Day 9 = Success

I hit the snooze button an extra time today and it almost ended me. I definitely didn't pop out of bed like I have been. And today was the first day I really didn't want to do it. The other days I didn't even stop to think about it.

No cardio last night because I had to run an errand for work at the end of the day that took me closer to home than a gym. I have to get it in today and tomorrow.

Went to the doc this morning and was not pleased to see that my weight has steadily increased over the last few months. Not happy today.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 8 = Success

No cardio after work yesterday. I was going to go home and clean the house since we will be gone this weekend, but by the time I got home I had a headache and stomach ache. WTF?

It was difficult to get up this morning, but I did it. Two more days in level one. I thought I might be acclimated to the workout by now, but it's still somewhat challenging. No sore muscles though. I wonder what level 2 will bring?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 7 = Success

I didn't sleep very well last night, so I was worried I wouldn't want to get up this morning. I got through day 7 of 30 Day Shred. Only 3 more days in level one and then I move to level 2.

I was telling JB that this workout actually works for me and here's why; there are 3 circuits of strength training/cardio/abs and the workout is only 20 minutes long. The harder exercises are in the first two circuits, so by the time you get to the third, you know you can make it because there is such a short period of time left. All of my muscle groups get worked and I break a really good sweat. It's not long enough for me to get bored and the circuits aren't so long that I don't feel like I can make it through. The whole thing is right up my alley and very doable.

Cardio after work! I'm trying to decide if I want to just head downstairs and knock it out, or if I want to hit up some TKB. Supposedly Jillian is working on some new stuff to be released next year. Can't wait to see what she comes up with.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 6.5 = Karate Kid

I got my workout Sunday Daniel-san style. We did some more work on staining the fence. If you don't get the karate kid reference, you don't deserve to read my blog.

Interesting turn of events while staining the fence though. We took back the 3 one gallon cans of stain and traded it in for a 5 gallon since the fist section we did took 3 gallons alone. We found the right stain, and two were stacked on top of each other, so JB grabbed the one to the right that had nothing on top of it. We didn't even think to double check it. It wasn't until we had painted the first half of the fence on the other side of the house and refilled with the new 5 gallon drum, that we thought the color looked different. Woops.

Since we couldn't return the opened container and we weren't about to waste $100, we just decided to keep going and we could go over the lighter color later. Our main concern is getting the thing sealed, the color is not that important to us.

We actually really like the darker, more red color that we accidentally got. We'll see what happens. All we have left is the back section. Our neighbors decided to either empty or overfill their sorry excuse for a pool in their yard on Saturday, which flowed through the fence into our yard, so for fear of the boards being wet, we decided to wait on that.

I can't wait until we are done with this project.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bike Jokes

I'm checking my email this morning and as usual, I check the inbox first, which still contains a lot of spam. After that, I check my spam mail. I usually browse through it before I delete everything because sometimes random stuff that should go to my inbox has ended up there. Today I saw one that really made me laugh. It was from "Bike Jokes" and was titles Riding Bikes Jokes. I found this hilarious because somebody probably will get that and think "I love a good bike joke!" and open it and then have some crazy virus or be getting porn mail all the time. People are so stupid.

Day 6 = Success

Didn't wake up til 9am, but I managed to keep my motivation long enough to get through my workout before enjoying the day at mom's house for her birthday.

Pretty good day!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 5 = Success

One week down. Funny how I can drag my ass out of bed for a workout, but not just for work. I am going to fit in my shred before I head to mom's tomorrow and maybe on Sunday before we start housework.

Happy Friday!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 4 = Success

I was a little worried last night that this morning might be my first fail. I had just fallen asleep last night when JB came blasting in from his 7:30 basketball game at 11pm (don't get me started). After keys jingling, shower doors slamming and toilets flushing I was out of the sleep zone.

He finally gets into bed and I get up to use the bathroom. I come back to bed and I hear a noise in the kitchen. I say "WTF was that?" and he doesn't answer. I reach over and he's not there. I get up to investigate and he comes walking back into the room in the dark and scares the bejesus out of me. Apparently he had gone to the kitchen for a snack before bed. SIGH.

Adrenaline pumping I get back in bed and of course I can't sleep. I am anxious and irritated. I toss and turn...and toss...and turn. To make matters worse I am bitter because he fell fast asleep about 5 seconds after getting in bed.

So, as the clock neared midnight I thought there was no way in hell I was going to make my 6am wake up call. But I did. No excuses. I even called Mrs. Awesome to give her the "Jillian Michaels wants to make you her bitch." wake up call she requested, but she didn't answer.

