Draggin' my feet to Physique!!

I did it, but I'm not proud of myself.....last week I reverted back to my old ways making excuse after excuse to skip exercising.....I'm tired - work was hard - my back hurts - I have laundry to do...blah blah blah...anything so I didn't go and look at my "workout" room that holds all of my Physique 57 stuff.

This morning was pretty rushed...I woke up feeling very tired.  I hurried to get ready for work and feed Tiffy so I could get on the road and I forgot that I had written myself a guilt note that would greet me when I got home this evening.  Boy was I surprised when I did get home.....the note was really mean!!  I thought to myself...man, I hope I am not that mean to other people because I was really mean to myself (I don't think I am tho...phewww!). Hey, it worked. I marched my bootie up to my "workout" room, rolled out my pink mat, turned on the TV, loaded the DVD and patiently waited for Tanya.  Helllllo Tanya, I'm back.  Did you miss me? I missed you!! BTW... Just to be safe...I'm gonna leave the guilt note up for a while!

I was slow to start...missing a week really did me in, but there was no way I was going to stop especially when Tanya kept telling me..don't stop...don't stop.  I did it. I finished it. I made it thru the Physique 57 workout and wa---la...I felt great!!

I want to keep doing it...I have goals to meet. My beautiful Holly Boo is coming home in 10 days!!! Yes, 10 days..I want her to be proud of me. I want Holly to be able to tell that I have been Physiqueing...that I have been pulsing and squeezing.   I need a Physique 57 crash course...I only have 10 days, I feel like I am cramming for a final, yikes!!

My son, my Jonathan, my baby boy, is getting married in January...only 5 months away...that's it! I am mother of the groom...our shining moment...all eyes are on us when we do our Mother/Son dance. I want him to be proud of me...I want to buy a beautiful dress...not a  "mother of the groom dress" but one that is "OH WOW! That's the mother of the groom dress!" I gotta keep Physiqueing so I get that dress!

I know I am supposed to be doing this for myself...and believe me I am, but I also want to do it for my family so they are proud to say, hey...that's my mom, that's my wife....look how fit and in shape she is.

I want to go from this....

Just for the record tho...this is not a true representation of my waistline...I guessed! :)

To this.....

See how much smaller the tape measurer is... :)

This was a good blog session for me...a little fun...a little lecture...a little therapy...

Until next time fellow Physiqueians....

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Yesterday Tiffy and I headed out to Riverside for another great family day...to celebrate the (early) birthday of the best of the best...our Mom!!

Tiffy ready to go see Grandma...looking so pretty with her purple bow...Grandma's favorite

I am the person that I am today because of my mom.  I am the woman, wife, friend and amazing mom that I am because of my mom.  I can say with total confidence that I am an amazing mom because I know that I am an amazing mom...because of my mom. I always wanted to be like her and I know that I am....and I'm very proud of it.

She deserves a real crown...

Often the recipient of someones joke....she is so dang cute when she mixes up a word and we ask her to repeat it and she does.....she hasn't lost her Eastern accent after being in Cali for over 55 years....so needless to say, we and her grandkids, repeatedly ask her to say one of her ever so Eastern Accent words....and she does, and we all chuckle and she just goes with the flow...always such a good sport!!!

The birthday guest on honor gets to choose where we go, so off to an Italian Feast for the birthday girl....Carino's Italian Restaurant it is.

Mom and her favorite guy..

Mom's favorite...Eggplant Parmesan

Mom and #1, #2, #3, missing #4

A party of ours is not complete without a photo shoot and a yummy desert..

Happy Birthday Mom...you are the glue that holds this family together. I hope you know how much you are loved and appreciated by every single one of us.

So proud to be your #2!

To Physique or not Physique...that is the question??

What a week I have had....I worked late a few nights and the week was just plain super stressful.  I was so looking forward to sleeping in this morning but the dang ol' internal clock had other plans for me.  Out of bed I jump...I take Tiffy out then feed her...then....I see it....the dang note I left for myself last night....PHYSIQUE 57 in the morning.  Dang, now I'm starting to nag at myself.  Curse the person who created post-its!!

Lazy Suzie says.... No...I'm too tired. I had a hard week.

Want to be healthy Suzie says...Yes...it's only 57 minutes.

