Guess what, I don’t. This past weekend I competed in the NE Classic it was my first show since July 2009. I worked hard to get to this show after a few false starts this season. My goal was to debut my new fitness routine at this show, but it just wasn’t coming together so I decided to just do the bikini round and get my stage legs back. No sooner than 5 minutes after the show I was already critiquing how I did and what changes could I make before the next show in July.

SERIOUSLY!!! Kim you placed in the top 5 and you couldn’t take 5 minutes to give yourself a pat on the back before you were moving onto the next thing.  OK, here is my moment to savor and relish my accomplishments.  I placed top 5 and it feels great. I did work hard to get to this show and it was also nice share my hobby with 2 women we are new to the sport, Stacey S. and Jenn F. they both had great attitudes and hope they enjoy competing as much as I do. I also got to see 2 great people that I haven’t seen in years and they just made me smile so much and it was so nice to be around them for most of the day. Dottie you are awesome and are such a inspiration so glad that we got back in touch.  Melissa loved the crazy hair!!! You rocked the stage.

But the best thing that I should savor is that after 5 years of doing shows and having to put up with all the pre-show, show and post-show madness, my husband turns to me and says that he is proud of me. Now that is something to savor!

Do me a favor whatever your accomplishments are stop and enjoy them because guess what for each goal you achieved someone else has given up. Keep reaching for the stars because the only person who can hold you back is YOU!!!!

Memorial Day weekend is upon us and we all have visions of summer vacations dancing in our head.  Already this weekend, I’ve heard so what are your summer vacation plans. Which is funny because this morning I was watching one of my favorite shows Sunday Morning on CBS and they were discussing the concept of vacation. We all know as Americans vacations is a dirty word, in fact in these tough economic times how many of you have forgone your vacations so that it wouldn’t look like you weren’t a hard worker. I’m SO guilty of that. Instead of taking a 1 full week, I’ll take a long weekend so that I won’t miss THAT much work, but guess what we are only fooling ourselves.  The question they posed on the program is vacation a perk or a necessity.

I think vacation is a necessity. Personally I love to plan a vacation a few months in advance so it gives me something to look forward. I like thinking about  how am I going to spend my downtime.  When I’m not on vacation, I am a very structured person and my calendar rules my life and vacation is one of the few times that I wake and decided what am I going to do today. It could range from just sitting on my butt and being catered to or something active if the moment feels right, but hey I just follow my intuition.

It’s also one of the few times that get to spend a lot of time with my husband. For two people who live together we don’t get spend enough quality time together. Yes, after 8 years of marriage I still enjoy spending time with him. LOL. Back to the topic.

Bottom-line, I think if you work hard you deserve some well earned downtime and should be respected for knowing when you need to unplug.  When I say unplug, I mean UNPLUG — no email, voice-mail, nothing but enjoying yourself.  If you are doing any of those things you run the risk of seeing or hearing something that may cause you to be sucked back into the world of work. Remember you deserve and EARNED the downtime. I know when I get back from vacation, I’m more relaxed and focused and can’t wait for the next one.

This year, I’m taking a quick trip to Florida, then heading to Vegas for a competition and Block Island.  What are you vacation plans this year’ You earned!!! Now plan it.

Related Posted

Staycation

I’m just 10 days away from a fitness competition and my food choices have SLIMMED. So, I need to get really creative, good thing, I’m not afraid to experiment with food and I love spices. I have tons of them. My husband often asks how often do I use those spices and how, like he thinks I’m not going to have a good comeback. He’s not new, he should know better! Any who.. My favorite spices are crushed red pepper, garlic, onion powder, old bay seasoning oh I could go on… On the morning news, I saw a great piece that reinforced how great spices are not only for making food taste better, but have a positive health impact.

Not it…. I am roughly 5 weeks out from a NE Classic. Here is where the dollar values double. Eat clean, lift heavy, do your cardio or GO HOME. Everything counts! My cardio has gone from 45 min to 60 minutes 6x/week. I have a confession. I HATE CARDIO. Yes, I hate it. I know that their are many pros and cons to cardio, but its the best way I know to lean out of a show. I can strength train all day long, but ask me to do cardio longer than 30 minutes the excuse monster comes up with some real doozies.  Being on a piece of a equipment for 60 minutes makes me kooky. But it has to be done.  Here’s my plan. I play a ton of mind games.

