My brain is full!

Did anyone ever see The Far Side comic where the guy raises his hand in class, asking "May I please be excused? My brain is full." That's how I feel. Eeegads there's a LOT of information in a 900 page book!

To take care of a bit of comenteering business (yeah, it may not be a word cuz I just made it up, but ... well, I don't even know what else to say!):

Greg: you asked ages ago about my arm injury. Initially it was a bicep tendon strain that I got from carrying a heavy container of bingo pull tabs around for a night, with my arm around 30 degrees or so from my body. It never got better because I am a stubborn git and can't seem to take a break when I need to. And I really hurt it about two weeks ago doing a shuttle run and thrusting with my arms. So now I'm on the ice and ibuprofen protocol and trying to get it better. Thanks for asking.

Also, thanks for the studying comment. It helps to know that I'm not the only grown-up who's tried to learn something new! I was up at 5:30 yesterday and today (easy cuz of daylight savings time) and got a good amount done early. And because it's so new for me to not be available to my family at all times, I wear Bose noise-reduction headphones while I study as a visual reminder to everyone that "Mommy's doing something!"

Eileen: I'm hoping what you wrote: "The more you have to do, the more you get done." proves to be the case. For a decade I've tried to be available to my family in a way that sometimes got a bit out of balance, e.g. never reading a book that I can't put down, cuz someone MIGHT need something. So my sites have felt like they were set pretty low, at least as far as what I got done that didn't fall under the categories of "wife-ing", "parenting", or "homemakering". Exercise was always there, though, cuz I just couldn't be sane without it -- good problem to have, right? Anyway, we don't have Halloween decorations up, and we didn't get pumpkins this year and that feels kinda crappy to me. I keep telling myself, though, that there's always next year...

And as far as housecleaning, I'm re-reading "The Flylady" book about house cleaning, which is motivating me to stay on top of things better. Objectively, though, our house isn't too bad most of the time, right Tim? Honey? Right??? :)

Adult ADD, or just back to college?

Was anyone else like me when they were in college? When it was crunch time, my apartment was cleaner than at any other time in life! Today I took care of some minor annoyances (taping up a lamp cord that was visible on the wall behind a table, trimming some carpet fibers that were coming apart at the edge of the carpet/hardwood) that really could have waited. But it's like I can study for about 15 - 20 minutes, and then I find something that's productive, but is NOT studying. The good news is that I was thinking about flexibility and autogenic vs. reciprocal inhibition while I was organizing and trimming. Or else I have adult ADD.

So the weekend was great. It pushed me way out of my comfort zone, but that's not a bad thing. Honestly, flying alone, renting a car and navigating Southern CA freeways, attending a class where I knew no one -- all of these felt really really scary. But once I was on the airplane, it was like being on a roller coaster where the car is just starting to move -- the only way out at that point is THROUGH! (Incidentally, that's what pregnancy felt like too -- I think I have a slight problem with change and things that I have little control over. But that's a topic for another day!)

Checking into the hotel, I felt very Bridget Jones as I unpacked: "Let's see -- Adidas track pants and exercise tubing. Am real fitness professional." And it's SO easy to just go to bed at 10:00 and get up at 5:30 when there's nobody else around to take care of. Getting 7-1/2 hours of sleep was a complete luxury.

In subsequent posts (the first of which will probably take place in about 10 minutes, given my attention span) I will cover:

the unexpected delightful Friday night thing
why NASM is the bomb (and I mean that in the best possible way)
what I'm trying to get pounded into my head in preparation for the test

Gotta go clean the garage -- I mean, study!

Moving very fast

Came back from NASM seminar and right into life going at a very fast pace. Today's schedule: up early to study (LOVE daylight savings time when we gain an hour -- feels virtuous to get up at 5:30 without an alarm clock!), morning chores, get kids to school, dogs to vet (shots, etc., but don't tell them!), study, pick up kids, homework supervision, gymnastics transportation, dinner prep, dinner, study, study, study. When I need a study break I'll write about the weekend, which was both fantastic and overwhelming, and reaffirmed why I chose NASM for my certification.

Focus, discipline, energy

I got the words in the title from "Brothers of IRON", the autobiography of Joe and Ben Weider. My hope is that I will bring focus, discipline, and energy to the NASM training this weekend, to my clients that I work with, and to my life in every area.

