What didn't I do this week?

Well let's see I started the week by taking Tuesday off to finish unpacking my apartment. This was not really a day off since it took me 10 hours to unpack the apartment and organize. Don't feel too bad for me since my husband and I ended the day with a relaxing massage. OK now lets skip to the weekend. On Friday we enjoyed happy hour at Patrick Molloys on the Pier (I got some steps in walking there). Saturday was a busy day: I went to Costco (in the pouring rain), was run over many times by shopping carts and rewarded myself with a Costco hot dog (yummy). Trader Joes was next and then finally home to clean and cook dinner for my friends. I am sure you are wondering what I made...Chicken Parmigiana, it was so YUMMY! It was really nice to have my friends over and make a nice meal for them. On Sunday I went to the warehouse sale at the LA convention center, not really a great sample sale, but I did get steps in! After the sample sale my friend and I headed over the Beverly center for some lunch at Grand Lux Cafe (http://www.grandluxcafe.com/). This is a great place to eat, everything is yummy. After lunch we decided to do a little shopping at H&M. H&M is located on the top level of the Beverly Center. Currently the escalators are under repair and the elevators don't really work well. So we had only one choice, the stairs. Now remember we were on the ground level and H&M is on the 7th floor. We climbed 7 floors, let me just say I was a little out of breath and my legs felt like putty. Once in H&M we saw the line twisting around the store so we decided Sunday is not the day for H&M and headed back down to my car on the third floor (more steps). Finally I went home and had to re-clean my apartment because we had invited friends for dinner. Since I had already cooked on Saturday night and climbed all those steps, we decided to head down to the pier for dinner. We had tapas and Sangria at this amazing place called Mediterraneo (http://www.mediterraneohb.com/). Great place for tapas and Sangria! After dinner we took a walk to beach and then finally headed home. I got home and fell asleep around 8:30pm. Overall it was a great week and I got so many steps in! Until next week...Rashi

Ciao Bella!

After a couple hours of hiking, we came round the bend and found the picturesque Italian village, Vernazza, below us. Gazing down at the ocean, I was amazed at how clear and blue the water was. Even from my height, far above, I could see rocks on the sea floor through the translucent water.

It was a spectacular view, and despite the heat, well worth the hike. I felt good knowing I completed a very substantial number of steps for the day! Some of my efforts, however, were likely cancelled out by the gelato I had shortly thereafter. But, as they say, "when in Vernazza..."!

Getting My Steps At the Beach

I look like some sort of sea creature emerging onto dry land here, but actually I am just trying to keep my pedometer dry! Sunset Beach, LA.

Standing on the edge of the Left Coast

I live and work in Denver but spend a fair bit of time at our corporate HQ in LA. Which doesn't bother me one bit; I love the perfect weather (not that Denver lacks in that regard!), the sea air, the sunshine, the food, and the healthy lifestyle! I've never lived here but have been coming here for many years now, both with this job and other gigs, and one of my favorite areas has always been Santa Monica. You see everything, good bad and inbetween, and everywhere you look it's always something different.

The best part IMO is the cliffs overlooking the massive swath of beach and the ocean. To your left is the historic Santa Monica Pier and to the right is beautiful shoreline and rolling green hills....it's breathtaking (and this is coming from someone who lives in the shadow of the Rockies, so I feel qualified to dispense judgment in regard to breathtaking scenery!). I must have lived near the ocean in a past life because there is something elemental, almost primal about the smell of the sea air when you get a few blocks from here. It never fails to make me smile - no matter what's going on at that moment, one deep breath of that air makes me 100% happy.

So it made perfect sense to head out here for a long run along this perfect stretch of land after a long day at the office. They say hard work is its own reward - and when that 'hard work' means getting some exercise along the cliffs of Santa Monica, I have to agree!

