Tag Archives: florida

Day 247: Quiz for the Crazies

Posted in 365 Project, Daily Workouts, Musings, Photography by

Today is my last day in the office! It feels like a dream. Like a crazy dream where I decide to leave my home behind and move to one of the biggest cities in China. Oh wait… that’s reality.

Awesome.

Yesterday I wore my new blue blouse to work and am now obsessed with this color. You know what else I am obsessed with? My arms!! Since changing up my eating schedule to 3 square meals a day, I can actually see my muscles! It’s so fun. There’s nothing better than defined delts. Am I right?!?

Since we’ve already established that yes I am in fact crazy, I decided to participate in a little quiz by Lindsay for the crazies. Perfect! Let’s do this (or that).

Chocolate or Vanilla?

I was definitely a vanilla kid but now gimme some chocolate. The darker the better. However, sometimes simple vanilla bean ice cream is the best.

Innie or Outtie?

Inbetweenie! No seriously. My belly button sticks out like an outtie but it nestled in my belly like an innie. It’s weird.

Hot Hot Summer or Snowy Winter?

As much as I love the sun as a Florida girl, I prefer cold snowy winters. You can always bundle up in warm sweaters and cute mittens. Plus, I love to ski!

Save or Spend?

Definitely a saver. I hate spending money on useless and pointless things and am working on building my 401K. However, I have my moments of spending a lot at once, usually for the necessities. Take my latest shopping excursion as an example!

Elliptical or Treadmill?

Um neither. I hate running and I hate the elliptical. Stationary bike it is.

Banana or Apple?

 Apple! I finally started liking bananas but will always go for a big juicy apple instead.

Morning or Night?

There is something so calming about a peaceful morning full of opportunities. Now I just need to tame my inner night owl and go to bed earlier!

Love or Money?

Love. Duh. I am moving to China with Peter in lieu of a cushy corporate job. Bam.

Lipbalm or Lipstick?

Lipbalm. My Carmex chapstick is with me at all times.

Butt or Boobs?

I am very well endowed in the bosom area (thanks mom) but love my butt. Thanks to heavy lifting, I finally have a butt! Hooray for squats!

Accoustic or Electric?

I like the sound of electric guitars better. Much cleaner sound.

Coffee or Tea?

COFFEE. With coconut milk. No sweetener. Love it. But will probably drink more tea in China.

Straight or Curly?

Curly! I hate doing anything to my hair and love letting my natural waves flow free.

Three Squares or Graze All Day?

I used to be a hardcore grazer. But recently I am all about 3 square meals a day. I did this as a child so it fits me perfectly.

Right handed or left handed?

Righty

Beach or Mountains?

Mountains. Probably because I have always lived by the beach and therefore do not yearn for it as much. Mountains are so majestic and you can climb them! Plus I love the rustic vibe of mountain towns. Someday I will have a cabin in the woods.

Mac or PC?

I’m a Mac girl. Macs are great for visual people like me and are great for my photography endeavors.

Shy or Outgoing?

Shy! I was the shiest kid around till college. Now that I’ve grown into myself I seem much more outgoing with close friends and acquaintances. But most of the time I feel shy and want to hide under a rock haha. The good thing about being an introvert is that I am 100% content being by myself. It gives me space to think and recharge.

Well! That was a fun quiz. Thanks Lindsay!

And to close, I leave you with another Florida sunset. In just a week, these will be a lovely and not so distant memory.

Sometimes being crazy is good.

Day 246: I workout to eat ice cream {Labor Day Photos}

Posted in 365 Project, Daily Workouts, Family, Food, Photography by

So it finally happened.

Yesterday I had an amazing workout! It was about time! After reviewing my calendar, I realized I took it pretty easy this last week.  3 rest days and one day of just yoga! I am not upset by any means. In fact, I am ecstatic! I feel great!

Last year if you had told me I would take 3 days off working out in one week I would have freaked out! But finally I have my priorities straight. Working out takes second place to LIVING and spending time with others.

Because if you think about it, we should workout to live, not live to workout. 

Instead of heading to the gym, I walked around the mall with my mom, spent the day swimming in the ocean, and got my zen on with some downward dog. Hitting the gym hard and staying in shape allows me to do activities like this with tons of energy and peace.

By Monday morning I was ready and raring to workout hard. Why? Because my family had an hour to spare before heading to the beach for lunch and ice cream. So yeah, I also workout to eat ice cream. Because eating ice cream is one of my favorite parts of life.

Now let’s get to the photos!

We had a late lunch at Dockside Dave’s on St. Pete Beach with Morgan, David, my parents, and my grandma. We went there specifically for their famous blackened grouper sandwich.

