A Royal Workout - Week 4

Just wanted to put a quick note out there that I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth... and no, I have not given up on blogging (sorry, guys!)... My computer crashed. Long, horrifying story. For another time.

This post is about my week 4 update. As a reminder, click here to see previous entries...
I made it to week 4 people. After missing three workouts in a row, something clicked. I've been keeping up with my food journal, I attended both of this week's classes. There's no stopping me now.
Hehe.

What a lot of my lunches are looking like now.

Tuesday's workout was fabulous. It was exactly what I needed to get back into the swing of things. I didn't make dinner before hand (short on time), but I did grab Subway on the way home. The kids love Subway, so that's a plus.  I worked hard all week to stick to the plan. Marcos and I got a few late night walks in... I ate healthy. I lifted some weights. I was ready for yesterday's workout.

 
Or so I thought. It was HARD. And Coach Asad pointed out a few trouble-makers in class (yes, I was one of them. I am a talker, a joker; I can't help it.)  So I tried my hardest to concentrate and focus on each exercise. I have so many areas to work on, but my upper body strength is where I want to see some major improvements. And I can tell you, quite honestly, I already am. I am able to do planks and side planks much longer than I was able to do 4 weeks ago. I am starting to see some definition in my arms. I am pleased as punch.

Coach Asad sent me some great information from his company, Fitness Revolution, showing me where and how I could up my cardio, on the days I do not attend boot camp. In fact, Coach and I talked and he wanted to me to focus on the following:

1) Get enough sleep
2) Reduce stress
3) Stay away from breads, sugars, etc. (basically, focus on my diet)

So those are the things I am working on this week. If you take a gander at my food journal, you will see that I am doing an okay job. But I know I can always improve. I've actually been doing a little reading on eating more to lose more. Of course, the eating more must consist of healthy, natural foods. Nothing artificial.

I do have a non-scale victory to tell you about. My niece, who came to live with us last October has lost 60 pounds since she moved in. SIXTY!! Not a lot of extra exercise going on, but I really work hard to watch what the kids eat... to make sure they DO eat, etc. Meal planning helps with that. Especially since we are all so busy. But we HAVE to make the time for ourselves. 

After the workout last night, it was time to get weighed in and measured. If you remember, I was sick during part of week 2 and week 3. I ended up gaining 5 pounds.

I  am pleased to say that I took that 5 pounds right back off. That's a nice way of saying that I am exactly where I started, from when I was weighed in on April 17,

For measurements... I've lost an inch in my waist, half an inch in my hips, and gained half of an inch in my right arm. (MUSCLE... right?!).  I can't remember where I was with my thigh, so I will have to update you on that later.  While I won't be winning any awards or TV shows. I am pleased with my progress.

My BMI is pretty much the same. I am hoping to see a bigger adjustment come mid-June. =)

So, another week down and another week ahead to look forward to. Especially if I get to see these beauties again:

Aren't they brilliant?!

P.S. Isabel and I are starting a 10 day Zumba challenge on Monday. Pics to come, for sure! ;)

My Mother's Day

As I mentioned in my previous post, Marcos had to work on Mother's Day. So it was just me and the kiddos. We actually were having lunch with my parents, my Aunt and Uncles, my cousin and my grandma at our house. Which meant we had to get up and get going pretty early.  The kids helped with the chores while I ran to complete some errands. I needed to pick up the frames for my mother's present, as well as pick up a little something for my aunt and for my grandma.

Our meal yesterday was scheduled to be light; tuna salad, chicken salad, veggies, deviled eggs, etc. I made, for the very first time, Ambrosia Salad. Easy. :) Pineapple, Mandarin oranges, marshmallows, coconut shavings and almond slices. Mixed with homemade whipped cream.

I will never buy cool whip again. Seriously.  It was so easy to make and it tastes so light and delish. But that might just be because of my beautiful Kitchen-Aid mixer. =)

The day was quiet, easy and fun. My aunt brought several of her HUGE binders filled with a million pictures from the past 10 years. To reminisce and to also share with Abby, my niece who missed all of those occasions. That was a blast! My kids used to be soooo cute! ;)

Speaking of kids, Isabel delivered a handmade card to me yesterday...

