Jewish Girls.

Subtitle: I cant lie. Ive been jealous.

Green with envy.

For a while Ive coveted what it seemed others had.

I was envious of the FUN I perceived happened when my Catholic friends skipped off to CCD together.

I longed for the unity I thought friends possessed as they giggled together on Monday over Sunday’s happenings at church.

Ive watched bloggers go on mission trips and thought:

oooh Id love to do that if it weren’t for the faith piece.  I, too, am committed to doing unto others and would love to be a part of that blogger community.

What felt as though it held me back was this:

it’s positioned here because it’s the core of who I am.

Less than a barrier-to-entry for these situations (I love my faith & that affection has only deepened as Ive gotten older) I began to wonder if it simply wasnt an option for us Jews.

If what united us was merely a shared experience of persecution (for lack of a better word. those more articulate than I possess better words Im certain.).

And then I blogged for a billion more years and grew older still.

And then I spied the SHE READS TRUTH hashtag.

Initially on Twitter.  And then on Instagram.  And then mentioned in blog posts across varying genres.

Finally it hit me like a ton of bricks matzo balls:

That’s it.  That’s what Im seeking.  That’s what I do, already, alone in my domicile when I meditate/write in the mornings. 

Im indebted to our Healthy Living Tribe for making this could-be-isolating fitness life feel easy and frequently FUN.

Finally. Fitness’y UNAPOLOGETICALLY MYSELF!

I felt solo as I journaled about trying to live my best spiritual life and sought a way to stay connected to blogger/social media friends who share this same pursuit.

And the hashtag JEWISHGIRLS was born (mazel. I know. finally. it has been a 44 year gestation period.).

Born for twitter.

Created for Instagram and the book of the FACE.

And yes, sometimes, for the blog as well.

For me it feels like a final piece in my healthy living puzzle.

One last muscle Im focusing on strengthening with the help of BLENDS and the power of social media.

it’s all about finding our strength.

And you?

Whatever your approach to zen or faith: have you created your community on or offline?

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The Clumsy Girl’s Guide to Barre (guest post).

Hey y’all! I’m Presley and I blog over at Run Pretty.

I tend to ramble about all sorts of life and fitness nonsense, so it’s pretty hard for me to sum the ol’ blog up.

Luckily for me, Carla is generously letting me share my thoughts on Barre workout classes today.

Bless her for helping me find at least a little direction in a post for once.

Fact: I am not a ballerina.

Well, I mean, I took ballet for a year when I was a kid. Does that count?

I should add that I quit because I had trouble with the whole grace, dedication, and ability to follow directions thing. Not much has changed since then. However, I do kind of love ballet now. Ballet in the fitness form, or Barre, has totally and completely stolen my heart.

If you haven’t tried a Barre class, you definitely should.

Barre is a ballet-inspired class that focuses on small, isolated movements done to popular, upbeat music.

It ain’t the Nutcracker, folks. The type of Barre class I’ve been going to consists of a warm up, upper body work with light hand weights, lower body work at the barre, abdominal work on a mat, and a cool down. We sometimes use a light resistance ball and bands, too.

You’d think that micro-movements, like only moving your hips an inch or so at a time, would be pretty simple.  It’s so much more challenging than it seems.

I promise you, if you have a great instructor, you will be ready to run away crying. In a beautiful way, of course.

While Barre is a fabulous workout, it’s not your average class.

There are a few things you should know before you head in for your first workout.

1.) You do not need to be a ballerina. I have all the eloquence of a toddler. I am the last person that anyone would ever consider graceful, so you’d think that a ballet-inspired class wouldn’t be for me. The key term here is inspired. The class is loosely based on the type of movements used in ballet.

2.) It’s not as easy as it looks. The best Barre classes will leave you feeling like you’ve been pushing semi-trucks around when in reality, you’ve barely moved your body. It’s pretty insane actually. There are a range of movements in class, but the real killers are the tiniest tweaks in your position.

3.) Be prepared to be confused. If you aren’t familiar with ballet lingo, you’ll be scratching your head at a few of the Barre terms. It only takes a few minutes to figure it all out, though. For all you superstar students, it wouldn’t hurt to study a little before class either.

4.) Arrive early. Your instructor can help you prepare for your first class. The classes are pretty fast-paced, so it’s better to get your main questions over with before you begin. On that same note, many gyms offer introductory, or beginner, Barre classes. Those are great if you’re really nervous about your first class!

5.) Bring water. While this rings true for every single workout, I just want to throw that reminder in here. Am awesome bonus, is you can use your water as an excuse to wimp out a little early during squats at the barre. Kidding. Kind of.

