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My Fitbloggin Goal

September 9, 2010 by

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As most of you know by now, I’m signed up for Fitbloggin ’11 in Baltimore. Yeah – can’t wait to see my Healthy Living Summit friends again like Fervent Foodie, A Girl and Her Mutt, and so many more!

Two awesome girls, Jen and Mandy, came up with an awesome idea – called Fit 4 Fitbloggin – to encourage Fitbloggin attendees to reach their fitness goals before the conference. That’s great motivation, don’t  you think?

Although I don’t need to lose weight or “get in shape”, that doesn’t mean I can’t have a goal. My goal for Fitbloggin is to add more yoga and strength training to my weekly workouts in order to gain more flexibility, muscle, and definition. I know it doesn’t sound like a very lofty or concrete goal. However, for a girl who’s been running for over 20 years – pounding the pavement 5-6 times a week –  adding weights and/or yoga to my routine on a regular basis would be a major accomplishment – not to mention a major benefit for my body.

For all Fitbloggin attendees, I hope you will join the rest of the Fit 4 Fitbloggin crew and tell us about your fitness goals! Seriously, by sharing your goal with 200 of your closest fitbloggin friends you are bound to improve something about your health and life!

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Why Am I Smiling?

August 25, 2010 by

So why am I smiling? Well, mainly because I have big things on the horizon. Let me explain….

As most of you know, work has been crazy busy and will continue to be that way until the end of the year. I’m in charge of a $3.5 million project at work that will hopefully lead to many good things in my career. But that’s only part of the reason why I’m smiling. I also am smiling because:

Fitness – I can honestly say I am in the best shape in my adult life. Quite honestly, I’ve never been out of shape in my adult life, but this summer, I have really been ramping up the running and yoga, which makes for great toning!

Blogging – I have major things in store for Running With Cake and Bistro Chic which will include site redesigns, several giveaways, food, travel, and more! I wish I could share more with you but mum’s the word for now.

Travel – Although my job is very stressful, it is about to take me to some wonderful cities, including San Francisco, Vancouver, and possibly NYC. I’m looking forward to meeting up with Annelies from Attune Foods, One Healthy Apple, and Suki, who all live in the San Fran area. It will be like our own mini Healthy Living Summit! By the way, if there are any HLS or Fit Bloggin attendees from Vancouver, drop me a note – I might have time to meet up!

Family – I have an incredible husband who is not only tech/social media savvy, but he is also very understanding when it comes to blogging and trying to reach my goals. Mr. C and Ms. M are also wonderful and very patient when it comes to their blogger mommy. And my in-laws are a God-send for all the help they provide with the kids and the house. I couldn’t do all of these things without you!

So as you can see, things are moving very quickly in my life. I hope you stick around and find out what happens on my personal “reality show”!

And on that note….

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

– Ferris Bueller

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Fitbloggin 2011 Here I Come!

August 16, 2010 by

Hello All! It has only been one day since the Healthy Living Summit and I am already having signs of withdrawal! Why can’t people at work take pictures of their food too?

So what does a blogger do when she has the post-blogging conference blues? She signs up for another conference! And that’s exactly what I did! I am officially attending FitBloggin 2011 in Baltimore in May and can’t wait!

I’m so excited that FitBloggin 2011 will be in May next year! Last year it was in March, but luckily, Baltimore was experiencing freakishly warm weather – 75-80 degrees the whole weekend! I’m so hoping for a weather repeat next year. I am especially looking forward to staying at the hotel – it’s in an awesome location right by the harbor. Plus, the location is a prime spot for running and site-seeing at the same time.

As you may remember from FitBloggin 2010, Scott and I had a little too much fun taking in the sites and exploring all of the food options Baltimore has to offer. As you can see from the Fitbloggin 2010 photo above, I was not shy about having my mango smoothie and drinking it too! See my previous post about the FitBloggin conference for a recap. And remember to follow @Fitbloggin on Twitter for more deets.

So, anyone else going to Fitbloggin 2011 and want to meet up?

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Toning Shoes: Too Good To Be True?

July 22, 2010 by

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About a month ago, I received the New Balance rock&tone shoes in the mail. They are part of the new era of “toning” shoes with heavily padded, rounded soles. The shoes were a freebie from the Fitbloggin conference back in March. I did end up wearing them 2-3 times – out for walks and around the house. Each time I wore them I felt sore a few hours to a day later. I just assumed this meant they were working. Well, that may not be the case.

