Lasting Impressions

As an exercise instructor you are concerned about making sure you create a class that's challenging yet fun. You also enjoy wearing fun workout gear. Well today I have to applaud my HIIT class for putting up with me tonight. For one, we had two new participants who stuck with it the entire time - WAY TO GO!!! I'm so proud of your effort and perseverance. And two - I taught my entire 50 minute class with a rather large hole in the back of my yoga pants that was not brought to my attention until after class. As you can imagine the hole was right in the middle and I didn't have the proper coverage under the yoga pants, if you know what I mean. This is a humiliation to the nth degree but thank you for still working hard and making me aware of the problem. Those yoga capri's will never see the inside of a gym studio again. More like a landfill or an incinerator. To all instructors alike...I'm sure you've all experienced a wardrobe malfunction a time or two but all ...

10 Burpees Walk across the room 9 Burpees Walk across the room 8 Burpees Walk across the room 7 Burpees Walk across the room 6 Burpees Walk across the room 5 Burpees Walk across the room 4 Burpees Walk across the room 3 Burpees Walk across the room 2 Burpees Walk across the room 1 Burpees Walk across the room *you can substitute the walk for walking lunges or do the same number of any exercise as you do burpees* Enjoy

 Last Sunday was a bitter cold one with lots of football on TV. I'm a sucker for a day filled with snacking! Give me a table full of appetizers and I'll set. This was how I was brought up. At holiday gatherings we always had a table FULL of little snacks. Most of the time we were all filled up on apps before dinner was served. It was one of those days on Sunday with the final championship games on TV. I wanted to make it a special day but did not want to be bent over the stove all day cooking. Hmmmm....I looked in the fridge and saw asparagus that needed to be used. I remembered I had a package of bacon in the freezer too. Perfect! Bacon wrapped asparagus. It turned out amazing. 1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees 2. Cut the ends off the asparagus 3. Lightly coat the asparagus with olive oil (I put mine in a bag and then drizzled the olive oil and mixed it up. 4. Sprinkle asparagus spears with freshly ground pepper. 5. Divide the amount of asparagus spears in 4. Wrap a bun...

It's horrible to say that I'm excited the Christmas season is over. It seems that this holiday season has become more about the gifts under the tree and the true meaning has been thrown to the wayside. It all starts at 6pm Thanksgiving night where most department stores open their doors for "the best" deals of the season..and it just continues. Don't get me wrong I enjoy spending countless hours with my family eating wonderful food and spending quality time together. What I stress myself out about is the whole production of the day. The appetizers, main course and dessert.  I stress about wondering if the gifts under the tree are all that good enough. Well I changed it up this year after reading a post my sister-in-law posted on Killing Off Super Mom . I kept it simple. A few fancy cheeses with pepperidge farm crackers, wild rice soup from a favorite restaurant and my mom made seafood lasagna. We were too full for dessert. I did have some chocolate covered peanut...

As a mom, wife, and someone who is always thinking about ways to eat cleaner, I still want to eat tastey food. When my husband I first got married I had little to no kitchen experience. The role of "wifey" was a new title. I wasn't use to having to prepare meals for other people other than myself. I stumbled upon a great blogger who I still look to for new recipe ideas. Budget Bytes . She breaks the cost of the dish down by the cost per serving. A great way to keep your budget in check, and she has some really great recipes. I had made her baked chicken strips before and homemade honey mustard dipping sauce - TO DIE FOR! This was our Sunday night meal: Panko dregged chicken strips with honey mustard dipping sauce and spicy cauliflour buffalo bites. I found the recipe for the cauliflour on Pinterest. Chicken Strips : Adapted from Budget Bytes Ingredients 2 lg. chicken breasts 1 cup mayonnaise (I used MiracleWhip Olive Oil - a little less calories) ⅓ cup honey (I u...

It's officially winter! I again ask myself the same question I always do when we get the first snowfall, "Why do I live here?" Like for example this morning, -27 degrees with windchill. Who wants to go out in weather like that for the next 4 months. Oh well, so off to work I went after bundling up Miss K in her jacket, hat and bulky mittens. Oh how she screams when we try and strap her into her car seat. However, as I got into my vehicle and started the trek to work, it appeared that God was speaking to me that today was going to be a better day. A "Sun Dog." It was beautiful. It was a small reminder of the attitude check I needed to make sure that today was going to be the best day possible. The "Sun Dog" warmed my heart and gave me that extra little push that I needed and the motivation. So here I am enjoying this day, and reminding myself to make each day the best day it can be. With that in mind, join me tonight at the Y, which is a great nig...

Miss K's party was a huge success. I guess the weather could have been a bit better but other than that the turnout was great. I have to remind myself I can't believe a year has gone by so fast. Within the past few days she has already started attempting to take her first few steps and tried standingup on her own. Each day she begins to be more confident. It is all too often that we forget how short life can be sometimes. We get caught up in our daily activities our daily schedules are Monday through Friday jobs. We forget about those who struggle. Forget about those who are dealing with emotional struggles. We forget about those who are dealing with things bigger than any of us could ever understand. Getting through the first your life is a miracle which is a time to be celebrated which is why the first birthday is so special. So I take this opportunity to thank those who took time out of their busy lives and their busy schedules to spend some time with our family and our spe...

The time has come and I can't believe how fast it has gone. Little K will be turning 1 in a few weeks. I've started planning and I feel like my list keeps getting longer and longer. Her birthday will be a  fall theme with a taco in a bag bar and lots of bite sized desserts. I'm still teaching at the local Y and love it! HIIT on Tuesdays and spin on Thursdays. Just wanted to do a quick update since it has been so long. Keep living healthy and love each day like it's your last.

