Category Archives: Featured Friend Friday

Featured Friend Friday ~ Cinful Cinnamon

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Welcome to Featured Friend Friday!

I have known the Cinful one  for a number of years.  She has 2 blog pages, lives in Florida (residential envy!), is married and has her own motorcycle.

I was tickled when she agreed to guest post today, as I’ve admired her writing for quite a while.

Visit her page Cinful Cinnamon’s Blog, you won’t be disappointed!

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I was really pleased to get asked to be a guest blogger on Marti’s page. It couldn’t have come at a better time either. My son is graduating high school on Saturday and I’ve been thinking a lot about all of the things that must be running through his head. What is he going to do? What school does he want to go to if any? How can I make Mom and Dad proud? Nah, he’s probably not thinking that. But it made me think back to when I was 18. The world is at your doorstep. And just like Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz”, all you have to do is step through. Well, I plowed through the door. I was ready to take it on and defeat it. I already had a job (a couple of them actually) by the time I was 18. I had my own apartment and car. It was really important for me to be on my own. I figured I could do anything. And no one could stop me.

I’ve made it to age 53. I will be 54 in August, and there are many things that I wish I had done differently. If I could make a phone call to the hard-headed, determined girl that I was at 18, I’d give her some advice. I wouldn’t try to change her mind about any of the things that she did. Who knows? I might not have made it this far if I had done something differently. But I would point out a couple of things that if she had handled it differently, she might have gotten better results.

Damn. First thing I’ll have to do is find a land line telephone. My cell won’t work back in 1975. I graduated in 1976 because of my summer birthday. And because I failed the 3rd grade. Yeah, back then they would hold you back. So, if I could get a hold of myself I’d say:

  • That plan you have about going into the Air Force? That’s a good one. But go for a better job so that you can actually get the college education that you want, instead of bits and pieces.
  • Don’t worry about that guy that you lost your virginity to last year. That old bag that he dumped you for (you know the 25 year old in the Karman Ghia?) You’ll find out she dumped him.
  • Mom and Dad don’t know everything. But they know more than you. And they will help you if you present a reasonable argument to them instead of storming out of the house.
  • You’re not going to get a bunch of money when you graduate high school. In fact, your Uncle Buzzy is the only one that gives you cash, and that’s only six bucks. WTF? So don’t plan on any trips.
  • I don’t want to tell you not to marry that first guy that you do. He was gorgeous. But I will tell you that HE is the one with the sexual problem….not YOU.
  • Stay in touch with your friends. I know you move around A LOT, but try a little harder to stay friends with them. There will be some that you really really miss over the years.

The rest is a secret. You have to figure it out. And no, not going to give you any more hints. But if you do just keep those couple of things in mind, the future you will really appreciate it. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Me

Featured Friend Friday ~ Nota

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Welcome to Featured Friend Friday!

I have known Nota for a very long time.

Last week I had a blog post, WHY WHY WHY, that inspired her to write the following post as my Featured Friday Friend!

Thanks a bunch Nota!

Visit her page a.nota.potamus

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“Never assume what someone else is capable of. If someone were to look at you, would they know what you’re capable of?”

Once upon a time, I spent 3 years working on my speed, flexibility and targeting to be able to kick the man that said this in the head. He had a point.  I’m a rather unassuming brunette – a little round, a shorty at 5’4”. I’ve been known to turn a head or two, but no one’s ever assumed I’m a model.  To look at me, I am certainly NOT the woman you’d assume could kick a 6’2” martial arts instructor in the head.  Most of the women in the studio were similar to me – students, professionals, some were moms. Out in the world, we were unassuming – which is a nice way of saying bland. Unpretentious. Uninteresting.  Not head-kickers. We were Assumed Safe.

Which isn’t a bad thing.

Assumptions like those make us more approachable.  It’s easier to be seen as a good candidate for a job, or a date. In my own experience, people might be attracted to unpredictable thrill-seekers for a minute, but they like safe for the long term. You don’t want unpredictable in a boardroom or thrill-seeking babysitting your kids.  It’s also easier to make friends when you’re assumed safe. I’ve never heard anyone go ‘Oooh, I think that dude’s about to go postal! Yippee, a new friend!” Avoiding perceived threats keeps us alive. It’s a safety mechanism and it’s natural.

