SoCal – Page 3

Culver City 5K/10K + A Giveaway!

June 1, 2014 By lyndsinreallife 11 Comments

So I am pretty excited, because I am running my first official 5K this month! It’s the Culver City 5K/10K on June 15, 2014, which is perfect because it’s literally like half a mile from my apartment. I’ve walked 5Ks before in Cleveland, but never went into them with the intention of running. Until now.

I’ve decided recently that I want to become a runner. Yoga is my fitness of choice, but I want to do something to get myself out of my comfort zone. I want to push myself to be great. I went on a search for local 5Ks, and knew I wanted to run one that had some sort of charity or cause attached to it.

The Culver City 5K/10K is perfect because it benefits the Culver City Education Foundation (CCEF) and Train 4 Autism! In addition to a 5K and 10K, there is also a FREE kids run for kids 11 and under! I am currently fundraising for Train 4 Autism (donate here if you’d like!), and I am so excited about it! My mom has been a special education teacher for almost 15 years, and I was a certified paraprofessional and taught in a special education preschool classroom. I also took a class on autism when I was in college for speech-language pathology and audiology. So it’s definitely something that I care a lot about!

They are also looking for volunteers if you don’t want to walk/run the race! All the information can be found on their website.

Schedule:

6:30 am-11 am: The Expo and Family Fun Zone open to the public in Media Park

8:00 am: 5K starts

8:30 am: 10K starts

10:00 am: Kids Fun Run starts

10:30 am: Awards Ceremony

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

The Culver City 5K/10K organizers were VERY generous, and are allowing me to give away one FREE registration for the 5K or 10K! That’s a $35 registration fee that you don’t have to pay, OR you can put it toward fundraising for CCEF or Train 4 Autism! Registration ends June 13, 2014.

Rules to Enter:

Comment on this blog post why you want to walk/run this specific race, and if you’d do the 5K or 10K!
Follow The Balanced Brunette on Instagram
Like The Balanced Brunette on Facebook
Like the Culver City Run on Facebook

This giveaway ENDS on Friday, June 6 at 9 p.m. PST!

Good luck!! 🙂

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one free registration to the Culver City 5K/10K to give away in exchange for mentioning it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. All opinions are 100% my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

xo, Lyndsay

Bipolar Disorder Fitness Nutrition Personal SoCal

GetFitWithLynds is now The Balanced Brunette

May 19, 2014 By lyndsinreallife 13 Comments

I am sooo incredibly excited to announce that GetFitWithLynds is now The Balanced Brunette! I’m sure it has been a little confusing for some (even myself!), since the name change is so sudden and different, but I am beyond excited for this next chapter!

The reason behind the name change:

When my blog was GetFitWithLynds, it was geared toward fitness only (along with nutrition) and coaching. The more I wrote, the more I realized my passion isn’t only fitness, nutrition, and coaching. I am very passionate about sharing my experiences with bipolar disorder. I help myself by helping others know they are not alone. I am vulnerable and open for those who don’t yet have the strength. I also want to become more involved in the Los Angeles lifestyle, and share about that! There are so many amazing events that happen here, I would be silly not to get involved. 🙂

The meaning behind the name:

I chose The Balanced Brunette for a couple reasons. For one, it felt right. I kept thinking of other names, but this is the one I kept coming back to. For two, balance is the theme of my life (and many others, of course). I have always been attracted to the yin & yang symbol. Having a chemical imbalance, it’s only natural that I am attracted to balance. In my mind, body, and life. Mental, physical, and spiritual. For three, I’m a proud brunette! Haha, but seriously.

I’ve changed all my social media accounts to match my blog. I hope you will follow me on this amazing, exciting journey!

Twitter & Pinterest: @balancebrunette

Instagram: @thebalancedbrunette

Facebook: thebalancedbrunette

Blog: thebalancedbrunette.com

Xoxo,

Lyndsay

Fashion Fitness Nutrition SoCal

My New Favorite Store: Athleta at Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks

April 26, 2014 By lyndsinreallife 9 Comments

I have never had the desire to buy high-end fitness apparel, and hadn’t even heard of brands like Athleta or Lululemon until I moved to Los Angeles. Where I grew up (just West of Cleveland, OH), that just wasn’t a thing. Then I moved to LA, and realized I am worth the more luxurious athletic wear! I heard of a brand new opening of Athleta at Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks, and after seeing their super cute clothes online, I decided to check out the store in person.

(Source)

I AM IN LOVE!!!

I was greeted by two of the most wonderful women, Tatiana and Kara. They were both energetic, positive, beautiful, and excited to help me find what I was looking for. Shortly after, I met the store manager, Samantha. She was wonderful, too! I was the only person in the store at the beginning, and I felt so special, because they really paid attention to me and what my needs/wants were. Various customers came and left while I was shopping, and I still received amazing customer service! That doesn’t seem to happen very often anywhere else.