Get ready for a blast from the past with plenty of upbeat 80's hit. Take this ride back to the days of leisure and carefree.  See you tonight at 5:30 at the YMCA

I've had this thought. I love food I love to cook so why not have a food blog. My husband cooked up amazing dinner tonight. Marinated chicken breasts in a spicy and sweet red chilli sauce with baby zucchini and rice. The rice was a little over cooked but that didn't stop this foodie.  I added a bit of reduced sodium soy sauce and parmesan cheese.  The parmesan gave the rice a deeper nutty flavor and just a bit of saltiness with the soy sauce.  AMAZING!

At-Home Workout For You And Your Dog | Women's Health News Blog: Latest Health Headlines and Tips to Stay Healthy

Get ready to sweat to the beat of the newest pop music today. Class will consist of a variety of drills: Hills, Sprints, Rolling Hills, and Jumps. You definatley won't leave class dry. Hope to see you there.

Great class tonight at the Y! I have the hardest working, sweat pumping members. I love how hard they work no matter what the workout is. I gave them a workout tonight.  Three sets of intervals. 1st set: 1 minute each of each exercise 4 Rounds *push up with rotation *squat with over head press *walking plank *hand release push ups *lawn mower high pull 2nd set: 1 minute each 4 Rounds *squat jumps *plank jack *split jack lunge *burpees 3rd set: Tabata Style 30 second sets - 20 -25 sec work 5-10 sec rest 2xs each exercise 2x through *skiier with weight *dead lift *reverse lunge with bicep curl *plank with tricep curl I have a 55 minute class and had to cut the second round of the third set to only doing each exercise only once. With a short warm up and cool down its about 55 minutes. Enjoy that extra dessert tonight or another glass of wine. It's well deserved! Happy Friday

Class tonight will consist of longer and strenuous intervals mixed with high tempo cadences.  Get ready for 45 minutes of remixes and mashups!

This is only a test

You see these pictures of these beautiful moms with their strollers and perfect hair and makeup. This is reality right?!? OMG!!! Are you kidding me?!? I told myself that even once I became a mom I would make time to workout for myself, because I need the "me" time. Boy was I wrong! Becoming a mom might be the most rewarding thing I have ever experienced but also the hardest thing I am still trying to figure out. I love the fact that I'm teaching at the local Y two days a week and still finding time to exercise in that capacity. A few updates: 1. We finally moved into our house. No more living with the in-laws. After almost 10 months, it was definitely time to have our own space. Miss K has her own room finally! 2. I changed jobs within my department and finally have a "normal adult" schedule. 3. My husband also received a promotion to a more permanent schedule which will be a huge help on the home front. As Easter approaches this weekend and we are ...

This post if definitely overdue! As was my pregnancy, I will take this time to recap...... October 11, 2012 7pm My husband and I arrived at the hospital to check in for my induction. The day had finally come where I wasn't going to get bumped from the schedule. I was more than ready to get this baby out. They got me to my room and I changed into my lovely hospital gown. The nurses had me fill out a 10 page questionnaire about everything! I was hooked up to the monitors and was contracting :) Nothing major, but I was having some consistent contractions, which means, I had been contracting for at least about the past week, but nothing to progress me into full blown labor. They administered the drug cytotec to get my body going. They can give the drug every 4 hours if things aren't progressing. Then they would give me pitocin at 6am and see how things would go from there. They monitored my belly for about a half hour and then told me to start walking. We walked and walked an...

I am completely ready to be done! This anticipation is killing me. 40 weeks - 10 months of carrying this child is long enough. I truly miss my body. I miss normal sleep - even though I know there will be no "normal" ever again, as far as sleep goes :) I miss working out; Although I did teach a spin class last Thursday in hopes that I could get the baby to come early....well here we are, and still no baby. I had a planned induction on Monday the 8th, but got bumped because of another patient. So I was then scheduled for Tuesday night, my actual due date. I then received a call that I was going to get bumped to Thursday night because of another patient that needed the Wednesday spot. So here we are. Thursday....4 days after my initial induction date. I have done everything to try to get my body to go into labor on its own. Sex, bumpy roads, walking. I walked all weekend. Tons of hills, up, down, and around. Still NOTHING!!!! My doctor stripped membranes on Monday in hopes o...

I can hardly wait. I can't even stand it anymore. So it has been a few weeks since my last post so here is a recap. I have been seeing my doctor every week since I was 36 weeks. I have yet to dialte to more than a finger tip and my cervix is still ver thick. Last Tuesday night I was having consistant contractions every ten minutes. They had started in the afternoon and continued until 3am! But then they stopped. I went to the doctor in the morning and got checked out....and nothing! I hadn't changed at all!!!! All that pain and discomfort for nothing. So I'm still waiting. I think I had lot my mucus plug that previous Thursday, but not completely sure. My doctor was on "vacation" this weekend, but she didn't think that I would go into labor anyways...which I haven't. Although, I am now prepared to do just about ANYTHING to try and get my body to start contracting. I want this baby out sooooo badly. My hands and feet continue to swell. If I thought ...

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, although I can't seem to get there fast enough. I know that I've been saying this for awhile now - but I am truly ready for this baby to come. Sleeping at night is getting even more difficult than it was before. I feel like I'm constantly regurgitating my food and can never get comfortable. We have moved once again! But this time is was a little less exhausting and time consuming since we only had to move what we were currently using. In preparing my list for my hospital bag and things that I still need for the baby, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the loose ends. Still need to get the crib set up, find a place for the baby to sleep. The whole idea of using the pack and play bassinette isn't going to work with the amount of space that we have in our bedroom. I'm still in need of little pants, and I have to decide what bag I'm going to pack all of my stuff in. These things may seem trivial but this wh...