Where's the Beach?

Pursuit of Happiness I must say that you all are the most fantastic readers and friends a girl could hope for. As most of you can probably tell, I realize that I am too hard on myself and the post was definitely a way to just try to sort through feelings/thoughts/emotions and to show you all that I am honest. I try not to sugar-coat things and pretend that I'm just a happy little lark 24/7. Not all workouts are great; I have days when I don't want to do anything at all; I have days when my eats are less than stellar; I also have issues with accepting myself for me - those flaws that make me so unique from any other person. I think (from your comments and other blogs I read) this is notion of perfection is something so many of us struggle with. We feel we must be perfect somehow, no flaws, no missteps, just perfection all the time. That's impossible. We (especially me) need to learn that our flaws, those moles, crooked noses, even pesky little wrinkles make us who we are

Making it Happen Oh was it ever hard to get up this morning. It was overcast, threatening rain, so it was still dark when I got up. That always makes it so much more difficult I think. My legs are talking to me today after yesterday's workout. I got my quads and inner thighs good (or bad depending on your line of thought). I was totally wishy washy about a weight workout today (any workout to be honest). Shoulders? Biceps? What to do, what to do. I ended up doing shoulders at lunch. I went with a triset that I repeated 4 times plus two additional exercises: Triset: Shoulder press Upright rows Lateral raise Front to side raise - 10 Rear delt press - 3x12 Seeing as how my legs felt like dead weight, I knew I wouldn't be running, spinning, or stepping for my cardio. I went with MMA Boxing because it's not very leg intensive. There are some drills, but no squatting, jumping, or kicking involved. It was just enough to get the legs warm and loosened up a bit. This e

Sunday Leg Day This morning I got up sort of dreading my workout - leg day. I almost always dread leg workouts. But typically, once I get going, they fly by. Today I did supersets of 3x8 for most exercises: SS#1 Step ups Deadlifts SS#2 Narrow-stance squats Alternating plie squats SS#3 Static lunges - 3x10 Calf raises - 3x25 SS#4 Wide-stance squats with low-end pulse Plie squats with low-end pulse Rear leg slide back lunges Firewalkers - 8 Donkey kicks with weight - 2x18 Outer thigh raises with ankle weights - 24 single, 16 pulse, 24 single Inner thigh raises with ankle weights - 24 single, 16 pulse, 24 single Glute roll-ins on stability ball - 8 roll-ins, 8 hip lifts, 8 roll-ins, 8 lifts with one leg, 8 with other leg, 8 both legs (heel is pressing into the ball) I followed up with just one combo from Cathe Friedrich's Kick, Punch, and Crunch (just for fun) and then the ab work. I love the ab work from this DVD. It's stability ball abs and ends with

Anniversary Follow Up From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for you kind words from yesterday's post . Big cyber hug to you all! I was really excited about eating out last night. We really don't go out to dinner often, and we rarely go all out and splurge on a high-end meal dolled up in our best duds. Last night (well, 6pm) we went all out. I knew what I was going to wear and was planning on wearing the pearls and pearl earrings I had worn on our wedding day, which Jason had actually bought for me. But to my surprise, Jason bought me diamond earrings and a diamond pendant necklace!!!! I cannot even describe how surprised I was and then the thought he put into it....amazing. He was planning on an anniversary ring - 3 diamonds for past, present, future. Plus, my engagement ring is very very simple. We had it made, and he has always thought I should have something more. But I am not a big bling bling ring girl at all. I love that it's simple, and I never have to ta

10 Years Ago Today... 1.  My father walked me down the aisle. 2.  I married this man. 3.  It was a record high of 105 degrees and the wedding was outdoors on my mother's property.   4.  We threw the whole wedding for under $1200 (that also included dinner, wine, champagne, and beer). 5.  Jason and I catered the sit-down dinner for 78+ guests making homemade manicotti (and sauce), side salad, baguettes (those were frozen & heated). 6.  I have not made manicotti since. 7.  I decorated my own cakes: I bought four Italian Cream Cakes for $13 each from an awesome bakery then decorated with silk flowers, lace, and faux pearls. 8.  My mother made my dress, veil, and bouquet (she also made my sister's who was married in June of the same year, hence only having $1200 for the wedding). 9.  There was lots of dancing. 10. There was lots of drinking (and more dancing). 11.  We had friends (who happened to be photographers) photograph the wedding. The only cost to