It was well worth the Labor Day traffic.

Then I somehow convinced everybody to get ice cream at Twistee Treat, an icon of St. Pete Beach.

Sometimes you got to roll with the classics. Vanilla soft serve with rainbow sprinkles.

What a perfect ending to an amazing summer in Florida. Sunshine, family time, and ice cream.

What more could you ask for?

Day 245: Sun Day

Posted in 365 Project, Family, Photography by

More like too much sun day!

Thanks everybody for your support of my leopard print pants! My wonderful and caring friend Carina even called me up to question my decision making. I think she needs a pair of her own ;-) .

So I don’t know why I didn’t post yesterday. Oh, because I was having a fabulous and fun filled day!

I spent the morning typing up the post on the famous leopard print pants then was able to talk to Peter on skype. He is in Malaysia! The internet connection was kind of shaky so his video was bathed in this weird pixelated red light. My mom walked by and asked if he was staying in the Red Light District. Funny mom.

He will be working there for a week then will move into our new apartment once he returns to Shanghai. So exciting! The apartment is extremely small but I am not too worried. At least there is air conditioning and a stove! Plus it is very clean, cost effective, and has a washer and dryer! Oh the little things… Expect a bazillion pictures once I move in. Or maybe just 3 pictures… the apartment is seriously SMALL. I mean… cozy!

After chatting with Peter, my sister Morgan and her boyfriend David arrived from Gainesville. We immediately headed out on the boat for some Labor Day fun!

We went out to Fort De Soto to swim and made a stop at the marina for gas.

So did the birds. Fishermen gutted their catch while their feathered entourage watched on. It was pretty hilarious and David was almost hit in the head by a swooping pelican. Those birds are freaky. Actually birds in general are freaky. They scare me.

After getting throughly sunburned, we made it back home for a delicious meal. My mom grilled the most amazing fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs with homemade blue cheese coleslaw and corn on the cob. Why did I ever consider becoming a vegetarian?? I am such a carnivore and I love it.

But seriously, I got BURNED. My face, chest, shoulders, and left leg (just the left why???) were bright red. Like a scary lobster woman. So of course I was thrilled when my family suggested a trip to the movie theatre to watch Lawless. But it’s ok, I wore my purple pants which somehow seemed to dilute my red skin.

Lawless was good but brutal. The story was great but there was a lot of violence and gore. Shia LaBeouf was also surprisingly good. He has become a really good actor! However I don’t think I can ever take him seriously. He will always be Louis in my eyes.

Hahaha. Oh Even Stevens…

 

Day 244: Strong Is the New Skinny and Leopard Print Pants

Posted in 365 Project, Musings, Photography by

You’ve probably noticed an uptick in the number of exclamation points in my posts these days. It’s only because I am insanely happy and excited! Even my mom noticed it. She said, “We’ve shopped all day and you’ve been happy the entire time. Well this is different.”

Hah! It’s the little things.

Speaking of our Friday shopping trip…

It was a great success! On my list of necessities to buy were dressy shirts, casual boots, going out boots, underwear, and pants! Pants and I have a strange relationship. If they do not fit perfectly, they are never worn… ever! They have to be just tight enough but loose enough to be comfortable.

Also, my body has changed a lot this past year and a half. When I left Cape Cod I realized that I had lost a lot of weight but had very little muscle (not good). Since then I have been working out hard, eating more, and gaining a lot of muscle. At first this freaked me out because the number on the scale was going up and my muscular legs no longer fit into my skinny jeans. It has taken some time, personal growth, and mental toughness to finally accept my body and love my curves. Strong is beautiful and I’d rather look “strong” or “muscular” than “skinny”.

Honestly, I HATE the word “skinny”. When I hear it being used as a compliment, I cringe. Let us strive for health and strength and not a certain size! In reality, I prefer my big muscular thighs and butt! They help me jump, leap, and climb mountains.

Now that I embrace my curves, I feel comfortable enough to jump on the colored pants train. Instead of owning just one pair of black pants, I own 4 pairs of colored jeans!

In North Carolina I bought pants in dark blue pair and royal blue. For our mall trip I tried really hard to be fashionable by wearing those royal blue pants, a striped H&M shirt, and statement Stella&Dot necklace.

What do you think?

And then this happened:

Yeah. Those are in my closet now. Leopard print pants! Holy crap. I am being bold here.

In addition to these crazy pants, I got another pair of pants in purple plus a couple bright dressy shirts. I am going to stick out like a sore but bright thumb in Shanghai. A tall blond woman in printed pants??!??

