KelsaLynnFitLog

Guess what happened?

2012-01-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

I WORKED OUT!

Yay!

It was the first time in quite a while! And boy was it tough. I feel totally out of shape but I'm so glad I did it anyway!

We did the WOD from the main site today

7 rounds of:

7 front squats 65#

7 pull-ups (supposed to be chest to bar but mine were nowhere close)

My time was 11:18

The front squats were way heavier than I should have done. I did pack scaling which was biting off more than I should have since I haven't worked out in ...oh... forever. I got through it but I may not be able to walk tomorrow. ; ) I feel really out of shape- it's amazing how quickly that happened but it's been almost a year since I left my old job and working out became nonexistent for me. That's a long time.

I used a resistance band for the pull-ups and even then, they were tough.

We are moving next week (did I tell you we're moving?) so I'm sure working out will take a back burner yet again.

We went hiking on Sunday and it was awesome! It was a hike we've never done before and it quickly became one of our favorite hikes! The view changes every step of the way from being inside a canyon to the top of it. It was perfectly strenuous too! We went about 5 miles but also did some geocaching so it might have been more like 6 miles total.

Softball is officially over. We're planning to play again in an upcoming season because we all had a lot of fun.

Until tomorrow,

KelsaLynn

Progress

2012-01-16T19:17:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I suck at updating my blog lately but truthfully, I'm okay with that. It's here when I need it and right now, I just don't need it every day like before.

My focus these days is in creating balance and I guess that's where this blog is helping. Just like with working out or work or eating healthy, this blog helps hold me accountable and that's what I need right now!

I love so many of the ideas I get from people in their comments so THANK YOU! I had some ideas in my last post and here's some updates-

Overall, I'm making huge progress. I've set strict business hours & I'm sticking to them! I've scheduled working hours as well as days and even full days off! In fact, tomorrow is my day off and although a few people wanted to schedule appointments tomorrow, I said I wasn't available that day.

To gear up for tomorrow, I've updated my voicemail to say I'm out of the office on Tuesday the 17th and will return calls on Wednesday the 18th.

I'm taking lunch breaks and I'm no longer working Sundays. Both of those are huge steps in the right direction as well.

The only thing I still need to work on are my workouts. Like I said in my last post, I did in fact schedule all of them but so far, I haven't actually stuck with them. I worked out tonight but that's the first time since penciling them in. So I have to work on that.

Another idea I came up with this past week that I'm super excited about are "in-service days" or portions of the day- similar to what professors do! I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. There's so much work I do in addition to meeting face-to-face with clients that I need one day or a chunk of a few hours where I'm getting all that work done. GENIUS!

Any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. Either way, I'm feeling so much better with how things are progressing.

Just in the knick of time too, because we're moving in February so I'll be SUPER BUSY! Yikes... remind me that I wanted to move and that at one point, I thought this was a good idea! :)

Balance

2012-01-06T06:03:00.000-08:00

Maybe my theme for 2012 will be "Balance." I still haven't done any goals for the year and I'm starting to realize that maybe it will stay that way. But working toward balance is something I need to work on.

I left my old employer because of long hours and high stress. With my new business, I work even longer hours. It doesn't feel like "work" at all though because I love what I do and truthfully feel like I could do it all day long and never tire of it. But that doesn't mean I should. My husband made a comment to me last week - "You never watch movies with me anymore." And he's right.

My office is in the den off the living room. I can sit at my desk and still see the TV in the living room, so that's where I spend all my time. I get up at 6am and immediately sit at my desk. And lots of times at 11pm, I'm still sitting there working. I never turn it off.

So I've decided to make some changes right away.

1. No more Sundays. My phone is being turned off on Sundays and I'm updating my voicemail to say, "If this is a Sunday, I will return your call on Monday."

2. Lunch breaks. I'm taking at least 30 minutes each day over lunch and again, if my phone goes off, I'm not answering it until I'm done eating. No more letting my lunch get cold because I get a phone call.

3. Set business hours. I still need to be somewhat flexible but if I work late one night, I am blocking out my schedule the next morning or something along those lines. Maybe I'll just do one evening each week since some clients can only meet at night. But I'm penciling my day and my hours into my schedule...just because my planner goes until 9pm, doesn't mean I have to schedule that late :)

(as I type this at 7:12am, my phone is ringing...I'm ignoring it)

4. Schedule my workouts. I miss working out but work has my priority and I need to remove "exercise" from the back burner. I've scheduled my WOD's for the next 3 weeks and wrote down which workouts I'm doing those days.

I have a business partner I meet with regularly who is experiencing some of the same challenges. We're going to help hold each accountable. I might turn my phone on this Sunday just to call her & see if she picks up her phone! ; )

We'll see if any of this helps and if I'm able to stick to all of them or just a few. 2012 is the year of balance!

Until tomorrow,

KelsaLynn

New logos

2011-12-30T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! I hope you're enjoying your holiday season so far! I know we are. I had so much more fun this year than the past few years.

We spent a lot of it at Michael's parents house which is about an hour and a half west of our house- but in the Phoenix area. Aunts, Uncles, and cousins from Indiana and Michigan flew in and we all spent a few days together. It was a lot of fun!

I have some exciting news! I got some help from a graphic designer & now my business has an official-looking logo and mark. I am very pleased with how they turned out!

Also, I am now offering financial coaching to all 50 states! I have done a few practice rounds with family and feel incredibly proud of the results. So, if you or anyone you know could benefit from working with a budgeting pro, please check out my website- www.FiscalFitnessPHX.com! Free consultations for everyone so there's no harm in calling and arming yourself with all the information!

My clients are saving money left and right and I'm so happy with where my business is heading. I'm truly blessed!

What do you think of my new logo?

Olympic Lifting

2011-12-17T17:51:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! I forgot to blog about this but today we planned to attend an olympic lifting seminar with Charles Staley. There's a gym in north Scottsdale owned by a friend of ours. We met him because we bought a bunch of equipment from him for our garage gym. We kept in touch with him and it became one of those easy friendships- we could always talk about CrossFit or WOD's with each other because we had that in common.

He was bringing in Charles Staley to do the seminar and although we don't attend his gym regularly, the owner invited us. I was so excited!

Then this morning came...I just wanted to stay in bed. I had such a long day yesterday and would have been happy if I had just stayed home today and got stuff done around here.

But, we already paid and reserved our spot so of course I got up and ready to go.

And boy am I glad I did! I had sooooo much fun! And holy cow did I ever learn A LOT! I feel so much more comfortable now doing cleans and snatches. My hip flexion is way more powerful than ever before and my start from each position (floor, below the knee, above the knee, etc) is totally improved.

And I hit a PR on my clean & jerk! This makes me soooo happy!

I always had this mental block with the clean after 90 pounds. And I knew it was all mental but I simply could not get under the bar. I couldn't get my body to go through that motion once I hit 90 pounds.

When we were at the seminar, I felt so much stronger technically and since everyone is standing around watching you, failure is not really an option! I hit 90 then I hit 95 and then I hit 100! He wanted me to keep going but this was the last thing we did and after 6 hours of doing olympic lifts, every part of my body was exhausted. I was physically beat and wanted to end on a good note. I didn't think I had much left and I was happy with hitting 100. I'm excited to try 110 again soon though!

Considering it's probably been 6 months since I've done a lift, to go out and PR my clean feels damn good.

Until tomorrow,

2012 goals

2011-12-11T19:51:00.001-08:00

Do you have goals in mind for 2012?

I haven't even begun to think about it. In previous years, I've put a lot of thought into my goals for the year, spent time doing a mid-year review, and evaluating them at year end.

Then 2011 happened. We've got the issue with our home in Michigan and trying to short sale that and we've got the career change- both which impacted every one of my goals pretty drastically.

I have been eating well this past year and continue to stick with the paleo lifestyle- with a few cheat days every now and then but usually followed by getting right back on the bandwagon.

I get a big fat fricken "F" with my fitness goals. In fact, I barely workout these days. In 2012, I want to try and "play" more- softball, volleyball, rollerblading, hiking, etc. Less "exercising" and more "having fun actively."

I also get a big fat "F" with my financial goals. But we won't talk about that. With the things going on with the short sale, I can't really disclose anything on here. Sorry. Once that is over and done with, I hope to return to blogging about my budgets and goals since I know a lot of people followed for that reason.

Then there were my "Life" goals- the only category I did okay in. Work less than 45 hours each week, live greener, see my chicas, stop calling MI home, etc. How about leaving that crappy job? I guess that reduced my hours didn't it? And we've totally switched to green products from cleaning to cosmetics. I did get to see my chicas and I consider AZ my home now.

I must say, the person who set those 2011 goals doesn't even exist anymore. I feel like such a different person now than I was a year ago. A happier, less stressed, more balanced and healthy person. I smile and laugh more now than I did earlier this year. I didn't realize how grumpy I had become.

One thing I haven't blogged about is that I'm now in a size 4 jeans and small tops and I've lost some weight. Mind you, I've actually been working out drastically less than earlier this year so I assume this is directly related to stress.

I guess I'm totally on the fence for 2012 goals.

Total Cheat Day

2011-12-09T06:39:00.001-08:00

Oh my, last night was a total cheat night for me. Mark this day on the calendar because now I can't cheat for another month!

I was presenting to a bunch of financial advisors from 5:30-7:30PM. They said "dinner will be served." I should just know and plan from now on that even when they say this, I probably can't eat whatever they have. Last night it was sandwiches. I should have just waited til I got home to eat but I didn't.

So now I can't cheat for another 30 days. Let the fun times begin!

I'm working on my branding for Fiscal Fitness. Today I received my first round of logo ideas from the graphic designer. It's definitely round 1 because I don't LOVE any of them. The colors he used were green & black- like true green- so they're all very stark. And all the fonts are "robotic" looking to me. I think he was going with this "fitness" idea so they all look like something you'd see on a gym sign for example. I want something a little softer so back to the drawing board we go!

Hopefully a week from now I'll have an updated logo to show everyone! I'm excited to see the final result for sure!

I actually worked out twice this week plus one night of softball.

Last night we dropped down to 30* here in the valley. That's fricken cold! Oh my! Talk about not wanting to get out of bed this morning! Brrr!!!

Week in photos...

2011-12-04T19:45:00.001-08:00

Gosh, I feel like I have absolutely no time lately! I'm running all over the place...it must be this time of year.

I was on a local talk radio station for Fiscal Fitness Phoenix yesterday. It was a lot of fun! I hope to do it again soon. As soon as they post the podcast, I will link to it here so any of you who want to listen can!

I finally got some (not all) of my Christmas decorations up and yesterday I had a holiday party where I played the piano. Here, I'll just let you see all the pictures... ENJOY!

Well hello there!

2011-11-28T21:27:00.001-08:00

I worked out! I worked out! It's been so hit or miss these days. Luckily I haven't noticed anything with my weight, but that's probably because I've been really good with my diet. Whew!

I have been playing softball once each week and Michael & I usually practice once each week too.

This week I put the days in my planner of when I plan to workout. Tonight, tomorrow is softball, then Thursday and we'll probably go hiking one day this weekend.

What else is new? I've been browsing ideas on how to decorate the outside of my house this year for the holidays. Last year, I didn't decorate because of stress and time and money and yada yada, but I really want to decorate this year. But I have 3 main issues:

First, one we all know, I'm cheap. I don't like to spend money on things.
Second, I live in the desert. You know those cute snowmen you see at the store? Or the nice signs that say "Let it snow". Well, I think they're completely ridiculous to have on your house if you live in Phoenix, Arizona because umm...it doesn't SNOW HERE!
Finally, I have clients coming to my house frequently so I have to try and be PC with what I choose. "Merry Christmas" may offend someone so I have to choose "Happy holidays."

But, even with these challenges, I think I've figured out some decoration ideas so check back soon and hopefully I'll have some pictures for you!

Are you decorating for the holidays?

Meal Plan

2011-11-13T17:49:00.001-08:00

I don't have much to blog about so I thought I'd write our meal plan for this week. It's strict paleo since I had a pretty serious cheat day a few days ago. It wasn't planned...I attended a presentation that said "dinner provided" and it ended up being chinese food. Breaded egg rolls, fried rice, etc. There was NOTHING that was paleo. Usually at these events they have chicken and vegetables or sandwiches and I eat the insides- deli meat, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. But no, chinese... Totally surprised. I don't mind having a cheat day once in a while & actually think it's necessary for me to stick with healthy eating overall. I only wish I KNEW it was a cheat day because then I would have had a chocolate and banana shake from Sonic instead! :)

Here we go-

Monday

Eggs w/ veggies (red pepper, zucchini) & blackberries

Leftovers from Sunday's dinner

Roasted chicken & spinach salad w/ beets, carrots, walnuts, and homemade dressing

Tuesday

Sausage & sweet potato hash skillet

Pork bratwurst & spinach salad

Chili

Wednesday

Eggs & coleslaw

Turkey rollups

Chicken picatta w/ capers & asparagus

Thursday

Smoothie

Chili leftovers

Stuffed peppers

Friday

Breakfast sausage & fruit

Stuffed peppers leftover

Grilled chicken w/ brussel sprouts & bacon

Saturday

Pancakes (paleo)

Turkey rollups

Eating out w/ family

Sunday

Eggs

Chicken Arizona sausage & summer squash

Pantry/Leftovers-whatever was unused

Today Michael & I went to a park nearby and played softball. We warmed up by playing catch, then took turns hitting to the other person. It was great to practice fielding and throwing to "first base" and catching fly balls. It was a ton of fun!

So, what are you eating this week? Will it leaving you feeling sluggish or energized?

injured

2011-11-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

Today was a super busy day. After a day out and about, I got home just in time to walk in the door & do a quick change into my softball gear. If you've ever seen those fast-changing circus acts, I could compete with them.

I stripped & changed in my dining room. We arrived at the ball fields just in time for me to walk onto the field & swing a bat. Surprisingly, I didn't hurt myself by running to first base (I was out, by the way) but the first play of the game as infielder, I pulled/tore my quad.

As the game played on, it slowly got worse & now it sucks big time. I'm going to use the stick and then my husband is most likely going to force me to ice it. I'm the biggest wuss when it comes to icing. I'm a pretty tough chick as long as you don't make me ice any muscles.

So, that totally sucks... and as fun as the game was, I was very aware of the pain down the front of my left leg the whole time. Every play, I couldn't hustle the way I wanted...or if I did, then I regretted it once the play was over & I remembered I had pulled it.

We played a heck of a lot better tonight than we did last week. We're slowly feeling each other out & learning how each person plays. We'll be awesome by the end of the season...we might even win a game! :)

Batter up!

2011-11-01T21:08:00.001-07:00

One of my new goals is to have more fun working out. Exercise, but do it in a more playful way. We've got boxing gloves and a kick guard so I'm planning to incooperate more of that into my workouts.

And I'm going to play softball once a week too! Tonight was our first game. We lost quite amazingly but I had soooo much fun! I played 2nd base which wasn't so bad. I had one really good stop and then a bunch hit to my left and right-too far for me to get to. But, I ran around a lot and had one really solid hit and even stole a base.

If tonight's game made me realize one thing, though, it's that I'm old. Fricken old. Oh my goodness, I am not nearly as graceful as I once was & I definitely felt stiff and awkward. I need to practice my throwing skills for sure!

Oh, I have another fun thing to announce. I'm going to be performing in a concert this coming holiday season! I told my piano teacher I need a little bit of motivation to practice these days and it was her idea. Honestly, I think it's brilliant!

We're going to host a concert the first week of December for our friends and their children. The whole idea is to "act like a kid". It's for the kids but also for the adults. I'm going to play Christmas music on the piano, she's going to do a sing-a-long performance that she's done before and two other girlfriends are also going to put on a small performance.

The holidays are fun but we wanted to really try and encourage the SPIRIT of Christmas. No gifts, no requirements, just hanging out, goofing around together, and enjoying each others' company! I love it and I'm so excited! I will definitely let you know how it goes!

We bought a new iMac computer yesterday. It's wonderful. I absolutely love it. We've been looking at them for a while... wait, let me rephrase that, my husband has been looking at them for a while and we decided it was time. As soon our laptop dies (we keep thinking it's about to happen but it's still truckin') we also plan to buy the Mac Air. I'm so sick of lugging that big laptop around with me to my meetings all day.

Crazy couple of weeks

2011-10-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

I'm here! I'm here! So, like I said in my last post, I was going out of town. I didn't really say where and why because it was a surprise. My friend Amy from Chicago and I were flying into Philadelphia to surprise our other friend Lexi for her birthday. It was a wonderful vacation! Here are some pictures!

