Photography - My babies birthday!

I had a fab day today and gave my son the best gift he could possibly want. Our time! We played, baked, and hung out all day! I have to get back to my kiddo, but I hope you all enjoy your day!!!! Tomorrow off to run again!

Hurricane Sandy and my 5K pictures

Well since I live in he Cape Cod/Boston area we were advised to take today off. Well work gave us the day off but my husband had to go into work and it is pretty boring. I am not going to run today since it is disgusting out, but I did my Pump and it was great to get some muscle failure work in there. I really like the program but I am bummed that I am starting Week 3 over again but it's all good they are 20 and 30 minute workouts :) 

So my day was pretty un-eventful. I have been home all day, I danced with my kiddo to some Adele. I edited some pictures for a friend of mine. She got not so great newborn shots so I wanted to take a stab at editing some of them so that killed some time. I read the Bible, listened to some Joyce Meyer and studied the references that she made in her speaking. I also did flash cards with my kiddo we made a game out of it and I found some of my running pictures online. I have to say that I look like utter doggy poo running but for my sake I am going to keep it as I didn't sleep well the night before and truthfully I didn't. So here you go some pictures of my run yesterday. :) Next time I will throw on some make up ha ha ha ha! 

I hope you all have a wonderful day! I think I am going to go watch Hart of Dixie. Anyone else watch that show? It is slowly turning into my guilty pleasure :D 

Whew what a week!

Did you ever have one of those weeks that no matter what you do, you just never ever have enough time? That was this week for me! Monday was pretty lame it was just a Monday. Tuesday I had a physical that I have to do yearly and I fasted for guess what? An HIV test. I was totally livid about that but what could I do? I thought I was going to go through some glucose or whatever testing and well NO. Then Wednesday I had duty, that's where I stay at work for 24 hours to basically babysit but whatever. Some important people came to work and I had to get everything ready for them so no chance to workout that day. That was okay with me for that one time because I was totally into reading the Hunger Games series so it was cool. I rarley workout on those days where I have to stay at work so I wasn't that let down. Thursday was supposed to be my Bible Study but they cancelled which was okay too because I was feeling SO behind by then. Friday was a rush and yesterday was the first day that I felt like I could breathe. I had a Superhero 5K this morning and I took the family with me so they could watch me run and my kid blew chunks EVERYWHERE it just wouldn't stop! What a mess that was! I was almost late but my wonderful hubs took care of the kiddo so that I could run and get my $35 worth of RUN lol.

Les Mills Pump was a bust so I am starting week three over again. Yesterday I ran 8.1 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes I think? I also ran my 5K in 25.31 I placed 18th in my age group which was pretty cool. I was pretty proud of myself for that.

The race was really cool! It was my first official race in the United States and my first race in Boston! I had a blast. Everyone came in costume and it was nice to see the creativity of these folks because I thought super hero and just thought of Superman and Spiderman so there were so many people out there with SO many different costumes and some didn't dress as a superhero either so that was cool too. I didn't really do much but wear a cape ha ha but whatever I was really there to enjoy my first race! There were people on the sides of the street cheering us all on and giving out high fives to racers, it was a great environment to be in and has me really excited to run my Princess Half Marathon! Well that pretty much summed up my weekend but here are some pictures I took of my kiddo that you may enjoy :D

Holy SHHHHH I just did it!!!!

Holy crap I don't know what I was thinking maybe the fact that I ran 7 miles without a hitch this weekend gave me the courage to run this race but I totally just registered and committed to a 13.1 mile run in FEB in FL. WOW! Ha ha ha! I am excited but at the same time I'm in shock that I actually did it. Well we will have to 1.) take this off the goal board and 2.) see how it goes so I can try the Diva Half Marathon!

I am so totally excited about this! I have been searching for a tutu and I MUST buy a tiara to wear! Ahhh so stoked!

