Saturday Ghoulash.

Hello Kittens!! Today's blog is titled Ghoulash because when I think of that dish, first of all, I shudder, because it reminds me of this dish my mom made (bless her heart, and she is a FABULOUS COOK but some of those casseroles in the day....whoa.) called "Mrs. Meir's Casserole". Lots of ground beef and like, stuff. Anyway, it's a metaphor for today being a whole bunch of STUFF.

The above picture is Shellie Blanks- daughter of Billy Blanks (TaeBo and yes it's from a 2nd marriage for those of you going HUH??). I'm sharing this picture for two reasons. A) I did a KICK BUTT kickboxing workout this morning and it FELT GREAT. Dang! This week I want to kick my OWN arse! Lame Kelly. LAME! Anyway, Sherry and I were texting about this earlier this morning, and I have had this discussion a lot recently. That is- quite often the 'body type' or physique we are aiming for or we aspire to become- is totally the opposite of what we are. And thus we are setting ourselves up for perpetual failure and disappointment. Then the self-loathing appears and it's all downhill from there. 

For me, I have straight hair. Always wanted curly hair- remember Cher in the big hair days? Or Mariah Carey in the early-I'm-not-a-hoochie-mama days? Yup. I'd love hair like that, so I spent oodles of cash on PERMS to destroy my hair into curliness. As my friend Mac would say, "Kelly, that dog ain't gonna hunt!"

Shellie's physique- very lean, no boobs, boy-hips and very defined muscle tone, THAT is my ideal. If I could go through a drive-through and order a body for myself, that would be it. HELLO. I am totally on the Kim Kardashian side of the hourglass ok? I've finally realized that this is how I am made. That hourglass figure is not gonna go away. Ever.  I have to stop trying to achieve the impossible. I have to learn to like what I am, and then strive to become the most healthy fit version of THAT. So, my goals are the same in many ways, but now I am not measuring my results against an unreasonable objective. 

I just said how great I feel after my kickboxing workout. And how crappy I feel that this week I didn't workout because I felt like a big bunch of BLEEEHHHHH all week. Whiny Kelly won. Sadness. Because, it's very true, I've said it before, when you are off the game, it's easy to keep going in that direction. Then you are that much further away from where you want to be. All it takes is one step back in the right direction- once you do it and start feeling SO PROUD AND SO GREAT to be back at it, you won't stop.

This is that time of year most everyone throws caution to the wind and says, MEH~ I'm gonna enjoy the holidays and start my diet January 1st. SCREW THAT. I'm going to enjoy the holidays but I'm looking at this first "chunk" of 30 days and I'm going to kick butt. I'm going to get back to 6 days a week workouts and 6 days a week of eating good. When that 30 days is over, I know I'll be leaner and stronger, who KNOWS how much of the fat loss goal I will have accomplished? I know it will be something and I will no longer beat myself up mentally for not reaching perfection in a month. Let's just KEEP GOING. KEEP GETTING BETTER. KEEP- NOT STOPPING.

You can do it. 

So can I. I challenge you to not wait. 

Heavens to Betsy.

Kids. It's Kelly here in Lame Land. Yes, Lame.com. I'm out of town on business this week and - DUH brought my camcorder but- I have a new laptop so my editing software isn't on here!! FANTASTIC. So you know what that means. No vlog until I get home on Friday. Probably better for you all anyway because um Aunt Flo came with me. Good times!

I will say though, that my mind is back in the game. I brought my workout clothes with me, my DVDs and my ValSlides and Val Bands (forgot to pack my other bands)~ then #(%&@)%&@%&& THE NEW LAPTOP won't play the DVD, I forgot how much Dell laptops have annoying DVD player capabilities. Still - I improvised and did my own workout this evening. And my eating is good even though Flo wants to go dive into a vat of Krispy Kremes. I'm just NOT HEARING IT.

Ai yi yi. So, I am determined to make the last part of this year a FANTASTIC START to 2010. What about you? Don't wait until "after the holidays"- you will hate yourself for it. START NOW!

So- until Friday, please bear with me. Back to our regularly scheduled blogging when I return. Love and miss you all so much.

;-)

This is the OPPOSITE of Diet Talk.

Kids. Y'all know I have a mad girl-crush on Nigella Lawson. I have all her cookbooks and DVR all her shows and watch them again and again. Because yes, I LOVE everything about cooking and entertaining and yes, eating. So thank heavens I have such a passion for getting fit or I'd be 700 pounds. 

I've told you that when I entertain, it's REAL FOOD. That's why you work out. Remember I told you that's what Michael Chiarello told me, he works out so he can enjoy the food he cooks all the time. 

Nigella is the shizzle. She can not be any more beautiful, could she? I mean DAYUM! This woman, you look up woman in the dictionary and there's a picture of her saying, I'M ALL THAT AND MORE SUGAR. 

Enjoy this Sunday departure from protein powder talk.

Double Time. Again!!!

Happy Hump Day!