(To clarify – I’m talking about threats to both person and dignity. Liars, backstabbers, and the occasional murderer = threats. That kind of threat. Perceiving someone as a threat just because their boobs are big, their legs are long, or their Adonis DNA has a neck tattoo is just stupid. That’s not a threat, it’s a stick up your ass. Back to my train of thought…avoiding threats…safety mechanism…good things…yadda, yadda…)

Except when it’s not a good thing.

Once we’ve assumed someone is safe – we’ve made a friend of them – we’ve let them in – we like to keep them in that box. Variations are permitted to update haircuts, change boyfriends, try your salmon a new way. Variations that don’t change the essential definition that we have of a person. Birds of a feather and all that, we define part of who we are by the company we keep.  Note, I said we define ourselves this way, not others defining us this way.  As long as we know who they are, we know who we are too. We’re open-minded, affluent, granola, democratic, urban, tattooed, whatevah – and so, for the most part, is the company we keep. Naturally grouping according to interests and demographics.

My cousin Marti wrote the other day about the “much negative feedback associated with [her] occasional mentions of what [she] wanted to try doing….It is easy to become discouraged when others close to us have issues with what it is we are doing or want to do. We write our dream off as a bad idea and stay where we are not happy.”  This hit home for me, especially in the context of being an unassuming girl who’s lost friends and jobs over people trying to cram her back in the box they made for her. I have listened to a lot of “issues” over the years and found most of them to be more about people striving to keep their own definition in place than letting me expand mine.

When you shake the box you’re in, you are no longer assumed safe.

Once upon a time, I went into a job I’d hated for awhile and quit. I went home that same night to a fiancé I’d hated for awhile and quit him too. Yep – job and fiancé – same day. I shook my box. And a whole lot of people around me went “WTF?!!! WHO ARE YOU?”. Same girl I was yesterday, just a whole lot happier. More broke – but happier. It never dawned on me that some of my friends wouldn’t be able to handle me in a happier box. Some couldn’t. Oh well.

When I signed on for my first half-marathon, being that I was a girl that never particularly enjoyed running, I shook some more friends out of my box. Not by my choice, but theirs. Me being in a running box no longer gel’d with some of their recreational habits. Yes, I changed who I was when I made these choices, but I was still a person that tried to support their choices.  Oh well.

That’s just two examples, but let me tell you – when you get a taste of shaking your box on occasion (bad  porno-speak anyone? LOL), it’s addictive. Challenges might be scary – sometimes it’s scary outside the box – but they aren’t impossible. Then a strange thing happens – you run out of people trying to cram you in your coffin box. You look up and your husband thinks you can do any damn thing you put your mind too (and if he’s really lucky, the things he puts his mind too.  Yowza!). Your best-friend is encouraging your next run and talking strategy about how to beat your last time. Your boss is praising your willingness to take a risk and talking to you about your next step up the ladder. I’ve learned that for the people who really matter – you’re unlimited. You bring them an idea and instead of “[writing] your dream off as a bad idea”, they look you in the eye and ask how they can help.  You don’t exist to support their idea of who they are. They’re around because they really love you. They want that dream for you.

All because you once upon a time, you said ‘fuck it’ and shook the box.

I’m not saying that I was never sad to see some of those once good friends say goodbye. Some went quietly. Some didn’t and said hurtful things. Some of them I still miss terribly – but I know they aren’t for me now.  I’ve gotten better at spotting people that are for me as friends and bosses. I’ve screwed up a few times. You don’t always get it right your first time out of the box. I’ve had someone else shake my box – and been really pissed off about it right up until I said ‘thank you’. Sometimes I’ve looked up and gone ‘WTF was I thinking?!! NOT doing that again.’

My point in all of this is to say, that should you find yourself in the position of writing off someone’s dream, please consider asking yourself why you’re putting a box over their head. It’s not a turn on. And it stinks like cardboard.

One thing I did do again was kick that guy in the head.  Seeing as how he was my kickboxing instructor, he actually encouraged it – because he, for one, didn’t want to make any assumptions about what I was capable of doing – or what size box I could kick myself free of.

Featured Friend Friday – Robin Pruitt

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Welcome to Featured Friend Friday!

I met Robin years ago through a police explorers program my son was in along with Robin.

A former police woman, Robin left the force and started her own business.

I am all about celebrating and promoting other women, so I’ll let her tell you her story

THANKS ROBIN!!!

