Welcome 2014

Welcome Two Thousand Fourteen!

Pictured above was the last adventure for 2013. My Family and I took a Midwestern Ski Trip to Weston, MO. Yes, you did read that correctly. I said "midwestern ski trip" to Missouri. :)

Snow Creek Resort is a wonderful little place located in Weston, MO that is perfect for a weekend ski trip for a family of any size. It isn't a resort in the sense of week long visits to a lodge on a mountain side. But it is a great little mini vacation location when you don't have time to spend a week at a Mountain side resort in Colorado or Arizona or further away.

Twenty-Thirteen was a good year. It had many good points and is now part of the past. With that change in numbers from 2013 to 2014 comes a new beginning. With that new beginning also comes room for new adventures. That is the part I look forward to. Adventures are what life's journey is made of...we each have our own to experience and hopefully share. Some adventures are great successes and others we'd rather had not happened. They each make up who we become and help us discover what we want and where we want to be or where we want to go in the future.

May "twenty-fourteen" offer you many new adventures of the successful variety and may many more dreams come true!

Happy New Year!

Justice is truly BLIND today!

So here is my rant for the month!
1. Treyvon Martin is gunned down by a civilian who gets away with murder! A police officer who is expected to carry and shoot a gun gets put on probation (administrative leave) whenever he/she fires that weapon.....and they are suppose to be armed and chase criminals! Yet Zimmerman gets away with shooting a kid in the street carrying skittles and a soda. REALLY?? oh and did you remember that Zimmerman was told on a recorded call with 911 operator to WAIT for authorities and NOT to chase the suspect.....

2. While Treyvon's case reached national media, Antonia Santiago's shooting did NOT get national media attention despite the fact that he was in a stroller and was 13 months old.....the youngest victim of a shooting in the USA and the National Media doesn't touch this tragedy...

3. It's legal to fire someone for being attractive??? SAY WHAT???
"In December, the all-male court ruled that Dr. James Knight did not discriminate in firing dental hygienist Melissa Nelson after more than 10 years' service because he found her too attractive and his wife saw her as a threat."
""We ultimately conclude the conduct does not amount to unlawful sex discrimination in violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act," Justice Edward Mansfield wrote."
read more here!

I am beginning to think justice is not only blind (as they say) but has totally lost her ever loving mind as well!

Empty Nests

A Glorious Flight!

Graduation is a glorious experience. High School is over and life is just beginning....talk about a serious change and an exhilarating time of unknown possibilities!

It's May and graduations from High School and from College are taking place all around us. I find myself trying to redefine myself due to the changes happening all around me. The environment you are in impacts you as much as you impact it and others around you--even if you don't realize it.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philipeans 4:13

 When I graduated from High School, I believed this with all my heart and soul. I was ready to take on the world. When I graduated from College, I still believed it was true and hoped I could take on the world.

Now my first child is graduating from High School and I am more lost and unsure than I was at 18 standing on the brink of life ready to take on the world.

Changes came and went and are still coming and will continue to become normal....and I will continue to embrace change in and of itself.... Some changes in the specific sense are a little harder to embrace. I find it was easier to take the journey myself than to watch others that are my responsibility take on those challenges. This of course offers more challenges and more change. 

Embrace life! Embrace Change!....Live, Laugh, and LOVE to the fullest in all that you do!

Change is inevitable.

Spring into 2013

March...Saint Patrick's Day & Spring Break!

Spring is sneaking into Oklahoma....and I can't wait!! I am looking forward to warmer weather with all the flowers in bloom and colors erupting every where you turn. 

Of course the first color is green...for Saint Patrick's Day...shamrocks, leprechauns, and all manner of laughter coming this way. This weekend should be fun. 

Spring Break begins this weekend too...for some...for most in the Tulsa area. I would look forward to this but having everyone home during the day kinda takes away most of my business productivity...though alot  of house work gets done. :D

Maybe we can accomplish both this year. Cross your fingers for me.

Other than these things all recurring year after year, I have been taken over by HOA madness! My husband is the president of our Home Owner's Association and I am its Web Administrator. Spring is a busy time for HOA's especially if they have parks and pools to maintain.

Whatever has the majority of your time, I hope you have fun with it. March Madness--should be FUN!

Thank You Card - Fitness

Well...I braved the elements yesterday and made my gym day. My partner on the other hand was smart and stayed home where it was warm and the weather was even more beautiful (because the snow is easy to enjoy when you are warm and toasty with a cup of joe tucked inside...which she texted me while I was on the treadmill). My workout was good. I did 2.25 miles on the treadmill at an incline of 1. I also opted for bootcamp with Diane who is one of the best trainers I have seen at 10 Gym and who is (I think) the only trainer to survive the company change from "All American fitness" to "10 Gym". she was rather surprised to see me there in her class area and actually asked if I was going to take her class. Of course I answered yes to her inquiry.

