One thing I have found as I get older I have learned to figure out my body and what it takes to keep it in shape and to me mentally happy.  In the last few weeks I have had a few friends ask me about my workouts or what they can do at the gym.  I love my new workouts and the routine I have gotten myself into.  So just to share with everyone, just in case you need a new workout, this is what I am doing and have been doing for at least the last 10 months.

So I have gotten into doing a circuit type, all body workout and I switch up the exercises every workout.  I do this circuit three times a week and then do cardio (30-40 minutes) another 3 days a week.  Sometimes if I have extra time I will throw in 10-15 minutes cardio after lifting, but I don’t count on that. So in total I am still working out six days a week but I am only in the gym for an hour or less each day, which rocks!  Ask anyone I used to work out with or Trav that I would do cardio 5-6 days a week at 45 minutes to an hour AND try and lift 4 days a week.  I was in the gym ALL THE TIME.  Now with this routine, I feel great, my legs are looking better than they ever have and well I still am able to get out and Kaiser ran three days a week.  I am currently doing sets of 6-8 for every body part except legs, legs will always be high reps as my legs gain super easily so I need to lift to keep muscle in them but not so heavy that I am trying to add mass.  About every 8 weeks I switch up the number of reps I do to keep things guessing and so I don’t get bored.

So without delay here is my lifting routine:

Also when it comes to leg exercises I would focus on compound movement so you don’t have to do as much.  You need to make sure you go heavy enough that on your last set you can barely make it to 12.  You can always start heavier and then drop the weight.  Abs I would do just at home, you can do plank holds, crunches, bicycle crunches, etc.  Not needed to do at the gym.

Workout 1:

Superset each two/three exercises (superset means you go back and forth between them with no break/rest in-between)

Group 1

Leg Press- 3 sets of 18-20 reps
Stiff Leg Deadlift – 3 sets of 18-20 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FekEZevT8_U&feature=related

Group 2

Machine Row for Back – 3 sets of 12-14 reps
Bench Press (machine, DB or barbell) – 3 sets of 12-14 reps
Box Jump – 3 sets of 15-20 jumps

Group 3

Shoulder Press (Machine, Dumbell or cables) – 3 sets of 12-14 reps
Tricep Kick Back with Dumbell – 3 sets of 12-14 reps (you should really feel the squeeze on these) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOeiqKL0jS4
Barbell Bicep Curl – 3 sets of 12-14

 

Workout 2:

Superset each two/three exercises (superset means you go back and forth between them with no break/rest in-between)

Group 1

Walking Lunges- 3 sets of 18-20 reps
Lying Hamstring Curl – 3 sets of 18-20 reps

Group 2

Lat Pull Down (machine or Cables) – 3 sets of 12-14 reps
Cable Fly (machine, DB or barbell) – 3 sets of 12-14 reps  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwe6AmxVf7o&feature=channel
Split Lunge Jumps – 3 sets of 15-20 jumps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zLTDUFjbXA

 

Group 3

Alternating L Raise – 3 sets of 12-14 reps http://www.julielohre.com/Blog/Exercise-Library/Alternating-Front-Raise-L.html
Assisted Dips – 3 sets of 12-14 reps (you should really feel the squeeze on these)
Rotating DB Curls – 3 sets of 12-14 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG5Idq4qC9g

 

Workout 2:

Superset each two/three exercises (superset means you go back and forth between them with no break/rest in-between)

Group 1

Squat on Smith Machine- 3 sets of 18-20 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHnX-aimA4E&feature=related
Bent Over Barbell Row – 3 sets of 12-14 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaw-Up9Fkcg

Group 2

Inner Thigh Machine & Outer Thige Machine – 3 sets of 18-20 reps on each machine
Burbees – 3 sets of 15-20 jumps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0miIc262hDk

Group 3

Upright Row – 3 sets of 12-14 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HR9yZVt2F4
Pushups (try and do all on your toes, if need be move to your knees)  – 3 sets of 12-14 reps  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwe6AmxVf7o&feature=channel

Group 4

Rope Pull Down – 3 sets of 12-14 reps (you should really feel the squeeze on these) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN7_pv1Avzo
Cable Curl with W Bar (Bar looks like a W) – 3 sets of 12-14 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOSL6TXF97g

Diet:  I really feel like I have found what my body functions well with eating wise.  During the week I am pretty set in a routine as this makes cooking breakfast, packing lunch and dinners easier for Trav and I.  Breakfast is half a sausage, 2 full eggs and 2 egg whites with half a grapefruit, snack is a protein shake with frozen strawberries/mixed fruit, lunch is usually left overs from the night before of meat and veggies, snack almonds or protein bar, dinner is meat and veggies in some form whether crockpot soup, stew, roast or BBQ, grilled, etc.

