Eye opener

The countdown is well underway and we are up to our eyeballs in boxes! We're tackling a little bit each night so it's not so overwhelming. Jimmy's job last night was to repack some of the beat up boxes that are at the top of my closet. It's stuff that we need that's been toted around in the same crushed UHaul boxes for 4 years! I thought this would be a quick job for him...it turned out, it was a box full of our old pictures - so it became a trip down memory lane.

I was puttering around packing the kitchen when he called me into the living room in a rather serious tone. He showed me a picture from probably about 8 years ago of me and my Mom and Dad.

I remembered taking the picture vividly - they'd come in from New Orleans to watch me teach my dance classes. I was so proud to have them there with me! But what I didn't realize what what I looked like. I was probably 15-20 pounds heavier than I am now. And I knew that I'd put on weight, but I was 25, had just started out in a "sit down" job in Corporate America, and, coming from a family of mostly obese people, I thought that this was the way it's supposed to be.

Thankfully, I met my husband about this time. And he showed me how to eat healthier (at the time, my diet was primarily chicken fingers and french fries) and helped me get started on a healthier lifestyle. It wasn't because he thought I was overweight or anything (in fact, he said last night that he never really thought of me as "pudgy" or anything) - the weight was something that bothered ME - I didn't feel good, I was lathargic and just didn't feel comfortable in my own skin - so he helped me to get movin' to feel better. Turns out, it was one of the best things I've ever done.

I guess the reason this "before" pic has hit home so much is I just keep thinking about what I'd feel like (not to mention look like) if I'd never met Jimmy or been introduced to a healthier lifestyle. It really stopped us both in our tracks last night. And I think that it's something for everyone to stop and consider (well...not consider MY before pic!!! - but your own)...take a picture (mirrors are deceiving...pictures don't lie) and look at it - and then really take an inventory of your daily intake and activities.

What path will this lead you down?

If it's a path that you're not comfortable with (like I was), please contact me. My goal, as a Beachbody Coach, is to make a dent in this obesity epidemic...one person at a time.

http://www.beachbodycoach.com/kelnel

Let me help you get on the right path!

cute...

Cute...it's a word that I hear...A LOT...and it's a word that still takes some getting used to.

Growing up, I had a friend in high school that used to say "cute is the same as stupid" - I didn't totally agree, but I understood where she was coming from. And it's a line that's always been embedded in my mind. Then there's Rudolph from the claymation Christmas TV show - with his stopped up little nose, saying "I'm cute, she thinks I'm CUUUTTTEEEE" (as his eyes get all googly and then spasticly flying into the air!!)

Lately, I've heard the word a lot - "oh, you're so cute" "aren't you the cutest thing" "y'all are such a cute couple""cute...cute...cute...cute...cute!!!!". And it's something that I just smile and nod about because, at 32 years old, I don't really think that people should be called cute.

Who knows - maybe I'm wrong. I don't know what other word I'd like to be called - guess it could be worse!!!!! - maybe I just need to grow up and be a big girl about this!!

I am appreciate of the praise, don't get me wrong. I just find it funny that so many people use the same word. It's not like they were in a huddle and decided to all use the same word (1-2-3-CUTE!). So I decided to look up the deifinition to try to get past this hangup I have with the word.

Here's what dictionary.com has to say:

CUTE - /kyut/ - [kyoot] adjective, adverb
–adjective
1. attractive, esp. in a dainty way; pleasingly pretty

2. affectedly or mincingly pretty or clever; precious

3. mentally keen; clever; shrewd.
–adverb
4. Informal. in a cute, charming, or amusing way; cutely

OK - so this isn't so bad.

(deep breath)...

Hi, my name is Kelly and I'm CUTE!!! :)

Gettin' Ready to Ride the Wave!

Jimmy and I just got back from an AMAZING weekend in Cali. We went out there for a Beachbody Leadership Weekend at the Ritz Carlton in Dana Point. The hotel was right on the Pacific Ocean - breath taking views and accommodations!

Got there and started off with a bang...Turbo Fire workout with Chalene Johnson - this is a NEW workout that Beachbody's got cookin' and man, oh man, if you love cardio - this will be right up your alley!!! We were all pretty fit people and we were huffin' and puffin'!!! While we were working out, we were looking out over the Pacific Ocean at sunset - wow...I'm still speechless!!!

Day 2 was jam-packed! Started off with a yoga workout with Tony Horton...again, overlooking the Pacific! Then it was breakfast - the hotel staff made us Shakeology - WOO HOO!!!

Then it was time to get down to work.

