Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

  • I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

    ALL CLASSES ARE ON ZOOM AT 10:00 AM PDT

    Tuesday Gentle Yoga 

    Wednesday Nia

    Thursday Stretch

    Please see my website for details!

    I am also available for private Nia / yoga / Personal Training all virtual, of course!

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

  • My Bloggey Past

  • ******

    Chose a month above to visit archives, or click below to visit a page.

Archive for February, 2019

Breaking Out

Posted by terrepruitt on February 27, 2019

When my niece heard that Disney was changing The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror out for a Guardians of the Galaxy themed ride she was not happy. At that time she didn’t even like Guardians of the Galaxy. I had never been on the Tower of Terror so I was not attached to it. I DO like the Guardians of the Galaxy, but didn’t really care that Disney was doing a ride based around it. When we went this past week to Disneyland we also went to Disney California Adventure, that is where the Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! ride is. I wasn’t really planning on going on it because I thought it was just a tower drop ride. I am not a fan of those. I had my fill of that type of ride when I was young and went to Great America and rode The Edge that was there. But, I decided to ride it, however my niece was making me nervous because she was nervous. She had me convinced I was going to wet myself because we have to stand in line for a long time and by the time I get to the ride I have to use the restroom. But it was super fun and I walked off dry!

It is not JUST a drop ride. The drop ride I mentioned, took you up in a lift, at the top of the tower the lift was moved forward and then it dropped. The bottom of the tower/ride was curved so you ended up lying on your back. It was not my favorite ride. I thought the Guardians of the Galaxy ride was going to be a bit of the same, but it is not.

The Guardians of the Galaxy ride takes you up, then drops you, then takes you up then drops you. It goes up and down. It is hilarious. In the middle of the ups and downs the lift doors up to show snippets of the cast of the movie working on the “break out”. At one point it takes you all the way to the top and opens the doors so you can see out over the park.

The manufacturer was Otis Elevator Company. Well, that actually makes sense, as it is an elevator. The ride has six songs and six versions. According to wiki the tower is 183 feet high, the drop is 130 feet, it’s speed is 39 mph, and the ride is 2 minutes and 10 seconds long. It is pretty fun.

My niece wanted the group that was going on it to be in the same row. Since my family goes to the parks all the time she was able to figure it out.  So that was our (mine and my husband’s) first ride on it.

We only went on it twice. Once in the back row and once in the front. I thought I wouldn’t like the front, but it was fine. Any seat is a good seat. It is not like a roller coaster where you get whipped around more or less depending on where you sit.  My niece loves this ride now.  I don’t think she misses the Tower of Terror.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD

Do you like drop rides?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Disneyland Information

Posted by terrepruitt on February 25, 2019

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDThis past week we spent in Disneyland. We were celebrating our niece’s birthday. She, and the rest of my family, are BIG Disney fans. They go to Disneyland every chance they get. My husband and I had not been to Disneyland since 1996 or maybe 1997. I don’t know the exact year, but we were there for a dance competition. We, as you may have guessed, are not Disney Fanatics. But since it was a milestone birthday we thought we would tag along with the family. We had a nice time, but I have to say I was not prepared for the weather. It was so cold. The temperature wasn’t THAT bad. I would have been ok, if it were just the temp of high 40s, but it was the wind. The first two nights I thought I had gotten sunburned because my face HURT and it was bright red. But then I woke up each morning with no redness. I was just getting windburned. Weathermen are useless because the reports were NO RAIN – nothing, nada, but the rain we experienced on one night was torrential accompanied by thunder and lightning. How did they not have a clue about that? Perhaps Disney pays them to lie so that people will go to their parks? The parks are really amazing to me. In addition to the rides I am fascinated by the workings of an amusement park. On the way home I was curious as to how many people attend the park per day. When I tried to look it up I found that Disney does not make those figures public. On the flight home I sat next to a man whose wife works at Disney and he happened to mention that same fact. Of course in looking up that information it made me curious about other things. So I thought I would compile a short list of Disneyland or Disney Park facts that interested me. They are from various sources on the internet.

“Disneyland officials won’t discuss daily attendance numbers, but theme park experts estimate that the 85-acre park draws an average of about 44,000 people a day.” This information is from 2015.

A website called Statista claims to have figures on attendance.  Stating that attendance at the Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 2017 was 18.3 million.  That is about a 6,000 person per day increase from 2015.

Disneyland had 53 attractions (as of March 2017). Attractions include exhibits, shows, and rides. (Wiki)

Popsugar says Disneyland sells 2.8 million churros a year. That is roughly 7,671 churros a day. I had a bite of one. Not that exciting for me.