Lazy Suzie says....No...I have stuff to do this morning.

Want to be healthy Suzie says....but it's only 57 minutes.

Lazy Suzie says....I'm the master of excuses...

I can come up with something creative to "let" me pass today.

Want to be healthy Suzie says....rather thinks of Holly and Tanya...no way, I can't skip today!

Holly and Tanya won!!

I put on my "jog" bra, went to my "work-out" room...turned on the Physique 57 home version DVD...Good Morning Tanya :) ...and off I went.  I got right into it.  It woke me up..I did a little better than last time...now I feel great this morning. Ready to start my day. Off to my mom's birthday lunch in a few hours.....Italian yummies and of course birthday cake...BUT I don't feel guilty and now I can enjoy lunch today because I PHYSIQUED this morning.

No Kankles for this girl...

Until next time fellow Physiqueians....

I Physique do you???

My amazing daughter Holly is a fitness instructor at Physique 57 in NYC.  I had the opportunity to take a few classes during my visits back east to see Holly and Matt.  The first class I took was oh my gosh sooooo hard!  I am super proud of my daughter, and I think this is such a neat program, but man oh man it took all I had in me to keep up and make it through the entire class which lasted a long 57 minutes (have you figured out where the name comes from??). Check out their website...and if you are ever in the Big Apple, or LA for that matter..give it a try. www.physique57.com. 

During one of the "face the barre, turn your toes out, touch your heels together, bend your knees, hands shoulder width apart"...."shoulders back, head up, chest out" instructions, I took my position at the barre and I was ready to go...or so I thought.  The instructor, my sweet 1st born, walked around the studio,  she came up next to me to correct one of the aforementioned positions that I just couldn't get...and ever so lightly placed her hand on my shoulder to tell me how to correct the botched position...I looked at her with panic in my eyes and whispered to her..."oh honey, I think I am gonna throw up"... she very professionally looked me in the eyes with such sympathy and said..."you are doing great, keep it up!"  I got no love from my baby girl...I carried her for 9 months, she was less than petite (you can't tell by looking at her now), and believe me, it took more than 57 minutes to deliver her.  There are no teacher's pet, or favorites in her class...she pushed me and I finished!! BAM...I was so proud of myself...I even came back the next day and took a class right before heading to the airport to head back to Cali.

All kidding aside, this is such an amazing program.  The thing I like the most about Physique 57 is that the instructors are there for you...they are not there to work out for themselves, and if you get a little bit out of it then that's great...it is all about you and how you feel and how you are doing and how you work through the program.  I know the instructors go thru alot to become a Physique 57 instructor because I watched Holly go thru her training....but I think the instructors that do make the cut, and are a part of the Physique 57 team, are truly the best of the best.


Holly sent me the Physique 57 home DVD set and playground ball, and I just happened to have my weights (they are even the Physique 57 blue), and I started tonight.  I set up all of my stuff upstairs, and I told myself that I am gonna get thru the entire 57 minutes no matter what.

So I started...and kept going, took a sip of water and kept going...listened to Tanya and kept going, hurt, but kept going, watched the clock but kept going. I have to be honest tho...I only have 3 lb weights...I will work up to the 5 lbs (I promise Tanya) - but I should get a bit of credit because I didn't put them down to pick up my lighter weights (mainly because I don't have any other ones), so since I stuck with the 3 lb weights, the way I see it, it all evens out!!

Day one down...day one a success! Physique 57 was fun...I feel good tonight.  I'm committed...hopefully I won't be sore in the morning, but if I am, I know it will be a good sore. I'm gonna pulse and squeeze to a healthier me! Hey Tanya...any chance there may be a Physique 57 in the OC anytime soon!

Until next time....fellow Physiqueians...

Happy Birthday #3!!!

Yesterday was my sister Nancy's birthday. In usual fashion, we headed to the restaurant of choice of the guest of honor.  We always get together for a super fun birthday celebration.....the Original Orlando Family minus Lisa, who lives up in Washington,....we miss her but she is always there with us in our thoughts!! We had a great time with great company, great food and an amazing server. Thanks Tommy for making Nancy's birthday celebration so great! You were awesome. (Did you all figure out that Nancy's favorite color is pink :))

Nancy is the amazing person that she is because of these two wonderful and loving parents.
We are very lucky girls.

