30 Favorites from my 30th Year

April 14, 2016April 21, 201612 Comments

Good morning! And happy birthday to my fellow April 14th birthday girls, Jess and Ashley! In honor of my birthday, I thought it would be fun to look back at 30 of my most memorable/favorite moments from my 30th year. While 30 was certainly the best year yet, I feel like 31 will be off to quite the start, too! BTW these are in no particular order- they are just in order of how they came up in my mind.

Engagement (DUH!)- best day in my life thus far
Picking the location & date– felt so good to get this done because we couldn’t do much planning until we did this
RM passing his broker exam- SO proud of my handsome fiance
Finding my wedding dress– I thought this was going to be a stressful day, but it was the best part of my whole wedding planning experience thus far.
Yoga– I did a few weeks of yoga at CorePower and a few one-off classes. Hoping to do more this year
Hosting my family for a Sunday Dinner- It was so fun having my parents and sister over for me to cook for them!
Moving to Watertown with RM– Although a little scary, this was the best move for our relationship. Living together is so awesome
Renovating- OK, this wasn’t really my favorite thing at the time, but shopping for things and picking things out together to create our home was awesome.
Traveling to Dallas and then Minneapolis- I did a few out of state work trips, which is always a nice getaway
Huge 5K PR and coming in 3rd place for my age group- OAKtoberfest 5K was great!
Watching various TV series with RM (Ray Donovan, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Mad Men)- I’ve never been big into TV, but RM is so he got me hooked on some shows.
Weekends at home (4th of July, after I got engaged, Dad’s bday, Christmas Eve and recently for wedding related things)- I always love escaping the city and spending QT with my parents
Girls lunches- so many of these!! I joke now that I have to designate a whole Saturday afternoon to them because it’s always a 3-4 hour thing.
Friendsgiving/Thanksgiving at my sister’s & RM’s mothers- Friendsgiving at Amy’s brother’s apartment with the girls and their sig. others was a first for us, but something I hope we continue. Getting to spend time with my parents and RM’s family in the same day on Thanksgiving was also great.
Organizing my first blogger event– Together with the owner of Social Restaurant & Bar I organized my first blogger event, which was a huge success!
Book club- Although I may scramble to get the books finished, this is such a fun thing to be a part of.
Engagement Photos– Janelle is the cutest photographer and person ever so it was a blast working with her. Originally I didn’t want these, but I’m so happy we did them because hopefully it got the awkwardness out before the wedding!
Fitness Photos– My first shoot with Janelle- loved the turnout.
Lululemon window performance– Getting the chance to workout in the Lululemon storefront window was pretty freaking awesome.
Wedding planning with mom- To everyone else except my mom (and my sister), I feel so annoying talking about my wedding, so it’s nice to have her/them
Amazing 30th birthday celebrations– My birthday last year was so special thanks to RM, my family and my friends!
Italy Trip- This could’ve filled multiple spots in my favorite highlights- such an amazing trip. I want to go back! {recaps: here, here and here}
Date nights in Italy with RM
Multiple ice creams- I’m so thankful to be marrying a guy who loves sweets as much as I do. On our way home from every Cape weekend we would stop at Sweet Caroline’s and get ice creams. It was my favorite!
Boothbay Harbor– Meredith’s wedding was a great excuse for us to do a getaway weekend. We had a blast!
Cape Weekends with RM- Some of my favorite summer memories are of the two of us at the Craigsville Beach, sipping drinks, listening to music, people watching and chatting.
Foster Fitness– So happy to be a part of this gym- both teaching and getting to classes when I can.
Lifting heavy weight- Long gone are my days of just crazy amounts of cardio. While I still love cardio, I’ve learned to really love getting under the bar to lift heavy shit. I love muscles and I love feeling strong.
BoxFIIT certification- While doing this certification just months before the wedding probably wasn’t the best idea, I’m so happy I’m doing it because I’m learning SO MUCH and can’t wait to start teaching my own classes.
Bikini Rebellion– I’ll let the recap of this post do the talking, but this was one of the best challenges I have ever done. Here’s to loving ourselves- for who we are, rather than hating ourselves for who we are not.

I had a hard time stopping at just 30 because there were so many wonderful events, celebrations, weekends, etc. over the past year. Thank you to everyone who was a part of them and thank you to everyone who consistently stops by B2B to see what I’ve been up to- this hobby wouldn’t be worth it without all of you.

With that, I’m off to celebrate my birthday: workout, mani/pedi/lunch with Jess and then heading to Wakefield to teach my sweat-KICK class… because even though it’s far away, teaching makes me HAPPY, and that’s what birthdays are all about, right?!

