Peace and Fitness

"Do not follow the idea of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things". Dogen

Welcome to peaceandfitness.com. The idea for this website came from a burning desire to share my passion for health and fitness with the public as well as with my many dedicated and wonderful local students and clients. From fitness tips, and opinionated blogs, to favorite links and more, this site will offer information about all aspects of body/mind wellness. I encourage feedback and hope to be able to answer any questions you may have.

Wishing you peace and fitness always... and all ways

It’s All About the Happy

January 1, 2012 by bonni 1 Comment

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

- John Lennon

Wishing you an overabundance of HAPPY in the new year.

Filed Under: Holidays and celebrations ·

Know Your Numbers

December 31, 2011 by bonni 1 Comment

The single greatest form of exercise we can do tonight, is to exercise responsibility. It’s easy to say we don’t drink and drive, until we are drinking….and then driving. Though Thanksgiving is actually the single worst drinking and driving holiday (thanks, Attorney Adam Harmelin, for that info) New Year’s Eve is right behind it! If you are venturing out, a cab is a nice way to stay safe. If you have your car with you and you are drunk, you can find ways to avoid driving. Here in Broward county, Florida, AAA and Budweiser team up to offer a service that will pick you up and drive you home and tow your car home, too! It might be worth programming the Tow to Go number into your phone now if you are local. It is 1-800-AAA-HELP. In Palm Beach county, the police offers will give you a ride home, for free. There non-emergency number is 561-838-5454. Wherever YOU are, it’s worth doing a quick Google search to see what options are out there for you and storing some numbers in your cell phone BEFORE heading out.

IF you make a bad choice and get pulled over in Broward County, I would like to share our family friend’s phone number. Attorney Adam Harmelin can be reached tonight (or any time 24/7) on his cell phone at 954-294-9372. He is definitely the guy to call should you get in trouble with the law for any reason from traffic infractions to much more serious offenses! I love that he uses his cell phone number for business as it makes him incredibly accessible. I suggest to everyone local that they put his number at the top of their cell phone contact list…A for Adam. While I hope none of us ever need it, it’s a good contact to have.

As you ponder your resolutions, I hope you will consider ways to bring more peace…and fitness…into your own and your loved ones lives. Thanks to all of you for the role you have played in MY 2011. May you have a happy, healthy 2012 and may we all remember all the lessons we learned through the recession as we move into the recovery, that I feel in my heart, WILL happen in the coming year. Cheers.

Filed Under: Holidays and celebrations ·

Divine, Sublime… it’s Birthday Time

December 30, 2011 by bonni 3 Comments

Good morning and happy birthday to one of my very favorite people, who also happens to also be my son, Derek. 28 years ago, this morning, the entire world became a better place because he entered it! Last night, we (Mitch, Derek, Michele and I) went to Sublime to celebrate (missing Kyle and Nicole, of course!!!) and the food was, once again, simply divine. For those that don’t know, Sublime is an all vegan “fine dining” establishment in Ft. Lauderdale, open only for dinner, with a beautiful ambiance, incredible service and equally beautiful and incredible options! We ate the crispy cauliflower (to die for and as Michele said, no one would even have to know it was cauliflower) and stuffed artichoke as appetizers and after sharing one chopped salad, we were well on our way to full. Michele and Derek ordered the enchiladas, Mitch the penne pasta and I, of course, felt compelled to try their veggie burger, new to the menu since I last went. It was a little on the “less firm” side, but very, very good. We shared some dessert because we had to sing! One piece of pumpkin cheesecake and one piece of chocolate nirvana. OMG! While we had no celebrity sitings last night, it is the hot spot for celebrity vegans like Paul McCartney and Pamela Anderson. The waiter said we would know if she was there Just saw a picture of the good Dr. Oz with the owner, who is said to donate all her profits to animal causes.

Next week, VFT, back on at the house. It’s the third week of birthdays, so next week we celebrate Pete. That definitely calls for a Shepherd’s pie. Hoping to see some of the missed faces back around the table as we begin a new year together.

Still trying to figure out why I can’t post my blog to Facebook, but I will catch up with my other favorite guy over the weekend and get that resolved. I am nothing without my webmaster, but I know how busy he is at Steelcast.

I will be at Tamarac Fitness for my regularly scheduled 11:30 SS class this morning. Last class of the year 2011. The gym will be closed for the weekend and reopen with our regular schedule on Monday morning. It’s been a great year and look forward to the next one with all my students and the new ones to come!

Giving thought to some resolutions? It is suggested we don’t overshoot and set ourselves up for failure. Narrow them down and be specific. More about this over the weekend. Much love. Be safe on the roads!

Filed Under: Holidays and celebrations, Plant-based diet, vegan thursday ·

Watching Our Gardens Grow

December 29, 2011 by bonni 1 Comment

This isn't our garden, but I am happy to say, it looks close!

Over the past couple of months we have planted some tomato plants, carrot seeds, some herbs and 3 kinds of lettuce. It’s amazing how the first few weeks everything looks like it will never amount to anything that you can put on a table and actually thrive from and then all of a sudden, there it is. This past week I have been able to go outside daily and pick lettuce for the base of our dinner salad. While romaine tends to be tricky here in South Florida (it gets too hot and the lettuce “bolts” or begins to flower and it gets too bitter) we have had some success with ours as well as with the butter crunch. While I could see no way the iceberg was going to actually grow into heads, there they are, 2 on each plant. The highlight, however, is the red leaf lettuce which is plentiful as well as beautiful and delish! We haven’t harvested any of the tomatoes yet, but we have quite a few of them in the green and growing stages. Carrot tops look lush as we built up the soil as per Green Thumb, Ted’s suggestion. Admittedly, I did not put much effort into this year’s garden but am pleased to see that between Mother Nature, remembering to water most days and some homemade compost mixed in the soil, the gardens are kind of doing their thing on their own. For many reasons, it is an awesome feeling to eat the food you grow!

As Derek turns 28 tomorrow, gulp, we look forward to celebrating tonight, with whichever members of the VFT posse are in town. It’s one celebration after another around here this time of year. Does it get better than that? I think NOT.

Just as we have watched our gardens grow so beautifully, so have we watched our boys grow into wonderful, men. Just one more reason to celebrate.

I’ll be at Tamarac Fitness Center today to sub Ellen’s 10 am SilverSneakers class. Tomorrow, at 11:30 and Monday we are back to our regularly scheduled classes.

Filed Under: gardening, Holidays and celebrations, vegan thursday ·