Maggie Downie, Author at Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

About Maggie Downie

Thank you for giving your time to stop and read my blog. I hope it encourages you to keep moving. Move and the body will be happier. And when you're moving you can hike, run, swim in Jell-O, race over non-Newtonian fluids, travel the world or build igloos--if that's your thing. If not, you can watch me do it. This is just a spot to try and feel good about life.

Peabody Ducks

On our recent trip between Dallas and Nashville, which included Oklahoma City, Hot Springs and Memphis, we liked Memphis the best. In part this was because the Peabody, an historic hotel in Memphis, may very well be one of the nicest hotels we’ve ever been in. The place was so comfortable that I wanted to spend time in the hotel, which is not like me. The lobby usually had a live pianist. And ducks. They were known for ducks in their fountain. The Peabody Ducks. We didn’t know this when we arrived, but we read something about it online: “Don’t miss the ducks.” So we asked, “What’s up with the ducks?”

The Story of the Ducks

The Peabody Lobby

It turns out that in 1933, the general manager went duck hunting with decoy ducks. After a day of drinking, he brought the ducks back, put them in the fountain, and fell asleep. Upon rising he recalled the error of his way. He ran to the lobby expecting the ducks to have destroyed the place. Instead he found that all the […]

Peabody DucksMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:47:10-05:00

To My Mother for Mother’s Day

To my mother:

My mom is the best mom, at least for me. To keep you reading, she’s not perfect. If she were, I might not like her as much. I’d certainly be less impressed. While I am about to gush about her for a moment, she has her flaws. She is human. I don’t say that to knock her, but it’s even more impressive to me how much I’ve grown to admire her as a parent knowing, and even liking, her imperfections, for the most part. Every moment of my childhood wasn’t perfect, although luckily, for me, the good certainly outweighed the bad. But what my mom gave me was a person in this world who seemed to enjoy me endlessly. For me, that has been truly vital.

Growing up she made life fun—dancing to show tunes in the living room, swimming in the pond at Misquamicut Beach, nightly massages as she listened to every detail of my day which included obnoxiously, exhaustive, extremely comprehensive information. If I ate my sandwich top down instead of bottom up, she heard about it. If I went to the bathroom five times or three, she […]

To My Mother for Mother’s DayMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:46:03-05:00

Public Bathing and Massages in Hot Springs Arkansas

Hot Springs, Arkansas is known for natural hot springs that are plumbed through the hotels and bathhouses positioned around bathhouse row. This might be a little bit underappreciated today, but during Hot Springs heyday, hot running water in a building may have seemed miraculous. My grandma who was born in 1926 once told me that the most life changing technology of her lifetime was hot running water. We take it for granted now.

Hot Springs seems like a time capsule. Bathhouse row came to prominence in the nineteen-teens. As far as I can tell, some buildings did some updates in 1960, and no one has touched anything since. It’s a cross between two distinct times.

Buckstaff Bath House

I was eager to try the public bathing experience offered at Buckstaff Bath House. (I’ve gotten braver after my Turkish bath.) Buckstaff offers the same experience you would have received in 1912, except the attendants don’t dress as nurses. I was game. Matt was not. (After his Turkish bath, I think he’s had enough strangers bathing him and public nudity for a […]

Public Bathing and Massages in Hot Springs ArkansasMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:46:25-05:00

Vision Board Party

My vision board…front and back.

Stephanie Tishler of Tishler Coaching Services hosted a Vision Board Party. Full disclosure: Steph has been a client and friend for years, which is the reason I went. I’m not anti-vision board per se, but it’s not something I would normally seek out on my own.

I didn’t know if I was going to know anyone else at the event (turns out I did), but I was a little concerned about creating a vision board with a group of people I didn’t know that well. It seems sort of personal. I had nothing to worry about. The entire night was great—better than I expected. In fact, I’m writing this post because I think it’s a great way for a group of friends, co-workers, or interesting strangers to spend a few hours together.

The Set Up:

We basically got together, mingled a bit over snacks and drinks and then went to a long table where Steph had everything we needed. She provided note cards for us to jot down our visions. What goals did we want to reach for? What […]

Vision Board PartyMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:46:59-05:00

DIVVY Bike Chicago Style

Julie comforts me after surviving the DIVVY bike.

Last month I referenced riding my bike with my friend Julie in Chicago. When I went to link to this story, I realized that I’d never posted it. So here’s a plank story from about three years ago that never got it’s moment to shine. In re-reading it, I also realized that in last month’s blog I clearly over-estimated the time I was riding the DIVVY bike. That’s how awful my experience was:

So I’m visiting my best friend Julie in Chicago and she asks me if I’ll ride the DIVVY bikes with her to a barbecue. DIVVY bikes are basically like zip cars. You can rent them in different parts of the city and return them to stations throughout the city.

Now I am not the greatest bike rider. And I’m nervous riding my bike on the road in suburban Connecticut, but google claims it will take 21 minutes to get from Julie’s house to the barbeque and Julie claims it will take over and hour by bus, so I agree that even if I’m really uncomfortable, […]

DIVVY Bike Chicago StyleMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:48:12-05:00

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