December 31, 2012 As I write this there is just two hours left of 2012. I’m in a quiet hotel room. My sons are sleeping on a sofa bed and I just submitted my last magazine article before deadline at midnight. All day I’ve been thinking about the screensaver quote on my laptop. It says, “If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.” I saved it nearly a year ago because it really hit home for me. I’m…
Living a “limit-less” life.
December 27, 2012December 26, 2012 A few days ago I took a picture of my excess skin. A few months ago I took a shot of my stretch marks. A few years ago I wrote about discovering my first of three pregnancies. Years before that I founded this website in 2005. I’m literally an open book. I don’t hide much, mainly because I feel like if you’re hiding, you’re scared. If you are scared, then you have something that limits you. I…
Miracles
November 20, 2012November 19, 2012 A few nights ago, I saw a prayer request on Facebook for a friend of a friend’s 18-month-old girl, who after swallowing a dry kidney bean, went into cardiac arrest and suffered brain damage. While the mother, Sarah, was cooking dinner, her daughter, Brooke, was playing with her favorite ‘toy’, dried kidney beans. All of a sudden, Brooke began coughing and her breathing became distressed. Her mother unsuccessfully performed the Heimlich maneuver trying to remove the obstruction…
Just another day in Paradise…
November 14, 2012November 13, 2012 In the hundreds of pictures being strewn daily on facebook, instagram and twitter I often wonder what pictures in our lives aren’t we taking? Today I felt like I was going crazy. It’s been nearly a week without my husband, who is volunteering in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy right now. The baby has been fevering. The eldest has been throwing tantrums and the middle doesn’t demand much but he manages to spill, drop and destruct everything…
Consistency
October 24, 2012October 24, 2012 I’ve never played a sport in my life. The only time I ventured into anything athletic was when my college boyfriend, Karim, persuaded me to play intramural tennis. Not only was he a tennis pro, but he was a naturally gifted athlete in skiing and snowboarding. His talents gave me the confidence to play tennis even though I often missed the ball, swung out of bounds and failed to serve inside the box. While it took me…
I’m no Superwoman.
October 16, 2012October 15, 2012 I’ve always tested how much stuff I can get done in a short amount of time. It was 8:33am on Sunday morning when I last tested my super-human powers to complete 10 tasks in a five minute timeframe. I was still fresh-faced in my pajamas feeding the boys and still indecisive whether I wanted (or could) attend church at 9:00am. As I fed the baby I kept doing the math: we normally needed to leave by 8:40am…
Your Passion will reveal your purpose…
October 5, 2012October 4, 2012 The last time I worked as a paid personal trainer was in 2003. I continued my career in the fitness industry through writing, marketing, management and project coordination. In 2007 I left the corporate world to come back to my home city of Elk Grove because my mother was undergoing kidney failure. That year I also decided to combine my professional skills and passion for fitness by creating a nonprofit, Fitness without Borders, that focused on providing…
Judging a book by its cover.
September 18, 2012
September 17, 2012 A picture of me and my three boys has gone viral on Facebook. Innocently written on the top of the picture is “What’s your excuse?” Originally, I thought this would be a fun caption, as everyone has an excuse as to why they can’t workout and eat clean. It seemed illustrating a fit mother with three boys three years and under would inspire others to look at their personal excuses and train harder. Or so I thought.…
The road to Acceptance.
August 27, 2012August 27, 2012 I felt so unprepared for my scheduled photo shoot on Saturday. While I trained nearly every day, ate fairly clean and ran almost 10 miles weekly, I still felt like my body lacked the leanness I was accustomed to seeing when I prepared for competitions. In the past, my abdominal muscles and veins were visible, I weighed 5-10 pounds less and the small pockets of fat found around my bra strap and waist band were not apparent.…
Seeking the God within you.
August 7, 2012August 6, 2012 I’ve been a ‘single’ mom for nearly a week. Every day it’s a maddening routine of cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, working, writing and trying to eat and exercise. The end of each night feels like a serious accomplishment. No joke. Each day little things annoy me….like my son’s favorite shoes that’s hard to put on. My long hair that constantly gets yanked. The weight of the infant seat…the hundred degree heat…the sound of a play table…even the…