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Win a Polo Ralph Lauren Olympic Pin!

 
 

The Olympic Winter Games kicked off today with a star studded opening ceremonies. I've been in Vancouver for work since the 7th and it was an honor to be part of the Games and Meet and Greet with the US Olympic Team! Make sure to check out all of the highlights and winning ceremonies on NBC. 

Polo Ralph Lauren is the Official Outfitter of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies... be sure to visit www.ralphlauren.comm/olympics for all of the collection looks.

Also, for the first 3 people to post a comment I'll send you an Polo Ralph Lauren Olympic Pin!

What's your favorite Olympic Winter Sport?

Count on Fitness

A recent Gallup poll study, found that those who exercise at least two days a week report more HAPPINESS AND LESS STRESS than those who do not.

In addition, walking, treadmills, hand weights, running/jogging and weight/resistance machines are the top five fitness activities in America.

America's favorite fitness machine is in the treadmill. The treadmill ranked number one among exercise machines in burning calories (up to 865 an hour) at a perceived exertion intensity levels according to a 1996 study at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee.  There are definitely pros and cons to working out on a treadmill. 

Indoors vs. Outdoors

Pros:

· Convenience

· Climate control - no rain, wind, cold, heat.

· Safety - no traffic, muggers, trail hazards.

· Multi-tasking: read, watch TV, listen to music, monitor family.

· Treadmill workouts burn as many calories as walking outdoors.

Cons:

· Does not train balance muscles as well as walking on an uneven surface, negotiating curbs, etc. This is important as we age, it helps prevent falls and broken hips.

· Boredom factor higher than with outdoor workouts.

 

Also, 20 Best Treadmill Workouts Dave McGovern in Walking Magazine describes how to get a good indoor workout.

What do you prefer the treadmill or running outside?

Why I Run

I am still wrapping my head around the fact that I am running a half marathon in approx 5 weeks.  Wow, I am almost half way into my training and I am still trying to come up with some profound statement that explains how I feel... while I am trying to figure it out... I found a great quote to share.

"I run every day because it connects me to breath -- and breath is life.  Running connects me to the joy, sweetness and abundance that life has to offer.  I run before the sun comes up -- it's just me, the sound of the waves and my breath.  I take that peace with me and go back to it throughout the day." -- Marie Miner, Lahaina, Hawaii

What is your runner's quote?

Spurlge! "Pizza with Sausage, Fennel & Peppers"

This weekend, I wanted to treat myself with something decadent and delicious... So I turned to WolfGang Puck and found a great recipe for Pizza with Sausage, Fennel & Peppers! What a treat!

This recipe is super easy and the pizza was great!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for brushing the pizza crusts

2 Medium fennel bulbs, cut into eighths, cored, and thinly sliced (I had never cooked with Fennel before and needed a quick how to on preparing it)

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 pizza dough (you can make your own but I choose an 8 inch Whole Wheat crust from BoBoli)

1/2 cup prepared pesto

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

2 cups grated fontina cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 large roasted red pepper (Fresh or bottled)

6 ounces fennel sausage, crumbled or sliced (I used Italian sausage)

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the fennel and saute until its just tender about 5 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the garlic and thyme.

2.Brush the pizza crust lightly with olive oil (I used a bit too much so make sure to keep it lightly brushed), then brush with 2 tablespoons of the pesto. Sprinkle the cheeses evenly over the pesto.  Top with the fennel, red pepper and sausage.

3. Bake until the pizza crust is nicely browned, 10 to 12 minutes.

 Welcome to Kendra's Pizza Shop!  What are some other unique pizza recipes?

Winter Jam NYC 2010

Looking for some action in Central Park this weekend?!?  Make sure to check out Winter Jam NYC 2010 at Central Park, Bandshell Area on February 6th.  This event features a 70 foot long Snow Flume for sledding, a snowboarding competition and other winter sports.  Into snowshoeing or cross-country skiing... check out the snowfield. Don't worry about the cold; the Pride of NY Warming Hut & Winter Market will be available, not to mention live music that is sure to warm you up. 

