Nothing will freak you out more than if you turn on your oven and 10 minutes later smell gas. This is what happened to us on a Sunday evening. I frantically searched for a gas plumber and found Atlantis highly recommended on Google. Good enough for me. I called and someone answered. I KNOW. I was shocked too. He got me to stop freaking out and went through a few things to make sure he didn’t need to come out right away. Two very nice gentlemen showed up the next morning and got to work on it.

It was some part in there that wasn’t activating or something. Bottom line is that to fix it wouldn’t have been cost effective. Crap, I just put tires on my car and my husband is a school teacher (substitute for now) so there’s no funds coming in during the Summer. Totally not cool, but I could have reached into the savings and dealt with it.

But the guy said, “ya know, if you need something to just get you through, I think I have an old stove that was mine. I replaced it with a new model, but you’re welcome to it. It’s not fancy…” Are you KIDDING ME? Yes, please, because I really have a specific stove we want but we’d have to not get the nice one and get a new plain one and save up even more… they went away and came back a few hours later with a used stove and installed it. AND they only charged me their labor cost. I’m not kidding. I was darn near tears. There are so few people that go out of their way these days and Atlantis Plumbing simply made my week.

Very highly recommended.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I am quite a bit overweight (understatement perhaps) and I’ve done the personal training thing before, but I have to tell you, I don’t respond well to drill sergeants – I’m too Type A. I ran across Libra Fitness (Chris Heidel) and thought she seemed like she might go easy on me…. *laugh*

I’ve been working with her for well over a year now and the results have been pretty remarkable. I haven’t lost any real weight, but that’s always been a secondary goal of mine. I wanted to feel better. I wanted to stop having so many backaches. I wanted to be able to walk around the block without huffing and puffing. I wanted to feel stronger and I wanted to feel better about myself. I’ve accomplished that and so much more.

Chris is definitely not “easy” on me by any means, but she also doesn’t push you beyond your own limits. When I tell her that I cannot do it anymore, she tells me “okay, after two more” there’s no heavy sweating and crying and dry heaving here. Her personal touch and the research and care she puts into each of her clients is simply amazing for what she charges (don’t tell her I said that though!!)

She has a home gym located in North Central Austin, and it’s quite impressive. There’s quite a few pieces of equipment, but it’s not so overwhelming. I didn’t walk in there like I would another one and want to run screaming from the room. Chris takes it slow, shows you what you are doing, tells you when you are losing form and prods you along. The gym itself is completely isolated from the rest of the house. A few times her husband or child has been home and I didn’t even know it, you walk straight back and close the door/curtains and you’re off.

I’m impressed by how far out she will go for clients. She has mirrors so you can see what you’re doing but one of her clients didn’t like them. The next time I was there, she had installed curtains so people could choose.

The payoff came earlier this year when, during a trip with my family to San Antonio, I realized I had walked all over the Riverwalk and Zoo and didn’t feel like I wanted to keel over. That’s pretty darn good progress!

Chris’ best attribute is her sense of humor though. Yes, she’s there to help you get healthy and attain your own personal goals – no matter if it’s to lose 30 pounds or to be able to walk around downtown. But she does it with good humor and really big heart.

I simply cannot recommend Libra Fitness enough (and I do it often!)

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars