Reunions + PRs

There has been so much stuff going on this week. A good sale at target to help me get a little more organized...I bought a cube organizer.  I'm going to put some of my notebooks on there and some of the dog toys I had bought for Robby in there so he has them next time he stays over.  And I'll probably get some dog treats to keep in there as well.  And who knows what else I'll decide to throw in there to try and clean this place up a little bit. But I have some other apt projects I want to work on as well.

Reunion
So many students may have that one teacher that makes a big imprint in their life.  For me, it was my 3rd grade teacher.  I was the small little girl that was still in gymnastics at the time and he was big into working out back then.  He still does but not as much.  I knew he worked for CMS school system so I decided to look him up one day and found that he was a principal at a local middle school back home. Not creepy at all I promise.
He, Mr. Drye, showed up to my father's funeral when I was only 11 years old.  Guess I had an impact on that man as well for someone who hadn't been his student for 2 years and he's showing up at the service the day of my dad's funeral to give me a hug and see if I was going to be okay.  For some reason, not sure what, they actually allowed him to come to the back to see me before they started the service in the home.  On such a gloomy day I had a huge smile on my face when I saw him.
So once I found out that he was a teacher for CMS I decided to contact him.  And sure enough he still remembers me.  He said it would be great to see me, so since I work for the school system out here and we are on a different schedule than CMS I decided to see if I had any days off that would coordinate with his working schedule so that I could drop in on him.   There was only one day left in my school year for that, but it would have to be a quick overnight trip.
When I arrived, the office staff was a little confused because they didn't know I was coming.  He had told me he would only be there until 10 so I had to make sure I got there before then.  I had plenty of time.   We gave each other a hug when we first saw each other and then sat and talked for a bit.  He definitely looks older.  I always remember that young Mr. Drye that taught me and for some odd reason didn't expect him to look any older.  After that he gave me a tour of the school and said there wouldn't be much going on because they kids were getting ready for end of year testing.  He introduced me to some of the school staff and teachers, and even got to say hey to one classroom of kids.  They actually had autistic kids in the cafeteria having breakfast.  They eat after the other students because it's nice and calm and not as loud for them.  Why is that significant?  Well if you know what I do, then you understand why.  All the grades are separated so the kids don't intermingle much.  Sad that some of the parents are scared these days for 6th graders to get mixed in with 8th graders.  We hugged and said goodbye after the tour, and my stupid self forgot to get a picture of us together.  But I will visit again and get a picture next time.  
I headed back not too long after that so I could get my workout in before a dog boarding drop off.


Pups

Walker being social and not a momma's boy
for about a minute

So some of you may know, and a lot of you may not.  I do dog sitting on the side during the school year and then make it my full time gig during the summer.  Which I'm hoping it picks up soon!  So far this week I've had Robby, a 10 month old golden retriever (who you saw pictures of in the last blog), and currently I have Walker, a pit mix.  Robby is just a ball full of energy and Walker is a huge momma's boy.

Walker arrived on Friday afternoon and was already sitting in my lap before the owners even left.  I took Walker to the dog park later on so he could get some exercise and he took off from me for about one minute and then came right back and stayed by my side. He would take off away from me on occasion but for the most part stayed by me.  We'll head back out there tomorrow (Sunday) because we've been inside most of the day today.  We actually took a nap as well because I was exhausted from going out for Cinco de Mayo.  

No, I didn't have tacos for Cinco de Mayo.  Shocker.  I went to Southern Pines with Krystal to Sly Fox.  I definitely don't spend enough time down there.  I ate wabbit (bugs bunny reference) instead.  How often do you get to try rabbit anyway?  We went to the Jefferson for about 30min after dinner to see one of her friends.  I was honestly over it after dinner.  The crowds were crazy because of the holiday.

Saturday afternoon nap time

So we, Walker and I, headed out for a walk this morning before I headed off to church and then we went to the dog park after.  I can tell you one good thing about the dog boarding/sitting is that it is forcing me to relax from my typical hectic Sunday of meal prepping and helping me to just enjoy the day.  There were so many dogs at the dog park on Sunday!  But just like Friday, Walker basically stayed by me the entire time.  He did climb under my legs a bit but I took a book to read and found a bench out in the sun and just relaxed while he played under me and on occasion walked under me and made himself a leg rest.  We were there for about an hour and then headed back to the apartment.

