1) Grateful for writing the forgiveness letters and crossing something off of my 43T list. It’s a slow, but deliberate journey I’m on.
2) So thankful for my daughter, she’s 2 years, 3 months and just exploding with language, personality, energy. What a miracle!
3) Grateful for my husband. We’ve had our rough patches, but more than anything we’ve got each other’s back and I’ve never had that kind of love and support before.
4) Was feeling really sick, most of the week, grateful to be better.
5) Did back to back spin classes today. Super cardio summer, here I come!
SoveryAudreyH's Life List
-
1. Be a total Yoga Babe.
23 entries . 63 cheers6 people -
2. Clear clutter, especially my junky office
4 entries . 50 cheers1 person -
3. Develop an evening ritual
4 entries . 34 cheers2 people -
4. Be a good Mom.
6 entries . 50 cheers697 people -
5. Be absurdly classy
2 entries . 49 cheers103 people -
6. Catch up on all my pending thank you notes
24 cheers1 person -
7. Live in a way that honors money and what it can do when I treat it well.
3 cheers1 person -
8. Do something in pursuit of my dreams, every day
4 entries . 21 cheers2 people -
9. Speak to my daughter in Spanish as much as possible
1 entry . 33 cheers1 person -
10. Drink more green tea
1 entry . 20 cheers181 people -
11. Nourish my body with healthful food and eat mindfully
22 cheers1 person -
12. Start running again
6 entries . 29 cheers436 people -
13. In work situations, learn how to communicate what I want in a professional, non-personal manner
1 entry . 8 cheers2 people -
14. Dance all night at a DJ Rheka Basement Bhangra party in NYC
8 cheers2 people -
15. Take a whole summer off, like a kid from school
2 entries . 27 cheers5 people -
16. Write a spec script for my favorite TV show
9 cheers1 person -
17. Become fluent in French
1 entry . 11 cheers1,281 people -
18. Sleep in an Ice Hotel
23 cheers12 people -
19. Follow Maya Angelou's advice: when people show me who they are, believe them -- the first time
16 cheers1 person -
20. Live in a Paul R. Williams house
4 cheers1 person -
21. Honor the people who've made a difference in my life, especially the ones who are no longer here
3 entries . 14 cheers1 person -
22. Dwell Joyfully in the Luxury of Enough
2 entries . 16 cheers2 people -
23. Spend my next bday at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in New York
5 cheers1 person -
24. Daily: Reflect on 5 things for which I'm grateful
14 entries . 4 cheers717 people -
25. Read 39 books in 2009
3 cheers1 person -
26. Feel on top of things
3 cheers4 people
How I did it: I remembered reading about forgiveness letters in Iyanla Vanzant's Value in the Valley then I looked for sample letters online. I spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect format, then I realized that I just needed to do it. This perfect summer day felt like a peaceful time to dig deep. I also burned the letters afterwards. Read how I did it…
How I did it: This is something I've been trying to do for *months*. 2 hours of exercise a day for 14 days. I really had to clear my sked to do it. I also had to be super selfish with my time; leaving to go to the gym on some days, before my daughter woke up, getting home after she fell asleep other days. I had to make the time and budget for late night taxis and trainer time, the whole kit and caboodle. But I wanted to re… Read how I did it…
How I did it: My husband let me sleep in until noon on Christmas day. It doesn't sound like a big deal but I haven't slept till noon since before the baby was born and before I was pregnant. I kept getting up, then falling asleep again and getting up and falling asleep again. Going in and out of dreams. It sounds a little loopy, but as a perpetually sleep deprived Mom it was really exciting. Now, I keep thinking about when I can sleep… Read how I did it…
See all "How I Did It" stories...
1. For my online Mommy friendship with Cdngirl. Go Canada!
2. For a date with my husband tonight, it’s been awhile.
3. For strength to complete the New York body plan, 2 weeks before my goal. I’m on day 12!
4. For faith in the good things,to paraphrase the title of a favorite novel.
5. Mistresses on BBC. What great escapism. I’ll be glad when all the TV wraps up so I can get back to books and my reading goal.
(Plus: I’m grateful for my daughter, my job, finding the time to exercise, organizing my office, seeing friends this weekend, my sister, still too little sleep, an average of 6 hours a night, but I’ll get there!)
I am on Day 11 of a 14 day New York body plan. I am feeling so unbelievably weak right now. 2 hours of exercise, every single day, for 14 days.
It’s a little nuts, and I haven’t been perfect, but this is about the promises I keep to myself, about carving out the physicality I’ve dreamed about—not scary skinny, probably never ever really skinny (curvy is in my genes), but healthy and strong.
The other day I burst into tears when my trainer said, “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”
He was pushing me so hard, maybe too hard. I don’t know if I agree with his statement. So often over the last couple of tough years, pain has felt like weakness entering the body—in the form of grief, fear, sadness, envy, loneliness and what felt, what feels, at time, like hope without hope.
But I do think that the most important thing I’ve gained from the last 2 weeks is the awareness that, for the most part, when I see super fit people, they’ve worked, really, really hard for it.
I’ve broken some bad habits over the last 2 weeks. I’ve pushed myself so hard. Now I want to craft a fitness routine that’s firmly routed in joy—an easy, but consistent morning run, the pumping blood of a great spin class when the music is awesome, tennis with my husband (we both suck by equal measure) and the ever elusive quest of being a yoga babe.
Hopefully, this summer, fitness will feel like joy entering my body.