My favorite fitness is yoga, but I don’t have a lot of great yoga clothes, and needed help picking out an outfit. Kara was AMAZING! She showed me her favorites, customer favorites, what would flatter me most, and so on. They even have super cute, quality swimwear! Kara set up a dressing room for me, and even put a few pieces in there that she thought I might like! I felt like royalty, as silly as that sounds. It feels good to be taken care of, even if it’s for a short period of time in a store!

When I was walking into Fashion Square to find Athleta, I actually saw a display of mannequins sporting Athleta wear. I realized as I was leaving that those were some of the pieces I had tried on!

I have a really hard time finding sports bras that fit well because I am pretty well-endowed (haha, but seriously). I tried on the exact sports bra in the picture above, and it fit me better than any other sports bra I’ve ever worn! I tried on the exact same shirt, too, and it was so incredibly comfortable! The shirt is more for sizes A-C cup though, so unfortunately it wouldn’t be able to hold me without wearing something else with it.

Another amazing thing about this specific location is that they host free workouts in the store! On Saturday mornings from 9-10 am, they have black dog yoga and/or pure barre. On Sunday mornings, they have zumba from 10-11 am! The schedule changes though, so you can check out May’s schedule here.

I was so pleased with my experience at this location, I even told my boyfriend I wanted to apply for a job there! The atmosphere was awesome, the store itself was super chic, and I could go on and on about the amazing clothes. I mean, what’s better than an outfit that you can wear to yoga or zumba, and then be able to wear out in public and still look amazing?!

By the way, this is me rocking my new Athleta Fast Track Half Zip:

I also have the Revelation Capri and Breathe Tee.

I highly recommend checking out Athleta’s new location in Sherman Oaks! It’s only a 20 minute drive from Culver City. You’ll get more than a shopping trip, you’ll get a luxury experience, at least in my opinion! A store that looks great (modern, chic, clean), has a great staff (happy, positive, helpful, energetic), and a great product (the most comfortable/cute active wear ever) is a store that I will definitely be spending a lot of time at! And again, free workouts?! Done deal.

You can check out Athleta at Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks at this address:

14006 Riverside Dr. Suite 227
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
818-285-0228

During these hours:

Mon: 10 am – 9 pm
Tue: 10 am – 9 pm
Wed: 10 am – 9 pm
Thu: 10 am – 9 pm
Fri: 10 am – 9 pm
Sat: 10 am – 9 pm
Sun: 11 am – 7 pm

Tell them Lyndsay from getfitwithlynds sent you! (If you want to, of course) 🙂

***I want to thank Samantha, Tatiana, and Kara for a wonderful experience, and for taking the time to help me find my worth through high-end active wear. THANK YOU! <3

Disclosure: I was invited by the general manager at Athleta Fashion Square to help promote this location by writing about it here on this blog. In exchange for writing this post, I received a $50 gift card toward Athleta active wear. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own.

Ambassador Fitness Nutrition SoCal

I’m Going To IDEA World Fitness BlogFest 2014!

April 16, 2014 By lyndsinreallife 6 Comments

Oh my gosh, I am beyond excited about this!! As a new blogger (started getfitwithlynds in December 2013), I’m clearly still learning so much about how to be an effective health and fitness blogger. Emily at Katie K Active and Taffy Activewear asked me if I was going to BlogFest, and I had absolutely no idea what it was. But of course it sounded awesome!

So I hopped on my computer and looked up IDEA World Fitness BlogFest with #sweatpink (Fit Approach) and saw that it is in Anaheim, California in August. Lucky for me, I live in Los Angeles, so Anaheim is super close! I actually travel there every quarter for Herbalife’s quarterly events. I just knew I HAD to go! I bought my ticket right then and there.

I’m so excited about this for two reasons:

I get to learn about fitness blogging from the best fit bloggers out there.
I get to meet fellow I’m Fit Possible Ambassadors, professionals in the IDEA Health and Fitness Association, health and fitness bloggers, and all the amazing people in the fitness/blogging community!

A good friend of mine, Jessica at Jessica Gets Fit, wants to go too, so we have been coordinating! Jess and I went to college together in Ohio (Cleveland area), and she has been a big help with my blogging! It will be so awesome if she can make it out here and we can attend this together!!

I have no doubt this will be a life-changing experience, and I cannot wait to immerse myself in everything BlogFest has to offer!

Are you going to IDEA World Fitness BlogFest this year??

Fitness SoCal

Eternal Happiness

April 12, 2014 By lyndsinreallife 8 Comments

Being active and carefree makes me so happy! I love hiking with my boyfriend Tim (see picture below) because we have such a child-like excitement about life and each other! We have fun with everything we do. This moment was actually us falling in love. So amazing having that in a photo.