They started off by showing us the new Coach website - it's going to be SOOO great - you'll be able to customize it and add all kinds of special features - I can't wait for this to come out! Then we got to see the new and MUCH improved New Coach Kit. One word...SHARP! It's short and to the point. Coaches who once felt overwhelmed when they signed up and didn't know what to do with all the stuff that came in the old coach kit are now at ease with this new sleek package! Then we saw the new 3rd party tools that they released (actually released yesterday!!!) - I think this is what I'm MOST excited about. These are DVDs (and videos available in the coaching back office) that do all the hard work for you. I'll be the first to admit...I'm NOT A SALESMAN...but I'm so passionate about Beachbody and how it's changed my life that I tend to ramble and end up vomiting waaay too much info on interested people (sorry...little graphic....but true!)! Now that I have these tools under my belt, I'm vomit free!!!!! All I have to do is send a DVD or video link to someone that's interested and voila...the video gives them all the info they need and no mess! :) There's one that explains all the great products that we have and one that focuses on the coaching opportunity! Somethin' for everyone!

Another important thing we learned that carried out throughout the weekend was Beachbody's Game Plan. These are 10 simple steps for coaches to follow to help us succeed with our business. It spells it out for you - and it takes out all the guesswork. Don't know where to start, look at the Game Plan. Ready to hit the ground running and want to really make your business take off, look at the steps! It works for everyone. It's all about simplicity. From the new website to the new coach kit and 3rd party tools to the 10 Game Plan steps - this is something that is getting ready to take off in a BIG BIG way. And I'm so stoked to be part of it!

Day 3 was amazing as well. Darren Hardy was the speaker for the day. He's the publisher of Success Magazine and his talk was one of a kind!

After the event was over, Jimmy, Paul (one of our coaches from Austin) and I drove back down the Pacific Coast Highway and stopped in Huntington Beach to have lunch. Went to Duke's for lunch then took a stroll on the beach and on the pier. I saw surfers for the first time - so neat! It was so cool to watch them all bobbing in the water, patiently waiting for their right wave to come! I feel like a surfer...I'm waiting patiently and I'm about to ride a killer wave!!!

Then we were off to the airport to take the red eye back to NYC. It was a whirlwind trip - I got to meet some really amazing people - coaches and corporate folk. Some of the most genuine people I know - and we're all on the same page about doing this to help reverse this obesity trend and to help people get healthier. It's scary out there - this obesity problem isn't going away and it's up to us to take steps to reverse it!

(Shameless plug) If you want to help other people get on the road to a healthier, more active lifestyle and want to earn money doing it - let me know - this whole coaching thing is about to BLOW UP - and now is the time to get in. It's like when a new apartment building goes up - you want to get in early before all the good views are taken! Now is the time...

To learn more about the Coaching Opportunity: http://bit.ly/KNDecide

To learn more about the AMAZING Products: http://bit.ly/KNSolutions

If you're waiting for a formal invitation, here ya go! http://bit.ly/KNCDInvite

The Stars at Night, are BIG and BRIGHT....

So - word's out...after four amazing years here in NYC, the Nelsons are moving back to Dallas!!!

It's funny - because for us, this decision has been in the works for a bit. We finally got clarity on some things recently and everything has started to fall into place. But most people - while excited - are like "you're moving - WHY?!?!" And for some reason, I feel the need to justify it. I told Jimmy that it'd almost be easier to just say that I'm pregnant (which I'm not). So...for those who are curious - here's how it all came about...

Once upon a time...kidding...

Where to start...it's a bit of a tangled mess, but put on your seatbelts and try to follow along!!!

It all started back in July - we went to visit our friends, Dave & Erin, in Jacksonville for the July 4th weekend. They have a GORGEOUS, spacious house - 3BR, 2 1/2 baths, back yard, the works - really nice. And Jimmy and I forgot how nice it was to have space - to sort of "spread out" in a home. We currently live in a 2BR apartment in NY which is nice, but we are surrounded by neighbors. So being at the Cohen's house for a few days got our wheels turning.

We started talking about moving out of the city. We're getting to the age where kids might come into the picture in the not too distant future and we realized that while yes, there are people that do have and raise kids in NYC, it's not necessarily something WE want to do.

We'd also talked about moving out of the city once we were both able to be full time Beachbody coaches. We're not quite there yet - so thoughts of moving out on that account weren't in the forefront of our brains.

