Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Workout #10: Spring Break 13'

Well, for NAU, spring break is right around the corner. And in honor of that, our gym puts on a spring break challenge to encourage students to get to as many classes as possible before spring break. I put together a 20 minute ab workout for class tonight, which I thought went really well. It made my abs burn, and heart rate rise, and left me feeling strong and ready for a bikini.

To start class off, we warmed up with suicides across the room, we did 5 jumping jacks, high knees across the room, then 5 push ups. High knees back, 7 jumping jacks, high knees, 8 push ups...all the way to 10 push ups.....make sense??

The workout included 5 sets of tabata abs, each with 2 different exercises. We repeated each tabata 2X for a total of 2 minutes per tabata. We repeated the workout for a total of a 20 minute ab shred! Here it is, posted on a picture of Jamaica for motivation!


I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! And if you're like me, and don't get to participate in spring break this year, I hope you take a moment to enjoy something festive -- I'm enjoying a glass of wine on my patio after work, but if the weather isn't so great still in your neck of the woods, maybe bring some pretty flowers home to liven up you house!

For more of my workouts, check back at my Fitness page (right side of the blog), or click here!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Top 10 Things: The Good Things


Life's been a little crazy lately. I mean, really, when is it not? Am I right? But more so lately than usual I think. With some spare time before I start my new job on Monday, and spending the weekend in Phoenix, I thought it would be a good time to sit down and reflect on all the good things in my life. There are a lot. I'm so thankful to be able to even come up with a list like this. Sometimes when life gets busy, you forget to to be thankful, or you let the bad, ugly things come a little too close to your heart. So, here goes, a list of all the good things in my life at this moment in no particular order:

1. Spending an extra 15 minutes this morning to cook up some eggs to enjoy with Sam. It's not often we have time to eat breakfast together. It was a sweet moment to be in each others presence and relax before the day began....maybe we should do this more often.

2. Kona has to make it on this list. Other than Sam, she's the love of my life! She's been doing this kooky thing with her ears in the morning lately that just melts my heart, I haven't captured it on camera yet, but just trust me on this, she rocks my socks and knows how to make me smile even when I don't want to.

3. My family. Weston's hockey team is traveling to Nationals this weekend, which is fantastic, we're all so proud of him. If you're in the Paso Robles area, check out last weeks Paso Press for a great article on him and the journey from roller hockey to ice hockey. My parents are packing up and heading east to watch him play too! It's so wonderful to know the kind of support that kid has, the kind of support Sam and I have (I've got some pretty darn cool in-laws!) and how awesome my whole family is!

4. New friends. It seems since the wedding, Sam and I have really expanded our friendships, mostly in the "couple" friends. Which I think is fantastic, we're lovin' game nights!

5. A new job. Not sure yet if it's my dream job....actually I know it's not. But sometimes you've got to take the risk in hopes of other doors opening. And it certainly is a blessing for both Sam and I to have full-time benefit eligible jobs in times like this where many people can hardly find work.

6. Etsy. Maybe it's because it's wedding season, or soon to be, but Floral+Ivory has slowly but surely picked up the pace a bit. I'm so grateful for a little boost in income and I LOVE knowing that I had a hand in someone's special wedding day. I'm praying the sales keep coming, and I'm praying I find some time soon to restock the store with new things!

7. Working out. Gosh, hitting the gym, even with the stress of having to teach the class, rather than just partake in it, is such a stress reliever. I'm healthier now than I've ever been, and it feels so good. Sometimes I can even get Sam to come with me, and it's so fun to work out with him! And knowing the difference that I might be having on someone else's life is awesome, I truly hope that I can impact my students in a positive way, challenge them, and help them see all the benefits that a healthy lifestyle can have.

8. Old friends.In combination with the newbies, has been so much fun lately! We're looking forward to weddings, summer camping trips, lunch dates, and so much more. As these relationships have grown, it's been great to collect memories and make new ones. I'm looking forward to many more years with these guys! And who knows...maybe our kids will even like each other when the day comes ;)

9. Sewing.Thanks to my good friend, Bethany, I finally started sewing my quilt that I've been talking about for ages. It's been so therapeutic, to come home and turn on some soft music with a cup of tea or coffee and listen to the hum of the machine. Watching the progress has been fun too, it's slowly coming along, I can't wait to bind it all together and show it off!

10. Our home. Much like my quilt, our home is a work in progress. Sam and I recently sat down and discussed all the ideas and projects that we want to accomplish to make our home extra comfy and US. I'm planning on posting that list soon, as a way to keep us accountable for starting and finishing these things. But on top of all the decorating and projects and whatnot, in the big picture, we're just so lucky to have a home to call our own, something we own and can paint whatever color we want, to have our friends over for BBQ, to have an office to sew in, to give my wonderful brother a place to stay, a backyard for Kona to play in, a mailbox to catch all the lovelies that come our way. It's just wonderful!

What about you? What are your Top 10 Best Things right now? Care to share -- leave a comment and say hello!






Friday, March 1, 2013

InstaFriday - Big News!

life rearranged

It's Friday, which means it's time to unload the phone of all the snazzy Instagram pics of the week! I'm linking up with Jeanett again at LifeRearranged!Here's what's been going on around here, starting with weather that looked like this:


To this:


Which turned in to this:


Um....in one week? I can't wait for spring! But luckily, since the weather was yucky, my good friend, Bethany, finally dragged my to the fabric store to pick out colors for a quilt that I've been talking about making for...a long time. JUST DO IT! And so here's my first strip! I've got a bit more done since then, but no pictures to prove it yet.


Then we had some really good friends come over for dinner on Tuesday night. Kona was excited because they brought their kids with them! That's Kona in the back of the photo, then Moose (the black one), then Mia! They are good friends!



At work this week, Kona got a pretty sweet treat when I finished my jar of peanut butter (I like to have it in my desk to eat with apples, bananas, or just by the spoonful in case I get hungry),


As most of you may know, March is my birthday month. I don't really enjoy celebrating my birthday...minus the one time that I had a dress-up tea party birthday, that was fun! But I think that was my 5th or 6th birthday...Not sure that my 20+ year old friends would want to partake in that any more. But in honor of being halfway to 50 this month, I decided to participate in a Photo-A-Day challenge for March! The theme for today is " 'L' is for..." and this is my photo:


This is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry that Sam got me before our wedding, it's a piece from Lisa Leonard (local of SLO!) that I LOVE.

And finally, you might remember this pic from a few weeks ago, where I talked about my new favorite yellow polka dot blouse:


Well, I bought that blouse to wear to a super important INTERVIEW!!! for a new job...which I got!! WooHoo! For those of you new around here, the past few months at my current job have been a struggle, a battle of taking the easy road (staying here with a paycheck and no hope for ever loving my job) or taking the risky high road, in hopes that it pays off with happiness, and success! It was a big decision for Sam and I, we had a lot of pros and cons to weigh, but I think the decision is the right one for us. I've finally been offered the opportunity for a new start, after a lot of prayer, a lot of applications, and frustrations, I'm ready to take a BIG risk and jump into this new job!

So we're off to celebrate tonight with margaritas and good friends tonight! Happy Friday!

PS - follow me on Instagram, I'm leahheffelfinger !