Broken!

I dropped my phone one too many times, and it broke into pieces.

*sob sob*

That phone has seen me through a lot.  I've had it for 5 years.  I think that's a long time for a phone.

Don't get it confused with my touch screen Samsung that I dropped in the toilet.  That phone I had for a short time before it passed away.  This was my back-up, go to phone, when I was in between phones.

The first picture I took with this shattered phone was of Weston Aland.

Wow.  I don't even talk to him anymore.  I wonder how my old buddy is doing.  He got married a couple of years ago and then we just stopped talking.  It's all good.

Anyway, my new phone.... The LG Encore.

 

It's just like my Samsung Eternity, but newer, cooler, and not fried due to my stupidity (yet).

What's Up?

I'll tell you.

My assistant's last day was today.  I have appreciated all her help with everything.  Any task I asked her to do, she did it incredibly well.  I will miss her so much.  We got along so well!  We'll definitely still hang out. Habits?  Yes, please.

My manager is moving to Texas.  Her last day will be next Friday.  She will still be working with the company, but remotely.  I'm not sure if she'll still have "manager" status, or what.  I haven't had "the talk" with my boss yet as to what's happening.  I *think* I get her office.  I mean, Dana offered it to me, but sometimes they change their minds.  So, until I move in to that office, it will be a "maybe" thing.  2 weeks ago, I never saw this coming.  So many changes in a short amount of time.  I'm actually quite nervous.  Who knows what the future holds.

Merry Christmas

For Jesus' birthday, we visited with a lot of family, donated to charities, talked to missionaries, and gave a plethora of gifts.  It was magical.  I love my family and I love my friends.  They are too good to me.

It's hard talking to Jared.  It makes me remember how much I miss him.  9 months left!  Next time we talk to him, he'll have 3 months left!  My oh my.

The Curse of the Lower Bowl

Are you familiar with my lower bowl curse?  Well guess what?  It's BROKEN!  Booyah!

Lance and I have sat lower bowl at Jazz games a handful of times.  The Jazz lost each of those games.  Therefore, when I sit lower bowl, I curse the Jazz.

This year, the Jazz decided to do something different for the season ticket holders.  They gave us "seat upgrade" vouchers that we can use 30 minutes prior to tip off, whenever we would like to upgrade our seats.  Basically they take the seats that they have not yet sold and upgrade you to the best available.  They recommend that you don't use them for games against popular teams, because those ones are more likely to sell out, and your upgrade might only be one row closer, if that.

We decided to use our upgrade one game, and we were thinking a few rows closer would be nice.

Oh no.  They didn't give us "a few rows".  They put us lower bowl.  Row 18.  Friends and family section.

Friends and family section?!?!  Row 18?!?!  Holy cow I was psyched!

We sat right behind friends of Fransisco Elson, and the family of Al Jefferson... and I'm sure many other random family members and friends.

The best part?  The Jazz won!

Finally!

Missionary Homecomings

For some reason, today I couldn't help but think of what a terrible job my family did in preparing for Eric to come home from his mission.  We didn't have a big party meet him at the airport, I don't think we had balloons, we didn't even have a lot of people over at the house.  I honestly have no idea why we didn't do any of that.  In addition, we didn't even prepare him a room to live in.  Can you imagine how Eric must have felt?  I would have felt forgotten, not cared for, neglected, unappreciated, and many other things.
Then I realized...  Eric is the first missionary in my family.  Not just my immediate family, but my extended family.  Of course, I've had cousins go on missions, but I mean both of my parents have all sisters, no brothers.  So you see, I don't think they even thought about how to greet a missionary when he came home.  My dad went on a mission, but I'm not sure if his family welcomed him home or not.  In my parents' defense, they went to Panama to spend some time with Eric before he came home, so they weren't really around to plan a party or prepare things for him at home.

So here I am, almost three years after my older brother came home, feeling guilty about not doing more for him.  At least prepare the man a room!  I remember him saying that home didn't feel like home.  How sad is that?  That's why he moved out so fast.  That's why he married so fast.  On a side note, I don't think he made a bad decision in moving out or getting married soon after getting home. I love his wife, Katie.  But, it was sad to miss someone so much, and then never be able to see them because they were already gone again.

So what about Jared?  Will Eric get upset if we have a big welcome party for Jared?  I want Jared to feel like he's home when he comes home.  I want him to feel appreciated and welcome.  But I also want Eric to know that I regret not doing more for him when he came home.

Loca

Yo soy loca con mi tigre

That's the Spanish version of Shakira's Loca.

For those of you who don't HABLA ESPANOL it means: I'm crazy with my tiger.

Weird, since the English version is: I'm crazy but you like it.

Yep, same thing.




Anyhow, not much going on.  So if you're reading this to see what's up....  FAIL!

Bizay Bizay!

Lance downloaded Hip Hop Abs for me so I can start that workout program.



I set my alarm for 6:00am so I could get up and dance/workout.



It didn't happen.



Maybe next Monday.


Busy week!

Today: Jazz vs Thunder

Tuesday: Hair appointment.  I'm getting a trim (I LOVE this cut, and how Kellyanne does it so well), refreshing the red, and waxing my eyebrows.  Fun!

Wednesday: Jazz vs Nets

Thursday-Sunday: Viva Las Vegas.  I'm going to get Lance to go though the drive through Cafe Rio, on the way down, in Cedar City.  Why?  Because I love Cafe Rio, and because drive throughs are cool.

Ready?  Break!

This is My Life

How about them Jazz?!  4-0 on this road trip.  Unfortunately, every single game they were behind by a lot and had to come back to win.  Very impressive, but also very scary.  I like close games, but four in a row is a bit much for my stress levels.  Whew.  Big game Monday night against the Thunder.  We won last time in Oklahoma City, but... well, I really haven't figured out this team yet, so who knows what will happen.  I wouldn't be too surprised if they won all these games on the road and then came home and lost.  It's just so random right now, I think.

When we watch the games at home, Lance sits in a chair really close to the TV, I sit on the couch, and the doggies wrestle on the floor.  The refs make a bad call, Lance yells something nasty at the TV, and the doggies run to their mommy for protection.  It's kinda cute.  I tell them, "It's ok, he's not mad at you."  But they stay by me anyway for a few minutes, until they forget and go back to wrestling on the floor.  Then repeat the above.  It is fun.

On another note, I am so excited!  For what, you ask?  Harry Potter.  Oh yes.  I love love love it.  I have grown up with Harry.  And by "grown up" I mean, I was 11 when I started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Yeup, so I was the same age as the famous trio when it all began.  So yeah, literally, grew up with them.  They're real!  Just kidding, I'm not that silly.  But still.  Harry Potter, love the books, love the movies!  Lance and I have a tradition where we go to Vegas to see the movie.  It's kind of silly, but hey, it's a vacation, right?  This year we are leaving Thursday morning and taking our time driving down there.  When we check in to our hotel, we'll probably take a nap or something, because we plan to see it at midnight at an IMAX down there.  We also get to check another hotel off of our "stay in every hotel on the Vegas strip" from our bucket list.  We're staying at the Imperial Palace this time.  Not too fancy shmancy, but a great location!  As far as what else we'll be doing when we go down there... we have no clue.  We kinda just like winging it.

I would like to say that my little sisters are my heroes.  Elise is just plain cool.  The way she dresses, the music she's into (I have to admit, it's a little funky, but, still cool), and she doesn't care what you think about her.  Awesome.  I love her.  Emilee is a fabulous singer.  She sounds like an angel, err, how I would imagine one.  She should definitely get a record deal and travel the world and be famous.  Her testimony is very strong, and she surrounds herself with people that help her keep it that way.  Awesome. I love her.  Jessica is very headstrong.  She likes to be in control, she likes things done her way and in her own time.  She'll speak her mind.  She doesn't care what you think.  She loves to have fun and play games with the family.  Awesome.  I love her. I like to go to my parents' house, have Elise play silly music, and then dance like a fool with them.  It is fun.  Pretty much one of my favorite things to do.

