I had such a fun night last night. At 7:30 pm, my friend Dale called to see if I wanted to come out to hear some great blues music. My initial reaction was to say no...I've been so focused on my manuscript lately that the polite decline tends to be my habitual response to most social invitations that don't involve writing.

But then I realized he was very close by at the Marin Center and that Buddy Guy and George Thorogood & the Destroyers were on the bill! So I seized the moment and told him I was on my way.

Forty-five minutes later, there I was, in the 8th row listening to the smooth, cool sounds of Buddy Guy...and, later, singing along with George Thorogood to "Bad to the Bone" and "You Talk Too Much." It was fabulous!

As it turns out, Dale has been friends with George's bass player Billy Blough for years and that was how he scored the great tickets. We also had backstage passes. At first, I imagined a wild backstage party scene, but alas, it was as simple as getting the opportunity to meet Bill and talking to him about the show before they hit the road for their next gig in Reno.

Imagine my delight when Dale introduced us and Bill said he had heard about my skipping efforts 9 years ago when I was a guest on the NPR show, "Wait, wait, don't tell me!" Pretty cool that he remembered after all that time!

Skip on Billy Blough & George Thorogood...and rock on too!

All in all, I am very happy that I did the apple fast. I was amazed by how great I felt when I was finished.... and it seems I lost 6 pounds in the process....Pretty cool!

It's been a while since I've posted the interview I did about skipping on the Donny & Marie Show back in 2000, so I thought I'd share it again now...



Skipping with Donny Osmond was DEFINITELY a childhood dream come true! Skip on!

Well, it's day three of my apple fast and it looks like I made it! I actually feel really great today...almost like an altered state of consciousness or something. Pretty cool.

I went to work this morning, but ended up taking 1/2 a personal day this afternoon because it started getting hard for me to concentrate, etc. I scheduled a massage for myself which was a wonderful way to spend my last night on the fast.

All in all, I'm really happy that I did this... I feel like it will positively impact my relationship with food as I go back to regular eating over the next couple of days. I don't know if I've lost any weight since I haven't been to the gym where the scale is...(They recommend minimal exercise during the fast)...But that's not ultimately why I did it anyway (even though I most certainly would love to lose a few pounds.)

I've been focusing on letting go of some old ways of thinking throughout the fast...and feel lighter as a result. I feel like ever since I got in financial trouble because of quitting my job to focus on the skipping movement, that I've had a hard time trusting myself and my intuition as fully as I once did. My head and my heart haven't been in alignment... My heart wants to dream big again and my head has been coming up with a million reasons why it is too risky to do so... And that inner battle has been taking up way too much of my precious energy. So that is what I have been focusing on letting go of throughout my cleanse. Inner peace, baby. That's where it's at.

Tomorrow I can have orange juice in the morning and fruits/vegetables for lunch...and some grains for dinner. Then on Wednesday it's back to regular food....and exercise! I intend to get my skip on. That's for sure.

Day two on the apple fast and I'm going strong...Had about five apples again today...and lots of water.

I gave myself plenty of room to take it easy today! I read Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth and watched movies in bed. I've been surprised by how tired I have been. Last night I fell asleep at 9:30 with the lights on while watching a movie and didn't wake up until 10 this morning. And I've cat napping off and on all day. Honestly, it feels good to have an excuse not to do anything but lounge around and eat apples!

So far so good on my apple fast! It's actually been much easier than I originally thought, so far anyway. I've eaten five apples today...and hunger has come in waves, but it doesn't seem to linger very long. Every now and then I get a very strong impulse to make myself a big, yummy meal. But then I remind myself...nothing but apples for three days! :-)

The most challenging part of today has been the persistent headache I've had since this morning...probably from caffeine withdrawl since I ususally have a couple cups every morning when I first get up.

I spent a while this morning doing more reading about cleanses/fasts and found great inspiration there. One website I found said..

Be kind to yourself during the fast. Let any emotions that have been pent up be leeched out of you along with all the other toxins. Let it all go, let it all out...

I suggest keeping a journal during the fast to see what bubbles up and needs your attention. Remember that you are cleansing yourself of all unwanted toxins: emotional, mental and physical.

What great advice...It really helps to see this process as going beyond the physical. Here's to releasing old, worn out, toxic ways of thinking and being.

I'm doing something I've never done this weekend! I'm going to do an apple fast.

Basically, I will eat nothing but apples for the next three days. I also can drink water, herbal tea, and apple juice.

I've been feeling like I need to do something to become more conscious and disciplined about my eating habits....So after doing a lot of research online for a cleanse/fast that is relatively cheap, easy, and do-able.... The Apple Fast is what I came up with.

Here's what an article I found on Bella Online says the benefits of doing this are...

This is a purifying diet which cleanses your alimentary canal, kidneys and liver, as well as your entire system.

Fasting is a wonderful way to cleanse the inside of our bodies. The American diet is loaded with heavy duty fats, calories, sugar, and very little nutritional value. Fasting can teach you a lot about your relationship with food and meals. Many people eat because they are feeling anxious and bored, and not because they are truly hungry. After three days, your digestive tract is empty, and your body has adjusted to not processing the food in your digestive tract , and not relying on stored fats as part of the process. After the first three days of a fast you can expect to stop feeling hungry, and thus will be able to alleviate binge, anxiety or boredom induced snacking. An apple cleansing fast is ideal for beginning fasters. The apple is an energizing food and will keep up your energy while you are bringing down your food consumption.

So, how about them apples? Here goes nothing! I will be writing about my experience here.... So stay tuned!

I subscribe to a really cool service called Notes from the Universe that is the brainchild of a cool guy named Mike Dooley....You might recognize his name from The Secret!

You subscribe to the service and then receive periodic emails from The Universe with positive reminders about life.

Imagine my delight when I noticed that The Universe was singing the praises of skipping in today's note...

If you just whistle every now and then, Kim; skip every thousandth step or so; skim the odd stone across the odd pond; go dancing on the occasional blue moon, if only alone in the dark; dress up sometimes, even with nowhere to go... for simply stirring up some little bit of hope, no matter how silly or disconnected your actions seem to be with the rest of the world, magic flashes in the unseen, friends are summoned, connections are timed, stars are aligned, opportunities are crystallized and serendipities are calculated, creating possibilities for new realities that cannot now even be imagined from where you presently stand. Shazaam - The Universe

Here's to skipping AT LEAST every thousandth step! Skip on!

A few weeks back, I did an interview on Gold Radio in the UK as a result of the press release that went out on Wireless Flash...and have been having a fun email correspondence with a nice chap from there ever since.

Well, he wrote to me this morning and let me know about an article that ran in The London Times there that sings the fitness benefits of skipping, hopping, and jumping.

You can read the whole article here, but I thought I'd pull out the paragraph about skipping and share it here...

Skipping: The US National Institute of Health claims that skipping burns more calories (70-100 in ten minutes) than any other popular exercise except running. Done regularly, it also builds bone density in the hips and muscle power in the legs. Start with a 1:3 skipping-to-rest ratio - so if you skip for five minutes, rest for 15, then do five minutes of skipping again.

Woo-hoo! More calories than any other exercise! That's what I'm talking about. Skip on!