But we got to talking one day about where we'd move - we weren't sure that we'd want to back to TX and we didn't want to live full time in New Orleans (that's where our families live) - so I thought - ok, if I can pick anywhere that I want to live, it'd be near a beach on the East Coast. So I opened up google maps and looked at cities on the eastern seaboard and Charleston, SC jumped out at me. So I began to do research on it and thought it'd be a great place to raise a family. Only problem being that we'd still be away from our families. We'd be closer, but still a plane ride away. I casually looked at the area, talked to a friend that lives there - who had GLOWING reviews of it - looked around at the neighborhoods and looked at what some job options might be, but that's about as far as it went. We figured that if Charleston was meant for us, everything would fall into place for us to know that it was right. But nothing really came out of it.

August 10th...the place I was working announced that they were closing two of their three portfolios (it's a hedge fund) - which meant most people were getting let go. I was given Sept 4th as my last day there, so I immediately began the job hunt. I literally was offered a temp to perm position at great company on my last day - literally hours before I was going to walk out the door!!!

So new job is temp to perm til the end of January when a perm offer would be made if they were pleased with my work. No biggie.

Fast forward to two weekends ago - Jimmy went to Dallas for almost a week to spend time with his family and to do a Beachbody workout. He was surprising his family with tickets to the big Monday Night Cowboy game at the new Cowboys Stadium!!! Usually when Jimmy's back in Texas, he's ready to come back to NY on or about Day 2. He called me on Day 2 and said...something's different. I knew exactly what he meant and I knew that this was the sign we'd been waiting on. He said it "felt right" there now. I was on board immediately. The decision had been made.

I miss my family LOTS - and so does Jimmy - so being this far away for the past four years has been tough. For us, family comes first. So we decided that Dallas was the place we needed to be. Close to Jimmy's family (they live in the suburbs of Dallas), closer to my family (they're in New Orleans and south Louisiana) and close to friends.

Then there were the logistics. We had just begun year 2 of our 2 year lease on our apartment in Astoria, so the initial thought was to move Sept 2010. Then we started talking about it and realized that we were both kind of at a crossroads with our jobs.

The place that I worked for did offer for me to stay on thru year end, but it'd be a mayyybee kind of situation in January, so I decided to leave while the job market was good here in NYC. Then I get a temp to perm offer which wouldn't be perm til February. So my thought was let's move in February. I think that kind of shocked both of us. But it made sense. If I'd accept a permanent offer (or if it'd have been a perm offer from the beginning or if I'd not been let go from my previous job), none of this move stuff would have been given a thought. I'm not the kind of person to commit then walk away. So I'm not tied down here, so I thought Feb would be a good time to make a clean break from corporate America in NYC.

Jimmy can do both of his careers anywhere - having done theatre and print work in Dallas, he knows how things work down there, so the learning curve wouldn't be bad (just getting reacclimated) and he can do fitness stuff anywhere! So for him, the transition would be almost seamless (minus finding representation...which he's currently seeking!!!).

So Jimmy called our landlord and told him of our decision. He was super cool. He said he would put our apartment on the market in December or January. Then, our neighbor across the hall has a coworker that was interested in taking our apartment - and for him, the sooner the better. Wow...ok!

We have commitments in NYC thru the beginning of November, so we thought December 1st would be a great move in date. That would give us time to finish our commitments here, come to TX to get an apartment, car and for me to interview for jobs, and pack the apartment here.

Then...yesterday morning we found out that the guy backed out...sigh...I was really bummed, but thought, ok, it's not in our time - we'll move when we're supposed to move.

So we figured we'd start spreading the word to see if there are any takers for a December 1st move in date. It would work out best for us - we'd be able to start making plans now and the new tenants would get to move in before the brunt of winter arrived.

We're both really excited about the move and being closer to family and friends and the new opportunities that will come our way. We're ready to settle down and plant roots that way when kids do come along, we're already established. This is a very positive move for us.

But it's weird - we've gotten mixed reactions. I think that some people think that if you move to NY, then move back, somehow you've failed. I don't think that at all. Jimmy and I have grown tremendously in the past four years and we know that all the nuggets we've learned here will only benefit us in Dallas. Will we miss New York???...yes, parts of it. But it will hold a very special place in our hearts and we know that there's always time for visits back!!!

It's just crazy to make these grown up decisions without being prompted by the start of a school year, or because it's something your parents tell you to do. This was solely our decision and it came about in such a natural way that we knew it was right. And I'm SOOOO thankful that we're on the same page about it. We know we're doing what's best for our our family (even though that's just the two of us for now).

So that's the gist of it. If we move down at the end of November for a 12/1 move in date, we'll go to Texas the second week in November to buy a car, secure an apartment and for me to get a job. If you know of anyone that's looking for an Executive Assistant in Dallas, please let me know!!! :)