The end.

I'm Heeeeeeeere!

It's election day!  I like to refer to it as "judgement day", the way when we get to see if all of our hard work paid off.

Too bad I don't follow politics, and I couldn't find the races we worked on if I looked for 'em, eh?  Hahaha.

I joke! I joke!

But seriously, I don't really care for politics.



And now, to clean my house.

Two months worth of laundry, dishes, vaccuming, dusting, sweeping, mopping, tidying, etc etc are waiting for me.

Ugh.  That gives me anxiety.

I think I'll just go to bed tonight.

Yay!

Dancing With the Stars has started a new season!  Yay!

Thank goodness for DVR, because I cannot set aside Monday and Tuesday nights for it.  So nobody spoil anything for me!

Also, it's Fall!  Yayayay!  Pomegranates, peaches, and pumpkins, oh my!  In fact, I can't wait to go pick up a pomegranate for my yummy lunch tomorrow!  Let me share:

Spring mix greens
Feta cheese
Grapes
Pomegranate seeds
Green onion
Poppy seed dressing

Mmmmmmm. :-)

Best day ever!

The Truth

I got up at 8:00 this morning so I would go to Sacrament Meeting for the first time in a couple of months.

It didn't happen.

I begged Lance to come with me, but he wouldn't/won't. 

I don't want to go alone.  I hate going alone.  He promised me he'd start going.

So here it is for everyone to read.  Maybe that will embarrass him into going.

Or maybe not. 

I guess he needs to find his own reasons, and I need to be able to go alone, no matter how much it hurts.

Tailgate

BYU football season started, I guess? (I'm not really a fan of football in general.)  Anyway, my whole family came over to watch the game last Saturday.  Here are some random pictures...

Lance and Bentley

Mom, Dad and Mabel

Emjo

Jessica

Eric and Katie

Me and Emilee

Jessica and Bentley

Little Layla

Welcome Layla!

We have a new dog!  Her name is Layla.  Actually, it used to be Franny, then it was changed to Lela (Lee-la), and we changed it to Layla.  Poor confused thing!

She is a three month old, spayed, Border Terrier - Chihuahua mix with tan furr.  Very sweet and cuddly when you hold her, but loves to play when she's on the ground.  She is perfect for Bentley.  Bentley is very competitive and territorial, but Layla doesn't care.  So that's good.

Potty training stinks.  Layla is doing a good job, but she struggles with going number 1 and number 2 the first time she goes outside.  A few times, she has done one outside, and I wait and wait and wait for her to do the other (but she won't...), so we come inside.  As soon as we come inside, she'll do the other.  It's quite frustrating.  Today it was poo outside and pee inside.  Blagh!  I guess that's better than the other way around.  I think she doesn't like to be outside in the cold for long, so she wants to do her business where it's warm.  Who knows.  But we're working on it!

Bentley loves us.  She'll do anything we ask her to, and always always always will come to you when you call her.  Layla cares more about Bentley than she does about us.  This might be due to her not understanding what the heck we're saying to her yet.  But still... even when Bentley was a baby she would come to us.  Layla runs the other way.  Lol!  It's quite silly.

It's fun to watch them play together, and sleep together.  ♥

Move Over, I'm Taking Control!

My bestest friend in all the land got engaged this past weekend.  Congratulations Sierra!  She's been wanting to marry this guy for at least the last year.  I am so happy for them!  He is so good to her and Erik.  I definitely approve.

Part of me wants to go crazy and plan everything.  The other part of me is saying, "You idiot!  It's not your wedding, it's hers.  Now back off and just offer her help if she needs it."

I vote for the first option.

So... here is the dress I have chosen for her:

It is perfect for her.  I remember her telling me once that she wanted a dress like Beauty's in Beauty and the Beast.  So, voila!  Plus I think the ivory color dresses are gorgeous!  I can just imagine how beautiful she'd be in this dress.

Anyway, like I said, it's her wedding.  But uh... I sure am glad I get to sort of be a part of it.  And... I'll do my best to support her in her decisions and not get carried away with what I think she should do.

Lol

Missing You

I miss my little brother.

I miss his jokes and his humor.  I miss his laugh.  I miss the silly (and sometimes dangerous) things he likes to do.  I miss how he teases me and pretty much everyone.

I miss going to Red Lobster with him and Lolly, and coming back over here afterwards to watch a silly movie.

I miss going to his shows and watching him sing and play guitar.

I still have another year without him.........

That's Different

What an interesting day.

I went to work from 9am until 10am.  I was already over 80 hours, so I was just coming in to tie up some loose ends.  Lance has some temp work going on at his job this week, so he said I could come over and help out, get some extra money or whatnot.  So I decided to go on over there and hang out with some Hispanic workers.  They were hilareous.  The old guy introduced these two younger girls as Thelma and Louise...  I'm still not sure if that's their real names because when he introduced them, I laughed... but nobody else did.  Awkward!  What a hoot.

That lasted for about three hours.  Let's just say that warehouses and assembly lines are not for me.  I much prefer my desk job.

I went to lunch with Lance at Chick-fil-a, then went back to my real job to do the weekend schedule.  That's what I'm doing (or supposed to be doing) right now.

So then this lovely gem of the day happened about, oh, 10 minutes ago?

Jenn says:
I thought Dana left, so I turned up my music really loud
but I guess he didn't leave, and he walked into his office sort of dancing
and I was lke "oh sorry! it turned into a club in here!"

Lance says:
haha that is funny stuff

Jenn says:
lol
i was a little embarassed

Lance says:
i'm sure

Jenn says:
i don't know if i was dancing when he walked in or not
i probably was
 
Lance says:
Yeah, you probably were
 
 
Lol.  Then when Dana left for real, he said something to the effect of, "You can go back to clubbing now."  Lol.  How silly!  What a cool boss I have.

Dance It Out

Jokes.com
Dane Cook - I Gotta Dance
comedians.comedycentral.com
Dane Cook Kool Aid Video More Dane Cook Videos Roast of David Hasselhoff

My buddy Rachel and I have been wanting to go dancing for a while now... and it was just like this!  We weren't there for the guys (Hi, I'm married.).  We just danced!  Danced it out!  Poor Rachel, at one point she was surrounded by three guys.  I looked over at my friend Sierra and said, "Should we bail her out?"  It was actually pretty funny.  It was so much fun though!  I can't wait to go again!

Feeling the Pressure

Another draft I never posted....

Please stop asking Lance and I when we are going to have kids.


I REFUSE to be a working mom.  When I was young, my mom had to go back to work because we didn't have enough money.  It was so hard on me.  I'm sure it was hard on my other siblings as well.  We never really discussed it because we knew she had to.  I feel like my younger siblings were deprived of all the good things that a stay at home mom does.  It was so nice to have her walk me to the corner every morning before school, and meet me at the corner after school.  It was nice to have her there to help me with my homework after school.  I was taught to do my chores before playing.  Then, when Dad would come home we would spend time together as a family, not in front of the TV, but around the dinner table, outside in the yard, or singing around the piano.  That's how it should be.  That's how I expect my family to be.

Lance and I are not in a position for me to quit my  job.  Lance's job doesn't provide benefits.  How do you have a baby without health insurance?  Not only that, but if I quit my job we won't have enough money to pay our bills, let alone pay for the things necessary to live, such as, um, I dunno, food?

