Life, Fitness, and General Sillyness

The last few years I've made it a bit of a tradition to reflect on the lessons of each passing year. I also like doing this on milestone birthdays since the lessons are bigger, but even so, this year has been pretty wild. While my "Year in Review" album on Facebook for 2013 looks extremely lame on Facebook, 2013 was not a lame year at all. I can honestly say, this was a big year for growth across the board. Lesson #1: You Can't Make Anyone Stay in Your Life People come and go. Be nice, be polite, be honest, but you can't make anyone stick around if they don't want to. There's no reason to be rude. Sometimes YOU'RE the one who has to exit someone's life for some reason. You don't have to be cruel or mean spirited about it. Severing a tie is sometimes necessary, but if someone severed you, don't sweat it. It's life, it happens, and you can't control anyone else's behavior but your own. Lesson #2: If it Looks like a Duck an

The New Year is coming. Do you have a plan? And did you know that there is 0% reason you have to start being happier and healthier sooner than January 1st? I blogged earlier this summer about my own Isagenix experience and tale. This is a follow up based on some of my the most common questions and comments I get from people about it. Totally honest, unedited, just the way it is. You guys know I would never, ever lie to you. I count on my reputation and I'm just putting this out there. "Is this really any different than the stuff I can pick up in bulk at Cost-Co or get on GNC? Come on. It sounds like a MASSIVE load of crap." Answer: Um, YES. This is the equivalent of asking if there is a difference between going to the best sushi restaurant in town and grabbing some crappy refrigerated California roll that you can get at the grocery store. Isa products are natural. They don't use hormones. They don't use artificial colors or sweeteners. Their shakes are s

Do you consider yourself to be brave? I don't. Most people don't. Sure, you can fake it when you need to. You can pretend you're tough as nails and that there isn't a small child hiding somewhere inside of you, praying someone doesn't call you out on your B.S. But deep down... do you have courage? The answer is yes. I don't even have to know you personally. You could be a total stranger that just stumbled across this blog. You, miss or sir, have been through some sh*t. I don't know the first thing about you and I know that you have it. I don't think people are born with it, I think we're required as members of the human race to acquire it on our own- not only for survival but to truly LIVE! My Mom always calls me brave and courageous and it makes me giggle. I have my moments but anyone who knows me personally knows that I'm the most open, oversensitive baby on the planet. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I'll share my stories, no matte

I've always been a pretty open person; arguably to a flaw. My perspective on life has always been a little different. Other people have ambitions to be at the top of their game in life and bringing in money hand over fist, others dream of getting covers, making it big, and living the American Dream. And that's all fine and well. Of course I want those things too. But my own life has formed me into the person I am today through experiences and the experiences of people around me. I observe quietly and take in lessons as they come, either through seeing other people or walking on my own path. My biological father was killed when he was 26 years old. I wasn't quite a year old yet and my sister was just short of being 3. I've always had a very strong understanding that life is finite and goes fast. Even when I was a kid, I somehow understood how acutely short childhood was and I was never a child who wanted to grow up. I wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to relis

The end of the year is not too far away. What have you learned so far in 2013? Anything good? Life is all about growth. Experiences and people push and pull you to form you into the person you are today assuming you're open to having your mold reformed. So who is around you now shaping you? More importantly, how much time do you spend reflecting on your own life, heart, mind, and spirit? I'm a contemplative person in general. Yes, it's possible to be a completely silly dork and still spend a lot of time in your own mind. I swim inside of myself the majority of the time, searching and analyzing myself to the point where I make myself nuts. I look for signs, lessons, filters, and everything to bring me to a better, stronger version of myself. So take the following reflections into consideration and see if they apply to you. You Can Only Save Yourself As hard as you try, you can only help someone as much as it healthy and feasible. When it comes to someone you love or

I’ve been neglecting my blog pretty regularly, sorry guys. How is everyone doing? So the topic I want to talk about today is balance. How balanced is your life? Mine certainly isn’t. I’ve always been an “all in or all out” kind of gal. When I was younger and found something I liked, I obsessed over it. (Anyone who knew me in high school can tell you of my X Files obsession. Seriously, I had a problem.) Whether it is a musician or a band, a TV show, a movie, a hobby, a relationship, etc. I have always made one thing central I my life. That can be good and bad. The good is that it’s like having blinders on; you’re so focused on a goal or something else that you can’t possibly be distracted. But the bad side, obviously, is you miss out on the other stuff going on around you. What’s funny is I seem to meet other people who are exactly the same way. We live lives without balance. We are not evenly spread in our obligations, jobs, relationships, or hobbies. We even acknowledge we ha

