Cheryl Perry

She’s waiting for you on a cold, dark morning at 5 AM. She saves your favorite bike for you in Spin. You know you can look at her and roll your eyes together during the last ten reps. She laughs with you when it hurts so bad you might cry. She listens to you: your rants, your highs, your lows, and your weekend plans. You listen to her: her rants, her highs, her lows, and her weekend plans.

She’s the reason you’re there. Every day. Three times a week. Saturday morning. The new class. The familiar instructor. The killer 45 minutes. The painstaking 20 mile long run. Together, you are the Athleta catalog. Separated, you’re just a couple of chicks working out.

She might be one person. “She” might be twenty different people.

How important is a workout partner to a mom? I can’t imagine my life without mine. I have several in my life, and I am thankful everyday for those ladies. They’re my motivation. They take the “work” out of working out.

I’m here to introduce you to the PERFECT Smarty Mom to kick off 2013 – Amity Whalen! If you don’t already know her, I’m sure you’ve seen her cute face around town. She’s one of those women who seems to be everywhere doing everything – she’s one amazing mama!

I’ve known of Amity for years from the Harris Y, but have only recently become friends with her through Pure Barre where she (along with the rest of the awesome instructors) whips my butt into shape in such a sweet way. She’s also a Pilates instructor at the Harris Y, and has tons of fans over at YogaFlex where she’s an amazing yoga instructor (she’s known at all three places to give the best stretches in all the land – seriously – if you talk to anyone who’s lucky enough to take her classes, everyone will say the same thing).

She has an unbelievable way about her that makes you get every ounce out of every class. You leave feeling like you’ve really accomplished something – love that about her. If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to get back into shape or regain some pre-baby confidence, head directly to one of Amity’s classes. She’s that good.

Oh, and did I mention she’s a certified lactation consultant? And the mother of three (including twins)? You would never know this girl has so much going on because of her cool demeanor and sunny smile, but maybe that’s what a lot of Pure Barre, yoga, and Pilates do for you.

Well, without further ado, meet our first Smarty Mom of 2013, Amity Whalen!

After doing this Mama gig a few years now, I’ve realized how much I appreciate a holiday where we don’t actually have to do anything. No presents to buy (unless you’re like me and your mom’s birthday is New Year’s Day, but that’s nothing compared to the Christmas-present hangover I’m still nursing). No bird to stuff. No eggs to hide. No candy to tape to red hearts. No cake to bake with strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries as our stars and stripes. No costumes to buy. No class parties.

The only thing we might have to do is slow-cook some black-eyed peas and put some chips and salsa in a dish for the football games. Child’s play.

Yep, I’ve decided for New Year’s Day, all we really have to do is sit. Remember what that’s like? Sitting? Yea, I don’t either, and I intend to reunite with this lovely verb that I scarcely know.

I’m not sure if my kids are with me on this, but I’m gonna make sure that part of our day is just sitting – even if it’s just for 30 minutes (please – I have three boys – there’s no way we’re sitting for more than 30 minutes). I’m not sure what we’re going to do while sitting – we’re so unfamiliar with the actual act of sitting that it may be a tad awkward at first – but we’ll adapt.

New Year’s Day is our one chance to breathe. We’re going to exhale 2012, deeply inhale 2013, and hope for our best year yet.

Dear Beautiful Mothers of Newtown,

We are so sorry. We are so very, very sorry. Our hearts are completely torn in bits over your loss, and we don’t know how else to say it because there are simply no words. All we know is that we have to say it – that we as mothers can’t ignore It. That just because the unimaginable happened to you and not us and just because you live hundreds of miles away, it’s not OK for us to continue on without telling you that your children’s lives have changed everything.

We think about you so much we think we know you. In fact, we can’t possibly believe that you are strangers because we have too much in common. We have children the same age with the same lengthy Christmas wish lists. We have the same weekend sporting events, the same shows DVR’d for a rainy afternoon, the same junk food in our pantries. We gave birth the same year, maybe the same month. We both blinked and realized time tricked us once again when we saw our babies waltzing into 1^st grade.

We look at our sons and daughters now and collectively gasp at your heartache.

I see others in the herd daily. We’re rushing, we’re frantic, we’re unnerved. We rarely make eye contact with each other because really, who has time for pleasantries at this point?

