Pilates Body Program

So I had a baby in September.

I swore that even though I ate practically nothing but club sandwiches and sweet potato fries for nine months while I was pregnant, the second Mac was born, I'd become a picture of nutritional health. Also, even though my physical fitness regimen during pregnancy consisted exclusively of sleeping and vomiting, I promised myself that after the baby was born, I'd...do something. I'd run. I'd do hot yoga. I'd do one of those boot camps that meets at five in the morning. 

And then Mac was born.

And my neighbor Lindsay brought over a pan of enchiladas, and Jessie made this amazing pumpkin apple cake. Jenny brought Smitten Kitchen's Baked Potato Soup and Brannon brought Barefoot Contessa's Boeuf Bourguignon. We went to Dallas and had great pizza from Fireside Pies and a fantastic Tex-Mex lunch at Chuy's. We hosted a shower for Brannon's baby boy, and served mini mac & cheese and little butterscotch budinos. We went to Mexico for a week and ate a steady diet of chips, salsa, and beer. 

And wonder of wonders, I was not losing the baby weight as rapidly as I expected to.

Something had to change, and in a moment of desperation, I signed up for Robin Long's Pilates Body Program. I'd never met Robin, but followed her on Twitter--she's a friend of my friend Laura Turner's, and we both went to Westmont. 

Robin's blog, The Balanced Life, is all about a pro-balance, anti-guilt attitude toward nutrition and fitness. I love this. As you may imagine, there are certain fitness types that I have trouble connecting with. Like...most of them. I don't like to be yelled at, I don't like drinking protein shakes, and deprivation sends me into a rebellious tail-spin. 

But I needed something, and I trusted Robin's perspective, so I signed up for the spring round of The Pilates Body Program. And I loved it. Robin sends a new Pilates video every week, and a new menu and meal plan every week, and then also offers unlimited coaching via email.

I did the videos, I ate lots of quinoa and white beans and loads of fresh produce, and I emailed Robin whenever I felt like what I really wanted was a wheelbarrow full of nachos, or when the last thing I wanted to do was a Pilates video in a hotel room at midnight. Robin was easy to interact with, honest, inspiring, and full of realistic suggestions and solutions. She got me through those six weeks, and I'm a tough case, admittedly. 

At the beginning of the process, Robin works with each person to set goals---fitness goals, weight loss goals, process goals. My goal was weight loss, and in the six week program, I lost almost 16 pounds. Granted, I had a lot of extra pounds hanging around, and I still do, but those sixteen pounds took me from maternity yoga pants to my old jeans, from "I feel like a blob" to "I feel a little bit like my old self again."  

And even now, post-program, Aaron and I are both eating lots more produce, and I've joined a Reformer Pilates class with some girlfriends. The PBP was the reset button I needed after a hard pregnancy and lazy newborn season, and I can't recommend the it enough. I still make some of the recipes that she shared--a lentil soup and a white bean salad have become staples, and I'm a total quinoa convert.

Registration is open now for the Summer Session of the PBP, and I think you'll love it. And just to be clear, I paid full price for the program, and I'm not getting anything for recommending it--I just really loved it and want to support Robin because I think she's really good at what she does.

Check out her website and think about signing up.  

Memorial Day Weekend is the first weekend of the summer in my book: lake, family, boating, dinner on the grill, tiny sweet strawberries from the Farmer's Market. I am, as you know, forever & ever a summer girl...let my favorite season begin! XO

New Winner for 'Nice Girls' Giveaway

The new winner for the 'Nice Girls' Giveaway is Kristin Clark--here's her amazing comment:

"Shauna, I love this idea.
I am entering to win a case, and I am buying a case.
I lost my mom on December 30th, and as a 31 year old without my mom here to celebrate this year I have been struggling terribly with what to do with myself. Now I know of at least 52 women in my life that are going to get just what you described above, and I hope to win to make it 104 =)

Thank you for helping me see a way to be my mother's daughter this year, even in my own brokenness.
xoxo,
Kristin"

Kristin, send us an email with your mailing address, and we'll get the case in the mail to you soon. :)  I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, and I love that your impulse, even in a season of grief, is to share and connect with the women you love. My heart is with you in this season, and we're happy to share such a great book with you. XO

Mother's Day at Willow

I'm so sorry it's taken me a week to post this--as you know from my last post, Thursday ended a really busy six week traveling-and-speaking stretch, and then I gave myself the weekend to rest, breathe, do a million loads of laundry, get together with the Cooking Club and our small group, take a nap, visit with my sweet grandparents, take our kids swimming. It's been a lovely weekend, just what I needed, and now I'm diving back into Bread & Wine, happily. 

Before I do, though: Mother's Day. It was my first real message at my home church, and I was so nervous I almost ran away on Saturday night, but by Sunday morning, I was having fun. It was a huge honor, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I love the Willow community, and it was such a moving thing to be able to serve it in a small way. 

Here's a link to a video of the message, and here's a link to the full interviews--they're really fantastic!

