Simply Reaching Out

This a blog about trying new things. Reaching beyond my comfort zone, exploring and making the most of life. My goal is to try 52 new things. One per week for a year. Once a year for the last 15 years I get together with the ladies on my mom's side of my family for a weekend of sharing, laughing, shopping and eating. My mom, Retha, has 4 sisters. It started out as a mother-daughter weekend and has evolved into daughters in law, sisters in law and grand daughters too. We usually have around 15 ladies that go, on average. November seems to be the best time to go due to lower, off-season pricing. About 2 weeks ago we went to Kenwood, located about 20 minutes north of Sonoma. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast. Some of the girls have been reading my blog already but others, like my mom who doesn't even own a computer, hadn't even heard about it. So, I was telling them about my year long journey of trying "new things". I told them that I still needed some idea

If you read my blog regularly then you know what Escrima is. If not please read BLOG #8 Seattle Part 3 before reading this Blog. Thank you. I decided that since my husband is an Escrima Master and my son is already at a Level 4 (he's only 9 years old) then well, I should probably give Escrima a try. Having watched Joel train for well over 15 years I have a pretty good understanding of what my training will be like. Bahala Na Filipino Martial Arts Association (bahalana.org) is now providing instruction at a new location at 600 Porter Ave right off of Pacific Ave and I wanted to see the new place. It's called Cen-Cal (Central California) Gracie Academy (cencalgracieacademy.com). They also have classes for Jiu Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts & Kickboxing. This new location will give Bahala Na better exposure and I saw several new people at the class as well. When we arrived to class we were a few minutes late but, I was so excited because the class size was huge! Class begins wit