Monday Motivations- Waking up on the wrong side

                                                                                                                                         Source: fitsugar.com via Sandy on Pinterest

So last week I was totally pumped and motivated, remember?? Yeah, well this week is a totally different story, and I honestly don't even know why.  I should be feeling good since I actually kept my fitness goal.  I exercised 4 instead just 3 days, I ran almost 2 miles everyday and did one or combination of 2 of those different workouts. I was sore the whole week but felt really good. So cool, right?! Great!

But today! No...Today I am on the completely opposite spectrum! I woke up feeling down, unmotivated and not willing to do much!  It took me almost till' 10am to get myself going, and I had to fight myself tooth and nail to force myself
off the couch. I could've been there all day!
 

 

 Then I found this! This poster is soo true! Look closely and you'll see all the different words and feelings that running releases, and I was feeling many of them!!! My body knew it needed to get moving. I told myself I'd just take a walk, and I ended up jogging 1.5miles, and I am soo glad I did!! Running totally releases something in the body and the spirit and lifts it up! I needed to sweat out those funky feelings I had!  I really did feel soo much better when I got back.













However, I think I'm just having an off day anyway, we all have them, right? But I hate that feeling, so I'm going to need a lot more motivation for the rest of the week.  So Sandra...

 yo

                                                                                                                                                        Source: imgfave.com via Sandy on Pinterest

Yeah, Yeah!! Whatev!! ;)

Lol, I  guess its going to be a LONG week!  ;)

 I hope you all didn't wake up on the wrong side today, but if you did...I hope it gets better for you too!

Happy Monday from my corner to yours...

Foto Friday - "Angle"

I haven't posted a Foto Friday in weeks. Fridays just seem to crawl up on me really quickly, and by the time I know it I forget to take a picture or forget to post. So today, I happened to have a few minutes and remembered to look up the theme and took my picture for the day.

 This week's theme is 'Angle' and this is what I came up with...

 My Coffee pot...my "angle" any given morning!!! 

Yours too??

Happy Foto Friday!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

From my corner to yours,

Linking up at:

Monday Motivations- My fitness goal for the week

I've been trying to get back into jogging in the last week because I don't want to let go of the training I've already done, and I really want to work my way up to running a possible 10K or a 1/2 marathon in the future. That is a big goal for me! So I have to keep building up my endurance skills. But I feel like I have to start cross-training so I can get the rest of my body in shape especially with summer coming up. I've actually purchased a couple of new bathing suits and I want to be ready to wear them.

So of course, my inspiration for many things is Pinterest, and I found a few quick and easy fitness workouts on there that I've been meaning to try out for a while. So this week, my "Goal" is to at least run 1-2 miles, and add one or two of these short workouts with it so I can feel like I got an all around body work out. 

This picture inspires me!! It may never be me, but I can try to get as close to it as possible, right? I wish!

 Workout 1 - The following workout was posted with the picture above and its what got me interested in trying it. If this workout can get me those results, it can't hurt to try, right?!! LOL!

Repeat this cycle 2x right when you wake up in the morning:
50 jumping jacks,
 5 pushups,
20 sit ups,
20 mountain climbers,
30 second plank,
 7 burpees.

I did this one this morning 2x and ran 1.5 miles and it wasn't too bad, but I did feel like it kicked my butt a little bit because I quickly found out that I HATE BURPEES!!!   I had to look them up along with the mountain climbers, but oooh...they are not fun! But that's probably why they work so well.

Or these other 2 workouts:

 So again my "goal" (emphasis on the word "goal", lol) would be to alternate between any one of workouts at least once a day, at least 3 days this week along with the jogging. What I'd like to think is realistic about this is that I can do this at home, in private! They may take 15 minutes at the most, and I don't need to go out to a gym or be somewhere else to do it. So I am truly going to find the inspiration and discipline to try this at least for this week and see how it goes. Maybe I can turn these into a habit?? I guess I'll find out, but I'm going to give it a shot.


So hopefully I can inspire you to join me in trying one of these quick workouts this week. Or at least join me in just doing something this week; something that works for you- maybe just walking, or just a few sit ups, whatever, but lets try together!! The weather is going to be a little cold but perfect for exercising. I've come to find out that warm weather lets you get outside, but isn't always ideal to push yourself in the heat.

Wish me luck on fighting through some soreness and Happy Fitness to you all!

From my corner to yours,

Weight Watcher Wednesday- Temptations!!!!

