Who's Your Cake Lady?

One of our girlz celebrated the big 3-5 this weekend. I won't say which one -- don't we all look fabulous and perhaps not a day over 33?
We packed up and headed out on a rainy day to River Winds Spa in Cook Forest, Pa. A little pampering time was in store! We loaded up the teacups and fruit, the mimosas and wine, books and magazines, makeup bags and changes of clothes, and stowed them in garbage bags so they wouldn't get wet in the bed of the pick-up.

((I know, it got a little "ghetto" there didn't it?))

Well I am proud to say, that "refined" as we think we are, we rocked that pickup in style, especially during the last rocky climb up the washed-out road to the woodland spa. Besides, we had a designated driver, and when is that NOT en vogue??
So to the point of my story. I am so wrapped up in these cupcake television programs! Cupcake Wars and DC Cupcakes, not to mention Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes. I wonder if this phenomena is sweeping the nation? Ladies & Gentlemen: We are obsessed with cake.
I particularly like the DC Cupcakes show; two sisters run the bakery. They are so human and full of errors and rivalry and disasters and botched cupcakes and spills and arguments. Things fall apart there at DC Cupcakes that you would NEVER see happen at Carlo's Bake Shop in NYC. But their masterpieces always have a way of coming together -- usually after the sisters unite and pull an all-nighter. YOU GO, YOU DC GIRLS! I'm looking you up the next time I'm in Georgetown.
I ordered 2 dozen "spa" cupcakes from our dear friend, Casey. Casey bakes "on the side." You can text your order, and if you know where she works during the day, you can steer through the drive-thru to pick up your mini masterpieces. These little yellow cakes had raspberry filling, and half of them featured hand-painted white chocolate candies in theme with our day.
Suffice it to say, many of the healthy snacks in the giant 4-person spa food Bento (shown below) remained at the end of our day, while we made a respectable dent in the cupcakes. What can be better on a rainy day but 4 girlfriends at the spa, skinny girl margaritas, a birthday, and our own personal girly, pink, white chocolate-topped, made-just-for-us, cupcake? Or two or three?
As we talked that day, it turns out, that we all have our own "Casey." Leanne has her cake go-to listed in her cell phone, simply as "Cake Lady." Denise has shared some fabulous chocolate confections from her "Lori" and Shelly stumbled upon her own cake lady in desperation at the baking supply store. We all remain loyal.

The Search for Balance: Acupuncture

Yepppp, that's my hand with 3 acupuncture needles in it.

It's part of my journey toward improved health, a better functioning, balanced and tuned body for living. The point where I'm bringing you in on this journey is far down the path of a much larger life trip. The reason is a story for another time, but the experience is something worth sharing.

Shall I offer you this disclaimer: that I am not well-read on this topic, but have read enough, scientifically, to *believe* that results achieved through acupuncture are real and studies to prove results conducted by leaders in Eastern and Western medicine are convincing. AND the whole philiosophy matches with my health philosophy, which evolved long before I read about or practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): treat the cause, not the symptom; healthy living prevents illness, and that the body's systems are interdependent -- not separate, distinctive microcosms. It's one body. Whole body. In my lifetime of choosing physicians (whenever I have a choice) I will choose a D.O. over a M.D. based on that approach. Check it out.

I'll share one quick link with you -- all the numerous afflictions that have been successfully treated, and the body's systems that have notably improved using acupuncture.

All of the above comprises a quick intro to my mid-story. When it became clear to me that acupuncture was one of the paths/options for me, I knew right where to begin. A high school classmate of mine, Dr. William Cebulskie, practices TCM right here in DuBois. Bill took my history in detail and general health complaints. Then I asked him a few questions. Bill had been interested in getting into medicine as a career but the more he learned about Western medicine, especially the practice of prescribing pharmaceuticals to treat ailments, the more he was convinced there had to be another way. Treating the body, the root of the problem, determining the cause was the approach he preferred. I would equate it to using a cream to soothe an itch, when the itch is caused by an allergy which can be avoided. Sure, medicine will work, but is there a more direct approach that takes pharms out of the equation and heals the body instead of treating the symptoms?

The acupuncture itself is an ancient Chinese science of directing Qi (pronounced Chee), or energy, to the systems of the body. Here's how Bill described it to me. At any given point in time, everyone's body contains 100% of its energy. However, that energy is not equally distributed among its systems -- gastrointestinal, neurological, skeletal, respiratory, endocrine, circulation, reproductive, immune, muscular, psychological, and more. Over time, stress, environment, diet and heredity attribute to the blocked flow of energy to all those systems and result in uneven, unbalanced Qi.

The body's systems and Qi are accessible at numerous pressure points on the body's surface, mapped by the Chinese as the body's Qi meridians. The puncture points access gates that have become closed off to energy flow. The penetration of an acupuncture needle at those meridians opens the Qi and equalizes the flow.

If you're not buying into the whole energy concept, substitute the word blood for Qi or energy. It takes blood to nourish your brain, your skin, your lungs. If the system is deplenished, any number of ailments can occur. What re-channels the blood is the Qi.

Everyone's body works differently, Bill said. So there are no guarantees the treatment will solve the specific complaint, and it takes time. BUT, acupuncture will bring with it many other improvements in the body and how it functions -- like tuning up a car. Nothing to lose, and only good to come from treatments.

