's motd Saturday May 10, 2008

[Guest guest]

TOOK MYSELF FOR A WALK

Saturday, 10 May 2008

I'm still here in Chicago and later this morning I'll be going to visit another Walgreen's and visit all of the people who have come out to see me. After that last appearance, I will head back to Los Angeles.Yesterday, between doing my press and my Walgreen's appearance, that afternoon, I took myself for a nice walk. Chicago can have some terrible weather in the winter but springtime here in the Windy City is so nice.

Yesterday was simply a magnificent day for a stroll. I walked a couple of blocks from my hotel to the Water Tower Place shopping center. It's one of the prettiest shopping malls in the world.

There, you can take this fancy escalator from floor to floor but right next to the escalators are a set of stairs. I have climbed these stairs for twenty-some odd years and I know them well. Now you know how many shopping malls I've been to so I'd say I'm a pretty good judge of malls. And Water Tower Place, I have to say, is surely one of the more fabulous ones I've ever seen.It has colorful flowers and trees all over and the most beautiful waterfall cascades down the center between the escalators. There's marble and granite everywhere in colors like cream, pink and burnt orange. I don't know just how many stores the mall has but it must have hundreds!

So yesterday when I went in, I just headed right for those stairs. As I climbed them, people over on the escalators would look my way, see me and shout, "Hi, !" And some of them would add, "I know, I know...I should be taking the stairs!"And then I looked behind me to see quite a few people climbing the stairs with me instead of taking the escalator! When I reached the top, I signed autographs and took pictures with those people who had climbed the stairs with me. I told them how proud I was of them all!

After saying hello to everyone, I walked back down the stairs, out to Michigan Avenue and strolled back to my hotel. My knees are a little sore this morning but it's a good kinda sore. I'm sure I must have burned hundreds of calories during my great walk on the street and up those stairs! And after I've burned so many calories, I just feel so-o-o-o good, don't you?So no matter where you are, I want you to take yourself on a walk today. Try finding a building that has lots of stairs, too. Don't race up them, pace yourself and simply walk up them. Walking up stairs is a bit more challenging for your heart but going up those stairs really builds heart muscle. And we all need strong, healthy hearts.Happy walking!Love,