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Incredible Ladies
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Index
26th December - Year 2008: Here we come! I'm starting to sound like my grandma: Where has the year gone so quickly? Look at the children, in them we see how old we have grown. But seriously: Where HAS the year gone so quickly? I can remember that I just prepared all my calendars at work for 2007 and now I'm doing the same thing for 2008 and it seems like a month gone by. But as soon as I start listing what I did during the past year, like running Race for Life and getting fit for it in the first place and creating the Incredible Ladies site I can't believe how I did it all in such a short period of time. Probably that explains it: If we would bore ourselves through the year it might feel longer, but that's not what we want either. Time is a bit of a thing like the weather: It's something to keep the conversation flowing and it's something we all basically agree upon. It's like a common enemy that binds us together. I like everything that works in that respect, so let's welcome all these time and weather issues into the New Year 2008. May they keep us good company throughout the year. Soon we will have the complaints about the bad spring/summer weather, and the stress about planning the hols.... For the rest of the granny talk - the getting old thing - I'm working hard to get rid of that. I'd rather say: In the children we can see how we have grown! For nothing in the world would I like to be younger again, and so far I refuse the idea that I have to age in dignity. Meaning that I want to keep my experience and wisdom, but at the same time insisting to looking as young and good as I possibly can, and retain the right to sometimes be a bit silly. I'm actually starting to change my opinion on surgical interference. Just a little bit - but that's because I'm a wimp. I'm planning at least on researching something that some only see as a beauty thingy, but that actually already is the lowest level of surgical procedure. Yep, you may have guessed it right - I'm not finished with the matter of 'fluff to buff', yet. Well, then there still is the little affair - sometimes a love affair - of food. I'm the mistress of losing my weight and gaining my shape in waves. If I would have put in the same good effort into my shape throughout the past 4 years, you probably could put me as a sculpture on a pedestal by now. But this lady has to have Panetone cakes and chocolate binges from time to time. However, the trend is definitely uphill. Although I found a 'nice' comment this morning sent over by a stranger for the 'legs at home' video: 'Trainer is in fairly decent shape!' Isn't that a kind and motivating way of saying: 'Gosh, she has a rather fat arse, and thus don't believe what she is telling you'. People can see for themselves that I still have a wavy bum - no need to rub it in, pal. I hope you forgive me that I don't approve this comment to go live - I'm only telling you about it. And believe me: The exercises will work! But back to one of our biggest loves: Food! I had planned to put on some nice lettuce based recipes, I even have taken nice pictures of it. I call them 'Voluptuous Lettuce', and it comes in 3 versions. However, I'm running out of time now. So I will have to keep it with this very brief edition. I will give you the recipes and a some myst busters about food the next time. For the Ipswich Ladies - if you have time: The Afternoon Tea on the 28th is on! Feel free to drop in from 3PM. Other wise see you all back in 2008. Have a great party to get there and have a fantastic New Year! Love Rika
It seems that right in time for the biggest Christmas rush everybody is having a cold - me included. Hence this edition is a bit on the small side. All I could come up with is a new movie where I'm sitting around and talking stuff. This time I found a few links you might find interesting or amusing. This movie business is still fun, but nevertheless hard to get the hang of. I'm learning more and more about the editing software, but my cuts are either to fast or too slow and my talking is still dragging on a bit. I hope you bear a bit longer with me until I get something done that is somewhat professional. At least you then can say: I already knew her when she was still crap! For you to always have the full overview I updated the Gallery section. There are still some pix missing, but the videos are all in one place now. And then again I fell in love with another piece of Woodnickel's music - this time a Country-Western - so the movie is partly a little Christmas homage to them and a 'Thank You'. All that is left to say for now is: A very merry Christmas to you All and a wonderful New Year! May all the right dreams come true and may only good things come your way! Love Rika
12th December - Emotional Times With families and friends meeting who might not have seen each other since a while, the expectations are running high these days. And with it come 'Emotions' we sometimes would rather not like to have. Sometimes they are a bit silly like depicted in the column, sometimes they are nagging quite a bit. Although not necessarily Christmas specific, I believe that at this time of the year where we all are hoping for some softness, forgiveness and happiness, we are just more vulnerable to fall victim of them. Well, and then we all will quite possibly eat too much. In order to have the right remedy in place for after the festive season, I eventually managed to get the leg exercises section finished. The new video is about leg exercises you can do at home, and will give you a nice little workout! BTW: The first video with music. Home made Blues from my Myspace friend Woodnickel. So enjoy your meals with family and friends without regret! The Ipswich Ladies have been out last Saturday and surely we will need the exercises if we move on like this. The next night out is already in planning. Have a look what we are up to and what else is planned for the future, and don't forget to drop me a line when you have a similar thing going in your area and would like to publish about it. I hope you will enjoy this weeks edition and that you will find some moments of peace and quiet before the countdown begins! Love Rika
