Snow

silent, fluffy bits of hush

drifting from a muted sky

a soft blanket unfurling

Peace on Earth.

 

 

 

 

Wishing you a wonderful Winter!

 

November review and Goals for December

I did pretty good sticking to my fitness goals last month.  Overall, I completed more than 93 total miles on my recumbent bike.  I also did pretty good with the strengthening work.  I did skip a few days.  I’ve been tracking my workouts on Daily Mile and that has helped me a ton.  I can better track my efforts and I’m more motivated to keep on track so I don’t have empty days, haha.  Days skipped for November? 

Nov 1 – Migraine

Nov 20 – Don’t recall why – probably fatigue

Nov 24 – Also probably due to fatigue

Nov 28 – Bad Migraine

Nov 29 – Bad Migraine

Nov 30- Extreme Fatigue

So I skipped 6 days.  Not all of the days I did work out on were aerobic either.  Some of those days were strenghtening work only.  Week one was 5 aerobic wo, week 2 was 4 aerobic wo and week 3 and 4 were 3 aerobic wo each.  Overall, I am pretty pleased with my efforts.  I think I did my best considering what I’m up against. 

So that brings me to this month’s goals.  Currently, stress is high and fatigue is extreme.  Despite my work outs, strength in my limbs is very low right now.  Like everything has been sapped out of them.  I think it’s temporary but I’m going to listen to my body and take it a bit slow this month – or at least until I spring back. 

Goal for this month is daily exercise.  No mile limit, no time limit.  Just some sort of strengthening or aerobic effort each day.  I’m going for all green on the Daily Mile   I think I’ll stick to the 100 marker on days I feel good.  That means at least 100 push ups (or weight lifts when my arms won’t support my body due to weakness), at least 100 reps of some sort of ab work and to try to burn at least 100 calories aerobically each day.  And on the tough days, whatever I can manage.  Even if it’s just 1 mile.  Or 10 pushups.  Or whatever I can manage   I’ve already missed Wednesday because I was completely wiped out.  I actually had to nap twice just to get through that day :p  Hopefully that will be the only skip this month.  So, we’ll see how it goes

Wishing you all a healthy and happy holiday season!

Gemalicious Bead Giveaway!

One of my favorite things is beads I absolutely love them! So of course I was excited to learn of the beady give away on the Gemalicious Beads blog. Hurry on over there for your chance to win some beautiful beads

http://gemaliciousbeads.blogspot.com/2009/12/tis-season-for-our-ginormous-giveaway.html#comment-form

Have a great night!

Movie fun :)

I had the fun opportunity to attend the premiere of New Moon with my fabulous friend, Isela Phelps  

This was my very first time attending a premiere.  And the first time I’ve driven that far by myself too.  I am navigationally challenged so I make hubby take me everywhere   But I braved the trip by myself and headed off to meet up with Isela and her friends.  And I got lost, haha.  Not until the very last bit of the drive but I wandered around a bit and then Isela met me at a gas station near her house and led me back.  She probably spared me another half hour of wandering, lol.  Isela and her kiddos had been waiting on dinner just for little ol’ me so we went to eat at a yummy chinese restaurant called the Black Pearl.  And Isela gave me a little giftie too ♥

Thank you Isela!  I’ve been wanting one of these.  It’s beautiful and I love it!!!

♥ ♥ ♥

New Moon was great!  I liked Twilight but I think New Moon was even better.  And it was fun to meet Isela’s friends.  Not to mention hanging out with her darling little kiddos before the show   Plus, I have to give a shout out to the awesome loom making man, Sam.  When we got home from the premiere, he was sitting at a table, assembling beautiful looms for his customers.  What a guy!  In the morning, I got to sit and visit with Isela for breakfast and then I headed home.  Incidentally, I got a tiny bit lost on the way home too, haha.  I’m hopeless!  I took one exit too early coming out of the canyon and had a little detour through Brigham City before I wandered my way back to the interstate I needed to get onto and on my merry way again. 

Friday I was lazy and took a big nap!  Late nights apparently wipe this lady out.  Oh, and I have the best hubby.  He let me run off and play with friends and then didn’t even complain when I came home and crashed for a while.  What a sweetie!

Friday night, hubby and I got to watch the Star Trek movie on dvd.  This was another great movie.  We watched it again last night too but I had a migraine and didn’t enjoy it quite as much the second time around.  I actually fell asleep (probably thanks to the Excedrin finally helping a bit) and slept through about half of it.  Oh well. 

