Bardstown Ghost Hunting Trip: Part 1

Bardstown Ghost Hunting Trip: Part 1
Jul 25. 2007

As some of you know, on July 17th, 18th and 19th, I attended a three day Ghost Hunting trip in Bardstown, Kentucky. Wow, what an experience that was. I can tell you all that without a doubt, this was the most fun I have ever had on a Paranormal related trip.

For starters, we stayed at the very haunted Talbott Tavern Bed and Breakfast. Here is a picture of it. It is described on this site: Talbott’s Tavern It is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Jessie James and other entities.

I arrived one night before everyone else. I checked into the inn just in time for the staff to lock up and go home for the night. All guests are issued two keys. One for their rooms and one to lock the building if they leave while the staff is gone for the night. The Tavern has a total of five rooms and the night I arrived, only two other rooms were occupied..

Well, the spirits at this inn did not disappoint. The first night I was there, I took off my diamond anniversary ring and wedding ring set and put them on a little desk that was in front of the wall that faces the restroom. This restroom then faces the street so therefore, they were no rooms in front of it. The minute I finished putting down the rings, I heard a series of 6 or 7 loud knocks right on that table. It was as though a spirit was letting me know that the table was private and I was not to put any of my property on it. Well, needless to say, I was a little spooked but I figured I knew what I was in for when I voluntarily checked into this haunted inn. I then showered and had a quiet uneventful night’s sleep.

In the morning, I began to think about other likely reasons a spirit would knock like this and I have come to the conclusion that in this case, the spirit was a woman. She could have still been angry at the many men during her lifetime and might have been protesting the fact that I was happily married. What do you guys think?

To be continued…

A Mini 6th Grade Reunion Gone Wrong Or Did It?

As some of you know, I just came back from NYC where I had a small reunion with three friends from my elementary school days. All three friends were in my fifth and sixth grade classes.

With the exception of one of the classmates, which I recently wrote about in another blog, I had not seen these people for over 39 years. The other two were the valedictorian and salutatorian of my sixth grade class grade.  These other two classmates were also in my third and fourth grade classes and I have always admired and thought about them a great deal throughout the years. Since we were together for so long, I always felt like they were siblings of mine.

If you read my other blog, you already know how I found my best friend, Sandra, from sixth grade. I used my cyber-sleuth skills to find, George, which was the former salutorian and Elly, which was the former valedictorian, found me on Http://www.Classmates.com.

I got to NYC late on Thursday, the 7th of June. I planned to meet everyone at a restaurant in NYC the next day around 7:00 pm. In the meantime, I saw Elly immediately the first night since she lived very close to the hotel I was staying in. She showed me around town and we went to Applebee’s where her son works and had desert. It was so great seeing her again.

The next day, I slept very late and then took the metro train into the city, which was close to the hotel I was staying in. I was such a trip down memory lane seeing Times Square, Radio City music hall and Rockefeller center. As some of you know, I am originally from NYC but had not been there since 1972.  I took my 13-year old boy to the Nintendo World store, which had been his dream to go to for a while. He had a great time there.

I was disappointed to find that the original New York Style pizza was not available hardly anywhere. This is what I have been craving the most since leaving NYC all those years ago. I did however find coconut flavored Italian style ices which I also loved and had a large serving of it. My son and husband had NYC style hot dogs, which they loved.

While I was on the Metro heading back to my hotel room, I got a voice mail from my best friend Sandra. She had flown into NYC the Tuesday before I did to attend our mini sixth grade reunion.

Her message stated that she could not attend our dinner tonight because her mom had been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia.  Well, needless to say, I was very disappointed that she could not attend and at the same time concerned about her mom. I had hoped to see her mom also. As a sixth grader, I was always hanging out at Sandra’s house and therefore knew her mom well. I had also not seen her for over 39 years.

The dinner the next day was so much fun. George, Elly and I saw each other for the first time in 39 years and we could hardly believe we were together again. George and Elly were romantically involved while in the fifth grade, broke up during that summer and did not speak to each other during the sixth grade even though they were in the same sixth grade class. Since I knew this, I was extra happy to see them speaking to each other again after all of these years

George and Elly were also very disappointed to hear that Sandra could not attend. We however had another get together planned on Sunday night and we were all planning to go to our old elementary school on Monday.

