I’m not about to deny the place in my heart reserved for football and pumpkin spice lattes, but they don’t seem to be enough to make Autumn feel significant. So simply put, I’m striving to give this glorious season a more befitting identity within my life. The downgrade seemed to have started during my years as a small business owner when it became a respite between the chaotic pace of summer entertaining and the exhausting demands of the holiday retail season. Typically, I dragged myself into September desperate to catch my breath and reclaim some semblance of a normal life if only for a few weeks. Not exactly lofty goals. Continue reading “Fall Should be More Than Football and Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Right?”
New York City Through the Eyes of My Forever Child
This trip was years in the making and like most weekend jaunts, just as we picked up the pulse of the city it was over. But then I never have enough time in New York City. Fortunately for my daughter, Stephanie, it was everything she had dreamed it would be and since this getaway had one specific purpose – to celebrate her thirtieth birthday – having it live up to her expectations was all that mattered. Continue reading “New York City Through the Eyes of My Forever Child”
Why Do Food and Fun Have to be Such Great Companions?
I rolled over and looked at the clock: 3:52 a.m. The grumpy stomach and foggy brain that awakened me Monday morning was unmistakable; it’s a hangover. . . a food hangover. It doesn’t take long to realize going back to sleep is not an option; my head is throbbing but it’s mostly because I’m pissed at myself for ruining the start to what I expect to be a very special week. Continue reading “Why Do Food and Fun Have to be Such Great Companions?”
21 Days to a Better Body and Four Other Fitness Myths I’m Tackling Daily
“You give me the next three weeks, and I’ll give you the body you’ve always wanted,” promises the twig of a fitness instructor leading the upper body workout I’m streaming this morning. In sixty-one years, I’ve never had the body I’ve always wanted, so I have serious doubts anything this video Barbie is going to throw at me in the next 21 days will get me there. Continue reading “21 Days to a Better Body and Four Other Fitness Myths I’m Tackling Daily”
Most Dieters Focus on What They Hope to Lose…But the Real Surprise is in What Can Be Gained
For most of 2016 I ignored the pesky ten pounds I’d put on when I stopped my long-established routine of stepping onto the bathroom scale every morning. I can’t remember exactly why or when I abandoned the one weight-management habit that seemed to work; but I’m guessing the extra pounds were payback for the smug attitude I had developed when the same number flashed up at me every morning for years. Continue reading “Most Dieters Focus on What They Hope to Lose…But the Real Surprise is in What Can Be Gained”
I’m Striving For Moderation . . . Unless We’re Talking About Ice Cream
I don’t consider my relationship with ice cream to technically be an addiction; after all, I just went ten weeks without it. But it is most certainly the biggest challenge my willpower faces, with other favorites like chocolate, Egg McMuffins and wine far easier for me to resist. Now that I’m easing up on the strict diet I embraced earlier this year, my occasional over-the-top love for ice cream might present the only real glitch in the otherwise smooth transition to a more moderate approach to healthy eating.
Since my newly revamped lifestyle is intended to allow me to enjoy living on my own terms, I’ll go on record right now that two key elements of the life I cherish are eating ice cream when it pleases me and fitting into my skinny jeans. Continue reading “I’m Striving For Moderation . . . Unless We’re Talking About Ice Cream”
2017: The Year I Finally Bury The Hatchet With Exercise
A healthy lifestyle is an important cornerstone of my next chapter for one simple reason: good health provides the freedom to live life on my own terms. That said, staying fit and maintaining a healthy weight has challenged me for most of my life. When it’s my focus I do pretty well, but all too often I’ve let other people or things become my priority and have found myself out of shape and overweight. So, while I accept it as a key element of the life I envision for myself, I know from experience sustaining it is easier said than done. Continue reading “2017: The Year I Finally Bury The Hatchet With Exercise”