Hello's and Workout #2

Linking up with Lisa from Lisa Leonard Designs (...FYI if you're wondering what to get a certain someone for Christmas, her jewelry, particularly, her new line of Gold, is to DIE FOR.)  

Hello to birthday manicures! Left Hand. 

Right Hand. Poo. I know ya'll wanted a close up of my dry cuticles. Sorry.

Hello to sleepy puppies and new friends.

Hello to quality outdoor time with the Hubs.

Hello to gifts from a wonderful friend and photographer.

And Hello to workout #2.

We did this workout on the BOSU this morning, but you could easily do it with just body weight. And sidenote - if you're looking to build a home gym, I cannot say enough good things about the BOSU - it's great for balance (core strength), stretching, stabilization, and cardio. It will whip you right into shape, and you really don't need any other equipment! 

Warm up:

1. 3 Plank to sumo squat jumps - hold a plank, then jump into a super low sumo squat, as if you were about to catch a football, then quickly jump back to the plank. 

2. 10 squats standing on the BOSU

3. 20 second plank with hands on the BOSU

4. 30 second mountain climb with hands on the BOSU

5. 40 cherry pickers sitting on the BOSU 

Do 1 and 2, then 1, 2, and 3, then 1,2,3 and 4, and finally, 1,2,3,4 and 5. 

3 Minute Cardio/Strength:

Do each exercise for 30 seconds, repeat 2 times for a total of 3 minutes. 

1. Push ups with hands on the BOSU

2. Superman with flutter kicks on the BOSU

3. High knee run or run on/off the BOSU 

5 Minute Cardio:

Do each exercise for 30 seconds, for a total of 5 minutes.

1. High knee run or run on/off the BOSU

2. Alternating right/left lunges with front foot on the BOSU

3. Mountain climbers with hands on the BOSU

Core Strength:

1 Minute  v-up hold

1 Minute superman hold 

Repeat the 3 Minute Cardio/Strength, 5 Minute Cardio, and Core Strength exercises 2 times for a solid 40 minute sweaty workout!

Happy Monday!  

Fitness - Workout #1

I don't talk about fitness on the blog near as much as I should since it's an integral part of who I am. I've been contemplating adding a Fitness page to the blog for a while now, but it seemed like an overwhelming task. But really, it was just me being lazy.

You may or may not know that I teach 4 -5 group based workout classes every week for Northern Arizona University...now you know! It's a great way to bring in some extra income, challenge myself to stand in front of large groups of people, and share my love for an active, healthy lifestyle.

One of my core beliefs about fitness is that a workout should never be the same, our muscles thrive on being challenged, engaging in new activities, and testing our strengths. Therefore, I rarely ever teach the same work out twice in my classes - I want my students to be engaged the in the workout and not expect what's coming next. Also, most of my workouts include minimal use of equipment, perfect for training at home. If you don't have the equipment that the workout calls for, it most likely can be substituted for something else, or a different exercise.

For years, I've kept all my workouts written in a pink Five-Star notebook. I teach a variety of classes including indoor cycling, BOSU, stretch and tone, and core strength. That notebook is rather full, and falling apart, so what better way to document my workouts than right here on my blog? Brilliant!

So now, as often as I can, I'll be updating the Fitness Page on the blog, it will be located on the side bar just underneath the About Me section. You can click that page at any time to see my collection of workouts, beginning with this one:

Conveniently, I had this picture that we used as a table number for our wedding, Workout #1, starts here!

This is the workout that I taught on Monday to my Core Strength class, it's a combination of core, leg, back, and cardio.

Equipment:

Medicine Ball

Weighted Bar

Warm up:

Do each exercise for 30 seconds, repeat 2 times. 

Alternating side lunges

Front kicks

Mummy kicks

Workout:

Do each series 3 times, resting in between each series for 1 minute.

Series 1 - Single leg dead lift with a weighted bar (12) alternate legs with each repetition of the series, high knee run holding a medicine ball for 30 seconds.

Series 2 - While grasping the weighted bar, sit in a v-up hold position and "row" the bar as if it were a paddle (I call this rowing with a bar) for 30 seconds, burpees with the medicine ball (8)  

Plank Session: 

Hold each plank for 30 seconds.

1 - Alternating leg lift

2 - Elbow to wrist walking

Series 3 - Turkish get ups (12) alternate right and left with each repetition of the series, reverse crunches (12)

Series 4 -  Single leg dead lift with a weighted bar (12) alternate legs with each repetition of the series, plank jumps (12)

Series 5 - Toe touches with the weighted bar (12), burpees (8)

Plank Session:

Hold each plank for 30 seconds.

1 - Wide stance with a leg lift

2 - Plank jacks

Cool down and stretch

Since this is the first workout that I've ever tried to explain in writing (without explaining step by step instructions) please feel free to ask for clarification and I'll help out as best I can! 

Hello Monday!

Welcome back to Monday friends! I'm linking up with Lisa Leonard, from Lisa Leonard Designs today for Hello Monday!

Hello to sore hips from a Zumba Training this weekend - 10 hours - I'm now a Certified Instructor!

Hello to a sneak peak at what's soon to be in the Shop!

Hello to a yummy dinner!

Hello to new adventures - Praying for Success! 

If you're wondering what in the world that might be - please take a second to hop over to IndieGoGo! I'm helping out with a campaign for my father's company and his new product, Smart Spot. You're gonna NEED one ;) so help our family today!

Here's the link to the IndieGoGo site:

http://www.indiegogo.com/smartspot?c=home&a=1653051

If he gets a good head start in the first few days of the campaign, IndieGoGo will put his campaign on the promotion page of their website, so please help us get our name out there soon!

And Happy Monday to ya'll!