Our school is in the inner city and we planned to talk to the children about never giving up on their dreams. Since we all went to that school and became successful, we wanted to let the kids know that their environment should not dictate their futures and that if they stayed in school and worked hard, they could become as successful as we did.

On Saturday I took the metro train into the city again and visited some tourist attractions and museums. I called Sandra to let her know how much everyone missed her at the dinner party the night before and find out how her mom was doing. She just happened to be close by to where I was and she took a cab to see me. I got to visit with her for about 15 minutes.

Sandra’s husband is a doctor and he was with her at the time. He explained that Sandra’s mom also had terminal Leukemia, the kind that was not related to the bone marrow.  I never knew there were different types of Leukemia. He also explained that because of the Leukemia, her body had a poor immune system and most of the time, when she got sick, she would have to be hospitalized.

Sandra told me that since she got to NYC for the reunion, she and her husband had done nothing but spend their days at the hospital trying to negotiate her mom’s care with the hospital and keeping her mom company. She had not even had time to unpack her suitcase since she arrived. To make a long story short, Sandra never got to attend the dinner meeting with us on Sunday nor go to the elementary school with us on Monday, the 11th of June.

I kept trying to call her but her voice mail kept picking up her cell phone and she would not return my calls. This really worried me. I left NYC Tuesday afternoon never getting any news about Sandra.

This morning I finally reached her. She stated that her mom died the night before last around 12:00 midnight. Sandra told me she felt sad but blessed because if I had not set up this mini-reunion when I did, she would have never been there during her mom’s last days.

She also said, that her husband would never had been able to negotiate her mom’s care with the hospital nor would have been able to use his connections with other Pathologists to get her mom’s test results back quicker then normal. Her husband would also never have gotten days off work on such short notice to even do these things if he had not already been in NYC during this time. Her statement about feeling blessed more then anything else really touched my heart and made me cry the most.

Also, when I first saw her for the first time in 39 years last March, she said she thought there was a reason why I found her now. She felt there was no such thing as a coincidence and that everything happens for a reason. I am beginning to think she is so right.

So, what do you think? Was these events destined to happen the way they did? Did I really find her recently so I was able to make the mini reunion arrangements when I did?  I don’t think we will ever know the answers to these questions however these are interesting possibilities to think about.

Here are some pictures:

Here is a picture of Elly and I:


Here is a picture of Sandra and I in front of the Museum of Natural History

Here is another picture of Sandra and I in front of the Museum of Natural History.

Here is a picture of George and I:

Here is a picture of my husband and I:

Here is a picture of Elly, George and I:

My Trip to the Eastern State Penitentiary

My Trip to the Eastern State Penitentiary
jun 14th, 2007

As some of you know, I just came back from a trip to Philly and NYC. I did not send a bulletin about this because my specific purpose for going to NYC was to attend a mini reunion with three newly found friends from my sixth grade class. I was there for only a few days and therefore did not have time to do any other type of socializing. I therefore apologize if some of you would have liked to hook up with me while I was there. I will write another blog about the mini reunion soon, so stay tuned.

One of the highlights of my Philly trip was visiting the Eastern State Penitentiary. It is a fascinating and historic place to visit and many people have reported seeing both shadow and full body apparitions while touring the place. Former inmates and guards have also reported having the same paranormal experiences.

One of the most famous former inmates at this prison was Al Capone. While he was a prisoner there, he sworn the Ghost of a man was haunting him in retaliation for ordering the mob to murder him. Capone would be found in his cell many nights screaming at the man to leave him alone. When the prison guards responded to his screams, they would find no one.

One of the most interesting stories about Al Capone is that this prison treated him as a celebrity while he was there. He actually had a real bed to sleep in, a radio, a desk to write on and a lamp. These were luxuries not available to other inmates. If you visit the prison today, his cell is still furnished the way it was then. You will recognize the picture of Al Capone cell because it will have a red bed spread.

