Happy Monday kids!Where oh where do I start in today’s Monday Musings edition?Let’s start with one of my fav topics…. snake oil offerings…. aka health and wellness companies looking for those desperate to lose weight, along with their cash.When it comes to health and nutrition there are some guaranteed buzz words that will send me head on into the other direction. If you come at me with words like “cleanses “, “detoxes”, “fat burners”, telling me I need to get toxins out of my body, and that I need to spend my days drinking shakes or mystery drinks, I’m gone.Like yesterday, gone.I like to eat my food, not drink it.I get it. With the weirdness of the last few months people are stuck at home alot more.Feeling emotionally strung out they reach for the ice cream cartons and chocolate.”Quarantine 15″ is a reality for many people. Well, hopefully not that much. Life has been crazy and food, for alot of us, can be entertainment, comfort, or simply boredom eating. Being home extra time gives more opportunities to graze when we usually wouldn’t.No matter what your current weight situation, you don’t need to be cleansed or detoxed from your affair with ice cream or fries.
Just incase you don’t know, cleanse and detox are buzz words for “starvation and being miserable “. I’ve never met an honest person who wasn’t ready to finish and get back to normal life from being “cleansed”. And the weight loss from it? Nothing but water loss, not fat.And I’ll say it again for the kids on the back row…..there is no such thing as a fat burner! If that stuff actually worked, everyone would use it and we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic.So what would I recommend? I’ll put it as succinctly as possible.Eating! Eat good nutrionally dense foods with adequate protein that satisfies you.Feed and nourish your body with good foods, don’t deprive it or eliminate foods it needs.And don’t forget to allow treats because life is good and you shouldn’t live deprived.You don’t have to starve to lose weight or feel constantly hungry.Movement!If there is one thing under used for our wellness, mental and physical, it’s exercise. Exercise makes us feel strong and can clear our minds. I do my most creative thinking during exercise.Don’t get caught up in thinking you “have” to do it to lose weight. Take the weight loss out of the equation.You can build strength, gain energy, develop more muscle mass, develop your cardiovascular system, and flex your creative mental energy without actually losing weight. ( do it often and frequently with my suggestions on healthy eating and it will happen) you should exercise no matter your body size because it benefits you in so many waysBut please, don’t get on the cleanse and detox hype bus in a quest to get to lose weight.Speaking of building strength….I have been making strength training a part of my physical discipline for awhile. This week I tossed a little more weight on my bar moving from 155 to 185lbs on my dead lift. I did 3 sets of 3 for a starting place. I was pleasantly surprised when I did it again yesterday, it didn’t feel as hard as I was preparing for. I look back to several years ago when I got 8 lbs dumb bells and they were a little work for me ha it seems crazy now since I use 25lb for alot of my arm work. Consistency does pay off.
You… no matter where you are… have a starting place for your health and fitness. You just need to find it.Speaking of all things health I’m excited to be reading this book, Give Yourself More. I’m also excited to finish so I can write a review on it. This book takes women past “just” losing weight to learning more of themselves to giving themselves “more” in life. I previously did a book review on Georgie’s “Lean Habits For Weight Loss” ( find both reviews in my posts) which focuses on building healthy, sustainable habits for life long weight loss. You’ll find my review here on my page when I finish this book .