Winter Jam NYC 2010

When: Feb. 6th

Where: Central Park, Bandshell Area (enter at 72nd Street)

More info: nycgovparks.org

 

Image details

Winter Jam 2009

Location: East River Park, Manhattan
Date: February 5, 2009
Photographer: Daniel Avila

Are you going? Please share your experience!

Happy Groundhog Day or Not!

Since 1887, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania groundhog Punxsutawney Phil has been forecasting whether there will be six more weeks of winter or if spring is near!

The general idea behind groundhog weather prognostication is simple: if the groundhog sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of wintry weather and if not, spring will come sooner rather than later. Groundhog Day originates from the folk belief in the predictive powers of the late–winter emergence of hibernating creatures, and the Pennsylvania Dutch are believed to have brought the tradition to America in the 18th century.

 

 

Today, Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil did see is shadow so New Yorkers it looks like we are up for six more weeks of wintry weather! Keep bundled up and stay warm.  Spring will be here before we know it. 

BTW, have you seen Groundhog Day a 1993 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.  J  It’s worth checking out for good humor and a love story! 

Famous Firsts by African Americans

To celebrate Black History Month, I wanted to share Famous Firsts by African Americans. 

African-American Firsts: Government

• Local elected official: John Mercer Langston, 1855, town clerk of Brownhelm Township, Ohio.
• State elected official: Alexander Lucius Twilight, 1836, the Vermont legislature.
• Mayor of major city: Carl Stokes, Cleveland, Ohio, 1967–1971. The first black woman to serve as a mayor of a major U.S. city was Sharon Pratt Dixon Kelly, Washington, DC, 1991–1995.
• Governor (appointed): P.B.S. Pinchback served as governor of Louisiana from Dec. 9, 1872–Jan. 13, 1873, during impeachment proceedings against the elected governor.
• Governor (elected): L. Douglas Wilder, Virginia, 1990–1994. The only other elected black governor has been Deval Patrick, Massachusetts, 2007–
• U.S. Representative: Joseph Rainey became a Congressman from South Carolina in 1870 and was reelected four more times. The first black female U.S. Representative was Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman from New York, 1969–1983.
• U.S. Senator: Hiram Revels became Senator from Mississippi from Feb. 25, 1870, to March 4, 1871, during Reconstruction. Edward Brooke became the first African-American Senator since Reconstruction, 1966–1979. Carol Mosely Braun became the first black woman Senator serving from 1992–1998 for the state of Illinois. (There have only been a total of five black senators in U.S. history: the remaining two are Blanche K. Bruce [1875–1881] and Barack Obama (2005–2008).
• U.S. cabinet member: Robert C. Weaver, 1966–1968, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Lyndon Johnson; the first black female cabinet minister was Patricia Harris, 1977, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Jimmy Carter.
• U.S. Secretary of State: Gen. Colin Powell, 2001–2004. The first black female Secretary of State was Condoleezza Rice, 2005–2009.
• Major Party Nominee for President: Sen. Barack Obama, 2008. The Democratic Party selected him as its presidential nominee.
• U.S. President: Sen. Barack Obama. Obama defeated Sen. John McCain in the general election on November 4, 2008, and was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009.

African-American Firsts: Law

• Editor, Harvard Law Review: Charles Hamilton Houston, 1919. Barack Obama became the first President of the Harvard Law Review.
• Federal Judge: William Henry Hastie, 1946; Constance Baker Motley became the first black woman federal judge, 1966.
• U.S. Supreme Court Justice: Thurgood Marshall, 1967–1991. Clarence Thomas became the second African American to serve on the Court in 1991.

African-American Firsts: Diplomacy

• U.S. diplomat: Ebenezer D. Bassett, 1869, became minister-resident to Haiti; Patricia Harris became the first black female ambassador (1965; Luxembourg).
• U.S. Representative to the UN: Andrew Young (1977–1979).
• Nobel Peace Prize winner: Ralph J. Bunche received the prize in 1950 for mediating the Arab-Israeli truce. Martin Luther King, Jr., became the second African-American Peace Prize winner in 1964. (See King's Nobel acceptance speech.)