Walker after coming back from the dog park

PRs
So, if you read my last blog you know that I have been on a cut for the past 5 weeks.  Four weeks on the base and this passed week on my first official cut phase.  Which has had me a little irritated beacuse of my lack of carbs later in the day.  But this week starts new programming so no carbs after lunch shouldn't be an issue..YAY!
There is always that concern that while on this cut I will start losing strength.  And so far that isn't true which is such a relief.  
While on my deload this week my body building work has been 2x10 instead of that 3x20 that I told you about.  So usually when deload week rolls around I try to hit as much weight as possible.  I was able to do 32kg/70# goblet squats, which I've never even thought about attempting before.  And what makes me even more excited is my strict press.  
I was able to hit 41kg/90# for 10RM!  This has me super excited and really curious at the same time.  Why? Because it makes me wonder what my 1RM is now.  I probably could have gone for 42kg on my strict press.  But a 2kg PR on strict press is a okay with me.  Just the fact that that number is getting higher makes me happy.  I have a strong upper body from doing gymnastics when I was younger but when it comes to strict press I've always felt like I've been stuck at the same weight for a long time.  Although this hypertrophy programming can be a pain sometimes, it really does work.  I'm looking forward to the next 5 weeks and the results coming from it.
Next meets:
1) Appalachian Open (Asheville, NC) - July 15th
2) Barbells & Brews (Charlotte, NC) - Sept. 30th


So I think I've narrowed down my choices for the place I'm going to use my United flying voucher on:
1) Grand Canyon, AZ 
I think I was to swim/paddleboard in the river around the Grand Canyon and then go visit from the top.  Bucket List!!
2) New Orleans, LA

Updated prayer board

~God Bless

"Training strength and endurance mentally, physically, and spiritually."

Swole & Somewhat Flexy + Cutting Yikes

As I sit here in bed with my pup Robby, who I am dog sitting, laying right beside my bed I'm relieved that it is officially deload week of my 5 week hypertrophy cycle (I'm on week 5 people).

Robby all tuckered out from the dog park.

I have seen squats upon squats, heavy as hell squats that mentally screwed me up since I have a new 1RM on my back squat, and light with my oly lifts all month long.  Every other day is either focused on upper body or heavy on legs.  I think I'm more over the accessor work than the actual squats.

My heavy days of squatting.  Week 4

The only thing frustrating about light oly lifts is I know that when I finally get back into hitting 85-90% of my 1RM on snatch and C&J it's going to feel heavy as hell and I'm going to wonder how in the world I ever hit those numbers in the first place.
I think that's the one thing you have to really learn is to trust your coach, but sometimes I wonder what the hell he's thinking.  The man has a mind of his own, and is definitely not afraid to speak what's on his mind or his view on how things should be done.  I know he gets annoyed with me sometimes haha but I'm going to ask questions.

So last month he decided to program goblet squats and at first I was semi excited because I was pumped about the challenge goblet squats pose in keeping your chest up, not letting your hips rise first and the core tight,  but after 10 weeks of those suckers and this month it being 3x20, I'm hoping that this week is the last week. 

RDLs...63kg

This month is focused on hypertrophy so my legs can get stronger and hopefully finally hit some PRs on my C&J.  The man has me doing 3x20 on all exercises minus snatches, cleans, power jerks, and front or back squats.  This past weekend was my last week of trying to do all of them as heavy as possible for 20 reps.  After I finished my back squats on Saturday (week 4) I had mentally checked out of the accessory work.  Granted some of that had to do with some other factors going on in my life but mostly I was just over the 3x20.  I had honestly thought about skipping my last set of RDLs and calling it a day, but it was only one more set of 3.  I could suck it up for one more, but I had also thought about skipping the movement all together.  But I didn't because I'm to damn stubborn.
All other days of the week I have to head to work not getting to complete at least 1 of the movements that's programmed and have to try and make it up in combo with my other programmed stuff or just head back after work.  I'm not going to lie, there was one day that I wasn't able to finish all my bench and didn't even get to rows before having to get ready for work and I honestly said screw it that day and just went home after work and didn't even make it up later.  Part of me felt bad but the rest of me was completely exhausted and overwhelmed dealing with other things.  And we have to listen to our bodies every once in awhile right.  I hadn't been getting much sleep that week.






Cutting
So comes the fun part.  The goal is to get down to 53kg/116# and I currently sit around 57kg/125-130# depending on who's scale you decide to step on.  The goal of this cut to 53kg from the 57kg is to try and qualify for the American Open (weightlifting) this year.  It would be easier for me to hit the qualifying total of a 53kg lifter as opposed to a 58kg lifter.
So when I first got my cut I looked at all the different phases - base, cut 1, cut 2...maintenance.  The base had a lot of  fats in it.  According to coach, it was the easiest way to get in the calories I would need.  My protein was cut back as well as my carbs.  My first thought....why in the world was my protein cut back so much.  I wouldn't be worried about the carbs until later.  The calories for the cut had to come from somewhere was his response to my question about the protein.  I'm practically his guinea pig for his nutrition plan he is trying out.  Why? O yeah...it was free.  So we'll see how it goes. 
The goal:  cut weight, get stronger and make it to AO.
I spent a month of the base for the cut and this week I officially started Cut 1.  Of all weeks to start cut 1, a deload week, where volume and weight are all nice and light.  I'm only on day 3 and I'm not a happy individual.  I get absolutely NO carbs after lunch, my 4th "meal" of the day, because my protein shake and workout carbs are considered a meal as well.  So no more nightly snack of my eggs with banana and peanut butter.  Maybe it's the thought of me missing my carbs that makes it worse, but I'm ready to get my programming for next month so that I can start having carbs all day again!!




