Mid- vacation pictures!

Not a lot of time to blog, but our vacation is going wonderfully so far. We spent the first few days in Indianapolis visiting with family there. Now we're in Sturgis, MI with Michael's parents. Some of Michael's friends are also in town this weekend so we were able to hang out with them a little today.


Lots of family and friends---

(I absolutely hate this picture of me... I look pregnant and my arm looks huge.)

 We leave Sturgis tomorrow and drive up to my dad's where my sisters will be too. I'm so excited! I'll try to post again in a few days!

Kelsalynn

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Vaca has begun!

YAYAYAYAYYYYYYYYY! Vacation has begun!

Our flight leaves tomorrow morning shortly after 8AM! Indiana and Michigan, here we come.

We're so ready! I desperately need a vacation and I can't wait to visit with family.

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting over the past week but I'll try to upload some pictures here and there.

Catch ya'll on the flip side!

Kelsalynn

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June Budget - a good month!

If you want a more interesting and fun post to read, the one before this has some pictures and yesterday was a great day- certainly more entertaining than my monthly budget!

Since we're leaving in a few days for Michigan for over a week, I knew I'd be spending time this weekend getting our June budget in order. And let me just say- it's a great month for us. We actually have 6 pay checks in May, but the last two fall this coming week while we're on vacation. We won't even deposit Michael's check until we get back so I'm considering both of these as "June" income.

Here's the final budget -

Our budget is very non-typical. I mean, we have almost $10K to budget!

Here's a rundown of some things that changed:
1. Fixed - normally this doesn't really change except this month, our tenants who rent our Michigan home are only paying $600 in rent instead of their typical $1100 rent. The reason is that they did a ton of yard work this past week for us. They tore down some really large trees in our backyard that were dying. These trees were huge, I can't believe they were able to do it on their own! We agreed to pay them $500 so they're taking it out of the rent they owe us.

2. Sinking- everything is the same this month except for our New Car Savings. Did you see?  We're saving $5,599 in one month for a new car! That's insane to me! At the end of June, we'll have OVER $15,000! I think we're planning to go 4th of July weekend and do some car shopping. It will be our first car ever paid for with cash and we're only 28 years old! I think that's awesome!

3. One time- Just by the title, this tends to change every month. The first thing is $130 for a new phone. Now that Michael has his, I can't wait to get one. I just love his! I didn't think there was anything wrong with mine but boy, oh boy, his is so much easier to use and it's intuitive! Kind of scary actually, but I just won't think about it...

The other big expense here are gifts- $200 to be exact and this is for Michael's birthday and Father's Day. 

Then there's shopping. I could really use some new work shoes and once I get a new phone, I'm sure I'll want a protective cover for it and a car charger.

Float trip- cannot wait for this! The first weekend in June, the day after we get back from Michigan, my work is going floating down the Salt River. We went last year and had a blast! I can't wait to go again! The cost this year is $15.

Renter's Ins- and then our renter's insurance is due during June, I think. I haven't received a bill yet, but I'm pretty sure it's due this coming month.

Our total fixed/necessary expenses for June (including car insurance, property taxes, but not savings or one-time expense) are only 32% of our total budget. That means we're either saving or spending the other 68% of our income! Pretty cool...

Looking ahead toward July, I'm pretty excited! We'll no longer need to save for a new car and we'll be able to start funding other things such as retirement and our 5-year anniversary trip at the end of the year.

How's your budget look for June?

How much are you saving?

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

3 days til we leave for our trip home to Michigan. I can't wait! I've vowed to not check my work email the entire week and a half that I'm gone. I've never been gone from work that long before and even when I'm off one day, I check my work email! Tiss, tiss. Not this time.

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JT can suck it!

I don't mean that. I'm pretty sure the workout is named after a fallen war hero, and his name is probably JT, so I don't really wish for him to suck it. BUT, I did totally kick his ass today at the gym!

Let me back up though because today has been a great day!

I woke up and had a piano lesson this morning. She taught me a number of blues songs and it was awesome! I had so much fun during my lesson. It's all "play by ear" type stuff I learned where I feel like I can just sit down and play things without a book in front of me. How cool is that?

After my piano lesson, Michael works out with Sanar (piano teacher) and it's sort of a barter relationship. Usually I take a book and just relax on her patio but it was so incredibly gorgeous out, I went to her pool instead. I didn't take a bathing suit since it wasn't planned, but it has a walk-out beach area (for realsies!) so I was able to wade in the water and just relax.

