May 6, 2011

Zumba Mamacita Cont.

Okay so remember how I was raving about Zumba yesterday,  well today is gonna be a B!%$&FEST about ZUMBA. Okay so I got a great workout but it was not fun or at least not as fun as the last two times I went.

So let me give you a little recap. On Livingsocial.com they had a deal for 6 Zumba classes for 15 bucks, woohoo I'm gonna jump on that and I'm gonna buy one for my sister too.

Well I went to my first class last night at Salsa Baby Dance Studio and I was so unimpressed.

I walked in and there was this skinny, tiny, little thing, so skinny I could see pelvic bones and breast plate bones and the first thing she does is look me up and down like, like she's sizing me up (surely after seeing my size she backed up). Then the dance instructor was more like a Colombian Drill Instructor, I mean it was hard core, there was yelling, she would start the music over if we weren't all ready, and she would correct our moves. I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS!! Fifteen minutes in I was done, I was wasted but I stuck it out for the ENTIRE HOUR...props!

I tried to find something redeeming about the class, I looked around for other "REAL" women and there were none to be found. They all looked like they had been doing it for a while and there was no fear, no self consciousness in their faces, only mine. At one point the drill instructor came over to me and danced along side me to teach me the moves and I just looked at her, begging, pleading, please get away, please stop drawing attention to the biggest girl in the room...PLEASE!!!

So as soon as I walked out of the Salsa-Baby Dance studio, which was located right next to a strip club (putitas), I sated right then and there I would not be back until I was more prepared and met the minimum weight requirement. :(

P.S. I'm going back to the community center Zumba class, friendlier and more my pace.

May 5, 2011

The Zumba Mamacita!

So I've been MIA because I have a new addiction. It's taking time away from my family, I haven't seem my folks in days (I would usually see them at least 5 times a week) and the house is messier than usual, I'm just coo coo for ZUMBA!!

So my Zumba journey started last week on Thursday and I immediately fell head over heels. I loved the instructor, so energetic, so loving what she does. I loved all the dance moves, I loved that I sweated (is that a word?) buckets, but mostly what I loved was the results, the mental and physical. I left there with so much energy that I went home, made dinner, and went for a 20 minute walk with the fam. Plus I was just so happy and relaxed.

The next class I went to was on Tuesday night and that one was fun too but I missed the energy the first instructor had.

So then the cosmos aligned and there was a Living Social deal for ZUMBA in Albuquerque, WTH, how did they know!! So I spent 15 bucks for 6 classes at Salsa Baby Dance Studio and I also bought one for my sister too, she has to get in on this action.

Yes I've only been to two classes but sometimes just one try can make you an addict right??!! So the ultimate pay off was on Sunday when I went to weight in, I lost 3.6 pounds. Yes I'm following my WW plan pretty solidly but I think sweating buckets at Zumba on Thursday night really helped seal the deal.

So here's to my healthy new addiction.

Just call me The ZUMBA Mamacita!!

May 2, 2011

Craptastic Crafts - #1

Okay remember like  20 posts ago I was talking about doing crafts, well I finally completed my first craft. It took a totally different direction than originally planned but I'm uber happy with the turn out. So here it is. I've included a tutorial so that you can make the flowers yourself. Have fun doing this, I know I did and it was super cheap, seriously like 3 bucks cheap!


What you'll need:


  • Construction Paper (Dollar Tree)
  • Foam wreath (Dollar Tree) 
  • Pins (I already had these)
  • Yarn (I found this in my closet)
  • Elmer's Glue or any glue for that matter (I used Maria's)
  • Stickers (Dollar Tree)
  • Paint (When they built our house, they left the extra)
  • Paint brush (Home builder's left this)
Draw a swirl on a sheet of construction paper, completely filling up the page:

I used a black pen for this tutorial only, I used a light colored pencil so the outline wouldn't show up. 






Don't worry if your swirl isn't perfect, I discovered the more jagged and uneven the better the roses look!