While I was there, I noticed that cell rooms 6 and 12 were only open to special groups. I wondered why that was so. Well, when I got home, I did some research into the matter and found out that most of the sighting reports have occurred in cell rooms 6 and 12, the Death Row area, the Infirmary and the Central Guard tower. It is unfortunate that these rooms were not available to the public because I would have loved to visit the cells and take pictures. I did go the Death row area. Unfortunately, I did not visit the infirmary or the Central guard tower.

I did not see anything out of the ordinary while I was there but it sure was an amazing place to visit. Here is a slide show of the pictures I took. Some of the pictures contain sculptures that local artists from Philly have created and put into the cells.

You can see the pictures on my photobucket account here: (Maybe some of you might see something that I missed.)

Photobucket Page 1.

Photobucket Page 2.

My First Tarot Card Reading Party

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Thanks to an invitation from my MYSPACE friend, Buddy Dolan, I got to attend my veryfirst Tarot Card Reading Party last night. I had no idea what to expect but I must say that I had a very amazing time. There was a total of 6 people attending. This number includes the psychic himself.

The psychic’s name was Tobi Ellison. He is well known in the Paranormal communities of
Orange County, Florida and Los Angeles, Ca. He started out by telling us that he always
had abilities to predict things as a child and later decided to hone in on his abilities by
learning the art of card reading to tell people’s fortunes.

We then had a short question and answer period. I asked him if he was affiliated with

Cassadaga which is a town near Orlando where all residents are Psychics and found out
that he was not. I did find out that he is currently working on a web site that will be online
soon.

Next, he led us through a meditation type exercise. He said it was very important for
people to be relaxed to allow any spirit guides or spirit energies to come through our space.

After our relaxation exercise period, the card reading began. He asked the first participant
to shuffle a deck of cards and then break them into two parts. These card were ordinary cards
and not tarot ones. He uses these kinds of cards for the first part of the reading. He uses
special angel cards for the second half of the reading.

During the first half, he reads the persons fortune in front of the entire group and advices the
person not to interrupt him during the reading. He then gets out a set of angel cards, shuffles
them, and ask the person he is reading for to chose 4 cards at random. During the second half,
the person he is reading for gets an
opportunity to ask questions.

The psychic continues this process with all people attending the party. Every once in a while
he will interrupt a person’s reading for a moment because he would get a sudden message
for another person in the group. It was so fascinating and entertaining to hear everyone else’s
reading and to see an expression of their faces of pure amazement as they listened to Tobi.
During the party, we all took little breaks for food and drink. Diana, who was hosting the party,
had a lovely apartment and did a great job providing refreshments for all.

Personally, my reading could not have been more accurate. I have gone to other psychics before
and paid up to $ 50.00 for a reading. However, never before did I have a reading where I said
nothing and the psychic said it all. Out of the entire group, he told me that I had psychic abilities
and that I should get some cards and learn how to use them to do psychic readings.

He also advised me to go to Cassadaga when I can because it would help me to hone in on my
abilities. He said the time was finally right for me to come out into the open and use my
gifts. Also, that by next year around this time, I should be an entirely different person.

These statements did not surprise me in the least bit. I always known I had special abilities to
predict things and ever since I was eight years old, I have been seeing things of a Paranormal
nature and had strange things happen to me that I could never explain.

Up until I joined several online social networks 13 months ago, I have been scared to tell anyone about these things for fear of being rejected and labeled insane. However, since I have been been a member of these online groups, I have met many people in the Paranormal community that are like me and it has empowered me to open up about my experiences and abilities.

I currently teach college students and in the past, I wouldn’t even dream of speaking to my
students about these topics. However, these days, I am speaking to everyone of my classes
about my experiences without fear. To my surprise, many students have opened up and told
me about their Paranormal experiences.

The psychic was not selling any products, however, he highly recommended for every one to
watch, “The Secret” and also, “The Secret behind the Secret”. He also recommended for one
of the people in our group to read, “Many Masters, Many Lives” and for another to read,
“Conversation with God”. His normal fee for a reading was $35.00 which I gladly paid.

