New seasonal reads & summer fitness...

Another odd combination, to be sure, but you're used to that around here. ;-) Part of the issue is that I'm so heavily enmeshed in search committee tasks at work, and family stuff at home, that free time to work on anything cohesive is at a premium. I HAVE been reading though, so come prepared to talk about chapters 1-5 of Church of Spies next Wednesday!

I'm also excited about a few upcoming books in my queue. One is a new book about Mother Angelica that came out TODAY, authored by Ramond Arroyo:

I pre-ordered this, so it downloaded to my Kindle this morning. *happy sigh* I'd love to dig right in, but I have book club obligations ;-) so I'll likely wait til June. I do intend to read it this summer though!


The other thing I have been squeezing in priority-wise is fitness. I feel so much better in every possible way when I make time to stay active. What I have come to discover is that "staying active" means different things to different people. My philosophy is: do whatever you know that you will stick to doing. If you hate doing something (for me, this means running :0) there is no way in tarnation you're going to continue with it past some short, miserable, self-imposed stretch of time. We're going for healthy lifestyle changes, the long haul, right peeps?! So you should do what you enjoy. For me, this is:

(a) walking. Not running. *shudder* Just walking while listening to podcasts or loud, Middle Eastern music, and making my goal 10,000 steps per day.

(b) 1-2 fitness classes per week. I don't know what it is about being in a group, but I LOVE taking classes. I find it very motivating. I will not (1) workout to videos, I get lonely, or (2) go to the gym to attempt a bonding ritual with a treadmill or lift weights. Also lonely. And...I just hate doing those things. :0

But some people love them! So if you do, keep at it!

Since the New Year, I've been both walking and keeping to my goal of trying new fitness classes. I took Zumba and PiYo during the spring semester, but those are both now done til the fall. So, I have started taking a belly dance-inspired workout class on Monday nights at my studio called HipFit, and I LOVE IT. This is my summer workout plan, along with trying to fit in another class per week once the group fitness classes start up here on campus for the summer semester next month. Looks like there is a Pilates and a Barre class that I could potentially make on my lunch hour. So I'll take one of those when I can.

Nothing major, but I've lost about 5 pounds (that I've wanted to lose since I delivered Anne ;-)) and gained some muscle. I feel stronger and happier.

How about you? Do you have any summer fitness goals? I like talking about this with other people, it keeps us accountable and motivated, right? So do chime in, I'd love for us to encourage each other!