Exercising While In An Airplane

 

I have been doing a lot of traveling, especially overseas.  Unfortunately, many of these trips last between 8 and 14 hours depending on where I'm going.  The last one, the one to Sydney Australia, was almost 14 hours long.  It is extremely hard to sit still for 14 hours, even though it was a night time flight.  I left Los Angeles around 11 PM and arrived in Sydney a bit before 7 AM.

Unfortunately, sitting still for such long periods of time can lead to several issues including deep vein thrombosis which are blood clots. This condition is not restricted to traveling by air.  It can happen when you sit for periods of longer than 4 hours in a car, a train, or bus.  These bold clots form way below the surface where they can't be seen and the longer you sit, the higher your chances of developing one. Fortunately, there are some things you can do while in the airplane to reduce your chances of ending up with deep vein thrombosis.

There are some wonderful exercises you can do in your seat that will keep this condition from developing.  They are simple and most do not require you get out of your seat.  I love being able to exercise in my seat because I hate waking people up to get out into the aisle so I often focus on seat based exercises.  

First, if it is at all possible, get up and walk the aisles as a way of stretching your legs and getting the blood moving.  This is much easier on night flights when everyone is sleeping and the crew is sitting quietly in the back otherwise, you have to avoid drink carts. It is also easier in those larger planes such as the Airbus which has two aisles so you can walk in circles. 

Second, stretch your upper body to help your posture because the longer you sit, the more likely you are to slouch.  One good stretch is to grab one wrist with the other hand, pull it up as far as you can and then lean over to the opposite side for a few seconds and then repeat on the other side.  I love these and do them quite frequently.  I tend to do two or three on each side when I do it.

Third, simply squeeze your butt muscles by clenching them for at least five seconds and repeat ten times.  If you want to vary this exercise clench both muscles for one set and then clench one at a time so you do the left butt and then the right butt so you do 10 on each side.

Fourth, roll your head so you stretch the neck.  Lean your head to the left while facing forward so your ear is lowering to your shoulder and hold for a few seconds, then repeat on the other side.  If one set doesn't feel like enough, repeat a couple more times. 

The next one is good to do if you can get out of your seat into the aisles.  There are often places where one can find a bit of space, such as by the doors of the back galley area.  Stop here and do a full body roll down by starting with the head and rolling down slowly through the neck, back vertebrate by vertebrate until you are touching your toes or getting as close as you can.  I don't think I've ever been able to touch my toes, even when I was a child, so I get as close as I can.

After touching your toes, bring one leg to your chest while rising on the other toe if you can.  Other wise, just raise pull your leg to your chest and hold for a few seconds, then repeat on the other side.  You can also left one leg off the ground and circle you foot at your ankle in a clockwise motion followed by a circle in the counter clockwise direction.  Do the circles so you've done 10 on each side.  Circling your feet can also be done in your seat if you don't have much under the seat in front of you. Yes, I've done it.

It is possible to perform all of these on your feet or most of them while sitting.  It is recommended one combine multiple exercises to create a nice workout that you perform several times throughout the flight.  Think about doing this in flights as short as four hours and plan to do them multiple times during a longer flight.  In addition, these exercise will keep your legs from tingling or falling asleep.  

I strongly recommend doing this every time you travel.  It should be part of your regular routine when you are sitting.  I do.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a good day.

The Ideal Body Shape and Image.

In the past, the ideal body shape was a woman with curves, love handles, and nicely rounded, the opposite of today. This past image developed because a woman of this shape was associated with wealth because she obviously could afford food.  She could eat as much as she wanted and her figured showed it.  

As time passed, women still were shown to have curves and they were not thin even up into the 40's and 50's.  Think about Mae West who had a very rounded figure and obviously did not weigh 98 pounds dripping west.  After her, another was Marilyn Monroe with her beautifully curved figure.  

Even the movie stars and models of the time were nicely curved and looked like real women but once Twiggy hit the world as the girl of the 1960's, suddenly being thin was ideal.  The thinner the better and this ideal continued into the 1990's with Kate Moss.  Once social media and reality shows exploded, we've been seeing a very specific look emerge as "The Look".  Yes it may be one of curves but for many, the curves have been added via plastic surgery, extensive use of personal trainers, and other methods.

We have stars sharing how they lost 16 pounds in 21 days by denying themselves certain foods, or people trying to shame others for "being fat" or having some other imperfection.  The reality is that most women do not have the money to hire personal trainers, pay plastic surgeons, or take advantage of cosmetic items to rid ourselves of wrinkles, a bit of excess flesh, or transfer fat to our butts.  

