Can You Believe She's 75?!??

I'm on Day 4 of the 30 Day Challenge and so far it's going great. I've walked, I've barreamped, I've worked out from home, and today, well today I haven't made up my mind yet... It's either going to be zumba, or yoga, or speed-walking around town.  Who knows.  The day is young.

This morning, in search of some exercise inspiration, I searched, "workout motivation" on pinterest and found this picture.  Her name is Ernestine Shepherd and she is 75 years old.

I now believe all things are possible. 

Want to know what's even more amazing than her outrageous abs? The fact that she didn't even start working out until she was in her late 50's. According to her website, "As a 56-year-old she was a sedentary, well-padded school secretary and “slug” who had never worked out a day in her life." Want to know more? Watch this 3 minute video. I'm in absolute awe.

Wooohoo!!! I'm officially motivated.  Off to go drink a protein shake and get "Day 4- Workout" checked off my list!

Mae

Winning stuff, working from home, and other things that rock.

I've won 3 giveaways in my blogging lifetime and every time I get that email that says, "YOU WON" I can't believe it!!!  I've won some amazing photography, an Amazon gift card and an incredible book (from the author!) and this time a set of hand-made burp cloths and a bib for Abiella!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  Polka dots, argyle, and those colors?!?  I'm in love.

They were made by the amazing Whitney over at Apples and 'Nanas Boutique.  You should totally go check out her amazing shop and browse through her other adorable merchandise. Thanks for the awesome win Whitney! You rock!!

Speaking of things that rock: Sonic Happy Hour, good cups of coffee, Randy Rogers Band new single (co-written by my husband)...Things that don't rock? Medical bills, price-tags on last-minute flights, and canceling my trip to Denver b/c I have too many loose ends to tie up here in my house. But where does meaningless complaining get 'ya? Not very far... so... I'm done with that.  Moving on...

Good news is I'm on my porch, it's not disastrously hot, I'm sipping on a cherry limeade, and I'm staring at the back of a laptop of a friend who happened to "drop by so we can work together."  Good gosh, I've got some pretty fantastic people in my life.

Oh, and I also did one of those "JibJab" "Elf yourself" things with some family members last night...except it put us on the bodies of some of the ladies in a Katy Perry video.  Haven't laughed that hard in a long time.  Oh jibjab, you're so good to me.

(I would embed the video here but a certain brother of mine whose head is featured on a woman's dancing body may have a minor problem with it...) Good times.  Good times.

mae

PS- Working from home is the bomb.  (Thus, providing the ability to have friends stop by and work on your porch between meetings.)  I want everyone I know to work from home...Speaking of working from home, did you read Maddie's run-in with the post-man this week?  It involves dancing,  some sweet pajamas, and the lack of pants.  It's a doozy. 

Everybody Get Up, It's Time to Slam Now

A few weeks back I opened one of my distraction bags, (remember those?) and there was a piece of paper with a link to Matt Cutt's Try Something New for 30 Days 3 minute video. I watched the video and got pumped. In the video Matt talks about the power of doing something consistently for 30 days.  Big or small. Doesn't matter. He challenged everyone to think of something they had been wanting to do and to commit to doing it for only 30 days.  Not a lifetime. Just 30 days.

via

I was very intrigued by this idea and so for a while now I've been pondering what I wanted my 30 day challenge to be. I was almost set on art journaling when I read on twitter that Mrs. Thriftary just signed up for her second half-marathon. Blast her and her nasty self-discipline! Her amazing efforts immediately reminded me of my continuous desire to exercise more.  So I slapped myself in the face and said, "Get it together woman. You want to exercise more?.. Well, then exercise more!!!" And then I chest-bumped myself in the mirror.

Soooo, I will be committing to some form of exercise every day for the next 30 days.  Don't worry, I won't "over-do" it.  Exercise could be going to BarreAmped, taking a zumba class, walking around the neighborhood, roller-blading with friends at the greenway, dancing to Beyonce, taking a short hike on the trails in town, doing a small work-out at home... Doesn't matter what.  Just something. Big or small.

I'm not only committed to getting my body stronger for Abiella (If not I see VERY sore arms and back in my future) but I'm also excited to get those endorphins kickin' around. So... if Day 30 arrives and I've succeeded, I will jump up and down, slap yo mama, and whistle dixie all the way to Sonic Happy Hour.