Ranting, Running & Lifting Last night Jason and I talked about going for a run during lunch. With that in mind, I didn't get up early to workout. I would have been doing weights (chest and back) and I just don't always feel like my weight workouts are very good super early. Just not awake enough, strong enough, or properly fueled. I am so glad we went for the run at lunch. It was about 84 degrees and very very low humidity. Plus, I needed to thaw out. So here it comes... The Ranting Yes, it's August in Arkansas and that usually means 100 degree days. However, this week we have had a cool down. It was only 66 this morning. When I got to the office, I knew immediately I should have dressed as if 66 was the high for the day. Friends, the thermostats were reading 60 degrees. Now, they were set on 70-ish and that would have felt like a heat wave compared to 60. Why oh why do companies/or building managers waste so much money and energy keeping the temps so low? At my

Spinning on Wednesday This morning Jason was getting up at 5 am to go to his swim class. I thought I was going to get up and do Step Blast and abs. Thought is the key word friends. I rolled over and went right back to sleep. I was not going to force the workout this morning. I was even prepared to proclaim today my rest day if need be. The weather is cooling down nicely finally. So I thought I'd be up and out for morning runs, but I just haven't felt up for a run the past few days. I think the temps are supposed to remain just at 90 through the weekend (into the upper 60's at night) so maybe we can get in a longer run this weekend finally. Before I went up to bed last night, Jason had mentioned wanting to go to spin again today. So instead of step or running or weights after work (or a rest day), I decided to go with Jason and try out the the new spin class at our gym: Group Ride. He's been twice and enjoyed it. Since I've been doing legs twice a week, they'

Eked Out Morning Workouts This morning I had my alarm set for a little after 5. I slept fairly well, only waking up twice, but the second time (around 4) I started to rethink getting up for a morning workout. I knew that I could easily fall back asleep for another two hours if I let myself. I think that it's also getting harder to get up early since it's starting to stay dark so much longer. I probably should have slept in, but ended up dragging myself out of the bed for weights and cardio. I did 3 supersets for shoulders and triceps (odd combination) for 3 sets of 8 reps then finished off with 2 exercises done to failure (just for funzies). SS#1 Shoulder press Overhead triceps extension SS#2 Lateral raise Double-arm kickbacks SS#3 Upright rows Lying triceps extensions (on stability ball) Front/Side raise - 10 reps Weighted triceps dips - 16 reps (probably could have hit 18) I was feeling a bit weak again today. Of course, lifting in the morning always seems

Summer Salad Dinner last night ended up being a Grilled Tempeh & Veggie Salad . I grilled sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and tempeh (which was marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette). We piled everything on top of a mix of red leaf lettuce and baby spinach. This has become one of my favorite summer meals I do believe. Missing My Mojo So this morning I slept in rather than get up for my workouts. I was planning on either biceps or shoulders at lunch and knew I could get in cardio after work. I decided to change up my splits this week. I've been doing biceps and triceps together for too many weeks now. Change is good. So I went with biceps and abs at lunch: Dumbbell bicep curls 3x8 Hammer curls 3x7 (just couldn't manage 8 reps with the weight I used) Concentration curls 3x8 Dumbbell biceps curls - 21's I did abs from Cathe Friedrich's Cardio & Weights DVD. After work I did a cardio only premix from Low Impact Circuit . I must admit that to

