CrossFit

Last year around this time, I was feeling particularly lazy and needed a boost to my fitness (or lack of fitness) routine. It's not that I sit around all day on the couch-most days- I'm a pretty active person. I play roller derby for my house (Rebels) and All-Star teams, so that is 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time. Do more, you say? That's a pretty good workout!

Well, it was that a good portion of that team (Rebels, whom I spend most of my time with) were training for triathlons, losing weight and hitting the gym hardcore, or just being awesome and cross training. Their competitive drive was the reason I wanted to play for the Rebels. It was making my 8-9 hours on skates seem measly.  At the time, I was looking into CrossFit and just couldn't wrap my head around paying 150 bucks to the place in town with limited hours. I was going to school part-time and skating, that took up a good majority of my day. The other portion of my day was spent with my infant daughter.

So, I did what any sensible person would do, I joined the gym. It looked great from the start. It had a daycare so that I could work out. That wasn't met without its hardships though. Felicity hated the daycare. Hated is an understatement really. They would call me after 20 minutes of her screaming and being inconsolable. So much for that workout. I kept on as I could, but after the discount rates expired, it felt like such a waste for as little as I was going. Isn't that typical of gym memberships. Had I known there was actually do a month-to-month membership...

Fast forward a few months to football season. I started seeing CrossFit North Pole sweatshirts at the football practices and games. I, of course, was too hesitant to inquire about it at the time, but I kept it in the back of my mind because I still had that gym membership. A few months later a fellow skater joins and I told myself when my membership runs out, I'm going to give it a go.

On April 1(haha) I made the commitment to go to my first session being on Thursday, April 3. No joke! I attended the 7pm newbie class. It was a blast! I was able to do 4 sets of 10 reps of the newbie workout and had a decent time since I was sore from the day before.

Sidenote: Since said skater friend started CF, she has been torturing us with CF style workouts on Saturday morning and Wednesday evening off-skates workouts. There was a point I was laid up on the couch for what seememed like days because of her evil-doings.

A few other girls at the newbie session were quite impressed as they were panting like crazy (see reason above). I had been pre-conditioned, and it felt great going into something that I had been practicing for a while now. It made for a good feeling when I left, and it's the reason I'll continue go back. To the 5am sessions. I know, it's early, but I can get a good workout in before the husband leaves for work.

Day 1-Intro Session, Thursday April 3.

The hardest part? Doing the same thing the day before at derby!

Today, makes day 3! The workouts were as follows:

Monday, April 7, 5am class. 

50, 40, 30, 20, 10
OH LUNGE (45)
DOUBLE-UNDERS

 I did a L1 revision since I'm still new. It was 30, 20, 10 OH Lunges with tuck jumps in the same intervals. My time was 10:30 I believe, and used a 15 pound plate. 

Good thing class only went until 12 today,  I went home and crafted then took a nap!

Wed, April 9, 5am:  I'll update once it's posted on the site. 

6, 9, 12, 15, 18
Snatch Grip OH Strict Press (95, 65)
V sits
Box jumps (24, 30)

My time was super fast (7:30) since I was doing the L1 workout with a 15 pound bar and no additional weights. L1 also only did the 12, 15, 18 reps for all three, and a 24" box jump.  It was a challenging workout, but I wanted to go light since I wanted to do the workout properly. Next time I'll add some weight. But, there is still an hour of off-skates and 2 hours on skates tonight. I'll be tired regardless :) Since I had some time to kill, I did the powerhouse workout of back extensions and swims, 12 reps and I did them 2 times. (I think the swims had a different name, but it has escaped me.)

 Until next time!

A Card from January.

Good morning! Do you ever have a card that you keep meaning to finish but don't know what to do with it. Today's card is one of those. I made this in January as a Freshly Made Sketches challenge, but just didn't know how I wanted to finish it. It's been haunting me.

So after staring at it all this time, I'm leaving it. But willing to take suggestions because I really like this layout. I think it's all the crazy color patterns that are messing with my brain.

Anywho, I've got to get moving this morning! Have a stamptastic day!

Going a Little Vintage

I am a stamp hoarder. There, I said it.

Good thing for my friend Missy, who said "It's not hoarding if it has a purpose." Yes! That's why I like her! -She's a paper addict. (I wonder if I can convince her to change her derby name to that Sheza Paper Addict.) I like it.

Anyways...

A resolution of mine for the year is to use stamps that I have purchased and ::gasp:: used less than once. I met a lady at a stamp club I once attended and when she bought a set, she immediately made 6 cards using all of the stamps. How awesome is that? I have the habit of buying a stamp set for one image.

Having fun at last week's Create with Connie and Mary challenge, I played along for this challenge as well. I've been saying it all week, but this is the most cards I've managed to crank out in a while and it has been a blast!

 

How could I not play along with this layout? Quick and easy is what came to mind. So quick and easy, I was able to crank out 2 cards! I really like this simple layout. 

SU Travel Log. Yes, that is FEET of snow in the background. It's melting, don't worry!

 SU Chocolate Bunny(?) & Countless Sayings stamps.

 Cute right? And easy! My centers are 2 7/8 x 2 7/8 and layer is 3x3 if my memory is correct. I used the SU washi tapes and Bam! Done. I like this layout so much that all the rest of my cards will look like this, haha. The washi tape could easily be substituted for ribbon or scrap paper but you already thought of that...

Thanks for stopping by and have a stamptastic day!

FM 153 Challenge

Good morning! Another challenge post for you all! I'm enjoying my relatively low-key week!

 

 

Here's your Mashup Challenge:

1. Create a project using the colors "Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi & Perfect Plum".
2. Create a project using "an Aqua Painter or a Blender Pen to create a Watercolor Effect".
3. Or mash it up and create a project with the "Colors above & a Watercolor Effect".

I love the Mardi Gras theme picture that the Friday Mashup team picked out! Although my card isn't anywhere related, it was still fun to reminisce of King's Cake and daiquiris! 

Here's what I came up with: 

This was a good project for using up some scraps. Even if it came absolutely-nowhere-near scraping the depths of scrap I have.

Have a stamptastic day!!

CC&M296 and Clean & Simple

Good morning! I've been lucky to grab bits of time to make a few cards. I should be studying, but that is next on my list for the day.

 

First up, Create with Connie and Mary. I have a love/hate relationship with color challenges because I have a great idea, but if the colors are in the wrong order so to say,  my project turns out almost abysmal. To save the heartache, I found a Clean and Simple challenge to pair up with it. 

Now, this is easy for my tired brain to process! Here is what I came up with:

Circles, polka dots, and buttons? Oh my!

Easy peasy! This was a pretty quick and simple project. Painless to whip up if you have little time or even make last minute to send to a friend, volunteer, anyone! Who doesn't like a bright thank you note to perk up their day?

Thanks for stopping by and have a stamptastic day!