African-American Firsts: Military

• Combat pilot: Georgia-born Eugene Jacques Bullard, 1917, denied entry into the U.S. Army Air Corps because of his race, served throughout World War I in the French Flying Corps. He received the Legion of Honor, France's highest honor, among many other decorations.
• First Congressional Medal of Honor winner: Sgt. William H. Carney for bravery during the Civil War. He received his Congressional Medal of Honor in 1900.
• General: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., 1940–1948.
• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Colin Powell, 1989–1993.

African-American Firsts: Science and Medicine

• First patent holder: Thomas L. Jennings, 1821, for a dry-cleaning process. Sarah E. Goode, 1885, became the first African-American woman to receive a patent, for a bed that folded up into a cabinet.
• M.D. degree: James McCune Smith, 1837, University of Glasgow; Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree. She graduated from the New England Female Medical College in 1864.
• Inventor of the blood bank: Dr. Charles Drew, 1940.
• Heart surgery pioneer: Daniel Hale Williams, 1893.
• First astronaut: Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., 1967, was the first black astronaut, but he died in a plane crash during a training flight and never made it into space. Guion Bluford, 1983, became the first black astronaut to travel in space; Mae Jemison, 1992, became the first black female astronaut. Frederick D. Gregory, 1998, was the first African-American shuttle commander.

African-American Firsts: Scholarship

• College graduate (B.A.): Alexander Lucius Twilight, 1823, Middlebury College; first black woman to receive a B.A. degree: Mary Jane Patterson, 1862, Oberlin College.
• Ph.D.: Edward A. Bouchet, 1876, received a Ph.D. from Yale University. In 1921, three individuals became the first U.S. black women to earn Ph.D.s: Georgiana Simpson, University of Chicago; Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, University of Pennsylvania; and Eva Beatrice Dykes, Radcliffe College.
• Rhodes Scholar: Alain L. Locke, 1907.
• College president: Daniel A. Payne, 1856, Wilberforce University, Ohio.
• Ivy League president: Ruth Simmons, 2001, Brown University.

See also Milestones in Black Education.

African-American Firsts: Literature

• Novelist: Harriet Wilson, Our Nig (1859).
• Poet: Lucy Terry, 1746, "Bar's Fight." It is her only surviving poem.
• Poet (published): Phillis Wheatley, 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Considered the founder of African-American literature.
• Pulitzer Prize winner: Gwendolyn Brooks, 1950, won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry.
• Pulitzer Prize winner in Drama: Charles Gordone, 1970, for his play No Place To Be Somebody.
• Nobel Prize for Literature winner: Toni Morrison, 1993.
• Poet Laureate: Robert Hayden, 1976–1978; first black woman Poet Laureate: Rita Dove, 1993–1995.

African-American Firsts: Music and Dance

• Member of the New York City Opera: Todd Duncan, 1945.
• Member of the Metropolitan Opera Company: Marian Anderson, 1955.
• Male Grammy Award winner: Count Basie, 1958.
• Female Grammy Award winner: Ella Fitzgerald, 1958.
• Principal dancer in a major dance company: Arthur Mitchell, 1959, New York City Ballet.

African-American Firsts: Film

• First Oscar: Hattie McDaniel, 1940, supporting actress, Gone with the Wind.
• Oscar, Best Actor/Actress: Sidney Poitier, 1963, Lilies of the Field; Halle Berry, 2001, Monster's Ball.
• Oscar, Best Actress Nominee: Dorothy Dandridge, 1954, Carmen Jones.
• Film director: Oscar Micheaux, 1919, wrote, directed, and produced The Homesteader, a feature film.
• Hollywood director: Gordon Parks directed and wrote The Learning Tree for Warner Brothers in 1969.

African-American Firsts: Television

• Network television show host: Nat King Cole, 1956, "The Nat King Cole Show"; Oprah Winfrey became the first black woman television host in 1986, "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
• Star of a network television show: Bill Cosby, 1965, "I Spy".

