Category: Uncategorized

A Letter To The Locker Room Ladies

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I don’t know if I’m more sensitive to it these days or if it’s just happening more often, but it seems as though I cannot enter the ladies locker room without hearing constant negative self-talk from the other ladies in the room. The other day I was SO tempted to say something to one of them, but wasn’t sure how that would be taken, or even if it was my place to do it, so instead I decided to write this letter.

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Dear Locker Room Ladies,

You may not know who I am, or even notice me when I’m in the locker room, but I’m the curly haired, glasses wearing girl who comes during my lunch break to get my workout done. I don’t hang out for long in the locker room since I’m always on a time crunch, but lately I’ve been there just long enough to hear you talking so negatively about yourself to your fellow locker room friends. I wasn’t sure if it was my place to say something to you while we were all half-dressed, either getting ready for a workout or finishing up after a workout, but I’m hoping this letter will help make you think twice before you continue to put yourself down so much.

“You DON’T want to see me in a bathing suit.”

“I’m afraid to step on the scale after last weekend!”

“I used to be SO much thinner.”

“What can I do to get rid of this?”

“I need to be EXTRA good this week and workout longer than usual.”

Any of that sound familiar? It’s not your fault that you ladies put yourself down like this- unfortunately, it’s such a commonality in our society to talk to ourselves and about ourselves in a negative way. It’s become so second nature for so many of us that it might even seem like MORE work to speak kindly to yourself. 

How do I know? I’ve been there before. There was a time in my life where no matter what I weighed, no matter how much I worked out and no matter what I ate, I always had negative things to say about myself when I looked in the mirror and when I talked to friends. But you know what? Over the past couple of years I’ve worked really hard at training my mind to pick out the positives, rather than the negatives, when looking in the mirror. To go to the gym because I enjoy it and appreciate all my body can do. To eat well- most of the time- so that I properly fuel my body for my lifestyle. To enjoy indulgences- without regret. To love my body- “flaws” and all.

By making this change, I have learned that workouts shouldn’t be made as punishment, that I won’t gain 10 lbs over night if I have an indulgent day, that negative self-talk brings an unnecessary amount of negativity to my life.

So, locker room ladies, I urge you to think about how you talk to your bodies. It’s the only one we have, so why should we put it down so often? Why can’t we love it and embrace it and be proud of it? I want to remind you, though, that this change will not happen overnight. It may take a long time to fully embrace and love yourself and your body, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start working on that now. I want you to do me a favor: I want you to look in the mirror right now and name five things you love about your body. They can be things you’ve been working on, things you’re proud of, things that you feel lucky to have- anything, really. And I want you to do this every day. I want you to go to the gym and workout because it feels good and because you’re proud of all you can do. I want you to eat good foods to fuel your body well, but I also want you to feel OK with indulging in the things that are really worth it to you. And I don’t want you to regret it, ok? Life is too short to put ourselves down for enjoying a glass of wine, piece of cake, slice of pizza, etc. 

And lastly, I want to assure you that you look great in a bathing suit and that you are worth more than just what the scale says and that some indulgences here and there are not worth beating yourself up over or feeling guilty about. They won’t ruin all of your hard work. You are enough just as you are and you deserve to understand and believe that.

Your locker room neighbor,

Monique (remember, the curly-haired, glasses wearing girl)

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Questions for you: What type of locker room chatter do you hear? Does it tend to be more on the negative or positive side of things? What’s something you love about your body, or something you’re proud of? 

 

Learning to go with the flow & embrace the now

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Good morning and Happy Monday! Did you guys have a good weekend? Mine was good- a mix of relaxation and fun, but I was so excited for RM to get back yesterday! Today’s post was sparked by the holiday a few weeks ago and the idea for putting it into a blog post was sparked by an email exchange with my friend Lauren. If you don’t subscribe to her emails, I highly suggest doing so because they’re always so thoughtful and so easy to relate to, which means they often spark probably longer than necessary email responses from me 😉

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Sundays are usually my days for prep & organization to make my upcoming week less hectic. What this means is I usually clean, do laundry, food shop, meal prep & blog- and while this is a great way to help start my week on the right foot and make my week easier, it doesn’t always leave a lot of room for going with the flow and embracing the “now”. This was fine before I met RM because I didn’t have anyone else to think about besides myself, but as RM and I continue to build on our relationship, I’ve realized that things like cleaning, food shopping, laundry, etc. are just not as important as spending quality time with him and doing things together that are not on my “to-do” list.

Does that mean I’m always good at forgetting about my “to-do” list and just going with the flow with him? No, definitely not. But, as the wedding gets closer, I’m really learning that in order to keep my sanity, I need to be OK with ditching my non-necessary to-do’s (non wedding related, of course) and do things that make me happy and make me smile… and maybe even forget about all the things that might be currently stressing me out at any given time.

