Hi All!  Did everyone survive Thanksgiving?!  Today is my Monday, I took yesterday off from work because I just knew I would need an extra day to myself to re-cooperate, and  was I right!  So let me rewind all the way back to Turkey Day... I started my day early with the Turkey Trot 5K, which went awesome by the way!  I had a time of 27:45, which is just around the same time I had for the 5K I did back in July, so I'll take it!  I will say that I felt much better running in the cold weather as opposed to the warmer weather, much more comfortable.  Overall, a fantastic time and the 3 mile run definitely felt good to have under my belt before heading to TWO family Thanksgivings that day!  Check out me and my running buddies below, they did awesome!
Picture
Julie and I
Picture
Me, Kista & Beth!
I was home from the race by 10:30AM, just enough time to get ready to head over to the families' house for Turkey festivities, Tony's Aunt's house at Noon and my parents' house by 4PM! 
Picture
Enjoying their feast!
By the time we got to my parents' house I was ready for round 2, I made sure to eat reasonable light at both places, grazing the fixings, is a good way to put it.  I am proud of myself because normally I leave Thanksgiving dinner feeling stuffed to the gills, but this time around I felt pretty darn good and managed not to overeat :)  I brought over the game Mad Gab and my mom, aunt, sister, nieces and I played after dinner and I think all the laughing that was going on burned off most of the calories from dinner!  If you've never played Mad Gab... YOU MUST... HILARIOUS!  After all the fun, we headed home because I needed to get some rest because I volunteered myself to help out for the Black Friday frenzy at American Eagle...BAD MOVE!  The mall opened at midnight and can you believe it, there were people actually lined up outside the doors!  Luckily I only had to work 4 hours so it wasn't too terribly bad.  But I am confident when I say, that is the LAST black friday I will EVER work again!
The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow.  Went to yet another Thanksgiving gathering at Tony's grandpa's on Saturday and on Sunday the kids and I made a trip to Detroit to spend a nice dinner with the Italian side of the family, very nice to see everyone :) 

We finally made it to Monday and the rest of the week.  Today actually marks Day 60 of my P90X journey.  I did my measurements and I'm so happy to announce that I lost 1 inch off my waist and an inch off each thigh!  WHOO!  My lower half was my targeted area this time around and I'm so so glad I was able to get some movement in that area!  I took some pics too and I just had to show off the pic below because my arms have always been very easy for me to sculpt, I'm very proud of this pic, some girls may not like this look, but I think muscles are sexy!  Oh! And I did my very first pull up during this 30 days too, GOAL!  Happy with phase 2 of P90X!  Here's to the last leg of the race!  30 days and I will have completed my FIRST ROUND OF P90X!  BRING IT!!!!!! XXXXXXX
 
Wow, can you believe it's the week of Thanksgiving?!  I can't!  How was everyone's weekend?  Mine was definitely fun filled!  Friday I celebrated my girlfriend's birthday with a dinner date and Breaking Dawn, it lived up to every expectation I had, it was AMAZING!  CANNOT wait for part 2!
Saturday I was up bright and early going over my Turbo Round notes preparing for my sample class at Phitness 4:13, class was at 8:30am so I got there a little bit early and I'm glad I did because peeps were already there ecstatic about TurboKick!  Got to talk with everyone that signed up for the class and it turned out not one person had ever done any kind of Turbo workout before (besides my regular Turbo girls I brought)... nerves through the roof!  LOL!  The awesome thing was that they were all open to the idea so that made it much easier for me :)  Anywho, we got started right on time and did about 30 min. straight to the Turbo zone!  They did AWESOME!  I was so proud of them and they LOVED the class!!  SCORE!  They want more Turbo... ask and you shall receive!  TurboKick is now on the offiical schedule at Phitness 4:13 on Saturdays at 8AM! Check out the flyer below and also be sure to check out my video on my YouTube Channel I made talking about my first live TurboKick class at a fitness facility!
Sunday was relatively low key... in the morning my sister and I headed out to the Apple Store at Crocker Park, just recently my Mac Powerbook hardrive took a turn for the worst (she was good to me though, lasted a good 7 years!).  I was in the market for a new Mac, super excited, I knew exactly what I wanted too.  Can't say enough about they staff at the Apple Store, they go above and beyond the call of duty and had me all set up before I left so all I had to do when I got home was plug her in and go to work!  Isn't she GORGEOUS?! Even bought her a new desk so that I could accommodate my work laptop and my brand new desktop :)  This new addition to my workspace is going to do wonders for my efficiency with my business and all the creative ideas I have swirling around in my little head!
Sunday night.. I had dinner with my very good friends from high school, these girls mean the world to me and I don't know what I would do without them!  Mary (the one in the 30s stuff) obviously turned 30!  We made it out to celebrate in style :)  She kicks it off for all of us, now we're gonna start falling like dominos into the 30 zone LOL!  No, I'm not at all scared of 30, I actually can't wait for the things I do in my 30s, it's only the beginning!
Oh Monday!  Not like other Mondays I must say... I took the morning off of work to take the time to be at my babies' school to help serve their Thanksgiving feast!  Half the class was pilgrims and the other half were indians... SO CUTE!  My babes were pilgrims..... oh yeah, I made the hats... THANK YOU GOOGLE :)
And yesterday was my second to last training day for the 5K this Thursday, ran 2.3 miles in 16:55, my best time yet.  Felt awesome, I think my pic below says it all LOL!  Today I'm going to hit the pavement for one last run before the race, I'll be taking a rest day tomorrow to prepare myself for Turkey Trot 2011!  Cant' wait!  Happy Thanksgiving all!
 