Yes. That’ll be me. Say hi. Or nihao.

By 8pm we had successfully snagged everything on my shopping list. And I was happy the entire time despite not eating a single snack since 3pm. It was a miracle people. A shopping miracle.

Now please excuse me while I strut my stuff in my leopard pants. I need to practice not falling over in my heels!

Day 243: Why do we have bad workouts?

Posted in 365 Project, Daily Workouts, Personal Training, Photography by

Hello and Happy Labor Day weekend!

I cannot believe it is already Sunday! Yesterday flew by too quickly but for good reason. My mom and I went shopping all afternoon. From 3-9pm! It was insane. I’ll get to the nitty gritty details later because first we need to get to Friday’s photo of the day!

(It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing this 365 project for 243 days! This project has surpassed all my expectations and is now just a part of my everyday life. Exactly how it should be!)

Friday

Friday I worked at the house all day, puttering outside for a few minutes a time to absorb some good sunshine. The weather here is insanely hot and humid and it’s impossible to stay out for too long.

But I did stay out long enough to capture these flowers.

So pretty! My mom is in full gardening mode, planting flowers and herbs in pots on the patio. Hopefully they will survive this humidity.

Daily Workout

After work I went to the gym for my third strength session of Best Body Bootcamp. Still a week behind and still loving the program! However, my energy was way low and it was a struggle to complete this circuit workout. Plus I was in the worst mood. Even while working out! That usually never happens to me. Once endorphins kick in I get happy. But this time there were people in my way, getting in my space, and it pissed me off. Sometimes I just want to focus, workout, and get out of there. I don’t need guys ogling me from the seated bicep curl (p.s. grab a dumbbell!!!)

Yeah, obviously not a good workout.

I want to figure why my energy was so low. Here are some potential reasons:

A. My body needs rest. This seems unlikely since I took a rest day just the day before and on Monday too.

B. My body needs more pre-workout fuel. After learning about the principles of Ayurveda at IIN, I am trying to eat 3 bigger meals a day with maybe one snack if I need it in the afternoon. This day I worked out at 5:30PM and hadn’t eaten since 1:30PM.

C. I lost strength while on vacation. While we were in North Carolina a couple weeks ago, I only hiked and did not strength train. However, last week I completed my workouts just fine without feeling weak.

Right now I am leaning towards B. Need more pre-workout fuel. While I enjoy 3 square meals a day, I think I definitely need to put some fuel in the tank before a difficult workout. For my next few workouts I will give this a try and see if it helps my energy levels.

Do you ever have a bad workout?

Sometimes it just happens. It is ok! You can’t have a great workout without some bad workouts thrown into the mix. What’s important is that you don’t just shrug it off. Use it as a learning experience! I am constantly trying to figure out what is best for my body. If I had a bad day I try to recognize the cause and address it like above. Why? So I don’t make the same mistake twice.

Here are some good articles on this subject:

Bodybuilding.com- Rescue 911: How to revive a terrible workout!

BoxingScene.com- The Bad Workout: Some Advice for Female Bodybuilders 

Obviously not everybody is a bodybuilder but the same general rules apply to every athlete. Sleep, eat well, review your goals, and REST! There is such thing as too much training.

Check out Lindsay’s blog for an insightful post on her rest week. Yes.. rest WEEK. Now that is real commitment to her fitness and overall health. Get it girl.

Here’s a question for you: 

What do you do when you have a bad workout? 

Day 237: Impending Storm

Posted in 365 Project, Daily Workouts, Photography by

Hurricane Issac?

Pshhhhh.

Saturday showed no signs of the impending storm and was actually a beautiful day.

I had planned on driving to Orlando in the afternoon to visit Carina but started stressing out about the storm. You know, since I have such great luck driving in Hurricanes. Yeah… NOT.

My parents are out of town so I’ve been in charge of the house this weekend. Recently we discovered we have a flea infestation (fun times trying to catch jumping, blood sucking fleas in your bed) so the bug guy came to spray on Friday. I had to leave the house for 3 hours then vacuum all the floors Saturday afternoon. 2 hours of vacuuming, sweating, and cursing later, I was absolutely exhausted. At that rate I would start driving at 3:30pm, make it to Orlando at 6:30pm then need to leave Sunday at noon to beat the storm.

Yeah that did not sit well with me. So instead I called Carina up and we chatted for almost 2 hours. What a great friend. She’s on my list so we’ll see each other before I leave.

