Taking notice

So I have now been lifting long enough that friends are starting to take notice. Yes, this makes me very happy. What is my secret? Unfortunately, diet and exercise. For me, exercise has never been a problem but I diet has been a problem. I am not by any means a total overeater. I have always tried to be healthy but I do love carbs and all kinds of cookies. So here was my problem. I want to share this with all the "medium" girls as I like to call myself.

I never saw results fast enough so I would just say, "oh well" and eat the mac and cheese. But if you are trying to lose 5 to 10 pounds like I was trying to do, then this weight loss speed might be the mental culprit. For medium girls looking to shed a little 1/2 to 1 pound a week is great! Yep, not enough to even feel is plenty.

So in 10 weeks, I have lost 6 pounds. I am happy, and best of all my jeans fit. So there is my secret everyone! Oh yeah one last little exercise that I am starting to love is the rowing machine. Running season over, new exercises welcome. Happy Sunday.

Can't sleep...

So I am up and I can't sleep. This doesn't happen to me very often, but when it does it really does. I can't sleep because I have stuff on my mind and I don't know how to shut my mind off. Sometimes I don't know that I want to either. Funny how that works. So here I am typing a blog entry while the house sleeps, rather the husband and the pets. I wonder if in the morning he will notice that I got up and came downstairs. If he is sleeping soundly he will not notice a thing. Anyways, I hope if you are in the east, all of you are sleeping soundly. Let me know if you are one of the few that is up at this hour. I want to hear what is on your mind. If you get up in the morning and see this post let me know too. Just wondering in general what keeps others up at night.

Home Sweet Home

So I have posted about all my activities and I must say I am a busy girl. Do you want to know how I know I am busy? I am sitting here all alone at home and I find the silence very odd and almost creepy. I haven't been home by myself in ages. I don't even know what to do with myself. At the exact same time, I crave this time. Yet, I don't know what to do with it? It doesn't seem to make since unless you are the busy type like me. So what better to do than blog. So I am sitting here, with my coat (well vest still on) and my cell phone near by - just in case a friend tries to call and I am blogging. What happened to me time? You know, I am enjoying the fact that no one is trying to call me yet at the same time the silence is so deafening that I wouldn't be sad if some one did. All these feelings are odd yet the tell me to take time alone.

Do you get enough alone time? What do you do with it - aside from blogging?

Defend Yourself

So I am a very girly girl, shy type. If you cannot already tell from reading my blog, I thought I would share.

In any case, I did something totally out of my element yesterday. I went to a mixed martial arts gym and took a fighting class. Let me just say, that this class was amazing. The teaching methods and pads you wear allow you to kick as hard as you can and teach you to continue into the fight rather than to back off. The only challenging part for me was getting over touching sweaty people. Okay and perhaps coming home with sweaty clothes not being convinced that all the sweat was mine was a little off putting.

It feels great to step out of your element. This fighting class is more though. I feel today like I am slightly better prepared to handle a tough situation. I really want to continue these classes and really learn to fight. I am normally scared to be home alone and I do not enjoy crowds. I feel like joining this gym will help me emotionally.

Here is my issue. Right now I belong to a suburban gym where I workout almost everyday and I am a big class taker. I mean I go to yoga, spinning, lifting, as well as use all the cardio equipment on my own. I also run. Lastly I have a personal trainer who I work out with at a private gym 2 more times a week. Do I need another gym to join? Am I going to be over extended? I am not sure what to do here. I know I took a strong empowering class, but do I want to do this full time. Don't forget, I am trying to have a baby right now, which would limit the fighting classes and only allow me to take advantage of the amazing fitness classes there. Do I make decisions around if I might become pregnant?

See, looking to the blogsphere has always helped me with indecision! Give it to me bloggers. I want to here what you think!

These days...

These are days of change. My running "season" is over and the weather is getting colder. I am starting to feel the nesting urge more than ever. This nesting urge comes with the hibernating urge. After all the holidays are coming.

The holiday's for my family are not about giving gifts. As I have gotten older they are about time together and a nice meal. This year we plan on spending more money on dinner, in the form of a fancy desert or some exotic appetizers. We are not doing the gift exchange. This also frees us from the obligation of fighting the mall crowds this year.

I personally am excited about Christmas in my new house. My husband and I plan on buying a new bigger tree. We don't like the real trees because we have cats who like to play in the tree. We are also going to decorate it will special ornaments. My husband and I have tree free of tons of purchased ornaments. Kids make ornaments and are given ornaments for special occasions. These are the ornaments we want to fill our tree. So as our life grows and expands our tree will expand.

Sunday Selfish Post...

So today I am going to write a list as fast as I can with no efforts to change what comes out -- other than proofing. I have to proof because I am not the best speller and when I write quickly I am not very good and composing complete thoughts. But any changing of the list today is off limits just a quick 10 reasons why I love life!

1. The changing of the seasons - I love the different seasons. I honestly can say I do not like the cold yet every year I look forward to snow. I love big snow storms that shut down the city. I also love when it is freezing cold and I stay in all day and make comfort food in the crock pot.
2. The fact that I was blessed with enough tools to make my dreams come true - I feel lucky in this respect, because I know in this world and our country this is not a born right. Sad for me but true. So I find happiness in the fact that I was lucky enough to be born into a family where I was given eduction, books, and the tools to learn. We had computers from the earliest age. We were never denied books. My parents had enough money that we were sent to the best schools and college was never a question.
3. Books - I love books. I love reading for enjoyment as well as for education. Okay I cannot say that I love reading a textbook. But, I do love reading about topics I am interested in learning about. Lately, that has been religion and faith. I also just love chick lit. I love easy reads about groups of girls and lasting friendships and I love reading about fashion and bitchiness.
4. Love - Well what can I say about love. I love it. I love feeling this feeling toward my husband and family and to my pets and even towards some activities. When I was little I sometimes felt I loved things. As I have grown up I do not have as much love for things but I do adore and really cherish some things.
5. Family - I love family. I have good days and bad days and the good days spent with family are worth the time. I love the fact that I have a family and people in my life that are "almost family".
6. The ability to learn and grow - I think this is an ability within. I am in an environment where I can live and grow freely. I have time to read and relationships that foster growth. I also feel that I am in a job that allows for this. Unfortunately finding a job where I can grow was the biggest challenge of all. Now that I am there it feels right.
7. Health - I am very happy for my health. But I think the health thing goes deeper. Everything we eat, weather or not we exercise that is a choice that we are free to make. I am happy I have the choice. I am happy that I am not eating what is given to me and the choices are mine. I own these and that makes me happy.
8. Challenge - Life is really hard. I have had hard times, and sad times, and times where I didn't know how I could go on. But I am here now and I am very grateful for those past challenges. Those challenges made me who I am today.
9. Recreating Hopes - I am happy I have hopes of recreating and having a baby. I have not written many posts in my blog about this topic, but I am sure in the next couple weeks and months these posts will be flowing. My husband and I have decided that I will stop taking my birth control this week. I am very excited and I pray that I will be blessed with a healthy baby.
10. Giving Back - With the baby topic and the topic of getting older. I think that giving back is crucial to society. I think teaching is such a gift and a teacher comes in everyday and giving students the biggest gift of all. I love teachers and I think it is one of the most noble jobs out there. I also believe it is our duty as takers to give back. We can do this with things, money, time and our heart. I love this aspect of life.