Cardio after work since I have a lunch meeting today. I got a little crazy with the calories yesterday, so today we will get back on track.

The weekend is almost here!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Little Secret

So, anyone who has known me for longer than a day (less in the summer months), knows that I have an obsession with body odor. I am always worried about being less than fresh in the arm pit area. I think I take my thoughts and judgements that I place on others and then obsess about them and make sure I am not one of those people. I just really can't understand how someone can have less than pleasant body odor. Good hygeine es muy importante.

For years I have struggled to find the right anti-perspirant/deodorant that will keep me fresh and protected all day long, no matter what that day brings. And for the past 17 years or so, I have not been as successful as I would like. Until now:

Secret Clinical Strength Sport. The name of the scent (Marathon Fresh) confuses me because I don't know how fresh you would smell after running a marathon. But maybe it means that you will smell fresh even after running one with this stuff. Not only does it work ALL DAY LONG on regular days, but also on hot summer days spent in the pool or on a boat (which has always been an even tougher challenge for me). Not to mention it has a delightful scent. Sometimes I get a whiff of it throughout the day and it's everything I can do not to start sniffing my armpit.

I stumbled upon this little gem at Girlfriend's house after a day of being out in the sun with my regular old former deoderant. Obviously I needed to reapply, so it's clear it was not working very well. I kept getting whiffs of it throughout the day and really enjoyed the scent. I thought, next time I need deoderant, I am going to try it. I almost changed my mind when I saw it was about $8 for a small thing of it, but let me tell you, it's more than worth it.

Day 3 = Success

How many times do you have to do something before it becomes a habit? And will the weekend throw me off the horse? I have learned that relying on JB is not an option because he doesn't get up until 6:20 now and I have to be up by 6am to make this happen. But I AM making it happen!

Unless K-Put and I go for a walk this evening, the only cardio I will get in today is my walk to and from the farmer's market at the park by my office at lunch. I'm okay with that as long as I get three days of additional cardio in during the week and I already have 2 under my belt.

Happy Hump Day Peeps!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 2 = Success

It was a little bit harder to get up this morning, but I had to remind myself that it wasn't going to be any easier in 5, 10, 20 minutes and then I would be running late. So I made it through morning 2 and will probably get another 30 minutes of cardio in this evening.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 1 = Success

I went to bed early last night so getting up at 6am didn't suck so bad. Had some technical difficulty with the DVD, but I got up and got it done! JB was still sleeping so I am proud I did it all by myself.

Lunch time will bring some cardio with my coworker, which means when the whistle blows this evening, I can just go home. So excited about this, you have no idea.

Happy Monday!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Life of a Homeowner

Another domestic weekend under my belt and it feels oh so amazing! There are things that I am awaiting the outcome of to blog about (no I am not pregnant), but as soon as I can, I will share all details available.

Saturday we got up early (8am is early for me on a weekend), got ready and headed to BB&B for a bridal shower gift for our friend, Ashlee. We ran a few more errands and had some lunch before heading home. I went to said bridal shower, which was the most efficient shower I have ever been to, which I love, and I even won a prize for having the most called out items in my purse, plus something no one else had. A retainer. Yes, I AM that cool. When I got home JB was still gone at his parents' house for his brother's bday dinner, so I got in a couple of hours of "me" time. Haven't had that in a while. We spend an hour or so over at the neighbors' house and then called it a night.

PS, Oxygen channel was showing some awesome movies this weekend. It was a Ryan Reynolds fest!

Today I slept til 9am, but we were off and running as soon as I got up. We headed to Home Depot for some materials to stain the fence and ward off unwanted bugs from the house, then we went to the grocery store so I could prepare dinner. We got to work on the fence as soon as we got home, but even with a sprayer it took waaaaaaaay longer than we were expecting. We only got two sections done and called it a day. JB sprayed for bugs while I trimmed the bushes in the walkway. We don't have many visitors anymore, but when we do, I would at least like them to be able to get to the door safely.

Rich came over to play NBA 2K10 with JB while I finished up dinner (pork tenderloin, lipton onion potatoes and broccoli with caramel turtle brownies for dessert). We don't normally have stuff like that for dessert, but it's Rich's birthday so we will take an excuse where we can get one. We are currently watching the free fights on Versus, which is a lot more interesting since I met some of these fighters at the UFC Fan Expo in Vegas recently.

The recipe for dinner called for 3/4 c of red wine and I couldn't let the rest of the bottle go to waste, so I am taking care of that now. It will help me get to bed early so I can get up and start my day with Jillian Michaels tomorrow morning.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Boot Camp is Over, Now What?

