Frosty Friday

So we made it to the gym 3 out of 5 days this week. I'm ok with that. Considering I also had to nights of dance this week and on Wednesday I started learning our tap number in which we are doing a kickline and I stood between an 8th grader who is taller then me and a 23 year old who is slightly shorter. So the 3 of us together were 13, 23 and 33. At the time, its no big deal but when I think about it now, no wonder it was totally kicking my ass. It was fun though and a great workout and the costume is just so 'classic' I have to do it.

Weekend plans involve a lot hockey. Games tonight and tomorrow morning. Plus an OCH visit more then likely this evening and who knows what else. I'll probably start working on getting the house ready for Superbowl. I also got to get invites out for that.

It's snowing again too. Which I can't complain about too much, since we've only had consistent snow for the last couple weeks but it has been cold. Super cold. It is January though, it is to be expected, hopefully those El Nino winds will kick up again pretty soon.

Eagles, Hockey and Tanning

One of the best parts of my daily commute is that I get to travel along the road that follows the Saginaw River and last week on Thursday on the way to work I saw 3 bald eagles. The first one I pointed out and the husband may have been slightly doubtful, but the next 2 he saw. We both get excited about seeing them. So then Friday as we are headed up I75 to go to Sault St Marie for a hockey tournament we see yet another one. I've heard seeing them brings good luck. Well, I played the game board at the hockey tournament and turned my $5 into $27.50. Course, I donated it back to the team. Later that night the husband totally kicked some poker booty and came out a few bucks ahead. Too bad, seeing those eagles didn't help out the team. They played some good hockey but just couldn't quite pull out a win this time. We all had fun though.

And on a completely different topic... One of my co-teachers at dance had been going to the tanner at least 3-5 times a week for at least the last 6 years. As long as I've known her she's been brown. Well, she decided to take a break in the fall and she is now white like me. She, of course, is hitting the winter blahs and wants to hit the tanner again. I keep telling her no, but I can tell she is going to. Now, I have tanned a few times in my life but luckily I've never been addicted. I do love how it warms you up in the winter but I've always had dry skin and am a moisturizing queen so I just tend to not do it. Last night I found myself telling her that she should take pride in her whiteness. I later laughed and hoped no one over heard that comment without knowing that I was just talking about her non-tan skin.

To dance or not to dance? No question. Dance.

Do you ever forget how old you are? At dance, I'm pretty much 8-10 years older then all the people I'm working with this year and most of the time I don't even think about just how old I am compared to them. Until that is, someone complains that they are getting old. That happened tonight and I just told them ' You? Old? I'll be 34 before the show in June' Yep, the birthday will fall the week of the show. I don't freak about them, I just know that in those weeks leading up to the show I'll feel the tiredness in my body I felt last year around the show. It wasn't just my body either, it was my mind. I choreographed or co-choreographed 11 dances last year, plus performed in 6 dances. That's 17 full dances I kept in my head somehow. No wonder I was so exhausted. I seriously, considered hanging up the performing shoes after last year. But I just can't see myself doing that, I also keep telling myself I should cut back after all since teaching dance is a hobby. I haven't even really tried to do that. I do love it, I love the kids, I love the creative freedom I get from it. Teaching dance is just so different then my desk job where I use just my brain all day while sitting on my arse. Dance uses my body and my mind in a much different way. Though having the logical mind that I do, sometimes putting the emotion and feeling behind my dancing can be very tough for me. That is something I'm going to work on this. Dance from my heart, less from my brain.

Ready for the Weekend!!!

This has been a great weekend. Not just good, great. Friday, we went OCHering and got to see so many of my favorite friends. Saturday, I went to lunch with more of my favorite people and went out to dinner and dancing with more terrific people. Today, it's Chucky Cheese for the nephew's bday and I don't have work tomorrow. Yippee!!!! I love this weekend, in fact, I'm going to get back at enjoying it right now.

Working the Kinks Out

So Wednesday night after dance I did the Cardio Pump class at the studio that I normally do, the only thing is it had been 3 weeks since I'd taken class because of the holidays and stuff. Class was good and hard, just how I like it. Then Thursday morning we hit the gym and the husband wanted to do legs. Now I knew that would be a lot for my legs within a 12 hour period but I did it anyway. (That goal about the better derriere, not to mention the high kick costume I have to wear in June). I was sore by last night and then this morning that walk down the stairs.... Ouch. My body didn't want to move, but I know the best way for me to work out the soreness, it to get the blood flowing through those muscles. So we went to the gym again this morning. The good news is we went 4 days this week, plus I did the cardio pump class. I'm contemplating going to the gym tomorrow just to get in extra cardio. It's been an excellent workout week so far, that would be icing on the cake.

Tomorrow, I'll get on the scales again. I tend to avoid them for a week or 2 after the holidays since I know I wasn't working out and my eating wasn't terrific, well health wise. Believe me, everything tasted terrific. I know I didn't gain the dreaded holiday 7. I have kept measuring the waist and hips and they haven't changed, but that doesn't mean the scale didn't creep up a bit. I'm guessing tomorrow will be in check with where I want to be and if it isn't, I know a couple more weeks of good behaviors will get me there.

A new alternative to my lunch that I've found I like is to make my salad (romaine lettuce/spinach/carrots/kraft fat free Italian dressing) and dump a pack of tuna on it. Only 90 calories for the tuna but 20 grams of protein and I didn't get hungry until dinner time. So I'm going to mix that in more regularly then my normal turkey sandwich.

