MC’s bar-hopping Saturday night

Yes, I’m normally curled up in my PJs, snuggled up to the remote control on Saturday nights — watching murder and mayhem on 48 Hours Mystery … but after last Saturday’s Sarasota Holiday Parade down Main Street, I ventured out for a night on the town … checking out a few bars, listening to some music, flirting my way past the bouncers … .

You can read all about it in this week’s After Hours column in yesterday’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune TICKET, page 7E, or at the newspaper’s website at Drink Dine & Dance Post-Parade.

One of the places I stopped at was Owen’s Fish Camp in Burns Court — wicked cool!

If you haven’t been, you’ve got to go! Good food, good vibe, and for all you men out there — gorgeous, female bartenders and servers!

20% off … 100% on … Beethoven’s Birthday Bash — Reality Readers Eligible for discount w/Sarasota Orchestra

Next Thursday, December 16th, the music of Beethoven will rock the hearts and heads of a very lucky audience at Holly Hall during a Chamber Concert featuring string quartet and wind quintet, with Jonathan Spivey. The Sarasota Orchestra folks must love Ludwig as much as I do because they’re celebrating the anniversary (240th!) of his birthday precisely on the date he was born.

It promises to be a relaxed soirée — wine tasting and complimentary hors d’oeuvres start at 4:30 p.m.; the concert follows at 5:30, and includes Quartet No. 10, Op. 74, Harp; Quintet for Piano and Winds Op. 16.

In the spirit of the season, readers of this blog can get a fabulous 20% discount from the Orchestra for this concert, just by using the code “mc20” – without the quotation marks and case sensitive – so don’t use caps! That’s a pretty sweet deal — with tickets only $24 to $30 in the first place, take off the 20% and you’re looking at 20-24 bucks to get you into one of the best birthday bashes this month. Go online to purchase or call 941.953.3434.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I’ve got a serious Jones for Beethoven. I think it’s because his music — hundreds of years old — still resonates so profoundly and so perfectly for our current times. I dare, in fact, I triple-dare anyone to listen to Beethoven and not come away feeling emboldened to LIVE not just live.

It really almost doesn’t matter which piece you’re listening to, Beethoven’s music is, yes, intellectually complex, but always emotionally visceral and very real; wringing the heart of any element of self-pity or sentimentality and leaving behind pure emotion.

Beethoven’s music courses through the body like the blood of life itself — filling body and soul with a deeply-felt awareness of the thundering possibilities of life. And whether 29, 45, or 90, we all need that kind soundtrack in our mind … inspiring us to believe, to become, to be more than we think possible.

If you can’t make this December infusion of Beethoven, mark your calendars/buy your tickets now for the March 2011 Masterworks Beethoven event — that will be a can’t miss … and believe me, I won’t!

Being here now … yoga with Gary Halperin — special offer for Reality Readers

When I got the green light from my doctor a few months ago to ease slowly back into exercise, taking classes with certified professional-level Kripalu Yoga teacher Gary Halperin in his beginner yoga class was the first thing I did — and am still doing … .

Boomerang demonstrates the Back-Sprawled, Paws Akimbo Cat Pose.

As a little gift for readers of this blog, throughout the rest of December, new visitors to any of Gary’s classes pay only $5 for the first class visit — if you mention MC Reality Online when you sign up or show up. This is a great way to try out yoga — especially with Gary who has a fantastic reputation in Sarasota; and it’s also a great way to give yourself a treat during the month of December, which can way too often feel way too harried and hurried.

Classes are normally $12 each, and he offers day and evening classes Monday mornings and Tuesday and Thursday nights — centrally located and easy to get to, at the corner of Tuttle and Ringling. You can contact Gary to sign up for a class, or visit www.feelbetternowyoga.com to learn more. Read more about Halperin in this magazine article — Being Here Now. In the classes I’ve been taking, there are men and women — all ages.

I’m way too often an all-work, no play/no relax kind of gal, but Gary’s classes are teaching me (despite the fact that I’m a slow learner), that I can make and take the time — in fact I deserve to do it — in my life to feel mentally more clear, emotionally more satisfied, psychologically more calm, and physically more comfortable. I find that by doing the simple yoga stretches and poses, combined with the act of just “being here now” in class and listening to my body and being aware of how it feels — has reaped rewards not just physically, but personally and professionally.

I have more energy, more clarity, and more energy throughout my work days in general, even on the days that I’m not taking his class. And more importantly — I’ve been sleeping dramatically better since I started the yoga earlier this fall.

But one of my favorite parts of the class is simply listening to the calm, focused, nonjudgmental “instruction” from Gary. In a way that’s almost uncanny, at the very moments in class where I feel most challenged or conflicted about being there (because I feel I should be working or doing something on my “to-do” list) or even when I’m just feeling insecure about how my body looks while holding some “let it all hang out” pose — Gary inevitably speaks to the class in a way that seems to address precisely what’s going on in my head. And he brings me back to what matters. Just being and accepting the “here” — right where I am at that moment — right now.

It’s a valuable lesson for the rest of my life outside of yoga.

Get your holiday groove on

My Sarasota Herald Tribune TICKET column today gives some fun outdoor stuff to do this weekend — starting with some very cool reggae at O’Leary’s tomorrow night. Might be brisk weather, but we can always generate some body heat by dancing!

You can read the column online here Get Your Holiday Groove On or by flipping to page 7E of today’s TICKET.

I LOVE this weather!!!

Reality Readers Help Provide 1,135 Meals for the Hungry!

Thank you all so much — to everyone who contributed to this year’s MC “Reality Readers” fundraising drive to help All Faiths Food Bank continue to fight hunger in our community and provide meals for people in need.

During November, Reality Readers donated $715 for this year’s drive — which means they provided the equivalent of 1,135 meals for hungry men, women, and children in our community.

All Faiths sent a note of thanks to me today for organizing the drive, but it’s you all who made the results happen — so the thanks go to you!

I know everyone is inundated with requests to help out this or that charitable or community cause — and I really appreciate the contributions you were able to make to my little drive, which is small in comparison to the big charities and big efforts that go on all over our community — small, but still very important — because every bit helps!

And because I really do believe that each and every act of kindness, no matter how small or big, goes out into the world and makes way for more acts of kindness.

Great way to start December.

Later, Gators!

Glad my pick for today’s big Florida game won … as a matter of fact three out of four of my picks played out as I’d predicted in my Thursday TICKET column — ‘Noles Trounce the Gators!

Must be all that hanging around with bookies back in the day in the North End of Boston.

Turkey Day tidbits add up

I hope everyone’s out (or in) enjoying the long holiday weekend! I feel very blessed to have a roof over my head (it’s raining out) and just finished eating a simple snack of a yummy delicious apple and a piece of wheat bread, and gave my cats an afternoon tidbit of turkey. I know I’m one of the lucky ones.

Right now in our community, there are so many who have no one to turn to in tough times. They don’t have a parent they can call and say, “Can I come home for dinner?” or a friend they can ask for $20 to tide them over ‘til payday. And many of those struggling the hardest have children or aging parents who are dependent upon them for the simplest, but most soul-nourishing, necessity of having enough food on the table. (more…)

Free/very low cost pet care — for those in financial need — offered by Clark Road Animal Clinic

The Clark Road Animal Clinic let me know that the doctors and clinic team are offering an incredible opportunity for people who love their pets but who might be struggling to care for them during these tough economic times — free vaccinations and routine health care for dogs and cats on December 11! (more…)

‘Noles take the Gators in MC’s football fantasy predictions

In my “After Hours” column appearing in today’s Sarasota Herald Tribune TICKET section, I lay down m predictions for today’s football wins, tell you where you can get out of the house and catch the games on a big screen, and then …

weigh in with a prediction on Saturday’s big game between FSU and UF.

You can read the full column here: MC Predicts the ‘Noles will Trounce the Gators!

Happy Thanksgiving!

MC on the radio today — 515 Talk Sarasota w/Sherman Baldwin

Sherman Baldwin, the Sarasota Republican party’s right-wing-ish wing man, has invited me to be on his show later today — 5:15 this afternoon. (more…)