jentaps - An Enthusiast

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

As there was a holiday, and I worked from home this past week, I was able to squeeze in more physicality in my days. Starting September 5:

Sun - World Class w/ Denise. Theme was be flexible; change happens. Try to adapt.
Tai Chi, weights, cardio, stretching.
Mon - Total Body Workout class w/ Christine. 75 min. class. Spinning, stepping, weights, Swiss ball.
Tues - Denise training. Strength and cardio stations.
Wed - Off
Thurs - Run just over 2 miles w/ Judy - treadmill.
Fri - Mat Pilates class w/ Todd. Some interesting moves.
Sat - Denise was out of town, so I ran 2.7 miles in 30 min. Did abs, pushups.

Working out makes me feel good.

Hot August Nights (and Days)

2010-09-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah. My last post was weeks ago, and I said I'd post more often. Hah! I don't know what happened, but obviously I never got around to it. In fun news, while Susan was visiting, we went to the movies and saw "The Other Guys". Jim, Susan, and I thought it was pretty funny.

In less interesting news, I've started cleaning out my closet, and am almost finished. All proceeds are going to Goodwill. May they enjoy the bags and bags of clothes I'm donating. Things are either too big, too old, ugly, or all three.

Jim and I hosted the monthly WAG (Wine and Appetizer Group) soiree. Our house is still undergoing some beautification, so we held it at PJ and Paul's gorgeous home. Thanks so much to PJ and Paul for letting us take over your house for the evening. I hope everyone had as good a time as we did!

On the gym-front, I had two weeks where I only managed to work out three days each week. I managed to step it up this past week, and go four times. Four seems perfect to me. So, here's the break-down. I'm also including the themes for each Sunday World class. I want to try to remember them, so I can include them in my everyday life.

August 15

Sun - World class - Be Grateful
Mon - Off
Tues - Denise training - strength, conditioning. Included 100 criss-cross leg ab things
Wed, Thurs, Fri - Off
Sat - Denise training - Cardio and strength circuits. She kicked my butt around the gym. :-)

August 22

Sun - World class - Be Positive. It's all in your attitude.
Mon - Off
Tues - Denise training - Lots of squats and lunges. Other leg and glute things.
Wed, Thurs, Fri - Off
Sat - Boxing w/ Denise and Judy. Punched w/ Denise and Bob, the mannequin. Awesome workout!

August 29

Sun - World class - Be Present. Live in the moment.
Mon - Off
Tues - Chair Pilates w/ Denise. Really fun and focused workout. And, no, the pic above isn't me.
Wed - Off
Thurs - Ran 2.3 miles on treadmill. Did ab work and 20 pushups.
Fri - Off. Had Jim's homemade pizza for dinner. Yum.
Sat - Denise strength and conditioning training. Lots of balance, some mat Pilates.

Eat, Pray, Box

2010-08-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

A bunch of us from the gym got together yesterday and saw Eat, Pray, Love. Bridget and my sis-in-law, Susan also came. Yay! I loved the movie, and we all had a wonderful time. After the movie, we went to a terrific Indian restaurant in Folsom. The food was amazing!

Again, I'm behind w/ logging in my workouts. Note to self, try harder to post once a week! It's not that hard, really. This pic is from today's super boxing workout. Can't you tell how much fun I'm having? I really am.

Starting w/ August 1:

Sun - 2.33 miles, abs, planks w/ Judy
Mon - Off
Tues - Chair Pilates w/ Denise
Wed - Off (BTW, Jim ended up in the ER after falling off a ladder at home. Long day for him :-( Poor guy.)
Thurs - Off
Fri - Off
Sat - Pilates 101 class w/ Denise, then Cardio/Strength/Stretching w/ Judy and Denise

August 8

Sun - World class w/ Denise. Really fun! Also, very meditative.
Mon - Off
Tues - Cardio and strength training w/ Denise
Wed - Off
Thurs - Off
Fri - Eat, Pray, Love. So, no workout
Sat - Boxing, cardio super workout w/ Judy and Denise. We did 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups! And a lot of punching. I love boxing. :-)

Catching Up

2010-08-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

So, OK, I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks. Last weekend Jim and I made the annual trek to the CA State Fair. A good time was had by all, even the Burmese Python in this pic. You can see he's trying to get a hold of my Stephen Colbert Wrist Strong bracelet. He must be an it-getter!

