Shoes

One of my vices in life.

Shoes.

I love shoes, especially high heels. I have around a hundred pair I am guessing, I know it's a sick little hobby.

Thees little beauties are sure to become a favorite, a platform peep toe, black patent, 4 1/2 inch heel.

I was shopping Friday afternoon and had to spend some saving cards at the mall. I am a V.I.B. at Sephora (Very Important Beauty).....so they sent me a card, spend $40.00, get $20.00 off.

Victoria's Secret also sent me a $10.00 off card, and they both expired this weekend, so off I went to "save".

I ended up at Nordstrom Rack somehow and these jumped right out at me.  No, they are not Christian Louboutin. As you can see, the sole is not red, but they are the classic "Very Prive" style you see without the $725.00 price tag. I just cannot bring myself to spend that much money on a pair of shoes.

As a child, Louboutin would regularly sneak out of school, from the age of 12, to watch the showgirls at Paris nightclubs, because he was fascinated by their costumes. He cites this as his main inspiration for becoming a shoe designer: "[The showgirls] influenced me a lot. If you like high heels, it's really the ultimate high heel - it's all about the legs, how they carry themselves, the embellishment of the body. They are the ultimate icons."

Although Louboutin faced much opposition following his decision to leave school so early, he claims that his resolve was strengthened after watching an interview on TV with Sophia Loren in which she introduced her sister, saying she had to leave school when she was only 12 but when she turned 50 she got her degree. "Everybody applauded! And I thought, 'Well, at least if I regret it I'm going to be like the sister of Sophia Loren!"

Louboutin helped bring stilettos back into fashion in the 1990s and 2000s, designing dozens of styles with heel heights of 120mm (4.72 inches) and higher. The designer's professed goal is to “make a woman look sexy, beautiful, to make her legs look as long as [he] can.” While he does offer some lower-heeled styles, Louboutin is generally associated with his dressier eveningwear designs incorporating bejeweled straps, bows, feathers, patent leather and other, similar decorative touches.

In his U.S. trademark application, Louboutin explains the inception of the signature red soles:

"In 1992 I incorporated the red sole into the design of my shoes. This happened by accident as I felt that the shoes lacked energy so I applied red nail polish to the sole of a shoe. This was such a success that it became a permanent fixture."

Louboutin received inspiration for his lethal-looking stilettos from an incident that occurred in his early 20s. He had visited a museum and noticed that there was a sign forbidding women wearing sharp stilettos from entering for fear of damage to the extensive wood flooring. This image stayed in his mind, and he later used this idea in his designs. "I wanted to defy that," Louboutin has said. "I wanted to create something that broke rules and made women feel confident and empowered."

Louboutin has topped The Luxury Institute's annual Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) for three years; the brand's offerings were declared the Most Prestigious Women's Shoes in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Someday, I will own a pair of Christian Louboutin Very Prive Peep Toe Pumps, in black kid, but for now, I am happy with these. Anyone wants to send a gift, I wear size 9 in these, they tend to run a little small! Bergdorf Goodman has my information and carries all of his shoes.

Bigger and Bigger

I have been eating and lifting, lifting and eating.

You know what happens when you do that? You get big, real big. I have been fluctuating up and down a couple pounds, all depends on what I ate the days before.  I haven't yet hit the 130 mark though and I think it's a bit odd, seems I should have by now.

The heaviest I have been in recent years is 132 and that was December of 2009, exactly a year ago. I want to get as much muscle as I can, and to do so I need to lift heavy and eat enough calories to gain weight, but every time I see that back fat start hanging over my bra top, or a jiggle around the waist, I get a little skitterish and seem to back off.

Its a simple process, I tell others all the time "Embrace the process", "You must go through this to be successful", yet I have a difficult time listening to my own advice.

Sunday morning and I am standing in front of the fridge so you can see how big I have gotten.

The glutes look great still! I think the fact that I run up and down 300 stairs, 4 days a week helps, but then that is a form of cardio and that makes me burn more calories. I only spend a total of 20 minutes though, so not too much.

And the shorts? I love em! They are actually underwear, but when I wore them to the gym today, I got a "cute shorts" from one of the most conservative women there, so I know I am OK.

These are Under Armour Mesh Series Boyshorts, and I am going to get them in the other colors too. Blue, Black and red/white splash. Not only do I like the way they sit low on my hips, they are super thin and feel like wearing nothing!

So I realize these aren't very great pictures, or in fact, very complimentary at all. I guess after spending two and a half hours at the gym I could have taken a shower and put on some make up first, maybe even done something with my hair, but do you really care?  This is what I am looking like now, and what I will look like for a while as I try to get bigger and bigger for the next two and a half months.

Bottoms up!

Sandwiches

I love sandwiches. Ask my family, I always tell them that some left over piece of their meat will make a great sandwich, it's kind of a running joke around our house, especially because I really cannot eat them very often.

