Here’s another submission from my awesome traveling friend Donna. She was recently visiting the Lydon B. Johnson National Historical Park outside of Johnson City, Texas when she ran across this beauty. It seems that Johnson had a large airstrip built at his ranch (which he often referred to as his “Western White House”.) The airstrip was large enough to accommodate the traditional Air Force One plane. But sometimes Johnson preferred to fly in this smaller plane–also officially called “Air Force One” but affectionately dubbed “Air Force One Half” by Johnson himself. The plane was recently rescued from an airstrip in Arizona and the outside was restored to its former glory. The plane was installed at the Lydon B. Johnson National Historical park on what would have been LBJ’s 102nd birthday.
The plane is a Lockheed Jet Star which is the first dedicated business jet to enter service. The plane seats 10…
Hope you had a chance to watch the bird above. Did ya? Did ya have fun? Well, you’re welcome, and have a nice day.
But seriously folks, this bird has the right idea. First of all, Ray Charles totally, totally rules. And secondly, dancing is one of the best and most fun things you could possibly do, ever. Most of us are aware that dancing makes you feel better physically. But dance has so many other benefits. For example, some studies show that frequent dancing is one of the best ways to help stave off dementia. Dancing also keeps you young in other ways; helping keep people engaged in life, strengthening social relationships and literally helping to relieve the aches and pains associated with aging. There are also studies indicating that among exercise and leisure activities dance is one of the best for relieving anxiety and lifting mood.
So it’s fortuitous that I’ll be resuming my FREE live dance fitness classes starting this Saturday, January 5. It’s totally easy and no technological expertise is required. You don’t have to install anything or do anything special on your computer. Just follow this link to dance with me live on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:30 AM PST. Click here to figure out what time that is where you live. PST is the same as USA_Los Angeles.) You can dance with me on your laptop or desktop computer (with any browser you choose), iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Android phone. It’s super fun and totally free.
Starting this Saturday you no longer have any excuse. So join me and “Shake Your Tail Feathers”!
Love,
The Fat Chick
P.S. Don’t forget to send in your photos and related New Year’s Resolutions for a super secret upcoming project. You can use this video for inspiration. Send your photos and your resolutions to projects@thefatchick.com.
I confess, the second day of the year is often a bit of a letdown for me. We’ve been preparing and preparing for the holidays. We’ve made (and distributed) over 120 dozen cookies. We’ve drunk our New Year’s Drinks and made our New Year’s pledges. The tree will stay up to the weekend but is as dry as a poor doggie’s bone. And I am faced with the harsh reality of having to get the heck back to work. I don’t get that warm, righteous, it’s a holiday but I’m working anyway satisfaction. Nope. I have that, I really don’t have an excuse so I gotta get back to it for heaven’s sake kinda deal. Meh.
On the other hand I do find this time of year very invigorating. I’m working with a whole bunch of absolutely amazing people on some ridiculously cool plans. This is the time of year to believe anything is possible. This is the time of year to make outrageous commitments and sign up for stuff just because it seems like it might be cool. So I’m sucking down my coffee and sucking it up just in time to tell you about some amazing things going on right now, and coming down the pike. Let’s DO this people!
New Fat Chick Clique Personalized Training Programs
On January 14, we’ll be launching our all-new training program built on The Fat Chick Works Out! book and DVD. The program (available at several different levels) will feature a live teleconference every week on Monday nights. You’ll receive personal encouragement emails, lots of opportunities to interact with your fellow exercisers and will have access to a variety of personal training options. Special discounts are offered (through January 14 only) for members of Fit Fatties and The Fat Chick Clique. Even deeper discounts are available for folks also participating in the new Fit Fatties Training Groups (see below).
Fit Fatties Across America
On the Fit Fatties Forum, we’re doing the Fit Fatties Across America project. All you have to do is join the forum (it’s free). Then if you wish to participate, simply fill in the form each time you exercise with the date and your time or distance. We’re going to compile everybody’s time and distance and figure out how long it will take the fit fatties to move across the country. We’re starting in New York City and making our (virtual) way to Los Angeles. Once there, a real, in the flesh, super cool party will be had!