So nothing exciting but I have found I have TONS of energy, workouts feel great and it is easy to cook.  🙂

So enjoy and hope this sort of explains me more.  🙂

Well I had this whole idea to write this long thoughtful post about my birthday, but sorry I just don’t think this year I feel like being introspective.

Wow it has been another long hiatus since my last post. To be honest I just haven’t been in a blogging mood. For those who have been in the know, which is pretty much everyone who reads this blog, you know I spent May-Oct unemployed. I used most of my time to work on Weim & Cheese, the big annual fundraiser for the weim rescue and doing some random contract work. In October I started a new gig on a trial basis, which has become a full time permanent position as of Jan 10.

So between October & now, I have helped with another event, ProductCamp, worked a lot, went to Cabo, went to Oregon, got massively sick with the plague and now here we are 13 days before I turn 29 & in 2011.

2011 is shaping to be a good year but a year of transitions. Trav is finishing his Master’s in Engineering Management focusing on Product Management/Development. There is so much up in the air regarding his next steps but he is working through them and we both are excited to see what is next for him.

Lets see, for me, well I am planning on keeping the new gig as long as they will keep me. It is a HUGE change for me from services to products/manufacturing but I have a great boss, all the room to do what I want and can to help meet strategic means and I have been put in charge of some major projects. So it is challenging, a lot of work, but it is teaching me a lot. Oh and I am starting to take some classes in web stuff. Specifically I am looking at courses in WordPress coding, editing, photoshop for the web, some advanced SEO techniques and some other HTML classes. I am trying to take my taught myself knowledge to a bit of a higher level. I am really finding I love to see how marketing and the web can pull together to be really powerful. Plus I have an inner geek that loves how it all comes together. 🙂

Hmmm otherwise I am looking at a few races, one called the Tough Mudder in Beaver Creek, now looking at the Warrior Dash, maybe a half marathon but definitely some 5K’s and 10K’s. Anything fun and crazy, count me in! I want to have a heck of a lot more fun this year than last year. No time to be serious, time to enjoy Denver/Colorado and friends.

So as I write these posts about the sponsor doggie I am visiting, and I am planning on creating a new blog just for the work I do with the rescue, I have to give a big shout out to my long distance partner in crime.  Keri Pink lives in Albuqurque and works with our rescue as well with other weim rescues and does the most amazing job at bringing in dog that would otherwise have lost their life.  Keri works really hard trying to be a part of a group she is so far away from and I hope to someday meet her because she just seems so much fun!

Oh besides working her butt off transporting hundreds of dogs, at one point she had 10 at her house (yes Trav would kill me), she is an amazing photographer!  I have hijacked some of her photos to share with you guys and to see what sort of personality she is.  Here is a big shout out to Keri Pink!

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Ready for my close up

Here is another email I sent to my wonderful partner in crime about my most recent visit to our sponsor doggie Allison.  Want to sponsor a doggie by taking them out of boarding and going for walks or to the dog park?  Check out http://www.mhwr.org/rescue to see who you can sponsor.

“So I went to visit Allison again today and since it was a beautiful day we went for about an hour long walk.  I made it up to the boarding facility around 3:30pm which was perfect since it is a really mellow time for them and I was able to chat with the managers about how she is doing, etc.  They absolutely love her.  They say they have seen a big difference in her attitude, not so jittery, more relaxed and I would agree.  She definitely enjoys the walks because for the first half of the walk she is all over the place.  She sniffs everything, just exploring, but I am still amazed at this, she doesn’t pull, at all.  When I went to get her out of her kennel she definitely remembered me, she politely backed up and let me in and was so excited when I put her collar on and off we went.