Mom, Dad and #3.  

Mild or hot....

PF Changs was the restaurant of choice...we were not disappointed. 

Never wanting to miss an opportunity to call attention to ourselves...we had a great photo shoot with all of the birthday decorations that we brought with us.

Crown for the birthday girl.

The cake was to die for...chocolate buttercream frosting...the best!

#1, #2, #3 & #4...then

#1, #2, #3....missing #4

Me and my lil sis Nancy....how cute were we sister.

Nothing beats family. We love you sister!!
Happy Birthday.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious....

Last week my dear friend Karen invited me to go to the Orange County Performing Arts Center with her to see Mary Poppins.  We had a blast and it was so good to see her.  I had forgotten how much fun we have when we are together. Thanks Karen...love ya my friend!!

We met at Maggiano's for a yummy baked ziti and sausage meal and a glass of wine then it was off to the OCPAC for the show.

The show was amazing...front row center. It was such a fun stroll down memory lane from our childhood days when we watched all the Disney movies. There was so much energy in that theater you could just feel it.  The actors were great and the show was so lighthearted.  Three hours to just feel like a kid again....

It was totally...

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Austin's visit...

My nephew Austin, aka Boogie, came down from Washington last week for a visit. His home base while he was here was at my older sister's house but we tried to get together as a family as much as we could.  When he arrived on Friday night, some of us headed over to Peg's house for tacos...they were delish!

Sunday we all headed out to my parent's house for a typical Orlando BBQ.  Mom and Dad are always willing to host the big family events...they are the best.  The cool thing about our family is geography is just a word.  Some of us may be separated by several states but when we do get together, we just pick up where we left off...no need to take time to get reacquainted.  The last time we saw Austin was at Holly and Matt's wedding...almost two years ago, but it seemed like just yesterday.  Our family consists of babies, toddlers, kiddies, sorta grown-ups, really grown-ups, and some that never want to grow up!! No kids table for our family.

Hanging out until the BBQ is fired up.

On the barbie...chicken and Italian sausage.  We just cannot resist that combo....

topped off with mom's potato salad and Nancy's pasta salad...both a staple at most of our events.

Let the BBQ begin...but first....

 Nancy is the baker in the family and she did not disappoint - cupcakes - hip hip hooray!!!

Andrew and Bailey loved loved Nanny's cupcakes!!

Austin got to meet the pups, the babies and hang with his cousins.

Tiffy found another newcomer who would rub her back.

Jon, Steph & Austin

Stephanie finally got to meet Peyton Grace

Tiffy loves to give Angela kisses

This isn't even all of us....

Friday we all headed out to the Happiest Place on Earth.....Disneyland.  It was fun.  Some of us have passes, some got "signed in" and now some want to buy passes.  Mickey and his gang...oh so addicting.

First up...Tower of Terror. Natters wanted to go on that ride so bad then the whole time in line she kept saying that she only likes it a little.  She made it thru the ride while hiding her face under my arm...but she made it.

Waiting in line for Tower of Terror

We hung at California Adventure for a bit then headed over to Disneyland.  Light sabers were the hot ticket of the night...

Austin and his Papa

Me and my sweet niece Katie Rae.

They posed for this great pic...

......I jumped in for this picture....Katie must be thinking...not again Aunt Suzie.

Austin and Mona (Lisa's kids have always called my mom Mona instead of Grandma)

Austin and "Anti Peg"  

Until next time...MIC...c u real soon...KEY...why because we like you...MOUSE!

TTFN!

Holly - TV star!!

I am a bit out of order with my blogging but just couldn't wait to post this.

Being Holly's biggest fan...you can imagine how thrilled I was when Holly told me she was going to be on TV to promote the opening of a new Physique 57 studio in Manhattan, NYC.  Holly is a fitness instructor there and the owner asked her to be involved in this publicity piece.  Being such a natural performer...it's no surprise that Holly looked so calm and relaxed and oh so gorgeous.  I must admit - my daughter is beautiful.

Follow the link and enjoy Holly's shining moment.

http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/health/144762/physique-57-to-open-new-studio-on-upper-west-side?ap=1&MP4