I am thoroughly enjoying this Holiday Season!

It has been a busy couple of days.  Guess I'll start out at the beginning.  Had a FABULOUS weekend.   It started out rough, I slept like crap Thursday night- woke up at 3am thanks to a stupid solicitation phone call and I never really slept well after that.  I tried to get a sub for my spin class because I felt like just then at 8am I could have slept so hard.  I was unsuccessful, so got to class and gave it my all- which was tough!  Thought a nap was in order during the day, but I was busy as could be.   

Bill & I met his friend Joe for dinner at Claim Jumpers and had a really nice time.  It was so cool to see Bill & Joe reminisce- they had not seen each other since Bill was 18 years old.  We then took Joe to the Saddle Rack and had an amazing night of dance.  No drama, no nasty people - just a good night of fun, fun, fun times.  I have not had that good of a night in a looooooooooooooong time!   It was great!     Saturday's back to back Body Pump classes were both good, felt good to be up and moving, but by the time I got home I was not motivated to do anything but relax- which is exactly what I did.  We had my sister's Christmas party Saturday night and Ms. Organized here forgot the White Elephant gifts- so we ended up stopping at Safeway to buy new ones.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!   We had a good time with my sister's friends, although the party seemed to end a bit abruptly- have not had a chance to talk to her about that.  

Sunday I made it to church & delivered the donation teddy bears to Redeemer and then we headed off to the Carlson Brunch at Janette's house.  That was a really fun time.  Good group of people and we ended up taking home some good gifts.   The time just flew and before you knew it we had to leave and rush home to get ready for some much needed massages.  I completely melted into the massage table and fell asleep!   Great end to a great weekend!

This week has been so much fun- we went to the 49er game Monday night and it was an AWESOME game and the Niners kicked some Steeler butt!!  It was probably one of the better games that I've been to in a while and we had such a good time.  The weather could not have been any better - we just really had a blast.  Diablo Road was playing outside the stadium before the game, so we hung out with some friends from the Saddle Rack and watched the show- fun times!    Nice dinner out tonight with Diane & Mike to celebrate Mike's birthday, full belly and I am tired.  Going to get to bed early tonight for a change! HA! 

Still have a busy week still ahead.  Have a few more classes to teach before Christmas Eve, supposed to go walking with Diane tomorrow (as long as she doesn't bail)...We are planning on going dancing tomorrow night (although I have my doubts).  I have grocery shopping to do, a hair color appointment to sit though and a birthday dinner in SF Friday night for 1st grade friend Diana.   Busy, busy, busy!  I'm looking forward to the weekend and all the Christmas celebrations that we have planned!    But I am not looking forward to the rest of the feasting involved with the Holidays.  

I have been holding steady with my weight loss, I still need to lose 1.5 by the end of the year to hit my 2011 goal - so close, so I need to stay focused!   I am hoping that I'll be able to jump kick start right after Christmas.  I am teaching 7 classes in 6 days and will need to add in my own workouts since Diane will be in  Tahoe for the week.  Since Bill is off work all next week, we are planning on dancing Wednesday, Thursday & Friday!   Should help in the calorie burn department!   

I am tired though, been staying up too late for nights in a row for no real apparent reason...so think I'm going to turn in now.  Not motivated to do any work at this hour (must have been the wine at dinner tonight or the full food belly)...but I'm ready for a good night sleep!   Was thinking of going to 6am spin at PAC- but I see the class is waitlisted- so not getting up that early now! LOL 

Heavy & Happy Heart........

