Monthly Archives: July 2009

Hello Ladies!!!

OK, so I am checking in!!! I have just WAAAAY too much on my plate right now, and it is starting to get to me!!! I am working on downsizing the obligations so that I have some time to take care of me!!! 😉

This weekend was rough – it doesn’t help that I am on my period, and man am I ever hormonal!!!!! UGH!!! My poor husband!!! He is just so patient with me!! God bless that man!!!

Anyway, weigh in is on Wednesday! I am not expecting too much, but I really am hoping that I haven’t gained! We will see!!!

Do any of you watch Ruby??? She is just so inspiring, and I figure if she can lose 100 pounds, then why can’t I???? Right?????? 😉 Ruby is awesome!!!!! Check her out if you aren’t familiar with her!!!

Here is a link to her website:
http://www.mystyle.com/mystyle/shows/ruby/index.jsp

Love, love, love her!!!! 😉

Anyway, I am off to bed!!! I hope all of you are doing great!!!! 😉

One More Thing!!

Oh yes! I have posted the most current monthly challenge graph!! If you know what your numbers should be, please let me know and I will update that for us this evening!! (I can see that I am going to have to exercise A LOT if I am going to reach my goal by the end of the month!!!)
-Christina 😉

Reality Check!!!

Good morning, Ladies!!!

I have to apologize, I have been so busy that it was taking me forever to get back in touch – and then pretty soon, I just kept making every excuse not to because I knew I had been doing so badly with the plan, and my lack of exercise!!! UGH!!!

Well, I am back and ready to get going!!! Last week I had a trip to Wisconsin, which went well. I had to get some more computer training, and the class I took there was a lot of fun!

Also, I am the oldest of 5 girls, and my youngest sister, who is 18 now (she is 15 years younger than me) is working out at a camp which is right outside of Portland, so my husband has been picking her up on the weekends so she can stay with us! She is always soooo much fun to have around!!!

Today is weigh in day, and to be honest with you, I am scared!!! I have been doing so poorly – it has been kinda like I haven’t been caring, so I have been eating whatever I want, whenever I want, and not really moving too much – which combines to make a recipe for disaster!!! I have got to get this weight off!! Why is this such a struggle??? Grrrrrr! Anyway, it is what it is – so I am back on plan as of this morning!!! I am going to just take it one day at a time!!! 🙂

Give me a minute and I will go weigh and measure…
Ok, so I have gained .8 pounds, pretty good considering the week I’ve had!!! I have gained inches everywhere this week, I am hoping it is just water weight!!! but oh, well! Who am I am I kidding??? At least I now know where I stand and what I need to do to get back on track!!!

On a different subject, tonight is the release of the new Harry Potter movie! I just love the Harry Potter world!! So, I will be getting off work early tonight so that my husband and I can go to that this evening – that should be fun!!!

Also, a couple of other things that I am REALLY, REALLY, REALLY trying to get focused on is getting my finances in order, and downsizing my personal belongings!!! I find that the more money I make over the years the more crap I acquire! Not too good when you have to focus on yours physical well-being and all you can see is the pockets, and piles, and mounds of stuff you’ve gotten everywhere, and you are broke at the end of every paycheck!!! UGH!!! I make more money now than I ever have in my life and I really have nothing to show for it!!! I have got to get it together!!! I am going to meet with one of my girlfriends on Saturday morning so that we can both be a one-on-one financial support to one another!!! Wish us luck! I will keep you posted!!! 😉

Anyway, I just had to get back in touch with lovely ladies!!! I hope all of you are doing well, I’ve noticed that communication amongst us has gone down – please don’t give up on our group – WE REALLY CAN DO IT!!!!

TTFN!
-Christina 😉

Be a Queen!

I have been reading “Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul” and came across this FABULOUSLY inspiring commencement address that Oprah Winfrey gave to the graduates of the all-female Spelman College in 1993:

Be a queen. Dare to be different. Be a pioneer. Be a leader. Be the kind of woman who in the face of adversity will continue to embrace life and walk fearlessly toward a challenge. Take it on! Be a truth seeker and rule your domain, whatever it is – your home, your office, your family – with a loving heart.

Be a queen. Be tender. Continue to give birth to new ideas and rejoice in your womanhood…My prayer is that we will stop wasting time being mundane and mediocre…We are daughters of God – here to teach a world how to love…

It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, where you come from, who your parents are – nor your social or economic status. None of that matters. What matters is how you choose to love, how you choose to express that love through your work, through your family, through what you have to give to the world…

Be a queen, Own your power and your glory!
-Oprah Winfrey

Isn’t that amazing??? That was just too good not to share!:-)
-Christina 😉

Monthly Challenge

This is officially our Yet to Be Named Sisterhood (YTBNSH) first Monthly Challenge.

This challenge is for the entire month of July 2009, and it is taken from the Weight Watcher’s website – YEAH WW!!! 🙂 The content has been slightly modified to fit this group.