So after learning to play some blues, for the next hour I was able to relax here-

Shortly after that, I had my hair appointment. I told her I wanted to go "blonder" than before and she said, "So you want to be blonde." I said, "No! Just blondER." So she did the typical red and dark lowlights but did a bunch of blonde highlights as well. I like the end result but I *kind of* wish I wouldn't have chickened out on going more blonde. Maybe next time.

Here's the end result-

I like it. I think dark hair does more for my complexion than blonde so it's probably best that I have no balls.

My pampering continued at a spa down the road by getting a pedicure! I have to say, it does look a heck of a lot better than when I do it. Luckily, I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it all the time but they do look fabulous! This is the first time I've ever had a design painted on my big toe- it's so cute!

The big flower has a little sparkly bead at the center, but you can't really tell in the picture unfortunately.

And now I'm ready to tell you about my workout- JT!

Here's what I did-

21-15-9 reps of:

handstand push-ups (variation)

ring dips (feet on the ground)

push-ups (modified)

The last time I did this workout was August 2009 and I didn't do ring dips, just regular dips. Ring dips are obviously more challenging. I did modified push-ups back then which was why I did them again tonight. My time 9 months was 11:04 and I didn't think I'd beat it or come close because of the ring dips.

My time tonight?

10:12!

Boo-yah!  I beat it by 52 seconds! Wahoo!

I can barely lift my arms though now :) Luckily I don't need them tonight- my wonderful hubby is making his homemade butternut squash soup for dinner while I sit here and update my blog! Talk about spoiled right?

Until tomorrow,

Kelsalynn

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Point for me!

I didn't workout today. I've already worked out 4 times this week and we're planning to workout tomorrow. That's 5 days in a week which I'm totally happy with. And let me just be honest that I am usually zonked on Fridays and don't feel like doing anything after work.

I have to tell you something though!

All day, practically from the moment I woke up, I was craving an iced coffee. I made my normal coffee for my commute into work and didn't think anything of it. Then after lunch I had to run a few errands. As I was driving around, my craving was so strong. I even pulled into the drive thru at a McDonald's to order a Frappe! Oh my gosh! Can you believe it?

Guess what though?

I pulled out of the drive thru and did not order a coffee. I didn't do it!

That's definitely a point for me because it was not easy to turn away from a yummy iced coffee! 

I'm so excited for tomorrow. It's going to be a great day. I have a piano lesson in the morning then I'm getting my hair done at 1:30. It's in the budget and it needs to be cut and colored pretty bad! I think I'm going to take my friend Lexi's advice and go blonde(r) for summer! (I was thinking of doing just this anyway!)

After getting my hair done I'm getting a pedicure! This is not in the budget but I got a gift certificate to a spa at Christmas time and I'm finally going to use it.

Pretty awesome day huh?

What do you have planned this weekend?

Kelsalynn

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Looked easy

I did NOT want to go workout tonight. I hadn't eaten which I realize now was probably a big part of it. I should have made myself a snack and it's very likely I would have felt better. But I didn't. Michael came home and I was really hoping he would accept my awesome and brilliant idea of simply staying at home and relaxing.

Nope.

Damn husbands.

And what does he say? "The workout is easy tonight, it'll be quick."

I should have known right then and there that tonight's workout would be anything but easy. It appears deceptively simple on paper-
20 shoulders to overhead 75# (all this means is to get it up into a shoulder press position in anyway possible- whether you jerk it up, press it up, it's all good, as long as you just get it up)  ...
40 burpees

...you could partition these any way you want so the weight was heavier than normal. 75# is a lot of weight to do 20 times!

For the burpees, I did the push-ups at the bottom but I did not do the jump at top. I didn't want to upset my calves anymore.

My time = 6:36!

Like I said, looks easy right?

Also, I'm not sure if it constitutes cheating, but tonight we had Subway for dinner. I'm pretty sure that's cheating, but it definitely could have been worse. It's Thursday and it's the first time all week I've cheated even in the slightest so that's good. We left the gym and neither of us felt like making anything when we got home. Confessional concluded!

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Andale! Andale!

It was a great day at the office. Okay, I probably shouldn't use the word "great" to describe my place of employment right now, but considering how bad it has been, today wasn't terrible. I was also out doing audits for a big chunk of time so that probably helped.

