St. Patrick's Day in Times Square NYC with the Irish "Naked Cowgirl" Cin...

Quest Fitness - Personal Trainer in NJ - Cindy Fox "Legs & Butt" Blast

Make Time For Old Friends...And For Making New Ones

  

If you're lucky, you may have a few "good" friends that you've known for years and no matter how much time passes, it seems like you're picking up right where you left off.

After many years pass and so many changes occur in everyone's lives, getting together makes you really appreciate this friendship that has survived. I am fortunate enough to have kept some"true" friends from my past and have also grown close to some new ones over the years. With all of the classes I have taught, the many gyms I've worked at, and variety of other jobs and activities I've participated in, I am surrounded by many great people I call "Friends".

     My 10-year reunion opened my eyes to see that some people I spent time with in high school were just people to pass the time with while others had a greater impact on me when I saw them whether we stayed in touch or not.
Ten years after high school most people were trying to impress with their accomplishments and careers, while I was (in the minority) showing photos of my children. Although I trained clients, taught Aerobic classes, and I went to school part-time, I was more of a "stay-home mom" at that time.

The 20-year reunion was very different and had less people attend. I felt that most people were truly happy to see each other and weren't trying to "impress with their success". Now "they" were showing photos of their young children and I was already divorced.

My children were 8, 12, and 15 so I was ready to go out afterwards with other friends who either still single, divorced, or had babysitters. Most of my struggling was over and things were staring to get much easier for me.
     My closest friends couldn't attend so we planned our own reunion in South Beach, Florida. Two lived in Florida, one in Arizona, and two of us in New Jersey. It was amazing to see them after 10 or 20 years and still connect immediately!

Most of those four days were spent talking on the beach or while drinking sangria at the condo. We made an agreement that we'd try to get together at least once a year and the next year we did just that, and this time was with our families. My girlfriend Frankie and her husband Joe were gracious enough to let us all come to their beautiful home in Cape May, NJ. It was four of us ladies, two husbands, 3 teens, an 11-yr. old, and four more that still cry a few times a day...definitely eventful!

I occasionally get together with some of my high school friends since I am living back in the town I grew up in.

It's nice to see that my kids are friends with children of people I went to school with, and I've also become friends with some of my kid's parents that I didn't know from school. I love my hometown of Secaucus, NJ...great people here!

After many years pass and so many changes occur in everyone's lives, getting together makes you really appreciate this friendship that has survived. I am fortunate enough to have kept some"true" friends from my past and have also grown close to some new ones over the years. With all of the classes I have taught, the many gyms I've worked at, and variety of other jobs and activities I've participated in, I am surrounded by many great people I call "Friends".

Since working at Hackensack University Medical Center I have met so many good friends that are not from my town. Just like children in school who spend 7 or 8 hours with the kids in school, we as adults form bonds with the people at our jobs that we spend a lot of time with. It is what makes going to work every day something to look forward to...or at least more enjoyable.

Of course being the "Naked Cowgirl" of Times Square has brought a whole new world of people into my life, some just passing by and others who have become meaningful in my life and made life very exciting at times.

Then there are the people in our lives that we spend the most time with when not at work or school, such as family and significant others. They are the ones we complain to about our jobs and school, and the ones we talk to when we are concerned with or upset with our friends. 

Let's be grateful for the important people (and pets) in our lives both near and far and make time for them while we can :)

Daylight Savings Time - "Spring Forward" to Brighter Days!

How does Daylight Savings Time affect you? At 2am on Sunday March 9, 2014 in the United States we will "Spring Forward" and move our clocks ahead one hour meaning we "lose" an hour of sleep this Sunday and we will "Fall Back" an hour at 2am on Sunday, November 2nd gaining an hour. If your "biological clock" is like mine, you'll be awake anyway making your coffee with some excitement knowing that you have an "EXTRA" hour to yourself while the rest of the people in your house take that extra hour to keep sleeping. We have plenty of time to sleep when we're dead...get up you lazy bones!!!
      For those of us in Eastern Standard Time Zone, specifically in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area, we have just started to see the sun rise at 6:20am, which probably explains why I've been waking up by 6:25am even though my alarm has been set to wake me at 6:38am. It will be interesting to see if that still happens next week since it will be dark again until 7:20am. The first photo of the clock (taken by NYC Photographer Dez Santana) is next to the Flatiron Building in Manhattan.
     Sunset for us here is currently at 5:52pm which means that people who work until 6pm or later do not see sunlight when they leave their jobs. Starting next week those same people (including me) will get to leave work and see the sun shining for almost an hour. What a difference that makes in a person's level of energy!