Well hello there guys!  We're early in the week, so I hope everyone is off to a good start.  This morning I started my day off with a little yoga and after I put the the kiddos on the bus I hit the pavement for a run.  On Thanksgiving day I plan to run in the Turkey Trot 5K so as we are roughly a week and a half away from Thanksgiving I have been training for the past week to prepare for the race... SAY WHAT?!  Thanksgiving is next week already?! Man.. 2011 is just flying by, isn't it?  Anywho, I really have to tell you guys that I'm not a runner by nature, but I am growing to LOVE it.  I'm not sure if it was the somber feel of the damp atmosphere or the smell of morning dew, but this morning was the PERFECT morning for a run.  No wind, temperature was just right.  Of course I had my iPod locked and loaded and my playlist of choice whenever I run is none other than her wildly wacky self, Lady Gaga.  On tap this morning was her album Born This Way.  Every song on that track relates to me in one way or another.  Which brings me to another topic I wanted to share with you... How many of you are into personal development?  Now when I say personal development I mean, do you read books on time management,  inspiration, money management?  Do authors like Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Jim Rohn & Brian Tracey come to mind?  If so, AWESOME.  If not, I highly recommend finding a personal developement outlet that suites you and that can help you DO MORE and BE MORE in this life that you have been given.  Personally, I have read books from Brian Tracey, Eat That Frog, which is a book on time management, I've listened to audio from The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, which is a profound philosophy on making goals and reaching them, I've done Chalene Johnson's 30 Day PUSH Challenge and have accomplished 7 out of the 10 goals that I made for myself in 2011.  You can't deny this stuff.  Every single day we should be putting more knowledge into our minds that will push us to do more and increase our value and self worth, not only for yourself, but for your family and for others around you.  When you make the necessary steps to improve the quality of your life and the way you live it, it makes others around want to do the same, and THAT'S exactly the kind of thing you want to get addicted to.  Currently, I'm diving head first into an incredible sequence from Dani Johnson.  Dani is a self made millionaire, a true rags to riches story that which she founded on her own just by doing and excelling at small positive changes.  I encourage you to check her out at www.danijohnson.com, sign up to get her 5 free personal development videos and also take advantage of her free book, First Steps to Wealth.  I've watched 2 of her videos already and her book is on the way to my house as we speak.  In just the 2 short videos I've watched, I can tell you this much... I have a plan of action and I am going to execute that plan and make things happen for myself.  I really can't wait!  So, ok guys, do your personal development OK!  Trust me, it will open your eyes to a whole new world of possibilities, I PROMISE!  They don't teach this stuff in college, THEY SHOULD!  So whether you struggle with time management, sticking to your goals or whatever.. there's definitely something out there for you, check out at least one of the authors I mentioned above, you won't be sorry you did :)  Have an AWESOME week everyone!  I'll keep ya posted on my running... today was 2 miles at 17:29, if I can keep that pace and get one more mile in under 10 minutes, I beat my personal best.... I smell a goal in sight!