 Have you ever had this feeling?

Hello everybody!! Today is a Weight Watcher Wednesday for me, and my Comadre and long time friend, Christina, sent me this very funny, but true depiction of what food temptation is all about.
 
Sweets, snacks.....Food!!

Decisions, decisions....To Eat it or NOT???!!!

Ugghh!

I had to laugh because I think we can all relate to this and the double sided conversations we have in our head when we get put in these food situations.  That "voice" in our head giving us justifications as to why its "ok" to eat said food, and the "rational" side of our head that knows exactly why we shouldn't!

And as a matter of fact, Christina couldn't have sent me this picture on a more appropriate day like today because I fell for that temptation this morning! I was tempted to make blueberry muffins, and so I did. That not so good "voice" in my head made it just sound soo good with a cup of coffee...Yumm! I made them as pretty and WW friendly as possible (egg whites, and non-fat milk), but they were still 3-4 points each.  However, by the time I finished one, my body had known all along that this had not been the best decision. Ugghhh!

On the other hand, I was glad to see my body is still letting me know what it wants to be given, so its always something for me to listen to and remember for next time.

And I guess since I'm checking in, here's a quick personal update:

I've reached 40.5 pounds lost and I'm still working hard! I have to be honest, I am starting to feel like I have been having to work a lot harder to lose a pound here and there. BUT I'm not giving up!
My body is forever changing and I seem to need more exercise and even more vigilance as to the foods I'm eating if I want to lose at a quicker pace. So I'm working on making that possible as my life gets busier and sometimes more challenging with all kinds of foodly temptations being thrown at me.

This picture is a daily reality for me!

How about you??

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Wednesday and may you all have a better time fighting off those pesky food voices!!

From my corner to yours,

 

Monday Motivations (A day late) ~ Time to feed the Soul

Ok, so I know its Tuesday...I'm a day late, but I needed to squeeze this Monday Motivation in. This is how I've been living lately.  I've been feeling a little out of sorts, like I can't get myself together when I need to, so I'm a little late all the time. I haven't posted in a week either, so this is one of those moments where I have to force myself to get back to do doing what I love to do even if it seems like I don't have the time or the energy.

Then, I found this the other night and it spoke to me....

It is about time! My heart has been calling me to create, and I've actually been working on a few things. Nothing major but enough to make me feel like I'm doing something in that area to feed my soul.

I've been sewing again, and just this past weekend I've finished a few projects, all gifts for school and other friends. I've been trying out new hairstyles, inspired by a site I found, along with some new outfits, and I've been enjoying that process as its always nice to try a different look. And I might have a special project to work on later this year that I'm very excited about.

I am going to try to share a little about these in the future, but for now I just wanted to get back on board with you and my blog. I am learning that writing my blog is one of the biggest ways I feed my soul and I LOVE IT! Its not easy to always do, but there is something about writing that taps into a creative side of me I always knew I had but have never truly expressed until now, and it makes me more content than I've ever realized.  So I will keep going with my heart and my soul will respond accordingly.

And as always I appreciate all of you who stop by and check out what I'm up to...or not, and I hope you find what feeds your soul!!

Enjoy your week!

From my corner to yours,

Foto Friday- Good Friday

Its the end of Holy Week, and I remember it fondly part of my childhood, going to private school when we would go to church on all the Holy Days, and watch Jesus of Nazareth on Good Friday. Easter Sunday was a day of celebration and being with family. We are trying to instill the same customs in our boys today. We are on our way to church on this Good Friday to thank God for sacrificing his Son for our lives. The boys continue to learn what the true meaning of sacrifie and  Lent means, so that in turn they will instill these beautiful religious customs in their families in the future. 

 

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."
- John 3:16

May you all enjoy and have a blessed Easter Sunday!

From my corner to yours,

 

Linking up at:

 

Mikey- Signs of a future business man

Mikey is in 3rd grade and about a month ago they did a section in class on Economy and how businesses run, and they learned how to write a business plan and letters to businesses to ask for sample products for a market fair they were having. He definitely has that entrepreneur spirit his dad has because he truly enjoyed this lesson. So much soo, that he took this homework to task and asked me if he could type up a letter to the Lego company to see if they would send him some legos.

Being the encouraging mom, of course I agreed, but my heart sank at knowing full well that this letter would get nowhere, and my poor son would end up disappointed. Why would they send him anything? I'm sure they get tons of letters from kids, right?
BUT I helped him with the letter (I saved it), he picked the font and the wording, and I made sure it was correct. He let them know how much he loved Legos and all the stuff he makes with them.