Why?

Simple: If you are trying to be lean, bread doesn't belong in your diet. It is processed empty calories for the most part.

However, I am not preparing for a competition right now, in fact, I am trying to gain weight. I don't really like adding fat to my frame, but it's a necessary evil if I want to add muscle.

I am sure you have read people telling you that they have the secret to add lean mass (muscle) and lose fat all at the same time. Don't believe it, if they had that secret, they would be multi-millionaires and wouldn't need to be selling their "revolutionary system" over the Internet for $129.99.

So the way you get bigger is you eat more calories. They should ideally be healthy choices and not garbage though. My current diet allows me to eat more breads and pastas and I am enjoying that part quite a bit.

I am very excited that I discovered a new bread on Friday. I have already had two sandwiches in two days too!

This bread is made by the same company that makes the great whole grain bread I buy, Alvarado Street Bakery. This bread is the Essential Flax Seed bread and it has 100 calories for TWO slices and 18 grams of carbs for TWO slices! That's half of what most breads have! I am in heaven.

Here is what they say about this wonderful organic bread:

Our “Essential” Flax Seed Bread is a great source of Omega 3 and 6. This “Essential” bread has the lowest calories of all our breads, as well as the lowest fat, lowest sodium and lowest carbs. This great tasting bread is available through our on-line store, as well as in supermarkets and natural food stores throughout the country.
 

Ingredients:
Sprouted Organic Whole Wheat Berries, Filtered Water, Wheat Gluten, Sprouted Organic Whole Flax Seeds, Oat Fiber, Cultured Wheat, Organic Dates, Fresh Yeast, Organic Raisins, Soy Based Lecithin, Sea Salt 

The nutrition facts for two slices are:

100 calories

18 grams carbs

5 grams fiber

1 gram sugar

6 grams protein

100 mg sodium

It's almost too good to be true!

David had a sandwich and liked it enough that he said he can eat it all the time.  I am heading out to the store on Monday and getting one more loaf of this great bread. You can order it online if your store doesn't carry it.

What are my favorites? Scrambled egg whites with romaine lettuce; tuna with sprouts and avacado; and peanut butter with no sugar jelly. 

Life Lessons

My Dad sends me all sorts of great things, and lately, he has become more reflective. I am sure I can venture to guess why, who knows if I will be correct, it doesn't really matter does it?

Recently he sent this, I went online just to check it out and to see if there really was a Regina Brett. Is there? Yup! She is a columnist but she is not 90, she wrote this original list when she turned 45, then she added 5 more lessons when she turned 50 and somehow, she has aged to be 90 because of the confusion and the Internet!

I write my blogs several days ahead, then I will re-read them and edit, add or delete, it takes time. I always feel a personal connection of some sort to everything I write. This one has made me cry several times and probably will yet again as I read it the day it posts at 4:00am.

Regina says: "After having breast cancer at 41, I’m thrilled to grow old. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young. That’s Lesson 36. After hearing from people all over the globe, I turned them into a book, God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours."

"It turns out those personal life lessons were universal truths. They came from being a single parent and a cancer survivor, from all the wrong roads taken looking for my mission in life, from the broken road that led me straight to my husband, from strangers I interviewed, from priests I met on retreats, from my family and closest friends."

Here is the original list written by Regina Brett, hold onto whatever makes your heart thump, let go of anything that doesn't speak to you or give you a lump in your throat. You are bound to read a few things here that will help you in your day to day struggles.

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written".

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath it calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, and wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, and then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still truly a gift.

How's your training going?

We all have a different idea about how hard we work, how much sacrifice we make, how disciplined we are. I have friends who tell me about their workout and it sounds absolutely easy and boring. Mine sounds grueling to my husband. We are all very, very different.

We all see the world through a different set of lenses.

I do know that there are rare individuals who put more effort into their training than most of us, individuals who have a drive that just isn't found in many people and you will now read about one.

After reading this article I started wondering if I was really pushing myself as hard as possible. I go to the gym every single day without fail. I have a written plan, I record what I do, but am I pushing myself as hard as I can or am I just wasting my time, getting up early to go hang at the gym?

I went to the gym the following morning, it was shoulder day. I used heavier weights than I had been using in a long time. It was really hard. I wanted to stop. My shoulders ached in the afternoon. They would undoubtedly be sore the next day.

I challenge you to do the same. Are you training as hard as possible every day? Are you even going to the gym?

I don't think we have any valid excuses not to.

This is an article by Lenny Bernstein, a fitness columnist for the Washington Post.

How's your exercise routine going? Are you hitting the gym consistently, putting in your 30 minutes a day, maybe even 60? Are you doing your reps, pounding out the miles, sticking with the program -- even in the face of work and family obligations and the hassles posed by the weather? Feeling pretty good about that?

