Thursday, May 31, 2012

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

What an amazingly fun filled Memorial Day weekend! I was so SAD that it had to come to an end. Haven't posted pictures up to my blog in some time so I thought I'd show off my family and friends. 


I kicked my weekend off with a beautiful run at the park. I love Wash Park. It's about 2.5 miles if you run the inside road. I usually do that. I'm better running on pavement for some reason. You can run the outside though and that's about 3 miles and a dirt trail.



Went to two graduation parties this past weekend. Two more than I've been to in a quite some time. These graduates were special because they were gymnasts at the gym I coach at. Of course I don't have any pictures of me and them - but I do have a picture with me and one of their moms. Ha ha ha. This is my friend Jessica, affectionately known as "BiFF" to me. How is that? BFF said really fast sounds like Biff... right? LOL.


After the 2nd graduation party I felt like I hadn't seen my little boy in a few days so he and I had a park date. BUT before we hit the park we had to get a treat at Ben & Jerry's. We live about 4 miles away from a Ben & Jerry's and in the 6 years that we've lived in Denver we've not been there. So Ethan and I decided to check it out. Looks amazing right? Cooper the dog definitely thought so.




Having a few picture moments at the park together. I love my son and dog... and my time with them both. Ethan is one of the coolest little boys I know. If you ever get a chance to meet him --- you'll think so too.




No weekend would be complete without a little dancing. My friends Jaime and Paul joined me for the opening weekend of Vinyl Club's balcony. It was packed - super packed. I haven't been to a place like that in years. You know, the kind of place where you can't move because you're smashed up like sardines... and it was HOT so HOT because of all the bodies... and to think - it was almost all outside on the balcony. Whew! There was some fun dancing that night though.




So the best thing about kids getting older is that they want to hang out with their friends. My daughter Emily was invited to Elitch's for the day with one of her gymnastics buddies and my son Ethan decided to hang out with grandma. Kevin and I got an entire afternoon to ourselves! Holy cow... it was so much fun. Off to the Gaylord Street Festival we went to meet up with some coach-friends of mine from the gym.


Here's a picture of Kevin, me, Sonia and Vinicio at the Gaylord Street Festival. I tried Jamaican jerk chicken, plantaines, red beans and rice. Yes, I'm 38 and have never had any of those... speaking of - I also tried Fried Oreos at the festival as well. YUMMY! And on the way out Kevin and I visited Bonnie Brae and tried a Cappucino Crunch shake. Next time I take a break from eating healthy I'm going back for another one.



Later that afternoon we picked up Ethan and went to my friend Holly's house for a BBQ and some swimming. The only one that went swimming was Ethan because he's summer swim suit ready - unlike his mom. LOL. 


The hostess with the mostess - Holly! I love her. We met at church less than a year ago. Our friendship has been a blessing to me. I wish I saw her more but we both have such crazy schedules that it makes it quite a challenge. 



To finish out Memorial day I was invited to the LMFAO concert by my friend Deborah. It was epic - first of all because I've never been to Red Rocks for a concert in all the time that I've lived in Colorado and I grew up here... so that's like 32 years... wow. Second of all --- that was one high energy show. So much fun!






SO there it is - one very fun filled and activity packed weekend. Tuesday morning looked something like this...

Thursday, May 24, 2012

"Never settle for less." -E Thomas

A parent of one of my gymnasts sent me this video a couple of days ago. I was inspired - of course. 




So I guess it's been a while since I've blogged. I tend to do that, I know. I have so much to say but just don't know how to say it at times. Right now I'm working hard to get rid of 35 pounds of me. I've been working on it for a while. I'm down about 14 pounds. It's been hard work. The past two weeks I've upped my workouts to twice a day. It's helped a lot. Two other things that have really helped was upping my caloric intake to 1700 calories a day and cutting out processed and GMO's in my diet.


I have always been successful at calorie counting, but up until about a month ago I wasn't losing and was really getting frustrated with all the hard work that I was putting in. Both my husband and a friend of mine who is a Level 1 certified CrossFit trainer encouraged me to consume more calories. I had originally been eating about 1200 calories a day. I think that essentially I was pushing my body into starvation mode because I was working out so much. At first it was a hard concept for me to adjust to. Eating more seemed so opposite of losing weight. But almost within a week or so I started to see a loss. Who knew?!? 