We took a tour of a bunch of wineries- it was SO MUCH FUN!

All the ladies at Winery Numero Uno!

Aren't we GORGEOUS!? :-P

Our "duck face". Obviously Lexi & Amy are pros... me? Not so much...

Our new puppy is doing pretty darn good. She's such an awesome addition to our family. Here's my hubby with the puppies in bed...so much for me having a spot in the bed!

And here's her cuddling with me during one of her many naps. When she sleeps, she has to be on you or next to you!

Let's see, there's so much more to tell you. Are you still reading?

Also while in Philadelphia, my friend Amy took some headshots for me. I'm not sure which one I like the best so I'll include a few! She is such an amazing photographer! Check out her website!

Which one is your favorite?

And I've worked out a few times but not consistently. Last week I had a really fun workout that was not planned at all. I was watching a friend's 10-month old daughter. The only time she was happy was if she was in her stroller so I took her for a jog. But when I came to a 4-foot wall, I did some wall jumps. Then I jogged some more til I reached a tennis court and I did a bunch of suicides. Then jogged some more and did a few more wall jumps. It was a lot of fun.

Today I did a quick WOD:

3 rounds of 10 overhead squats just with a PVC pipe, 15 box jumps, and 20 kettlebell swings.

It took me 8:21. It should have been a lot faster but I'm definitely feeling out of shape these days. I need to be better about working out consistently.

Best meal ever & Paleo Challenge update

2011-10-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our 6-year anniversary! It's been a very easy, simple, and enjoyable six years and I couldn't ask for a more wonderful husband.

We went to a restaurant in Scottsdale called Posh. It's an improvisational restaurant. You get a "menu" which is essentially a list of ingredients. You cross off any you don't like (i.e. sweetbreads otherwise known as brains) and you write down any allergies you have. You can be as adventuresome as you choose- they have beef and chicken and fish but they have sweetbreads, kangaroo, alligator, etc.

They take your "menu" back to the cooks and based on your likes and dislikes, the cook chooses what you eat- they decide on the spot hence the "improv" part of the place. Your experience is never duplicated!

I have to tell you, I was nervous, but oh my word, it was the best meal I've ever had. Michael said the same thing and we had different food. And I ate KANGAROO! That's right! I didn't cross it off so I knew I could potentially get it. When they brought it to me I was scared but it was quite tasty. Everything was de-lish!

From there we went to a concert- Colin Hay which is the lead singer of Men at Work. It was a great concert- he is an amazing singer and his songs put you in a trance. He was also really funny and told a lot of stories and interacted with the crowd.

Our meal was as close to Paleo as you could get. I put down "no gluten" and "no dairy". There was definitely some sugar added to my dessert and maybe some of the other courses but I couldn't tell for certain. All the ingredients were so incredibly fresh, it was as close to paleo as you can get.

I did eat some cheese Wednesday night and Friday I had a couple new zits. So it's DEFINITELY the dairy that causes me to breakout. Otherwise, I've been really good at sticking to the paleo challenge.

I'm going away this coming weekend for 4 days though and I have a feeling my Paleo Challenge will be derailed! It's the last and final weekend of the challenge but of course, I'm going to be with a very special friend so it's going to be hard not to cheat. I don't want to be thinking about it all the time so hopefully I can strike some sort of balance.

Here's a picture of us from our date last night- Happy Anniversary to us! :)

Another update

2011-09-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Another Paleo Day done. I ate at a restaurant today for lunch and had BBQ pork brisket. I'm thinking the BBQ sauce had some sugar in it but I can't be certain. I had an afternoon meeting at a coffee shop and I ordered a green tea instead of a foofoo coffee drink.

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday about my acne. It's insane to me but it has done a complete 180 over the past week. I don't have any zits at all right now and a week ago, I had a gazillion. Today I left the house for about an hour and I didn't put on any makeup. Normally I can't do that because I have to wear foundation to cover up the pimples.

Seriously, it's a total difference over this past week but I'm not sure I'm convinced just yet that it's from the Paleo diet. My face tends to be either really good or really bad so this could just be my hormonal cycle doing what it normally does. Or it could be from eating better. Or a combination of the two. So I'm interested to see how my complexion looks the next couple of weeks...

Going strong...

2011-09-20T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Sorry to go a few days without blogging but things have been going good. I worked out on Sunday with a girlfriend and had so much fun!

I figured since I'm doing the 30-day Paleo Challenge from Mark's Daily Apple, I should probably do one of the workouts from there as well.

We did 500 reps! That was our exercise- do 500 reps. We had 6 different exercises to choose from and you could mix and match and take breaks whenever you choose. So I don't know exactly how many of reps of each particular movement I did, but it was a lot harder than I thought it'd be. Here are the 6 exercises I could choose from-
Weighted Lunges (25# plate)
Broad Jump (feet shoulder width apart- jump as far as you possibly can)
Plank (1 second = 1 rep)
Pull-ups (I used some assistance)
Push-ups (modified)
Squats

I tried to limit the number of planks I did only because those were the easiest for me. He made a comment on his blog that you can choose to do a lot of reps of the movement that's easiest for you and then the workout itself will be easier. Or you could choose do focus more on the movements that are more challenging and of course, the workout as a whole will be harder. I think I was more on the "challenging" spectrum which was good.

My quads from the broad jumps, lunges, and squats are soooooo sore today! Oh my goodness! I think the broad jumps are one of my favorite new movements- it's a very powerful and functional exercise that is not at all easy. Here's a video in case you're not sure what I'm talking about- check it out! Love it!

I've been doing really well eating Paleo. I had dinner at a friend's house on Saturday and had 2 glasses of wine (which is okay) but then I had a mixed drink with Diet soda and alcohol. Obviously, the diet soda is not technically allowed and I didn't even think about it until it was too late.

You may not want to keep reading... TMI coming- you have been warned!

I've been having serious gas these past few days! The only thing I can think of that's causing it is the increase in nuts I've been eating. I stocked up on Friday from the grocery store so I've been eating more than I probably should in one day. I don't measure my food or anything anymore so I have no idea if I'm only eating 1 oz or not. But I'll add almonds to my salad or I'll have some grapes and walnuts or a handful of macademia nuts.

So I'm going to go the next 3 days (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) without eating any and see how I'm feeling. Mark's Daily Apple is all about testing your body's reaction to things so here I go!

How are things going with you?

Primal Challenge Day 4

2011-09-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

Today is Day #4 right? Wow, I'm a financial coach who can't count...don't tell anyone!

I have to admit- today I felt AWESOME! I had tons of energy throughout the day. I had one of those days where you look back over it and think, "Hot damn, I got a lot done! YES!"

It feels terrific.

I'm not really ready to link this energy level to the Paleo Challenge just yet. I'm a pretty productive person in general so this could have just been a good day. They happen.

If my energy level stays consistently high, however, then I'll attribute it to my healthy eating habits!

I must say, too, that my skin looks pretty good right now. It's definitely better than it was last week. No NEW zits so that's a good thing! Again, my acne is completely unpredictable so this could just be coincidence.

How was your energy level today? Did you get a lot done or was it a "blah" day?

My measurements

2011-09-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

"I like big butts and I cannot lie, you other brothers can't deny, when a girl walks in..."

You're welcome. You're going to have that song in your head all day now! (insert evil laugh here)

Yesterday I took my measurements and they're something like the Baby Got Back - "36-24-36? Only if she's 5'3"..."

For comparison purposes:
The date was 9/13, it was 6:30PM and I was wearing work clothes without shoes.

Weight 137.8
Neck 32
R/L Arm (same) 28.5
Chest 90
Shoulders 103
Waist 72
Hips 104
R/L Thigh (same) 49
R/L Cafe (same) 36.4

All of those are in centimeters (in case you were wondering). So my Baby Got Back measurements are 35-28-41. Booyah!

Today and yesterday were both really good Paleo days. It wasn't easy because I had meetings all day both days & yesterday lunch was provided. I feel really good today and felt focused and productive all day.

So far, so good!

Crazy busy

2011-09-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

I want to blog about Day 2 of the Paleo Challenge but I don't have time. Today I remembered to take my measurements and my weight- something I should have done yesterday or even the day before but forgot.

I was busy ALL day today and tomorrow is not going to be any different. I've got some prep work to do before I head out tomorrow and I promised myself I'd go to bed at a decent hour- getting adequate sleep is also part of the Paleo Challenge!

Tomorrow I'll update with all my measurements but I'll give you this hint:

I'm a curvy bitch.

...and damn proud of it! LOL

MAKE ToDaY GREAT!!

Primal Challenge Day 1

2011-09-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Well, Day Numero Uno of the 30-day Paleo Challenge is over and I have to admit, it felt like any other day.

I'd have to say that 5 days out of every week, I eat strict paleo. It's just those other two days- when I'm on the road for work or meeting clients/friends at a restaurant that I tend to cheat.

The question on the Mark's Daily Apple today got me thinking about what exactly I'm trying to achieve with this challenge and here it is-

I want to become acutely aware of how my food choices (particularly the small "cheats" I make) affect my energy level, my acne, and my weight.

There it is. Because I'm healthy most of the time, I tend to tell myself that those cheats each week don't matter. I think that's a total lie that I'm telling myself but I need proof. So I'm planning to observe and make mental notes of how I'm feeling and what my complexion looks like. Of course, I'm hoping my skin is uber clear and flawless by the end of the 30 days but we'll just have to see.

I also want to be more active during the day. Since I spend a lot of time at home, at my desk, at my computer, I don't want to become lazy. This is my goal but ever since I got the new puppy (see prior post), she has to go out every 30 minutes so that's no problem at all!

The only "mistake" I made today and I didn't even realize it wasn't allowed or I wouldn't have done it is put agave nectar in my morning coffee. I literally put one drop every morning and did not realize this would violate the challenge so going forward I won't do that obviously. You're not supposed to consume any additional sweeteners of any kind which is what agave nectar is so oopsy.

Here's what I ate today & how I felt:
Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with bacon and various veggies- red pepper, broccoli, zucchini, etc.
Coffee with coconut milk and agave nectar (oops)

Snack:
Leftover mashed sweet potatoes, leftover strips of bacon

Lunch:
Chicken apple sausage
Salad with spinach, carrots, red peppers, zucchinis, olive oil and vinegar
Apple with almond butter

I was really tired after lunch and even fell asleep on the couch for a power nap.

Snack:
Espresso with coconut milk
Nectarine

Dinner:
Chorizo skillet with diced tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and red peppers
Nectarine

What did you eat today? :-P

So awesome!

2011-09-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited right now. My readers are awesome! I'm really looking forward to blogging the 30-day Primal Challenge starting on Monday and Cheri over at No Crying in CrossFit is going to do the same! You guys have totally motivated me to keep blogging and get back into my routine...

I'm going to give the challenge all I've got and blog about how it goes.

But, in the meantime, look what we got yesterday:

The big dog has been ours for quite a while. But that little shit, she's new. Her name is Storm because one of Michael's patients found her in a storm drain. I was really rooting for Bacon but someone pointed out that if I named my dog Bacon, I'd always feel weird thinking or saying, "Mmmm Bacon." So true.

We think she's a Chihuahua and Dachsund mix but her vet appointment isn't until Monday so we're sort of guessing. Although a friend of ours has just that and she looks just like her.

It took her all of 5 minutes to piss in the house twice, find the cords to chew on, bite my toes, and tear apart the roll of paper towel I was using to clean up the pee. I was alone at the time but I was literally crying with laughter because I realized, "What were we thinking?"

But when she's not chasing my feet when I walk through the room, she's a snuggle-bug. And if we're too busy to cuddle with, well, let's just say she's found an alternative.

It's been an exciting 24 hours to the say the least!

Any followers left?

2011-09-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

I'm curious if I have any followers left anymore? I have been updating so scarcely I wouldn't be surprised if you've all left! :) I have no excuses...

Fiscal Fitness has a Facebook page where I share budgeting tips, ideas, quotes, articles, etc. Please "Like" the Facebook page- click HERE!

I'm excited to announce that the 30-day Primal Blueprint Challenge begins on Monday! Click HERE to read more about this challenge! You absolutely, positively should consider GETTING PRIMAL for these 30 days. I know I will be doing it and I couldn't be more excited about it. It's the kick-in-the-pants I need right now.

Also, I really like the Robb Wolf podcasts over at The Paleo Solution. But I must tell you that this one recently done is one of the best ones yet. Please take a few minutes out of your week to listen to this!

Next week the temps in AZ are supposed to start decreasing FINALLY. It's been so hot and we desperately need a break. Don't get me wrong, it's still going to be over 100 for another two weeks but then it will start going down quickly.

This past weekend we were in Michigan visiting with family and getting ready to list our home there. Here are a few pictures of me with my sisters, nieces, and grandparents.

My nieces showing me their mad face. LOL I love these girls!

Me with my two sisters- we're all starting to look a lot alike if you ask me!

I get it now...

2011-08-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

I normally don't watch the news. Sometimes I feel like the last person to know something that's going on but I don't mind. I really don't enjoy watching the news...

And as for the weather. It's Arizona- we have 350 sunny days every year. My husband and I joke that meteorologists in Phoenix have the easiest job... "Tomorrow it's going to be sunny, Friday it's going to be sunny, and look at that... this weekend will be sunny too."

And this time of year, it's hot. Regardless of whether it's 105 or 115, it's FLIPPING HOT!

Today the news just so happened to be on while I was working on the computer. Here's what I learned...

We've had 10 consecutive days of an Excessive Heat Warning and it's expected to continue until Friday & maybe even through the weekend. This is one of the longest stretches of excessive heat warnings we've experienced.
This year, we've had 30 days of 110+ degree temps. The average per year is only 18 days.
Yesterday we broke the daily record with a temp of 113 degrees.
Today we are expected to break the record again.

In other words people, it's FLIPPING HOT! Hotter than I realized! And honestly, it makes me feel soooo much better to learn this. Our workouts the past month have been so sketchy. I've had very little energy and I've felt sluggish big time. Michael too. We didn't know why. We've stuck so close to our paleo diet so we couldn't blame our eating habits (which is usually the culprit).

I honestly think it's this streak of heat. It's just wearing me out and I'm soooo sick of it. I don't want to even step outside. I don't want to workout because if you recall, we workout in our garage and it is simply not fun right now.

We leave in the morning for Michigan and the timing couldn't be better. It should be mid 70's and 80's while we're there and 60 degrees at night. Their evening temps will be 50+ degrees cooler than what we've been experiencing!

Maybe I should pack some sweaters...

What do you think?

2011-08-27T12:22:00.001-07:00

What do you think of the new layout? I was going for something lighter and simpler...

Hope you like it!

No regrets

2011-08-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we had every intention of working out. We even knew which workout we were planning to do and who was coming over.

But, something very important was happening tonight as well...

BACHELOR PAD!

Yes, the TV show where men and women live in a house, hook up, and kick each other out. It's awesome. It's stupid. I love it.

Normally I watched it on Hulu the day after it airs but my girlfriend had a rough few days. She came over and we enjoyed some wine, watched some stupid drama, chased the kids around the house, and just hung out.

And I'd do it again if given the choice. It was a fun night!

There's always tomorrow to workout :-P

Working out mad

2011-08-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Normally I get a text from my husband during the day to let me know we have people coming over that night to workout. If I don't receive a text, I assume that either 1) we're not working out or 2) Michael and I may workout but no one else is coming over. Our friends that come over have two kids- about 3 and 1.5 years old. I absolutely adore the kids and love when they come over. Abby (the older one) says "she's working out" and gets on the rower, does squats, or swings on the rings! It's so fun to watch her! I love that they come over, I love working out with them, and I love that Abby & Emmett are learning at a young age how important it is to be active and have fun with it.

Well, tonight I never got a text from Michael so I (foolishly) assumed no one was coming over. I have clients coming over tomorrow morning at 8am and again at 10am. The good thing about having clients coming to the house is that I've had to be good about keeping the house clean. So at 5 tonight I decided to start cleaning for tomorrow. I seriously just finished mopping when the kiddos come through the door. No! Mopping was the last thing I did- I swept, wiped down our glass end tables in the living room, vacuumed, etc. Having a 3 and 1.5 year old come over is like a tornado come through your house (normally one that I welcome). This is not a characteristic specific to Abby & Emmett- just any kid that age. I totally would have waited to clean until after working out had I realized they were coming!

