No Excuses!

Life has been a whirlwind since Tuesday … and I've loved every minute of it. I’m going to give you the play-by-play but I’d like you to hang in there with me because it leads somewhere.

Kicking off the pre-Thanksgiving festivities was a Brownie visit to the Old Orchard Nursing Home in Easton on Tuesday. As part of a Girl Scout community outreach program, our troop spent time making crafts with the residents. Ultimately, the craft project ended up being the icing on the cake. It was the presence of each Brownie the residents needed most. I actually became emotional introducing the girls as I looked out and saw all those beautiful faces just looking for something as simple as a conversation and someone to hug. For every person that receives a visitor, there are probably 10 who don’t. I couldn't have been more proud of how the girls interacted with all of them. They brought sparkle, energy and fun to the room and everyone there ate it up!

Oh, did I mention Ryan also broke his finger today?

On Wednesday morning, I worked Sienna’s second grade tailgate party. Some background … the annual Thanksgiving event in our town is the Easton/Phillipsburg football rivalry. The entire district makes a huge deal out of it, complete with a Wednesday evening bonfire at the high school, so naturally the elementary schools get into the mix to cheer the Easton team to victory. They celebrated with food, face painting, tattoos and homemade pennant designs.

Thursday was the holiday so the day started early, cooking and getting everyone ready for a 1 p.m. dinner at my sister’s in South River, NJ.

Matt and I headed into Manhattan with Sienna early Friday afternoon for an overnight stay. The boys stayed back to spend time with their cousins (neither had any interest in seeing Elf on Broadway, which is where we would spend Saturday). We visited American Girl Place and then had dinner at the hottest vegan restaurant in Manhattan, Candle 79 (more on 79 in an upcoming post).

Saturday was an early brunch followed by the reason we were there -- Elf the Musical (which, by the way, was absolutely delightful … the perfect event to usher in the holiday season).

I am sharing these logistics with you for a reason.

Prior to making my 30-day workout commitment, I absolutely would have used all the things I had to do this week as excuses to not workout. I would have said I didn't have enough time. Few, if anyone, would have challenged me. In the end, I would have missed at least four days of running/lifting/cross-training.

The truth is, even with a full schedule, I had time. Yes, I had to squeeze a workout in here and there -- like on Wednesday when I woke up extra early to run before readying the kids and myself for school. It was also a drain waking up early this morning to workout in the hotel gym, which was small and very hot. (I started to sweat profusely about 6 minutes in and Matt thought about bagging the entire run a half mile in. Thankfully, he didn't ) We also had to park Sienna on a weight bench while we ran.

We made the time because we committed to do so. Working out has to be a priority because when things are important, we do them. No excuses!!

It’s a good mantra to say when you begin to think that working out can take a back seat to every other area of your life. It’s also important to keep top of mind that regular work outs help you attack those other areas with greater speed, agility and ease. It makes you perform better physically and mentally.

It's Saturday night now and our streak continues ... Day 9 for Matt, Day 13 for me.

Take the 30-day challenge with us and adopt the “no excuses” mantra. You can’t be half in. Full throttle, baby. Are you game?