So I have been reflective all day today after having a very long conversation with my cousin yesterday.  We finally caught up on her life and the journey that she is now in the process of called "Separation/Divorce/Unfaithful Spouse" etc.  It BREAKS my heart and does dig up some old wounds of my own.  I guess that is just natural.  I remember so vividly being in her shoes 8 years ago and I can't even imagine how having three kids adds to the stress/drama mix.    I am happy that she has gotten an Attorney and gee her spouse is upset that she did- duh?  Really?  You think she'd just go along with whatever you wanted?  Not!   Today she posted on Facebook that she found out that he moved in with his girlfriend and her child and wow how quickly he found a new family.  I just can't even imagine the dimension that this adds to all of it.   In my case, Ron moved out on his own - yes the girlfriend was with him all of the time, but they never set up home together and eventually karma did kick his ass and Karma will circle around and get my cousin's spouse as well.   Today was a rough day for her and I HATE being 3000 miles away across the country from her.   She told me that for New Years Eve she was going to head into NYC and stay with her brother and his wife.  Kind of ironic, I spent my first "separated" New Years Eve with my brother and his wife.  A little funny!   I'm glad that she will get some adult time and be surrounded by people who love her and support her.   I will continue to pray for her and her boys and be there as much as I can for her.  We texted back and forth a bit today.

My friend Tiina who had her break-up with her fiance around the same time as my cousin is making great strides in recovery.  We've touched base a little this week and she'll be dancing tomorrow night and sounds very happy & excited to go out.  She also took my advice, she had commented about how her ring finger felt so empty without the engagement ring and I told her that when I became separated, I bought myself a divorce ring and wore it until Bill gave me the engagement ring.  She did the same thing and should be getting it any day- specially made in Norway.

Still have to check in on my niece Jenifer, but her posts on Facebook are all positive and she is focusing on her future and the future for her baby girl.  We are overdue for a visit/chat session, but she's a smart cookie and has her priorities set straight.  Just hope that the baby daddy doesn't make her life difficult over the years.

Heavy Heart for others!!!  Happy Heart for me!!

Still having a great week, it's been quiet with work and I am enjoying the down time.  Diane & I have done more of our walks in the afternoon this week for multiple reasons:  staying up too late and being unable to get up in the morning, not wanting to get up because it's so darn cold & "just because" - it's not very often that I can break away during the middle of the day- it's been nice.  Tonight's Body Pump class was small, but the consistent regulars.  Kind of ironic- I was thinking back to the member who commented Tuesday about why don't more men take Body Pump and in tonight's class- there was only one woman!  The rest were all guys- crazy observation.  There is one married couple that comes every week - Pacita & Athos, a very nice couple and Athos is one of those men who gets in his zone and doesn't hear a thing you say, doesn't make any corrections or "see" you.  So tonight after class I spent some time with him to work on his bicep curls that had been going up to his nose almost and his clean & presses that would take out my teeth if I were standing 2 feet in front of him.  (slight exaggerations) We had a good laugh and gave him some pointers which he genuinely appreciated.    His wife Pacita was commenting after class about how hard the class felt to her and I know she was tired at the beginning of class, but she still finished.  She said that everything seemed so heavy to her tonight and then we realized that normally she just mirrors what I put on my bar with a few exceptions and she didn't realize that I had increased my weights on several tracks- so she challenged herself without knowing that she was challenging herself.  It was awesome!!  I did receive compliments from them though that I gave such good instruction and that I explain why they should do something and what potential injury they are preventing, etc.   Feels good to hear things like that because I have always had focus on safety first in everything that I have ever taught!  

So I am excited for a very busy weekend!  Friday morning spin class, followed by my usual stops on the way home to the chiropractor & safeway for a few things.  Work in the afternoon and then tomorrow night we are going to dinner and then dancing.  One of Bill's childhood friends just moved to the Bay Area after accepting a new job.  They have not seen each other since they were about 18!  Saturday starts off with a double dose of Body Pump- my own class at Gold's and then subbing for Kristy at PAC while she takes her AFAA Primary Certification Exam (she'll rock it!)..then my sister's holiday party Saturday night.  Sunday after church head over to my former boss' house for our Holiday Brunch with the Carlson Travel Gang and then late afternoon massages before a quiet night watching Survivor Finale!   Can you say Busy?  I do need to get some final work done on Michael's college apps too.

So off to bed I go now--yep 1am, not quite 2am that I've been doing the past several nights, but I do have to be up by 8am for spin!  I've got this!

