NYC & IART

It's so good to be back and I finally have a chance to sit down and give you this awesome update that I will hopefully be able to keep within reason.

We had a FANTASTIC weekend attending an IART Workshop & touring New York City for the first time.

After a lot of research and thought, Frank felt that this particular certification would be the best for our personal style of training. It was the closest fit to what we believe about training, but we were blown away at how much more we learned and what more there is to apply in our workouts.

A highly recommended workshop if you are looking to become a personal trainer or if you already are, and want to learn more. Some websites to check out:

Michael Lipowski: President of IART, Owner of Pure Physique, Author, Bodybuilder and our teacher for the weekend workshop.

Jim Reilly is the business coach that came and spoke at the workshop. Both him and Mike were amazing to learn from and I only wish there was more time to soak up their wealth of knowledge.

We are eager to jump into the arena and start using what we learned. It completely changed how we look at both our personal workouts and how to get great results with our clients.

Thanks to Mike, Jim and all the other trainers that made this a wonderful experience!

Frank taking a break at Pure Physique in Shrub Oak, NY

Now for New York!

Things that I grew up seeing on TV, and finally got to see for the first time.

Yellow Taxi cabs of course! The NYPD cars were fun to see also.

The yellow street lights. Not something I would normally think about, but when I saw them it was such a familiar feeling.

What cartoon based in New York doesn't have a pigeon as a character.

Every romantic movie in New York has this building in it at some point.

Others I was unable to capture were:

The Manhattan skyline

Big green bridges that are always in the movies

The front stairs of the buildings like those on Electric Company or Sesame Street (where the puppets sit and talk to little children).

Subway, subway, subway!

Things that were neat to see...

Beautiful bridges

Lots of gorgeous churches with neat statues.

The acres of graveyards is something that I never thought about, but seeing them gave me a new perspective.

The Projects... wow!

Passing through places that I've always dreamed of.

Brooklyn

Queens

Harlem

So grateful for this little guy.

Between our Hotel and our class in Oak Shrub, we traveled the 20 minutes on a different road every time we made the trip. 6 different times... 6 different routes. Hogwarts staircase we felt. The nice part was that we got to look at the country from all the different routes. From big highways where everyone was going 20 miles over the speed limit, to a nice river drive with gorgeous views,

to a winding quiet road in the backcountry neighborhoods where the spectacular colonial houses are settled.

This was after the plane ride before our touring started. Frank had been working so hard to make up for his missed days at work and getting everything in order to go, he was beat by the time we got there. I was anxious to get going so I listened to music and paced the floor to keep from pulling him off the bed and pushing him out the door. He was amazing setting everything up and getting us safely around NY. I felt bad that he was so overworked at a time where energy was important.

The tour.

I loved little buildings nestled between the walls of skyscrapers.

We were tourists for sure!

Philly cheesesteak!

Rockefeller Center

Lots of train and subway rides.

Grand Central

Times Square

Completely inappropriate, but otherwise hilarious as I sent the pic to my mom.

We were able to walk around Chinatown and Little Italy which were both so fun to see.

We had run out of camera battery at this point and had our cells fully loaded with pics.

(We didn't get to see the Statue of Liberty and some other sights, but we are hoping to go back for a second round with longer time.)

Food!

New York pizza... the best.

Weeping Cherry... Gorgeous!

Last day. Technical testing at workshop and I am finally rested and ready to Bring It!

Flight home was a memory as we watched little miracles happening.

Like...

fluke decisions that got us to our gate just in time to find everyone boarding half an hour early.

Getting separated on the plane and feeling horrible about it just to have folks switching seats where we end up back together and with a window seat.

Clear skies almost all the way home to see the great lakes, 10,000 lakes, Cascade Mtns, gorgeous prairies and both the atlantic and pacific coastlines.

For the short time that there were clouds, I enjoyed not only doing my puzzles, but reading the inspirational quotes that they turned into.

So grateful for the wonderful experience and a special thanks to

my mom and my mother-in-law who cared so well for my babies while we were gone.

They had a wonderful time and I was at ease knowing they were with you.

Thanks to my sisters for the help they gave me in preparing for this trip.

You gals are awesome!

Thanks to my honey for making it happen! I love you babe!!!

Have a great day and I'll talk to ya later!

Courtney