Autumn: the Symbol of Change

I’m not sure what it is about fall that makes me reflect and evaluate all aspects of my life.   It could be an instilled association from childhood that when summer’s over it’s time to focus on school.  Or maybe, as an adult, it’s more of a last minute chance to find success in something before the year comes to a close.

Whatever reason it may be, I am grateful.  Grateful because it gives me a refreshed focus.  A determination.  And a desire to want a change.

I get a lot of heat from family and friends because I talk so much about eating healthy and living a fit and healthy life, yet on Facebook I only ever seem to be having fun travelling and hanging out with friends.

But for me, September thru May is my time to focus.  Mostly because the children are in school so we absolutely have to be regimented and structured.  If not, our schedule goes awry and then everything falls apart.  I am an all or nothing type of person so I can’t be one foot in and one foot out in regards to anything.  It just doesn’t work for me.

Summer, for me, means kids don’t have to be in bed at a certain time, and we can stay up later without paying the exhausting consequences in the morning.  It means I can sleep in a little more and only be concerned with getting myself to work.

Summers ARE ABOUT travelling, maybe escaping the summer heat to go camping and making s’mores with the kids and enjoy laughs and a drink or two around the campfire with friends.  It could be barbecuing with friends and sitting by the pool.  Here in Phoenix, sitting by the pool is necessary when it’s 115 degrees.  This also means that a blender with a nice, refreshing frozen concoction isn’t too far out of reach!  My friends know that I mix up some delicious margaritas!

For the most part, I understand what people say about my status updates and pictures posted of travels to Vegas for friend’s birthdays, or drinking mai tai’s on the beach and going out to restaurants and work functions.  However, I know my body.  I know what I can and can’t handle.  I also know that if I gain 5-8 pounds that I know what I need to do to lose those 5-8 pounds!  But, albeit maybe as a Coach and a motivator I should probably refrain from posting those indulgences.

Anyways, this explains why I lose a little grip of my fitness level.  I eat right, maintain a low body fat percentage and barely miss a workout from September to May.  And I KNOW… it’s completely backwards!  Most people work hard to get in shape for summer so they can wear a bikini, which I do too, but then I lose the bikini body by the end of June!  It’s like athletes that train religiously for their sport during the off season and during the regular season they are seen living it up like rock stars.

As the seasons change for you what do you see are your areas of opportunity?  Do your goals shift focus too?  Think about where you started at the beginning of 2012 and the direction you’re going now.  The good, the bad, the what, where, and why’s.  Will you have the same goals for 2013 that you had for 2012 or are you going to bring those to life through execution to make way for new and better goals?

Cheers,
Christy

P.S.  Whether you’re like me and get off track or not, I can help you.  It’s not just about calories in and calories out that we’ve all been taught for years.  It’s the “right” calories in and “track” your calories out.  Follow me here to learn more.

Aloha! Take Advantage of the Recession Deals

I haven’t written in a while but now we’re finally back from Hawaii and I’m not sad at all!  We were there for 6 days with all 3 kids and Frank and I were both happy to come home.  It was fun taking the whole family but also completely exhausting!  Now if we were there just the two of us I’m sure it would’ve been a different story having to leave.

 

 

 

 

We stayed in Waikiki and this was our first trip to Hawaii for all of us.  It was absolutely beautiful and we did a lot in 6 days. 

We stayed at the Aston Waikiki Sunset (ResortQuest) only because it was the best deal for a one bedroom suite.  We wanted to stay at the Hilton Village because that’s where everyone told us to go but their price for a 1 bedroom suite per night was the grand total we spent at the Aston (which needless to say is why I booked it!).  But then when we got to the hotel we very quickly realized why the price was so appealing.  The place was in desperate need of remodeling.  Thankfully, we were only there to sleep so it served it’s purpose.   However, we will never stay there again.

The next day we had to make our way over to Hilton Village to board the Atlantis submarine and Frank said “Oooh I wish we would’ve stayed here” until, of course, I reminded him of the money we were saving by not staying there.   🙂

The first day we were there we went to the beach which was 4 blocks from our hotel and then we went back to the room and us girls got all dolled up for the luau. 

We all got ready early so I suggested we walk down to the Moana Surfrider hotel to get “The Best Mai Tai In Town” per The Today Show.  It was very strong and not very sweet.  But Frank was very happy with it.