But on a completely different note.  I need to start figuring out where I'm going to go with my $400 voucher from United....
There is always the other option for where I had planned for my birthday, New Orleans.  But here's a list of thoughts
1. New Orleans
2. Arizona
3. Wyoming
4. Seattle
hmmm decisions decisions

~God Bless

"Training strength and endurance mentally, physically, and spiritually."

Take Flight, Sit Back & Relax

Does anyone else just have a week they are completely excited about?

This week has been that week for me. Granted the only thing that sucks is that my friend left for work and won't be back for a couple months.  But  it's knowing that he's coming back that keeps me happy.

So most of my excitement has come from work this week.  There is one week in spring where the entire school does something called STEM/STEAM week.  This years theme has something to do with flying, airplanes and helicopters. 

UH-60 Black Hawk (sorry the soccer post is in the way)

UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter

I'm not sure who was more excited about this.  The kids or the adults. I'm glad I'm not the only teacher who said they were excited about this. I know I've probably seen one of the Black Hawks flying around post but it can be something you take for granted sometimes and also had never actually seen one up close.  One of the teachers was awesome and arranged with one of the parents to have a Black Hawk land at the school for the kids to see.  Well, I can be a big kid too!  She was even able to arrange for us to be able to climb up into the helicopter!

Hanging out in the pilot's seat

This whole week the kids were building paper airplanes and seeing how far these airplanes can fly.  Different designs, types of paper, anything you can think of with building a paper airplane, they're doing it and learning the history of planes/flight.  All the students were called outside early in the morning to stand on the blacktop.  The helicopter came from the direction of SAA and then circled around the school and then landed on the soccer field.    Once the helicopter had landed the sixth graders stayed outside and were able to climb in and get strapped in and even get into the pilots seat. 
I was with a SPED student that day so we stayed outside with the sixth graders, the OT and PT were also with the teacher and I,  and we were able to get him up into the helicopter and strap him in.  We even got him to stand up and lean out of it.  It's so exciting to see him do things like this.  After we went back inside he went with the OT and PT and did some work.  His teacher gave me permission to go back outside to the helicopter.  I wasn't able to get in when I went outside with the kid I was working with but going back outside and being able to talk to some of the guys and get into to the helicopter, strap myself in and hang outside of it.  I was also able climb into the pilot seat.  I actually asked if it was okay that I did.  I told them I really just wanted to take a ride in it and they said, "Well, you can start it up if you want."  You should have seen my face when they said that.  My response, "Seriously!"
Unfortunately, they couldn't let me but just the whole experience in itself was pretty cool.  

*Adding that to the bucket list

Dogwood Festival
Twice a year this town does and event called The Dogwood Festival.  Usually two big bands come out and play and this year Parmalee, the country band, was coming.  I had planned on going since I learned that they were going to be there.  It had been a busy week and it was going to be a much needed relaxing break from all the craziness of the week.  My girlfriend Krystal came with me.  She's crazy with work as well, so it's a much needed break for both of us and a fun girls night out. 

Waiting for the concert to start. 

We got there early so that we could find a place to sit, needless to say it was already packed.  But we were able to find a place to sit.  There was a band before Parmalee called Landco.  They were okay.  They played right up until 9pm which was when Parmalee was suppose to start.  And with the long annoying announcements in between Landco and Parmalee, Parmalee didn't start until about 930/945.  The definitely need to do a better job of keeping to that schedule.  They played some of their new songs and did covers of others, that they shouldn't have done covers of.  But my favorites of the night were "Roots," "Carolina" and "Already Callin You Mine."  Krystal and I headed home right at the end of the concert cause they started playing right at our bedtime anyway. haha yes I know I got to bed super early for some people my age and even some people older than me.  And I did cry a little during some of the songs and although the concert was good I wish I could have said it was awesome because unfortunately my mind was somewhere else almost the entire time.

I had planned on having a very busy weekend, but got a last minute dog sitting call so I took that.  This dog is one of my regulars and I didn't want him to be in the kennel again because of his dad working so I'm taking care of him until Tuesday.

Just some things on my mind....

So all of you have read about my trip to Colorado for my birthday.  I had invited a friend to come with me.  She moved, her husband is in the Army, a couple months back and I thought this would be a fun way to get to see each other again.  I told her about the dates well in advance, like February just so she could plan for it if she would be able to come.  I would check in with her every once in awhile just to make sure she could still come and everything was good to go.  About a week before she messaged me asking me for the address to the place we would be staying and I haven't heard from her since then.  I doesn't really bother me that she didn't show up on the trip because it's not the first time for me that someone has said they were going to come and then not show up or even bother telling me they weren't going to show up.  That's the part that gets me.  How are you going to ask me for an address to the place and then not even bother to tell me you can't make it or just don't want to come.  That's just slam damn rude and disrespectful.  I've tried to get ahold of her since then and she doesn't answer anything, text messages or messages/posts on facebook.  And she's clearly on there every day.  I guess I'm that friend she just texts when she needs a confidence boost in herself.