I worked with two clients today and enjoyed every single minute. I know that I'm getting noticed around my gym, which isn't a great thing, since they have their own trainers (I'm still not accepting compensation for training). But how can you not get noticed when the gym trainers take people to different machines, set the weight, and count, where I'm doing stuff like having races on the rowing machines with my clients or doing lunge walks together around the gym??? When I get scared about this weekend, I'm going to remember my words (focus, discipline, energy) and remember what I'm working towards.

To that end, I've been listening to some of my hypnosis CDs again. I'm not entirely certain that they help, but they sure can't hurt. The ones I've been listening to are "Ultimate Confidence" and "Resolution Activator" both from Wendi.com.

One final note (and then I must pack for San Diego!) -- I'm designing my business cards. I think stuff like this is super fun. I think I'm going to use two fonts from a scrapbooking website called Two Peas in a Bucket. Here's the text:

lift
A personal training service

Leslie Gandy, CPT
916.xxx.xxxx

Hard work pays off!

Once I get it formatted, I'll put up the copy so you can see.

Ok, time to shower, pack, mom-up for afternoon pickup, then head to the airport. Wish me luck!

Oh, and I scheduled my test. It's happening on Friday, November 3rd at 11:00. If anyone has any extra brain cells they'd like to toss my way...

Weekend sports update

The best matchup of the weekend may have not gotten the media coverage it deserved, and it happened right here in our hometown. It was the rundown between Tim, my husband, and Austin, our 13-year-old son. They faced off at the junior high school, and the match was to see who could run the fastest mile. I counted down, and at "GO" they were off, running in opposite directions around the track. It was pretty close as they finished each lap, but in the end, Tim prevailed with a 5:55 mile time to Austin's 6:00 mile. So Austin has to wash Tim's car. (Austin would have won $10 if he turned in the fastest time.) What makes this so fun is that they are both so good-natured about it. When my arm is healed, we may have the Mommy/Tucker matchup, and I'll be sure to keep you posted on that if/when it happens.

It's been too long

The weekend was tough. I don't know if it's new anti-depressant, or falling off the healthy-eating wagon, but I felt fragile and "off" almost the entire weekend -- not fun, and not when I like to write in my weblog. Yesterday was a "digging myself out of the pit" kind of day where I found the fight within, and today I'm back on track.

I took a CPR certification class last night, and it was fun. Many of the participants seemed bored and a little resentful to be there, but I thought it was fascinating and very useful. And I now know how to use an automatic external defibrillator, should the need arise.

So I'm getting nervous about my NASM test. It's been ages since I've been in school and I'm scared that I won't remember anything. But then again, I was nervous about the CPR certification test, and I did fine on that. Maybe it's just stepping outside of the comfort zone that has me uneasy. I'm tempted to schedule the exam, but tell nobody, and just GET IT OVER WITH!!! But I will wait till after the hands-on training in San Diego, which is this weekend.

On a completely different subject, if anyone saw the Oxygen Magazine Nutrition special issue, there are some really good recipes in it. I made their Black Bean Chili on page 105, which includes ground turkey, onion, garlic, celery, green pepper, red pepper, and all sorts of yummy spices, and my entire family thought it was wonderful.

Don't be stupid. Do something!

I've been having problems with my right arm and shoulder -- yep the "good" one -- and I've been ignoring the symptoms (shooting pains, hurting all the time) for a month now. Yes, this is still from the bingo injury of a LONG time ago. So anyway, I hurt it even more on Wednesday, so much so that I couldn't use my right arm to do simple stuff like eat, brush my teeth, or fix my hair.

So here's the plan -- I'm going to take a week off of everything -- SST and working out the Darla -- so it can get better. Then I'll reevaluate at the end of a week. Well, today taking a week off looked like doing TWO lower body workouts and TWO cardio workouts. This morning I went to the gym and did a lot of bodyweight stuff, then jumped onto the leg press machine for a killer set of single and double leg presses. Then headed upstairs for the ARC trainer, where I did 30 minutes of intervals. So then Tim gets home and wants to go to the gym while one kid is at gymnastics, and the other is at the school carnival with a group of friends. So I head back to the gym for more legs (cuz it's all I can do) and more cardio. Oh, and I did stability ball jack-knifes for abs, and I'm already sore!