Well in other news! I started my challenge group today with a group of ladies that are so excited to get on the fitness train and I can say that I couldn't be more proud of my girlies for taking the step to a healthy more fit life! I am really truly excited for them. This will be my last challenge group for awhile! I have been doing them and putting so much time into them that I need a break and need to re-think what I have been doing to draw more attention. Maybe offer some incentives to the challenge? I don't know but little by little I have been changing this into something that I want it to be and I want it to be a learning experience. Not just a bunch of people that do a workout together I want my challengers to GET IT! SO I think that next year with some time off I will be able to re-vamp it some more!

This is my long run and the one that made me think like a lunatic and run 13.1 miles! Oh well at least I will get to wear a tutu and see some awesome Disney characters! I can honestly say that I am excited and I am going to go nuts training for this thing LOL! WHOOOOOOO bring it on!!!!!

Running!!!!

I ran yesterday, it was a no Les Mills Pump Day. There are a few rest days through out the program and you literally are not doing PUMP every day. They have the FLOW and Hard Core Abs workout included in there too. SO all in all you have three days of real pump and then three days of either walking ab work or flow. It is pretty balanced. Since the girls at work like running and I needed some form of cardio and was not in the mood to add some Insanity I opted for running as well.

My love for running started pretty much when I got in the Army where running and I had a WTF relationship. WTF am I doing up at 6:30 AM to run 6 flippin miles kind of relationship! Ha ha! It was not FUN. Over time I made it into a competition and I LOVE me some competition I love to win and if I can beat one person and be faster than them than I won! SO that's how it all started by some friendly EFF this crap competition! Then I let that go because I got out of the Army and then I fell back into it when I had B and then when my marriage failed. Running was always there for me when I needed it. The last time I ran I was inspired by a Chief that worked with us. She ran and ran and ran and she got really tiny. I wanted to so the same thing minus the tiny part. What caught me with her is that she ran races. I had never run a 5K or a 10K before and I wanted to try it. So that is exactly what I did. I ran my first 5K in Kodiak in 27 minutes and then I ran a 10K and finished in 56 or 57 minutes?? and then another for the 4th of July and I did that one in 56 minutes. I didn't really TRAIN for them I just threw myself out there and ran! Well......I didn't know anything about shoes and what not and I got really bad shin splints and couldn't run for months and then winter came and didn't end until May, so here I am with an opportunity to run and I am taking it!

Now that I am into fitness I sincerely love all things fitness and my programs were starting to bore me and with everything that I had in me from being in AK all I wanted to do was run. I had read about races that I wanted to do and I even made a scrapbook goal page to go with the runs that I wanted to do. I wanted to run the Diva Half Marathon and the Disney Half Marathon. SOOOOO I am going to run both of them next year! I also found a running store that I am going to join up and do pub runs with I think it would be super fun and I would meet some friends that have the same interest as myself so I think that would be cool too!

Here are the runs that I was able to track on my runkeeper! That way I can be accountable to what I do :) and you can see what I am doing as well!

Joss Stone

The day had finally come for me to see Joss Stone! I had been following her music since she first came out with her CD Soul Sessions and I was hooked. The concert was FANTASTIC and it was my first concert EVER and I am glad to say that this was my first one. It kind of took awhile for everything to happen we stood around for about an hour and a half before the concert began so my friend and I grabbed a drink! Then we stood there waiting and her intro band Vintage Trouble was amazing! They got the crowd going! They are for sure a great band I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Then she came out. She sang so absolutely beautiful, there was incense burning and she was just belting everything out. I really loved it her band and back up singers were amazing. She truly did sound like she does in her albums 100% real there is no messing around her voice is just that her own and I loved every single second! If you haven't listened to her than you should! She is a truly amazing soul singer!!!!!

Photober Fest Week 3!!!!

Cristian at the pumpkin patch!

He had so much fun on the tractor ride.

I may not get to see him often but I try and make every moment a memory :)

I can't believe it is week three of this photography bit. I have taken these, I decided to keep the boy seperate because they are individuals and they need their moment to shine :) B lives in FL with his Dad and I don't see him all the time so the third pic represents US Momma and son the thing that him and I both cherish the most each others time! C well he loves anything with wheels so I wanted to show that and the first picture is somewhat a recreation of his 1 year old picture ha ha! Minus the TUDE :) I hope you enjoy my submissions!!!

