Monday, March 26, 2012

Good morning!

Whew! It's been awhile since I posted - workouts have been going well; although I must admit that I've only been going every other day for the last two weeks. The campaign trail has been heating up for the city council position. With work and campaign events, I've been hard pressed to be home with my family let alone make it to work out in the morning. BUT, those are excuses and I know it; this week my goal is to go to FXB all 6 days :) The kickboxing workout this morning was intense. I've been going to the 6 am class so I can make it to work early enough to get things done on the days with mid-day campaign events. It's been crazy, but I've really loved all the opportunities to speak at the various events. I'm being interviewed this morning at 10:00 a.m. by KSFY at my office; tonight from 7-9 there is a candidate forum for the South Dakota Tea Party. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Wonderful day!

Great workout this morning! Even some of the FIT members were having to take short breaks by the end of the hour :) Man! My buns were thoroughly kicked!

In campaign news: I've been contacted by KSFY to provide my picture and answer a questionairre for the voters; I'm also supposed to let them videotape a messsage to the voters to be put on their website. Yikes! I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also nervous as all get out :) The Argus Leader is also going to have a question and answer session on March 28, 2012 - I believe the purpose is so the newspaper can figure out which, if anyone, of the candidates it will support. Finally, my campaign signs are being made (hopefully) as we speak! Things are heating up!

Monday, March 12, 2012

WEEK 10

Just finished a great kickboxing workout this morning - and it's the start of WEEK 10 if you can believe it! Time has gone by really fast in my opinion - there were a couple of hiccups along the way with me getting horribly sick, but I'm proud of how far I've come. I can't beat myself up over that week that was missed (although I wonder how much farther along I'd be). We've got final testing this Saturday - St. Patty's Day. What a perfect day to end our 10 weeks on :) I think I might have to have an adult beverage or two.

The rodeo on Saturday was a lot of fun - speaking of adult beverages. I can't wait to take Isla to one next year; nor can I wait to buy her her first pair of pink cowgirl boots.

Friday, March 9, 2012

TGIF

Crazy kickboxing workout today - for the first time (since my first day) I was feeling gassed with ten minutes left!  It was all I could do to muster up the strength for an extra 100 sit-ups after class. In fact, even as I type this, my fingers are slowly starting to cramp up....I'd better go! :) Have a great day.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Good morning!

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm really not feeling that exclamation point I put in the title. My upper body resistance workout this morning really killed today! I could take a nap happily right now - after I finish my protein shake. Isla's new thing lately has been to turn her head away when we go in for kisses; so, after my tough workout, I went in for a big smooch and was REJECTED by my one year old. Of course, she's pint-sized so I eventually overpowered her and went to town on her right cheek.

Luke's 32nd birthday is next Tuesday - YIKES. As a super duper supportive wife, I've been making extra sure lately to remind him how old he is getting :) I'm taking him to a rodeo this weekend as a pre-birthday present. My Chicago sweetheart went to his first rodeo two years ago and LOVED it. That's right people - this is how the West was won :)

Monday, March 5, 2012

Fit for a King!

Okay, I have a wonderful announcement to make! My husband and I just had our new King sized bed delivered from Comfort King this morning! I KNOW! :) It's the most comfortable bed I've ever been in in my life. I decided to test it out this afternoon with a 2 hour nap - heaven. Okay, so that's probably not earth shattering news to anyone but my husband and I, but I'm positively glowing from how awesome our new bed is! Our bed is the "Elegance" mattress set with a lifetime comfort guarantee. Our salesman was GOOD! Well played Justin! My mom and I didn't stand a chance when we walked in there Saturday afternoon :) If you're in the market for a mattress and you live in the Sioux Falls area (or even if you don't) you should check these guys out. Ask for Justin Waggoner - he really knows his stuff.