Making a difference....in many ways....

I'm not really sure what is different- but for whatever reason the scale is moving this week in the RIGHT direction.  Maybe it's the extra sleep I've been getting (I've been going to bed late, but getting up around 930-10am the past two days), maybe it's dancing both Friday & Saturday night, maybe it's increasing my weights Saturday in Body Pump- but something has triggered the weight to start coming off again- I'm thrilled.  I believe the goal that I set for myself to reach by New Years Eve may be reached this Friday.   Excited.

Increasing my weights in Kristy's class Saturday was awesome.  I had started with a heavier warm up weight (large plate vs. medium + small)- although the rule of "nothing goes smaller than your warm up weight" would not be followed because I really am not strong enough to do a bicep track with the large plates (YET), not entirely sure I can handle that weight for any shoulder overhead work either - YET!   But I did add on the Back Track (large + medium vs. large + small).   Tonight I taught at Gold's and decided to go with the heavier weights for Back, I added onto my Chest Track weight and the Bicep track I was teaching requires you to add weight during the break- so everyone in class added a baby plate to each side & we groaned together to finish the track- but WE DID IT!   The class was so gratified to have challenged and succeeded.   I then decided to keep that extra small plate on my bar for shoulders and got through the overhead part with that little extra.  It felt wonderful to be stepping up my game and giving the class an example to follow.  I told them, "If I'm increasing, that means you all have to as well- in your own good time.  But you can't come month after month, class after class and continue to do the same thing - not if you want results."   The entire class did the push-ups at the beginning of class on their toes- made me proud.

I let my class know that I would be starting to take over the Saturday class this weekend going forward because the class was going to be off the Holiday Schedule since I was scheduled to start in January and the current instructor was going out of town for the Holidays.  They were super pleased and I received a very warm reception to the news.   So I have a really good feeling about these two classes, tonight's attendance was small- but I know that the Holidays can do that, come January I expect the class to be super packed and hope to recruit some new pumpers.

Been walking everyday this week, and Diane & I walked everyday last week - it feels good.  We will continue to take advantage of this dry December as long as we can.  I know we need rain, but I really don't want it- I'm happy to have a brisk winter and forget the precipitation!  

So overall having a pretty good week.  I have been busy with work, although it has been quiet overall and it is nice to have a little bit of down time.  No pressure.  No stress.  I NEED to get working on the rest of the College App stuff for Michael.  I've been dragging my heels, but we have deadlines of the end of this month for several that overlap- I just need to sit down and do it!  He's in the process of writing his essays for the apps, which will need to be proofread before we can submit.

Off to bed...again, up way past the bedtime I should practice--but two nights in a row, being sucked into watching "White Christmas" on AMC and working on my photobook!   I am a pro at burning the midnight oil!

What a Perfect Weekend!!!

Well, almost perfect but I won't nit pick about the small imperfection...the 49ers losing today!  They are still a 10-3 team for the season with 3 more games left.  They are still the NFC West champs, but as a realist - all roads to the Super Bowl for the NFC are going to go through Green Bay and they are just unstoppable this year.   As much as I'd like to see my team make it to the Super Bowl,  it's a tough road that they have left to get there - but it has been a very incredible, exciting season.

So for the perfect weekend- had a fantastic Friday night.  I think Bill was surprised when I messaged him early in the day and told him we had a dinner date at Applebee's before dancing- that meant we were definitely going dancing.  I was craving a cheeseburger and it was so good!   Tiina met us before hand so we could have some visit time and she is sounding so strong now- going on a month since she & her fiance broke up.  I am so proud of where she is at emotionally right now.   We had an amazing time dancing, at least 3 hours of non-stop dancing.  Great music, fun times.  I went home a happy & energized gal!   So energized that I stayed up and did food prep for our Holiday party.  Got the dips made, the deviled eggs all mixed and ready, the corn dip ready for baking.  I did go to bed close to 3am, but I would much rather stay up late (go figure) and be done vs. having to set an alarm and get up early and crunch for time.  Slept like a baby and had my alarm set for 1030am.