Cool down time

What is making me super happy about this girl is that I had been told she has leash aggression, will bite if she is cornered and just a very scared dog.  This time with the weather better I was excited to see how she would do with people on bikes, walkers, runners, kids, other dogs, etc.  We were pretty much by ourselves for the first 10-15 minutes which was nice because then she could go potty, I could try and get pictures, and get her ants out of her pants.  Oh and did I mention I got big kisses the moment I put her collar on her.  Oh and the other thing that is super cute when we walk she always comes and nudges my hand just to sort of say hi thanks for taking me out.  After about 10-15 minutes in we encountered our first biker, he rode by and she didn’t give him a second look.  Woo Hoo!

The rest of the walk she passed with flying colors.  We saw a couple doggies going for walks as well and she started to turn her head to focus on them and with a nice correction to say hey focus on our walk, and she was good to go.  J  When we got back to Best Friends she laid down for a bit while I chatted with the manager about our walk and I am sorry she is so adorable because if I moved she would scoot on the floor, wouldn’t even bother to get up, to get closer.  When I put her back she was happy but reluctant to go back in her kennel but I made sure she knows I will be back again on Thursday and we are going for another walk.

Scratch my belly please

Here are some fun pictures!  The one of her on her back I know she is saying Keri come rub my belly!”

I really enjoy being able to see this dog outside of the kennel, giving her some love and attention and showing her the big bright world that is so much fun.  I really hope someone who wants a very special Weim/Lab will adopt this beautiful blonde girl.

Oh and PS Weim & Cheese tickets are on sale!!!  Anyone in Colorado want to come out for a good time and good wine?  Oh yeah and we have some awesome auction items!  Weim & Cheese Website

Lately my sleep pattern has become a complete disaster.  Tonight/today is a great example.  I had been in Boulder from about 8:30am and home around 5pm.  I was exhausted, took about a 20 minute nap and then hit the sack around 10pm totally looking forward to sleep.  Well as has been usual for the last few weeks, I woke up about 30 minutes after crawling into bed/falling asleep and was completely restless till I finally got out of bed around well now.  I feel completely wide awake which is annoying me even more and I know that in seven hours when my alarm goes off so I can take the dog for a run before we meet people for breakfast downtown, I am going to hate life.

I think a lot of my sleep issues have to do with my lack of work but not lack of projects.  I have a quasi schedule but I am being pulled in a lot of different directions so my brain seems to never really shut off unless completely exhausted.  Some of the things rolling through my head today as I tossed and turned, while trying to not wake up Trav:

1.  Need to follow up, or hunt down who to follow up with for Wellbridge National Events & Programs Coordinator, man I want that job

2.  Need to file papers in office, it is getting too hard to concentrate and it just plain bothering me.

3.  Need to send mom information for resetting up her info@impactsign.com email on her iPhone, don’t know why this is all jacked up.

4.  Need to go through notes from WordCamp today

5.  Need to follow up on donations for Weim & Cheese, starting to get nervous about ticket sales and donations

6.  Need to email Michelle L. notes from meeting with Darci to finish website, email blast, and market Weim & Cheese

7.  Need to send follow up email about Weim & Cheese call next week, haven’t received one response.

8.  Need sleep, this sucks I need to get some sleep

9.  I need to find a job, but what job, marketing, sales, Banana Republic, Costco, what…..I think I know what I want to do but I don’t know if that is what I want to do.  I can’t just be a mooch off Travis.

10.  I need to get started on the new site ISC, Your Way and somehow do the SEO contract work I just picked up.

11.  I need sleep….

12.  I need to mow the lawn, it has been a week and a half that is sad.

13.  Our house is a mess, it needs to be swept, mop the floors, clean the office floor and oh yeah I need to take the freaking plastic off the last window in the office so I can see outside when I am down here instead of it being a cave.

14.  I need to go to the gym, should have gone today but the nap felt great and just relaxing with Trav felt great.

15.  Why do I have so much on my plate for someone supposedly not working????

Yeah so my brain doesn’t stop.  The biggest concerns I have right now is the whole job hunt.  Most days I feel good about my decision, I know that if I had gone back I would have been uphappy and frustrated and completely drained.  However, the fear of the unknown is making me very nervous.  Trav and I were on such a good path to paying everything off except the mortgage obviously, that to have this set back is frustrating.  I get frustrated about my career, the direction it has gone and how do I turn it back around and point it in a direction I want it to go, when sometimes I am not sure what that is.

