1st Mommy/ Daughter trip

We had our first trip this weekend to Dallas. I wanted to visit friends and attend the football game against one of our biggest rivals, The Texans. Living in Houston as a Dallas Cowboys fan is rough. You can never catch a break. The fans heckle and poke fun at every second. So I just had to go and see this defeating moment live. Boy was it eventful!

 

Being a Breastfeeding Mom and with a new baby I started out at 8am on a Friday just so I could not be engorged and would have daylight to deal with the baby if she fussed. I live 4 hours away from Dallas. I was also traveling with my dog Gizmo and I was all by myself. A big feat, but nothing I could not handle. I got there in great time and got to hang with my good friend Nakia. London and her got to have a reunion and Gizmo and Peanut (our dogs) got reacquainted as well. We all went to have some Brunch on Sunday at a place called Johnathan’s, it was delish.

London was a baby celebrity. Everyone loved her outfit and the fact that she was a baby, had everyone coming by the table. I have to get used to that. I didn’t expect so many other people to actually engage me and my little one.

 

We then went to Uptown Park? Near Max’s wine dive and did some shopping. I tried on jeans, but of course they do not sell things in a tall. 😦 Oh well. We met up with my blog buddy Chelsea, and had Mimosas and some good girl talk! I will be back, and we will of course have to hang out again. I had a blast with her.

 

I went with two good friends, Brandi and Sid and we were ready for war! LOL. Kidding.

The Texans fans really showed up to this game. I think we were about even when it came to fans. I cheered, I almost cried (After a missed Field Goal that sent the game into overtime), and I screamed and acted like a….crazy fan! I love me some football, it was my Dads favorite sport to watch and since I am a Daddy’s girl, well, I followed in his footsteps.

 

 

After the game, I pretty much lost my voice and was tired. I went out the night before and then with a few hours of sleep woke up to do my motherly duties (Pumping and bonding), and forgot to really eat. So that evening I made sure that I ate some food, and sadly I became sick. Food poisoning. For a breast feeding mom that is a nightmare. I needed that food that wouldn’t stay down, and I needed to stay hydrated. I might have curled into fetal position a few times. I woke up early the next day and took off  back to Houston. It rained the entire time but overall the baby stayed asleep and we made it home safely. Traveling with a baby was not the easiest, but it was not half bad. We will be doing it again!

Now it is time for me to get back on my GMAT studies I start tonight/ tomorrow. I need at least 4 hours of study every other day until Dec. Wish me luck

Bump Reveal

Today,

I revealed my bump! How exciting. Well at 1st there was not really a bump, it just appeared that I:

A) Did not Miss any meals

or

B) Had the best beer belly a woman could ever have

LOL Now that it look like I am not just gaining weight, I wore some maternity clothes to work, and PA-YOW, this baby is making her presence known! I am 18 weeks +5 days and will be going to the doctor tomorrow for a regular routine check up :-). Check out my mini photo shoot courtesy of my  iPhone and the work bathroom mirror!

OH WOW!

Duck Lips

Wow.. I have to lay off the Thin Mints

Ignore the toilet!

Maybe she will wear glasses too

(Outfit all purchased at Old Navy)

I might have had too much fun. For some time there, I was not feeling like any pictures were worth taking. Usually I am the pic-o-matic, but that changed to ambiguous pic- o-matic. So bear with me and my moodiness. I had an awesome lunch with an old co-worker friend and she got me my very 1st baby gift! THANKS HOOONEEEY! I really appreciate her a whole lot. It goes so far with me 🙂

So this whole thing is scary to me right, but a lot of Frozen yogurt and sour worms help me keep going (Seriously that stuff is heaven in my eyes at the moment) I am suspicious of a stretch mark, and I am violently rubbing bio oil all over my stomach, sides, boobs, you name it, if it looks like it will get a stretch mark, I’m oiling that puppy down. If and when I get stretch marks, I will make sure to invest in sun tan lotion. Stretch marks will not hold me back from my bikini dreams LOL.  I am also starting to feel movement. Yes, it is a lot less scary than I thought it would be. It feels almost like I might have rode a roller coaster type feeling you get, and also I feel more of a drum type feel. That’s what Flutters mean to me. It is really cool. Very exciting actually. Never thought I would get so very into this pregnancy, but I am actually having an okay experience. Sure, I am tired, slightly lazy, nauseated and feel like a rolley polley when I try to get out of bed, but it is not bad at all. I am here to tell you, it’s pretty enjoyable. Until next time!

What I am thankful for

It is that time of the year again,

It’s awesome to share with people what you are thankful for. Not just at Thanksgiving or the Holidays, but overall. I tend to like to reflect on my year and state what I am most thankful for and here is my list in no particular order.