After your swirl is completely cut out begin to roll it together:


After you're done swirling glue the circle at the end of your swirl at the bottom of your rose.


This is what your rose should look like:


This was my first rose so it looked like crap, but the more I did the better they looked.

Now here is where my craft changed. I was going to fill up my entire foam wreath with these cute little roses but after doing about 10 they weren't so cute anymore and I was just tired of making them. So I left my craft alone for about a month and while I was cleaning out my closet yesterday I found white yarn and suddenly I was inspired.

Wrap your foam wreath with yarn:


After you're done wrapping the wreath arrange your roses any way you like with pins. 


I love the way the yellow pins look in the center of each rose. 

I hung this on my door and again that's where my little craft continued onto my front door.


First I cleaned my door and then painted it with the original color and then I added these cute little stickers I found at the Dollar Tree.


And here is the finished product! I love my door!



Maria loved it!!


Here's where I'm linking up, check out these blogs, I get most of my inspiration here!!
Tip Junkie handmade projects




April 28, 2011

Stress Seminar

So my workplace was offering a stress management presentation today that I had not planned on attending but my good buddy and coworker, Steph, talked me into it and boy was I happy she did. So we got a lot of good handouts but here are the most important items I took away from it:

10 tips for stress-less parenting (see photo)

And understanding the triple A approach (see photo)


So there you go, hope you find it helpful!!

April 27, 2011

Ghostly Happenings - Inspiration?

So I've been trying to think of things to inspire writing and I came up with this one. This is an email I sent to my BFF Morgan in Oregon, October of 2010. She was thoroughly freaked out and I was too upon reading it again this morning. So here you go, be prepared to squirm. Also, let me know if you would like this story to be hashed out, I could possibly run with this.

So my brother lives in this rental home in Santa Rosa that they only allow police officers to rent. He's been living there for almost a year and a half and nothing out of the ordinary has happened until just recently.
 
So let me preface this by saying Charles is a very logical individual, he tries to find a rational explanation for everything and so far he has not been able to.
 
So a few nights a ago, Charles and his roommates (a state police officer and his girlfriend) were in the livingroom watching TV when they heard a loud crash. They ran into the kitchen to find Veronica's sunglasses thrown across the room. She had set them down on the nook where they all put their sunglasses and keys. This could not be explained.
 
So another night Charles comes home to Veronica asking if he had tipped over the candle holder and he said "no if I did I would have picked it up," again no explanation.
 
Now here is where it starts getting scarier. Charles got home from his shift a little after 3am and was watching TV. He suddenly heard the screen door open and shut so he muted the TV and waited to hear anything else and that's when the door nob to the front door started turning and rattling and making noise like someone was coming in. Charles runs to his room, grabs his sidearm, and proceeds to turn on the hall light, the lights not working, what the hell, now he's really freaked out. He's yelling hey who's there, HEY!! All the while the doorknob is still turning and making noise. He turns on the bathroom light and everything goes quiet. The doorknob is still. He gets his flashlight checks the perimeter of the house, nothing. He goes back in and notices something very strange. He can't explain why it's strange but it is, something is out of place. He looks at the spice rack and notices three of the spice jars are pulled out slightly and the pepper grinder that sits next to the spice rack is balanced, almost elevated, onto the well positioned spices. He can't explain it, he's perplexed, he removes the pepper grinder and proceeds to try and replace it where it had been and it takes him forever to replicate what he saw. He shows his roommates the next morning, everyone is freaked out.
 
Now here is the worst part and it happened the night before last. Charles was asleep in his room, which he latches from the inside before he goes to sleep. He wakes up between 3 and 4am because he feels a sensation that someone is staring at him, he hears a noise, it's the latch, it's moving and making noise. He calls for his roommates, nothing. He gets up, the noise stops, he opens the door to hear the pitter patter of little feet running down the hallway to the kitchen, he chases it, nothing, looks around, and gives up. He's too tired to do this tonight. He goes back to his room, puts the latch back on and rests his head. He wakes in the morning to the same feeling of someone staring at him, he looks to his door, the latch is off and the door is cracked open. Holy crap I'm outta here. He packed his things and left, for now.
 
So now he is convinced there is something in the house that wants his attention, it feels like a child, a little one that is mischievous and playful. He said it sounds like when Maria runs down the hallway when he chases her, he felt like he was playing with a child.
 
So he finds out that he's not the only one, previous renters have experienced similar happenings.
 
The dispatcher that lived there with her husband said between 3 and 4 in the morning doors would slam, husband would check it out, no door was shut, all open and as it was when they went to bed. She said she also felt the presence was very childlike.
 
His Sargent lived there with his wife and their newborn and between 3 and 4 in the morning the faucet in the kitchen would turn on and a glass of water would be sitting by the sink.
 
Lorenzo, another police officer, was cleaning the house with his mom so that he could move in. While he was vacuuming it came unplugged and he couldn't figure out why because he hadn't pulled it tight so he plugged it back in and started to vacuum when he watched the cord lift off the ground, become tight, and pulled out of the wall. He and his mom gathered the stuff they had brought and he never went back, never moved in.  

April 25, 2011

Oh Weight Watchers Please Keep Me Motivated!!

Happy Belated Easter Everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful day filled with family, love, and gratitude.

Here we are on Easter, we're pretty cute right...I think so!


Anyway... I've been really bad about tracking my food, sometimes I go a day or two and I haven't logged a single food item into my Weight Watchers tracker. On March 13th when I embarked on my life change I was diligent, obsessed, I didn't miss a single food and now my motivation is waning. I'm losing this battle but I will tell you this, I will not lose the war. Come my 30th birthday I will be in a bathing suit and looking like a whole lot of hotness!!

So the last two weigh ins I've gained weight and it stops now! I will not allow myself to backslide. I will allow myself to make mistakes but I will learn from them and I have but I need some help, I need some motivation, how do I keep tracking, how do I gain back the motivation? Help, I need words of encouragement, I need advice, help me get back on track!!

Sincerely,

what to do???

April 21, 2011

Lazy by Nature

Riley and I are pretty lazy people. We like to eat (mostly me), drink (mostly him), watch TV, and sit around playing with Maria. We're a couple of lumps on a log. Maybe it's because we work all day, nope not it, and I know this for a fact because even when Riley and I were unemployed, each at different times, we were still pretty lazy. Maybe because we just don't have the energy because of said eating and drinking, eh who knows but what I do know is I would like to change that.


I don't want my laundry to pile up anymore, I want to sort, wash, fold, and put away in one fail swoop, more like an afternoon. I would like our backyard to look the way it was when it was freshly landscaped and BWT I'm not really liking the way it's been done. I would like to paint my...crap I need to turn this into a bullet list, okay starting over.


My list of want TO DOs, but will I actually DO them?
  • Laundry: sort, wash, fold, and put away in a day.
Check out her blog, she's a Laundry Goddess!!

  • Spruce up the backyard.
This woman is totally inspirational, check out her backyard, Genius!


  • Paint my dining room table and chairs a dark mahogany color to match the rest of my furniture.
  • Clean out the garage.
  • Organize our little home office (possibly get a smaller desk).
  • Renovate each room. I would like to start with the front guest room and work my way to the back of the house.
  • I want to get a new front door, something with stained glass, panes, just something with windows to let the light in. I also need a screen door. 
  • I want to paint every room in our house.
  • I would love to put in hardwood flooring in select rooms or entry ways.
So those are just a few things and my list is much longer, I can think of about 10 other things I would like to get done, but I'm just tired of typing at this point. I'm tired and feeling...LAZY!!


So I'm off to bed to dream about the projects I would love to do but probably will end up making a lame excuse not too. :(


Wait here's the solution!! Two of Me!!




P.S. I just read my blog to my hubby, which I do every night before I post, and he said in a serious but very encouraging voice, "baby you're too hard on yourself, if you use the same principles you use in dieting towards everything you want to do, you'll get it done, it's just baby steps!" Have I told you how much I love this man!!