On the workout front, I've lost 2% body fat in the past month. Yay! Thank you, Denise, for all your inspiration. And the perspiration, too.

Starting with July 18:

Sun - 3.27 miles, Abs, pushups, planks
Mon - Off
Tues - 2.86
Wed - .63 and strength training - arms, abs, squats, lunges, pushups
Thurs - Boxing! With Denise, Judy and Kim. Awesome cardio and arm and leg work.
Fri - 2.97, Abs, pushups
Total mileage - 9.73

The week of July 24:

Sun - 0.5 plus strength training
Mon - Off
Tues - Chair Pilates w/ Denise - always great
Wed - Boot Camp class w/ Danny. Good class. 14 stations.
Thurs - 2.78
Fri - Off
Sat - Train w/ Denise. Anaerobic and aerobic. Really great.
Total mileage - 3.28 actual running. More cardio if you count the Boot Camp and cardio on Saturday.

BTW, Denise, don't look at the above picture.

July 11 - 17

2010-07-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

Here we go again with this week's activities. The highlight was going for a pedicure on Saturday with Denise and Judy. I went straight after a Denise mega-workout in my sweaty duds. Judy had had the foresight to workout earlier, thereby being able to take a shower before going to the nail place. Denise, as always, was stunning in her gym clothes.

It was great fun! Judy and I went for flowers, while Denise got polka dots on her hot pink polish. We all felt summery and relaxed afterward.

Sun - 1.35 miles, 15 min. Push-ups, planks, abs.
Mon - Day off
Tues - 3.0 miles, 32 min. (3.2, 34 min total). Push-ups, planks, abs.
Wed - 1.03, 12 min. Strength training on my own. Abs, arms while on Bosu.
Thurs - Yoga class.
Fri - Day off
Sat - 1.09 miles, 12 min. Trained w/ Denise. Basketball leaps, lots of balance work, abs.

This week's total mileage, I'm sad to say, is not as much as last week. I'll have to step it up this next week. Already I'm off to a good start by running 3.0 miles today. That'll go on the next blog post.

Total miles: 6.67. That's pathetic. On the other hand, it's better than nothing. And way better than what I could've done last year at this time.

Add It Up

2010-07-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

The end of the week is here, and let's just see how far I ran, and what I did this week. Thursday - Longish treadmill. Pushups, planks, and two ab exercises. Friday - Easy day. 15 min on elliptical trainer. Pushups, planks, the two ab exercises. Saturday - A Denise Day. 10 min. warm-up on the treadmill. Then strength training (one-legged squats, bow and arrow ab thing, quad buster, upside down pushups, etc.

Sun - Off
Mon - 2.6 in 30
Tues - 2.6 in 30
Wed - 1.4 in 15
Thurs - 2.88 in 33
Fri - 0.8 in 15 on elliptical
Sat - 0.8 in 10

Cardio for the week was: 11.08 miles. Denise Days were Wednesday and Saturday. Light Days were Sunday (day off) and Friday (15 min. on elliptical plus basics). I'm going to try to make sure I do at least 20 push-ups each day, along with the two ab exercises I do.

Workin' It

2010-07-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

I worked out today with Denise. First I ran just to get warmed up. 1.4 miles in 15 minutes, mostly at 5.5 mph. Then we did mostly core work: walking lunges w/ the kettle ball, lots of squats, balancing on the bosu doing biceps curls, and lots of ab work.

She had me do pushups and planks on the bosu, ski squats, bounce the medicine ball from side to side, some squat/tricep combo w/ a weight and finishing up with everyone's favorite - the Wall Sit! There are some other things we did, but you get the picture. It was a great workout.

Thanks, Denise!

Quick and Dirty (or Quick and Sweaty)

2010-07-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

OK, so now I'm going to use the blog for tracking my workouts. I'd better have something up here everyday, or I'm going to have to chew myself out.

Saturday, July 3 - Workout w/ Denise. She kicked my butt around the gym for 30 min, plus 15 on the treadmill. She had me do some intervals, or maybe sprints, She got me up to 9 MPH for 30 sec. Whew! Then out for coffee w/ the gang: Judy, Kirk, David, Denise.

Sunday the 4th - Day off

Monday 7/5 - Treadmill for 30 min. Went 2.6 mi. Then did 20 pushups/planks, 20 "dead bug" ab things, 20 leg up/down ab things, side steps w/ band, curtsy lunges w/ medicine ball, arm weights on Bosu (flies, biceps, triceps, shoulders), ski squats.

