A sexpert body is emerging, slowly but surely...

It's been four weeks since I've started exercising more seriously (working out with a trainer twice a week--the adorable cello-playing Paul Sanders--), upping my workouts from 3 times to 5 times a week, and, of course, going to a spa for four days and exercising my butt very enjoyably for five hours a day, hiking in these spectacular red canyons and over moon- and dessert-like terrain with geriatric but extremely fit leaders (I did the beginner hikes, I admit it). I also took Pilates, something called core conditioning which was amazing because it worked not just abs but shoulders and hips and chest, too; circuit training and my free weight workout. Do I sound like a stud or what?

I cannot say that the pounds are dropping off quickly. I lost only a pound or so, maybe a little more, but that plus all the exercise has kind of pushed me over the edge into emerging sexpert territory. I feel smaller, lighter, more energetic, stronger and more awake. It's all good from here, no matter how many pounds I still want to lose. Kind of a new way of looking at it--I'm getting closer to my goal and it feels attainable. Pretty cool feeling.
Ciao--
Paola

TWENTY man push-ups!

I did 'em today at the gym, no prob! Progress!
Ciao--
Paola the powerful

Mormons, freak hail storms and other fun stuff

Today was our last day at Red Mountain Spa and an eventful one it was. We started off with a gorgeous, otherworldy hike in nearby Snow Canyon, led by an intrepid guide in her seventies, a great grandmother, mother of 7 and a former Mormon. While we were hiking, I told her I was doing a book, and mentioned that one of my essayists, Jane Juska, wrote about having her first orgasm of 30-odd years in her 70s. And our guide blurted out, "Never had one of those!" This from a woman who was married six times--she had really fascinating things to say about the Mormon church, why she broke with it, and other fascinating stuff. That's why I love doing the book: People always come out with interesting things--women are just waiting for an opportunity to talk about these things.

When we returned from the hike, which was full of all kinds of incredible sandstone rock formations, the weather turned blustery and we wisely (as it turned out) decided to skip Zion, since within minutes, it began wildly hailing and snowing. So we spent the rest of the day doing Pilates, having a facial and hanging. The only downside: After all our spa-ing and pampering and exercising and healthy eating (I've eaten more vegetables in the past four days than I have in the last two months), both Julia and I are feeling a bit, well, sick. Oh well--at least it hit us on our last evening; I'm returning to a short work week, and am planning to dive into book revisions and other fun stuff. (New dates? Interesting men? Who knows what can happen with my new spa-ified self?)
Ciao--
Paola

I'm kicking my own butt!

Julia and I started the day with the best of intentions--the alarm went off at 6:30, we got into our hiking gear and gamely made our way to the dining hall fully planning to hike. But the rain was coming down hard and it just seemed too unpleasant a way to spend a few hours of my vacation. So I went to the gym, did 40 minutes on the elliptical trainer, did a ton of free weights at the gym, then took a yoga class and, in the afternoon, a core conditioning class that was really challenging--a great workout. We did planks and sit ups where we sat up and threw/caught medicine balls and all kinds of wacky, strenuous stuff. Then, another massage, which was great, though I could barely have her press on my poor, sore-but-happy muscles. When it was all over the sun came out. Hoping it stays out so we can do some more hiking tomorrow, either at Zion or around here. I am SPENT but of course, in a good way.

Meanwhile, perhaps just because I'm on vacation pampering myself and away from my computer (mostly), I'm getting a flurry of internet dating activity. Hmmmm--wonder what it all means?

Ciao--
Your fitter and happier and healther blogger, Paola

Hiking, hot-tubbing and hammocking

Had a lovely, lovely day and am set to return soothed, smoothed, toned, and rested. My friend Julia and I started the day with an invigorating hike led by two retirees (yes, we did the easy hike), I did a circuit training class and pumped some iron, got an UNBELIEVABLE massage (the best part is when I turned over on my back, he put a hot pillow under the nape of my neck, a pillow over my eyes and started rubbing and stretching my legs, which felt amazing after working them out all day.)
Afterward, a nap in the hammock. I can't complain.
Ciao belli--
Paola

Moments of truth

I'm back online, dipping my toe into the world of J-Date and Match.com, emailing people, though so far haven't met anyone. Boy, is it easier to date now than it was when I was 25 and the only way you could hope to meet someone was to hang out at parties you didn't want to be at and talk to strangers at bars. Now, interaction is just a click of a mouse away and I get to be snug on my couch with my turquoise cashmere throw over me.