Eating was clean till tonight. I did 4-1/2 days in a row, which is a true miracle, and tonight gave in to the call of the brownies. Well, tomorrow's another day, right?

The truth!

You have to check out this post on Skwigg's blog. It's eye-opening and something everyone should see. And it goes along with one of my favorite quotes, which reads:

Perfection is not of this world.

So striving for excellence? Fantastic! But shooting for that which cannot be achieved? It's a setup for chronic discontent for the rest of your life!

Also, if you get a chance, listen to Macy Gray's song, "I am not my hair." I know I've written about this before, but I certainly could use a reminder. Here's the chorus:

I am not my hair.
I am not this skin.
I am not your expectations of me.

I am not my hair.
I am not this skin.
I am the soul that lives within.

Learning to like FitDay

So today's food numbers worked out much better, with no missing calories or percentages. Totals are:

Calories: 1624
Protein: 42%
Carbs: 37%
Fat: 21%

I bought the Oxygen magazine Nutrition edition and leafed through it as I waited for my girlfriend at Max's Opera Cafe. Normally I would have really enjoyed the warm rolls and good butter, while reading my magazine. But knowing I'd have to log it in FitDay, I sipped iced tea, then had grilled salmon, grilled pineapple, and grilled vegetables.

I promise this won't turn into a "this is what I ate today" weblog, but you just have to know how different it feels to be choosing what I'm eating, and actually watching portions and all. I do eat a pretty healthy diet, especially compared to what I ate in my 30s (Balance bars, Doritos, Diet Pepsi, donuts... all this while running 20 miles a week most weeks). But portion control and cutting out the nighttime bowl of cereal (which has been my habit since I was about 10 years old) -- those changes are truly amazing to me.

On the fitness side of things, I'm still studying for my NASM exam. I'm really afraid I won't pass. But if it happens, I guess I'll just study more and take the exam again (although that wouldn't be my first choice!). And the good news is the new anti-D seems to be working well, and my short-term memory is MUCH improved, and that, my friends, feels great!

One last thing -- on my old weblog I wrote about the Mystic Pixies, a contortionist group from San Francisco that we saw at the Stanford gymnastics meet last year. (Click here and be amazed at what these girls, ages 10 to 15, can do!) The Pixies and their coach are moving to Montreal at the end of this month and will be featured in the newest Cirque du Soleil show that debuts in 2007. And Alixa, their coach, has been named Flexibility Manager for the entire show. So why do I write this? Because my kids are taking a flexibility workshop with Alixa on Sunday!!! She's teaching at the Circus Arts Center in Oakland and we're going. Actually, I'd be taking a class too, but her only opening for adults is later in the evening, which doesn't work with kids who have school the next morning. So I'm going to observe and take excellent notes.

Discoveries from Fit Day tracking

1. Tracking what you eat makes you WAY more aware of what you're tempted to shove into your mouth! I stayed and watched the kids do gymnastics today, and when we went to leave, my car wouldn't start. Well, I was already hungry, and had some Kashi TLC's in the car (healthy! yummy!). But I didn't touch them, because I already knew my carbs were kinda high for the day.

2. It's HARD to keep carbs somewhat low!!! Today I've had 1486 calories (no, I'm not done yet!) and my ratios are C:41%, P:30%, and F:16%. Don't ask me where the other 13% of calories are -- I have NO CLUE!

3. I will not die if I'm hungry. It's so easy to get in the "if I see it, I must eat it" mentality. Case in point -- I was fixing a snack, when I saw some Provolone slices in the fridge. I was reaching for them as my brain went, "You're having vegetables now, not cheese!" I guess the point here is that it's no longer a mystery as to why I've put on a few pounds. Nor is it a mystery as to how to take them off -- hooray!

Incidentally, when my clothes are tight, I have no place to go, cuz I don't have any big clothes anymore. Highly motivating to get this under control now!

Nutrition tracking

I weighed myself this weekend, after feeling like my clothes were a little snug, and sure enough, it's time to pull in the reins and get cleaner with my eating. So I'm back to using Fit Day to track my nutrition. It's good to be more mindful of what you put into your body. But yesterday, I did an SST workout (me and three high school football players -- a little intimidating, for sure!), and in a moment of weakness as I passed our farmer's market, I bought some apple cinnamon bread with lots of gooey glaze all over the top. And knowing that I was going to clean things up today, I had more than my share of slices of bread -- yum!

