Monthly Archives

August 2016

Big News! I am a Social Media Ambassador for the TCS NYC Marathon!

by Nellie August 31, 2016

So I told you guys I had BIG news!

I am so excited to announce that I will be officially serving as a social media ambassador for the 2016 TCS NYC Marathon! OMG. ME.

I am sufficiently in shock, still, and I got the news a few weeks ago. When I was offered the position there might have been some insane squealing, obscene dancing, and chants of “SERIOUSLY?!” ala the first four seasons of Grey’s Anatomy.

To say the least, I’m over the moon.

I guess I’m so excited about this because I’ve been obsessed with this race for as long as I can remember. Since I was a kid I remember curling up in my very warm bed watching the race with complete awe. Reading the incredible stories, watching the leader pack unfold, the crazy costumes, and of course the bridges. The gorgeous bridges.

Never in a million years did I actually think I’d complete a marathon. It seemed SO impossible and out of my grasp. It was like one of those things that only happens inside of the television. Then in my early 20s I randomly volunteered for the marathon at a water station at mile 12. I was quite traumatized after that experience, as I was right next to a medic and seeing the people stop for all kinds of pain, ankle twists, cramps was completely insane and enough to really make me believe that this running life was NOT for me.

Yet, here I am.

Training for this marathon has been less of a bucket of ice water than it was last year. I am SO excited to share the rest of my journey (come on 9 weeks!) with everyone as I have been doing here, except more in detail. There are fun themes that accompany the ambassadorship and I can’t wait to share! I’ll even be taking over the NYRR Snapchat for a day!

I am so excited to represent for my city, share my intense love for this race and the ups and downs of my training journey. This is officially started from the bottom now we are HERE. From poo-poo’ing 5ks just 3 years ago to running my second marathon this is a really big achievement for me and I am crazy excited about it. Thank you New York Road Runners, I’ll be sure to make you proud!

[Tweet “Guess who is a officially a Social Media Ambassador for the @NYCMarathon?! #tcsnycmarathon”]

On that happy note, I am headed back to the Family Forward Conference with my family and I will officially be back next Tuesday! Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend everyone!!

What have you done in your life that your NEVER ever thought you could do?

20 comments

brothers

Our First Eye Exam & Trendy Back To School Eyewear with Visionworks!

by Nellie August 30, 2016

This post is presented in partnership with VisionWorks

Our First Eye Exam & Trendy Back To School Eyewear with Visionworks!

In preparation for back to school, I’ve been taking my kids for allow their necessary appointments. One appointment that we did this year was completely new for us. A vision exam!

Last week Friday I took the boys to our closest Visionworks, located at the very central Flatbush Junction (steps away from where I went to school at Brooklyn College!). My eldest, Josh, had minor complaints about not being able to see the school board very clearly when he was in the back of the room. I took my little, Jacob, just to get tested as a precaution as well. My vision has always been great but their dad’s? Not so much.

When we walked in the store employees were so friendly. I had two very excited little boys with me so I was nervous about the whole process. They immediately put me at ease with their excellent customer service!

The exam

There were two parts to the exam. All of this was new to me also as I have never taken an eye exam. The first part the boys had to stare into a little window and have a little wisp of air blown into their eye. Josh did it with no problem, and I was super surprised that Jacob pushed through like a trooper too because he is a bit sensitive, and well, four. Both boys moved on to the next step quite easily.

The second part of the exam was with the optometrist. He was SUPER friendly with the kids and they took to him right away. They put on an eye patch and read letters from different distances. They even got to put on fun glasses that made them squeal with absolute delight when they saw 3D images jump right out of a book. The doctor was super patient with them–especially Jacob–who wanted to control the entire exam himself. 🙂

The Results

Jacob’s vision is just fine but Josh got a low prescription for when he is reading only. He was so excited to try the frames on, we tried all kinds of different colors but we settled on the back and red because we both loved how the frames looked on him!

Just in time for back-to-school, Visionworks and Davis Vision is launching ‘Let’s Go See,’ a cause marketing initiative focused on raising awareness about the importance of children receiving an annual eye exam. Reports from The Center for Health in Schools show that about 60% of students classified as problem learners have some sort of undetected visual problem.

“Many parents take their children in for routine doctor and dental check-‐ups, but often wait for their child to express an issue before they take them to an eye doctor,” said Jim Eisen, president and CEO of HVHC Inc., and president of Visionworks. “We want to shift that thinking and ensure that every child in America receives an annual eye exam. Every year.” According to Prevent Blindness, one out of every four kids in the United States has a vision problem, making vision and eye health an issue with which parents need to be aware. “We’re excited to launch this national platform to get the conversation started,” added Eisen. —DallasNews.com

VisionWorks currently has an awesome promotion going on for the kids frames! You can find more information by using the location tool to find the nearest store and clicking on Store Details & Coupons to see all the promotions available!