5th December - Loads of Good News! Remember the weather of the 2nd December? Hubby does, because he went for a round of golf and came home looking like a piglet. At least he didn't get wet down to the skin, due to sophisticated rain gear. Runners didn't get that lucky. They only had the choice of getting wet from the outside or the inside. So what Imola had planned as a family trip, had to be down scaled into a lonely good hours drive to the running location. And then this slightly mad, but very lovable woman did it... She ran the half marathon in gushing rain and gusting winds, and gained about 12 minutes on her previous one; finishing at 2 hours and 8 minutes. Congratulations to Imola! You are an inspiration and a truly incredible lady! We are looking forward to hearing more from you. On a different, although a bit similar note: I got some feedback regarding Race for Life 2008. It is still rather early for thinking about details, but me being German, planning-ahead-freakishness is kicking in. However, this could be big; it could be the first big step towards the vision I had when I created the site. The first time when Incredible Ladies becomes an entity that has a real impact. Let's not go for peanuts - let's make it coconuts! Well, the only not so good news is, that I caught a bug last weekend and my brain just refused to come up with a new article. So now it's about 'tummy' again. Luckily I shot the video before my nose blocked entirely, so I could use the opportunity to try out a few more things with the video software. Have a look and let me know what you think about the new Tummy Exercise. And with the Ipswich Ladies going out this Saturday we welcome a new lady, Iwona, to the gang. She is Polish and so expanding our influence on the European continent. I'm rather sure that this will not be the last time you will hear of her. And as life goes - with one joining, another one is leaving: Sonal will be going back to India end of the month. But she promised to keep in touch and to send me emails which I can put on for you to catch up with her. And who knows, around her lovely personality another Incredible Ladies team might form and join the site. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see how mischief is 'spelled' in India? Well then, another two editions and then it's Christmas! I hope things are falling into place for you, and that you are enjoying the festive season. Take good care of yourselves! Love Rika
28th November - How diverse are we? I have been bragging on quite a bit about how diverse we are, and that the Ipswich Ladies alone already are covering a huge part of the European and Asian continent. We are even sratching a bit into Africa. And it is a pretty good thing, indeed. We are meeting and mingling and it is not only entertaining to hear stories told by people who grew up in different cultures, it sometimes puts ones own issues into perspective as well. Well, this being a 'ladies' site we only hear 50% of the population, but as mentioned before: Gentlemen are very welcome to visit and to learn. And maybe there should be a site covering male issues in a bit more depth rather than 'Who won the last World Cup' - which we then could visit and learn from. So, sorry guys: This is our playground; diversity here, there or wherever - we can't allow the mingling bit (although there may be family events in the future) and your contributions will have to be limited as well - otherwise it wouldn't be a ladies site anymore. However, there is a group of people I have to admit I have simply forgotten about, and I herewith apologise! I'm addressing all the ladies who have been gentlemen before. And I mean this in every possible way. Whether having done the full change, or only just having discovered that the male form is not actually desired: Please be warmly welcome to visit and to get involved. I hope that you will find the one or the other thing interesting and enjoyable, and if you are living in the Ipswich-UK area please drop me a line if you would like to be included in our activities. Talking of which! Ipswich Ladies are having their Afternoon Tea this Friday, 30th November; and don't forget about the Book Exchange. And we are having Ladies Night Out on the 8th December. Then the Incredible Ladies rowing team has struck again. This time it was 2x500m each - and it was a killer! Have a look at the video. Again I have to apologise for the poor quality of the cut - gosh this program can do such a lot of things. I think I barely covered a percent of all the stuff that is possible. This time I learned how to create titles - thus you will find them all over the place. And the cuts are shorter. I focused more on our weird ways to change over and the agony of the second 500m. Tricky business. And finally I found out a few things about sleep, the lack of it and Panetone cake. Something very important as we enter the hot phase before Christmas. I'm hoping to see you soon and for all the others who live a bit too far to visit: It would be nice to hear from you! Let me know how you are having Christmas - or not having it. I found a list once with festivities of all countries in the world. It sounded very exciting, but of most of those I had never heard. Are they religious? Are they Royal? Are they cultural? Tell me about your upcoming big festivities. But most of all: Have a lot of fun and don't let the stress get the better of you!