Saturday was such a great day.  I got my party playlist together and moved onto the laptop and then went to the gym to take Kristy's Body Pump class!  It was great to take a class and get my workout on. I did up my weights on a few tracks - always want to "test" those additional weights while taking a class vs. teaching one.  It was challenging, but felt good.   I could definitely see improvements with Kristy's teaching since her AIM training.    After class, a stop to pick up ice and salad dressing for the party and brief stop at Auto Zone to get a new tail light- Kristy was driving behind me and messaged me that it was out.   Bill & I finished prepping the garage, which really didn't take much more, we got the Dining room set up, all serving dishes out and we really got to the point where we were rearranging things in the garage for the sake of rearranging them.  We were so prepared and ready early that we didn't know what to do with ourselves!   It was a GREAT feeling!   Come 6pm, we were ready and waiting for our first guests to arrive.

We had such a FUN party!  I will say that there were a few events this past week with a couple of friends that put me in a stinker mood and I was starting to already say "maybe this will be our last party" & feeling disappointed in some people.  However, everything worked out the way it was supposed to.  I was super excited and surprised that Janet & Scott were able to come, she was on my shit list because it appeared that she had rearranged her schedule to accommodate a holiday party of Scott's friend, but wasn't coming to ours - we had a good laugh and she was excited that she surprised me.  Although, perceptive as I can be- she almost gave it away on Facebook by saying "holiday events" on her weekend status.  That "s" (plural) had me question her if she was coming to our party and she quickly explained that she had a Holiday lunch on Sunday...my reply to her "disappointing"- one work, was meant to speak volumes.  Scott was amazed that a silly "S" almost spoiled the surprise. We had about 17 people show up and we got the dancing going in the garage, even taught a few line dances and I think everyone had a super great time.  It ended earlier than I would have liked, but I think everyone had fun.  So we are now talking about next year and making some additions to the guest list.  There is a rule that I keep saying I'm going to follow  "3 strikes; you're out"- if you have not attended for 3 years, you don't get invited again.  Not sure I'm "mean" enough to do that to some people.  Time will tell.   By far, one of the best parties we've hosted!

Today was an equally perfect day, sleeping in and then lounging on the couch all day watching the 49er game, working on my Shutterfly Photobook with Sunny visiting and working on her Photobook- it was like a scrapbooking party, but online!   I did get a few loads of laundry done and should be getting my butt to bed soon.   This week is going to be a bit crazy and I should have worked on some travel projects today, but it was nice to be lazy.

All in all, a pretty perfect weekend!  Can't believe Christmas is two weeks away and the New Year three weeks away.  Still don't know what we are planning on doing for New Year's Eve- I would even consider hosting a party in our garage, but most friends we'd want to invite have kids and I think babysitting would be difficult for them and our house is not kid friendly!   So time to investigate the options, definitely want to be doing something fun!

Fun, fun, fun....

Yes, I am having so much fun with life these days.   The weekend was a blast.  We had our first Holiday party at a friend's house and only knew 4 people at the party, but met a lot of fun, friendly, out-going people, so never once was it boring or awkward.  Danced so much that my feet needed the loving hands of Bill for foot massage when we got home and sang at the top of my lungs with the gals to so many 80's songs that I had a very raspy voice on Sunday.  That is good ole time FUN!    Friday night we tried to pull together a dance party in the garage with friend Tiina, but she couldn't leave kids whose plans had changed over and over again.  Ended up having a low key night with Bill and was in bed by 1130pm which is very early for me on a Friday night.  Sunday was lounge day watching the 49ers clinch the NFC West Division.  So exciting!