O and the guy from 16.4 that said he wanted to start over has officially left for work and I decided to write him a letter about everything going on in my head with me and him since we both had feelings for each other even though he was leaving soon for work.  I was nervous because I knew it could change things.  But I was just remember that meme that says if you miss someone, tell him; thinking about someone, call them; like someone tell them.  So that's what I did.  You never know what might happen unless you take that chance right? 
So he finally read my letter that I wrote him and of course he isn't going to date me because of work the next 2 years, always being gone.  Well what's going through my head again is how am I still not good enough?  Feelings are there and he knows what I'm willing to do to make things work.  I feel like an idiot for putting myself out there with him again.  I'm an amazing woman he said and it's funny because even after the 2 years is over of all his leaving for work he's going to keep doing it and I have a feeling it will be the same reason again.  And I told him I would never hold him back from what he wants to do in his work. He loves it and no one should take that away from him, and I never will.  But I'm just confused on why ask to start over if you knew you didn't want to date?  What damn sense does that make?  I'm so confused as to what he wants from me?
There's just something about him that makes him different.  And some of this is stuff that I haven't told him but he'll find out because he reads all these blogs (if/when).  And I started writing again because of him and part of me has thought about stopping for the same reason.  He knows a lot about me and my work and how much I love it.  I don't share the detailed stories of work with to anyone but him.  I've very protective of who I tell those stories to.  He's seen some of my quirks. I've let him help me get ready at night and I never let any guy do these things because I'm so OCD about some stuff  but for some reason I've let him get that close.  I can't figure out why him but I have. 
I'm sure a lot of you are going to say move on with your life.  You deserve someone who is going to make you worth the time no matter the situation and how difficult it may be.  But honestly I've lost that confidence.  And I honestly thought that the next time I would see him he would be happy, in a relationship with someone and I'd still be here, single and just training my butt off like I currently do.  And it won't surprise me one day if this is what the truth turns out to be.  But for now he's on my mind and what would happen if he would just try and give it a shot no matter what crazy situation he's having to deal with in work.

And I promise to throw some of my training in here next time too.  

My Crazy Week

My weekends when I go home to visit always seem to be crazy.  I never feel like I have time to relax even if I do go home when there is no family event going on.
But the week had already been pretty overwhelming anyway. 

Pet Sitting

Maddie & I relaxin on the couch

Right after coming back from spring break for work I started taking of a family's pets, 2 dogs and 1 cat.  Just the driving back and forth was a little exhausting even though it was only about a 20min drive.  I only needed to go over there about 2 times because I would spend the night and then come back in the afternoon and in the evening only to spend the night again.  The dogs were great but the cat on the other hand was a devil.  She chased me up onto the bed the first night I was there trying to rip me apart and hung out under the bed almost the entire night hissing at me.  And I promise you I'm not scared of cats.  She had already attacked me earlier in the day when I tried to let her get to know me.  I had talked to the owner Sunday night and told them what was going on and they said just do what I needed to do with her (throw her back in the bathroom where I had let her out of) and the owner informed me that this was normal for her.  I told her I hate to do it to her but if I had to I would.  But come Sunday morning she was nowhere to be found. I honestly prayed that she didn't pop out somewhere and attack me.  I literally was trying to check everywhere to see where she was hiding...probably a good way to get my face pounced on!  I just didn't want any surprise attacks.  The dogs hung out on the couch with me while I watched some episodes of grey's anatomy cause I never take the time to watch that show anymore.  The owners came back Friday night and I was able to take off for home for my nephew's 1st birthday party.

Before I hit the birthday party....you might remember me mentioning the guy from 16.4  that I went to DC with and how he was back in town.   He  flew into town on Monday morning/afternoon because he is leaving for work for a couple months from here.  No, I won't tell you what he does  and you will never see pictures of him out of respect for him asking me not to.  But let me be the first to say...it kills me not to be able to post at least one picture of him or at least us together (I only have one of us together haha).  I mean I like the guy and would like to share that with everyone but I have to be respectful of what he asks.  But in my free time, what I have of it, every extra second has basically been his when he doesn't get tied up with work as well.  He leaves tomorrow (Wed., and yes I know you're reading this after the fact) and it will suck but he's left before.  But at least this time I know I'll see him again and that he's coming back.  But the plan was to have him come with me if he had the weekend off from work.  He didn't so off to home I went all by my lonesome.