As for now, I'm breaking out the spandex, loading up my IPOD and STARTING. Challenge accepted.

Cue Jock Jams circa 1994 and LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE... and just in case you need to get pumped about something, hit play.

You're welcome.

What would you want to do for 30 days?

* mae mae *

Surviving the Storm- Boat Day 2012

The adoption case took an unexpected turn last week, and while everything is okay, the details surrounding what happened created the perfect recipe for an emotionally devastating few days. My mom came down and stayed with me, we went out and had dinner, browsed a consignment shop for Abiella, and had a good 2 days together.  On Saturday, all my friends were heading out for a day on the lake. I had been looking forward to the day for months.  But as the week came to a close, I honestly didn't think I had what it took to attend. My spirits were at an all-time low. However, my mama didn't agree. She thought that it was the PERFECT idea, and she encouraged me to go, have fun, float in the lake, and spend time with friends. So I gave it some thought, and on Saturday morning I got up, threw on my bathing suit, scarfed down some breakfast, hopped in a van with 7 friends and headed to the docks to meet the other 7. My mom was right.  It was just what the doctor ordered.  All of my friends knew exactly what had happened regarding our case and they were amazing. (Sidenote: In case you were wondering, my husband was on the road.)

The day started out warm, sunny, and promising.  At 9 am we were out on the water, by 10 am the swimming and the cannonballs and the synchronized diving (attempts) were in full force.  By noon the burgers were grilled...

By 2 pm the boat hopping had commenced, the cat-naps were in full-force, the second-round of snacks were being passed around, and then someone said, "Was that a sprinkle?"  And before we knew it we were looking at this sky...

Who turned out to be this guy:

Immediately we lifted the anchor and started driving top speed towards the marina. As we drove, the storm rolled in like a freight train and we were nowhere near the dock.

As the boat flew towards safety we all shuffled around the deck, putting our shoes on, picking things up, packing our bags, organizing our goods, making sure we each knew where our phones were, etc.  We called folks on land and had them watch the news and despite all signs pointing towards: we're about to drive into a really bad storm and this is going to be difficult, we kept smiling and laughing nervously and pretending we weren't scared.  But we were.

And then it hit. I'm not kidding.  It was INTENSE.  At the beginning of the storm the lightning was still "3 Mississippi's" away.  I thought to myself, "Okay, I can deal with that... it's still pretty far."  And then before we knew it there were no "mississippii's" left and as we raced towards the shore, lightning was striking all around us.  I scooted away from the metal railing and made a pathetic attempt to surround myself with as much rubber as possible. Not exactly sure what that would even do, but it seemed like a decent idea at the time :) The rain was so rough, the winds were so high, and the water was so choppy that we were all huddled together in the middle of the boat, secretly praying that our friend driving (major props to Jonny Insogna) was somehow blessed with miraculous vision... after all... none of us could see anything but each other... everything 4 feet away from us was a gray blurb... and yet we kept moving forward... quickly.

Folks, if you've ever been on the deck of a boat when a severe storm rolls in and you can't get to shore, it's an experience.  You're in the middle of the driving rain, getting completely soaked, and desperately aware that you're the tallest thing in the water... oh, and that you  just happen to be made of metal. When we finally docked, the storm was at its peak, and we quickly abandoned everything on the boat and ran into a tiny floating boat-house as lightning continued to strike dangerously close.  We were joined by about 50 other folks (also fleeing their boats) and we waited it out packed in like sardines.

Eventually someone looked outside and realized one of the docks had just broken away, leaving a group of folks stranded.  Awesome.  And then someone said, "ugghhh... looks like we need to distribute the weight a little more evenly because the right side of this building is sinking."  Oh... even more awesome. Despite the crazy circumstances we were still having fun though... Nothing like surviving a severe storm on the deck of a pontoon boat to pump-up your adrenaline.

As soon as it let up (even a little) we ran back to the boat (in the rain), grabbed all of our stuff madly, and raced to our cars.  We didn't even say goodbye to one another.

All in all, boat day 2012 was a huge success though.  We may not have been able to relax in the sun for the remaining two hours of our day, BUT we were given a story we'll probably be telling ten years from now AND I left my friends feeling relaxed, refreshed, and so thankful I had gone.

How was your weekend?