Category: My adventurous self

Cave Girl

I work on 100% commission Monday through Friday in media ad sales in an extremely competitive, super stressful industry so on the weekends I am always looking for new ways to de-stress.   I also like to save a buck or two so Groupon has become a frequent and reliable source.  I recently stumbled upon a “Groupon” for Saltana Cave & Spa in Ridgefield, CT.  One of my girlfriends (Christine) went there last year and told me what a great time she had so I bought 2 for $25.00 each, normally $40 each, and invited my S.O. James.  Initially James resisted because he felt like this date was something I should be going to with one of my gf’s but then he changed his mind and said he would go.  I honestly believe he started thinking about all of those Marvel and DC Comic Book movies I have sat through with him (in 3D no less!) and had a change of heart (smile).

At any rate, I made our reservations via email with Anna, the owner of Saltana Cave & Spa, for Saturday, February 20th at 9am.  We were told to arrive 10 minutes early and either bring or wear white socks.  Those were the only instructions we were given.  So James and I looked up FAQ’s on their website (saltanacave.com) and read that neither food nor drink were allowed, that no picture taking was allowed, that the cave was about 70 degrees Farenheit inside and that it takes about 6 treatments for someone to receive the full benefits of the salt therapy.  Apparently these salt cave treatments may help improve symptoms of Asthma, Allergies, Lung Infections, Sleep Apnea, ADHD, Sinuses, Weakened Immune Systems, Arthritis, and  more.   Breathing in the salt particles in the cave also allow you a sense of peace and serenity which was my number one reason for going.

I’m glad I did.  It took us an hour to drive to Ridgefield, CT and Anna, the owner,  was a gracious host.   The whole experience from beginning to end lasted a little over an hour.  James and I shared our “cave” that morning with a mom and her daughter from Newtown, CT.  We all laid back on ‘zero gravity’ lounge chairs swathed in our blankets and were greeted by a soothing male voice from a recording above.  This voice welcomed us to the “cave” and gave us the history of the Himalayan Salt Caves in Europe and how they were able to simulate the experience for us at Saltana Cave & Spa, one of only two salt caves in the state of Connecticut.  He also went on to talk about all of the benefits of salt therapy and why we should include it in our daily lives.  It was fascinating and I learned a lot.  When he stopped talking, we continued to listen to soothing music designed to relax you to the point of slumber.

 

 

The session lasted for 45 minutes and I must say I felt completely relaxed and ready to conquer the rest of my day (smile).  The ironic part is that in real life I don’t care for caves at all and find they make me feel claustrophobic but I shall return to Saltana Cave & Spa as this was not only a pleasant experience, but also a unique stress-buster.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

TVFL

My Very First Bug…

I think, and this is just a thought, that everyone from my generation has, or knows someone who has, a Bug story.

This is my story.  I grew up in the small town of Groton, CT (latest population: 40,000)  The town of Groton was a great place to raise families in as it appeared, back then,  that everyone was married with children.  My parents had seven children (5 girls, 2 boys) so if we couldn’t find anyone to play with, we always had each other.

When I turned 16 I decided that not only did I need a license, but also a car to get around in.  Groton was not known for public transportation so you really needed either your own car or access to one to get from point A to point B as everything, and I mean everything, was spread out.

As much as I wanted to get my license at age 16, I wound up getting it at age 17 as outdoor track practice got in the way of Drivers Education.  Yes, Driver’s Ed, as it was called, was “free” back then and part of the high school curriculum.  I recall having 6 hours of instructional behind-the-wheel activity but needing 9.  I also recall having the hardest time doing a Y turn and being terrified at the prospect of driving over the Gold Star Memorial bridge.

I took my state of CT license exam in the town of Old Saybrook, CT as I heard the driving test there was soooooooo easy and did not require Y turns.  Consequently, I passed with flying colors.  With license in hand, it was now time to find a car.

I had saved a whopping $800 from working part-time at Bonanza Steak House restaurant so I felt rich :))   My father was ‘out to sea’ so I convinced my older sister to take me to a used car dealership to purchase my first car.  I had no idea what I wanted to buy, just that it had to look good and have a nice radio…

I was so impatient back then!   I was on a mission to purchase a car that Saturday afternoon and neither Hell nor high water could get in my way.  I don’t remember actually test driving anything, all I know is that I saw this Bug on the lot that looked like “me” and was completely sold on it.  It was silver blue, a little beat up looking, an “automatic standard” which is an automatic car with a stick shift, and possessed a ‘new car’ smell.  I fell in love and had to have it.

I talked the salesman, Frank, down to $700, signed the paperwork, and was asked to come back the following weekend to pick up my ‘new’ Bug.

