Ive tweeted this.

Ive remarked it to Ren Men. 

Im blogging it here:  Im a little shocked it took me 10+ years living life on the ‘net—but I finally have me a troll.

Less than dreading the arrival of this occasion, I always wondered how it would feel.

Annoying? Super-personal? Frustrating? Would I feel protective?** Insulted?

Im a member of a number of blogger groups and when we chat invariably the discussion turns to the little funny haired creatures and how to react to them.

Rather than address that topic (as its been written about by wiser more articulate writers than I) I wanted to share the 3 reasons Ive chosen to love my troll.

Please to enjoy.

• S/he’s the best proofreader ever.  Like I should completely be him paying proofreader.  No, I did *not* see that extraneous comma.  Well, actually I did & thought it was a stray chia seed or crumb on my screen.  Sure the anger on said-crazy haired commenter’s end may not be warranted but s/he typically right & I zapped that sucker (and others pointed out) pronto.

• S/he’s my most honest critic.  The conveyance of the message may be a little, uh, offbeat or fraught with semi-obscenities yet *underneath* there’s sometimes helpful information.  Tidbits of insights which have  made me a stronger writer and which no one else has pointed out.  I tend to blog as if no one is reading while simultaneously blogging as if everyone knows my “story” & is a longtime reader (I know mutually exclusive much?).  I appreciate my wild haired commenter for pointing out the ‘gaps’ which occur when a reader doesnt know the entire story.  Who else cares enough to comb through posts & make book-length remarks on the tiniest of information-gaps?

• S/he’s helped me fine-tune my brand.  I may not love the medium of the message (the wording. the proliferation of exclamation points) but my freaky follicled friend has unknowingly shown me branding inconsistencies Id never have otherwise noticed.  The comments have made abundantly clear (when I was ready to receive the information) what I’d thought was tight,  thought out branding  contained gaps I needed to fix.  ASAP.

And you?

If you blog whats your approach to the Rumpelstiltskins*** who visit? Are you a deleter? A responder? A starver?

If you dont blog do you read the comments left by others or are the harried haired in fact leaving messages which go UNread anyway?

Have you seen Shrek Forever After?

**Ive chosen not to delete comments. Im a firm believe if I choose to dump my purse packpack out on the table & invite you in to take a look you’re free to say what you want.  I do delete comments which attack other readers or guest post writers.

***I will forever envision blog trolls as Rumpelstiltskin from Shrek Forever After.  In my mind they’re always shouting: bring me my ANGRY hair!

Mizfitonline recently talked about her torrid (and long standing) love affair with Chia seeds, and I hope you’ve listened to what she had to say and incorporated it into your diet. But if you haven’t yet gone out to pick up your stockpile of Chia….get ready to add one more thing to your shopping list.

As passionate as MizFit is about Chia…I am even more so about Hemp Hearts (also known as hemp seeds).

I guess you could say it’s a feverous love affair. Actually, it’s more than a love affair; I simply cannot live without it. There are a lot of foods out there that claim to be super foods, and for good reason. But in my opinion, Hemp Hearts are the greatest super food of them all.

Okay, so you may be asking yourself “what exactly are hemp hearts” or “are hemp hearts something like marijuana?” Well, let me tell you. Hemp hearts are the shelled seeds of the industrial hemp plant, which just happens to be an innocent cousin of the marijuana plant. Related to this “cousin”, but totally legal and oh so much better for you.

I thought I’d try to match MizFit’s Chia Seeds style and incorporate a little facetime into this post just like she did. Here I am giving you the low down on some great ways to use hemp seeds:

And what about the benefits? If I would have done a video on this one, it would have been more like a full length feature film. There’s no end to the goodness it provides for you.

The oh so many benefits of Hemp Hearts:

• More Energy, Exceptional source of protein, and Natural.
• Best source of protein, essential fats, vitamins and enzymes on the Earth.
• Do not contain significant amounts of sugar, starches or saturated fats.
• Contain more amino acids (proteins) than milk, meat or eggs.
• Contain more omega 3 essential fat than any fish.
• Is a complete protein source – much more balanced than & digestible than any soy product.
• Contain about 47% oil, 86% of which is omega 3, 6, 9.
• Contains all the essential omega 3 fats required for human health.
• Hemp Hearts are unmatched in Nature for their balance of all required proteins and all essential fats as well as most vitamins and enzymes.
• Is perfect for those troubled with constipation and for those avoiding carbohydrates.
• Provides more energy than energy bars — without their sugar, milk, nuts, and meat.
• Is suitable for those unable to eat gluten, sugar, milk nuts, or meat.
• The list really does go on and on.