Addicted, so what?

I've always loved the smell of coffee but it took years to actually like the taste of it. Of course, thanks to the popularity of Starbucks and other such places I slowly started by drinking the fancy coffees. Give me a coffee with caramel or chocolate and I'd drink it. Over time while I was working I'd drink coffee mixed with sugar free hot coco and eventually I replaced the coco with sweet n low and non-fat creamer. About 3 years ago we actually bought a coffee pot for the house and now I can't imagine not having coffee in the morning. I love the smell and warmth and how cozy it feels sitting on the couch with my mug in my hands. Even at work, when I'm usually drinking out of stryofoam, having the cup just relaxes me. Not to mention warm me up since work is usually cold. So I believe I've slowly become addicted and there are still occastional mornings at home where I don't drink my coffee. Actually, at home I seldom finish my mug, I think the husband makes it a bit too strong for my taste and at work its more watered down so I like it better. My name is Jody and I'm a coffee addict.

Ludington

Over the weekend we went to Ludington for a hockey tournament. The tournament itself was fun, there were 6 teams and overall they were pretty well matched. Our record was 2-1-1 and the kids came in 3rd. But this was the first time I'd been to Ludington since I was maybe 4 years old.

We drove out Friday afternoon, which quickly turned to dusk and then extremely dark. I'd forgotten how dark everything is when you get away from even a small city like Bay City. I had to use my high beams a few times and I never use them just driving around town here.

Saturday, in between games, we drove out the see the beach and lighthouse. The water looked pretty rough but still pretty. Great waves for some boogy boarding. Then we drove up to see the sand dunes and saw a bald eagle. It was a small one but we paced along side it for awhile as it just drifted in the wind and was going 28 mph. Very cool. We then went back downtown and had lunch at the nice little brewpub that good beer and good food. I really liked it. Then we napped until the next game.

It was a nice weekend with a lot of driving with no snow. Though it did snow a bit last night. We're going up to Sault St. Marie the weekend of the 19th and right now they don't have any snow up there. Should be interesting. I am excited for another tournament, it was a lot of fun. The boys are an absolute riot.

I'm Yummy Mary

So the other day we stop in at the Verizon store since the husband's cell phone was really slow. For instance, when he'd hit contacts, it would take 8-9 seconds to pull up that screen. It was just so slow. Mine was a little slow but nowhere near as bad as his. So we decide to stop into the Verizon store to have the phones checked out, turns out all the needed was a OS Upgrade. So the guy takes our phones, we play Tetris for the next 10 minutes and then he comes back with the phones and tells us that we're all set but the upgrade leaves us with blank wallpaper so we'll need to re-add them if we want. Well, I'm in the habit of always making my banner match my wallpaper. I'm also in the habit of taking pictures of my adult beverages. So in the past I've had 'ILUVCAPTN' and 'Pickletini', that day I had' Yummy Mary'.... And the guy holds the phones out and says 'I don't know whose is whose'. I look at them and say 'I'm Yummy Mary' and take my phone and then say 'There's something I never thought I'd say'.

The guy smiled.

The husband laughed.

Just another day in my life.

Holding My Eyes Wide Open

This getting back into the swing of things after the holidays isn't near as easy as it used to be. I've yet to have a good nights sleep this week. I'll be tired and then go to bed only to lay there wide awake. I refuse to look at the clock while I wait to fall asleep but I'd guess I was awake until 2am before I fell asleep last night and then got up at 5:05am and went to the gym.

I'm actually glad that I can't go out this weekend since we are going to Ludington for the husbands first hockey tournament as an assistant coach. The team has early games both on Saturday and Sunday. This will force me to get this sleep schedule back in gear.

It's not like we are normal 8 hour sleepers anyway, usually more like 5-6. Even over the break when I could sleep in, I was wide awake by 9:30 but I'd went to sleep at 3:30. So now my body just doesn't want to fall asleep at midnight. Though I did have a wonderful nap from 9pm-10:30pm last night. I turned on 'Knights of Prosperity' at 9 since I really wanted to see the new show after it at 9:30 and of course I made it maybe 5 minutes into 'Knights' and I was out. I'm sure its quality entertainment but I couldn't hold off the couch monster.

The couch monster can be your friend or enemy. Right now, I'm mad at him because even though the couch is 15 miles away I can hear him calling me. Loudly. I miss him.

Grow Up Already Ladies

I'm constantly amazed by people. So often I find myself shaking my head and just laughing. At what point in life do people mature? I ask this because while teaching dance I'm not at all surprised when I hear one of the kids say 'Oh, I don't like her'. They are kids and I can understand that coming from them. As for my friends, some of them are quite a bit younger then me and I still see that behaviour from them and I'm ok with it. I guess I figure they'll get over it as they get older. But yesterday I realized some people I associate with who are quite a bit older then me are truly still doing the 'Well, I just don't like her'. Sure there are people I feel that way about but in adult professional situations you have to act above that. You can't call a meeting and not invite someone just because you don't like them. Socially, it is different. If you don't enjoy someone, don't spend time with them. But professionally, its unacceptable and completely immature. This isn't exactly high school or is it?

Goals.

Happy New Year! So I don't make resolutions, but I do like to set new goals for myself. So for this year my goals are:

• Be nicer to all the people I love
• Be more involved with all the people I love
• Blog More
• Work towards a tighter rear end

I met last year's goal where I wanted to lose a few lbs and have been maintaining that so now I just need to continue to work on that and focus on my rear.