Peace of Mind

This year, my life has had some trying times, I have had a lot of things that would make you ask the Lord why is this happening to me, and instead of asking that question, I always think it that there is a reason for everything, and these things are lessons I can take, good or bad. I am thankful, through all of my struggles in relationships, friendships, and life in general that I have Peace of mind.

 

 

 

 

 

Family
The next thing I am grateful for is my growing family. We are at the stage in our lives where new additions are being added to the family. This year I got the opportunity to meet my beautiful niece Kayla, and share in a true family bonding moment with my Oldest Brothers first child.

I am also grateful for my family overall, we are not the closest knit group, but when we get together, it is evident it is all love and fun. Tonight we are having a fish fry and it will be good to see my siblings, as I do not get to see them on a regular basis.

Friends

Where do I start?! My friends have been absolutely important to my life, I confide in them, I take trips with them, they are my hairdressers and stylists, shop, and get into all kinds of shenanigans with them. Without them, I know I would have gotten into some trouble. You chicas keep me on the right track. I appreciate and love you all!

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Fitness

The other thing I have found this year that has been extremely important is taking control of my health and lifestyle. I lost 25lbs this year after an eye opening visit from the doctor about my health and where it was headed. I had slightly high cholesterol, I am pre diabetic, and I was slightly overweight. I went from 198lbs to 172! Which is great for someone my size (6foot giant). I would not have connected with the people I have through fitness had I not took a strong stance on my health and started a blog, and met wonderful people. The connections you make are amazing! So Let’s get lifted!!!

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What are you Thankful for? Any good foods that you are making for this Holiday?

Vacation Re-Cap

Hey guys,

It’s been a while since I actually blogged, and it was all thanks to school, work, projects, and just plane ole life getting in the way. Let me tell you what I have been up to!

I have been semi-consistent with my workouts, thanks to school, I even rode my bike to the rail and took it into work. My bike ride to the rail from my house was about a 15 -20 minute ride, then about a 5 minute ride into work. I even found time to get a decent workout in during my lunch. I should have taken pictures but I was in the zone!

This weekend I took some vacation time. It is the end of the year and I have about 68 hours of vacation time I need to use or, I will lose it. So I took off this past Friday and Monday to make it a lovely 4-day hiatus! I went to Austin to visit some friends, and we had an excellent time together. I certainly will be back for a visit. Austin is wonderfully outdoorsy and my type of place. Friendly people, bike trails galore, excellent scenic views, great music, and food! Here are a few pics from instagram:

 

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Being silly as usual

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Coach Lowe, whom I met up with for drinks and the game at Domain

Anthony!

On my last day there, I got to get my Workout on around the neighborhood I did 1.5 miles of cardio, Lunges to the stop sign, 1 minute planks and 25 sit-ups. It was beautiful! I cannot wait to own my own home and continue to do things like that. Running outside versus the treadmill, makes for an excellent experience!

 

I headed back home, and stopped at Rudy’s BBQ for some brisket. Austin always makes me crave barbeque for some reason and then proceeded to come home relax and start working on my paper that was due. I worked on it for most of Monday and editing a 20 page paper, and mellow out. Hope everyone’s weekend was fantastic. This week I plan on working out, playing with my pooch completing my Grad school work, and attending a pot luck for work!

How was your Weekend?

What are your plans for Thanksgiving in the Office?

Shoulders, Calves and Abs

 

Yesterday I hit the gym pretty hard and rocked out my workout. I did my shoulders, calves and abs. I thought the workout would be easy being that there were not that many exercises. No. My shoulders were on fire and I had the slow disoriented waddle, when I walked out the gym yesterday. My workout consisted of:

20 mins on the elliptical

150 reps, per side of Seated bar bell twists w/ 20lb bar

3 sets to failure in 15 reps of Side Lateral raises w/10lb 

3 sets to failure in 15 reps  of Front Dumbbell Raises w/ 10lbs 

Superset of 

3 sets to failure in 12 reps of Side lateral raises w/ 5lbs

3 sets to failure in 15 reps of Front Dumbbell Raises w/ 10lbs 

Machine Shoulder Military Press w/ 25lbs

1 warm up set of 8 reps

3 sets to failure in 15 reps

7 sets of Seated bent over Rear Delt Raises in 15 reps w/ 15 lbs 

Standing Calf Raises 1 warm up set of 10 reps and 5 sets of 20 reps

3 sets to failure 20 reps each of Sit ups

Elliptical for 20 mins

150 twists w/ 20lb bar

 

I was pooped I tell you!!!  I also noticed this amazing phenomenon. A lot of women do not lift. I got a lot of stares and questionable looks as to why I was in the free weights area. Usually a woman is accompanied by a man in this area to be trained briefly or they are just passing by. So, it is overall a male dominated area. Most women dominate the cardio equipment. I would like to encourage all of my female fitness enthusiasts to join me! Come to the weight area. It is not a scary place, it actually is a great place to look at men! lol See the various forms and different workouts that other people do. I am a beginner out there in the weighted world, but I would like to see women get their weights, and toning in too! I am all about showing these guys what I can do! The stares were welcomed by me, and I even got a few smiles out the guys when they saw me working hard!

