New logos

Hi Everyone! I hope you're enjoying your holiday season so far! I know we are. I had so much more fun this year than the past few years.

We spent a lot of it at Michael's parents house which is about an hour and a half west of our house- but in the Phoenix area. Aunts, Uncles, and cousins from Indiana and Michigan flew in and we all spent a few days together. It was a lot of fun!

I have some exciting news! I got some help from a graphic designer & now my business has an official-looking logo and mark. I am very pleased with how they turned out!

Also, I am now offering financial coaching to all 50 states! I have done a few practice rounds with family and feel incredibly proud of the results. So, if you or anyone you know could benefit from working with a budgeting pro, please check out my website- www.FiscalFitnessPHX.com! Free consultations for everyone so there's no harm in calling and arming yourself with all the information!

My clients are saving money left and right and I'm so happy with where my business is heading. I'm truly blessed!

What do you think of my new logo?

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Olympic Lifting

Hi Everyone! I forgot to blog about this but today we planned to attend an olympic lifting seminar with Charles Staley. There's a gym in north Scottsdale owned by a friend of ours. We met him because we bought a bunch of equipment from him for our garage gym. We kept in touch with him and it became one of those easy friendships- we could always talk about CrossFit or WOD's with each other because we had that in common.

He was bringing in Charles Staley to do the seminar and although we don't attend his gym regularly, the owner invited us. I was so excited!

Then this morning came...I just wanted to stay in bed. I had such a long day yesterday and would have been happy if I had just stayed home today and got stuff done around here.

But, we already paid and reserved our spot so of course I got up and ready to go.

And boy am I glad I did! I had sooooo much fun! And holy cow did I ever learn A LOT! I feel so much more comfortable now doing cleans and snatches. My hip flexion is way more powerful than ever before and my start from each position (floor, below the knee, above the knee, etc) is totally improved.

And I hit a PR on my clean & jerk! This makes me soooo happy!

I always had this mental block with the clean after 90 pounds. And I knew it was all mental but I simply could not get under the bar. I couldn't get my body to go through that motion once I hit 90 pounds.

When we were at the seminar, I felt so much stronger technically and since everyone is standing around watching you, failure is not really an option! I hit 90 then I hit 95 and then I hit 100! He wanted me to keep going but this was the last thing we did and after 6 hours of doing olympic lifts, every part of my body was exhausted. I was physically beat and wanted to end on a good note. I didn't think I had much left and I was happy with hitting 100. I'm excited to try 110 again soon though!

Considering it's probably been 6 months since I've done a lift, to go out and PR my clean feels damn good.

Until tomorrow,

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2012 goals

Do you have goals in mind for 2012?

I haven't even begun to think about it. In previous years, I've put a lot of thought into my goals for the year, spent time doing a mid-year review, and evaluating them at year end.

Then 2011 happened. We've got the issue with our home in Michigan and trying to short sale that and we've got the career change- both which impacted every one of my goals pretty drastically.

I have been eating well this past year and continue to stick with the paleo lifestyle- with a few cheat days every now and then but usually followed by getting right back on the bandwagon.

I get a big fat fricken "F" with my fitness goals. In fact, I barely workout these days. In 2012, I want to try and "play" more- softball, volleyball, rollerblading, hiking, etc. Less "exercising" and more "having fun actively."

I also get a big fat "F" with my financial goals. But we won't talk about that. With the things going on with the short sale, I can't really disclose anything on here. Sorry. Once that is over and done with, I hope to return to blogging about my budgets and goals since I know a lot of people followed for that reason.

 Then there were my "Life" goals- the only category I did okay in. Work less than 45 hours each week, live greener, see my chicas, stop calling MI home, etc. How about leaving that crappy job? I guess that reduced my hours didn't it? And we've totally switched to green products from cleaning to cosmetics. I did get to see my chicas and I consider AZ my home now.

I must say, the person who set those 2011 goals doesn't even exist anymore. I feel like such a different person now than I was a year ago. A happier, less stressed, more balanced and healthy person. I smile and laugh more now than I did earlier this year. I didn't realize how grumpy I had become.

One thing I haven't blogged about is that I'm now in a size 4 jeans and small tops and I've lost some weight. Mind you, I've actually been working out drastically less than earlier this year so I assume this is directly related to stress.

I guess I'm totally on the fence for 2012 goals.

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Total Cheat Day

Oh my, last night was a total cheat night for me. Mark this day on the calendar because now I can't cheat for another month!

I was presenting to a bunch of financial advisors from 5:30-7:30PM. They said "dinner will be served." I should just know and plan from now on that even when they say this, I probably can't eat whatever they have. Last night it was sandwiches. I should have just waited til I got home to eat but I didn't.

So now I can't cheat for another 30 days. Let the fun times begin!

I'm working on my branding for Fiscal Fitness. Today I received my first round of logo ideas from the graphic designer. It's definitely round 1 because I don't LOVE any of them. The colors he used were green & black- like true green- so they're all very stark. And all the fonts are "robotic" looking to me. I think he was going with this "fitness" idea so they all look like something you'd see on a gym sign for example. I want something a little softer so back to the drawing board we go!

Hopefully a week from now I'll have an updated logo to show everyone! I'm excited to see the final result for sure!

I actually worked out twice this week plus one night of softball.

Last night we dropped down to 30* here in the valley. That's fricken cold! Oh my! Talk about not wanting to get out of bed this morning! Brrr!!!

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Week in photos...

Gosh, I feel like I have absolutely no time lately! I'm running all over the place...it must be this time of year.

I was on a local talk radio station for Fiscal Fitness Phoenix yesterday. It was a lot of fun! I hope to do it again soon. As soon as they post the podcast, I will link to it here so any of you who want to listen can!

I finally got some (not all) of my Christmas decorations up and yesterday I had a holiday party where I played the piano. Here, I'll just let you see all the pictures... ENJOY!

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