Friday, February 8, 2013

26. The Fight2Fitness and The Nemo

Greetings readers!

To all of my Northerners, I hope you all are surviving the storm along with me! This morning, I was cursing "that silly clownfish" under my breath and my mom gave me the most perplexed look I've ever seen. "Mom, the storm is named Nemo." And with her still puzzled expression says, "Since when do snow storms get a name?!!?" Yup, ladies and gents... this snow storm is that bad that it got the name of an orange clownfish invented by Disney!

The Pinspirable.
For all of you confused about the road banning photo, our governor issued a state of emergency and for any car on the road not containing someone who is necessary to be working ie. police, firemen, nurses, linemen, etc. will be issued a $500 fine and 1 year in jail! In conclusion, Nemo has been found! ;)

Since everyone is essentially on house arrest, I decided to do some workouts today. Before being laid off, I was a member of Fight2Fitness in Rhode Island, which is a boxing gym. After class, if I could regain any of my memory, I would write down some of the workouts, so today I give you one of those***:

The Pinspirable.

After doing this workout, it was onto Fab Ab February:
The Inspiration.

After doing Fight2Fitness: The 10-1 and Fab Ab February (day 8), I did 10 burpees and 100 crunches. And as per usual, instead of doing the "25s plank," I opted for 60 jumping jacks.

Now, it's time to preserve my laptop power, since my lights are flickering. Yikes!!








***Please let me know if any of the workout for The Fight2Fitness: The 10-1 is unclear, for I will be sure to clarify for you!! Enjoy and good luck!!!***


Labels: , , , , , ,

Monday, January 28, 2013

20. The Workouts and The Tacos

Greetings readers!

Hope you had a marvelous Monday and kicked off your week on the right foot.

I'm trying to be as positive as possible. Being laid off definitely has weakened my self-confidence and self-esteem, so attempting to look on the bright side is very important. My great friend, Liz Theresa, whom I went to grad school with, has taken me on as a "Research and Creative Officer" doing a lot of marketing/sales things for her entrepreneurship. Today, she thanked me several times and complimented me on my skills. It really brightened my day and assured me that I do have talent, buried, but nevertheless there, so thank-you Liz! Did you have any positive comments today? Or give anyone any? In grammar school, my teachers would always stress "Hold a door open for someone, you never know what a little thing like that could mean to someone" and going through a time period in my life like I am now, I fully and wholeheartedly believe in that piece of advice. You really never know when someone is down and needs that little reminder.

After helping Liz with some things, it was onto working out. Today's workout was not as intense as yesterday's, due to soreness. Tomorrow, I'm going to double up again. And another reason today was an easier day was because I was doing a million and a half things this morning. Since when am I completely busy being laid off?! News to me!

My morning in a nut shell:

  •  Edited about 5-6 emails for KiKi
  •  Freelanced/marketed for Liz
  •  Set up appointments for this weekend (dress measurements and much need pedicures for a friend and myself: I need it for relaxation, but most importantly it is for my friend who is going through a very rough time and sometimes a girl just needs some Hot Stone Pedicure Pampering!)
  •  Emailed all of the bridal party a 2 page email (yes, I type all of my emails in Word first)
  •  Called the local Nissan dealership to see if the part was in for my car (head desk: enough said)
  •  Called the Bride's Mom to run everything by her
  •  Compiled all of the ideas in a Word document and folders for the Bridal Shower
  •  Hunted again for Bridal Shower invitations
  •  Caught up on other necessary phone conversations for bills and such
  •  Job hunted


Can you now see why I worked out late in the day and cut it short?! Haha Busy Bee today!

Anyways... the workouts:
The Pinspirablers Workout (part 1).
The Pinspirablers Workout (part 2).

A wise note for all of you, when starting off this cycle (and once again, this was the order I did them), stretch a lot first because 150 Jumping Jacks kills your calfs fast! I didn't stretch like I normally do and I was paying for it BIG time, so after the jumping jacks, I then stretched. Oops! And no, I didn't do the entire "Ten Week Workout Plan," just Monday's routine. Tomorrow I'm going to start with Tuesday's and then add on some other things. Are you going to join in tomorrow and do Tuesday's routine?