[Tweet “Cute and Trendy #Eyewear with @VisionWorks + The boys first eye exam! #LetsGoSee #VisionWorks #ad”]

Our first eye exam experience was a great one! Thanks VisionWorks for being so awesome.

Have your kids taken an eye exam yet? What was the result?

5 comments

The Museum Of Ice Cream & Volunteering In Harlem

by Nellie August 29, 2016

Happy Monday Friends!!

As I mentioned last Friday, I had a super busy week last week, but thankfully the events included visiting beautiful harlem and some delicious ice cream. 🙂

I’ve mentioned before that I am a Team Leader with New York Cares–I’ve been a team leader for over 9 years, I’ve volunteered at schools, parks, and even juvenile detention centers. Volunteering is one of my favorite things to do and it really is a nice way to meet new people while doing awesome things for the community.

Harlem’s Back To School Bash with New York Cares

I took a break from volunteering weekly a few years ago at a pantry because it had become impossible to go all the way uptown every Saturday when Jacob was an infant. (Hello, mom guilt!) Now that the kids are much older and I have more free time during the day, the opportunities to volunteer are really endless! The first thing I registered for was a Back To School Bash in Harlem with food, dance contests, spelling bees and free backpacks FULL of supplies for kids!

As a New York Cares team leader I am responsible for being the liaison between the event planners and the volunteers. At this particular project we were responsible for the arts and crafts section so the kids could come by and get creative!

The best part? The lanyard! I was immediately thrown back to the late 80s where I sat on the block and made lanyard designs for days and days. We used to make designs like “the box”, “cobra” and “chinese staircase”. Just weaving the strings with my fingers brought back so many happy memories. My friends and I were experts back in the day so teaching the kids today was super easy. They even taught ME some new tricks and it was so nice to see as I really thought that it was a lost art.

The kids also had construction paper and markers and bubbles, of course, don’t forget the bubbles.

My crew was a really awesome one. There were a lot of laughs and good times. It really never ceases to amaze me how so many strangers can come together for a good cause and have a really good time together. I am SO excited to be back team leading for New York Cares and I can’t wait for my next project (soon!).

Ice Cream Museum

My best friend got me a ticket to the sold out Museum of Ice Cream. I really didn’t know what to expect but since everything in NYC is so overhyped, I had to at least see the temporary show while it lasted.

We waited for a good 25 minutes before they let us in–it was like waiting on line for a club, except I was NOT in heels, and I am no longer 23 years old. When we finally got in we were treated with a yummy purple ice cream from the Chinese Ice Cream Factory. Never have I ever eaten a purple ice cream and I was very impressed.

The museum had a few sections. One where there was a clear edible balloon of sugar and cute lights and artwork made of ice cream. There was also a weird section where we had to scoop ice cream and pile it high on an ice cream mountain.

There was also a chocolate section with an abundance of free Dove chocolates and of course the sprinkle pool. I did not step foot in the sprinkle pool because I was irrationally grossed out by people putting their feet into perfectly edible sprinkles, but the bestie went in!

It was a super cute museum, it took about 20 minutes (or less to get through) then we celebrated my bestie’s birthday with Dos Caminos. I took no pictures of the food, I was present with her, but trust me when I say it was delish! Hands down one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in NYC.

Would you ever visit the Museum of Ice Cream? Would you take a dip in the sprinkle pool? What was your last volunteer project?

11 comments

brothers

5 Easy Ways To Build Champions In Your Kids Before The End of the Summer!

by Nellie August 28, 2016

5 Easy Ways To Build Champions In Your Kids Before The End of the Summer!

Summer is quickly coming to an end. I am of the strong belief that the summer arrives crazy fast and disappears even quicker. It is such an amazing time of outside fun, then old man winter comes through and we end up longing for summer once again.

Today I am challenging you to take the time we have left to build some serious champions in our kids by doing some fun physical activities that will not only get them moving but YOU moving as well. Check out these 5 fun ways to get active and build champions in your kids!

*All of these activities are best played outdoors, the more space the better!

Run Races: Have you ever raced against your kids? Those little things are FAST! I’m pretty sure my 4 year old beats me EVERY time we “race”. He even talks smack too–“Remember that time you told me to race mommy and I beat you?! hahahahaha”

Yes, I remember.

The fun part about running with kids, especially in an open space, is that you can go at full speed too, so I challenge you mamas, run with your kids, get sweaty and enjoy the outdoors without a jacket–while you can!

Play TAG: When is the last time you played a good hearty game of Tag? My boys tend to play tag around the house, and um it gets a little rowdy. When you are outdoors you can take Tag to the next level by going outside, using trees, benches and really making the kids WORK to catch you!

Morning Yoga: We get up really early in the mornings to get the kids on the bus by 6:40am. As you can imagine, we ALL can get a bit cranky. Lately I’ve been working on deep breathing techniques with my eldest child who is uh, quite spirited. Starting from the beginning of the school year, take 5 minutes for the entire family to stretch and deep breathe to start the day off as zen as possible!