This voucher is my absolute favorite:

I am trying to determine how she sees that as a present?! lol... Alex is a decent driver, but it still wouldn't be something I'd consider a cruise around town. What a silly girl.

Finally, Nic also gave me a present...

Told you Nico loved the Avengers...  What I am not loving?! That he took it upon himself to put thumbtacks in my walls. Crazy kid.

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day (if you are a momma). And I hope you made your momma's day wonderful. My momma LOVED her present! I knew she would. It's those darn grand kids.

=)

Uh Oh... It's the day before the day before Mother's Day...

Have you gotten your daddy's baby momma a gift yet?

I know that I was cutting it close on time; however, I had an idea of what I wanted to do. Something involving the grand kids - she loves all things related. I knew I couldn't go wrong.

My parents are just about done getting their house back in order after their kitchen fire last year [I still owe after pics; soon, promise]. For Christmas last year, I framed a Subway art piece that I made for my parents. They don't normally hang things on their walls [Weird, right?] - but they loved that piece and it's going up.

There was one other thing my momma has always longed for. Silhouettes. Of her grandchildren. And since it just so happens I have all four of her lovely kiddos under my roof [Abby leaves at the end of June, boo hoo], I took advantage of their heads and went to work.

First, I took side shots of the kids. Up close and personal like. Then, I loaded each of the pictures into Photoshop.  There was no need to do any fancy editing, I was just going to turn them black anyway.

First I used the magic wand tool:

I click on the wall space, and it took away most of what I needed, but not all. So I then ZOOMED in real close and selected the eraser tool:

While zoomed in, I carefully erased anything other than my kid's head; anything that was left over from the magic wand tool.

Once that was completed, I used the Paint Bucket, ensuring my color was selected [black], and filled in the big ol' head:

I resized the image to a 7x5 (not 5x7) and added the kids' names in text. Once I saved it as a JPEG, I uploaded it to Costco and printed it in Matte. I am also going to see what it looks like on ivory card stock.

Now I all I need to do is go get a frame that holds four 5x7s or one large frame and center them.

Why just stop at kids?! You can silhouette your dog, your own head, your momma's favorite animal. Anything! =) Cost is sooo low. And it's pretty easy to do!

Now, I've given strict orders for my mom to NOT visit my blog until Monday, so that she can be surprised! Let's see if she's able to hold out.

Lookie at whom I am partying it up with -->

Fab Five Pins of the Week [Bunches of Benches]

It's that time folks... I've scoured Pinterest recently, looking for BENCHES! I have two fantastic tables, one in the kitchen and one in the formal dining room. But I do NOT love the chairs.

I can't seem to locate a picture of my kitchen table, but it's dark... and it has 6 chairs, but seats 8.  The chairs in the kitchen are falling a part, and they are not even 2 years old. Nice craftsmanship.

I think I am going to try to talk the husband in to recycling at least the kitchen ones into benches. And maybe sell the dining room ones. I've had my eye on benches for both spaces for quite awhile; however, have you seen the cost of those babies?!

Definitely more than I want to spend.  Instead, I decided to look around Pinterest for ideas and tutorials.

Let's just say that I was *not* disappointed.

#5 - From Me to You - I don't think she ever intended for someone to pin the benches, since it was a Mother's Day party. But swooon!

#4 - Ana White's Bench tutorial. Why does she make it seem so easy?! =)

#3 - A bench [and table] bragged about on Ana White's site. She has an area where people can post pictures. I am glad this was posted. It even came with a tutorial. Not the right color, but this helps with the Pinsperation.

#2 - And then there is this BEAUTY from the Velvet Door.  Love this formal living & dining room. May copy it! =) Or just invite Kristel over to replicate it for me!

 #1 - Love this so much for the kitchen table. But just one. Love the bright, print fabric... and definitely the shape of the high back loveseat. Is it hot in here?! Anyone?

There you have it. 5 pins that truly inspire me.