5 miles and Les Mills

Yesterday I went out for a 5 mile run. I don't know what got into me but I wanted to see if I could do it. Well in my neighborhood I have a 2.6 mile road that leads out of the neighborhood so I did that. It was pretty chilly so I waited until it was 10 so that way it would be warmer. I got out there decided to ditch my jacket in my car and go. That was boo boo #1!!!! WOW it was FREEZING OUT THERE! I had a head wind and whew I sure did know it! My hands were red and everything was just COLD.

The next boo boo was when I turned on my runkeeper and tried to adjust my music and my stupid iPhone just TURNED off with more than half the battery.............WTF! Gosh! I was HEATED so needless to say I wanted to turn the heck around get my jacket get in the car and run over the dang phone! HA HA. I don't have anger issues or anything. About a mile into the run I saw another runner and was entertained with trying to reach her but my crazy head didn't realize that the route I gave myself had hills upon hills upon hills! WITH A HEADWIND and if you are a runner you KNOW that kind of sucks ha ha ha! All I could think about was the fact that I am a Bad Ass Barbie for doing it LMAO! SO I got out there and pack and noted the time that I left and came back and I ran the 5.2 miles in 48 minutes which left me at a 9.13 pace which I thought was AMAZING because of the hills and the headwinds not to mention the cold! I was super excited about that!!!!!

While I was at the running store on Friday, the guy mentioned workout gear that wicks the moisture away from you and I had bought some socks and I was interested in getting some clothes because if I am going to run in the cold than I may as well get some good gear that wouldn't drown me in sweat so I went on eBay and let me tell you even on there it isn't cheap! I did end up winning 2 pairs of pants for about 30 bucks for both and I was LOOKING for them and then I went to Target picked up their Champion jacket and a pair of pants and a shirt and that cost me 68 bucks for all three pieces needless to say I am DONE! UGH! ha ha ha! If I do things I like to do them right and if it was summertime I probably wouldn't have invested in them I am just deathly afraid of being cold LOL. WHY do I live up North again?!?!?! Oh yeah because of the USCG but whatever ha ha!

Les Mills Day 5 was today and it was Pump Challenge again......20 minutes and that's it. Flow was fun I did that yesterday too and I will probably do it again tomorrow just for some extra stretching I have Hardcore Abs tomorrow I hear that is a tough one.....I am intimidated I hate AB work by the way. just because I am fit doesn't mean I have to like everything right? Tomorrow I am going to run another 5 miles and then do the hard core abs with the flow. I am going to watch Joss Stone tomorrow with a friend so I know that means I am going to eat out and what not so I may as well get the calories in LMAO!

Hope you had a great weekend!!!

If the shoe fits!

When I started running in Alaska I was doing pretty well until I ran a Fourth of July 10K. I never really trained on hills and I was the kind of person that just jumps first and never gives too much thought into the things that I want to do if I really want to do them. Well there were hills on this 10K and I seriously hadn't run anymore than 4 miles on the treadmill and I was big headed and thought that it was JUST a run! How harmless could that be? What a fail! 

I ended up going down hill for about a quarter mile and totally didn't pace myself and KILLED my shins! I was out of commission for about 2 weeks. I went to medical and they gave me an appointment with a foot person who gave me show inserts and the works. I saw a physical therapist but she didn't really help me much but she did fit me for my inserts. I started looking online and noticed that my feet overpronate and I needed to get fitted for shoes.....well Kodiak is a small island look below.....

 So I told myself that if I ever got into running again (In AK I had big dreams for running a half marathon and local races) that I would go to a running shoe store. Well I found one in Plymouth and I went there yesterday for a shoe fitting. I ran on the treadmill and that went well......weird. My feet over pronate like I thought they did. That means that my ankle takes a lot of the impact and it goes inward to receive all of the energy. My feet then SWING out when I run ha ha ha it looks so funny because my stride is right one and then WHOOP my leg flies to the outside. It is the most hysterical thing that I have ever seen and something that I am going to try to work on but for now I am glad that I got some good shoes. 