I babysat for my nephews tonight, who are SO, SO cute. I got lots of hugs and snuggles and we played Sorry and ate pizza and watched Sponge Bob and a show called Josh and Drake (about a thin brother and a fat brother) and then watched the stupidest yet most oddly compelling game show called Moment of truth. This is how it works: Contestants sit in a chair, hooked up to a lie detector test, and they win money whenever they answer personal questions truthfully. So they ask questions like: Have you ever dented a car and driven away without leaving a note? which gradually progress to extremely personal relationship questions designed to break up marriages. For instance, tonight, this hot, dumb personal trainer contestant was asked: "Is the reason you and your wife have delayed having children because you doubt that you will be together in 5 years time. And he answered YES! With his wife sitting there. I've got to believe that they've worked this all out beforehand. In any case, I was watching it with a 3 year old, my nephews (10 and 8) and their best friend Asher, who is also 10, plus the mommy next door. The three year old asks: Mommy? What's plastic surgery? We probably shouldn't have been letting him watch it but it was pretty cute, not to mention amusing.

In the process of doing a late night load of laundry before I head off to Utah on Friday. Whoopee!! First real vacation since Italy. I hope to come back having moved a bit closer to my goal of getting a sexpert body.

Ciao--
Paola

Exercising body and mind

Is this blog becoming too earnest? I can't help it, as I'm in my get-a-sexpert-body quest. I worked out with my trainer today and on Saturday and it feels great. The positive part of becoming fairly sedentary is that when you start exercising again, you REALLY notice a difference.

Getting psyched for my trip to Red Mountain Spa--I bought a new translation of War & Peace and looking forward to hiking during the day and getting under the covers with a good book at night. Am I old or WHAT?
Ciao--
Buona serra--
Paola

A long, lazy weekend

I slept until 11:30 today. It felt SOOOO good. I did some errands, took a long walk in the cold with my cozy new jacket that almost completely covers my face so is perfect for frigid weather; had dinner with a new friend in the West Village. Tomorrow--trainer time!

Next fitness goal. 149 by the time I get home from Red Mountain Spa, all hiked out and healthy-ed up!
Ciao--
Paola

Pumped!

I'm loving my arms. They are getting toned after only 3 sessions. This morning, I got up and made it to my 8 am training appointment on TIME, only to find that my gym membership had expired. Still had a great workout. Who knew I could feel so energized in the morning. It's nice to have someone paying close attention to my body, even if I have to pay them to do it!
Ciao--
Paola

The life and times of a gym rat

I've been CRANKING along with my get-a-sexpert-body project:
1) worked out after I saw my trainer on Sunday (and felt amazing afterward--I loved doing "dead lifts"; they felt great in my hamstrings)
2) rested on Monday
3) worked out on Tuesday night: 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer, a measly six push ups (could my arms still be tired from my workout two days before? They felt that way); 20 sit ups and some stretching
4) Worked out this afternoon--logged almost 3 miles and almost 300 calories on the elliptical, did 30 sit ups and 16 push ups. Felt much better. I'm ready for my 8 AM appointment with my trainer, but I'm going to try to do some shifting since getting up early is so PAINFUL for me.

I'm getting a taste of what all my writers have to go through, waiting for my editor at Bantam to get back to me about my book. Meanwhile, I need to start thinking about a cover--I want a beautiful, simple image (no chick lit illustrations) so I'm getting the name of some photo stock agencies from our art director and am going to do some searching.

Ciao--
Paola

Progress, shmogress

I had my first official session with my trainer today--we worked out on Friday and basically set up a program but today is the first day I paid for a session (as opposed to the complimentary ones that Equinox offers) and the first time I felt like I got into a rhythm and worked hard. My arms are getting toned already, I swear!
Sexpert body, here I come.
Ciao--
Paola

Baby love...