Quick back story about my relationship with Tim. My best girlfriend growing up, Amanda, is cousins with Tim. So I have known Tim since I was 6 years old! I am now 26. So yep, 20 years! We were best friends growing up, but only that. He went on to the navy after high school, and settled in California. I was visiting him for a week in November 2012 (just as friends), and we fell in love! It was totally unexpected, and totally magical. My love for Tim changed my life forever! I moved to California to be with him three months later. <3

This is us hiking through Eaton Canyon on the same day the above picture was taken. We didn’t realize we loved each other, but it was clear that something was happening! Things were starting to change, and these pictures are amazing because we were falling in love in them. Love captured on camera.

I love the picture of me so much because pure happiness was captured, in that exact moment. And it makes me so happy to see it! Some cultures used to believe that taking pictures stole your soul. This is the complete opposite. This picture has immortalized my soul and happiness.

Do you have moments of pure happiness caught on camera??

Hop on over to my Facebook page and share YOUR moments of happiness captured on camera!! 😀

SoCal

Art For My Living Room

March 10, 2014 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

I have decided to decorate my living room (it’s L-shaped, pretty big) in everything LA and California. That might be silly, considering I live in LA, but I am obsessed with it!

I found this print at orangeandpark.com ( or click the photo to go to the direct website) about a year ago, and I have wanted it ever since!!

Birthday present, perhaps? 😉

UPDATE: My best friend bought it for me for my birthday! I LOVE it!

Bipolar Disorder Personal SoCal

The Importance of Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone; How Moving to Los Angeles Changed My Life

February 12, 2014 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

It has been exactly one year since I moved to Los Angeles from Cleveland, OH. February 12. The journey I have been on since last Feb. 12 has been the most emotional, yet most rewarding journey I’ve experienced thus far.

When visiting LA that previous November, I found a career opportunity doing something I love (nutrition and fitness), and also fell in love with my best friend of 19 years (crazy how these things happen, right?). Three months later, I was on a plane, leaving the comfort of the home I grew up in for 25 years, to move to Los Angeles to pursue the life I’ve always dreamed of.

I cried literally the ENTIRE day I was moving. Before leaving my house, in the line at security, in the line to board my plane, on the plane, and so on. It was so emotional, leaving my friends and family, but I was also very excited to see my boyfriend Tim whom I hadn’t seen for 6 weeks. It was the most surreal feeling. I had no idea how California was going to be. Would I fit in? Would I feel at home? Would Tim and I get along living with each other? Would I ever make friends?

Fast forward one year. Everyone always told me to give it a year no matter what. That if I didn’t like it in LA after one year, then I could leave. But until then, I had to stick it out. I was crazy homesick until about the end of September. My parents, my brothers, and my nephews are my world. It was very hard for me, especially with having bipolar disorder. I went through a depressive episode for about 5 months in the summer, and being away from my family only made it worse. Luckily, I spent my year in LA building a support system through the people I met at Active Nutrition (some of us then opened our own wellness center two weeks ago, The Fit Lab). I’m really glad I gave it a year. I was almost ready to move back to Ohio in June and then again in September, but now that it has been a full year, I couldn’t be happier!

Getting out of your comfort zone is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Yeah, your comfort zone feels nice, but outside of it is where growth happens. One of the quotes that actually helped me to make my decision to move to LA was, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” And it is incredibly true. I met people I would not have otherwise met. I went places I would not have otherwise went. I never even thought the “city life” was for me, but it is! After one year, I truly feel like I belong here. my purpose is to change the nutritional habits of the world and help as many people as possible get healthy. I spend every single day making myself better and doing what I love. I have the sun, the ocean, the mountains, the desert- the life I’ve always dreamed of but never thought I would have.

I grew so much this past year and became the person I truly want to be. And I know that as the next few years go by, I will grow more and more into the person I want to be. Moving to LA changed my life, and although it was hard at first, I am incredibly grateful I had this opportunity and took it, because I love the life I live now.

Personal SoCal

Be Present

January 13, 2014 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

This past weekend, I was in Anaheim, CA for Herbalife’s Quarterly Event: January Spectacular. It is a two day event where we learn from the best health coaches and business builders around the country on how to improve in our business and personal lives.

Every three months, there is a BIG event. This event (JanSpec) was my fourth big event since joining Herbalife. And this was the first event in the past 14 months where I did not have anxiety and I did not want to “just get through it.” I was very present at JanSpec. Usually I am on my phone (Facebook, Instagram, texting) throughout most the training, and constantly checking the time wondering “when will it end?”

But not this time!

My mentor Elyse asked me last night, “So what is different this time?” I told her I KNOW this is my career, and I am now mentally stable enough to where I can process everything. There are so many trainers that go on stage and give so much information- often times it gets overwhelming for me because I cannot process it correctly. But not anymore!

