10 things to do besides social media!

Social media can just take over your life. It has a way of sucking you in to scrolling and scrolling...wait...there went an hour or more. Instagram stories can be a time suck for me. 

I have actually unfollowed people because some bloggers are always telling us what we need to buy. I would think oh I neeeeeed that shirt or shoes. I felt I HAD to have it. I have a closet full of stuff that and I honestly don't need anything...well I honestly could use a new navy and white striped tee because mine is worn out. lol

Here is my list of things you can do besides spending it on social media.

1. Write in a gratitude journal

I really try to write in a journal each morning. I write down 10 things I am grateful for and 10 things I will make happen. My grateful things can be as simple as no one woke up last night, coffee, our home, snuggling with my boys, tacos. I just write down simple things that I am grateful for in that moment. 

I have a ongoing list of things I write that I will make happen. I try not to put a time limit on these things. As the past year has gone on some of those things have happened and they have been removed from the list. I write down each day I am a good mom. I feel it's important to start off the day thinking I am a good mom. It helps keep my intention good to take time to be a good mom. Work on my keeping my cool when I am frustrated. 

I love looking back over the past year of things I have wrote down. 

2. Read a book or listen to an audio book

I got on a roll after I finished watching all 16 seasons of Grey's Anatomy of listening to audio books. I listened to like 15 books in a few months. Our local library has an app called OverDrive where you can borrow audio books for FREE! A lot of popular books you have to go on a waiting list for, but if you have to wait a few weeks who cares again they are FREE! 

3. Go on a walk 

I have started walking again. When I worked in San Francisco I walked almost every single day on my lunch break. I would walk to AT&T Park and back to the office. It was close to a 2 mile round trip walk. I looked forward to that walk every day. I even went when it was raining. 

I like to listen to an audio book or a podcast while I walk. I always find if I am enjoying to what I am listening to it helps the walk go by so much faster. Walking is so much easier on my body than doing cardio. My fatigue gets much worse when I do a very strenuous exercise. 

4. Do a brain dump!

Have you ever tried doing a brain dump in a journal or notebook? When Covid first started I was so anxious. My brain was going 100 MPH. One day I just started writing in a notebook everything that was on my mind. Getting it put on paper helped me relax and be able to sort out my thoughts. It's a great way to make lists of things you want to do, goals, get things off your chest. 

5. Do Yoga or stretching

Chris Freytag has some 10 minute yoga and stretching exercises on her website www.gethealthyutv.com that are FREE! I love Chris! I just find her to be a very motivation trainer. I also like that she does the workouts with you. It drives me up the wall when trainers are always working on showing you how to do moves and don't do the workout. How about you show us how to do the workouts by DOING THEM!!!! 

Yoga or stretching will not only help your body, but it will help your brain too! If you want to try some of the 10 minute workouts you can find them HERE. 

6. Go play with your kids or dog 

My kids absolutely LOVE it when I play with them. If I take 10 minutes to wrestle with them they are ecstatic. I spent some time with Cash wrestling around and he was giggling the whole time. He likes to punch people in the face while you wrestle. This was a good time to teach him to punch me in the arm not my face. lol

G loves to play games. Taking the time to play a game with him completely changes his mood. My boys are the ones who will remember when I have taken time to play with them not the influencers on social media posting crap. Those people won't care that I watched their stories 5 years from now, but my boys will sure remember! 

7. Enjoy a cup of tea or coffee

Enjoy a cup of tea or coffee! Even if your kids are running around, your at work, or whatever is going on take a few minutes to just enjoy the moment with a cup of tea. I have been enjoying a cup of tea at night after the boys are in bed. I will sit in bed drinking the tea and relax. 

8. Go declutter that cabinet or drawer

Take the 15-20 minutes to go organize that cabinet or drawer that has been driving you crazy! Organizing a space will help you feel so much better each time you see it!

