Online work out

Well, the actual working out wasn't online, but Josha and I were chatting and then we both did push ups and tricep dips next to our computers.  And here I wasn't going to do anything today!  What a help it was to have Josha doing it with me all those miles away!  Yesterday I did abs but not cardio.  This is just the way the last weeks of school are - I get completely lazy.  :-(

Here's another BellyDance video from the recital.  This song is called Bab Sharqi.  Sorry it cuts off halfway through.

Oh and check out our living room!!!!  We have at least 100 handmade snowflakes hanging from the ceiling!

Needless to say, we've been having a good week here in 207.  I'm going to miss it here...

2 B's going on 3

Did back and biceps earlier today at the Rec, and am planning on doing lower body when Jenny gets home.  It's so weird not having water exercise and belly dancing anymore.  Sad :-(  Oh, speaking of belly dancing, here's one of the videos from the recital.  

More as the days pass.  

The next month or so is going to be a little off for me - because of finals and graduating, because of moving, because of being at my dads and not having a work out room or weights after I leave the apt, because of traveling for the holidays, BUT I'm going to do my very best for the next month until I get up to Colorado, and will be more than back on by the time I've got my work out buddy back (yay Josha!).  

PS Just finished doing lunges with Jenny - and my legs are all wobbly.  Amazing what a week off can do.

My 7

1. Belly dancing is my favorite thing to do.  Well one of them.  Mostly I like the pretty clothes!

2. Spending time with my roommates doing creative things like making snowflakes, painting, and making short films gives my heart a lot of joy.

3. I have a tattoo that says "Ohana" over my heart.  Ohana means family in Hawaiian.  My cousin, sister, and I got the same one while we were in Hawaii this summer celebrating my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary.  It is one of the best decisions I've ever made.

4. I love cold weather more than I can say.  Scarves, mittens, and heavy coats with sweaters is my ideal outfit.

5. I am graduating college in 2 weeks!!!

6.  I have a pet dinosaur named Rowdy who hangs out with a wig named Edna, a mannequin arm named Linda, and an electronic cat named Koshka (Russian for cat).

7. I was born a Hoosier, and will always, always, be one at heart.

Mini-ab session and Update

Woke up this morning with some seriously uncomfortable back pain, and I'm not sure what it's from - not from working out yesterday - it started hurting during a test I was taking yesterday, and it hurts all over, not just one specific part.  I wonder if it has something to do with sitting oddly reading or typing at work and home - I've been doing a lot of both the last week.  Started doing abs, but my back made that way more difficult than it should be.  Truth be told, I don't think I have enough energy to work out right now, so I'll shower and get ready for class and then try again this afternoon.  I'm planning to jump rope!  Oh and I'm starving!

Update

Jenny and I jumped rope before dinner.  It was fun to have a buddy.  Gonna try to do abs before bed, and do those exercises Ruth suggested.  Tomorrow we are having a Fair Trade Market at school, which I am SO excited about!  Also 3 B's.  Ready for lunges!

How come naps are never that satisfying??

At least for me.  I just woke up and feel tired still!  Now I can't decide whether I am going to write my paper or sleep some more, but I did want to say that I did upper body earlier today.  It was hard to get myself down there and lift, but I was so glad I did afterward.  I did chest press, flys, upward rows, shoulder presses, kick backs and tricep extensions.  My arms were wobbly for awhile afterward.  Looks like I'll be sore tomorrow.  :-D  Josha - I hope you are doing better!  Ruth - don't let the snow and cold get you down!  You can do it!

Good to be back!

Started back on BFL today - it was a little wobbly - had some candy at work and some delicious corn/sausage chowder (Brandon's speciality) for dinner to celebrate the cold weather!  I jumped rope this morning and it felt great - I loved working out in the cold.  Trying to decide whether I'm going to do abs tonight.  Just saying that made me decide I was going to.  Hooray for day 1 of challenge 2.  Woohoo! 

Recap

I posted on my website about all things related to this past weekend.  See here.  My free week has been good so far, very much needed.  But I am so excited to start back up on Sunday - I've been feeling really sluggish, trying to rest up.  Enjoy the post - there are pictures from the recital on my web gallery as well.  Hope your weeks have been fantastic!

Looking back...