I'm not going to try and question it. It was a good day. Who needs a reason?

I came home and did the CrossFit workout for today - "Annie." I didn't quite do it as prescribed, but pretty close. Here's what I did-
35 double unders
35 sit-ups
25 double unders
25 sit-ups
20 double unders
20 sit-ups
15 double unders
15 sit-ups
10 double unders
10 sit-ups

Michael made me roll my calves before I started which I think was smart. With the jumping, I'm sure my calves would have cramped up otherwise.

My time was 9:59! Wahoo! Under 10 minutes!

Even more amazing, guess what my time was the last time I did "Annie" back in November? 18:19! I took more than 8 minutes off my time! That's crazy to me!

I still SUCK at double unders, but hey, at least I can struggle through them now whereas before I couldn't even do one!

I also practiced the piano for a bit tonight after my workout. And I'm happy to report that I did NOT CHEAT again today!
Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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The one constant...

Thank God for my workout tonight, that's all I gotta say. I swear, working out is my constant right now. Well, that and my husband... I'm not sure where I'd be without either of them.

I don't want to go too far into it on my blog but work is not going good. In fact, it's going down right baaaaaaaaaadddddd.  Each day is a challenge and if it weren't for my workouts and my wonderful husband, I'm pretty sure I'd start drinking :-P

I made it the entire day without cheating! 1 day down, 9 more days to go! I am in the habit of drinking a can of pop each afternoon and I'm happy to report that I did not drink one today! I did not cheat! Wahoo!

Before I worked out I did my hip stretches and strengthening exercises! I did the L-stretch, the hip thruster deal, foam roller, hip stabilization exercises- all 2 sets of 10 reps. Wahoo!

Tonight's WOD called for some insane shit like climbing a rope, which I could not do in 5th grade and I can't do now. The sub for rope climbing is to do towel pull-ups so that's what I did instead. Here's what it looked like-
15 reps Thrusters 55#
15 towel pull-ups (assistance 55)
12 reps Thrusters
12 towel pull-ups
9 reps Thrusters
9 towel pull-ups

On my 2nd round, there was a nice lady on the pull-up machine so I stopped my watch while I waited to work in with her. Well, when I started to do my reps, I forgot to start my watch back up. Argh! I hit start when I was done with 12 pull-ups and I realized it. I'm going to guess that my finish time was around 9 minutes 30 seconds. It ended on 8 minutes exactly so if it took me a minute or so to do the pull-ups, that seems right in my head.

So, final estimate time - 9:30.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Lesson learned

It took me about 10 minutes to loosen up my leg muscles before actually getting to tonight's workout. They were still sooo sore and it's been 3 days! But, they're feeling great now so I think it's finally passed.

Tonight's workout turned out to be a doozy. I learned a painful lesson...once you start CrossFit, don't quit! I remember my first few CrossFit workouts where I almost barfed because the intensity was such a shock. Well, tonight was no exception. I did "Eva" and it was sooo hard! Here's what it looks like-

4 rounds
2 1/2 minute sprint on the bike (level 10, 11, 12, 13)
20 kettlebell swings (35# dumbbell)
20 pull-ups (assistance level 55)
TIME = 25:49

During the last round, I almost threw up. I pushed myself so hard on the bike, it did me in! I'm proud of my time though considering I did it back in June for a time of 26:01. I don't consider my time "faster" though just b/c I ran instead of biked which I consider much more strenuous and more difficult to recover from during a workout like this.

On an unrelated note- we leave in 10 days for our trip home to Michigan! I'm so excited to see everyone. Michael found a CrossFit app for his phone on workouts you can do while on vacation, so we plan to do that which will be great. I know we won't be eating as great as we normally do though, which stinks.

So my goal is to go this whole week without cheating! That way when we go on vacation next week, I won't feel quite as bad!

On a 2nd unrelated note- I've officially gone 2 weeks without practicing the piano. That's the longest I've gone so far this year, and not something I'm proud of obviously. I have a piano lesson this coming Saturday (then we leave for vacation mid week) so my goal is to practice 4 times this week (before Saturday)! It should be do-able, I just have to make it a priority which I haven't been doing.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Anyone have a wheelchair I can borrow?

Holy cow- what a difference CrossFit can make!

I haven't been this sore in ages.

I can barely walk today. My quads are burning from doing Karen last night.