My first red flag appeared while I was driving it off the lot the following week:  it chugged and sputtered all the way home…

My second red flag was that I had to feed it oil on a regular basis.  And then the majority of the oil wound up on our driveway…

My third red flag: my Bug could only go up to 60 miles per hour before the whole car started shaking…

I had clearly been had.  And I aged that Summer – suddenly I was no longer 17, I felt like I was 25,  or worse 30, with real life problems.  My thought:  if I got rid of the car,  I could have my carefree teenage life back…

So I ditched the car as quickly as I could.  I sold it to a junk dealer for a song and went back to being a teenager…life was good, once again…

 

Sincerely,

 

 

TVFL

 

Ski Date

I am sooooooo proud of myself because two Winters ago I took the plunge and finally learned how to ski.  I was born in a blizzard in Newport Rhode Island on Valentines Day, 1962 so my initial thought was:  ‘it’s about time I learned’ (Lol).  Actually I’ve been wanting to ski for quite some time.  Here are some of the reasons why:

 

1) Being born in the Winter

 2) Being born in a Blizzard

3) Being born in New England

4) Looking for something to do on snowy days besides eat

 5) Having yet another thing to check off on my Bucket List

 

 

Growing up in Groton, Connecticut in the 70’s I especially loved Winter time because there was so much snow back then that inevitably school would get cancelled and me and my 6 brothers and sisters could go outside and play all day.  Yay!

 

I loved Winter sports as a young girl too.  I was ice skating, sledding and playing ice hockey with the neighborhood kids so skiing was in my future, I just didn’t know it…

 

My partner James has skied multiple times in his life so he was happy to hear that I was finally ready to go on a ski date with him.

 

Ski Date: We set out on a snowy Winter day in February of 2013, right after my 51st birthday.  I work out regularly at the Edge Fitness Club in Hamden so I wasn’t worried about my physical ability to ski.  I was just a tad bit concerned about learning how to maneuver my way down the slopes without falling and also with how to stop the skis correctly.

 

We chose Mount Southington in Plantsville, Connecticut  because they have 4 beginner slopes for novices like me and because it was such a short drive away for us.

 

I borrowed James’s mother’s ski jacket, his extra pair of insulated ski gloves and extra ski goggles and his sister’s ski pants.  I wore my own ski hat and scarf and dressed in lots of thermal layer undershirts.  Wise choice too as we headed out about 10am in the morning when it was still sunny and relatively warm and did not return until much later that afternoon when the weather had turned quite cool.

 

We checked in, filled out paperwork and paid for a 4 hour Flex Pass.  Then we picked up my rented ski boots (which I needed help strapping on) and my rented ski poles.  James had his own ski equipment.  I felt like a Chunky Monkey with all that gear on, could barely walk but was eager to get started (smile).

 

Going up the beginner’ slope on the chair lift for the first time was pretty awesome.   I also started to get a few butterflies in my stomach knowing that when we finally reached the top, I would be skiing my way back down.  At the top of the slope I saw a small group of 7-year-old children getting lessons so I felt comforted in the fact knowing that if they could do it, I certainly could!

 

Anyway, skiing down the first beginner slope (circles) was easier than I thought. I didn’t get fancy or anything, I simply glided down at a pretty good pace and therefore had no trouble stopping once I made it to the bottom of the hill.  We caught the chair lift again and skied down that first slope at least 4 or 5 more times before we moved on to the next level (squares).  By now I was starting to feel more confident and even getting a little cocky on the squares which caused me to wipe out a couple of times!   However, my adrenaline was flowing and I truly felt like I could conquer the world.  It was such an incredible feeling.  And highly addictive.  We went up and down a countless number of times and by now the air was starting to get real cold, the sky was darkening and my cheeks were beginning to feel numb.  It was time to make our way back to the lodge for some hot chocolate and refreshments.  Our ski date had ended but the memories, aaaahhh, those would last forever…

 

IMG_1312
Our Ski Date – Chunky Monkey and her partner in crime (smile)

 

Sincerely,

 

 

TVFL

Clams on the half shell…and roller-skates!

 

I am truly a Child of the 70’s.  I was born in a blizzard in Newport, Rhode Island on Valentine’s day in 1962.  So I really came of age in the 70’s.  Which is why, to this day, the 70s is my favorite decade of music to listen to in my car on Sirius radio.   Growing up, I loved listening to music on my 8 track player.  Because of my eclectic tastes in music, I could be listening to the sounds of Motown,  Earth Wind and Fire, Chicago, Boston, Chic, Zeppelin and/or GQ.

