05.21.13

Posted in: figure compeition, stress, work

I will admit that I stress a lot about things that are out of my control. I’m working on that and learning to let life take the course that it is meant to take and I should sit back, shut up and enjoy the ride when I start to feel overwhelmed. It’s a lot easier to say than do.I will be the first one to admit that.

I started to freak out yesterday when I realized that my work schedule was going to change from a “normal” 8-5 type schedule to a12-9pm schedule. My first thoughts were..how am I going to manage at the gym when they close early on Fridays and my next questions were how the change would effect my workout plan and would my body be in “shock” with all the changes in sleep and eating due to this change.

I really wanted to just eat everything in the house last night and throw my hands up in the air (see how dramatic I get). I took a deep breath and sat down at the computer desk and sent my trainer an email to let him know what was going on and that I was freaking out. He saw the email and replied right away with “deep breath” that was the first thing he wrote..when I saw it this morning it was just what I needed to see..he is not freaking out.why should I? Lot’s of people compete and have crazy schedules and here I am acting like it’s the end of the world.

As I wrote this I can see how silly I was acting but this was a major issue for me last night. Today is different..as it stands now it looks like I may be able to get out of here by 7pm..not perfect but I will take it and another plus is that I won’t have to get a second gym membership. I just have to hope they don’t make any more negative changes to the work schedule and I should be ok.

I guess my main point is…well, do I really have a point? I’m not sure. I’m just glad I have a trainer I can contact when I am freaking out, friends who will listen to my ramble on about this stuff and a husband who has not packed his bags and left yet. lol

05.20.13

Posted in: diet, gym, shopping, video

Here is my weekend recap via video style on YouTube. It was a pretty calm weekend with some shopping and working out thrown in the mix. Oh, I’m also looking for some new YouTube channels to subscribe to so if you have a channel or would like to share one of your favorites please leave a comment below and I will check it out.

05.14.13

Posted in: figure compeition, friends

Words can be damaging only if you let them.stick and stones (is the old saying) it’s true!

 

This video will explain what I’m talking about better. Let me know your thoughts on this subject.

 

05.12.13

Posted in: diet, fashion, figure compeition, friends, gym, posing

What better day to break out the hooker heels aka stripper heels aka posing shoes than on a Sunday aka Mother’s Day. I had another posing lesson today and I’m so happy that I switch posing coaches. I feel like I made the right choice and this is nothing personal I just want to flow through my posing on stage and not feel uncomfortable. I don’t think that is too much to ask for.

I’m working on my posing way out from competition date.but, they say practice makes perfect. This picture was taken in error because we were actually trying to do a video.oops! Lucky for you though because you got this awesome picture. lol

When I got home from posing practice I decided to treat myself to some gym clothes and some new sports bras and I also found this awesome gem! Extra Dessert Delights Raspberry Vanilla Cupcake..It’s like my birthday all over again!

I know that my current gym pants are too big for me and they are a size medium but I ended up fitting in a XS (yeah, that translates to extra small).never in my life would I have guessed that! I was super excited!!!! I also decided to dress up my sports bras and get some color. Everything I have now is black, grey or red.not anymore though.

Don’t ya love the colors. My closet is looking so pretty with all the colorful clothes I have been buying. I love it!

I had a great weekend and now I’m about to head to bed and get some sleep so I can be ready for a good cardio session in the morning and get this prep started on a good foot! I’m excited to see how things change for me this year.

 

Posted in: figure compeition, friends, gym, video

Good morning and Happy Mother’s Day! This weekend symbolizes my first full weekend as a 35 year old and also the start of my next figure competition prep. I’m  officially 14 weeks out from my next competition and I’m really looking forward to seeing some great changes in my body. I’ve posted my current stats below so I have a point of reference to go back to as the show date gets closer.

Yesterday morning I got a text from a girlfriend asking if I wanted to do some weights and cardio with her.it was just the kick in the butt I needed to get out of the house. The only bad thing is that she was running late so we only got cardio in before she had to leave but on a good note I got lots of self pictures in my car (as if I don’t have enough).

I spent the better part of my day at the salon and I totally forgot that it’s prom season and the salon was packed. Oh well, my stylist is totally worth the wait.

This picture look a little odd with the way my head is turned but this was the outcome of the color we did. I’m loving the lighter color at the bottom..very pretty!

