G is for... GOAL SETTING

A to Z Blog Challenge

G is for GOALS

I’m re-reading a great book right now. It’s PUSH: 30 Days to Turbocharged Habits, a Bangin’ Body and the Life

You Deserve, by Chalene Johnson. If you’ve ever seen the infomercials for Chalene Xtreme or Turbokick, then you know who I’m talking about. If you’re not familiar with her, let me just tell you she’s a petite, blonde, loud, fit version of

Anthony Robbins.

Even though Chalene is best known for her fitness DVDs, her book PUSH is less about fitness and more about setting—and achieving—goals. I re-read this book every few months or so to give myself that proverbial kick in the ass.

From Amazon: PUSH gives readers “...the life-changing tools they need to change their habits with 30 days of practical steps that include pinpointing goals, reverse engineering a course of action to achieve them, and kicking the clutter—whether that means junk food, draining exercise regimens, or toxic relationships. In one month, readers will learn how to create layers of accountability and support so that success is their only option.”

Chalene talks a lot about “eating that frog.” If you’ve ever read a Brian Tracy book, you know what I’m referring to. If not, here’s the skinny: I think it was Mark Twain who said once if you start your day by eating a live frog, nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.

I believe that.

So, Brian Tracy coined the term, Eat That Frog—pick the item on your To Do list that you’re most likely to put off doing, then do it first. Lots of organizational and motivational experts suggest completing a few little, easy things on your To Do list first, so it’ll motivate and inspire you and make you feel good. But Brian Tracy and Chalene Johnson believe just the opposite. They believe if you focus every day on the biggest, most important thing, and doing that thing first, you’ll be far more productive.

Chalene is a huge proponents of To Do lists, and believes that doing this right will change your life. She takes you step by step, day by day, through goal-setting. First, you right down 10 things you want to accomplish this year, 10 things, if you achieve them, will make you so happy and proud of yourself. At least one of these will be a health goal. Then you determine which one of those 10 goals is your PUSH goal. Your push goal is the one that will help you achieve all the others.

She likens your PUSH goal to a line of dominoes. When you gently PUSH the first one, all the others behind it will fall one by one.

She also strongly believes you should keep your To Do list on your smart phone, because it’s with you all the time. I’m resisting this (mainly because I don’t have a smart phone), but we’ll see if I change my mind as I make my way through the program.

If you don’t want to buy the book, but want to try the program for free, check out her 30-Day Challenge. http://www.chalenejohnson.com/30daychallenge/members/

F is for...Fitness

A to Z Blog Challenge

F is for... Fitness and a Full-body workout

I'm a personal trainer in my *other* job, so F just had to be for fitness. :)

I'm going to share with you a super simple, super fast (well, about 25 minutes or less) full-body workout that you can do at home or the gym with just a set of dumbbells and a bench or chair.  

Building muscle is the best way to take weight off and/or keep your weight in check. You've probably heard the saying, "Muscle weighs more than fat." Well, a pound is a pound is a pound. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat which weighs the same as a pound of feathers. LOL. However...a pound of fat takes up WAY less space on your body than a pound of fat. A pound of feathers would just make a very big mess.

The more muscles you have, the more calories your body will burn during the day doing absolutely nothing (which is nice for your couch potato days). 

Do this workout 2-3 days each week, making sure to leave at least one day of rest in between workouts (your rest days and when you sleep at night are when your muscles rebuild, grow and get stronger). 

Do these exercises as a circuit (that means one after the other) without stopping. Rest 1-2 minutes, then repeat the circuit. Beginners, start with one circuit. Intermediates, start with 2-3 circuits. Advanced, aim for five circuits. 

