A GREAT Birthday Weekend...and it's still not over!

This has been a great weekend!  Although I had intentions to make it to church on Thanksgiving, snooze won the battle.  I am not giving up on the war.  I am making a commitment to get to church each Sunday between now and the end of the year!    Bill & I slept in, which was needed - I think the jet lag finally caught up to us.  Headed over to my sisters and we had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving with the family.  My brother gave a very heart felt Thanksgiving prayer before dinner and emphasized how this year we really could have been without our mom at the dinner table.  She was saved and is still with us.   Lots to be thankful for this holiday season indeed.   Dinner was served on time at 4pm so that anyone interested could watch the 49er game at 5pm.   My sister who is not really a sports fan made this accommodation for the family and I was very grateful.

After dinner, it was pretty cool to see the family all disperse to do what they wanted to do.  My brother & I camped out in front of the TV to watch the game,  Bill & Michael "geeked out" talking about tech stuff, my sister and nephew Rob played cards, my brother-in-law was doing something in his office and my mom was just watching us all and enjoying how we were all content to be doing what we were doing.   Everyone was happy in their own right.  I also think she was amused at my enthusiasm for football.  It's been awhile since she's seen me watch any game and she made a few comments to which Bill replied, "oh, this is nothing, you should have seen her when the Giants won the World Series".  I think my mom finally realized just how much the sports lover I really am, that is truly the "daddy's girl" in me.   It was a good night.  The 49ers didn't win, it was still a pretty good game with a lot of defense and a few bullshit calls, but hey we are still 9-2 for the season which is quite respectable!
We had the family "birthday celebration" on Thanksgiving and had my yummy Baskin Robbins birthday cake.

Friday, I was up and out early to sub 6am spin at the Page Mill YMCA.  My first time teaching at this facility and only two people showed up.  No doubt it was the holiday scenario and the class went as well as could be expected, but it's so hard to be motivated for two people at that hour!   Then after a quick break at home, I then went to teach my 915am class and had a good turnout, it was a class filled with energy that made up for the other!   By midday I was pooped and ended up crashed on the couch- so much for a Friday of decorating!  Oh well!  Enjoyed the down time and then got ready to continue the Birthday celebration with a Birthday-eve dinner with Janet & Scott.  Had a great time at Chevy's and enjoyed the meal at the time, but the after effects makes me wonder how I used to eat Chevy's every week.  It's amazing once you start a plan like Weight Watchers and eat pretty decently, how your body reacts to food from places like Chevy's.  My stomach was jacked up all day Saturday!   But in any case, we enjoyed the company and I had a very yummy brownie/ice cream dessert!   We went dancing afterwards and spent some time with Tiina!   Had a good night of dancing, followed by a great night sleep to wake up on my birthday with the love of my life beside me.  We lounged in bed and snuggled, I got up to teach Body Pump at PAC for Kristy, then came home and started to decorate the house.  My nephew Michael came over to start working on my Holiday card stuffing/stamping/labeling.  It was a productive day and Michael is such a good kid!   Kid, ha- he's 18, guess he's not a kid anymore!   :(  Bill & I ventured out to have dinner downtown Redwood City and tried out the new Sakura Teppanyaki restaurant, it was great!  We got there late, so ended up with a table to ourselves, which was cool.  We thought we'd go to a movie after, but got done so early that we were in between movie times, decided to come home and watch a movie on TV.   Enjoyed "The hangover 2" hilarious movie and then went to bed.   Bottom line, anytime spent with my husband is a good time.

Started today with church and then finished up the house/tree decorating, got the lights hung outside and had both Michael & Rob over working on the cards.  By the time Bill & I returned from our massages, they had all the cards done, we had pizza for dinner together and then I helped Michael with his college application for Cal Poly.  He still has 6 other colleges to submit, but 5 of them are the same app with sub-apps and we plan to get those done next weekend.  Cal Poly had an 11/30 deadline, the others have until 12/31.  I still can't believe that I have a nephew ready for college and to see him driving his hot rod 1969 Chevy Truck just brings tears to my eyes- I am so dang proud of him and the young man he has become.  It was fun to watch him and Uncle Bill geeking on Thanksgiving and again yesterday while working on the cards.  I am so thankful that Bill is part of our family and can help mentor Michael this way.   Truly a blessing!

Overall a great weekend!  I have a busy week ahead with 7 classes to teach, have a few walks with Diane scheduled and a few additional workouts of my own.  I am thrilled that starting in January I will now be teaching Body Pump 3 times a week.  I was offered a Saturday class at Gold's, and I jumped on it!  It's not too early, yet still early enough so if I am needed to sub elsewhere, I can!  

