Law of Motion

My clients were not enthusiastic about their workouts today, to say the least. I had to do a bit more coaxing than usual but, I have to admit, I needed my own persuading this weekend too. Who wants to work out after a few days of excess eating and drinking? Our bodies adjust so quickly to idleness. Just like Newton's First Law of Motion says, "..objects in a state of uniform motion tend to remain in motion unless an external force is applied." In this case, the external force was turkey (and stuffing, potatoes, apple crumble, wine, etc.). It's hard to start moving again once you've had a few days of leisure.

With the L.A. Marathon three months away, I no longer get to casually run on the weekends -- I have a training plan to follow and it's fairly aggressive. Saturday morning I woke up groggy, lazy, and unmotivated but I had to run 10 miles if I wanted to keep on track with training, so there was no way I could crawl back into bed. To make matters worse, after I finally got dressed and out the door, I went to turn on my ipod and there was no battery life left in it. Talk about frustrating! To Keith's horror (and after reflecting, my own), I dropped an F-bomb in front of the kids. Not my finest moment. I went back inside and charged the thing for 15 minutes while convincing myself this run was still necessary. Well, I eventually made it out and ended up having a really great and, rather, easy run through the Palisades and out along the beach. The turkey was out of my way and my body was back in motion.

Needless to say, I could easily relate to the way my clients were feeling this morning. But I knew that once their workouts were finished, we'd have crossed the hurdle. Keeping our bodies active and healthy is a choice, and it's a choice we need to make time and time again. There will always be external forces that impede us from moving forward (literally and figuratively) but it's up to us to find the strength to push through. With Christmas around the corner, I know I'll have plenty more of those lazy Saturday mornings -- that's life -- but next time I'll try to watch my language.

In thanks

I'm floored that Thanksgiving is only 3 days away. I swear that only yesterday we were celebrating the 4th of July at the beach! I guess that's one of the downsides of living in California -- there isn't a distinction between seasons, so the only marker that Thanksgiving is around the corner is the abundance of turkeys, pumpkin pies, and stuffing mix at the grocery stores. You can occasionally find a street that has some trees with different color leaves, but it isn't common. There are so many perks to living in this state. I'd say the only real con is missing out on the changes that occur in nature as the climate shifts. A shift for us is 79 degrees to 59 degrees, and that's quite a chilly day in our books.

Thanksgiving is my husbands favorite holiday. He loves spending the lazy day eating homemade appetizers and drinking cold beer, while watching football. Of course, since children entered the picture almost 3 years ago, the lazy day isn't quite so lazy anymore. Between my brother and me, we have 4 children under the age of 4 so all family get-togethers are hectic. But each holiday also takes on new meaning. For example this year Madeleine, my 2 1/2 year old, is inquisitive about everything so I've been doing my best to explain the purpose of Thanksgiving to her. In doing so, I've reminded myself of it's importance as well. She and I sit and talk about everything we're thankful for and, as you can imagine, she comes up with some pretty unusual things -- the windows, bubbles, the sand (all valid nonetheless). Through her, I see the world in a much more simple, beautiful way and this in itself is something to be grateful for.

This year I feel especially thankful for two healthy children, a hard-working and dedicated husband, a supportive, loving family, and friends that give so much meaning to my life. I also feel so fortunate to be doing something where I'm teaching but also simultaneously learning. It's been a great year for me, and I'm just realizing how unfortunate it is that it takes a holiday to make me see that.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! Hope your tables are full of food and surrounded by those you love.

Plates Spinning

I don't know about others, but I seem to be at my best when I have too many things to do and too little time to do them. It's seems contradictory that I would perform better when I have less time to focus on attention and detail but, for some reason, I really do. I guess it comes down to time management. If I have too much, I don't use it wisely. I've never be good with leisure time. Even when I was home on maternity leave with my first child (which become permanent leave after a few months), I didn't feel right just sitting around watching videos from Netflix. Don't get me wrong -- I did sit and watch plenty of movies, but I was always struggling internally thinking about other things I should be doing. That's when I decided to do research about personal training. Two months after Madeleine was born, my study materials arrived and my DVD player was turned off.

These days, with two children under the age of three there isn't time to watch anything from Netflix -- I barely get a chance to turn on network television. But that's okay with me. I'm happy that I have an outlet like personal training to fill whatever remaining space I have in my days, and I also really like having this blog to document the never-ending dialogue going on in my head. The only downside to being busy is that the days fly by and I forget to appreciate all the little moments. I get so carried away on what I should be doing next that I'm not always fully present in what I'm doing at that moment. That's definitely something I need to work on. The name of my business is also an underlying theme in my life -- balance has to be implemented in every aspect of living. I'm great at juggling multiple things but unless I have balance and remember to take everything in stride, something will eventually be missed. I wouldn't want it to be my children's childhoods.

Settled at last.

We moved for the fifth time in five years almost two weeks ago, and my head is finally above water. Based on the frequency of relocations, you'd think I enjoy packing and unpacking but it's actually my least favorite thing to do -- especially the packing (I don't know how people choose to become professional movers). Our first move was from San Francisco after we got married. Keith was offered a job in L.A. and I also wanted to move back down closer to my family and friends. Since then, we've been renting in different places between Santa Monica and Hancock Park trying to find our niche. After living in Hancock Park for a year, we're back on the west side in the Pacific Palisades and, I have to say, the living is easy here. Through all of this reshuffling, I've been tested in a few different ways. First of all, boxing up a house is much different when you have two toddler pulling at your legs. My patience, mental, and physical stamina were all challenged on a daily basis. When we started on the huge task of bubble- wrapping all of the dishes in the kitchen, Keith asked me which side of the wrap went against the glass. That gives you an idea of who has done most of the packing over the last five years. After I mocked him for such a ridiculous question, we set off in a steady (and familiar) pace, and we got a lot done quickly. I guess that's one of the perks of moving often -- you know exactly which rooms to tackle first. I have to give my children credit, too. During the last few days before the movers came, our downstairs living room was literally stacked with boxes from floor to ceiling, with just the tiniest path allowing us to get to the kitchen. I was frustrated and claustrophobic, but the kids didn't even seem to notice. Madeleine pushed her garbage truck and Owen pushed the shopping cart on the floor in the cramped remaining space, they threw balls and built towers with the blocks. None of it bothered them.

I was worried about how they would transition to their new bedrooms and because of that, our top priority when moving day finally arrived was to unpack their rooms and get them organized as quickly as possible. By bedtime on the first night in our new place, toys were put in their proper places on shelves, clothes were folded in the right drawers, and their lovey's were waiting to be cuddled in their cribs. They both slept through the night with only one brief squawk from Owen at 1am. I was relieved and impressed. Over the next 24 hours we unpacked every box and hung all of our photos and paintings. Besides needing a few new pieces of furniture, our new home felt comfortable and inviting. (I guess that's another perk of moving often -- you don't accumulate a lot of junk so finding places for things isn't too difficult).

Now that we've been here for almost 2 weeks, I can say with 100% confidence that we don't want to think about moving again for quite some time. Living close to the village allows us to have access to everything we need without the hassle of driving. I started working with a client who lives 6 blocks away and with her, I'm able to explore the beautiful streets surrounding us. Living close to the ocean and having such incredible natural scenery reminds me of why I'm so happy being a personal trainer; I'm inspired by the dedication of the people I work with and I'm also motivated by the simple pleasure of being outdoors. At the end of the day, home is definitely where your family is, but it also has to be a place you take pride in. I'm glad to be home.