Holy Moly

I feel really bad that I haven't updated my blog for days and days and days and now months!  Whoa, I'm just not a responsible blogger I guess.

Life is....crazy at the moment so probably has a lot to do with it.

Crazy or not, I'm trying to learn French on Rosetta Stone so once the day arrives that we will hop on a plane to Paris, I will be very prepared.  I'm not sure when this glorious day will be but it WILL be.

Check out this cute Live the Language video.


EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

A Lesson on Perspective...

The past week and a half have been a blur.  My dear friend, Sharon, has had several surgeries over the past week. After a series of small strokes, she had a massive stroke during her bypass surgery on Tuesday.  She is still in ICU and still on the ventilator.  The doctors finally gave some hope yesterday.  Her life may not be the same but she is a fighter and strong-willed lady. 

During this time, my Mr. Fitness lost his job.  They decided to let go 4 teachers.  The school will probably not make it until the end of the year they are in so much financial trouble.

Perspective:  normally, this would have put us in a tail-spin.  Not that it hasn't, but with my friend struggling for life, it just changes your thought process.  Life is so precious.  Life.  Having a life means to live.  How do you want to live?  Are you living it?  Are you happy with where you are?  You have no idea if you will have tomorrow to do things differently.

I need some Kermie.
 

Planning from The Planner (that's me)

So, anyone can decide they have a to-do list or that dreaded word "resolutions" but it is another thing altogether to actually accomplish said items.  The best way to do this is to figure out your plan to get you there. What are your action items that will help you achieve you goal?  Here are my thoughts on a few of my to-do's this year:

1. Crochet temair throw.  Plan: this throw is made up of about 45 motifs...if I can break it down and do 1-2 per week, then I can get this sucker laying on my bed or over my sofa by the end of summer.  Plus, once I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I may hunker down and do some hard core crocheting sessions to get it completed (this is how I roll so I can see this really happening).

The beach is one of my favorite places to crochet!

2 - 4. Travel overseas.  I really want to go to Paris.  However, I do not want to go knowing only my English language and saying "you're what the French call les incompetent".  Step 1.  Order French Rosetta Stone.  CHECK!  Step 2. Do it.  CHECK.  At least I am already through Unit 1!  Step 3. Save, save, save because traveling is not cheap!

5. Attaining my CrossFit goals is high on my priority list. My plan of attack is to attend 3 to 5 times a week.  Right now I can go 5 times a week but I know once my events for work begin I will do good to get in 3 times a week.  The second part of my attack is clean eating.  We are slowing incorporating paleo-type eating into our diet, which means less grains and refined sugars.  Not sure we will ever go 100% paleo but you never know what the future holds once we start seeing the benefits!

CrossFit is really agreeing with Mr. Fitness.  Hot damn!

6. As far as Jamiegurumi, my Etsy site, goes, I really really want to get this going.  Is it too much to handle right now? Maybe.  I'm going to check out a book this week at the library called Crafty Superstar. I guess that is my first step. The second step is making a decision.

I'm also working on some things around the house.  Big surprise, I know.  My main focus will be our bedroom.  Not that this goes in the bedroom, but I've been wanting to makeover this cute little footstool I bought at a thrift store when I first moved here. I think it was $6.  I finally had an epiphany tonight on what fabric I wanted to use and I already have it on hand!  Now if I can only find the darn staple gun.  Maybe, I should resolve (hate that word!) to be more organized. LOL.

I wonder what I'm gonna look like when she's finished with me?

Things to do in 2011

Okay folks!  You know how much I love resolutions! Last year I didn't like the word resolution b/c it also meant failure to me -usually.


Drum roll please!

1. Finish this. I started it last year but it's some intense crocheting people!

2. Go here.

3. Or here.

4. Or maybe here.

5. I have several goals for CrossFit.  Here they are:

Bench 145 lbs max; Squat 200 lbs max; Deadlift 300 lbs max
10 unbroken, unassisted pull-ups

Be able to do "man" push-ups

Fit into a size 8 (with consistent attendance and clean eating)

6. I've been thinking about my Etsy site.  I still would like to open the store.  It's time consuming, of course.  And there's the whole "no one will buy my stuff" part.  So, I have to really think about my goals and reasons for doing it.  So this resolution is really TBD.

7. Blog more.  I can't give myself a more quantifiable goal here. If I say blog daily, that would freak me out too much. I can't commit to doing anything daily unless it's eating, sleeping, and showering. Too much pressure!!!!!

8. And once I finish #1, I plan to start this love quilt for our bed:

Okay, I guess that's it.  Seems a bit daunting but we'll see where it goes!  What are your resolutions?  Give me your top 3!

oh baby....

I just can't stop laughing when I see this. That dad rocks! And by the way, that is the first time I have listened to that song in its entirety. Chad showed me this video a few nights ago and I woke up with this song in my head! OHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

So Mr. Fitness and I have been doing CrossFit for three weeks now. I can already tell a difference in my body. My massage therapist, Jenn, said she can tell my entire back and arms are getting stronger!

I'm still struggling with the met-con stuff but I just keep at it. It kills me but I know it will be over soon and I don't quit! I will finish.

