ABOUT THE ARTIST

My favorite Quotes

"If you do what you have to do when you have to do it, one day you will be able to do what you want to do when you want to do it"

Concepts are ideas that never end                                 -Andrea Attivissimo

To live is to change and to be perfect is to change often.                                -John Henry

How Becoming a Yoga Instructor has influenced my art and life

"My work is inspired by my Yoga practice and meditation. It is a deep interpretation of my inner emotions. These emotions emerge from my life experiences; some good and some not so good. All in all these works of art reflect on my spirit for life, love, peace and happiness. Human forms display emotions of confusion, separation, sorrow, pain. It is very cathartic for me to express these feelings in my paintings and graphic prints. My choice of materials can vary from charcoals, to water colors, to oils, and mixed media. My work is personal and an expression of the emotions I was feeling at the time. Oil paints are very freeing to me. They are lucid and produce special effects which bring the viewer to look deeper. I think it is important to meditate before I begin the art process."-Andrea

1. How Do I Define The Edge In My Life
2. If I Only Had 25 Hours To Live
3. I Transformed My Life And Became A Personal Trainer

MISSION STATEMENT

BlondeLlama is a multinational company dedicated to providing its clients with the highest level of presentation media with a graphic and artistic flair. This graphic technique is used to provide a unique and classic presentation style to Web Designs, Corporate Packages and Media Presentations. We are committed to creating a special look for each client, and extending that look and national branding technique throughout all of the presentation and marketing media.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

BlondeLlama has combined years of artistic graphic design expertise with corporate marketing knowledge. This melding of cross referenced talents enable us to prepare a company for presentation across the national markets, development of a solid and sophisticated but workable web site presence, and the positioning of a company or association to the right markets in the best fashion available.

BlondeLlama was created to respond to and service the changing demand within the media and corporate venues in the new millennium. With the explosion of technological marketing and presentation techniques, companies must now seek to present itself in a fashion that is both technologically competent and graphically correct. The ability to move in front of the public in a simple, but professional way, is paramount to marketing and branding of a company or product.

HOW DO I DEFINE THE EDGE IN MY LIFE?

Somewhere over the rainbow…a song I loved for so many years struck a nerve in my body when I heard it the other morning while I was taking a class. When I think of this song I think of my life and where I came from and where I am going. My life seems to have grown from a business plan where I have set goals for myself and persevered to my successes. Sometimes I would be faced with roadblocks that weighed me down. I think how would I ever recover from this? Well, more than I can count on but how I dealt with those roadblocks is what made the difference from losing my sanity to dealing with the situation in a positive way. My edge is where I take myself out of my comfort zone and test my abilities to stand tall. I sometimes think this is too much for me to take on but I made a commitment to myself and others and I must move forward. This has built my character. I am not always on point though, especially when I experience multiple extremes. One of a very happy occasion and one of a personal tragedy. The two extremes put my body into a defense mode where I have become paralyzed to feelings and emotions. It feels as though my body has built up around me a wall to protect me from being hurt any more. I sat in class tonight to try to move away from it and I found nothing in my breath to help me. I struggled very hard tonight to overcome. My mind is too strong and the feelings are too fresh to put aside. I find myself moving away from the edge tonight to protect myself from falling, from releasing. I feel cold with no emotions. Where is my comfort zone? Where is my path where I can get back on track with my plan to persevere? I am alone again in my mind and I feel lost. Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly…maybe someday my dreams will come true.........Back To Top

IF I HAD ONLY 25 HOURS TO LIVE

WOW! That would be a gift to have an extra hour. I would make sure that I called all my family and friends and tell them how much they mean to me and to thank them for their love and support. I would go to church and be thankful and grateful for all the wonderful things in my life.; my family, friends, acquaintances. And all the opportunities I had and the ones I missed. Everything is a learning experience. Driving to work today made me think more about this in a more abstract way. My final painting for my personal experiences from the Yoga certification is titled I Am. So Ham is the mantra we learned last weekend and was the inspiration for my final painting. What I have become to the present is a culmination of a lifetime of sorrow, joy, laughter, & tragedy. How I dealt with these aspects of life molded me into the person I have become. I had to go through it all so that I could be where I am right now. It was all necessary; I see that now and understand it better. I Am. So Ham. I am responsible. I am sorry. I am happy. I am sad. I am most grateful for the time I had to give to others. I am loving. I am inspirational. I am doubtful at times. I am caring. I am thoughtful. I am creative. I am open-minded. I am trustworthy. I am loyal. I am spiritual. I am centered. I am blessed to have had the ability to give life three times! I am intelligent. I am worthy of leaving this world feeling fulfilled and knowing that I did the best I could in whatever I put my mind to. Amen......Back To Top