It helps if I think of food as fuel, or of eating for health. (My friend Shelly reminded me of the eating for health thing.) There's a very rebellious part of me that resists being told what to eat, even though the person who's telling me is ... well, me! Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how I do, and hopefully the extra that I'm feeling on my inner thighs and around my lower abs will be gone soon.

A shout out

Matt (aka Brit-Man) is a deep thinker with a sense of humor. He's also very sad, though he doesn't know it, because he doesn't have Pottery Barn (he lives in the UK). (My house would be somewhat bare without Pottery Barn!) He's also super encouraging -- thanks Matt!

Completely unrelated thoughts from my head

Nickname envy
I have a friend whose nickname in early adulthood was Sparky, because she's pretty determined to get what she wants. I think Sparky is the cutest nickname. Well we were talking, and I was telling her that I think she needs to stop thinking of herself as small and not very strong. She IS small (5'2", about 95 pounds), but she's anything but weak. So I told her I was going to think of her as TNT -- tiny and tough. But then I thought, no fair! I have no nickname, and she has TWO fanstatic ones!

Every Halloween...
... I have to watch Scream. It's the best horror movie of all time, in my opinion. It's funny and scary and campy and great. But I always have trouble finding it to rent, so this year I bought it off half.com. So I'll be getting my Scream fix (and making Tim watch with me -- it's not really his thing, but he's a good guy, as you well know!) soon.

SST yesterday
Two things stood out from yesterday's workout. One is these stupid squats (I think they're called Prisoner Squats when done with your hands on your head) where you hold a piece of PVC pipe over your head. The purpose is to keep your shoulders retracted and your chest up. So hold the pipe, then lower into a squat, pushing your butt back, but keeping your chest up. Hold for about 3 seconds, and come up. Repeat 15 times, and do 3 sets.

The main body of the workout was 400 meter hill runs alternated with 15 ball slams. Four repeats of each. Hard. Effective. And as we know from Wife Swap, HARD WORK PAYS OFF!!!

New antidepressant
Lest I fail to paint a complete picture, and only focus on what's good, the truth is that I still take an antidepressant to deal with my screwy brain chemistry. And this week I'm changing my medication. What I was on was working with one major side-effect -- my short-term memory was SHOT! And that's not going to work as I try to get certified and start my own business. So I changed as of Monday. So far, so good. I feel a little "off" at times, but that's to be expected when you switch something you've been on for five years. But my memory does feel sharper, so that's good. However...

...studying is HARD!
I'm up to my eyeballs in notecards and highlighted text and trying to memorize acute variables (reps, sets, intensity) for the seven different phases of the OPT model (Optimum Performance Training, as per NASM). I graduated from high school in 1979, and from college 5 years after that (I was on the work hard, pary hard plan), so it's been a while since I did actual studying. I like it, but I find that it's hard to stay focused. Yesterday I put in about 2-1/2 hours, but it seemed like every 10 minutes I could find SOMETHING that needed doing (dogs need water! I could put in some laundry! That counter needs wiping!), so the time was definitely broken up. But it still counts!

Beauty Juice
I got my labels. They're cute but they're not quite right somehow. I think I may try making my own, so I can completely control the font and the point size, etc. So if anyone would like a few beauty juice labels to encourage their own personal water drinking, email me your address (I'm at lgandy "at" starstream "dot" net), and I'll send you some. You can check out what they look like on my Flickr account -- I'll post a picture later today.

More wisdom from Wife Swap, and a business name!

You gotta watch Wife Swap!!! Last night it was a champion female boxer and her oh-so-fit family vs. a world champion competitive EATER and his wife and son. Predictably, they had very different lifestyles and ways of doing things. But the little nugget of wisdom from last night's show came when the boxer called in a pro football player to help her get the husband and son in shape. As they were punching a heavy bag, the football player said, "Ok, so when I say "Hard work," you're gonna say "Pays off!"" Is that not the coolest motivator??? Of course I used it on my 6:15 client today. We were doing lunges where you lunge to the front, then take the same leg, and move it all the way to the back, keeping the opposite leg stationary. This was her first time of doing this exercise, and it's not an easy one. I'd already told her about Wife Swap, so as she was coming to the end of the set, I said, "Hard work..." and she replied "pays off!" and finished the set with energy to spare.