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My name is Robin Pruitt and I am excited to be a guest blogger for Marti!  I wish I had time to blog like she does, I’ve always loved writing.  A few months ago she asked about guest bloggers, and, well, it’s a rainy day and I feel like blogging!

I am a director with Thirty-One Gifts, the most amazing company in the Good Old U.S. of A.  (I’m a little biased) and want to write about it.  I’m so excited about where I’m going compared to where I’ve been, and I never thought I’d be where I am today.  There is just so much going on with the company and my business, I can feel the excitement bubbling out of me.  A little about me: My husband, Anthony, has been an amazing source of support and love and is truly the biggest reason I have been so successful with Thirty-One Gifts.  We have four children, Sydnee (12), Ashlee (7), Caleb (2), and Rylee (9 months), and live in Delhi Township which is a suburb outside of Cincinnati Ohio.  I went to Oak Hills High School, received an Associate Degree at Chatfield College, and ten years later I am finishing my Bachelor Degree in Leadership & Ministry at Cincinnati Christian University.  Other than Thirty-One, I am a stay-at-home mom- my dream come true.

In July of 2009, I was invited to what was advertised as a “purse party”… and I really didn’t want to go.  I was expecting knock off coach purses and a bunch of girly-girl women sitting around drinking tea and giggling.  I was a Cincinnati Police Officer, definitely not a “girly-girl” and certainly had no interest in a purse party.  My uniform was a white collared shirt and the only accessory I needed was a gun on my hip.  What use did I have for this party?  Reluctantly, and with a little force from my dear friend Beth, I went.  If nothing else, I’d get away from the kids for a couple of hours.

I went in and there was the consultant, with all of these purses, bags, and more- that even I had to admit were cute.  I had never heard of Thirty-One, but loved that it was based on Christian principles.  I decided to have a party, mostly to get some things free that my pre-teen daughter loved, and even bought a zipper pouch for myself- to carry my gun in (yes, really).

A couple of weeks after I held my own party, I found out I was on the list of Cincinnati Police Officers to be laid off.  Among all of the emotions and fears that went through me, making money was at the top of the list.  I had tried direct sales previously with another company and it was awful.  It just wasn’t something that worked for me.  Something drew me back to those Thirty-One products, and I called my consultant to ask her about joining.  With all of the information she gave me, my husband and I decided to give it a try.  It was only $99, right?  If it didn’t work out, I’d have some Christmas gifts to give out.

My start to Thirty-One was an extremely rocky one.  I only held a few parties between signing up in August of 2009 and giving up in January 2010.  I decided it wasn’t for me, and let it go.  I didn’t even think about the business or all of the products I had sitting in my laundry room, until my cousin called me in April asking if I would do a party for her.  Things basically snowballed for me from there. I scheduled several parties over the summer of 2010, and had a couple of girls sign up to join my team in the fall.  In January, I had 3 more girls join me and had my highest month of sales ever.  In February, I met the senior consultant requirements, recruited one more lady to my team, and beat my January sales.  I promoted again in March to director- yes, two promotions in two months.  Do you get that at your company?

I can’t put into words how much of a blessing Thirty-One has been in my life for my family and me.  I am able to stay home with my four children while my husband works or is away on military orders.  It’s a wonderful escape for me to do parties, while I am still contributing to the family bills.  Throughout so many struggles over the last several months with job loss, health issues, and more, I have always had Thirty-One to fall back on.  I know that it was brought to me for a reason, which at the time I didn’t even know I would need.  I have a great group of ladies on my team.  I love watching them meet goals, earn free products, and blossom as I have with this wonderful company.  I decided to name my team “31’s Soaring Eagles” which I got from Isaiah 40:31.  The Lord truly has strengthened me through this company, and I am thankful everyday for that “stupid” purse party.

This month, I earned a $2,000 gift card that I can use to take a Carnival Cruise, take my family to Disney World, or spend at Best Buy.  How did I earn it?  Just by doing my job.  What other companies hand out that kind of money?!?! Not only that, but because I am a leader I have also earned a trip for myself and my husband to go to Mexico in October.  Since my husband is deploying in the fall, and I refuse to take a vacation without him, we are going to use the $2,000 card for Best Buy to buy two new high tech computers to communicate with each other while he is overseas.  We’ll go to Mexico next year.

