Summer Shape Up 2K15 Begins!

Hello All!
I've been gone for a few days, resting up and battling some SERIOUS jet lag. There are two (or three) more posts left to wrap up my travels in Japan and Vietnam, which should be up by the end of the week.  If you want to catch up on the other videos before the new ones go up you can watch them all on this playlist: Ivy Rose Travels.

Today I wanted to refocus for a bit and get back to another major component of this blog. Those of you who were followers before I took my LONG hiatus might remember my Fitober post in which I discussed my journey to better physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Although I've done a fair job of maintaining my physical health I experienced some major dips in mental/emotional health and it is definitely time for a boost. As is customary during my summer breaks I am once again beginning my Summer Shape Up routine!

Since my schedule is much less intense (with fewer classes and no work/research) I am taking extra steps in tightening up my diet, working out daily and engaging in various practices to improve my mental, spiritual and emotional health.

Check out the video below to gain some insight into the first step in improving my diet: Replacing two meals a day with Smoothie King's Lean 1 protein shakes*.  The shakes are DELICIOUS and really effective in both ensuring that I get enough of the "good stuff" while also curbing hunger and assisting in fat burn during workouts. I drank the shakes for almost a whole year in the second year of my journey and they were particularly helpful for me as I often find it difficult to get a healthy breakfast in, which can make or break the entire diet/workout program.

Other components of Summer Shape Up 2K15 include, but are not limited to:
 - Cooking 90% of meals/snacks (high in protein, fiber, vitamin C, and other essentials) to ensure that there are tons of healthy eating options
 - Controlling portion sizes
 - Drinking tons of water
 - 90 min of cardio 4-5 times a week and weight training 3 times a week
 - Morning and Evening meditation (I use a few different guided programs, which I will discuss in future posts)
 - Journaling (this blog and the vlogs are a part of that process)


I'll definitely post updates and videos here and on the YouTube channel so make sure you subscribe there as I might not always post everything in both places.

I hope you all find these posts motivating and I'd love it if you joined in and left comments discussing your own Summer Shape Up programs. As always...

Enjoy the journey...

*The protein shakes are actually manufactured by Nutrition 53, but I've only ever seen them sold at  Smoothie King stores. After some research I have found that you can also order them through Amazon and some have even found them at Stop & Shop for almost half the price.

I'm 30!!! Oh and I Vlog Now.

So I guess you all noticed that this blog bit the dust pretty quickly after I started it. My research took off, I started TAing for one of my professors and I was president of a rapidly growing student organization. Basically, my schedule went from 0 to 100 (cue Drake) and some things got pushed to the side...sadly this blog was one of them. Things are much calmer now and with the end of the school year, I have decided to revive the blog and add a little extra feature..videos! I won't say much more because this first vlog speaks for itself (it's pretty long...sorry), but I hope you all enjoy it. Check out the video, subscribe to the channel and keep checking in over the summer! It should be an exciting ride. Enjoy the journey!!

Stepping Up to the Mic

"Silence is the residue of fear....So this year, instead of giving something up, I will live every day as though there is a microphone tucked under my tongue."
 - Clint Smith

That quote from slam poet and educator Clint Smith's Ted Talk, "The danger of silence" (go ahead take the 4:18 to watch the video),  was the final push I needed to take the leap and venture into the world of blogging. I've always been quite the talker and an avid writer, keeping a journal (or two) since I was seven, but somehow after 6 years of undergraduate and graduate school I lost my voice. Much like the experiences Clint Smith speaks of (seriously watch the video...it's powerful), I found myself in situations where it felt safer and smarter for various personal and professional reasons to just keep my thoughts, opinions, questions, objections, etc. to myself. Now in the last year of my 20s, with four years of classroom teaching, two summers of training teachers for one of the most controversial organizations around, and one year of doctoral studies under my belt I no longer feel the need to hide behind my silence. 

So here I am: 29 years old, single, one of three Black women in a doctoral cohort of 16 at an Ivy League institution in the middle of New York City. I'm an educator at the very core of my being, but spend just as much--if not more--time seeking knowledge as I do sharing it. I've learned to live each moment intentionally while making sure to have as much fun as possible along the way. I'm a Florida girl at heart and am most at peace lying on the sand looking out into the ocean, but I've never felt more alive than I do in the bright lights of the concrete jungle. Some might say that I am a "true Gemini" riding a constant roller coaster of emotions, but that just makes the journey more exciting in my opinion. 

This is a blog to entertain, to teach, to share, to open myself up, to push myself, to give back, to learn, to take in, to expand my world, to process and on many occasions to vent. I'm terrified and excited to invite the masses into my mind--and for those of you choosing to enter take this as your official warning that it's often a crazy, jumbled mess in there. But here I go...time to step up to the mic....

 (Photo credit: http://dogwoodinitiative.org/blog/mob-the-mic-success/image/image_view_fullscreen)