Ten Tunes Tuesday (On the road again... also known as, Becky's never home anymore)

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." -- unknown

Hello, friends! As you can probably already guess, yes... I am on the road once again! I'm back in the San Francisco Bay Area attending a leadership class for work. While I've missed my morning mile already once (more on those in a later blog post), I am happy to report that I kept up my evening strength training and cardio workout. I even managed to get a 3 mile walk in this evening! Woohoo!

I contemplated challenging myself to do a run this evening... I wanted to see if I had improved at all, and figured that the weather this evening was perfect for it. As soon as I laced up my sneakers, however, I decided to take it easy instead. I wanted to actually take my time and get to know my temporary neighborhood in San Ramon. My work commitments have been very stressful over the last 24 hours, so I really just wanted to take it slow, calm down, and relax a bit.

I've taken a number of these "chill out" walks in my adult life, and have found that having soothing accompaning music usually helps prevent me from speed walking and enjoying the feel of the earth under my feet. Tonight's music is just the sort of music I would normally have on my playlist for a walk like today... or any time I just want to slow down, calm down, and relax.

1. John Mayer - "3X5"
2. Al Green - "Take Your Time"
3. Sade - "Mermaid"
4. Ray LaMontagne - "Let It Be Me"
5. Sam Smith - "Lay Me Down"
6. Colbie Caillat - "Droplets"
7. Smokey Robinson - "Tracks of My Tears"
8. James Bay - "Let It Go"
9. Justin Nozuka - "Sweet Lover"
10. John Legend - "Show Me"

Exercising is great. It can make you feel powerful and strong, challenging you to become a better you. It's also a great tool for days like today... when you need to take a step back, relax, reflect, and frankly... just breathe. This music isn't likely to rev your engine, but I hope you find it (or the idea of it) helpful. While it's great that we try to push ourselves daily in our workout routines, it doesn't hurt to take a day off now and then to just regroup too. Remember... even a slow walk is still better than lounging on the couch too!


Anyway, I'm already up too late and have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get my morning mile in before class! Wish me luck :)


Cheers!


Becky

Expect Success!!!

I recently wrote this on my mirror at home using an old eyeliner pencil.  I pretty much live my life in various states of stress and duress whether there is a reason or not.  During one of my more recent trips to the negative town I started wondering why I was thinking so negatively to begin with.  Why was I sitting around waiting for the next disappointment?  Why hadn't it occurred to me that a more positive outcome was possible and, frankly, more probable?

Today, I am choosing to be a glass half full kind of girl.  What I've realized is that all of the time that I spend around being annoyed, aggravated, frustrated, depressed, and bored could be better spent putting myself in a position to get the results that I'm looking for.

I forced them to exercise with me by promising them Sweet Frog!

Anyhow, I'm still not in any better shape than I was at the time of my last post (physically anyway). Nevertheless, I am going to continue to ignore my husband's mocking of my motivational mirror messages until I reach my goal.  Stay tuned for news of my upcoming fitness adventure.  If you are too curious, you can visit www.oxygenmag.com/90daychallenge.

Ten Tunes Tuesday (or... how freaking old are you, Becky?)

"People of the world today

Are we looking for a better way of life?

We are a part of the rhythm nation." -- Janet Jackson

(That's super fashionable Becky at age 8 or 9 on the left; my niece's mother/my sister on the right)

My oldest niece has been staying with me for the last week or so. She's 15, and has stayed with me at some point nearly every summer since she was just 9 years old. I love her to pieces, and can't believe this mature, smart young lady is nearly an adult already! Why do I mention her visit? Because, like most teenagers, she has a tendency to make me feel old. I mean, REALLY old. When the BET Awards were on last week, she couldn't understand why I was so excited to see Smokey Robinson sing. Who the heck was Puff Daddy? And why should she care about Janet Jackson? O-M-G!!!

I quickly schooled her on all things Bad Boy Entertainment (seriously... she didn't even know Biggie?), and made her listen to six songs in a row from the honorable Janet... Miss Jackson if you're nasty. It simply never occurred to me that this 15 year old child had never been introduced to these musicians. She likes Michael Jackson - how could she not know he had a famous sister? It was then that I remembered what year she was born. This child was born in a completely different millennia than me - how could I expect her to know the music of my teenage years? Omg... I'm totally sounding like my mother... 

Anyway, this discussion of Janet Jackson, Bad Boy Entertainment, and the other hip hop and R&B music of my junior high and high school years (yes, I'm freaking old... I thought we established that?) led me to come up with a throwback playlist for this week's Ten Tunes list. So, let's go back... way back... back into time...

1. Janet Jackson - "If"
2. The Notorious B.I.G. - "Mo Money Mo Problems"
3. Will Smith - "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It"
4. DMX - "Ruff Ryders' Anthem"
5. Beastie Boys - "Intergalactic"
6. Salt-N-Pepa - "None of Your Business"
7. Puff Daddy - "All About the Benjamins" (Rock Remix)
8. OutKast - "Rosa Parks"
9. Aaliyah - "Try Again"
10. Jay-Z - "Can I Get A..."

There are so many other songs I wanted to include on this list. Maybe I'll do another throwback list sometime in the near future? Are there songs from 1993ish - 1998ish that you though I should have included? I'm quickly adding these to my gym playlist for July (although I have to admit Salt-N-Peppa, Janet Jackson, and OutKast are already there). We'll see you next Tuesday as I share more of my favorite gym tunes with you! Hope you have a fun, fit week! 

Cheers!

Becky