The Daily Balance

Q: Your eating habits seem great. And you eat out and enjoy while maintaining your figure. Do you estimate calories/day? How many calories do you eat to maintain? Any tips for for keeping balanced?

A: First of all, thank you! See my previous Q&A post in regards to counting calories. As far as tips for keeping balanced go, I’m able to eat out and splurge because I uphold my 90/10 rule. I’ve explained this before, but it goes like this. I eat healthy and make clean, fresh choices 90% of the time. That means that 10% of the time, I don’t have to worry about having an extra brownie or scoop of ice cream. And when I do indulge, I thoroughly enjoy it – guilt free! The bottom line is that one or two cookies is NOT going to cause you to gain weight. The entire box and making it a daily habit will.

Q: Who’s the funniest person you know?

A: Well, I have a rather odd sense of humor that I share with some of the most important people in my life. That being said, the funniest people I know are the Mister, My Dad, Tracy Levy and my brother (sorry mom, you gotta work on your delivery ).

Q: I’d love to know more about your family .. any brothers or sisters?!

A: It’s just my mom, my dad and my brother. And by now you already know that I’m obsessed with my family. I do however, have two sister-in-laws, who have become real sisters to me. I love them both dearly and we have so much fun together (even though it isn’t as often as I’d like). I also have a brother in law, who is pretty cool 95% of the time (the other 5% he is making fun of me). The Mister also has two stepsisters, who I consider to be my true sister-in-laws, as well. I’m so lucky to have acquired such amazing siblings via my marriage to the Mister!

For those of you who didn’t ask a question: don’t worry! We’ll do this again soon.

This will be the second-to-last Q&A post, as I don’t want to bore you by going on and on and ON about myself. So if you have a question you want to ask me anonymously, do it now! It will be your last chance.

Q: Have you ever had any encounters or personal experiences with eating disorders (known anyone, even acquaintances, struggling). If so, how do you try to talk about your balance philosophy (which I love)!

A: One of my good friends in college died from anorexia. She lived with her parents, so my friends and I were not fully aware of the problem. I sensed it, but was never 100% sure — and I didn’t think it was as bad as it obviously was. Due to her anorexia, her organs were weaker than normal — most of all, her heart. One night she blacked out because her heart stopped beating. She never woke up.

This was the point in my life when I realized the impact that eating disorders can have on our lives…for such a beautiful, vibrant one had been taken. I think of her often and try and stop myself from wondering how things might have been different if my friends and I had acted on our intuitions.

As my father would say, it’s a slippery slope. I think that too often, what starts with a plan to get healthy and lose a bit of weight, can turn into an obsessive disease. I know that calorie counting works for many people, but it’s because of this slippery slope that I really try and avoid number crunching. We all know the healthier choices — we just need to make them.

Q: Do u think lebron will stay in Cleveland?

A: HA – great question! If only I knew the answer. I do think LeBron will stay in Cleveland — he better.

Q: What time do you wake up every morning?

A: If I’m working out at the gym, I wake up at 5:30. If I’m working out at home, I wake up at 6:00. If I’m being lazy not working out in the morning, I wake up at 7:00.

Q: Tell us about your singing history! How long did you sing for? Did you study with a voice teacher? If so, who and for how long? What voice type are you? What pieces were in your repertoire? Do you still sing? Do you ever miss training?

A: I’ve been singing for as long as I’ve been talking. It had always been such a large part of my life, that it made sense to continue with it through college. So I enrolled at Otterbein College as a voice major. After attending the first day of classes, I dropped it. Why? I suddenly realized the thing that I had always loved and found solace in, was something I was beginning to hate. From opera workshops to music theory and piano classes, I would have had class from 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. I knew right away that I was not cut out for this program. I didn’t want to be a classical singer! I simply loved to sing and was doing it because I had no idea what else I would do. Not the best reason to invest 4 years into something, if you ask me

Anyway, I trained with one of the better-known vocal coaches here in Cleveland from 8th grade – senior year. I traveled with his adult choir (and was a featured soloist!) to England, Scotland, Whales, Lichtenstein, France, Germany, Austria, Hungry and Switzerland and performed in cathedrals throughout Europe (quite an experience!). In high school, I performed in Show Choir, as well as several other select groups. In addition, I was in all of the musicals (roles of note: Kim -Bye Bye Birdie, Adelaide – Guys and Dolls).