So, when RM suggested last Monday afternoon (the holiday) that we go walk and grab a drink somewhere, I stopped blogging mid blog post draft & joined him. Sure, I could’ve started meal prepping, cleaning or gotten ahead of my blogging for the week (and I’d be lying if I didn’t contemplate doing this instead…), but the few hours we took to grab a drink (and wings… hey, when you’re at Buff’s Pub, it’s so hard to NOT get wings 😉 ) was one of the highlights of my day and you know what? We still got everything done. When we got home, he attacked the start of meal prep while I finished a blog post and created a new workout for my Bags & Beats class. By the time 8pm rolled around, we had a batch of kale cooked, sweet potato roasted, spicy green beans made, broccoli sauteed, 2 loads of laundry done, 1 blog post written, 2 workouts created AND we were able to watch an episode of House of Cards before calling it a night.

What I learned from that day is that no task on my to-do list should ever be made out to be more important than spending time with him, or really, anyone else who is important to me. When I’m in the heat of an “omg I have so much to do and not enough time to do it” freak-out episode, it may not always be so easy to see that life will go on if I don’t food shop, meal prep, clean, etc., BUT I have hope that each time I do realize this I’m just one step closer to it becoming instinctual. Practice makes progress, right?!

I’d love to hear from you guys, though. What do you do to help yourself relax? Do you tend to stick to your “to-do’s” over the “go with the flow’s”? Do you like to prepare for your week by doing meal prep, food shopping, cleaning, etc. on Sunday’s or do you do it throughout the week? 

 

Five on Friday {5.6.16}

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Good morning and TGIF! I’m trying to fake being peppy because I hate how “blah” this weather is making me feel. It’s giving me absolutely no pep in my step, which is a sad, sad thing, haha I feel like this week went by in a blink of the eye… like, how is it already Friday?! Not that I’m complaining. I’m certainly not complaining. Friday+pay day+half day+mom in town= FriYAY for sure 🙂 Let’s get to some topics of the week!

  • Responses to Tuesday’s Post- Thank you all so much for your kind comments in response to my post this week. Seriously, you have no idea how much it meant to have so many of you comment and tell me what you like and would like to see more of. I have to admit- I was actually surprised by how many of you said you enjoyed my “weekending” roundups. Although I plan to take some of my personal life off of the stage of this blog, there are some things worth recapping and sharing so it certainly won’t be the last of them!
  • BoxFIIT Update– I got an email from George Foreman III the other day saying that I passed all of my boxfiit video submissions, which was the best email ever! I worked so hard on getting everything in and doing the best job I could, so to hear him say he felt confident to have me start teaching whenever was such a great feeling. I’ll let you guys know when I have a class on the schedule (either there or in Watertown at GymIt) and hopefully you can come check it out!

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  • Flourless Peanut Butter Zucchini Brownies– Alexis over at Hummusapien posted this recipe recently and I knew I just had to make it. No surprise here that it turned out to be another hit from her blog. Every time I make something new RM is like “is that another Hummusapien recipe” 😉 Super easy to make and super moist (sorry) and tasty- perfect healthy treat for our weeknight “treat time”.
  • Embracing my curls- For so many years, I’d straighten or create curls in my hair with my straightener rather than letting my natural curls shine bright, but lately, I’m alllll about the big hair! I don’t know what it is, but my hair has been SO curly lately that I just feel bad altering it! What I do now to give it a different look than my every day “wash, mousse, scrunch & go” look is I put in gel/mousse and scrunch and then I let it air dry for a bit. Then, I use my diffuser (finally bought one and it makes a world of a difference!) and flip my head over and put it to the roots of my hair to start and then scrunch up my hair with it to heat up the curls and liven them up. The end result is a big head of crazy curly hair that totally gives me a sass factor 😉

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  • Cino de Mayo at home- With yesterday’s rainy, nasty weather, I just didn’t feel like going out to get my Cinco de Mayo necessary fix so I stopped at Whole Foods and picked up some of the necessary ingredients to whip up some yummy things: pineapple salsa, guacamole, shrimp tacos & a quesadilla. Everything was SO good and really quite easy to make (and healthier than going out!).

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And that does it! I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!! I’m working a half day today and my mom is coming down for my dress fitting! And tomorrow I’m teaching at the Y and then we are going shopping for our wedding bands and then Sunday is my BoxFIIT “graduation”. Whatever you do, make it a good one!

 

 

Changes on B2B

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Good morning! Today I want to talk about some changes that I’m hoping to make on B2B going forward. If you’ve been following for a while, you probably know a lot about my life- whether it’s regarding workouts, restaurants, my family, RM, our wedding, etc., I tend to be pretty open on B2B. Being open and sharing personal things in an online space can have its pros and cons- it can be a great way to connect with readers (both ones I know and don’t know) and help them feel like they “know” me and want to keep reading to follow along, but it can also be a con because sharing so much personal stuff may do just that- share too much.