HOW I BECAME A PERSONAL TRAINER

If a fortunteller were to tell me back in 1995 that I would end up having a successful career as a personal trainer I would certainly think I was dealing with a quack. But that is exactly what happened and not be chance but by necessity.

At that point I had reached my heaviest weight ever at 209 pounds. I suffered from chronic upper respiratory infections and asthma. When I was hospitalized for my ill health something in my head shifted. I knew right then and there that I had to make drastic life changes. It had to start with my attitude, my desire to change, my willingness to listen to professionals who knew the science of how to help individuals like myself. After all, I had done everything to sabotage my success. I tried starvation diets, diet pills, TV workouts, fast circuit routines at the local gym.

Hiring a trainer was the first step in achieving my goals. I felt as though I would never get back the body I once had in my 20’s. Now at age 43 I was a real mess. Could this body be transformed? I was ready to give up. People told me it was something I had to accept; I had three children, I was getting older, so just accept it.

My first trainer believed in me and I guess I showed him how determined I was to achieving my personal fitness goals. I knew I had to make a lifestyle change. This was going to be the recipe for the new me. It had to last a lifetime. I needed to be dedicated, disciplined, have the drive and desire. As soon as I got that concept into my head I knew I was going to succeed. It was a head game and I knew it. All mind over matter. But I had to take small steps which at times can be very frustrating. When I joined the gym for the first time I linked up with some other women who knew just as much as I did and tried various pieces of equipment. It was very intimidating to say the least but I stuck with it. Before I knew it a young man approached me and offered some suggestions as to how I should approach weight training and cardio. I didn’t realize this was such a science. He didn’t let on that he was a trainer until about three weeks later when I asked him if he was and said “yes”. I asked him if he would be willing to take on another poor soul and make the transformation. My trainer reminded me that the weight didn’t come on over night and so it was going to take much longer for it to come off. Yikes! What a mess I got myself into! I pick myself up by the seat of my pants and got on the elliptical and started my journey to the new me.

I hired him for two days as week as my personal trainer for the next three years. With his help I kept good workout logs of my progress. He monitored every move I made and guided me as to what I should be eating. He would say to me if you want to look like me you have to eat the way I do. Well, I did listen to his advice and learned how to eat properly but I don’t think I look very much like him; but I go what he was saying. I learned that the nutrition part was my responsibility and I couldn’t cheat. I had to get rid of one bad thing and replace it with one good thing until after one month I had a whole new pantry of good things to eat. Nothing processed; everything in its whole form. I will tell you that there were plenty of rough spots along the way but my trainer help me sort them out and I learned as I went along. I was very disciplined and determined to get into shape. Remember what I said earlier that everyone said I was getting older and I had to accept it.

I knew I was in it for the long haul and told myself that I couldn’t do it half way. It finally sank in that I could change the way I looked and felt. The transformation was quite noticeable now and I liked this new me a real lot. I had more confidence. My posture showed that when I walked into a room. You see, it was something I never thought I could do. I was never athletic nor was I interested in sports or physical fitness. I am an artist. I went to school to study art of all kinds. I received my bachelor of fine art in graphic design and masters in art in computer graphics. I was a plump high school art teacher. This was a whole new deal for me. To this day I am very disciplined and committed to staying fit and healthy. I am determined to help others achieve their dreams. It can be done. It can be your reality. It is mine. Before I knew I was getting compliments from everyone at the gym. I never rewarded myself with a cheat weekend; instead, when I reached a realistic goal over a three week period I would buy myself a new workout outfit. Since my back is my favorite part I would get tops that revealed more of my back. Halters that were a thing of the past for me became part of my wardrobe year round! I found fabulous knits for the holidays. Oh, yes, Bebe became my favorite place to shop!

