Remember me? I think it's time to introduce myself again. I'm Vicky. Mother to three girls, writer, dog mom to one Doberman, two-time Post-Partum Depression survivor, chronically ill with Lyme Disease and co-infections (#lymewarrior), domestic violence survivor, and fitness coach. Whew! What sets me apart from all the other blogs out there? Nothing, but my own unique story, my take on life and the fact that I live by a ton of quotes (mostly film and TV-related) but this one in particular, "It ain't about how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward." * In my former life, before Lyme tried to take me down, I reviewed cars, wrote about fashion trends and picks. I talked about my early days of parenting back when Mommy blogs were all the rage. I … [Read more...]
Cyber Monday Deal From Me to You
Welcome to Cyber Monday! This is me. Healthy. Fit. Full of life back in September when H and I went to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with NO KIDS! Despite all my health issues from Lyme and tick co-infections the best thing I have done in 2018 was to fix how I was eating and starting working on feeding my body the right way and getting it stronger than ever. It's working, don't you think? I would have never posted that picture before. So, how are you feeling about 2019? Are you like, "Ugh, Vicky. It's the holidays. I'm not there yet." That's fine. I get it. I totally understand. We don't often want to think of the things we need to do for ourselves to be healthy until it is too late or already January. BUT.... Maybe you just want to see me before when I was … [Read more...]
Are Excuses Holding You Back?
All my life I was told I was too small, too weak to do so many things. I was picked last for everything from preschool to high school. I once dated someone who told me that his hitting me, torturing me and scaring me was his way of making me better and stronger. He was "toughening me up" because I was weak. I wasn't capable of being strong. When I decided to run my first 5k someone told me that I wasn't a runner. I wouldn't be until I had been doing it at least six months. WTF, right? I believed it all. I used them as reasons to dictate my life and keep me from trying things. It kept me scared and immobile and afraid to try anything physical or new. In the end, they were all excuses. Excuses I held on to because it felt safer that way than trying something new and possibly … [Read more...]
Are You Living a Reactionary Life?
My worst nightmare. Are you living a reactionary life or are you putting habits and practices into place that can change your life? I capital 'H' hate spiders. 🕷🕸🕷 I don't even like them in emoticon form. They cause me to react. So I guard my house against them throughout the year. Small steps but it works. Every day you have a choice to change your life with the steps we take, the words we speak, the thoughts we have. All if that is in our control too. What we think becomes how we speak. How we speak becomes how we act.👇 Do you think, "I'm a terrible mother" and then find yourself reacting that way and the being filled with regret? Do you think negatively about your spouse, home or job and then spew words of anger and discontent towards them or about … [Read more...]
Transformation Tuesday
We coaches love Transformation Tuesday! 💪 It's like getting to watch one of those reality makeover TV shows from a decade ago in fast forward. Who doesn't like seeing what looks like instant results? This is why I urge people to take before and after photos. There I was plugging along in The 80 Day Obsession workouts and I didn't see the transformation in myself. I was convinced I looked the same as I did three months ago when I first started the program. Despite all the hard work and sweat, I knew I was putting into it. Now I see the lost inches. The hard work. The muscles built. The dedication. Now I see the transformation that comes from not quitting. And I've quit so many things before. I've quit writing books I've started numerous times. I've quit blogs I created. … [Read more...]
2 Weeks To Get Healthy
A year ago I had my world unravel. I thought I was healthy. I was working out every day. I'm a runner. I was lifting weights. I ate clean- enough. I thought I was on top of my diet, exercise and even my life. I was a size six after all and in my forties. Isn't that good enough? I was working two careers helping my husband start a brand new business while raising three girls. We were a picture-perfect family that looked really good on paper. In one weekend my life was turned upside down by a disease no one could find or treat. I was told it was in my head. It was a virus or 90 other things that I knew it was not. Every doctor told me that it was THIS thing or THAT thing. No one was right. I followed my gut and found a doctor through a blog. Ha! The irony that it is another blog that … [Read more...]
How I Made My Health the #1 Priority and Everything Else Fell Into Place
Girl, you better work. That phrase played in my head on a constant loop this last year. I wasn't talking about sitting at a desk or improving my career either. It was all about working on my health and healing and treating it like a job. "In health there is freedom. Health is the first of all liberties." Between starting with yoga, then walking, adding in light weights, progressing to running and then moving onto HIIT workouts once I was strong enough, exercise was one of the things I have done consistently this last year to help me battle my chronic Lyme disease. Sweat. It does a body good. You know what? I'm in the best shape of my life. I even decided to help others to get there too. How Did I Get Here? Part of that motivation came from thinking of each day of the week as a … [Read more...]
Do You Want to Transform Yourself?
I have a confession to make. 🌱Transformation doesn't happen overnight. The last year of my life is pure proof of that. There were days I thought I had beat the diseases running rampant within my body only to fall a few steps backward and have to rebuild again. Now there are more good days than bad. Now I see a future and it looks wildly different than I ever imagined. I'm full of more joy. I see more wonder in the world. I think that was all part of the plan too. One of the best things I did to heal was to KEEP MOVING no matter how unmotivated I felt there was always a walk, yoga or something gentle until I can build strength again. Today? My body may not be in remission but it is STRONGER than it was before I got sick. How Crazy Is That? My doctor is amazed … [Read more...]
Using Mother-Daughter Days to Tackle Big Parenting Moments
"Being a parent is the toughest job you will ever have." -My Mother It's not that I didn't believe my mom when she said these words but then I went and had three kids, all girls, who are hitting that tween and teen stage and now I'm a true believer. I'm learning those mother-daughter days in order to tackle the big stuff and not just for tea parties, lunches out or getting treats. Yes, the diaper days were rough. The physical nature of parenting little ones is damn hard. I was not prepared for that aspect of it. But tweens and teens come with so many emotions, the highs, and lows. The bigger problems that force us as parents to reflect on our past and then figure out how to handle the same issues in a different world. That doesn't even factor into the running them around town … [Read more...]
Lyme Awareness & Getting Out
May, my birth month, is also Lyme Disease Awareness month. Funny, that's exactly the month that I have been bitten and contracted Lyme twice now. I always do like being timely. These days I find I'm able to make it outside more. I'm attempting to run instead of walking and yoga. I've been able to add strength training back into my days. I'm seeing friends and doing things with my family that months ago I would have had to forgo. A month ago going out for coffee would have been my only activity for the day. Just this weekend we hit up the Cirque De Soliel show, Luzia and took in a baseball game. A NIGHT game. I wasn't asleep or crumpled in pain and needing a detox bath. This is HUGE. It is life-giving. Just look! And I got dressed in something besides leggings and … [Read more...]