The day has finally arrived for me to film my classes for Pilates Anytime and I am pretty excited. At dinner last night Carrie told me she woke up at 4:00am on the day of her filming and could not get back to sleep. I really didn't want this to happen so I made some preparations... Hydralyte and magnesium to offset the heat from the day and Carrie's amazing reformer class, heavy curtains drawn and a melatonin tablet to help me sleep. Imagine my delight when at 8:30am I woke to my phone ringing (wrong number). I had been snoozing away! While I was still in my pj's I thought it would be a good time to do a little walk through of my class plans in the hotel to make sure I was happy with the exercise choices and the flow. I made a few last minute changes and I felt really calm and happy about what was to come.
I started the day with breakfast at a local little cafe called Jeannine's (all I could manage was the granola). It was great to sit and relax outside before the heat of the day set in. For those of you following my coffee break, I still haven't had any coffee- I didn't think today was the best day to get back into the stimulants.
Something I definitely wanted to do during my visit was to dip my feet into this edge of the Pacific Ocean. I'd never been to the West Coast of the USA before and I figured that if ever there was a perfect opportunity to do this it would be today. I went on the short walk to the coast line. Check out the beautiful butterfly on my way there (the lantana caught my eye first I admit). 
As soon as I got back to the hotel I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body. That calm feeling I awoke with felt like a distant memory. I was so glad that I had time after getting dressed to talk to Ben on the phone as it really grounded me. I was also glad that I had gone through things before getting changed as I was able to let the class plans go and trust that everything would work out as it should. It was all getting very real. It was so great to have Luis' familiar face come and pick me up to take me to the studio- Pilates Anytime is just the most amazing family (I thought I was done with the tears but I totally welled up writing that).
We got the filming started with a bio. I had been wishing we could start with filming a class. Sitting and talking on camera is not something that I am used to but it went really well and it actually made me more excited to teach. It's funny as it made me recall a few details of my Pilates history that I hadn't thought about in years- like the first mat class I ever attended (that class was intense).
The first class we filmed was with Meredith and Anjelika on the reformer. They did such a great job and made me feel so comfortable. I felt like my cues just flowed and by the end of it I was having fun! I think in this class we even had to pause for the famous train.
My second class was a mat class and I got to teach Meredith, Amy Havens and Jacob Gomez who was visiting from Spain. By this time the nerves had changed to excitement and I had a lot of fun. I’m not sure if any of my lame puns snuck in to my cueing- we’ll have to wait until the classes are online to find out!
The thing I discovered about Pilates Anytime is that no matter what you are doing, the people are amazing and make everything better. From taking photos the day before with Jeff, to Perry and Nicole looking after you while filming and Amy calmly directing when necessary. Kristi is so loving that you can feel her nurturing energy from the moment you meet her. The team create a space that allows you to be yourself and to do what you do everyday. 
Before I knew it we were done! I actually felt like I could keep going, after all I was doing what I love. It feels like a blur at this point and I can't wait to see some photos and footage- just to be sure that I didn't just dream this whole thing up! Teaching two classes and being handed a glass of wine when you're done is pretty cool though!
But then it was just a few gals out to dinner! We went to a beautiful restaurant called Tre Luna. If you love Italian food and are ever in the Santa Barbara area you must visit. The food was so reminiscent of Ben and I's holiday in Italy last year. The walls are covered with photos of old Hollywood stills. I just loved it there. I discovered that these girls are my people- we started the dinner off with a little cheese plate and some wine. Bellessima!
After dinner I was just on cloud nine. I got to potter around my room and do most of my packing and it was so wonderful to speak to Ben one more time. I finished the night in a very cruisy, low key way. I just sat back and watched some TV while ignoring the delicious cup of chamomile tea that I had made myself (I'm well versed in this). I went to sleep chuckling at the episode of Seinfeld I had just watched and pinching myself on how lucky I felt to be living this dream.