. Have you seen them?
Ok, so the world probably won’t look like those videos, they are obviously choreographed and probably rehearsed, but so what? How fun would that be?
If you look at Beth Fein’s site you will see (http://www.danceanywhere.org) that there are videos and pictures of past events. There are people dancing on the street, on hiking trails, in homes, and all over the world.
Unfortunately I won’t be in San Jose, where I am confident the earth will be shaking (from the collective dancing), I am going to be driving to a Nia Intensive I want to audit. But I did register so I am planning on dancing in my car. The tricky part is going to be the picture . . . . hmmmm? Maybe at noon I will have to plan a stop. I can dance where ever I stop! I think that is it! What about you? Where are you going to be? Where ever you are, stop and dance it doesn’t have to be a big dance, just join us!
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: 2009, April 24, car dancing, Dance Anywhwere, Dancing, dancing Nia, excited, intrigued, Nia, Nia dancing, Nia Intensive, Nia San Jose, San Jose Nia, train station dances, train station videos | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 21, 2009
The studio at which I teach my Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and sometimes Sunday classes, participates in the Bay Area National Dance Week. This is a week (actually 10 days) where all types of classes and performances are free.
The location of the classes range from San Francisco, to the East Bay, to the South Bay, to the Peninsula, and the North Bay. There is Zumba and Ballroom in San Francisco, Salsa in Oakland, ballet in Berkley, Mountain View, Walnut Creek, and Los Gatos. Pole dancing in Redwood City, Nia and Belly Dancing in San Jose . . . . Whew. If there is a class for it, it is part of the Bay Area National Dance Week, more classes include; Flamenco, Greek, Hip Hop, Hula, Hula Hoop, oh, far too many classes and locations to list.
Friday, April 24, 2009, at noon there is going to be a Conga line. Per the booklet: “Dancers and non-dancers, students and adults will join our downtown visitors, shoppers, and workers on the streets of San Francisco.” There will be performances on the Union Square stage.
You might want to check out their site: http://www.bayareandw.org for all the information.*
Also Friday at noon there is Dance Anywhere. Oh, yeah, that is what they mean, where ever you are at noon on Friday, dance. Now, I am thinking that the dance doesn’t have to be big. You can just tap your toe and bob your head, but whatever, I think it would be cool to join in: http://www.danceanywhere.org/
This 10 day event is from Friday, April 24, 2009, to Sunday, May 3, 2009. Don’t miss it!
If you attend one of my Nia classes from April 27th to May 1st and mention the event you can take the class for free.
Please check www.HelpYouWell.com for class schedule changes. Thank you.
*As of 06.06.20 – this site appears to not exist. Sorry.
Posted in Just stuff | Tagged: Ballroom, Bay Area National Dance Week, Certified Nia White Belt, Conga, Free classes, Free Nia Class, Hip Hop, hula, Hula Hoop, Licensed Nia Teacher, Los Gatos Nia, Nia Classes, Nia San Jose, San Jose Ballet, San Jose Belly Dancing, San Jose Nia, San Jose Salsa, San Jose Zumba, San Ramon Nia, South Bay | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 18, 2009
I was in my refrigerator the other day and I noticed that both of the vegetable drawers were empty. That in itself is NOT a good thing, but what it lead to, is a GREAT thing. It reminded me that I had had a conversation with my mom about this so I thought, “Heck, maybe it would be an ok blog.” My mother actually couldn’t believe that I don’t clean my refrigerator.
Well, to be exact, I don’t empty the entire thing out and wipe it down as often as you might think. What I do, is wipe empty drawers and shelves. I HATE emptying out the entire thing so when there is an empty spot I wipe it. If there is a shelf with hardly anything on it, I put those things on another shelf and wipe the now empty shelf.
Veggies are always leaving remnants of themselves in the drawers so I tend to wipe (and dump) those out more often.
There are a lot of great things about the wiping-an-empty-spot method. For one, you don’t have to take everything out and deal with it—-I so hate that. Another thing is, if you are trying to put the few items from one shelf on another so you can wipe an almost empty shelf sometimes that “forces” you to throw away an outdated something rather. I have a tendency to keep things because I hate being wasteful, but when I have an almost empty shelf and I just need space to move one or two things but there is an outdated item in my way—-great time to toss it.
And a BIG HUGE benefit is guests. They come in your house and go into the fridge and they say, “Wow, your fridge is so clean.” When in fact it might not be sooooo clean, they are just focusing on the empty spot—-because that is usually what they are in there in the first place, they want to put something in there. And they see the empty spot which you just wiped so they think the whole thing is clean. AND in reality, it IS cleaner than it would be if you actually only wiped it out when you took the time to empty the entire thing.
What do you think? Do you think my wiping-an-empty-spot method is good? Might it help you out? Well, my mom liked it.
Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: clean refrigerator, refrigerator, refrigerator cleaning, vegegtable drawers, Vegetables | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 16, 2009
All of these mugs warm my heart and make me smile.
This mug has another side, but I am only showing you one.
I love cats and dancing. Ha, what do you know dancing cats!
My dad gave me this when I moved out. Cute, huh?
Sooo pretty! You get to see both sides of this one.
Of course, she would be here!
My FAVORITEST mug!
Posted in Just stuff | Tagged: Cats, cats dancing, coffee mugs, Dancing, dancing cats, God, heart warming, husband, joy, lefty, love, Mugs, Nia, pleasure, praise | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 14, 2009
I love cheese! I have often said that if I had to give up cheese life would not be worth living. I love cheese so much that I recently caught myself in a lie about cheese. I had convinced myself that cheese was in the protein category and I was allowing myself a lot more cheese than I should have had it been in the correct category. The correct category is fat. Cheese is primarily fat, which for me means, I can’t eat it at every meal as I would like. I need to restrict my fat intake—especially saturated fat.
