Hi friends :) First off, I want to wish my wonderful friend and business partner Pascha a very happy birthday! This has been a wonderful and crazy last few months, and I'm so very grateful to be doing this with you :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did :)

Mine started with an awesome morning Monkey Ninja Bootcamp--shout out to Beverly, Damon, Josh, Kristin, Lashunda, Kattt, Beth, Noa, Rebecca, Joanne, Daniela, and Samantha. We jumped, lunged, chopped, crawled and sweated our way through an intense calorie and fat burning workout--no guilt eating later for us :)

Afterward, I joined my family at my parents' house--we had a small gathering this year, my parents, my husband Doug, my lil' bro Jase, and my step-daughter Ava. Major props to my mom who had been cooking and preparing food for a couple days. I joined in helping her as soon as I arrived. My main contributions were a pumpkin pie and preparing and cooking the green beans and brussel sprouts.

A few pics of some of our food....

Lastly, I'd like to share a few things I'm thankful for, as well as some of the things my family is thankful for (we shared what we were thankful for during dinner)....

1. My family--there is nothing more important to me than my family. I appreciate how close we all our and how accepting everyone is. We are notorious for always having a good time, filled with laughter, joking around, lots of food and drinks.....my friends love coming over for celebrations because my family is just that fun.

2. According to Ava, my 10 year old step-daughter--"I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my pets and the planet Earth." Well said little one, and well rehearsed. Her response, "I know, we had to recite this in class."

Luckily for her, when she recited what she's thankful for, she had no idea what was coming. Something else to add to the list--dessert :)

3. My mom told a touching story about seeing a woman at the grocery store helping her daughter out of the car. She said the litte girl was probably about Ava's age and had cerebal palsy. Seeing this woman made her feel very grateful for everything we have. It's not perfect, but it's plenty.

4. "Margaritas!" A little out of character, but that was my dad's response. He spoke the truth though, maybe even what we were all thinking in the back of our heads, margaritas are something to be very grateful for.

See that bottle of tequilla behind the turkey...um yeah, so we have a thing for  margaritas. We'll keep working on that bottle the rest of the weekend :)

All joking aside, I'm truly grateful for the love and support of my family and friends, for the amazing oppportunities I've had thus far in my life, for my health, and for being able to do what I love--share my views on fitness and health with all of you. Thank you for being a part of my life :)

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

Hey everyone! Happy almost Friday to you! Probably will be Friday by the time you read this :)

So this week has been kinda up and down for me. There's been a lot of great things, but I've felt pretty run down all week. I think I hit a wall....and really needed some extra rest. Thankfully, I had a free hour yesterday due to a client being out of town, and I was able to hit the sauna at Iron Works...yeah, I totally fell asleep. But I woke up feeling really rejuvenated...sometimes a little extra rest does the trick ;)

But I'd rather focus on the positive things....so here's a recap in photos and videos.

We have a new studio mascot, first discovered last Saturday. She's stayed around all week, hanging out by our front door. And yes, she's still alive, she was crawling around just earlier this evening.

Awesome Sunday sunset, captured from my living room:

This never gets old :)

I had to take a photo of my second favorite cat (1st favorite being my own of course :) ). Her name is Kit and I'm pretty sure she's having a love affair with my gym bag. For 3 years I have been going to my clients' home to train them, and Kit just can't get enough of my bag. She loves to rub herself all over it, get in and hang out. She gets a bit embarrassed when I try to take her picture, so I have to be covert about it :)

I wouldn't want to hurt my kitty's feelings, so I've gotta post a pic of her too. She is not as sweet as Kit, she bites and scratches....but I love her anyway :)

Cute, huh?

I also wanted to give a huge shout out to all our students and clients! We have been so impressed with everyone's pushups this week! It's been really awesome seeing you all break your records day after day....lovin' it!

Here's an awesome clip from this evening's Monkey Ninja Bootcamp, you guys killed it!

[wpvideo 7Tu20Ew7]

We're finishing getting ready for a Halloween party for my daughter and her girlfriends this weekend. She's very excited....and I've got a lot of baking left to do! Call me crazy, but I couldn't bear buying her a whole bunch of junky, processed candy for the goody bags. Instead, I signed myself up for making homemade Halloween treats to put in the bags....you know, in all my spare time :) It's a win win--I feel better about knowing that the homemade treats have quality ingredients. She's happy because even though she would love a bunch of candy, she knows that homemade treats always taste better in the end. I've got my work cut out for me tomorrow evening :)

I'll let you know how it goes :)

Happy Weekend and Happy Halloween!

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness

Hi friends :) Hope you're all having a great weekend. It's soooo nice outside, crazy how we really get our summer weather in the fall. What fun things have you been up to this weekend?