Oh…..and if you never had a black Nitro brew coffee, you need to. 😉No how about some fun stuff? I’ve shared with you before that I have a little vintage furniture business. Of the many positives I ponder in this weird time we are in, is how it has continued to grow. I moved into a larger space in the shop,and became a retailer for a well known chalk paint company. It took off so fast I made the move to become a premier retailer (lots of perks with it) all within a few months. I put together my website and launched it. I’ve gained alot of followers and picked up lots of custom orders with new customers.My little hobby, this fun little side gig, has turned more and more into a thriving business.All during a time things were closed and nothing was moving.I used that down time to be productive, to work and accomplish new things. I firmly believed that things would get moving again and I wanted to be heading that way, ready.Guess you can say I never let grass grow under my feet.I’d challenge you in this time to find something new to learn, build a hobby or craft. Take care of yourself and maybe get into some type of exercise. Use this time as an opportunity of personal growth. Read, write, reflect.Ok you wanna see some of the things I’ve dragged home recently, don’t you? I love showing you pieces from days gone by 😊
Harp media holder
I transformed this cute telephone bench. She sold this weekend 😊
Just a little snap shot of some of my projects, my many, many projects 😱So I guess I’ll leave you with this thought. Are you using this time to be productive in new ways? A lot of our lives and schedules may feel perhaps, a bit disjointed right now. We can look at it all in a negative way, or a way of accomplishing new things we haven’t done before.Tell me…. have you used this time to try new things or to learn something new? Are you focusing on caring for yourself in how you eat and move ?
Tag: coffee lover
Monday Musings
Hello world and happy Monday! I’ve got a few things rolling through my head for todays Musings edition…
First, I think next to people making resolutions to lose weight, another top item on the list for many is getting more organized/tidy/having less junk… I mean…”valuable stuff”…. taking up their space.
Enter a little Japanese dynamo named Marie Kondo, an organizing consultant who helps people get rid of their useless valuables.
I can’t claim a long term following of her or her ways as I innocently stumbled on her while Googling some value fact or bit of info I was after one day. I read the article, noted the before and after of neatly arranged drawers and thought…. hmmm… maybe I’ll just give her version of drawer organizing a whirl.
First, though, if you’ve missed out on the movement of “KonMari”, get on the cool kids bus with us.
It simply means gathering all of your belongings, one category at a time, touching them, thanking them for their service ( ok odd I know… not sure how much of that I’ll be doing 😛 ) and only keeping those things that “spark joy”, then you donate what doesn’t.
The idea is to be left with only things that make you happy and bring joy.
Ok that sounds good to me…although I’ll state this here… I’ll never be a “minimalist”.
No offense if you are. I need some things around me that breathe people live in my home. I want cozy and comfy with a tiny bit of something not always in it’s place. I don’t like walking in somewhere and wondering where the person is who lives there, (personal touches) everything carefully staged, sterile if you will.
Just not my vibe.
But the less unimportant stuff that we all tend to keep around ’cause… maybe we don’t essentially feel moved to get rid of it, don’t know HOW to get rid of it… whatever the case?
Yeah, sign me up.
So as mentioned, I thought I’d start with a few drawers.
Easy…
And I knew it wouldn’t take huge amounts of time. If I “liked” it, I decided I’d move on to something bigger.
Her folding style is different from how most of us may fold. I tend to fold and stack things into the drawer. Her method is to fold into neat thirds and then you stand items up on end, like book spines sticking up. Then you can see at a glance exactly what you have and easily select it.
I started with hubby’s undie drawer. (sorry hubster) I figured it would be fast and then… I’d know…. if I should continue on. Well, needless to say after I did his drawer, and had extra space that previously wasn’t there, I wanted to move to one of my athletic drawers ( yes I have more than one)
So this drawer, made me crazy every morning. No matter how I folded things or kept shorts separate from sports bras, I was inevitably throwing stuff out looking for one particular item. Now, I open drawer and it’s all neat right in front of me, with space that wasn’t there previously!
I’m still trying to decide if I wanna apply this to socks. Some of you may know how I feel about socks… so those might be the LAST drawers I tackle. I will move on to my closet next and although I’ve cleaned out quite a bit before lil Marie tripped into my life, I realize I can go back for more. I might be taking baby steps on some of this but it’s better than nothing, right? It’s a 2019 goal for me.
I did do something fun in my week though….
Hubby and I took off to play tourist in our home area. Our kids had given us an all inclusive stay at a gorgeous hotel on the riverwalk and we had gift cards to a local restaurant for food. What’s better than a pre-paid escape??
We didn’t stay in the room of course, but did some roaming around enjoying the beautiful day.