I may have found my name!
I've been considering names for my training business, and hadn't hit upon the right one, until this weekend. Tim and I were tossing around all sorts of variations on "power" "strength" "fitness" and then we came up with this (drum roll please):

Lift

Is that perfect? In small letters under the name on business cards, I'd put "Personal Fitness Training." And maybe at the bottom of the business card, it would say, "Hard work pays off."
Simple. Elegant. Can be used in a variety of ways (lift your spirits, lift your a$$, lift your standards). Thoughts?

Moving very fast!

Left to my own devices, I would stay perpetually in the analysis phase of any project. Research and planning -- they're fun. Execution, making it happen -- SCARY!!! (That's why Tim and I work so well together -- I'm the "think it through" and he's the "let's do it!")

Well, on Thursday the training room is getting paint, and I'm getting rid of the bed this weekend. The color is going to be Benjamin Moore "barley" (199) from the new Pottery Barn paint deck. It's a pretty yellow, on the beige side, for a room that gets a lot of sunlight. For those of you who live near a Restoration Hardware, it's a lot like their Butter color (one of the best yellows on the planet!) with a little less yellow to it.

Oh, and I moved my hands-on NASM weekend from this weekend in San Francisco to the end of the month in San Diego. One of the problems with life moving very fast is that sometimes Tim and I get our wires crossed. That happened for this weekend, so I'm just going to use frequent flyer miles to do the seminar in San Diego later this month which gives me more studying time -- hooray!

P.S.

Because you asked, here's a picture of the ring. (How fun to be able to post this!) It's three round diamonds with diamond slices (I'm sure there's a word for them, but I don't know what it is) between the main stones. It couldn't be any more beautiful, and I still can't believe Tim got this for me!

Eileen asked if "cake" was code for something else in our anniversary weekend. I want to be careful how I word this ... hmmm ... well ... let's just say that in this case, I had my cake and ate it too!

An amazing weekend

It's back to reality today, but what an amazing weekend we had! It felt so different than normal life that I'm kind of pinching myself to be sure it was real. But when I look down at my right hand and see the diamonds sparkling there (more in a minute), I know it actually happened. Here are some of the highlights:

• As we were leaving town on Friday, Tim asked me what I thought about getting a ring as a 17 year gift. What? Huh? We said we weren't doing gifts! The weekend out of town is enough for me! But we went to look at rings. And much to my delight, it turns out that in our family, it's diamonds for your 17th anniversary!
• We saw the Blue Angels kind of by accident. We knew they were in town this weekend, but didn't know when they were appearing. After lunch on Saturday, we decided to walk to Coit Tower, and when we got there, there were hundreds of people hanging out, waiting for the Blue Angels. Agile Tim found a great place for us to watch -- on a wall by a planter box about 30 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND! Ok, to be fair, on one side, the drop off was only about 8 feet, but the other side was scary high. And yes, I walked along the wall to get to our viewing spot, trembling and thinking positive thoughts the entire way. Anyway, the Blue Angels were wonderful. The sound as they fly by gives you chills, and the beauty and grace of what they do -- I'll never forget it.
• We ate cake every day! Friday night we had a chocolate/hazelnut slice at One Market. Saturday at lunch we had something called Double Penance Chocolate at a little cafe in North Beach, the Italian section of SF. Saturday night we had a lemon/blackberry concoction at Boulevard. And Sunday we had carrot cake in Mill Valley. Wish there was a diet plan that includes cake at every meal!
• There's a website called mapmyrun.com where you can calculate your distance on foot. We used that to calculate how far we walked on Saturday, and it's somewhere between 6 and 7 miles. We went from Fisherman's Wharf, by all the piers, to California, to North Beach, to Coit Tower, to Union Street Shops. Incidentally, there are a lot of hills in SF which I just loved. And on foot is the best way to see the city for sure! Oh, and we went to Lululemon on Union, where I got a shirt with seaweek extract in it (to condition the skin when you sweat!) and a gym bag. Very cool place, and really neat that we stumbled upon it!
• Saving the best for last, we had dinner at Boulevard on Saturday night. Three weeks ago, when I called for a reservation, they had one opening at 9:15. That tells you others like this place too. We took a Town Car from our hotel (felt VERY "Sex and the City"!), and Tim arranged for us to have a table with windows on both sides, overlooking Mission and Embarcadaro (thanks sweetie!). The chef sent out special appetizers! The food was out of this world good. And I got to do all this with the man of my dreams -- life, indeed, is good!
• Oh, one last thing. Of course I did hill play in the city. I couldn't tell you how far it was, but I went up and down California several times yesterday mornings, with a few detours onto extra hilly streets. It was early, the air was crisp, and my iPod was giving me a beautiful soundtrack to walk/run by.
  

