Happy New Year’s Eve!
In lieu of our regularly scheduled Weekly Wednesday Workout I am bringing back 5 of the top fat burning gym workouts of 2014! These workouts are super popular on Pinterest! Since I created a few of them a very long time ago I decided to bring them back to life today. 🙂 I have personally done all of these workouts and they all can be done in under one hour. Enjoy!
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Today we continue with my favorite flashback posts! I loved sharing this story a couple years ago so it was a no brainer to share again today. Enjoy!
Ever sit down and a memory arises that fills you up and warms you up like your favorite blanket?
I am an only child, my mom has many “children” that gravitate towards my mother as a figure to look up to and well…because she is so awesome.
The older I grow, the more I appreciate everything she has done for me. It’s truly a blessing when you can think of so many moments and begin realize in your adult life, how much those moments actually meant.
The particular memory that came to me today involved my husband, then boyfriend.
My mom knew I had started “seeing” him when I was 15 years old, she did not approve. Not because he was a bad boy or that she didn’t like him, she just didn’t want her only daughter dating, much less seriously dating anyone at 15 years old. (Something that I totally understand now, but back then, I surely did not see the big deal!)
Fast forward to when I was 16 and he was 18. It was 1999, and cell phones became a really hot commodity around Brooklyn. With our minimum paying jobs we could only afford a prepaid and even those were super expensive!
One night I was talking to him on this prepaid phone when he was on his way home from work. All of a sudden I heard a lot of yelling and shuffling and the phone went dead. Knowing where he was waiting for the bus, I knew it wasn’t a very good area. I called back over and over until someone with a strange voice answered, laughing, and telling me to stop calling his phone. That is when I knew he had been mugged.
I was so concerned and worried for him, that I went and knocked on my mother’s door @ 9:30pm, and told her what happened. She immediately put her clothes on and we drove to the spot that I knew he was.
Unfortunately he was nowhere to be found because we later found out that he had waved down a police car and they were driving around looking for the suspects. They never found them, but later on, he came by and explained that they took his superman chain and his phone. He was so sad.
The next day my mom took my cousin and I bowling like we did most Saturday nights. There was a vendor there, and he was selling the EXACT superman chain that my husband had stolen from him. I knew I was going on a limb but I asked my mom for the $15.00 to buy the replacement chain. She didn’t even hesitate.
My mom could have said absolutely not, and I would have been okay with that. She also could have said “that’s too bad” instead of putting on her clothes and driving to see if he was okay. She didn’t want me in a serious relationship but she assisted me anyway–with no hesitation.
On this thankful Tuesday, I am thankful for my amazing mom. Her resume is endless with the wonderful things she has done for me, and I appreciate every single thing.
My first time running a turkey trot! After so many races this fall I still can’t believe that I beginning to love running so much. I spent so many years believing that it wasn’t for me or my knees can’t handle it and now I just plain love it.
To be honest: this turkey trot wasn’t even going to happen. After the Philadelphia Half Marathon just 3 days prior, my body didn’t even want to think about running much less run 5 miles. I didn’t decide until The morning before (when my body actually started feeling remotely normal) that I would run the race. But this final race of the season was the most dramatic and eventful of them all.
The day before thanksgiving I decided to be a good little runner and pick up my race packet early. What I didn’t plan for was the snow, sleet, rainy wintery mix that would take over the NorthEast! Despite the gross weather I got the bibs (for myself and my friend) rather quickly, bought some last minute ingredients and even treated myself to some books from Barnes and Noble.
After a very long commute home, I cooked and began to get ready for the race the next day. As I went to grab the bibs, I realized that the bag that they were in was gone. I knew in the pit of my stomach that they had been left on a bus–I knew something was missing but I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time. I called my girlfriend and begged for her forgiveness. She said we would leave earlier and hopefully they would have replacement bibs.