The July Move More challenge!!!

Many of us have a particular exercise routine that we like to do but its good to shake up the routine a bit and get into some cross training.

In this fitness challenge, you get to choose 3 activities from the list below.*
Jogging
Swimming
Walking
Treadmill
Stair master
Cross-trainer
Elliptical
Arc Trainer
Spinning/Cycling
Strength Training
Karate
Aerobics/Fitness classes
Wii-Fit
Yoga/Pilates
Exercise DVDs
Jump Rope
Skipping
Jumping on a trampoline
Skiing
Hiking
Kick Boxing

*If I have missed your activity, just comment this posting, and I will add it to the list.

You will earn 1 point for every 10 minutes you spend doing that activity during the month of July.

Pick the target medal level that you want to achieve:

Bronze:
Earn 18 points each week for each of your 3 activities, this will add up to 72 points for the month. (This is based on 3 hours of exercise per week, spread across your chosen 3 activities.)

Silver:
Earn 24 points each week for each of your 3 activities, this will add up to 96 points for the month. (This is based on 4 hours of exercise per week, spread across your chosen 3 activities.)

Gold:
Earn 30 points each week for each of your 3 activities, this will add up to 120points for the month. (This is based on 5 hours of exercise per week, spread across your chosen 3 activities.)

Lastly, decide how you will reward yourself when you hit your target goal. Post your reward ideas in today’s comments (make sure that you plan on implementing this reward on August 1st!!!), and on August 1st we will report back to see how we all did, AND post next month’s challenge!!!.

Oh, and make sure you let me know how many points you are up to on a daily or as often as you are able, and I will graph our results and make sure it is kept up to date. The graph will be posted in the left hand column of our blog!!!

Good luck ladies, and a special thanks to Tiffany for finding this SWEET idea and bringing it to the group’s attention!!! I this is going to be fun!!!

If you have any questions, please let me know!
-Christina 😉

Weigh-In Day Results!

Good morning, ladies!!!
Ok, to say that I have fallen off of the wagon may be an overstatement, because I really have been mindful of what I should be doing – but I really haven’t done any of it this week!!! UGH!!

Not to worry, I have been reading the posts and they have motivated me to not give up!!! So, my weigh-in day results today are that I have gained… give me a minute, I have to go weigh/measure!!! Ok, so it is official, I have – drum roll please – LOST .2 pounds!!! WOO-HOO!!! I know .2 pounds is not a lot, but when I compare that to thinking what I had gained? Whew!!! What you can’t hear right now is the angels singing, the fireworks going off, and the sheer pandemonium that is going off in my head right now because I DIDN’T GAIN!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! 😉 Ok, so measurement wise, I am actually down another .75 inches, which brings my grand total down to 3.25 inches lost!!! Miracles really do happen! 😉

Ok, so seriously, I am officially back OP starting this morning. I find that if I don’t take the time to track my points, that is when I am a goner, so I am going to make more time to make sure that I can get that done. Also, I have been using every excuse in the book not to get out and start exercising – so this week I am going to track every day, by posting on the blog, what I have done and for how long!!!! That should give me some motivation – because the idea of having to post self-created bad news on the blog is terrifying to me!!! I would rather just do the work the right way, the first time!!!

In other news, and VERY EXCITING NEWS for myself and my husband: today is our 14th wedding anniversary!! I am telling you this year has been a doozy – I really wasn’t sure if we were going to make it!!! We got married when we were just 19, and besides my mom, I don’t think there was anyone who thought we would make it past 2 weeks. We were just babies trying to figure out a way to grow into who we were meant to be and it really was tough. I sometimes think we hung in there because, besides the fact that we genuinely loved (and still love) each other, I think we may have wanted to show those naysayers that they were wrong!!! 😉

To give you an idea of what I am talking about, our pastor called us the night before the wedding to let us know that he would not be able to perform the ceremony because he felt that Jason had Donna-Reed-type expectations of what a wife was supposed to be and therefore wasn’t ready to get married. I was like “WHAAA??? We have been in marriage counseling with you for 8 months, don’t you think that you could’ve said something BEFORE the night before our wedding?????” I know he meant well, and he may have been a little right, but thankfully his wife came and performed the ceremony the next day – so crisis, averted, and here we are 14 years later!!! I have to be honest with you and tell you that I would marry him again in a heartbeat!! I really love that man of mine!!! 😉

I have the rest of the week off, so we will be going and doing something fun – Jason and I usually play vacations by ear! Then I will be leaving on Sunday for a business trip in Wisconsin and will be back by Thursday of next week. I will try to keep posting, but I am not sure how much time I will have or if I will have access to a computer – I will let you know!!! 🙂

Anyway, I will be posting a month long challenge that will last for all of July in a few minutes – so please stayed tuned!!
-Christina 😉