Fun Evening, Bad Blogger Let me first say that I was a very very bad blogger and failed to remember to whip out the camera until there were only 2 lone pieces of sushi left... So, that means we did indeed have sushi. We ended up having sushi rolls, wakame salad, sauteed spinach, and edamame at a local restaurant as an appetizer. Jason and Sarah split a couple of non-vegetarian rolls. I had (well not all by myself of course) 1 maki roll with Japanese eggplant and another with wakame. We figured this was safer than attempting to make sushi for the first time, having it fail, and be left starved and grumpy. After we got back to the house, I started pizza dough for later in the evening. We did half with squash, zucchini, onion, and olives and the other half was a Margherita pizza with fresh basil (about the only thing growing my my garden), Roma tomatoes and some smoke mozzarella that Sarah had brought over. While the dough was in the bread machine and I was catching up on a bit of

Friday Follow Up Thanks for sharing your stories on how you met your significant other. I really enjoyed them. It's so fun for me to learn more about you all. Jason and I had a pretty relaxing Pizza & Pool Friday. While the dough was in the bread machine we played some pool, ate, then played more pool. I really enjoy simple evenings like that. We just listen to music and catch up. Working Hard on Saturday This morning I was hoping to sleep in but was wide awake at 7:33. I briefly thought about a run, but the heat index was already 88 and the air was sopping wet. Ick. So I just piddled around, cleaning the kitchen and messing around with my blog layout. I finally got around to my workouts around 9:30. It was kind of nice not jumping feet first into the day. I did chest and back today as supersets of 3x8 unless otherwise noted: SS#1 Chest flye Chest press (dumbbells) SS#2 Incline chest flye Incline chest press (dumbbells) SS#3 Pullovers Single-arm row (3x10)

Much Needed Rest So three mornings of waking up close to 5 am and getting in my workouts totally caught up with me. I was exhausted yesterday. I did not set my alarm early this morning. However, in the back of my delusional brain, I thought that if I automatically woke up early enough, I would at least get in my chest and back workout. Instead, I slept soundly, only waking up once during the night (which may as well be like sleeping for 8 straight hours for me). Apparently I needed the rest. So, today will be my rest day, and I'll get back to it tomorrow feeling refreshed and ready to go (or that's the plan). Fun Facts Friday - How Jason and I Met I always feel like my Friday posts are super short since I typically don't post workouts or dinner. You already know that it'll likely be Pizza Friday unless my sister requests that for dinner tomorrow (she's supposed to be coming and staying the night). I don't really have any exciting plans to talk about other

More Furbaby Talk I guess I should talk about my furbabies more often and let you all in on my wild and crazy kids. I love that so many of you are major animal lovers and are also into the adoption/rescue route. It's something that I feel very strongly about actually. There are so many precious animals dumped off because they aren't 100% perfect and the breeder can't get full price or they come from puppy mills or are simply dumped when they become too much "trouble." It's true, you don't always know what health problems might be lurking with rescues. Our girl Erin had kidney failure. Heath has an over bite, 3-toes on one foot, and urinary issues that require a special diet. Maddie, well, we think that she knocked her noggin' when she was dumped off at 4 months old in a drop bin. Yep, drop bin folks. But then there was my first girl, not a rescue, who ended up with juvenile cataracts. So you never know. You can pay top-dollar and still have no guara

The Furbabies So, of course I must thank everyone for telling me how cute and adorable my furbabies are. Of course, I won't show them all the comments because they already have big enough egos ;-) I don't talk about them often, but they are most definitely our children. They have completely different personalities too. Both were rescue dogs, and we adopted them from different breed specific rescue groups. We got Maddie in February of 2006 just after my first Cocker Spaniel passed away from a group in Dallas, TX. Maddie was approximately 4 months old and a total bundle of spastic energy. When we met her, she was playing alone tossing a ping pong ball. We should have know then and there we were in for something big. After our second Cocker Spaniel (another rescue) passed away after many many months of suffering from kidney failure, we ended up adopting Heath from a group in Oklahoma. He was about 10 months old and the calmest, sweetest little boy you could ever ask for. All