Jameson's 1st Birthday🎉

I didn't get into town until late Friday night which I also didn't realize when the owners said they would be get back at 9, they meant 9pm.  I could have sworn I had asked them that question and they said AM and not PM.  O well it allowed me to get some extra stuff done around my place that I wouldn't have to take care of on Sunday.  More time with the guy :)

Saturday morning, I got up and went and worked out and my coach's roommate's class where I had my last Oly meet back at the end of March.  He has some awesome roommates and it's funny to hear all kinds of stories about my coach he probably doesn't even know that I know.
After that it was time for the monster mash party for my nephew.  My nephew has the same personality as my brother, very laid back. He just enjoys being held.  They had ordered Dominos pizza for food and even though it's not within my macros I needed food!  Don't worry, I didn't have much.  My sister-in-law made his birthday cake, Confetti cake that was shaped like Mike (one eye) from Monsters Inc. but was the color of Sully (blue), and had some cupcakes as well.  
We did presents before cake and cupcakes and Jameson actually climbed up on top of one  of his presents.  He wasn't much into unwrapping them though, even though his older sister certainly was!  Jameson was moving too slow on opening presents to make Addison happy.  Jameson getting into that cake was hilarious and then trying to share it with other people.  He had it all over his face and hands. I honestly thing he would have destroyed the entire thing if his mom would have let him.   Maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen but let's face it, I'm biased because he's my nephew.  I only stayed for about 2.5hrs and then headed home and got in the bed.  
I was waiting on my mom to get home and we were planning on going to go  the White Water Center and listen to the band but she feel asleep on the couch which isn't unusual for my momma.  I was dying to get out of that house though.  So since we missed the band we went to the grocery store instead. Cause I needed eggs.   And we just came back and watched the latest love story on Hallmark channel.  I know we're party animals.

HWC Unbroken

Sunday morning I skipped church because I had volunteered to work one session at an oly meet that morning.  I enjoy going to Oly meets.  And it was a free pass to get into the Europa Games Expo, which I had never been to, fuel that burning itch to compete in another meet and get some free samples.  And of course to help out referring and get my judges book signed.  I was really impressed by one girl who could lift more than I could...no wonder I was impressed right? I got there early and was able to walk around for a bit and see all the different vendors.  What fitness girl wouldn't love all the vendors that usually give out free samples right?  And I wanted to stop by and see my friend Krystal since she was a vender there as well with her store Rogue American Apparel. We talked for a bit and off back to judge the oly meet I went.  I was the center judge, which they wondered if I was comfortable with.
Well what do you know the first time I ever judged a comp, I was thrown in as the center judge.  Which is a little nerve racking considering you're the one who makes the decision of when the athlete is allowed to drop the bar.  But it also didn't help that Europa also had a CrossFit competition going on right beside us. I get ADD sitting still, so I would watch the CrossFit comp while in between judging lifters.  Some times I would look over just in time for the next lifter to walk on the platform....bad head ref!  But we all agreed on good lift and no lift 95% of the time.  I think there was only twice I almost forgot to tell/give the down signal for the lifter.
After I finished referring I swung back by my friend's booth but she wasn't there.  So I doddled around a bit trying to see if I could score anything free from the vendors.  My only luck was with Quest which I got a couple of free cereal protein bars from them (which I already have plenty of) and some quest bars.  Saves me from having to buy some!

After the Eupora expo and finishing referring I went home and finished up a couple things and then hung out with the guy from 16.4.  Not sure if I'll come up with a name on here for him yet or not...and if I do, what will it be?

Some more exciting things coming up in the next one...or at least I'm excited about them!

~God Bless

"Training strength and endurance mentally, physically, and spiritually."

Steamboat Springs Colorado (Birthday Trip)

Let me just start by saying, if you have never been to Colorado you NEED to go.  Yes,  I went a little later in the year for the snowboarding/skiing aspect but was still able snowboard.

There was no problem with my flights on the way out except for the fact that from CLT to DEN feels like 5 hours instead of the 3-3.5 that it's suppose to take.  I might have been over it about an hour into the flight.
Note to self:  bring something to entertain yourself with!  When landing in Denver there was a nice place to eat inside called Modern Market that gives you a macro (protein, carbs, fat) count for each menu item and you are also able to get a half size, which was very nice because the macros counts on a regular were double what I needed.  I did all the calculations in my head and then got the closest thing to it, half Fiesta Salad.  And the receipt had a list of the half size macro counts on it as well (posted this picture on my instagram)

The flight from DEN to Hayden/Steamboat Spring was only 25min., so that was wonderful. It was nice that Colorado was 2 hours behind.  It made it somewhat easy to keep up with the time difference but I did forget on occasion when checking facebook at 430am on my return flight and wondering why people were posting about working out so freaking early...o yeah, NC is two hours ahead! But who am I to talk about working out early.  I get up at 330 and hit the gym by 5.
A fellow neighbor of mine moved out to Colorado 5 years ago and actually lives in the area of Steamboat so she was nice enough to pick me up from the airport.  But how was I going to get around the rest of the trip?  Steamboat's bus system is free!  So that was wonderful.  And the bus route was a straight line from the top of the mountain to the end of town.

-=CrossFit Steamboat=-

CrossFit Steamboat is the only CrossFit gym in Steamboat Springs.  I had contacted them a couple months ahead of time just to get a heads up and see what needed to be done about me dropping in.  I didn't need to do anything prior to dropping in except show up a few minutes earlier to film out forms on Wodify.  I went in for open gym both days, 930am and 4pm, as I have my own programming. 
Note to self:  67/64 degrees in CO feels like the 70s in NC, wear shorts!