You might not know me as well as you know Mizfitonline, but I really do hope I’ve got you convinced to integrate hemp seeds into your diet. They can be purchased at Whole Foods and many health food stores around the country. I’ve experimented with many brands and places to buy them, and I’d have to recommend Nutiva as the best organic shelled hemp seeds on the market. Here’s the link to purchase directly from them: Nutiva Hemp Hearts.

Have you discovered Hemp Hearts already? Let me hear what you have to say, and if you’re as feverously in love with them as I am.

Darryl runs a cycling lifestyle website called Loving the Bike, and has a passion for Family, Cycling, and Living a Healthy Life. Be sure to contact him if you have any questions about hemp hearts, cycling, or just want to say hi. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or catch up with him on the bike on one of the backroads of Austin.

And, you know, it isn’t as though Ive been talking about them for years now or anything…

They currently come with black compression shorts (misfit’ingly revealed in video below).

They currently come with white compression shorts.

There’s a pocket (in back) for keys/money/license etc.

There’s a slit I LOVE in the front which makes the workoutskirt flattering *and* non-chafing comfy (if you watch any of my videos & most of my photos you can see Im wearing this same skirt sans-pattern.  I adore this skirt).

For your viewing pleasure here’s a 27 second snippet of what the skirt looks like on & in motion:

For your amusement pleasure allow me to elaborate on the video. 

I was all set up with a tripod when the Tornado blew into the room.  It was *early morning* but Ren Man had already left for the office (hence the tripod).

The Tornado was eager to play cameragurl as she’d successfully negotiated this weekend to be paid for any work in sticky hands.

And, while I want to encourage her interest in working/vlogging, I also know she has a tendency to get distracted and let the camera wander.  ALL OVER.

I knew there was a good possibility Id pay sticky hands for a video of our wall and/or kitchen when I wanted the skirt filmed.

So I went topless.

And I learned.

Nothing keeps a six year old girl focused entirely on her subject (the skirt) more than horror at her misfit mother being partially nekid.

You may leave my Mom of the Year trophy on the porch.

You may indicate an interest in pre-ordering a skirt ($50.00 sizes xs through xl)  in the comment section below.  Ordering info. coming after I talk to manufacturer.

You may ask any & all questions (from skirt to sticky hands) in the comments below as well.

till you make yer fitness?!

Sounds crazy.

It IS a little misfit’y crazy, but this misfit firmly believes it works.

Three simple steps to thinking yourself fit until you ARE the fit person you will soon be (power of positive thinking).

Create your story.  What would FitYou eat, drink, read, think, DO each day?

Tell.Everyone. They may think you’re a misfit–but letting friends know the YOU youre working toward is a key step.  It helps your PEEPS start seeing you as the fit person you will soon become.

Respond as the Fit You would.  Before you do *anything* pause and ask yourself: how would superfit me respond to this situation?

Want more?

Click on over to Sears Fitstudio to read the rest.

Happy with whatcha got here?

Join me in a Fake It Till You Make It Tuesday.

Whatever your “faking it” aspiration might be.**

**That’s your heads-up Austin. I shall be wandering our fair city faking and pretending behaving as I imagine a super successful authorwoman would.  Now run and get me a pen, pleaseandthankyou? Ive got book signings to attend!!

***comments are closed because I want you to GIT TO LIVING.  GIT TO THINKING ABOUT YOU.  And yes.  Git to the faking it…

I may be a misfit & oddly comfortable in my own swiftly-wrinkling skin, yet even I paused before I hit PUBLISH on a post bearing today’s title.

Success is such an odd, debatable word.

One woman’s definition (money, fancy homes, nice cars, unlimited access to high quality beef jerky) may look entirely unlike another’s (lots of free time to pursue passions, enough work to pay for food & shelter, a loving partner and children).

There are, Id imagine, as many different definitions are there are people reading this post.

Additionally, if youre anything like I am, your definition is a fluid one.

My current definition of success is simple: the achievement of something planned and attempted.

The key, for me, is in the attempt.

A success which “fell in my lap” (Let’s say BRAVO TV called & asked me to star with Jackie Warner in a TV show) would be hollow because it’s the planning, working, and succeeding which makes achievement satisfying to me.

No matter what the achievement.

This weekend I received a flurry of emails from fellow bloggers who were feeling unsure of themselves.  They asked me for tips on succeeding as a full time writerblogger.

To their chagrin effusive delight I tossed the question back to them.

I asked their definition of success and to list (for me or just themselves) all the times they’ve succeeded in the past.*

I offered specific tips, but more important, in my experience, is believing you are successful and will continue to be a success.

Believe me, I’ve struggled with this.