It's Pam's son--baby Alec, looking all alert and wide-eyed and newly cognizant of the fact that he is in a WORLD filled with all kinds of cool looking THINGS. It's so fun to be around babies who are discovering that basic but always awe inspiring fact.

So, I've figured out (with the help of a work colleague) how to track traffic to this blog--seems like I'm getting around 45 unique views a day, with 75 % coming from referring sites and 25% going directly to the site. Average time spent: A minute and a half. Who are those other people?

Speaking of stats, tomorrow is my first official training session with my trainer, Paul. I'm meeting him at 1 or 1:30 tomorrow (I can't remember exactly when), so I'm going to do cardio before, then we'll do weights for an hour. He kicked my butt (or rather, my upper body,) yesterday; I really feel my triceps, the sides of my torso and my abs. My arms look more toned already!

Ciao--buona sera.

Paola

secrets of happiness editors

At work, we were asked to share a few of these. Here are some of mine.

Ever since I've been back from Italy (which is where I formed the habit), I've been buying lots of beautiful fruit--blood oranges, heirloom tomatoes, clementines and bananas (which I've always loved; they're the fruit most like ice cream, if that makes any sense. I eat them in the morning sliced on toasted cinamon bread with honey and chunky peanut butter (another happiness secret--give yourself something sweet, yet healthy and satisfying in the morning. No deprivation allowed.



Anyway, I arrange all this bounty in a beautiful bowl I got in Spain so I can see it and it also adds color and life to my apartment. I eat much more fruit this way, and it feels much more like a sensual pleasure as opposed to something I'm doing simply to be "healthy." And I don't beat myself up if I sometimes don't finish them all--guilt should have no place in the process of nourishing ourselves.

Ciao amici --
paola
above is the latest grandma via mother acquistion: It's a rose gold watch with diamonds and rubies; very delicate, very different. And they actually got it working. I love it.

The body of a sexpert

Tomorrow I start working with my new, very own personal trainer, a 21-year-old (if he is a day) classically trained cellist from Alabama--very unintimidating (which has its good and bad sides) but in general seems like he will be nice to work with. I bought 12 sessions for $800 but you get two free sessions and I figure hey, maybe it will help me take it more seriously. He did the Equifit workover on me and, as always, the stats it yielded were sobering. Heart rate, blood pressure were all fine, which is good, but my body-fat percentage? YIKES. Suffice it to say that I have to lose 6 percent of my body fat, which seems a doable if challenging goal in a year. Or, to put it another way, I want to lose 25 pounds. That way, besides being healthier, I'll be able to stand in front of clamoring crowds at bookstores and wear something cute and radiate sex appeal yet intelligence and mensch-ness (is there a word for a female mensch?) without feeling embarrassed or extremely self conscious. So, I'm going to blog about my efforts. Here, a few more stats:

As of January 09, 2006:
Weight: 153
Height: 5'3"
pushups (man style): 15
flexibility: average
body fat: 32%
CO2 capacity: low
resting heart rate: 62
b. pressure: 110/80

THIS, after working out fairly consistently for years. I need to start doing interval training and pushing myself harder if I want to see results--improvement requires at least a teeny bit of pain at the gym, and I've been feeling no pain--all the pain has been in getting myself there, but once I'm there, I work up the same light sweat for 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer, do the same 30-40 sit ups, the same 8-20 pushups, the same stretches. I'm sure it's better than nothing, but I'm not exactly seeing sexpert worthy RESULTS. So, here's hoping that committing some of my earnest efforts at self improvement to the blog-o-sphere will motivate me to work hard and follow through and get strong and healthy (and sexy wouldn't hurt either).
Ciao--
Paola

Unexpected gifts

My friend Millie came over last night and gave me the nicest holiday gifts--one of those mini-Japanese rock gardens, complete with shells she had collected from our trip to Bayhead on the Jersey shore this past summer. So now I have a little creative corner in my apartment where I can rake sand and arrange rocks and shells. It's fun.

Millicent is about to start a job at the prestigious, 160-year-old Economist as their senior user experience archictect, to revamp their web site and make it as spiffy as the publication itself. Impressive.

I'm off to the gym, in preparation for beginning a series of sessions with a personal trainer. My goal: to develop the body of a SEXPERT in preparation for my world-wide (or at least, bi-coastal!) book tour.

