If you are a Colorado resident, hope you enjoyed the snow day on Friday.  For those of you not in CO, we had a solid snowstorm, dropping about 2 FEET of snow on most of us along the outskirts of Denver.  (I heard Blackhawk got FOUR feet!)

Views from our windows:

Not sure if this happens to other people, but there is something about a blizzard that makes me LAZY.  I didn’t work out all weekend and I ate a lot of starchy comfort food.

I do blame part of the food on having received this as a birthday gift:

Excitement just doesn’t cut it!  I’ve always wanted a stand mixer.  Now I finally have one!   (Thank you to my sweet husband for adding to my kitchen gadget arsenal!)

So of course I had to make stuff!  Almond cake, two different batches of dark chocolate chunk cookies, a loaf of yeast-free bread.

This mixer might be bad for my waistline! 

But now that the ‘birthday blizzard weekend of gluttony’ is over and it’s MONDAY, that means my year of “Fit & Fine at 39” commences!  2012 in general has been off to a really great start with fitness and food – now I plan to dial it in even a little further.

The first item on the menu today?  A green juice!

And as I write this I am drinking a multi-green kombucha.  The color tone I plan to set for this year is GREEN.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  And if you have sunshine near you, please send it our way so we can melt off some of this white stuff!

– Shari B. =)

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I’ve got my hands full in the kitchen for the next couple of day but wanted to let you know that I finally got around to giving FitFeat its own page on Facebook so if you are on FB and want to like the page for extra fit living tips, food photos (and maybe an occasional giveaway!) feel free to swing on by and give it the ol’ thumbs up.  (And if you made your way here from FB, WELCOME!)

Things have been hopping on this end, per usual.  You’ll notice that if you used to use the www.fitfeat.com address to access this blog, it now routes over to my personal chef page.  So you’ll want to update your bookmark for the blog to http://fitfeat.com/blog.  Rather than continue to run two separate entities (FitFeat for training and Chef Shari for personal cheffing) it is all under one ‘roof’ now with FitFeat, LLC.  Over time, you’ll see some small changes to the blog that reflect the new structure.  But not just yet, because I haven’t figured out how to chop vegetables and type at the same time. 

Hope you are having a fabulous day so far!  See you soon!

– Shari B. =)

P.S. => Who’s making MOCHI waffles tomorrow for breakfast??

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What a week!  Cory and I often try to take this week off between Christmas and the New Year because it’s always a nice way to feel festive, wind down the year and also do a little celebrating of our anniversary which is January 1.  The weather in Colorado has been beautiful – we had a white Christmas thanks to the 10″ of snow that fell a few days prior and now this week has been in the high 40s and even some mid-to-upper 50s.  So back when we first started planning this little ‘stay-cation’ we had high hopes for getting out and doing some hiking, maybe some jogging, snowshoeing, dogwalking, etc.

Alas, the curse of the best laid plans and all that jazz…

The long and the short of it is: Cory and I both ended up with a repeat of that same nasty cold we had over Thanksgiving (OK, body – get it out of your system now because I’m not letting you get sick in 2012!), our old Weim Riley is laid up with some issues surrounding her back legs (hip/spine) so we’ve had two vet appointments this week trying to determine what’s wrong, including X-rays which revealed some not-so-good news and since we can’t leave her alone now for more than a couple hours at a time, we’ve had a bit of a kink in our plans.

We did however stick to our usual Christmas Day routine.

A decadent breakfast treat:

For Christmas dinner, our tradition is normally to out to a Chinese buffet, but this year we opted for takeout from John Holly’s Asian Bistro instead.

Mmm seaweed salad, lobster roll and California rolls!

We also always go see a movie and this year we changed it up from the usual dramatic family film and chose something chock full of action with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.   We loved it!  A really high energy film and it made me want to go home and do a bunch of pushups or something!  Tom Cruise is one fit dude!

In spite of the cold dragging down my head, I have still done a couple of pretty solid workouts during the week, but kept them indoors.  I’m refusing to let it get in the way of my exercise this time around!  I’ve been relying on Cathe Friedrich to train me via her DVDs – sometimes the trainer still needs a trainer!  I also attended a class at OrangeTheory Fitness, but I’ll be posting more on that in its own post in the near future.

While I’ve had this downtime I’ve used it to get started on a Create 2012 Collage (aka vision board, inspiration board).  I haven’t made one in years and since I’m setting intentions instead of specific resolutions for the New Year, I thought I’d get one started.  I have a lot of work to do on it yet, but here are some of the beginning stages of clippings I’ve started pulling together.

Do you ever make ‘vision boards’?  Do you have some specific traditions (or “non-traditions”!) regarding the New Year or Christmas?

Hope you are having a FABULOUS day!  If I don’t get back out here before tomorrow night, have a HAPPY and SAFE New Year’s Eve friends!  Happy 2012!