As you all know, I have been singing the praises of Sacramento Downtown Adventure Boot Camp since I started in April. I even got a couple of friends to join in the "fun" and develop the same love/hate relationship. However, this last month was more of just a hate relationship for me, so I am hanging up my boot camp hat for now. I just got really burned out driving downtown and getting home late and dealing with the heat. The heat was a big issue for me as it kept me from having the energy to give my all. I would leave camp pissed off and frustrated with myself for acting like a little bitch. Not to mention, with other things I am currently saving money for, I don't have the funds to support this habbit.



I really wanted to try out Prime Time Boxing, since they have a location close to home and my work and they have morning camps I could actually go to before work (if I could get my ass out of bed). They do 4 week camps as well, all indoors that are focused on boxing training and workouts. It's non-contact, so I don't have to worry about breaking someone's face (okay, having mine broken). I really enjoy the kickboxing classes at the gym (although I realize boxing is a lot different), so I figured this would be a fun way to switch things up for a while. JB and I stopped in one day on the way home and checked the place out. The pricing was way too much for me to justify right now ($249 for one month) so until I can afford it, which will probably be next summer, I will have to figure out something else.



The boot camp we have been doing focuses more on functional strength training than it does on cardio. But since I get home so late 3 nights a week and am completely exhausted on the other days, I haven't really been able to work that in so much. My muscles are definitely there, now I just need to remove the layer that is covering them. So, for the next month I will be alternating the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred video, getting up in the morning to do it before work, and fitting in some cardio either at lunch or after work. This means I can still get my fitness in and get home at a decent hour to take care of the rest of my life.



I have enlisted JB's help to get me out of bed in the mornings, because I really can't seem to do it on my own. Since the workouts are only 25 minutes from warm up to cool down, I don't have to get up a whole lot earlier and I can start my day on an awesome note. I also have her cardio DVD to do on the weekends. :) Plus, I found a lunch buddy to do cardio with in the gym downstaris at our office. Everything is better with a buddy!

Quick Tip

Leave a Clif Bar in your car on a hot summer day and when you leave work you will have a healthy snack that tastes like a fresh-out-of-the-oven peanut butter/chocolate chip cookie.

You're welcome.

It's a Record!

10 whole posts in one month!!! Okay, 9, because one of them was a re-post and not actually written by me. But still, my highest blogs/month count yet. Hopefully it only goes up from here!

Sorry, I'm Busy

I don't know if people think I make up things so I don't have to hang out with them, or if they really don't understand how cluttered my schedule is, but people have a hard time letting me tell them no. I get questions, guilt trips, etc. when I tell people that I can't make it or say "possibly" and then later have to say no. I am not saying that my life is more special than someone else's, or more busy, but if I say no there is usually a valid reason.

During the week I "work" some variation of an 8-5 schedule. The past few months, I have been doing boot camp which requires an hour drive downtown from Folsom, an hour at boot camp, and a 30 minute drive home. This puts me home 3 nights a week somewhere between 7:30 and 8pm. I still have to prepare/eat dinner, shower, and get some kind of down time in before bed.

Every other week, I have a standing date with my friend K-Put. I work downtown every other Wednesday and we make it a point to get together at her place, have dinner, and catch up on the past couple of weeks. This works for both of us as it doesn't require extra driving for either of us, or spending much money. Rarely do we miss this and I appreciate that.

The last Friday of every month we have a "Ladies' Night" with all of the significant others from JB's group of friends. We have had out of town plans for the last couple of months on this night, so I have missed it, but I do look forward to seeing everyone and catching up over dinner/drinks.

As will often happen in the summer, the weekends are filled with travel plans. This is my fault, and I referred to this in my previous blog as well. Usually I make plans with whoever asks me first. My friends often joke that they have to get on my calendar months or even a year in advance, but it is what it is. I am working to make less plans out of town in order to be home more often.

Now, even if we are in town for the weekend, we usually have something going on one weekend day or the other that takes up at least half of our day, if not all of it. This usually leaves us 1/2 - 1 day to get every other thing we have on our list to do done, and maybe get a moment in of relaxation. We have been in our house for 7 months now and have yet to seal the grout or stain the fence. I need to catch up on balancing our accounts and paying bills. I need to rearrange the closet. We still have our regular housework to keep up on, etc.