I struggled less when life was less hectic (pre-marriage, pre-child, pre-pre-pre), but even then I wrestled with “knowing I could do it.”

My solution was the creation of a success box.

The idea started when I was dating Ren Man.  Whenever he’d compliment me (“I loved the article you wrote for Good Life Magazine!”) I’d joke I was “putting it in my pocket” and saving the words to reread later.

Then life grew a bit more hectic.  We married. We moved. I opened my training studio.

I realized it wasnt enough to pretend to hold on to compliments—I needed reminders of past successes for moments when I was feeling none too successful.

I began saving everything on my smart-phone. 

Kind words emailed from a client? Save.

Complimentary letters on a magazine article I’d written? SAVED.

Texts or voicemails from friends or family simply to tell me I ROCKED? Save Save Save.

The best predictor of future success is past success.

If I ever felt uncertain as I faced an assignment or life-challenge all I had to do to ‘predict my success’ was return to my electronically-stored items.

Then life grew more hectic. We moved again. Our two became THREE (five when you count the canines).

I realized smart-phone saving was no longer enough.

Not only could I potentially lose the information—I craved something tangible.

I longed for successes I could sit with and *touch* as I reminded myself “Ive been successful before. I know how to do this. I *can* do it again.”

I printed & printed & cut & trimmed.

I created the success box pictured at the top of this post and I visit it regularly.  Sometimes to add to its contents.  Frequently to remind myself, on those days when nothing seems to be “succeeding” (from parenting to freelancing) , I’ve succeeded before and I will again.

The best predictor of future success for me is reflecting and remembering Ive succeeded before.

How do you encourage yourself when doubt starts to creep in? Do you have a success box, journal or other “reminder” you revisit?

Do you savesavesave on the smart phone as I used to?

Are you grateful I did not, as initially planned, close todays comments and command you to git to Success Box creating PRONTO?

*to my shock & delight everyone played along with my mishegas, list-generated & I hope made Success Boxes as promised.

The end of 2011 was kind of a mess for me.

It was filled with great things yet I sensed in my heart I was teetering on the edge.

I felt thisclose to being someone who gave lip-service to what was important in her life & lived otherwise.

I felt thisclose to being the blogger who, while writing a post about the fabulousnessment of family time & family exercise!, snapped at her child “you need to WAIT.  I’ll play later. Mamas working!”

I did not like how being even *close* to reacting like that person felt.

As a result I spent lots of time formulating my 2012 mantra.

I needed something which wasnt only about or for me (Id grown a little too mememe by the end of 2011) and words which would constantly remind me of who I aspired to be.

I chose  the phrase living my priorities.  It felt fitting and, only 27 days into the year, has already challenged me in ways I couldnt have predicted.

Ive been reminded how difficult it is to say NO.

I have a hard & fast rule about never saying YES! in the moment. I always sit with an opportunity/make certain something is a fit before answering in the affirmative.  I do this with fun things, I do it with volunteer-stuffs, and I do it with work.

Many of the things Ive NO’ed to in the past 27 days looked *very* alluring at first glance, but when mashed up against my mantra were easily declined because they didnt ‘match up.’

Ive been reminded I still have a bad case of Freshman Year Syndrome.

When I was an undergrad I went out a lot.  Like every.single.night a lot for a while.

It wasnt so much I craved socializing & late nights and more the fact, at age 18, I feared something *amazing*  might happen and I wouldnt be there.

Ive NO’ed to stuff in the past 27 days where Ive paused and thought “…but what if theres some great! connection! to be made and Im not there?!”

But when Ive mashed the opportunity up against my3-word mantra Im reminded it’s ok.  I know all I need —truly need—I already have.

Ive been reminded how easy it can be to slip into fear-based living.

Ive let go of & said NO to opportunities which could have been amazing…for me.

Opportunities when mashed up against my mantra clearly fell outside the realm of living priorities *outside* of myself.

I felt the fear.  I felt the panic of “what if I say no now and no one wants me later?”  I almost caved. Frequently.

Yet when I mashed the ‘stuffs’ up against living what’s important to me I felt the fear, reminded myself of life’s abundance & NO’ed with faith.

Ive been reminded how my life is not all that unique.

Im writing this post not to preach or be ‘recognized’ for doing what I feel is a basic responsibility to those things we love & are important to us (be they people, passions, or causes).

Im writing it in response to so many of you who have reached out and asked how things are going now that we’re 5 months into the Garten of the Kinder.

Im writing in response to your collective responses of “I had to step back and decide what was important to me and only focus on that.  It all is too much if you dont.”

Im 27 days in. 

It’s more challenging than Id thought. 