Anyway, today I had a sandwich and I think the primary reason I wanted a sandwich was so that I could have cheese. But I also didn’t want to have as much fat as a slice or two of cheese would have been. So I happily took my yummy chunk of Havarti to the grater. I grated a little bit on half of the slice of bread and voila! Cheese taste and creaminess without ALL the fat and calories a whole slice would have added.
Grated cheese on sandwich
I am sure you remember the grater for a lot of your favorite recipes that call for cheese, but don’t forget you can use it to put the cheese in your sandwich and not end up with a big slice. Yum!
Share with me what your favorite cheese is? How do you eat it?
Posted in Food | Tagged: Cheese, cheese grater, food category, grated cheese, Harvati, protein, saturated fat | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 11, 2009
I want to remind everyone that Nia™ or Nia Technique® is a specific practice.** It was created in 1983 by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas. They were married and now they are not, but Nia is such an important part of their lives and so important to them, that they continue to work together.
Nia has different belt levels; White Belt, the newly added Green Belt, Blue Belt, Brown Belt, and Black Belt. Each Belt has its own set of principles, except for Green. You must wait a year in between belts before you can take the next intensive. (Except for green because it a newly added in the system to assist teachers.)
Click here for more info on classes and Nia
I am a White Belt, so I continue to work with the thirteen White Belt Principles:
1–The Joy of Movement
2–Natural Time and the Movement Forms
3–Music and the 8BC System
4–FreeDance
5–Awareness – Dancing Through Life
6–The Base; Feet and Legs
7–The Three Planes and the Three Levels of Intensity
8–The Core of the Body; Pelvis, Chest, and Head
9–Creative Arm and Hand Expressions
10–X-Ray Anatomy
11–Business and Marketing
12–Continuing Education
13–Dance What You Sense / Teach What You Sense
When I talk about Nia it is based on what Debbie and Carlos have created. They have been working and growing with Nia for 25 years. And if you look at their work and information you will see that it has morphed a little. It is the same basic practice but I believe it gets refined as they grow and change.
So please keep in mind when I talk about Nia, I am talking about something wonderful and specific and it is entirely based on the work of Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas.
Please join me in San Jose for a Nia class. Visit my website for the schedule http://www.helpyouwell.com/
**This post is to explain that “Nia” and “Nia-things” I talk about are primarily from the creators of Nia BUT please keep in mind . . . . Nia is also a workout that can be experienced, just like a Yoga, Zumba, Jazzercise, or any group exercise class. One can show up to class and just move and get a great workout. One does not have to participant in the intensive and the belt levels.
Visit Nia’s main website at: www.nianow.com
Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: 8BCs, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, exercise class, exercise classes, great workout, group exercise, group exercise class, Jazzercise, joy, Nia, Nia Belt levels, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Nia Technique, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, San Jose exercise class, San Jose exercise classes, San Jose Nia, the joy of movement, thirteen White Belt Principles, workout class, Yoga, Yoga class, Yoga Practice, Zumba, Zumba class | 3 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 9, 2009
Ok, now say it out loud. Say it again, but this time listen. Ahhh. Funny, huh? Well not too long ago I was at my first Tweetup—oh yeah, when Twitterers meet in person— at the Red Rock Café in Mountain View and I was hungry. It was after my Wednesday morning Nia class and I hadn’t had my coffee and I needed my lunch. So in addition to my latte and sandwich I got a biscotti. Ya know, you’ve seen them in those huge glass canister. This one was called Chocolate Maniac which I thought was odd because it was blonde and sitting right next to ones that were clearly ALL chocolate. I had too much to carry so I stuck it in my pocket and forgot about it.
Later, near the end of the Tweetup I put my hand in my pocket and was shocked by the feel of plastic, then I remembered it was biscotti. I decided to eat it on the way home. Not the best choice, I’ll tell ya. I should have waited, it so deserved to be savored and not gobbled up between stop lights. It was what I think of as a “normal” flavored biscotti, but had a layer of chocolate on it. But it wasn’t “normal” it was REALLY good. A LIGHT crispy nutty cookie with a thick layer of gooey—but not so gooey as to interfere with my driving—yummy chocolate. After it was gone I was sad because it was gone. I looked at the ingredients and I realized why it was so good. There was nothing in it I could not pronounce. It just had good old fashioned baking ingredients it in. I read the company name and then proceeded through the intersection because the light had just turned green. As I was driving it dawned on me–Naughty Biscotti. How funny. How cute. How silly. How yummy. AND they are local. In Santa Clara. How nice. I like to support local business, so when they are as good as Naughty Biscotti—I am there. I hope you will try some.
http://www.naughtybiscotti.com/ *
Remember, my blog, my rules, this isn’t related to Nia, working out, personal training, health, wellness , or fitness, but, I said that I was the one that would decide upon what fell into that realm. And this could be stretched into an eating-a-treat-with-all-natural-ingredients-is-more-healthful-than-chemicals kind of thing, yes? Get Naughty. Tee hee!
*As of 06.06.20 – this site appears to not exist. Sorry.
Posted in Food | Tagged: Bay Area Tweetup, biscotti, Chocolate, cookie, fitness, health, Mountain View, Naughty, Naughty biscotti, Nia, Nia class, nutty, personal training, San Jose Fitness, San Jose Nia, San Jose Tweetup, savored, Tweetup, wellness, Working Out | 2 Comments »
Terre Pruitt's Blog 