 

 

My sisters sported Bell Bottoms and tie-dye t-shirts.   Huge afros with picks in the middle were our hair style of choice.  My favorite color in clothes was blue because my mom said so and the only adult conversation I was privy to was when I had my ear against the hall door during one of my parents couples-only parties at home.

 

During the summers which were sooooooo long back then, l played with my Dawn doll, went rollerskating for long periods of time and ate Little Debbie’s, washing them down with cold whole milk.   Me, my brothers and sisters and the neighborhood kids kept busy with games of kick-ball in the middle of the street we grew up on ’till the lights came on. Neighbors were friendly then and you didn’t mind borrowing sugar from them.

 

 

Back then, children were seen and not heard, telephones were connected to the wall and had long cords that we could carry into a closet if we needed privacy.  Walking home alone from school was not a problem and pets (our dog) ate right from the table and were never walked.  Our male dachshund would sometimes disappear for days at a time and we never worried that he would not come back.

 

Vacations consisted of us all piling up in the oversized two-toned family station wagon and going to visit ‘the cousins’ in Newport, Rhode Island or my father’s side of the family in Newark, New Jersey or Niagara Falls, New York.

 

Those were the days…

 

With 2 parents and 7 kids in the house, Halloween was an event.  We would dress up, take our own pillow sack (flimsy plastic bags would not do!) out into the neighborhood and gather as much candy as we could carry home.  Once home, our mother would put all of the chocolates into separate containers for freezing and then store the rest of the candy into places unknown to us.  We were literally eating candy for the next 6 months.  The dentists had to love us!

 

 

I would not trade my childhood for the world.  Having a stay-at-home mom and a traditional dad allowed me to reap the benefits that I am still enjoying to this day.  Good times!

 

Sincerely,

 

 

TVFL

 

The Yellow Brick Road

So me and my sisters, Dana and Casandra, were texting one lazy Saturday afternoon and came up with this great idea. We were talking about how in the past year I did:

a magazine interview:

(pgs 40-41: http://issuu.com/secondwind/docs/nhm_oct_2014-web2e=4001684/9891267)

a radio interview:

(see parts 1 and 2 of podcasts dated 8/15/15: http://www.943wybc.com/Episodes.aspx?PID=2770)

and a television interview:

(http://networkconnecticut.com/2015/07/colon-cancer-was-no-match-for-lajeune-hollis/)

 

Two of the three interviews centered around my colon cancer experience. Then my sister Dana said, let’s put together a colon cancer fundraiser in my (Lajeune’s) name and we all agreed it should involve water, a good time and people. We immediately thought: why not a fundraiser cruise!  Here is where the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ concept kicked in: Dana is a part-time travel consultant so everything involving the cruise travel plans would come out of her agency – Cruise Planners; my sister Casandra is a part-time Quilt Artist so she would create 2 colon cancer survival quilts to raffle off; and I am a colon cancer survivor with a real wish to help others, so Voila, the Lajeune Hollis Cancer Survivors Cruise was born!  We decided on the month of June in 2016, since June is Cancer Survivor’s Month.  We thought it would be nice if everyone wore white on the last night of the cruise which would represent Survivorship and Life.  And we imagined a Carnival Sunshine Cruise to Canada/New England out of NYC made the most sense as it’s an affordable, good time that is popular with our target demographic, middle-aged adults.   By the way, the interior cabins start at just $569…

 

We leave out of NYC June 30th – July 4th so there is no airfare involved. We are adding $50 to each cabin, which will go directly to CCCF, who “has been working since 2003 to fund screening programs for the uninsured and provide much-needed funds to young investigators who are committed to finding a cure for colorectal cancer.”  Dana initially contacted the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation (CCCF) and sent them my colon cancer survival story blog.  She suggested that I call them myself and share my story.  I spoke on the phone with their Director of Communications (Cindy) and explained my story. After I finished Cindy confided in me that the timing couldn’t have been better as one of the main priorities at CCCF this year concerned the African-American Community who are dying of Colon Cancer (one of the most preventable cancers!) quicker than any other ethnic group!  Cindy explained that this is happening because African-Americans are not going to see their doctors on a regular basis so when they do finally come in, the diagnosis is much more worse than it would have been. I agreed to allow her to post my colon cancer survival blog in their CCCF Fall newsletter and she asked to be kept in the loop on our upcoming Colon Cancer Cruise so she could get us additional publicity by including it in their newsletter!  Cindy also mentioned that she would be more than happy to provide us with information on early detection for colon cancer which we could hand out on the cruise.  Stay tuned as me and my sisters are happily skipping down the Yellow Brick Road as we speak!

 

Sincerely,

 

TVFL