The first day at CF Steamboat everyone was really friendly. (Which they were nice both days.)  It was funny, when I first got there a lady  asked me if I was a regionals athlete.  Very flattering of her but I honestly laughed in my head at that question.  I told her I was an oly lifter and some asked me if I was going on join in on their class workout.  So just got all stretched out while they did their workout. After I had just gotten started, two other guys came in during open gym to do some oly work and a small workout.  The lady who had asked me if I was a regionals athlete came over and told them I was a real oly lifter, haha.  I tried to help them out some when I was on breaks between my reps and then when they finished they asked what tips would I give to someone who was just getting started oly lifting, a true beginner.  I gave them a few tips that I learned from my USAW course, and some things I have learned from my coach just from my form.  Funny how you learn new things.

I do have to be a little understanding when it comes to dropping in at gyms and realizing that unless I'm in Europe or drop in at an oly gym all the weights are going to be in pounds and not kilos.   It's just not CrossFit's thing in the USA.  It is quite annoying to have to "calculate", thanks Siri, from kilos to pounds but if it calculated to 101lb from kilos I would just make it 105lb.  I'm not a person for going under in weight when transferring from one to another.  I definitely enjoy dropping in there.  Plenty of space, and weights to use.  It was a well equipped gym and didn't have trouble finding anything I needed or making myself at home.

Snowboarding

Back Story:
So last time I attempted anything related to snowboarding was when I was maybe at the end of elementary school/beginning middle school and my brother was in boy scouts.  I was "taught" how to ski.  And the only reason I have quotations around taught is because it didn't last very long.  I couldn't stay in the cold long when I was younger because my circulation is terrible. Ha granted it still is. I get asked all the time what is wrong with my hands because they are constantly red and turn purple when I get cold, and it doesn't take long for me to get cold (20min when I was younger in the snow). 
So we went to Winter Place, I believe, for the boy scout ski trip.  We got our skis and poles and of course we are playing around because we've never been on them.  So then we are divided into groups for a ski lesson.  I don't remember how long it was, but the first thing the instructor does is take our poles away and have us start moving in a circle.  Welp, about 10min later I'm telling him I need to go inside because my hands are freezing.  His response, "Keep moving around, they will warm up eventually."  I can't tell you how many times I've had people tell me this in my life.  And when I was younger I had no filter for my mouth like I do now that I'm older. So I think I moved around for about two more minutes before I took my skis off and went and got my mom with tears running down my face because I was so cold.

Fast Forward:
So, because it was a beautiful day in Colorado, 67 degrees, I was able to wear light layers.  I mean I wore a tank top with a light lulu jacket over top of it.  On a semi snow covered mountain.  That's not heard of in NC!  I was very lucky, my neighbor had extra gear...boots, pants, butt pads (cause it was my first time and I would be falling a lot), wrist guards, gloves, helmet, goggles, and she even had an extra lift ticket for me :) 
We only went down the mountain once.  Cause learning to snowboard is harder than it looks but it's easy to get good at.  And yes, we started up the hill...no bunny slopes for me.  She said it was easier to learn that way and I honestly believe it was.  I did fall on my ass several times though and got a little frustrated but I wasn't going to let that stop me from getting down the mountain as best as I could.  Plus who was going to come get me all the way at the top of the mountain anyway?  I learned how to lean and turn, stop, stand up, and do falling leaf. 

This is from the very top of the mountain...my
first time snowboarding!

Falling leaf was honestly my favorite. Probably because I felt like I was in control of what I was doing instead of going full speed down the mountain.  I figured you'd put most of your weight in the back, but nope, you put it in the front leg.   I went half way down part of the mountain doing that, without busting my tail.  I was proud of myself on that one.  I did face plant once and did a little tumble another time, which I figured would happen and I laughed it off.  Just glad my tumbling and face place didn't send me a long way down the mountain.  My fingers did start to get a little cold toward the end but that's cause I had to keep putting them in the snow to stand back up from all my falling down.
Getting on and off lifts is a completely different story (I'm sure it's easier with skis ha).  Stephanie, my neighbor from when I was younger, had them slow the lift down so she could try and help tell me how to get off...I ended up on my stomach face first in the snow.  And then ducked for cover cause I was still close to the lift and didn't want to get hit in the head.  Think duck and cover.  That's what I looked like.

I wanted to go again the next day but don't know the mountain that well so I was afraid to go by myself.  But it would be awesome to be able to do that one a regular basis.

🍓Strawberry Park Hot Springs🍓

So my mom has always told me about hot springs and how her and her boyfriend go all the time.  So Colorado has plenty and there was some about 20min from my resort.  And added bonus, you can get a free shuttle to take you up there, but I went with Stephanie, her boyfriend (Adam), and her boyfriend's dad (Don) after happy hour after I finished up at the gym.  I was super excited to go. Nice relaxing way to end a vacation,  and to be able to soak in some warm water.  You take a long dirt road almost to the top of the mountain.  It was a little scary cause you could feel the back end of the truck moving around going over the dirt and gravel.  Guess it was a little bit of a rough drive.  We changed clothes once we got to the top. 