Tuesday 7/6 - Treadmill 30 min. for 2.6 mi. Then pushups/planks, dead bug abs, leg abs.

To the Dump

2009-04-20T14:37:00.001-07:00

Little known fact about me: I love going to the dump. There's something kind of cleansing about it, and it's the only place where you can take big, heavy things and just throw them. (Forgot to take pic - this is from Google).

Yesterday we loaded up the back of my CRV with junk. Some of the fabulous items we selected for this trip were: an old pool filter, a dented hood and fender, some worn out folding chairs, and some other odds and ends.

Bridget and I made the drive to Diamond Springs, where our county dump is. Evidently, the county (or someone) has a sense of humor, and the dump is located on Throwita Way (accent on throw). Ha!

My love of the dump goes back to when I was a little girl, and got to go with my Dad when we cleaned out the garage. The smell! The seagulls! The flinging of stuff!

What's not to like?

St. Pauli Girl and the Yellow Ribbon Fund

2009-04-11T17:52:00.001-07:00

I'm not much of a beer drinker, and I don't think I've ever had a St. Pauli, but they're doing a good thing. All you have to do is go to their site, St. Pauli Girl, and download this poster of said girl. If you look closely, you'll see she's wearing a WristStrong bracelet.

St. Pauli Girl will make a donation for every Poster download to the Yellow Ribbon Fund, benefitting injured U.S. soldiers and their families. Oh, and did I mention it's free?

Good on you, St. Pauli Girl, for jumping on the Colbert WristStrong bandwagon. Now, everyone, go click!

It's Peep Time!

2009-04-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

For all peeple who love them some Peeps, it's time again for the Washington Post Peep Diorama contest, http://tinyurl.com/2co752.

Every year I forget all about this, so it's a nice Easter surprise. The one to the left was the winner, but go check out all the entries. Peeple are so creative! Maybe one year I'll put together one myself. It looks like fun.

I've Always Wanted to Learn to Tango

2009-04-09T12:35:00.001-07:00

Jim and I have taken some ballroom classes in the past, but they never offered the Tango. This cat is sure doing a nice job.

Wut class he take? Can I take?

I love the LOLCats. This one reminds me of our cat, Ginger.

I Guess I'm Officially Old

2009-04-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

I spent most this weekend with my daughter in our quest for a dress for prom. The one to the left isn't it, but we did find a wonderful, pastel pink prom gown. She had tried on a number of gowns, when I saw the one she ended up with. When I asked her to try it on, she told me, "Heck, no." I told her she had to try it on, so she did.

Anyway, the woman sitting next to me, waiting for her daughter, said to me, "That will look great on your granddaughter(!). OMG, it's official. I must be old. Damn it. I did manage to turn to her and tell her she was my daughter. Maybe she felt bad, because she didn't say anything back to me. Or she's deaf.

On the plus side, Bridget got the beautiful pink gown, with shoes and earrings to go with it. She'll be gorgeous at prom. One other cool thing that Tres Chic Boutique does, is that the owner wrote down the dress, and Bridget's school, so no one else will be wearing that dress to her prom. I thought that was pretty great.

So much for my previous post from last weekend where I had beautiful skin. I'm going downhill fast, I guess.

Target Stalker?

2009-03-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

I'm wandering around Target on Saturday afternoon. I see a man a number of times wandering around also in about the same area of the store (toothpaste, cosmetics, soap). Then he passes by me and says to me, "You have beautiful skin!". I thank him for the compliment (what else to do?). He then says, "You must be married." "Yes, I am."

I'm thinking that was really weird. But, I go on my way, check out, and walk out to my car. Then, there he is again. He's driving by, waves to me, and says, "Have a good day!"

My daughter works at Target, and I told her about my encounter. She told me they get a lot of "creepers" in there. Really? Who knew?

On the up side, at least I have beautiful skin.

Cosmic Freeway Signage - iPod Connection

2009-03-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

So, I'm driving home from a conference at Lake Tahoe, listening to tunes on my fave playlist on my iPod. I passed one of those signs (see image), and at the very same time guess what song is playing on my iPod? Yeah, you're right: Radar Love.

Somehow this struck me as being incredibly funny, and still does. And no, I didn't take this picture. No time. I was driving in the rain by myself. Well, other cars were on the road around me, but you know what I mean.