Choose one set of dumbbells to use for all exercises. My suggestions:

Beginners: 3-5 lb set
Intermediates: 8-10 lb set
Advanced: 12+lb set

**You want those last 2-3 reps to be pretty darn hard. If they're not, your weights are too light.

10 reps of each exercise (except for the plank)

1. Sit and stand from bench or chair
2. Pushups
3. Seated rows
4. Stationary lunges
5. Elbow planks--hold as long as you can up to a minute

Sit and stand
Stand in front of a bench or chair. You can put your hands on your hips, or hold weights at your sides to make it harder. Sit all the way down. Stand all the way up. (works your lower body from the belly to the feet)

Pushups
Easiest version is against the wall. A little bit harder is against a table or counter. A little bit harder is on the floor on your knees. Most challenging is a regular, military-style pushup. Keep your gaze out in front of your hands, your belly pulled in, and your shoulders pulled down away from the ears. (works chest, shoulders, triceps)

Seated rows
Sit on the edge of the chair/bench, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Hinge forward from the hips with a flat back. Hold that position, then pull the elbow toward the ceiling, squeezing your shoulder blades as you go. Release back to straight arms. (works your back and biceps)

Stationary lunges
Stand next to the chair or a wall (for balance if necessary). One leg in front of the other 2-3 feet (depending how long your legs are LOL). Bend both legs so that the back knee hovers just above the floor and both legs make about a 90 degree angle. Be sure that your front knee isn't jutting in front of your toes. The back knee should be directly under the hip. If this is too hard, don't go so deep. (works all major lower body muscles)

Elbow planks
Lie on your belly on the floor. Come up onto your elbows, so that your elbows are right beneath your shoulders, and your forearms are parallel to each other. Lift your body off the floor so you're balancing on your elbows and toes. If that's too hard, drop to your knees. Keep your shoulders pulled down away from your ears, and your belly pulled toward your spine. Look slightly forward of your hands. Keep your body in a straight line (ie: don't let your hips lift into an inverted V). (works your core)

E is for... EATING CLEAN

A to Z Blogging Challenge

E is for Eating clean. And today I’ll share one of my favorite healthy recipes:

Moroccan Chicken & Lentils

Adapted from The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno

Ingredients:

8 c water

1 tsp salt

1 lb dried lentils (rinsed, drained and picked through)

1 c plus 2 tbsp olive oil

½ c red wine vinegar

3 tbsp ground cumin

2 tbsp + 2 tsp chili powder

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp sea salt

1 large onion peeled and chopped

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced

¼ tsp cinnamon

1 c fresh parsley or cilantro

1. Combine water, salt & lentils. Bring to boil then cover and reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until lentils are tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Place in large bowl and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, mix 1 cup of olive oil, vinegar, 2 tbsp cumin, 2 tbsp chili powder, garlic and sea salt. Set aside ¼ cup dressing. Pour the rest of the dressing over the lentils, stir and let cool.

3. In large skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add onions and saute about 5 minutes. Add chicken and saute 2-3 minutes more. Add 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tbsp cumin, 2 tsp chili powder, and cinnamon. Saute until chicken is cooked.

4. Arrange the lentils on a serving platter. Placed sliced, cook chicken on top.  Pour remaining  dressing over the chicken. Sprinkle chopped parsley or cilantro over the top. Serve at room temperature.

D is for... DANCING IN STILETTOS

A to Z Blogging Challenge

Welcome to D-Day--day four of this month long blogging challenge. So far so good, right? 

D is for DANCING in STILETTOS, Book 3 of my Red Stilettos series. This novella coming out later this month, if the writing gods permit.


You met Darlene in Running in Stilettos (Book 2)--you suspected her husband might be having an affair, which really ticked you off at Colton. But you can find out alongside Darlene what's really going on in Dancing in Stilettos. 

Sometimes all it takes to save a marriage is a great pair of shoes.

Plain-Jane Darlene is a stay-at-home mom who fears her husband is no longer attracted to her. When he comes home late smelling of perfume, she is certain he’s having an affair. Determined to win him back, she asks a friend to make her over and teach her how to get her sexy back. 

As she's learning how to walk and dance in 4-inch stilettos, and practicing how to get her sexy on, it becomes more and more clear that her husband is hiding something from her...but maybe it's not what she thinks.

