Reflections of 2015!!!

May I begin with a big Thank You to 2015!!! Whew, what a year it has been. In fact, let's sing a few lines.
You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life - The Facts of Life.
2015 began with me going to check on my health. I knew that this would be the year of health matters. The body is starting to show signs of an adult of a certain age. I was in the pre-diabetic stage, overweight and in need of a complete overhaul.

As Spring appeared, we prepared to celebrate the upcoming graduations in the family. Up first Ally who made it happen - plotting and planning her way through life. She sets her goals and goes after it.

We also began a Family Fitness Challenge which was exactly what we ALL needed. We set our personal goals and went on to shedding the pounds, changing the diets and monitoring our progress. There were many days where I had to pull out the pom poms to get to working out. With consistency, I was able to improve my health. The doctor was impressed, everything changed for the better. My clothes were impressed as they began to lose the grip as they had been working hard to keep it together - holding on n for dear life to keep me from being exposed.

A few weeks later, we were at the Lincoln Center in New York City watching another graduate Aimee walk across the stage to accept her degree. She also received an award and performed a solo, singing The Impossible Dream to a rousing ovation. Needless to say, it was quite an emotional moment.


In the meantime, I have already received the green light to have the documentary shown in the theater again in the Fall. With great anticipation, I look at my book where I write my vision and goals - keeping track of my ideas. While going through a run at the theater, I place it on the seat in the theater as I spoke with the manager. Suddenly, I became aware of the manifestation of my ideas.

Just in time before the summer began, Autumn graduated from Kindergarten. We are just as thrilled to celebrate Autumn's graduation as we are the college graduates. It's the stepping stones that they have all had to make. In comes July.

My colonoscopy revealed that I had cancer in the colon. Fortunately, I was able to have it caught early. However, I will also have to be on the alert through screenings and paying attention to any changes that may occur.
In the grand scheme of it all, I have always managed to cheer myself on through just about everything. It really makes a difference. You cannot depend on others to cheer for you, they may have so many other things going on in their lives. Grab your pom poms.

The summer was fantastic. Aoki celebrated her 1st birthday. The family picnic was wonderful. The King and I enjoyed our monthly date nights, summer concerts, taking our rides on the Road King (Harley) as well as the sport bike. As we nurture our commitment to each other, we are extremely grateful to God for the success of our children.

Aimee became a 6th Grade teacher. Ashley is loving her position as a Community Liaison. Dorothy is creating her own jewelry line and taking great care of Autumn and Theo. Ally went on to work for a cruise ship as her goal was to travel and get paid at the same time. Her next step, graduate school. Albert is doing wonderful and he's doing an excellent job carving his way through his college career.

Those pom poms took me to audible.com and other online audiobook sites, and they led me to the Off Broadway stage and once again to the big screen. The pom poms that I use are affirmations. I speak to myself, I tell myself that I can do it, I back it up with the scriptures from the bible. I can do all things. With God ALL things are possible, etc. In addition, I use affirmations from empowering speakers, Victor Hugo, Les Brown, Walt Disney, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Louise Hay, among many others.

After this amazing year has gone by and I say Thank You to 2015, I will continue to reflect at the end of each day and give thanks. I am tremendously excited about the incredible opportunities that awaits in the New Year. Of course, I have goals. I'm plotting and planning everyday. I'm also reviewing and revising as I go. Flexibility has proven to be the best path for me. Each day I begin with "I am open and ready to receive all the things that are in store for me." I trust the process as I believe that God has all things in order - all I have to do is step out on faith.



Reflections 2014
Reflections 2013
Reflections 2012
Reflections 2011
Reflections 2010
Reflections 2009
Reflections 2008

Workout Remix - The Run Plus

The Beast and I recently had our run at the track and as always it was no easy task. We get our 12 laps in and the plus

How's this for a plus workout - between laps we would exit the track and go onto the field:
50 Jumping Jacks
20 Jump Squats
30 sit ups
10 Burpees
20 Pushups
40 Mountain Climbers
Planks - the standard and remix

After working up a sweat, it's time to go.