Do I miss it? Every day. It’s not that I miss signing — because I still cantor at my church, sing professionally at weddings and serenade the Mister in the car. I miss PERFORMING. I miss the rush of being on stage. I miss making connections with members in the audience and being part of their “escape from reality.” I miss the heat from the stage lights, the smell of stage makeup and the muffled whispers and chaos backstage. Most of all, I miss all the friendships made with other cast members. I miss creating magic with them and being part of something bigger than ourselves.

I hope to one day have the time to perform again, whether it’s in a summer stock show or community play.

Q: What is your favorite song to sing?

A: Because I have a soprano, musical-theatre quality voice, my favorite songs to sing are those that make my voice sound the best — that being said, they are mostly show tunes and church songs. But since you asked, I’ll tell.

• When I look at you – The Scarlet Pimpernel
• How Beautiful – Church song (I sing it at weddings all the time)
• Ave Maria
• Amazing Grace
• Defying Gravity and Popular - Wicked
• Any princess song from a Disney movie (haha!)
• Basically, any higher-range song from a musical – I’m such a nerd!

Want to hear me sing Silent Night? Just know that the sound is a bit distorted from the web cam! I promise I sound better in person

Do you want me to answer one of your (anonymous!) questions? All you have to do is ask!

Q: How do you find the time to blog and read other blogs. Do you set aside a certain time of the day?

A: As far as blogging goes, it’s really an illusion that I blog throughout the day. The software program I use (wordpress) allows you to schedule posts at whatever time you’d like them to publish. In order to keep a steady activity on the blog, I stagger them throughout the day. I normally write my morning post in the evening and my afternoon post first thing in the morning or over my lunch hour. As much I as I would love to blog throughout the day, I have WAY too much work to get done at the office – plus, I’m not sure my employer would like me blogging on company time! In regards to reading blogs: I utilize Google Reader to read some of my favorites and try and check in a few times a day whenever I have a few moments. I try and stay engaged throughout the blogging communitity but when I get too busy, commenting is the first thing to go – there is more to life than blogs, everyone!

Q: What does your husband do for a living?

A: The Mister is an account manager at an interactive marketing agency. He makes sure that brands are represented correctly via their websites, on-line ads, etc. He’s involved in the whole process – from strategy to execution. He’s a very brilliant boy and I am so proud of him for his hard work-ethic and the long hours he puts in – even though I miss him on those nights (and weekends!) he has to work late.

Q: What does your wedding and engagement ring look like?

A: I’m obsessed with my wedding band! The Mister picked it out all by himself. In addition to diamonds, it has a ruby (our wedding month), sapphire (the Mister’s bday) and pink tourmaline (my bday).

Here’s a photo of both of our rings:

Q: Do you have a car, if you do, what does it look like??

A: I drive a Volkswagen Rabbit. I love it! It is red.

Q: What is your favorite thing to buy at the grocery store?

A: My absolute favorite things to buy are when I’m getting ingredients to make a special meal. But as far as individual items, I love checking out new bars and nut butters – I’m always looking for new varieties! Also — when I’m indulging in a sweet treat, I ADORE shopping for sweets — especially baked goods.

Q: What do you do for a living? 

A: I’m a Brand Builder (also known as Account Manager) at an advertising and public relations agency. Typical work day: Get in and check email. Coffee. Prioritize. Normally at some point during the day I am: approving advertisements, coordinating photo shoots, strategizing PR and ad campaigns, approving ad copy, writing press releases, pitching the media, writing case studies, meeting with my client to explain our creative rationale and pr recommendations, meeting with media reps and the agency’s media department to determine which magazines my clients ads should run in, sending ads to said magazines, brainstorming new ideas for my clients, coordinating media and consumer events, eventually traveling to said events (this year it wass NYC- twice!, Chicago, LA and San Francisco)

Remember to keep sending in your questions! I still have quite a few to answer but am still accepting new ones! Remember: it’s anonymous, so you truly can ask ANYTHING!