Irish Dancing at Molly Mallones 5/31/09

Here is a picture of Emily, Kate and I after we danced at Molly Malones (Kylie and Erin were there too).


I had a blast. When I first started taking Irish dance this is what I envisioned... dancing in a pub while folks drink and hang out.

I hope that Erin didn't mind me making up some new steps to amuse myself :)

Roller skating - 5/31/09

So I bought me some roller skates. Roller skates NOT Rollerblades because I hate those mother-scratchers. I decided to kick it old school. When I was young my sisters and I would get a radio and do full skating shows on our neighbor's driveway.

I went for my first skate in the driveway of my apartment. It ended up being a pretty good place to play around. Athena hates the skates and tried to eat my stoppers. I would skate and she would run beside me trying to chew on the wheels. She actually made me fall on my face because I was trying not to skate on her. Here is a picture of her eating the wheels... mmmmm yummy.

Pilates 5/30/09

I asked Steve to take my picture after my pilates class today. After 7 takes this is what we ended up with....

Irish Dancing with Ollie, Snoops and Athena 5/24/09

Mr. Snoops was pooped after a little Irish dancing with Athena, Olivia and me :)

Pilates wil Ana and Ollie 5/23/09

I take Pilates most Saturdays from my best buddy Olivia O'hare. My usual pilates partner is the fabulous Anastasia Coon. Both of these girls have generous hearts and patient souls. I am very lucky to get to hang out with them. This is us doing our final stretch on the "Cadillac". We are sometimes joined by the adorable Ms. Kendra Parsons but she is in Austin this week. Have fun in Austin sista!!! Pilates was hard work today... as Steve would say I was "schvitzing" all the over the place. I am glad I went... thanks girls for keeping me motivated!!

My first ever Acupuncture - 5/23/09

My sis-n-law Debi recommended that I visit her acupuncturist Irena. It was my very first time getting acupuncture. I have wanted to try it for a while but never could find the motivation. I wished I would have gone before because it was a swell experience. The pins didn't hurt and I found the whole experience relaxing. I also bought herbs for my killer cold and cough. I already felt a tiny bit better today so I am hoping the this stuff will put me on recovery road.
Irena also shared the diet that she would like me to follow. It almost made me freakin' cry. Why does everyone want me to give up dairy.... I LOVE CHEESE... not like... LOVE... could this be related to my weight issues .. NAH :) She also says that if I want to get rid of my allergies... I need to give up tomatoes, strawberries and spicy foods. This currently sounds horrible to me but I will give it a go for a week or so... She also told me to eat soup for lunch as much as possible... umm ok makes sense but sounds BORING. She actually told me a bunch of stuff but I am just writing what I remember off the top of my head. No dairy and tomatoes.. REALLY??????

The Leckbee-Makler love Koi Ponds - Descanso 5/22/09

THANK YOU STEVE for going and taking care of me all afternoon. You are a wonderful hubby!

More Garden adventures for your viewing pleasure!

The "Rosetorium" at Descanso... very purdy!





The "Red Oak Rest Area"

Descanso Gardens 5/22/09

Steve and I made it to Descanso Gardens around 1pm. It was beautiful and our favorite part was the Japanese Garden. I have LOVED Japanese gardens since I saw Mr. Miyagi's back yard in the Karate Kid. I saw so many wonderful gardens when I actually went to Japan. Mark my words... one day I will have a house that has a vegetable garden and a Japanese garden.. I promise you!!!

Beth vs the Cold 5/22/09

So I have a big stupid cold that has been kicking my ass for the past two weeks. The last couple of days have been the worst.. I can't stop coughing and sneezing and sniffling to save my life.. grrrr It sucks. cough,cough And on top of it all... today is the first day of my 4-day memorial weekend. I had planned all these cool things that I wanted to do but I am in no condition to do much of anything! Soooo I made a promise to myself that I was going to do at least on thing on my weekend list if it killed me. I have been wanting to go to one of the many botanical gardens in the LA area for a while so I decided that I would go to Descanso Gardens with Steve on Friday the 22nd. This morning I got up and used my complete arsenal of cold medicine to help me through the afternoon.. I began my day with the following items:

• Dayquil (two tablets)
• Zycam cold remedy (applied directly to the nose)
• Zycam cough spray
• Vicks Vapo-run for my sore nose
• Antiviral Kleenex
• Purell (So as not to spread the germs)
  
• I also brought some with me just in case
  
• Sunblock because I am practically an albino :)

After I took all this stuff... I felt funny but slightly better.. at least I could say a whole sentence in between coughs. I would also like to note that I picked Descanso Gardens because I thought that there would be less of a chance of me spreading my germs to the general public.

Confession #1 - I am a athlete!! 5/17/09

I have a confession. I think that I am an athlete. I have always seen myself as a person that was born without any athleticism. I have been overweight my whole life and everybody knows that fat people are not athletes. I mean.. I knew that I loved dancing but that didn't make me an athlete. In fact, I finished a marathon a couple of years ago and the words "You are not a runner" kept bouncing around my head. Today as I was finishing my fourth hour of dancing I had a mini Epiphany.. "It wasn't easy but I finished four hours of rigorous exercise.. and I could go a couple more... holy crap .. I THINK I MIGHT BE AN ATHLETE". Then it came to me:

• Irish Dancing
• Running
• Biking
  
• Brown Belt in TaeKwonDo
• Pilates
• Walking
• Dancing any chance that I get.