Some people actually suffer from Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD) which usually starts in the Fall and lasts through the winter. This is from lack of sunlight and causes depression in varying degrees in each person affected. There are also people who suffer from Seasonal Affect Disorder during summer months, although I can't imagine why! Go to #Wikipedia or do a #Google search to find out more about #SeasonalAffectDisorder if you think you are suffering from it. The 2nd photo (taken by NYC Photographer Dez Santana) is "The Clock In The Sidewalk" in Lower Manhattan built in 1896.
     Not all countries around the world acknowledge "Daylight Savings Time" making International traveling even more complicated than the already-confusing time change that occurs. I do not follow the New York Stock Exchange but it occurred to me that this inconsistent time change around the world could potentially affect the Stock Market and apparently there have been many studies on this exact topic. One study showed that average stock market returns on Mondays following time changes are economically and statistically significantly lower than typical Monday returns. It was hypothesized that the effect may arise due to heightened anxiety or risk aversion on the part of market participants after they experience a 1-hr. disruption in their sleep habits, in accordance with prior findings in the psychology literature linking sleep desynchronosis with anxiety.

(Psychological Reports,2010, 107, 3, 1-11. © Psychological Reports 2010 DOI 10.2466/03.07.PR0.107.6.ISSN 0033-2941 "EFFECTS OF DAYLIGHT-SAVING TIME CHANGES ON STOCK MARKET VOLATILITY: A COMMENT"). The third photo taken by NYC Photographer Dez Santana is of the New York Stock Exchange.

           I like to use these little disruptions, time changes, etc...as an excuse or reminder to change some things in my life and I don't just mean the batteries in my smoke detectors, which I hope everyone takes the time to do this weekend! Having a little more light at the end of the day might inspire me to do more things I need to do after work, such as taking my dog for a longer walk, or sitting up to write my blog. As soon as the temperature starts getting close to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, I will look forward to going outside to jog around town rather than doing it on the treadmill at the gym.
     I've included a map that shows which countries use the Daylight Savings Time and the dates it starts and ends for those countries. This might explain why I seem to always call my son in Germany at the wrong time, never seeming to calculate what time it is by him. I've included a photo I took this past September of the Astronomical Clock (over 600 years old!), Clock Tower in the Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic while on my trip to Germany to see my son. Time change or not, I still had Jet Lag for the first 24 hours.

   I love to hear about other people's cultures and  stories from around the world so please follow my blogs and comment at the end of this one if you'd like to share how "Daylight Savings Time" affects you, or even if you don't have it in your country.
Visit my website at www.cindyfoxfitness.com

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My Trip to Europe - Part 1

     My week-long trip to Germany was more than just getting to visit another part of the world, it was an opportunity to visit my oldest son who is stationed there in the Air Force, whom I haven't seen since he left on Memorial Day almost 15 months ago. Being the oldest of my three children, the last time I got to spend a whole week alone with him, he was a baby so this was very special to me.
Day 1
     I left August 14th at 6pm from Newark Airport in NJ and luckily had two very nice women sitting next to me which made the 8-hour flight more bearable. I landed in the Frankfort Airport hoping to just find my son right away since I had turned my cell phone off before I left the United States and I didn't speak German. It was such a relief and happy moment to see him walking towards me near the coffee shop we planned to meet up at in the airport. That was a very over-due hug!
     We went to the place on the Ramstein Air Force Base where the military people go to for shopping, eating, and other necessities. My first purchase there was a bottle of German wine to take home, but it didn't quite make it back since we decided to open it one of the nights.  The currency on the base is the Dollar, not that you can get anything anymore for just one! After seeing his dorm room, we actually went to a Chinese buffet called Bambusgarten to eat since he wasn't sure where to bring me that would have vegan food.
     We drove to Landstahl and checked into our first hotel of the trip called Zum Storchennest which I think means Stork Nest. They had a very large cage on the property which had 4 storks and an Albino Rabbit. The property was very country like with a nice terrace, but we didn't eat there. The room was OK for one night but my first shower was with cold water until we told the owner to turn on the hot water, and the beds were way too soft, but I got to relax and also walk around and take some photos of the neighborhood.
     After resting up a bit, we drove to Keiserslautern, also commonly known as K Town where I bought a change person to separate my Euros from my Dollars. We stopped at the Brauhaus for my first German Beer. I drank a wheat beer called Weizen with a salad and he had a dark beer called Dunkles with a steak dinner...he's clearly NOT vegetarian. We walked around a bit and then went back to the room to get some sleep since we had a 6-hour drive the next morning to Prague.

