February Resolutions Week 2

Taking Care of my Body & Mind
As of February 13th I gave up going to Starbucks for coffee a Caramel Macchiato. For real! (I may have slipped this past weekend...) I haven't really missed it. I still go for a walk with my coworkers as I believe that was a big part of going all the time. "Coffee" is usually a social thing for me, so it is taking a lot of will power to not buy one when I'm there, but I'm proud of myself for cutting that part out. I actually feel better.

As part of the mind-body connection, I also challenged myself to give up Starbucks for the duration of Lent. As well as pray every day. My goal is to pray on my walk/run in the morning or on the walk to the bus. I'm always so rushed and running that I'm making extra time to walk and be present.

Mardis Gras precedes Lent so I had a a Starbucks to indulge one last time on Fat Tuesday. Ash Wednesday  was the start of the Lent season. I went to Mass at lunch to a church that is nearby. It was PACKED! I was lucky enough to get in the door but there was people standing on the sidewalk behind me. It thrills my soul to see so many people gathering.

I have gone to Barre class twice since my last check in. I absolutely love it! Check out this review for all the details. I am so excited to have this class to go to. Not only is it a great workout, but the upper body portion is great rehabilitation for my shoulder and back. I've booked myself in for the next 2 weeks. Getting up for a 9:00am workout class is a great way to start the weekend. I can easily stop on the way home at the farmer's market to pick up groceries for the weekend/week.

I haven't been keeping up with my running this past week. I was incredibly sick with a cold from Wednesday up until today (it's still hanging around). Running when you can't breathe and it's cold out is a mess and difficult. Hopefully this week I can get back to you.
I officially signed up for my 5K in May! only 96 days left to get in run shape. As in, actually run 5K at least once before I have to do it on race day.

Organize
My email archiving is slowly coming. I have successfully deleted 3 folders of information that was once important, but doesn't make a lick of difference in my life now. Things that are either there for nostalgic purposes I've archived. Another email task I took on was from my phone. I don't need to keep more than 7 - 14 days worth of email on my phone. I've cut it to 14, but even that seems like a bit much. If I don't reply to it right away, I will get to it within a week.

The filing cabinet in the office is slowly getting more organized. We went through a bunch of folders this weekend looking for one document (that never turned up) so it got a good clean out at the point. I have a pile of to-do now. Thankfully you can actually see the craft table again!

Nagging Task
My clothes hemming is still nagging at me. This weekend I WILL go through and decide if I actually need things hemmed or not. Sometimes it's not worth fixing.

Barre Body Studio - Killer workout

A friend of mine, Lauren,  loves ballet as much as I do. She couldn't find a class near her, but did find a Barre class. The one she attends is a Barre/Pilates class. For me, Barre was one of my favourite parts of ballet. It's where you worked your butt off and had the time to really isolate your muscles, feeling the burn. We didn't have any class like the one she was attending here until recently. While at Starbucks there was a sign for Barre Body Studio on the bulletin board. I snapped a picture so I could remember to look it up later.

The facility is beautiful. The room has beautiful floors, large mirrors, lots of light through the large windows and gorgeous exposed brick and ceiling. The change rooms have lockers (with key) and a couple showers. As well as a few private change rooms since the large area is unisex. (Yes, men CAN take barre class.) They have a quick access card scanner so you don't have to wait to sign in. Just scan your card and off you go!

After some research on their website, I signed up for a drop-in class early Saturday morning (9am!) to give it a try. I dragged my butt out of bed, drove to the studio (which is only 15 min from my house) and spent an hour sweating and turning my legs into jello. There are definitely some elements of ballet but you wouldn't have to know ballet at all in order to get a workout in this class. We used the barre, first and second position, plies and a few other ballet moves (again, you don't need to know ballet to get it.) After a good warm up that had my heart pumping we moved to the barre. The equivalent of squats and calf raises in different leg positions was intense. My legs were shaking and I was sweating. We moved into some upper body work with bands which is more my style, although there is a different class that uses weights. Chest, biceps, and triceps got a great workout through this section. Lastly we dig out some mats and work on our core. I would have liked a little more on this section, but that is simply a personal thing. I prefer my abs to my arms only because I am still in chiro and massage to get my arms into working order. We ended with a quick cool down and I had a giant smile leaving class.

I bought a 10 pack of classes and immediately signed up for next Saturday at 9. I even had a chance to talk to the instructor about my arm and back and she was great about telling me to just modify if I need. I know for sure I got an amazing workout from the class. Sunday I was incredibly sore, but it felt great! After some stretching a long slow walk I felt much looser.

I can't wait to do it again! My legs and abs are going to be incredibly toned for summer!