Show me the other expert bloggers…

and Ill show you the blogger?

Ok, so it doesnt flow quite as well as my fave fave quote: show me the FRIENDS and I’ll show you the WOMAN but you get the idea.

The point of this post is three-fold:

VOLUNTEER.  My mother is renown for saying “the best opportunities are outgrowths of volunteer efforts.”  This could be job-related.  This could be friendship/relationship related.  For her the notion crosses all arenas and I have to say Ive found this to be true.  The writing opportunity I have today is a direct result of volunteer efforts from yesterday.WE ARE PERCEIVED TO BE LIKE THOSE WITH WHOM WE SURROUND OURSELVES.  In this instance Im honored to be listed among highly trained experts & very respected writers & hope ‘outsiders’ view me as one of them.  In other instances, in my younger days, I made some, uh, poor “surrounding” choices and deserved the assumptions made about me as a result even though at the time they pissed me off.  This whole concept—while a semi-complicated one–is something Im already striving to teach the Tornado.  It’s amazing what assumptions we (the royal) make about people given the crowd they hang with.  Is this right? I dont know that it is.  Does it happen? Heck yes.  This is a notion I think about frequently.Im frazzled.  There are lots of life-things happening right now.  Some great.  A few not so.  Im in a go go go place & either compelled to JETTISON exercise or stop take.a moment. and PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH.  In a fitting fashion my post today over at the Life…supplemented blog  (managed by the Council for Responsible Nutrition) is about precisely this: fitting fitness into a busy life.  Im hectic. Im stressed. More than ever I need to be sure I plan in time to workout.

Im over there hanging today.

And Im over here fitting in this:

row row row yer band...

And this:

do dah dippity.

And taking many many deep breaths.

And you?

It seems we are all jammedslammed this time of year—are you making time to fit in some fitness?

Have you, too, spent time reflecting (hello high school years!) upon the notion of “show me the friends and Ill show you the wo/man?”

Wanna join me in a fittingitin office workout?

please to hit us all up in the comments below…

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Tags: frazzled, Life...supplemented blog, volunteer

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No, Im not pregnant (& other embarrassing tales).

Monday was great.  Rejuvenating.

Hanging out with The Tornado/her friends and just *laughing* with moms I didn’t know well before yesterday.

For this misfit who can work too much & verge on being a hermit it was a *very* welcome weekday change.

Ill spare you the majority of the conversation details (oooh forshadowing! hints of post to come!), but as often happens when women gather our conversation turned fitness and weight-loss.

Fitness, weight-loss, and awkward life moments  (to differentiate from negative self-talk, fat talk and other sorts of conversations this blogger works to avoid and/or turn to the positive).

And, as often happens with people who arent aware Ive not always been fit & healthy, one woman looked over at me and joked:

Can you even relate to any of our stories? I bet you cant, can you?

“Oh Sister,” I longed to say yet knew I didnt know her well enough for said sister reference. “I can relate.  Ive been there, experienced that, and yes he thought I was pregnant.”

It would make for a better story, perhaps, to say Id entirely forgotten about these interactions until yesterday’s conversation, but I’d be lying.

I may have moved past—but I definitely remember.

The first was so predictably awkward & verging on trite it still feels as though it belongs more in a trashy TV sit com than in a real occurrence.

I was car shopping.  I owned a large dog.  I was aware I probably didnt want to own an almost-minivan sized car, but thought I’d wander around the *entire* lot before committing to a test drive.

(do you know where Im going with this?)

The salesman followed close behind making a valiant effort to spark & keep a conversation flowing.

(Im sure you can guess now?)

I approached the ‘too big for my needs but would rock with a dog’ vehicle.  I opened the trunk, peered inside & tried to imagine my canine leaping into the back.

(now you know, yes?)

“Oh!! I see! Youre expecting!! How exciting!!”  the salesman said as he scampered to my side.

I wasnt.  And of course being who *I* was, I grew embarrassed for HIM.

The next interaction was far more humorous even in the moment, but also transpired in front of someone (someone I eventually married) I wanted to impress.

Ouch.

Three of us were hanging out and the conversation eventually turned to tattoos (shocking, I realize).

