Happy Sunday. I am in the Holiday spirit, my town home apartment is a work in progress but feeling more like home. I am getting adjusted to my new place of living. San Francisco is an amazing place to be and I choose to embrace it with both arms.
I have exciting news for this project, which I will be announcing a day or two before the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve
In the meantime I am out for now. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Love and Light to all.
Namaste’
Rose
Good Morning, love and light to all. Yesterday’s post was a raw emotional one for me, sharing my new reality as I navigate myself here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I too, have bad days but those bad days for me are a sincere call for change. I do not like my job. The people are lovely and welcoming and it is a means to an end, but it is not for me. Too many long hours and six days has made it difficult for me to transition my healthy lifestyle I built in Los Angeles.
Ok, so I recognize a need for change and I have only been here a month. I will start with January. In the New Year I am going to state I need two days off a week. Then my plan is to either look for a job closer to home to work, or continue on there for a little while. Waiting tables is money for me, not a career.
The full plan is to free up my time a little so I can restart My Changeforaten, my fitness milestones, weight loss and charities, and eventually get certified in fitness as well as yoga. The long term plan is to work in fitness and leave waiting tables for good. I started waiting tables when I went to college for Theater, and it stuck because of the fast cash and flexibility. With time, it has worn on me and the nights and weekends no longer fit with the new life I have built since I started this project in Los Angeles. My plan is to work in fitness, work on this project, and be able to have time for my poetry and artistic endeavors.
That is the plan. In the meantime I will survive this month, this transition and try to find some calm within the chaos. Much love and light to all.
Namaste’
Rose
It rained again today, and my mood is mimicking this dismal weather of late. I was walking home from my commute and a car splashed me with rain water, as I carried my wet broken bag of groceries home, soaked if not by rain water but by my own falling tears. I did not feel like myself. I admit I miss the eternal sun of Los Angeles, the smiling faces of the people of West Hollywood. Since this move from LA to The San Francisco Bay Area I have not been the same. I am being challenged in a way I have not been challenged since I began this project and blog. My husband James is working a high stress position and with that comes a lot of hours at the office, and I am also forced to work a lot more due to the insane cost of living here. I wait tables for extra money and the place I am working now is a lot more hours, and a lot more physical than I have done in quite some years. I still have not picked the poems for my poetry book, nor have I had my injured toe looked at. I have put myself last once again.
I am having a hard time balancing my blog, my fitness, and my new lifestyle that I have built for myself in the past year and a half. I feel my spirit is slipping away from me, and in it’s place is this shell of a person working for a pine colored piece of paper. My shoulder aches from the heavy cumbersome trays and my heart is following suit. I was on the train today reading Yoga Journal and all I wanted to do is sign up for Yoga Teacher Training. My goal is to eventually get to all of my fitness milestones and work in fitness. I felt incredibly melancholic that I was off to, excuse my slang, “sling hash” to the masses vs. going to work to do something I love. Do not get be wrong, I am blessed to be able to earn the extra money we need to live here but I was worried my project would be sacrificed due to having to find a new routine with a lot more hours and strain on my body. I actually had a meltdown, full blown cry me a river of tears kind of meltdown.
There was a dog loose at the train station, running in the rain away from his owner. I tried to help catch him, as did everyone but he kept running so fast no one could keep up. On my way home he was still running, and animal rescue was after him with a net. Poor pup was terrified and running with no where to go. I often feel like that when I work a ton of hours, like I am running an endless marathon to empty destinations. I pray they catch him and he is now safe, dry and home with his family. Running away isn’t always the best option, for animal or human. I am searching myself for that balance of freedom and routine.
So here I type away, sharing some of my issues as I maneuver my mind and body within this new home of mine. A good friend of mine today gave me wonderful advice. Her name is LorenaLopez@Buzzforbrands. She told me it is ok to feel bad, just don’t live there. So here I am feeling bad for a moment or two, but I will pick myself off, stretch out the worn muscles and heal my heart and find my way back home.The only home I have known, the home of love, light and endless possibilities
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Good Morning to all. I have been MIA. Apartment hunting in the Bay Area has taken all my time. I am back in LA, doing my routine and getting ready to move. Trying to find the calm within the chaos.
I am still here, working out, delivering books to kids, I am just on a little pause as I pack and navigate a move from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The hardest part is behind us, we found an apartment.
Love and Light to all.
Rose
Today is the first day of October, and you know what that means. Autumn, the smell of leaves cascading to the ground, the warm fuzzy feeling you have when you taste something pumpkin flavored. Who doesn’t love a pumpkin spice latte?
To me Autumn conjures up emotions of brand new beginnings. Unfortunately a lot of the delicious seasonal treats are a bit high in calories, so what do you do to indulge in something pumpkin yet sticking to your program and goals?
Yesterday I combined nonfat plain Greek yogurt with canned pumpkin. The pumpkin has one ingredient, pumpkin. I used a little Stevia and some cinnamon and all of a sudden I had a delicious and creamy Autumn treat that was so good for me too.
