Rennaisance Woman, Al Seconds

I go on about my trainer, Allyson, a lot. It's because she's awesome and I figure she deserves some recognition for putting up with the original "grumble bee" (yep, that's me). In the past week, we've had a few gym breakthroughs despite all of my recent health ... err ... "annoyances:"

1. I look forward to going to the gym, especially if I'm stressed out or on a bummer;
2. I was able to hold my own bodyweight at the bottom of a chin-up position and then to pull my shoulderblades in and down (pulled me up about an inch or two)
3. I managed to do a couple glute ham raises (Google it if you need to), with a little help from Al and, yes, my butt is killing me today!

I've been training for 10 years as of this summer and I didn't hit any of these milestones before. A year (and a bit) with Al and I can't believe what she's gotten me to WANT to do.

Not only is she a personal trainer, but she's also an artist (ceramic sculpture), photographer, coffeehouse owner (the True Love) and musician. Here's a little of what the Sac Bee had to say this week about her new endeavor as a singer (not just for backup anymore!):

Allyson Seconds is well-known around Sacramento. Over the years, she's been in numerous bands including Go National and Ghetto Moments but it'd been years since she'd performed front and center, with the spotlight of attention shining solely on her.

So, the 39-year-old musician, ready to find her voice, called on longtime friend Anton Barbeau, currently playing music in the U.K., to help her make some music. The resulting songs, which will appear on the upcoming album "Bag of Kittens," are sweet pop gems steeped in melancholy and regret....READ THE REST OF THE POST HERE.

You can watch the video for "I Used To Say Your Name" on the Bag o Kittens MySpace page, and listen to the song along with quite a few others from her upcoming album. My personal favorite is the title track, Bag of Kittens, 'cause it's sweet, cute, a little rockin' and it's just so darn "Al."