• The first game I play is splitting it up.
  • 30 minutes in the AM and 30 minutes at night.
• I machine hop, if I’m at the gym at all off peak time
  • 20 min of running intervals
  • 20 min step mill (love this machine)
  • 20 min elliptical
• I watch TV, give me a MTV marathon or VH1 decade count down and I’m hooked (see why I stink)
• I will do metabolic circuits where I swing a kettlebell for 1 minute and then jump rope for 1 min and rest for 1 minute (more…)

Not literally, but this was TV tune out week and said I was going to only watch 1 hour of TV, well. I STINK, I haven’t watched more TV but certainly haven’t watched less TV. I’m not someone who sits on the couch and vegges out watching TV, but instead its a source of noise. We have a TV in our kitchen and I turn it on while I’m cooking dinner or even writing in my blog. Some listen to music I listen to CNN. So this challenge I was a complete failure, but I’m okay with that at least I gave it a try.

I am currently doing Insanity and its awesome! I just did the FitTest and was SWEATING profusely in my living room. I previewed the next workout to see if I would find it as challenging and WOW, I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow.
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This week its suggested the you break up with your TV.  Studies show that world wide screen time has steadily increased over the years and their is a direct relationship to the rise in the obesity rates.
Turn off week, means turning off all the screens, computers, TVs and video games in your house.

Could you do it’ I don’t know.  I know I want to give it a try. This week, I will reduce the amount of time I spend on my computer and watching TV.  After work, I typically watch at least 2 hours of TV and/or working on the computer  a night, I am going to reduce that to 1 hour for this week. I went to the library this week and go some good books that I have been meaning to read. Wish me luck. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Yes cabbage, I remember as kid my grandmother, affectionately referred to as Granny use to make red cabbage slaw and braised red cabbage all the time. It took me a while to reconnect with this veggie, but now that I have I love it. Here is a twist on a her recipe.

Braised Cabbage

• 1/2 head green cabbage
• 1/2 head red cabbage
• 2 T mustard (Dijon or Grey Poupon)
• 1/2 c chicken broth
• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 t nutmeg

Simmer in a pot for 40 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

I know what you are thinking you should only eat cabbage on St. Patrick’s day or only if you are Irish, but cabbage has a lot of health benefits.

1. helps fight ulcers
2. promotes women’s health by helping to metabolize estrogen
3. protection against Alzheimer’s

If you’ve done something interesting with cabbage, let me know below!

Why is it so much easier to believe the bad vs the good’ Why don’t we ever look in the mirror and say, what nice eyes I have or wow my skin is so smooth. Instead we look at ourselves and see all the flaws and talk badly to ourselves worse than anyone would ever say to us. Hopefully, no one talks to you the way you talk to yourself. (more…)

When does your spring training kick into gear’ Is it when the last of the snow melts. Daylight sayings’ Or is temperature driven. Although I train year round, I am a wimp when it comes to the cold. I know I did train for a half marathon in the heart of winter. Umm… yes, I LEARNED my lesson. For me I start to get the spring training bug around the time of the Boston Marathon, or when I can comfortably go outside in a t shirt and shorts. Again, I’m a wimp so I’m not one of these people who do that when its 50 degrees outside. I know here in New England we get anxious because if you wait 5 minutes, you may miss your weather window. And we are all very wary of not having a summer like we did in 2009 so you want to make sure you take advantage of every great weather day. Before you go out all gun ho guns blazing here are some tips to help ease you back into the swing of spring. (more…)

Oatmeal Parfait

• 1/3 c cooked oatmeal
• 1/2 c Greek yogurt or cottage cheese
• 1/2 t honey or agave nectar
• 1/8 t pumpkin pie spice

in a separate bowl, mix 1/2 c berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or a mixture)

Layer into a glass and serve. YUM YUM. This could also be a snack.

For my egg lovers give this a try

Scrambled Eggs

• 4 egg whites and 1 whole egg
• 1/4 c salsa (your choice)
• 1/4 c black beans

Scramble in a pan coated with Pam, no one likes to clean up the egg mess.

Do you have any other great breakfast ideas, share them below.

I spent 6 weeks in a class that started with a visualization. After the visualization we were all asked to speak about what the visualization meant to us. Well, I found out that I SUCK at visualization. Each time we did it for 6 weeks, NOTHING! People would come back on the line after the visualization and say that their visualization was better than Cats, they laughed, they cried, etc. But if you give me a good quote, it can hit me like a peppermint patty. After each visualization exercise I would look at a this quote on my wall.
“What will I learn from this to make me better'” — Mary Anne Radmacher
Now when you hear that, you can’t help but to visualize! Below are my top quotes that I have posted in my office. (more…)