I would love to know what swaps you have come up with, to give yourself the same decadent feeling but without the guilt. What are you doing to stick to your goals? I have a motto, We can never give up, but we can never go at it alone; we are all in this together.
Love and Light
Namaste’
Rose
Melissa does some exercises in plank that requires you jump. I modify such exercises since I have a toe injury. I can plank, but not jump in plank on my toe. I make it through the routine and the rounds, I just adjust what she does to my own personal needs. I am finally seeing a Dr next week.
Moving is crazy, in weeks I will be in San Francisco. Working out has helped me keep my sanity. I am so excited to begin anew in another city. I love LA, and I absolutely adore the community of West Hollywood. Today was the day four years ago we moved from NYC to LA so this is all very bitter sweet for us. I must not compare though, I will embrace the city by the bay and all of the brand new opportunities. I am going to take this project to a new level.
Off for now. Love and light to all and a big thank you to my best friend Melissa Bender. She has been an amazing friend and we have not lived in the same city since 2005 when I left Pittsburgh PA for CT. She has taught me true friends are just a mere heartbeat away. A shout out to all of my loved ones near and far. I am all about the love.
Namaste’
Love and light
Rose
I love California, and I love the lifestyle that comes with being a Californian. Recently my husband James had a few interviews with a company in NYC, and it was looking like a quick move was in our future. A move very similar to the one we made almost four years ago when we packed our bags and got on a plane with our two beloved cats and made the 3,000 mile journey from NYC to California. It was such an adventure for me since it was my first time in the golden state ever. We moved in three weeks, and when I look back I cannot believe we attempted such an endeavor and pulled it off so seamlessly.
The company he interviewed with sent him an email and told him they were pursuing someone local, and we are both extremely relieved. I have so many plans for California, and those plans would have been lost in the smoke of the jet stream of the plane taking us back to the big apple. To say I am not ready is an understatement. My husband’s friend told me I am as California as the sun.
I have decided now that a move is behind us, to focus on writing and conquering a new fitness/adventure bucket list. I am evolving and a lot of things on my former fitness bucket list are still things I wish to do, but a lot of them are ongoing which would take more funds, or they are in other states.
Here is my list and I hope to start marking off items very soon.
FITNESS BUCKET LIST/ ADVENTURE LIST
This list will always be evolving, and it is a little different from my fitness challenges and milestone list. These are the big accomplishments and adventures I wish to make happen.
1. Trapeze Classes at Trapeze school in Santa Monica.
2. Learn to surf
3.Paddle boarding
4.Go Kayaking
5.Snorkel ( I did this in Hawaii, would like to do so in California too).
6. Scuba Dive
7.Swim with dolphins
8.Heli Pad Yoga
9.Nature bike ride, no cars
10.Mud run
11.Hike to the Hollywood Sign
12.Rock Climbing
13.get my group exercise certifications
14. get yoga certified
15.30 day yoga challenge
16. Be featured in a magazine, as a before and after
17.Aerial Yoga
18.Dance classes, ballet, ballroom, hula, belly dance, flamenco, you name it when I have the funds I will do it.
19.Fire Groove classes
20.Learn Martial arts
21.Horse back riding
22. Go camping, for real
23.Go Kite boarding
24.Zip line
25. indoor skydive
26.Trampoline class
27. white water rafting
28.Whale watching
29.Maybe, maybe do a fitness competition
30.lose all my weight
31.Learn to ice skate
I am not sure I am brave enough to bungee jump or sky dive, but never say never.
Also, when I visit Pittsburgh I want to work out with my best friend Melissa Bender@ Melissabenderfitness.
Do yoga with my good friend Tracy Gittens in San Diego at her studio Galazy lifestyle and fitness.
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| JULY 10, 2013 |
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| JULY 10, 2013 |
Weigh in Saturday, and I am holding steady at 169 lbs, and I the first 40 lbs seems to have been much easier than the second 40 lbs. 135 seems so far at the moment, but I am happy with the results so far. I said this before and I will say it again, I am now focusing on my fitness goals and I refuse to be stressed out from the scale. I have made tremendous strides and I will continue to do so, so what if I am in a silly plateau.
Today I am going to go to the gym and see if I can have my measurements done. I wish I would have done this in the beginning, I know I have shrunk in inches. I am even much smaller than I was in April and I am only a few pounds less.
Off for my day, Love and light. Here is some photos charting my progress from when I began my journey last July.
Love and Light
Rose
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| 2013 The photo that started it all with tears and realization I was 210 lbs |
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| The beginning July 2013 kicked off with a bang doing s Richard Simmons Video |
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August 2013 back at Richard Simmons
 October 2013 at the Hollywood Sign hiking |
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| November 2013 yoga with Nicole at Pink Iron |
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| December 2013 At Slimmons with Susan and Joanne on my bday |
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| January 2014 Santa Barbara CA |
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| February 2014 La Jolla CA |
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| March 2014 Hair do |
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| April 2014 In Beverly Hills |
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| May 2014 first new bathing suit in forever |
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| May 2014 |
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| May 2014 |
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| May 2014 In Vegas |
