Day 19 of turbofire

Okay everyone I made it to day 19 of turbofire...If you aren't familiar with this program it is a high intensity cardio conditioning program. I bought this back in November(during the black friday sale) and decided to give it a try...I started the program a couple of times but always seemed to lose motivation...Well this time I am on day 19....

One of the secrets(well not so secret) is that I have started doing this with a challenge group. My challenge group is an amazing group of people that are all in different programs , different phases of fitness but are all committed to one common goal, that is that they are committed to working out and getting healthier.

So anyway with the help of this group I have found that I am sticking with it. We have talked a lot about accountability to each other and to ourselves.




These beachbody programs are focused at both exercise and nutrition. The nutrition part is where I lose it. Although I am much better at making wiser choices that I was I still falter at it. I tend to resort to the comfort foods or in general my sweet tooth wins. So as part of my challenge I decided to try the Chocolate Shakeology. It is a protein/meal replacement drink.

Shakeology ain't your momma's slim-fast...It is mostly made from whole foods...Take a look at the back of the package and you will realize that it isn't even comparable. I noticed within the first two days of drinking it that I felt better. One week in I noticed reduced cravings...two weeks in and I can actually pass up a piece of chocolate cake....that's right CHOCOLATE cake.... I was really surprised by how much different the product was than other meal replacement options....





So anyway I am 19 days in. I started this journey at 211 pounds and am now at 206. Not that much I know but I have lost a bunch of inches and feel so much better than I did when I started this journey. The program takes a total of 90 days...so I still have 70 days left to go before I am done..Even if I just keep losing 6 pounds every 19 days I will lose over 20 pounds(clearly I hope now that I am getting my act together that I will be able to lose more than that).

I am gonna post more to this and let everyone know how I feel as I make it through the process. I hope that I will continue to have some good progress.. If you want to join me in turbofire than you can click on the links above or email me!!!

What's Essential?

So most of you that know us know that we are moving again....
that of course is nothing new....

So I've begun the process of packing stuff up. Luckily we are
not moving for a couple of weeks yet, probably not till the end of
February, but I'm trying to decide what makes the trip and what
doesn't.

I am by no means a pack rat, I long ago learned to shed stuff
easily. I've tried to keep the number of things I accumulate to
a minimum, sort of keeping a list of what's essential...

As I have begun cleaning out the garage, the first of many
rooms that will be cleaned, I realize that I have 4 large lawn and
leaf trash bags full of clothes that no one wears. Somehow in the
past two years I've begun storing stuff again that might be useful.

As good as I am at not keeping stuff I still need so much help at
determining what is essential. One of the best ways I've learned to
do this is the moving method. Is this something that I want to pay to
move to a new location??? If the answer is no than it can go.. Now
don't get me wrong, sometimes I take stuff with me that someone else
would question....Sometimes I even look back and say, what was I thinking
I should not have thrown that out and vice versa...The thing is when you
start looking at things that way you realize what you place value on.

My family has more than enough stuff and I have come to realize that
we seem to have far less than most. I'm not going to get into that, another
post for another day....but I think that when you start living your life out
of boxes you realize just how essential the things that can't be packed
into boxes are and you nuture those, make them grow and build on it.

So as I continue this packing process I keep pushing forward..purging
the stuff that has slowly accumulated and making decisions about the
essentials in life. Moving forward and on....

Decolbie Esco Memorial Golf Outing

DeColbie Esco Memorial Golf Outing

Friday May 24, 2013
Stonebridge Golf Club, Monroe, North Carolina * 3500 Doster Road Monroe, NC 28112

In loving memory of former Wingate University football player DeColbie Esco.

Proceeds to benefit One Hope United and Centralina Youth Council.

“My life is only one story of the saga of inner-city living. Athletics and after school programs positively taught me lessons about myself, about respect, and about work ethic.”

DeColbie overcame the obstacles of growing up in urban Chicago and became a college athlete and a graduate of Wingate University. Tragically, DeColbie was killed as a result of gang violence in Chicago in August of 2012. He was employed as a teacher at One Hope United, an after-school program in Chicago which aims to protect children and strengthen families. In 2012, It has been estimated that 77 percent of the over 400 murders in Chicago this year have been related to gang activity. Here in North Carolina, there are an estimated 19,000 gang members with an average age of 15. The purpose of this outing is to raise money and awareness for these charitable organizations that look to combat this violence every day.

Join his former Wingate teammates and the community on Friday the 24th, a day after DeColbie’s birthday, to celebrate in loving memory his life and to benefit the One Hope United Organization and the Centralina Youth Council in an effort to protect our youth.