In all, I had a wonderful time and met a bunch of friendly and interesting people. However,
my favorite part was meeting my MYSPACE friend, Buddy Dolan. He has been on my list
since the first of the year. I have enjoyed my chats with him very much and thought he
was a real gentleman and great person. Well, I was not disappointed. Buddy, thanks for
inviting me last night and for being my friend.

Here are some pictures of the event:

Here is a picture of Tobi and I


Here is a picture of our group:(One person did not wish to be in the picture)

Here is a picture of Buddy and I:

Reunion with Long Lost Friend

Original date published: Monday, April 02, 2007

During the 1967/68 school year, I was a sixth grader at a school located in the Bronx borough of NYC. My best friend at the time was a girl named Sandra. We would always be at each other homes after school and have sleepovers.

This was the year Maxi Coats were in vogue. I remember that Sandra and I both wore Navy Blue Maxi coats. I also remember we each had a pair of black Baby-doll shoes, white lace up Go-Go boots and wore chain belts with our mini skirts, dresses and pants. Sandra and I always loved to wear the latest fashions. I felt like a fashion diva during that time. Well, the school year ended and sadly we both went to different Junior High Schools. I ran into her a few more times but we quickly lost touch.

As an adult, I have thought about Sandra for years and always wondered whatever became of her. I have used Google and other search engines many times since 1994 hoping to find her someday. Last month, I just happened to find a free web site that helps people find long lost friends and relatives.I created an account and posted a plea hoping to find Sandra and wrote as many details that I could about her.

I was so shocked to find a response in my personal mailbox the very next day from a total stranger who thought he knew where my friend was. He gave me the name of her husbands website. Her husband is a Pathologist here in Florida. He warned me that he may be wrong and it may be someone else with the same name. Also, he wrote that he found the information on a public database and he had no idea whether this couple was still married. He wrote that he was not a detective but just loved to use his cyber-sleuth skills to help people. I was so excited because if he was right, she only lived a three-hour drive away from my home.

I quickly went to the website which has a contact me link. I wrote a note to the doctor and waited anxiously for a response. I was really praying that this was the right person and that he was married to my friend. I wrote my contact information in the message. Well, on Saturday morning, my cell phone rang. It was my friend Sandra. We talked non-stop for a few hours and promised to keep in touch. Her mom was visiting her from NYC on the day she called and after her company left; she wanted to get together with me.

Her mom finally left about two weeks later and we made plans to get together the last week of March that was my paid Spring Break from my job as a college professor. So last Thursday, I finally got together with my best friend from the sixth grade. We had the most amazing time. I could hardly believe it had been 39 years since we last saw each other.

I found out that we still have a lot in common. Both of our favorite ice cream flavors are pineapple/coconut and we both use Stevia as a sweetener. She is also into big time bodybuilding. She is also in the education field. Even though at the moment, she is not working anywhere, she used to be a teacher for special need kids and then a Principal of the same school. We also showed up wearing similar outfits.

We compared notes on our husbands, and we both married men who have similar traits. Both of our husbands are in the health field. Both of our husbands are serious most of the time and a little introverted.

Here are some pictures:

So, in closing, I am so glad I took a chance and posted my message on the www.peoplesite.com website. The site was totally free and I never imagined I would get results as fast as I did. So, if you guys are looking for any long lost friends, I highly recommend this site. After all, you have nothing to lose and you may be the next person writing a blog similar to mine.

The Lady’s Room Ghost: My Amazing True story

The Lady’s Room Ghost: My Amazing True story
2-15-2007

Since I published my last blog about the Paranormal part of my trip, I have had several private messages from you guys asking me to write about some of my personal encounters with Ghosts.

Here is my most interesting one. I first posted it on my favorite Ghost forum on Nov. 12, 2005 which is located here: Ghost Place Forum

I then submitted it to the Paranormal about site for possible publication. It was published on the About Paranormal site on Dec. 1st, 2005 here: Paranormal About site

The Lady’s Room Ghost

Your True Tales
December 2005

Lady’s Room Ghost
by nycrican

In 1981, I had just moved to a new area and went out to eat at a restaurant in town with my boyfriend at the time. I got up to go to the lady’s room. It looked like it was completely empty to me. I used the restroom and was washing my hands at the sink. In front of the sink was a mirror. All of a sudden, the image of a lady appeared in the mirror and was apparently standing in back of me. I did not hear the door open and I could have sworn I was the only one in the restroom. I thought, well, I may have been wrong.