Makers of toning shoes claim that the shoes burn extra calories, tone muscle, and/or reduce joint pain – and they have the research to back it up, so they say. However, when a research team from the University of Wisconsin delved deeper into the claims, they found that much of the “evidence” is based on research that was not peer-reviewed. This means the studies have not been opened up to scrutiny by other researchers in a similar field. Any research worth it’s own salt will make it through the peer-review process, and most of the studies that do end up in scholarly research publications. Those that don’t make it through the review process, either because they were rejected or because they were never submitted in the first place, can still be published independently, usually for marketing purposes.

With the huge craze in toning shoes, the American Council on Exercise commissioned their own study to see how the claims would hold up. In the study, UW researchers had 12 physically active women perform 12, 5 minute exercises on a treadmill. The women wore a number of training shoes and regular running shoes and were monitored for oxygen consumption, calories burned, heart rate, and rate of perceived exertion. In a separate group of women, researchers also monitored six of their muscles: calves, quads, hamstrings, buttocks, back, and abs, while they performed the same treadmill exercises using the same types of shoes as the first group.

And the result? Researchers found no difference between the toning shoes and regular running shoes. In other words, the toning shoes don’t do anything differently than your normal running shoes. But why did I feel sore after I wore them every time? Researchers believe that many people feel this soreness after wearing toning shoes because the unstable shoe forces us to use muscles we don’t normally use to balance. However, they also say that with any new abnormal shoe, you will feel this same soreness, but this doesn’t translate into toning. The soreness will go away once your legs/body become use to the shoe.

What do I think?

Obviously, the study did not include the New Balance shoe specifically, but this research still makes me skeptical about the worth of toning shoes. When you really think about it, if a person is sedentary – doing very little day-to-day exercise –  but then starts and maintains a walking routine with toning shoes, they are bound to see toning results and lose weight. This is misleading because these health results are probably NOT because of the shoe, but for the simple reason that they are now exercising. I’m guessing physically active adults won’t see enhanced results just because of the shoes.

Overall, toning shoes sound like another “quick fix” way to lose weight and add tone, that may leave many users disappointed. But, if believing in the power of toning shoes is the only way to make you exercise, then believe away. If it gets you off the couch and moving, that’s always a good thing.

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Me and the Chicago Bean

June 17, 2010 by

I just booked my room at the Congress Plaza Hotel for the Healthy Living Summit! I’m so psyched about going to HLS. I wasn’t able to go to the event last year for the simple fact that I could not afford the trip to Boston. Luckily, I was able to attend Fitbloggin, which was totally fun – the sessions and meeting all of the fabulous blogger girls. When I heard that HLS was going to be in my city, I just couldn’t miss it.

That’s right, I live in the Chicago area and have for the last 10 years. I love Chi-town and can’t wait for all the girls (or guys) at the HLS to experience this great city. The restaurants are fantastic – which is great for all of the HLS food bloggers who are coming. Anyone for tapas? I know Pickley Pear is in, who else?

Plus, the hotel is literally right across the the Art Institute of Chicago which is amazing! Too bad the Matisse exhibit will be over by then. The Congress is also very close to Millenium Park – home of the Chicago “Bean”, a reflective thing (for lack of a better word) in the shape of a bean (reminds me of a funhouse mirror). See the pic of me and the bean above. Not the best photo of me – but the bean looks great!

I could go on and on about Chicago, but I’ll save that for another time!

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Morning at Wordcamp Chicago

June 5, 2010 by

Hey all! I can’t wait to tell you about my fabulous French dinner last night, but that will have to come later. First, I must tell you where I’m writing from today – I’m at Wordcamp Chicago! Woo hoo! My husband is presenting at a Wordcamp session again (you may remember that he presented at Fitbloggin) and I decided to tag along. I do use WordPress, so it’s not such a stretch for me. So, I’m in for a fun-filled day of learning more about WordPress and bloggin – and you all know how much fun that is!

Of course, I didn’t leave home without fueling up with a little Kashi topped with blackberries and strawberries! Once at the conference, I was then tempted by the cookies and the muffins – bad Wordcamp! I know, I know, it’s not Fitbloggin so I should not compare. I did have a cookie, but I also had some mighty nice Mighty Leaf citrus tea!

Anyway, back to the session for me!

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Yoga Poses: Are you doing them correctly?