African-American Firsts: Sports

• Major league baseball player: Jackie Robinson, 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers.
• Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Jackie Robinson, 1962.
• NFL quarterback: Willie Thrower, 1953.
• NFL football coach: Fritz Pollard, 1922–1937.
• Golf champion: Tiger Woods, 1997, won the Masters golf tournament.
• NHL hockey player: Willie O'Ree, 1958, Boston Bruins.¹
• World cycling champion: Marshall W. "Major" Taylor, 1899.
• Tennis champion: Althea Gibson became the first black person to play in and win Wimbledon and the United States national tennis championship. She won both tournaments twice, in 1957 and 1958. In all, Gibson won 56 tournaments, including five Grand Slam singles events. The first black male champion was Arthur Ashe who won the 1968 U.S. Open, the 1970 Australian Open, and the 1975 Wimbledon championship.
• Heavyweight boxing champion: Jack Johnson, 1908.
• Olympic medalist (Summer games): George Poage, 1904, won two bronze medals in the 200 m hurdles and 400 m hurdles.
• Olympic gold medalist (Summer games): John Baxter "Doc" Taylor, 1908, won a gold medal as part of the 4 x 400 m relay team.
• Olympic gold medalist (Summer games; individual): DeHart Hubbard, 1924, for the long jump; the first woman was Alice Coachman, who won the high jump in 1948.
• Olympic medalist (Winter games): Debi Thomas, 1988, won the bronze in figure skating.
• Olympic gold medalist (Winter games): Vonetta Flowers, 2002, bobsled.
• Olympic gold medalist (Winter games; individual): Shani Davis, 2006, 1,000 m speedskating.

Other African-American Firsts

• Licensed Pilot: Bessie Coleman, 1921.
• Millionaire: Madame C. J. Walker.
• Billionaire: Robert Johnson, 2001, owner of Black Entertainment Television; Oprah Winfrey, 2003.
• Portrayal on a postage stamp: Booker T. Washington, 1940 (and also 1956).
• Miss America: Vanessa Williams, 1984, representing New York. When controversial photos surfaced and Williams resigned, Suzette Charles, the runner-up and also an African American, assumed the title. She represented New Jersey. Three additional African Americans have been Miss Americas: Debbye Turner (1990), Marjorie Vincent (1991), and Kimberly Aiken (1994).
• Explorer, North Pole: Matthew A. Henson, 1909, accompanied Robert E. Peary on the first successful U.S. expedition to the North Pole.
• Explorer, South Pole: George Gibbs, 1939–1941 accompanied Richard Byrd.
• Flight around the world: Barrington Irving, 2007, from Miami Gardens, Florida, flew a Columbia 400 plane named Inspiration around the world in 96 days, 150 hours (March 23-June 27).

1. O'Ree, the first black player in the NHL, was Canadian.

I strongly feel we are in this together.  That is not to say that discrimination does not exist at all but I try to move beyond it and keep looking forward. 

 

What are you celebrating this month?

New Year, New Reach

Up to 80% of people quit on their New Year's resolutions by February, while others make the same ones year after year to no avail. Well this year, I am sticking to my resolution to get fit and be healthy! Instead of writing down a laundry list of resolutions, I focused on one and have set my sights to accomplish it... the trick for me was joining in with my coworkers to run the half marathon. There is something about being accountable to a large group of people that you have to see everyday and discuss "how training is going."  For me that is a key factor of my training... especially when the clock goes off at 6am!

If you are still trying to hang on to your resolution or looking to just get started, focus on one thing and do it well... don't aim for too many things that will leave you discouraged... stick to something that you can be accountable for and maintain. 

Dig deep for your greatness and it will come!

How is your resolution going? Any tips to stay on track?

Haiti Relief Polo!

I am happy to announce that Polo Ralph Lauren, whom I'm a proud employee of, has partnered with The United Way to create the Haiti Relief Polo Shirt with 100% of the proceeds donated to the humanitarian effort in Haiti through the United Way Worldwide Disaster Fund. Please continue your efforts today and get your own Haiti Relief Polo...www.ralphlauren.com!!

 

 
  
 

Would love to hear what you are doing to support the Haiti efforts!  

National Women's Health 2010 Calendar

I just ordered the National Women's Health Information Center's 2010 calendar and it has some great information on recommended health test, reveals surprising symptoms of serious health conditions, and offers advice on how to read drug labels and get a second opinion!  This year, the calendar is also available in Spanish!

Cheers to Your Health!