I’ve been pretty good with daily vlogs and now that I understand the basics of windows movie maker it’s getting even easier to upload daily videos. Check out my May 11th video below:

05.10.13

Posted in: diet, review

As you all know I am always on the search for new condiments or ways to change up what I eat. I’m not crazy addicted to any peanut butter.don’t get me wrong, I love peanut butter but have a loyalty to any particular brand so when I was asked to review Pacific Beach Peanut Butter I thought “why not?” the website had some pretty interesting flavors. I guess we could call this peanut butter the gourmet of peanut butters with the interesting variety of flavors available and how smooth the peanut butter goes down I would call this a winner in that category.

I was sent 3 jars to review and all were good. The organic peanut butter was smooth to go down and seemed to spread easily. I’ve never been good at being able to spread peanut butter.I’m not sure if that’s a flaw of mine or an issue that most people have. I was impressed with the nutritional values on all 3 jars because they are basically the same as what I was getting from other brands. I would say that the organic peanut butter was good but was not the one that I was reaching for when I wanted an awesome snack.

The caramel is the jar that my husband wanted to try the most and I really got it to make him happy (and shut up.lol) and to my surprise this has been the “go to” jar for me. I’ve been spreading it on my coco pop cake that my foodie penpal sent to me last month and it makes for a fantastic snack. I’m not fond of how it spread on the pop cake.it looks clumpy and gritty in the picture below and does not spread very well..but in it’s defense.this is caramel.who would really think it would spread good anyways?!!?

Take my advice though.you have to actually taste it because it melts in your mouth.for real! It may not look like it but it’s smooth like butter and so good!

I had to get the cinnayum if for no other reason than the name.I mean.it says “yum” in the name! When I opened the jar the first thing I did was smell it.lol. Yup, it smelled like cinnamon to me. I’ve placed in on the pop cake and shared some on a banana with my chihuahua and we both love it. This one spreads a lot easier than the caramel too. I thought the combo of cinnamon and peanut butter might be a little gross but they actually go together well and I think complement one another in an unexpected way.

I guess could could say that we are more a fan of the cinnayum and caramel than the organic plain peanut butter. I’m not saying it’s bad but for the price I would prefer something a little more “exotic” when choosing my flavors. You should check out their site for the other flavors that they offer because I’m sure the rest would be just as good as what I tested.

Oh and Pacific Beach Peanut Butter is the only organic peanut butter made with Valencia Peanuts!

http://www.pbpeanutbutter.com.

As a special bonus and offer to my readers Pacific Beach Peanut Butter is offering 1 FREE jar with the  purchase of any 2 from the website to you. *Limit 1 FREE jar per customer.*

Reader Code valid through May 16, 2013- blogger4

You can also check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Pacific Beach sent me product to review in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions are my own.

05.4.13

Posted in: fashion, OOTD, shopping

I made the executive decision to take the day off work yesterday and spend time doing.nothing because I could. My plan was to spend time trying to figure out my husbands camera so I could use that for video and spend time working with windows movie maker and that turned out to be a major fail yesterday. Today was much better though and I got two videos to upload for me and now I can work on the editing part of my videos. Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed for me.

Don’t I look super cute and all dressed up for go to the pet store, dollar store and bass pro shops?

I did not clean out my car like I had planned to do but I took this picture of the bottom of my car floor.hmm, water bottles, stripper (posing) heels and protein shakers. What exactly does that say about me? What does the car of your floor say about you?

I really wanted to sneak this picture of my husband.do you see that stuff? He refused to get a cart of a basket. He bought a tub for the garage and put everything in there. I made him get the lemon cookies because the powdered cookies are the BOMB plus they remind me of Flowers in the Attic..did you ever read that book or watch the movie? It’s a MUST!

The most exciting part about heading to bass pro shops was the thought of getting fudge..I will get to that whole thing in a moment.we stopped by to visit the fish in the store and look at a few boats. I think it would be great to get a boat now that I feel more comfortable in “less” clothing.

This is what happened when I went looking for the fudge..SAD..nothing was put to be sold yet.the fudge was just there taunting me.HOW RUDE!

Oh well, I did find this pretty cool hat but did not buy it because I forgot about it and to be honest..I never wear hats.

 

 

Oh, and check out my first video from my husbands camera that I uploaded from windows movie maker.

05.2.13

Posted in: classic cars, family time, video

I’m really tired tonight so I will leave you with my vlog so that you can see what happened with me today. I’m starting to freak out before I start my competition prep but the day got better as we took the Nova out for a fly.I mean drive..