April 20, 2010 by

Hi All! I just finished chatting with a bunch of #Fitblog women on Tinychat – so fun! It was great to see so many people turn out. I even saw some familiar names like MerryMishaps and fANNEtasticfood. I miss all of the Fitbloggin crew – can we have a reunion! 🙂 Not sure if I’ll be able to make next Tuesday’s chat #Fitblog chat. I’m in Austin on Monday and Tuesday for business – will try though.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

Training – Today was a lighter day for me running wise – only 5.5 miles. I’ll be running 8 miles at some point this week. I really love running but I think there is a huge caveat – it takes so much of my time when I’m training! I will eventually be working up to a 1.5-2 hour run. With 2 kids, a husband, and full-time job (plus two blogs), who really has 2 hours to dedicate to running? Crazy I tell ya. But if Dimity can do it, so can I! And speaking of Dimity, if you’re a running mommy, you’ve got to pick up the book Run Like a Mother – it really confirms how and why we can (and need to) be mothers and runners at the same time.

Yoga News – I came across a cool news brief today in the Chicago Tribune. It gives a description of the do’s and don’ts of getting into common yoga poses. If you think you’re doing a forward fold correctly – you must see this photo! Downdog? Nope, you’re probably doing it wrong, or at least not as well as you could be.

Ok, bloggies, off to bed for me. Still trying to get 8 hours of sleep – at least one night this week!

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POM Wonderful Care Package

April 5, 2010 by

Hey All! As you may have noticed, I’ve been slightly increasing the distance of my early morning runs. On Friday and Sunday, I did a 10K on each day – Friday in 50 minutes and Sunday in 48 minutes! This morning, I ran 5.5 miles in 42 minutes. I just can’t seem to slow down – he he! I’m trying to recruit some of my friends to run the Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon – so far, no takers 🙁

Although I’ve been loving these fast and furious runs, my legs are not very happy. My hips and calves are very sore. It’s been ages since I’ve been sore from running – I almost forgot what it felt like!

When I arrived home from work today, I had two surprises waiting for me. Surprise #1 – a care package from POM, special delivery from Fitbloggin – yeah!

The great folks at POM sent Scott and I 8 bottles of pure pomegranate juice. I never really tried pomegranate juice until Fitbloggin, but I’m so glad that I did (mmm…memories of POM martinis!). After Baltimore, I ended up getting the flavored POM juices at the store and loved them – so did the kids. Just wish they didn’t have so many calories in them 🙁

Surprise #2 – Scott stopped off at a bakery on his way home from class and bought me French macarons…

I have honestly never had macarons that were so huge! They were easily 4 inches in diameter, which is very uncharacteristic of a French macaron. But they were delicious!

Tonight is a packing night because I’m headed out to Orlando early Wednesday morning. I’m going to have 4 days of sun and warm weather – kind of. I will mostly be attending a conference indoors, but will have a day or so to roam around Disney. If you all remember, my last trip to Disney in early March ended up being a very cold trip. It only got above 70 degrees on one day while we were there. At least this time, I can pack lighter clothes because the weather is supposed to be in the 80s!

Alright, must get to bed. I’m hoping to do an easy 3-4 miles tomorrow to give my legs a break. Night all.

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Fitbloggin: Exploring Baltimore

March 22, 2010 by

Hey all! Yesterday in my Fitbloggin: Saturday in Review, I talked about all the great things from the conference as well as post-conference fun on Saturday night. Now, on to Sunday!!

Rude Wake-up Call at the Baltimore Marriott

Scott and I attempted to get up at 6:45 AM in order to get a head start on our last morning there. But, around 2:30 AM we were rudely awaken (is that proper grammar?) by a party of some sort on our floor which lasted for over an hour! We were so incredibly annoyed!!! So, when we woke up at 6:45, we hit snooze and woke up 45 minutes later!

Pre-Breakfast Run Around Baltimore Harbor

Before breakfast, Scott and I went for an awesome run around the harbor – we went for 40 minutes! Scott is not really a runner but is training for the Chicago triathlon in August. He’s doing such a great job with his training 🙂 On our way back into the hotel we ran into Bookieboo who said that she had the same “party” problem on her floor. She suggested we complain and that’s just what I did. We ended up getting 1/2 off our room from the previous night – awesome! Thanks for the tip Bookieboo! Once we were freshened up and packed, we headed down to walk to breakfast in Fells Point. Unfortunately, the Blue Moon Cafe was a 45 minute wait, so we came back to the Marriott and had an outstanding champagne brunch!