$80 per person/ $280 per foursome (Includes cart & green fees, lunch, drink tickets and dinner.)

 Send check or money orders made payable to KMG Events to 441 Vine Street Suite 3600 Cincinnati, OH 45202
  Non-golfers… If you are not a golfer but would still like to come and show your support, an “entry ticket” for $30 is available that includes access to the tent area where we will have raffles and prizes, as well as dinner and two drink tickets. To sign up, send this in with your name below and a check to KMG Events for $30. Thanks for your support!
Entry ticket only (no golf) - $30


Hole Sponsorships available for $150 * Cart Sponsorships available for $50 * Scoreboard Sponsorships available for $25 * Contact me for more information!

Moving forward

It's that time of year, the time of year that we football wives fear.
It's firing season...the time of year that schools make changes
to the football programs.If you spend any amount of time in this world
 you will more than likely go through the experience. As a wife we
 face a new challenge in this role we take on.

For many wives, football wives in particular we are our coach's
biggest supporter. We listen to countless hours of recruiting,
and game planning. We fully commit ourselves to this program.
Our children grow up saying things like "Let's Go _____(Insert Mascot).

We explain to ourselves that our husband's absence is due to
his commitment to the program, his love of this school and his
desire to do what it takes. Every single away game, week spent
on the road recruiting and late dinner is explained as doing what
it takes....then one day it is all over.

You may feel angry, betrayed, and more often than not sad. We
try to hide our feelings, in an effort to support Coach, who we know
is now more stressed than he'll ever admit. We start doing things
like focusing on packing up the house, telling him that no matter
where we go or what we do we are doing it together...

As we pack up the home, we realize that a lot of our life goes
with it. For many of us it isn't just changing jobs, see most
coaches don't find a job in the same town they live in. So we
pack up our lives, preparing to be in a new town, away from
those friends we've made in the amount of time that we lived
in the place that we did.

Now the thing about those of us that have been through it before,
we know what it is like and if we are on a staff that has a new family
coming in we do everything we can to make them comfortable. We
fill them in on the area, the doctor's, the schools, the parks, and all
the things that someone else filled us in on..

Whenever a staff gets fired, I say a prayer for those families, knowing
how hard it is to deal with those situations. Praying that the families
find new jobs fast, that they can move easily and that the stress won't
be too much.

Take it from someone who knows, having an out of work football
coach hanging around is not something I wish on anyone. They often
struggle with the thought that they aren't good father/husbands because
they expose their families to this kind of instability. They struggle
with the fear they won't get a good job, or that they will stay in the
"one year wonder" position that keeps the family moving every year.
They say they are thinking about a different job, but everyone knows
that a coach has it in his DNA and we all know that DNA doesn't
change.

So we cry, we feel sad, we feel angry and we pack up the boxes. We
move forward. We move forward with our lives, we move forward with
our worlds and we say goodbye. Goodbye to the school we loved for
so long, goodbye to the homes we created and goodbye to the friends
we made. We move forward and know that we will likely make new
friends, and we will love new homes and cheer passionately for new
teams because at the end of the day we are just grown up cheerleaders
and our jobs are to bring cheer to the worlds we live in...

The Urban Assault Vehicle also known as a Minivan

Okay...my love affair with minivans has become a full time obsession! I stalk dealership web pages( my favorite it Hickory Toyota), literally ogling the vans. I have become somewhat of an aficionado of people moving vehicles. My husband calls them urban assault vehicles because he says you can literally move around any town, cargo and kids in tow! He calls it a dad truck...

My first foray into the soccer mom segment happened on July 29,2005. Pretty specific huh, well that is because it was exactly two days before my twins (baby 3 and 4) arrived into this world. Knowing that we wouldn't be able to fit 4 kids into the back of my Dodge Neon we decided that people moving was in our best interest. So we got this beauty right here...I 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport!

Mine of course, known as "the brick" doesn't look like that right now...After all Brick is a grocery getter and has had her fair share of run ins with bicycles and the occasional curb...there is still some damage on the right rear from an incident with a tree..Its got the random stains from kids, after all 5 children do occupy the majority of the interior space. Brick has made countless trips across NYS and even many trips from NC to WNY. She has been in snowstorms, heat waves, and all temps in between. She's hauled bags of top soil and mulch, countless groceries, loads of cargo(with the seats removed you have so much space), two arm chairs with an ottoman(try fitting that in the back of your sedan). All while getting decent MPG(18 city and 26 highway). Better yet she's a flex fuel(so she can use ethanol too).