Not really happy about going to the dentist tomorrow- I need to have 2 fillings re-filled, they are old and leaking.  I have also had a gum infection this weekend.  I was able to self-treat with warm water/salt which seemed to do the trick, but I am not a fan of any visit to the dentist regardless of how nice they may be!  Sigh.  I need to set up a few more appointments - the annual female stuff: pap, mammo and then I also need to make the follow up appt. with my foot dr. about the orthotics.  2012 is not far away, it'll be here in the blink of an eye.

Need to get back on track with the eating, tracking, drinking and working out!  I have goals for how I want to feel in my bikini in Oahu in January and I'd like to finally change out my belly ring to my mickey mouse belly ring- which I think is perfect for a trip to Disney's Aulani!  Need to scale down about 5 pounds by then (more if I can, but trying to be realistic with all the functions that December brings)!

Thankfulness...and random thoughts: weight loss, fitness, love, divorce, death - this is a loaded entry!


Well I had started a blog entry on the return flight from Cancun, but never got back to it...so starting over.  In a nutshell, we had a great time in Cancun.  It was a trip that was all about great friends, fun people and sunshine.  My type of vacation.  Although, not exactly the Weight Watchers type of vacation ~ oh well.  I am living my life and there are going to be times when Weight Watchers just does not fit into the plan.  The key is how I rebound.   Well, I went from a week in Cancun with very little activity (yes, we did walk into town twice- about 2 miles each time, leisurely and we did dance a little bit 2-3 times during the week) to being back and having taught 5 classes in the last 3 days.  That is a good rebound.  I wanted to go dancing tonight, but I was just exhausted - which of course makes no sense to me now as I sit up here at 1235am blogging.  If I was that exhausted, why was I not in bed 3 hours ago?   But my body is physically exhausted and achy.  3 spin classes and 2 Body Pumps and having not done either of these in 10 days, it's almost like starting over again - OUCH!   I have been logging all of my food since returning and I won't truly be back on program until this Friday when my point bank resets.  Since I go Friday-Friday, I really could not figure out my points for the last two days in Cancun.   I have been "bored" with food choices since being home, am I spoiled from having rib-eyes, burgers, bacon/eggs, etc. on vacation?    Whatever it is, I need to regroup because I have just been wanting all of the "off limit" foods this week.

So I may bitch a bit about the weight loss journey and my frustrations.  But to be positive about it all, I got on the scale the day after we got back and yes I did gain 3 pounds, but am pretty certain that it'll be off by the time I weigh in officially on Friday- well I hope, might be tough with Thanksgiving.  But the following Friday should be "game on!"  But the bottom line, it feels good to be back moving around and teaching classes after a week off. I dug out some old releases for Body Pump and picked some tracks that were particularly challenging, ones that I might have avoided a year ago - so I know that I have made progress.  I have Body Pump 80 in my hands now, so time to learn the new release for launch in January!  Hard to believe this program is turning 20 years old!  Almost legal..

Eating is going to be a challenge for the rest of the year.  Seriously, it's Thanksgiving which is a feast and also the family Birthday celebration.  I get to have my favorite Baskin Robbins Ice Cream cake...Yum!  I'll have my one slice and because that doesn't travel well, any leftovers will remain at my sister's house!   We are eating early so that we can watch the 49er game and I think that this will be a positive thing.  Less time to snack on chips/dip, etc. before the meal and we'll be able to wait awhile- I'm thinking half time to let the family sing "Happy Birthday" to me and have cake!   I really want to get in a work out, but I just don't see it happening.  Church at 9am, by the time I get home and need to leave at 1130am to pick up mom on the way to get to Walnut Creek by 1pm - pretty much impossible I think.  So I will rest.   Eight classes this week in 6 days is nothing to sneeze at.  We will go dancing Friday night for sure and maybe Saturday.  The remaining weeks of the year have a minimum of one party/gathering per week with most weeks having at least two.  So it is going to be a challenge!

So onto Thankfulness.  Seems this time of year everyone is more consciously aware of being thankful for things, but we really need to be thankful year round..and maybe most people are and they just use this one day to vocalize it.  I am feeling very thankful for my life.  I have a  great, supportive family with the most amazing husband.  I can't even imagine my life without Bill.  I have the best friends.  I am having a GNO birthday celebration on Monday night that Pam Tyson arranged and I am so excited that 10 ladies have replied that they will be there.  Only two could not make it- that's pretty incredible.  I have dinner planned Friday night with BFF Janet and her beau Scotty, we have not really had any one on one time with them since they because a couple back in August, so I am looking forward to that for sure!   I have two wonderful careers that enrich my life and I get to travel multiple times per year.  I am very lucky and fortunate.  However, while my life is great- I have a heavy heart this week for multiple reasons.