 

Posted in: fashion, OOTD, video

I promised y’all that I would let you know how the quest bar was and I tried it that same day but did not share with my husband as planned.Oops! To be honest I ‘m not a huge fan of protein bars because I think they are all pretty gross and the ones that are “ok” I would not run to the store and actually pay money for. The quest bar is one of those I absolutely would pay money for..heck, I would even stand on a corner and beg for money to purchase one of these bars. Yeah, it’s that good! I heated it up (because I read that’s what you should do) for about 12 seconds and got a fork out because it looks slimy to me and I’m stuck up like that. I even suck on ice from a spoon (yeah, I know.I’m special).

As I was going through my phone pictures I came across the picture of deodorant I took for a friend and that made me think that I should tell you the same thing.last year when I was busting tail for my competition I stunk.really bad. Even taking showers after every workout, using body sprays and (another deodorant) still make me stink of sweat. I started to use my husbands until I came across Degree Ultra Clear and now this is the only one I will use. It works for me.

May is officially here and so are all the nasty bugs. I had to get rid of 2 stink bugs when I got home last night and I think my husband got rid of 3 before I made it home. In case you have never seen one before..there you go! Oh, and a free tip: don’t try to kill them because that’s when they stink. You have to capture them and let them go or flush them down the toilet.

My first picture for the May #HealthyBalance photo challenge.

Work opened a “store” where we can purchase items with “work money” that we get for doing a good job. I’m not sure if you can see it but the glass says “Happy Birthday”..and it’s almost my birthday!

I’m trying to remember to take my OOTD pictures. One of these days I will make it a habit.

While my husband was out in the garage.doing whatever men do in there I was in the house getting pretty curls. Don’t you just love it!

You have to watch my vlog below to check out my grandson. He wanted me to do curls with him and he about killed me. He is between 40 and 50 pounds and we must have taken 20 videos and he kept getting a case of the giggles with each take. I posted the clip where he counts in English and Spanish.that’s one smart kid right there. I love him to pieces!

04.30.13

Posted in: diet, figure compeition, gym

 

Sometimes you have to take the attention off of you for a minute and share the limelight with other  people. I took the time today to let a regular at my gym know that I’ve noticed her hard work and she is looking amazing. I know how it feels when people take a moment to let me know the same thing so it felt good to repay the kindness.

I don’t want to speak for this woman but I would like to think I made her night and hopefully add that extra push in case she was feeling like a zombie going through the motions (I’ve been there myself).

I was on cloud 9 when I got compliments as I was preparing for my competition last year and it really kept me going through some of the more difficult days. I won’t make this a long post because I don’t know much about this woman except I see her busting her butt and it shows. The main takeaway that I want you to get from this is to let someone know that you notice their hard work because you never know what someone else is going through. When I lost my weight and was in prep I was dealing with a lot of personal things in the background that people had no clue about and the nice comments help me feel better about myself and to know that I was doing something good for myself.

Keep your head up.you never know who is watching you and remember sometimes it’s not always about you!

Posted in: diet, Foodie PenPals, review

It’s that time of the month again when I tell you about the awesome Foodie PenPals box I received. This month I was paired up with Lauren from Girl and Pup and she completely understood my diet restrictions currently and hooked a sista up!

Spices and hot sauce are always in demand in this house hold and the pop cakes were a serious hit! I love them with some peanut butter spread on top..so good!

I know that lots of people rave about the quest bars but I still have not tried one. I will let you know once I finally try it. My hope was that my husband and I would give it a try and share it but that has not happened yet.soon.soon I promise!

How sweet was it of Elmo (Lauren’s pup) to send DIgger some treats. They smelled so good I did not realize it was dog food and I almost “accidently ate dog food.lol (don’t judge).

I swear the box keeps getting better! Talk about perfect timing, About TIme Cake Batter protein powder just in time for my birthday month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you would like to join me in May and get your own Foodie PenPals package here is the deal:

 

And now it’s time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe.use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US, Canadian & European residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re from the US or Canada and are in participating for November, please CLICK HERE (www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/) to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by May 4th as pairings will be emailed on May 5th!
*If you’re from Europe, please CLICK HERE (www.thisisrocksalt.com/foodie-penpals/) to signup.

04.28.13

Posted in: #healthybalance photo challenge, figure compeition, posing

I hope you have had a great weekend and are prepared to step into May! I’m super excited because it’s my Birthday month and I plan to celebrate all month long. I’ve never been a big Birthday person but I think that turning 35 is a big deal and I feel amazing so why not celebrate all month?!

