Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Just Cleaning out the camera

It has been forever since I did a real update post. Mostly because I have been working full-time, taking 3 college classes, taking a cake decorating class, enjoying my Extreme Fitness Challenge workouts for an hour a day 5 days a week, and then trying to recover on the occasional minute off.

But I don't have quite so many excuses now, 2 of my three classes are finished, I have a week before my new face to face class starts, so instead of writing my business final paper, I decided to update you with pictures from September to today!

I put them on the slide browser, just because Blogger has been difficult about pictures the last couple of weeks.

Enjoy the show

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Update!

I have a lot of things to post about, but have decided to hold all that for something more newsworthy.... Tonight's dinner.
My BFF (Best Foodie Friend) Susan posted a recipe yesterday that sounded yummy. She gave the link and some advice about trying to add a can of black beans. I checked the pantry and noticed we had all 6 ingredients needed, so I dropped them in the crockpot for tonight's dinner.


I added the 1 can of black beans, drained and I used a can of corn, rather than frozen.

The result:
And for dessert: Cherry Almond Angel Roll
I substituted Strawberry Pie Filling for the Cherry, since Lyle doesn't care for cooked (aka Mushy) cherries. It was incredible!
And it even looked pretty:


Thank you again Susan, for an incredible dinner suggestion!

Friday, October 02, 2009

A Winner and A Loser

I am usually up early to exercise, but it has always been on my own, or with my workout buddy, Rita. After a year (yes a year!) of seeing the ads for "Extreme Fitness Challenge" I decided to give it a try. I paid my fee, decided on the 5 - 6 am class, and waited nervously for the first day.

That day was September 14th. I met my trainer, Jeanette, and the rest of my group. We all got our Blue Team t-shirts and started with a bang. Jeanette is very motivating and always full of energy, even when we aren't quite there. I love every workout even when I am dripping with sweat and every muscle in my body is screaming STOP!

Yesterday we had our first challenge against all of the other teams. The challenge was a dead hang from a pull up bar. I held on for 1 minute and 42 seconds, the average for our whole team was 1:54, and that was enough to declare Blue Team the winners! My prize: A brand new workout towel, embroidered with the fact that I am a winner!
Today was our first official weigh in, which also made me a Loser. Since our start 3 weeks ago, I have lost 7 pounds, but that wasn't the surprising number, I also lost 1 inch off my hips, and 5 (yes FIVE) inches from my waistline. I credit that to Jeanette and her evil "waist-shapers". Those numbers were enough of an incentive for me to get down the box of size 12 jeans I have had in my closet since we arrived on Okinawa. The result:
They fit!
I still have 5 weeks to go, and I am sure Jeanette has more in store for the Blue Team.
On a sadder note, today I had to say goodbye to an old friend:My first "biggest loser" win, with my good friend Tanya, has come to the end of it's usefulness. My favorite shirt lost it's battle with the sweat monster and had to be put down. It was for its own good, but it will be sorely missed.
I do have more updates to do, but homework beckons. Writing a paper a week has really put a damper on my "fun" writing, but I only have one more paper to go for writing class and one final paper for Business Management, then I will be back.