Austin: Part 1

Today has been fabulous, quite honestly.

Even with U.S. Airways booking me on a flight to Austin from Phoenix that boarded at the same time my flight from San Jose landed. At a gate at least a mile away. Cardio: Part 1.

Fortunately, I am cheap... ahem... a planner and had packed a vegan protein cookie, an apple and a water bottle for lunch. Munched it happily while cozied up in the Red Bull can that flew us from Phoenix to Austin and started in on this. (I am hosting a book club the day after I get back from my adventure! How literary, right!?)

Landed in Austin and rented myself a car! It's adorable and red and the first car I've rented since I came of "car rental age." I passed 21... a few years ago...and thought I was all out of coming-of-age milestones. NOPE! Driving out of the Budget car rental lot in my little red Honda gave me that "Woo Hoo! I'm an adult!" feeling all over again. *giggle*

Because I am (again) a planner, I had the address for the nearest Golds Gym in my itinerary, and it felt SO. GOOD. to sweat after being cooped up in a plane all day.

3 sets:
24# Kettlebell Thrusters x 10 R / 10 L
10 Pushups

24# Kettlebell Wood Chopper Lunges x 10 R / 10 L
BOSU Twisted Mountain Climbers

40 # Cable Tricep Press x 15
10# Cable Lateral Shoulder Raise x 10

20 lazy-ish minutes on the Arc trainer for the sake of stretching my legs while "reading" Seinfeld on the closed captioned TVs and it was time to shower and hit up 6th Street!

Remember that "coming of age" thing? I feel old :) Somehow "Free Cover! Flaming Doctor Peppers and Jager Bombers for $3!" just didn't grip me like it used to.

I opted for El Sol y La Luna for Tofu Tacos and a Negro Modelo instead. They had a great Mariachi band playing and - for the first time, really - I really enjoyed Mariachi. The pizzacato violins and bubbly baseline was happy, rather than just blaring. It was a great chance to apply the "100%" practice. No book. No cell phone. No busywork. Just sat and ate and drank and watched the lights on the bar change from soft red to blue to white, listened to the band and let my thoughts wander through my delicious tofu tacos.

Settled in to Starbucks for some online business development/networking and a Decaf Soy Misto before E&J come in ... then it's down to Kyle for Katie's wedding!

One-Hundred-Percent

As personal trainers, we tell our clients to give 100%. Even 110% if the occasion calls for it. But when it comes to not working. not working out. not appplying... how often do what we do one hundred percent?

I am reading a beautiful book on meditation and compassionate living called Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron. Yesterday's chapter was overwhelmingly existential, but what caught my eye was this passage:

"Whatever we're doing, whether we're having tea or working, we could do that completely. We could be wherever we are completely, 100%"

I multitask pretty much all the time. Checking emails and blogs while I eat my breakfast, cleaning the kitchen while I talk to B, talking on the phone while I drive my car. I get a lot done that way. But it always seems that I miss something B said, or I didn't quite taste that smooshy egg center or I forget to send dad an address I promised over the phone.

So, lately, I have discovered a fondness for a simple breakfast of a softboiled egg in my childhood egg cup and a piece of fruit. Today I closed my computer, put away my pen and to-do list. And just ate breakfast. 100%. That smooshy egg center and crisp pear have never tasted so peaceful.

It's easy to give 100% when in meditation. Or even when working. Those things should demand all of our attention and presence. But in the rest of the space - in the "living" part of life. It's even more important. Because those are the moments that define our hearts and our paths. 100%.

Ginger-Lemon Infusion + Curried Pumpkin Hummus

Just got home from teaching a great yoga class to a wonderful group of ladies. I am so happy to be teaching again!

Hit up Gold's before that for a round of (among other things) hack-squats, deadlifts, body-weight rows, bent-over rows and more fun than you can shake a stick at. Yummy.

Had a request from a friend-from-far-away to elaborate on a passing mention of things that were worth far more than a passing mention!