Anyways, this weekend was a busy one and I forgot to take pictures..bad Dawn! To make up for it I have many pictures from the last week so let me entertain you that way in case you’ve missed my cute face. I’m trying to take plenty of pictures now so I can really see the progress this time as it happens.

Oh, and I got this peanut butter to try from pacific beach and I will have a review coming real soon. This stuff is amazing and the nutrition is right in place with what I currently use and even better in a few points.

I prepared this year with lots of summer dresses so I know my clothes should fit as my competition dates get closer.

One of the girls on my team at work has a polaroid camera.do you remember those? She took this picture of me and the ‘bucket list” girls. (we have started a combo bucket list that we can complete together). Don’t I look like I’m in major need of a tan?

I’m getting my mind ready to start prep soon and decided it was time to see where I’m currently at with my measurements. I’m pretty happy with these numbers for now.

My husband found an old shirt of his and we can both fit in it..whew..never would have tried that a year ago..lol

Last week was all about posing practice. I don’t use the gym at work because it’s small and does not have the equipment I need so I decided to at least use the mirrors to practice posing. I get a few odd looks but I think I’m past the point of caring about what other people think about me.

Take a look at the muscles starting to form.can you see it?

I totally love this dress..I felt like a princess posing in it.

Saturday I got the bug and wanted to get rid of old t-shirts that are too big so I decided to cut them up instead. I will put them to use for a little while longer.

After I cut up t-shirts for over an hour I had to leave for a baby shower and a friends birthday party.see, told you it was a long day.

One last thing and I will let you leave..if you want to join me for my May #healthybalance photo challenge I would love to have you along.

OK, it’s way past my bedtime and I have a date with the stepmill in the morning.

04.23.13

Posted in: blog updates

I am not ignoring y’all.I promise! I’m trying to really take a few moments to decide where I want to go with this blog and to make sure I keep my focus on what makes me happy. There are several back posts that I want to clean up and pictures that I would love to retake.

 

I’m also working on a makeover and doing some major blog updates. I feel that it’s time to get a clear focus and let my blog reflect where I am not and where I want to go in the future.

 

Thanks for sticking around and understanding. I promise that things will get better soon. I just need to take a minor break while I figure a few things out.

04.18.13

Posted in: blog updates, general

I’m so happy to be on my computer right now….was I missed? I’ve missed y’all and my tablet does not give me the same satisfaction. I’ve got lots of catching up to do and I will be making some pretty cool changes around here soon so stay tuned!

 

04.11.13

Posted in: friends

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about life and how people can have an impact on us in the short time that they are here on earth with us. As a child and even a young adult death was not something I was ever faced with until last year and in that time I have lost…I have really lost…

My friend got sick about a week ago and had pneumonia in both her lungs and over the next few days after arriving at the hospital her body could not fight it off and she left us. I’ve watched how my friends have reacted to her passing and I’m observing some interesting behavior. It’s almost as though people are fighting over who she “touched” the most in her life. Maybe I’m looking at things differently than most people would.I really don’t know. It feels like it’s more about them and less about her. It seems to be about who “loved her the most” and it reminds me of us kids fighting for my mothers attention..it’s kind of sick to watch grown adults act like this.

I understand that everyone has their own way of dealing with the emotions that come from losing someone close to them; I’m still trying to figure out how I deal with it. This is the first time that I can look at death without the feelings of anger or betrayal and see it as a celebration of life. I would much rather look at death as a celebration of good things and think about the lessons that the person has taught us.

I’m living my life in a way that makes me a better person and I’m finally surrounding myself with good friends and people who love and care about me. I want to make people around me happy that they knew me and hopefully inspire others to be better also. I’m not saying I’m perfect (far from it) but I can say that I realize that life is short and if you surround yourself with the right people they can bring out the good in you and hopefully you do the same for them.

I have a challenge for you: Reach out to someone you may have lost contact with or that you have not spoken to in a while and make a date to get together (sooner rather than later). Don’t just talk about getting together set a date and stick to it.

04.3.13

Posted in: video

Posted in: fashion, video

That is the best way to put it, one day of being back in the office and I’m officially sick. This is not the way I planned my week out but I guess we all need to be ready for the unexpected.

I need to make a pit stop at the grocery store this morning to pick up some Gatorade and some new flavored almonds because the habanero BBQ is almost gone.