This week, we had to determine our one rep max for three exercises. This is so we can do a program called 5-3-1 on strength days. It's pretty simple yet complicated at the same time and I'm not about to explain it here. So just to sum up my workouts this week:

Bench One Rep Max: 90 lbs

Squat One Rep Max: 125 lbs

Deadlift One Rep Max: 235 lbs

So for the next 4 weeks and really for the next year, my strength training will be based off of percentages of those numbers. Good thing I have Mr. Fitness and my Coach to explain all this everyday!

I was getting a little stressed over getting everything ready for the Holidays but Mr. Fitness helped talked me through it last night.  He is always right when it comes to this.  It's all under my control.  I do put too much pressure on myself so I decided to not pull together a few Christmas present crafts and only focus on two of them.  The terrariums will have to wait.  

I am really looking forward to seeing my family and friends in Alabama over the Holidays.   Then, when we come back to Florida we will see more friends and watch the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day! Yah!

And speaking of New Year's Day, I'm working my list of resolutions, I mean to-do list.  Some of them will be carried over from last year (oops!) LOL but that's okay.  Again, sometimes I put too much pressure on myself and realize I need to focus on two big things versus 10 small ones.  Or, that I was not really thinking straight when I thought I wanted to pursue my MBA.  lol

Here's a few photos from our walk on the beach last weekend.  The weather was great.  Of course, we decided to go when it looked like a storm was coming but it made for some cool pics!

Mr. Hotness

Windy!

Bonk Ur Junk

Okay so I've been trying to figure out how I would post on this blog and the workout blog site with my WODs and not let this blog become completely lame and boring. So, I think I worked it out that I would post my workouts once a week in one post. That way I will have a log of my weights and times and can blog about the other stuff like decorating, crafts and island life!  My friend from high school, Jen recently lost a ton of weight and posted weekly bikini photos until she reached her goal!  I'm not that brave but I did take before photos in my bikini as Josh the Coach recommended, but those will NOT be shared. I guess this could suffice as a before photo.

I'm still crafting away on some Christmas presents. Considering its only a few weeks away you would think I would be further along but I think I work best under pressure! I see some long crafting nights in my future!

I've been seeing a lot of terrarium how-tos on all the decorating blogs I go to. On our recent trip to Michigan we went to the Botanical Gardens and was completely inspired by their Cacti Garden. I love the texture and colors of succulents and seeing how this is pretty much the only plant I manage to keep alive, I really love them! There were succulents everyone!

So, now, I've been inspired to make a few small open-air terrariums (for succulents) as Christmas presents. Here's an example from a Google image search:

I bought a new laptop and haven't uploaded camera software or any music from my old laptop yet.  I'm lazy.  So these are the only photos you get!

And finally for a bit more random Jamie, I pulled a 200 lb deadlift the other day and I'm so happy.  It's always been my favorite lift out of the three (bench and squat are the others), so I was just elated when I realized it was 200 lbs!  Now the met-con (fast cardio stuff) that I have to do sucks a$$ and I despise it but that is what helps in weight loss so it's a love-hate relationship. Really just hate-hate.

Mr. Fitness was telling me about the paleo diet. A lot of CrossFitters eat paleo. That's eating like a caveman.  No sugar, salt, grains or dairy.  Only meats, fruits, veggies and some nuts.  Also known as "oh hell no"! by me.  There is a website that does a 30 day challenge, where you eat paleo with zero cheating for 30 days.  You don't get on the scales at all during the 30 days.  I do find myself thinking about it.  Maybe in January as a kick-off to good health.  I dunno.  It's so extreme and I did the extreme diet a few months back and I don't know how long I can live without cheese.

But you can have real bacon on the paleo diet and I could still eat grapes and watermelon.  So maybe.

Speaking of the paleo diet, here's a text conversation b/n Mr. Fitness and I today:

Mr. Fitness: I felt like captain caveman at lunch. Don't be surprised if I club you over the head tonight. (after he a ate a paleo approved lunch today)

Me: lol that's hysterical and don't b surprised if I yank that club from u and bonk u in the junk! I'm a modern cave wife.

WOD 12.01.10

Well, I completed day two of CrossFit Fundamentals Training and WOD!  Apparently, I have a few bad habits that developed back in the day when I was doing powerlifting that I need to change for Crossfit lifts.  One thing that Josh, the Coach, said to me was that I was thinking too much.  So, I need to remember to only focus on one thing at a time and eventually my body will learn the move and it will be like second nature.  So much to learn!

Again, I was tired after the warm-up and Fundamentals Training.  For warm-up, we row 500 meters on a Concept 2 Rowing machine, then 8-10 reps of 4 exercises: a pull, a push, abs and air squats - THREE TIMES!  Oh my word!  Then, the workout begins.  This really takes things to the next level, mentally and physically!

Here is a before photo - right after the warm-up.  A little tired and sweaty, but not too much and I'm still smiling!

  Here is the after WOD photo:

That workout was no joke:

I did 3 rounds for time of the following:  5 thrusters (which we learned how to do that day).  This move is like having a bar across your chest and then you squat and then quickly push the bar over your head! It took me 10 minutes and 22 seconds. And that was with encouragement being yelled at me from Josh the Coach and Mr. Fitness.

Like this,



And then 10 burpees after that.  Here's a burpee:



Of course, my burpees looked nothing like that. They kind of looked like a beach whale decided to spazz out on the beach and then jump and clap with his huge flippers. Oh it was horrible and my knees are all jacked up and bruised from it.

But it's fun! LOL - I think I've lost my mind.