So that's it -- our anniversary weekend. Hooray for happy marriage!

Insecurity attack

This morning I was confident and enthusiastic and ready for anything. Then I went shopping. What is it about shopping that reduces me to such an insecure child? I was looking for a dress to wear for our anniversary (17 years on Saturday, and we're celebrating with a weekend in San Francisco, sans children!). There were several possibilities, and I actually ended up buying something really cute, with some sexy black boots to wear with it. But I felt sad and lonely and insecure the entire time. Isn't shopping supposed to be fun?

I really am looking forward to celebrating our anniversary. When we were married, Tim was a huge SF Giants fan. In fact, we rented a TV for our room in Jamaica on our honeymoon so we could watch the playoffs. And we were trying to fly into San Francisco the night of the huge earthquake in 1989. I say this to underscore how important the Giants used to be to Tim. Until they broke his heart by ALMOST going to the World Series (or something else awful like that -- I'm not sure of the event, but I do know whatever it was, that event along with the player's strike years ago, sucked all of Tim's love of baseball away).

ANYWAY, because of love of baseball, we kind of never did anything for our anniversary, cuz early October is a critical time in a fan's life, right? Well, this year we're doing it differently, and I'm so excited! We're staying at The Omni, which Tim says is really nice. And we're having dinner at Boulevard, a hot restaurant according to my girlfriend. (I made reservations 3 weeks ago, and was able to get a table at 9:15 -- the only time they had open -- so others must like the place too!)

Ok, now I'm talking myself into a little excitement. It is a happy thing to have a fun dress and sexy boots and to go away with the man you love. And it's an even happier thing to love the same man (and have him love you back!) after 17 years of marriage!

Guess my insecurity attack is over -- whew!

Fight Gone Bad

That was today's SST workout. After 30 minutes of warmup, agility, and speed work, we did this progression three times:

Rowing machine -- 1 minute
Wall ball -- 1 minute
Wide stance sumo deadlift -- 1 minute
Box jumps -- 1 minute
Push press -- 1 minute
rest (hooray) -- 1 minute

Coach Valentino said it is one of the hardest workouts they have, and I'm SURE he's right. In case anyone is tempted to recreate it, here are some detailed notes on each exercise:

Rowing machine -- self-explanatory, no notes
Wall ball -- 8 pound Dynamax ball, like shooting a free throw in basketball, but when it comes back to you, do a deep squat (we were using another Dynamax ball as a reference point, which means you squat to about 10" off the ground)
Wide stance... -- you're in a plie stance (but they don't call it that at SST!) using a kettlebell or hand weight. Holding the weight between your legs with knees bent, you kind of pop with your lower body to straighten legs, and lift the weight up to your chest, with elbows above your hands.
Box jumps -- on 12" box. Jump up with both feet, then step off one at a time (to avoid catching your toe and wiping out!)
Push press -- I'm sure this move is detailed better on the internet, but using a weight bar (mine was 10 pounds, cuz my shoulder is STILL hurting from the bingo injury!) you start with the bar at your shoulders, hands a little more than shoulder width apart. You do a shallow squat, then pop with your hips to drive the bar overhead, ending with straight legs and straight arms with the bar over your head.

If you decide to try this, good luck!

New uses for Post-Its

Ever since I was young, my mind has run on several tracks at once. With being a mom, it got worse. And with getting older (46 in January?!?!), it's even more intense. My family knows, "If it's not written down, it won't happen." So we have Post-Its everywhere, and they'll just show up on my computer screen with stuff like, "crazy glue" or "haircut" on them.