I was pretty mad at Michael for not telling me. He says he was too busy but it takes 2 seconds to send the text "working out" and hit send. And those 2 seconds could have saved me quite a bit of time cleaning our house.

Anyway, the point of the story is to tell you why I almost didn't workout-mainly because I was annoyed, I wasn't dressed for it, I hadn't planned for working out, etc. I was just peeved. But, I decided to workout and I'm so glad I did. I felt much less moody afterwards & wasn't mad about it anymore. And it helped that when we came in from working out, Michael picked up the toys that were left out & put away the sippy cups so I didn't have to... In other words, working out is GOOD for the SOUL! :)

We did a burpee and dumbbell power snatch workout- each minute on the minute do 1 of each, then 2 of each, etc until the clock beats you. I was the only one that made it through 8 full rounds and I did all but 2 snatches in the 9th round (so 9 burpees and 7 snatches each hand). I was cruising through the burpees and felt really strong. Those last 2 rounds SUCKED though :)

Well, I hope everyone is having a fabulous week!

Craptastic

2011-08-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

I love when I repeat a workout and I see that I'm either stronger or faster than I was before. At the same time, I'm equally disappointed when I repeat a workout and I get slower or weaker.

The latter happened this evening.

Tonight I did Lynne- 5 rounds of bench press and pull-ups (until failure).

Here's how I did the previous two years-

Tonight I did just slightly better than 2009 but a lot worse than last year.
Bench press: 6, 7, 8, 6, 5 = 32
Pull-ups: 6, 9, 7, 5, 6 = 33

Total bummer. At least I worked out though right?

Look who's on a roll?

2011-08-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, working out twice in one week probably does not constitute being on a roll, but it's an improvement so I'll take it.

Tonight I did a workout called the "Bear Complex". I thought I would start out at 45# (just the bar) and work my way up every so often. I ended up sticking with the 45# the entire time. Every round felt a heck of a lot harder than the round before it so I figured adding extra weight wasn't necessary.

In this workout you do the following:

Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Press

You repeat those motions consecutively 7 times without setting down the bar or letting go of it. After 7 times through you can rest but you have to go through it 5 times. It's actually a really fun workout and I enjoy it. The hardest part is the push presses for me-after a few times through, those felt hard.

This past week, two different people recommended this local farmer's market to us. One was my husband's patient who told him about it then the other guy was a random fella who stopped me when he saw how many fruits and veggies were in my cart at the grocery store. Total unrelated but both conversations happened this week so I decided to go check it out this morning after volunteering. Holy cow, it's awesome. We've lived here for a few years now and never heard of this place before! I FILLED UP my cart (seriously) with fruits and veggies and my total was $20.65! They had green peppers 5 for $1 and red peppers 4 for $1. They had 8oz containers of strawberries 3 for $1. And I don't know how much asparagus is where you live, but out here in the desert, it's insane- usually $3.99/pound. They had it for .89/pound. I was so happy! I was in heaven because asparagus is one of my favorites!

It was definitely one of the highlights of my day! What was yours?

Oh snap

2011-08-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Guess who worked out tonight?!?? THIS GAL!

That's right! FINALLY! After a full "work" day (volunteered from 8-9, then 3 meetings from 9:30-11, then 11:30-1:30, and 2-4:30, then home) I got my ass into the garage gym and worked out tonight. I did 4 rounds of a 500m row with 3 minutes of rest in between. Here are my splits-
2:14
2:10
2:10
2:15

It sucked. Big time. I thought I was going to barf that whole last round. I kept thinking to myself, "I'm so out of shape, I'm so out of shape." The last time I did this workout was September 2010 so almost a year ago. My splits then were:
2:38
2:27
2:19
2:13

So even if I do feel out of shape for not working out the past month (or so), I guess I'm faster/more efficient than I was a year ago so that's good! It's so funny to go back and read old posts like that one. We were eating according to the Zone diet back then and we loved it. But it got old really fast and now we've been eating Paleo for so long, I can't imagine eating any other way. It's just funny... Today I had a lunch meeting where subs or salads were provided. I had a salad with grilled chicken of course and tried to pick around the cheese as best as possible. There were cookies everywhere- you know the kind with the big chunks of white chocolate or huge pieces of peanut butter? Oh man, I'm proud to say that I resisted but it was not easy!

Missing routine

2011-08-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone, I'm here. I'm definitely struggling with finding time to workout these days. I guess the good thing about my last job was although I worked a lot of hours, they were pretty consistent. So I could plan my schedule easily and workout at the same time every night of the week. It was easy in that way.

But now, each day is different. Some days I have appointments back to back, other days I don't have any and it's a "work" day. This past week for example, I was only home for dinner one night because the other nights I was out meeting with clients. Fiscal Fitness is going wonderfully if you can't tell. I'm definitely busy and I'm proud of where the business is heading. I'm still trying to figure it all out. I meet with clients when they're not working- so I schedule quite a few evening and weekend appointments.

I don't mind, except that it makes it very difficult to get into any kind of routine. And I like routine. I do better with consistency. It's crazy to me that it's only been 5 months since I left my last job. ONLY 5 MONTHS! Seems like forever ago and I feel like a totally different person. I'm certainly much happier but it's still too soon to say I have it all figured out. I don't but I learn something new every day and I know it will get easier eventually.

This coming week I actually penciled "workout" in my planner on specific days and times. I'm hoping that will help because I need to remember that I'm in control of my schedule and if working out is important to me (which it is) I can set my appointments accordingly.

If you have a fluctuating or random schedule, I'd love to hear from you and learn any tips you have for keeping your workouts an important part of your day.

There are some very exciting things happening with Fiscal Fitness and like I said before, I'm figuring things out. It's unbelievable to even me just how good this new adventure has been, but I don't feel like I can share too much about the business and it's growth. I have 5 presentations scheduled for August, two of which were last week. They turned out terrific and resulted in a number of new clients. Besides some "general information" I feel like I need to edit myself slightly on this blog. As a result, this blog will be about fitness and I won't be posting my budget or financial information anymore.

But just know that leaving my job to pursue this dream full-time was the best decision I made and I'm confident it will be successful.

Wine is good

2011-07-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

I couldn't think of a title for this post but in front of me is a glass of wine. It's yummy. I wanted you to know and I needed a title... VOILA!

We ended up buying a mister system for our garage and although I admit I was initially against the idea, I love it. It cools off the garage almost instantly- much quicker than the a/c unit we purchased. It doesn't use any electricity- only water and it feels terrific with the 115 degree heat.

Tonight's WOD was more strength. I'm not following any program to a t right now because my workouts have been extremely inconsistent. My goal is simply to workout and make it routine again.

Squat: 3 sets of 5 at 125#
Shoulder press: 5 sets of 3 at 60#
Deadlift: 1 set of 5 at 160#.

The squats felt wonderful- hard but I felt strong the whole time. I really focused on keeping my core tight and it helped a lot. The shoulder press was hard but I realized I wasn't resting long enough between the first couple of sets. Once I rested a bit longer, the final few sets were tough but okay. And the deadlifts were hard. Not super hard but it's been a while since I've done deadlifts.

I'm glad I worked out tonight. I'm also glad I remembered that I had a bottle of wine.

Repeat

2011-07-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I got another 4AM workout in this morning. It contained major suckitude.

I didn't go to bed until 11 last night so 4AM came pretty early. I've got a full day ahead of me so there will be no nap at any point.

My working sets (3 sets of 5 reps) today were:
Back squats 125
Bench press 75

Then I did 3 sets of pull-ups assisted with the blue bands: 7, 5, 4 reps

Every movement felt soooo hard and soooo heavy. I feel better now that I'm done though so I'm hoping the day flies by.

Like I said, I have a full day today. I have piano in the morning and another appointment after that. Then on Sunday, my in-laws are visiting for the afternoon so it will be a busy weekend as well.

Where have you been?

2011-07-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I know it's been forever since my last blog post!

We were in Vegas for a few days, then drove straight to Michael's parents' new house (did I mention they were moving out to AZ?). We didn't go home in between the two mini-trips so we lived out of a suitcase for a week.

Vegas was fun & I loved surprising my dad. Unfortunately, we didn't walk away rich but that's okay. Michael's dad had shoulder surgery about 6 weeks ago so he can't really do much in the way of the move. We spent a lot of the time we were there unpacking boxes, building shelves, etc.

By the time Sunday came around, we were both totally exhausted and ready to be in our own bed.

With all the go-go-go lately, my workouts have been completely inconsistent. It's fricken hot here in AZ and of course, our garage A/C stopped working the week before we left for Vegas. We've called two different A/C repair people and neither of them returned our calls. I know they're busy, but don't they want the business? I'm totally stunned by this...

But alas! I woke up this morning and worked out at the horrific hour of 4AM! The only time I've ever been awake that early is because I either stayed up that late or I had a plane to catch for a vacation which is always a fun reason to be awake. It was still dark out so the temp wasn't bad and I just took it easy. It's been two weeks almost since my last workout (if you don't count walking up and down the Vegas strip or lifting tons of heavy boxes) so I didn't want to overdo it.

I did 3 sets of 5 back squats w/ the bar (45#).
I did 3 sets 5 shoulder presses w/ the bar.
I did 3 sets of 5 deadlifts at 65#.
I did 75 kettlebell swings.
I did a bunch of sit-ups and push-ups.
I did a bunch of stretches which felt amazing. I felt like I hadn't stretched in forever and my body was so stiff.

Overall, it was exactly what I needed. I just needed to get moving again and it felt terrific.

Update on the MI home- we've got it posted for re-rent but it's really unlikely that we'll be able to rent it. We're planning to put it on the market in September when our tenants move out. Please wish us luck.

Crazy busy

2011-07-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I've totally been slacking on the workouts so I feel like I've got a whole lotta nuthin' to blog about these days! I worked out once earlier but did the same WOD from last week with the strength so I didn't really care to document it.

I have my budget done for the month but since it's July 8th, it seems a little late to post about it.

The Grand Canyon was great and on Tuesday we leave for Vegas. We're not even coming home after Vegas, we're driving straight to my husband's parent's new house out here. The movers picked up all of their stuff from Michigan today actually and they'll be out here next week. We're spending a few days at the new place with them helping them get things unpacked, put away, and set up for a life out in Arizona!

My Fiscal Fitness business has been better than good- it's been FANTASTIC! I've got so many appointments scheduled, so many referral partnerships that I've created, and overall I'm just so busy! Much busier than I ever anticipated I'd be this early on in starting my business. It's WONDERFUL! I'm seriously so happy and glad that I left my corporate job. There's no doubt in my mind right now that this was the right move.

We're still waiting to hear about the house in Michigan and what's going on with that but I'll keep you guys posted.

Tonight Michael and I are heading out for sushi and a movie. It's a date night! I'm so excited! Tomorrow I have piano and then a few appointments so it's going to be a busy day. What are your plans for this weekend?

Awesome camping weekend.

2011-07-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the Grand Canyon this past weekend. We originally planned to hike down to the bottom and back up in one day but those plans were squashed even before we left. Unfortunately, even northern Arizona is experiencing a heat advisory so instead of the normal 80 degrees at the canyon, it was a whopping 95 & as high as 115 at the bottom of the canyon. They were strongly advising hikers not to travel down into the canyon. It will have to be something that stays on our bucket list for now! We hiked a couple of miles down & back up and boy, was it ever hot!

Someday...

We also weren't allowed to make any fires due to the extreme dryness & heat we're experiencing. I was really disappointed since camping doesn't really seem complete without a campfire but it wasn't that bad actually. Michael and I hung out at the campsite, played some games, read our books, and listened to music. That's when we weren't site-seeing and hiking of course.

Here are some pictures from our weekend. I hope everyone else had a fabulous 4th of July!

Starting Strength

2011-06-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

Michael and I had an awesome workout last night. We're starting a new program called "Starting Strength" where we do strength exercises only- squats, bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups, chin-ups, and deadlifts. Last night was night numero uno.

It was hot here in the valley yesterday & it's supposed to repeat itself today. There's a "heat advisory" because we hit 115. Yucky! This weekend we're heading up north to the Grand Canyon where at night it's around 50 degrees. I can't wait to wear a sweatshirt and be chilly! I can't wait to sit around the campfire! And I can't wait to feel a breeze again!

Here's my workout from last night-

Back squat:
3 sets of 5 reps @ 45#
1 set of 3 reps @ 70#
1 set of 2 reps @ 95#
3 sets of 5 reps @ 120#

Bench press:
3 sets of 5 reps @ 45#
1 set of 3 reps @ 45#
1 set of 2 reps @ 60#
3 sets of 5 reps @ 70#

Chin-ups:
3 sets to failure- 5, 5, 4 (I used the blue assistance band because they were supposed to be strict and I can probably only do 1 strict chin-up)

An update on the homemade skin care-
If you remember, I started experimenting w/ making an exfoliator, face wash, and moisturizer out of things you find in your kitchen. I've tweaked the recipes just a tad since my first attempt. I added coconut flour to the face wash which helped the texture- it thickened it up quite a bit. I also stopped using yogurt. I don't eat dairy (or at least try to eat very little of it) so I realized that putting yogurt on my face was probably not the best idea. I've used the scrub on my legs, arms, etc and absolutely love it still! Currently I don't have any pimples so I'm pretty excited about it!

Busy

2011-06-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Did you miss me? :)

We've officially started a 4-week stretch of craziness! This weekend we were house/pet-sitting for Michael's Aunt. They have a house up north and we love visiting them or hanging out at their house in general. It's really western, super comfortable, and totally laid back. Oh, did I forget to mention they have 5 dogs? Yeah- 5 dogs! Luckily, the dogs are not super annoying- they don't jump in your face or slobber everywhere. They're really not bad, I assure you. But add in our furbaby and it was Michael & I with 6 dogs. Here are some pictures:

Notice the furry little butt sticking out from under the chair? tee hee. Here's one of our dog (on the floor) and the other small furball.

At the time I took these pictures, the other 2 dogs were napping in the bed with Michael. Seriously, most of the time all 6 dogs just slept!

This coming weekend we are camping for 3 nights at the Grand Canyon! I'm sooooo excited!

Then the next weekend we think Michael's parents are moving out here from Michigan. They were supposed to be here a few weeks ago but you know how house closings go- there's usually some sort of delay but it looks like the 7th/8th they'll be here. After spending the weekend helping them unpack, paint, and clean, we turn around and head up to Las Vegas to surprise my parents. They have no idea we're going so again, i'm sooooo excited!

But jeesh, it makes for a hectic month!

We took the week off from working out but plan to get back into the swing of things tomorrow. We're doing a new program which I'll talk about tomorrow probably.

Peace out homies!

Going to be sick

2011-06-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

We found out today that July will be the final month our tenants will be renting our Michigan home from us.

*sigh*

I feel sick.

Random

2011-06-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

I wonder how many of my blog posts start with the title "Random."

This week has just been weird. Not necessarily bad or anything but I haven't been sleeping well at all. So each day I've sort of felt blah. Last week I worked out every night and this week not at all.

I finally worked out tonight though. I did a squat tabata and ended with 108 squats. Then I did frenchies- which is when you do a pull-up but hold at the top position for 5 seconds, lower so your arm is parallel and hold again. Then as you get stronger, you hold for longer or do more sets. Tonight I did 3 sets with my hands in two different positions.

So, what's the verdict on the face wash? It's been a few days and the only change I've made is that I added 1 tbsp of yogurt to the face wash (banana mixture) as well as a bit of apple cider vinegar. The texture got a bit runny as it set which was why I did this.

I have to say, I absolutely LOVE the moisturizer now. I'll probably never buy an actual moisturizer again because I like this mix so much. I definitely gooped too much on the first time because every time since then, it goes on smooth, takes a few minutes to soak in, but then feels great. And at night I put more on since I know I'm not going anywhere. It works surprisingly well as an eye makeup remover as well which I read online & it's true!

It's only been a few days but I don't have any new pimples but the 3 nasty ones I got right before I switched are still hanging out. They are on my chin and hurt like hell. I'll be glad when they're gone. I'm already seeing a change in my complexion though. Nothing drastic but it has a much nicer "glow" to it than it did before.

I plan to stick with it for a while before making any changes but as of right now, I'm really happy with the feel, look, and results.

My newest obsession?

2011-06-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

I've blogged here a lot about the Cosmetic Database and how a lot of our skin care products and make-up have hazardous chemicals in them. I won't get on my soapbox again, I promise.

For me, I felt as if I needed to make a change in my skin care regimen so I researched various brands and purchased new facial cleanser and moisturizer that was free of these chemicals. The problem? They're fricken expensive!!! The face wash and moisturizer I chose were $25+ each and this is about average.

And we all know I'm fricken cheap so there was just no way I could keep spending that much. Also, since I switched, my face has been breaking out a lot so these expensive products weren't even working for me.

In all my research, I kept coming across websites on making your own skin care. I dismissed it at first because it sounded too damn complicated and time-consuming. In my head, I imagined you had to go to specialty stores to buy natural oils or ingredients and it'd be just as expensive in the end.

I woke up yesterday with 3 new pimples on my chin and I figured I had to try something new.

What I found has turned out to be so much fun! My assumption that homemade skin care was complicated and time-consuming was so wrong! I learned that certain foods have specific purposes- moisturization for dry skin, treating oily skin, exfoliation, and even some foods that are best for acne-prone skin. You can take any of these ingredients and in any amounts to make your scrubs, cleansers, and moisturizers based on your own skin type. You just mix and mingle until you find one that works for you- how fun is that?

And even better, most of the ingredients you probably have in your kitchen already and if not, they're not expensive at all- cucumbers, olive oil, bananas, yogurt, honey, etc.
Here's a list of foods that help with acne.
Here's are some ideas for hair, face, skin, etc.
Here are foods that help with moisturizing if you have dry skin.
...and here are a bunch of natural exfoliators.

So here's what I decided to buy today:

All of these ingredients are optional! It depends on what you're trying to do with your skin. The castor oil was the most expensive thing at $13.99 but the bottle is huge. You can certainly buy a smaller size for cheaper but this size will last me forever. I only used a tablespoon or maybe 2 and that's it!

The grapeseed oil cost $4.49 but could easily be replaced with olive oil. I read that people with acne prefer grapeseed oil so I decided to give it a try. I probably used about 5 tablespoons of the grapeseed oil so that bottle in the picture will last quite a while.

Here's what I spent in addition to those two items:
2 bananas:                         $.42     (I have 1 banana left, I ate the rest of the banana)
1 lemon*:                           $.39    (I squeezed the lemon & only used 1 tbsp so I have a lot left!)
1 cucumber                        $.33    (I cut this & used 2 slices for my eyes so I have a lot left!)
Apple cider vinegar*:          $.92    (Didn't end up using this)
Organic, plain, yogurt*:       $3.49 (No "single-size" available, had to buy large container)
Honey*:                              $3.49 (I only used a squirt)
Case of small glass jars*:     $6.99

*Will be continuously used

We didn't have any honey, apple cider vinegar, yogurt, or glass jars in the house. If you already have any of these things, you probably just need a few fruits or veggies!

Here's the final result-

1. The exfoliator (left)- that's actually my used coffee grounds from my morning coffee! Can you believe it? I never-in-a-million-years thought I'd scrub my face with USED coffee grounds but I'll tell you what, I absolutely loved it! I mixed the grounds with olive oil until I got a nice texture. I didn't measure, just kept pouring until I thought it would "spread" okay over my face. This was by far my favorite result of today! I will never buy an exfoliator again because my skin felt amazing after using this! (I only plan to use this on my face twice a week probably but I will use it all over my body as well.)

2. The cleanser (middle)- I used:
1/3 of a banana,
1 tbsp of lemon juice,
1 tbsp yogurt,
and a squirt of honey.
I used this cleanser tonight and I liked how it felt. In fact, the smell was amazing. My only unknown is that I didn't wear makeup today so I wonder how it will feel tomorrow when I have makeup to try and get off.

3. The moisturizer (right)- This is a mixture of the castor oil and grapeseed oil and that's it. Again, I didn't measure but I tried to use 4:1 grapeseed oil for castor oil. I used this tonight and my face feels a little oily. From what I've read, it will soak in but I may have used too much grapeseed oil or I may have simply applied too much. Since the ingredients are natural oils, you need very little so I'm thinking I simply used too much out of habit.

Overall, my face feels softer, smoother, better than it has in quite a while. Only time will tell if it helps with the acne but it's fun and certainly cheaper than the alternative so that's good!

Do you think you'll give it a try?

Exciting news all around!

2011-06-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

I wish I could say I have an update on the house, but I don't.

I do, however, have some fun news for other reasons.

First, I won the Sweaty Bands photo-of-the-month contest for May! YIPPY! I get 6 free sweaty bands in the mail. Here's the photo I submitted---

If you haven't tried a sweaty band, I HIGHLY recommend you check out the website. If you workout, play sport, enjoy doing yard work, or even clean your house, these bands are awesome. They really do not slip or move! Above is a picture from the warrior dash and you can see the sweaty band is still in place! They're made really well and even look trendy!

I can't wait to get my 6 new sweaty bands in the mail.

Second, Fiscal Fitness was awarded an ASBA membership. ASBA stands for Arizona Small Business Association. They're an organization that helps small businesses in so many different ways- financial, service, etc. They're really amazing and I'm proud Fiscal Fitness was chosen!

Got another one

2011-06-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

So... how's it going?

Not much to blog about except I have another good workout done tonight. Quick but not necessarily easy.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of:
Split jerks 65#
Back extensions (on ball)

Time = 4:57

Like I said, quick workout but after doing push jerks yesterday, my upper body is definitely sore. As a result, I'm planning to let it rest Thursday. Maybe I'll do a leg-intense workout or no WOD at all. Not really sure.

Good WOD

2011-06-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight's WOD was a lot of fun-

21-15-9 reps of:
Push jerk 65#
Toes to bar

The push jerks were actually easy. The toes to bar sucked. I tore open my hand and Michael had to tape it mid-WOD so I could finish.

My time was 9:06. Would have been 9 flat but I missed on my last rep of the toes to bar and didn't hit the bar so I had to jump back up and go again. Boo.

In case you guys didn't notice, I've updated my Fiscal Fitness website with a new entry. Check it out by clicking on this link.

Woot!

2011-06-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

I spent the afternoon at the park with my hubby and our friends Mike, Heather, Abby, and Emmett...you should probably learn those names because we hang out with them constantly and they're usually over here working out with us too. Most of my stories probably involve them :)

They came over here and we all went to our pool. I'm not sure how long we were there. The water temperature was absolutely perfect. It was about 100 here in Phoenix today but as long as I was rotating between the sun, the pool, and the shade, I was perfectly fine.

After enjoying the pool, we all worked out. We took turns doing the following:
7 rounds of:
35 double unders
1 snatch

Post time and weight of snatch.

My time was 16:12 which isn't terrific but what's super awesome is how much better my double unders randomly became. We all know I struggle with those pesty things anyway but tonight I was finally stringing a bunch of them together without a little hop in between. The most I've done is 15 and I was even able to do that many consecutively on the last round of the WOD which is pretty unheard of for me.

I did 45# snatches each round.

It was a doozy. The 100* temp probably didn't help but that didn't even feel bad actually. I was surprised that the temps today didn't really seem to bother me at all.

1 RM Back squat

2011-06-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I worked toward my one rep max on my back squat. My previous 1RM was 160# but the most recent time, I was only able to do 155# for some reason. I didn't think much of it, figured it was just an off day.

This time around, I got 165#. I failed at 170# the rep after that and then failed 165# again because my legs were just toast. I want to start doing more reps at a challenging weight- say like 135#- to try and strengthen my legs more. Most WODs where I do back squat, I'll do 95# which isn't all that challenging so I think I need to push myself to go heavier.

Tonight's WOD is 7 rounds of 35 double unders and 1 snatch. Sounds like fun! Can't wait!

Also, in case you haven't noticed, I've removed the "Dream Fund" status bar from my blog. Right now, it's not our dream fund. It's additional emergency fund money that we're likely to use as well as our emergency fund. It's depressing for me to see the goal listed on my blog, knowing we won't be working toward it and are more likely going to use it all. So, say good-bye :)

Not my brightest idea ever

2011-05-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

In my post from earlier today I mentioned how I had the flu this past weekend. I got sick Sunday evening and threw up until early Monday morning. So on Monday, I pretty much just laid around all day, still feeling a bit icky, hadn't eaten, didn't have anything left in me, but didn't have an appetite either.

So today when I woke up feeling better, I was gosh darn ready to get off the couch and be productive and active. First thing this morning, I took the dog for her morning bike ride as normal. Got home and did a bunch of stretches and minimal exercises- squats, push-ups, lunges, etc- to try and warm up my body. I felt stiff all over from being such a total bum the days before. Plus, don't you hate how every muscle aches after you've spent the night throwing up? My abs and neck were so stiff/sore feeling!

After lunch I was itching to get outside so I took the dog for a short jog. I mean, we're talking less than 2 miles so like I said, not at all far but still, it felt good.

Tonight we had the "Filthy Fifty" planned with our friends who workout at our house. I wasn't planning to do the workout since I hadn't even been "healthy" for one full day and it's one hell of a workout. Here's what it calls for-

50 box jumps
50 jumping pull-ups
50 kettlebell swings (35#)
50 walking lunges
50 knees to elbows
50 push press (45#)
50 back extensions (on ball)
50 wallballs (20#)
50 burpees
50 double unders

Obviously, doing 500 reps the day after you've barfed up your insides, probably not a good idea. And I was very aware of that as everyone started showing up and was thinking I'd skip it and do something lighter.

But I did it anyway.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

The last time I did this workout was July 2009! That's a SUPER long time ago- almost TWO years! Wow! The WOD was scaled so differently at that time, it's almost pointless to compare my time between then and now. I did it at a gym back then, used a captain's chair instead of actual knees-to-elbows, used an 11# ball for wallballs, did 100 single jumps instead of double unders because I couldn't do a double under back then, etc.

Tonight my time was a very pathetic 43:45. I'm not proud of the time but I'm proud of not dying or puking because I was extremely close. The wallballs and burpees were horrible. The up-down-up-down motion brought me very close to throwing up and I was definitely light-headed. I told myself to take as many breaks as needed and just finish. I was only able to do 5 wallballs and 5 burpees at a time- not good.

But hey, I got it done.

Disclaimer- I only did 35 knees-to-elbows then 15 sit-ups. My grip sucked & I felt like I couldn't hold onto the bar.

There are some amazing videos of CrossFit chicks doing this WOD in half the time it took me. They are my idols!

Fight Gone Bad Round 3

2011-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight I did Fight Gone Bad.

First of all, totally did not want to workout. I had just poured myself a glass of wine when some of our friends called to say they were coming over to workout. I hadn't taken a sip of my wine so I decided to do the WOD with everyone. That's definitely one good thing about working out with others- motivation and accountability at its finest.

Second, it was 87 degrees when we worked out. Yikes!

Third, did I mention I wasn't really feeling like working out? Then to do Fight Gone Bad, which is one of the most challenging WOD's (in my opinion) was just crazy talk.

Here's the WOD-
3 rounds, change each minute on the minute:
Wallballs 20#
SDLHP 45#
Box jumps
Push Press 45#
Row for kcal

I've done this WOD 2 other times but never with these weights. The last time I did it was August 2009 so a really long time ago! I used an 11# ball because the gym did not have a 20# ball and I jumped up and down from a bench versus the 20" box we have now.

My FGB score in January 2009 was 262.
My FGB score in August 2009 was 273.

Tonight my score was 249. Yes, I went down technically but I'm not at all upset about it. The biggest difference comes from my wallball score which was 30 reps each round back in 2009 but tonight I was in the 16-20 range. The push press and sumo-deadlift high pulls were so much easier tonight than I remember them being! I only did 10 or 11 push presses each round before but I know I did more than that tonight.

Tonight was the first time I did the workout at the same time as anyone else too so there's a bit of a transition delay to get on the rower. Overall, I feel really good about my score and can't wait to crush it in the future!

On Friday Michael's boss invited us to spend the day on his boat. It was so much fun! The weather and water temp was absolutely perfect! I tried wake boarding for the first time and absolutely loved it. Hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to post some pictures.

Tomorrow is my official first day volunteering at the library. I had my orientation last week and will be volunteering two mornings each week. I'm so excited!

More Hang Power Cleans

2011-05-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight I did hang power cleans with the following reps at 80-85% of my one rep max-
3-3-3-1-1-1

I did 85#-85#-85#-90#-90#95#

80-85% would be 85 or 90# but that seemed easy so I did the last rep at 95. I can't wait until I can do my for real one rep max because these have been feeling really good lately. I watched a video online and made one little tweak with my form and it was like voila! So much better!

My current one rep max is 105 but I'm feeling strong and hoping that I will be able to beat that!

Good workout

2011-05-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

I'd have to say this was one of my favorite workouts- fairly quick, little bit of everything, yet not easy.

1,000 meter row
80 squats
60 sit-ups
40 push-ups
20 pull-ups

Time = 17:44

I knew the push-ups and pull-ups would be my weakness but I thought I'd make up the time on the squats and sit-ups. Unfortunately, my legs are sore from the back squats I did two days ago so the air squats were not fun. I was only able to do 10 at a time but luckily I flew right through the sit-ups. My pull-ups have really become better. I am using my upper body much more than my legs finally but I'm still holding at the top before pushing off. I need to keep working on that of course.

TMI

2011-05-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

I'm going to follow my friend Jess's lead here and share probably more information than you wanted. I love Jess, she blogs about whatever her cute little self feels like blogging about. Today, for example, she discussed the exam she received at the doctor's office and how it felt like she was checking her molars via the long route. LOL. How hilarious is that? You should probably just read it yourself... click here.

Let's talk hormones, more specifically, our frenemy Aunt Flo.

See, I only get her like once a year (thank you IUD and yes, this is a typical side effect for most women). As you can imagine, this is quite a nice little perk of the IUD except that I feel ill-equipped to deal with it since it does only happen randomly. There's no simple cycle to follow, days to count, calendar to check off, etc.

The emotions are CRAZY. I'm seriously sooooo anxious! I'm generally a positive person with a streak of sarcasm (very thick streak) but holy cow, this week I have been incredibly anxious. I'm worrying about things that I have no business worrying about and I have absolutely zero control over. Let me give you an example... Today, I shit you not, I found myself worrying about how long it would take me to do my 2011 taxes now that I have a business. Yes, the taxes that aren't even DUE 'til April 2012! And I don't mean that the thought crossed my mind... I was literally worrying about it!
And then I've been so tired. Yesterday I slept in, then took a nap in the afternoon, then still went to bed at 10PM, only to sleep until 7:30 this morning (or 9.5 hours, most people are probably jealous of that).

Finally, for the past few days I've looked like I'm carrying a fricken watermelon in front. I look pregnant- my belly is fricken huge and I feel bloated and just blah.

I cannot wait for this week to be over with.

Oh, by the way, I cheated on my "30-day no cheat challenge" today. I ate a gluten-free pizza that was phenomenal! It had cheese on it which I'm not allowed to have on paleo so yeah, definitely cheated. Boo.

Squat it out

2011-05-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

Totally unplanned workout just now- I suppose that's one benefit of having a garage gym- you can workout spur of the moment if you feel like it.

I did 5 rounds of 5 back squats each at 115#. 70% of my one rep max of 160 is 112 so that's what I was shooting for. They felt good- definitely hard at the end but I felt strong.

Gotta love random workouts!

Shoulder press

2011-05-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

I started the week off great with my workouts. I worked out Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday...then I sucked the rest of the week.

I did workout today though so I guess 4 workouts in one week is alright. Today I did 5x5 shoulder press at 70% my one rep max. My 1 rep max is only 80# so I did 5 sets of 5 reps at 55#... that's a lot of 5's.

It wasn't easy. I definitely grunted a few times :) but I loved it. Super quick WOD- get in, get it done, get back to work. I love it.

I'm still doing good on my no-cheat challenge. It's not easy. I've been tempted so many times, especially when I meet a client or other professional at a coffee shop for example. I really need to start scheduling them at libraries or hotels where I'm not tempted to order something!

I got a new client this week so I'm excited about that. This past week I had 3 client sessions, two meetings with other professionals to get a synergy going with, and two networking events. I have to say, I am absolutely in LOVE with what I'm doing. It's so challenging at times to stretch myself outside of my comfort zone, but when it comes to meeting with the clients, it makes me incredibly happy and everything else is worth it. This week I saw each of my clients make HUGE strides and I'm just so proud and I know I'm meant to do financial coaching.

Tonight we're heading to the Arizona Rattlers arena football game and I'm excited. It's been a few weeks since they've been playing away. Tomorrow we're meeting some friends at their house and grilling out. We haven't seen them in what seems like forever and they have a newborn baby now!