When I saw the lady, she was dressed in old fashion clothing and was wearing a long dress. I immediately thought to myself, gee, that lady needs some fashion advice. Maybe she is in a strange religion where they dressed like that. I smiled at her reflection in the mirror and was quickly trying to finish washing my hands since it was a small bathroom with only two stalls and one sink.

I finally got done and turned around, and there was no one there. I was dumbfounded. I went back to the dinner table and told my boyfriend at the time about my experience. He said that the lady probably left and I did not hear the door close.

I did not think very much about it until later when I was reading a newspaper article in which this restaurant was mentioned. It stated that a long time ago, a train derailed right in back of the restaurant and that many people died. That many people have reported seeing ghosts at the restaurant and that one lady reported the exact same incident that happened to me also happened to her.

The restaurant is still in the same place and is called Ashley’s. It used to be called Gentleman Jim’s when I saw the image in the mirror. The Florida Today newspaper reported the story on it.

Epilogue:

Since this story was published, there has been several things which have happened to help explain the mystery of the Lady’s Room Ghost.

1. One of the members of Ghost Place Forum
responded to my original November post right after my story was published on the Paranormal About site. He informed me that if I wanted to know what really happened to that lady, I needed to read a new book just published by Charlie Carlson. The book is a fictional story based on the true life story of this lady before she became a ghost. The name of the book is, “Ashley’s Shadow”. Here is a picture of the cover of the book.

Note:The picture of the lady on the cover of the book is not the actual lady that was murdered.

I ordered the book and read it in one day. It turns out this lady was murdered in 1934 in that restaurant in the lady’s room. At the time of the murder, the restroom used to be a storage closet. Her killer was never caught and the author of this book believes that the killer was the son of a local judge at the time and that the judge used his power to close out the murder case before a proper murder investigation couid take place.

2. By coincidence, someone at the same paranormal forum posted a link to, “the Florida Paranormal Research Foundation”. The thread is shown here: Ghost Place I was checking out this site and when I when I read about their investigation called, ” Case Synopsis Rockledge, FL Apartment “, my blood ran cold because this story was about the same ghost I saw. Here is a link to The Paranormal site, just click on the last link of this page to read the story about the same ghost I saw: Florida Paranormal Research Foundation

In this investigation, the ghost I saw had followed one of the customers home from the restaurant. Details about the restaurant were not mentioned on this site. I however knew immediately who the Ghost in question was. The name of the Ghost in this apartment was revealed to a medium from the Florida group. It was the same name as in the book written by Charlie Carlson.

I emailed one of the contact people shown on the site. I told them I have personally seen the Ghost and that everything the Ghost revealed to the medium in the apartment investigation was correct. I also mentioned that a book was written about this Ghost. Tim, the person I emailed at the site had no idea that a book had been published. He said he would check out the book. I have not heard from him since. I invite comments from everyone on this story.

Ghostock 4: A Hair Raising Experience

Ghostock 4: A Hair Raising Experience
2-7-2007

As many of you know, last weekend I attended Ghostock 4 in Savannah, GA. It was the most fantastic event I have ever had the pleasure of attending. The main event of the weekend was going on a Ghosthunt investigation. This occurred last Friday night.There were 14 different places to explore. After everyone got assigned to a specific location and team leaders were selected, the fun began.

I got assigned to a team investigating a local haunted restaurant called,” The Olde Pink House”. This restaurant was rumored to be haunted by the Ghost of James Habersham; a colonial statesman and the acting governor of Georgia from 1771-1773 and also other unknown entities. My specific investigation started at midnight and ended at 3:30 AM .

We started out by interviewing the management of the restaurant. Several employees had stayed at the restaurant overtime so they could talk to us and of course, let us in and lock up after woods.