I Had One of “Those” Days…

March 17, 20169 Comments

I’ve got some real talk for you today…

Last week, I had one of THOSE days. You know the days where you just feel gross and blah. I’ll preface this post by saying that these days are few and far between for me at this point in my life- luckily. But I do remember a time in my life where even when I barely ate anything and worked out a ton, I felt gross. I would look in the mirror and point out all the things I didn’t like. But, after many years of work on this and following some super inspirational and motivating women like Neghar Fonooni and Jill Coleman, I can happily say that *most* of the time I feel pretty darn great about myself. I work hard, I eat well (most of the time), I drink wine and I indulge when and where I want to. I am proud of all my body can do for me and I’ve really learned to love my body.

With that said, it doesn’t mean that I don’t slip into the dark spot and have days where I can’t pull myself out of it. However, these days I am able to take a step back, acknowledge the fact that I am being irrational and try to put into perspective WHY I’m being that way:

Is it “that” time of the month?
How have my eats been? Have I been eating out more than usual? Going to more parties than usual? Eating too many sweets?
What have my workouts looked like?
Have I been drinking too much?
How have I been sleeping?
Do I have something else going on my life that’s causing me stress and therefore inhibiting my ability to practice a positive body image mindset?

When I do this, I can generally figure out why I feel less than great about myself. Last week, I was PMSing, I had had an overly indulgent weekend and I was tired. When I thought about those things, it made sense as to why I wasn’t feeling my best. By putting it into perspective, I was able to acknowledge my feelings and realize that I was having a “day” and that I hadn’t gained weight, I wasn’t flabby and I didn’t lose muscle or strength. Once I realized this, I was able to accept the day and feelings for what they were an move on. And, you know what? When I woke up the next day and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I actually laughed at how ridiculous my feelings the previous day were! How silly was I to feel so gross about myself!

But, these are always learning experiences for me because not every day can be sunshine and roses. And I firmly believe that even those who coach women on body image, women empowerment and to love ourselves no matter what, have “those” kinds of days, too. We are human. We have emotions. Emotions can overtake our sensible thinking. And sometimes you just have to succumb to the feelings- as good or bad as they are. Which is why I think- as crazy as I sound in this post- that it was important for me to share this with you. I want you to know that you aren’t alone when you have off days, but I also want to help you take a look at the bigger picture and try to put into perspective WHY you’re feeling a certain way. When we can track back and figure out WHY we are feeling a certain way, it helps us figure out how to move on and not let those feelings totally derail ourselves. It helps put us into action to make the changes necessary to feel better about ourselves- whether that’s a physical action or mental action or a combination of the two is up to you.

So, that day last week, rather than letting those feelings totally ruin my day, I took a shower, had a glass of wine and got in comfy clothes. And soon enough I was feeling much better…. or at least better than I would’ve felt had I just laid on the couch in a fit of self-pity 😉

Every day we have a chance to start over, which for me was starting with some self love and appreciation as soon as I woke up. We are all entitled to our feelings, but it’s how we react to them that’s what is important.

Questions for you: Do you ever have days like this where you’re feeling off? How do you get yourself out of your funk?

“I’ll Do My Best”

March 8, 2016March 7, 20163 Comments

Which is all anyone can really ask for, right? As a group exercise instructor, I have the ability to work with various fitness abilities, ages, injuries, etc., which is one of the reasons why I love my job so much. Every class is different which keeps me on my toes, making sure I am able to adequately teach, help and push everyone. Before my sweat-KICK class at Foster Fitness last week, I had a fittie (that’s what Meghan calls her members- love it!) come up to me before class and say that she knew she wasn’t good, but she was going to do her best and keep coming because she loves the class.

Of course my first response to her comment was to assure her that she was good and that I see improvements from her every class. As long as they are safely sweating, I don’t care if they’re not on the same lead or not able to keep up with all the combos- that will come with time and more experience in my classes.

What I loved about my brief interaction with her was that she wasn’t going to let anything like not getting the combos or not being able to do pushups on her toes get her down or stop her from coming. And, what I loved even more was hearing her say “I’ll do my best” because that is all I ever ask my members/fitties to do. We are all different and each day our bodies react to exercise differently based on how much sleep we’ve had, what we’ve eaten, how much stress we are under, etc., so I don’t ever ask them to be better than they were yesterday. I just ask that they do their best THAT DAY.

By going into a workout (or anything, really), with the mindset of doing our best rather than comparing ourselves to someone else or how we did something on another day, we are allowing ourselves to appreciate everything we can do. If my best one day is only running 2 miles or doing incline pushups or squatting 100 pounds, then what good does it do me to compare myself to someone who posted on Instagram their “awesome 5 miler” or “easing back into it with 150 pounds today” or even what I did last week? You’re right. It doesn’t do me any good. Rather, appreciating what you were able to do THAT DAY leaves you with a much better feeling, right? If you give it your all, no matter whether your “all” is more or less than your neighbor’s or what you’ve done previously, then you’re doing your best and that’s great.

So I challenge you to do your best today- whether it’s with a work project, participating in a meeting, getting to the gym or a class or anything else you may face. And even more, I want you to soak in the feeling of appreciating your best TODAY. Not yesterday or last week or even where you want to get. But your best today. Soak it in, give yourself a pat on the back and thank yourself for doing your best. Because at the end of the day, that’s all anyone can really ask of you.

Photo credit: Janelle Carmela Photography

Five on Friday {2.26.16}

February 26, 2016February 25, 201612 Comments

Happy Friday, friends! Have you had a good week? Mine has been pretty good- nothing really out of the ordinary, which isn’t a bad thing! It was funny- when I saw my mom last weekend she goes “did you do your ‘Five on Friday’ post this week? I love that!”, which was so sweet. I told her that I had nothing special to share with you guys last week so I just saved it for this week. Here we go!

Recycle Studio’s new South End location– I was able to snag a saddle in their second class at their new location earlier this week. Unfortunately about half of the people didn’t show up for the class (that’s what happens when it’s a free class) so I felt bad for the instructor- it’s so much harder to teach a half full class than it is a fully packed class! She did a great job, though- loved getting to check it out!

Straight Up Strength- Even fitness instructors get bored with their own workouts, right? Lucky for me, my girl Lauren over at The Fueled Physique created a workout program so I jumped at the chance to sign up for it. I did one of the lower body exercises on Monday and the upper body one on Tuesday and I was SO SORE from them. If you’re looking for something new to spice up your workouts, I’d suggest signing up for her program (check out her site and shoot her an inquiry!).

Gapfit Line– When I was shopping with my mom and sister last Friday, we popped into Gap Body on a mission for underwear (TMI?) and although I didn’t walk out with any, I did walk out with this amazingly cute top. I can see myself wearing this all the time to and from the gym and even out and about on the weekend. I was lucky I only left with this because as we looked around, I was seriously impressed with their entire athletic line. I definitely plan on going back and getting more stuff.

Boston Housing Market- RM sent me this article the other day and it absolutely baffled me. It’s amazing how much the housing market in Boston has increased over the past couple of years, but I have to agree with the author that it’s interesting- and frustrating- that they are only tailoring to the wealthy with the “luxury condos”. What about the average people who just want a nice, affordable place to live?

Kittens- You guys. I want a kitten SO BADLY! We’ve been talking about getting one for months and months, but just recently I’ve really been itching for one. I’ve called a few shelters but none of them have any so I thought I’d ask you guys- do you know of any shelters with kittens or anyone who has any? We really want a female. Any help would be appreciated!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Ours is pretty low-key- hoping to go out for sushi tonight and then I’m teaching Saturday morning. Other than that there are some other plans up in the air, but I hope to have lots of time to work on my Box Fiit certification! Whatever you have planned I hope you have a great time!

Life Without A Fitbit {Hint: I’m Surviving Juuuuuust Fine}

February 23, 2016February 22, 20164 Comments

Tracking devices can be a really great thing, but, as I’ve mentioned before, they can also be something that cause us to be a little TOO obsessed with numbers and tracking. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure how I would do with the Fitbit. Would I be too obsessed with hitting my numbers? Would I be too obsessed with checking my stats throughout the day? Would I force movement on myself just to hit the 10K even on days when I just wanted to relax on the couch?

Luckily, the Fitbit had the effect on me that I think is the goal of the Fitbit: it opened my eyes to how sedentary we can be on a daily basis and it helped me get in some extra movement- without making me TOO obsessed with getting my steps in. I loved how it tracked my sleep, I loved how I could track my movement (especially on non-workout days and when traveling) and I loved how I could track my workouts in the workout log. In other words, I became kind of attached to my Fitbit, so when it died on me about a month ago, I have to say I was pretty bummed out.

How was I going to know how much movement I was getting in? How could I see my stats from day to day and week to week? How could I know how well (or not well) I was sleeping?

Crazy, right?
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