balance is everything... and other Tone it Up tips.

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, And loudly proclaiming, WOW !!!! What a ride!" (This quote used to be taped to the inside of my locker in college, still holds true...)

In the past couple of days I have had more than a handful of friends and readers ask me, Do you like the "tone it up" plan, does it work, how do you have time? So here are my collective a's to a few q's, mixed in with some tips.

Drove to work today with wet hair to account for my run... Here is the end result.

it works. do it. make time for it, even if your hair is messy everyday.

Yes. The Tone It Up plan works, and it is worth paying for. I have lost some good lbs and some good inches. But more importantly, I FEEL good. Some people look good but don't feel good because their approach is self debilitating (ie my previous self). This plan works for me because it is fun, different everyday, and positive. The saying is true: If you tell me I suck at life, I'm gonna suck at life. If you tell me I rock at life, I rock at life. (Yep, just made that saying up. Spread it like buttah.)

Best Christmas present ever from the hubs.  There's just something amazing about checking off my 30 minute  or hour long morning run.

tick tock tick tock

How do you have time? I don't have time, I have to make the time. I work full time plus a few side projects, plus moving into a new house, plus living the good life. But what's the good life worth if you don't feel good? I wake up an hour earlier every morning to get a good run in. Sometimes I do my tone it up or resistance workout during my lunch break, sometimes at the end of the day, sometimes I just can't squeeze it in. But that's fine, so long as I have had my morning run and my morning coffee, all is in balance in the world.

ask for help, ask for friends

Sometimes you can do it all by yourself, sometimes you just need a little help. I need friends to sweat with. I need my hubs to understand and support my eating and work out needs (he does fully). If you are overwhelmed you have to communicate to the ones you love as to why and what they can or cannot do. We all hate it when people ask us if they look fat, so stop asking, and if they do ask if they want to workout since they don't feel amazing about themselves right this second. (Just a suggestion, or you can give me frozen yogurt that helps).

Balance is Everything

I'm not perfect, not even close, with my workouts, eating or life in general. Sometimes I have too much to do in one day to workout, so if that means I have to dance all night to burn off the calories I neglected that morning, so be it. But really, if you don't let yourself have a little fun now and then, you're probably gonna suck at life more often than you are a rock star. Eat well. Be well. Dance a lot. And yes, TONE IT UP.

che sera sera... dance into the brightness.

Almost 2 months ago I looked deep at myself and decided to make some changes for the better, from the inside out. My Grandma Betty passed away shortly before this, and she really was one of the biggest influences in my life. On the day she passed, she made her bed, perfectly, after suffering a heart attack. I tell you this not to make you sad, but to help you understand my sense of elevating the life I was currently living. My life was wonderful but I wasn't holding myself to the standards I deserved. If I were my own boss, I should have been fired.

The lady of the hour!  She was so smokin' haute huh? 

This was a lady who was married to a man who would literally drive away from my high school softball games if I did not go 3 for 3 with a homerun, so to say my roots are tangled with high standards would be an understatement.  But that's always been a blessing and not a curse for my life, I simply needed to be reminded to honor them.  Since these two months have passed I have stuck to a few new good habits that have made a world of difference in my daily standards.

The trusted running partner, ready to turn in after 4 miles.

Today I am happy to report that though I am missing my granny, dearly, I am doing my best everyday to carry on a bit of her legacy of greatness.  In the hopes that someday my children (far far in the future) will inherit her creed to live everyday with love and laughter, balanced with a big heaping of hard work.  She could always hang her hat on a day to proud of, everyday.  Jackalope and I with our morning runs, healthier eating, and desire to treat everyone, including ourselves, with joy and respect are doing our best to do her proud.

Jackalope definitely has an insatiable appetite for food and life, similar to Grandma Betty's really...

So really, I hope you dance now and always.  To the day my Granny passed, she loved to dance.  In the privacy of her home she would shut her blinds, fire up some Michael Buble, and dance the hours away.  I think it brought her moments of happiness, memories of her childhood, and of my grandfather whom she was ready to dance with again.  She was always right about one thing, you can't help but smile when you dance, regardless of the moment it's held within.

Bottoms up Granny!

So here's a toast to my Grandma.  For teaching me to be great, reminding me to be good to myself and to spoil the ones I love with my love everyday, because life is simply too short and too fun.   And since you were always a fan of dressing to nines, and not a fan of my sloppy sweats, here's a little bit of the fashionable legacy you left in me.  We always loved us some bright colors and tribal threads.  Must be our Swedish roots?

Bright. Bold. Navajo. Summer. by whitneybenj

Have a great day.  Great week.  And dance away the summer.