New Training Groups
Also on the Fit Fatties Forum, we are creating 4 new premium training groups. For a modest fee, you’ll be able to join a special group of folks either involved in training for distance events, getting in 150 minutes of exercise per week, dedicated to moving just for the fun of it and yes, even a group participating with the Zombies, Run! application. The group will have private facebook message boards, participate in dedicated email groups and get special and personalized advice from forum founders Ragen Chastain and yours truly. Discounts are available to those who register before January 15, so sign up now!
Set a World Record!
After Ragen Chastain heard about the new program from Angela Meadows to destroy diet books as part of our New Year’s Revolution, she contacted a few of us at the Size Diversity Task Force with an idea. Let’s do this as a group and collect over 20,000 pages of diet books to destroy. Which gave me an idea, a big idea, a rascally, super large, crazy idea. Let’s use all those magazines to create a sculpture like Brenda Oelbaum does, but let’s make it the world’s LARGEST! Let’s go for a World Record here. This is all part of my tired of being timid, go big or go home plan for 2013. Wanna join us? You can participate from anyplace in the world. You can either send diet books, contribute money for us to “liberate” diet books ( from resale shops and garage sales where the book creators won’t be financially compensated for what is essentially paper mâché plaster) or even fly or drive in to join us on the big day! You can click here to stay updated on the details.
Super Secret New Project
I can’t reveal this super secret new project I’m working on quite yet, but I am a tease! So I’ll tell you to keep checking back here for a super cool totally new thing that I’ll be offering. Stay tuned!
So while one party has ended, another one is just beginning. Let’s get it started in here!
Whew, well there is a lot of cool and fun and exciting things for us to do together in the coming year! So grab a cup of coffee and let’s get clickin! Post-party ennui aside, I just can’t wait.
Hello everybody. Sorry the post is so late today, but I was working up the special treat you see in the video above. I’ve been thinking a lot about New Years resolutions lately and how to make them more body positive. That was the inspiration for the video.
I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that the video mostly has pictures of me. And while I’m okay with looking at pictures of myself, what I REALLY would like to do is create a video with some pictures of YOU. I think working together makes us so much stronger! So, I’d love it if you would send me some photos along with body-positive resolutions. Just send them to projects@thefatchick.com. You can use the video above as an example of the kinds of photos and resolutions I’m seeking. You can send anything–(just keep it PG and body positive, please!)
I’m so excited about the coming year and the amazing projects we can do together! For instance, on the Fit Fatties Forum we are launching Fit Fatties Across America. Starting tomorrow, forum members can enter their exercise duration or miles on a very simple form. We’ll add everybody’s time and distance together and calculate how long it will take all of the Fit Fatties to get across the USA. (NOTE: the program is open to folks all over the world. We simply picked the US as a beginning geographical marker. Once we get from New York to LA, we’ll have a big party and begin discussing “Fit Fatties Across the World” or “Fit Fatties Fly to the Moon!”) If you’re interested be sure to join the forum (it’s FREE) and hop right on in there!
Also launching on the Fit Fatties Forum on January 1 are, by member request, training and support groups. There are groups lead by fat certified fitness professionals for people of all sizes, abilities, and goals. There is a group for those with a goal of 150 minutes of activity a week, a group for those planning to participate in a fitness event this year, one for those who want to enjoy movement without tracking or structure, and then there’s Team Zombie. People can join as many groups as they would like. There is a small fee to be involved but it’s pretty cheap and it will be awesome. You can find out more info here. (If you aren’t a member you’ll be prompted to join at the link – it’s free and doesn’t commit you to anything.)
We are also launching an amazing new project with the Size Diversity Task Force here in Los Angeles. We’ll be “liberating” diet books and papers from our closets and garages as well as local resale shops, thrift stores and rummage sales. We will then be incorporating these diet books into an extra special super cool art project! Want to make sure you’re in the loop on this awesome project? Check out the site for the Size Diversity Task Force.
Well that’s about the limit of awesome I can fit into one blog post. Tune in soon for more updates. Oh, and Happy New Year!
My dear (and extremely awesome) friend Donna sent me this picture from her recent trek across the country. (Her search for the world’s biggest frying pan continues…) She pointed out that this big cowboy just outside of Amarillo Texas is pretty darn big and thus is likely to fall into the category of “stuff that weighs more than me.” After just a little research I have concluded that indeed, Tex Randall is big enough to fit the bill.
