Monday, January 25, 2010
Do you remember this song? I'm pretty sure it was by Snap! or something like that. These guys were Amazing back in 1994!
Anyway, I forgot to update that I tried my hand (and feet and head and booty and lots of other body parts) at an African Dance class with my boyfriend's mom, Gloria last week. I've got to say, it was my first African dance class ever and it will most probably be my last African dance class ever. It was not at all what I expected. I'm sure there are some classes that I would have a blast with but this one was comprised of lots of teaching with very little music. HELLO!? It's a freakin' African dance class! I want to feel the rhythm damnit! I want to get in touch with my roots (I know...I'm Irish, but still...I've gotta have some African roots somewhere right?!).
Gloria ended up giving me the money she was going to spend on my dance lessons so that I could put it towards my new gym membership. I'm very excited about that since it will probably pay for about 2 months of the gym.
I'm still wanting to try maybe a hip hop class, yoga and kickboxing. I've also been informed that cycling classes can be pretty fun and are obviously good exercise.
Evidently, no matter how much rhythm my white ass has, African Dance is just not for me. Bummer deal too cause I really was hoping to bust out with some sweet moves at some point.
Novice Attempt: African Dance Class
Result: I tried it. I don't necessarily think I failed since we hardly learned anything at all. I just discovered it wasn't for me. I guess this means I'm still a Novice.
Anyway, I forgot to update that I tried my hand (and feet and head and booty and lots of other body parts) at an African Dance class with my boyfriend's mom, Gloria last week. I've got to say, it was my first African dance class ever and it will most probably be my last African dance class ever. It was not at all what I expected. I'm sure there are some classes that I would have a blast with but this one was comprised of lots of teaching with very little music. HELLO!? It's a freakin' African dance class! I want to feel the rhythm damnit! I want to get in touch with my roots (I know...I'm Irish, but still...I've gotta have some African roots somewhere right?!).
Gloria ended up giving me the money she was going to spend on my dance lessons so that I could put it towards my new gym membership. I'm very excited about that since it will probably pay for about 2 months of the gym.
I'm still wanting to try maybe a hip hop class, yoga and kickboxing. I've also been informed that cycling classes can be pretty fun and are obviously good exercise.
Evidently, no matter how much rhythm my white ass has, African Dance is just not for me. Bummer deal too cause I really was hoping to bust out with some sweet moves at some point.
Novice Attempt: African Dance Class
Result: I tried it. I don't necessarily think I failed since we hardly learned anything at all. I just discovered it wasn't for me. I guess this means I'm still a Novice.
P.S. That picture is not of me. Nope, I wasn't rockin' it THAT hard in a downtown Vancouver dance studio.
So, I haven't posted a new blog in over a week at this point. I'm not entirely sure why this is. I joined a gym over a week ago and I LOVE it! Yay 24 Hour fitness. I don't have The Biggest Loser lofty goals but I do just hope to improve upon myself and be the healthiest person I know how to be. This entails lots of salads and early AM fruity shakes. Yum! It also entails spending at least an hour doing the Hamster Wheel/stationary bike combo. I'm working to build up my confidence in order to be comfortable enough to use the weight equipment as well. My boyfriend Trav, who used to be a personal trainer, offered to come with me for a few days (on a free guest pass...bonus!) and help me out with the weight machine stuff. He's been super duper supportive in a loving, not "honey your ass is fat" sort of way. My coworker Sara has also been a huge support and she recently just joined 24 Hour Fitness as well. Every day at work we're pumping ourselves up to go once we're off the clock. Very helpful!
Anyway, for some reason, this new endeavor has seemed to suck any spare time I've had. It's amazing how I have gotten NOTHING done since joining the gym. I feel great and I have tons of energy but I get home from the end of my day and it's already time to go to bed (at least it seems that way - I swear I don't curl up for bed at 6pm)!
Needless to say, I'm just about finished with the top of my table runner. It looks Aaaa-Mazing and I'll post pictures just as soon as I figure out how to upload them to my laptop from my camera. I also finished the borders to the quilt I started on back in November. Its my first one and its ready to be sent to the quilting machine. That should be ready to finish with the binding in just a couple of weeks. I've attached a photo of that right after I finished the borders last weekend. (P.S. I just got my do cropped and colored back to red. Looooove it!) 
Needless to say, I'm trying to work on things but at this moment I'm working on myself which is probably the most important. Anyway, more to come...soon, I hope!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Yup, that's right. I did not conquer this goal. Admittedly, I did really really well with my "taking the stairs" goal in the beginning of the week and in fact, I was the ultimate stair master the last week of December but I seemed to lose steam by about Thursday of last week.
Here's the breakdown:
Monday - Wednesday: Took the stairs like a champ. I even went out of my way to find ways to take MORE stairs. I wore my cute ballet flats and showed those stairs who was boss (I'm pretty sure the stairs were intimidated by my asthmatic wheezing and slow trod after floor 5 - FYI)
The downfall began on Wednesday afternoon when I had a total, mid-afternoon brain fart and a hankering for a delicious hostess cupcake. That's right. I admit it. Those little chocolaty morsels of heaven were my stair step downfall. As my previous post described, I happily got on and off the elevator BOTH times with no thought to the fact that I wasn't taking the stairs on my fatty escapade.
On Thursday, I decided to wear my SUPER cute blue Madden Girl pumps which got tons of compliments but were not conducive to walking the stairs. In fact, let's be honest, they were not really conducive to doing much at all except sitting and looking pretty (which I pulled off marvelously and without flaw of course!). So, on this day, I made the conscious decision to not take the stairs.
Of course, on Friday, I decided to wear my OTHER new shoes hilariously dubbed "Lesbian Pirate Boots" (so named by my fashionable male coworker). I coupled this look with a dress, brown tights and a sweater over the dress. Super cute outfit but I was able to talk myself out of walking the stairs in the dress. Silly, yes but I'm great at talking myself into bad things and out of good things. Its a skill. People are jealous of this ability.
Sadly, this means that I only made it half the week and I've been kicking myself for my lack of self discipline. The great news is that I have two new fabulous pairs of shoes which puts an extra kick in my step. I'm going to continue to push myself to take the stairs at most opportunities I have but sometimes, the regimen must suffer and bow to the likes of fashion. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
Week 1 Novice Attempt: Stair Master
Results: Yup...still a Novice
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Well, its week 1 of 2010 and I've "officially" started my first task - Stair Master. I actually started this last week because I figured, what the hell. I feel REALLY great! Of course, I get super tired by the end of the process but after walking up and down 232 steps (yes, I counted) every single day I've definately started to notice a difference.
Today, though, I had my first fauxpas. I decided that I simply wouldn't be able to live without a small nibble of chocolate. So, I counted up my spare change and set out for the mini store found on the first floor of the hospital. I got to the store, made my selection, paid and smiled at the clerk and made my way back to my desk. Just as I was exiting the elevators, slightly elated by the prospect of my yummy chocolatey treat I realized that I had TOTALLY taken the elevators without even thinking about it! DAMNIT! So, not only did I shoot myself in the foot with my delicious yet not fat-free snack but I also missed the opportunity to take the stairs!
Oh well. Back to the groove. I can do this! I plan on just making this a habit but with the new year in play now I figured it was a good week to start forming better habits. The really funny thing is that somehow this blog is keeping me accountable. Right when I realized that I had accidentally taken the elevators I thought to myself "well....I've got to admit this on my blog. Way to go!" At this point, I have approximately zero followers but, even so, this seems to give me a sense of accountability that I never had before. Very excited about this unexpected result.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
I've finally decided what my goal is going to be for the first week of 2010. I'm promising to use the stairs at every opportunity I get. I work in a 9 story building and my work space is on the 4th floor. There are many hallways, corridors and sky bridges to get my 10 minute cardio workouts in but what about all those stairs I've been avoiding? If I walk up and down the stairs 4 times in 1 day, that's a lot of friggin stairs! My glutes will be rock hard and gorgeous by the end of 2010! Anyway...I'll add a new post at the end of week one.
Week One Goal: Stair Master
No more elevators! I will only use the stairs everywhere I go.
Beginning of week 1 Stair Master skill level: Novice
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