WOD

2011-05-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight's WOD:
5 rounds for time-
400m run
10 push-ups (did them inclined on a bench)
10 HPS w/ 15# dumbbell (10 each arm)

Time = 20:14

I've been super lazy with my push-ups so that was the difficult part of this WOD for me. I told myself I couldn't do any modified since I've been cheating during my warm-up lately.

Now I'm enjoying a glass of wine! Busy few days ahead for me...what about you?

HPC

2011-05-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Got some Hang Power Cleans done tonight. I'm surprisingly a little sore today so I wasn't sure how this was going to go down.
Reps: 5-5-5-3-3-3
Weight: 65-75-80-85-90-90

I guess I was supposed to pick a weight and stick with it the whole time. But I didn't know that until it was too late, I thought I was supposed to build up as I went along. Oh well. I got 'er done right?

Today is Day Numero Uno of my No Cheat Challenge so of course it was pretty easy. It better be anyway- it was only the 1st day! Here's my lunch

Those are turkey roll-ups. Inside there's homemade quacamole and peppers. Then we had some carrots, blueberries, and celery with almond butter.

Today I made some cash envelopes and they turned out better than I thought! I'm not very crafty so when I get an idea, I never actually know how the final product will come out. Cash envelopes are pretty popular and you can find tons of examples of homemade ones that look way better than mine.

The idea is first of all to be using cash because studies show you'll automatically spend 20% less when you stop using debit or credit. So we use cash for things like groceries and gas but you could use switch to cash for anything that you may need to be more careful with your spending on like entertainment, eating out, beer, etc. :) So we take out the budgeted amount in cash for the entire month for gas and groceries then put them in these envelopes. Whenever we're going shopping or needing gas, we take $ out of the respective envelope.

I even made a couple of extras to give to clients! Here's a couple I made today-

The weather was INCREDIBLE today here in AZ. 75 degrees, breezy, absolutely gorgeous. You figure, we've been using the A/C quite a bit and we've hit 100 already so to have a day like today was a treat. I opened all the windows, took two bike rides, and took the dog to the park where I sat and read my book. It was terrific!

How was your day?

Workout done

2011-05-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight I just wanted to workout. I wasn't trying to beat any previous times (I didn't even look to see what they were beforehand) and I wasn't pushing myself super hard. I kept a good pace, was sweaty, and breathing hard, don't get me wrong... I just didn't go balls to the wall or anything.

20 lunges

15 pull-ups
35 box jumps
15 double unders
20 ring dips
15 knees to elbows
20 kb swings
20 sit-ups
15 hang squat cleans #15
20 back extensions
20 wallballs (20#)
15 towel pullups assisted w/ band

Time = 17:04

I'm officially starting my No-Cheat Challenge for 30 days starting tomorrow (Monday) and Megan is joining me. Since I won't be able to cheat for the next month, I'm heading out now to go get a chocolate and banana shake from Sonic! Yum!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I hope you had a wonderful day!

Document

2011-05-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

Nothing major to report, just a quick workout I want to make sure I document.

Tonight we did hang power cleans and I did 95# 3 times. This falls right in line with my one-rep max which is 105 so I guess I'm not surprised.

It was good to get into the garage for a workout. It's getting hot here in AZ!

Busy weekend

2011-05-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Arizona Warrior Dash 4/30/11: 3.5 miles of obstacles and lots of mud!

Day at the pool 5/1/11: Hanging out with our friends and their 2 kiddos!

Fun weekend- lots of sun! I'm having serioues allergies the past few days. As soon as I'm inside in the air conditioning, I'm fine, but as soon as I'm outside, I feel like I got hit by a semi. So, it was a fun weekend but considering we were outside for most of it... well, you can imagine.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Obstacle Course

2011-04-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

I'm so sweaty-gross right now. Next weekend we have the Warrior Dash- which is essentially a mud-filled 3.5 mile long obstacle course. The dirtier you are when you finish the race, the better you probably did. You jump through a junk yard, crawl under barbwire, climb over a wall, etc.

Today, my husband designed our workout around the same concept, minus the mud.

We have a huge park near us with basketball courts, soccer field, monkey bars, playground equipment, sand volleyball, and even a fitness path with different stations. Here's what we did:

-Ran from our house,
-Crossed the monkey bars,
-Ran further,
-Catapulted (sp?) over a huge log that was about 4 feet up from the ground,
-Walked across 4 logs balance beam style
-Ran back to the 1st fitness station where we did 10 reverse crunches on an incline bench
-Jumped on top of a bench
-Hurdled two bars
-Ran up a slide
-Climbed down a ladder
-Shuffled across a basketball court
-Bear crawled between two cones
-Catapulted (sp?) 5 times back and forth over a wall

Then repeated it all before running back home.

Total distance was 2.35 miles and it took me 27:05. It was a lot harder than it sounds. When he was showing me the map beforehand, I thought it just sounded fun. And it was, but it was also super fricken hard!

I'm a sweaty mess that's for sure! It was wonderful being outside, enjoying the sun, and playing like I was 5-years old again! What are you going to do today?
Happy Easter Everyone!

All good things

2011-04-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

I feel like I should update a bit on the happenings with my life... ever since leaving Corporate America, things have been... umm... what's the word? ... crazy, different, unusual, bizarre. Yup, all those things.

What? You need a better description? That doesn't tell you anything? Okay, fine...

It's been almost a month since I left Corporate America and I'm still not fully adjusted. Not that I expected to leave and immediately start a different routine on Day 1 and hit the ground running... wait, oh yes, that's exactly what I expected to happen except that didn't happen at all.

I allowed myself to take a little bit of time off that first week, then my in-laws were here the week after that. They left 2 weeks ago so today marks the 2-week anniversary of working from home! As you know, I started a new business - Fiscal Fitness - where I can focus on one of the things I love most- helping others transform their financial futures!

It's been rewarding, exciting, challenging and totally frustrating all at the same time! Starting a business is all about wins and losses and everyday, I just hope to have more wins. It's also all about wearing a bunch of different hats and I'm definitely doing that! I quickly realized that if I want to do the financial coaching side of this beast, then I gotta do everything else too- the marketing, the networking, etc. I'm reaching outside of my comfort zone more and more everyday.

And I've realized that it's darn expensive to have a business! I get this icky feeling when I think about taking money OUT of our Dream Fund- although it's technically there for us to have a "future" business. I guess I just wish we could afford to invest in some marketing out of our regular income and paychecks.

The biggest adjustment has come from just my normal daily activities. At my last job, I was bombarded with tasks and assignments. And because I worked there so long, I easily knew which one was most important or most urgent. And I was consistently working up against various deadlines. But now, I have so many "projects"- like creating an ad or a brochure - and very few tasks. There are no deadlines. If I don't get the ad done, I won't get yelled at by anyone. No one is telling me to go out and network or research tips on living frugal. It's just so different from my old life in Corporate America.

And then there's the issue that comes from working out of our home- I insist on not working in filth so I spend probably too much time cleaning. It's hard for me to focus with a sink full of dishes or loads of dirty laundry. Sometimes it's a distraction so I'm still learning how to balance it all and not spend time on those things just because those "tasks" are easier than stretching myself to learn something new.

I don't mean for it to sound like I'm complaining a lot. I can honestly say that I haven't been this happy in a long time. Yes, I'm doing a number of things that I don't think I'm particularly good at and they're taking me forever, but I feel like I've grown so much in a short time span. I'm stepping outside of my comfort zone and feel incredibly optimistic.

I realize now though just how big of a transition this was and just how drastic my lifestyle has changed in the course of one month.

Simply put, I'm slowly getting adjusted, I love where things are headed, and I want to make sure I blog about how this time of my life feels.

Please check out my website when you get time and let me know what you think. If you know anyone interested in working with a financial coach either in or around Phoenix or over the phone, let me know!

I LOVE it when I beat my old workout!

2011-04-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

I mentioned earlier how I was really sore after my thruster/ring push-up workout last week. I mean REALLY sore. I've never, in my life, been that sore before and considering there are days where I can barely walk my quads are so sore, that says a lot. My muscles were incredibly tight and sore for about 4-5 days. But I woke up one morning and quickly realized they weren't sore anymore except they felt "funny." I looked down and what did I see? They BALLOONED! Yes! My arms looked like this-

Source=http://www.16bit.com/realghost-marsh.asp

I won't lie, I was scared. I googled it, kept asking my husband if I was going to die, if I would lose my arms, etc (only half serious). I've never had that happen before! But, after a day and a half of walking around w/ puffy arms, I'm all better and feel fine. Obviously, I really did a number on the muscles in my arms and all the puffiness was just my body's way of repairing them.

Here's the WOD I did tonight-

"Jerry"
Run 1 mile
Row 2K
Run 1 mile

I did this workout back in October, so about 6 months ago. I remember it like it was yesterday because it was a biotch! Six months ago, it took me 33:22 but tonight I did it in 29:37! Wahoo!

One reason I love using this blog for my workouts is because I can go back, see what I was thinking, what my strategy was, and compare times. The first time I did it, I started off too fast and it killed me the rest of the workout. I had a hard time completing the second 1K row too and had to keep stopping for water and to catch my breath. And my second mile took me 11 minutes that first time!

Tonight, I told myself I wanted to keep each section to be sub-10 minutes. My first mile took 9:16 which was perfect for me- it was right where I wanted to be. I took 40 seconds to chalk my hands and get situationed into the rower then off I went. I didn't stop even once when I was rowing and I felt strong the whole time. The row took me 9:48- I've only done a 2K row one other time and it took me 9:13 but I didn't run a mile beforehand like tonight so I'm *really* proud of my 2K row tonight. I took a 30 second break before starting my second 1-mile run to wipe the sweat and drink a bit of water. My last mile took me 9:22 so I was very consistent and was able to maintain a great pace!

Total time with breaks is 29:37 and I'm SUPER STOKED with that time! I've done a lot of rowing since October so I'm glad to see that it's paid off- I've obviously become more efficient.

Yesterday's workout was awesome too. I have no idea what this movement is called, but you stand next to a plyobox or step with a barbell over your shoulders. Do a lunge back with your left leg, without setting it down on the way back up, step straight onto the plyto box and lift yourself up all the way so you're standing on it fully w/ both feet. Step down. Repeat. Awesome workout!

8 reps(each leg) @ 45#
6 reps(each leg) @ 55#
4 reps(each leg) @ 65#

Then I did bentover rows with the barbell as well- 15 reps @ 45#, 8 reps @ 65#, and 4 reps @ 95#.

Gotta love a great workout to end an already good day right?

A cheap remodel

2011-04-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

As promised, here's how I did my room remodel for only $67.

First, Lexi's room design had a white media cabinet. I looked and looked for an old piece of furniture I could refinish but they were all too expensive- even those being sold on Craiglist. Here's our old TV stand-

As you can see, pretty bachelor pad-ish right? There was no back so you could see all the chords. I really wanted a tv cabinet so I could hide everything. We put the tv stand on Craiglist and got $75 for it. It's ironic that a college kid was who bought it from us! :)

Truthfully, I just wasn't willing to fork over the money on a new cabinet so I ended up repurposing a cabinet that I had in our office.

I didn't like that the cabinet doors were frosted glass so you could still see everything. My first purchase was $7 for one yard of fabric, which I stapled to the inside of the doors. The fabric was blue so it tied right into the room design! Here's the end result- as you can see, all the electronic equipment and DVD cases are hidden!

I realized when I moved the cabinet out of the office that I no longer needed my file cabinet and dog crate either. We haven't used them in quite a while so I added both of those on Craigslist for sale. I got $25 for each of them. I also had $60 in gift cards to use and $20 in Kohl's cash that I hadn't used. All of this totals $205 so considering I spent $67 out of pocket, the whole room cost $272.

*Rugs are super hard to find and are expensive! I found one at Home Depot on sale for $100.
*I ordered 2 11x14 prints from Amy's website which cost me $50- well worth the price since they inspired the whole room!
*The frames were 55% off at Michael's so I got 2 frames for $20 which I thought was a steal!
*The curtains, get this, only cost me $4 for each pair so $8 total! I got them at a Flea Market!
*The sconces were only $18 but were originally $50! They were on sale at Kohl's for 50% off and then I had a 30% off coupon too!
*The green throw pillows were purchased from a furniture store that was going out of business. It was a total chance purchase... I was driving down the street and saw the sign that it was going out of business so I stopped. All of their furniture was still really expensive but they had those two pillows for only $15 for the pair! You can't tell in the picture, but the green pillows have a blue design on them- AKA perfect!
*The blue pillows I also bought from Kohl's w/ my 30% off coupon. They were also on sale. I got both of them for only $12!

Organization was a big part of the remodel. Not only did I have $60 to spend at The Container Store, but I also had a 25% off coupon as well! I ended up buying 2 DVD cases and some chord organizers. The total was $50 for everything. Here's a picture of the DVD storage containers I bought-

Each case holds 100 DVD's and we filed them alphabetically! I love them! Before the remodel- here's what we had going on-

We own so many DVD's that we had a basket full of cases we kept them in! It was ridiculous! Our new system even has room for growth.

So, for $272 (only $67 out of pocket), I created a much more beautiful space but also one that is a heck of a lot more functional! And I'm not embarrassed to bring clients into my house anymore nor does it look like a bunch of frat guys live here! Frugal is the way to go!!!

a room redo

2011-04-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've been working on something and I've been keeping it a secret from my fellow bloggers! GASP!
But, I'm excited to unveil my new living room to all of you. One of my bestest friends in the whole world, Lexi, has a blog about designing your space to be functional, simple, yet beautiful. She's truly amazing at designing spaces and I was lucky enough to have one done for me!

I have cranberry or wine-colored burgundy couches. I really like them but I've never really known how to design around them. I told Lexi as such and here's the design she created for me-

You can view the entire details of her design here.

I'm also blessed to have yet another of my bestest friends in the whole world, Amy, who is a talented photographer. She sells her amazing prints and I was thrilled that Lexi was able to design a room for me around my cranberry couches and Amy's amazing photography.

Lexi's design used Amy's prints from the ocean and as you can see, it was a sophisticated take on a beach theme. I never in a million years would have dreamed of using blue, green, and brown with my couches but alas, she's the genius and totally knows what she's doing!

Let me first say that interior decorating is not one of my strengths. I go into other peoples' houses and I usually think, "Now how did they know to put that picture there?" or "How did they choose those accessories?" Everyone else's spaces usually fit together really well and I just don't know how to do that. It's not something that comes naturally to me at all. And since it's usually the female's role to make the house look all nice and pretty, well, our house looks like a bachelor pad!

Lexi's room design for me was the best timing but also the worst timing! She did it just as I was leaving my job and we were going to one income. For that reason, I couldn't exactly run out and spend tons of money on new furniture or accessories, although trust me, I really wanted to! But, at the same time, starting my business as a financial coach means I'll be seeing clients in our home. I didn't want people coming to our house if it looked like a bunch of frat guys lived here.

MISSION- Redo the living room as cheaply as possible!

Here are the before pictures---- they're so embarrassing!

As you can see, pretty stark huh? Cranberry couches with black and white everywhere and not at all welcoming!

And here are the after pictures- such an improvement!

What do you guys think?

Since this has turned into a blog about personal finance, the next post will be all about how I paid for this transformation and exactly what changes I made. I did a lot of repurposing of furniture, reorganizing, and got creative to make it happen! I spent a total of $67 for everything! Check back to get the 411 on how it was done!

Special thanks to Lexi for giving me such a beautiful room as inspiration. I know my room doesn't look nearly as good as the one you designed, but hopefully you're still proud of me! :) And special thanks to Amy, for giving Lexi her inspiration through your beautiful shots. I love that when I'm sitting in this space, I think of my two favorite chicas!

Okay, I get it...

2011-04-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

I am still sooooooooooooooooooooooo sore. Ugh. It's getting on my last nerve actually. I officially understand how the tricep is used in every fricken movement... from trying to drink my morning coffee, to brushing my hair, to blowing my nose.

Even sleeping has been difficult! Just lying in a particular position, my arms THROB. Seriously, I have never been this sore in my life. I was hoping my triceps would feel better today but they still don't.

I have a luncheon from 11-12 but as soon as I get back, I'm going to rub IcyHot all over my fricken arms.

My creation

2011-04-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

Holy hell, after my thruster and ring push-up workout on Saturday, I couldn't believe how sore I was. I couldn't do a bicep curl because my triceps were so sore. I literally could not touch my hand to the same shoulder, hold the phone up to my ear, or take a drink from my coffee cup without bending forward!