Oh, have you heard about the app called “Mailbox” for apple? I downloaded it yesterday but I’m on a waiting list to be able to actually use it. From what I’ve read it seems pretty cool. As you go through your inbox you can push emails to different times of the day or different days completely so that you can deal with the important stuff as it comes in. I’m excited to see how this works.

Since I’ve been out of work for over 2 months I’m not really doing any work yet so I took advantage of my company’s Learning Library and checked out this book. I should be done with it today and it has some pretty good quotes and explanation of quotes (based on the authors understands of them).

I think I will paint my nails tomorrow when I have the day off. I put the question to twitter and instagram to see what color I should use and everyone said “purple” so.I guess purple it is!

I did a short video on my lunch break yesterday for #FitVEDA but was not feeling well when I did it.and I had taken an allergy pill that was making me drowsy so please forgive any off the wall talking..lol

04.1.13

Posted in: gym, work

It’s a new month, week and chance to be optimistic. Today was my first day back to work since January and it was “different” that was for sure. I’m exhausted right now.I won’t make this a long post. I got up at 5am to head out for morning cardio..good lord, I have not done 5am cardio is FOREVER! It did feel great and I was ready to face the day head on.

Keeping things casual and comfortable for my first day back but did decide to rock my boots and I felt really good to be out of the house and feel like I had a purpose.

Oh, and today was the start of my #HealthyBalance photo a day challenge!

My contribution to the challenge today. What book are you reading?

A few FitFluential girls were talking about doing #FitVEDA (video every day April). I was planning on doing more with my YouTube channel anyways so this was perfect for me. I think making videos the closer I get to my competition will be my best bet. If you are not already subscribed my channel you can check it out here. I would love some more subscribers and if you have a channel let me know so I can subscribe to you also.

I will leave you to watch my video and we will catch up tomorrow. I’m sleepy..Zzzzzzz

Posted in: diet, Foodie PenPals

My package this month came all the way from Alaska! Pretty cool if you ask me. I was paired up with Krista this month and I appreciate her taking into consideration my diet restrictions. I know I can be a difficult one to shop for.lol.

 

 

And now it’s time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe.use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US, Canadian & European residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re from the US or Canada and are in participating for November, please CLICK HERE (www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/) to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by April 4th as pairings will be emailed on April 5th!
*If you’re from Europe, please CLICK HERE (www.thisisrocksalt.com/foodie-penpals/) to signup.

03.31.13

Posted in: fashion, salon/hair

I spent the better part of Saturday at the salon. I head back to work Monday morning after some time off work due to some medical issues and a new hairstyle can always make things better. Take a look at my peacock hairdo before I got to the salon.

I was surprised that the cell service was pretty good (that part of town is always horrible) so I started snapping pictures and chatting with people via Twitter and text.

My crazy mess before we added color.

The waiting time sucks! This is the best picture I took to express how much I hate waiting.lol

The after was worth the wait though. My hair is getting longer..boy, I have missed the length.

How was your weekend?

03.30.13

Posted in: family time, gym, OOTD, shopping

I’m unloading pictures on you that I’ve had in my phone..this is only from the past few days. We acted like tourist in our home town so I will spare you from all the pictures from the last few weeks that I’ve neglected to post. I will also keep this post more picture heavy with less talk because it’s the weekend after all.

This is from Wednesday (I think).Don’t I look all serious?

We had to make our 2,564,722 trip to the home improvement store in the last 30 days and I had to take a break from shopping to eat my meal. Yum!

Oh, and look at the goodness I found at the grocery store this week? Cinnabon almonds?!!!? YES!!!

I’m trying to get back into the #OOTD posts and I way dying to get my summer wardrobe out of the closet.even it I was freezing my butt off that day.

My husband and I decided to take advantage of my last Friday off and head to the Eastern Shore for lunch and some fun. We were pretty much acting like tourist even though we head over there often. This picture was taken from the Bay Bridge.

We did not want to eat before 1pm so we took a few moments to look around K-mart. Don’t I look like a movie star in these glasses?

We tried on a few hats.lol

Do I look “gangsta”?

We got out usual for lunch.chicken and dumplings with corn that we share and he gets pinto beans and I got some mac and cheese. We ask for one meal and split it and it’s still a lot of food.

Greg though he would be brave yesterday and try my mac and cheese.he hate anything with cheese but has got a lot better at trying new things. I think the look on his face will let you know that he will never try mac & cheese again..haha!

How cool is this picture I took going back over the bridge? It looks like an endless sky.

Greg surprised me by stopping at this memorial site. It’s in Annapolis next to the naval base. Welcome to the Blue Star Memorial.

