Back in skinny jeans

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Enjoy this while I eat soup and blow my nose

This weekend, I was in Chicago with a group of amazing healthy living bloggers courtesy of the wonderful folks at Quaker Oatmeal. Mine eyes hath seen a new vision of the oaty Quakers.

The weekend was long and fun, but stressful travel wise because I had some trains, planes, and automobiles experience coming and going, plus it was really cold there, much too cold for my body, so today I'm eating soup and blowing my nose with headache. Steph is a sicky poo today. So, I will be back tomorrow or Wed. I appreciate your patience. Ah! The life of a solo blogger.

But in the meantime, please enjoy this preview of my trip report. I give you the the amazing MizFit working the arms in the hotel gym. I got to see the arms in person in action and indeed they were everything I imagined and more!

Smoochie reminder: You're not dried up

You know I love me a good smoochie. Your assignment this weekend is to kiss your sweetie or some cutie like you mean it...so you feel it tingly down to your toes.

Remember back when I asked you if you caged your inner "Wild Thing" because you gained weight? Well, another thing some of us tend to cage when we gain weight or start getting negative about our body is our sexual needs. Yes, sex!

We cage the sexy feelings because we feel we don't have a body that is worthy of pleasure because it's not perfect or thin. Well, that is only true in your mind. In reality, there are many, many, many people with imperfect bodies having themselves a hopping healthy good time in the sackaroo if ya know what I mean. And you can too, and you should be too, so what's stopping you too?

And I'm not even necessarily talking about having to go all the way, I'm talking about even small simple pleasures like a really good kiss, and even those Kevin Costner Bull Durham "...long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days." Whew hawtness!

So, put the body hiding feelings aside for a moment and go get yourself some good smooches and remember what it feels like to have those sexual sparks! For some inspiration, here's a kiss from Private Practice where Pete reminds Addison that she is not dried up. I get tingly just watching these two..lol!

Fears of success: Why do we kill the things we love?

In Monday’s post on “Self Sabotage: When you play the role of Punisher,” I alluded to some of my fears of success so I’m going to expand a little more today on what I’ve been learning from what these fears are trying to teach me.  It’s all a process, but I enjoy sharing with all of you here on the blog because so many of you have incredible insight as well. I learn as much from all of you.

Many people have fears of failure, and in my younger years, I had quite a few fueled by my inner perfect girl. But somewhere along the line, the fears of failure turned into fears of success which at first sounded ridiculous to me, but then made more sense after I started seeing the “patterns” in my life. I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about, uh-hum!

That’s the thing about getting older, you start getting clearer on your “patterns” because you find yourself in similar situations over and over again. The players may have changed, but the game is the same, and you come to the cold reality that the only thing in common in all of it is, well…you. Ouch, I know. So what could be so scary about success then?  Well…

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Details: Meet Stephanie and other Fit Bloggers in Chicago!

Okay gang, here are the details for meeting moi and these fabulous fit bloggers in Chicago this weekend. Best part is that you have two choices, or you can come to both! Food and drinks are pay as you consume. We tried to make it cheapo/free but maybe next time.

• Saturday night meet-up (11/8)

10pm to whenever we get sleepy or get kicked out
Hard Rock Hotel Rocks Lounge
(because this is where we're staying)
230 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60601

• Sunday morning meet-up (11/9)

9:30am to about noonish maybe later. I have to leave for the airport by 2pm. The other bloggers will be leaving earlier or later that's why I'm saying it's open. For you my lovelies, I'll stick around as long as I can, or if we go somewhere else after the noon hour I will Twitter the location so keep on a lookout for @skinnyjeans.
Panera Bread
635 N. Fairbanks Court, Chicago, IL 60611

See you all this weekend in Chicago! And like I said, I'm hugging everyone that comes!

Nosh delights: Adding nutritional bling to your oatmeal, Scharffen Berger chocolates, and Creamy Garlic Prawns

Over at Noshtopia for your eating wellness pleasure, not only am I talking about some good eats, but there are LOTS of pictures. We know ya'll love the food glamoramas!