They informed us that woman diners have been mysteriously locked in the ladies room on occasion. Also, that dishes have flown off counters, tables and chairs have moved by themselves and pictures on the wall have been moved upside down at times. Most of this activity occurred in a special dining area called, “The Purple Room”. They also stated that many of their employees refused to go into the wine cellar downstairs because of strange noises that they have heard and unexplained cold spots that appear suddenly. After we took notes, we started the investigation.

We split up into 3 smaller groups and part of the team got assigned to the ladies room, part to the wine cellar and the other part to the Purple room. . We rotated the groups until everyone got a chance to investigate each of the haunted areas.We used video cameras, digital cameras, EMF readers and voice activated tape recorders. Most of the members of my team were experienced investigators. I was happy about this since I felt that I could learn alot since this was my very first investigation.

During our first visit to the purple room, we set up a video camera and left the room to take random pictures of other parts of the restaurant. When we came back, the video camera had turned itself off stating that the tape was full when it really was not and had nothing on it. They explained that this frequently happens during Ghost Hunt investigations. Apparently, the entities cause the equipment to malfunction. We set up the camera again and this time, it recorded a video.

In the ladies room, we used the EMF readers and it went crazy in certain parts of the ladies room. It is believed by many that quick changes in electro-magnetic fields indicate spirit activity. We all got chills up and down our backs while there. We asked the entity questions hoping that the voice activated voice recorders would pick up the answers. Tape recorders can usually pick up voices that cannot be heard by the human ear. These are called EVP’s (electronic voice phenomenon).

In the wine cellar, we sat down, turned off the lights and used the activated voice recorder to ask the entity questions. One of the groups said they heard a whisper but could not make out what it said.My group leader said she felt something touch her head. I quickly pointed my camera at her to try to take a picture. It would not work. As soon as we left the cellar, the camera started working perfectly again. My leader explained that this frequently happens during Ghost Hunts especially when the entities are nearby. I guess the entities do not want to have their pictures taken.

After each group had investigated all of the locations, we all met in the Purple Room for a while. We set up the video camera again and tried to talk to the entity. We closed all of the curtains so no light would come in from outdoors. We noticed several small ball of lights come from the fireplace area and return quickly to the place they came from. The fireplace did not have a fire going at that time. We actually got these to appear on the video camera. The team members explained to me that sometimes entities appear to people in this form.

We left the restaurant around 3:30 AM and thanked the employees for their hospitality. The next day, everyone checked out their pictures, videos tapes and tape recordings. We found several voices on the tape recordings. One said, “GET OUT’. The investigators told me that this is a very common recording to get. Another said, “HELP ME”. A third one said, ” The Doctor is in.”.

We played these recording for the people attending the conference on Sunday morning. We also had several orbs in our pictures that showed clear movement and a clear rings around them. Usually these kinds of orbs are positive orbs however they may also have been dust particles. We also projected these pictures for the audience.Lastly, we also showed the audience the video tapes with the moving ball of lights.

On Sunday morning, all of the investigation groups also presented their findings. It was so amazing listening to what each group found. One of the other teams actually got a video of an entity going up the stairs of a basement. Patrick Burns, show host of Haunted Evidence, was blown away by this video. He had never seen one this clear. Everyone was just astounded. Some of the others groups got great EVP’s. One of the female investigators got a full face in a picture that she took while investigating the Haunted Lighthouse in Savannah.

In addition to the investigations, we also got to listen to some great speakers. Some of them have also authored books on Ghosthunting. They gave us some great tips and shared a lot of great stories with us.

One of the speakers was Dr. Hans Holzer who has had over 40 years experience in GhostHunting. Another set of speakers were the Ghost Chicks which have a profile on MYSPACE and other social network sites. They gave a great presentation of Poltergeists.

Here are a few pictures. Here is a picture of Patrick Burns and I:

Here is a picture of Steve from Ghosthunters and I:

Here is a picture of the Ghost chicks and I

Lastly, here is a picture of Patrick’s wife, Pamela and my roommate, Tracy.(Moonlight Poetess)

In all, I had a blast last weekend and can hardly wait to attend the next Ghostock in Sept. 07.