So it should serve as no surprise that I love minivans. Maybe love is an understatement. I have been looking at the my dream minivan(yes I have a dream one), a Toyota Sienna! I fantasize about things like 

rear roll down windows (I'm drooling)

Cargo Space(look at the in floor part)

Fold flat rear seat(I think I am in heaven)

 Backup camera(how many trees and curbs would be saved)

Who doesn't love the thought of a DVD system.

Theses pictures don't do the experience justice. Check out this video. Just remember that you have been warned. I am not responsible for you rushing out to buy a new Sienna, while you are at it you can send me one too.

http://www.toyota.com/sienna/vehicle-tour.html

This dodge Commercial just about sums it up...

http://youtu.be/IryPRfEOrDk

Until next time!!!

A woman's worth

"A woman is often measured by the things she cannot control. She is measured by the way her body curves or doesn’t curve, by where she is flat or straight or round. She is measure by 36-24-36 and inches and ages and numbers. By all the outside things that don’t ever add up to who she is on the inside so if a woman is to be measured, let her be measured by the things she can control. By whom she is and who she is trying to become, because as every woman knows measurements are only statistics, and statistics Lie."

These ad executives at Nike are brillant. I'm not talking about a little bit but amazingly insanely intelligent. What a wonderful way to celebrate a woman.  At first look you'd think it might have a negative impact, after all Nike is in the business of selling sporting and fitness goods to people. Why would they want to make an ad that would seem to contradict that.

In my opinion this does the opposite. It encourages women to look past that number. It encourages them to look at the goal. Look at what you want to accomplish. Push forward and say that I don't care what the number says I am going to accomplish this!

Most of you know that I am starting a 90 day challenge on Feb 6th. I am using the Chalene Extreme program. I know that this is going to be a huge challenge for me. I am going to have to dig down deep to find that strength to push forward on days that I don't want to do it. The hardest thing is that I know, in my heart that I can do it.

The numbers that are on the scale, or the tape measure(I'll post those later in the week) are just numbers. They don't mean that is what I am defining myself as. They are a sum of actions(mostly inaction) tallied up over a length of time. They are not who I am, they are not what I see when I look in the mirror(figuratively).

When you look in the mirror what do you see? Many people look and see the reflection of years of self loathe. The fact that they didn't love themselves enough to make better choices about the way they felt. Often this can inturn lead to more self loathe and a bigger pattern.

At some point you have to look at the person in the mirror. You have to stand up and say, I see you in there and I am going to start making choices to make sure that everyone else sees you too. You have to make the changes you want to see. Sometimes they are small, like getting up and getting active, sometimes they are big, like making the decision to go back to school.

The thing is that if you know what you are inside, don't ever let the numbers on the outside deny you from that. Move forward and remember statistics lie.

You are right where you should be NOW!

Okay so this is sort of a post due to my BBC Steve(Beach Body Coach).

He wrote a personal motivation on our team webpage the other day, about

the things that motivate us and encourage us to keep moving forward. He

wrote also about this statement he heard while listening to one of those 

team "motivational(I call them sales) calls". 

The person was talking about the statement of "you are right where you 

should be NOW!!"

When I read his post those words spoke to me. After all I am someone

that has spent much of my blog space writing about actions(and inaction) 

that have lead to the places that we end up.

I started thinking about how negative that this statement could be, after

all it basically says you are what you are because of what you did. Then

I realized that the key word in the phrase was "NOW"(Yes I admit I did

not pay much attention to capitalization).

The NOW means that we don't have to end up where we are at. We

have the power to change our ending spot. We have the power to 

be who we want to end up being.

For some people this may be harder. For instance I am a person that in

all honesty does not have more than 40 minutes a day to exercise. So I 

may not be able to fit the P90X program in but that does not mean that I

can't fit in another activity to make myself healthier.

Our spot in life is never meant to be a parking place. It is meant to be a
place that encourages us to look around, grow and move forward. To
keep striving to make ourselves that much better.

For me( those of your that are regulars know this)  my goals are to earn
my degree, have a safe home for my children, teach and educate my family
about how to be the best they can be. I also would like some things like
a new car, a new house, and a wonderful family vacation(dreams)

So I want to move forward, but unless I am willing to change something
I am not going to get there. After all I can't expect to get a new result from
the same old input. If you want something to come you have to recognize
what you need to put in to get that.

So what are you doing to be in a new place when you are are taking
a minute to look around.