For those of you unfamiliar with Cathe Friedrich, above she is demonstrating "firewalkers" as found in the lovely "Butts N Guts" DVD I mention in today's VLOG. Love this oldie but good. It is GREAT FOR THE GLUTES. 

Anyway, how is your week going? I actually ran into a friend on Twitter the other day who did not know what "Happy Hump Day" meant. Shocking! But for those of you that don't get it- Wednesday is the middle of the work week, so its "over the hump" day. Get it? Get it? 

Ok- I must run. Duty calls! ;-) 

Monday Manjoyment!

Um. 

Do I really need to say any more? 

Just got in- today has been a horrid day for video uploading, I was about to lose my mind. 

However, here's a double dose of KO for you. Please watch carefully. ;-) 

Is that not enough? Check out the FORD tab for some fun videos from my last #FIESTAMOVEMENT Mission down at Chicago's Rock Station, the LOOP 97.9 FM. Saucy!!!

Monday, Manjoyment to Follow

WOOT! I just had the BEST workout!! OMG it feels so awesome to know that you are back on track. I started out with a killer upper body workout- did some new isolation moves for delts from my last Oxygen magazine. I love working shoulders, well probably because that is the part of my upper body I really want to improve the most. I need to add a bit of mass there to balance out my biceps. Then I did INSANITY Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Whoa. You take even a WEE bit of time off of that kind of intense cardio and you KNOW IT. Dang!! I was beyond gasping. But hey, that's a great way to measure progress, how much better you are with each workout. Lovely.

I've also been incorporating reading back into my life lately- probably because after just reading Gary's book (www.crushitbook.com) prior to hosting his #CRUSHITCHICAGO bash on Thursday last week- it got me thinking how much I miss reading....I'm online ALL THE TIME. Yes, I'm a workaholic but I do see that it really benefits your mind to READ like a real book~ fiction and non-fiction. Mostly I find myself reading business books but I have some fiction on hold at the library. Yes. The library. I'm being a good budget girl now and not BUYING everything. 

Anyway, one of the books I'm reading is an old favorite- and yes people- RE-READ your good books. Your mind will absorb something new each time I swear. John C. Maxwell is always a favorite, so I am re-reading "Failing Forward". Failure is such a funny concept. Some people choose to look at nothing as a failure, as long as you learn from it. I agree with that mostly, but I do think YES we can FAIL. We can make poor choices, we can miss the mark. Learning from it is key. But personally I think recognizing and admitting failure isn't bad, as long as you don't punish yourself and wallow in it. LEARN FROM IT. 

"There is no doubt in my mind that are many ways to be a winner, but there is really only one to be a loser and that is to fail and not look BEYOND THE FAILURE." Kyle Rote Jr. 

Well said.

This past year, in the area of my fitness/training goals- I failed a lot. I really did. I have some 'reasons' (note, not excuses, I made choices based on circumstances. They are not excuses) and I've figured out how NOT to repeat this year. Period. I wash my hands of the craziness and I am recommitted to my new goals. I'm also working on achieving them in a much more sane manner, one that blends in with my personal and professional life and doesn't pollute them. I was going 200mph or 25 mph this past year and NO IN BETWEEN. It took a toll on everything. Now I know what will work. And I feel so much better about it. 

You ready for a killer week? I am. Go out and CRUSH IT!! WOOT!

Saturday

Hey Kittens!! How was your week? Mine was a blizzard of activity and insanity and (sadly) not the butt kicking INSANITY that I'm usually talking about here! I am ready to get back into my Insanity workouts FO SHO. It's cardio time. I've been soooo in another world the past month or two planning this event- I know that sounds funny, but it really has been like me planning a wedding all by myself. I had 3 wine vendors, a cheese vendor, a bakery vendor, a book distributor, a DJ company, a wine stemware company, a hotel company, PR companies, videographer, photographer and THEN all the invitation madness and ridiculous procrastinators not buying tickets until zero hour. GOOD TIMES. (See: alcoholism.com) 

Anyway, the night with Gary V (@garyvee) was AWESOME. I saw some video footage of me at the end of the night and I looked like I'd been run over by a truck LOL. I was sooo ready for bed, and I did just CRASH. But- Gary is just one of the most amazing people I know. Period. The more time I spend with him, the more amazed I am by his drive, his passion, his work ethic and how much he cares about people. There's no ego there. That's rare. I'll share some of the video of our "coffee talk" set up later. For now, it is cappuccino time and then SOME SERIOUS CARDIO and upper body work. My left knee is all jacked up for some reason, so I'm taking it easy. Hope I feel better in that area so I can do Yoga tomorrow. And then Monday- it's now until the end of the year KICK BUTT AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE TIME. 

You in? I'm not happy where I am. At all. And I'm not hearing it anymore. I'm making progress not excuses for the rest of 2009. Enough Talk. Time for some ACTION! WOOT!

All Talk No Written Word. That's This Week. Sorry Kids.

Delayed Reaction.