I've recently come up with two new uses for Post-Its that work really well for me and my teeny tiny brain, and I thought I'd share them. The first is in the laundry room. I don't do a lot of special care laundry, but sometimes there's something in a full load that needs to hang dry, and it's nearly impossible for me to remember that as I'm tossing everything into the dryer. So I now have Post-Its in the laundry room and will write down anything that needs special handling, and put the note on the washer for when I'm transferring to the dryer.

The other idea was for books that I've promised to let friends read. Right now I'm reading "Locker Room Diaries" and Jenny said she wanted to borrow it when I'm done. I want to remember to give it to her, so I've written her name on my bookmark Post-It, so when I'm done I can pass it on. Same with "Bunny Tales: Life Inside the Playboy Mansion" that I'm passing on to Darla when I'm finished.

Too princessey?

Watched Wife Swap last night and was fascinated by the woman who was ready to toss her cookies while taking out the trash. Who does that? Not me. Taking out the trash? Fine. Picking up dog poop (we have TWO dogs)? Not my favorite thing, but I do it more than anyone else in our family, and I'm really good at it. (That means I have a good eye for spotting it, even when it's trying to disguise itself as regular dirt or bark.) But recycling? I do it, but I hate it. I took cans and plastic to the recycling place today before picking Austin up from school. And all I could think as I drove there was, "I have garbage in my car. Yuck." But since our garbage service only reclaims 60% of the recyclables from regular trash pickup, I can't bring myself to throw away cans & bottles. At least I got a nice gossip magazine out of it -- hey, there has to be some benefit from saving the planet, right?

A job offer, kind of?

So I did SST yesterday. It was just me and a high school football star, which was intimidating at first, but then the workout kicked my a** and it really didn't matter. The coach leading the workout is the Steve Kenyon, the owner of SST, and we talked for most of the hour (when I could breathe, that is). We were talking about training and how SST's model differs from traditional "30 minute weight workout with machines/30 minutes of cardio" workouts. And to make a long story short, he offered that I can use their facility to train my clients once I'm certified!

This is a very cool offer on a lot of levels. First of all, have you SEEN their facility (scroll down to see it)? It's beautiful and the equipment is to die for.

Another thing that's really neat (although I feel a little sheepish saying this) is that the owner must see something he likes in me. Cuz if you didn't think someone was motivated or worked hard or knew what they were talking about, would you offer to let them use what you've worked so hard to create?

And finally, as I'm pricing fitness equipment, I'm realizing that it will cost at least $2000 (and probably end up closer to $3000) to get what I want for my home training studio.

So why wouldn't I jump on this offer? Well, there are several reasons (please bear with me as I try to unravel all the confused thought in my head):

1. Although I love the SST/Cross Fit model, I'm not sure I want to train my clients in that manner. My thought is to do a combination of tradition weight exercises, plyometrics (based on level of fitness, of course), and some of the agility and balance stuff that SST puts you through. And that plan would work better at my house, I think...

2. I really want to work one-on-one with women. To me, a personal training session can feel almost as indulgent as a good massage, and much of that has to do with how great it feels to have someone focused ONLY on you and what you want. (Besides, both massages and good workouts leave you feeling tired and in need of a shower, right?) Anyway, I'm not sure if the SST facility would feel strange in a one-on-one session.

3. So maybe I sound like a big baby here, but I really like the idea of creating my own workout space. It's going to be happy yellow, and the secondary colors will be blue and green and I have art for the walls (a very cool watercolor titled "The Woman Who Wanted it All" that shows a woman reaching for a star and pulling it down from the night sky) AND I ordered my water bottle labels on Friday. (I'll be sure to post pictures once I get them.)

But here's an different plan that might make sense. I truly believe that what SST and Cross Fit are doing are fabulous workouts. But they're not for everyone, at least not people who are really deconditioned. So what if I were to get certified as a Cross Fit instructor, or did whatever it takes to lead workouts at SST, and then maybe twice a week, I lead a women's class there? I was telling Steve that I can reach women that he can't reach, because so many women would look at him as a strength coach and with his decades of experience, and completely dismiss his methods as having any relevance to them. But they might look at me, and say, "Hey, if she can do it, maybe I can do it!"

So that's where things are. I did SST again this morning, and will be doing a walk/run/skippy thing for part of the kids gymnastics time this afternoon. Maybe that will help to clear my head. Can't hurt, right?