WARNING:  Gaga ALERT!  Ya'll know I'm goo goo for GAGA.  Here's my latest Gaga find.  Her Viva Glam MAC lipstick in pink :)  Love it!  What Gaga fan isn't complete without her very own Gaga lipstick, right?!  All you fellow Little Monster can relate, right?!  Haha, I know some of you think, "How on earth can someone love Lady Gaga that much?!"  My response to that... I know you know who she is and what she LOOKS like, you've heard her music, but have you ever actually sat down and LISTENED to her speak?  Like words, like actual conversation.  She is one of the the most real, intriguing & inspiring individuals I've ever come across.  She is a true story of someone who fought her way from the bottom and never stopped believing in her dream.  She truly believed in her own mind she was a rockstar before anyone even knew her name.  She faced scrutiny, negativity and backlash in her fight to the top, but she never gave up.  That's character right there and despite what some may think of her, you can't take that away from her.  Don't judge this book by it's cover, she's a phenomenal read, you just have to learn to read this one between the lines ;) 

So, I kinda have some exciting news  to tell.... Recently I've been kicking around the idea of starting my own Fit Club.  As a Team Beachbody Coach I have the unique opportunity to run one of these on my own.  Basically, a Fit Club is a gathering of individuals that workout together to the Beachbody programs, whether it be P90X, TurboFire, Insanity, ChaLEAN Extreme or any one of the programs Beachbody offers, the idea is to change it up every week.  Fit Club is just a way others can come together and offer eachother support in reaching their fitness goals.  Anyway, I totally want to do a Fit Club that I can call my own and recently I had the amazing opportunity to speak with a woman named Tammy Polenz who just opened her own health club in the downtown Cleveland area this past January.  It is an amazing space and a great place (I thought) to start my Fit Club.  My main target is to hit up the lunch crowd, those that are looking to get in a quick 30 minute burn on their lunch break.  Turns out, Tammy thought it was a great idea too :)  Tammy's health club is called, Vedas.  It is located in the heart of downtown Cleveland on E. 9th Street.  It is a wonderful facility that offers a full gym service and group classes at an amazingly affordable rate.  Tammy is also a published author of a great health and fitness book called, 'Think Fit 2 Be Fit'.  Which she just so happened to have a copy on hand for me and she signed it as well!  I've only read the first few chapters so far, but I can tell this is definitely going to be a phenomenal read.  In it she goes into depth about how getting fit isn't only about the phyisical aspect, but about the mental aspect as well.  Before reading this book, I can remember back a few years ago when I was trying to get to a healthy status and drop some weight and would fail miserably over and over again.  I would always tell myself that if I could just find the right mindset, I could do this, I could stick with it.  THE RIGHT MINDSET.  I can't tell you how much in common I have with the words that are printed in this book.  While reading it, I feel like they are my own thoughts on the page.  It really is so refreshing to know that there are others, others that are successful in this business, that I share common thoughts with.  You can find 'Think Fit 2 Be Fit' at any Borders (while they're still open), on Amazon and on iPad.  I'm very excited about this opportunity to work with Vedas and to do my part in helping others achieve their goals in fitness and help them get in the right mindset so they CAN get there.  So, on Thurs. August 18th at 12 o'clock NOON, Vedas and myself will be conducting our very first Fit Club.  All our welcome, even if you are not a member of Vedas.  For Vedas members it is free and for non-members a donation is requested.  Stay tuned to FitLiz for more details coming on this, and if you are going to be in the downtown Cleveland area that day and you'd like some more information on this you are free to shoot me a message through my email.

Happy Friday ya'll!  Well for me anway ;)  Tomorrow I will be well on my way to Kelley's Island for 4 glorious days of island life!  I plan to catch as many rays as possible, do some boating and front porch sitting!  I'm all packed and am so ready to go.  Don't worry, I don't plan to fall completely off the wagon with my fitness and nutrition.  Tony and I have planned ahead for some nutritious meals to make at the cabin and we even packed a bag with our travel friendly workout gear; resistance bands, weighted gloves, etc.   But, I think what we both are looking forward to is yoga on the lakeside, really don't need much for that, just yourself, some piece of mind and a whole lotta stretching :)  Here's to a fabulous weekend it will be indeed!  I can hear the Casino, Bag the Moon (strawberry shots included) & West Bay calling my name now..... I'll be there soon!