These images create unrealistic views of what the right body shape is.  They make us unsatisfied with ourselves so we want to do something about it.  There is a lack of understanding that the best body shape is the one that works for us with our proportions, our bust, our rear, etc.  I can tell you, I have never had a totally flat stomach, even before I had emergency surgery that left me with a nasty scar on the abdomen.  I've always been a bit smooshie in the abdomen but now am a bit more since the surgery.  

Unless I could afford to have plastic surgery, I'll always have that, yet it doesn't match up with the popular body shape you see around you.  I'm also never going to have an hour glass figure because I wasn't built that way.  If you look at statistics, most women are going to be curvy and are not going to be a size 0 or 2. 

When I was taking Spanish, we went to a play called "Real Women Have Curves".  Yes, there was a movie by the same name but it wasn't the same as the play because in the play all the hispanic women worked in a factory making clothing for the women who wear a size 2.  None of the women were that thin.  I think the smallest sized woman was a sized 9.  Through the play they grew and one decided she needed to design clothing for women who had curves and were larger.  This lead to her having her own line of clothing since real women have curves.

I think we need a movement to help us learn to be satisfied with ourselves rather than trying to emulate an influencer or star who have a totally different body type and height.  We need to stop comparing ourselves with others, seeing imperfections rather than seeing our assets.  Let me know what you think, I"d love to hear.  Have a great day.

Ending

 Best hot out of the oven, cooled just enough to handle, dripping in butter and honey.  mmmmmmmm.

Beginning

 

Influencers Have Been Around For A Long Time.

Influencers are found everywhere on social media.  They have over a million followers and what they do causes people to rush out and follow them.  They might share their own products or others, or recommend places to go.  They've developed their brand, find their niche, and sometimes, they get into trouble like the mother who decided to regime her adopted child and faced public opinion.  However, before social media, before television, radio, or movies, there were influencers who people tried to follow.

There was one influencer back in the 16th century who had women dyeing their hair and eyebrows, wearing her type of makeup. They wanted to be just like her.  This woman's name?  Queen Elizabeth I.  She didn't have access to social media as we know it so she used the media she had available.  She had tons of portraits painted to show everyone who she was and to create her brand.  She had that look of reddish hair, with high forehead, and a very pale skin created by a lead based white makeup. Due to her media campaign, women wanted to look like her from head to toe, just like today.

Another early influencer was the Italian painter Titian.  He painted beautiful red haired beauties causing many women to want to emulate the color.  He showed women in various states of undress but never naked and he influenced women in Italy to look more like the women he painted.  Furthermore, his work garnered him an international following.  He also created new techniques that others adopted and created a new style by combining Renaissance with Mannerism ideals. 

One big influencer of that time period was William Shakespeare.  Yes, the same man who wrote "Romeo and Juliet" and other such plays.  His sphere of influence was the English language. If you so a bit of research, you'll find he helped standardize grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.  He contributed about 1700 original words to the English language and we use some of them even today.  He is responsible for phrases like "Full circle", "Sorry sight", and so many others.  In addition, he chose to use words in new ways such as gloomy that was originally a verb but he used it as a noun. 

On the other hand, a later influencer was Max Factor, the same man as the one who started the makeup line.  He started out creating the makeup looks seen on stars in the film industry.  Of course women wanted to recreate some of those looks but could not until he started releasing eye shadows to eyebrow pencils in 1916.  This was the first time, women had access to makeup outside of the film industry so they could recreate the looks they saw.  He continued releasing makeup so soon women had access to everything from foundation to mascara and more because he believed that any woman could achieve the looks he created for films if they had the correct tools and he did.

The last person I'm looking at who was an influencer was Coco Chanel.  She knew women and created fashion to be worn by them.  In the process of producing clothing that stayed in fashion, she created one of the first :"brands".  If you say you are wearing a Chanel, a picture pops into your mind because her name is connected to her style.  She started trends such as "The little black dress" and two  toned shoes.

So from early times on, there have been people who created their own brands, marketed them, created a following, and influenced the world around them.  They were some of the early influencers who made their mark long before the invention of social media.  Let me k now what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great weekend.

Getting Ready To Head Off.

I just spent the last 5 days attending an educational event.  Since I had to come down to the Los Angeles area, I decided to head off to Australia for a week and then another week in New Zealand.  I managed to get everything down to one check through bag and my usual carryon.  This year, I've made the discovery there are certain things I have to bring that take room.