 

Today is leg day and I have my handicap sticker ready lol. I may be crawling out the gym when I finish wish me luck.

 

 

Photo credit: Womenshealthmagazine.com

Rainy Weekend

Rain was all that happened this weekend. So I took this as an opportunity to relax, and get back to my leisure lifestyle of life. I started out my weekend by going to get my hair done, and running a few errands, and ended up unpacking some boxes. In between that, I watched a movie, played with my dog, attempted to take a nap, unpacked some more, and worked on homework. I got it all done! I also went to the gym and got a beasty back and biceps workout in. I still cannot do a pull up, so I had to skip that. I will get better. I can tell I am getting stronger, though. Any progress is great progress.  I also ate pretty horrible this week/weekend. Fried foods, Mexican foods, desserts you name it I ate it. In moderation though. So I am maintaining my weight,  but not my precious abdominal muscles *tear*, but that’s okay, every now and then you need to eat freely. Give the body a break from not being tempted to eat every cookie in sight and managing to resist can be tough and weary sometimes.

I spent all of Sunday arraigning my room, speaking with my Mom, submitting homework and playing fetch with the Gizster.

Today I will be working on Shoulders abs and legs and will post about it on tomorrow, and this week will be all about reviewing my Chapters for the up and coming midterms I have on this weekend. I am also apart of a skit for my Company’s annual BBQ Cook off and I have a friend coming into town to visit for her PV Homecoming. So my peaceful weekend was welcomed and appreciated. When I will get another? Who knows! Stay foxy people!

High School Reunion

This weekend was action packed!

My boyfriend came into town for my 10 year high-school reunion. When I say we had fun honey! We had fun.

Friday night was the kickoff event and we went to a place in Pearland called the Fox Den. They have a nice bar, good music and a bull. It was good to see everyone and let me say we all were dancing and as we like to call it. Turning up!

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Whew that was some fun. The next day I went to see the new movie Baggage Claim with my guy (It was very funny!)  and we got ready for the actual reunion look at us.

They had an open bar and I took advantage and got…. A little happy lol.

We had so much fun. The next day I struggled a little, but I was encouraged to get up and workout. I did my shoulders exercise and that consisted of :

20 minute cardio on the eliptical

Smith Machine Overhead Shoulder Press

Machine Shoulder (Military Press)

Side Lateral Raises

Side Lateral Raise starting behind back.

Dumbbell Shrug

Reverse Machine Flys

10 Minute Cardio

Good little workout. I need to work on my Side Lateral Raises. A 10 lb weight gave me absolute hell! Overall it was a good weekend and I am ready for this week. It will be a busy one. Seriously, I do not know when I will not ever be busy. My schedule/plate is so full. This week I am in the process of moving. So this Monday, I woke up at 7ish to load my car with two large boxes of clothes and one medium box of stuff.  I need to do that everyday this week in order to have the majority of my boxes out of my house. I will have some movers come and take my furniture down my stairs and help me get it to my storage. I also need to clean as much as I can, so that I won’t get charged an arm and a leg! I can do it in between working out, caking , writing a paper, and doing homework and reading assignments for school right?

Monday’s  Calves and Abs workout consisted of:

10 min cardio

Standing Calf Raises

2 warm up sets of 10 reps

4 sets of 12 reps

Donkey calf raises

4 sets to failure 18 reps

Hanging Leg Raises

3 sets to failure in 20 reps

10 min cardio

I did this on my lunch break. I found time! I did it. Calve workouts are tough! Donkey calf raises hurrrrt! I did surprisingly well on my hanging leg raises. Here is my video!

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Tomorrow is  Back and Biceps day and I don’t know where or how I will fit in the cardio. I am guessing I can take my box moving and trade that in as 20 minutes of cardio? LOL I will find time somewhere. I just wish there were more hours in the day!

Weekend Recap

My weekend was blissful,

I was recovering all of this weekend, from doing pull ups on Thursday and I got to spend time with friends. I even considered lifting just to alleviate some of the soreness I was experiencing. I may need to invest in a foam roller. Thugging it out can be tough! Look at a progress picture.