The Good Ole South

Appreciate what you have; this is what I have learned after moving to Los Angeles. When the 10,000 steps a day was announced, I immediately thought, where will I walk and I miss Charlotte, NC? Growing up in the Southeast I didn’t realize how lucky I was being surrounded by nature. We had a huge backyard overlooking a golf course and even spotted dear in our backyard, natural beauty was everywhere(the pic is in my backyard with my dog Tiger, I know he is cute). When I moved to LA, the first difference I noticed was the concrete walls surrounding houses (note I said houses not homes). I remember thinking what is everyone trying to hide from? Are neighbors this bad here? After posing these questions I asked my Husband if there were any neighborhoods that were a bit more people friendly. He said yes and promised to take me to some beach communities. For my birthday he took me down to Hermosa Beach to celebrate. I was so amazed; this was my kind of place. There were so many friendly people actually making eye contact and smiling, cool breezes, so many cute shops and awesome restaurants. It was such a great day! On our way home I asked my Husband if he would consider Hermosa as our next home…he said yes! We recently made Hermosa Beach our home and love it! As for the steps I have so many gorgeous places to walk from the pier to the beach.

Walking in the Footsteps of Lions

I walked 10 miles over the weekend.

I have a great regional park near where I live (Oneill Regional Park) that I can be on the trail within a few minutes. The entertaining or interesting thing about the area where I walk is that it is in mountain lion country. Although I have never seen one, the thought of meeting up with one of these makes me push the pace a little harder.

Greg

Golf is a Good Walk Spoiled

Mark Twain is said to have been quoted as saying, “Golf is a good walk spoiled”. I think Mr. Twain just never had an opportunity to walk 4 hours in the Colorado Foothills with deer as caddies and red rocks as out of bounds. Golf and walking go hand in hand in our climate that allows for outdoor activities, it is said, more than 350 days a year.
Walking many of the golf courses in Colorado offers a unique combination of pride in what your doing for your health and well being, along with great conversations and beautiful scenery. The hills and altitude are relentless in reminding you that Nature wins all battles, but in this game of life and health, participating is all that matters!

~Sue

Finding steps, whereever they may be...

Those of you who have had the 'pleasure' of walking the B concourse at Denver Int'l Airport know the feeling of staring at a vanishing point... It feels like a mile from one end to another, especially when dragging a wheelie bag. I will confess, its not something I've ever found joy in...and I wouldn't say I have now either...but when one of your daily goals is 10K steps, suddenly you don't mind so much. A silver lining around the grey carpet, as it were.

Besides, anything is better than sitting on a plane! What I won't do for these chips, I tell ya... ;)

Los Angeles: Famous Car City

Everyone knows Los Angeles is a car city. Steve Martin memorialized it by driving down the block in the movie LA Story. I’ve actually heard someone speak of their car as their place of worship. And of course, life here is almost defined, for good or ill, by the freeways, which are important enough to be prefaced with their own article: the 405, the 10, the 60.

No one walks in Los Angeles. Except me. I moved here at the end of December to take a job at Corazonas Foods, and I began to explore the city on foot. The reaction of friends and acquaintances was not exactly positive, but was something like “Go ahead, kid, knock yourself out.”

In February I started taking pictures with my cell phone on my travels around West LA and posting them to my own blog. These are just random impressions of the city, and having lived a lot of places, I know that I’ll never see the city quite the same way again as when it’s new to me.

Traveling on foot means I don’t get that far – my whole world is a tiny corner of a mammoth sprawling city. But I also see more than I would from a car – intriguing shops, flowers I’ve never seen before, signs in languages I don’t read, and people I haven’t met – yet.

As far as walking in LA goes, it may not be popular, but as usual, I march to my own drum. Nowadays, I have a pedometer to measure how much marching that actually is!

Handy Site for Step Equivalents

I keep track of our finances here at Corazonas, and when I'm not navigating the land of Quickbooks, I'm traveling on my mountain bike or getting in a workout at the gym. I came across this handy site to calculate step equivalents to keep track of my heart-healthy activities:

http://walking.about.com/od/measure/a/stepequivalents_4.htm

I can get 10,000 steps and then some in just one hour of biking! Or I could also try a couple of hours of bowling, just under three hours of cooking, or one hour of (fast!) ballroom dancing. Don't expect to see any pictures of that last one...

Morgan

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Echoing one of Tony Bennett's most famous songs, the last line certainly rings true about this city by the bay: "Your golden sun will shine for me." What a gorgeous weekend! This is the first weekend it has been really HOT in San Francisco and I find that our indian summers are why I love it here! My regular weekend routine is to walk to the farmer's market at the Ferry Building and then along the water on the Embarcardero (pictured is "Cupid's Span", a sculpture representative of where everyone leaves their heart when they visit!), then by the ballpark and back up to my apartment in the SOMA district. My pedometer clocked this at 5,339 steps, so I did it twice to make sure I covered my 10K for the day! It is amazing to go through the market and sample, smell the fresh local fare, and then plan dinner for the next few days. Heirloom tomato salad is my favorite summer treat. And all that lycopene is excellent for the heart!