My then-boyfriend Ren Man said to his friend:

You should see the tattoo around her navel! Show him your Star of David!

Before I could we were distracted by something and it was only later I remembered I was going to show Ren Man’s (very fit) friend my navel art.

I got his attention, lifted my shirt slightly (just enough so he could see the ink) and waited to see what he thought.

Without missing a beat he glanced at my belly and said (loudly):

That’s not so bad. You can probably lose that pretty quickly.

Ouch.

Whats my point with all this?

In a small way it is a reminder never to judge a book by its cover a person by how s/he currently looks.

In a bigger way yesterday was a reminder for me of the positive-power of being able to laugh at situations & ourselves and how contagious laughter can be.

I didnt laugh back then.  I only mildly chuckled a year or so later.

Yesterday, as we normalized each other’s experiences & laid witness to how far we’d each come (emotionally and physically), all of us were able to find at least some small humor in the awkward life experiences we shared.

Do you find yourself over-sharing these days or am I the only one whos apparently lost her filter?

Do you ever spy a fitleanbuff woman & assume she’s always looked that way?

Anyone wanna join me in calling a good, hearty belly laugh her exercise for the day?

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Tree is Down, Points are Up and Other Stuff (Including 2 Fun Announcements!)

I’m in need of a chatty post. One where I just brain dump because I’m feeling all over the place.

The holiday break was totally awesome, but I fear my return to normalcy as I’m not quite sure what normal is. Working from home with baby is getting harder as he gets older and with the New Year comes more work. All fun stuff I want to be doing (the conference, a book idea, etc) but somehow I need to find time to focus and balance everything.

It helps to remind myself how lucky I am to work on things I love. I just need to take a deep breath and do what I can when I can.

Like today!

The baby woke up early again. I think his schedule is slightly shifting. Meaning my early morning workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays may be out. :( So after breakfast while everyone else was sleeping and baby was playing next to me on the floor, I got a post done for Baby’s First Year, updated my FAQs and cleared a few messages from my inbox.

Then when the husband got up we took down the tree.

I know for some of you it may seem early. When I was a kid we’d have it up for weeks after Christmas but honestly, I need it gone. Every day I see it after Christmas it’s a reminder that the holidays are over. It’s back to reality and there’s this big to-do that needs to be checked off and cleaned up. I just can’t seem to get motivated or organized staring at a post-Christmas Christmas tree!

I was happy to see it go, but Little Bean seemed so sad watching us take it down.

With the tree put away the family headed out for one last vacation outing. Little Guy needed a hair cut and the husband wanted lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. WHO, by the way, totally screwed me on a salad for lunch! I ordered the Honey BBQ Chicken Salad thinking it was a good choice with no croutons and grilled chicken. The rest of the salad is some greens, tomatoes and a little cheese. How bad could it be?

Well according to everything I found online, 733 calories and 38g of fat bad!

For a SALAD?!?

Geesh.

I calculated it at 17 points. Excessive for any one meal, especially a salad.

But what am I gonna do? I counted it and moved on. I have one more day to track this week. Click here to see my food journal so far. I almost used all my weekly points, but I’m not tracking Activity so it’s probably a wash.

I will weigh in on Wednesday but I won’t know if I lost this week as I didn’t weigh in last Wednesday. I just didn’t want to see the post-Christmas binge number and get depressed so I forged forward blindly. Best thing I could have done. I’ve been totally motivated. Especially in exercise department! I’ve been kicking butt on moving my butt!

Today I ran to the gym (it’s just over a mile away) and took yoga and then ran home. It was awesome and I’m going to do my best to take a yoga class once a week. My other goals are 2 BodyPump classes (weights,) 1 Body Combat class (cardio,) and at least one longer run (3+ miles) a week. I know it sounds like a lot, but I love every minute of it. It truly is the only time I have to myself. When I’m home (which is ALL THE TIME) I’m either cooking, cleaning, entertaining a 9 month old or helping a 6 year old with homework. I want to get out for an hour a day. Heck, I NEED to get out for an hour a day!