So the guy was awesome he came by with 5 pairs of sneakers. He told me that I would have to size up! OMG I THOUGHT I was a size 6.5 well NO I am a 7 and I got sized up to an 8!!!! WHAT? He said that I would have to wear bigger shoes because they will help reuce the blisters on the top of my toes and that they would keep toe nails from coming off. Well then I was sold and I am ok with having GARGANTUAN feet for running only......weird! ha ha ha! So $110.00 later.....I got a pair of shoes! I am really happy and I am going to try them on this morning. I also have Les Mills Pump Flow to do and from what I understand it is a Yoga stretch DVD so I will do that after my 5 miles to try these shoes out! Kinda excited but it's cold out there ha ha ha! My first time running in the cold! Ahhhhh! 

I have more things to look forward too! I am going to Trader Joes for the first time AND I am doing Scott Kelby's World Wide Photowalk! Pictures of Provincetown coming soon! 

Have a wonderful day/weekend!

Photoberfest Photos

Ahhhh I am always so late on things and I meant to post this AGES AGO but I am doing a weekly photography contest and I am suuposed to put my family photos up! EEEEEEKKKKK ok so here we go my three submissions! I hope you enjoy!!!!

This shows the true character of what I go through as a photographer and the true spirit of my boys who are my family!

Les Mills day 3 and moody me

Yesterday was my rest day from Pump, I ran four miles on the treadmill and I have to say that it was the most boring freaking run ever! I ran on the treadmill because one of the girls that I am training is a pansy and complains all the time so it was TOOOO windy for her and TOOOO cold for her so we ran inside. That may have been my reason for such a sucky run. By the way I am a certified personal trainer and I train with my "clients" if you call it that and I don't charge them because I couldn't do that.......Yes I do think that I am selling myself short and maybe one day I will stop being so nice anyway ( I am moody today if you already can't tell). So back to the running, yes it was torture and I wanted to get off and I run faster off the treadmill than I do on the treadmill which was really weird.....I run 8.30 - 8.36 by my house and I can't get over a 6.7 on the treadmill which is about a 9:30 mile.....it is the strangest thing. Anyway something isn't calibrated and I am going to say that it is the treadmill LOL.

I was totally craving and I still am CHICKEN WINGS ( I think Bloody Mary is about to visit). One of my co-workers had some buffalo wing pretzels in her desk and shared which I thought was really nice! I totally enjoyed the handful that I ate :D and it saved me from the devil chips! They are these Rice Works chips and I can't eat one serving of them it's more like the WHOLE BAG! They are so good and thankfully they are made with brown rice and they are low in fat so that helps a bit right?!?!?!?

So today was a good day of course I am moody but the more I type the happier I am getting so maybe I need to vent right? I went to work and got off at noon which is FANTASTICAL, I got rid of some of my eBay stuff ($145!!) and I did my day two of Pump. It was the same workout that I did on day one I put more weight on there with the exception of the shoulders and the chest and tricep part where I stayed at 10 pounds like I did last week and for everything else I was comfortable at 15 pounds! I am super excited that I am stronger than I thought I was but at the same time I was working larger muscle groups so there is a huge difference there :)  I really was looking forward to my workout and was pleased that I felt everything burning which I think is an awesome thing right? I mean who wouldn't want to feel a workout in 20 minutes. Here is my before picture that I took on Wednesday and me working out :) Enjoy!!!! I think I may go out on a run to cure this mood!