So let's say I forget about all that and keep my job.  I REFUSE to put my child in day care.  I worked in day cares for two years.  It's just not happening.  I will raise my child, NOT a stranger who happens to also be watching 10 other kids.  No, I don't want my mom or Lance's mom to raise them either.  Not happening.  It's not the grandparents' responsibility to raise my child, it's mine.

I'm 22 years old.  Why is it even necessary for me to even think about having kids?  Yeah, I've been married for three years.  So what?  If I'm not in a position to have a child, I'm not in a position to have a child.  Not only that, but I don't even have the desire right now.  Why should we have kids to make other people happy?

You can say, "Oh, everything will just work itself out."  That's nice.  I like to have plans.  I don't like to make a huge decision and then just hope it works itself out.  I'm sure the Lord will let me know when the time is right.  But the time isn't right.  When it is, I'll let you know.

PS: When I do have kids, I'm totally having twins.

Hero

Looking through my "drafts" lately... and here's one I never posted.  Too bad Kyle doesn't play for the Jazz anymore.  Yeah, I'm not over it.  I don't think I'll ever be over it.  When we play the Bulls... I just might root for the Bulls.  *gasp!*

I never really thought I had a hero until recently.  Your hero might be your parent, your spouse, a sibling, maybe even a teacher.

My hero is Kyle Korver.  No, not because he's gorgeous, rich, famous, talented, etc. etc.  It's because he's so giving.

When you hear about NBA players, you usually hear about them cheating on their wife, or having multiple children with multiple baby mommas, or getting DUIs, or punching fans in the face (that one is rare... but yeah it's happened!), going to jail, doing drugs, the list goes on and on.

I know Kyle Korver isn't the only athlete who keeps his name clean, and yeah, maybe I only notice him because he's so attractive.  Or, maybe it's because he's on the Jazz.  Yeah, that's it.  But he has so many charities, I don't know how he keeps them straight.

Every year he does a coat drive in November where he asks his fans to bring in coats for the needy and he'll give you two autographs.  He donates tickets to people who wouldn't normally afford to go to the games.  He has the Kyle Korver Foundation that helps kids that are on the streets in Philadelphia (Philadelphia because that's where he was when he started his NBA career).  He recently started a clothing line where 100% of the profits go to helping people in need.  His projects as of late have been repairing people's roofs as well as building ramps for people in wheelchairs.  Those shirts are hott, too! (Yep, I have one!)

You can think I'm shallow if you want, I don't mind.  I'll always admire Kyle.

High School Wisdom

I took my journal I wrote in during my high school years from my mom's house the other day and read it cover to cover.  Wow, was I drama.

But something I wrote really stood out to me.

"...If you are comfortable with where you are, chances are you should get going. A scripture comes to mind. 'The natural (comfortable) man is an enemy to God.' - Mosiah 3:19.  I have that scripture marked.  Next to it written: 'We are an enemy unless we are anxiously engaged in righteous things.'"

Another Vegas Trip

A couple of weeks ago, Lance and I went to Vegas with my sister, Emilee.  It was a lot of fun!  We stayed at the Fitz on Fremont.  By the way, it's a terrible hotel.  Don't stay there.

On Friday we went to the Chocolate Factory because we thought maybe they'd be making chocolate.  Well, they weren't.  They never are making chocolate when we go there!   We asked someone who worked there what was up with that, and he told us they usually make chocolate in the mornings, Monday through Thursday.  I guess, now we know!

We went swimming!  When Lance and I go places, we never seem to have time to visit the pool, so I was pretty excited.  It was soooo hot outside so the water felt very, very nice.  Emilee and I did abdominal exercises back and forth in the pool.

For dinner one night, we went to a very, very delicious steakhouse called Embers.  http://www.imperialpalace.com/casinos/imperial-palace/restaurants-dining/embers-detail.html
I loved it!  Definitely a restaurant to eat at again in the future.  I got the 8 oz Filet Mignon, with Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Sauteed Vegetable Medley.  So amazing!

A little Vegas tip for you: if you go to Tix 4 Tonight to buy your show tickets, for $2 or $3 per person, they can make you dinner reservations at restaurants like this one, as well as give you 50% off of your bill.  So yes, this restaurant is expensive, but Lance, Emilee and I all ate there for the same price as Applebee's or a restaurant similar to that would have been.  Steal of a deal, if you ask me!

After Embers we went to the show Matsuri (Ok, I don't remember how to spell it).  It was a really good show.  Lots of dancing and "tricks".  Very similar to a Cirque de Soleil.  It was a lot of fun.  I hoped Emilee had a good time.

On Saturday we went to lunch at my all time favorite Mexican restaurant, El Patron.  Emilee and I split the super delicious pork burrito that I love love love.  I think she liked it.

Other things that we did were visit the Coke and M&M stores, walked the strip a little bit, stopping to watch the Mirage Volcano and the fountains at the Bellagio.  We also ate at CiCi's Pizza, but it was actually pretty gross this time.

Lance and I had a good time, and I hope that Emilee did too.

Motivation

I just want to say that we all fail Insanity.  I lack motivation for... pretty much everything right now.  Not that I'm depressed or anything, I'm just lazy.  For example, my house is a disaster in every room, I don't have any clean clothes, and our fridge and pantry are pretty much empty.  So yeah... laziness.  What am I going to do about it?  Nothing.

Katie had Mabel and she is beautiful.  She is tiny, too!  I like her.

Work is really picking up.  I worked almost 90 hours last pay period.  The thing that stinks about having only one vehicle is that if I have to go in to work earlier, I can't leave earlier, because Lance doesn't get off until 5:00.  It would be sooo much better if we didn't have to drive for 45 minutes to get home.  A 10 minute drive would be nice.  I could get off early and go home and be with Bentley, then go pick up Lance at 5.  But no.  Instead, we have to leave our house at 7:45am, so Lance can drop me off at work by 8:30.  Lance gets off at around 5:00, so he picks me up from work at about 5:30pm.  That right there is a 9 hour workday.  Then we drive for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic, to get home to our cute little Bentley.  By that time, I'm so mentally exhausted that I just want to lie around and do nothing, so that's what I do.

It's only going to get worse as the cycle (the busy period at work) gets going full-steam.  Instead of having 90 hours in a pay period, I'll have 100.  And no, OT is not a good thing, because I'm on salary.

Random, Much?

Hey there!
I'm at work, waiting for project materials.  Oh yes, it's fun.  It's 5:00pm ET, and the people I'm waiting for are in Virginia, I think.. maybe it's DC?  I don't remember.  But anyway, I really I should have all of the materials by now, donchathink?  I think so.

I'm so excited for tonight!  My friend, Betty, is having a party at her new house.  We will be BBQing, and swimming!  Booyah!  They live in the city that I want to live in, Herriman.  Herriman is MUCH closer to my and Lance's work than Provo.  It is also closer to the rest of my life, like y'know the Jazz games that we spend half the year going to.  Herriman is the same distance as Provo from my family in PG though.  So that's good, too.  Not like they visit me anyway (jerks!).  Just kidding about that last part.  They're not jerks.

Umm... Elise, Emilee and Eric, three of my siblings, all started Insanity.  They all fail.  Emilee and Eric stopped, but Elise is still doing it.  So I guess that means Elise doesn't fail.

My little brother's ex-girlfriend, Lolly, is getting married.  Jared is on a mission.  He seems very OK with it, but it makes me wonder if it's just a front.  I cried when I found out.  I fully support her, and I'm sure she's making the right decision, but I love her so much and really wanted her to be my sister-in-law.  And now, she probably won't hang out with me anymore because it would be too awkward for Sheldon.  That's her fiance.  I wish her the best of luck in her life, and I hope she knows that I'll still always be up for hanging out if she wants to.  And I'll always love her.  She and Jared dated for 5 years before Jared's mission.  She's practically family.  It's hard to let go.