I subbed Body Pump Saturday at the OFJCC and received a very warm welcome and had several compliments afterwards from the members and of course the ever so popular question, "when do you teach here?"- I hate the reply "oh, I just sub from time to time"  One day, some day I will get a class at this place.    TONIGHT at Gold's I had such a GREAT class!!   The front desk told me when I got there, "wow, everyone wants to take Body Pump tonight"- I had no idea what to expect, but we had 15 people in class tonight, which is a BIG class for that club.  The most I have had previously was 12 and normally we are around 8-10, so this was so exciting.  A few members who have been M.I.A. due to holidays/vacations, etc. returned and I had 3 new members/first-timers to Pump in class.  It was just a really fun night.  I also took this time to announce to the group that I would be taking over the Saturday class in January and I received a very warm reception to that.  Several people with "Oh Good!" or "Yay!" - so that made me feel good.   I am working very hard at trying to get them all to correct their form.  Sad to say, but when subbing for other instructors I see such terrible form and I was asked by a member when I subbed last Friday why I didn't go around and correct people one on one.  That I was the only Pump instructor that doesn't do that.   I went on to explain that by Body Pump rules, we are not supposed to leave our post at the front of the room.  I went into detail on that, but it was interesting to learn that other instructors are not living the program the way it was designed. Not that I'm surprised, I was completely disheartened a month ago when I went to take the Saturday class and found the instructor to demo several moves incorrectly and to re-write the entire choreography to the stretch track.  Sigh.  I'm just happy that I will now have Saturdays and that gives me 2/3 of the Pump classes at this gym and I will be able to shape people into correct form.  I am super excited that I'll be able to launch Body Pump on a Saturday and want to talk to the Director about doing a Form class before hand to go over everything.  I think we should have a Pump form class once per month to give that one on one training to the members.  We'll see, would love to make it happen. 

I am completely done with all Christmas shopping and wrapping, except for one gift that has yet to arrive and a few stocking stuffers like lottery tickets that I can't buy until closer to Christmas anyway.  Feels so good.  In fact, even Bill is done shopping and has wrapped my gifts and they are under the tree!!! He never gets this done any sooner than 12/24!  I am impressed!    I am excited for our party this weekend and looking forward to spending time with fun people and getting our dance on in the garage!   I love how each year, this party just keeps getting easier and easier- the garage is already cleaned and ready to go, the house was cleaned today- come Saturday I will have a few appetizers to get together and we have to move the dining room table in place, but otherwise- we are ready!  It's pretty exciting!  I may actually get to the gym on Saturday!   

I have been getting on the scale every day- I know, I shouldn't but with all the holidays, it does help to keep me in check and I am happy to say that it is moving down and I am confident & focused that I will meet my goal of 165 by the end of the year- this will put me back at the Arizona weigh in weight before all the travels and celebrations began!   Actually, 164 by New Years Eve would be fabulous to get a round 30 pounds for the year since May.  I could live with that.    My secondary goal is to be at 160 by the time Hawaii rolls around 1/26.   Slow & Steady wins the race and I am living!

I received an email on Facebook the other day from Sarah from Les Mills International asking if they could use my before/after pictures for a testimonial page on the LMI website for Body Pump.  I was flattered and replied that it would be fine.  Pretty exciting stuff!   I am so happy to be back with the Tribe and teaching this fabulous program again - it makes me want to be better each and every day.

So I guess that is enough for ramblings....time to get some shuteye!  This seems to be my bewitching blogging hour! 

Back To the Routine!  Reflections from 1999-2011....pretty interesting!

Well, after vacation and a holiday week, I feel as though I am getting back on track.  I will end this week with about 10 unused activity points with WW.  So not stellar, but better than ending in a negative!  I have learned that you don't go from using all your points and a good 20 extra per day while on vacation and on holiday to return to a perfect point week- it just doesn't happen, you gradually get back into it.