In front of the snow cold river..in the hot spring.

There are several different pools at the hot springs, each different in temperature depending on what pool you were in.  The higher the pool, the hotter the water.  But the pool I got in was right by the river.  And the river was colder than normal I was told because of the snow run off.  The hot springs water feels like you are getting in a hot tub and what's nice is you can leave your stuff sitting around and not worry about anyone taking it.  Completely different from NC.  We were only at the hot springs for about 30-45min and I was only half-way in for most of the time.  My body for some odd reason doesn't do well just sitting around in hot water.  I could never just hangout in a hot tub when I lived at home (we did have a hot tub).  I think I only lasted about 15-20min in the hot tub at home.
When you looked around everyone was being entertained by the people jumping into the river because it was so cold.  And seeing some people's reactions were quite funny.  I figured it was cold if people were jumping in and then people weren't even making it to the other side.  So I'm not going to lie...I had to try it for the heck of it.  And like I mentioned earlier, me and cold don't mix very well. 
So I tried to ease my way into the snow cold water.  Not a good idea.  You're just suppose to go for it like in a cold swimming pool, just dive right it.  And funny thing is, is at an actual pool, I would.  But anyway.  So I decided I would ease my way in.  I could handle it about up to my thighs and then you just step off into the river.  And in the process there were some words coming out of my mouth, nothing terrible though.  But as soon as I stepped off and a little ways away from the steps I 100% turned my ass back around for those steps.  But the funniest part of that is when Don decided to come with me to get in.  He was on his way in as I was on my way out.  And Don did it the right way, just dove right in making me even more wet and water hitting my face.  My legs started to get splotchy red from the temperature change of the water hitting my skin when I switched back to the hot springs.  We only stayed for about 20 more minutes after that.




Steamboat → Charlotte
My first flight was at 810 in the morning and that meant leaving for the airport at 6am...but why?! I want to say I got up at 430 that way I could make sure everything I needed was packed, took any extra food I had left over to my neighbor, and we headed off to the airport.  We got there around 7 and had to wait about 20-30min after getting there for the check-in kiosks to open.  We waited for around 45min-1hr and before we took off I had to call a friend.  You remember the guy for 16.4 last year in DC?  Well he's back!  So we talked for a bit before I got on my flight and then headed out for Denver.  Don was also on my early flight but he was taking the next plane from Denver to Missouri.  Flying into Denver and seeing the snow capped mountains is really beautiful.  And when we first took off I was looking for my neighbor Stephanie's house, no luck.  We landed in Denver and I had to find a board to find where my gate to Charlotte was going to be.  I found it, of course on the opposite side the airport I was already on, and then went and got some food.  I was starving.  I couldn't decide between the Modern Market or TCBY for a fruit smoothie with some whey added to it.  I went with the smoothie.
After I got to my terminal they were asking for volunteers to be bumped from the flight, they had overbooked.  Good job United.  Yes, I was flying with United.  Now cut me some slack I had booked my tickets back in February before this whole debacle had happened with the passenger who refused to get off when asked and got his face smashed in.  I was a little worried about not getting to workout on Saturday, since my programming is Mon.-Sat. but coach said take the day to relax so it wasn't going to hurt me to have to miss my currently booked flight.  I went up to the kiosk and asked when the next flight for Charlotte was (1.5hr after my current one), and was there any compensation for volunteering to be bumped....$400 flying voucher and a food voucher.  So I volunteered.  I'll take $400 toward another plane ticket please!  Means I get to go travel more than I had already planned, so I'm perfectly okay with that.  Now if they didn't need me to get off the flight I wouldn't get any of that but lucky for me they did and they booked me on the next flight to Charlotte....American Airlines on another end of the airport.  I had to take the subway to get to the other side of the airport.  
My luggage stayed on the United flight though and I just had to go to the United baggage claim when I got to Charlotte to pick it up.  I took my food voucher and got a salad while on the plane so I could have dinner besides all the pretzels and biscotti they were handing out.  I finally landed in Charlotte around 530 and then didn't head home until Sunday.  There was no way I was going to drive back home after traveling all day!

It was an amazing trip, just wish I would have stayed longer....next time.  And I'm going to snowboard more next time too. 

Day in the Life of Anxiety

You're mind goes from one thought to another, bouncing around in your head like one of those balls in a pinball machine.  Never completely focusing on one thing, but a thousand different things in a matter seconds or minutes.  Your heart is constantly racing, and you feel like you're about to explode at any moment.  Anything going on around you just adds to the triggers in your head, people talking to you with racing thoughts that never slow down, you can't fully process and seems as if even one extra thought thrown at you is about a million.
Not many people know this but I do deal with anxiety.  Unfortunately my anxiety can sometimes result in depression and every so often I'd rather deal with that than the actual anxiety.  So I figured I'd let you in my head and let you know what it's like and what I think when these things happen.

