The Smell of Progress Is In The Air!

I will admit that it's hard for me to acknowledge the amount of progress I have made since I started this journey in January of 2010. I see myself in the mirror every day and truthfully, to me, I look the same as I always have. Tom is constantly telling me that I have made some really great progress over the past year and to embrace it and be proud of it. I'm hard-headed & don't listen very well :)

Anyway, this morning I started to look at my progress pictures from my past preps and BAM! There it was! The realization that I have done some serious work on my physique and I had the pictures to prove it! I'd like to share with you the following pictures. Each was taken 7 weeks out from competition date.

 6/5/10

 9/18/10

2/26/11

Thank God my posing has improved....lol!!

 6/5/10

 9/18/10

2/26/11



 I'm quite pleased with the work that I've done!!  

 6/5/10

 9/18/10

2/26/11

Seriously, my posing on 6/5/10 was just outta control :)

 6/5/10

 9/18/10

2/26/11

As you can see, more has changed than my hairstyle :) My body has changed a lot and I know that there's no way I could have done it without my Coach aka Da Monstah and my trainer/hubs/partner-in-crime Tom.

Seven more weeks....I'm psyched to see what happens during that amount of time....LET'S GET IT!!!

Diggin' Deep

The last couple of days have been dramatic and overwhelming, to say the least. I'm physically and emotionally exhausted. I'm very aware of what stress can do to one's body and have been trying to keep my stress levels to a minimum (I'm pretty sure I'm doing a sh!tty job).

Anyway, I remembered an email I received some time back about a blog Jaime Baird had written for Muscle & Fitness Hers (I just received the newest issue yesterday! I'm seriously in love with this magazine!). The title of the blog is I Am Winning The Day! and I think Jaime is onto something. "Winning the day" is all about realizing that every day is not your best day but you will do everything you can, in the current moment, to continue moving forward.

So, in the light of what's going on in my personal & work life, I'm going to do the best I can with what I have - I am going to win the day!

OOOOWWWW!!!

This is what I looked like at the end of my workout yesterday. I was sitting at the leg press machine and whimpered as I bent down to pick up my phone to take this picture. The workout was, in a word, brutal! I sent the above pic to my coach - subject was "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" - written message was "You are a b-word! :)"

My body is incredibly sore from the workouts I've done this week and I'm EXHAUSTED. But you know what....I love it! I love that I woke up this morning and I had abs without even flexing! I love that I have veins popping out in my shoulders which is new to me! I love that I feel like a machine!

I just might whoop some ass on April 16th....

New Release Tuesday

I posted this song on Facebook a couple of weeks ago....the video hadn't premiered yet...but I fell in love with it as soon as I heard it. I'm not in love with the video but it's cool...I want the top Rihanna's wearing...maybe for a date night with Tom?? :)

Whatever your opinion is about Kanye West as a person, you can't deny that the man has the magic touch when it comes to making music!

Hope you enjoy this week's new release!

As always, if you have any song suggestions - send them my way!!

Through The Eyes Of My Blackberry

I had today off....Tom was working at the fire station (I did stop by to visit him before I hit the gym!)...and The Princess had school....so here's what I did with my day through the "eyes" of my Blackberry!!

After getting back from the gym, I put on a pair of Lucky jeans I haven't worn in over a year!

Can I get a "woot woot"?? :)



 My attempt at lookin' sassy...lol..I'm a dork!

 My version of heaven on Earth ;)

 I love leaving with these bags full of goodies!!!

The item I'm most excited about - my new WonderWoman lipglass!!

Isn't the packaging so cute??



 WonderWoman!!

I also treated myself to a movie...I'll admit it...I have a crush on Liam Neeson!

I also stopped by a cupcake shop and bought some cupcakes for my Mom. I dropped them off at her work and hung out with her for a bit. I didn't get any pictures of that because I'm a knucklehead and I left my phone in the car!

All in all, it was a really nice day off!!

Cue the Eighties Rock Band!

Hey y'all! How goes it??

It's cloudy & windy here in Tucson....they've been predicting rain for the past 3 days and yet...nada!! Guess that's what happens when you live in the Sonoran Desert :) I spent yesterday doing cardio, cleaning my house, prepping meals for next week, and watching the U of A Wildcats cement their #1 spot in the Pac-10!! Go Cats!!

source

It's an unspoken rule that if you live in Tucson, you are a Wildcats fan. If you're not, you must turn in your Tucsonan card and leave the city immediately! I'm kidding but you will be subjected to dirty looks and will not be invited to any social events :)

The scale has not been kind to me this week...Genie asked me if my bones are made of titanium because the number on the scale doesn't correspond with what the pictures are showing....I told her my bones were made of adamantium (if you're a nerd, you know exactly what that is without Googling it...lol). I did notice that I'm a bit more vascular and on Friday, I was able to wear a pair of jeans that had been stowed away in the closet for a good minute. So, I'm going to keep weighing in but not read the number on the scale - Tom will be doing that for me :)

When I saw today's progress pictures, the song "The Final Countdown" started playing in my head. I'm crazy...I know! Here's a couple of pictures from today....

I'm super excited because weights have been added back into my workouts! I've missed being on the free weight floor and adding some estrogen to that area of the gym :) New workouts for my bottom half are inspired by a recent video posted by Ava Cowan on the FitnessRX website - you can find it here.

Eights weeks left.....cue the music....."It's the final countdoooooowwwwwwnnnn"....

I Put My Foot In Cardio's Butt!!!

Happy Saturday everyone!!

I typically schedule my workouts and cardio sessions so that I have Saturday as a rest day. Well...I slept through the alarm on Monday morning so I decided that I would make up for that missed cardio session this morning. I told myself that I would still sleep in (cuz Lord knows I was not feelin' cardio at the butt crack of dawn on the weekend!!) but would need to do my cardio after I made The Princess her breakfast. I also told myself that if I did my cardio session and really killed it, I would treat myself to a gift from MAC.

With MAC on the brain, I threw on my cardio clothes and hit the treadmill. I decided that instead of doing a set pace at a set incline, I would keep my pace at 4.0 but change my incline after 2 songs. I thought I would share with you the great songs my ipod picked for me today (I absolutely LOVE when that happens) with a note of the incline I was at.

Ass On The Floor - Diddy Dirty Money feat. Swizz Beatz         *2
Remember the Name - Fort Minor                                           
We Takin' Over - DJ Khaled                                                    *4
Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani                                                          
Hello, Good Morning - Diddy Dirty Money                              *2
Ring-A-Ling - Black Eyed Peas       
Magic - B.o.B. feat Rivers Cuomo                                            *6
Bleed It Out - Linkin Park
Heartbreaker RMX - Mariah Carey                                         *2
Turnin' Me On - Keri Hilson
Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys                         *8
Damaged - Danity Kane
Swing Ya Rag - T.I. feat Swizz Beatz                                       *2
Money Honey - Lady Gaga 
Fire Burning - Sean Kingston                                                   *10

I chose to change my incline using a certain number of songs because I've learned that if I use the time on the treadmill, I get fixated on how much I've done, how much time I have left, how I tired I think I am, etc. So, I cover the time with a towel and just focus on my music!!

One last thing...I show a preview for a movie called "Beastly" with Vanessa Hudgens....umm....am I strange because I really want to see it??  :)