I usually fall asleep with one arm over my head but I couldn't lay like that comfortably so it was a restless night.

Today my upper body is still super sore so I decided to do a leg-heavy workout. It turned out to be a lot of fun!

AMRAP12
Run
Single leg deadlifts
Pistols

There were 3 of us so as one person runs, myself and the other person complete one of the other stations. It ended up being an awesome workout and just what I needed! I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow but it's amazing how sore and stiff I was to start but slowly got warmed up and my muscles felt much better.

I'll definitely do this workout again!

Coe repeat

2011-04-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

I did "Coe" on August 15th but I sort of messed it up that day. I did ring dips instead of the ring push-ups that it calls for. My time was 18:09.

It's cold and rainy here in the valley of the sun today. The 'rents left this morning at 6AM and I think they took the nice weather with them b/c it's warmer back in Michigan than it is here in AZ. That's okay, it's the perfect kind of day to curl up on the couch w/ my husband, watch some movies, get in a good workout, and enjoy each other's company.

One of my resolutions is to improve my "Fran" time, which means I need to improve my strength so the thrusters are easier while also becoming more efficient at pull-ups. I've been working on deconstructing my pull-ups and have seen improvements but I haven't really done anything for the thrusters. Today's WOD definitely helps with the latter.

"Coe" (scaled version) calls for-
7 rounds of:
10 thrusters 65#
10 ring push-ups

So, I end up doing 70 thrusters at 65# whereas Fran ends up only being 45 reps at that weight. And man, I reach fatique at 40 for sure. After that, they suck big time so hopefully a WOD like this pushes my muscle endurance and strength further.

My time before back in August was 18:09 but I did dips by accident instead of push-ups. Today my time was 17:42 but I'm proud of that because push-ups are harder for me than dips yet I still improved my time slightly.

Also, for record-keeping's sake, my push-ups were not completely parallel to the ground, they were definitely considered "modified" ring push-ups in some way. And the last set of 10, I'm not even sure they could be considered push-ups. I felt like I was going to fall flat on my face my arms were so incredibly fatigued. Some of them were good, some were shitty.

Tomorrow we're having a BBQ with our friends Mike and Heather. It's becoming a regular occurrence- every other weekend or so, we get together and just hang out for the day. It's the best kind of friendship- relaxed, easy-going, and fun. What do you have planned for the rest of the weekend?
Until tomorrow,

PR!

2011-04-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

I just had another great workout! Man, I LOVE the way I feel after a good workout. There's really nothing else like it.

Overhead squats-
5-5-3-3-1

55-65-80-90-105

That 105 is a new PR! My previous overhead squat max was 100 so I went up 5 pounds and it felt awesome! I was nice and slow and in control the whole time. On the way up, I even shouted "YES!" really loud once I got past that point where you're still unsure. Damn! It felt terrific!

If anything, I think those 3 reps at 90 pounds were harder than that one rep at 105. Those sucked. :)

After that I did 5 rounds of kettlebell swings for 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. It was actually pretty easy and next time I'll use the heavier kettlebell. I ended up doing 18 or 19 swings each round.

The thing with having visitors when you work from home is that it's nearly impossible to focus. Yesterday I tried but ended up just hanging out with them and going shopping my MIL instead. But today and tomorow, my in-laws have a ton of stuff planned so they won't really be around. I should be able to get some work done, including filing my taxes since I still haven't done that! I have a list of "ideas" and "tasks" that I want to do for my business but it's tough when no one is standing over my shoulder telling me it has to be done! I'm still adjusting to life as my own boss while trying to maintain balance in my life.

Not my best performance

2011-04-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Holy hell, that was a tough workout. It's been a few days since I've done any strength WODs...we're doing the Warrior Dash at the end of April so we've adopted more of a CrossFit Endurance approach the past few weeks. It feels like I've done a ton of rowing or body weight type movements (push-ups, air squats, etc) so I was itching to do something with more weight today.

Of course, I didn't stop and think about the fact that it's fricken 94 degrees out right now! It was horrible. I was sweaty during my warm-up!

I've had a particular WOD on my radar for a while and simply never got around to it. The name is "Christina" and it's named after the 9-year old girl who was shot in Tucson back in January.
AMRAP 20 (I only did 15)
9 pull-ups
9 squat cleans (65#)
9 kettlebell swings (35#)
9 toes to bar
9 push press (65#)
9 burpees
I was only able to do 2 full rounds which is not good but I know I was working hard and that's what counts. Plus, it felt like a darn good workout.

The design of the WOD is pretty cool-
There are 6 total exercises for the 6 people who died that day.
The WOD is 20 minutes total because 20 people in all were shot.
Christina was only 9 years old which is why you do 9 reps of each exercise.

Pretty cool right? Whoever made it up is a genius and very thoughtful.

The WOD, unfortunately, destroyed my hands! On the 2nd set of pull-ups, I opened a blister on my palm. I changed up my grip then got another blister on my thumb. I was able to finish the pull-ups but ended up opening another blister during the subsequent squat cleans. That's one of the main obstacles with the heat- no matter how much chalk you put on your hands, the sweat makes it nearly impossible to hold onto anything. I only did 2 full rounds but I have 6 blisters on my hands right now.

I am proud of my pull-ups though because if ever I started to noticed my form going shitty, I'd stop and start my kip back up again. I didn't continue with bad form.

I'd say the hardest part of the WOD for me were the pull-ups and the squat cleans. Everything else felt okay but those first two movements took a lot out of me at the start of each round.

We're looking for a portable A/C unit to buy for this summer. We absolutely love working out in our garage (I'd never thought I'd say that), but it's almost to the point already that it's just too darn hot. If we were to shut the door though and get a unit that cools off the small space, we'd be able to make it work throughout the summer months. Plus, an A/C unit is probably going to cost us $200-$300 and we'd spend more than that for a temporary CrossFit gym membership.

Michael's parents arrive today! They'll probably be here in a few minutes actually and I'm still dripping with sweat. Awesome! They'll be here for the whole week so I'm not sure how often I'll be working out or able to blog.

Hike

2011-03-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today I went for an awesome hike up Camelback Mountain. If you ever come to Phoenix and you want to go hiking, I highly recommend it!

We did the Echo Canyon trail which is 1.2 miles in length and gains 1,264 feet. The summit is at 2,704 feet in elevation. The hike is called "strenuous".

I went with two of my girlfriends that I used to work with- Esther & Stephaine.

I'm excited to report that the hike was pretty easy for me. We had to stop a few times for one of my friends who needed to catch her breath, but I felt like I could have kept going. My legs never got shaky or fatigued at all and I barely broke a sweat. That's a major difference from the first time I did it a few years ago.

First day of the rest of my life...

2011-03-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't blogged a whole lot because I went a few days without working out. No reason, just busy. We have season tickets this year to the Arizona Rattlers, which is an arena football team here in Phoenix. We went to the game on Saturday and ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings after the game. It was Michael and I and another couple and we drank, watched UFC, ate lots of not-good-for-us food and just hung out. We even did tequila shots so needless to say, I was not feeling like working out on Sunday :) This old gal can't party like she used to that's for sure! I wasn't hung over or anything, just really tired from being up so late, which is something I am not used to!

Then of course I couldn't sleep Sunday night because Monday was my last day at work. I was nervous and yet so ready for it all to be over with. The day turned out to be very anti-climatic which I'm okay with but by the time I got home, I was super tired from not really sleeping well.

Today was my first day not being a work-a-holic. It went fine but I kept thinking it was a Saturday so once I realize this is my life right now, I'm sure it will be weird. I'm still not sure what my plans are- I know I'm going to give my Fiscal Fitness business a try full-time and see if I can't drum up some consistent business. But, I'm also going to keep my eyes open for both full-time and part-time positions that tickle my fancy.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life... let's see what I make of it.

So, that brings me to my workout today which turned out to be a killer. It was much harder than it looked on paper.
4 rounds
5 minutes of row followed by 3 minutes of rest

Before I did it, I was planning on doing 75 kettlebell swings and 75 thrusters afterwards but after the row, I called it quits. I didn't have much left in the tank. Here are my total meters each round
1,056
1,064
1,076
1,080

That's pretty consistent so I'm happy with it and I got faster each round although that was not easy. Back on March 13th, I did 20 minutes straight rowing and did 3,803 rounds so by breaking it into four 5 minute rounds meant I was able to keep a much faster pace and do a total of 4,276 meters.

Killing it

2011-03-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

What a great workout! It's actually difficult to type this post right now b/c my arms are so jello-y and my hands are numb from gripping the bar.

I'm just so stinkin' glad that I had another great workout. I felt really strong on Tuesday for the first time in what seems like forever. I swear- ever since I was sick in January, I just could not get out of my workout funk. I was still working out, don't get me wrong, but they felt hard right from "Go!" and I felt weak. The workouts I was doing were mostly for maintenance- just to stay active.

FINALLY this week I feel like I'm back to making progress. Yes! Tonight's workout was seriously wonderful and I can't believe how many rounds I was able to do. I felt so strong and I was able to just keep pushing myself further and further.

AMRAP15
5 Toes to bar
10 Lunges (20 total, 10 each leg)
15 Back extensions

I did 10 total rounds plus 5 Toes to bar and 5 lunges (10 total) so 10 + 10! That means I did-
55 Toes to bar
210 Lunges (105 each leg)
150 Back extensions

All in 15 minutes!

Michael and I went at the same time and he finished with 11 rounds + 10 so only 1 round more than me. Our friend Mike who works out with us did 8 rounds + 14 so I totally kicked his butt! That does not normally happen! (In Mike's defense, he was recently sick so I think he's still recovering...)

I have Friday and then Monday left at the office and then I'm going to be an unemployed joke! haha! I probably shouldn't be so excited about that fact huh?

All around good day!

2011-03-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today was an all around great day. I actually already wrote one blog post today because I wasn't expecting to have much else to write about. I was so excited about funding our dream fund earlier that I wrote about it prematurely I suppose.

My workout tonight was fricken amazing. The other day when I did front squats, I felt like the weight was soooo heavy. Tonight, I felt like I was throwing it up! I did 3 sets of 5 reps at 75#, 85#, and 95#. I felt great for every rep!

Then I did 3 sets of 5 kipping pull-ups. During my warm-up, I worked on deconstructing my pull-up and did shoulder shrugs only, then did some "swings" only using my upper body, etc. If you recall, my pull-ups have been giving me issues lately and I needed to take them back to square one.

I'm happy to report that tonight they were fricken MONEY! I swear, they were so easy and I was clearing the bar with my chin by a long shot. I even used the correct grip by wrapping my thumb around the bar and didn't have any issues in that regard either. I did all 3 sets of 5 kipping pull-ups without any problems and they felt super strong. I wonder if I would have been able to keep going but since the WOD only called for 3 sets of 5, I stopped at 5 each time.

It felt great to have my pull-ups go RIGHT! Yes!

Then we did these ab thingies that sucked. You rock back and forth for 3 minutes. When you stop to rest, the clock stops so do a full a 3 minutes of the exercise by the end. They sucked. I stopped a bunch of times but oh well. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow from them!

Weekend Workouts

2011-03-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

I updated my Fiscal Fitness blog with some tips on no longer dreading the personal budget. Let me know what you think!

I had a great workout today and yesterday. Again, nothing major- just maintenance type workouts that aren't hardcore or anything. Staying active has helped my mood these past few weeks with everything going on at work. I may start a workout feeling down or exhausted, but I always feel amazing when I'm done.

Yesterday was a 20 minute tempo row. It was super hard and I had to stop and break a few times. Rowing is not one of my strengths but I thoroughly enjoy it so I hope the more I do it, the more efficient I will become at it. As you can see by the pic below, I ended up doing 3,803 meters on level 7.

Today was an array of different movements:
5 rounds of 5 reps w/ each leg of step ups holding two 25# dumbbells (so 50 total reps w/ 50#s)
4 rounds of 5 reps of single leg deadlifts holding one 25# dumbbell
3 rounds of push press as many reps as possible
and
3 rounds of strict pullups as many reps as possible which for me is 1!

I started off at 45# for the push press which was too easy. I did 20 reps. Then I took it up to 75# for rounds 2 and 3 and was able to do 9 reps at that weight.

I'm sure my legs will be super sore tomorrow from those step ups and single leg deadlifts. I worked on my grip when I did the pull-ups and although I absolutely hate it, I wrapped my thumb around the bar. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually but right now, it just feels bizarre.

My husband bought us season tickets to the Arizona Rattlers arena football league. Last night was their game opener and it was a lot of fun. There's actually about 10 of us who bought tickets- we take the light rail into the city and all watch the game together. There are 9 games total and I think it was money well spent!

I'm hoping this week goes smoothly at the office with little drama and no major issues. I'm ready to move on and begin a new chapter of my life.

Strength

2011-03-09T20:03:00.000-08:00

I did a strength workout tonight-

Front squat - 7-5-5
95#-95#-95#

Power clean - 5-5-3-3
80#-80#-80#-80#

Shoulder press - 3-3-1-1-1
65#-65#-80#-75#-~~80#~~

Let me say that it was not a very good workout. I felt so incredibly weak tonight. Weight that shouldn't have been difficult was and every rep required what seemed like a lot of extra effort on my part. Ah well, I guess you can't have a good workout every time.

I have a meeting at 10am on Thursday with my boss to "discuss my career". It's during this meeting they will present to me the offer that they're hoping will convince me to stay. Right now, I'm not sure what I'm thinking except that I really wish the whole thing was just over. I'm sick of thinking about it to be honest. I thought I had things figured out and I as going to give my notice on Monday and that was going to be it. All over. But no, of course not, they don't want me to leave, which of course feels great, but now it's delaying what may be inevitable.

I hope their offer is crap so the decision is easy. I'm not sure I have the desire to keep thinking about this.

Of course, I'll keep you all posted.

Unexpected to say the least

2011-03-07T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well, t-minus zero days 'til I give my notice! That's right~ today at work I gave my two week's notice!

If you recall, I was so nervous. I didn't know how they would react at all. A lot of times, when you give your notice where I work, they escort you out that day. Although you may be willing to work two more weeks, they don't really take you up on that nice gesture and you're just done right then.

So of course, that's what I expected to happen today.

I certainly didn't expect them to say the following, "We're not going to let you leave without putting up a fight" or "by the end of the week, we'll have a counter offer for you."

Yeah...like I said, definitely wasn't expecting either of those things but sure as shit, that's what happened!

I told them about Fiscal Fitness and he said he'll try to come up w/ an offer that affords me time to work my new business as well as continue to work there.

So, as far as I know right now, I'm working through the week but by the end of it, I may have an offer to stay that is worthwhile. I've been thinking about what exactly I would want in order to stay and adding additional members to my team is a necessity. Otherwise, the stress I feel and my employees feel will remain and I can't (won't) continue to work that way.

Unfortunately, it means that this rollercoaster isn't over yet and may not be until the end of the week. But of course, blog followers, I will keep you updated!

When I got home, I did a quick 2K row for a time of 9:13. I don't have anything to compare it to because this was the first time I did this distance and only this distance. Usually I will do an exercise before or after so I can't really use it as a good comparison.

Vacation!

2011-03-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome vacation and we made it home just this afternoon. We met some friends for dinner mainly because we had zero groceries in the house and we were too lazy to go buy any!

We did awesome on our vacation budget and came in just under. We took out our spending money in cash but literally everything we purchased at the resort was billed to our room. This was the only way they would do it. I swear, people probably lose track of how much they're spending. We were really good though and at the end of every night, we took our receipts from the day and took the cash out of our spending money for those receipts. So we always knew exactly how much we had spent and how much we had left.

The best part of the trip by far was the scuba diving adventure. It was both of our first times and I was terrified initially but it turned out to be absolutely perfect and I loved it! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the dive but you'll just have to believe me- it was A-MAZING!

Here are some pictures from our vacation!

View from our hotel room

mango margarita- yum!

taking the public bus to downtown Cancun

strawberry margarita - delish!

this drink was called "Million Dollar Legs"

After a run along the beach

this was a pina colada- see a trend in these pictures? :)

I hope everyone had a fabulous week!

Catch ya'll on the flip side

2011-02-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

We leave in the morning for Cancun! I can't wait! It's a much needed vacation!

I'll be back in a week!!!