Les Mills Day 1 and Food

Well today was day 1 of Les Mills Pump. I did my before pics, measurements, and got my weight. I am still maintaining at 120.4 I am not looking to lose just tone some and loose a few inches on my abdomen and thighs my bigger trouble areas. I just want to get rid of the "muffin top" that comes from my extra skin. I also want a more toned overall look. Anyway I went ahead and did the workout it was called Pump Challenge and it was such a fun workout. They played Lady Gaga's Telephone and other more up to date songs. I really enjoyed myself and felt like Barbie Bad Ass after I got done the workout I sure did like lifting with the barbell it was something different and I really did enjoy it :D I also did 20 minutes on the elliptical, I would have run but I really didn't feel like going outside , it was cloudy and what not and I sure did not want it to rain on me so I opted to stay inside but then I got bored......maybe I should have invested in a treadmill............ OOPS FAIL!!!! I like the feeling that I am running, for now anyway. I change my mind all the time........


I got home this evening and I was going to make faux fried chicken tenders and my husband wanted tacos so tacos won, it was easier to make anyway. Who wants to cook on a week night after you have been at work all day, I didn't and we were in training for most of the day which made the day even longer...we seasoned and boiled the chicken tenders and then shredded the chicken and used this Frontera Grill and then I made a salad for myself and used the chicken and my husband used a whole wheat tortilla. I also made some zucchini but that was a fail too, the flavor profile did not mix with the tacos. I am also obsessed with cucumbers in cider vinegar. My mother in law turned me into it and I can't get enough of them and I hope they never run out of mini cucumbers! Ha ha! Anyway I took some pictures of dinner it tasted OK I guess I just had my heart set on the chicken tenders.....I hate when that happens!

Tomorrow is no Les Mills Pump but I have to train my co-workers and it is leg day for them so I am going to kick their legs bootays!!!! I love training people I am reallly totally excited about it! Well I hope all you readers have a better day with dinner or have eaten a better dinner than mine LOL.

For the zucchini I put 2 TBS of balsamic, 2 TBS of reduced sodium soy sauce, pepper, and garlic powder I marinated it for 30 and then sauteed it for 10 minutes or until they got brown and took them off and ate them. They are delish!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful day!!!!!!

What a wonderful day today was! Especially for today being my Monday. I went to work and I had nothing to do, so that's always nice except for the fact that I had nothing to do ALLLLL DAY LONG so that made the day drag a bit. 

I went to the gym and I had the girl that I am training to get on the scale and she told me that she lost 5 pounds!!!!!!! In a WEEK! Now on a "normal" week (every week past the first 1-2 weeks) that would be TOO much but for the beginning phases oh man that is AMAZING! I couldn't be more proud!!! I was just amazed that this girl has it in her and I certainly hope that it stays that way because she is going to look DELICIOUS when she is done!!!! I can totally say that with confidence!!!!!

Well when I got home I had THIS placed ever so nicely at the door! WOO HOO LES MILLS PUMP! I have heard a lot of great things about this workout but not so many testimonials or before and after pictures SO I HAVE a **NEW** goal! I am going to be a success story damn it so tomorrow will be "pre-season" and I am going to test out the workouts make a meal plan and get started and take this workout serious and do my runs on M-W-F I think I will totally GOOD!!!! I am excited to see what is in store for my body! I am also going to make the videos for YouTube of me working out for now I am going to commit to 3 one on the beginning, middle, and end! So we will see. This will be the third workout that I have completed with Beachbody and I am sure it won't be the last but this is going to be my workout until Jan! I will post my before photos and then I will try and blog at least once a week about my workout experience and try to add some pictures to so that way I can stay accountable to myself :D

My third bit of great news came in the mail today too! Ha ha I got my Baptism Certificate along with some pictures! How great is that? I didn't even think that I would get a certificate! It is going to go up right by my diplomas once I get them up whenever that may be! It is definitely an achievement for me. My life has seriously changed so much since I have allowed God to work in my life!I thought it was really nice for them to think of each and every one of us and totally go out of their way to do this! It was really nice and put a huge smile on my face! I am really excited!

Well the hubbs is now pumpkin carving and I totally ditched him to write this post so I am going to go ahead and wrap this up give my kiddo a bath and get ready for some Sons of Anarchy! LOVE LOVE LOVE that show.......it's getting a bit off track so I am hoping it comes back around. I like it either way :D Who am I kidding!

No Work TODAY, time to see the Pumpkin Patch!