Record heat in LA today!

Have done 9128 steps of mall walking to beat the heat, followed by a cappuccino and a movie at my very favorite theater. Civilization! (We saw Becoming Jane, which involved lots of walks in the woods - does that count?)

You gotta love living in Denver -

Well, at least I do! You'd have to try hard NOT to be outdoors enjoying the perfect weather almost every day of the year here. Regardless of your preferred method of recreation and exercise, it's everywhere, all around you, all the time. I happen to live in Denver's historic Capitol Hill neighborhood and I look forward to the weekends when I can hop on my bike, head off in almost any direction and have my senses inundated with the sights and sounds of this uniquely beautiful and charming urban community. Click on the map below and select 'street view' to take a visual tour through my 'hood! (7th Avenue around High Street is particularly lovely)


View Larger Map

Today I headed east from my house in the heart of 'Cap Hill', through Cheesman Park and along the 7th Avenue Historic District. I dropped down into Country Club North and then jumped on the Cherry Creek bike trail, delighted to see that it's still running strong even this late in the summer when water becomes a real scarcity in normal years (August was really rainy for once!). I passed back east on my way home and remembered that I needed to get my ski pass for Copper Mountain/Winter Park (my 2 favorite mountains), ran home to get my wallet and then back to Sniagrab (the nutty ski sale I mentioned earlier in a post). Not quite finished I went back to the park, stopping to take in the view from the famous Pavillion before calling it quits and heading for home. What an awesome way to satisfy my body's need for exercise and my mind's need for stimulation!

Just for good measure I took a walk to the local DazBog coffee shop; a Denver institution and (in my opinion) the best coffee in town.

It's funny how doing the things you love to do can be good for your heart, body and brain. Living here in Denver makes it (almost) too easy!

Final count from this mornings excursion:

Bike ride: 10.5 miles (21K step equivalent)
Coffee Shop Walk: 1400 steps

Today, at least, I've overacheived!

Football's back! Perfect excuse to walk.

I love football season...and not only because I love football! Opening weekend of college football means cool, crisp weather is right around the corner (I HATE hot weather), the Broncos opening day is next week, leaves are about to turn, ski season is almost here, fall harvests bring some of my favorite foods to the kitchen and table... I could go on and on, and soon enough it will be here and then gone in a flash. But for today I'm getting started on my 10K steps a day by parking a little further away from Invesco field and walking to the Rocky Mountain Showdown between my Colorado Buffaloes and the CSU Rams. Here's the view approaching the stadium...game on!

PS it was 2469 steps from the car to the stadium. :)

First Day of Cholesterol Awareness Month

Today marks the start of Cholesterol Awareness Month, and our Corazonas Team Pledge to each walk 10,000 steps a day! This is all about "walking the walk" and physically taking care of our hearts! But one thing this team has is heart, and a deep caring concern for our special, little (but quickly growing) business, and more importantly for each other!!!! I am so proud of the way everyone pitches in to help each other and to ensure that we make our consumers and our customers happy and to feel our Party Hearty Passion!!!!!
Just yesterday, Ann pulled a rabbit out of her hat and was able to convince a shipping agent and our Distribution Center to accomodate our needs to pick up and deliver product late in the afternoon of a holiday weekend, when they want to close early vs. wait for a delivery. This was important for us to meet a customer's needs!!!! Now mind you, this is not her job, but she made it happen and that is the passion I am talking about!!!! Each & every member of this team has picked up the ball to make sure we meet or exceed the expectations of our community! This is real "heart-felt" passion and commitment, and it is this that makes Corazonas a very special family.
Please let us know if you have other ideas of how we can do things better for you! Meanwhile, I am wearing my pedometer and am signing off to start my elliptical machine workout to log many of my 10,000 steps for the day! I'm not worried though, as I will be getting in 1000's of steps walking around the Coliseum, watching my favorite USC Trojans take on Idaho in our season opener!!!!! Fight on & Party Hearty!