Most of the time though I feel good about my decision.  I am able to refocus on me, discover where I want to go, what company do I want to be with and take control back of my career.  I am definitely not bored so finding things to pass the time is not an issue, the lack of time is still an issue.  I am going to look into taking some classes, maybe a certification program and continue to advance my skillset, job or not.

This is what I think about at night when I should be sleeping.  Hopefully writing this down helps, it is 1:30am, I still am not really tired and I just really would a full night sleep without any worries.

Allison

As everyone knows I am heavily involved with the Weimaraner Rescue here in Denver.  Unfortunately we can’t foster for a while but that hasn’t diminished my work with the doggies.  I am chairing our annual fundraiser, Weim & Cheese, help with transports, events, home visits and now am sponsoring dogs in boarding facilities near our home.  Sponsoring dogs in boarding is a new thing and I have partnered with a fun and fabulous gal in New Mexico.  We financially support the dogs a bit, we cover the cost of their food, maybe the cost of boarding and then for those in town like me I will go to the boarding facility and walk the dogs, play with them get to know them and then transport them to events where they can get to meet potential adopters.

Today was the first day that I went and visited my sponsor doggie, Allison. Read more about Allison here and why she is in rescue.  Here is what I sent the gal in New Mexico about my visit.

Allison

“Allison, who is Daisy’s sister, was transferred from the boarding facility in Brighton, I am sure you saw the emails about this, to Best Friends in Wheat Ridge which is a much more manageable drive so I can visit numerous times week.  I went by Costco and the food and then went by Target and got a bin with a lockable lid that the boarding facility can keep there and we can continue to just refill the bin with food as it runs out.  The bin was labeled in permanent marker that it was MHWR and the women at the facility was super sweet.  She actually said we are one of the most proactive rescues that they work with and we treat our doggies the best.

I went to get Allison sprung for a nice long walk, but about halfway through our walk it started POURING and lightning and thunder.  However, from the moment I went to her kennel she was nothing but a doll.  I had heard she could get nippy if cornered, that she has leash aggression with dogs and is just as scared as Daisy.  When I went in her kennel with her leash, she sat and immediately let me put her collar on her and she was very excited for her walk.  We sat out in the lobby for a moment, I went down to pet her and let her sniff me and I even got some very sweet kisses.  On our walk she was fantastic, she was a bit nervous, had a low tail but after a good ten minutes it started to raise, she went potty very nicely on leash and was not a puller or crazy.  It was amazing to walk a rescue dog who had some basic leash manners.  J  When the weather got bad enough that we had to turn around, she picked up her pace as she definitely wanted to get out of the rain.  🙂  Between her and I we would have definitely won a wet T-shirt contest.

Allison

Keri she is the sweetest thing ever and if you ever make it up you have to meet her.  I plan on making it back over to walk her on Saturday, but with the possibility of leash aggression I won’t take her to the event on Saturday or Sunday, not until I know I can work with her and see how bad it really is and that I can control her and work with her.”

So since I have been unemployed I have been having a great time catching up on things around the house, I painted our bedroom, hung curtains, hung a ceiling fan/lighting fixture and have been helping my parents sign business, kicking up the planning on the Annual Weim & Cheese Fundraiser, working on Trav’s new website, Branding & Marketing for a new counseling business for a friend of a friend, camping, hanging with the dog and well I know there is more.  BUT I thought I would share some of the work I have done in pictures too.  🙂

Before it was blue, after it is a cream/grey

Hung the curtains

Hung the ceiling fan

Impact_Brochure_

SmallImpactSignMoveCard

Your Way Counseling Business Card Layouts

Your_Way _Brochure

I am also going to do a letterhead for the Your Way Counseling & a website.  So…needless to say I have been staying busy.  Still have been applying to about 5-10 jobs a week and I am definitely trying to be more picky about the next move I make.  I want this to be a long term change.  So everyone keep your fingers crossed!

It has been a long time since my last post and I was hoping to have different news for everyone but I will update everyone on the last four months.