3 more days

2011-02-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

I must admit, I totally and completely underestimated how difficult this last week of work was going to be. Luckily, most people assume my laissez faire attitude is because of our upcoming vacation to Cancun. But, fellow blog readers, you know the truth- that once I return from vaca, I'll be saying good bye for good. I never thought I was the type of person to mentally checkout of a place while I'm still there. But it's been soooo hard keeping this secret. I realize how much people at my current job make that place their LIFE. The littlest thing happens and it's the end of the world and everyone is going around panicking! No wonder I was stressed out all the time working there! So while people are freaking out all around me and making a big deal out of little things, I just want to SCREAM! I don't care! I don't care!

Today I had a meeting with an employee where we schedule his training for 3 months out. You can imagine how difficult it was to set up appointments 1, 2, and 3 months out when I knew full well I wasn't going to be there for them! The days are DRAGGING on big time!

Thank God there are only 3 more days!

I worked out tonight- did a guys vs girls WOD and it was a lot of fun. The guys won, but I knew they would.

The past few weeks I've really been struggling in the afternoons with cravings. I am usually really good but for some reason, they've been really bad. I couldn't figure out why but then I realized this morning that a few weeks ago, I switched to half-caff coffee! I don't think it's actually "sugar" that I'm craving in the afternoon, I think it's my body still adjusting to the lower amounts of caffeine I'm consuming.

This afternoon, when I hit the afternoon blah, I gave myself a little pep talk and reminded myself that it's just the caffeine. Ignore it. Don't succumb to it. It will go away soon. Instead, I went and had a healthy snack of deli turkey and nuts and guzzled a bunch of water. I'm hoping that simply being aware of it will help me curb the cravings until my body is accustomed to the half-caff coffee.

This coming week for our vacation, we plan to stick to our paleo diet as much as possible. We're planning to hit up the local market for our food and cook in our hotel room (we have a full kitchen). We did some digging online and I think it's totally do-able. Of course, I do plan to consume a number of fruity alcoholic beverages while relaxing in my lounge chair at the pool and/or beach. I WILL make an exception for that! It's vacation after all!

Here's a picture of our hotel:
[insert your jealousy here] :)

We are planning to completely unplug while gone for the week. So no computer, no phones, no nothing! We're each taking a few books and magazines, we have some excursions planned, hiking, snorkeling, etc. Just an FYI that I won't be blogging or reading blogs at all starting Saturday.

Looking good, not feeling good

2011-02-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight's WOD-
5-5-5-5-5 Front squats
65-75-85-95-105

Considering I didn't even want to workout tonight, I'm proud of the weight I ended at.

I also did 75 swings w/ a 35# kettlebell.

But who cares about my workout, I got my hair done today! YAY!

I've always loved red streaks in hair when I see it. Unfortunately, working where I work, we're not allowed to have red streaks unless it's a natural color of red. And when I say that I like red streaks, I'm not referring to "natural color red streaks"- I want RED!

Since this is my last week in hell, I decided to just go for it! The end result? I love it! I kept making bold decisions today while at the salon- choosing the redder of the two reds and even opting for bangs for the first time in years!

The title about me not feeling good is just nerves. I'm anxious about not having a job in a couple of weeks. I'm nervous about what others will think of me (why I care, I'm not sure). I'm nervous that I won't be able to find another job. And all of this is worse because I'm at work and while everyone around me is freaking out over this and that, I just want to say, "I don't care." It's making for a really long week but thankfully, I only have 4 more days left! YAY!

Weekend Projects

2011-02-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

Hey there! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I sure did!

I didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked, but I sure did enjoy myself more than expected. We went out for sushi with two other couples on Friday night, then had a game night on Saturday with some other friends.

One big chore I accomplished this weekend was finishing our taxes. Jam!

I also worked out yesterday and today. Yesterday's WOD was some hang power cleans.
5-5-5-3-3-3
65
75
80
85
90
95

According to the one rep max calculators, my one rep max is still 105, which is what it was the last time I did hang power cleans. In two weeks, I'll be attempting my one rep max so my goal will be to beat 105.

Today I did a WOD not for time or reps, just to get in a good workout.
3 rounds-
7 Sumo deadlift high pulls 65#
400m sprint

Another project I accomplished this weekend that I've been wanting to do for quite some time is re-purposing our office. We had the desk in the corner and the bookshelf on the main wall, but I always felt like I was stuck in the corner and I didn't enjoy sitting there at all. It was dark and overall not very functional.

I switched the two pieces of furniture, bought 2 tabletop organizers, and some very simple decor.

Before

After

My favorite part are the new knobs I bought for the desk. They're hand painted and super cute! They were only $3! It's such a small touch but I know they're there and I see them so that's all that matters right?

The purple organizer you see in the middle of the desk was another big deal for only $4. My husband has a bunch of old comic books that he really cherishes. They're not worth a whole lot of money, but they're from his childhood so you could say they're worth a lot! We didn't have a way to store them so they were just sitting on our shelf. I found a trendy document box that they fit perfectly inside!

Future Possibilities

2011-02-19T08:53:00.000-08:00

Only 1 more week of work then I'm on vacation! And then I'll be giving my two weeks notice and I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEE! Yay! I can't wait!

I heard a quote from The Office today and I absolutely love it.

""It is better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb, then half way up one you don't."

How perfect is that quote for me right now? It's all about perspective. I spent almost 7 years at a company moving up the career chain and for a long time, it was exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately, I changed and now I will be starting over but I'm totally okay with that. Okay, okay, maybe not "totally okay" with it but pretty darn close. I think the nervousness I feel is more in anticipation for such a big change looming than anything.

One idea I've been considering is to start my own personal training and financial coaching business here in Gilbert, AZ. Working out and budgeting really are two of my favorite things to do, so how great would it be to do this for other people?

I created a business name, website, and even made some business cards. The company name is Fiscal Fitness and the website is http://www.fiscalfitnessphx.com/. Please check it out and let me know what you think! Any feedback you have is much appreciated!

Lots of random stuff

2011-02-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome weekend! We left Friday right from work and drove 2 hours to Michael's Aunts' house for the weekend. The town where they live has an annual festival and it's a lot of fun. There's a parade, a gun show (we ARE in the west you know) and a bunch of other hoakey things to do. But his Aunts are both really laid back and I just love them. They're so comfortable to be around and it was a perfectly relaxing and busy weekend.

We got back yesterday in the afternoon and I updated my resume. I think it looks so much better. I'm much more confident in it so hopefully I'll start hearing from some of the jobs I've applied to.

We've got 9 business days left til we leave for vacation but since I'm giving my notice the day I return, that means I've only got 9 days left in the office! YOWSA'S! That's awesome right?

Today at work we had a dessertluck it was called- similar to a potluck but only desserts. Normally, I attend these little events and socialize but I don't partake in the goodies. Umm... today I was not so good. I have a serious weakness for banana-flavored anything when it's in a dessert. For example, a chocolate-banana shake from Sonic is seriously heavenly. Well, I walked in and there was a banana-cream-pie! Oh man, was it good. There were even chunks of bananas! It was totally worth the sugar coma I was in shortly after.

Because of #3, I probably should have done two workouts tonight but I only did one.
Row for 5 minutes (20 reps per minute max) - total meters
As many push-ups as possible in 5 minutes
Row for 5 minutes (20 reps per minute max)

The idea is that you can't row super fast (20 reps per minute is not a lot) so you crank up the resistence and really pull HARD each row. It was a lot harder than it sounds, that's for sure. The first round of rowing wasn't bad but after the push-ups, my arms did not want to PULL anything. Here's how I did-

1,025 meters
67 push-ups (modified)
1,028 meters
Total distance = 2,053

My hubby did 2,325 meters and 57 pushups so I'm pretty proud of my distance considering there's a height difference.

Speaking of husbands, mine has a new blog that he's started where he posts a paleo recipe of the day. Check it out!

Finally, I already showed you my file cabinet overhaul that I did and I'm still on an organizing kick (thanks to this gal). I still needed a way to combat the mail as it came in though. My solution was a command center right by the door we come and go from. It's perfect because it has folders for the mail I need to do something with, just not right away, which normally sat on the table. But it also holds our sunglasses (we live in the desert), cell phones, keys, and wallets when we get home. I even coordinated the file folders to match our place mats and dining room decor since it's right there and I bought a little place mat that matches to go underneath the basket. I seriously love it! Thanks for inspiring me again Alexis!

Happy Valentine's Day!

8 is my favorite number so I felt I should end with it.

Until tomorrow,

Doozy

2011-02-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

I just finished one of the best workouts I've had in a while. And when I say "best", I mean "toughest" of course.

I started by warming up and guess what? I did a pistol! A pistol is a one-legged squat. I have a New Year's resolution to do 10 with each leg although I had never done one before tonight. Honestly, I didn't even know if I could. I started by holding onto a bar- it's almost like a "trust fall" in a way. Once I knew I could get down and back up, I was fine, but that initial downward motion when I wasn't sure if I'd "catch" myself was tough.

So, I did a bunch (not sure how many, didn't count) with each leg just to get comfortable. I'm sure I could accomplish my New Year's resolution tonight if I tried. Yippy!

So, onto the workout. It's called "Wittman"- a 26 year old Army Sargeant who died in combat on 2/13/10.

7 rounds:
15 kettlebell swings 26#
15 power cleans 45#
15 box jumps 18"

My time was 20:26. I almost met Mr. Pukey :) I definitely had to walk around for a bit afterwards. Those box jumps kill me man. The kettlebell swings were fine and even the power cleans weren't terrible, but the box jumps- argh.

We received a new pocket-sized digital camera as a gift so Michael used it to take some pictures tonight.

We leave tomorrow right from work so I'll be gone until Sunday. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Perfectly productive

2011-02-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

So far, tonight has been darn near perfect. I left work at 5:30, came home and worked out right away. I'm really sore from the past two days of workouts, probably since they were my first workouts in a month... so I opted for an easy row workout. I did 2,000 meters at a nice pace, not anything too extreme. I called it good with that.

From there I came inside and did some fairly simple cleaning. I only spent 1 hour picking up but I feel like my house is so much more liveable right now. I put a bunch of stuff simply away where it belonged, put away clean clothes, washed some dirty clothes, and wiped off the bathroom counters. I feel so much better and it didn't take a lot of time or effort!

And now I'm looking forward to the rest of the evening... I'm going to address the Valentine's Day cards I bought for the kiddos in my life, enjoy a nice dinner with my husband, and read my new magazine that came in!

Oooh, I'm also going to play around on polyvore.com and see if I can't find an outfit for vacation. I've got some gift cards left from Christmas that I'm itching to use! Today over lunch I went shopping for new bikini bottoms and totally found a pair for $15 that match perfectly! The top I bought last year still fits but the bottoms are huge on me. Did I tell you guys none of my clothes are fitting me anymore-specifically my pants, jeans, sweats, etc???

What are you doing tonight?

Workout, how I love thee...

2011-02-08T19:01:00.000-08:00

Another craptastic day you ask? You have no idea how terrible my work is. Let's just say there were a lot of tears today on my part and also a lot of anger and frustration. After leaving over lunch to cry, I came home and cried some more at the end of the day.

But then I worked out.

And now I feel like I could conquer the world! It's amazing to me how a good workout can make you forget your troubles or make your frustrations seem that much further away. I pushed myself, grunted a few times, and even left it all in the gym. And since we had people working out with us, I had a lot of fun too!

10! DB Rows (25#)
10! Box jumps
10! Squats
10! Push-ups
9:38

*10! means I did 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 of each exercise.

I also have to say that I have the best husband in the world. He's an excellent listener and not once has he told me that he's sick of hearing about work. I'm sure he is as I'm sure are my friends and probably even all of you. Just think- there are only 27 days left!

YipPy!

2011-02-07T19:15:00.000-08:00

I can count on ONE hand the number of times I've worked out in 2011. That's so sad! But, tonight's workout was a lot of fun and I'm so glad to FINALLY be feeling well enough!

We had 3 people in addition to Michael and I working out tonight- two of the three I've never worked out with before so that's always exciting.

AMRAP15:
Sprint to the gate & back pushing a stroller w/ a 3-year old
Kettlebell swings
Ab rollouts
Ring rows

You do each exercise until the person running gets back to the group and then you switch.

I did a total of 135 reps in all.

I also worked on my pull-ups tonight and boy do I have a lot of work to do. It's one of my resolutions for the year so I'm going back to square one. Tonight I did 3 sets of 10 of lat pull-ups or scapular depressions- essentially a pull-up but only using your lats. I didn't have any problem doing those and the video I was watching said some people can't do that movement so at least I'm not totally sucky.

From there I worked on my pendulum swing and focused on using my upper body only. I also worked on my grip with my thumb around the bar which by the way is not comfortable!

Thanks for sticking around. I promise to be better about blogging starting now!

You've GOT to be kidding me?

2011-01-25T14:44:00.000-08:00

Who has two thumbs and is sick AGAIN? Yup, that's right, this GAL!

I honestly can't believe it. I've gone years without being really sick and I've been sick most of this month- first with the flu and now a cold. I'm pretty sure it's because I'm so stressed out with worth- the heightened stress is lowering my immune system...that's my theory anyway and I'm stickin' to it.

Before I caught this cold last night, though, I was really busy. This past weekend, I cleaned every kitchen cabinet, junk drawer, and even our file cabinet- getting us more organized than we've ever been!

Here's a picture of our desk drawer-

And here's the junk drawer in our kitchen- afterwards, everything had a proper spot so the drawer is now empty!

And as for the file cabinet, well, that was pretty much a disaster to start with so of course, I had to make a mess of my den before the cleaning could begin-

But the mess I created was worth it because now I have a fully-fuctioning file cabinet that will hopefully save time and stress for years to come-

How many junk drawers do you have in your house?

A workout like none other

2011-01-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

What a day! I feel like my house has still been messy and cluttered from when I was sick. Last weekend was crazy busy and I really never had the time to get caught up.

I woke up this morning and practiced the piano before having my lesson at 10AM. And besides eating and a small break in the middle, I have been cleaning since I finished at 11AM.

Damn, it feels good to finally get caught up with our household chores and feel good about how we live!

First, I got laundry going including all the bedding in the house. While that's been going, I did the following-

Dusted
Swept
Mopped
Picked up garage gym
Wiped down front of kitchen cabinets
Did the dishes
Washed all of the baseboards in the main level except in the den

I tell ya, I was working up a sweat! And those base boards are a great leg workout- I kept squatting to get low enough.

So, I may not have done a WOD today, but sure feel like I got a workout in... and I have a clean house as a result! FINALLY!

Until tomorrow (when I'll hopefully workout),

Fun WOD

2011-01-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

I almost didn't workout tonight. I have a book due back to the library today that I'm not done with yet. I was thinking that curling up in my pj's with my book sounded like a pretty good plan... but then I saw that the WOD for today should take less than 10 minutes and I did just have 2 weeks off from being sick so I talked myself into working out really quick.

And I'm glad I did.

21 kettlebell swings 35#
21 situps
10cal row
15 kettlebell swings 35#
15 situps
10cal row
9 kettlebell swings 35#
9 situps
10cal row

Time = 6:02

It was a challenging little workout and just what I needed- something quick!

We used some of our Christmas money to outfit our rower a bit better. We bought an ergonomical handle and seat and new straps for our feet. Tonight was my first night using the rower since Michael put them on and it was a big improvement.

Okay, time to get off the computer and curl up with my book as planned.

Until tomorrow,

Finally back in action

2011-01-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

HIIIIIIIIIIIII! I'm finally back in action! Yippy! After 2 weeks off of working out due to illness, tonight was my first workout. Of course, it was a strength night and I didn't want to go balls-to-the-walls my first day back so I took it easy.

Back squat 3-3-3-3-3
95-105-110-115-120

Considering that my one rep max is 160, this was fairly light for me. When we first started warming up, I couldn't believe how stiff I felt all over, especially in my hips. I think taking it easy was smart and I felt good afterwards.

After work tonight I met my piano teacher at a music store to buy more music. I'm excited to report that I've progressed to Level #3 of my books! Yippy! I also bought 2 new books- one with rock n' roll songs and one with musicals (like Lion King). On Saturday during practice, I was able to play a song on the first try pretty effortlessly that was really difficult a few months ago. I had ignored it for a while but she had me play it again on Saturday and I was surprised how easy it was. It made me realize that I am progressing even if it is slowly! I'm excited to practice now!

It feels so good to finally feel like myself. Friday was really the first day that I felt mostly better and then the weekend turned out to be super busy. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

Yup, still alive

2011-01-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

Ugh, I'm still here, just still sick. Not confined-to-my-bed-sick anymore but more like operating-on-cold-medicine-sick.