Saturday afternoon, we took the kids to see Disney-Pixar’s UP at Peery’s Egyptian Theater.  We haven’t taken the kids to a movie in theater since Jonah, A Veggie Tales Movie was in theaters.  (There was a failed attempt at Harry Potter Half Blood Prince but that’s another story…)  I really love Pixar movies and UP was no exception.  Except the part that made me cry, haha.  I am definitely thinking we need to add that one to the collection when we can   I’ve never been to the Egyptian Theater either.  It is really cool!  And the total cost for all 6 of us was $8.00 for admission.  Not bad at all.  Here is a look at the theater:

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and wishing you a great week too!

Going a few more places, meeting a few more friendly faces :)

Yes, there is more to tell!  Last month, hubby was sweet enough to drive out to Salt Lake with me so I could meet Bethany Dailey, from Gettinitpegged.com in person!  If you read Bethany’s sunny blog, you know that she was able to fly out here to Utah and be part of an informercial that Provo Craft filmed for the Knifty Knitter looms.  The beautiful Isela Phelps from Purling Sprite was also included in the infomercial and hubby and I were lucky enough to meet up with them for dinner at the Olive Garden.  We had such a fun night filled with laughter, friendship and yummy food   It was one of the best nights I’ve had in quite some time. 

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I’m lucky enough to have Isela and her loom-maker hubby, Sam picking me up on their way to Provo.  Miss Bethany was sweet enough to invite me to crash in her hotel room with her for the night.  The ride down with Sam and Isela was much more relaxed than if I had tried to drive it alone   I don’t love freeways, haha.  And I get lost in my own city (blush, blush)  Big thank you’s to Sam and Isela for the ride and to Bethany for letting me hang out in the hotel with ya!

The long drive with Sam and Isela brought us here!

We came here to pick up Bethany, who had been filming project tutorials at Provo Craft all day long.  We got to meet Cathy Davis from Provo Craft and a few other wonderful people that work all day at bringing us all the crafty fun things Provo Craft has available   Cathy led us on a tour of Provo Craft and even spoiled us a bit.  Cathy is joy embodied.  She always seemed to be smiling and happy.  Thank you Cathy for including me in this project!

After touring Provo Craft (which looks like one of the funnest places to work, by the way ) we set out to find something to eat.  We wound up at TGI Fridays eating fajitas and laughing together.  Great fun.  Sam was teasing Bethany about beloved car and entertaining us with his fun personality.  I know Bethany said this already, but Sam and Isela are sooo cute together.  Just, Awwww!  They are a great match.  And our sunny, sweet Bethany is just as wonderful as she seems.  If you read her blog, you get the feeling that she is cheerful, caring, warm, talented and genuine.  And in reality, she is all of that and more.  Hugs, Bethany <3    Now, I’ve been lucky enough to meet Isela a few times previously but haven’t really talked about it.  The first time I met Isela, I thought “Wow!  She is even more gorgeous in person!”  We’ve all seen pictures of our lovely, talented Isela, and she is more than stunning.  On top of that, she is one of the most dynamic, generous, gracious, inspiring people I know.  Hugs, Isela <3

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and left Sammy all by himself and snuck off to have a little fun, chatting, looming (me catching up on things because I snuck away a day early) and watching Isela paint her nails.  We got to hear all the fun details about Miss Bethany’s courtship with her hubby.  Super fun story there, lol.  Isela eventually had to leave us and then I talked poor Bethany’s ear off even though she had a flight to catch in the morning :p  Thanks for lending an ear, Bethany <3

I was able to say goodbye to Bethany before she was whisked away to the airport the next morning and then it was time to get ready!!!  I started out with some push ups and crunches, then jogged in place for a few minutes before hitting the shower.  I had breakfast, then did my hair and makeup.  I had extra time and used it to make a necklace to wear with my new sweater.  Then Sam took me over to Provo Craft at 11:30 am when he headed over to pick Isela up.  I got to have lunch with them before they headed back home for the day.  After lunch, I wound up in this cute little studio: 