Play Soccer/Kickball: We have a ton of balls around the house, so whenever we go to the park we make sure we grab one. My little guy is the most naturally gifted with coordination skills out of all of us and he LOVES to play soccer. In a wide open field, soccer can be a really fun way to get your exercise in while working on your footwork!

Cycling: Go cycling as a family. My husband doesn’t like to ride bikes AT ALL, it is SO not his thing! It’s not my favorite but I don’t mind it, my little guy likes to ride around his tricycle backwards with no hands and his eyes closed. He LOVES riding his bike. Although I don’t own a personal bike, I borrow my mom’s and take it to the park. The hubby will catch up eventually or hang out while we bike. It’s a nice way to explore the park and chat at the same time. #familybonding

One of the key ways that you can Build Champions is by starting off the day with a great breakfast that includes a serving of milk. The high quality protein gives the kids a pretty great start considering that milk is a nutrient powerhouse. It is super important for me to provide a good balanced breakfast for my boys and I feel good knowing that I can give them milk and help give them a great start to the day!

Here are some of the benefits of Milk:

Calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus for supporting healthy bones
Protein for building and maintaining lean muscle
B vitamins (Riboflavin, B-12 and niacin) for energy
Potassium for regulating the balance of fluids in your body
Vitamin A for maintaining a healthy immune system

[Tweet “5 Easy Ways To Build Champions In Your Kids! #BuildingChampions @MilkLife #ad”]

What are you doing for the last couple of days of summer? Any outdoor activities planned?

4 comments

healthy living

Here Is How You Can Change The Cycle

by Nellie August 27, 2016

This post is sponsored by ChangeTheCycle.com

Here Is How You Can Change The Cycle

Although I didn’t get to attend Blog Her 2016 in Los Angeles this year, I was still so excited to follow all of the excitement and brands sponsoring the event. One of the awesome sponsors from the event was ChangeTheCycle, a really helpful organization where women who suffer from heavy periods can share their experiences and learn about solutions.

My education

I was in the 4th grade. My teacher and another 4th grade teacher were best friends (at least they seemed that way to me). They sent a permission slip home to our parents that asked if we could all gather during lunch time to have “girl talk”. We would have to bring in cold lunch (Yay! I ate school lunch everyday so cold lunch meant a delicious sandwich from the local bodega) and the girls of the 4th grade class would get together and chat about “girl things”.

I had no idea what this entailed but I joined anyway. Plus it was really nice not to have the boys around!

Our teachers explained to us what would be happening with our bodies in the near future. They talked about periods, body hair, and even hormones. At first it was super uncomfortable to have these kinds of discussions but then we were able to ease into it without much fear. Since everything on my body developed super early (hello sports bra in the 3rd grade) I was all too familiar with what they were teaching. It was SO great to have a safe space to discuss all things that were about to happen as we transitioned into women.

Change The Cycle

The Change The Cycle.com website is funded and developed by Hologic, Inc. As a leading global healthcare and diagnostics company, we strive to make advances toward greater certainty for our customers by providing them with cutting-edge technology that makes a real difference. We move to narrow the gap between doubt and confidence and work to achieve both incremental and transformational progress to improve patients’ lives.

What I love about the website is that they provide resources for women that suffer from heavy periods, just like my 4th grade teacher provided a resource to me as a child to talk about the changes in my body. On the website you can find a physician, and learn about tools and reasons why you may be suffering. In addition to all of that they provide products and equipment for the following:

Mammography and breast biopsy
Breast magnetic resonance imaging
Radiation treatment for early-stage breast cancer
Cervical cancer screening
Osteoporosis assessment
Preterm birth risk assessment
Molecular diagnostic products including human papillomavirus (HPV) testing

Here is some important information that you should know about heavy periods and Change The Cycle:

1 in 5 women experience heavy periods

-National Women’s Health Resource Center. Survey of women who experience heavy menstrual bleeding. Data on file; 2005.

10 million women are affected in the US each year

-Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Medical Education Collaborative. APGO educational series on women’s health issues: clinical management of abnormal uterine bleeding. Crofton, MD; 2006.

-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Blood disorders in women: heavy menstrual bleeding. http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/blooddisorders/women/menorrhagia.html.

Accessed September 24, 2015.
Change the Cycle is an online community where women with heavy periods share
struggles and find solutions. We strive to raise awareness of heavy periods, its causes,
and potential treatment options by sharing content that is both fun and empowering.
Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (AUB) is a gynecological condition marked by heavy,
excessive or extended bleeding
AUB impacts 10 Million US women each year
Heavy Periods disrupt women’s lives physically, socially emotionally
At BlogHER’16 Change the Cycle was committed to helping women makeover the conversation about heavy bleeding and to give lip service to AUB, fibroids and polyps with free makeovers and white lipstick
Women were able to visit the booth and get their make-up done while having a girl-talk session with OBGYN Dr. Jessica Shepherd.

For more information, to find a physician and to learn more about what you can do about having heavy periods check out ChangeTheCycle.com.

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