For me, this week is about focus: about making difficult choices that allow me to live well, parent well, and write well. I need to do some solid writing this week, and you know I don't believe in waiting around for inspiration. I believe that inspiration is an artist's responsibility, not a lightning bolt or cartoon lightbulb. So I'm carving a path through a busy season, choosing to create space for creativity, truth-telling, story-telling, mess-making. I'm praying for discipline and fearlessness in my own life this week, and I'm praying the same for you, too, whatever the week holds. XO

Quick-Quick-Slow

It’s a lovely Friday morning, and I’m home, happily. I’m in my pajamas, drinking coffee, letting the house be a mess, letting my suitcase sprawl open on my bedroom floor, letting myself be slow and a little flaky this morning. I’m going through desk piles, scheduling pediatrician appointments, writing thank-you notes, making list upon list, scribbling notes for essays.

In the last five weeks, I’ve been to Nashville, Orange County, Orlando, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Toledo. I gave the message at our church for Mother’s Day—my first “real” message at the church I grew up at, and I spoke at a college commencement for the first time.

Aaron released Liturgy #3 (and it's amazing!), the Cooking Club took a field trip to the city, we brought our own little Yoda to a charming LA wedding that featured totally legit Storm Troopers, and we got to meet darling Tori, Annette & Andrew’s miracle baby girl. On a very quick trip to Menlo Park, I had a great breakfast with one of my dear friends and mentors, Nancy, and in Nashville, I had breakfast with Ian Cron--I love his book Jesus, My Father, the CIA & Me.

A lovely, challenging, full-to-the-brim season. 

One thing I’m learning is that while some people’s lives have a built-in rhythm to them—work Monday through Friday, then rest on the weekend, or work 9-5, then rest in the evening—ours doesn’t have that at all.

Sometimes we’re totally free when everyone else is working, and sometimes when most people are free, one or the other or both of us are working—some weekends, some early mornings and late nights, weird flight times, odd rehearsal schedules. I’m not complaining—I love the variety of our life. I love that every day is different. I’m not a routine person in any sense, and I think it’s so fun to have so many different experiences in the course of a week or a month.

But this is what I’m learning along the way: because our schedule doesn’t contain built-in breaks, we have to make our own, or we’ll slip into the trap of working all the time. We have to create our own healthy rhythm, a set of dance steps that work for our feet and our home and our life.

I’ve been pushing hard for the last five weeks—saying no to lots of other things, focusing in pretty narrowly on new writing for these events, spending way more time than usual on planes and in hotel rooms. I’ve been “on” a lot of the time, and while I’ve tried to take decent care of myself along the way, I don’t do that as well as I’d like to, and these last five weeks have taken their toll on the whole system. We’re in need of some non-rushed family time, and I’m longing to connect with my friends and family in an un-hurried way.

Last night, we celebrated the end of this little season with dinner at Pinstripes. We sat outside by the fire, and I had a fig & proscuitto flatbread pizza and a glass of Castle Rock Pinot Noir.  I love the patio there, and I especially love the big basket of snuggly blankets. Henry carefully tucked me into my chair, making sure I was warm enough. Sweet boy.  

And then I put myself to bed at 8:30pm. I’m not kidding. The combination of a crazy travel schedule and a darling little baby who doesn’t sleep through the night means that the greatest luxury in our lives right now is sleep. Side note: it’s largely our fault that Mac’s not sleeping through the night—we bring him everywhere, which means we have him in different states and times zones every few weeks. Add in a little bout of sickness, a growth spurt, and some hard-core teething, and the nights are long. This month we’ll be home more, so we’ll give him some consistency, and I think that will be just what our little insomniac needs.

June will be a different kind of full: my editors are coming in town to help me in the home stretch of Bread & Wine, so on Monday I’ll start another intense round of writing and editing. But what I’ve learned the hard way is that you can’t just keep going, going, going just because you like the work or because the opportunities present themselves or because the deadlines are looming.

The engines of our life ran a little too hot for a little too long in this last season, so the next few days are about slowing it all down. That’s doesn’t mean a three day solitude retreat—although that’s a nice idea. But a three-day solitude retreat would mean more childcare arrangements, less margin, less time at home, more stress on the system. What these next days need to be are un-hurried and un-structured. Wandering and puttering. Playing on the floor, taking walks, folding laundry, going to Pilates with a girlfriend, gathering around the table with the Cooking Club. Reading a novel, going to bed early, tending to our life, in all sorts of ways.

Our life (and lots of peoples’ lives, of course) doesn’t have a built-in rhythm, so we’re learning, little by little, to make our own, and after a season of quick-quick-quick, the next few days are all about sloooow…

Calling 'Nice Girls' Winner Monika!

Our 'Nice Girls' Giveaway Winner is still at large...Monika, we would LOVE to send you your case of books, but if we don't hear from you by the end of the day today, we're going to have to move on to another winner! 

Lovely Monika, send an email here with your mailing address by midnight tonight, so that your case of books doesn't turn into a pumpkin, okay? :) 

XO all, another post coming soon...just a little bit more coffee, and then my brain will start working, right? :)