Have you found any benches you LOVE?! Feel free to leave the info in the comments section. You can visit my House & Home Pinterest board by clicking here.

Have a wonderful Friday... and a better weekend!

A Royal Workout - Week 3

I know what you're thinking.

This lady works for a bank?! No wonder the economy still hasn't quite recovered; she can't count!

 Well, I will have you know that I can count almost to a hundred. So there.

There was no Week 2. That's the bottom line. I hate that life and the sickies got the best of me last week. I missed three whole workouts with Coach Asad.

Feel free to click on the picture above to be taken to the rest of the posts in this series... 

So, after missing three boot camp workouts, I knew I had to go tonight. Plus, I was a teeny bit afraid of texting Coach to let him know that I still wasn't feeling it. My neck and upper back has been sore. Tight. Tension. Groooaaannn!

I put my big girl under-roos on and just went. But I didn't shave my legs, so there. ha. I told him, didn't I?

More than likely not.

Once I got to class, I met V, our newest boot camp buddy. She came prepared to foam roll!

Look at her gettin' her roll on.
Wait, she's fallen and she can't get up!!! 

This particular workout was TOUGH. 

We did intervals of 10 seconds on, 5 seconds rest. And really the 5 seconds rest was just long enough for me to haul my double-wide up off of the ground, to move on to the next exercise.  5 minutes for each leg of the exercise. 15 minutes or so, may not seem like a lot, but it was. Trust me.

At one point, just when I was about to say something... he walked up behind me and said, "No negative comments, please!"

Mind reader, that Britt. 

What I was going to say, and what I was eventually able to get out, was that at one point, my tatas were choking me. All that up/down, up/down, up/down. I had no idea what my death certificate would read:

Death by Coach Asad

or

Death by Booby Suffocation

But I knew I was going to die. I got dizzy. Felt nauseous. All that jumping up and down; I had to pee!

As per usual, the last few minutes, where we stretched, etc, were the best. We could joke and laugh again. I could stop crying. Eventually.

Coach and I talked for a few minutes after class tonight. He really wants me to focus on my eating and food journaling. He asked that I stay away from bread and refined sugar. Thank the mexican lordy that tortillas are still on the list. Right?!  Hmph.

I decided that I need to go ahead with his suggestions; he knows what he's doing after all.  So, I plan on cleaning up my act. For example, for dinner tonight - this is what I had:

I wasn't feeling so well, all that water on a worked-out gut... You know, right? But I knew I needed the fuel. So I had 3 oz (if that) of cheese, 1 cup of mushrooms and 2 cups of zucchini. And then 5 almonds. And iced tea. And that was plenty.

So, again - week 3, here is my before and after from today's workout.

Hey, at least I match!
And look at all my craziness below. I should have left the picture unaltered, so that you could see how red my face was. Oh well. Trust.

Off to add my dinner to today's food journal (which can be found here, btw).

Anyone else working on a get fit program?! Love to hear about it! Also if you are in the QC/STV area, I'd love for you to check out Fitness Revolution; I need all of the workout buddies I can get.

Especially if your name is Accountability.  =)

A Funner Summer - created by YOU!?!

The Marvelous World of Marvel Comics

We took the kids to see The Avengers last week.

Now, I only have seen a few of the movies; I think all of the Ironman movies. But I think that's it.
I loved the Avengers movies and look forward to a sequel. I am so glad that they used the same actors for it, as they used in the individual movies.

We saw the movie at the Cine Capri - the largest screen in Arizona. It was amazing.

Poor Nico fell asleep halfway in. But he loves the Hulk, Ironman and Captain America. So I decided to make him a few "posters" to hang in the loft.

I borrowed the superhero images from Google, and then added a background and text using Photoshop. I have them printed out and put in an 8x10 frame. They turned out super cute. Er. Adventurous? All that matters is that Nico loves them.

And that Marcos is taking Nico back to the 3D version of the movie tomorrow, to make up for him falling asleep (thank gosh for gift cards!).

Definitely go see the movie; it's action packed and fun!

UPDATE: Added them below! If you have any issues download, email me at QOTC at COX.NET