Day 2
     We gassed up the car with Diesel Fuel and me with caffeinated Coffee and drove a few hours before we stopped to eat in some little town called Kammersteiner and I had to get another salad due to lack of vegetarian options.  My photos from the road are blurry since it's common there for people to drive 100mph! Every thing there is the Metric System which had me guessing the speed he was driving, the distance of our destination, and the temperature outside.
     We found an Internet Cafe once we entered Prague so we could connect to WiFi and find a hotel and figure out how to get around while we were there. A helpful server there mentioned the high-rise hotel across the street which is rated #2 called Panorama Hotel. We booked a room for that night and were able to park in their garage for 490 CZK and walk to the subway a block away. Once we stepped out of the subway station we knew we were in a big tourist location, Prague Old Town....WOW!
     Unlike Times Square in New York City, these buildings were not tall, but the architectural structure of them had great detail and a nice look.  Up the street is a popular structure called the Narodni Muzeum. I took out my camera to photograph it and what did I see standing in the middle of the pedestrian walkway, playing an instrument, being photographed, and accepting tips? No, not a Naked Cowboy or Naked Cowgirl, but a Bagpipe Player in a kilt just doing his own thing. Since I decided when I planned this trip that I'd be strictly a tourist and NOT bring my "Naked Cowgirl Cindy Fox Signature Bikini" and guitar, I figured the tourist-like thing to do would be get my photo taken with him and give him a tip!

     There was no mistaking the Prague Old Town Square, a huge open square bordered by all sorts of shops, restaurants with outside tables for people watching, some very interesting old buildings like Tyn Church and the Astronomical Clock. Vendors were set up in the middle selling souvenirs, beer, a variety of food mostly containing large pieces of meat, and potatoes made in every way you can imagine (on our second in Prague I had to indulge on the homemade Potato Chips)...yummy!

      I'm not a beer drinker so once I stumbled on a vendor who sold Honey Wine, which is like Irish Mead, the party officially started!Justin.TV when I had my "Cindy's 7am Coffee Club", I collect coffee mugs from different places I travel. I found a perfect one, but it broke before I got back to the room.

We walked up and down all of the blocks while drinking it looking for souvenirs. As some of my followers already know from back in my webcam days on
     We walked over the Charles Bridge and saw more street performers, monuments and religious statues, and many people taking photographs and enjoying the view. After walking around for about 5 hours, we decided to finally stop to eat. We decided to eat at Caffrey's Irish Bar & Restaurant and sit outdoors since it was so nice out. My son got the Shepard's Pie and I ordered a side order of sauteed mushrooms and a side of fried mashed potatoes...SO Good!

     As much as we wanted to see what the nightlife was like, we were starting to burn out, but we did manage to stop at James Dean's Diner and Bar which had photos of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley all around the place and it had the look of the 50's but in Neon lights. We stayed just long enough to say we were there and headed back to the hotel.
 Day 3
     In the morning my son got breakfast in the hotel and then searched for other hotels in the area. We booked a night at Hotel Herrmes a little further out of the way in the middle of a residential area, but we were very pleased when we got there. The place was less expensive and very modern and clean and a block away from the train station and parking was free.The front desk staff were very helpful to us. We thought the only way we'd actually be able to experience the "nightlife" of Prague was to go out for a while during the day, come back and nap, and then get ready to go out much later. That's exactly what we did!

     We took the train back into Old Town Square and walked around a bit. Apparently the Prague Gay Pride Parade 2013 was going on and we stumbled right into it. Those parades are always so festive and fun to watch or participate in, so we walked along side and took photos until we got to the souvenir shop from the day before. We searched for the same coffee mug that broke but it was the last one, so I had to chose another one that was also fairly different from the rest.
     We stopped again to watch these acrobats perform in the Square that was there the day before. They have 3 guys that perform stunts and a guy playing an electric guitar for them. They are from France and I was told they are called BAM. Ever since I was 3 years old I wanted to be an acrobat in a circus doing the trapeze, so I loved watching their act.

     We went back to the hotel to nap and then my son looked up some bars that might be fun to go to and he mapped out our own "Pub Crawl" for the night.  First I had to get a double espresso from the lobby before I could even think of going out at 11:30 PM, then I'd be ready to have a glass of that German Wine I bought on the first day I arrived in Germany.

     I wore my flip flops until we got where we were going since the streets are mostly cobble stone, and then switched and put them into my bag...good choice! We couldn't find the old rustic pub on our list so we stopped into some bar that was dark and boring. We left after one drink there and found the 5-Story KARLOVY LAZNE Night Club the locals were telling us about. There was a long line outside consisting of kids that looked like they were between 15-25 years old, with drinks in their hands. Considering I was with my 23-year old son, that would be too weird for both of us to go in there. Besides, I didn't wait on those lines to get in a club when I was that age!

     We found a Hard Rock Cafe and went in just to say we went to the one in Prague. I got a Margarita and my son ordered us Tequila Shots with salt and lemon...yuck! Our next stop was Coyote Ugly Bar, Czech Republic. With all of the Cowgirl Boots and Cowgirl Hats there, I was feeling right at home...and NO, I did NOT get on the bar...lol!
     Considering it was 3am and the only thing I ate that day was homemade potato chips during the day from a vendor, we both decided to try to find food, after all, isn't that what people do after the clubs? Being a vegan really limited my options at that time so I jumped at the opportunity to go into KFC and get a bucket of Fries, a corn on the cob, and small salad. Yes, I said a BUCKET of Fries! As good as it was at that moment, I paid for it the next day. To be continued....