I’d love to throw out to anybody who is interested in a life changing opportunity, to please call me.  I will give you all the information you need to decide if the opportunity is right for you and your family.  I promise you I am not pushy, would not convince you to do something that isn’t right for you, and won’t bombard you with calls or emails.  Thirty-One has been under a hiring freeze due to the amazing growth they have experienced, and you can now be placed on a waiting list if you are interested.  Very exciting!!!  If you aren’t in need of extra money right now, maybe you’d like an evening of shopping with girlfriends?  I can help with that too.  Any hostess who tells me they found me on Marti’s blog will receive a large utility tote at her party (a $30 value!) for free.

Thank you for taking the time to welcome me to Marti’s blog, and for reading all about my excitement!!!

Robin Pruitt

513-328-7748

thirtyonebyrobin@hotmail.com

Featured Friend Friday – Robin!

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Welcome to Featured Friend Friday!

I ‘met’ Robin through a great forum for women bloggers. She has a blog, Etsy Shop and Facebook page and I very much recommend checking out all 3!

More about Robin at the end of her post, and you’ll want to read it, as it is ALL true!

Leave her some love here and on her page!

THANKS ROBIN!!!

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Little Red Flags

I’ve spent the past 21 years teaching in a public school and I probably could tell you an entire book’s worth of stories about the hilarious things kids have said and done over the years. Being as how I’m such a long-term public servant, though, I decided to use my guest blogger opportunity to perform a public service for you. Because you don’t like to feel embarrassed, right?

The ridiculous stories and excuses some parents will accept at face value from their kids never cease to amaze me. No matter how unbelievable or even bizarre the tales get, they don’t seem to trigger those little red flags of skepticism. This can result in the parents going ballistic – firing off hateful emails or scrawling two-page hand-written “uglygrams” to the teacher. Some parents prefer the face-to-face-confrontation route and come charging up to school like Hell on wheels. All of which can be pretty darn embarrassing for the parents when the REAL story comes out.

This is where my public service part comes in – I’m here to save you possible future embarrassment. Now I’m not saying you’re one of those naïve, gullible parents. Heck, I don’t even know you. But just in case, I have prepared a list of some true stories and excuses that have sucked other parents in. A little practice in recognizing bull when you hear it should help your own red flags to develop a hair-trigger. And since I’m a teacher, I even I bullet-pointed and illustrated them for you, in case you’re taking notes:

  • Imagine that your 5th grader is now on her school’s newsletter staff because she raved to the newsletter advisor about how excited she would be to see her writing in print. A month later, the newsletter advisor calls to tell you that your daughter hasn’t done a single thing that’s been assigned, despite repeated reminders. You ask your daughter about it and she says she DIDN’T KNOW SHE HAD TO WRITE ANYTHING…well, that should trigger your first little red flag. It’s the NEWSLETTER, after all, so of course there is going to be writing. In fact, maybe you should say that to your daughter, rather than defending her by shooting a nasty email to the poor advisor.
  • Now let’s pretend that your 4th grader brings home a progress report with bad grades in all his major subjects. When you ask him what’s going on, he tells you it’s because his math teacher WON’T LET HIM DO HIS WORK. Strangely, neither will his English teacher. Or his social studies teacher. There goes your second little red flag because probably the teachers are not forbidding him do his work. It might be good to schedule a conference WITH YOUR CHILD PRESENT to get to the bottom of it, rather than firing off an ugly email to all three teachers and CC-ing the principal.
  • Okay, what about if your five year old comes home and tells you that his teacher took his shirt off of him? In class, she took your son’s shirt off. You guessed it, that’s should be another little red flag because…how would something like that come about? Possibly you should take a moment to question him further and see if you can ferret out the truth. Whatever you do, don’t go roaring up to school and cause a scene by demanding an audience with both the teacher and the school principal. Otherwise, you’re going to feel like an idiot when it turns out that what your son meant to say was that his teacher PUT A STICKER on his shirt and the STICKER fell off.
  • Alright, how about this one: What would you do if your five year old daughter came home and told you that she didn’t want to go to school anymore because her teacher had PUT A HEX ON HER? (Personally, I think it should send up little red flags about your daughter’s home life because what five year old thinks hexes are a good excuse?) By all means, avoid going storming up to school and demanding to see the principal. You’re going to be really embarrassed when it comes out that the real reason your daughter dislikes going to school is because you let her play video games all day when she stays home.