The season for vacation that is!  I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now because we are going to be going on a mini vacation next weekend to Kelley's Island and I've been going through my thoughts and wondering how I am going to keep up on my fitness while we are away.  I can't exactly bring my home gym with me, but I can definitely bring some things along that will help me stay on track.  For one I guess I can bring along my TurboFire DVDs, however we are staying in a cabin with another family and I don't want to be hogging up the tv and entire living room with my awesome turbo moves ;)  So, having said that I went right to my handy dandy iphone and starting searching the fitness apps!  Oh how I love technology :)

The Find
After searching a gazillion apps I found one, a FREE one, that I absolutley love.  It's the Exercise TV app.  This app is so cool, it plays video of numerous exercises ranging from Upper Body, Lower Body, Total Body, Abs & Yoga!  I'm already picturing in my head the awesome yoga session that I will have Saturday morning on the front lawn facing a beautiful view of Lake Erie, doesn't that sound fantastic?!  I'm super excited about this app, it's right on my phone and I can take it anywhere and I won't have to worry about disturbing anyone.  I'll probably throw my resistance bands in the suitcase and get in a few upper and lower sessions as well.  So there you have it... go ahead and take that vacation, no more worries about how you're going to manage to stay on track!  Of course, I'll be giving myself a little cheating room here and there, hey, it's vacation and I'm gonna enjoy it and you should too!
So tell me... how do you manage to stay on track while on vacation?  Any other good apps out there?  Maybe a favorite fitness magazine?  Spill!  :)

What an awesome, awesome weekend!  This past Saturday, June 25, was the nationwide Super Saturday event for Team Beachbody.  I attended our local Super Saturday event in Bellevue, OH with TEAM SWARM.  Super Saturday basically entails a gathering of individuals of Beachbody coaches and guests that are wanting to learn more about the business side of Beachbody.  If you didn't get a chance to attend, you will definitely want to make sure you get to the next Super Saturday which I believe will be in October.  Great information this time around was distributed, we got to hear about the NEW P90X2 fitness program that's coming out this December and also about the NEW Shakeology flavor that will be out this Fall, Tropical!  We also got a rundown of what went on at Summit 2011 this year in Los Angeles, what a blast that looked like.  Next year 2012, Summit will be held in Las Vegas and guess what..... I'M GOING!!!!  Yep, already have my tickets and I'm booked at the MGM Grand, Vegas baby!!!!!
So, having shared all those wonderful things with you, let me get to the really good stuff :)  Along with all the info that was given at the event, they also award recognition to current Beachbody coaches on success stories and rank advancements.  Well... while my fellow Beachbody coaches were out at Summit this year, I offered to run Fit Club for them on that Saturday, which I did and was a great success!  I offered to do this because I am passionate about this business and because I didn't want it to get cancelled, other people rely on these fit clubs for motivation and I didn't want them to be left empty handed on that beautiful Saturday morning where we all join together for support and sweat it out ;)  So, I was totally taken by surprise when my 2 very awesome upline coaches, Rob & June, called me up to the front of the room and presented me with a SIGNED plaque by Chalene Johnson (the creator of TurboFire) and with a whole slew of TF goodies that included a tank, arm band and water bottle!  I was beyond ecstatic, yes I cried, seriously one of the BEST gifts I've ever received and I totally was not expecting anything in return for doing the fit clubs, let alone all this!  WOW.  So humbling, so grateful, so so awesome!!  I have that baby hanging downstairs right where I workout every morning, everytime I look at it I'm motivated to push that much more.  Thanks guys, YOU ARE ROCKSTARS :)