Oh, and once again, for the "Do It Daily," I took out the "15 seconds side plank (each)" [sic]**, and instead added in 60 crunches. **Fun Fact: [sic] is used when a word is either missing, misspelled, or breaking a grammatical rule. It's to let the readers know that the author quoting didn't make the mistake, but the original source did. Did I mention I was an English major in college and received my Masters in English, too? ;)**

After these two workout routines, I then did a bunch of standard weight exercises using 5lb weights. I use lighter weights, so I can do more repetitions. My repetitions, depending on the exercise, end up being a total of 25 or 50.

Also, the other day I found this great calendar on Pinterest for an ab routine and although it says June, why not try it in February?

The Pinspirables Workout (part 3).
Who is up for the "June/February" Mean Abs Challenge?

After the workouts, it was on to shoveling. Why snow, WHY?! Can you please, please, PLEASE go away now?! I didn't even take a picture of today's outfit because it was thoughtless. I was not very happy about having to shovel after my shower. Shoveling with wet hair = grumpy Bells.

Upon shoveling, I ran inside to dry my hair, and get ready for Taco Night and to watch the Bruins! My friends and I switched up the 10 cent wing night for $1.00 tacos! Splurging left and right ;)

The Pinspirable.
I told you today's outfit didn't have any inspiration behind it, but here's a better picture of the sock bun! I did it for Taco Night and all of my friends loved it, especially with adding in a headband. I love the glitz and glam of the headband. Definitely needed a little pizz-azz today after shoveling!

Items:
Blue sweatshirt - very old from American Eagle, circa 2004
Headband - Forever 21, circa Spring 2012
Black and gold bow cuff - Christmas 2012 
Silver ring - Christmas 2012 gift 

Till next time,
Bells

Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

17. The Double Braid

Greetings readers!

As you can tell, I've been a little down lately, so working out has been neglected. My cousin sought me out today for she knew (I was avoiding her like the plague) and once again, I listened. Plus, I'm being a bit overly conscious now since I'm seeing someone who I haven't seen in a very long time next weekend. A bit anxious too mind you. :) Pinterest workouts are absolutely great and easy, so today I decided to do 4 of them, well like 3.5 for one of them half of the things, I had no idea what they were talking about.
The Pinspirable Workout (part 1).
The Pinspirable Workout (part 2).
The Pinspirable Workout (part 3).
The Pinspirable Workout (part 4).

After working out, it was time for a shower, a fast hair updo, dinner time, and then the Bruins game!! It was the first game this season that I was finally able to watch the entirety of! 

Today's Pinspirable is that of a "Double Braid," which I discovered via Pinterest earlier. It's fast, easy, and cute when done right. Mine did not come out the best because I was doing it very fast, just to see if I could even figure it out. If I had gone slower, actually concentrated, and made it a looser fit in the end, it would be more like the Inspiration photo.
The Inspiration (part 1).
The Inspiration (part 2).

Please note that both Inspiration photos came from the same location, so that's why they're both not linked.
The Pinspirable (part 1).
The Pinspirable (part 2).
Like I said earlier, this was a rush job. It was merely a test run through. It's definitely a braid I'm going to try and improve on and continue doing. I want it to look loose, yet more refined like the Inspiration photos. Also, it's not very easy to have a full effect looking braid when your hair is a couple of inches below your shoulders. These girls in the Inspiration photos have very long hair to begin with. 

Speaking of growing hair and such, I'm definitely growing mine out. I came across a tip via Pinterest earlier and am tempted to try it. It's a Homemade Hot Oil Treatment that supposedly helps your hair grow faster and make it smoother. Have you tried this home remedy? Or any other remedies? 

Till next time,
Bells

*I can't seem to find the original sources for BoP Level 1 and 2, but go here to see some of the other Back on Pointe (BoP) workouts. She has some amazing challenges!*

Updated Monday 1/28/2013: I added in the BoP Level 1 and 2 workouts! I finally found the original links on BoP's site! Be sure to check it out and see Level 3, 4, 5 AND 6!

Labels: , , , , , , ,