6.) Take any necessary breaks. You should feel a pretty intense burn during class, but seriously y’all, stop if you need to. No one benefits from pure torture. You should be hurtin’, but you shouldn’t hurt yourself. Catch my drift?

7.) Ask for modifications. If you have back or knee issues, if you are pregnant, or if you are just beginning your fitness journey, do not be afraid to ask for help. Inform your instructor before class of any health issues and they will be able to offer a myriad of modifications for you. Barre is great for most people, so don’t let anything hold you back!

8.) Form is everything. You know how there are some classes that getting up and moving is the focus? This is not one of them. Try your best to mimic the instructors form to maximize your results and prevent injury. I know I personally stayed after class a few times to make sure I was doing each one correctly. Also, wearing form-fitting clothing will help you judge your own form.

I almost added another point about equipment, but honestly, there isn’t much to tell.

The main equipment you need for class is the barre. And well, that’s the big rod screwed into the wall.Pretty sure your gym is going to provide that.

Also, buying Barre socks is optional. I tend to toss them off half of the time anyway. I think that one is a personal preference! Test the water during your first class before making any Barre-related purchases.

Another huge plus about Barre workouts is that they can be done at home when you can’t make it to the gym.

Do you have a chair? Well, congratulations, you have your very own Barre studio.

So, there ya have it. The Barre basics, from someone who sucks at ballet.

You’re welcome.

If you find yourself in need of more “if she can do it, I totally can” inspiration, come hang with me at Run Pretty. You can also find me on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

PS: I think we just became best friends.

View the original article here

The “Old Girls” Reunite

I was six months pregnant and watching the “Price is Right” when Johnny Olson said, “Lisa Hanson, come on down! You’re the next contestant on The Price Is Right!”
‘Hunh,’ I thought. ‘I wonder if that’s Lisa from home room.’
When we graduated the year before, I left the city and married a farmer and Lisa went to design school in California. There are thousands of Lisa Hansons in the country, but the woman running down the aisle to join the other three players was none other than Lisa from homeroom. She even won her way up on stage! She played that fill-in-the-check game and won a grandfather clock.
I laid on the couch and wondered what she’d do with a grandfather clock. She was 19, going to school, and I doubted she lived in a place that could accommodate something so big.
Fast forward 25 years. I'm standing on the “Oprah” stage with 19 other guests and Oprah announces she's giving us our choice of a Life Fitness elliptical, treadmill or home gym. Holy wow, I was excited! I wanted the elliptical, but I thought, ‘Man, that thing is HUGE. What is that? Nine feet long?’ I lived in a small house with three large dogs.
‘Where will I put it?’

I thought about Lisa and the clock and started planning.

‘I’ll put it in the dining room if I have to.’
There was no way I was NOT going to have that elliptical.
It was love at first stride. The two burly men who delivered it and set it up asked me test it and I was hooked, like a first taste of chocolate. For three years, that elliptical kept my alter ego – the Queen of Excuses – buried in a closet. I had no reason not to exercise on snowy days, rainy days, I’m-too-busy-to-go-to-the-gym days. She was housed in our former den (fondly called The Zen Room), which I’d also turned into my office, so I saw her all the time. She looked over my shoulder as I worked, reminding me many times a day of my commitment to fitness.
Then a year ago I moved to Pittsburgh and I left the old girl in my ex-house with my ex-husband because my apartment is the size of a toaster. My recumbent bike, while a godsend, lives in the second bedroom where I don’t see it on a daily basis. It doesn’t call my name or challenge me the way BFF elliptical did. Without her, my alter ego escaped her closet prison and my serious cardio regimen went from five days a week to two…at most. True, I rode my bike a lot this summer. Hiked, too. But it wasn’t the same kind of workout I was used to when elliptical and I were BFF.
Thinking I needed a few extra bucks in the bank, I put BFF up for auction on eBay a few months ago. A man in Texas wanted to buy her, but I wasn’t about to ship her that far. In fact, I didn’t want to ship her anywhere at all. I realized I needed her more than I needed the money. (Ironically, she’s the most expensive thing I own. Obviously, I don’t own much…LOL…and I’m happy with that.)
BF knew how much I was missed BFF and we discussed how we might bring her to live in his laundry room. He has a trailer. And bungee cords And rope. And really nice biceps. This is us arm wrestling. Clearly I didn't win.What if we broke up, I asked. He assured me he’d give her back to me. Can we get that in writing, I asked. He laughed. I was serious. So we drove up to my ex-house yesterday and loaded the old girl on the trailer, with the help of a neighbor. I’m sure BFF got a few looks on routes 66 and 28, but soon we passed a ping pong table on top of a Kia, which probably deflected BFF’s popularity.
Given the shape of my shoulder, I couldn’t offer much help unloading BFF. She weighs 250 pounds, but she’s got wheels. BF rolled her down the ramp and into the laundry room with no more than a few grunts. He got BFF leveled and I hopped up on the pedals and took her for a test drive. I was seven minutes in when my thighs said, “Um…what the heck? We were quite happy without her.”
Exactly, thighs. You got complacent.
Today, my goal was to ease into the workout, just as I did when she arrived four years ago. Twenty minutes tops. I turned on my Nook to read more “Wheat Belly” and plugged in the iPod because I knew I’d need some “foot” to keep me going: Chickenfoot and Switchfoot.
At my peak (back in the day), I could do level 9 or 10 for most of my workout. Today, I spent a good five minutes at level 1 before pressing higher. Level 2, level 3, level 4…yowza!
Me after 30 minutes. I was dripping stinky sweaty.I normally feel “the zone” around 12 minutes. You know, that zone where you stop feeling fatigued and your thighs stop aching and you groove to your heart rate and breath rate. This morning, I didn’t feel the groove at 12 minutes. Or at 15. Or at 20…which was technically my stop time. But I kept going, wondering what it would take to get to the zone, if I would. Finally, at minute 25, I felt the easing of my thighs and that less-fatigued groove. I didn’t want to push it, though, so I rode the groove for another five minutes and stopped at 30, confident I would improve as the weeks go by.
Make no mistake…I will. My goal is to stride on BFF at level 9 like it’s 2009. It will take awhile. It will take a lot of work. But the old girls are reunited and it feels so good.
And by the way, if you know Lisa Hanson from Armstrong High School in Plymouth, Minnesota, class of 1981, please let her know I have a question to ask her.