I have been a busy girl with activity though and it feels good, I have taught 5 classes since Monday, I have gone walking twice and still have 3 more classes to teach in the next 2 days.  I am starting to feel in control again- except for the Holiday M&M's that I ignorantly filled into the cute little Christmas Tree shaped candy dishes.  Why didn't I just wait until our party next weekend?  I've killed the peanut butter M&M's and won't buy them ever again.  Well, at least not this holiday season.  They are too good!   I am hopeful for a slight scale move in the right direction tomorrow for the official "weigh in day".   I am super soar today, I decided to walk to meet Diane for our walk.  So I did a good 2.6 miles on my own, mostly uphill and then she & I did our 3.4 mile loop.  I could have walked back home, but was running out of time and was also in need of a bathroom.  Subbing Body Pump the next two days should be a challenge since my legs are already fried!  But when you are instructing, you just push through it- you have to for your participants.  

I kept seeing the BODYPUMP Facebook page posting for people to post their Before/After pictures on their page and for some reason, today I decided to break out my 1999 "before" picture that I have carried in my wallet for years and years.  I ended up posting two pictures to the site from each WW Journey:

Journey #1 back in 1999:

I look at these two pictures and am actually in denial that either of them were once me.  I just look so darn FAT in the before picture and I look so damn HOT in the after picture - that is the body that I am in search of now with my WW journey #2.  I can't believe that it's impossible, but it sure is hard to get there again- age is not a nice component to weight loss journeys.  

Journey #2 - May 2011 - until present (work still in progress)

I couldn't get the pictures to be in the "correct" order- so it's the "current me" and then the "before me" and the things I notice are smaller boobs and tinier/defined waist.  Still not the previous bikini "after girl", but still looking better.  I think until you really put these pictures side by side, you never really understand your progress.  You can look at current pictures of yourself and think "oh, I'm looking good", but in your head you have this battle of what you really see. 

So this got me to take this one step further and I put side by side both "before" pictures:

What is amazing to me is that in 2011, I started Journey #2 weighing 3 pounds heavier than I did in 1999 for Journey #1 - but I don't look it.  In 2011, I started as a fitter fat person because I was still active- maybe not teaching the 18+ classes a week that I had been 7 years ago, but still teaching 3-4 times a week and going dancing 1-2 times a week.  I wasn't completely INactive...vs. the 1999 "me" who was a serious couch potato.  The OTHER thing I noticed in these two pictures is the level of happiness in my face or in 1999, the lack of happiness.  I really look so uncomfortable in my own body in that picture vs. 2011 where I'm not happy with my weight, but I am happy with my life.  The MAIN difference at these two points in my life-  THE HUSBAND.   I am now married to a man who loves me UNCONDITIONALLY, he never once has ever called me fat, has never once threatened to leave me if I "blimp out" or said other mean things to me.  He is just a sweet, kindhearted man, who has also gained some "happy fat" over our time together- so what does he do?  He joins WW too and loses 25 pounds.  He's a true partner & best friend!  I'm a lucky girl.

So busy weekend ahead- we are on the fence about going dancing tomorrow night.  The Saddle Rack has a guest band and more times than not, that means dancing sucks.   The guest bands tend to be very one dimensional and you can only do so many line dances to a two step beat.  Add to that, the worst DJ they employ is spinning the tunes - he has his programmed playlists that he rarely deviates from and again - just not super conducive to line dancing.  So not sure what Friday will bring.  Saturday I am up early to teach Body Pump at the OFJCC, will make a Costco run on the way home and then start to clean the garage for our party the following weekend.  We then go for Church Portraits before going to our first Holiday party at Molly & Andy's house- should be fun and we are really looking forward to a good time.  Sunday, I will go to church and then hopefully relax and watch my 49ers clinch the NFC West!  Going to help Michael with his College Apps that evening.   

I made a dent in the Christmas present wrapping today, I will get some more done tomorrow - maybe all of it (hoping).  I am really excited for people to get their presents this year- I have found so many cool gifts for people.  I love giving.   I saw a few people post today on Facebook "what is on your Christmas list this year?" - people looking for ideas and honestly, I couldn't think of anything that I need or want.  I am truly blessed and have everything I could possibly want.  

Enough rambling for me...time to get to bed.  ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz