Lights, Camera, Action....yikes.....daring to be 'NEW'

 They say it takes a month to build a new habit.  On January 1, 2011 I decided to try one new thing a day for one year.  So far I have been sticking to my New Year's resolution for over three months.  I can honestly say that this 'trying new things' has really become habitually with me.  I use to have to think about what 'new' thing I was going to try each day, now it seems I am just in the flow of 'newness'.  I have kinda become a magnet for 'new' stuff.  A film maker buddy of mine approached me this week with a new idea.  He asked me if I had ever video taped myself learning one of my new skills.  "Hell NO", I told him.  "Well" he said, "then video taping yourself learning a new skill, would be doing something 'new'.  Crap...he was correct.  I hate that!  It is like a kid on the play ground coming up to me and saying, "I dare you".  So, I told me that he could video tape me doing something new this week.  Being the bumbling dork that I am, I had forgotten that I had just signed up for a pole dancing lesson.  Long story short....yes kiddies, cameras were rolling as I learned how to pole dance.  I might have to sell it to 'Funny or Die'.  LOL The footage is currently being edited together.  So...stay tuned, if you dare.

-As for my pole dancing lesson....it was INCREDIBLE!!  I was a bit nervous and shy at first.  Especially when I was first asked to swing around the pole.  I was so afraid I would look like a stork caught in a hurricane.  That is exactly what I did look like my first couple tries at it.  But, with a bit of practice, I got the hang of it.  Before I knew it, I was swinging around that pole like a pro.  When the music began to play, I totally got into it.  It was fun.  I felt beautiful, sexy, and in my power.  Even when I fell and tripped, I still felt great.  I was learning something new.  It was challenging me both physically and psychologically.  It was one of the biggest risks I had personally taken in a long time.  I went home feeling liberated, with a new sense of confidence, and a floor burn on my elbow.

Outside of the dance studio with my instructor and one of my besties just before my pole dancing lesson. Stay tuned for the video.  Yikes...I promise to post it.  I have to...it's 'new'.


-This week I went to Portland to help promote an indie film that I am in called, "Rid of Me", directed by James Westby.  I am proud to say that "Rid of Me" will be premiering at the Tribeca Film Fest later this month.  To kick off this film's journey to New York, a grand gala party was thrown.  The party was red carpet.  I decided to wear my  little black dress with my Grandmother's jewelry, and carry my great aunt's purse.  I LOVE using vintage accessories given to me by the wonderful women in my family, but I needed something 'new'.  A make up artist was brought in to do the makeup for all the ladies in the cast.  This was my chance.  In all my days of modeling and acting I have never had my eyes done with smokey eyeshadow.  Can you believe it?!!  I have never had my eye make up done 'smokey'.  It is something I have always wanted to try, but never quite knew how to do it.  I asked the makeup artist if she would smoke my eyes and she said YES!!!  Yipee!!!  A 'new' look for Melinda!!  I LOVED it.  I felt so sultry and mysterious.  This week's 'new' has really been all about allowing myself to be a woman...ROAR...it felt grrrreat!

-I fly often and I have always thought to myself that airports need to have spas in them.  Then travelers can spend their lay overs getting pampered and relaxing.  HOLY HANNAH.....Portland airport has a spa!!!!!  I was like a kid in a candy store when I saw that.  When you walk into the spa, it is like you stepped out of the airport and into a zen garden.  You can get a pedicure, facial, massage, or just take a nap on one of the soft reclining chairs.  In the spirit of 'new', I chose a treatment that I have never experience before...a foot bath.  As I laid back in a chair, my feet were placed in a hot tub of water and mineral oils.  My feet soaked for about 15 minutes and then a lady lifted my feet out of the hot water and poured ice cold water over them.  At first I was thinking, this is going to suck.  Never pre-judge a new experience.  It was incredible!!  The ice cold water was extremely refreshing.  It was like walking barefoot in a cold creek on a hot summer day.  Then she put my feet back into the hot water....Ahhhhhh.  After soaking my feet in the hot water for a few more minutes, the kind lady returned and scrubbed each foot with a green tea scrub, rinsed them with more hot water, and patted them dry.  All I can say is that I floated out of that spa and to my gate with a big grin on my face.  My flight was very relaxing and enjoyable.  How could it not be?  My feet were happy campers.

            Can you possibly think of a better way to wait for your plane to board?

***I promised my film maker buddy that as soon as he is done editing a very short clip of my pole dancing lesson, I would post it.  I really will.  I wasn't going to at first, but I changed my mind.  No matter how I end up looking flailing around that pole, I will post the final result.  I promise.  Ever since I started blogging about my New Years resolution, I have had several women contact me and tell me how my 'new' adventures have inspired them to try a new thing or two.  So, I figure, if me dancing around a pole will inspire another gal to dance a new jig or let her hair down once in a while, why not?  We women need to stick together, right?  As one of my favorite Broadway Muscial songs from 'Mame' says..."dance to a new rhythm, whistle a new song, toast to a new vintage, the fizz doesn't fizz too long..."