it's goal time.

A view from the wedding location in Santa Fe.

Just got home from a wonderfully hot and delightfully fun weekend in Santa Fe. Close friends got hitched up in the hills, hubs and I drank too many sangrias to compensate for the heat, and today my body is craving the path of wellness full of kale, water and morning workouts. For the first time in years, I traveled sans laptop and took a much needed digital siesta.

Standard goal setting tools = Postcards, Nylon Magazine, fruit.

Leaving my laptop and worries in San Diego felt amazing, but 30 minutes into my 4 hour layover at LAX sent a rush of anxiety through my bones. I had mentally prepared myself to set some goals during this trip and how could that happen without my laptop? Not to fear, the trusty airport gift shop saved my goal setting intentions with postcards and a few magazines. $50 later I was ready to write my way to my future.

Mile high club goals!

There truly is no better feeling than putting your goals down on paper, and remembering why it is you work so hard and what you are actually out to accomplish in life, in work, and in yourself.  Here are just a few of my goals.

• In June 2011 I am enrolled in dance class or martial arts (Check first class is on Tuesday!)
• In May of 2012 I have completed my group fitness certification!  Yep, that's right.
• In July of 2011 I run at least 18 miles and attend 3 yoga/dance/fitness classes a week.

Swagger in my step headed to the wedding rehearsal dinner. 

In the past few months I have severely neglected my goals and was kind of feeling like a ship without oars if you will.  For some reason setting a few goals before a weekend escape relaxed me even more, and got me out of bed every morning to work off some sangrias.

So cheers to the good life.

As a rather skeptical person in general, goal setting was really something I had to trick my stubborn self into doing and then enjoying (gasp).  But it truly feels good knowing I am working towards a few things again.  If you are a stubborn skeptic like myself, reluctant to set goals, set in your ways, happy with where you are at, then that's fine, I'm not gonna go Tony Robbins on you.  But, you really should at least try it once.  The fact of the matter is, there are things in your subconscious mind you may not know about until you start to think about where you are, where you are going, and where you ultimately want to be.  No one will tell you where you will be in 5 years, but you can tell yourself.  

peace.love.goals.homies.

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.

flannel, kale, jean jackets... someone's making a comeback...

Jean Jacket - Vintage Calvin Klein, Flannel tunic - Forever 21, wunder unders -lululemon, old boots - Frye, messy room - Mine.

On today's menu we have flannel and kale served on a bed of jean jackets. I don't always like to document my looks, but there was something Paul Bunyan meets Pat Benetar in my mojo today that ignited the occasion. Planning my menu for the day is oddly similar to my daily outfits, if it doesn't happen in the morning or the night before, it's turns out to be a real haute mess.

It's just one of those days...

Today was no exception to the rule, except I think maybe I compromised one for the other. After my daily morning cardio assault, I packed a kale salad for lunch, a mini Larabar for a snack, guzzled my meta-d morning tonic, and by the time I addressed my outfit it was time to hit the road Jack.

Little nugget fallen from heaven...

In the end, thank you Whole Foods for the bag of pre-cut and pre-washed kale/carrots/cabbage mix, you make my heart warm and my daily menu plans doable. Additionally, two shakes to Larabar for the minis that taste like a 10:30am slice of apple pie. Not quite sure what the diagnonscience is on my outfit of the day, but since working out more and eating mo bettah with rather elaborate planning, I've embraced messy hair and the occasional mishmash outfit. Chew on this, "About half my designs are controlled fantasy, 15 percent are total madness and the rest are bread-and-butter designs." - Manolo Blahnik

xo