I hope that these four examples of what not to believe have helped to spring-load your little red flags. Maybe at least they’ll cause you to dig deeper into your child’s story before you shoot of a nastygram or make a fool of yourself in the school office.

Oh, and here’s a final thought – if last night’s sex toy is still lying on your nightstand in the morning when your child gets up, that should send up a BIG red flag. Under no circumstances should you leave it lying there and go out to warm up the car while your daughter packs up her backpack. Otherwise, it’s going to be pretty embarrassing for you to retrieve that thing from the (male) principal after your daughter whips it out for show and tell.

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ABOUT ME:

I hope you enjoyed my stories and YES, they are all true. Thanks, Marti, for giving me an opportunity to share these stories with your readers.

I’m a national board certified teacher who was honored as Elementary School Teacher of the Year for our entire district (26 elementary schools) in 2009-2010. Most of my twenty-one years’ experience have been spent teaching kindergarten, because there’s nothing like sense of fulfillment that comes with teaching five year olds to read.

My husband and I have two grown sons who are our lives’ best work and who are both married to lovely women. When I learned that they both had babies on the way, I ran out and bought myself an embroidery machine, because after all, those babies NEEDED embroidered bibs!

Since then, embroidery has become both a passion and has grown into a little business for me. I called it Soggy Bottoms Baby Duds, but I’ve branched out from just embroidering bibs to creating a whole range of items for adults, including custom-embroidered wine sleeves to be auctioned away for Relay for Life and autism awareness. And I’m having a GIVEAWAY! The winner will be chosen tomorrow night, so pop on over to my Facebook Fan Page or visit my blog to get the details if you’d like to enter!

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soggy-Bottoms-Baby-Duds/134095519958927

Etsy Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SoggyBottomsBabyDuds

Blog: http://soggybottomsbabyduds.blogspot.com/

Featured Friend Friday – Byn!

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Welcome to Featured Friend Friday!

I had the pleasure  of finding Byn when we both were participating forum for women bloggers.  I was not only drawn to her blog, 365 Days Of Clean Eating, but loved that like, me, she enjoys some pink in her hair at times (check out her ‘about me’ page on her blog!  I think you will find some great recipes and a new way to think about food!

Leave her some love here and on her page!

THANKS BYN!!!!

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I turn 40 this year.  My oldest daughter turns 20.  I think she might be more freaked out about it than me.

I don’t mind telling my age, because I don’t feel old.

As a matter of fact, I feel better than I ever have.

I don’t feel like I really fit anywhere though.  I don’t feel like I really have anything in common with anyone other than my husband.  I don’t feel like I ‘fit’ anywhere… and I’m finally okay with that.  I struggle with depression and being somewhat bipolar (read my fitness blog and you’ll see what I mean:) but I try to stay positive for the most part.

When I have my lows, they are really really low… but when I have my highs… well, we end up planning a biking trip to California.  From Oklahoma.  Yeah, really.

We’ve been desperately wanting to move to LA for almost a year now, but finances aren’t agreeing with us.  I’m beginning to feel like we’re not going to ever be out from under our financial… curse… until we get OUT of here. I may sound somewhat irrational, but seriously, we have had such horrid luck financially ever since we moved here ten years ago.  Yeah, ten years of horrid finances can really start to wear a person down.  Start to?  START TO!?!?!?  Suffice it to say that financially, I’ve had it.  Its time for some change.

So last week I had a break down.  Well, not an actual break down, but close.  After being out of work for 11 months last year, my husband finally got a job last November.  We were going to finally be caught up at the end of this month (FINALLY!) and one of our vans died.  Needs-a-new-engine-died.  My husband nearly had a meltdown, I nearly had a meltdown and was desperately trying to find a way to find a bright side to it.  We both agreed that we weren’t going to get another van and we’d make do with one… and ride our bikes as much as possible.

Then I wrote in my journal, “I don’t care, I’m done.  If I have to ride my bike, I’m going to California”

The next day I reread that and thought, “Wait, we could RIDE OUR BIKES TO CALIFORNIA!!!”

My husband is online right now (literally, he’s right there… See?)

