Rose City Queen

Valentine cutie

2011-03-07T17:47:00.000-08:00

This week, at I Heart Faces, the challenge is to find our “Best Face Photo from February 2011”.

This is my oldest daughter. She is 2 1/2. This is one of the first photos I took using my new camera. This is straight out of the camera. As you can see, I need to play with it some more so that I can take a far better shot. The face, though, I absolutely love! This was taken on Valentine's day. Her daddy came home with a bag full of goodies from the Hello Kitty store. The fact that he ventured into that store on his own says how much he must love his daughters. He rarely steps foot in a mall. I hope you enjoy this shot.

I'm trying to come back... again.

2011-02-23T19:16:00.001-08:00

Every year my husband and I get an allotment to spend as we wish with a small portion of our tax return. This year I chose to get a nice camera. I went with a Nikon DSLR (D5000). After a little research I found this one to be a good beginner camera and it was in my price range. Luckily my sister-in-law found a nice little starter kit at Costco with just the camera I wanted and a few extras ( a zoom lens and a carry case). Now I need to start using it. I want to capture my daughter's moments in life and some staged ones too. For starters, I will start with You Capture and I heart faces. Let's hope I keep this up or at least start it up. Please send good vibes my way that I will take on this endeavor with full vigor. If you know of any websites that have tutorials or weekly photography assignments, send them my way please.
Welcome to my blog.

toys

2010-12-09T17:33:00.001-08:00

I nay start participating in You Capture.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

test test

2010-12-09T17:30:00.001-08:00

Posting via Android.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

shouting into the darkness at no one

2009-08-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

The other night my hubby so nicely tells me
"when you tweet, you are shouting into the darkness at no one"
How mean! So of course I tweeted that rude comment. Out of 292 followers, 2 responded that they were listening. I may be shouting into the darkness, but 2 awesome tweeters are listening (@loteriachicana, @cultivatingme)...so there!

I'm back...kind of

2009-08-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

When you last heard from me, I was attempting to shred. I made it to 16 days. Funny cause 16 is my lucky number, but in this case I quit. I found out I was pregnant and all my shredding went out the window. Now I am 21 weeks pregnant, with another girl! I am due Christmas Day. I hope for the well being of my daughter's sanity she is early. It totally sucks having a birthday around Christmas, let alone on Christmas day!
For now this will no longer be a weight loss blog. I'll just blog about whatever tickles my fancy. Sometimes about my daughter, sometimes about my hubby, sometimes about my pregnancy and sometimes about what I wish I was doing. For real juicy blogs, I have my super secret blog ;) one which I have also been neglecting. Or I have nothing juicy to blog about.
I hope I have inspiration to blog. I've been feeling super tired lately, but I really think I need an outlet and this might as well be it.

Shredding Shredding not so gone- Day 16

2009-04-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

I just finished day 16 level 2 of the 30 day challenge. I am still out of breath, I am a sweaty mess and I am not liking Jillian so much.
First off, I really dislike that I have to watch her stupid intro every single time I turn on her DVD. Why can't I just get to the menu?
The military presses are killer, I can't do them. I can balance and kick with no problem, but the arms are killer. I wonder if I should get 3 lb weights.... I would also use them for the V raised and squats, my arms have never raised a weight in a V palms facing up position before and It is frickin' hard.
I know Natalie was messing around, but that tone of Jillian's "Thank You" really bothers me. And her side conversations with her, keep that to yourself, I need to workout not listen to you yap.
Jillian wants the workout to be a continuous 20 minute workout, so why is there so much time in between moves? While on the floor, I am able to squeeze in at least 5 extra crunches while she is telling us to get going.
Yes, I sound bitter. Not because I hate the workout, In fact I really like it. I just wish the trainers would take into consideration that the user will be hearing the same exact thing every single day. I am bitter cause I am fat. I am working on it.
I know I said I would try to eat healthier, and for the most part (during the week) I really try. On the weekend, though is another matter. You don't live with my husband. We eat out a lot. It is hard to order something healthy when he is ordering a delicious burrito. And you should see the meals he makes, sometimes healthy like last night we had salmon with greenbeans, but other nights we are having rigatoni bolognese, and it is so good and I eat and eat. Oh well. I will try to be better with my food.
I am really proud that I have made it this far in the challenge. Have I seen a difference in my body? NO. But at least I am working out and it helps my heart be healthy.

Shred level 2

2009-04-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

I noticed that a handful of the sisters were moving on to Level 2 today (day 11), I didn't think I was ready, but I didn't want to be left behind so I went ahead and moved on up.
OMG! Level 2.... I loved it! and it kicked my ass!
It was hard. I was sweating all over the place. I was grunting. I finally feel like I'm working out!
The moves are more challenging. But I tried and I was able to do most, not all the reps of course, but that will come... i hope. All of a sudden my 5 lb weights seem too heavy. I don't know if I need to get lighter ones, or do what i can with 5 lbs.
The easiest move in my opinion was the jump rope and I COULDN'T DO IT! LOL! It was so hard! Why? I did it fine in level one. And there was no way I was able to do a double jump, I think I was doing a Natalie level 1 jump. Oh well... it too shall get better.
I feel really good finishing this work out. How did you do?

