Week includes a mountain, music, fitness, thrifting, crafting and preparing

Hi there! Here are a few highlights from my past week, aside from working in the office.

Above is a shot from one of my favorite places in North Carolina — Pilot Mountain State Park. I’ve posted about hiking there a number of times on the blog. However, last weekend we were there for a different reason — a memorial get-together in honor of a dear friend’s son who passed away. There certainly couldn’t be a more beautiful location to do this, and it was one of his favorite places, too. This is the view from an overlook at the top. If you look closely in the background on the left side, there was a rainbow directly over the city of Winston-Salem.

I’m proud of myself. I’ve been spending 30-60 minutes every night in my fitness room working on material for my Silver Sneakers class. I don’t feel 100% ready yet (are you ever fully ready when you’re brand new at something??), but I’m getting closer. Silver Sneakers is a fitness program available through many Medicare plans and offers members access to gyms and classes at no additional charge to them. I’m excited to be a part of it and to work with older adults! This will be my first experience as a group fitness instructor since becoming ACE certified.

The other day, my son and I had the chance to spend a few hours together out and about, and we went to nearby downtown Burlington, N.C., and enjoyed browsing several shops. I fell in love with this wrap dress I saw on the mannequin at the Burlington Woman’s Club Thrift Shop, and took it off of there and bought it. $6! What do you think?

Also this week when I was out and about, I stopped by the library to find some new music for my fitness fuel! The public library, as well as thrift stores, Goodwill etc. can be a great source for music – not to mention a money-saver. I’ve found TONS of stuff there! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found a song at the library that I’d already paid iTunes for. I just load the CDs into iTunes on my MacBook, plug in my phone, everything syncs, and I’m good to go.

One of my longtime hobbies is making wreaths, and with fall (one of my favorite seasons!) coming the wreath bug bit me and I wanted to make a new one for the front door. I found the supplies at Hobby Lobby, and put this together yesterday. And, this time I only got burned with the hot glue twice. But hey, if you don’t suffer it isn’t art…right? 😀

Who says you can’t get better with age? I just found a rare “before” pic of me. Rare because I hated to have my picture taken, that’s how low my self-esteem was. This photo is probably 20 years old. I know one thing – I prefer the strong, healthy girl I am today who has a zest for life now! Fitness has LITERALLY changed my life. If I can inspire just one other person to give it another shot even if like me they’d always failed, then I’m honored by that. It’s why I do what I do now. Never, ever give up on yourself!! Read my weight loss story

I’ve been asked to give a talk on this topic to a business group, and I’m really excited about that. I’ll be working hard over the next few weeks preparing my presentation.

What are you up to this week? Please share in the comments!

©Michelle Rogers, Inc.