Now, this photo just cracks me up!  I hope it amuses you as much as it does me :)  If you didn't know me you'd probably think, "Wow, minus the smiles on these folks and they seem pretty rough."  LOL :)  This past weekend was Ohio Bike Week in our town of Sandusky, OH.  Every year, for the past 10 years, bikers from all over come to the area riding upon their sparkly chome.  All different kinds of events take place throughout the week in the downtown area and at the local fairgrounds.  My husband and I have been riders for about 6 years now, we absolutley love it!  We may not be your typical prototype Harley rider, but we definitely play the part well ;)  Plus, it's a lot of fun to just get out and ride and enjoy yourself, heck that's the reason we bought a bike in the first place!  As you can see this year we decided to go with mohawks, well mine was considered a fauxhawk :)  And every year the attire is always black, I mean, can you be a harley rider and wear any other color?  9 times out of 10, when out on the bike, we're usually in black!  We rode in the bike parade Saturday which is always a ton of fun and then we headed downtown to sample the devilish concession stand food, needless to say, we indulged :)  Philly cheese steak for my hubby and an original gyro for me, oh soooo good!  The weather was great & we had a good time with some good friends!

Finally after all the rain, two weeks ago we were able to put in our garden!  This is our 3rd year of doing a garden and I couldn't imagine a summer without one, if I could have one all year I would so do it!  Just being able to walk out the back door and grab some veggies for a light snack or a side for dinner that night is the best feeling and so rewarding.  This year our garden consists of the usual; tomatoes, peppers (green, yellow, red, banana & habanero), onions, lettuce, eggplant and cucumbers. We also have strawberries, but we have yet to find a way to keep those pesky wabbits from eating them all ;)  Can't wait til we start to see some veggies growing on the plants, should be in no time at all!  Any other green thumbs out there?  What's your favorite thing to grow?

So.  Anyone who knows me, absolutely knows that I am an over the top Lady Gaga uber-fan.  So, naturally when she comes out with something as fab as a make-up line, you know this girl is definitely going to indulge!  This latest item I recently got of hers is the eye shadow color pallette, it's totally fab!(thanks to the glam crew at Viva la Bella, check out their Facebook Fan page).  This is by far one of my most favorite make up buys  of all time, not only because it's from Lady Gaga's Mac Viva Glam collection, but because it's make-up in general!  I have bags and bags of make-up, and this item is definitely in my go-to make-up bag at the front of my vanity.  If you love Lady Gaga like me or if you are just a general make-up lover overall, this is a must buy!

Wedding season has officially kicked off!  Well, it has officially kicked off in my busy summer schedule anway.  I LOVE weddings.  Something about getting all dressed up and just celebrating love is so magical and so fun!  I never get to dress up in a dress and do my hair up, so when I get the opportunity I definitely take it and run with it :)  The best part about the wedding that we attended this past weekend was the cake.  Not only because I'm a sweets junkie at heart, but this wedding cake looked identical to our wedding cake!  5 tiers of creamy frosting goodness, the only difference was that the ribbon along the bottom of the tiers was black, ours was green.  But, still GORGEOUS, non the less.  But, what made this particular wedding unique was that it was GREEK.  We even got to partake in a tradition greek dance!  Very interesting, I don't think we had the foot work down at all, not even for a second, but it was still fun and I'm glad we gave it a try.  1st wedding of the summer was a success and I look forward to many more this summer!  Who else is getting married this year?  Are you ready to take the plunge??

This morning I got a spray tan for the first time EVER! It's been over a year and a half since I've tanned in a tanning bed and I have no intentions of going back ever again.  I've made this decision to live a healthly and fit life and that doesn't stop with my actual health and well-being.  Skin cancer is on the rise and I'm seeing way too much of it around me and to others that I care about.  So, with that being said I'm taking the alternate route and getting a spray tan for the wedding this weekend.  And I gotta say, I think it turned out really good!  You may not be able to tell in this pic, but I am darker than I was before.  The process was interesting to say the least :)  I was so terrified of not turning when I was suppose to and getting sprayed twice on the front and then having an unbalanced tan... I kept thinking, "Oh dear, I'm gonna have a Ross moment from Friends!"  LOL... luckily, it all worked out and I did fine!  I would so recommend it!  I had a coupon, so I only paid $10 for "The Works", but without a coupon it would cost around $37, not too bad, considering your other option of risking your skin to cancer.  But, I'm happy with the outcome:  Two thumbs up!