So, the fact of the matter is, if I tell you "Sorry, I'm busy." that means I am either taking care of all those little things that pile up and I have no time to take care of, or more importantly, I am taking care of myself and my relationship. It's not because I have a better offer or that I just enjoy blowing people off. Fitting people in where I can is what fills up my calendar so quickly and leaves no room to take care of me. I enjoy my friends and my family and would spend all of my time with them if I could, but I wish they understood just how much I have going on and could expect less of me sometimes.

Lately I have been moody, exhausted, and generally lacking my usual lust for life. I want to stay in bed forever and blow off everything all together. I believe this is a result of burning the 3-wick candle at both ends. Sometimes I have to say "no" and I need to be okay with that, but so does everyone else.

Quick Tip

Riding someone's ass on the road does not make them go faster or get over so you can pass them. If you want/need to go faster, GO AROUND THEM!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Best Weekend In Recent History

The summer has been busy to say the least. JB does not get excited when I fill his every moment with plans because that leaves less time for him to play NBA2K10. I tend to do this thing where I don't want to fill my time, so I purposely leave those weekends blank, but then something comes up and in order to avoid a guilt trip I pencil it in on my calendar and before I know it, we are gone for weekends at a time.

But not this weekend.

This weekend was lovely. Started out a little rough on Friday (casual Friday, that is) with me finding that none of my jeans fit me anymore. My butt has lifted and my thighs have gotten more muscular and I am hoping they won't button because my obliques are getting bigger, not my dinner-tube. So I went home and opened a bottle of wine and tried a new recipe - Green Bean Chicken. I used the low sodium teriyaki sauce, which was more expensive, but thought it was worth it for half the sodium. It was pretty tasty, but if I make it again, I will try a different sauce.

Saturday I slept in a little and then worked on the bloggy-blog (I'm learning slowly). We took my car in to get serviced and then went over to the mall since I now needed new jeans. Found a couple pairs at Express, along with a couple of cute tees, SCORE! Also got some necessities at Frederick's since they were having a sale. Later we picked up my car and went home to relax for a while before heading downtown for a 21st birthday pub crawl. I thought I was done with those, but apparently not. We definitely lost our mojo early and were home before 1am.

Sunday I got to sleep in again until JB woke me up asking if I wanted to go to the early bird showing of Inception. We made breakfast and then headed to the movies. It was an awesome movie, definitely recommend it. Afterwards we went over to Naturewood because they are having a huge sale. We got a letter in the mail since we got our couch from them for early sale prices. Wanted to search for an entertainment center, but found an affordable coffee table instead. We hit up Beach Hut for lunch and decided to do some free reading at Borders before heading home. We did a little bit of house work before having dinner and relaxing for the evening.

Sounds kind of boring and normal, but with all the hustle and bustle that the past couple of months has been filled with, it was nice to get stuff done and actually relax for once. We even had to turn down a couple of offers for a boat day. JB says I'm experiencing personal growth. LOL! Next up is sealing our grout and staining/sealing our fence...

Simply Awesome

Awesomeness is not given. It is the inherent ability to be awesome. Some of us have it, some of us don't. Those that try to attain awesomeness through works and deeds will never be as awesome as those who are born with it. I truly feel you were born to be awesome and that is why your awesomeness is so truly profound. I would know, because I am awesome too. This is not bragging, I am simply stating the truth. Ever heard the expression, "Takes one to know one"? This was made explicitly for awesome people to find those with true awesomeness. Unfortunately, there are more morons in this world than those that are truly awesome; so its true meaning has been lost through time.

Go forth and let others bask in the glory of your awesomeness. They will truly be better people by just looking at you in your complete awesomeness. Let your awesomeness let others know how truly awesome they are not, and take pity on them and make them your servants, for this will bring true meaning to their lives. I have wasted my lunch writing this email, and that is totally awesome.

Please feel free to share this awesome email chain with anyone who is truly awesome. Those that are not awesome have no business reading these glorious passages. Their eyes would completely burn out of their heads from the truly beautiful and awesome words that are written on these pages. They would blaze forth in such awesome glory that the un-awesome would be reduced to ash.

Be awesome to each other, and your awesomeness will flow forth like rivers of awesome beverage to the mouths of the truly thirsty for the incredible power of awesomeness. Those that bathe in the flow of awesomeness that are truly awesome will be revived in awesome glory; the un-awesome will perish in the flames of their own self-loathing.

From one person who bathes in awesomeness to another, let no un-awesome being ever steal your awesomeness from you. Kick them in the kneecap instead. This would be truly awesome.

"Laughter is like medicine that is loaded with sugar. It takes the pain away and makes your stomach hurt."

- Anonymous Awesome Person

Scales Are Evil

I have many friends who are currently on their own journey of fitness/weight loss and most of them rely heavily on a scale to tell them their accomplishments. I have never had a scale tell me what I wanted to hear.