Lori had an I am Cozy (read: winter in a mug) at Cafe Gratitude the other night that smelled AMAZING. And despite my willingness to drive to Cupertino Whole Foods on a nightly basis to procure this concoction, if I did, I would be more broke than a new home-based business owner (wait...)

Hence, this:

Ginger-Lemon Infusion

2 cups boiling water
1" piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 thin slices of fresh lemon

Peel and grate the ginger (remember the freezer trick? now is the perfect time to apply.) so you have about 2-3 teaspoons worth and drop into the bottom of a french press.

Pour boiling water over the ginger and let it sit. For a while. 10 minutes or so, depending on how much ginger you like.

Plunge the french press, pour and squeeze in the lemon!

(Don't let the lemon sit in the water for long or the rinds will make it bitter) Add a little honey if you'd like- but the spicy ginger is amazing by itself!


Curried Pumpkin Hummus

1 can chickpeas, un-drained
1/4 c canned pumpkin
1-2 tsp curry powder (I love curry. Be judicious... some powders are really spicy)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic
1/8 c greek yogurt (optional - I'm dairy-free right now, so I used almond milk)

Pour off the liquid from the chickpeas and reserve, then rinse the peas, drain them, and dump in your food processor. Add pumpkin, curry powder, garlic, lemon juice and 2-4 Tablespoons of liquid.

BLEND! scrape sides. BLEND! scrape sides. Curse at blender. Scrape sides again.

(Skip this step if you have a food processor that is run by more than one gerbil-power. we have established that my car and our blender/s-blade processor have the same amount of torque. none.)

Scrape the sides and assess the consistency. Add in the greek yogurt (or almond milk). BLEND!

Assess the consistency again. Keep adding very small amounts of reserved liquid until you get the creamy delightfulness you want!

There are no pictures of this as I ate it. All of it. Use your imaginations.

***

Also! I've been a total slacker and amateur blogger. Lori is hosting a giveaway to CSN stores over at What Runs Lori... go get you some!

Travelin' Fool!

The weekend was dreary and rainy and cold. And wonderful.

Saturday: Led a wonderful hike with a great group of people up Rhus Ridge. Promised one big hill. Delivered two. I aim to please. Followed it up with a trip to an awesome produce stand. Local. Organic. A whole bag of it. $12.

Sunday: nada. zip. zilch. a whole day of book reading, meditating, tea-drinking, movie-watching nothin' Oh. and I made an Indian food feast. Samosas with dipping sauce. Channa Masala. Dahl. Brown Rice. Yummy dinner with a yummy husband. :) A quick, 30-minute session on the Spin Bike at the apartment gym and it was off to bed!

Just one of those weekends that makes you happy to be alive.

Monday: Whew! What a day. Headed out this morning for a walk at the Stanford Dish with a new friend (hooray, Emily!) and did about an hour of rolling hills. Felt bomb. Ran to IKEA to pick up a footstool cushion. Left with a footstool cushion and snowflake string lights. (what!? who goes to IKEA and buys one thing?)

Picked up a prescription and bananas (I swear the hubs is a monkey with all those bananas...) and got a phone call. One I thought wasn't coming. A volunteer spot at the ACE Fitness and Health Symposium opened up!

SO. Not only am I going to the nuptials of Katie and Casey with E&J... I'll be coming back through Phoenix, hanging with the sis for a one-night layover, then jetting to San Diego for a 3-day conference at the San Diego Hilton Spa and Resort!!!

Life is good.

Now. Back to business administration and networking lead follow up...

www.myzenpulse.com

serendipity.

Serendipity is one of my favorite words. Being fortunate enough to unexpectedly find something amazing that was "meant to be" is pretty much the story of my life.

(Non existential reasons i like the word: it has been ranked as one of the 10 hardest english words to translate. it makes me think of giant ice cream sundaes. "serendipitous" is fun to say.)

Case in Point(s):

• I moved to D.C. to find a job in politics: I found a husband and a passion for fitness.

• Went to a social event: Found an opportunity to start my own business.