I'm tired, and this is the lamest blog post ever. But it still cracks me up.

I get all my news from Rachel Maddow

2009-02-16T22:06:00.000-08:00

So, I'm watching The Rachel Maddow Show, and her lead story is on Hillary Clinton's trip to Asia, specifically to Japan. There's a lot of interesting political stuff that I won't go into now about the economy in Japan, and how awful it is right now (Hey, just like us!). Anyway, she shows a great pic of our new Sec. of State disembarking from her jet in the coolest coat ever. Even Rachel was wowed. Man, I wish I had a coat like this one! Love that lining.

(Image copyright MSNBC). Seeing as no one reads this blog, probably no one will care that this pic is here.

Slice of life on the train this AM

2009-02-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

I take Light Rail to work each morning. Usually, I sit by a fellow liberal, my train buddy, and we talk politics or Colbert or Rachel all the way in. He wasn't there today, and there was a lot to capture my interest besides my iPod and book (The Associate - John Grisham).

I sat right across from a beautiful, young, African American woman, who was staring out the window. She was nicely dressed in slacks, a sweater, and cute little black flats. She also had a bicycle. I've never seen her on the train before. After a minute or two, I realized she was quietly crying. I asked her if she was OK. She just nodded. The crying got worse - not especially loud, but something was going on with her. She didn't seem to want to talk, so I handed her a Kleenex from my purse. She wiped her tears, and kept on crying until she got off. I'll always wonder about her. I hope she's OK.

Across the aisle from her was a young guy, also with a bike. Another newcomer to the train. He was a white guy, about 20, with some attitude. That became apparent as the Regional Transit police got on to check for tickets and passes. This guy didn't have one. He said that the machine where he got on was broken, and how was that his fault? He argued with the RT man, who was writing him up. The fine is $87. The kid kept arguing and the RT man called on his walkie-talkie to find out if the machine was truly broken. I'm not sure what the answer was, but it turned out that my fellow rider had an appointment at the courthouse for a DUI. He got the ticket, complained bitterly for two more stops, kicked the pedals on his bike, and the RT guys (another one showed up for reinforcement) finally kicked him off the train. I think he was crying because he was going to be late for his court date.

At some point, a guy sat down across from me, taking the place of the crying woman. He was wearing sweats, and had the hood up, covering his long, dishwater blond hair. He was probably in his late 20s. Just when I thought I could concentrate on my book, he started periodically sucking on his teeth (at least, I think that's what the noise was). So annoying! 30 seconds....squeek! 20 seconds...squeek! Wait for it...45 seconds...Squeek! (Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him...).

I thought I smelled pretty good this morning. I showered, put on lotion and Halston. I'm wearing clean scrubs. Then a woman gets on and sits right next to me with hot food in a plastic to-go carrier. I don't know if it was Chinese food, or what, but it was really fragrant, and had overtones of grease. Am I going to smell like that for the rest of the day? I hope not. Even with the slight cold I have right now, I can still smell it.

A more eventful morning on the train than usual, fo sho.

Taken

2009-02-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Just got home from seeing "Taken" with Liam Neeson. We have a 17-year-old daughter (like in the movie). I just told her she's never going anywhere. Pretty tense movie. I'm afraid that my husband and I don't have quite the same skillset as Liam Neeson's character. He's a former CIA professional - Neeson, not Jim. :-)

It was hard to concentrate on any Parisian scenery, but we enjoyed the movie. Quite the adrenaline rush!

Funny lolcats

2009-02-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

:-D

more animals

Staying in today

2009-02-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

After being in Denver most of the week for work, it's nice to be home. I met with my fellow educators, which is always fun. We also went to a Nuggets game. The Pepsi Center is beautiful! Way better than Arco Arena. I seem to have picked up a wee bit of a cold, so am just hanging out, staying warm, drinking fluids, and enjoying home today

Have much teevee watching to catch up on. I missed two Daily Shows and Colbert Reports while I was gone, so need to watch those. Oh, and The Office. Also the Mark Twain award to George Carlin. :-( He is missed.

Loved, loved, loved Wednesday's Colbert with Steve Martin! Maybe the Best. Episode. Ever. The Christian Bale riff, Who's Not Honoring Me Now, and then the interview with Steve. So fab. Their read-off of the Danielle Steele book was priceless, and to cap the interview with Dueling Banjos, well, and guitar, was wonderful.