While I love sharing my weekends with all of you, weekend recaps and an overdose of #sweatyselfies wasn’t the whole purpose of starting this blog in the first thing. Crazy, considering how much of that stuff I share these days! I’ve thought long and hard about what this blog is to me and what I want it to be to other people and I’ve come to the conclusion that filling this blog with “fluff/filler” posts in an online diary sort of way isn’t really what I want my blog to be known for. There is absolutely nothing wrong with those types of posts and blogs (um, hello, I love reading other people’s weekend recaps and day to day musings and things like that!), but it’s just not the direction I really want to be going.

I want to share more workouts with you. I want to share more studio reviews with you. I want to share more tips for how to live a healthy lifestyle and create a sort of work/life/play/workout balance. I want to share more recipes with you. I want to do more reviews of some of my favorite products (and not just sponsored posts about various products!). I guess in short, I want to share more QUALITY posts rather than fluff QUANTITY posts that I post just to get content up.

Does that mean I won’t share personal things on here from time to time? Of course not! I was just showered with the most amazing bridal shower over the weekend and that is something I want to share with you guys because it was so special to me and I want a place to remember all of the details. But you guys don’t need to see sweaty selfie after sweaty selfie of me and a weekend play by play every single week, right? While my posting may not be as frequent, I hope it will be consistent enough to keep you guys coming back. I have a whole slew of post topics that I want to share with you, so sit tight!

I do need your help, though. I want to write about things that interest you, too. Is there something you’ve been wanting to see on B2B? Is there something you could do without seeing on B2B? What keeps you coming back for more? (I’m guessing it’s not the sweaty selfies 😉 ) If you could do me a favor and leave a comment below listing ONE thing you’d like to see more of/less of or even provide me with a topic you’d like me to write about, that would be so awesome!! This blog wouldn’t be what it is without your support and I cannot thank you enough for sticking with me over the past 3 years! Here’s to many more years ahead!

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If Janelle took my photo, this doesn’t count as a #sweatyselfie 😉 lolol

 

Five on Friday {4.29.16}

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Remember me? I’ve missed you 🙂 I’m popping in quickly to share some things that might be of interest to you before you kick off the weekend!

  • Changing things up- More on this next week, but  at a high level, I’ll be changing things up a bit on B2B going forward. I can’t imagine stopping blogging all together, but I do realize that some things have to change a bit in order for it to work better. BUT, I think it will be great, so I hope you’ll stick along for the ride!
  • Legacy Place’s Spring Cycle for Friendship & Block Party for Best Buddies– This Sunday (May 1st) from 8am to 1pm (rides will be 45 minutes and offered on the hour- so 8-8:45, 9-9:45, etc.), Rev’d Indoor Cycling studio will provide bikes, high-energy instruction and complementary shoes for a killer ride… and a live DJ will be play the perfect music to pump you up and keep you moving! After your spin, you’ll have a chance to do a Yoga Cool Down class hosted by Stil Studio and you’ll receive a sweet swag bag. Each ride is $30, but 100% of that goes to Best Buddies. Lastly, there will be a block party for riders & their guests from 12-1 in The Gardens with refreshments, food samples and games. Sounds awesome, right? If you’re around, sign up quickly because space is limited! I can’t make it, unfortunately, but my girl Sherri will be there, so say “hi” if you go!
  • Girls Night at Barcelona in the South End– Last Saturday night I had a chance to get together with some of my oldest girlfriends in the city and we had such an awesome time! We started at my sister’s apartment for cheese & wine and then went to Barcelona in the South End. Everything was FANTASTIC!!! But even better was getting to chat with some of my favorite ladies.

 

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  • Fasten– Ok, I know there are “Uber-like” companies popping up all the time, but I recently tried Fasten and am totally hooked. I don’t know how they did it, but for me to get from Newton Corner to the Dorchester/Southie line it was $10.81… and then after dinner with the girls I went to get an Uber and it was X1.6 surcharge so I opened up Fasten, ordered a ride and was only charged around $7 for the whole trip from the South End to Newton Corner. I couldn’t believe it!!! And both drivers I had were very nice and professional and had clean cars. I highly suggest using this link to download the app and use their services. You get $15 by using that link/code (code= MO5551) and I get $15- pretty awesome deal if you ask me!

  • BoxFIIT Updates- I finally submitted ALL of my videos for the BoxFIIT certification that I worked on for months and to say it felt great is a huge understatement! Thanks to Nicole’s amazing help, I feel really good about my submission and I CANNOT WAIT to start teaching hopefully both at The Club and at GymIt here in Watertown.

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That does it for me! Gosh, just writing this post solidified how much I LOVE blogging and sharing things with you. I hope all of you have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow is my bridal shower which is so crazy exciting! Sh*t is getting real now!