Lance sold the truck.  So now we can pay off our credit cards that we racked up when we were jobless.  It's great fun.

Have a great day!

Thoughts

I don't post deep, or even semi-deep thoughts on here very often.  There are a few reasons for that.

One is that I think nobody cares about what I have to say.  If there is something that I am passionate about, I am probably the only person passionate about that certain subject.  Now, I know this isn't true, but at the same time, I don't like going to people's blogs and reading them if all they are posting are deep thoughts that I can't really relate to.  I get bored and usually leave the blog before finishing the post.  I prefer to read about simpler things.

Another reason is because it's not my personality to be "deep".  I don't take things too seriously.  I like that about myself.  I can step back from a situation and tell myself to get over it because it's not that big of a deal when you look at the big picture.

This being said, I've had some things on my mind that I don't really know any way to get them out other than to blog about it.  So in advance, I apologize if you don't care, if you're not interested, or if you're annoyed.  You can feel how you want, and you can navigate away from my blog.

I've been questioning my testimony of the church lately.  I keep asking myself the question, "Do I really have a testimony?"  After much thought I've come to find out that my testimony is a lot stronger than I like to let on to people.  I don't like to get too into my testimony because I tend to get emotional.  Yep, I'm a cryer.  And to stay away from crying, I stay away from sharing or thinking about my testimony.

Recently... Ok so over a year ago, some close family friends left the church.  At first I was shocked.  These were people I had looked up to.  People who I loved to be around.  The mother of the family was once my Young Women's leader and her lessons always helped me to feel the spirit so strongly.  When I was having a really, really hard time in high school, she took the time to take me out to lunch and to talk to me.  She understood how hard it was for me to talk to my mom about what was going on, mostly because my mom never truly understood me, or at least I felt that way at the time, and this woman knew I felt that way.

Shortly after their leaving of the church I would hear little pieces of what shook their testimony, and it seemed like they were trying to get others to follow them.  It seemed so strange to me, how can you go from being a strong church member, to hating the church?  Hearing the things they say gives me mixed emotions.  I feel personally attacked, like I'm doing something wrong for believing what I believe.  It's like they're trying to get me upset and to argue about religion with them.  Of course, I never have, I usually just shrug it off and let it be.  But the thoughts always stick in my mind and I think about how I know what they are saying isn't true.  Their fall out from the church has actually increased my testimony.

Sometimes they'll post things like "Us Christians believe ___."  Half the time it's what I believe too but just a bit off, and I don't understand why they feel the need to distance themselves from the real truth.  The thing that has hit me the most is that they now believe that you can do whatever you want and you can be saved.  In part, that is true.  Jesus died for us all, the murderer and the saint.  But, wouldn't you rather be the saint?

Let's say the church isn't true, hypothetically speaking.  Even if it isn't true, what's wrong with being the best person you can?  What's so wrong about following Jesus by showing love to others, serving others, and obeying the commandments?

I think it comes down to them not feeling like they were ever good enough, and now they've found a religion that tells them they are.  To me, it sounds like your house caught on fire and instead of doing everything in your power to get out unscathed, you just sit in the flames and wait for the firemen to come.

Familiar Feeling

The soreness set in a few hours after I did the fit test yesterday.  I didn't walk as funny as last time, but we'll see if that changes after today's workout.

The warm-up is once again hard.  I can get through the warm-up circuit one full time before I have to stop.  I am not able to increase my speed/intensity with each circuit, yet.

Bentley is my personal helper.  She sits on the couch and watches me, and near the end of the workout when I collapse to the ground to stop for a break she comes right over in my face to give me kisses.

Water is my best friend.

In the winter when my house was 50 degrees it was harder to start, but easier to keep going to stay warm.  Now that my house is 72 degrees it's easier to start, but harder to keep going because it's so warm.

Stretching feels soooooo gooooood.

Take Two

Some people at my work are doing a Biggest Loser type weight loss competition, and although I'm not really participating, I thought I'd show my support by doing Insanity again.  So, here are my first day fit test results.  It's been three months since I finished Insanity and some of these results are better than my first day last round, and some are worse.

Switch Kicks: 38
Power Jacks: 37
Power Knees: 75
Power Jumps: 20
Globe Jumps: 7
Suicide Jumps: 10
Push-Up Jacks: 13
Low Plank Oblique: 38

So.. there it is.  I'm posting this as motivation to improve my reps on each move.  I'm also going to attempt to commit to the diet better.  5 meals, 300 calories.  One of the recipes they've given is like a sandwich inside of a tomato.. sounds delicious, but there's no way I'd ever get Lance to eat that.  So, I'm making food that works with my diet and if he doesn't like it he can find something else to eat.  Yep, tough love.  This isn't a restaurant.

 I don't have a way to track my weight anymore because we sold our Wii Fit, but that's ok.  I'll just go by how I look and feel, since I'll probably just gain weight.

Disrespected

Our neighborhood is getting vinyl fencing put in this week.  Yay, that sounds great!  But the guys putting it in have no respect for our property.

Soda cans, empty fountain drinks, and empty spray cans are scattered all over our yard.

They've decided to use our property as the  "holding place" for all of the materials, thus making it so we can't use our basketball hoop.  Why our yard?  We didn't give permission for that.

They took out our neighbor's huge tree, but left tons of wood shavings all over our lawn, which looks like it is killing our grass.

Today we go outside to our grill and find that the gas is turned on, and the grill itself is dirty, like it has been used recently.  Lance always scrubs it right after he grills something.

This is not right.  Part of me feels so disrespected.  How can you treat someone's property this way?  How can you justify using someone's grill?  Not only that, but leaving it on?  What if our house blew up?  Then what?  Is there a way we can prove that they are the ones who used it?  The other part of me is pissed off.  I want to yell at someone, but I don't know who to yell at.  I'm torn between being patient and hoping they'll clean it all up and calling the guy in charge and giving him an earful.

I've worked customer service and it sucks.  The last thing I ever want to do is chew someone out or vent to them.  But this is too much.  The grill was the last straw.  I can't handle this.

Project: Improve House

We've decided that we need to improve some things in our house, just for overall beautification.

1. Stain deck                            Start Goal: June 25
I know nothing about staining wood... nothing.  I assume we need to clean the deck really well with a pressure washer (do you know where we can rent one of those?), and then stain it using whatever color of stain we want, brushing it on in the direction of the wood grain.  Any objections?

3. Paint walls                           Start Goal: July 9
This one isn't so scary.  Painting doesn't take a lot of knowledge, I don't think.  I want to use Behr brand, the kind with the primer already mixed into it.  The fewer coats I have to paint the better!  I don't know if you've seen my house...  I have base boards, chair rail and crown molding, so painting my house will take quite some time, I think.  Especially with how many places we have to tape.  But, I know in my living room area I want to paint from the chair rail down a bright red, and from the chair rail up a beige-brown color.  I think it will look hot!  Then my kitchen I want a sage-green.  Everywhere else I'll just do all the beige-brown color.  I don't want to get too fancy, because obnoxious colors can turn off buyers in the future.

2. Re-stain wood floors            Start Goal: July 30
Again, I know nothing of staining wood.  This one I assume we clean our wood floors very, very well, then sand them down to remove the leftover polish from the last time our floor was finished.  We have no idea how long ago that was, but I'm sure it's been forever.  Then we polish/stain our floor using either oil based or water based stain.  I'm thinking of using a semi-transparent, so it doesn't hide the natural wood patterns.  I don't know, I'm clueless.  The last thing I want to do is ruin my floors!!

It's hard to give up my weekends, but I'd really like to get started on making our house more beautiful!  If you have any advice for me, please let me know!

Oh, Hi!

I had a dream last night that I updated my blog with a long entry.  I don't know what I wrote, but I remember having a lot to say. 

Pretty far from the truth.

Work has been really busy.  Busy... such a relative term, huh?  To put "busy" in perspective..... On an "average" work week I'd say we do about 20, maybe 30 projects.  Give or take a few.  In the past week we've done 68 projects.  This doesn't even compare to our "cycle."  During the cycle we expect to have 15-20 projects PER DAY (so that makes 105 - 140 projects in a week).  That doesn't start until September though, so I have a while until I won't have a life for two months.

Umm... The Jazz season ended.  If you didn't know that already then I'm sure you don't care.  But since the Jazz are out, I'm basically just anti-LA.  Meaning, I don't care who wins the Championship as long as it's not LA.

Bentley is so stinking cute.  We gook her camping and she loved it.  She's such a fast learner!  You can tell what words and prases she likes (Are you ready to go?/Want to go in the car?/Where's your collar?/Where's the kitty? etc.) and what ones she doesn't like (Do you wanna take a bath?/It's time to go in your room.)  "Camping" is a new word she learned that she likes.  She gets excited when you say it.  I love her.

Speaking of our camping trip... Katie and Eric went.  Katie is such a trooper for camping while pregnant.  Go Katie!  We had a lot of fun with them.  It was good to just hang out and talk for hours and hours.

And last... here's a list of things in our house we are thinking about getting rid of....
Wii Fit - We never use it.
Rockband 2 - Same as above.
Our truck - Now that we carpool, we don't need two cars.  And with how much money we spend on car payments in a month, we should be driving an Audi.  Seriously.
Comcast internet and cable - Something we do use.  But I could live without TV.  I'm not anti-TV... I am anti-laundry.  Maybe without a TV I'll finally do the laundry (fat chance).

We'll see what we actually DO end up tossing....

Ok bye!

Women's Expo

I chickened out on posting before and after pics, if you didn't notice.  I had a four pack for a couple of days but since I stopped working out I think it went away.  Maybe it's just all in my head, who knows.  Anyway, the past three weeks I've just been randomly doing a video when I can drag my bum out of bed at 6am.  I've lost my drive.  Last week I was determined to start it up again, but after three days of working out and the soreness starting all over again, but in different places this time, I uh... stopped.  But, my alarm is officially set for me to wake up at 6am tomorrow.  So why am I blogging and not sleeping?  I dunno.  I'm retarded.

I went to the Women's Expo at UVU on Saturday.  It was awesome!  I went with Lolly.  I love her!  We had a lot of fun.  We got our makeup done by Marinello students, and I got a custom airbrush spray tan for $25!  That's a steal of a deal, since the Mystic tan is about the same price, but the Mystic doesn't look as natural.  After I got my spray tan they took my picture.  So if she posts that on her blog I'll use that as my Insanity "after".  Maybe it will make me look leaner than I really am.  Hahaha.

Bentley is all better... but she still looks kinda fat to me.  It's ok though, I still love her.

I've been watching Dancing With the Stars this season.  This is actually only my second season of watching the show...  and I love it.  I am completely hooked!  My favorite is Chad Ochocinco.  He's not the greatest dancer, but he's my favorite to watch.  He's so flirty and I love it!  Pretty sure that Nicole is going to win.  Whatever.

Brownies

I love brownies!  Especially when they are gooey and warm.  Oooh! And when they have candy bar chunks, or chocolate pieces in them, and even when they are iced with a cream cheese icing.  Mmm Mm good!

Saturday night we invited Kate and Eric over to watch the Jazz game (they lost, boo).  Kate was so nice and made some brownies and brought them with some ice cream.  We put them on the table and went downstairs to watch the game.

About half hour later Bentley joined us, looking rather guilty,




...and fat,




...and smelling like brownies.

I went upstairs to see the damage and 3/4 (if not more) of the entire 9X13 pan of brownies was gone.  She had chowed down!  I thought it was funny for almost maybe a second until I remembered that chocolate is poison to dogs.



A couple of weeks ago Bentley found a whole bunch of pasta at my mom's house.  That time you could tell she was not feeling well at all.  She was breathing funny and wincing like she was in pain.  She threw up two times and was back to her normal self.

This time she threw up over 25 times throughout the night and the next morning.  I called my vet's after hours center at about 12:30am, freaking out and crying (I feel sorry for the lady on the phone).  I explained to the lady what happened and she told me to not let Bentley eat or drink anything to let her tummy rest and that they'd be open all weekend if I decided to come in.  By this time Bentley was no longer throwing up brownies, she was throwing up food she had eaten earlier, and the water I'd been trying to give her so that she wouldn't get dehydrated.  I figured that since the chocolate was out of her system that maybe the throwing up would stop if I stopped giving her water.  So I went to bed.

Bentley thew up all throughout the night.  Neither Lance or I got any sleep, and we had to wash two comforters.

We finally took her to the vet at 10:00 Sunday morning.

Two hours and 500 dollars after that, we left.  Bentley had to get a blood test, a heart monitor, a few medicines (three of which she has to be on for the next week), and some liquids that they put under her skin with the hopes that her body would absorb it to help with her dehydration.  The vet said that Bentley is lucky to be alive.

She's still not quite back to her normal self, but she's a lot better than she was Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I love my Bentley so very, very much.  I honestly don't know how I would have acted if I lost her.  She is so important and special to me.  I consider her my best friend.  She's always so happy to see me, she is a very good listener (even if she has no clue what the heck I'm saying to her), and she is extremely obedient.

What I have learned from this experience is to never have children.  I'd be an awful mother.

Insanity Fit Test

The first Insanity workout I did was the Fit Test.  Basically you do a quick warm up and then you go through each move.  He shows you how to do it, and then you have one minute to do as many repetitions as you can.  So... below shows how many of each move I could do in one minute on the first day and on the last day.  Woot woot!

Switch Kicks (2 kicks = 1 rep):
First Day: 49     Last Day: 72

Power Jacks:
First Day: 41     Last Day: 57

Power Knees:
First Day: 64     Last Day: 102

Power Jumps:
First Day: 17     Last Day: 42

Globe Jumps (four jumps = 1 rep):
First Day: 5     Last Day: 10

Suicide Jumps:
First Day: 9     Last Day: 15

Push-Up Jacks:
First Day: 3     Last Day: 17

Low Plank Oblique:
First Day: 33     Last Day: 55

I'm very pleased.  :-)

Random

Hey dudes,

My company moved and I've been training my assistant so I haven't really had time to write an update.  But here you go:

I finished Insanity!  I'll post my before and after stuffs...eventually.

My friend Tenille is prego!  Growing up is so weird.

Eric and Kate find out their baby's gender on Wednesday.  I'm saying it's a boy.

I have a cranberry sesame honey ginger glazed pork roast (I forget the real name...) in the crock pot and boy oh boy am I excited for dinner tonight!

Two more home games for the Jazz!  Let's get 2nd or 3rd seed....  yep yep.  I'm stoked for the playoffs!

Yay!!!

My favorite season has FINALLY arrived!!  Here's what I love about spring.

1. Blossoms!

2. Pedicures!
3. Morning dew

4. Rain, and the smell of it

5. Spring shoes!

6. Longer days
7. NBA Playoffs

8. My birthday!

Happy spring everyone!!!

Insanity - Day 50

Hello Friends!

I've decided to give you an in-depth update of my workout progress.

This month I decided to "get through" the workouts in a different way than I did last month.  Last month I turned on a DVD and just sloshed through as much as I could, which progressed as the weeks went by, but it was all based on how much I thought I could do.  I found myself only giving it half of what I really could, just so I could last the entire time.  This month I decided to put a little bit more structure into it.