If you haven't seen the movie "Food, Inc." you should. It was an eye opening movie that really helped me to think about what I put into my body. Not only am I eating more calories daily, but I'm eating really good foods. I've been doing a lot of research on nutrition and on more than one occasion I read that in order to get rid of belly fat you should get rid of processed foods. SO --- I'm testing out that claim. I'll get back to you on that.


I feel really good. I drink tons of water. I'm not going hungry. And I feel like the food choices I am making are not only good for me but also for my family because I am making them eat the same way I do. I haven't had fast food, soda or alcohol in a month.


I journal - a lot. I keep a journal of my workouts and my weight loss journey. I'm working flipping hard... I like to win and I plan to win this weight loss challenge I've set upon myself.


Until next time... be amazing!!!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Here's the thing - I'm a lot more sensitive than people give me credit for. I really do care about people and want the best for them. However, I feel like often times I take my cues from them. So if I feel like I'm getting some sort of negative vibe - then I'm less apt to open up and be friendly as opposed to someone that seems to be genuinely interested in me or what I'm doing. More often than not I seem to be misunderstood by many.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I am in awe

I believe that there are no random accidents. God places specific events and people in your life for a reason. That He gives us choices and we can decide what to do with them. I'm in awe of His awesomeness, His grace and His love - and can't fully comprehend it all... but He continues to quietly show me all three of those characteristics with people He brings into my life. And in some of my lowest moments, I need to remember - He's allowed it - to show me that ultimately He's in charge and that He wants to bring me through it. He loves me - He loves you... we have to allow ourselves to be loved and to be molded into His perfect work. Which was always His plan to begin with.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The last Sunday in January 2012

I'm feeling extremely grateful for self-control at the moment. I am about 1.5 weeks into my eating better, counting calories and working out regimen. In that time I've lost 7 pounds which continues to spur me on. I'm thankful for My Fitness Pal and Pinterest for also inspiring me. I've many more pounds to lose, but I needed a good start to help me press on. Whew!


Life is pretty good. Before church this morning I went for a run. I've been using an app called Couch To 5K . It's not so that I can train for races, but merely for the fact that I want to start running. I have never been a running enthusiast. In fact, I hate running. My friends all know this to be true because I'm very vocal about it. So when one of my workout buddy's told me to try out this app because she thought I'd appreciate running better, I decided to trust her and I downloaded it. I've got to say, I love the app, I love the program and I'm actually anxious to do the running workouts. Last week I ran 4 days. That's huge. And one of those days was a snow day!


After my run, I quickly cam home, fueled the body and go the kids read for church. I was blessed with a great message from the Radical Road series Pastor Romberger is preaching on. Came home for lunch and then decided that we should all go for an afternoon hike...something that we've never done as a family before. We loaded the kids and the dogs into the car and headed south just about 10 minutes outside of Denver to a trail that I found on the internet.





After working for 9.5 hours yesterday coaching, I was anxious for some down time and so today was perfect. I'm content right now. I tweeted the other day that there's something about the feeling of control upon your life. When I am in control of my eating and my spiritual life - I feel as though everything else in my life is manageable.  It really was a great Sunday Family Funday. 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Deuteronomy 31:6

I'm claiming this verse for the day - week - month - probably for a life time. Ha. 


6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”


I continue to remind myself that as each struggle and challenge that comes my way - that I must deal with it and handle it because another one will more than likely come along shortly there after. SO if this is the case, I can only hope and pray that I handle each challenge gracefully. 


Grace: "Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion." 


God's definition of Grace: "unmerited favor".


Either way - I want to be able to handle challenges thrown my way better than I have in the past. Which is a challenge in itself as well.


While I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve and say that my life is an open book... there are still deeper issues, hurts and pains that I rarely share with others.


Today, this moment in my life, I feel a loss of control, lack of joy, uncertainty, and frustration towards God. I've been told it's alright to be mad at Him. Why not? I have a relationship with Him and in relationships you talk stuff out and say how you feel. So yes, I'm frustrated because everything to this point in my life seems so...not what I expected. 