I go through ruts like anyone else does. It's pretty standard practice for me to do a show and burn out on fitness for a few months. I've done enough shows to know what to expect at this point and even though I get frustrated with myself, I know myself well enough to trust that I will get back on the full blown fitness wagon. In general the pattern goes as follows: ·          Train and diet my ass of for 3-4 months ·          Do a show ·          Come back and "be good" for 1-1.5 weeks ·          Start going back to "normal people" events like bars on the weekends or happy hours after work (enter mixed drinks, wine, and bar food) ·          Miss the gym more often, come home and veg out after work instead of training ·          Eat less because I'm sick of cooking ·          Go out to eat more often ·          Catch up with friends and reconnect since I fall off the map to a degree when I'm in show mode ·          Feel horrendous

I don't know about you guys but sometimes I just get stuck in a routine. I love routine but I become a slave to my schedule and diet. Or at least it feels that way. Aspects of my life are more flexible than others-- it's okay if I miss the gym for a little bit but my diet has to be dang close to contest clean if I want to get away with that. Even then, I'm fairly lax. I'm the first to admit it: I'm a flawed individual. I have lots of vices and guilty pleasures that I, as a fitness competitor and a role model for other people, have absolutely NO business partaking in. Trust me. I love ice cream and things that are terrible for me as much as anyone else. I seem to go through this funk every summer. I'm not entirely sure why, but I get a little "blerg" about training/eating clean in the summertime. It seems fairly counter intuitive, I know, but I'm most motivated in the fall and winter. Most people feel the pressure to get in the shape of their li

I've been a bit behind on updating this so I figured I'd pop in here to say hello and see how everyone is doing. I myself have had a solid summer so far. I've been booked out pretty regularly on the weekends with this and that (family stuff, weddings, birthday, or just general nonsense). All in all, it's been pretty decent and I've been digging the warm weather. I don't know about you guys but I'm not a huge fan of change. At least not emotionally. Logically I understand that it's 100% necessary for growth personally, spiritually, and emotionally. But that doesn't make me any less of a baby who fights it with a big lump in her throat the entire way. :-p  So if that's you, don't feel bad-- you aren't alone. I'm very much a creature of habit and routine. When I'm in a groove, I'm in it for the long haul. Whether it's full competition mode with my work/diet/training schedule or it's my off season, I'm am very

Kicking off my "Summer of Facing Fears", this relates to my last blog. (Read it here .) This was my first challenge to myself and it was a tough one. This is an extremely personal one as well. Probably because I'm a sentimental chick! After my split with my ex, my internal "Map of the Twin Cities" looked like this. With time, it was downgraded to this. Who could ever be afraid of a lake, right? Why on earth would something so silly be 1000000% off limits to anyone? What's the big deal? I mean, sure, some people suffer from agoraphobia and have water anxieties, but are the ever afflicted by one specific lake in one spot? Seems ridiculous. I was. And I have been. This is a holy ground to me; this is iconic. After all, who could ever want to avoid something as beautiful as this? Lake Calhoun has been the source of many places I refuse to go to since my breakup last fall.  Refused. Many people don't get it. "It's just

I've been at this whole fitness thing long enough that I'm starting to see things and all my endeavors from the last 4ish years pay off. How do I know this is happening? Writing for bigger and better publications every year. Working with bigger and better photographers every year. Getting recognized from fitness stuff when I'm out and about at bars. Emails from strangers, either with thank you for something I've written, or emails written in random scorn. (hey, whatever, you put yourself out to the public and that's gonna happen sometimes.) Emails from weird guys trying to ask me out and boasting of their money/things or treating me like I'm some kind of hooker. And for the mostpart, it's a good thing. I love fitness and I love my life. Here's the secret: The real secret. Pssssst, lean in closer. The internet, facebook, message boards? I t's all an illusion. The internet is a fabulous marketing tool. It allows you to build a brand i

I get emails a few times a week inquiring why I use Isagenix products. I'm writing this to answer that question. And no, this genuinely is not a sales pitch. This is just the truth from my own experiences. I was approached with Isagenix products in 2011. I, like many of you, was incredibly skeptical. I thought it was a pyramid scheme. I thought it just seemed like stupid overpriced crap. At the time, I was very content with the products I was buying online or at Vitamin Shoppe. I just didn't think it mattered and it was just another Amway scheme. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was fairly snippy with the girl who talked to me about it. She was genuinely excited but my skepticism was so high that it didn't matter. She approached me about it or talked about it a few times in front of me. At the time, my then-boyfriend was looking for a natural product that didn't have artificial sweeteners of any kind. She talked to him and he ordered the Athlete's Pak (it had