Jeannette Completed a 4.02 mi. running activity

Great run!!!!!! energized and ready to go to the pumpkin patch!!! 

That was from my run keeper app this morning, I ran at a 8:30 min mile which is incredible for me. I didn't think I could ever be "fast" again after having my kids and never thought that I would be where I am fitness wise although, I never really thought that much about my fitness until Jan 2011. I wanted to be fit and get my old self back and that is exactly what I did. I think that training for a half marathon a year out is a pretty good thing especially with cross training. I plan on keeping my long runs no more that 7 miles because that is all I think I can handle on the treadmill anyway.

Today I went out for my run at about 10:00 because I could (I am not much for working out as soon as I wake up). Then we went to the pumpkin patch, it was a lot of fun. My big guy loves tractors so we went on the tractor ride around the farm and then went back to the pumpkin patch with a wagon and picked out a Daddy, Momma, and Stinky pumpkin for us and we are going to carve them here pretty soon. 

After that we went to the mall I needed new jeans pretty bad all the ones that I had were either too long or they just fit weird (so much for getting CHEAP jeans). I am all about saving a buck but where I don't budge is jeans. I think I am going to try thrift stores and the salvation army and see what they have.......it's worth a shot right? Oh well we will have to see about that though. We had lunch at Panera and now my tummy is bothering me, I am lactose intolerant and this just happened somewhat recently so I am noticing that EVERYTHING when you eat out has cheese in it and that kind of totally blows. I am now bloated and gassy and it really really sucks! Such is life I just won't be ordering the salad that I had this afternoon :( So sad! Well here are a few picture of our pumpkin patch adventures! Enjoy!!!

Back from a break :D

Sometimes you just need a break from the internet and a "rut" that it brings into your life in orer to refocus and realize what it really is that you are doing.

I was at a point in my life where it was facebook facebook facebook and pinterest and anything that you can get your hands on to suck the time from your life and I got to thinking that I spend WAY too much time on those things and I needed to get back to reality and see what my life really was PRIOR to all these internet gadgets so I slowed it down and now I have found balance in my life again.

When it comes to fitness......I have been working out but you know there have to be goals in your life and I have reached every single one of those goals that I wanted to accomplish.

I lost 25 pounds, quit smoking, have a relationship with GOD, spend more time with my family, make a better effort to hang out with my children etc etc. I could go on for days but let's just say I hit a brick wall when it comes to goals and what I really want out of life and I still don't know what the answer to that is.

I know that for now I want to be more involved with my photography and I want my muscles back I also want to get promoted with my J. O. B. and continue on my path to get debt free. Sooooooo......I have been reading this blog that another blogger turned me onto Run For Cookies. What a great blog! It is about a woman who decided to lose over 100 pounds so that first she could do a marathon and then she wanted to just be healthy and of course run for cookies. I used to love running and then I quit because the weather in AK wasn't always ideal and treadmill running can wear you out! It's BORING! I love doing tempo runs on the treadmill but I like to GO SOMEWHERE too! So.....when it comes to fitness I am planning to start running and work towards running The Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, it's in November of next year and it will give me a good enough time to get more comfortable with running and also get in some GREAT weather to train in so I don't have to run long runs on the treadmill. YUCK!

My next goal is to run some FUN races like the Warrior Dash and the Color Run here in Boston and the Diva Dash that I missed this year. It is time to get competitive. I also miss my muscles! Holy crap have I turned into a not so muscular looking chic and I want that back so I ordered Les Mills Pump from Beachbody and I will be starting that next week as well and I can say that I am super excited about that. I will be working out three days a week and the other three days I can RUN and I can train my two co-workers on their weight training and run with them too! I am starting to gain more focus on what I want and I love it.


I have limited myself to FB in the mornings and while everyone is showering. That is more than enough time in the cyber world. I also want to blog more! It's really fun just to get my ideas out there and if you read them great and if not that's great to so I will be changing the focus of this blog to a more personal one where I talk more about.......EVERYTHING! I can't wait to get started!