CANCER SUCKS

Yesterday, I was speaking to one of my closest friends, Kris who is just 2 sessions in of what will be the biggest challenge of her life. She has breast cancer and is totally owning it! Yesterday while on iChat she told me that her hair was starting to fall out. 10-14 days in, if you are the majority, your hair will start to come out while styling it. We were trying to see if her hair would stay put until my visit on Feb. 3rd. No such chance. Last night's status on her page was "Chemo winning the war over the hair, so decided to shave it off tonight! Woohoo!" So proud of her and love that she continues to be in charge of her journey. Last night I decided, like our friend, Jerri who shaved her head just a few hours earlier. See, we decided that when Kris was diagnosed that we'd all buzz our hair off together. But since we each live in different states, this would be the only way of showing support so far away. So this morning, we headed out to IHOP for my birthday breakfast and then bought a pair of clippers to buzz my head.

Kris is below with her new mohawk and taking on Cancer head on. She is a testament to grace and courage and I am in awe of her desire to continue her yoga practice and stay in the present.


If you have anyone in your life that is fighting the fight - stay close to them and try to be the best support you can be. I am blessed with my friends and shaving my head was a small way to show her that she's not alone. There are only a handful of people that I'd do this for and I'm happy to do my small part.

I want to wish all of you a healthy and successful upcoming year!

Purging the years

Check out this great blog my buddy, Kris Kaplan shared this morning from Zen Habits on purging your stuff while staying happily married.

I'm so on the same page. With our move from AZ last year - we took our time and purged 6 years of stuff while packing and then we purged more while unpacking in Portland, OR. Now that we are moving again to a larger home, it's funny that I find myself not missing those items we had boxed up and labeled 'storage'. I can't wait to move next week - unpack and purge some more. So far a few trips and 6 bags later to the Goodwill, my closet now has just the basics for work and play. "Is this all I really need," I ask myself? Crazy when it's in your face... how little you actually need day to day. 2011 is all about streamlining. Streamlining my business (especially my office), my personal life and my training.

Since I'm not a fan of resolutions as my previous post stated - these types of lifestyle goals help to clear the way for success all year long. I have one other goal that will benefit my tummy as well as my soul and that is utilizing my cookbooks and my iPad to cook new recipes weekly in order to eat well, seasonally and buy local.

Between creating zen habits and great food - this first 90 days of 2011 will be a great one!

Please feel free to share your own zen habit tips and of course any great recipes.

Thanks for reading!

No Resolution Making Here!

Welcome to a brand new year! The time to reevaluate and put together a 12 month 'action' plan! I'm not really into resolutions as I feel it sets people up for failure only days into the new year. I'm about creating short term and long term goals. I feel that it helps me to stay on track for a longer period of time.

For instance; sign up for a marathon, a 50k and a fun, friendly race like the Warrior Dash.

Eating more whole foods and less processed. Creating fun weekly menus and cutting out coupons to save where we can.

Working smarter, finding balance and getting better results.

This month we are moving into a bigger home and having the opportunity to purge useless stuff always does wonders for my inner self. Working and living in a new space will be really exciting. Having a big backyard to grill and invite friends and family over will also be good for balancing personal and professional. These are the benefits to starting a NEW YEAR! These are the things that get brought up and are challenged. So forget the resolutions! Just put out what you want for the year 2011 -- and make good choices daily so that on December 31st. you can say "look what I accomplished," instead of "back to the drawing board." Happy New Year and may you get exactly what you want all year long!