Fantastic Baltimore Marriott Brunch

Although expensive, the brunch included an unbelievable amount of food and all drinks! No kidding – at one point, we had 8 drinks on our table –

  • 2 glass of water
  • 2 glasses champagne
  • 2 glasses of orange juice
  • 1 cup of tea
  • 1 glass of iced tea

Crazy! The food was fantastic! I tried to stick with all healthy things like low-fat yogurt, granola, fruit, etc.

Hmm…not sure how that vanilla pound cake got on my plate 😉 I was pretty full after my first plate, but wanted to sample a few other things, including the oatmeal, breakfast potatoes, and banana bread pudding…

Oh my, that banana bread pudding was dangerous!! If I wasn’t so full, I probably would have eaten a whole bowl of it complete with the vanilla cream sauce – ha!

After breakfast, we had to rush to the airport to catch our 1 PM flight back to chilly Chicago. Back to reality!

Wow, what a fantastic, whirlwind weekend. Loved Fitbloggin and all of the attendees/speakers and loved Baltimore!

Now, I need to get some sleep 🙂

Have a great night!

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Fitbloggin: Saturday in Review

March 21, 2010 by

Hey All! I’m back from Fitbloggin and had a fantastic time! Saturday morning was the official start of the conference. Instead of going through every detail, here are the highlights. The morning started with a 5K run that was attended by about 50 women. Although it was not a competitive run, I am very happy to say that I was in the top 6-8 of those who finished first!

The run was followed by a fab oatmeal breakfast sponsored by Quaker and then two sessions – one on SEO and one on how to get noticed by traditional media. The morning sessions were followed by a fabulous lunch spread…

We had small sandwiches, fresh fruit, and some awesome mushroom bisque!

After lunch, my husband Scott (who was the Fitbloggin speaker on SEO) and I took a walk around the harbor in Baltimore. We even tried out our new New Balance running shoes…

His and her shoes for his and her bloggers – perfect! My husband is a loyal New Balance customer. I, on the other hand, have been loyal to Nike for YEARS. I’ve been running for a very long time and have been through many brands and styles of running shoes. Years ago when I tried New Balance, I felt that they were clunky and didn’t really offer much support for runners – hence my loyalty to Nike. However, I may be a changed runner! New Balance so generously gave away a pair of their 740 shoes to all conference attendees -woo hoo! They were much lighter than I remember and had more cushion. I really like these shoes and will definitely consider the New Balance brand on my next running shoe purchase. Thanks New Balance for letting us try out your shoes!

On our walk, we headed to the Italian pastry shop in the harbor area…

My obsession with patisseries/bakeries has enable me to sniff out any that are in a 1 mile radius…

I just had to sample a few of the homemade Italian cookies – naturally.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped off a the historic lighthouse…

The afternoon sessions and keynote by nutrition author Dave Grotto went by so fast! Then it was time to let loose a little with some Jell-o shots!

Ok, not really Jell-o shots, but it was definitely a reception sponsored by Jell-o. There were several flavors of Jell-o as well as their new mousse in caramel, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate – so good!

Scott and I left the reception early to make our dinner reservations at the Mediterranean/tapas restaurant Pazo. We were really torn between restaurants. This one actually had mixed reviews – some people loved it and some people didn’t like it at all. When I first walked into the restaurant I knew I would like it. It had a strong Spanish feel to it which I love!

After ordering some vino, we perused the menu, which was a mix of traditional and modern tapas and main entrees. Scott and I love to eat tapas style, so we focused on the small plates…

We had eggplant puree with some super yummy and salty bread followed by a salad made with hearts of palm, roasted red peppers, and vinaigrette.

I almost forgot to mention the fantastic sunflower flatbreads that we had for a starter…

This is by far the BEST flatbread I have EVER tasted!! We liked it so much we took two containers of the bread home with us!

We opted not to eat dessert there, but instead, walked around Fells Point to scope out the bars and desserts places. I loved Fells Point! The cobblestone/brick streets gave the area so much character. Although there were many dessert places to choose from, we decided on gelato from Pitango and we were not disappointed in our choice…

They had at least a dozen flavors of gelato on display. It was so hard to decide! But the staff were great and were very open to let you test any or even all of the flavors. Thanks guys! Loved the bourbon vanilla and milk chocolate with chocolate chips! We also enjoyed some authentic Italian hot chocolate…

Seriously, this is NOT your mother’s hot chocolate. The consistency was thicker than cream and had a mild, milk chocolate flavor – wonderful! The only thing I would recommend is to have cookies or biscotti in the cafe for purchase so that customers can dunk them in their chocolate!

Ok, that’s all for now. See you all tomorrow with a recap of Sunday – Exploring Baltimore!

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