All my life I've grown up with people around me telling me to, "trust Him, to ask God for answers, believe that He has a plan for every thing that happens." Honestly, me and trust - well I'm not so great at that. And while I have asked Him for answers and believed that He has plans for me, I've felt like that's often been an easy line for people to say to me when they can't come up with good answers or find the right words to say when I am hurting. In the end, I come up empty and feel more alone.


I go to church. I'm in a Bible Study. I pray. Yet, I still feel so far away from those around me and from God Himself. Where is God? Why don't I feel Him the way others feel Him? Why do I feel as though He's always pissed off at me and trying to continually throw down consequences on me for past sins and mistakes I've committed? Why does doing the "right thing" feel as though I'm getting nowhere? 


AND SO...with all this in mind, I've decided that I need to seek out my Heavenly Father more. I heard on the radio just the other day that if you want to hear God, you must make time to listen. In the midst of all my life's chaos and madness, I don't really think I've taken the time to listen.


OK, so here's my disclaimer. When people blog about spirituality and issues related, I feel like they can come across as a know-it-all holier than thou person without fault. Let me tell you right now - this is not me. I'm full of faults, sin, and imperfections as far as the eye can see... I just know that I'm tired of doing this all on my own. AND if there truly is a God that loves me and wants to go through my fires with me, I'm going to give Him a shot. 


So I'm claiming this verse - for so many reasons but mostly because right now I need courage to face my trials, my stresses, and mainly - just life in general. 


God --- give me strength --- give me grace!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Page 3 of 366

Coffee in hand, here I am sitting down at the computer ready to type up my first blog entry for the new year. 3 days in and I'm feeling pretty good. Really good actually.

New Year's Eve I got back in touch with a friend, we'd had a huge falling out about two months ago and we're starting to work through it. It feels so good to know that particular friendship is not completely dead in the water. I love my friends and family. My life isn't based on material items that I can accumulate, but instead on the relationships that are formed. I'm certain that in my own life - my purpose in life is all about relationships. I eat, crave and need relationships to keep me going. Not with just friends but within my own family. I love my family and friends. Wait, I've already said that.

I'm not setting huge resolutions for 2012. I've been doing the new year - start fresh thing for nearly 38 years now and well... I'm realistic. I just want to make the best of myself and try to do better than last year. Who agrees with me that a messy house causes stress? So I started getting emails from FlyLady in hopes of decluttering and making my home a place where not only I want to come home to, but others as well. In the past few years I've realized that I don't want a huge house because it's just too much to clean and I'd be stressed all the time. Instead, my dream home is a smaller home with character and charm, and let's not forget the wrap around porch in front. Big enough to entertain others, but small enough to keep my family close to me.

Lastly on my heart... my workouts. Of course. So a few days ago I put my membership on hold at the Crossfit box I've been WODing at for the past year. It was somewhat of a hard decision for me, but I'm having a hard time separating myself from the cost of it and the financial obligations I have with the kids and gymnastics and sorts. I've started running. No, I'm not kidding. Those of you that have known me for years know I ran track and field in college on a scholarship... and yet - running anything more than 200m = pure hatred. Well, I'm trying to overcome that. With the encouragement from a friend, I downloaded the Couch To 5K app to my phone and I've started doing the workouts. Crazy, but I kind of like them, almost to the point where I'm looking forward to the run for the day.

I definitely want to get back to Crossfit, I am missing it already. I've just figured out this past year that I need more cardio in my life. It's been over a year now since I resigned from teaching aerobics. Do I miss it? Not in the least... but I've gotta say - that cardio helped me out more than I knew at the time. I've got a goal to lose a significant amount of weight. I'm not sure how long it will take, but I need to do it. Pray for me to stay motivated. I'll need encouragement as well from my friends and family. I know how this journey goes, I've done it before. It's hard and tough and as much as I don't want to tackle it - I know I must.

WOW. Did I just write all that? I remember when I first started this blog, many moons ago it was originally so that I could encourage others and motivate others to be amazing. As much as I'd still like it to be that way, I've decided to take it in another direction and just blog about myself, family and day-to-day activities. A more personal blog. I'll probably lose a few of you (sadly) but for me - I need this therapy. My FB page though I'm trying to keep a more upbeat positive vibe. Check it out if we're not friends yet!

Happy New Year!