My Friday was a great one, even though I spent the entirety of it working.  I finished the second Harry Potter book yesterday as well, and I'm excited to start the third next week.  

I'm also excited because today was the last day of my first BFL challenge!  It's been an awesome last 12 weeks, and I've really loved getting to the habit of eating better and exercising regularly.  There were a lot of weeks when it was really hard, and a lot of adjustments I had to make with my living circumstances having non BFL roommates that I buy groceries/cook dinner with, etc.  But I think I found that balance really easily, and I'm excited to see all of the progress I've made.  There were a lot of times I didn't work as hard as I could have, but looking back, those give me motivation to do it better this next time around.  I can see a huge difference in my arms and my upper and lower abs - just the mid section I need to tone up some more.  I see a difference in my legs too.  Jumping 100+ jumps is no biggie now, and running sprints makes my heart happy.    

Here's my before pic 8/26/07: 

The after pictures were actually taken last Saturday, but they will work!  I can really see the beginnings of good definition in my arms and in my upper abs.  :-D

Oh, and I'm taking next week off, or I'm going to try to- couldn't fall at a better time - Thanksgiving feast, here I come!!! :-D

Let the celebration begin!

Today begins the best week of my year!  Not only is Thanksgiving only a week away, which means we had a Thanksgiving feast today at the school I work at, but tonight a few friends and I are going out to dinner to celebrate my birthday along with the birthday of my friend Charlie.  We are going to a restaurant in Bryan called Cafe Capri, and so as you might guess, today is a free food day, and let me just say that the homemade Thanksgiving Feast with the Special Ed class at was fantastic!  Those kids rock!  

As for work outs well....

I did them today!  Hooray!  I woke up extra early this morning and jumped rope and did stairs at the park with my iPod clipped to my pants, which kept creeping down, haha!  We had a cool front come through so it was amazing outside and sunny this morning - perfect exercise weather!!  Just got home from work at the school and read Josha and Ruth's post and HAD to to abs because I was so inspired!  What a great day!  Also, I got  a free 30 min work out mix from Apple today for being part of the Apple Students group on Facebook - woohoo!  I'll definitely use that Sunday.

Now for more exciting things:  I am graduating a month from today!!!!!  AHHH!   I've never felt better about anything in my life, and I cannot wait to spend a few weeks with my family over the holidays and then head up to Colorado for who knows how long!  :-D  More exciting things: my friends and I are going to see RENT on Saturday in Houston - how great is it that it is only going to be there the weekend of my birthday???  And Sunday is my real birthday and the recital!!!  I cannot wait to post pictures and video!  It's going to be sooooo much fun!

Tomorrow I am working from 9:30 AM until 8:00 PM.  I will not work out, but I will be on for eats provided I can bring 12 hours worth of food with me.  

Okay enough writing - time for me to celebrate a great day!

Quick post about yesterday and a look at today

Yesterday I did abs and jumped rope for a bit - I took it kind of easy to avoid injuring myself several days before the recital.  Then Jenny and I practiced doing hair and make up to make sure things would all turn out okay.  Here's a funny picture I thought I'd share that shows my inner BFL attitude.  haha!

Today we are doing a mini-performance at a local community college, and I am going to be busy, busy, busy.  Tonight we have belly dance class as usual and then hula practice afterward, so I may not get around to the 3B's, but I'm going to try to!

Upper Body done!

Got upper body out of the way early today (by 11).   It was gooood.  I'm chest pressing 15 lbs in each hand now (3 sets of 15).  Then I did flies w/10 lbs weights, upward rows w/ 10, side shoulder raises w/5 lb weights, and 4 sets of 15 kickbacks w/ 5 lb weights.  I was going to do tricep dips, but my arms were too sore to even do one!  Tomorrow I should be sore - yippy!  Eats so far : non-fat yogurt w/granola (Kashi)/Shrimp, deviled egg, and brocolli/turkey wrap/will have a clif bar for snack/shrimp salad for dinner/shake before bed (I've just been mixing light soymilk and peanut butter for my shakes since I don't have any powder, and I'm not sure if I want to get more or not.

Oh, and then I belly danced from 7-10.  I'm tired.

Good Morning World! - Updated

Yesterday was quite an amazing day - I woke up and did 3 B's, visited a friend who works at the mall and got Chick-fil-a breakfast while I was at it - my favorite!  Then I came home and worked on a paper and went to work where there was a reception.  The food could have fed hundreds, but only about 22 people showed up, so that meant when the night was over and food services hadn't come to pick up the left overs that my coworker and I got to take as much home as we liked.  This is what I ended up with: a huge veggie platter with squash, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, baby corn, celery and of course, yummy ranch.  Then there was a massive plate of deviled eggs plus one of crackers and cheese, and to top it all off, a HUGE bowl of shrimp.  Even after splitting it, there was so much food!  And I know for a fact that it was very expensive food - to think they were going to throw it away... I can't imagine.  Then I came home and hung out with Brandon all night (Leahanne and Jenny are out of town) and we worked on our television show project and I painted(will post a picture soon).  Talk about a productive day! This morning I woke up and was ready to go run when I realized that I couldn't find my arm holder for my ipod - I have the ipod, just not the holder thing.  I looked and looked for it, but to no avail, so I really didn't want to run because I had no music.  I did abs (a mixture of the ball and pilates) and looked for the armband some more - still no luck.  Then I decided that I would go to cardio anyway without music, and well, it wasn't that great, but I did go!  I just finished eating some shrimp and a couple deviled eggs for breakfast/lunch and will probably bring something simple for lunch at work.  Well, I'd better get going!  Work and then a massive rehearsal for belly dance tonight - I think I will be exhausted tomorrow.

Oh and check out my new blog post on my website.

Here's the video we made for our television show, New Earth.

Happy Sunday!

Okay so, here is a picture of my painting.

And here is a video of our belly dance choreography for my small group.  Keep in mind this is practice and that we choreographed it ourselves.  Don't you just love the costumes????  Enjoy!  :-D

Dancing Thursday

We got our costumes in this morning so I spent the afternoon dancing - didn't manage cardio, but I did get pretty sweaty!  I'll post pictures soon.  Eats were on today except for one cookie.  Tomorrow I plan to wake up and do 3 B's.  Hope you all had a good day!

12 min run

I tested for my 12 min run in the water today - beat my last score by quite a bit!  Seriously good cardio work out too, even though today wasn't cardio.  For upper body today I did push-ups and tricep dips - I was too lazy to go to the gym.  But it was a good work out and eats were on today. Belly dancing was great tonight, we danced and danced and danced, which will be a recurring thing until our recital on Nov 18th.  Wish you all could be there!

Good day, free dinner

Got up and did abs this morning and did my cardio circuit this afternoon.  I made Chicken Kiev tonight for the roomies - it was delicious, and free.  Then we watched old intros to 80's and 90's cartoons.  It was a fantastic night.

Catch up

This weekend I decided that I was going to do a mini challenge until my birthday/our belly dancing recital - Nov 18.  Technically that's when my first challenge is supposed to be over anyway, but I've been slacking off the last couple weeks, and so I decided that starting yesterday I was going to really focus on doing my work outs and eating on target.  Mostly, I want to really push myself again in my work outs.  So I got up yesterday and did a new cardio circuit thing where I walked out to the park and did 50+ jumps with my rope, then ran stairs 5 times and then did 5 sprints.  I did all of this twice, and really liked it.  I'v found I have to change things up for myself to keep myself interested, and plus, its not as hard on any one joint area this way, which is good until I get some better shoes.  

After that I went to work, went grocery shopping, did some phone interviews, went to a scheduling meeting, and practiced belly dancing.  I had planned on doing abs when I got home, but a lovely headache that had been building up for a few hours put me in bed when I walked in the door.  That's the third headache I've had in the last week - what's going on?  Eats were on yesterday but were mostly clif bars and a shake because I was on the go ALL DAY!

After a great full nights sleep I got up early this morning and did lunges.  I will do biceps and back in a bit after I study for awhile.  Tonight I will be belly dancing like crazy because we are practicing after class for a few hours.  The great news is is that we are finished with the choreography and now all we have to do is practice, practice, practice!

Side note: I used to find drinking enough water everyday really, really hard, but I realized last week that I have no trouble with that anymore really, which makes me quite happy!

To run or not to run?

My legs are killing me today and while this makes me super excited about how hard I worked them yesterday, it makes me wonder about cardio today.  Suggestions?  Will do abs right now.