I’m not sure about the rest of you readers, but at my house World Cup FIFA soccer has taken over. My husband is watching like 3 games a day and has corrupted our kids with promises of new stickers for their soccer book. So while the rest of my family watches hours upon hours of soccer, I am finding myself with endless amounts of alone time. At a friend’s suggestion, I have decided to use this time to get out of the house and maybe even try a few new things. It isn’t often that I have time to myself, let alone 4 weeks worth of free evenings. As I explore my city and brave new adventures, I thought I might share a few of these outings in my blog. The first couple of days were nothing too excited or worth writing about but last night’s adventure was full of blood, sweat and tears.  Here’s how it went down.

For a long time I have wanted to try out Zumba. I love to dance and over the last few years have lost a bunch of weight thanks to healthier eating habits and the Wii Just Dance games. I love the Wii because I can do it anytime, and can make a complete fool of myself without anyone watching. Plus, other than the initial cost of the games, it’s a free way to exercise. But after hearing all about the Zumba craze, I decided I should really venture out and try a class. I signed up with some friends but that class doesn’t start for 2 weeks. And given my current state of boredom and looking for new activities, I decided to try a drop-in class at the local rec centre. It was surprisingly cheap and the time worked out great. The only problem was I couldn’t find anyone to go with me. So here I am with a dilemma, do I stay home and watch the movie The Butler, which I just snagged from the library, or do I get out of my comfort zone and try a new class…by myself. With the persuasion of my husband I opted for Zumba.

So off I go. I get to the class early so I can scope out the situation. My goal was to sneak in, find a spot where no one could see me, like on the back or middle and try it out. As I am waiting for the doors to open I decide to browse through the drop-in pamphlet I grabbed when I signed up. A few minutes later, I hear the doors open and when I go to look up I somehow manage to slice the drop-in pamphlet across the side of my nose.  I’m like “uh that really hurt”. A few seconds later I feel something drip down my face. I wipe and what do I see??? Blood!! Are you kidding me? I can’t actually be bleeding from a paper cut? So I make a mad dash to the bathroom and yes, I not only have a cut on my nose, but one that is dripping all over my face and won’t stop bleeding despite my best efforts. I want to die. Time is running out so I run upstairs to the cashier and ask if she has a small band-aid. Normally I actually carry around a first aid kit, which contains all sizes of band-aids, including lovely small, not-so-noticeable ones. But since I decided that I didn’t want to bring my giant purse, all I had were the bare essentials and no small band-aids.  The front desk attendant finds me a band-aid and apologizes that it’s all she has (note – NOT SMALL). I run back to the bathroom and put it on. Awesome. It is a clear band-aid except for the big white part that soaks up my bloody nose.  So basically the biggest most noticeable band aid in the world.

I briefly consider calling it a day and going home. But then I think about how I have just spent the last year trying to pump up my 7-year old daughter and telling her not to care what people think of her. And how you should never be embarrassed.  Awesome.  So I put on a brave band-aided face, and off I go to class. Late now thanks to the nose incident and yes turns and looks at me as I enter the room with my giant band-aid nose (which is super uncomfortable and I feel like a big dork).

But I survived. I even went and asked the teacher a question after class, even though I knew how ridiculous I looked. At the end of the day I left my pride at the door and did it. I loved the class and would go again. I will just avoid all paper products in the future.

Until I write again…

x Shay