It's getting easier

2009-04-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning to do day 8 of the 30 day challenge. I don't know about you, but it felt so much easier. Now don't get me wrong, the push-ups still kicked my butt, but I think I finally conquered the jumping jack. The chest flies are my favorite. They end too soon. The side lunge and arm raised are still hard to do with my 5 lb weights, so I do one arm at a time. So, am I phoning it in? Perhaps in the push-up department, Yes, but everything else, I really think I am doing well.
When I committed to the challenge, it was just that. I will do the 30 day shred for 30 days. Last week my eating habits were not great. Actually they were pretty bad. Yet, this morning I weighed myself and I lost one pound. The shredding is actually working. My hubby also mentioned that my waist looks smaller, but I don't believe him, but it was very nice of him to say. So If I could lose one pound eating crap, imagine what would happen if I actually ate some healthy meals?
So this week, and I need to take it one week at a time, I plan to eat healthy meals.
When I started the challenge, I also vowed to walk three times a week around the rosebowl. Well, that hasn't happened. Last week was a very busy one with Spring Break and playdates and what not. This week is a bit slower, so I plan to head out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
My sister in law, is getting me a jogging stroller from a friend who doesn't have any need for it. Yay me! I plan to use it once I get it. I really dislike how my body looks. And I need to do something about it. Thank goodness I found The sisterhood of the shrinking jeans.

I ♥ Faces Amateurs

2009-04-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

i ♥ faces theme for this week is Easter/Spring pictures.

Shred Day 7- FAIL

2009-04-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

I didn't shred on the 7th day. I knew it was too good to be true. I had done 6 days, there was nothing stopping me. But alas, my shredding came to a halt.
Baby girl woke up at 2 am with a wet diaper. No problem, I changed her and put her back to sleep. Once I got back to bed, I could not fall asleep to save my life, the only other time this has happened to me was when I was pregnant. But we aren't even going to go there.
I finally fell asleep around 7 and the hubby being such a great guy let me sleep in. Once I got up, we had lots of preparations to do for our Easter Brunch that we were hosting. Now it is 8 pm, everyone is finally gone and I am exhausted.
I plan to continue tomorrow. I expect Jillian to give me the business for skipping a day. I deserve it. I will continue counting down the 30 days with everyone else, but I will add a day after the 30 days are done.

30 day shred- DAY 3

2009-04-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had completed two days of shredding, and you know what? I didn't feel so bad. I felt sore, but I could still move around and play with my babygirl. It wasn't that bad. Come night time, when I finally had time to sit around and watch biggest loser, baby was down for the night, I got up from the couch and lo and behold, my legs felt so stiff! Ah, I thought. This is what everyone is talking about. I still got up early this morning to Shred.
The set of jumping jacks after the warm up really kicked my ass! They were so hard to do. It is always that set that I feel like I've never moved in my life. The rest of the workout was pretty much the same. I got through it and I really think I improved from day one. I live for the arm flies on the floor. I could do those forever, it's like my own personal break!
Well, ladies, I am not phoning it in, how are you doing?
BTW, I also joined the water challenge. I will be drinking 64 oz of water a day. I used to drink that much water before, but since I've been home with babygirl, it all went to hell. Well, now I am making a conscious effort to get it all in. I really thinks it makes a difference with weight loss. Now if I could only get the food part to be healthier....

I ♥ Faces photo entry

2009-04-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

here is my entry for I ♥ Faces: Friends.
Playdate at the Americana on Brand.

30 day shred- DAY 1

2009-04-05T21:15:00.001-07:00

I was lucky enough to run into the sisterhood of the shrinking jeans where I was motivated to join their challenge. Starting today, the sisterhood will be working out to Jillian's 30 day shred video. Since I already own the workout video and have had it for many months now. I thought I'd join in.
Back when I wanted to start this video, my babygirl was about 6 weeks old. Before I got pregnant I was pretty active. I walked 3 miles 5 days a week ( I even walked through out my pregnancy), I used take a spinning class. I'd go hiking. I thought I'd be able to jump right in to it. Actually I thought I was taking it easy! 20 minutes? Who couldn't do that? Me! That's who. The jumping jacks were the killers for me. I thought I was going to die trying to do a proper jumping jack! I was so out of shape it wasn't even funny. And I was sore for 2 days afterwards. After about a week I stopped with the workout. I tried it again a few months later, this time I was better at it, but still after about a week I stopped.
Today was day one. I did a lot better than I expected, but please not that I am not new to working out and I've done this video before. I used 5 pound weights. We'll see tomorrow how sore I will be.
In addition to the video, I also want to commit to walking around the rosebowl (3 miles) atleast 3 times a week. I should have gone today but instead here I am posting about the challenge.... see? I'm full of excuses.
I hope that this time I am successful and that I will be able to shed those last 15 pounds of baby weight.
Now, I am committed to the challenge, and I have the sisterhood (i hope) to motivate me to keep going. Who else would like to join me in this challenge?