And no, honey, you don’t look fat in that (Yes, he asked.  I assume he was joking:)

Anyway, he is right at this very moment writing up sponsorship letters hoping to garner some financial support that would make it possible for us to actually DO THIS THING!!!  People, my family is going to ride their bikes to California!!  I am ready to bring it…. well, except for those mountains.  I’m honestly not looking forward to that part at all.  The up OR the down.

We are looking forward to L.A., though, and we are hoping to grab Ellen’s attention, because, well, we LOVE Ellen’s show.  When I’m feeling really down, watching her show always lifts me up.  This is my daughter, Abyni, doing her imitation of Ellen’s ‘dance’… She is so happy, if you need a smile, this should do it!  Watch it every morning:)

Featured Friend Friday – Sonal

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Welcome to Featured Friend Friday!

Today I introduce to you Sonal, a wonderful and inspiring writer I recently met through a blogging community.

I encourage you to stop by her  page, LOVE MOMENTS LOVE LIFE, and enjoy her inspirational sharing of her journey, her photos, recipes and more, you won’t be disappointed!

Be sure to  show her some love while there and while here!

 

Living In The Blogosphere

Have you been blogging? We all have this innate need to feel connected to the universe around us in some way or the other. For some of us, its community centers and for some others, it’s zumba or step class…. the list goes on.

In nurturing this urge to connect to the world around, blogging has been an enriching experience.

If you haven’t already explored this realm, I would highly encourage you to try and write your daily experiences or just browse around and view some blogs in your areas of interest.

This is about the beautiful things I’ve experienced from blogging.

For the past few months, I have been living in the blogosphere. ‘Well! Not literally living but, making my fair share of efforts to reach out. I haven’t been stuck to the computer or anything like that.’

I have spent a lot more quality time with my family discussing little things that really matter in life. Kunal (my husband) & I have shared stories that we never imagined possible and developed wonderful new hobbies.

Back in September last year, I started my blogging journey on WordPress. Over the past few months, I have discovered talented bloggers around the world & learned so much from them. None of this would’ve been possible without blogging.

Cooking & More

A year ago, cooking was one thing that just did not interest me. It was a chore.

“Aaargh! Do I have to cook? Can we just eat sandwiches or go out for dinner?” The little voice in my head started harping away somewhere close to dinner time.

As I continued blogging, I found this new world of food blogs & the recipes were to die for. The pictures were mind blowing and reading these delightful articles made me want to cook. For Thanksgiving, I actually cooked with a friend and we had a ball. We took pictures and spent the day bonding.

Today, I’m absolutely in love with experimenting new recipes and blending in my love for photography as I cook.

It’s wonderful how our horizons can expand if we chose to answer that call and extend our arms beyond our comfort zone.

Writing

As far as I can remember, I wrote poems, essays and read lots of story books. Somewhere in middle school and college, I forgot all about writing. Life happened & I just lost touch with this hobby.

Recently, I got in touch with a wonderful writer from Australia. I have been following her work for a while now and am a big fan. She has achieved tremendous success in merely 6 months of her freelance career.  A ghost-writing contract is already under her belt. An editor for a leading site, this writer was gracious enough to critique my writing and give me feedback in email.

It was the most inspiring and energizing experiences to connect with her. Somewhere deep inside, the passion to write was rekindled with her spirits.

Encouragement & supportive words can sometimes move mountains.

Working out

My husband Kunal has been cajoling me into working out regularly for 3 years now. I’ve been on and off with my workouts. Working to get back on track each time things go haywire.

The blogosphere has opened up my world to such a variety of athletes – fitness experts, runners, dancers, gym rats… you name it!  “How could one not be inspired if you read about all the fitness tips from these idols?” I continue to struggle with working out but, the motivation from reading tweets, posts and messages from so many fit people is unsurpassable. I believe that soon, I will achieve my fitness goals.

It’s all about who we connect with & what surrounds us. Connecting with inspirational individuals has connected me to an intense amount of positive & life-giving energy.

Let’s blog

We read books, magazines and the news. Living in the blogosphere is more surreal than that. It’s better than TV or movies.

The magic is in the written word.

As experienced by just another passer-by on the cross-roads of life. A precious gift handed down to us & the generations to come. It is the biggest learning experience for me and yet, so simple and naïve in appearance.

How else would you meet a cancer survivor and hear about their stories and inspirational struggles on a daily basis?