Lot’s of good information here about the Battle of the Severn. I was impressed with how nice they keep the memorial site.

So many names of people lost to help protect us.

Pearl Harbor.

Our next stop (and a surprise to me) was at La-Z-Boy to buy new furniture. We have been looking at this couch for awhile and even tried to buy it at the store close to us but that was a mistake. We ended up at a store father from our house but the customer service was amazing! What do you think of our new couch? I can’t wait to show you the whole thing once we get it moved into the house. It’s super comfortable!

When we finally got home I had some goodie waiting at my door from Muscle and Fitness and it was totally unexpected! I love getting things in the mail.I’m like a little kid!

When is the last time you acted like a tourist in your own home town?

03.28.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

After a long talk with a very good friend of mine we discussed my plans for the year and how I plan to make everything work without going crazy and it was a good questions. I’m putting a lot on my plate this year with the house upgrades, work, blogging and contest prep. (two of them to be exact).

 

Last year I seemed to only have one focus.getting my butt up on stage for the first time and I did it but I also feel like everything else in my life took a backseat. This year I want to focus a lot more of finding a good balance with it all. I know it will be a challenge but I’m up for it.

 

In the past 12 months we have poured over 32 square yards of concrete, taken down 3 large trees, built a garage and added electrical in the garage and shed. We have painted every room in the house except the bathroom and kitchen (the year is not over yet). We have taken two bedroom and turned one into a walk-in closet for me and the second room is now a shared office with my husband and he has all his clothes in the closet in the office (it’s the larger closet). We installed hardwood floors in the walk-in closet, office and bedroom. We also moved out of the master bedroom into the second largest room so the master bedroom is now our office (are you still following me?).

 

In the very near future we are replacing everything in the bathroom and updating the kitchen. We are also getting new carpet and furniture. Whew…I need a nap just from writing all of this.

 

I start my competition prep in May so I wanted to get as much done before I start prep as I could. I feel pretty good about everything and I hope that having my laptop in the office will keep me more focused on my husband and Chihuahua when we are in the rest of the house. I think my iPad notes, calendar, to-do list and a few apps should help me stay on task.

 

I’m starting several tasks in April and one is doing daily (health themed) pictures via Instagram. I hope you will join me or at least follow me on Instagram to see what I post. There is no reason for me not to take pictures daily. I take my iPhone with me EVERYWHERE! Feel free to share the April #HealthyBalance with other people and let me know if you are posting so I can make sure to follow you also and don’t forget to use the hashtag #HealthyBalance

 

 

How do you keep everything in balance?

03.25.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

 

This is not the day to catch you up on everything that has been going on in my world. I will get some posts up soon with all that you have missed. Today is a day that I want to reflect on the above picture. I’ve been through hell and back over the last 18 months and it was silly of my to think that I could rebuild relationships.I have come to realize and accepts that it does not matter if you are trying to help family or friends..if people don’t want help and they don’t want you in their life that it is something to accept and move on.

 

It’s really sad to see someone who could have an amazing future give it all up for..nothing. This is no longer my problem and I am going to surround myself with people that I care about and that care about me. Life is to short and even if that means cutting ties with brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles or your own children..it is ok to do that. I am giving myself permission to step away and throw my hands up in the air and say that “I’m not a bad person for walking away” there is nothing in the world that says you must be mistreated because you have the same blood as someone else. I know in my heart that I have tried with every single person that I am walking away from now. I refuse to be abused by anyone!

 

There is not much else I can say..the picture tells a story and that is how I feel.

03.21.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

I’ve got my motivation back and I’m super ready to go back to work and to get back in the gym and kick some major butt! This weekend I will meet up with my trainer to pay him for competition prep that we will start in May. This year is all about making progress and proving that I am getting even better and that I mean business! It’s all about showing that I can change and keep moving forward to a better me. I’m also working on finding a balance between everything in my life.

 

The house is starting to come together so I don’t feel as bad leaving the house to do other things. My husband told me today to start hitting the gym harder and told me to do some ab work. He can see the same issue I see right now and I’m not made at him for trying to keep me on track.he is my partner in life and will push me to reach my goals. I was not made about the comment.it’s not like he said it to hurt my feelings. He wants to see me happy and to succeed. I needed a kick in my butt to get moving. 

 

03.14.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

Own a home and you are forever in debt. I finally have a return to work date and I actually can’t wait to get back at it again. I have about 2 weeks left to get things in order here at the house and we are making major changes in here. I will share what all the changes are as soon as we are done because we seem to change our mind every 2 seconds.

 

My sleep (or lack of) is pretty obvious from the video below and I’m really trying to not stress about things that are not in my control.

 

On a good note I will be spending some time with a girlfriend of mine this weekend at the DC Health Expo. Let me know if you will be there and we can hopefully meet up.

 

03.12.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

Life in the world of “Dawn” has been pretty boring so I have decided to not post anything to make you fall asleep. I’ve been away for a little while so I figured I would make your day and post what I’ve been up to recently.

 

While cleaning I came across this book in my closet that I forgot about. I’ve finally opened the book and have started reading it and wow..there is a lot of information in there. So far it’s a pretty good book but I’m sure it will take me awhile to actually finish it.

 

 

I’m still working may way through the different flavors of the Isopure protein drink in coconut and it was good.really good and I hate coconut but I figured I would give this a try. It actually had a light taste and no aftertaste. It reminded me a little of the flavored water I like to make in the summertime. I was really impressed with this flavor and will buy it in the future for sure.

 

 

Oh, I added a new app to my phone this week (I will share that in another post) but wanted to let you know that I set the clock to count down the days until my next competition.

 

 

I’m going to do a show later in the year for fun with a friend of mine. I think it will be a good way to end the year. I’m really excited.

 

 

How cool is it that my car hit 11,111 miles and I was able to get a picture of that???? Cool!

 

 

While we were busy cleaning this weekend my husband caught a dove on the garage roof. I had the opprotunity (almost) to get a really good picture but the kids next door scared the dove when they screamed at the top of their lungs.UGH!

 

 

Ain’t my grandson adorable?!!!! I was lucky enough to spend some time with him yesterday before I hit the gym for weights. That boy had me laughing so hard. It’s funny how a child can brighten your day. He has no idea how great he made me feel yesterday.

 

 

Putting on my mean face and getting it done at the gym. I’m ready to make some more changes and get my mind in the right place when it comes time to really prep. It’s going to be a great year!

 

 

Have you read the Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding by Robert Kennedy?

When is the last time a kid made you smile or LOL?

03.6.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

I tried to get out of grocery shopping yesterday but I was out of salsa and rice cakes so I decided those items would be safe from the people trying to “prepare” for the snow. I don’t quite get why people need toilet paper, egg, milk and bread when it snows. Even when we got 3 feet of snow a few years back I was only stuck in the house for about a day.

 

When my husband found out I was going shopping he had me pick up a few things for him also. He cooked chili for me last night that came out great. He is trying to teach me how to cook and shows me the importance of heat settings on the stove.it’s so odd how we can cook the same thing with the same spices and it will come out different. I’m learning though.

 

 

I woke up this morning with every intention on getting some cardio in but that did not happen. Take a look at the picture below that shows my gym was closed due to bad weather and look at the so called “bad weather”. To say I was pissed would be an understatement.

 

 

With the gym closed and no signs of snow I decided to walk around Target this morning and do some “picture shopping” this is like window shopping but I can go home to my husband and show him what he needs to buy me.

 

We had one heck of a time during the holidays trying to find small items for out Chihuahua and I found this dogwood stick that I think I should pick up for him on my next trip to the store.

 

 

While I was at the store I decided to do some shopping for my Foodie Penpal for this month..I won’t show you what I got for her (I can’t give it away.yet) but, I will show you some cool finds I came across.

 

I really wish we used ketchup more because this looks like a cool find. Ketchup with Jalapeno.it have my name written all over it.

 

 

OMG, look at the cool flavors of Blue Diamond Almonds I found at Target! I found toasted coconut, roasted coffee, and mocha. Another awesome find!

 

 

This is the first time I’ve seen this one..mojito crystal light.I bet that would be good sprinkled in oatmeal.

 

 

I was getting hungry so I left the food aisle and did some shopping to get ideas on decorating the house. I’m not sure what I would do with these but I love the color.

 

 

I really like this wall shelf. I’m just really looking for a way to make the house look different from how it has looked over the years.we are without kids now and I want an adult house with “breakable” items.

 

 

There are so many options for art..I’m so clueless when it comes to this stuff. I have a lot to learn.

 

 

I got home from Target in time to head to my doctor appointment. In that part of town they did get snow but I still had my appointment to go to.

 

 

And..for my friends who did not get snow I posted a 9 second video of the snow falling so you would not feel left out.

 

Just so you know the only time I saw snow today was when I was on the other side of town at the doctors when I got back home..NOTHING!

 

 

Who taught you how to cook? Are you still learning like me?

Did you get any snow today?

Do you go “picture shopping”?

03.5.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

Getting back in touch with nature again this week. We were out taking care of more errands and saw this is a neighborhood we went through. I swear we live near a city.you would think we are surrounded by a million farms with the pictures I’ve taken recently. It’s amazing how relaxing watching animals can be though. It’s therapeutic.

 

 

I spent some time this weekend showing love to my Chihuahua. He’s had a rough time through all the updates we are doing to the house and he’s not getting enough attention. All weekend we were painting and putting up new blinds.

 

 

We’ve been out a lot so packing my cooler and being prepared for long days is a must. We took tried the Isopure Blue Raspberry and the first drink was ok but it does leave an aftertaste that I was not fond of. My husband said it was pretty good. I still have some more flavors to try so I will keep you posted on that.

 

 

We made about 4 trips to Lowes to handle different problems with blinds. Don’t bother to head to Lowes on a Saturday night.something as simple as cutting a blind can take an hour. On a good note I was able to catch up on the Arnold Sports Festival show via Twitter and found some pretty cool things on Pinterest while I was waiting. The only bad part was that I waited so long that my cell phone battery way dying.

 

 

When I got home from the hour of waiting at Lowes I came home to see 2 yellow alabaster colored blinds next to a bright white blind.ugh! Another trip to Lowes over the blinds (done the next day). All the painting we’ve done has been to change the wall color to white. I love how bright the house is now.

 

 

We’ve also been shopping for a new couch. We don’t “need” a new one but if I find what I’m looking for we will buy something new. We currently have La-Z-Boy and it’s held up for over 10 years and it’s still comfortable and looks great.

 

 

This is some of the furniture that has caught my eye so far. Do you like?

 

 

Oh, and one more important thing I want to talk about is the new journal I started to use this weekend. I have not used a journal since I was in high school but I feel the need to write down my thoughts so I can think clearly about things that are bothering me.

 

 

I’m kicking butt in the gym and trying to find that love again. Once my dad passed away it brought up some things that I pushed to the side and tried to forget about but that did not happen. I’m hoping with the journaling and really kicking butt again at the gym I will start feeling amazing again.

 

 

 

Do you journal?

Any home improvement projects that you’re currently working on?

 

How have your workouts been? Are you in the “Zone”?

03.1.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

4 ingredients to a great meal. This is a favorite of mine and if I have peppers I add that to the mix also. This is great on rice cakes or wasa crackers too.

 

Dice up onions. I used a whole onion this time because I used a lot of tuna.

 

 

8 cans of tuna.

 

 

Texas Pete Hot Sauce (this is the best kind for this tuna mix) add the hot sauce to your liking.

 

 

Mix it all together

 

 

Keep it in the fridge. I think this is best cold.

 

 

I added some cabbage to this meal and other meals I will put the tuna on a rice cake or wasa crackers.

 

 

See it’s that simple. I used a lot of tuna this time but I’ve made it for one meal just use a little bit of onion and less hot sauce (yeah, that simple).

02.28.13

Posted in: Uncategorized

It’s that time of the month again and this time I was paired up with Jennifer (she does not have a blog so I hope that she will get a chance to read this to see how much we enjoyed her package).

 

 

I love that she picked up local items for me to enjoy.

 

 

My chihuahua was going nuts when I first opened the box because he loves fruit. The apples smelled amazing and Digger has a keen sense of smell. You would think he was a hound dog.

 

 

Now that my husband eats more in line with what I do it’s fun to get my box because we both get excited about what is sent. Hot pepper chow-chow..ummmm.yes!

 

 

Digger would not let me get through everything before he was begging his dad for feed him an apple. I’m not sure what type of apple these are but they tasted like wine and were so freaking good. I need to find them in my town.

 

 

Everything was great including the Vidalia onion/peach hot sauce and I’ve put that on brown rice, chicken and veggies. My husband ate most of the black walnuts and he called dibs on the strawberry jelly.

 

And.for your viewing pleasure check out my chihuahua enjoying the apple with his dad because it’s so cute!

 

And now it’s time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe.use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US, Canadian & European residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re from the US or Canada and are in participating for November, please CLICK HERE (www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/) to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by March 4th as pairings will be emailed on March 5th!
*If you’re from Europe, please CLICK HERE (www.thisisrocksalt.com/foodie-penpals/) to signup.

Dawn

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