Where do I sign?

The treatment room is not like a doctor's office -- more like a living room with very much a feng shui approach to design and placement. Balanced. I sit on a recliner for my treatments. My first time in, I took 11 needles, I think. They absolutely do not hurt going into the skin. However, with practically each insertion, I felt a DEEP ache, which was very short in duration. Like hitting your shin off the coffee table. The deep hurt is gone in a second. Bill said the ache is a sign of the Qi blockage, and the feeling is the release. That feeling was not in my head or made up. It was enough to turn my stomach, but again, gone in a second. And as the needles went in, I got very hot, sweaty. I don't know, but that maybe that was nerves as much as any side effect.

OK, so where did they go?: my hands, wrists, arms, feet, ankles, shins and calves. I suppose it depends on which meridians need to be accessed per the charts I read while relaxing in Bill's office. I have seen drawings of meridian access points on the head and trunk, too.

This time I took 14 needles. They do their work for a little less than an hour. You can make them out in the photo -- with a very fine needle, like a very thin, strong wire that Bill taps into place. Bill will check in on me half way through and tap each of the needles to "reactivate" them. There's a little electrical sizzle that time, which feels more like the prick when a phlebotomist draws blood. Finishing up the session with my eyes closed and the lights dimmed, I do feel relaxed by the end of the second appointment.

I am trying to tune in my body -- to listen to what it is telling me.

ERIN: So, Body, do you like acupuncture?
BODY: I don't dislike it. I feel changes. Physical changes. Let's wait and see.
ERIN: Would you call it a delight?
BODY: Are you friggin kidding me??
ERIN: Suck it up.
BODY: Ah, hey. It's not that bad. But, you know what, Erin? I am delighted that you're open enough to consider alternatives that might work for both of us.

Day of Dance: Remembering Hal Garvin

Today we celebrated Day of Dance for Heart across the nation. In DuBois, it means children and adults unite under a red heart banner to enjoy dance ensembles, ballerinas, lyricals, belly dancers, cloggers, and those who just like to move to the music. Put me in the latter category. I was there with my Zumba family. (That's me on the far left!)

I don't have what I would consider any innate athletic ability; I would characterize my moves less graceful and more, maybe, controlled, learned and deliberate. Like many girls growing up, I took dance lessons. Those lessons, combined with years of music instruction, makes dancing for health come a little easier to me. I've been taking or teaching some sort of aerobic dance since 1989. It's enjoyable, great exercise, mood-altering (for the good!), and I love the mental challenge of learning "the moves."

I have Hal Garvin to thank for that. Hal taught dance to girls and boys in the area for the better part of 3 decades. We took lessons at the old YMCA, where Hal and his partner George had a reel-to-reel and a decent sound system. We danced to old Broadway tunes and disco, and Hal chain-smoked the whole time. I was a little tap dancer. Shuffle, ball-change, thankyouverymuch.

In the spring, we got to choose which numbers we would like to perform. I was allowed to pick two or three. Oh, what deliberation for a 7-year-old! We ordered our costumes,which were always elaborately adorned with sequins, satin or feathers, and put on a show! Once, Hal fixed my broken tap shoe by taking a drag on his cigarette and using the glow to melt and reattach the plastic closure. I danced with Hal for 4 years.

After college I worked for a while as a reporter for the local paper, and I saw a flier for Hal Garvin School of Dance spring recital. It was to be his last. The years of smoking had caught up to him, I had heard, and he wasn't well. It was about that time that I learned that Hal's partner, was Hal's partner. That's a big statement for DuBois, Pa., in the 1970s.

So I did what any investigative journalist would do -- I called my Mom. Did she know Hal was gay when she sent me for lessons?

"Yes, I did," she said. "But it didn't matter. He was the best."

Ah, Mom. I love you. You are so wise and gentle.

I called up Hal Garvin and introduced myself as a former dance student, now reporter, interested in writing a feature article for an upcoming Sunday edition. Hal and George invited me to their home, which they called "Widdershins." Loosely interpreted, Widdershins means going again the norm, and as you look at it, it also reminds me of a word that might mean,"Greetings," or "Old Bones." I sat with my old teacher in his office.

"I remember you as a chubby girl," he said.

So his memory was still good.

Hal told me his life story. My recollection is that Hal performed on Broadway, and was quite respected. I saw stunning black and white photographs of Hal in his heyday. Indeed, a dancer's body. I was also surprised to learn that Hal and George made all of those costumes. There was the sewing machine and bolts-ful of sequins. I have dug high and low in my house to find the clip of the article I wrote -- had to have been the mid-90s. I cannot find anything online about Hal Garvin. I even tried to reach out to George at the studio where he works today, and sent an email to Hal's niece, so I'll keep trying. If anyone knows any more details, please comment.
But I do remember Hal said he came back home to Penfield to take care of a sick family member. And so, the Hal Garvin School of Dance began right here in rural Pennsylvania, with our own Broadway instructor.

Because of that, I hear the beat, and steps are easy to pick up on the fly. I have enjoyed paying it forward and sharing my love of dance with others. Dance settles my sometimes restless mind, and I have somewhat of a healthy body image... for being an old chubby girl.

And my life lessons from Hal, and from Mom, go a little deeper. Widdershins, everyone.