 

Then we missed our bus to the Paradise Cove Luau in Ko’olina so we had to drive ourselves.  But that worked out and we didn’t end up missing much:  just the pig roasting which I’m glad the girls didn’t see anyways otherwise they’d probably want to be vegetarians by now!

The following day we headed up to the North Shore and I told everyone we’d just take a drive and see the sights so the baby could take a nap.  No one knew I secretly packed our swimsuits and towels!  Not sure how they all missed the big bulky beach bag but it was a great surprise!  This is also where I got my crazy sunburn (hence the reason there’s no picture here).  I thought my oversized sunglasses covered more of my forehead so I ended up getting burned and looking really strange.  I also thought the one finger spread of sunscreen across my forehead would keep me covered so that’s why the name ‘stripes’ was so fitting for Frank to call me the next couple of days.  

Then we went to Waimea Falls Park and it was breathtaking especially because I didn’t know Oahu had any waterfalls so not expecting to see any and then seeing this was awesome.

They told us they do a lot of weddings there and after the 25 minute walk through the park we know why.

 

The next day we did a dinner cruise and the kids really loved the entertainment on board.  There were hula dancers, a Hawaiian singer and a little magic show.  We also did the Polynesian Cultural Center but we weren’t very impressed with it.   That could also be due to how hot and humid it was though. 

The real highlight of the trip for Frank and I was the snorkelling at Hanauma Bay.  What a beautiful place to snorkel.  As you all know we had planned to do our first dive on this trip after getting PADI certified but we had a problem bringing the baby on the boat so we didn’t do it.   This was still a great experience though and no regrets about not scuba diving.

We were able to take all the kids on this trip to Hawaii because of all the spectacular deals there are online.  The islands are really hurting right now because of the recession so if you can afford to take advantage of the deals US Airways is offering I suggest you do it while there’s still time.  Also, check out www.sidestep.com.  They have some great deals and are generally about 15% lower than priceline and all the others.  For those of you who made a face when I said US Airways, yes I know, we feel the same way about them.  But are you more loyal to an airline or your own wallet? 

All and all it was a great trip and we’re glad we shared it with the kids.  Next time we’ll do Maui or Kauai and we’ll just hang out on a resort and never leave.

Mahalo and Aloha!

PADI Certified?

Call me crazy… but why are people paying for this certification?  What is stopping people from buying their own scuba gear, reading “Scuba Diving for Dummies” and then going off to dive into any ocean they want?  Is there some sort of scuba police that I don’t know about where they’re waiting to ask for your PADI ID?!

Don’t get the wrong idea here, the money isn’t the problem – its’ the time.  Frank and I and the kids are going to Hawaii in the next month and Frank wanted to get certified before we went.  To me it seemed like a logical thing to do until our ‘scuba instructor’ told me yesterday that Frank and I have to watch a DVD, read a 150 page book, answer the 5 chapter tests, get acquainted with our RDP contraption, and meet him on Friday for an orientation meeting!  What the heck!  All I want to do is breathe under water!  Does it really take all this to get that accomplished?? 

Frank and I have been scuba diving before.  Well let me rephrase:  I’ve been scuba diving before.   A couple years ago we went to Cabo San Lucas (ahhh) and we added scuba diving to our itinerary online while we were booking the trip.  When we got to the hotel who was sponsoring this adventure the instructor gave us our gear, told us there was a 15 minute instuctional video and when we were done to meet him on the pier at the boat!

This scared the heck out of Frank because he’s not the best of swimmers coming out of upstate New York and all.  He was expecting a class at the hotel pool.

I wasn’t scared yet.  I had never been scuba diving before but I had been snorkelling in Catalina Island before.  So since there was no formal training being given here I just thought this was going to be easier than I ever imagined.

We got all our gear on, met our instructor at what looked like a fishing boat, drove out to the picturesque rock formation that is on every postcard from Cabo and then we threw the anchor.

 

The instructor who could barely speak english reminded us to swallow every foot to a foot and a half and to wave to him if there was a problem.  Frank and I initially had problems starting because we weren’t used to breathing through a straw.  This was it for Frank.  He was freaked out.  He climbed back up into the boat and told me to go ahead.  It took me a while to get the hang of it but eventually I did and went down.  I loved it.  I saw a family of seahorses nestled into the ocean wall and I had this fish follow me for most of the whole experience.  It was a pretty euphoric feeling.

A little scary at first but well worth the anxiety.  I’m a little nervous right now about doing this in Hawaii but mostly because we’re taking the kids with us.  So we’ll see how it goes.