The Tex Randall statue lives in Canyon, Texas. He was built by industrial arts teacher Harry Wheeler in 1959 to promote his western curio shop. Apparently when originally created, the statue was clothed in real denim jeans and a real fabric red checked shirt which were provided by a local tent and awning company.
Over the years Tex has had a fairly rough and tumble life. He’s endured 100 MPH winds, the clothes deteriorating off his body, a truck collision with his left boot and having the original cigarette shot right out of his hand. These days Tex’s clothes are painted on, and the original cigarette has been replaced by a spur, but Tex lives on in all of his magnificent, gigantic, glory. Here’s the stats:
Materials: concrete with an internal structure of pipe, rebar and wire mesh.
Height: 47 feet
Weight: 7 tons
Conclusion: Tex Randall weighs more than me.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Your fabulous pictures could also be featured in this blog. I’m always looking for great local landmarks and statues and stuff for the Stuff that Weighs More than Me section. I’d love it if you’d send me some photos with a little basic background information to me at jeanette at the fat chick dot com.
Just in time for the new year, I present some very, very happy doggies sledding in the snow. I do this for two reasons.
Reason #1: This video makes me laugh and feel happy every time I watch it.
Reason #2: I’d like to talk with you about one of my favorite New Year’s Resolutions. This year, I’m going to resolve to get more happy, fabulous, fun and JOYFUL movement into my life. I want to move more just for the fun of it–sorta like these dogs are doing. I want to run and romp and play just because I can.
Because I ask you–do you think these dogs are calculating the number of calories they are burning? Do you think they are wearing fitness monitors that tell them if they are in their “target training zone”? Are they pulling out their iPhones to record their number of sets? NO! They are just running around, tongues hanging out, and having as much fun as possible before someone tells them they have to come inside.
Now let me be clear. There’s nothing wrong with tracking details of your exercise program if that makes you happy. By all means use whatever iPhone app or tracking program or digital device that makes you happy. Whatever works for YOU.
But as for me, I’m aiming for more playtime followed by grown-up nap time this year. I want to smell the seasons in the air and jump around and dance like a silly person and collapse with giggles. I hope to have as much fun with my exercise routine in 2013 as those guys in the video up there, and I hope you do to!
Love,
The Fat Chick
P.S. If you live anywhere near the LA area, you can join us for a super fun dance extravaganza on January 6. Details coming soon!
And it’s always fun to join us for our free live streaming workouts. They are starting back up this year on January 5 and will air Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings from 8:30–9:30 PST. Just go to this link to watch and dance with us LIVE!
So often we feel the world does not offer up what we deserve. We feel like while we work and slave and give, the world is stingy with its rewards. But I wonder sometimes if the rewards come unrecognized and without remark. I wonder if when the rewards have come to me, my overriding feeling is not gratitude, but rather, “it’s about time.”
But this holiday season, I’ve had such astonishing instances of grace in my life, I can’t help but notice them. By grace I mean moments where I receive gifts that are completely undeserved and that I can’t possibly hope to pay back. There is no tally or reason that I can use to justify these gifts. There’s no global gift exchange that has this stuff on the registry. There is no way to completely even up this reward system. All I can do is fall on my knees and be grateful.
It makes me wonder how many other slightly smaller instances of grace have passed by unnoticed and unmarked. The fact I have a wonderful family. The fact that I have another brand spanking new year in front of me. The fact that I have sunshine and clean water and air to breathe. The fact that I have friends and a mission and meaningful work to do. None of these things are “earned”. They are gifts, pure and simple. And one of my great overarching goals for the new year is to spend more time recognizing these gifts every day.
My dear friends, I hope your new year is full of all that you hope for and all that you need. And whether or not you’ve earned it, or deserve it, or it’s your turn, I pray that your life is full of outrageously wonderful gifts for which you would have occasion to feel unreservedly grateful.
When Ragen Chastain put out the call to record this amazing new song she created, I just KNEW I had to do it. So I fired up the video camera, lit the fire, plugged in the tiny Christmas tree and got to it. It was so much fun!