And The Beast goes on...


How about you? What's your workout remix?

And Then There's FlyWheel - Fitness Adventure Continues...

Early in the morn before the sun arose, we headed to the city that never sleeps to get our Fly Wheel on. What on earth is Fly Wheel you ask? Well, it's a cycling class where the instructor takes you through an exciting yet intense spin. Of course in our goals to improve on our health and wellness - we just had to do it.

We hurried in to make the 6:00am session. Checked in the locker room, selected our shoes, grabbed a towel, a bottle of water and ran on it to the class. Our instructor Jared was perfect for my early morning version of a boot camp cycling session. He was ready to get it on while we adjusted and clicked ourselves into our bikes. We were given the opportunity to gauge our workout by participating in their in-studio Torqboards - I did not.

The room was dark with the spot light on Jared it was like a stadium setting - I loved it. It gave me comfort in knowing that I would not be distracted or a distraction to the real cyclists. I blended in with the class at least as long as I did not pay attention to the top cyclists as they appeared on the screen above the space where Jared lead us.


The 45 minutes of cycling to the music added to the excitement of being in the class. Jared would call out the level of adjusting our resistance as we cycled and encouraged us enthusiastically to go for it. Although the room was dark and no one was watching, I dared not slack off on the moment. I felt the burn as my thighs were awakened to the active movements of the early morning. It was intense, we were given a moment to drink our water and dry off as we sweated ourselves with puddles of water hit the floor. Towards the end of the class, we used our weights and then ended with a stretching that really made a difference.

It was time to dismount and unclick myself from the pedals. I was relieved yet recharged. It was time to grab a towel and take a shower. The good thing was to be completed with our workout before 7:00am. In fact, there were some people showering and getting dressed for work. How cool is that?


There were bottled waters, lovely luscious looking green apples, towels and comfy sofas in the locker room area. Hopefully, we will have time to sit and grab an apple. However, it was a weekday morning and there was no time for relaxing.


As we walked outside, we were greeted with the morning light just like it was back in the days when we were coming from a night of dancing at the club. This morning we were leaving energized, ready to take on the day :-)Sooooo, what's next on our fitness adventure? Let's see.

Heart and Soul - SOUL CYCLE

Here's the thing - we are on a mission. It's pretty serious and focused. However, with our determination to improve on our health and wellness, we are not going to the extremes. We're just adding some challenges along the way. This weekend we put our hearts and soul into cycling. There I was skipping along to the cycle class. After all, I know how to ride a bike.


Enter the SOUL CYCLE to the most friendliest team of front desk staff. We checked in, headed to the lockers, back up the stairs into the cycle room. We were assigned a bike, I had all the adjustments made for my comfort. Well, that was a silly assumption of mine - there was no need to think of comfort. An intense 45 minutes with a fun team of instructors, a room full of cyclists and then there was me. We cycled to the music of Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West - how cool is that? Yes, it was a lot of fun. Naturally, I knew not one single song, not even a line but the beat was perfect for the cycling frenzy. We rocked it as we peddled up and down - side to side. According to the way that the class went, there was no need for the seat except towards the end when it was time to wind down. My confession - I took a seat and peddled like a mad woman. I stood and peddled when I could muster up the energy and rocked along with the music. I lifted the weights and peddled. I screamed/shouted along enthusiastically blending with the serious peddlers.


The Beast was in the class - peddling along. SOUL CYCLE was perfect for him, he cycles for miles on end and will be cycling in a few weeks with the New York Century Bike event (they have a 100 mile cycling event). One of our daughters was also cycling along. She was fantastic. SOUL CYCLE was another jolt - just the challenge that I needed. I left the class drenched in sweat - that brought a smile to my face. We did it!!!

What's next???!!! I say let's just pray the pounds away.