Ok, great...he addressed the letter perfectly along with the envelope (another thing he learned in class), he put a stamp on it and I took it to the post office the next morning. Honestly, we hadn't thought twice about it since then...

So, after getting home yesterday from running a few errands, there on the front door was a small box addressed to Mikey Camacho. WHAT???!!!



The first thing I think was, "I haven't ordered anything for Mikey, lately" then, it hits me! "OMG! There's no way!" I get a big smile on my face and I walk in with it and I present Michael with his first piece of parcel. Of course, he immediately knew what it was, "Mom, I think it might be from the Lego Company!" Awww..

So of course we open it and there in the box was a little Lego toy car set.

Wow!

I look and find the invoice, but it didn't say anything. So just to make sure, (I didn't want to assume that we weren't getting invoiced) I called the 800 #, and if anything It would give me a chance to say, "Thank you!"

Notice how they appropriately send him the "Creator"

Sure enough I talk to an operator who checks the notes on the order and she starts giggling..."Yes, Mam', Sarah received Mikey's letter and was so touched and impressed, she went ahead and sent him a little something." Wow!! How cool is that! I told her that we wanted to say 'Thank you' for the sweet gesture, and that it was no wonder why soo many people loved this company.













During this time, Mikey had already broken through the wrap and excitedly started making his lego car toy.

I was amazed and honestly I felt bad that I had doubted his little letter. But the power of a little boy's perseverance and belief in what could happen proved me soo wrong...

• I was proud of Mikey for not letting anything (including me) stop him from writing the letter.

• I was proud of his teachers, at CHIME, for providing him with that knowledge, skills and encouragement to learn such curriculum. This is something that he will always take with him...definitely a business man in the making.

• I was thankful to the Lego company for coming through for Mikey- to see something in that letter to grant a child's wish.

So, the point of my story...to encourage your kids even when you think its a crazy idea. It might not be soo crazy after all!

Have a great day!

From my corner to yours,

Monday Motivations- Creativity Revisited

This past Friday night, all 3 boys were out with friends and Jerry was working late...so that meant, I had a night to myself! Yay! But wait, I don't get moments like this very often, so I didn't even know what to do with myself. I considered going shopping or to a  movie, maybe getting some sushi or even some coffee by myself, but of course its always funner to do these things with somebody else. So after a few phone calls and texts, my SIL, Betty and I made plans to hang out together. We figured it was the perfect opportunity to go and visit a scrapbook store in Valencia we've been wanting to check out. So we did...
 

          The minute we walked in to the store, I felt like hyperventilating! I hadn't been in a scrapbook store in more than a few years, and this place was like a huge warehouse...I didn't know what to look at first, there was just sooooo much stuff!!
Aside from the fact, that the scrapbooking world has taken itself into another level of creativity that has far surpassed my comprehension.  For those that don't know, I used to be a Creative Memories Consultant for 8 years, back in the early days of scrapbooking, when things were simple and I dare say not as "creative." I was responsible for introducing Betty and many of my friends to CMemories and its scrapbooking style, but she is now in turn teaching me more than I think I can handle.  Standing in this store... I felt like a complete novice!     
               

Make & Take

There are all kinds of new and different kinds of products you could possibly use to scrapbook. I was overwhelmed to say the least, but Betty explained products to me, the store provided a free "Make & Take" session which I enjoyed trying with products I had never used before, and I walked around and checked out the different projects some ladies were working on in the back.   

As overwhelmed as I was, it was soo much fun and it was the perfect place for Betty and I to spend time together. We have similar creative whims, and the chance to explore the store in peace and with no set time limit was quite heavenly.  I also made a very limited purchase because its definitely a dangerous place to get your wallet out, that's for sure, but I definitely got a chance to revisit the thoughts of future creative projects. I got an eyeful of things I want to get, but all in due time.

                                                                                                                                                                                   
We left the store with just enough time to get a quick cup of coffee, and a dessert at the local Corner Bakery. We had some delicious pumpkin pound cake and some good conversation before we had to go.

It was totally an impromptu night...

Sometimes, the best times are had when they're not planned!  

Betty, thanks again for hanging out with me, and can't wait until next time.

The kids and I are on Spring Break so this whole week will be impromptu.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope your spring break 

is full of surprises and unplanned good times too!

From my corner to yours...