21st November - Christmas approaching fast Are you in panic mode already? Cards written, gifts bought, dinner planned, people invited? Well, me neither! Every year, and EVERY year I promise to do better next time, and all of a sudden it's the 24th and I'm supposed to feel Christmas-ish. I got lucky, as the gift thing is not that difficult for me. Hubby and I agreed to not get anything for each other, but to buy something that we both want. This year we already got the computer and printer which I use for our Incredible Ladies, while he considers it a benefit that admin is so much easier than with the old one. He thinks it's a fair deal - although, he might get himself the one or the other golf toy. Bless him! Cards, oh cards! Who does love them? In our first year it was a great means of getting to know the neighbours. Now, it's the writing! It could be made into an cosy hour with a cuppa and candle, if there weren't these gaps in my recollection of who does cards and who doesn't. You don't want to go on the nerves and conscience of those who don't, by dropping one, year after year - but who was it? Should have mad a list, really. After New Year when all the fuss is over, have another cosy hour with cuppa an candle and ticking off who dropped one. But who on earth would do that? Even me, who is supposed to have a list for everything, don't - maybe this year!? Well, and the one big thing that has changed since last Christmas is the Incredible Ladies Site. It's the first Christmas with the Incredible Ladies. I will enjoy having the time to think a few things through. Like now, that I started to put a gallery together. The site has reached a size where I sometimes have trouble finding something. So it occurred to me as a good idea, to have pictures and videos in one place to browse through. When I did Jori's Gallery I was looking through photos of her first visit, and came across this lovely 2004 picture of me.
Me in May 2004 and July 2007
When I put these two images next to each other it was not only the reduction in width and the gain of proportion between top and bottom that astonished me, I seem to be so much taller. I might have done something right with choosing Bodybuilding as my sport. As if it were meant to be: At the same time when I found this picture, Detlef stumbled over a website which supports my approach. Not just in regard to 'looks', it describes all the health benefits as well and shows a lot of exercises. Always good to have a backup plan for after Christmas. And this is my mantra for the Christmas time: If you would decide to move your body, then make the session worthwhile and work hard. If you are falling into a binge, then binge on something that you really like. Enjoy either!
Oh, I almost forgot - The Ipswich Ladies are going out again!
Oh my God, I’m such a chatterbox! When I started the website I thought: Well, when I write everything down I might stop talking for a change - what actually worked for a while. Now I got the camcorder and I discovered videos… and we are back to square one. All I wanted to do was to introduce myself in person and give you a brief update of the next edition, and what I produced became a 10 minute monologue about 'Everything and Nothing'. Well, now at least you really know me! I should start scripting what I want to say, might reduce the one or the other redundancy. I tried to cut it but then it looks as if I took the video on a bumpy road. I’m going to improve – promised! However, here it is: If it gets too boring just switch off and read on, that’ll capture that same in short. As I said: It’s 10 minutes. Yawn! And here it's the same in writing without the fuss: Firstly I would like to introduce you to Lisa. I first met her at race for the indoor rowing competition and at that day we concentrated on the task, not looking left or right. Then during a lengthy email exchange the next day we sort of clicked, and you will find her profile in the 'Incredible Stories' section. Well, and you might have expected it already: Here is my usual appeal to you to consider sending me your story as well!
Next on the agenda for this weeks edition is mischief planning for the Ipswich Ladies. It lists everything from a less sophisticated in-between dinner to loads of other ideas for the next year. I hope you will find something that you like. Please let me know when you fancy something as some of the events need a bit of planning ahead. It looks as if we will be very busy next year. Yes and then eventually I got the hang of the 'Tummy Exercise' videos. I hope you will enjoy them. They are dragging on a bit as well, although I already shortened them. Now they have weird cuts. However, I hope the exercises will work for you and if not - well, drop me a line. There are so many more things that can be done for the tummy. ... This edition has become a bit of a testing ground. If you like the videos I will sneak one in from time to time, if you don’t – I can’t blame you! – I nevertheless will sneak the one or the other in. So! Now you know as well that I sometimes am a bit stubborn. And lastly I would like to let you know that this week has become very exciting. I got some really good feedback from ladies and from the MySpace community. The rowing video definitely gave the site a boost. The YouTube counter says that it got clicked 114 times so far. This is all very exciting, but on the other hand my brain is humming like a bees hive, and sometimes I'm not sure where to respond first. So if I should have neglected you this week, please be kind with me. I will get my head wrapped around everything and get back to you with the response you deserve. Enjoy a good cuppa and a candle since it's getting cold outside, and have some calm before the Christmas rush kicks in. See you next week Love
This is the biggest edition so far and I have no idea how this all came together. I think it began with my beauty appointment with Kelly, when I all of a sudden braced myself to ask her about waxing. Needless to say that after that I felt inspired to write an article about it. Then I went to the gym to do a bit of walking for The Experiment (going well, but no update today) and got hungry because time had whizzed by and it was rather late already - that sparked another article. I seem to get a lot of ideas in the car, what is a stupid thing to happen, as I really have to torture my brain not to forget by the time I get home. Eventually on Saturday the Ipswich Ladies were up to mischief and went out for dinner together to Hong Kong Palace restaurant, what was a lot of fun and giggling and catching up and getting to know each other. 7 of us could make it, but we are growing constantly. I already have 21 names on my mailing list - we are becoming an entity. Well, and as we are the way we are, we came up with some new ideas as well. Well and then there was the indoor rowing team league competition. Oh my God - never done something like that before. Detlef came to shoot a movie. I hope you will be impressed! Now I'm going to cut this short as I'm hoping to get the movie ready for upload today. Otherwise you will see the four mad ladies next week. Have a good one! PS: Made it - The video is on!