I’m not sure what it is about being downtown, but it almost has it’s own energy, it’s vibe, of people and culture and times gone by that I love. I also love people watching too.
I was kinda shocked and delighted to see one of the buildings still decked out with Christmas. You know how much I love old school vintage and this Santa and Nutcracker were worth snapping….
We stopped outside the Ripley’s museum and couldn’t resist playing with the distortion mirror…..
After roaming around all day, we headed out for dinner at a fun place called the Rainforest Café.
So inside is like a rain forest, it has animals and they actually move and “act” like what they are…. we happened to be seated next to a bunch of gorillas… it got really loud ….
Oh and of course we had to stop for a little coffee break while we were out… I love how they let you know you aren’t on your own coffee turf anymore.. hubby patiently waiting as he’s used to me taking random pics for my blog…..
All in all it was a fun little weekend get away, and all rather close to home. Next time we’re going back for scooter rides….
Speaking of coffee…..
Dunkin’ Donuts just opened in our neck of the woods. I happened to stumble in the first day, right after they opened, and decided to try their iced coffee.
Yes, it was good. I probably won’t be there as a permanent customer ’cause I’m on Starbucks rewards program and I get free stuff ya know…. and free is good… and not only that… I love so many of the people I’ve gotten to know there too.
What about food?
I made this amazing scalloped potato recipe for a family dinner last week. This won’t rank up there with slim and fit dishes, you gently boiled the peeled and sliced potatoes in heavy cream first!
Yikes, but they were tasty 😛 find the recipe below and dont’ forget to head to Pinterest and find my Sassyfitnesschick page for lots of great ( healthy) and wicked recipes, fitness tips and more.
https://pattyandersonsblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/steakhouse-potato-gratin.html
Your turn!
Is organization on your 2019 list to do? Have you heard of Marie Kondo? Or tried her methods? What other things are on your goal list this year?
Monday Musings
Welcome to another edition of Monday Musings where I let my thoughts out to play….well most of them… some need kept under lock and key haha
Here we are in another week and I’m ready to take no prisoners, carpe diem and all that, right boys and girls?
I ended my week yesterday by knocking out some miles on the bike. I always say it’s not the “miles” but what’s IN those miles that really counts. Sometimes it’s both as well.
Usually when I am training for something I do what I think of as “pieces” I’m putting together for a puzzle. I work sections and gradually put them together till I’m doing all of a long run or ride etc. Training for the duathlon has many pieces for me. I had thought last week after finishing a particular section of road with some big hills that I’d branch out farther and start adding more miles and getting more time out on the road where the race is held.
But then…..
I had this great idea that I was just gonna go out and do the whole thing on Sunday. No pressure to ride fast or capture new PR’s or anything like that. Just ride, get the course under me mentally and physically again.
I mean… if I started feeling like an old lady and needed to stop and rest under a tree I could, right? ( ha for the record I didn’t 😉 )
I know I have a good strong physical base so I thought if I got the whole thing under me, it would definitely give me a good idea of how hard I can start pushing myself.
I got about 5 easy miles in before I headed to the main road that took me all the way down, then back that encompasses the whole course.
I’m just gonna say… it’s work…ok? This race isn’t listed as the toughest in the state for nothing.
So I did it. Did the whole thing. Finished with 22.5 miles although the mileage for course is a little over 16 beastly miles.
It was a good ride and I feel ready to really push into my training in these upcoming months. And I do love getting back into the thick of training…. the tiredness that only comes from a hard workout, the fierce hunger I can only experience once my training increases, the solid night sleep where you can move the house from under me ( try it!) the increased strength and power I grow into again as my body adapts to the heavier training, getting more chiseled as I drop some body fat, setting new Pr’s… I love it all.
All that work though makes me hungry….
I had to venture to the store over the weekend ’cause ya know, I like to eat. And so do the other random people who wander into my house.
On a side note, it always amuses me how one of my married sons can venture into my pantry or ‘fridge and complain about what’s not there.