Yesterday was my first day back at work and after 5 days of rotating between the couch and my bed, I was actually looking forward to getting out of the house. But by the end of the day yesterday, I was feeling crummy again and went to bed right after dinner.

I feel "okay" today but still not great... the cold is lingering and all I can do is continue to take it easy and wait it out.

I can't wait to feel like myself again- to workout, to go for a walk outside, to go shopping, to breathe through my nose, etc.

Sick

2011-01-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

Wow. After my last post, I got hit with a really nasty flu bug. It's honestly made me the most sick I've been in years. I woke up yesterday feeling like I'd been hit by a semi-truck. I called in sick to work and then went back to bed. I didn't wake up until this morning! It was a full 24 hours of sleep!

This morning I called in again since I haven't held food down yet. I attempted breakfast and proceeded to throw it right back up. Bummer. I went back to bed for about 5 hours. I woke up when my hubby came home for lunch and he made me a smoothie. So far, it hasn't come back up but I just finished drinking it so we'll see.

I hope I'm better soon.

Another weakness? Really? How many can 1 girl have?

2011-01-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, add "double unders" to the list of "things I need to work on." The list is already long- why not add something else to it right?

I'm half teasing - I'm not bent out of shape about sucking at yet another exercise - but yes, I truly do suck at double unders!

I've come a long way from the day it took me 20 minutes to do 15 double unders. Oh yes, that is NOT an exaggeration. Me + Jump Rope = Uncoordinated Chica

I worked on them a lot during 2010- I started by doing one, stopping (not intentionally, I probably tripped and had to regain my balance), doing another one, etc. Then I would connect them with a little hop in the middle of each one so while a workout called for 20 double unders, I was doing the 20 plus 20 single unders as well! But I was doing more double unders so I didn't really care how I was doing them, as long as they were getting done.

Finally, it wasn't until October when I was able to do 10 double unders consecutively (without the little hop) and then 15 consecutively! It was a momentous occasion indeed!

So, I suppose I should be pleased with the fact that I can do them at all, let alone the 240 that I did tonight. But I'm just not. Plain and simple- I'm not happy with the fact that I still look completely ridiculous and uncoordinated as ever when I do them.

And I swear, the CrossFit world knows that I suck because just today, this picture was posted on the main site with the caption:

"The jump in an efficient double-under is almost indistinguishable from in a single-under."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See that guy on the left? He's extremely inefficient jumping that high but guess what? I totally got him beat. Yup, he doesn't have anything on me. My shitty double under totally beats his shitty double under. So there!

So it's no surprise that a WOD like the one today that calls for 240 double unders takes me forever and I want to literally die before the end is near.

8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Hang Squat Cleans 75#
30 double unders after each round

It's not like the HSCs were easy, 75# is pretty heavy for me (95# is my one rep max), but the double unders KILLED me.

My time was an ugly 20:26.

Note to self = work on double unders.

Until tomorrow,

Pullups oh pullups

2011-01-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

...how I hate thee.

As you know, one of my 2011 goals is to do "Fran" in under 9 minutes. Fran is a famous CrossFit workout that calls for
21-15-9 reps
65# Thruster
Pull-ups

Don't let the "small" WOD fool you. It's a doozy. A lot of people have met pukie while doing Fran. Just go to youtube and type in "CrossFit Fran" as your search and you'll be amazed at how quickly some people can complete this WOD. I think the record for men is a sub-2 minute time and many elite female CrossFitters can do it under 4 minutes. It's almost pathetic, then, that my goal time is 9:00!

Why Fran?

There's a secret motive behind why I chose this WOD- yes, I can do a pull-up and I can actually do a lot of pull-ups, but I'm extremely inefficient at them and I can't string a bunch of them together at a time. My kip sucks and in order to get a good Fran time, I'm going to have to improve my pull-up.

I did Fran today and even videotaped it because I wanted to document where I was starting at in 2011! Watching this, I swear I spend more time catching my breath than actually working out. The combination of thruster and pull-ups kills my endurance very quickly and because I'm inefficient at pull-ups, I just cannot get myself to get into a rhythm with them without taking time to catch my breath. It adds a lot of time to the clock!

Either way, I beat my previous Fran time by almost a full minute. My time today was 10:51 and it was 11:45 before. (In the video, I actually do 1 extra pull-up by accident so although the time stops at 10:54, my time is actually 10:51.) This means I need to take two more minutes off my time during 2011. I plan to do this by adding pull-up work each week to my regimen. I'm going to start with the kipping variations and step 1 of learning how to kip.

Anyway, here's my video of "Fran"- what do you think?

kid proof

2010-12-31T09:55:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late posting last night's workout but we were just so busy afterwards that I didn't have time. In fact, I've been super busy already this morning!

Last night's WOD was a ton of fun! We had 5 people come over in addition to Michael and I and those people brought with them 4 kids in tow! So the guys and girls took turns working out. First the ladies stayed inside and watched the kids while the dudes worked out. Then we switched once they were done. It worked out really well but I learned that our house is definitely not kid-proof. At all. The kids reached for everything they possibly could (who knew the little rascals did this?) and I was afraid for some of our belongings at times but luckily, nothing was broken.

Something seems off to me about kid proofing our home when we don't have kids. Anyone else with me on that? And no, the solution, Lexi, is not for Michael and I to have kids :-P

I've also realized that I am not kid proof either. I have a potty mouth and let it slip a time or two. Luckily the parents thought it was hilarious because I would gasp and cover my mouth realizing just a moment too late what I had just said. Dang it.

If the weather wasn't crazy here in Arizona right now, it wouldn't be bad because we can all be outside and the kids can just run around. It actually snowed in Phoenix yesterday people! It was all over the news. It wasn't like a blizzard or anything, just a very light dusting but it was crazy nonetheless. This is unheard of! Working out in a garage has definitely been challenging this week! Right now it is 33 degrees- I'm wearing 3 shirts, super tall socks, and gloves. What a wuss I've become.

Oh, back to the workout...

I made up the girls workout and here's what we did-
AMRAP 12
2 burpees
4 box jumps
6 kettlebell swings
8 squats
Sprint (probably about 100 meters)

I did 6 rounds + 1 burpee. It was a challenging workout for sure but a lot of fun! All of our noses were running because it was so cold but we made the most of it.

We're supposed to workout again at noon but I'm not sure if I will. I'd like to do "Fran" since one of my 2011 goals is to do it in under 9 minutes and I want to see what kind of a hurdle that will be. But our pull-up bar is iron and with this weather, it's FREEZING to try and hold onto. It needs to hurry up and warm up so I can do it!

Some goals for 2011

2010-12-29T12:41:00.000-08:00

As promised, I've spent some time thinking about my goals for 2011. My "theme" (if you can call it that) has been to live a savvy and fit life. I've decided to break my goals up into similar categories... I did this last year too and I think it helped.

Fitness Goals

1. Perform a handstand push-up
2. Perform 10 pistols with each leg (essentially a one-legged squat)
3. Complete Fran in 9 minutes or less (I'm currently at 11:00 so I have a lot of work to do here!)
4. Eat gluten free during January (check it out!)
5. Take part in The 30-day Primal Challenge from Mark's Daily Apple (he did it in September 2010.)
6. Read Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution (check it out!)

Overall, I want to get faster at some of my CrossFit times. I feel myself getting stronger and all the PR's I'm setting prove it, but I want to see that I'm getting faster (more efficient) too. In 2011, I plan to repeat some of the WOD's on my sidebar and see if I can't beat the times. Most of them are old so I'd like to think that I've improved since then but I'm not sure.

Savvy Goals

1. Contribute $10,000 to our Roth IRA's (the maximum we're allowed to contribute)
2. End the year with $29,200 in our Dream Fund.
3. Donate a minimum of $100 each month to a charity.
4. Carpool at least two times each week.

Financially, we're on the right track. Besides our savings goals for the year, I want to make sure we're enjoying our money too. Balancing these two things (saving vs spending) is hard for me because I'm a saver. In our budget, we've added a date night each month and of course we're taking our big vacation at the end of February. I'd like to tackle our savings goals head on and achieve them earlier... then maybe I won't be as hesitant to spend some of our money at that point!

Life Goals

1. Work 45 hours per week or less (such a tough one for me!)
2. Become more aware of ways to live a greener lifestyle. I carpool and air dry clothes, don't leave lights on for no reason, etc. but I'm sure I can do more. I must do more in 2011.
3. Organize our file cabinet and come up with a system for not letting it get out of control again.
4. Visit my chicas! I would like to make this an annual thing- hopefully it's on their goal list for 2011 too or I might be screwed :)
5. Stop calling Michigan "home". This might seem far too simple to be a resolution or it might not make sense to anyone but me, but this goal actually has more to do with my mindset and changing the way I perceive where we live now, where we may live in the future, where my family lives, etc.

And I'd like to continue learning to play the piano. There are a number of things I want to find more time for (piano is #1) but that first goal up there under "Life" is the biggest hinderance right now. As soon as I can get that under control, the more time I will have to dedicate to other things. I made some enormous (for me) strides in 2010 in regard to my work-life balance and I'm optimistic that it will get even easier by the end of 2011.

What are your resolutions for 2011?

new PR!

2010-12-27T20:42:00.000-08:00

YIPPY! I set a PR for my overhead squats today and I'm super excited!

When I started, I was the only one home. Here were my weights for 5 reps-
65
75
85
95 (New PR!)
~~100~~

I failed that rep of 100 but I knew I could get it. I sort of freaked out because I realized I was lifting 100 pounds over my head and no one was home. I went down and dropped the weight in front of me exactly as you're supposed to so I'm not sure why after that rep I was hesitant to keep going but I was. I had that one thought in my head that I was going to die from lifting weights and then I couldn't get it out of my head.

So, anyway, I decided to wait til the guys got home from work to do my last 2 reps.

And I did-
100
100

I decided just to do 100# twice because my first one wasn't pretty. I just didn't feel strong and I wanted to repeat it so I did. My PR before tonight was only 85 so this is a 15# PR! Wahoo!

My sidebar has been updated!

2010 recap

2010-12-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

Last year, I put a lot of time into my 2010 resolutions. By this time last year, I already knew what my goals were going to be, had given them a lot of thought, and had blogged about them. This year? Not so much. I have no idea what goals I'll set for 2011 but I can at least recap 2010.

Here they are-

Savvy Goals

1. Improve net worth... goal = have positive net worth (we're currently negative $35K!)
2. Save for anniversary cruise/vacation... goal = $3,000 depending on where we decide to go
3. Save for 2nd car... goal = $8,000
I'm happy to report that financially-speaking, we did amazing in 2010 and met each of these goals. We contributed the max amount to newly created IRA's in 2010, bought a new car worth $15,000 (almost twice as much as our goal), and saved for a vacation! All of these result in a much higher net worth then we started the year with!

Fitness Goals

1. Maintain current weight/size... I weigh 135 lbs and wear a size 6. I'm very happy with this weight. I have no desire to lose or tone anymore but don't want to gain weight either
Let's see... I'm around 138-140 but still a size 6 so I'm very happy with that. There was that one day when I got weighed at the doctor's office and weighed 145 but I think I was just having a bloated day or something. My size 6 pants are actually big on me these days and I've been saying how I need to maybe try on some size 4's with my Christmas money.

2. Complete 100 burpee challenge... 1 burpee on Day 1, 2 on Day 2, etc until 100 days complete!
I tried to do the burpee challenge and made it to 55 before getting calf cramps. Damn calves. I can't do anything repetitive without having issues.

3. Perform 10 consecutive double unders... my current total is 9, but not consecutively so I have some work to do.
I hit my goal of doing 10 double unders and actually surpassed it by doing 15! I just hit it in October so I just barely made it!

4. Perform handstand push-up... no modifications!
I cannot do a handstand push-up yet but I feel like I just started working on this recently. It's going to be a repeat goal for me in 2011 because I really want to be able to do this exercise!

Life Goals

1. Watch less TV... I need to make this more specific
Wow, do I ever watch less TV these days. When we moved in February, we got rid of cable and DVR and all that jazz. I could care less what happens on most TV shows now and most week nights, the TV doesn't even get turned on in our house. I remember reading how people were happier after turning the TV off and I can definitely understand that now. At first, it sucked, but now, I love it and won't ever go back!

2. Learn to knit ... my goal is to knit Michael a Dr. Who scarf. This, however, requires some basic knitting knowledge which I don't have yet. I started this hobby a few weeks ago and so far I love it!
I tried to learn to knit and gave it a good shot but you know what? I didn't enjoy it. I "quit" because I learned that it was something I didn't actually want to do and I wasn't going to keep doing it for the sake of a resolution.

3. Learn to play the piano...this has been a dream of mine since I can remember. I have my first piano lesson scheduled for January 2nd!
YAY! My piano playing will always be a work-in-progress. What I've realized is that I love playing and I am soooo glad I decided to challenge myself with this new skill. It's tough, and I still royally suck, but it's not going to stop me from continuing my lessons into 2011!

4. Implement 5 lifestyle changes for greener living... i.e. change out lightbulbs, etc.. I know I can come up with 2-3 without hesitation, but 5 is going to be tough. I'm excited to challenge my current way of thinking though!
Boo, I'm disappointed to report that we didn't do this. Must focus on this in 2011.

5. Learn to speak a 2nd language... still very much in the planning phases, more on this later...
Nope, didn't learn to speak a 2nd language either. Bummer. I still really want to do this but between work, working out, piano, house-keeping, there's just no time left in the day.

Overall, my goal in 2010 was to have a better work-life balance. And while I worked more hours this year then ever before, my perspective on work has changed drastically. Work is not my passion anymore and the fact that I'm still working so many hours is probably what's contributing to my bitterness with it. Despite this, I'm happy with how I've grown in 2010 and stretched myself to do other things. I want to keep this going in 2011 and hopefully it will only get easier.

Maybe I'll post some goals for 2011, but no promises. I have to think about them first! I love goal-setting though and think it's a great exercise to do. I think we have to be flexible at the same time and not keep doing something for the sake of doing it.

Row PR

2010-12-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

I just rocked a 5K row... my best time before tonight was 26:13 in August but I'm happy to report that I will be updating my sidebar because I killed that time!

I killed it by over 2 minutes!

My time tonight was 24:00 flat. I was really trying to beat 24:00 and I was in an all out sprint at the end there but I ended up hitting 24 on the nose. That's alright, I'm incredibly proud of my improvement because I really pushed myself.

After the row, I took my furbaby for a long bike ride. I picked up my mother-in-law and father-in-law from the airport today and she gets really excited when we have guests. Well, excited... more like restless and anxious so I figured it would help to tire her ou a bit. And it worked because right now she's curled up in a ball on her bed. So cute!

No work for me tomorrow so I have a 3 day weekend! Wahoo!

Merry Christmas everyone!

WOD + Pictures

2010-12-22T19:21:00.000-08:00

Another great workout tonight-

First, just one round of however many strict pull-ups you can do. I could only do 2 which isn't great but it's better than zero.

Then we did a quick WOD-
21-15-9
45# Sumo Deadlift High Pull
Sit-ups

Time = 3:35

Today at the office was dress in crazy Christmas attire and I sported some knee high socks. I figured why change just for the workout right? Yea, I know you're fricken jealous of my Christmas socks...

Until tomorrow,

Really quick

2010-12-21T05:47:00.000-08:00

After working out last night we headed to a friend's house to watch football and play poker. We didn't get home until 11 which is late for us, especially since I had to get up for work this morning. Normally I'm in bed by 10 and I was just getting home at 11. I am taking all my employees their gifts today so I had a few to wrap yet and I had to iron my suit. Needless to say, this morning came way too early but I wanted to blog to document this really fast.

My workout was 3-3-3-3-3 overhead squats. For some reason, I felt the need to do 5 reps the first two rounds b/c I was thinking that's what I was supposed to do. Oops. Here's how I ended up-
45
55
60
70
75

The 75# wasn't super easy or anything, but I knew I'd get it. I didn't go so heavy that I was afraid I'd drop it. That's probably something I should stretch myself to do- attempt a squat I'm pretty sure I will fail. It's totally mental that I've never been down and not been able to get up, so I'm afraid to dump the bar. I think if I just do it once, I'll move past that in my head. Anyway....another day, another post...

Then we did a quick WOD-
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 reps of hang power snatches with clapping push-ups.

I used the bar for the HPS and went on my knees for the clapping push-ups. I probably could have done a few without being on my knees but I wanted to be consistent throughout the workout.

My time = 10:03 I only finished about a minute less than the guys.

Alright, off to work I go! Have a good day everyone!