The biggest difference: I know this is where I belong. This life is for me, even if I did not believe it in the past.

So every day I felt excited, and I listened from a new perspective (as if I was brand new to the world), and I enjoyed every minute! Time goes way too fast sometimes, and it’s so important to be present in every moment – you never know what you will miss!

Our team (Holloway Org) at the 80s party on Saturday night. We get to dress up at night, and then be professional during the day! Super fun!

Bipolar Disorder Personal SoCal

#ThisIsMe24

December 11, 2013 By lyndsinreallife 2 Comments

I AM Lyndsay. 25 years old. Born and raised in Ohio, 20 miles West of Cleveland. My parents are Dennis and Laura. I am the middle child, with an older brother Chris and a younger brother Michael. My dad owns his own financial planning business that he has spent most of my life building from the ground up. He is a very successful financial planner, and has taught me how to be a business owner. I am without a doubt a “daddy’s girl.” My mom is a special education preschool teacher, and is the smartest person I know. She has her master’s in education, and is finishing up her SECOND master’s in administration next year. She is always striving to know more, do more, and be more. Both my brothers are incredibly smart. Chris works for a software company in NE Ohio, and I have looked up to him for as long as I can remember. Mike is getting ready to graduate from Kent State University with a major in physics, and a minor in chemistry and mathematics. He will continue on to get his doctorate in physics. Both of my brothers have been my best friends throughout my entire life.

All my life, I have wanted to be something that meant something. That would leave some sort of legacy, even if it meant impacting one person. For the longest time, I wanted to be a psychologist. Then I wanted to be a journalist, and was actually the Editor in Chief of my college’s newspaper. Throughout high school, I was a dancer. I played softball and volleyball with city teams, but never thought I was good enough to try out for the high school teams. I loved dancing, and was good at it, but did not pursue it past sophomore year. I intended to go to Kent State University for journalism, but stayed at a local community college because I received an academic scholarship. I did well and received an Associates of Art. I then transferred to Cleveland State University and received my Bachelors of Art in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.

I graduated with honors, but my GPA was not high enough to get into graduate school for speech therapy. I was completely lost on what to do with my life. I was 55 lbs overweight, unhappy, and had big ambitions but never knew what to do about them. I wanted to help people, to impact the world, but had no idea how. At one point, I was working 4 part time jobs making essentially minimum wage. My life was at a stand still.

I had a few serious health issues. I was diagnosed with cervical cancer two days before my 21st birthday. I was also struggling with bipolar disorder, which is a mood disorder that results in unexpected highs and lows (mania and depression). Feeling so unhappy, the bipolar worsened. To be entirely honest, I feared for my life and did not think I would be able to continue on for much longer.

I don’t think I have ever CRIED writing or telling my story, but I am so incredibly emotional thinking of how Tim Schneider saved my life. My best friend of 19 years at the time. Tim and I grew up together in NE Ohio. He is the cousin of my best girl friend growing up. Tim and healthy living found me at the time I needed it the most. I was all set up to attend graduate school for some degree that I honestly can’t even tell you now what it is. I felt like that’s just what I was supposed to do. Go to college, get good grades, go to graduate school, get good grades, find a career, get married, etc etc. My life was empty with that plan. I visited Tim in LA in November of 2012. He took me to the nutrition club to see what healthy living was all about. It absolutely changed my life!! I cried twice listening to people’s stories of success with their health and their career, and for me, it wasn’t even about the money or the health results, it was about the community. I became a health coach the very next day.

Fast forward a few months. I moved to LA to live with Tim, who is now my boyfriend, roommate, business partner, best friend, and absolute love of my life. I am a full-time health coach, running my own nutrition and fitness business. I dropped exactly 55 lbs (went from 188 to 133). I am happy, I have purpose, I impact the world. At 25 years old, I now know what it feels like to love my life. To love unconditionally. To have best friends all over the country whom I have never even met. To be an inspiration. To help people know that they are worth it. To help people get health results. To help the world live longer, happier, healthier. To truly LIVE. And for the first time in my life, I no longer fear for my life.

I am here as a vessel for change. For hope. For happiness.
Watch me or join me. Either one is perfect. All of us needs each of us.

I am Lyndsay. <3

#ThisIsMe24

Bipolar Disorder Fitness Lifestyle Nutrition Personal SoCal

Welcome!

December 10, 2013 By lyndsinreallife 2 Comments

Welcome!

Hi, I’m Lyndsay! I am SO excited to share my personal journey of physical and mental health with you! I have been through many struggles, and am continually in the process of overcoming them. My hope is that this blog will inspire YOU in some way to overcome any struggles or obstacles you are facing!
WELCOME to GetFitWithLynds (now The Balanced Brunette)!! 🙂

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