I know that for many of us, the holidays are a scary time. Sometimes our family while meaning well, can inadvertently be extremely hurtful. And for many of us, holiday family gatherings can bring up a sense of dread.
I am very lucky that this is no longer the case for me. My family is extremely supportive of all that I do. (My Mom edited my book!) There was a time long ago when my family’s concern over my weight was hard for me. Ever since I learned to set boundaries and to clearly articulate what I needed, I haven’t really had a problem with them. Sometimes you have to help people understand how you’d like them to help you. Remember, it’s not your job to convince them that you are right and they are wrong. You can present evidence if you like, but people are allowed to believe what they wish. You can request that people talk to you or treat you differently. Then they can choose whether or not to honor your request, and you can choose how to react. I have found that even if people choose not to do what you ask, there is empowerment in the asking. And having planned and articulated consequences ahead of family events may help you approach the holidays a little more calmly.
I wish you a holiday season filled with light and peace.
Wow, who thought of taking a giant Christmas tree and floating it on the water? Some folks down in Brazil did and what a beauty! This behemoth. created by Brazil’s largest insurance company is called the Bradesco Seguros Christmas Tree. It is located in the in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro. The floating metal structure rests on eleven giant floats and is about as tall as a 28-story building. The tree, seen in the video above during its lighting ceremony demonstrates four different looks depicting each of the four seasons. The lighting ceremony, which also boasts a spectacular fireworks display, attracts over 100,000 people annually. Here’s the stats:
Number of lights: Over 3 Million
Platform: eleven huge floats
Height: 85 meters (over 280 ft.)
Longest String of Lights: 105 km. (65 miles)
Weight: 542 tons
Conclusion: The Bradesco Seguros Christmas Tree weighs more than me.
Recently a dear friend of mine sent me a holiday card that he created using JibJab. It’s a fun and very brief synopsis of one of my very favorite holiday movies, It’s a Wonderful Life. But in my friend’s version I get to play a starring role! (Still waiting for my residuals and my listing on imdb.com though…) To check out the video, check HERE.
Now this is one of those movies that makes me cry every single time I watch it. Even this very short and funny parody reminds me of my usual state when Zuzu’s bell rings–with either three hankies or one whole box of tissues wringing wet from my soppy response.
We all have our George Bailey moments. We wind up crying in our beer at Guiseppe Martini’s place and wishing we’d never been born. But just for now, would you please allow me to play a different role in the movie? Let me play Clarence. Let me earn my wings as I tell you something important.
Even when you think you’ve screwed up, even when you think you don’t measure up, please remember that the world is a much better place with you in it. Not because of how much money you’ve earned, not because you’ve finally reached that magic goal weight that you always wanted to attain, not because of how many sit ups you did or how you look in your skinny jeans, but just because of who you are.
You are like the stone dropping in the center of the pond. You may make a tiny splash at first. But in time, your kindness and intelligence and wisdom and strength ripple outwards and outwards and on and on. You are probably aware of only a tiny fraction of the lives you’ve touched and the world you’ve made a better place. Your awareness of your own awesomeness is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg–with over 80 percent of your fabulousity lying deep under the surface.
So let’s end the film together, shall we? Let’s run through the streets, shouting like crazy people who are just happy to be alive. Let’s imagine a holiday filled with loved ones who surround us and support us. Let’s imagine a holiday where we understand that we are, in the ways that are important, the richest people in town.
Wait–what’s that? Is that a bell I hear ringing? ‘Scuse me while I grab another hanky.
Here’s another submission from my awesome traveling friend Donna. She was recently visiting the Lydon B. Johnson National Historical Park outside of Johnson City, Texas when she ran across this beauty. It seems that Johnson had a large airstrip built at his ranch (which he often referred to as his “Western White House”.) The airstrip was large enough to accommodate the traditional Air Force One plane. But sometimes Johnson preferred to fly in this smaller plane–also officially called “Air Force One” but affectionately dubbed “Air Force One Half” by Johnson himself. The plane was recently rescued from an airstrip in Arizona and the outside was restored to its former glory. The plane was installed at the Lydon B. Johnson National Historical park on what would have been LBJ’s 102nd birthday.
fatchicksings.com 