Yesterday we went to the Halloween store and picked up some supplies for the Halloween party we're having for Ava and 7(!) of her girlfriends next Sunday. Some things to decorate and spook up the house a bit. She's really excited and it should be a lot of fun. I'm sure things will get a little crazy having 8 10-year-olds over :)

Last night Doug and I went to a Halloween party. Our friends always have their Halloween party the weekend before Halloween, which is smart, because there's always so much going on on Halloween weekend. It was so much fun and there were so many awesome costumes! I dressed up as Raggedy Ann....

Pretty funny, huh? Someone actually told me that my "hair" looked really good, like it could be real. I was like, "Um, it's red yarn...." One of those awkward/funny moments where someone you don't really know at a party tries to make conversation and says something pretty silly.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and see what everyone was up to this weekend. I'm not quite sure what we're going to end up doing today....right now Doug and I are "watching" football (he's watching, I'm "watching") and drinking a cold beer....enjoying my rest day. After 9 hard workouts this week, it's nice to have a day off :) And on super warm days like this, an ice cold beer never tasted so good.

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

Hi everyone :) Hope your day has been good. I wanted to share this awesome clip from my Monkey Ninja Bootcamp with you guys:

[wpvideo quQKNm76]

What I love most about this video is my super awesome little sidekick, Anai. By little I mean 5 years old. By awesome I mean she had already completed Slow Flow Yoga earlier that morning, and after bootcamp went to Kung Fu. And by super I mean she's one of the funniest little girls I know. We're BFF's....we pinky swore....many times :)

While I'm in video-sharing mode here, I also have to share this amazing video. This little girl, 6 years old, has got Nicki Minaj's Super Bass down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7hTAp6KrGY

Um yeah. Pretty freakin' awesome. Love her bad-ass little attitude. And her little sidekick. Who by the way is lovely, but nowhere near as super awesome as Anai. Just sayin'. ;)

So back to The Fuse Fitness....classes have been rockin' here these past couple weeks! We're so proud of all the hard work you guys have been dedicating to yourselves and to us. Nothing makes us happier than to see all your sweaty faces in class :)

And a quick reminder--we are hosting Cynthea Denise's "Jumping In Feet First" workshop this Sunday, Oct. 16th, 1:30-3:30pm. It will be a very engaging, interactive and informative workshop focusing on how the feet play a pivotal role in most things going on with the lower extremities. Cynthea will be teaching everyone various stretches, strengthening exercises, and reflexology tips to help take care of your feet. And really, we do kinda abuse our poor little feet. So come on over to our studio, The Fuse Fitness in Kensington, 377 Colusa Avenue, and learn how and why to take better care of your feet.

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness

Hi friends :) Happy very almost weekend! Isn't it funny come Monday morning it seems as though the weekend will never rear its head again....and then before you know it, it's Friday afternoon! I love hearing about everyone's plans for the weekend and love to know how you spend your down time.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm heading out to the parents' Saturday afternoon. They only live 45 minutes away, however it seems a world of difference....at least in terms of my relaxing abilities :) My Saturdays always start with a 9am client (let's me sleep in a little bit!) and then teaching my Monkey Ninja Bootcamp over at my studio, The Fuse Fitness in Kensington. I love teaching my Saturday class! Most of the people who take it have been taking it for a long time, so I can really.kick.their.asses! Love it! And for some weird reason, they keep coming back for more :) Tomorrow's workout is already planned, and it's no joke. The kind of workout that will leave everyone laying in a sweaty puddle at the end of the hour, unable to move. And even though I am up front and honest about what kind of workout we'll be doing (HARD!!) they show up anyway! Like I said, weird, huh?

After class I clean the studio from top to bottom, getting it ready for the beginning of a new week. We close down Sundays so we can all get a bit of rest. And then I'm heading to the parents', where I will get to chill (so looking forward to that, it seems like it's been a while), maybe even by the pool (we strangely get our summer weather in September and October), take a nap, *try* to cuddle with our cat (mainly chase her around and most likely get bitten by her), and go out to dinner with my parents and husband to one of our favorite restaurants, Town. I think that name is so cute...going out for a night on the Town. Anyway, they have great cocktails(!), awesome food and the atmosphere is fun and lively. And the company is wonderful :) Sunday I will get to really sleep in (woo hoo! it's been forever) but I'll probably wake up early anyway....at least I don't have to wake up to an alarm, that always makes for a great day. And if the weather is nice and warm, which it's supposed to be, I'll head out to my parents' pool with my book and probably fall asleep in the sun :) In case you couldn't tell, Sundays are my rest days and I plan on resting to the max this Sunday!

Anyway, just wanted to wish everyone a great weekend and see what you guys have planned. Partying, working, resting, exercising? Please share!

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness www.thefusefitnessstudio.com