Happy Easter

If your anything like me, whenever a holiday comes along I always take a minute to think about what I was doing last year at that time.  And when reflecting on Easter’s passed, it occurred to me that I’ve had some pretty random Easters over the past few years:

-2009  La Jolla shores, where I participated in and helped to coordinate an underwater Easter egg hunt and a pancake breakfast on the beach.  Not many eggs were found that day and but I’m sure by now, they’ve all been found and accounted for.  And if not at least the fishies can enjoy them. 

-2010 Tower 2, OB, Susie and I were having brunch on the patio and who happens to sit down at the table next to us?  Sammy Sosa and his wife.  Not only did we share our Easter w/one of the best MLB hitters of all time, but we also shared very uncomforting minute which we now refer to as the “Easter quake”. 

-2011 La Paz, where I went to my first Mexican mass.  I didn’t know much Spanish at the time so I had no idea what was going on.  But the up downs, up downs were the same so was able to fake my way through it.

-2012 Barra de Navidad, Mexico where I happened to witness a real live/fake crucifixion of Jesus and a parade of the Stations of the Cross… it was really bazar and kinda creepy.

Which brings us to present day and back to my roots. Holiday traditions have always been a big thing w/our family and it’s comforting to know that some things never change.  The Easter bunny paid me a visit, which he hasn’t done in 18yrs… I had thought the poor thing was a goner.  Thought maybe he got hit by a car, or Glen Close went psycho again and had her way w/him.  But apparently the Easter bunny is alive and well, he just doesn’t visit the West coast, or go South of the boarder.  And in true Brooks form he filled our baskets w/scratch tickets and paddle-balls. (Chocolate bunnies were never part of our Easter celebration).

After scratching away and hoping for a big win, it was off to Mass and followed by brunch w/the Boz’s.  Patty makes one of the best blueberry muffins you’ll ever taste, and we started a new tradition this year.  Instead of coloring Easter eggs, we colored our glasses of champagne J

So even though it wasn’t as wild and random as Easters past, it was still a beautiful day, w/beautiful people.  It makes me wonder where/what I’ll be up to next year at this time.  Happy Easter!

Zumbathon 2013

Well I officially survived the 5th Annual WHBW Zumbathon. And boy what an experience it was.  Never attending a Zumbathon before, or any type of 'thon' for that matter, I really wasn't sure what to expect.  There were 9 of us from the Brattleboro area who carpooled/roomed together and made the 2.5 hour trek to Burlington VT, where we were greeted by about 250 other participants.

The instructors (approx. 50) were broken up into groups of 5.  Each of these groups lead about 5 songs a piece and took turns hopping up on stage and strutting their stuff.  It was up to us; the dancing sardines down below, to mimic their moves and try to keep up.  And surprisingly, it wasn’t as difficult as I’d anticipated.  Of course from time to time I would get tired and stiff, but nothing a little pause and stretch couldn’t cure.  And not knowing any of the routines, I definitely had many “unexpected solos”, but the energy in the room was so contagious that you didn’t think twice about stopping.  And if that wasn’t enough to keep you going, the bummin-n-thumpin of Latin/Hip-Hop music did.

After a few hours of high intense booty shaking, and a very touching speech by a survivor of domestic violence, it was hurry back to the hotel for a quick cleanup, a quick eat, and a quick change of costume.  Then it was back to the auditorium for the 80’s after party… which was then followed by an after-after party at an 80’s bar downtown, followed by a late night/early morn after-after-after party in our rooms back at the hotel.

And even though we all had a blast, and a much needed girlie weekend getaway, this wasn’t about us and having a good time (well maybe a little).  But it was mostly about raising money to support Women Helping Battered Women. This phenomenal organization gives women and children a second chance at life when faced w/the unthinkable.

As an individual contribution, my peeps and I raised $550 for the event.  And more amazingly, the Zumbathon as a whole raised over $55,000 (10k more than last year).  ASTOUNDING!!  So thanks again for all your support and donations.  Not only did you help me to reach my goal, but you also helped to feed, house and support those who have been victims of domestic abuse.

Oh and if you’d like to see a little snippet of the event, check out this short video.  And as far as I can tell I didn’t make the cut.  But if you do happen to spot me (middle/left) then please keep it to yourselves… pretty sure I’d rather not see me! Thanks again :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vyrzB6GSYX4 

New Blog Site??

Okay so my trusted blog site, shaybo24.blog.com, has been inaccessible for days now.  Not only is it frustrating, but I have two years worth of postings that are now floating around in cyberspace w/out access for anyone to enjoy.

But lucky for me, I've keep a copy of all postings... thanks Cloud!  Not that I'm going to re-post my previous blogs (that would be weird), but at least I have them for personal use... if I ever need to refer back to an incident, or ever decide to write a book, or just take a stroll down memory lane.  And go figure.  Now that I have a list of things I want to blog about, the darn sight isn't up and running.

So until I can figure out whats going on w/blog.com, I'm gonna give my g-mail site a whirl.  You'll have to bare w/me while I work out the kinks, i.e,. templates, colors, fonts etc.  But on a positive note I think I can post pictures w/out having to pay a fee (I'll try to add one just to see if it works).   And I think this sight is listed under shaybo75.blogger.com. But I'm not 100% on that.... again, kinks :(

So welcome to the new, but not yet improved Adventures of Shaybo.  More posts to come... I think?