Meet Aaron Heo.

His typical workout lasts 3 1/2 hours. An hour, sometimes 90 minutes, is cardio work, a relentless regimen of 1,000-meter sprints at breakneck speed. The rest of the time is devoted to a lengthy warm-up, followed by stamina, strength and flexibility work. That can mean 1,000 to 2,000 squats per session, along with stretching, jogging and plyometrics. Then he strains against a canvas belt held by a bigger, stronger friend or coach: back and forth, over and over again.
He does this, on average, four days a week. Another two days a week, he trains on his own.

Aaron is 10 years old.

He and his family live in Warrington, Pa., north of Philadelphia, but Aaron trains here in Wheaton, Laurel and Arlington. On Thursdays, his mother begins the five-hour round-trip drive with Aaron and his 8-year-old brother, Andrew (another promising local short-track champion) after school. They arrive home after midnight, and she trundles the youngsters off to bed and gets them up for school the next morning. They come back on Friday afternoons and stay through Sunday, living in an apartment they have rented in Laurel. Aaron's father joins them by train on Saturdays.

Aaron, a fifth-grader, is one of the best short-track speedskaters in the United States for his age, and this is the life he and his family have chosen so he can train with Dong-Sung Kim, the 1998 Olympic gold medalist, at the Arlington-based Potomac Speedskating Club.

If all goes as planned, Aaron will be standing on the podium at the conclusion of age-group championships during the first week of March, a few weeks after the Olympic speedskating competition ends in Vancouver, B.C.

It is a life of endless sacrifice for both Aaron and his parents, of rigid discipline to make it all work. He has a few friends from school, where, by the way, he also excels academically. But mostly, his friends are other speedskaters and the siblings and parents of speedskaters, all of whom have formed a close-knit extended family centered on Kim and the Washington area rinks where they spend so many evenings and early mornings.

The sport attracts Asian Americans, particularly Korean Americans such as Aaron and Andrew, whose compact body type is suited to its demands. In South Korea, speedskating is something of a national sport.

Aaron's dream is to skate in the Olympics, to win a medal like the coach who is training him with a careful eye, shouting words of encouragement and instruction as Aaron takes yet another corner, fearlessly flying around the ice, his form flawless, other tiny, speeding youngsters in pursuit.

"We just want to support him as long as he wants to continue," says his mother, Jennifer Heo.

Aaron's father, Peter, owns an auto repair shop in Philadelphia. In addition to the expenses of everyday life, the family pays $1,200 a month for ice time and coaching and $1,500 a month for the apartment, plus the cost of the commute. Speedskate boots run about $1,000 a pair; Aaron and Andrew go through a pair each year. The long, razor-sharp blades are $400 to $500 a pair; the boys need two or three pairs each year.

The skating itself is a breathtaking workout. Kim divides about 50 skaters into three groups based on their abilities. Aaron's group will sprint through a nine-lap, 1,000-meter race in 1 minute 45 seconds, then skate slowly in circles while the other groups take their turns. Then he is back at it again.



Jennifer Heo admits to some concerns about the rigors of the training, whether that much physical exertion could harm her son. But she trusts Kim and his methods. Peter Heo says his son's doctor has voiced no opposition to the workouts. He believes the exercise makes his son both physically exceptional and mentally focused. On the report card he received the other day, Aaron was once again on the honor roll.

"The training he does, the coaching, keeps him up with his studies," Peter says. "It makes him focus on his studies."

CeCe LeBauer, president of the Potomac Speedskating Club, says that while Kim is old-school in his training methods, he is careful to adjust his demands to the age and abilities of the skaters, who range in age from 5 to older than 50.

And in the meantime, Aaron will do what is necessary to realize his dream.


Kim "is an Olympic gold medalist," Jennifer says. "That's why we're here."

See Food Diet

I get emails from Tom Venuto, author "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle". Here is an interesting email he sent recently.

The picture above? My absolute favorite treat, Jo's Dark Salt Caramels. They come 2 to a pack at Peet's Coffee for $1.75. I have one, David has one....

You’ve heard of the “See-Food” diet haven’t you? No, that’s not the diet where you load up on fish, lobster, crab and mussels. The See-Food Diet is the one that so many of us crack jokes about – it’s the diet where you eat everything in sight! But don’t laugh too hard. Scientists at Cornell University and other research institutions have proven that you actually WILL eat more food if you see food more. In fact, if you can see it and it’s within arm’s reach, you could eat yourself obese within a few years and not even know what hit you because the eating happens unconsciously.


It should be common sense that when you’re constantly surrounded by food, you tend to eat more.

But one thing that hasn’t been clear until recently was how seeing food (visibility) and having it within reach (proximity) could influence unconscious eating (and how it influences what I call “eating amnesia”).

Developmental psychologists tell us that the more effort or time you invest in a unique activity, the more likely you’ll be to remember it.

In other words, if you have to go out of your way to go get food, you’ll remember eating it. If the food is right there within arms reach, you’ll munch away and more easily forget it.

For years, Dr. Brian Wansink of the Food and Brand Laboratory at Cornell University has been conducting fascinating experiments to find out what really makes you eat more food than you need.

Some of his previous studies revealed that taste, palatability, mood, stress, social context, role models (parental influence), visual cues, visibility and convenience can all influence how much you eat (Eating behavior is environmentally and psychologically influenced – appetite is not just biological).

To explore the influence of food proximity and visibility on eating behavior, Wansink set up an experiment using 40 female staff members from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain. The subjects were not told it was a weight loss or calorie-related study. They were told that they would be given a free candy dish filled with chocolates (candy “kisses”) and they’d be contacted and surveyed about their candy preferences. They were also told not to share the candies, take them home or move the dish.

Participants were divided into four groups:

1) Proximate and visible (can see and reach)
2) Proximate and non-visible (can reach but not see)
3) Less proximate and visible (can see but can’t reach)
4) Less proximate and non visible (can’t see, and can’t reach)

During each day of the four week study, 30 chocolates were placed in 20 clear containers and 20 opaque containers and delivered to the 40 subjects. The containers were replenished every afternoon. They were kept in the same location for 4 straight business days and then rotated on the following week. Researchers kept a daily record of the number of chocolates eaten from each container and comparisons were made from the data collected.

At the end of each week, each subject was given a questionnaire which asked them how much they thought they had eaten over the entire week and asked them about their perceptions regarding the chocolates (such as “it was difficult to stop eating them,” “I thought of eating the chocolates often,” etc).

When the results were tabulated, here’s what Dr. Wansink and his research team discovered:

The visibility and proximity of the candy dish also influenced the subject’s perceptions. Regardless of whether participants could actually see the chocolates, if the candies were sitting on the desk (as opposed to being a mere 2 meters away), they were rated as more attention-attracting and difficult to resist. Candies in the clear containers were also rated as more difficult to resist and more attention attracting.

Most interesting of all, this study confirmed that when food is close by and visible, you’ll not only eat more, you’ll also be likely to forget that you ate them and therefore, underestimate how much you’ve eaten (I like to call that “eating amnesia.”)

Is a few extra candies a day really a big deal?

If it becomes habitual it sure is! Over a year, the difference between the candy dish placement would mean 125 calories per day which adds up to 12 extra pounds of body fat over a year.

When given the advice to keep junk food out of the house and office, I often hear complaints that it’s “impossible” to do because the rest of the family would have a fit, or simply not allow it. As for the office, one of the biggest excuses I’ve heard for diet failure is that the temptations are always there and it’s out of your control to change. Invariably someone else brings doughnuts or candy to the office.

Now you know what to do to reduce temptation and successfully stick with your program more effectively:

If you can’t keep it out of your office or house, keep it out of sight and out of arm’s reach. That alone is enough to reduce consumption.

At home, if your significant other or family is not willing to remove all offending foods from the premises, then get their agreement that their food is not to remain in plain sight - it goes in the back of a refrigerator drawer and not on the shelf at eye level, or if non-perishable, it goes inside a cupboard that is exclusively the domain of the other person.

At work, tell your office pals to keep the candy, doughnuts and other temptations off your desk, at a distance and out of sight. If they put any unhealthy snacks on your desk, promptly remove them!

Environmental cues can trigger you to eat impulsively. If you can see it and reach it, you’ll eat more of it, and you’ll forget how much you ate. So get the junk out of your home and office now and if you can’t, then get it out of your sight. If you can’t do that, get it out of arms reach.

Pizza and Clowns

I think a lot of people may tell you I am a clown. I love to laugh, have a good time, life is too damn short to be serious about almost everything.

Here I am in the kitchen, it's Pizza day, I am making pizzas for David, he is in hog heaven, he lives for pizza day.

I make my own dough, it has to be started the day before so it can gently rise. The secret is .00 flour imported from Italy, that is really super fine flour that gives the crust a crispy texture.

If you make pizza correctly, it really isn't unhealthy. A thin crust, crushed San Marzano tomatoes spread judiciously, a few ounces of buffalo mozzarella, some basil from the garden and a sprinkle of salt and a drizzle of olive oil.

Into the 500 degree oven for about 10 minutes and then a stunning pizza!

Oh and the clowns? I read a short blurb in the paper that just made me wonder what on earth is going on!

In June, Britain's traveling John Lawson's Circus announced a series of counseling sessions for people who avoid circuses for fear of clowns. "Coulrophobia" is reportedly Britain's third-leading phobia, after spiders and needles.....

WTF?

Pizza anyone? Stick with me, we don't need no stinking clowns!