View the original article here

Visualizing and Patience: A Divorced Girl's Guide to Living Alone...Kind Of

Like you haven’t noticed, I’ve avoided writing for weeks. It’s not that I don’t love my blog or love talking with all of you about weight and food and all that good stuff. It’s just that I feel like I have nothing to write about, when the truth is I have a LOT to write about. I’m just afraid to put it out there. I’m afraid if I start writing, I won’t stop.

The minute I open Microsoft Word, I find a distraction, something to keep me from the keyboard. Facebook, a computer game, making a complicated recipe, texting, something…anything…to avoid writing.

Why? Well, part of it is that whole Minnesota Norwegian Lutheran anal retentiveness. Growing up, I heard, “That’s not something we talk about,” a LOT. So why write about the stuff no one wants to talk about? Oh, but wait. People DO want to talk about it. They ARE talking about it. They’re not afraid to put it out there – their pain, their heartaches, their joy. Shelley’s blogging through her mother’s surgery . Ellen’s blogging about her post-weight-loss body and acceptance and all that huge emotional stuff.  Lyn’s blogging through sickness Samuel’s blogging though his grief.
Bloggers do this all the time. They put themselves out there. Maybe not all of it, but at least the stuff they think most people can take, the stuff we have in common. I used to do that, too. All the time. You guys know that. But then I got quiet.

It’s not like I didn’t have things to write about. I mean, I made a killer hummus the other day. I lost a pound that took me three weeks to lose. I went on an awesome hike in the 50-degree muck. But it was the background noise that kept me from writing. Those paper-thin moments when things seemed so clear, and then disolved like a communion wafer on the tongue.

Then I read this: “If you don’t visualize what you want out of life, then you are at risk of other people and external circumstances influencing your life because you are not influencing it yourself.” That’s from the book “7 Habits of Highly Frugal People.” A friend sent me this link the other day.

Except for a project in a class in high school (“Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”), I’ve never visualized my life. I mean, really sat back and imagined the big picture. I’ve lived most of my life by the seat of my pants, often letting other people tell me what’s right for me, what’s wrong with me, and what I “should” do. A victim mentality, perhaps (ouch). But I really never had much of a backbone (ouch x2).

I lost weight this last time, and am keeping it off, by sheer determination. It’s probably the first thing I’ve ever done just for me. But living alone for the first time in 30 years? It’s harder than weight loss ever was.

This whole “visualizing” my life…well…that’s been the interesting part the last few months. I needed a compass and so I went to what I knew. And what I know is that, like losing weight, living alone is a lifestyle change. And when you want to incorporate change in your life, it has to become part of your life. It has to move within the fabric, the ups and downs, the scheduled and the unexpected.

I love this quote from a WW success story I read recently: “Patience is key. It took me a really long time to lose the weight. I think I became successful when I accepted that some weeks I would gain and that was OK. I didn’t let weight gain give me an excuse to throw in the towel. When I realized I didn’t have to be perfect, I was able to commit.”