This is a stand-alone novella--it doesn't have to be read after Books 1 & 2...but it would probably be more fun if you did.

C is for....Cats, cats and more cats

A to Z Blogging Challenge

We are NOT getting a cat...

Since they were old enough to talk, my kids were asking to have a cat. "But we already have a dog," I'd tell them. "We want a cat," they'd respond. So I told them, "If a stray cat adopts us some day, we'll keep it."

Well, you probably know where this story is going, don't you?

As much as I love them, we didn't plan on having cats because much of my family (including me) is allergic. But one cold night in October 2005, my husband was shutting up the house for the night, including the garage, and he yelled, "Becky, come out here! I think I just saw a huge rat run under the car."

Since I'm not afraid of rodents and my husband would rather walk on cut glass than deal with tiny animals with long tails, I headed to the garage just in time to see something dart behind one of the cars.

Then we heard it: a soft, pathetic-sounding meow. And we spotted a tiny, fluffy gray kitten sitting on our old toy box against the far wall. The poor thing couldn’t have been much more than a few weeks old. As we picked it up, another tiny head popped out behind the box. That one was too skittish to catch.

It was late. Our kids were already asleep and the next day was a school day so we didn’t want to wake them. We put the gray

V2 and Claire

kitten into our big dog crate with water and a blanket—we’d figure out what to do in the morning.

The next morning—which happened to be our son’s 10th b-day—we woke the kids and told them, “Come to the garage and see what Dad caught last night.” Our son, being a typical boy, hurried downstairs to see. Our daughter held back. “It’s a giant spider, isn’t it?” she asked, and wouldn’t go to the garage until she heard her brother calling for her.

They were delighted to see the kitten, and my daughter was able to coax the other one out of hiding. The kids wanted to stay home from school that day—“Mom, we just found two kittens AND it’s my birthday!” our son said. Nice try.

Turns out, someone had dumped an entire litter of kittens (five of them) in our neighborhood. Four of them found homes (two with us, obviously) and the fifth cat we could never catch.

That was almost 10 years ago. We still have Claire. Bam (the fluffy gray one), unfortunately, died a few years ago. But last winter, another young cat showed up on our porch. Literally. It sat in front of our door, meowing loudly for days until we finally took it to our vet to have it checked for a microchip. It had one, but the owners on file denied ever having the cat (WTF???). We suspect they just locked it out of their house one day, and it found its way to our neighborhood. We decided to keep her and named her V2 (for  Version 2, because she looks just like our other cat, Claire).

I don’t expect we’ll get another cat anytime soon. Two is plenty. But if one just happens to show up on our front porch…

B is for...Baby Elephant

Blogging A to Z Challenge

B is for Baby Elephant

My former boss came in to work one day, laughing. His young daughter--who was about 2 or 3 at the time--walked in on him in the bathroom and saw him naked. She stared at him in wonder and said, "Baby elephant!"

I still can't see a picture of a baby elephant without thinking of that story. LOL. Now you won't be able to either. 

A is for... Audrey & Ava

A to Z Blogging Challenge

Audrey and Ava Thompson are the identical twins featured in my romantic comedies Borrowed Stilettos (Audrey's story) and Running in Stilettos (Ava's story). If you like fun, sexy, light-hearted romance, you'll enjoy these books. 

BORROWED STILETTOS
Plans go hilariously awry when mild-mannered Audrey Thompson dresses as Ava, her flamboyant but cowardly twin, in order to break up with Ava's fiancé, Zach Banister. However, as Audrey pretends to be Ava—which means stuffing her bra and tottering around in borrowed stilettos—she can’t help falling for Zach herself. Little does she know he has his own agenda, one that involves a seduction she can’t refuse. 

Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | AllRomance eBooks

RUNNING IN STILETTOS
Jet setter Ava Thompson is forced to spend the summer stuck in suburban hell to take care of her sister’s house and dog, but cooks up some fun seducing the sexy single dad next door, never expecting to discover a life she never knew she wanted and a love she never knew she needed… 

Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | AllRomance eBooks