I've really, really missed this feeling. I've felt incredibly motivated the past few days and my workouts have been FUN!

I truly wanted to go to the gym tonight, but I'm just too sore.

Instead, I came home from work and changed into my pj's within 5 minutes. Now I'm reading and relaxing the rest of the night. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Kelsalynn

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Karen who?

I did my 2nd CrossFit workout in just as many days! That's right people, I'm on a fricken roll!   ;-)

The last two days have been a lot of fun. I really missed CrossFit and I realize now how motivating and fun it is. I think I'll probably stick with it for a while.

I've felt like I've been losing some muscle this year compared to last year. It's just that I'm not nearly as diligent as I used to be with working out all the time. I still exercise obviously, but last year I did it religiously. And while some days I wish I was like that still, I know my goal this year was to find more balance in my life.

I know I'm not as fit as I used to be though. Tonight- perfect example.

I did "Karen"- 150 wallballs for time. A wallball is when you go into a squat and on your way up, thrust an exercise ball (I used 15lbs tonight) into the air, catching it on your way down. Repeat x 150! 

It's a quick workout- took me 11 minutes 25 seconds- but holy hell it is one hard workout. Imagine doing 150 squats in 11 minutes and throwing up a ball 150 times too!

Either way, when I did this workout back in August 2009, my time was better by 26 seconds. I did "Karen" in 10:59 but get this, I used a 20lb ball and tonight I used a 15lb ball! So, I did it faster with a heavier ball.

I'm not upset about it or anything, but it's not exactly awesome either.

On the financial front, I transferred $1,000 to our New Car Savings today.

Total Saved = $9,629.77!

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Where have you been?

Hi! I'm here! I'm sorry, it's been a crazy few days. As you probably saw from my post on Monday night, it was a looooooooong day at the office. And not just long in the number of hours either, unfortunately.

After working a long day Monday, I got to work at 6am on Tuesday. You read that correctly- home @ 9PM, eat dinner, sleep, in the office @ 6am the next day. I had a meeting at 8 and instead of hearing, "Thank you" for busting my ass and working so many long hours to get the job, I heard how shitty of a job my team is doing.

Awesome.

Luckily, we had a friend visiting from Texas so we met him for dinner last night. I left work and went straight to the restaurant- a cute place in downtown Phoenix called Thai Elephant. Doesn't it just sound exotic?

Catching up with an old friend (actually an old friend of Michael's) was just what I needed after a long few days at the office.

All the above are my reasons (excuses?) for not working out in a while. I finally got to the gym tonight! I was  planning to do the following CrossFit workout-
5 rounds for time-
15 pull-ups
15 dips
10 power cleans 65#
1/2 bike sprint

The gym, however, was totally packed! It was by far the busiest I've ever seen it so it was impossible to take up various machines at once. Instead, I ended up not doing it for time and in a more random fashion-whenever the machine was available.

It ended up being
50 power cleans 65#
30 pull-ups on my own
45 pull-ups using assistance (55#)
75 dips using assistance (55#)
2.5 mile bike sprint

I'm pumped about doing the cleans at 65#. The last time I did power cleans, I did 45# but said I wanted to go heavier and perhaps try 55#. The first few were easy at 65# but after that, they were killer.

***Oh, and I can't forget to tell you that I did my hip exercises too! I've actually done them a few other times but I haven't blogged (I'm sure you noticed) so I couldn't tell you.
Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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oh my word

Today is not a good day.

It's 7:52 PM and I'm still at work.

Does that tell you what kind of day I'm having or what?

Argh.

I was really looking forward to working out tonight too. 

I could not be bitchier right now, it's literally not possible.  Frick.

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I'm here

I'm here and no, I haven't worked out in a few days. I swear I must be PMS'ing bad or something because I have had some serious cravings this week...and of course you don't get cravings for carrots and broccoli. No, I was making trips to the vending machine at work, which never happens! I probably bought more out of the vending machine this week than the whole time I've worked there (over 2 years). 

I've also been pretty emotional. And it's the swings from super pissed off at the world to perfectly happy. What's up with that? Damn hormones...

On top of it all, I've been plain exhausted (low iron?) and my allergies have been bad this week.

It's just been crummy all around.

But today is Friday- YAY! That makes me happy!

Hopefully I can get in some solid workouts this weekend.

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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How could I forget?

