WINNER of Beats by Dre Headphones: Ellen Flader (@ellenflader!) Thanks to all who entered. I encourage you to consider the headphones even if you didn’t win! š
Posting has been tough lately because of my lack of athletic material. No Crossfit, no running, no anything I actually like to do. I’m in a fight with my insurance company over paying for an MRI. Two doctors said I need one, two referrals, but I guess that’s not good enough for good old Cigna.
Honestly, I’m lucky. I am perfectly fine. I can walk and move and sleep and get around just fine. It’s just the exercise that I miss — and the grand scheme of life — that ain’t so bad. In it’s place, I’ve been trying to walk more, use the stairs and do tear out workouts from my favorite fitness magazines, Self and Shape.
They really have some good stuff — so good that a couple of years ago (before Pinterest!) — I put together my own book of tear out workouts. Now, I can flip through to any page and find a new/different at home workout. It’s pretty nice because you keep the variety and work different body parts.
I also do back strengthening exercises on the big exercise ball and hold planks. I should be doing all of this like 4x a week but lately it’s only been twice. I worked up a pretty good sweat today — was totally out of breath switching between my arm weights and lunges. It felt good to be reminded you don’t have to run for that to happen.
But my life has other things in it — like being outdoors! This weekend I spent some time with the kids from the Family & Youth Initiative (FYI). FYI is a wonderful organization that is dedicated to mentoring teens in foster care — and providing activities, leadership and loving adult role models. This was my first event. I was definitely nervous showing up — but like most everything else — it was just fine once I met people.
We went to Mason Neck State Park, which is only about 30 minutes or so from my house. It was great being far away from the city, near the water and the trees. It was freeeezing but I had a good time and got some fresh air. Looking forward to finishing my paper work and becoming a mentor to a teen girl in 2014!
Over the weekend, I also watched a a couple of movies: Parkland & A Case of You. First one was wonderful, second was so-so (though it does have Justin Love and Rachael Evan Wood if you are fans!). I also caught up on “Nashville” — which I still love to pieces!
We spent Sunday afternoon writing Christmas cards, wrapping presents and listening to Christmas music. It’s nice have a husband who is so into the season with me š We tried out the Blue Moon seasonal ale — cause guess what? It was snowing like crazy!
Lastly, I have to give a shout out to my friend Chris for third place in the North Face Endurance Challenge 50-Miler Championships this weekend! You might remember him from this profile I wrote. Here’s a great interview with Chris after winning 3rd place this weekend — he’s definitely a rising star to watch:
Last night, I attended book club, one of my favorite monthly activities. This month, we read “I Am Malala” — which was a great read. Not sure I’ll be doing a formal review but look for a Best Books of 2013 post coming up in the near future!