Travel and leisure had an interesting list from December 2016:

Top eight rides at Disneyland:

“1. Splash Mountain. Clocking in at 10 minutes long, Disneyland’s take on the classic log flume is well worth the wait. 
2. Indiana Jones Adventure
3. Pirates of the Caribbean  
4. Matterhorn Bobsleds
5. Haunted Mansion
6. Mad Tea Party
7. Space Mountain
8. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad”

It was way too cold for us to go on Splash Mountain. We went on Indian Jones twice over a two and a half day period. Thankfully we went on Pirates of the Caribbean the first day we were there because it was down the other two days. I don’t need to go on the Matterhorn again. It is super rough. Haunted Mansion is always fun. I don’t know remember having been on the Mad Tea Party, but I am assuming I have, but when I was very young. I love Space Mountain. That is my favorite ride at Disneyland. Big Thunder I love too, but it was down at least one of the days we were there. We were there to be with my niece so she was in charge of what we rode. She had our Fastpasses on her phone and would reserve all of our spots for us. We just went where she said to do.

It was in 2017 that the Fastpass system was available on phones.  (Business Insider)

According to GOBankingRates.com:

It costs $3.25 million (estimated) daily to operate Disneyland.

There are about 3,000 to 6,000 people a day working at Disneyland.  The amount changes according to the need. So sometimes it is double.

“The estimated cost of employee pay per day is $396,000.  Many cast members are paid hourly, with most making $10 to $12 per hour.”

Estimated daily cost of landscape: $1.69 million

Estimated daily cost of roller coaster maintenance:  $7,424.00

Well, I find all of this interesting.  We enjoyed our time and I am thinking it will not be 20 years before we go back.

Have you been to Disneyland?  When was the last time you were there?  What is your favorite ride?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Squirrel Balancing

Posted by terrepruitt on February 15, 2019

It amazes me how squirrels balance on things. To them it is probably just sitting. Sitting on a tree branch, sitting on a chair back, sitting on the edge of a pot. But to me it is balancing. Their little feet holding on and their butt hanging over the edge. Their tails helping out. It was raining and he was having a nut. He sat for a couple of shots, then finished his nut and was off. I thought I would share him for my Friday Photo.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD

Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Meant To Be Together

Posted by terrepruitt on February 13, 2019

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDI heard a funny story the other day as I was leaving the community center where I teach yoga. My friend had asked me if I had any plans for Valentine’s Day.  I replied that I have a yoga class that evening so we wouldn’t be going out and asked her about her plans, she explained that it was her wedding anniversary a couple of days ago which reminded her of a funny story. She had went to the store to buy her husband an anniversary card. A couple of days later she went to look for the card, but did not find it in her usual “card hiding spot”. While she was doing something else she happened to look up and see the card on the bookshelf. So she took it off the shelf and signed it. Later that day she was out and her husband texted her and asked her if she had taken the card that was on the bookshelf and she said yes. She had actually forgotten that when she was at the store she didn’t end up buying the card she had picked out. But the card her husband had purchased for her was the same card. So she had thought she had bought it and put in on the bookshelf – although that was not her usually hiding place.  She ended up giving him the card he bought her!

I thought that was so funny for so many reasons. I know that I have looked at cards and thought I had purchased them only to find out I hadn’t. I sometimes buy cards and misplace them. I know that multiple times my husband and I have purchased the same card and given it to each other twice. In some cases the sentiment was the same but the card maker had added a different picture. I am not sure if we have purchased the same card for each other, but I think we might have. But I know we have not used one another purchased cards. HA! So funny.

Do you have any funny card giving or receiving stories?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments »

The Timing Of Love

Posted by terrepruitt on February 11, 2019

I was recently watching a TV show where one of the characters told another, “I wonder what would have happened if I met you later?” He went on to say that had it been five years later and they passed on the street would they have looked at each other and known. He was surmising that had they met later HE would have fallen in love with her and been ready to settle down and not practically leave her at the altar. Just like when people say, “I wish I would have met you sooner.” With that sweet sentiment they are usually saying that they wished they would have met sooner so they could have been together longer. But I don’t believe either of those ideas. I think that in both cases if the meeting would have happened at different times then they would not have fallen in love.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDIn the case of the TV show, he literally fell in love with her (in my opinion) because of what she was doing. Had it been five years later she would have not been doing that. He fell hard when she was lovingly caring for his siblings. He decided to marry her when someone died. Had it been five years later those situations would not have been occurring and he wouldn’t have fallen in love. I believe she would have been an entirely different person. He would have too, so I think that they wouldn’t have fallen in love.

The same with the idea of meeting earlier. The person that would have been encountered years earlier is not the person you met and fell in love with. In general, I believe that people fall in love with a person as they are and in the circumstances they are currently in so they might not have been the same years earlier and they might not be the same years later.

Now I know this is all a generalization (as I said) . . . there are plenty of people who fall in love and then for a multitude of reasons never get together or don’t stay together only to get together or back together years later when they meet up and their circumstances have changed. Love is just a crazy amazing thing. Ya never really know.

This thought was just a Monday musing because of what I saw on a TV show.

What are your thoughts about the timing of love?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

Colorful Hummingbird

Posted by terrepruitt on February 8, 2019

Here is another watercolor from the community center where I teach yoga. Every week I look to see if there are more that I really love, but I haven’t seen one. I have one more picture of one that I took at the same time as this one that I will post and that will be it unless I find another one I love.