OK I feel like I’m "talking" your ear off. Let me close with a bullet list. It helps me figure out what I’ve done and where I need to go. Plus I have some fun announcements. Let me start with those…

Ok, I think that’s it. Brain dump complete. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

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Yum Yucky Newsflash: Brand New Feature & Other Awesome Stuff

Since the real buffet is overrun with fat calories and cholesterols, how about your chew on a buffet of Yum Yucky news instead? This newsflash is fat-free and filled with delectable goodness.

Quickie Fitness Videos

I’m a wee bit nervous about this new feature, but my love for fitness cannot be squashed! The show must go on, so I’m launching a series of Quickie Fitness Videos to show you how I do fitness when I’m lazy tight on time. All of the workouts are 15 minutes or less and designed for you to burn fat AND build muscle all in one workout. The workouts are centered around bodyweight exercises and plyometrics. It’s these types of exercises that have been effective in my weight loss journey, so I’m sharing my favorite fitness moves and personal workouts I keep in my arsenal. I’m filming my first workout this weekend! ((insert butterflies in my stomachs right here))

Shape Magazine Awards

See that woman hanging in mid-air? I shall replicate this MizFit move once I purchase some invisible wires and strings for up-in-the-air suspension purposes. For you wonderful peeps who don’t blog, you may not know the MizFit. But you can get to know her now and, if you love her as much as I do, cast your vote for MizFit in Shape Magazine’s “Top Blogs For Fitness Junkies” awards.

Glamour Magazine Photo Shoot!

I’m heading to the big NYC later this month to be photo-shot (is that a word?). It’s for Glamour Magazine’s January 2012 issue! I’ll have to save all the extra details until later, but I had to spill the beans on some kinda a level by at least sharing the good news with you that I got picked. I can’t tell you how great it feels to be selected for this. New York City, here I come!!!

Have a fantastic weekend, everybody. I’ll be celebrating someone’s birthday on Sunday, which means I’ll be chewing on extra large cake slices.

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Food Journal and Other News

No time for much tonight except my food journal.

In other news…

oh how I’ve missed them! It’s funny how I forget about things and then rediscover themHUGE omelet with 1 egg, a ton of egg whites, onion, zucchini, ham, and spinachFinally took the leap and bought a container of egg whites to bulk up my omelets in the morningsmall sliver of chocolate cake.Long story but the HUSBAND made a cake and it’s been staring at me from the counter since last night. dinner was the chicken and portabellos over brown rice with asparagus will be posting soon! Family approved!5 mile run and 45 of a yoga class – it was all I had time for. could have done better. Off to take vitamin now.

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Eat your fruits and…what were those other things?

After looking at the food diary I’ve been keeping for the last two weeks, it’s hard to figure out when the last time was that I ate a vegetable. Fruits? Check! I have devoured pears, mangoes, and even little pineapple bits in my yogurt. Vegetables? Hmmm, well the Subway sandwich had some lettuce, tomato and red onion on it, so technically that counts. And the Palek Paneer I got at Whole Foods was full of spinach, but I was eating it more for the cheese.

I used to snack on baby carrots and hummus, but I can’t seem to find the baby carrots at the grocery store I visit most often, so either they’re hidden or the baby carrots grew up fast like kids do these days. I also used to snack on celery, mostly because of that delightful crunchy texture, which is almost worth getting celery veins stuck in my teeth. I just haven’t bought any lately. Otherwise, I’m not much of a veggie fan, mostly because of the work involved to make them taste good. I enjoy eating most fruits without any preparation, but to make vegetables palatable I have to sautee them, roast them, or sprinkle them with spices or seasonings. Honestly, that’s not that much extra work, but it’s enough to make me choose an apple instead.

So, mental note, more veggies! They have important vitamins and nutrients. They are typically not calorie dense and fill you up. One question though, does popcorn count as a vegetable?

PastaQueen.com is a fascist regime ruled with a benevolent fist by PastaQueen and the macaroni military. Lively discussion is encouraged, but any comment may be deleted or edited according to the whims of your monarch. Please read the official rules of commenting etiquette for more details. Spammers are publicly beheaded and their blood is mixed into our spaghetti sauce. Comments are occasionally disabled some time after an entry has been posted to keep the blog on a spam-free diet.

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