While in Mexico a very good friend texted me that she and her fiance had broken up.  I've spent hours over the years listening and giving my feedback to her about the relationship because it has been a rocky one and I do think this break up is the right thing for her.  She is worthy of so much more, but I still ache for her & her pain.   I made sure to text her each day while I was gone to check in on her and then called her immediately when I returned.   I then received an email from my cousin that she & her husband of 14 years are getting divorced.  I have not had a chance to talk to her- we've played phone tag and hopefully I will get to talk to her tomorrow.  But again, just saddened and I'm sure she is stressed out, in pain and scared about the future for her and her three boys.   Then I noticed that my niece changed her relationship status to "single" and her posts have eluded to a "fresh start" in life for her and her baby girl of 3 months.  This is not really a surprise, we had a few long conversations about her relationship with the baby's father and I just think he's too young and has living to do, he's not ready to settle.  I still need to get together with her and have a conversation on this.  So three breakups in a week- making me even more appreciative of my darling Bill.

Then today, probably the biggest heartache of all.  A friend from High School posted that her husband, age 48 passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday.   Brain Aneurysm.   My heart just aches for Barbara and her family, I can't even imagine the "here today, gone tomorrow" of a spouse, a life partner, the love of your life.  There simply are no words.   Barbara and I are not close friends - but she was my first friend in High School outside of the group of friends that I had known previously- we were seated next to each other in homeroom for 4 years due to alphabetical seating arrangements and often sat next to each other in classes for the same reason.

So tomorrow (well technically today), I am exceptionally thankful for all of my blessings.  To my family, I love you unconditionally - there is nothing that I would not do for any of you.  For my BFF's and you know who you are, you are my family also & I love you!   For everyone else in my life, whether you are a travel colleague, fitness colleague, client who has crossed over to friend status, someone I've known all my life or someone who I've known for a shorter period of time- I am grateful for all of you and blessed to have you in my life.    Wishing everyone a very blessed Thanksgiving Day today and everyday!

What a difference a day can make!

Yesterday was an odd day.  I have been feeling a little frumpy the last week or so, not seeing the scale move, not feeling like I'm moving enough (as in exercise), unhappy that I am not reaching my small goals- I wanted to have lost 34 pounds by this weekend- but I am still about 6 pounds away...having a Mexican standoff with my body, the body is winning!   Then to add to my already sorry mood, I happened to check the PAC group exercise schedule to find that there is a new instructor on the list teaching Body Pump.  Once again, I was not considered at all.  This really bothers me- BIG TIME.   When I auditioned over a year ago with the new Director she told me that at the time she had decided to give the open class to an instructor already on payroll and gave me some bla bla about not wanting to complete new hire paperwork because she had just done all this paperwork for everyone already employed due to some computer changeover.    I was very understanding at the time, let her know that I would still love to be considered for any future openings, etc.    Since then she has hired several new instructors and I've never even been contacted.  I still sub here often, although I know I am not the first person she suggests to new instructors when asked who to contact for subbing, but I am first choice for many of the instructors on the schedule who always get great feedback from their classes about me. What the hell gives here?  

It really does bother me and I was having a pity party last night that involved oreos and milk.  I have not acted out like that in such a long time.  Self-sabotage or whatever, but fortunately I snapped out of it very quickly.  I felt sick after having the cookies & milk, guess my body has been used to not having that crap for months now.  I went to bed early (1130pm) last night, I think the time change caught up to me and hit me hard, but then I thought that maybe I'd get up early and take a 6am class before walking and step up my fitness game once again.   I checked the schedule, well I didn't want to do Body Pump since I was going to be teaching it tonight and I didn't even see/look at Yoga, I saw Spin and thought I'd go take a spin class this morning.  Well, I then see that the instructor is the Director and immediately talk myself out of going and then just as quickly as I talked myself out of going, I decided "hell yes, I'm going to go and work out hard and let her see who she turned away and who she has been ignoring"  "time to make myself be seen by the person who should see me the most, let her see what she's missing on her instructor roll call"  Geez- who is this person and where did this confidence come from???  LOL

My alarm went off at 515am, I got up and got ready (after one snooze alarm and a slight consideration to stay in bed instead)- but feisty me piped up and told me to get going.  So I was off...or was I?  I decided to call and sign up for the class en route - only to find that the class was full with a waitlist of 7 people.  Boo.  So I backed down the driveway, into the garage and back upstairs to my bed.  Talk about letting the air out of my balloon!  It was only 5 minutes later that I realized that I could have gone to Yoga instead, but would have had to change into different clothing - it was too late once I figured out that option.  So I went back to sleep for a little over an hour and then got up to start my day.  Went walking with Diane and finished the day with Body Pump.  Still a great day for fitness, but boy I sure wanted that bit extra!  

