Happy Monday Morning!

Hi readers,

In deep thought about how to improve this workweek (a process that starts every Monday at around 9:02 AM) , I decided nothing says "You're special! You're funny! Have a great day!"...like looking at the funniest memes on the internet.  Grab an extra cup of coffee and enjoy.

STAY FABULOUS! 

Best Strength Training for Women

Hi readers,

Ahhhhh, strength training.  That blissful 20 minutes 10 minutes time at the gym where I get to sit on an exercise ball, bouncing around and looking at Instagram reading the NY Times on my phone.  Sometimes, I like to alternate between sitting on an exercise ball and lying on a squishy "nap mat", depending on how I feel.  

What do you mean "that's not how you do strength training"?  

Okay, okay, I know that's not how you do strength training.  But the PROBLEM is that strength training is BORING.  I would rather be bouncing on an exercise ball and inventing clever, hilarious emoji expression combinations to use in witty texting banter.  

However, in the interest of trying to look amazing presentable in a bathing suit in a few short weeks, I am attempting to redefine my relationship with squats, kettleballs and TRX training equipment. 

(Sidenote: My current relationship with TRX training equipment consists of me looking at it across the room from my post as queen as the girls-bouncing-on-exercise-balls, but it looks amazing, like something really fit people use.  See below.)

Recently I found myself deep in thought during a "strength training session" at my hotel in Amsterdam.  (Related: Always use the fitness room when you stay in a hotel.  You need to work out after your hotel buffet breakfast) 

I realized the thing that makes strength training most boring is all the counting.  The only gym math I want to do is to figure out how many calories worth of wine and cheese healthy low-calorie, high-protein granola I can consume after.  Counting is serious and boring.  I do not go to the gym for serious and boring.  I do not go ANYWHERE for serious and boring. 

Here is how to NOT count during strength training for a totally good-enough workout: 

5 Steps to Excellent and Enjoyable Strength Training for Women

1) Download a fun workout playlist with about 20 songs (some ideas from Fitness magazine here) 

2) Figure out roughly how many sit-ups, push-ups, lunges, etc, you do during a 1-minute interval.

3) Get all the equipment you need to do a "circuit" of 5-10 exercises (weights for arms, a mat or exercise ball for sit-ups, a kettleball to hold for squats, a bosu ball for lunges.  Yes, seriously.  Do it.)

4) Play your playlist as you go through your exercises.  Stop each song after a minute and switch exercises. 

5) Done.  Congratulations, you just spend 20 minutes working out! How many of each exercise did you complete?  Who cares?! More than you would have if you were sitting on your couch! Go eat a banana. 

Stay fabulous! 

Post your favorite workout tips below. 

Top 5 Things to do in Amsterdam

Hi readers,
Happy European Labor Day weekend! The journey is the Netherlands continues--read on for the (PG-rated) list of my top five favorite things in Amsterdam and some photos.

Related:
May Flowers (Tulips from the Keukenhof gardens),
a breakfast post with a photo of Dutch bread sprinkles

TOP 5 AMSTERDAM ACTIVITIES (PG VERSION)

1.  Anne Frank House.  Buy tickets in advance for this.  The tour takes you through the house where the Frank family and their friends hid for almost 2 years during the Nazi occupation.  The original copies of Anne's diaries are there, as well as tremendously poignant footage from Anne's father Otto Frank, and the office staff that helped to keep them in hiding.  

2.  Van Gogh museum.  This collection does a wonderful job of walking the audience through the live and experiences of Vincent Van Gogh, his family and his contemporaries.  Buy tickets in advance for this.  (Side note: buy tickets in advance for everything in major cities, always) 

3.  Vondelpark.  I love city parks and this is a great one.  Located close to the museum district, Vondelpark creates a peaceful oasis in the middle of surprisingly busy Amsterdam.  The park is great size for a long walk (you could loop the park in about an hour) on a sunny day and has lots of places to stop for a picnic (or cafes to stop for a glass of wine.  There are interesting art/sculpture displays,  relaxing water features (see photo) and great bike trails.  This is a great stop for a few hours of relaxing--bring a book and your sense of self-righteous judgement for some great people watching.

4.  Get samples.  Dutch people are super friendly.  This extends to earnest in-flight conversations about fun tourist activities, thoughtful directions to major sites and lots of friendly banter with bus drivers.  Most importantly, this extends to their food and grocery culture.  You will pass by adorable cheese shops every few blocks.  Try all the cheese.  Go into grocery stores (to look for Dutch bread sprinkles of course).  Try everything at the meat and fish counters.  Go to Urban Cacao (the best chocolate in Amsterdam).  Try all the chocolate.  You get the idea. 

5.  Go to a "brown bar" for a drink.  The cool, older cousin of the frantic Amsterdam coffeehouse scene, brown bars are historic Dutch pubs sprinkled through Amsterdam with a great selection of beer, craft liquor and Dutch bar food.  It's a fun atmosphere to unwind and soak up a little bit of Dutch culture.  Check out this 10 Best List for some recommendations-we tried Arendsnest and had a great time (beer list in picture)

Next time...a canal trip : )

What activities have you liked in Amsterdam or the Netherlands?  Comment or link to articles below! 