We’ve got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. Two weeks to be exact. Well, less than that – really it’s 13 days. We’re like a nervous group of accountants waiting for April 15 but instead of Uncle Sam, we’ve got a different white-bearded man looking over our shoulders.

What looks like a simple errand is really a stepping stone in the overwhelming task to make Christmas magic happen. We have little hearts (and lots of extended family) waiting anxiously to see what’s in store the morning of December 25, and we refuse to fail.

I mean, really, how could we fail? We’ve gone the extra mile to make sure we don’t fail: we’ve channeled Santa himself this year.

We’ve put reindeer antlers up on our cars. We are our very own one-horse open sleigh.

And the Smarty Toy Giveaway continues! If you have a girl who loves American Girl (I’ve got one in my house!), this is your lucky day. We are giving away a boxed set of six of the Caroline books (thank you, American Girl!).

My 8-year-old daughter L-O-V-E-S all of the American Girl books – she flies through them. They are educational, entertaining, and wholesome. This is an awesome giveaway!

For those of you who don’t know the Caroline doll, let me introduce you:

The 2012 Smarty Holiday Gift Guide is sponsored by Toys & Co in Cotswold and Park Road Shopping Center. Find everything on Santa’s list at Toys & Co! And, they will wrap every gift BEAUTIFULLY and oh-so-expertly. They are the toy experts so they will help you source a gift if you are not sure what to get.

This age bracket is the MOST fun! There are so many cool things for kids this age – and the best part is there’s no more huge plastic toys like in the baby stage. Smarty Wendy Bentien and I loved putting this list together. Make sure to add your ideas in the comment section below!

And don’t forget to keep checking back all week for our toy giveaway extravaganza!!!

Day #2 in the great Smarty Toy Giveaway is here! Today we present you with the sweetest way to help your explain the real meaning of Christmas to your little ones: My Secret Angel and Me book and angel doll.

My Secret Angel and Me was written and illustrated by local moms, Ashley Adorno and Rachel Hernandez. They were searching for a way to tie in Santa and Jesus and were truly inspired by God. This book has the most beautiful illustrations I have seen in a children’s book . The writing is amazing – you’ll find yourself tearing up as your read it – promise! What I love most about it is the focus on Jesus and tying it into your family by the angel who visits God every night. It’s brilliant and beautiful all in one fell swoop!

I’m excited to introduce you to this week’s Smarty Mom, Jennifer Alessi. Jennifer is the marketing coordinator extraordinaire for FlyWheel Stadium Cycling, Charlotte’s newest workout obsession (check out the Smarty review here). She’s in charge of making sure everyone in the city knows how awesome FlyWheel is, and well, we like to think we’re in charge of making sure everyone in Charlotte knows just how awesome she is.

She’s been with FlyWheel for about six months, but before that she was a stay-at-home mom to her three children, Carter, Masy, and Ansley. She worked in sales before “retiring” temporarily when her oldest was 2. This opportunity with FlyWheel came up, and she just couldn’t turn it down. It’s a natural fit with her sales background.

You’ll see Jennifer’s pretty face hanging around both FlyWheel locations – on Providence Road and in Blakeney. Like the rest of the staff, she’s always smiling and friendly – exactly what you want to see before or after a killer workout. Make sure to say Hi to her next time you’re in the studio!

Smarties, meet Jennifer Alessi, this week’s SuperFLY Smarty Mom!

Did you ice skate as a kid? You know I’m a Charlotte girl – I’ve lived here all my life – so ice-skating wasn’t something we did very often. It was a very special treat. My dad would haul my sister and I over to Eastland Mall maybe once or twice a year where we’d be absolutely giddy as we’d lace up those rental skates. Our visions of perfect figure eights were quickly squashed the minute those blades (and our rear ends) hit the ice, but we didn’t care. Those were some of my favorite memories as a kid – ask any other native and I bet they’ll say the same thing.

I know a lot of you aren’t from the South. I bet lots of you grew up ice-skating on ponds (that seems like an urban legend to me, but whatever you say). Your childhood memories are probably overflowing with days spent on the ice, and you’re probably a little scared that your kids won’t have the same memories because I can guarantee you, you DO NOT want to ice skate on any of our ponds.

Well, you’re in luck. Eastland is gone, but now Charlotte’s got something so much better: Extreme Ice Center. And I can’t think of a better time than the holiday season to get the whole family bundled up and on the ice. Newcomers and natives alike will love this experience.