• Someone ELSE went to New Orleans: I found a friend! (Thanks, Jeanina!)

Met up with Lori of What Runs Lori at Cafe Gratitude in the WORLDS.BIGGEST. Whole Foods* last night!

Girl kicks some serious ass! A cross-fitting, raw-(un)cooking power house of an athlete with a super sweet spirit. Hooray for new friends who eat and work out like me!

I have every intention of raiding her brain over the next few weeks as she's got mad raw/vegan (un)cooking skills. In the mean time: Go get you some raw fudge recipes today.

(*Seriously. Remember the movie about the girl who lives in Walmart? I actually considered hiding in Cupertino Whole Foods bathroom until closing.

They have blankets, clothes, lavender scented everything and toilet paper. Oh. And food. I would be totally set. Also: Cafe Gratitude. Eat there. Today if not sooner. And go check out Lori's blog before that!)

In other serendipity news: there was a huge, double rainbow on my way to the exam today. I briefly considered taking a photo out the window, but instead had to cross 3 lanes of traffic to take the ramp to the 101 that I almost missed. Priorities...

Workout at Golds and now - after a celebratory lunch of veggie fajitas Fiesta del Mar Too, I'm going to cuddle up on my couch (which I still have a great amount of appreciation for) and veg out before cleaning my apartment.

Peace!

• if you were wondering - you doubted me?! - i passed.

• if you don't know the story - you haven't been reading?! - i re-certified through ACE as it's a more highly accredited organization, they take a broader range of CEC's and (frankly) i like them better.

hallelujah, praise kale.

Attitude Yesterday: Passed the practice exam and "I am a kick-ass personal trainer with enough kung fu to pass all kinds of test!"

Today: My perfectionism got the best of my optimism and I'm in total cramming mode.

• My living room looks like my college studio apartment + nicer furniture.

• I dumped organic sloppy joe seasoning and a can of tomatoes on some cooked lentils, added some broccoli as a side dish and called it dinner.

• I actually "used up" a highlighter today. It bleeds yellow no more...

• Last night's dreams (nightmares?): An inability to do basic percentages in an applied anthropomorphic calculation while people made fun of me for being fat. (Seriously!? Enough already, Psyche. I get it!)

• Today's nap dreams (nightmare?): I forgot to feed my cat and found her emaciated and pitifully meowing in my apartment... which was overrun with ants because I hadn't cleaned in so long. (Ambien, anyone?)

• B has retreated to the bat cave and will only come down for vegan cookie dough.

So why, asks Amy, am I not neck deep in a bottle of red wine right now?

• I have raw/vegan restaurant extravaganza planned tomorrow night with this gal.

• Exam is over in 36 hours.

Hallelujah. Praise Kale.(source)

let's get it on.

Not that way, dirty!

geez.

Got it on today!

1. Was awake and productive by 8:30 despite waking up to a migraine at 2 am. Suck a toe, migraine!

2. Got my stiff-leg deadlift on. Got my full deadlift on. Got my stairmill on. Suck a toe, gravity! You shall have no hold on my tushy!

3. Portabello "steaks," roasty-toasty sweet potato chunks and steamed green beans for dinner... all from local, organic farmers at the Farmer's Market. Suck a toe, pesticide-laden grocery store produce!

4. Passed the diagnostic practice test for Friday's exam after discovering a second textbook on Friday and a combined total of 2 weeks of studying. Big sigh of relief and cheap red wine all around!! No one has to suck a toe!

No lover-ly photos to share with you today, but I will leave you with a thought.

The re-learning I've done of another organization's PT methods has been a good refresher and a new perspective on my job. I was reminded today that teaching self-efficacy is the most important factor in setting up a personal training client for success.

Application?

Put simply: having faith in yourself is the most powerful motivator for change. No amount of self-deprivation, self-hatred or negative self-talk will ever get you as far as believing in your ability.

So when you're feeling icky and your next workout seems impossible, that tough presentation at work presentation is looming or it's time to tackle an obstacle that seems insurmountable:

Build on your last success and believe in your next triumph.