Four days into July I finally get around to this.  Apologies for tardiness.  On Saturday I had my hot stone massage exam and yesterday I went to see my beloved Foo Fighters at Milton Keynes Bowl.  I learned two things: 1) Dave is much much better in small venues (he was tired and grumpy last night) 2) I am too old for spending the day in the middle of a field with nothing but portaloos and burger vans for comfort.

That said a teenage dream was fulfilled last night.  Had my 15-year-old self been able to time travel, she would have flipped forward to yesterday  as the great Bob Mould joined the Foos on stage for Dear Rosemary.  I am not ashamed to admit tears.  Some things are worth waiting 22 years for!

So July goals – well four days in and one is already complete but here you go:-

1) Take some time out to read more.  As of next week I am not teaching group classes again until September which means some time to myself.  This Time Traveller’s Wife Readalong I’ve been participating in has made me want to read more slowly, more contemplatively (is that a word?).  This is my chance to do it.

2) Write more.  I have some blog posts and other exciting projects planned.  Stay tuned.

3) Rest more.  No group classes for 6 weeks and a one week retreat with my teacher should help me get a bit more balance here.

4) Final assessment for Pilates teacher training. Yes well, wish me luck for that one.

5) Hot Stone Therapy training (done and done)

June in Review

1.  Write the content for my new website. DONE – website should launch very soon, keep your eyes peeled!

2.  Send out the final podcast (readers this is on it’s way but, once again, slightly late due to severe lack of voice this week). Watch out for a special offer now the whole series is complete.  DONE – special offer upon launch of new website.

3.  Pedicure, eyebrow wax, Pilates one-to-one session, book acupuncture consultation (I’m going to give acupuncture another go both for my migraines and this whole immune system/tonsillitus stuff that the regular dr seems so reluctant to assist with). THREE OUT OF FOUR.  Have had absolutely no luck finding an acupuncturist but my osteopath is also a Reiki practitioner so we’re seeing where we go with that for now.

4.  Book cat’s health check appointment. DONE.  Damn cat needed £150 worth of treatment and only this morning Himself had to clean up four little vomit piles.  Nice work cat.

5.  Movement practice 4 x a week as of next week (health permitting!). DONE

It’s no secret that my teenage fangirl crush on a certain Mr Grohl knows no bounds.  I’ll happily drop everything to rush to London to see him play, 12th April 2011 is marked with a red star in my diary (new album release date for those of you not in the know!) + I’m currently fretting because the new Foo Fighters movie is being released while I’m in Australia and what if it’s not released there and what if everyone else sees it before I do and….

But I draw the line somewhere.

I don’t want to meet him.**

I don’t want to meet any of those people I hold in high esteem because I might just find out they’re only human.

To illustrate this point I will tell you a story.  It’s not really my story, it’s the story of a man known as Tony Reptile and was told to me whilst I was having a possum tattoed on my back so forgive me if I have the details wrong.

Tony Reptile, like me, is a huge fan of a little band called New Model Army.  We’ve both followed this band obsessively since we were 14 years old (yeah, I have an obsessive personality, what can I do?).  And after many years Tony Reptile got to do something I have never done (and don’t want to).  He got to meet Justin Sullivan.

If, like me, Tony had great dreams of sitting down with his hero to discuss politics, philosophy, music + literature those dreams were short-lived….

….because Mr Sullivan was holding forth about soft furnishings.  Cushions and sofas and the like.

I guess even rock stars need to sit down somewhere comfy from time to time.

But it’s not quite the dream you know.  I don’t want to talk about fabric patterns, I can do that with my mother.  I don’t want to look at pictures of your kids – I can do that with my friends.  I want to talk philosophy, music + literature.

I want rock’n'roll.

But failing that my imagination will suffice.  So Mr Grohl, Mr Sullivan (along with Andrew McCarthy, Johnny Depp, Ian Astbury et al) stay up there on your pedestals where you belong. Don’t shatter my childish dreams.  My heroes aren’t ordinary.

When I last saw him, Tony Reptile was debating an opportunity to meet David Attenborough.  I wonder if he took it, despite the fear of soft furnishings?

** There was a time back in Nirvana, when I nearly kind of did.  But that is a long time ago now and a whole other story.

Saturday morning .  My first weekend off since Christmas.  My last until we go to Australia in April.

Typically we woke to wind and rain and bad moods.  Feeling sluggish and not up to much, wanting to cancel plans and curl up.  Hibernate from the world.

Then suddenly as if by magic Zane Lowe announced, via the magical dark art that is Twitter, that the Foos were playing Dingwalls (tiny capacity London club) in a matter of hours.  Tickets sold out in a matter of minutes.

And we got two.

I don’t know how.  Himself ordered them on autopilot.  And then suddenly reality struck, we had to eat, get to the station, get to London, get to Camden Lock and we had 2.5 hours to do it.

For anything else I’d have given it up as a bad job, returned to Rebecca and hibernation.  For Dave Grohl I’ll drop pretty much anything.

Including the bad mood.

Everything fell into place, from the apparent ease of getting the tickets, to all the trains and buses being in perfect alignment (when does that ever happen?).  From the superfast easy queuing system to the near perfect proximity to the man himself.  Even the journey home wasn’t too much of a nightmare.

To see a band that you’ve loved for years, a band that now sell out stadiums on a regular basis, in a 500 capacity club is an indescribable feeling.  They played the new record, beginning to end and threw in some old favourites as well.  I had to leave before the end – trains to the fens are few and far between – and missed Everlong and Aurora, but I’ve heard Everlong and Aurora a million times before.  To see the new record, to see Grohl so proud of it, to see that smile that lights up the room for me was enough. To see him play with Pat Smear again brought back memories of when it all began, of 1995, of being lucky enough to see Nirvana that once.

It’s trivial I know, my schoolgirl crush, in comparison to the world at large.  But the joy it brings me is uncomparible.

Next weekend Himself and I celebrate 5 years of togetherness.  I’m on a training weekend and we hadn’t really planned anything special.  The Foos brought us together and it seems serendipitous that we got this weekend.