Biggest Loser

If you haven't seen the show, The Biggest Loser, then you will have no idea what I am talking about, so I have included a clip. I hope somewhere on the clip you see Jillian working someone out.......

I have been going to an ab core class at the gym. The first week, the instructor went really easy on me. As I struggled with an exercise, he would tell me to do only part of it until I was stronger. Obviously, this simply confirmed that I have no core! The woman next to me, who is rock solid, didn't get this kind of treatment. The instructor would come and add extra weight, or tell her to do an extra hard exercise, like rolling up on her tippy-toes on a ball into a pike position (yea.... that is what I thought).
This week, I finally quit being a newbie, because the instructor came over and was like, Get those hips up! You can do the full exercise! and I laughed as a I fell over from trying to balance on the ball and pull one leg into a crunch. Apparently I still don't have a core.

One Month

I have been thinking about the fact that I turn 30 in one month and have to say good-bye to my 20's. It has been an interesting decade. I am curious if any of my faithful readers have suggestions on what to do to finish out the decade in style? I was thinking anything I could get done in the next month before my birthday, or maybe some way to celebrate my birthday.

Best of.... Brownies

I am pleased to announce the winner of the Best of.... Brownies series!

Sugarland of Chapel Hill

Their award winning entry:



It was a close race with the Mad Hatter from Durham coming in second. But as everyone knows, Chapel Hill is the best :)

I wish they all could be California Girls

My two bff's and I went to California this weekend.  This whole thing started when a friend of my roommate's emailed and said there was a conference in California, did she want to meet up there.  Since I am always game to travel, and hadn't been to northern California, I said yes.  Then our other friend said she had grandparents in the area, and we could stay with them.  The hysterical part is the original person who did the invitation got married before the conference even happened!  

The trip out was smooth.  We went up to Oakland in the morning to do a temple session.  On the way we tried to find a breakfast place.... three different places in the GPS turned out to not exist.  Then we finally found something.  It was a gorgeous day, and the temple was beautiful.  Since my parents were married there, it was really neat to see this temple.  My friend ran into someone she knew, which just proves how small the church really is :)  Then we found a smoothie place in a little shopping district.  Yum.

Then we drove around San Jose.  Then we went to the opening social, which was a luau.  They actually had roasted a whole pig for the event, but it wasn't like a pig-pickin'.  I will admit, this was mostly a spectacle of awkwardness because it is people meeting new people.  The good news is we left to go get ice cream :)  It was alot of fun because my friend's cousin came, and they laugh the same, so you know they are family. 

Saturday was International Beach Cleanup day, so we cleaned up a beach.  It was nice to stroll along the beach, and the coolest thing we found was a shotgun shell.  I will say Pacific beaches are not the same as Atlantic beaches.  I kind of like Atlantic beaches :) but my friends say it is fun to have a bonfire on the beach.  

Then we went to Santa Cruz for lunch and to go to the boardwalk and the beach and just have fun.  I am seriously scared of roller coasters, but I did try a few.  We also saw a wedding, and kept running into random people from the conference.  We got to put our feet in the pacific ocean, but it was seriously cold, so that was all.  Also, I am not a fan of the sand flies and the kelp.  

Then we stopped for some really good Mexican on the way home and got ready for the "red carpet".  They had rented out a ballroom, and had a band, and then a dj.  It was a pretty dressy occasion, and I was excited to wear my red shoes.  The most random thing was meeting someone there who had lived in North Carolina and knew all the people we knew from our ward.  Then we walked down the pier, and went home to bed.  

Sunday we had breakfast with my friends grandparents, and the highlight was the bacon waffle.... yes, that would be bacon mixed into the waffle batter.  Then we tried to see the cliffs near Santa Cruz, but there was a bike race, so the roads were closed and the other roads were pretty busy, so then we went to church, and got on a plane to come home.  Before coming home, we did go to In n Out which is a West Coast only thing.  It was pretty good, the interesting part was the "animal" style fries.  Unfortunately, flying all night and having the airlines loose your luggage made coming home the worst part of the trip.  I did just have a carry on but the plane was so full, I had to check it with a hand written tag from the stewardess (are they still called that?).  I knew a hand written tag was a recipe for disaster.  Lucky for me they did find my luggage and were able to deliver it today.

Ditto

Laboring Away

I am behind on my blogging because I keep doing exciting things with my weekends.

Labor Day Weekend:
10. Drive all over Cary and Morrisville to borrow tents and get food and other supplies

9. My parents helped us avoid disaster with a house key
8. Check out the campgrounds, set up tents, build fire, roast marshmallows

7. Stay up all night the first night with a major headache
6. Enjoy beautiful beach weather, fantastic surf, and good company

5. Cook dutch oven dinner of chicken pot pie and foil dinners, get rave reviews
4. Visit lighthouses

3. Try licorice with pixie stix as an alternative to s'mores
2. Tell worst dating stories as ghost stories around the campfire
1. Pack everything up in the pouring rain

So I loved the beach part of the weekend, and the company on the trip was great, but I could do without the bug bites, and the actual work of setting up camp and taking it down.... hmmm... sounds like a hotel :)

Triathlon Weekend:
5. No one tells you you will be standing around in just your bathing suit for an hour

4. No one tells you that you will have to run barefoot to get your bike

3. Seeing my sister and my mom on the run was cool, otherwise, it was pretty much a solo event
2. Crossing the finish line to Beyonce's All the Single Ladies, and having my two BFFs there was the fun part (Yes, I was imagining Justin Timberlake dancing to that song)

1. Months of training boils down to one hour and fifteen minutes, a time I can be proud of, and I could still walk the next day

I gotta give a shout out to my dad, who packed our stuff up and drove, and to my mom and sister, who are amazing athletes, and totally kicked my butt!

And to entice you to come back and read, this weekend is Cali Weekend!

Joining a Gym

On Tuesday I was talking to a co-worker about a problem. As I was talking, I was gesturing with my arm, and I felt something funny...... there was an extra wiggle following my arm around....... I looked and realized that where my triceps should be, I have some flab that wiggles! This was so traumatic, I went to the gym that night to check it out. I am currently on a trial to use the gym for a couple of days to see how it goes. Bottom line, I have already decided to join. My mom has been going to a gym for almost a year now, and she has awesome arms, and I went to a class, and the women there didn't have flabby arms, so I am sold.

As a side note, the class I went to was a "core strength" class. I learned that I have no core! There was one exercise where you put your feet on a yoga ball, and you put your hands down, so you are stretched out like a plank. Then you are supposed to lift one foot off the yoga ball and bring your knee to your chest. I couldn't lift a foot without rolling off the yoga ball! So the instructor was like, do a different exercise until you get enough strength to do this one.

What I have learned is that training for a triathlon does not mean you are physically fit. So here's to me, having rock solid abs and big guns for christmas :)