My Nov. 5th GraveYard Ghost Tour

My Nov. 5th GraveYard Ghost Tour
1-1-2007

I promised when I wrote the blog about my trip to the V last November that I would write another one concerning the Graveyard Ghost Tour that I attended in Charleston, SC that weekend. Well, I never wrote the second part of the trip blog because sadly, orbs did not appear in this set of pictures. The tour I went on is described on this site: Graveyard Ghost Tour. Here are the pictures I took that night:

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Personally, I did not see anything unusual in these pictures. If anyone notices anything out of the ordinary. please let me know.

The trip to the V last weekend

The trip to the V last weekend

Nov. 8th, 2006

As most of you know by reading my bulletin, I went to the V last weekend. I arrived in Charleston on Friday night. On Saturday, I went to the V to buy one day passes for myself and Sandra (Rockbox). We planned to go take two classes at the V on Sunday.

In the meantime, I did some sightseeing and then left Charleston at 6:00 PM to travel to Columbia to pick up Sandra . She was attending the 10th annual Firm Believers exercise weekend trip. I got there around 8:00 PM. Little did I imagine that many people that attended the event wanted to meet me.

Well, I got there and was soon surrounded by most of the members who attended the event.

Here is a picture of the Firm Believers and I.

I had a great time meeting everyone. I especially enjoyed meeting Leigh and she looked great. Leigh was just one of the sweetest Firmies I have had the pleasure of meeting and she gave me three hugs.

Sandra and I then drove back to Charleston. She had arranged to fly back to Montreal, Canada from the Charleston Airport so I was able to also take her to the Airport before I left to return home. It was really great finally meeting Sandra in person. She is one of my closest online Firmie friends.

On Sunday, we arrived at the V for our first class. To our delight, our instructor was my old time legendary fitness idol, Susan Harris herself. Wow, her class was so hard but so much fun. We took a Functional Strength class with her. After the class, we introduced ourselves and took pictures with her. She has such a great personality and I thought she was so down to Earth. She was floored that someone would travel from Florida and Montreal just to meet and work out with her. Well, she still looks as great as when she filmed the very first Firm exercise video tape back in 1986. Here is what she looked like then:

Here is a picture of Susan and I now. Please excuse our flushed faces as she had just gotten done teaching her exercise class and I had just gotten done being her student:

We noticed that Jenn Carmen was also there. As you know, she is another one of my fitness idols. So Sandra and I took pictures with her. Here is a picture of Jenn Carmen on the cover of her 2003 exercise video tape:

Here is a picture of Jenn Carmen, Sandra and I. I think she still looks great.

Here is another picture of Jenn Carmen and myself:


We went back to the V later on that same day and did Jivamukti Style Yoga. Jivamukti is one of the nine internationally recognized styles of Hatha Yoga, and is based on 5 Tenets:

1.Scripture Exploration of the foundational texts of yoga

2. Bhakti Cultivation of devotion and humility

3. Ahimsa Peaceful lifestyle that emphasizes the integration of ethical vegetarianism

4. Nada Yoga Deep listening, chanting, elevated music

5. Meditation Connecting to inner stillness and understanding the mechanics of the mind

The instructor for this class was Andrea Boyd . She is a certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher It was an amazing class that leaves everyone feeling energized, renewed and at sync with the environment.

Here is a great picture of Sandra and Andrea. They are posing in front of the alter used during this class:

Well the exercise part of my trip was fabulous and today I am experiencing major doms. I will write another blog about the Paranormal part of this trip soon.

Winning the Game of Life

Winning the Game of Life
8-15-2006
Hi Readers:

I have been sad lately because my first baby is leaving for college this Thursday. It is a hard transition to make for anyone. This Thursday will also be my 21st anniversary so I will be on a real roller coaster ride. I thought I would share a motivating conversation that I had with my son this evening.

I remarked to my son that he was leaving on Thursday, I could hardly believe it and how did this happen? He told me,” mom, it happened because you won the game of Life”. This made me feel so much better.

So, parents, there you have it. When you get to this point, you have won the game of Life. This is a wonderful way to look at this difficult transition. So, remember, that with every milestone in our children’s life, we are getting closer to winning at the game of Life!