The videos are all circuit training.  You have a circuit of anywhere from 5 to 10 different "moves" or exercises and you repeat the circuit of exercises three times each, with a 30 second rest between each circuit.  For example...

Today's warm up (each lasts for 45 seconds):
Jog
Jumping jacks
Heisman
Side to side jump rope
High knees (really, I mean really gets your abs if you do it correctly)
Hit the floor (similar to suicides....)
Side to side floor hops (reminds me of "bucking broncos" I used to do on the trampoline as a child... not as easy nor as much fun now though...)

Then you repeat that circuit two more times, increasing your speed and/or intensity each time.  So your third time through you don't start with a jog you start with a sprint.  Yeah, it hurts....especially if you had McDonald's and/or soda the day before.

The warm up doesn't give you a thirty second rest between each circuit.  So you're going for a good 10 minutes to get warmed up.  It took me four weeks to finally be able to get through a warm up without stopping!

Anyway, so you have your warm up circuit, then three other circuits in a workout.  Now... on to my point.

This month instead of sloshing through and being burnt out before my third repeat of my first circuit, I've paced myself.  The first week I went three times through the warm up, then only two times through the remaining three circuits.  The second week I went three times through the warm up, three times through the first circuit, and only two times through the remaining two circuits.  This week... Three times through everything except my last circuit.  So I'm only shaving off three minutes out of my total workout.  It's still really, really, really hard, but I have noticed myself improving and progressing a lot more than I did last month.  This may be due to my changed eating habits, also, but whatever it is it is totally working.  Next week I will go through the entire workout without stopping. (*crosses fingers*)

Here's what I have noticed this month:

1. My abs stay flexed practically all day without me even thinking about it!  I use the tips that Shaun gives in the videos (such as, "Lift with your abs!  Use your core!) everywhere I go.  When I go up the stairs, I jog and I lift with my abs.  I've really noticed a difference there.

2. Soda tastes disgusting to me.  I gave myself Saturdays to "cheat" on my "diet" but I've found myself not wanting to cheat.  Water tastes soooo much better!

3. I have so much more energy at work.  I'm able to focus and concentrate better on what I'm doing.  I don't get overwhelmed and stressed out as easily.

4. Overall I am just happier!

5. I am sore right now, but I love it!

After I'm finished with Insanity I'm not sure what I will do.  I feel like I am somewhat addicted to working out now.  Also I'm afraid of what my body will do if I just stop exercising.  I'm thinking about trying ChaLEAN Extreme... but I'll worry about that when I get there.

Breakfast today tasted like Jamba Juice!  Mmmm... I LOVE Jamba Juice!  Here's what I had:
1 cup of frozen mixed fruit (pineapple, mango, grapes, strawberries)
1/2 cup of greek yogurt
1 cup of orange juice
Blended together!

I accidently made too much, and I'm still drinking it.... 4 hours later.  Whoops!

Success!

I've been messing around with the HTML on a template I found... finally figured out how to put my own pictures in the slideshow.  I'm so happy!  ...I got bored with my old Jazz header and stuffs....

Lance got a job!  Hooray!  Right now it's in Midvale, but they're in the process of moving.  I'm not sure where they are moving to...  hopefully south!  He is now the manager of a shipping department.  So far he isn't managing anyone.  He's the only shipping person.  They are going to train him on everything then hire someone for him to manage.  I'm pretty excited for Lance.  I know he'll do well.  The owner of the company says that Lance doesn't have the personality to be a manager, but he has great work experience.  I agree... Lance isn't bossy, controlling or anything like that.  So we'll see how he does as a manager.  I think he could be a great manager!  He'd be more of a friend helping you complete your task rather than a dictator telling you what to do and how to do it.

My company is supposed to move next Friday!  I'm excited.  It will be an exciting change.

Insanity is kicking my butt.  By the end of last week I wasn't incredibly sore but all of my muscles were weak.  They are just burned out.  Unfortunately with the time change I couldn't drag myself out of bed yesterday morning to work out.  I couldn't do it this morning either.  But, today I worked out after work.  Which, again, I don't really like doing, but I HATE being behind in the workouts, and I hate missing more than one day in a row.  Gotta try again tomorrow!  Starting your day with sweat is a lot better than ending it with sweat in my opinion.

Well, I'm going to bed now.  I think my body naturally needs more than eight hours of sleep every night.  I read somewhere that to find out how many hours your body needs you should go to bed at your regular time and see what time your body naturally wakes up the next morning.  You know, without your alarm?  On Saturdays I do this and I sleep for 12 hours or more.  Unfortunately I don't have the time to sleep that long every night, so Saturday is the only day I'm fully rested, I guess!

REAL (Long) Update

Here's a real update about what's going on in our lives right now... brace yourselves!

The temp place that Lance was working said that it wasn't working out and they let him go last night.  They said he stood around with his hands in his pockets, sat at the computer for extended amounts of time, and never did his work.

BS!!!  Lance NEVER has his hands in his pockets, he always came home with sore, tired feet from standing all day, and he was always complaining about when he'd try to get something done, nobody would help him, nobody would let him do what he was supposed to do.  He'd try to get something done and someone else would tell him not to do that, and to do something else.  It's like they set him up to fail.  I honestly and truly believe he did everything in his power to do the best job he could there, and they are just so unorganized, unprepared, and unprofessional that they had to make up some excuse to let him go.

I mean, freak, a week after they got Lance they hired another guy on full time.  What's that saying?  "Oh, we can't hire you on right now, but we'll hire this other guy cuz he's my friend.  And we'll show him the breakroom, and help him learn stuff, but you are on your own suka!"

UGH!  I'm frustrated for Lance, but I'm happy about him not working there.  It wasn't right.  He wasn't happy.  When he's not happy, I'm not happy.

So the job search continues...

My professional life seems to be the opposite.  I posted earlier about my promotion, which was finalized today.  All I can do is smile about it.  I have nothing negative to say.  Seriously, best opportunity of my life, so far.  :)  I am so happy to work for this company.  Yes, sometimes I get overwhelmed and over worked, but they really do make up for it.

Dude, my boss, Donni, had me help her with some coding/re-coding on a big, ugly project yesterday.  It was a slow day so I took my time and made the coding real high quality.  Well today, out of the blue, she hands me a card and some DP to say thank you for what I did!!  I have the best bosses, ever!  The day before this, a mystery person put a card on my desk, with a drink that I've been enjoying lately called Sobe LifeWater... Yumberry Pomegranate flavor is the best!  The card just said that they were thinking about me and that I'm awesome.  How nice is that?  It really made me feel good.

My workouts are going great.  They're crazy hard, and I've been sore all week.  But, I managed to talk Lance into rubbing my back for me yesterday, and that helped out a lot.  I can REALLY feel my body start to tighten and get toned.  We'll see if the scale and/or tape measurements reflect the same.

I've started having a wonderful breakfast...  1 Nestle Carnation breakfast drink packet (chocolate flavor), 1 cup of 1% milk, and 1/2 cup of greek yogurt, honey flavor.  It's super delicious, and it keeps me full until lunch time!  I'm sure I'll get sick of this soon, so I might switch to making smoothies next week.

Help, please?

My job isn't supposed to get busy until August, but it's crazy busy now.  I've barely had time (or had no time at all) for lunch, I've stayed late every single day for the past two weeks, and now I am burnt out.  I honestly feel like I can't go on any longer.  My job isn't physically exhausting, it's mentally exhausting.  Personally, I think mental exhaustion is harder to push through than physical exhaustion.  Physical exhaustion you can just take a bubble bath, go to bed, sleep like a rock and be good to go the next day.  Mental exhaustion gives me crazy dreams about work and anxiety about the next day.  There is no break for my brain! I hope it slows down... at least for a little bit so I can train some newbys.  Then it will be OK.