I think that any of us can be an athlete. All we have to do is chose to be one. Holy crap.. people have been telling me this for years and finally I agree with them. Hot damn Beth Leckbee-Makler is athletic dynamo!!!!

Where is my medal? Irish Dance 5/17/09

(Ollie, Kylie, me and Erin... Kylie and Erin are sisters and our instructors)

As soon as we got back Steve had to immediately go to work and I had to go to Irish Dance. Two more hours of DANCING!!!!!!! I did not want to go but I did. It was hard and I injured my quad muscle in the process but I went... I feel like a need a medal... or at least a ribbon for that much dancing in one day!!!

Long Beach Pride 5/17/09

Getting up the next morning to go to Long Beach was far from easy because I was already sore and tired. On Friday night about midnight, I talked Steve into going with me to Long Beach Pride Parade the next day. Our job was to walk the route with my friends from Chico's Angels and hand out postcards. I had a wonderful time doing the show last year and I am VERY excited about being in the web-series that is coming out later this year. Steve and I had weird parking directions and ended up walking the parade route TWICE before anything started. Steve was being such a sport about the whole thing.(The picture has Kurt - The director, Frita Laye, Me, Kay Sedia, Anita Parol - standing in for Chita and Steve)

We waited for what seemed like a million years before the parade started. Once it started, I started dancing and handing out postcards and I didn't stop moving or jumping or dancing for almost two hours!! I was sweating up a storm but I was dancing like I was in Rio! So was a bunch of fabulous people including the beautiful Liz Bennett(pictured right). It was so much fun and the crowd loved the Angels.

Runyon Canyon 5/16/09

Holy Crap.... did I have a busy weekend! On Saturday (May 16th), Athena and I hiked up Runyon Canyon. It was pretty hot and we did the steep side. I haven't done that in a while and man were my legs sore afterwords. Athena did much of the trip on three legs (because of her bum knee). She had a blast being off her leash! That night I worked my murder mystery gig "The Dinner Detective".

Running on empty

I went running for 20 straight minutes tonight. It was a big accomplishment for the following reasons:

• I stopped running the day after I ran the OC Marathon in Jan 07
• I usually walk/run and tonight I just ran
• My knees and feet hurt every time that I run
• I am sick... I am going to the doctor tomorrow so I am not sure what I have but I can't stop coughing and I feel fatigued.

I know, I know... You are not supposed to exercise when you are sick. And believe me that I felt like shit for most of the run (my lungs burned, I almost puked and my knee and foot hurt like hell) BUT... I am the queen of excuses. I will always have a reason not to exercise so if I can run 20 minutes straight.. sick...tired...having not have run for two years.. I can do anything. I am glad that I did it! TAKE THAT RUNNING!!!

Me and food... Part 1

So many of you know that I have been a pescatarian for about a year now. (basically I don't eat any meat except fish occasionally). The next question that people usually say "why". The short answer is that I don't want to kill animals for my food anymore. I am considering becoming a full vegetarian before the end of the year. I actually don't miss meat very much. It is amazing how your brain can change it preferences once the options change.

I actually get excited about eating the veggie dishes at several resteraunt... excited people. Now that I am not eating meat.. the quality of the rest of my food has become more important. So my next small step with food is to eat as much organic as possible and increase the amount of vegan dishes that I eat. Today Steve and I went to the farmer's market and then to whole foods. It felt so good to buy wholesome food that is good for us. We still need to work on our portions.. but yeah us for this little step!!!!!!

Here is me with some whole grain bread from the Culver City farmer's market.

Kissing Athena after watching "Marley and Me"

Marley Monday

I am feeling a bit crummy today. One of my friends has mono and now I am starting to get paranoid that I have it too. I didn't make out with her or share a drink or anything.... BUT I feel achy, sore, very tired and my throat hurts. I actually made a doctor's appointment today to check it out. This is a big deal for me. I usually wait until I have been sick for weeks or months before I go to the ding dang doctor. I hope that I wake up feeling great tomorrow... I will let you know.

The girls at work were talking about "Marley and Me" and so I decided to rent it "on demand" tonight. It was predictable and saccharin BUT good overall... That movie made me cry like a freaking baby... I mean hard (I won't tell you why but I am sure that you can guess). Ever since I became a dog owner anything with dogs in it tugs at my heart strings. I am so grateful for my dog Athena. After the movie was over, I kissed Athena about 100 times. I am sure that she thinks that I am crazy. I am going to walk her right now!!

Athena's dirty Habit!

In support of my new blog, Athena has decided to finally quit smoking :)

Irish Dancing - 2hrs

Why today... why a blog?

I am turning 35 this year. If you would have asked me as a child what my life would look like at 35, it would have been vastly different from what I am living now. Not that what I am living is bad. I am very grateful for my husband, health, family and friends. They are all wonderful and lovely. It is the difference between who I could be and who I actually am that keeps me up at night. There is so much more that I want to do and be!!

So here is my assignment: For the next year... anytime I do something that improves my health I will take a picture. That I way I can motivate and celebrate at the same time.

I will also share my roadblocks and dead ends.

I am ready to start building a better Beth.

Wish me luck!!!