Ciao, amici--
Paola

Three crucial inches

One of the many perks of my job at SELF is I get easy, sometimes free access to the best and newest beauty products. Right now, in preparation for our annual Best Beauty issue, I'm testing shower gels and skin lotions; 4 of the first, 6 of the second. I am in love with this stuff called Ted Gibson (I think); the gel smells like grapefruit with a hint of sweetness and I've gone through 3/4 of the bottle in about 10 days. I could eat it up--when it's on me, I feel like dessert! It's been one of the highlights during this bout with a cold I'm enduring.

Speaking of highlights, during the holidays, mine was a 2-minute interaction with my friend MP Dunleavey's genius baby Connor (that's him around Thanksgiving): We were in his parents' bedroom, MP getting ready for New Year's, and Connor was playing in front of the mirror, running at himself. And I said, "Connor, come here and let me give you kisses!" and he ran half way toward me, then laughed, turned around, and turned back again. Then he did it again, running toward me a little closer, and turning back, then the third time he ran straight into my arms and we tumbled back over onto the bed, his wonderful baby-laughter pealing. I was being teased and flirted with by a 15-month old. It was TOO cute.

Another hightlight: Christmas night. My friend came over and offered to fix something with my refrigerator. So, singlehandedly, he pulled out the refrigerator (full of stuff), countertop and stove, then shoved them back in so tightly against the wall that for the first time in two years, I CAN OPEN MY REFRIGERATOR ALL THE WAY. So yes, ladies, sometimes two or three inches does indeed matter.
Ciao--
Paola
P.S. That's the lovely view of my new-and-improved kitchen. I think I'm going to get it painted turquoise and the cabinets some kind of bright. Would that be weird? If you're going to take a decorating risk, painting seems as if you'd have the least to lose.

A new year, a new cold

Yes, I have been trapped in my apartment for days on end...this is my fifth day ailing. Good thing I like my pad. I have managed to schlep myself off to work, but have cancelled all social plans for evenings sitting home in front of my lap top with dumpling soup from Ollie's and pea soup from Gourmet Garage. That, plus Sudafed, Robitussin and Tylenol and my body should soon start resembling a living chemistry set.

I was supposed to see the Pissarro exhibit at the Jewish museum today but I cancelled. Instead, I'll read essays for my writing workshop next week, maybe start organizing for my taxes, which is going to be complicated this year because of my book, (though that seems over ambitious), and, as always, do laundry, my favorite procrastination task. It enables me to inhales lots of Mrs. Meyers' geranium scented laundry detergent, my favorite. It's worth the $14--really!

I'm excited that one of the contributors to my anthology, Susanna Sonnenberg got a rave review for her new memoir, Her Last Death, in the New York Times. Good for her, good for me. It's an amazing, unflinching, beautifully written memoir. Read it and marvel at the craziness of mothers and the resilience of daughters.
Ciao--
Paola
P.S.
I'm trying to get the link thing straight. Then I can truly join the blog-o-sphere!

A snowy Catskills New Year

You know you have a solid friendship with someone when you can hang out with them in the midst of their move to a new house (with a 15-month old) and everyone still enjoys one another--I guess that's what was confirmed for me this past weekend (though I always knew it). I ushered in 08 with my dear friends Mary-Patricia/Mary Pat/MP/Mia, Matthew and their genius baby Connor in their beautiful new home in New Kingston, New York, in the heart of the Catskills. I'm talking bucolic here. We did some organizing, went to a lovely New Year's gathering at a friend of theirs, in an incredibly beautiful and stylish house filled with art and my favorite kinds of warm colors, I read an excellent book (The Post-Birthday World, by Lionel Shriver), shoveled some snow (which was actually fun, since the snow was light and powdery and otherwise made a good start to 2008. This past year was one of my happiest, best ever, so I'm hoping for more of the same (though the skeptic in me worries there is nowhere to go from here but down....).
I guess my big resolution is to transform myself, physically, into an Oprah-worthy sexpert, whatever that means. (For one thing, I'm hiring a trainer.) Not to worry--you will see my efforts and the fruits thereof in these pages in the months to come.
Buon anno amici!
Paola