Im stilling living my priorities—one long no-filled, boundary drawing day at a time.

Pictures by twentyfivetwentysix studios.

It was July 1998.

I was 23 years old.

I had been having pain and discomfort in my abdomen for months, but the doctors in upstate New York kept telling me I probably had a cyst and that “it would go away” and “not to worry about it”.

When I moved back to Long Island, I found a new doctor and during his first examination of my belly, he ordered for me to have a biopsy of the mass in my abdomen.

I told him “everyone said it’s just a cyst”.

He looked at me and said, “that’s no cyst. It’s way too hard to be a cyst. It’s a tumor”.

Yeah, he was blatant like that.

But he explained that it was likely to be benign and should be removed anyway just to relieve my discomfort, after which the mass would be biopsied, just to be sure. Ok, no problem.

So we scheduled the surgery and I thought nothing of it. I mean, I was just 23 years-old. I’d had cysts before, a few of which had ruptured causing terrible pain. So this was no biggie.

That was until a few days after the procedure when the doctor called me into his office for the test results. The discussion went something like this:

Dr.: “Irene, you have cancer.”
Me: “Uh, what?”

Dr.: “You have Stage 1 ovarian cancer, although I think we got it all.”

Me: “I’m sorry. I thought you just said I have cancer.”

Dr.: “Yes. I’m sorry. I know that is scary but you were very lucky. It was discovered very early and I think by removing the tumor, we most likely got all of it since I did not see and more masses anywhere.”

I just blinked at him, still not understanding what he was saying to me.

The doctor stood directly in front of me, grabbed my shoulders and said, “Irene. You have cancer. But it’s okay. It’s not a death sentence. You will be okay if you do exactly what I tell you to do.”

It took him a few more times before I could finally comprehend what he told me.

I was breathing again.

To say I was terrified was an understatement.

I heard cancer and immediately thought of all the things I never got to do. I thought my life was over and all I could imagine were all the things I missed in life: I’d never travel, get married, or finish college. I was going to die and I had barely started living yet.

The idea of going through chemotherapy after having had surgery and dealing with it all on my own was more than I could handle.

I became a bitchy, nasty mess. I told no one of my diagnosis. I just wallowed in my own misery. I became a terrible person.

A few months later, I was back to my old self.

My point?

I was lucky.

It wasn’t until I changed doctors until I finally found someone who would take my complaints seriously enough to test me. Sometimes, that’s what we have to do.

Because I was so vigilant, I was able to be diagnosed, treated, and healed with no additional signs of cancer 13 years later.

I am relatively healthy, strong, and living a very full life.

Do not be afraid to challenge your doctors.

Do not accept an answer that doesn’t make sense. Follow your instincts and listen to your gut.

If something is wrong, you are probably right. You know your body better than anyone else.

And sometimes you have to fight for it.

 Irene is a favorite of mine and I tremendously appreciate her sharing her experience here.  She blogs at House of Robertson.

I know Ren Man would readily agree he cares not about my brand partnerships.

If Im happy—he’s happy.

He puts up with my nonstop yammering loves to hear about them, but that’s about where it ends.  He rarely voices an opinion.

Except for this time.

When I shared with him I was partnering with Egg Beaters Whites he pretty much lost his mind.

And immediately asked if they’d consider paying me in product.

You see, this photo was *not* staged for the sake of the brand:

Neither was this photo where the child identified my favorite food as Egg Beaters for a school project (upper right corner):

I love my Beaters in every way shape & form I can get them.

Love. Love.

I also know we’ve established you (the royal) arent always lovers of the vlogs.

I ask you to indulge me & make 77 seconds for the snippet below.

If you *dont* giggle in the first 3 seconds you have my permission to click away.

Please to enjoy (& sing along if you know the words).

Now you.

Are you, too, a fan of all things Egg Beaters?
Are you perched on the edge of your office chair seat in excitement at the very thought of my testing recipes for you?
Will you be singing “MizFit loves Egg Beaters!” all day now as I will?

This post is sponsored by the amazing Egg Beaters Whites.  The unabashed LOVE is all my own.

The other morning I woke up so *firmly* on the right side of the bed it frightened the Tornado & Ren Man.

And, from a woman whos renown for her adoration of all things early morning, that’s saying a lot.

I hadnt slept much (d*mn Austin allergies).

I had a brimming life-plate & work-plate awaiting me.

The house was a diZaster & the sweaty laundry was threatening to take over the domicile.

In summation, there was absolutely no reason for my joyous, happy, energetic, calm, grateful to be ALIVE! mood whatsoever.

I shouted from the rafters how amazingTASTIC I felt quietly informed the husband how fab I felt & let him know his wish was my command.