The account earned a whopping $6 in interest in April, which I suppose is better than me paying interest to a bank when borrowing money from them. Right? Between all my small savings account, I earned $20 in interest. Granted, that's not a lot of money, but that's $240 per year!

Our finances right now feel like they're on auto pilot. Michael said to me last night, "We should probably reign in our expenses a little so we can save for a new car, don't think you?" And I said, "I put $3,000 away this past month, and $3,000 the month before. Our total savings is over $7,500." He said, "Oh really? Good job honey, I felt like we've spent a lot of money the past few months."

I think it's great that we've been able to save as much as we have (and it's only May of this year!) yet feel like we're still buying ourselves things and enjoying ourselves.

As soon as we buy this car, we can start saving for retirement (with gusto at least)!

Kelsalynn

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Little of this, little of that

No workout to report but I DID do my physical therapy exercises! Go me! Okay, yes, it is only the first day of doing them, but hey, at least I'm starting out right.

On a different note- did you see my net worth? I updated it today and I'm happy to report I'm finally in the black! YAY! No more negative net worth! The savings for a new car has really bumped up our cash and my 401k is slowly climbing back up so those two factors made the biggest difference. What a difference 6 months can make!

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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Day 21 - #FML

I'm trying to write a calm and collected blog post, but considering how fricken annoyed and frustrated I am right now, I'm not sure it's possible.

Today was Day 3 of my 3-day rest after getting calf cramps. I was looking forward to getting back to the gym. I attempted 1 burpee and knew immediately it wasn't going to happen. Continuing would only make my leg situation worse. There's only 1 thing I want more than finishing the burpee challenge, and that's figuring out what the F is wrong with me. Ugh.

So I quit. I quit the burpee challenge. Not because I want to, but because I have to change my focus. I have to replace all the time I was going to spend on doing burpees each night and instead, do exercises to get stronger, more stable, and more flexible.

After my failed burpee attempt, Michael did a number of assessment techniques to see if he could figure out exactly the root of my problem. Although I get calf cramps, he's theorized for some time that it's coming from my hips being weak or unstable. The physical tests he had me do didn't really show anything wrong. I think that's because I've learned to compensate for my issues so that I'm still able to do certain movements. It's when I do those movements repeatedly (i.e. 50+ times per day like w/ the burpees), that the problems show up.

He then compared my mobility on the left and right side and it's here that the problem became totally obvious. When comparing how far I can stretch each side there's a huge difference. My right side can only move a fraction of the distance that my left side can.

Amy left a comment the other day that said, "well, you wanted a challenge." And she's right. If I'm completely honest with myself, being diligent about doing physical therapy-type exercises is much harder for me than doing a 100-burpee challenge. There's no instant gratification, no finish line, nothing excited at all. I don't think the 100-burpee challenge would have been all that challenging for me- I find those kinds of things fun and gratifying. But doing exercises each night, just to make my body be able to do something it SHOULD be able to do without the exercises, well that sucks- it's boring and I have a hard time following through on actually doing them.

Michael has given me 5 different exercises that he says I need to do AT LEAST every other night:
L 90/90 stretch
1 legged hip thrusters w/ knee pulled to my chest
Foam rolling calf, butt, and hip
4 different leg raises to strengthen my hip
Standing 4-way hip exercise w/ exercise band

So, although not nearly as cool or exciting, that is my new challenge- to actually follow through and do these exercises dilligently.

Ugh. Life is sucky sometimes.

Kelsalynn

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Day 20 - Last day of rest and budget

So today is my last day of rest after my leg cramps a few days ago. I'll get back to working out tomorrow but they're already feeling a lot better. I plan to foam roll them again today which should help. Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow the burpees will go off without a hitch.

Despite splurging for some patio decor- an umbrella and plants- we still came in under budget for April. But only by a teensy little bit- $13 to be exact! We came in under by $438 but we still plan to buy a camera and have $375 budgeted for that. We also need to get our furbaby groomed and have $50 left for that. In other words, we've got $13 left on the table.

Michael needs a new phone. The ball on his Blackberry has PMS and only works when it wants to. The $100 is for him to get a new one. I'll get a new one later as mine still works fine, it's more of a "want" than a "need."

Here's our budget for our trip home.

Kyle is Michael's co-worker who is staying at our house for the week while we're gone. He's going to look after our pets and take care of them. We're going to give him some money for groceries and then a gift card of some sort as a thank you.

What's your budget look like for May?

Until tomorrow,
Kelsalynn

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