I had a super productive day and I am almost afraid to put this in writing, but I am hoping that I won't have that horrible 12th hour getting ready for vacation madness happen to me this time around.  Although, Bill says he's feeling it at work right now.  I'm hopeful that I can get through this week peacefully.   I do have nails tomorrow and hair on Thursday.  I still have a few classes to teach through the end of the week, but am feeling more prepared than I have in a long time.  Now if only I felt good about the body and the bikini factor.

So tomorrow is another day- and it's already after midnight.  I'd like to get up and go to Kickboxing at 6am, but not very confident about this.  Meeting Diane at 830am for our walk and hoping to go dancing tomorrow night for a little bit..we'll see, the day will determine if that is possible.   Off to bed I go!

Hibernating is not just for bears....but I've gotta snap out of this!

My annual laziness phase has arrived.  Although, I use the word "laziness" loosely, because I'm not so sure I'm being lazy by choice.  Last weekend was super busy, followed by a very fun Halloween Monday night and I think that just set me up for an exhausting week.  I had a super busy Tuesday with two client meetings and document deliveries including my group documents for 200 people - all of that went very well.  As I type this, those 200 are running about Las Vegas!   The rest of the week was busy with work, I went on 3 walks with Diane, even when I really wanted to sleep in longer and I taught my two Body Pump classes.   The weather has turned really cold the last two days and all I've wanted to do is work in my P.J.'s and be a couch potato at the end of the day.  This has got to stop!

I've been getting on the scale almost everyday this week and in disbelief not liking the numbers I'm seeing, I think I'm going through more "female" crap that is stalling the weight loss process like it did in September- so great, I think I get to skip a period every other month, but I will struggle with weight loss during that month - sigh!    I purposely did not get on the scale today because I was retaliating against it on weigh in day - although my idea was that I would weigh in tomorrow after a night of dancing, which usually always instantly drops a few pounds...but we didn't go out tonight.  The "Lazy" me came to dinner tonight and after a yummy tri-tip dinner, we were not motivated to go out.  Bill has been peacefully snoring on the couch for the last 3 hours, I have finished my last photo book for 2010 and can now start to work on 2011.

I am bummed that I am not reaching my weight loss goals as quickly as I thought possible, it's extremely frustrating because I am watching my calorie intake, I am working out - but I have not worked out as intensely for the last 3 weeks than I have the weeks prior to that.  This freaks me out because I know it's been the busy level with work and life and a little bit of the cooler weather and darker mornings (which are about to get darker real soon)- so it is going to be very hard for me to motivate to get moving more.  I need to push myself here, I have to make it happen otherwise the holidays are going to kill the weight loss plans.   I need to map out my workouts and get a plan and stick to it.  I need to get my butt to bed at a decent hour each night (yes, I am blogging at 1am, I know) - but seriously need to get a good 7 hours of sleep each night and I know I won't go work out at night if I'm not teaching (committed to being someplace), so I am going to have to get up early to do more.  I cannot count on getting away midday to do something, work has been taking over...soon the Holidays will be taking over too.

This weekend is fairly low-key.  I plan to get to 1030am Body Pump at Gold's tomorrow to get in my workout before I have a facial appointment and Bill has a pedicure appointment in Burlingame.  Figured we would go shopping together afterwards to try to get a few Christmas gifts, we are almost done, just a few more to get.  I've worked hard at getting this done.  That has added to the stress level, knowing that once we return from vacation, it's Thanksgiving week and the craziness ensues.  I don't have a lot of classes this coming week, just my three - so I need to get in a few walks with Diane and try to get to the gym for 6am workouts.  I need to do this.  I am thankful that the week we get back, I am scheduled to teach 8 classes in 6 days and given that it's Thanksgiving weekend, we will go dancing Wednesday and Friday nights - maybe Saturday, but I have not decided for sure on that.  It's my birthday and just have not confirmed where I want to be and people that I'd like to be with have babysitting issues, etc.

So off to bed I go- must get a good night sleep, if I can get done a good amount of stuff on my list tomorrow, then perhaps we can go dancing tomorrow night.  Feel like I need to move, move, shake, shake!