31st October - Happy Halloween!
However, we don't have an update on 'The Rowing' yet as the first race result has to be submitted by the 6th November. So we will be racing some time next weekend. I will keep you posted on that one.
Sorry, nor there is an update on the Afternoon Tea front. My fault: We were so busily chatting, that I forgot to take pictures. Thus it is starting to establish and to become a bit of a routine - what it was meant to become, really. A nice thing to happen without having to make it happen. Now about what did happen!
Then I wrote an article on Creativity, which I hope you will like, and sort of last minute this morning a little something meandered through my brain which I thought you might find enchanting. So I put it into a Column for you to enjoy.
Cold in two ways: Firstly, I had to scrape my car window this morning, brrrr - and secondly I have one. Due to that I'm not the wittiest of all people at the moment, I was double happy to have received a story from my darling goddaughter Jori this week. It is the first story on the site to be written by somebody else than me and it came just in time. She is German and only learned English at school since a few years. I think she did a pretty good job. So why don't you send me one, too? Since my brain wouldn't behave very supportive in writing up a story, I decided to do a bit of site maintenance. I slightly changed the menu structure and I hope it is a bit crisper now. Then I've put together a site index which is located under 'Finding Things'. As I don't have fancy stuff like search machines on the site even I found it increasingly difficult to find something. This Site Index lists every article of the site and has a teaser paragraph and some keywords coming with it. So you either can browse through this page and see if something is catching your eye, or you can use your browser's search facility to search for a key word. Should you find that a key word is missing, please let me know - As I said: I wasn't at my brightest when I did that. Yeah well, and this cold is making me increasingly nervous regarding all the sport stuff. I haven't been in the gym for 1 1/2 weeks and 'The Experiment' as well as 'The Rowing' are on hold. I'm starting to feel all sloppy, I still haven't been on a rowing machine, and the first race is not later than 6th November. Argh!
Now I just got another idea! If you happen to have a piece of own poem or fiction like a short story, or a teaser for a something bigger (just brainstorming at the moment, I'm not sure how big things could be to put on here), and you haven't dared yet to bring it out, or you want to test it first - why not send it to me? Ownership of content stays with you and if you wanted me to take it off the site again, I'll do that by the next server update - which is weekly on Wednesdays. For now stay out of the cold and have a good week!
This was an interesting week - so many things happened!
Firstly and most importantly: Imola did a fantastic race on Sunday
Congratulations to you!
Then I had one of my mind changes again. Although I was very enthusiastic at first after I had done the Race for Life this summer, I couldn't see myself running again. I had thrown myself into the Incredible Ladies site and so many things happened all at once, demanding my attention and my time. Breathtaking times in more than one way - I felt that I needed to keep focused on which activities to persue. Now, with Imola running and experiencing the atmosphere at her race, my toes are tickling, and I decided that running has to be one of them. So I will organise an Incredible Ladies Race for Life Team for next year's run, which usually takes place in June/July. And best of all Imola is in! So Ladies - you have half a year or so to make up your minds. I will let you know when the Race for Life season opens - and please forgive me, when I will nag you a bit to join! The great thing at Race for Life is that it is not about performing. You can walk, run or race. It is about collecting the money, coming together and doing something - what is exactly the motto of Incredible Ladies. So please, think a lot of positive thoughts about this! It would be just incredible to have a big team running raising a really big amount of money - one that makes a difference! Please let me know if you are interested in joining.
Another thing that happened this week was a Swiss Ball session with Becky from Butterfly Magic. I never did Swiss Ball before and it turns out that it is neither weights nor cardio exercise, but something that lies nicely in-between. You may be pleased to hear that the whole thing basically is about Core Muscles which include the tummy. It is a supportive training for people of all kinds of sport, and it is a sport in its own right as well. I probably would put it into the same category with Pilates and Yoga. Becky created a manual some years ago and is now updating it, for me to publish in the fitness section. We will have to shoot a few photos - what will be fun as this time I will have to be the photographer. I can hold and click but that's about it. However, maintaining posture and speed of the exercises is essential in order to have maximum effect. So with Babul not around we will have to use our amateur skills to show you how it is done. I hope to be able to publish this soon, so please bear with me a little while longer!
Ah well, and I submitted a little story to a writing competition. Another 'first' in my life. I don't think I have a chance, but one has to start somewhere and dare doing stuff - so I did it. Bit scary, though! 
So that was th |