As a result of my worry over the bibs, I forgot so many things at home before I left including:
When we arrived at Prospect Park we randomly ran into Santa spreading goodwill. This had to be a good sign right?
We proceeded to the bib pick up area where I explained my stupidity absentmindedness and they were so accommodating to give us a new bib (and new hats!) right on the spot. Thank you NYCRUNS!!
We met up with the rest of BLACK GIRLS RUN! NYC and took pics and chatted and it wasn’t until all the bib stress was over did I realize that I was missing all of the things I mentioned above. Ugh.
It certainly was not my best race. Turns out my legs were still tired from the half and my hands were sooooo cold that I couldn’t think or concentrate on anything else. I was warm everywhere else thanks to my Under Armour coldgear but goodness by the time I finished the race my hands turned into permanent bear claws. It was so painful!
One thing about Prospect Park is that the hills are REAL! We made it through though and frankly I was happy we did. In addition to our adorkable turkey trot hats we got a pretty cool medal! I think it might be time for me to order a medal rack, this was my 7th medal of the year! 🙂
I know I say I don’t repeat races but I will DEFINITELY be doing this race again, properly prepared, with a turkey tutu. 🙂
Every year I want to take the kids to see Santa, and every year I am heavily intimidated by the lines and the crowds. Truth is, if you are not going to see Santa during working hours, you could end up waiting for HOURS with cranky annoyed kids and a spouse and by the time they get to Santa, they want NO part of him and you would be lucky to get a smile from the kids!
At least that is always how it plays out in my head anyway.
This year I said NO MORE, I WILL FACE this crazy fear of the Santa crowds and take the boys and we would survive.
I had heard so many great things about the Santaland in Macy’s Herald Square so I figured I’d take the boys during Thanksgiving weekend to REALLY bring in the Holiday season. All of my fears would be pushed to the side and we would SEE Santa, chat with him and not lose our minds doing it. When I visited one of my favorite websites to find out what was happening in the city this weekend, I saw that there was a trick to seeing Santa–IN Macy’s–with no lines. What? This was absolutely unheard of and I chuckled to myself because there was NO WAY we could walk into the busiest tourist trap in NYC/see Santa and not lose our mind doing it!
I decided I would try this on Saturday–the Saturday after Black Friday–the Saturday where EVERY PARENT takes their kids out somewhere–anywhere because they had likely been driving them crazy for 2 straight days in the house (or was that just me?). The ENTIRE world had come to NYC to visit someone for Thanksgiving and Macy’s is the perfect place to visit. I will admit, I was scared. Macy’s scares me on a normal day so–yeah, this was going to be super interesting.
What is the crazy secret you ask?
Macy’s has a secret express line website where you can reserve Santa for yourself and your party–FOR FREE. You just have to do it 30 minutes-48 hours in advance. Before I left the house I made my reservation, I got the email confirmation. I was good to go… right?
When we arrived at Santaland, I asked a (very) jolly elf where do I go for the Express line. He got (really) excited and whisked all of us very quickly passed what seemed like 100 people waiting in a HUGE line to see Santa. The check in lady found my name and told us to go right in. There was NO ONE on the express line and the boys were in the arms of Santa in under 4 minutes. I’m not kidding. I was STUNNED by the efficiency and pure awesomeness of this “secret”. The wait was around 90 minutes! (Although I believe there were several Santas–I can’t confirm or deny that!) Anyone who knows NYC knows that you can barely get a sandwich at lunchtime for under 10 minutes so to see the ever popular Santa Claus at a peak time on the weekend that quickly was a miracle!
I did buy the digital package of photos because I am a bit of a sucker like that but I really loved the picture!
Afterwards, we checked out the awesome Christmas windows at Macy’s and although it was cold, the kids couldn’t get enough of the detail.
If you find yourself in need of Holiday pictures run — don’t walk– to Macy’s Herald Square. Get your pictures done in under 10 minutes and keep it moving with your holiday shopping.
