Me recreating the iconic “The Son Of Man” painting by Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte
Well, yesterday was my birthday. Yayyyyy for being another year older, wiser, and stronger. If you read last week’s post, you know I was feeling a bit stressed out (which actually happens just about every birthday because I get overly pensive and reflective about things I wish I would have accomplished). And thankfully my head cold was practically gone on Sunday. I spent the weekend with friends and went apple picking upstate, which was super fun and actually a pretty physical activity as we had to hike through the hills to pick the apples! It was like a full-body workout, we got to be outdoors, and it was fun to boot!
So yesterday, I kicked off my birthday with an early morning workout. It felt great to be back in the gym! I started with some cardio on the elliptical and then was feeling so good that I did squats at the power rack (instead of using the Smith machine) for the first time ever! To my pleasant surprise, I was able to do about the same weight as with the machine, even after taking a week off from the gym! I really focused on my form, squeezed my traps together to give the bar a nice shelf, and let my legs and glutes be the power source. It was awesome! And it reassured me that I’d done the right thing by giving my body a rest last week when I was feeling run down.
These were delivered to me at work! How cute!!
The rest of my birthday was better than I could have imagined. Between phone calls, texts, facebook posts, private messages, and in-person interactions, I think I received somewhere around 300 well wishes for a happy birthday. I mean, wow. On top of that, I got flowers, a cake and singing at work, several over-the-phone serenades, and scheduled dinner and drink plans for the next 2 weeks to celebrate my born day. The outpouring of love was surprising, overwhelming, and incredibly humbling. What touched me most of all were the countless messages that express how much I’ve touched someone else’s life by being a source of encouragement, motivation, or support. That, to me, is about the best compliment a person could receive. ❤
Grateful for another year…Happy Birthday to Me!
On my birthday this year, I’m reminded that it’s not about being the best…it’s about being YOUR best, and evolving every year. It’s about becoming wiser, stronger, and healthier. It’s about leading by example and inspiring others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. Erma Bombeck said it best:
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me.
Ciao for now!
-E
Healthy Happy Fashionista 
Congratulations again on squatting without the smith machine! There’s no way I could squat the same amount of weight I do on a free bar with a smith machine – it just feels so unnatural and awkward to me! Hope you enjoy your birthday celebrations 😀
Thank you so much Tara!! I was really proud that I finally switched over to the free bar, and even more so that I didn’t have to drop any weight off the bar. Then again, I’m not squatting nearly as much as you are…yet 😉 (I’m only squatting 100lbs right now – 45lb bar + 55lbs in plates). But I’ve been focusing on having good form first, and I want to strengthen my back a bit before I tack on any more weight to my lil traps!
Thank you for taking time to check out my blog and wishing me a happy birthday! 🙂 xoxo
You’re welcome! I’ve snooped on your blog before, just never commented 😉
Everyone has to start somewhere, and it’s much better that you’re focusing on form first! I learnt the hard way: I stacked on too much weight, realised my form sucked, and then had to go back to square one. My ego didn’t like having to strip the weight back, but at least I know my form is better now! You’re on the right track 🙂
Hehe those must be the views from the UK I see on my site stats. Very stealth of you miss Tara!
And you’re so right that everyone has to start somewhere. I was a massage therapist for 10 years and saw countless injuries from people over-doing it, so thankfully that helps keep my own ego in check. The best part about yesterday was that I was the only girl upstairs in the weight room and I could see a few guys watching me while I walked over to the rack. It was awesome 🙂
Happy belated birthday!It was my birthday too:)
Awesome!! Happy belated to you too, fellow Libra. Hope you had fun celebrating!
Great post however , I was wondering if you could write a litte more on
this topic? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more.
Appreciate it!