It is nice to be recognized. It was nice for me that it surprised her that I would take her class. She has been there for over 2 years because I have been a regular on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays since April of 2011. This April will mark my 2 year anniversary of a regular gym routine. That is an all time record for me...and hopefully will continue to be. My gym partner and I took Diane's bootcamp class a year or so ago...and let me tell you---it kicked our butts! However, yesterday...(granted --it is a year later)...the class gave me a great workout. It was a nice change up with my gym partner being gone.

Today, I am definitely feeling the workout..and in places I don't usually feel sore. this is a good thing. Diane didn't have us use any weights or props of any kind. everything we did in bootcamp was using our own weight. My traps are sore. My triceps are sore. My latts and obliques are sore. It was a good workout.
I told Diane I enjoyed her class and at least this time it didn't kill me. She returned the surprise back to me when she told me she hadn't seen anyone make the progress that I had on their own. I figure as a trainer you would see all kinds in the gym. I have to admit here that I haven't actually done it on my own. It takes that first year with accountability to someone to keep you in the routine. After that, hopefully you have figured out that your day is better, your stress is lighter, and you feel better about everything when you workout as opposed to when you don't. This then becomes your motivation. In my case, it has been my gym partner and friend who has worked right along side me for her own goals who has kept me accountable long enough for me to learn that valuable piece of information.

Thank You Diane for the recognition and for your own hard work for others....

Thank You Colleen for being my gym partner and giving me the short term accountability so I could learn the long term motivation....

Thank You to my Husband for being my extreme-long-term example and coach through all things fitness....

I am very blessed with friends and people in my life and it is the people that make the difference!
Have a great day!

January, February, March....

January, February, March....

Where does the time go? January zooooomed out of site like a rocket launcher pushed 2013 into it's beginnings! February is half over---here comes Valentine's Day!

So far my goals are holding up to expectations and I have found a "new" adventure in the world of geeks and nerds and comic books....I don't mean that in a bad way either! I just visited my first "comicon" and got to meet Kevin Sorbo and Tricia Helfer...Wonderful people! Great time! and lots of exciting costumes and vendors with wares that just make my fingers twitch and my checkbook cringe!

I also got to meet a group of upcoming writers...you can meet them too by visiting their site!

Anniversary done...Trip to Dallas-check....Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day...then OMG it's Spring Break!

April and May.....check back and see what other news comes this way!

2013: To be continued....

Happy New Year.....it's 2013!

So ....I have to update last year's new year's resolution progress.
ok...I don't have to....who am I kidding? Yes I do!

Last year my resolution was to reach a fitness goal by December 31st, 2012. I am sorry to say that my goal was not reached. This is where you get to input that infamous "i told you so".....

I ran the usual Rt 66 5K. --goal reached

I stayed in the gym on a regular basis. ---goal reached. Thanks Colleen for being my gym partner!

I did NOT reach goal weight (125 lbs). That's ok....."I told you so" goes here......

I did NOT reach my pictured goal...(like I could ever look like Vicotoria Pratt)....

....................................................................................................

so...now that the recap of success and failure has been made, it is time for the New goals and resolutions for the year 2013.

Goal 1: Fitness

Part one: My fitness is what has saved me from several boughts of depression I am sure. When you feel fit and in shape, then age is more like a number rather than the passage of time mixed with all the things you can no longer do....."I'm too old for this" is NOT something I want to ever have to say.....Fitness is the key!
I have a friend that I met in 2011 at the gym I have been going to (regularly) for two years now...
.............though my membership has existed for the last 12 years................. so, my friend......... has a goal for fitness too. She related a story of Jamie Lee Curtis to me the other day and that seemed to be her inspiration. Inspiring others is awesome! ---no matter WHO you are! So my friend has asked me about running a 5k together. This is the year....I am running at least TWO 5K's!

Part two: I am determined to stay in the gym this year every monday, wednesday, and friday (or at least three times a week on a regular basis). I enjoy my workouts. They are great stress relievers and help me focus my day, my schedule, and over all balance my life. Besides...Victoria Pratt is an awesome fitness model and I can't see anything wrong with wanting to reach somewhere close to that look.....(yes I am still dreaming....but dreams matter!).....and once again, that "I told you so" offer in December 2013 is still gonna be there!

Goal 2: Career
I opened/started my own business as a photographer and graphics designer in September 2011. I really started working on it in 2012. My website was published, my cannon camera purchased, and social media was added. Here's to growth of the career and passions in 2013!

Goal 3: Family
My son will graduate this May. May I be a good Mother and help where he needs it.....and be encouraging rather than stifling. My daughter enters her teens (officially)....may I remember what that's like and be supportive as well as demanding. My husband finishes his 2nd masters in May.....may I be supportive of wherever that leads without loosing myself and my dreams in the process....

Goal 4: Friends
Friends are life's treasures and are not to be taken for granted....May the number of friends in my life (and yours) grow and inspire....May i be an inspiration to friends and family....and enjoy each and everyone of them for their uniqueness and talents and shared joys.

Watch out 2013! Here I am!