May Flowers

Happy May! Some tulip photos from From a perfect morning at the famous Keukenhof flower garden to celebrate:

Link to Keukenhof gardens:

http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/

Embrace Your Weaknesses

I came up with a theory at breakfast this morning that just might get me kicked out of the land of strong independent women. Before Madonna and Hilary Clinton come to toss me to the curb, let me explain:

I ate breakfast this morning in the 

NH Zuid Amsterdam hotel. They have a wonderful buffet that includes charcuterie, these funny Dutch bread sprinklesfruit, cereal, bread, cheese, pastries and an omelet bar. 

 I happily ignored the shocked looks from hotel staff as I kept going up to caress the tremendous variety of individually packaged fruit spreads and steal herbal tea bags. During the middle of my 'dessert course' I wondered vaguely as I stuffed my face with cappachino and granola if the hotel kitchen had some magical calorie reduction technique they employed on buffet lines. Around this time, I realized: hotel breakfasts are my weakness. 

I love them.

Someone else cooks all this food, which feels indulgent and luxurious. It comes with an endless variety of baked goods, it sometimes includes champagne and best thing of all, it means I'm on vacation!! 

For years I have felt guilty about consuming a day's worth of calories before 10 AM, self-consciously trying to look skinny as I eat miniature chocolate muffins and pancakes drowning in syrup and butter. No more! Hotel breakfast is my weakness! This morning I gave myself permission to totally indulge and not worry about the consequences. The hotel probably DOES have some majgical calorie reduction technique for the buffet line and if not, who cares? I walk an average of 10 miles a day of vacation, I deserve a good breakfast!

My newfound "Celebrate weakness" theory really made me think--feeling a weakness towards something is an expression of love. Instead of self-concious worrying I am going to loudly and completely embrace the following: 

Overspending on fabulous travel weekends

€400 shoes, even if I wear them once a year

Hotel buffet breakfast

Life sounds more enjoyable already. 

What's your list of weaknesses? 

Link for nH hotel Zuid:

http://m.nh-hotels.com/hotel/nh-amsterdam-zuid

Easy Fun Dinner Recipes

Hi readers,

After drinking 2 bottles of wine last night careful thought, I made a pledge this morning: Start cooking healthy, interesting dinners.  I love like know how to cook, but I have fallen into a boring routine.  On Sunday night I cook a big pot of pasta, throw in a bunch of vegetables, and make 3-4 portions to eat during the week.  Reasonably healthy but totally un-fabulous.  It's time to shake things up.  In my quest for easy, fun dinner recipes, I came up the with following guidelines:

Interesting Dinner Recipes Pledge 

1) Make a sauce.  Sauce sounds interesting! I am going to start with this list from Cooking Light 

2) Marinate.  After some preliminary internet research it seems as long as you have one acidic or enzymatic liquid (lemon juice, vinegar, wine, etc) you can get creative with your other ingredients.  I want to try hot honey orange BBQ

3) Love Your Grocery Store.  In writing this post I realized my grocery store is merely functional.  I love the nice Chinese family and they sell cereal.  Not fabulous.  I want to find a grocery store I love!   There's a market near me with fresh produce stands, butcher counters, cheese stands...I am going to make the time to go and (hopefully) get inspired.

4) Mix and Match.  Last week, I made pasta.  Next week, I'm going to make quinoa.  Or farrow.  Or barley.  Or a different shape of pasta.  It's time to get creative.

5) Know Your Pantry.  I personally don't believe in keeping too much food in the pantry.  It seems that those "won't-it-be-nice-to-have-cookies-when-I-have-company" cookies turn into "won't-it-be-nice-to-sit-on-the-couch-and-get-fat" cookies every time.  So this list is short but sweet and full of things it is difficult (not impossible, but difficult) to binge-eat on a random Tuesday night.

I always have:
Olive oil
Tomato paste
Cinnamon
Chile powder
Herbs de provence
Eggs
Frozen spinach


How do you deal with weeknight cooking?  Post a comment and let me know--I need all the help I can get!

   

Sources for Creativity

Hi readers,
A creative life is important to me.  Every day I try to find time to write or draw or walk or learn something new.  It helps break up the time between episodes of Top Chef Junior and bottles of Ribera del Duero.

With writing, my best words come early in the morning.  But I have fallen into a writing trap.  I affectionately call it the "I-like-to-write-about-my-morning-anxiety" trap.  When I review my sunrise thoughts, they seem to circle around themes like "drowning" and "burning".  Rather decidedly un-fabulous.  So in the interest of changing my mental bandwidths (and my newfound thoughts about publicly posting more vacation photos) between coffee/tooth-brushing/frantic e-mailing this morning, I decided on a new AM writing exercise.  I can feel your anticipation!

Source for Morning Writing Creativity: Find an old picture.  Write 10 words (or write 100 words, if you have some magical fairy godmother that brushes your teeth, pours your coffee and writes your morning e-mails).

Find some inspiration below.

New beginnings thrusting dreams into clouds and concrete foundations 

(view of NYC from Hoboken, 2014)

Pink breath ignites the water.  Reality stops for the instant of birth.

(Jackson Hole Sunset, 2014)

The lighting of perfection hit the ground and wept over its fire 

(Mt. Shasta, 2014)