Also, GREAT kickboxing workout today! I missed my workout this morning because I needed to stay with Isla since Luke wasn't feeling well. I went to the 6:30 p.m. class tonight and really worked my butt off. I've got court tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. so I'm thinking I should go to the 5:00 a.m. class, but man that'll be rough! Oh well, after I get an amazing night's sleep in my new bed maybe 4:30 a.m. won't feel so bad after all :)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Fear of Not Mattering

Wonderful sermon this morning about God's promise to Sarah and Abraham that He would make them ancestors of many. Abraham was almost 100 years old at the time and so was Sarah; yet, Abraham had complete faith in God that he would create life in Sarah's womb where there was none. Having complete trust in God means giving up our own ideas of control over our lives:

"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." Mark 8:31-38.

Our pastor discussed that perhaps the section about denying ourselves really deals with denying ourselves the illusion of control. How many times have we thought or said, "I can handle everything myself?" Denying ourselves and asking God for what we need and desire.

After the sermon, my mom and I stayed after for Lenten Study where we're discussing Max Lucado's book Fearless:


Today we talked about Chapter 2 about our fear of not mattering in this life and the actions we take sometimes in the hopes it will prove we matter:

"For that reason we crave the attention of our spouse or the affirmation of our boss, drop names of important people in conversations, wear college rings on our fingers, and put silicone in our breasts, flashy hubcaps on our cars, grids on our teeth, and silk ties around our necks." Lucado, p. 21.

How many high school or college girls out there have had this happen: they've been asked out on a date by a good looking guy - so good looking the girl wonders what he sees in her since he's out of her league. Once he gets to know her, she figures he'll drop her; in fact, she might not even be able to hold his interest for the whole evening. So what does she do? Her insecurity drives her to use the one tool she trusts, her body. She sleeps with him on the first date because she's afraid there won't be a second. "She ends up feeling like the disposable woman she didn't want to become." Lucado, p. 25.

The wonderful thing we need to remember is that we matter simply because God made us - we're His idea! And God only had good ideas:

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of  your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31.

The Challenge for this week: Reflect on the ways you make others feel significant or insignificant. What is one specific way you can enhance a good relationship or correct a bad one? Do it!

Friday, March 2, 2012

That's not sweat, it's my body crying!

GREAT kickboxing workout today. I wore my long (now curly) hair stuffed into a winter hat. I decided on a whim yesterday to get curly hair. Until yesterday, I hadn't had a perm since 1988; truth be told, I didn't know if perms still existed so I googled it :). At the risk of deactivating the amonimum thioglycolate (thank you Legally Blonde), I'm not supposed to wash my hair or even pull it back with a hair tie for 72 hours. Right now it looks a little like I'm trying to bring the 80's back - which I haven't tried since 2009 as you can see below:



Well, here's to me figuring out how to work with curly hair. Oh, apparenlty KSFY is putting together summaries of the candidates for City Council and they need a head shot of me....

Thursday, March 1, 2012

StarBUST

I think the Universe is telling me to stop drinking Starbucks. Yesterday, I was really in the mood for my regular plain latte. I rolled up to the Starbucks drivethrough and ordered.....a Grande Venti. For those of you that aren't down with the Starbucks lingo, I effectively orderered a Medium Large. There was a pregnant pause as I tried to figure out why the barista wasn't repeating my order back to me when it hit me. We both started laughing.

After the gym this morning I thought I'd treat myself to a latte and redeem myself. No dice. As I pulled in behind the 9 or so cars in line, I realized I didn't bring my purse this morning. I never carry cash so I only had a dollar in change - which won't even buy you a Kleenex at Starbucks. *Sigh*

Anyhoo, the lower body and ab workout was intense this morning. I'm still feeling a little weaker than usual thanks to last week's illness, but I'm working it out as hard as I can. My glutes feel SUPER CUTE today :)

Oh, in my blog post yesterday I neglected to reveal the coolest thing that happened over the last ten days: my fifth niece was born! My sister Meghan gave birth to a beautiful little angel they named Sadie Reece. What a dreamboat. She was born February 23 - I couldn't see her right away of course (at least not without a HazMat suit), but I was able to hang out with her a bit over the weekend.



I don't know how my sister can look so absolutely stunning immediately after her c-section. We've got good genes - what can I say? :)

Then yesterday, my dad got the results back of his lateset CT Scan - his cancer is stable! What a wonderful week it has been.