Why do I weigh the same as I did 6 months ago, but wear a pants size that is two sizes smaller?

Because the scale doesn't know what it's talking about. When people are obsessed with the number on the scale, they don't stop and realize that even though they may weigh the same, or haven't lost as many pounds as they wanted, they are stronger now, healthier, composed differently (muscle v. fat).

But the scale steals that from them. Steals their accomplishment. Makes them feel like a failure because it doesn't tell them what they want to hear. It's true that you need a good measurement to rely on to figure out how far you have come since your starting point and no one method is 100% reliable, but the scale is by far the worst.

So many things factor into your daily weight. They say that you should always weigh yourself at the same time, every time, to get the most accurate reading. They say that first thing in the morning is better since you have not yet ingested anything. Weigh yourself naked so you aren't having to account for your clothing in your weight (because let's be honest, that shirt does not weigh 3 lbs.). If you HAVE to weigh yourself, it should be weekly, not daily, in order to make yourself less crazy. And it should always be on the same scale.

It kills me to hear people say, "I lost a pound and a half since yesterday!" or "I can't believe I'm up two lbs in two days!"

That's because you just went to the bathroom, or because you are retaining water, or because you ate lunch. Not because you suck at life and are a big fat fatty. I rarely ever step on a scale, and when I do, I remind myself why.

I challenge you to throw away your scale (or at least hide it) and see how much better you feel about those 2 pants sizes without a number telling you what it means. Do it.

4th of July Fun!

We didn't exactly have any plans for 4th of July this year, so the first part of the day we just laid around the house and updated our iTunes and iPods. Later we were invited to our friend's parents' house for some pool time, BBQ and fireworks. Her fam was awesome and a good time was had by all. Here are a few pics:






















Happy America Day!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Nugget Fix

I haven't seen her in three weeks and it's killing me! Her mommy might bring her by the office tomorrow. Can't wait!






I just want to eat her up!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tahoe Weekend? Coming Right Up!

This weekend is the Sugarland concert in Tahoe!! I have been waiting for months since I bought our tickets and am so excited for a weekend in Tahoe. We rented my buddy's cabin at a discount rate and got two other couples to join us for the weekend to share the cost. One thing that worries me is that in the past, the lead singer has always blown out her voice right before a show in our neck of the woods and they have a show the night before. I'm hoping she pulls through and doesn't let me down. If they do, hopefully we get our money back and at least there are plenty of other things to do in Tahoe on a Saturday night. I will try to remember to take some pics and post next week after we get back.

Back To Boot Camp

So, after a month off to let my shoulder heal (I disclocated it near the end of May during boot camp) I am back in the game. With about a million other women. Apparently the guys decided to run a coupon on Groupon.com for new members to pay $35 for a month of camp and sold 609 of them. WTF? Our 6pm MWF class used to have like 7 people and now has 60. Pretty crazy. They have done a good job of organizing it so far and Tiff and Melissa and I can be used as examples and demos for different exercises and activities. It will be interesting to see how many people actually stick out the whole month and pay full price to come back next month.

Two of those people that got roped into boot camp are friends Callie, aka Skanky Pants, and Brittany (click for her comical take on camp) aka BLee. This boot camp is tough, and after listening to me about it for two months straight and trying to recruit these girls, I am proud that they finally decided to go for it. I think they will find out that they are stronger than they thought they were.

The first night of camp was on Tuesday since Monday was a holiday for most. I definitely regretted taking that month off during Tuesday's session. My recovery rate was terrible and I could not get my heart rate to slow between exercises which made me dizzy and out of breath. I wasn't feeling too sore yesterday and it seemed that my stamina was already starting to bounce back since I was able to make it through the agility circuits pretty well. Having to deal with the heat is definitely different now, so I am trying to adjust to that and stay in the shade as much as possible. I felt really good when we were done yesterday....

And then I woke up this morning.

I reached for my snooze button and almost cried out in pain. Then JB wanted to cuddle for a minute and I whimpered as I tried to turn over without using most of my muscle groups. Not.Even.Possible. Pretty much my favorite thing to do when my core is this sore is sneeze (insert sarcasm here). I don't know what hurts worse than contracting all of your sore core muscles unintentionally and not being able to stop it. Awesomeness.

Let this be a lesson to you folks not to take a month off of your fitness regimen as you will suffer serious consequences. It was nice to make it to some turbo kickboxing and lift classes at the gym, but it's just not the same as someone kicking your ass 3 days a week.