1.  Trav and I celebrated our one year anniversary.  We spent a weekend up in Estes Park at The Stanley Hotel.  It was a ton of fun, dumped snow the entire time and I look forward to going up sometime in the summer/fall to see it without all the snow.

2.  Michael Buble is amazing!  Ahna and I purchased tickets for her, her mom Tracey and my mom to go see Michael Buble in Portland as their birthday present.  BUT they didn’t know I had gotten a ticket as well so I wrapped an ISC work trip in with the concert and saw Michael Buble from the 7th row on the floor, amazing!

3.  I ran the Moab Half Marathon.  This was a ton of fun, we went with like 8 people most all ran and had a personal best of 1 hour 55 minutes!  While we were there we went into Arches National Park, which was beautiful!  I can’t wait to go back and do all the hikes when I am not super stiff and tired from running 13 miles.

4.  I finally was able to apply for the Marketing position that I helped create and define at the University of Colorado in the Engineering Manager Program, yes the program that Trav is getting his Masters in.

5.  I interviewed and was told that the program had people who had twice the experience as me apply and interview so as much as they loved me and my enthusiasm they were going to give the job to someone else.  Yeah that was a major ouch and blow to my ego and the time I put in.

6.  I was furloughed from my job.  A furloughed is unpaid time off, typically done in a manufacturing setting and with a specific times frame (ie 1 week a month, 1 day a week, etc) however my company did them, numerous, on a TBD timeframe.  Essentially I was laid off but they were continuing to pay my benefits.

7.  One week after my furlough I was asked to return since someone else had cut back from a FTE position to a 10-15 hour a week consulting position and was forgoing his benefits.  So now they had some more money to be able to pay me.  I talked with Trav and after speaking with my boss, and hearing through co-worker the amount of drama and change happening, none of it positive, that I would just leave the organization and find a new job.  This officially happened barely two weeks ago.

8.  I have been applying for numerous positions, about 15 in the last three weeks.  I have interviewed at about five of them and am currently waiting for a few follow up interviews and have already been told by one organization, I had two interviews with them, that they are moving in a different direction with their search.  I am positive that I will find something great and I have really been enjoying the time off, re-centering myself and my career.  I have painted our bedroom, organized our office and been doing quite a bit of work for ISC.  🙂

So the week ahead looks promising and I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Since our house was not brand new when we purchased it, it was built in 1959, and we got to keep all of the appliances it was a nice move for us because we didn’t have to immediately spend thousands of dollars on new appliances.  However, slowly these items are starting to show their age.  About a month ago the garage door motor stopped working.  Trav took the cover off the motor and this is basically what he found.

The gear had become completely worn down and the shavings were all over the inside.  Luckily he found on Amazon that would could order new replacement parts, phew we didn’t have to order a new system.  Hopefully the parts should be here Monday and we can see if we can get the garage door working again.  I don’t mind doing the old fashioned opening and closing of the garage but with it being winter and snow coming, it starts to get a bit old.

I swear I do laundry at least once a week and this week has been no different, however I am realizing my 20 year old dryer may be on it’s last legs.  This thing is so old it doesn’t run off electricity but off of natural gas.  So hopefully if and when it dies we can finally upgrade and then maybe do a redesign of the laundry area.  It is a great area but unfinished.  So I would love to just drywall the room in, create a closet for the storage under the stairs and create shelf space, counter space and maybe put in a radio or something so I am not down there in the hole.  This is nice in terms of a layout but I would do a different color, paint the cement floor and make it more me.

The one below is sort of my dream laundry room but without the beach feel, I prefer more of a clean look.  BUT the layout is amazing!

Hmmm, our master shower has stopped working.  Denver has very hard water, meaning we have lots of minerals in the water which causes the shower heads and faucets to become clogged with the minerals.  We got a filter, which I inadvertently broke but when we just put the head back on without the filter, it still isn’t working.  At some point we are going to completely redo the master bath but until then I just don’t want ot have to deal with going behind the tile to fix any plumbing issues…

So I am crossing all my fingers and toes that if the garage door replacement parts work, the master bath is an easy fix and that nothing else goes out for about 20-22 months, I am going to be thrilled.