A colleague of mine once asked me how I stay on track now and I told her that it is easy now. The hard part was done. Buying into to something that you are not certain of the outcome can be a bit discerning. So I had to trust other who were in the profession along with my knowledge and research and change the way I did things and the way I thought about things. Change is the operative word. It is necessary for all growth. I wrote a quote in my high school yearbook that went like this, “To live is to change and to be perfect is to change often.” (John Henry). Maintaining this lifestyle is just that; a lifestyle. You become accustomed to it . It fits. It works and you don’t go back—ever! I would never leave the house without brushing my teeth and so I wouldn’t go to sleep without getting some sort of workout in my day. It becomes a part of you. It becomes a lifestyle that provided you with a better quality of life. This major shift has brought me to realize my own shortcomings and how to change them. Not just muscle mass but in character, too. I am more disciplined and determined to succeed. I have a never give up attitude. I have a better self-image and I carry myself with conviction and confidence. My family and friends are very proud of my accomplishments. My first love and passion is my art whereby I create and exhibit my work publicly. My other career as a fitness professional is another creative venue in which I help transform others to new goals. Setting small achievable goals and looking at the big picture helps from getting from point A to point B.

Being patient and diligent, hiring a good trainer who is patient and knowledgeable is worth the investment that will last a lifetime. My journey continues as a fitness professional. Many years of studying the human body and how it moves, what make the heart tic, and how food or lack of it makes the body a machine that is efficient or not are only some of the areas of this field that I have touched upon. It is a science as I mentioned before. I got into this field almost by accident. After I achieved my personal fitness goal I became interested in the field and began taking courses in biomechanics, kinesiology, cardiovascular health, nutrition, training special populations and program design. as well as the business side of the fitness industry. It wasn’t too long after I completed a basic course of study that I was hired by a corporate fitness giant (Equinox) on Long Island. There is where I furthered my passion through their very rigorous course study and wasn’t too long that I worked my way to being a top tiered trainer and then on to become a Fitness Manager of the club. I held that position for 4 years before I was looked at by another health club on the South Shore of Long Island and was hired as the Personal Training manager for the next two years. These managerial jobs taught me a great deal about the business end of how a health club is run and operated and about the metrics of these clubs. I learned fast that revenue is a very important part of the lifeline of a club or any business. It’s about the bottom line. I learned a great deal about people, what they wanted, their goals and how I could help them achieve them. My own story was a living testimony for my clients and members. They would look at me and ask me my age and I would tell them if they could guess I would give them a free session. Until this day I haven’t given away a free session. Yes, I added years onto my life and that’s what will happen when you get a good business plan in place. Understanding the value of the science of good health takes discipline, drive, and desire to achieve results. That has been my motto and I never rewarded myself with food. Everything works together; a good cardio program, strength training program and daily nutrition lifestyle. You have to embrace these three components. Without them the whole falls apart.

At this point I decided that if I came this far maybe I should prepare for a competition. So I researched what I had to do to get my body ready for a show. I asked my fellow teammates to help me design a program of exercises and meals to get me on the right track. I needed at least 16 weeks out of the show to get ready. I looked for what shows were coming up at my local gym and put the date in my calendar. I was very excited that I actually wanted to do this. I am quite modest when it comes to showing my body off in that type of venue. I worked very hard and documented my progress as I went along. About 8 weeks out of show time I went to the doctor for a regular check up and my doctor found that I had fibroids the size of a fruit bowl somewhere underneath the hard abs I had been developing over the past 8 weeks. She said they were pressing on my right kidney and asked me if I had been urinating more often. Well, or course I was since I had been drinking a lot more water and I hadn’t noticed or felt anything strange. It was decided that I have them removed and postpone the show for the time being. This of course, put a damper on my little dream but I looked at it as an opportunity to learn how to prepare for a show and that I could try again. Anyway, my body looked amazing and I was very happy with the outcome and that I didn’t loose a kidney in the process.

After my surgery, I noticed that my nutritional needs were changing now and I had to figure out what was missing and what needed to be added. I worked with a holistic nutritionist and he helped me re-structure my daily meals. I had to look at what I was eating on a daily basis. It took some time before my body knew what was happening but once I got it down I felt better. My body composition even today is better.

If I could give one more bit of advice it would be to my clients that in order to achieve success in your life you first need to have a plan. Taking a good look at the plan and putting it into action is the working part. With that you need to have the right mindset. Discipline, desire, drive and determination equals success!... Back To Top