• Yeah, we're working on keeping healthy in our skinny jeans, and oatmeal is indeed a part of the menu for many of us. But if you eat it often like I do, wouldn't you like to learn from a nutritionist some ways to nutritionally bling your oats including vegan friendly options? You're in luck, as I bring to you oat-tastic expert Dave Grotto of "101 Foods That Can Save Your Life."

• And after Dave enlightens you on the benefits of things like non-dairy options and flax, three of you lucky BISJers can win two boxes each of Quaker Organic Instant Oatmeal in Maple & Brown Sugar. Oh yes! Quaker does organic too, and if you like the Whole Foods 365 Maple Spice, this one runs neck & neck. Read more to enter. It's easy!

• Wanna see some of the creative ways I eat my oats. In fact, I don't eat oatmeal just for breakfast, I eat it for desert too. Behold pictures of my oatified concoctions: Toasty Sweet Pumpkin Pleasure, Crunchy Banana Walnut, Snickerlicious (shown above), and Dulce De Cocoa.

• I went to visit the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory on Tuesday, and zOMG! not only did I eat some of the best chocolate around, I learned so much about chocolate making and how Scharffen Berger operates. I totally {heart} these people even more! Check out all the cool pictures, and discover fun things like what you can do with cacao nibs, why chocolate melts in your mouth, and how to make your garden smell like chocolate.

• Steaz has a new line of organic Iced Teaz, and the cans feature pictures of the farmers from the fair trade countries Steaz buys their teas from. I LOVE it! And, here's what I thought of how the teaz tasted.

• And because I just love taking pictures of fabulous food I eat in restaurants, here is the latest from Piacere, contemporary Italian Californian fusion. The Sex & the City gals would totally hang out here. The best was this creamy garlic appetizer with garlic toast, and oh yeah, it tasted as good as it looks!

Better Than Nothin': Tame versus Conquer Your Cravings

This week we're doing Better Than Nothin' Tuesday on Wednesday because everyone was preoccupied with the elections yesterday. Today, we act as virtual cheer leader and rah-rah you as you take even minisucle actions towards achieving your health goals like choosing a baked potato over fries when eating out next or taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

I used to get the worst night time cravings for...pretty much anything sweet, doughy, salty, crunchy, cheesy, warm, or cold. Sounds like almost every food out there huh? Well, my cravings were a beast, and it felt like that kind of presence was around me. So, you can imagine what it must have been like trying to conquer King Kong. You're shaking your head yes. Okay!

Let me share something I learned

Mentally, what quickly helped me feel like I had immensely more power was asking myself how I could "tame" instead of trying to "conquer" this cravings beast. As you can imagine, upon hearing this, the beast was far more agreeable and less unruly. Think about yourself. Would you want to be "conquered?"

By taming, you're acknowledging that the beast exists and that it is what it is, and that's important because who doesn't like acknowledgment and acceptance. Secondly, you're negotiating a compromise that can be mutually beneficial for both.

I found in many cases that if I just simply acknowledged my beastly cravings and said, "I see you. I hear you. I acknowledge you. Tell me what you need. Can we compromise?" The food cravings either went away or I was able to eat something in a much smaller dose just to satisfy a taste or choose something that was healthier like eating organic peanut butter on a couple Kashi crackers versus eating chocolate peanut butter cups.

Besides food cravings

Try the tame vs conquer approach with other craving type situations like shopping or over interneting. You can even use the tame vs conquer approach with challenging people in your life like family, neighbors, or co-workers. Try it and let us know how it turned out!

Have you tried the tame vs conquer approach, and did it work for you? Got any additional insight?

Since today is a GINORMOUS day for elections...

...we're going to take a "rest" day since everyone will be glued wanting to know who are next elected officials are going to be, what new laws will pass, and big time, who's going to be our next President of the United States.

Exciting times my friends!

To pep things up. Here's Daughtry singing "Feels Like the First Time" for the League of First Time Voters. Awesome, amazing rendition of the Foreigner original. It's also a great song to cycle to, as an FYI :-)

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