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.