9. Plan our your outfits for the next week

Wear stuff you that has been hanging in your closet unworn for ages. If you put the item on and don't like it then add it to your donate pile. This is a great way to wear stuff you forgot about, get rid of stuff because you don't like the fit of it and shop your own closet! 

Do you really need that new shirt you found at Target? What accessories could you add to the outfit to make it pop?

10. Put on a charcoal mask and listen to some of your favorite music

Does music ever take you back to a place when you use to listen to that song? The other day a song came on the radio and I remembered instantly where I was driving and how I was feeling when I heard it for the first time. 

I have been listening to the old The Chick's music. Man that first Chick's cd brings back so many memories. I loved it and I still do. I have so many great memories listening to their music. I went to their concert so many times with friends too. 

What are some things you enjoy doing to avoid getting sucked into social media?

A Year of Firsts!

I am making plans for the remainder of 2012 and a lot of the plans are firsts.

·        Attended my first Boot Camp class – kicked my bootie

·        June dinner cruise around the Bay

·        Donating blood in July

·        Going to NYC in September

·        Meeting 3 of my cousins spouses and their 5 children for the first time

·        Running a 5K in September

·        Going to Hawaii in October

·        I think this is the first year in at least 10 years that I haven’t dyed my hair within a 6 month period.  As crazy as that sounds it is true. I usually dye my hair every 3-4 months. I dyed my hair on December 31, 2011 and did a touch up around the first week of January.

Do you have any firsts on your list of things to do in 2012? 

Fitness Friday

Well it's time to get back into sweating off the calories! I took a week off from exercising while Danielle was here. Although we did walk about 2 + miles in San Francisco. That is a whole story of it's own!

Here are some things you can do at home. I am not sure if I believe the world's fastest workout burns as many calories as a 40-60 minute run. I bet you burn some calories, but I don't think you would burn a 1,000 calories. When I run I burn about 500+ calories in 30 minutes. 

{Source: here}

Planks are AMAZING! I have been able to see the difference from doing planks in my  core. 

{Source: here}

I have been following the Fitnessista for about the past 7-8 months. I have learned so much from her. I love her blog! I have the picture below of 10 ways to plank saved on my phone. Sometimes at night I will bust out a few planks. She suggested in one of her blog posts to do a plank for 10 seconds, rest for 3 seconds, plank for 10 seconds, rest for 3 seconds for a full minute. I find it MUCH more manageable to plank for a shorter period of time then trying to bust out a 1 minute plank. While they do not look hard boy does the time drag in plank position. 

{source: here}

Happy Friday!!!!

Get off the couch!

5:30a

I decided to sign up for some personal trainer sessions at my gym. I really want to work on getting everything toned up. I have had 2 sessions and BOY am I feeling the pain.


Here is an outline of the past 2 sessions:


Session 1 - We met for 30 minutes to go over what I have been doing to lose weight. My daily calorie intake and a typical day of what I eat. Then we worked out for 30 minutes.
25 reps of picking up a heavy ball and dropping it over my head - I am sure this has an official name
25 reps of squats with a kettle ball - KILLERS
20 minutes of kickboxing - my FAVORITE!!! I love kickboxing


Session 2 - asked how my week had been and got right into business
Warm up for 5 minutes on elliptical
We did 3 sets of the following:
25 reps of wall squats - I liked these much better than your normal squat. I had a big ball behind my lower back and held a 6 pound medicine ball out in front of me. This doesn't sound too hard except my upper body is soooo weak it KILLED to hold that medicine ball.
20 mountain climbers
20 modified push ups
20 stomach crunches - laid on the ball while holding the medicine ball over my head and raised my upper body toward the ceiling. UGH!
20 hip raises


I had sweat running down my face when we finished. The rest of the day I couldn't move my arms above my head. The next day I couldn't pull my shirt over my head. I was in tears! The good news IT'S WORKING!

I thinking about taking a Bikram Yoga class.  I have heard some great things about it. The yoga class is a heated room. They encourage you to drink a lot of water prior to the class. There is a place near my house and I would like to give it a try possibly on Sunday.