I tweeted, FBed, emailed everyone in my life detailing how I possessed energy & creativity to share and they should NOT hesitate to tap my voluminous resources.

I felt as though I were capable of absolutely anything and that nothing, no matter how negative or niggling, would ruin my mood.

And, being the misfit I am, I then stepped back and wondered why every day couldnt be like this one?

Or, if it werent as amazawonderful (I do believe we appreciate the FAB as a result of experiencing the SAD), if I could at least teach myself to tap *back* into this feeling on the days where I feel as though EVERYTHING is dominating me.

So I journaled.

I used the exact same tactic I emplyed when I was trying to clean up my eating habits—except in reverse.

Then I recorded how crappy (technical term) I felt after eating certain foods (hello gluten elimination circa 1993) in hopes of rereading, learning & not repeating.

This time I jotted down sentence snippets, adjectives, scents & sounds.

I journaled everything which might help me recall, on those life has *me* by the tail days, how I felt and resurrect those same feelings.

Everything from lungs feel fully inflated & chest wide open to I feel powerful/strong from the inside OUT.

And then I got an email.

You know the kind.

Mine was work-related but it just as easily could have been friendsfamilyorlife-related.

The kind of email which can sap your mojo if you allow it.

And I did.  Briefly. Ephemerally.  Until I remembered my list.

I reread my pages.

I sat, visualized and tapped back into my morning emotions until I was practically where I’d been before (I wont lie to you. it was an almost but better than Id have otherwise felt).

The experience was transformative for me in the same way reading how SHITTY (other technical term) Id felt after eating certain foods lessened their later allure.

That’s my assignment to you today should you choose to accept it.

Don’t comment.

Just Sit. Think. Be. Feel.

Ask yourself when the last was time YOU felt light, optimistic, hopeful, unstoppable?

Journal how those emotions felt, sounded, smelled, tasted etc to YOU?

And no.

You may not (as many an IRL friend tried) seize the easy ‘out’ of “Ive not felt that way in so long I can’t recall.”

Or as one friend insisted: Ive never felt that way.

Challenge yourself.  Think way way way way *way* back.

And, if you still come up happy-empty make today the day you gather the journal & pen and get ready to write when it occurs.

And, if you still come up happy-empty, perhaps indulge a misfit and write about how you imagine the sensation will feel.

xo

Ahh People.

Back in the day—if you’ll grant me for this post that 2009 was the day–I did a Commenter of the Month blog post.

I cant speak for you, but I adored these posts.

I reached out to a  consistent commenter (whether she had a blog of her own or not!) and emailed her a list of questions.

Random, serious, snarky, silly, seeking her wisdom kind of questions.

I ceased doing this when *I* became more busy.

I put myself in the place of the reader receiving my email and thought:

I do NOT want to be the proverbial straw which breaks her too life-busy back!  We’re all stretched so thin these days I don’t want to give someone yet ANOTHER assignment.

The thing is, I have missed these posts (again I can’t speak for you. Id love you to speak for you in the comments) so Im bringing them back and would welcome your input as I do.

First, however, I wanna introduce you to JODY.

I wish I could remember when we first met (Ill blame that on the fact MizFit turns 5 next month and not the fact I turned 42.5 yesterday), but I can not.

It feels as though Ive known her forever and yet, as with so many virtual friends, we’ve never met in real life.

Jody is one of the most supportive women Ive ever encountered.

She’s a cheerleader for so many of us.

She’s always the first to congratulate on successes and encourage when we need a kind word.

She makes me believe I can keep getting better as I age.

That I will, as she has, grow stronger, wiser, more loving, and more beautiful inside and out.

Her blog is filled with fitness tips (warning! she’s weights-crazy as I am! I like to think that may be the KEY to her badass physique.), recipes ( yeah. we’re alike here too.), product reviews (she loves those Hokas. Ive never seen those Hokas) & GRATITUDE (this final one is, IMO, the key to staying young at heart).

And she has no idea Im profiling her today.

And that, alone, makes me love this post.

The very thought of her clicking through and stumbling upon it & the very *hope* it will bring a smile to her face as she has done for so many of us.

And yeah. If reading her isnt part of your healthy living routine this misfit firmly believes youre missing out.

Which all leads me back to you.

Are you as slammed busy as I imagine? Would you sigh audibly at an email from me filled with mind-challenging queries like “what celebrity would play you in the movie version of your life?” 

Or are you thisclose to jam-packed yet still have a little bit of time to ponder brain-bending issues like ‘ if you had to choose one meal to eat for breakfast for the rest of your life—what would it be?”

Please to share your wisdom (& Jody love) in the comments below…