 Gulp!  Yep, I got nervous, haha.  Hopefully it didn’t show too terribly in my footage.  The media manager, Cameron was very laid back and easy to work with.  He helped put me a little bit more at ease.  Thank you Cameron!  I’ve mentioned it a bit here and there (mostly on twitter and dailymile) – I’ve been having some tremors in my limbs, especially my hands.  They shake like crazy when I try to bead.  And they shook a little during the filming.  So if my pick is a wobbling, you’ll know why  

 I was invited to participate in the Knifty Knitter project dvd and show how to create a basic loom knit hat with a brim:

 and my Cream Cones

 Super exciting   I finished up my filming a bit early so I had a bit of a wait before hubby arrived, with kidlets in tow, to pick me up.  He let them out of the van to stretch their legs before we headed off again.  I think they were glad to get me back again.  Having the chance to work on a project for the Knifty Knitter looms is something I am so grateful for.  Thank you again to Cathy for including me in this.  Meeting Bethany in person is an experience to treasure and the same goes for Isela.  Thank you gals for an unforgettable, most enjoyable time.

 Have a great day!

 

Going places, meeting friendly faces :)

The last several weeks have been filled with a lot of fun and exciting happenings.  I’ve been able to step out of the ordinary, day to day events a handful of times and have so enjoyed these experiences. I’ve also been able to meet up with a couple of special online friends. Two of these meet ups were with my friend, Mary (KnitAdmin on Ravelry).

Mary was here in Utah with her husband while he was on a work assignment.  Girlie and I got to meet up with Mary on a Monday afternoon at a local yarn store and then grab a bit of lunch together.  We had a great time getting to know each other better.  Ogden’s Painted Horses were on display when we visited and Girlie was enchanted with them.  She wanted to ride one, haha.

Mary met up with us the following Monday too.  I dragged her all over town, from crafty store to crafty store.  I needed to pick up supplies for a big exciting loomy adventure (more to come on that later ;D) and Mary went along with Girlie and I.  She wound up helping entertain my little Miss and even carrying a lot of my supplies.  What a sweetie, right? 

Speaking of sweet, Mary spoiled the kiddos with gifties: 

 

Thank you Mary, they loved them!  It was so much fun meeting up with you and getting to know you better.  Have a great day!

 

Snow Day!

We had a lot of snow fall today   The kiddos were so excited.  We pulled out the camera and caught a few pictures of their fun: 

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Wishing you a happy weekend!

Progress for October and Goals for November

Last month I set some goals for myself to do 100 pushups, 100 ab crunches and 100 calories burned on the exercise bike.  I did pretty good at being consistent.  The pushups and crunches were skipped a few times but for the most part, I stuck to it.  The bike, not so much.  I’ve developed some tremors in my limbs and when I ride the bike for a long duration, I am too shaky to walk afterwards.  We’re only talking 20 to 30 minutes.  And then I shake.  So I was a little bad and skipped the bike a lot of times, haha. 

This month, I am staying with 100 pushups.  I can do 20 before my arms start to shake.  So I rest a minute and do another 20.  I am finding that what works best for me is 50 at the beginning of the day and 50 later in the evening. 

Ab crunches – I can do the full 100 with no problems so I am planning on doing those in the mornings.

Bike – I’ve decided to try 10 minutes after breakfast, 10 minutes after lunch and 10 minutes after dinner.  That way, I get in a full 30 minutes but hopefully avoid the tremors in my legs.  I’ve read that accumulated exercise is as beneficial as exercise completed all at the same time so I’m going to try this out for November.

Finally, I have decided to chart my workouts this month.  It will give me more accurate feedback on how well I am doing and will encourage me to better stick with it, I think. 

So, that’s my plan for this month.  Wishing you all a healthy November <3

Just a little Funny… :)

Sometimes you just have to take the photo ops when they come along… 

Okay, I’m not really giving away my kiddos, lol.  Hubby IS trying to give away that sad, ugly, beaten up couch though.  I keep telling him nobody wants that ugly old thing.  Hopefully I can convince him to give up and haul it away

Have a great night!

Halloween 2009

It’s become tradition for us to travel to the Grandparents, Great Grandparents and a close family friend for Halloween.  The kiddos get the fun of dressing up, showing their costumes to the Grands and I know the candy is all certifiably safe   We usually have to do this sans Hubby/Dad.  He has worked Halloween night at least 4 years in a row.  This year, thanks to him being off on short term disability, we got to have him along for all the tricks and treats!  We had a great time visiting loved ones and watching the kids trick or treat.  I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Have a great night!