Finances, weight loss, getting used to living alone…it all takes a certain degree of commitment, acceptance, and forgiveness. There is a learning curve, and with that learning curve there must be patience.

Just as I learned how to lose weight and I continue to learn how to maintain, I will learn to live alone. I will try to not let the people I don’t invite into my life to influence my thoughts or decisions.

What I visualize, at least right now, is a life not spent alone, but spent in the company of people I love and who intrigue me. I don’t mind cooking for one, it’s challenging. I like setting my own schedule. I can sit in the pain and the tears without running away…most of the time (HUGE step for me…FYI). I will read/listen to the criticism that is bound to come (that happens online…), but I will still blog about it. I’m doing my best to not be afraid.

Thanks for sticking with me. I really do love writing this blog and communicating with all of you.

View the original article here

Visualizing and Patience: A Divorced Girl's Guide to Living Alone...Kind Of

Like you haven’t noticed, I’ve avoided writing for weeks. It’s not that I don’t love my blog or love talking with all of you about weight and food and all that good stuff. It’s just that I feel like I have nothing to write about, when the truth is I have a LOT to write about. I’m just afraid to put it out there. I’m afraid if I start writing, I won’t stop.

The minute I open Microsoft Word, I find a distraction, something to keep me from the keyboard. Facebook, a computer game, making a complicated recipe, texting, something…anything…to avoid writing.

Why? Well, part of it is that whole Minnesota Norwegian Lutheran anal retentiveness. Growing up, I heard, “That’s not something we talk about,” a LOT. So why write about the stuff no one wants to talk about? Oh, but wait. People DO want to talk about it. They ARE talking about it. They’re not afraid to put it out there – their pain, their heartaches, their joy. Shelley’s blogging through her mother’s surgery . Ellen’s blogging about her post-weight-loss body and acceptance and all that huge emotional stuff.  Lyn’s blogging through sickness Samuel’s blogging though his grief.
Bloggers do this all the time. They put themselves out there. Maybe not all of it, but at least the stuff they think most people can take, the stuff we have in common. I used to do that, too. All the time. You guys know that. But then I got quiet.

It’s not like I didn’t have things to write about. I mean, I made a killer hummus the other day. I lost a pound that took me three weeks to lose. I went on an awesome hike in the 50-degree muck. But it was the background noise that kept me from writing. Those paper-thin moments when things seemed so clear, and then disolved like a communion wafer on the tongue.

Then I read this: “If you don’t visualize what you want out of life, then you are at risk of other people and external circumstances influencing your life because you are not influencing it yourself.” That’s from the book “7 Habits of Highly Frugal People.” A friend sent me this link the other day.

Except for a project in a class in high school (“Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”), I’ve never visualized my life. I mean, really sat back and imagined the big picture. I’ve lived most of my life by the seat of my pants, often letting other people tell me what’s right for me, what’s wrong with me, and what I “should” do. A victim mentality, perhaps (ouch). But I really never had much of a backbone (ouch x2).

I lost weight this last time, and am keeping it off, by sheer determination. It’s probably the first thing I’ve ever done just for me. But living alone for the first time in 30 years? It’s harder than weight loss ever was.

This whole “visualizing” my life…well…that’s been the interesting part the last few months. I needed a compass and so I went to what I knew. And what I know is that, like losing weight, living alone is a lifestyle change. And when you want to incorporate change in your life, it has to become part of your life. It has to move within the fabric, the ups and downs, the scheduled and the unexpected.

I love this quote from a WW success story I read recently: “Patience is key. It took me a really long time to lose the weight. I think I became successful when I accepted that some weeks I would gain and that was OK. I didn’t let weight gain give me an excuse to throw in the towel. When I realized I didn’t have to be perfect, I was able to commit.”

Finances, weight loss, getting used to living alone…it all takes a certain degree of commitment, acceptance, and forgiveness. There is a learning curve, and with that learning curve there must be patience.

Just as I learned how to lose weight and I continue to learn how to maintain, I will learn to live alone. I will try to not let the people I don’t invite into my life to influence my thoughts or decisions.

What I visualize, at least right now, is a life not spent alone, but spent in the company of people I love and who intrigue me. I don’t mind cooking for one, it’s challenging. I like setting my own schedule. I can sit in the pain and the tears without running away…most of the time (HUGE step for me…FYI). I will read/listen to the criticism that is bound to come (that happens online…), but I will still blog about it. I’m doing my best to not be afraid.

Thanks for sticking with me. I really do love writing this blog and communicating with all of you.

View the original article here