In the end, the journey is invaluable and the destination just a byproduct. I’m excited about the future this experience holds & so happy to have found Marti who let me feature this post on her wonderful blog.

Thanks so much Marti.

Sonal

Let’s Get Physical…

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Friday Featured Friend

Welcome to Friday Featured Friend, where I feature a guest post from another blogger.  Today’s guest poster is Julie C. Gardner, from By Any Other Name. I cannot recall how I stumbled on her page one day but I was hooked and subscribed.  A former high school English teacher and a writer (believe me I was honored she’d grace my page and intimidated me just a bit!), she is now working on a few books.  A devoted wife and mom with a great sense of self and humor, I give you Julie.   Oh and NO she is not related, but the last name and blond hair might make ya wonder! Leave  some love and please check out her page where you will not be disappointed!

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Julie Gardner of byanyothername

Like many women, I have a love/hate relationship with exercise. I hate to work out, but love how I feel afterward. Except for the time I went running in a pair of compression pants I’d found in the back of my closet. I had to pry them from my goose-pimpled flesh with pliers. So my “afterward” that day wasn’t so much a celebration as a victory.

I’d received this particular pair of compression pants as a free sample from an Olympic athlete who’s an acquaintance of a friend. I’d put the pants away and forgotten all about them. Partly because I don’t generally require “performance-enhancing” outer-wear and partly because I don’t organize my closets often (read: ever). I also hate laundry. So I when I unexpectedly found a pair of clean running pants (!!!) I got ready to rock it. Compression style.

I cannot overstate the seriousness of the compression. Like cut-off-all-circulation compression. But when I slid these pants on, nothing jiggled. Win.

Four miles into my run, however, I discovered the pants were either (like the Grinch’s heart) two sizes too small or my lower body was not compression-pant caliber. My thighs weren’t jiggling because they were busy purpling. And not in a good way.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first fashion-disaster in my exercise history.

To witness that, we revisit the 80’s, when someone (I blame Jane Fonda) decided to do ass crunches to the throb of “Little Red Corvette.” I was right there on the cheaply-carpeted floor pumping away to lyrics that boasted a thinly-veiled celebration of the vagina. I’d be sausaged into black tights (because even as a virgin I knew black was slimming) and a neon-colored leotard with matching headband. You know. To keep the sweat off my brow.

NOT Julie or Marti

And the really sexy part?

My fellow sweaters and I would thread a belt through the leg holes of the leotard and fasten said belt at the waist, thereby hiking the spandex over our hips to belly button height. Not exactly modest, but at least there were two bunched-up layers of Danskin between the outside world and my own virginal “Little Red Corvette.”

Then we gyrated and flailed and tormented our buns of steel. And we managed all this while caked in eye make-up and plastered with hairspray to ensure we looked “radical” in our aerobic studio’s requisite wall of mirrors. Why? Because Olivia Newton John had invited us to get “physical” and I couldn’t say “no” to the hot chick in Grease. I wanted to be the hot chick in Grease.

Without having to kiss John Travolta, of course.

Fast-forward to the 90’s and I was anything but hot. My skin sucked. My hair sucked. Everything. Sucked. I probably shouldn’t have traded aerobics for happy hour at Acapulcos. But as a result of this trade, my ass (like the Grinch’s heart) grew three sizes. And my rare attempts at exercise were executed in clothes meant to hide my freshman fifteen (twenty. whatever).

I wore really, really, big shirts over skin-tight biker shorts that left permanent indentations in my lower-thighs. The idea was that if I were wearing a bed sheet, no one would notice the size of the mattress. It didn’t so much work. So I didn’t so much exercise.

Eventually, someone married me. And eventually, I had two kids (don’t get me started on maternity-wear). Then, surprisingly, we survived Y2K. Which meant we had to keep exercising. Damn.

At least, in this millennium, there are options available to women seeking sweat. One can choose ultra-short running panties (if one were clinically insane), capri or full-length tights. Spandex, lycra. Wicking and non. Loose shorts, tight shorts. Long sleeves, tank. With or without breast implants, it’s all acceptable.

Too bad it’s also all extremely expensive. Which is why I’m back where I started – in a love/hate relationship with exercise. I will continue to love how I feel after a workout. But I will also continue to hate getting dressed for it. At least until leg warmers come back into style.

Fingers crossed, people. Fingers crossed.