A Newlywed Halloween

Halloween has never been my most favorite holiday but I can distinctly remember a handful of costumes that I rocked throughout the years- mostly all made by my Mom (Thanks Mom!) Off the top of my head, I remember Pocahontas, a bunny rabbit, an M&M, a ballerina, the red haired girl from The Spice Girls, and a dork. Most recently in college my roommate and I were presents, an 80's workout instructor, and a hippie. Unfortunately I could only scrap up photos of the presents and the 80's workout instructors, so you'll have to use your imagination for the rest.

I'm not entirely sure why I'm showing you my shoe here. By the way, that's Ashley, she was my Maid of Honor in our wedding this summer! BFFs! Here's a prettier picture of us - she's sitting to my immediate right.

Check out the thong! It was pretty attractive :)

And for your viewing pleasure, I did a thorough Facebook stalk of Sam to find this old picture of him: 

I'm not even sure what this is supposed to be. But non the less, it's ridiculous sexy! 

And now that I've thoroughly embarrassed both of us, here is a collection of ideas for this year:

But I think I found us a winner, folks! Sorry for the blurry photo - but it's perfect! It fits us! 

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Love it/Hate it

This post has been sitting in my drafts for two weeks now. I guess that says something about the topic though. Blogging has become something to me that I never expected, it's an outlet to express myself, it tests my creativity and technical skills, and then nags at me at the same time. I love it, and yet I hate it.

I read a lot of popular, money making, reader collecting, blogs and I imagine the writer's fingers flowing like water over the keyboard and elegant words appearing on the screen like magic. They probably never use the backspace button, and they know every punctuation rule by heart. Their thoughts must be perfectly readable, relateable, and enjoyable the instant they think about them and start pressing those keys.

I restarted this post three times before giving up and hoping that those of you who read this will understand what I'm trying to say.

Have you ever just wanted to be good at something? Or maybe you think that you could be good at something but you're too afraid to not be awesome at it? I hate that feeling. My fingers want to write, but my brain keeps saying "that's not good enough, try again" every time I get a sentence down.

Such a lame feeling.

This has to stop. The blogs that are filed under "Amazing Blogs" in my mental filing cabinet had to start from somewhere. THIS is my Somewhere. This is where I'm starting.

I read somewhere that all good writers are constant, and that's what makes them good. My philosophy is that writing is like exercising - you should always mix it up, your muscles don't want to memorize the workout, they want something new and surprising and fresh. Writing shouldn't be constant. I shouldn't be constantly happy, or constantly sad, that would be weird. My writing should dictate ME, and I'm not constant. If anything, I'm constantly changing and therefore my writing is constantly changing.

The blogs that I come back to over and over again are the ones that show the writer's true colors. They have good days, bad days, inspiring posts, and posts that merely show an inspiring quote written by someone else. The blogs that I love are written by HUMANS. Just like me -- not constant at all.

A good friend of mine just ran her first full marathon. Yowsers! I can guarantee that prepping for that run, and actually running was a love/hate feeling too. The pressure to get a really fantastic time, and the thought that merely finishing the race would be more than most people ever do in a lifetime are two thoughts that pull at heartstrings. Just like this whole blogging thing does to my heartstrings. I want to be SO successful (whatever that may really mean) and yet just knowing that I'm able to share my thoughts and life with my readers should be rewarding in and of itself.

At this point in the post, I'm really hoping this isn't coming across as whiny...it's just me thinking out loud....thinking in type... whatever.

Doing things in life isn't about doing them perfectly. It's about doing, it's about trying, it's about being yourself, and doing things YOUR WAY.

Happy Friday friends and family!

PS - I'll be adding new Christmas items to Floral + Ivory this weekend so go shopping!

Hello Monday

It's been a little while since I've linked up with Lisa from Lisa Leonard Designs...so here goes:

Hello to sisters!

Hello to a house filled with colds. Yuck.

Hello to spending time with my parents.

Hello to target practice.

Hello to beating our rivals - Go Ice Jacks!

Hello to new maroon skinnies!

Hello to Sam's Blog.

Click HERE to check it out.

Hello to another work week. Yuck again. 

Hello to a great new song: Gary Allen

Happy Monday folks!

InstaFriday - Fall Edition

What's been going on around here...? A LOT.

Hunting is over... for the most part, I'm so excited to have my Hubby home on the weekends!

Fall has officially fallen upon us in the form of a chance of snow...WHAT? We'll see if that happens.

So here goes, a week of Instagramed photos, and some non-Instagrammed photos.

Enjoy!

Linking up with:

It was literally, that exciting!

 Kona's idea of camping.

Death to a necklace via being strangled by the emergency break handle in the car. 

Kona's first Pup Cup from Dairy Queen - take your puppy, they will thank you!

Kona and Sam cuddling on the couch, it's been cold here lately, so cuddling is a must. 

This is the view from our front porch, we have...11 aspen trees, I think, and they are all turning beautiful shades of gold, yellow, and orange.

Our lone pumpkin. He needs friends. 

Sam and I went out to our fav bar in town... actually, it's the place that we were first introduced - Thanks Bethany! We were asked to help teach some of our friends how to country two-step, so we went out at 7:00pm, ouch that's late, and boot-scoot-n-boogied!

And tonight we had our first fire in our first fireplace in our first home! It was romantic, we drank tea, and made iced pumpkin spice cookies - yum!

Happy Friday ya'll!

If you're in the Flagstaff area, check out the NAU Ice Jacks play against ASU tonight at 8:00pm at the Jay Lively Sports Arena! 

And if you're interested in hearing more about Sam's big hunt, click HERE.

The Gents

Part 3 - The Gents 

The handsome fellows who helped get my groom to the alter on time, in tact, and sober - Thanks boys!...I'm kidding about the sober part.

Part 1 - The Bridal Party

Part 2 - The Gals