Due to this mental exhaustion (and our heater giving us fits) I have only worked out three days this week.  It's my recovery week, so I don't feel too bad, but I do feel like when this upcoming week of workouts start I'll be back where I was at the beginning of the program.

I'm supposed to start a new schedule at work...maybe go in an hour earlier, I'm not sure what it will be yet.   This worries me because I'm already getting up at 6 so going to work earlier means I'll have to get up at 5.... all this and daylight savings is in a week, so 5am will really be 4am.

That's all that's going on right now.  Just stress and anxiety, anxiety and stress.

Lame

I didn't work out yesterday.  At lunch, my thought process was, "I didn't work out today, I might as well have soda."  So I had 2 DPs.

Really feeling it today.

Lame.

Bring It!

Month 1 of Insanity is COMPLETE!!  The workouts never got easier from day one.  I am just less sore than I was starting off, which is nice.  I like being a little sore because it makes me pay attention to the muscles that are working... kinda weird, I know.  But whatev's.

I haven't measured or weighed myself yet.  But I don't think I want to do that until after my "recovery week".  This week I do the same workout every day, then next Monday I will weigh myself, do the fit test, take measurements... but also on the scheudle is Max Interval Circuit.  So... It'll be at least 90 minutes of exercising next Monday...  Hello 5:30am!  I'm ready. Bring it.

I've noticed lately that I have muscles in places I've never noticed before.  It sounds weird... I mean, I knew I had muscles there, I just never noticed them.  These areas are my butt, my shoulders, and my ABS!  It feels gooooood.  I have tons more energy than I had a month ago.  My complexion is a lot better (probably because of all the water I'm drinking). My arms, legs and abs feel a lot tighter.  This could just be a mental thing though.  Overall, I feel great, and I feel like I look great.

Month two the workouts are each an hour long, when month one they were only 40 minutes.  They are all harder, too.  Supposedly they are the "hardest workouts ever put on DVD". 

Bring it on.

Moving Up

After three and a half years of working for DataWise, I have now been officially moved to a full time employee.  With that comes salary, benefits, and PTO.  I'm also getting an assistant. :-) 

Hard work really does pay off. 

This is a huge change from a year ago.  I don't know if anyone remembers, but a year ago is when they cut my hours from 40 hours to no more than 35 a week.  So, this will be really good, and it comes at a perfect time, too.

2010 is starting to look pretty good if you ask me!

Meh

I didn't get up yesterday morning to workout, so I worked out in the evening.  It was different for sure.  I don't like it at all.  I think I'll stick with mornings.  Hence... why I'm here right now.  Just got done with another.  I think these ones were too close together though, so now I'm exhausted.

Completely cheated this past weekend on my "diet".  I had tons of DP.  The interesting thing about it is that you can feel a difference in your body during your workout when you eat right versus when you're not eating right. But, it was a holiday.  I'm gonna let it go.

I did my second Fit Test on Monday and I have improved a little on each of the exercises, so that's good.  I measured myself last night and I haven't really changed at all.  I weighed myself and I'm back where I started.  So who knows what's going on.  Maybe after two more weeks it will make more sense.

I get my hair done tonight! Finally!  I think my last one was in August or something.  Anyway, that's all that's going on, really.

Oh yeah, and Lance found a job.  It's through a temp agency so it's a pay cut, but when he gets hired on he'll be back up to what he was.  So that's good.  I'm being nonchalant about it because I don't know if he'll like it.  We'll see.

Almost Two Weeks

...since I started Insanity and I still haven't taken my before picture.  It's not even a before picture anymore, really.  I feel healthier but I'm not sure if I've lost anything yet.  I weighed myself on Monday and I had gained a pound.  I was disappointed, but like I mentioned in an earlier post I'm supposed to be gaining muscle, so being heavier is normal.  But if I keep gaining a pound a week I'm gonna be a muscle head, and look gross!! 

Anyway, I'm planning to take the picture on Sunday.  But just FYI, you lucky folks won't see it until after I'm done... IF (yes, IF) there's a difference.  I don't see how there could not be a difference... but still.  It would be embarassing to put up a before and after and they look the same.  Especially with how much I've been whining about how hard it is.

Yesterday I decided to committ to the nutrition plan a little better.  I cut out soda, most fast food, candy and I've started counting calories.  I used to mentally count them, but now it's on paper.  Yesterday I ate 1250.  Today so far I've eaten 160.  Not that you care... but yea.  They strongly urge you to not eat under 1300 calories.  I would have eaten over that yesterday, but work was really busy and I didn't have time for a real lunch.

I drink at least 40oz of water daily.  I know, I know.. it's not as much as you're supposed to be drinking.  It's hard to gag it down when you're not thirsty.  I drink 20oz during the workout, and then another 20oz throughout the rest of the day.  But uh... 40oz is A LOT better than how much I was drinking before.  I'm trying to get it where I drink 20oz before work, 20oz during work, then 20oz after work.  But, like I said, it's hard to gag it down when you're not thirsty.  I'll get there... hopefully.

Allergies, Endurance, and HOA

I have developed an allergy to eyeshadow.  I am very bummed out about it.  I love eyeshadow...  The brand that gives the worst reaction is Neutrogena.  Dermatologist recommended?  I don't think so.  Too bad their eyeshadows come in great colors and last all day, while being super affordable.  So that sucks.  The other brands I use, Covergirl, Avon and MAC, don't give me a bright red, stinging, itching rash like Neutrogena, but they do dry out my eyelids.  This allergy has been going on for a few months now.  I've changed my facial moisturizer brand, I've changed my eyelid primer brand, and I've even tried going without eyelid primer.  Nothing works.  So alas... no more eyeshadow.  Unless I can find a brand that won't dry out my eyelids.

My heart is in better shape now!  When I first started Insanity my heart would beat out of my chest before my body was ready to give up.  But now my body gives up long before my heart.  Hooray!  Now if they can just both last long enough to get through a workout, I'll be in good shape.  I'm very happy with myself today.  I didn't stop at all during the warmup.  Booyah!

Yesterday I skipped my workout, and I was NOT happy about it.  I got up at 5:50am and went into the bathroom to find that our water was shut off.  Um yeah, what the heck?  So I decided that it wasn't worth it to me to workout and be stinky all day without a shower.  So I think on Saturday I'm gong to double up on workouts so I won't be a day behind.  We'll see how that goes.

In case you're wondering, our water turned back on at about 9:30am.  I still don't know what was up with that.  Our HOA drives me nuts.  They give us late fees when we aren't even paying late.  Can I just stop using them?  Please?

Wanna Hear a Secret?

It's hard work for me to sit and watch a football game for four hours.  Four hours?! Why are football games so stinking long, anyway?  Really, the only time I'll sit through an entire game is the Superbowl, and that's only so I won't be left out from the rest of the world.  Oh yeah, and the commercials are pretty good, too.  Oh, and I'll take any excuse for a party! :-)

So this year, I decided to go with the team whose quarterback had a name I didn't recognize.  Yeup, that means the Saints.  Guess I chose right, eh?  Last year I chose the Steelers because I love Polamalu and his hair.  Again, I chose right.

I admire the strength, agility, flexibility, quick thinking, and just the down right amazing physical condition of these guys.  Did you see the two point conversion where he was rolling in the air with his arms and legs extended?  That is HARD WORK!  It baffled me that he would be thinking about his field position AND be able to hold himself in a position like that. 

I do like football, I just think the games are too long.  Maybe I should just watch games starting from the beginning of the second half....

Insanity has football drills in it.  They are hard. (Yes, I had to mention my workout.  I'm sorry.  It's still hard!)

