Happy New Year! Happy New Look!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! As you can see its also HAPPY NEW LOOK!!!! :-) I thought it was time for a little face-lift around these's here parts! What do ya think? I am still working out some kinks but it looks brighter and full of life! Just like me!

Well 2011 has gone down in the history books and my theme was "My Best Life Ever" followed by my tag line of "In The Mix at 36!" I have to say, personally my 2011 was outstanding! I learned so much about myself and I've grown so much that 2011 created some of my fondest memories! I ended up sleeping in on New Years Eve... I can't lie my goal of In the mix at 36 was a success so by the time NYE got here I was tired! LOL The plan was to go to church but I seriously was tired so I rested! I woke up 7 minutes before the ball dropped watched it and turned right over and went to sleep. 2012 is going to be a big year for me and I guess I'll need my rest so I took it! :-) Hope you all had a safe and wonderful time!

Of course this is always a good time to reflect on the health & fitness front.  I  am happy to say in 2011 I  maintained 80 of my 100 pounds of weight loss, tried several new adventures like Krav Maga, Birkam / hot yoga, and indoor rock climbing, active dates including a unknown amount of miles from Maryland to DC to Va and back! Whew!! I still see my personal trainer Charles at least once a week and I got back to my other gym and rekindled my love of Les Mills workouts!

Weight loss wise I got back within 15 pounds of my 100 pound weight loss goal and I felt and looked great. It showed me while I was beating myself up to get back to my 100 I needed to be grateful for improving my life to this extent.

2012 I have some work to do on balancing my commitments. I have a full time job with a 3.5 hour commute 4 days a week, I teach between 2 to 4 college classes 3 nights a week, I chair 2 chapter committees for my sorority, I have a regional appointment, I was just named chairman of a Junior League committee, and oh yeah I sleep too! Lol

I know it sounds like a lot and it is lol but I enjoy every minute of it I swear! But my workouts are the first things to go under stressful circumstances and food is the first thing I use to help with the added stress. In 2012 I can say I will make a change. I think the main thing is putting it in perspective and moving forward. By that I mean my goal is to treat myself better. I will NOT allow weight loss to be another area of added stress for me.

Goals for January 2012 include:

1)  A 30 day 30 minute minimum per day workout challenge! I tested myself on day 1 because I had a one day trip to New York to see The Mountiantop.  (Awesomeeeeee by the way! Try and catch it by Jan 22nd!!) The plan was to leave at 9am so at 8am I jumped out of bed and got on my newly fixed treadmill! I did 30 minutes and used 3 pound hand weights and man did I work up a sweat! Gheeesssh! The mind is so tricky I kept having this internal dialogue about doing just 20 minutes or just 22 and I would just post/say I did 30 minutes anyway... heck I used weights that surely adds time!!! LOL

 It was bad and Law & Order was not helping to drown out the negotiations at all lol but I pushed my way through and just told myself it's not about what I post or what others think its about the benefit I am giving to my body and to my life! Next thing you know I hit 30 minutes! Score!

Today my plan was to do spinning and body flow. And I did it! The spinning class was not that great because of the music then 45 minutes in she pulls out the big guns and plays Eminem Lose Yourself! I love that song its the only thing that saved that class! But it went downhill pretty quickly after that again! LOL

I took my yoga mat to catch the Body Flow class and I almost talked myself out of the class and had to turn the dial down to 2 (a la Real Housewives of NY speak) and went right up front! It was a great workout I always forget how hard planks, downward facing dogs, and dancer poses can be!  But I made it through! Two great hours to treat myself better! #winning!

Today was my day off and my house is empty since my Mom went to visit with my sister so I am going to enjoy the peace and solitude even though her visit has been somewhat drama free its still nice to have my space back to just me! Although she has whipped this place into shape in two weeks! She cleaned up my basement, has done loads and loads of laundry, and even worked on my office! Moms rock!!!

Mom has been on her own fitness revolution and I'll post some pics soon but she's lost a total of 40 pounds over the last 3 years and she really looks great! And I inherited loads and loads of clothing that fit since I am still guilty of wearing things that are too big! So her visit  and donation were perfect timing wise and I will gift The Wise Penny with all my wonderful items tomorrow!

Keeping old bigger clothing is a trap! DON'T DO IT! Give it away if you know those big pants are in your closet you'll be more likely to act in such a way to need them! Trust me!

Oh and by the way I am back on www.myfitnesspal.com LawyerGal1908 so join me!

Back to my January goals! I set the following goals for the first month of 2012: 1) exercise 30 minutes a day 2) journal 3) mediate daily

I am behind of creating my new vision board but its funny as soon as I seem to think of something a way for it to happen appears! I been mulling over doing more yoga but not wanting to pay for yet another gym membership so today I was talking with my Krav Maga buddy and friend Dawn and she mentioned groupon has a great deal on a local yoga studio! I bought 30 classes for $30.00!!!! Thank you Dawn!! I bought them right a way! Looking forward to getting some hot yoga back in my life this year!

I can say the spirit hasn't moved me to create a new vision board so I don't want to push against that non feeling if that makes sense. I was looking through some pictures with my sister this weekend and I was saying to her one of my co-workers told me she could see I was "coming down nicely"  and I still don't get how a mere 10-15 pounds looks so different to people until I look at pictures! So the mental picture I am holding in my head is the pic below :-) My lowest weight/size  I was there for like 15 minutes but ahhh it felt good size 12 jeans (Ashley Stewart don't judge my vanity sizing glow!) granted I was working out like 6 days a week for at least 2 hours most of those days but I think this is totally doable by June!

May 2010

Dec 2011 plus 25 pounds 

Anyhoo that's all for now! Please feel free to share your goals with me! I'll be rooting for you all like I know you are rooting for me!

Wishing you all a productive 2012!