Like…dude. You’re married you have your own home and pantry…stock it with whatever junk food you wanna find.
Anyway… I went to the store. I was out of a lot of produce and I start to get concerned when I don’t have fresh stuff… well not really… I wanted donuts too 😉
So I do all my shopping, find a lane that is open, and get the process rolling to get out.
The bagging part always makes me edgy.
Will I get a good bagger? Will I get the cashier having to do both? ( I usually jump in when that happens) or will I get someone who didn’t finish bagging school?
I got a bagger and a checker who didn’t make it out of bagging school.
Obviously.
Let me pose this question…. shouldn’t bagging groceries be a common sense act?
It should right?
Bananas should not be tossed into a bag with other things piled in on top. Chips don’t get tossed in with canned goods. Frozen foods and produce shouldn’t all be thrown in my freezer bag. Bread shouldn’t be “pushed” into an already full bag.
Yet I watched all of those things happen… horrified… like I’m paying for this food you are bending and smooshing everywhere.
I paid, thanked them both, and left. When I got to my car I was rearranging my stuff. Does anyone else do that?
Tell me, IS bagging groceries a common sense activity?? Or is it a skill reserved for a few?
The joy of people watching
So I couldn’t help but noticing people when I was out…. noticing on a day topping into 100 degrees why so many were wearing … jeans??
My legs won’t see jeans till Oct… maybe…
I can’t think of anything more hot to wear than denim from waist to ankle. Maybe I’m weird… ok well you could take the “maybe” out…. but I just can’t do it. Summer means cool, light, breezy, enough to be legal, fun clothes for all these sweltering hot months we’re in.
I’m just not in the “jeans in hot weather” club. That my friends, are what shorts are for.
Can you believe it’s July already?
We’re gonna be celebrating the 4th in a couple days and that means food, and maybe a little more food.
I found this amazing looking baked bean recipe that’s gonna be on the menu, among other things 🙂 The chocolate coffee/mocha brownies have been requested and I will make a double batch having learned from my previous experience a single batch was not enough.
I’m sure there will be watermelon and I will have my once a year participation in eating hotdogs. 😛
We won’t be purchasing any fireworks as there is a ban on them since we’ve had no rain and everything is so dry here.
July also means birthday month for yours truly so there will be a post on getting another year closer to my senior breakfast discount as well thoughts, observations and life lessons learned from the year gone by.
You know I gotta keep you posted on my furniture shenanigans…..
I finished this little table off yesterday and I love it so much. It’s had lots of positive feedback and I’ve had a couple people come look at it….
Here’s a reminder of what it looked like before….
A nice little improvement, hmmm? Once I got the top sanded down I decided the ebony would be a nice change but I did it light enough so the wood grain would still show through. It’s fresh and crisp and ready for years of service. This is a Mersman antique table, I thought the fold out part was rather cool. I literally picked it up on our trip to Canton last month as we were heading out of town. It was like it was just sitting there waiting for me haha I’m glad we found each other 😉
Oh, and in other exciting news, I sold several pieces this week so that always encourages me to keep on going. Heaven knows I’ve got plenty of projects waiting for me to set them free from ugliness 😉
Ok that’s a wrap on today’s edition… there’s a lot more I could blab on but… we both have lives to get to, right?
Have an amazing week beautiful people!
Ok it’s your turn to weigh in…. thoughts on my question of bagging food… is it common sense to bag groceries a particular way? Will you wear jeans when it’s hot? If you live in the U.S. what will you be doing for the 4th of July? Any fun foods or treats?
For The Love Of Coffee
As a writer/blogger/lover of words I spend time reading in a variety of formats. I love getting lost in a good book when I can but often I’m on the go so my phone offers opportunities to access many interesting things to read.
As in… I started reading an article one day by a local girl who has a blog. She was writing about local coffee shops.
Coffee. Well she had my attention. Tell me more.
As she opened up her post about the local shops she then backhandedly said she left out Starbucks ’cause we all know what that’s about. ( big chain coffee shop, no explanation needed, I guess)
I’m not unfamiliar with all the small local places. In fact last year when our Starbucks ( you are welcome for all the free advertisement here 😉 ) was under renovation I did my own independent coffee shop field trips.
Some standard. Some cool. Some eclectic. Some had great coffee, others not so impressive.
Her article addressed not just the coffee but the people in the shops and the staff who worked there.
I thought the article interesting as she listed various places and shared about the coffee and food she had tried.
I guess I understand how she might have not viewed Starbucks ( large mega coffee chain) as interesting, fun, or engaging as a local quaint spot. I have friends who frequently dismiss Starbucks as unworthy of patronage or attention.
I think she missed out not learning about our Starbucks. I think many local people miss the point too when they mock “big corporation coffee”.
Sometimes, it’s just not about the coffee.
Oh don’t misunderstand me here. I do love the coffee. Hot or cold I’ll take it.
Starbucks is mainly, convenient for me. But in the years I’ve been hanging out there the coffee is sometimes just an added bonus to the relationships that I’ve built with those who are there whether they are the baristas or the customers.
In a previous post I wrote for National Coffee Day https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2015/09/30/celebrating-coffee/ I talk about some of the people I’ve met and the encounters I’ve had.
Coffee and meeting people, engaging with other lives. It’s a rewarding experience.
The baristas I come to really care for and I hate it when they leave. I’m fortunate to keep up with so many of them after they head off to new adventures. I get to see them get married or start families, finish school or follow along with their life. Sometimes, my heart hurts for pain, struggles and loss they go through.
Then there are the familiar faces, the regulars, who are there. Ones you come to expect at certain times and who are there for various reasons. In the mornings it can be like a big family meeting with everyone hanging out for morning coffee.
Of course there are the random strangers that I get to have one time conversations with and that’s ok too. I often learn a lot about someone in a short time.. just a glimpse into another life.
One man that I wrote about in my last coffee post, an older man, who was old enough to be my dad, was one of the regulars I probably knew the longest there. He often asked me about my athletic shenanigans admiring me for what I did, challenging me when I needed challenged and wanting to see my medals after I had finished a race. He was one of the few people at the time who knew I was considering running a 50K.
I remember telling him ” it’s just such a long race. It scares me to think of doing it” he simply told me ” you can do it. Think of all you’ve done. Now you just need to get signed up. I want you to tell me you did the next time I see you.”
And the next time I saw him, I had registered.
He would ask about me and my family and I would tease him about not chasing wild women to which he’d laugh. I’d ask him if he was sure he didn’t want to go for a ride in my Charger and see how many seconds it took to get it from 0-60 mph… for some reason he always passed on that offer haha
Over the past few years he’s been up and down with health issues and we’ve all celebrated when he’d be back in for coffee in “his” chair having his iced coffee and bagel with cream cheese.
He was like the Patriarch of the place.
I was leaving one Sunday the week before Christmas when one of the men who took turns bringing him stopped me in the parking lot and delivered the news to me.
He had passed away that morning in his home.
I was heart broken. I had just seen him the day before. The tears freely fell as I thought of him and the fact he would never be in his place there anymore. I cried at the loss of another older person I cared for now being gone.
I still see him sitting there in my mind when I go in for my coffee and feel that sharp pain in my chest. I guess in time, that will go away. I will always cherish his sweet spirit and loving attitude to not just me, but everyone he encountered there.
So maybe that’s what I would say to not only the girl writing about coffee shops but to those who dismiss it as big corporate coffee.
It’s not “just” the coffee. It’s about the people who come there to drink it, whose lives begin to engage with yours who somehow make it richer in different ways and add to it from your ordinary world. People you might not have otherwise known who offer wisdom, friendship, encouragement, laughter, and most recently for many of us, grieving together over the loss of our friend.
The coffee is great, but the gift of relationships and a richer life is often, far more satisfying.
sassyfitnesschick 