I've got a meet in about 2 weeks and my clean & jerks are feeling good, minus the fact that I just realized I'm starting to straighten my back leg again on my jerks and I've worked hard to fix that.  Jeez, one more thing to fix, but lately my snatches have been giving me trouble.  Some days I can figure out the issue myself and well some days I just bug my coach.  Glad I've got him.  I know I bug him and I'm glad he puts up with it, but I do feel bad about it.  But instead of taking it as one bad day at 80% I think about how yesterday's 80% was a struggle  and how the past 2 weeks haven't been that great and all of a sudden my head zooms straight to my meet and how I'm worried that I'll do shitty on them there too.  I really want to do well and always have good meets.  And then I start thinking about the long term goal of making it to the American Open this year, and how bad I want to be there.  and what if I don't make it.  Yes, there's

always the next year but I want it this year.  Should motivate me to work extra hard right?  And trust me I would do any extra work that I would need to do to get there, even if it meant two-a-days.  I finally got so pissed this morning over missing my 80% that I finally hit them.  Guess what a little bit of aggression can do.

I didn't work at the school today and was told yesterday that they didn't have any work for me since I'm just a sub, but I always swing by and double check after my workouts just in case.  Still had nothing, but when the VP walking into the office as this is being said my head goes straight to, "am I in trouble?"  I said something the day before about a teacher I was covering in front of the secretary about not like that room/teacher because they're messy.  Did I just get myself in trouble.  And I by no means and not appreciative of the days I work.  I love my job every day.  Some days may be a little
more stressful for me than others but I don't love it any less. I don't like that days that I'm not at work.  That school is apart of me and so are the kids.  The kids become almost a little family of your own.  Like they're your own kids.  And I'm always worried that I'm not good at the one thing that I love doing, which is working with special education kids.  They just touch your heart.

And then there's the paycheck that literally just got drained in 2 days from paying bills when I'm trying to save money.  I've been bad about that this past year, bit I start to see hope when the other paycheck roll ins.  That's always a constant worry.  And then being told I end up having to spend a little more money now just adds on top of that stress.  Yay.  It's a never ending battle.



Lately, since the beginning of the year, I've been content being single.   Happy to focus on my and my lifting.  Not to have any distractions and just focus on me.  No desire to start dating.  And I have a guy friend that's the same way.  So great to hang out with except I freak out when he tells me he's ready to date.  One, why the hell is that bothering me?  I'm not ready to date.  And second,  could this mean that I'm catching the feels?  This is so not happening and nope.  I don't want to date, no desire to, want to focus on my lifting and me this year that's all I want to do.  And then my head gets rattled trying to figure out why it's bothering me.  Awesome!

I also have to worry now about my heart condition until I go to the cardiologist on the 22nd.  I was never told by my cardiologist 7 years ago that I needed to have it checked every two years.  Just told that mine was very mild because of all the working out I do.  A lot has changed in 7 years that could affect it, like my exercise routine.  I use to do a lot of cardio...now, none at all.  I'm nervous to go see them and find out the results of the ultrasound that I will get  and how that might possibly effect my programming.  And worried about the cost of doctors fees and the fee of an ultrasound.  Glad I have tips from my second job.



For those of you who may not know.  I'm a consultant for Rodan+Fields skincare.  Their products are absolutely amazing.  They've helped get rid of my acne that I've struggled with for years.  Proactive only worked temporarily and this stuff is just amazing.  And they make facial products for people who want to battle aging lines (anti-aging), dark spots, acne, and sensitive skin (eczema, psoriasis, etc).  But I finally went to make some of my mini-facial to give out as samples since I started the business back in June of 2016.  I'm a little behind.  Money has been an issue, but you have to put the money into the business to really get back out of it.  But it's scary to spend that money.  So I finally was able to get some mini-facial put together and I went to print out the sheets that go in the bags for instructions and place a new ink cartridge in and my printer doesn't recognize it.  I contact HP, and they walk me through some steps and it still doesn't work.  The send me new cartridges and I'm going to try those later today, but what if those don't work.  Then I have to replace my printer which has less than 50 days left on the warranty, which puts me even more behind on getting mini-facials out and building the business.  Let me tell you building a network marketing business is scary stuff.  A lot of people don't want to spend money on products that are proven to help them with skincare concerns.


And I realized that I booked to dog sit on Easter so I won't get to spend Easter with my family this year.  A first in the 4 years that I moved.  I didn't realize this when I booked my trip to Steamboat, CO for my birthday and then decided to head back on Sunday for dog sitting for the week.  And there's no refund on tickets so I'm not going to just throw away the money I spent on a treat to myself.  I'll be by myself and really don't want to be.  I'm sure it won't be that big of a deal being by myself for a holiday as many people around here have done it but just something that bothers me.

Sometimes dealing with it is easy and then others it's an all day thing.  I don't tell a lot of people this because I feel like people will view me differently, treat me differently, and it's scary to tell people.  I don't want it to effect what I love doing, like my sport and job.  But it's good for people to know, but it's also a scary thing.  I just want people to understand if I'm acting differently the is why.  Other people might see it as stress but it's much more than that.  It's everything running through your head at one time and not knowing how to stop it.