Here is a hummingbird for my Friday Photo.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD

What do you think of these watercolors?

Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

My Husband Laced My Shoes

Posted by terrepruitt on February 6, 2019

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDThis interesting picture was posted on my Facebook feed a long time ago. I have always been meaning to post about it. I don’t know who posted it or who created it. I just thought it was so interesting because years ago I complained to my husband about how the tops of my tennis shoes hurt my feet. His solution was to take my shoes and lace the laces in a different way. He took both shoes and laced them in different ways. He told me to figure out which one didn’t hurt my foot and he would lace the other shoe that way. Well, I am embarrassed to admit that I left my shoes like that for a long time. Years, probably. I didn’t wear my tennis shoes that often so I would forget that they were laced like that. And one was so much more difficult than the other to put my foot in and take it out once it was tied well. In fact, that was one of the reasons I didn’t wear them that often because it was so difficult to get my foot in and out of and/or to tie it. It was years. Then when I started to wear them more (because my boots “died”), I realized that it was really just ONE shoe that was annoying and painful so it finally occurred to me to fix the shoe lace. I just needed to make one shoe match the other.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDOne of the ways my husband laced my shoe was so comfortable AND easy to tighten. The other way was not comfortable and tightening it was a pain in the rear. It wasn’t worth tying the shoe comfortably. And now, often, I don’t even tie my shoes. I teach Nia and yoga – both are done barefoot, so I am really just wearing my shoe from my house to my car, from my car to my class and back again. So I don’t normally bother with tying the shoes laces.

When I need to run errands after class then I tie the shoe properly otherwise it flops around on my foot and that is not comfortable. But when I am just going to class I just loop the lace around my heel and that keeps it from dragging on the ground and being a “trip-threat”.

The way my husband laced my shoe does not match any or these. Had he not successfully laced my shoe I might have gone for the “Heel Slipping” because that is usually what happens with the regular way of lacing a shoe.

How do you tie your shoes? Does one of these examples apply to you?


Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDDance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Quick, Easy Asana Reference

Posted by terrepruitt on February 4, 2019

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDI believe I have written before about how yoga is somewhat confusing because the asana seem to have different names. I can go to look up an asana and a completely different asana will come up than the one I was thinking of because the names get all wonky. I used to get very frustrated with that, but now I understand that the Sanskrit language originally was just a verbal language. And we all know how that works . . . if you haven’t ever actually played “Telephone” you probably have at least heard how it goes. Where one person tells a story and it gets repeated down the line and then the last person says what they heard and more often than not – depending on how many people the story went through – it is not what it started out to be. Imagine that with a language. And then once they did start writing it down it probably got changed through that process. And THEN there is the process of translation. We know what happens there, right? Things get lost in translation. Well, I have a handful of yoga books and if you were to look at them you will see writing in every one noting what the “actual” name of the pose is. Which is really me just having picked one of the many names and deciding to use it. Not ALL poses have multiple names, but many do. Well, I mention all that because one of the books I have I thought of recently when one of my students asked about a book of poses.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDThis book came to mind first because I think of it as a simple book. I found it easy to find poses. I like that there are cartoon characters drawn, instead of pictures of people posing. I really like that there is a “Pose At A Glance” page in the back that is just stick figures. So when you want to quickly get the name of a pose you can just flip to that and then look at the reference and then you have it. I never actually used the book as it was intended or at least as one of the intended ways for it to be used.

The book is separated into seven categories (sexy, calm, energy, restore, cleanse, sanity, and ragtime) and has poses that can help with each category in that section. In the front of each section there is even three sequences that one can do to gain benefits to help with that specific category.

For example in the sexy category some of the poses are: Chair, Warrior II, Staff, revolved triangle, and Cow Face Pose. The sequences in the beginning of that section contain some of those poses. So you can pick some of your favorite poses from the sexy category section and do them or you can do one (or more) of the sequences in the front of the section.  Of course, the way to use the book is almost endless, just like any yoga book.

 

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDThe book is Yoga to the Rescue by Amy Luwis and was originally published in 2007. It is a cute book. Just like with any yoga book, the names of the poses might be different from what you learned and even some of the instructions might be different, too. But I think it is a nice little easy-to-follow-quick-to-get-you-started book. If you really get interested in yoga then you will end up wanting more than this book provides, but it is like a yoga-starter book.

Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Sparkly, Shiny, Blue – Happy

Posted by terrepruitt on February 1, 2019

Here is a pretty blue ornament I received for Christmas. While it is an ornament, it is not necessarily a Christmas Tree ornament. Not all ornaments are just for the tree. I have this hung in my office. I am not really sure about the “grow true”, but it a heart, it is blue, it is sparkly, it is shiny, and it has an additional blue “gem” in it. I like it. It makes me smile.

Sharing a picture of my blue ornament for my Friday Photo today.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD

Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »