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Showing posts from June, 2014

My Short Hair Works For Working Out

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I love my new hair do all the time.  The messier my hair is the better it looks.  How can you beat that?! I love my hair best when I am exercising and I exercise a lot. There is no pony tail to move over to the side when I lay down for chest presses or crunches, no pony tail to readjust when I stand back up.  And when I am working really hard, the sweat drips off the ends of my hair, making me look and feel really tough.  I ordered a head band to try, but it's nice to know I don't even need it. My hair is short enough now to just hang out of my way. I think this might be the beginning of a long relationship with short hair. 

Grandparents Visit

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Dwayne's parents are here for a visit.  His mom is the original Mary Poppins with bags full of limitless treasures.  In the photo above, Adele is playing with one of the toys Grandma always brings out for them. 

I got my hair cut!

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I got my hair cut!  I've never had hair this short before. It's always been at least long enough to pull back into a pony tail. But I had been growing really, really tired of my pony tail.  I have to lay down on my back a lot during my personal workouts and during the classes I teach and I always had to loosen my pony tail so I could put my head down flat on the floor. But then I'd stand back up and my pony tail would be all out of whack. I'd either ignore it and let it flap around loose or take the time to adjust it. Now I can just throw on a big sweat band and go.  I did my workout tonight and I already love how it hangs lightly around my face when I do push ups, etc.  I also wanted something with more interest.  My long hair just sort of hung down the sides of my face most of the time, unless I took a lot of time to style it.  This cut is shorter, so it's lighter, so it just pops out.  The layers make it much more interesting, to say the least!  

A Drop of Lemon Essential Oil

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I've been adding a drop of lemon essential oil to my water or kombucha tea. Just one drop flavors the entire glass. There are health benefits. Lemon oil helps flush toxins from your system.  But I am doing it mostly because it tastes amazing. 

Our Exercise Room

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Our exercise room is quickly becoming my favorite room in my house.  Note: This used to be a bedroom and we don't want to take the time and expense to paint, so that's why it's pink.  We'd also have to miss at least a few workouts to paint and I am not interested in missing any workouts right now. I am having too much fun in here.    We have a table set up with speakers so my husband or I can just put our laptops on the table, plug in our speakers, and play our workouts with loud music.  FYI- My dad built that table. The closet door has been removed for the chin up bar and the closet holds some fitness equipment, but it mostly holds books and books and books on a few small shelves we have been able to fit in there.  My girls like to use it as an informal book nook when I am not in here, so I put a few pillows on the closet floor for them, too.    This corner cabinet was a gift from Dwayne's parents. It's been in a few different places in

Homemade Kombucha Tea

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  I make my own kombucha tea. (I also buy it in the store sometimes, but it's quite expensive. So making it at home can save heaps of money- after you invest in the supplies you need.) Kombucha tea is basically regular sweet tea that has been fermented with a live culture of bacteria called a scoby or a mother. If you look at the photo above, you can see two scobies in the jar of kombucha.  The scobies look like jelly pancakes. One is sitting on the bottom of the jar. The other is floating on the top.  I know it's weird, but I think it's also totally awesome to be able to do this kind of thing yourself at home.   So kombucha tea has live bacteria. That's the point.  It's good for you in the same way yogurt or kefir are good for you. Your gut actually needs healthy bacteria. Just a quick Google search can bring up several articles like this one about the benefits of maintaining your gut health by using probiotic foods or drinks like kombucha.    Cli

Bodypump 90

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I am Bodypump certified! I was trained on 89, so I know that release really well. Once I got my certification, I signed up for autoship, but that won't apply until Bodypump 91. So I went back and purchased Bodypump 90 yesterday. I don't have a class of my own yet, but I am learning 90 anyway. My mantra through this entire process has been, "Run in such a way as to get the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24 I don't want there to be any reason (that's within my power) for an employer not to give me my own class. And I want to feel as prepared as possible when I do stand in front of my own Bodypump class someday. So, for now, I am learning Bodypump 90 and it's fun. On 89, the tricep track was my favorite. On 90, I think the squat track is going to be my favorite.     

Bodypump Certification- I Passed!

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  I got the official email last night.  I passed my video assessment! Now I am certified to teach Bodypump! If you want to know more about the details of my Bodypump Initial Training experience, you can click the tag "Bodypump" in the column on the right or at the bottom of this post at it will take you to several previous blog posts about my certification process.   

It Ain't Sexy, But It's Good

A few of my friends on Facebook posted a link to Matt Walsh's blog post titled We can't end 'rape culture' if we don't end hook up culture . I read the article. I liked it. But it was hard to believe what Walsh was saying about the way young people are partying these days, so I am not sure I totally saw the connection between hook-up and rape.  I don't have cable television, so it's like I don't even live on the same planet as most people. But then I heard a song today- Timber by Pitbull featuring Kesha. It was on a new workout CD I bought. I couldn't believe what I was listening to! So I Googled the lyrics to the song to see if I heard them right.  Here's how they go- (This portion of the song is sung by a female.  I think that is very important.) It's going down, I'm yelling timber You better move, you better dance Let's make a night you won't remember I'll be the one you won't forget Wooooah (timber), woo

My Kindle Highlights (And Personal Comments) from Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller

I finished Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller. And I thought it would be a good to endeavor (pun intended) to go through the quotes that I highlighted in the book and try to articulate to myself why the quotes were important enough to me to highlight in the first place. "fingers of God" Keller says that "fingers of God" is an old Lutheran phrase used to express what we are as we do our work, whatever that is, here on earth.  We are "fingers of God, agents of his providential love for others." Keller also says Luther and Calvin, both leaders of the Protestant reformation believed that, "God cared for, fed, clothed, sheltered, and supported the human race through our human labor... This understanding elevates the purpose of work from making a living to loving our neighbor."  I have never read anything written by Luther or Calvin. I should remedy that.  "...a New Jerusalem, a heavenly city, which will come down to earth like a bride dresse

Bodypump Certification - I Filmed My Video Assessment

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As many of you know, I am in the process of pursuing a Les Mills Bodypump certification.  I filmed my video assessment yesterday.  I taught the entire release of Bodypump 89 for a live class. The photo above is a screen shot from my assessment video. In the photo I am coaching tricep pushups during the tricep track.  I made a few mistakes on my choreography and there is one thing I would coach differently if I taught Bodypump 89's core track again, but my mentors don't think any of the mistakes I made are serious enough so I am going to go ahead and send in my video after I film my intro and add it to the beginning of the film. I told my mentors that I thought the worst part would be the initial training.  But then after the training, I thought the worst part would be the filming.  But now that I am done filming, I think the worst part is going to be waiting for my results!