This friday, I missed Critical mass yet again. It was for a good reason, I had to pick someone up from the airport. Missing Critical Mass is becoming an unfortunate trend, but hey that is okay. I will get it right one day!

Saturday, I finally got my hair cut into the shape I wanted it. I had to grow out my hair for 2 months, thanks to the bad hair cut I got from my old beautician. I still have about 2 more months of growing for it to be the ideal length it needs to be, but my new hair stylist, Margaret, is FABULOUS!!! She specializes in cutting hair and she did her thing on my hair! If you need a stylist feel free to check out her work or make an online appointment at FabtheSalon.com. I ended my Saturday by having some Boiled crab, Smoked Lobster tails, and shrimp and sausage. YUMMMMMMM!!!!

Sunday, I went to my old Supervisors church, it was family and friends day, where her husband is a pastor. He had a great message! He is a good pastor! I enjoyed his message. His message was about, even when things get tough, keep your hands up and praise him. God can help you in the midst of your troubles and storms in life. After that I chilled tough with Gizmo, took him to the dog park and watched a plethora of shows. Ray Donavin, Newsroom, True Blood, Tia and Tamera and Real Housewives of New Jersey. Whew!

Today I am going to ride my bike. Schwiniqua hasn’t been taken for a ride in a good month. LOL. How was your weekend?

 

 

Transformation Tuesdays and some!

Yesterday was Transformation Tuesdays,

It is something I have never participated in until yesterday. I publicly posted to my social networks my weight loss, and my goal of maintaining a healthier lifestyle. I did not expect to have so much support. I am truly thankful for the positive feedback I received. The social networks are not the most positive of places but, yesterday, it was for me! If you didn’t have a moment to read my previous blog, I am 15 lbs down from 198 and currently 7 lbs down from my goal weight. It took me over half the year with set backs, injuries, and snack attacks to just not wanting to workout. I kept going even if I snuck and had whataburger, even if I indulged in cake and apple pies. I pushed through and I hope I motivate someone to keep going. It is tough, nothing worth having is not easy to obtain. You can do it. I am proof!

Here is the picture I posted to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

 

 

 

Yesterday I went to my beloved #GarageFit and it was a cardio day. I did 4 sets of 1 min jump rope and 30 seconds of jumping jacks with 2lb weights in each hand. Exhausting! I then did 3 sets of 20 rotating lunges and 15 hills. MY GOODNESS I burned almost a 1000 calories and my heart rate max was 183. I feel the burn a little bit today. Today I am thinking about pumping some air in my bike tires and riding around my neighborhood. I want to participate in Critical Mass this month, but I have other obligations that will preoccupy my time. I can always do the Monday ride, or the Ghost Mass ride to suffice. Anywho happy hump day everybody!

 

How are your fitness goals coming along? Any set backs? What motivates you to keep going?

Monday Game Changers

It’s Monday!

 

How was everyone’s weekend? Hopefully blissful. Mine was a busy one. I spent the earlier part of my Saturday getting my hair done buying a crate for my dog, and getting an oil change. So interesting huh? I also hung out with my friend Karena and we headed off to our Friends child birthday party. It was in this beautiful location on the Northside of Houston called the Mercer Arboretum & Botanical Gardens. Such beauty check out the website if you are looking for some amazing outdoorsy things to do.

Karena, Josiah and I!

It was fun. Thanks to my bright colors, a Wasp fell in love with me and kept following me. I am absolutely terrified of those creatures. So I looked crazy ducking and dodging. LOL. After that I went back home and fell asleep. For HOURS. I ended up making it an HBO night and watched Looper. Boy that movie was very interesting! Crazy ending. Bruce Willis typically stars in great movies. I did not see that ending coming.

 

 

Today I am introducing another #GameChanger this one involves Michael Jordan.

He was an amazing athlete in his prime and has set the standard for where basketball skills across the board are today. With 5 MVP’s and 10 – All time NBA awards. There is no denying this mans talent. Michael was the best in Attack and Defense when it came to basketball. His fluidity in mastering these two skills and combining him made him one of the biggest threats to other teams in the NBA that were not the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan was the first complete basketball players and this is another reason why he is considered a #GameChanger. According to Tribesports,  He was “One who combined strength, pace, power, scoring prowess, defensive skill and sheer heart and determination. Jordan showed that to be the best basketball player you need to have everything. He showed it was possibly to lead the scoring charts, while also leading the defensive charts. He ushered in a new era, where the all-rounder was king and he undoubtedly raised the bar for future basketball stars. “

You can see a synopis of his Game Changing events at Tribesports by following this link here

I hope you enjoyed today’s #GameChanger I have a few more I will post.