Power of Positivity

Alright ya'll... Pure Cardio, just finished.  Let me just say that it's a good thing I had no idea what I was getting into when I turned the video on this morning because it was insane, for sure!  During the warmup (which, still feels like a workout in itself), Shaun T said he was nervous for what was about to come.  And I thought, "Oh crap."

Yeah, the buff people in the video couldn't last the whole time.  Obviously, neither could I.  But I did the best I could do, plus some.  That's all Shaun asks, is to give a little more than you think you can.  At one point I had to keep saying (out loud), "I can do it... Keep pushing, keep pushing."  Yep, I talked to myself.  But whatever, it works.  I'm a BIG believer in positive affirmations.  Instead of saying "I'm not tired." over and over again, try saying "I have plenty of energy left."  Over and over again, and see the difference.

When I have to give a talk, speech or presentation either at work or in church, instead of telling myself I'm not scared, I tell myself how amazing I am.  "I am fun, confident, and I look great today!" Works every time.  Pump yourself up and you can go far!

Ok enough of that.

I went and saw The Lovely Bones last night.  It was my first movie since November.  I thought I hadn't seen a movie since Harry Potter, but then I remembered that I saw New Moon.  But anyway, I read The Lovely Bones in high school and I liked it, but the movie is awful.  I don't know why I thought it was awful, just boring I guess.  And I thought the whole "space between earth and heaven" is crap.  I tried to relate it to Spirit Prison or Spirit Paradise, but in the movie it was a mixture of both for her, and I hated it.  Maybe I should have just left my religious beliefs about death out of it and just enjoyed the movie.  But, how can I leave my religious beliefs out of something when religion is my whole life?  Or at least, should be my whole life.  The only reason we're even here is to learn how to get back... so yeah.. anyway.

I'm gonna go shower now.

Good News!

Today was Cardio Recovery, and thank goodness!  It was a lot of stretching and pilates.  So, pretty much yogalates.

Tomorrow is Pure Cardio and I'm pretty sure I am going to die.  One the bright side tomorrow is the last video for level one, or month one, so after that I get to just repeat all of them for the next three weeks.  I'm looking forward to getting better and stronger with each one.  The good news for you is that this means I probably won't bother you with blog updates about how much it hurts or how hard it is.  Hooray!

Mission: Look Better in Swimsuit is in full effect!

63 Days vs 60 Days

Guess what?  Insanity LIES...  They said it's 60 days, but really it's 63 days!  Just thought I'd share that.

Technically... since you get to take Sundays off, it's only 54 days of working out.

Need a snack?  Ritz crackers + cream cheese + salsa = best snack ever.  Maybe not the best, but pretty close.  I love it!

Day Three!

I went to relief society for the first time last night.  It was a good time.  We had brownies and saw some skits about visiting teaching.  Visiting teaching is something I do need to improve.  I give up too easily.

Unlike yesterday, today when I woke up I was not more sore than when I went to bed.  I am so thankful for that!

Day three is complete!  Today was Cardio Power and Resistance....  the warmup still feels like a workout to me, but I know if I keep pushing it will get easier and I will get stronger.

Took my measurements yesterday... I was supposed to take them before I started, but I don't think I've gone down in inches yet.  They say to track my progress by inches I lose, not pounds.  Since I am gaining muscle I'm likely to be heavier than when I started.  We'll see.  But guess what?  My left calf is a whole INCH bigger than my right calf!  What is that about?

Now if I could just curb my hunger so I'm not eating all the time!!!!

Day three down!  Time to shower.

Insead of naming it Insanity, they should have named it Suicide

I feel like anyone who is as out of shape as I am, or in even worse shape than I am would die if they pushed as hard as Shawn T and the people in the videos.  Seriously....  I pushed myself hard, and I ended up resting twice as long as they did, if not longer.

Yesterday's workout was hard, today's was even harder.  Yesterday started with a little sweat, today started with a puddle.  By noon yesterday my muscles were sore and the soreness got worse throughout the day until it more than doubled over night.  I felt like I was going to break when I got out of bed this morning.  So that's what I had to work with when I started my 40 minute cardio circuit.

The program has 10 different videos.  You cycle through the first five for 30 days, then you cycle through the second five the second thirty days.  So you're doing something different every day.  Looks like I will be sore for the next two months!

Day two down, 58 more to go!

I love that this program comes with a nutrition guide.  Honestly, I haven't looked at the whole thing.  But I read enough last night that I guess I'm supposed to be eating 5 to 6 meals a day that are 300 - 500 calories each.  I think that will be hard for me since I've limited myself to about 1200 calories per day for the last three years.  I did that because I wasn't exercising, and now that I am exercising I think I would starve to death.  No wonder I was so hungry yesterday!

I did my workout, and afterwards I was hungry.  I had a granola bar.  I was hungry maybe an hour later, but I pushed myself and waited until 11:30 to eat lunch.  I was hungry an hour after that.  So I had some carrots.  When I got home from work I was hungry again!  Luckily, I had put dinner in the crock pot before going to work, so I could eat as soon as I got home.  Then Lance and I went to the Jazz game, where I got hungry again, and we got hot dogs.  When I got home, I was hungry again so I had a bowl of cereal.

I think this will be the death of me.  I'm scared for tomorrow!

Insanity Workout - Day 1

Started this workout today.... and it hurts... a lot.  Now when I walk all my muscles shake with weakness.

I got up at 6:00 to start this beast.  Why?  Because that's the only time I have available between my callings as a Primary teacher, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a visiting teacher, an employee, a friend, and a loyal Jazz fan. 

During the workout, I drank more water than I would normally drink in an entire week!

I don't expect to get a hard body like the people in the video above. I do, however, expect to be able to look better in my swimsuit!!


Only 59 more days to go!

Hair School

I had a good day at work today.  Normally I get to leave early on Fridays, but today was really busy... so I left late.  But it was ok.  I'll take all the hours I can get.

Lance has in interview on Monday.  Wish him luck... if you want! :-)

I know every year I say this... but I really want to go to hair school.  The one I want to go to now accepts financial aid.  So I just need to apply for financial aid, however you go about doing that.........  maybe I will get more money with an unemployed husband!  I don't know how it works.  I wasn't pushed as a child to grow up and go to college.  On one hand I am thankful for that.  I didn't need that pressure growing up.  On the other hand, I feel like an uneducated loser.  Hair school won't really make me smart, but at least I'd get to learn more about stuff I am already interested in!  Hair, skin, nails and makeup.  It's stuff I deal with every day, why not make it a career?

Thank You!!

I love the rare occasions that I get to do data entry at work!  As long as it's not for the entire day......

The other day there was this super tricky entry project that we needed to do.  At first Dana (my boss) said that Mike would make an entry program that night and we could work on it the next day.  That's how "normal" entry projects go.  Well, later in the day he changed his mind.  He came out of his office with the stack of entries and told me he was going to have me do the entry in Excel.  Which is cool.  Whatever works!  Well, after explaining the trickiness and fanciness to me he said "I'm having you do this because you're the only person I trust to be able to do it right!"

Talk about major compliment!

Thank you, Dana!

Things I Do When I'm Bored

1. Write a blog about nothing.















2. Play Minesweeper  -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHY8NKj3RKs

3. Watch gameshows on TV

4. Sleep

5. Shop

Starstruck

One reason that today is a great day...

@ericmaynor3: Bored in the hotel in dallas. Question time. Ask me anything.

@Orangeice_88: @EMaynor3 anybody ever tell you that you have killer swagger?

RT @orangeice_88: @EMaynor3 anybody ever tell you that you have killer swagger?gotta have it lol

Kinda silly, I know.  But hey, it's not every day that someone in the NBA actually answers a question you ask them.  Am I right?  So yeah.  I'm totally starstruck now.  XD