When one door closes, another one opens.

For a little over a year, most of my blogging time has been devoted to Macaroni Kid.  I took it on thinking it would be a great way to learn about kid-friendly events happening in my area, and maybe push me to get out and meet some people.  It actually did all those things for me.  It was a great experience, but that chapter of my life has come to an end.  I like to do things until they're not fun anymore.  Being tied down and HAVING to publish every week at the same time, and pulling together the events for the calendar started to become too time consuming and it just wasn't fun anymore.  It didn't help that I had to relocate from our area temporarily, which made finding out about events even more difficult.  I felt my community would be better served by having somebody that really wanted to do it and could give it their full focus.

Since I made that decision, I also made another.  I signed on to become a consultant with a direct sales company called Lemongrass Spa.  I had been using their products for a while, and liked everything I had tried.  I signed up and my business started to explode!  I had my first recruit within 16 days of signing, and since then have added three more to my team.  I've done a couple of home parties, and I have 6 more scheduled on my calendar now!  I am really excited about the products, and the business opportunity is so ground floor, which I believe is what has allowed me to grow so quickly!  One of my team members signed her first recruit 2 days after she signed!  I truly believe it's because the products speak for themselves.  They're all natural, handmade in the USA, and they work better than any product you'll find at your local drug store.  If you want to learn more about our products, please check out my website and follow me on Facebook!

Now that I'm not strapped down with the old venture, I've found I have more time to do my therapeutic blogging.  I like to just regurgitate my thoughts onto "paper" so to speak.

My Fitness Update

A few weeks ago, I posted about my fitness goals (you can read about them HERE).  Well, for those of you interested (which may very well be NONE of you), here's an update on how I'm doing.
Well, it turns out that my overly ambitious goal of hitting the gym 7 days a week was just that...overly ambitious. I am going regularly, aiming for 3 times each week.  We hit a little hiccup earlier this week due to my son's illness (which I am suspicious that it may have come from the daycare at the gym, but not entirely sure).

Since that original post, I have found my niche at the gym, realizing that I don't need to speed through my workouts.  I'm typically there for about an hour and fifteen minutes.  I do cardio for 30 minutes (most times on the treadmill, rarely the bike or the elliptical because they are the busiest machines).  For me, cardio is a warm up of 5 minutes at a pace of around 3.8-4, then a SLOW jog at a pace of around 5.0 until I feel like I can't take it anymore (which lately has been around 10-15 minutes), then I slow back to my "warm-up" pace until I'm ready to do another interval jog.  I do this until my 30 minutes are up.  Typically I get in around 2 miles.  Sometimes it's a little less, sometimes it's a little more.  My goal is to be able to do a 5k in 30 minutes, so I have a ways to go.  I'm ok with that though.

From there, I head over to do my upper body and lower body workout.  I was, in the beginning, trying to do upper body one day, then lower body the next (when I had the goal of going to the gym 7 days a week).  Now, I just try to knock it out all at once because I can do cardio at home on the in-between days.  This usually takes me about 40-50 minutes.  I'm not rushing, I'm just going to each of the machines, sometimes having to pause for a minute or two to wait my turn.  I don't really go in any particular order because you never know how busy it's going to be.  I've learned to just hit the closest machine that is open and go with it.  Sometimes I've had to wait a little longer than usual, so I have started using some different pieces of equipment to try to change up my workout a little bit.  When I do this, I always feel it the next day.  I am growing to like the feeling of sweat dripping down my back, and that tightness in my muscles the morning after I've had a good workout.

Another thing I've added to my fitness regime is pilates.  I am totally in love!  Years ago, I purchased a pilates VHS tape (yes, it was a VERY long time ago!) and tried it once.  That's all I lasted.  I didn't like the video, felt it was too difficult, and it hurt.

Well, my curiosity has been peaked every time I drive past Ab Fab Pilates on 5th Avenue.  There's always signs up that they are "By Appointment Only", and "Barre Classes Offered".  What is the big deal?, I often wondered.  I kept meaning to "go online" and check it out.  Well, I finally did.  I signed myself up for an Introductory package (they're a little pricey on the privates, but I'll tell you why in a minute).  The intro package was a requirement before I can participate in any of the group classes.  The reason for this is that it gives the student a chance to learn how to use the equipment in the studio, and to learn correct form for all the moves that will be done in a class.  This is strictly done in private sessions, and I was extremely comfortable with the idea of this.

 
Well, 4 classes later and I want more!  I just got another 5-pack of private sessions because I still have plenty to learn.  I'm confident at the end of my 5-pack I will feel ready to do some semi-privates, or maybe even a beginner reformer class.  I can't wait to try a Barre Class too.  <---Check out that link to get a taste of what Barre looks like!

Well, to sum it all up...I'm miles from where I want to be, but I'm light years away from where I started.  I can feel a difference in my body, and I can't wait to start seeing the results.  I'll keep you posted!