For instance, I hate going too long without using a water pik on my teeth so I pack a travel water pick that is relatively small and works decently.  That takes care of that.  I also use an electric toothbrush so I have that.  

In addition, I am a tea drinker and most American hotels do not have electric kettles.  Usually, they stock those wonderful coffee machines that have so much coffee oils ingrained in them that it is impossible to get anything but coffee flavored tea.  So I have a small extremely portable water heater about the size of my tall tea container.  That takes up more space.

As far as my hair, I've got the bar type shampoo and conditioner that works well but I need the leave in hair conditioner, oils, and serums I have to have to keep my hair under control.  Yes, I put the hair conditioner in a small travel container but I usually leave the oils and serums in their own containers since they are about the same size as the travel ones.  That is more space.  

I also travel with extra plugs and strips and such so I have enough plugins and places to charge my electronics.  I found I have to have them.  I also have a few converters packed since I am going overseas and my American plugs don't work in Australia or New Zealand so that is another set of things I have.  I generally carry small converters for the ones I have that are Usb or Usb-c and larger ones for my plugs and more USB and USB-C.  I travel with someone who usually brings like 3 iPads of assorted sizes, two phones, and a couple of other electronics.  I only bring a computer, one iPad, one phone, and one itouch to take pictures with.  So those plugs, converters, etc take up a lot of space.

Then I'm going from a nice warm place to somewhere that is enjoying winter.  I bought a couple pair of those long pants with zippers so you can detach the lower part to make longer cargo pants.  Those make it easy for me to go from hot weather to cold weather and they are basically cargo pants.  This means I can cut down on the number of pants I have to take.  I've also packed the detergent trips so that I can do laundry as needed along the way. 

I don't remember how I learned about this but I found a wonderful three level thing that I can put shirts, underwear, shorts, etc in, fasten straps and it fits easily in my suitcase.  I've decided if it doesn't fit in there, it doesn't go because I need space for everything else.  I did pack a nice sweater I can team up with a hoodie and I'll stay warm since it doesn't get too cold where I"m going.  I have a pair of sneakers for the colder climate and sandals for the warm climate.  

When I packed to check out of the hotel. I realized that almost half of my suitcase is taken up with the water pick, hot water heater, hair stuff, shoes, and converters for overseas.  I am going to have to figure out how to get the plugs and converters down so I don't have to bring as much.  The thing is, we all know about the theory of how we should do it but it doesn't always work.  One time I bought this great looking thing for cords, I tried it and it just didn't workout so I'm back to plastic bags.  Let me know what you think or if you have suggestions to cut back on crud.  I would love to hear.  Have a great day.  

Fabric, Fabric, Fabric

 I have been spending the weekend in Woodland Hills, California attending an educational experience to teach others more about the history of fashion. Then earlier I went on a tour to the Los Angeles fabric district. If you have never been there, it is a treat. There are so many stores filled with so many different designs and types.

Other stores offer finished clothing from underwear to prom and bridal dresses to anything you could dream of and many of the prices were quite reasonable such as mens underwear at 5 for $10, etc. in addition, there are stores filled with jewelry, findings, ribbons, leather clothing, tiaras, sparkly appliqués, and so much more.

With one trip, you could find the clothing needed to outfit the members of the whole wedding party and find all the luggage for the bride and groom, get all the earrings, necklaces, etc, all within a few blocks. There is even a spot off towards the edge with flowers you might want for the wedding. Many of the bridal stores either carry or are next to stores with dresses for prom or other fancy event.

If you would rather create your own clothing, one can find sewing machines, fabric, thread, zippers,

buttons, trim, appliqués, beads, and just about everything needed to finish it. Want a good wool? You’ll find it there. You’ll find silks, satins, linen, mixtures of all sorts, polyester, rayon, and more. If you know who to see, you will know their claim the silk is 100 percent silk but for others, it is necessary to perform a burn test. Yes, I have done many a burn test to check claims and sometimes the threat of a burn test is enough to have the salesperson to change from 100 percent silk to its a silky polyester. Big difference.

The area has been there for a long, long time and it appears to have survived Covid relatively well. What is different is the increased number of small food trucks around the area. Some are extremely small with a table made out of two saw horses with a board across them, topped with a plastic table cloth.

If you are ever in Los Angeles and you have time, hop down to the area around 9th and Maple and spend your time exploring, shopping, and being proud of what you got. Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear.  Have a great day.