– Shari B. =)

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We always do our actual Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve and it was a pretty low key one this year – here are a few photo highlights from the night:

It was such a wonderful day – phone calls with some family members, a snowy ‘hike’ where I actually had to wear my snowboots and yak trax, an early morning leg workout, sunshine, snow on the ground, healthy food (and some not-so-healthy food!), games, football, gifts, and best of all time hanging out with my husband (and best friend!) and my sweet dogs.  A perfect Christmas Eve in my book!  I am very blessed and extremely grateful for the happiness I have in my life.

I wish all the happiness in the world to you as well, friends.

– Shari B. =)

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Well, that nasty head cold that Cory had over Thanksgiving weekend ended up hopping over to me last week.  I started off strong the Monday after T-Day with a great high intensity interval workout and by that afternoon, I had a terrible sore throat.  Doesn’t it drive you batty when you have GREAT INTENTIONS only to be sidelined by something silly?  I loaded up on oscillococcinum and immunity tea, to no avail.  This cold took solid hold, settling in my sinuses and chest and even gave me waves of nausea.  It was so bizarre!  It’s been a full week and today is the first day that I actually feel quite a bit better.

Even my jumbo green smoothies weren’t fighting off this one!

Yesterday, regardless of how stuffy my head was, I HAD to have a productive day because it was killing me to not get things done.  So I finally decided to pop a Sudafed (and you know how much I hate to take any kind of medication) and get busy.  I was wrapping up a home project we’d been working on, so I had a fair amount of tedious taping and painting to do.  I had piles of laundry, client programs to create, a naked Christmas tree begging for some decorations, the list went on.  Holy busy-bee tornado!  I got my whole list done and then some!

Unfortunately the Sudafed didn’t wear off nearly as soon as I’d thought it would so I was up most of the night – I felt like my brain was buzzing!

In this case, I have to say it was worth it.  The house is clean and all the holiday decorations are up.  We even snapped our holiday picture during lunch yesterday.  We’d planned to have the dogs in it as well, but using the self-timer on a point-and-shoot camera while trying to get both of us in the picture AND get two dogs to look toward the camera at the same time just wasn’t happening.  Plus it was less than 10 degrees outside and the pups were freezing after about 45 seconds.

On our very first attempt, Rascal provided the comedy by lifting his leg and yellowing the snow right in the picture (see red arrow) so this was the action shot that was captured as he was heading away.  At least Riley was looking in the right direction!

This wasn’t the one either:

I imagine Riley was thinking “Forget this, I’m COLD!”

Darn dogs!  Needless to say, our holiday picture ended up just being the two of us. 

Do you like to decorate for the holidays (whichever holiday you might celebrate)?  While I don’t “enjoy” the process of putting up and taking down the decorations, I do LOVE the few weeks in December that I have the tree up.  I love waking up in the morning when the house is quiet, and sip my coffee with only the lights of the Christmas tree on.   It feels festive in a peaceful way.  I also ADORE holiday music and this year I think I was listening to the holiday station on Pandora as early as Halloween! Check out this link to hear the song I’m enjoying most this season.  It’s been out for three years yet somehow this is the first year I’ve heard it.  It makes me smile every time I hear it!  Enjoy!

– Shari B. =)

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I’ve been a bit AWOL this week from the blog – things on the business front got DELIGHTFULLY crazy all at once so I’ve not had a lot of spare time to write a good post for you all.  And I didn’t think I’d have a chance today either, but then I thought about something that I really wanted to touch on so I found the time.

Over the last week or so I’ve witnessed tragedy striking others around me in a number of ways:  a devastating house fire for someone in my community, someone losing their partner to a terminal disease, a best friend with a family member receiving a heartbreaking diagnosis.

It puts things into perspective.  It minimizes the “silly” stuff.  It move life’s lens to what’s really important.

No matter what may be going on in your life right now (whether up or down), let’s all take a moment to appreciate the blessings we do have in our lives.  Let a feeling of gratitude come over you.  Tell someone you love and appreciate them, right now!  Reach out to someone who might need a hand or a hug.  BE IN THIS MOMENT and savor it.

Wherever you are as you read this, know that I am sending smiles your way.  Maybe it will show up on the face of a stranger, if you’re looking.

– Shari B. =)

P.S.  These little faces bring a smile to my face no matter what’s going on in my life.  Rascal *told* me he wants to loan his hugs out today so that maybe he’ll make someone else smile too.  Riley will tell you that Rascal’s hugs are pretty darn good. 

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This year we chose the “Peak to Peak Highway” from Blackhawk to Estes Park, CO.

This photo is of Longs Peak, one of Colorado’s “Fourteeners” and Mt. Meeker (in the Rocky Mountain National Park).

Elk crossing:

Remnants of an old gold extraction millsite (in the Four Mile Canyon area):

It was a beautiful drive on an even more beautiful day!  But that said, if you are in Colorado and looking to view the fall colors, our favorite place is still Boreas Pass, where we went in 2008.  We’ll go back there for next year’s drive.  Here are some pics from that year and you’ll see why we want to go back – you are surrounded by Aspen gold everywhere!

Where do you like to take in the fall colors where YOU live?

– Shari B. =)

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As you may know, Cory and I love to watch movies.  We had a streak where we’d stopped going for a while because they were just getting TOO expensive ($10.50 per ticket!) but now one of our local theaters has been doing $5 tickets for ALL of their movies every Sunday.  We feel a lot better spending $10 for the two of us to see a film than a whopping $21.  So now we are back to seeing a new release every other week or so.

We recently saw the movie, “Contagion” with Matt Damon (among a list of other well-known actors).  Wow, if you are even remotely germophobic, you might want to skip this one!  Every time someone coughed or sneezed in public in the days after seeing the movie, my mind shot back to the film and how quickly infectious diseases can spread.  Not to mention I’m already a little freakish about germs when I travel and seeing this movie RIGHT before a trip was probably not my smartest move…! 

It’s a decent movie, a little slow paced, but it definitely makes you think.  I left with an unsettled feeling of how much we take for granted on a daily basis (electricity, running water, functional sewers, fully stocked markets as well as modern technological conveniences) and also feeling quite UNPREPARED for an emergency.   Like maybe I need to be stocking up on some canned food, big jugs of water and a generator.

In the film, when people started getting scared that they could catch this potentially fatal disease, everyone hunkered down and stayed indoors for the most part.  Grocery stores were running low (and were then looted), trash began piling up on the streets because pickup had been suspended, and “regular” life came to a halt.  Then when food supplies began running out, people became desperate and started robbing their neighbors at gunpoint for their stash of food.  Hospitals and pharmacies were overwhelmed with rioters and looters.

You watch this movie, and you may think to yourself, “yeah but it’s just a movie” – I was in that mindset for part of it.  And then you remember what happened after Hurricane Katrina.  People had to rely on the government (and organizations like the Red Cross) for shelter, food, water.  There was a lot of looting going on.

And we’ve certainly seen quite a number of natural disasters around the world lately that could potentially cause similar situations.

I’m certainly grateful that I live in a society that allows so many conveniences for us.  But it also makes me think that it’s put us at a pretty solid disadvantage too.  Most of us haven’t had to “rough it”: live off the land, build our own shelter, find our own sources of food and fresh water.  Yes, there are some that are the exception to that, I know, but in general I’d say the vast majority of us would be ill-equipped to deal with a true survival situation, whether physically or emotionally.

I know this is a bit off the usual FitFeat topics, but I just found it very thought provoking and interesting to mull over.   What are your thoughts?  Have you seen the movie?  Do situations like this (or coverage you see of natural disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes) get you thinking what you’d do or how you’d react?

– Shari B. =)

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Hope your week is off to an amazing start!  Did you have a great weekend?  We did, spending it in Eagle CO with one of my best friends, her husband and her adorable dogs.

It’s really only a 3 hour drive but I was excited and in ROAD TRIP mode!

We arrived before they were home from work, so we found a great walking path to take our pups on (in hopes that it would wear them out somewhat before we arrived and that they might be calmer – it didn’t work!)

The view from the trail was gorgeous:

We had a wonderful time – it totally flew by.  We remember now why we DON’T travel with our dogs though.  Our visit would have been much nicer if we’d just taken the dogs to either Camp BowWow or PetsHotel.  Riley, our Weimaraner, had some weird allergic reaction (we still don’t know to what) and the skin along her skull swelled up like someone pumped fluid under her skin, then she got hives all over her body.  Rascal, our MinPin, had a little ‘accident’ on their couch.  Our dogs wouldn’t relax or sleep and kept us up all night long.  Lesson learned!  You’d think that dogs at ages 12 and 10 would be TIRED all the time and just be lazy bones.  Not these two crazies.  Oddly enough, the minute we pulled back in to our own home, they both were out like lights for about 2 days straight.

Good thing they’re so cute! 

On the drive home, we stopped at a rest area on Vail Pass  and this was the view as the the sun was setting.

Anyone else out there regret a time when traveling with your pets?  (Or maybe even the kids?? ) 

Well friends, off to that meeting / presentation I’ve been prepping for the last few weeks.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it goes well!

– Shari B. =)

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The good news?  It’s still a great day – I always learn something new when this stuff happens with my blog, so it’s an opportunity to increase my techie knowledge! 

OK friends, back behind the scenes I go!

Have a great night!

– Shari B. =)

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