Daily Workout

Friday- During my house exile, I happily hopped over to the gym for some fun steady state cardio. “Fun” meaning I watched Keeping Up With the Kardashians  for an hour and a half while pedaling on the bike. In one episode Kourtney was exploring the option of an at-home water birth. Her dynamic with her two sisters reminded me a lot of my relationship with my own sisters. I will definitely be the crazy holistic sister who goes to holistic doctors, has at home natural births, and slathers coconut oil on my body. They will think I am insane. Muhahaha.

Saturday- Started Week 5 of Bootcamp and a full-body strength session (my fav!) was on the agenda. This week features drop sets which I am not totally in love with. I’ll let you know more of my thoughts after Workout B.

Ok that is all. The end. (such a cop-out sign off!)

Day 235: Colors Never Fade

Posted in 365 Project, Daily Workouts, Photography by

There’s something about Florida summers. It storms like hell and you don’t know if you’ll ever see the sky again.

Then the sky opens and reveals the most beautiful sunset in the history of the world.

So unexpected that I find myself sprinting across the lawn, desperate to capture the beauty.

The hardest part is to put away the camera and sit and enjoy :-)

Daily Workout

Thursday I finally got back to my favorite spin class! My favorite instructor was teaching which made me so excited. I think I was smiling the entire class! Sometimes I’m too wiped out at the end of the day to get into spin but not this time. There was energy to burn!

And I even had time to watch that sunset.

A perfect end to the day.

Colors that will never fade away.

Day 232: Win-Win

Posted in 365 Project, Daily Workouts, Friends, Photography by

You guessed it.

Monday’s photo of the day.

Another Florida sunset.

Ok I leave for China in exactly 3 weeks and need to capture how beautiful this place is.

Because I know I’ll miss it.

Daily Workout

Monday was Workout B! The pull workout with a 2-4-2 tempo. This meant holding some deadlifts! Fun!! Not so fun waking up with a crazy sore lower back the next day.

Ouch.

After the workout I met up with my friends after the soccer game because it was Adam’s birthday! Honestly I would have preferred to go home and eat dinner but I sucked it up and was social. Everybody deserves to be surrounded by the people who care on their birthday. So I downed a protein shake and chatted with the boys at the bar till 10:30pm.

Wild.

It was nice and I knew Adam appreciated me being there. Then I promised to bake him a cake A. because I like baking and B. because I like eating cake.

It’s a win-win.

So on Friday we will eat cake, watch the Big Lebowski, and be merry. Happy days!

Day 230: St. Pete Nightlife

Posted in 365 Project, Daily Workouts, Friends, Photography by

Despite being severely depressed about being back in Florida, Saturday was a lot of fun. I woke up late, caught up on my computer, then enjoyed a nice evening workout.

Daily Workout

So I took a week off Best Body Bootcamp. Yes there was a great gym available to me but honestly, I wanted to hike all day everyday and not worry about getting in a “workout”. Hiking is a great workout!

I highly recommend taking at least a week off of all forms of strength training. It gives your body a much needed break and you come back even stronger! My week of hiking made me leaner (burning more fat by moving more!) and I felt really strong and rested starting back up on Saturday.

Week 4 started off with the same Workout A from Week 3 but with a 2-4-2 tempo. This type of training emphasizes the isometric contraction of the lift which basically means the peak of muscle contraction. For example, during a bicep curl you take 2 counts to bring up the weight, hold the curl for 4 counts, then take 2 counts to lower the weight.

Again, it was tough!! Especially during the lunges. Whew! Holding each lunge for 4 counts really starts to hurt.

I like.

That evening I forced myself to be social and met up with my friends Pete and Adam. They were invited to some concert in a place called the Venture Compound. Sound creepy right?

Well it kinda was. We found the address and arrived in the warehouse district of St. Pete where there is literally nothing around. We made our way to the back and paid 5 bucks to enter a small fenced-in yard with people sitting in lounge chairs next to a graffiti wall.

Two doors opened to a small warehouse. Inside were people sitting on chairs to the left and an open space to the right with the most fantastic murals on the ceiling, wall, and floor. Musical instruments and speakers littered the floor and we assumed this must be the “stage”.

Eventually an electronic musician took the stage and played some interesting sounds as hipster bobbed around to the idiosyncrasies. It was entirely bizarre but kind of fun.

After standing and listening for a bit under a pair of styrofoam legs, we decided to escape outside. Yeah, this place is not really our scene. These people seemed way too cool and unusual for even us.

And that’s saying something.

We chilled outside for a bit, totally content with people watching as graffiti artists layered paint over the walls. We left early, before the Jamacian rapper! We were kind of bummed. At least Harold bought us some beer. I am not sure if we’ll return… Maybe if I get some spandex shorts and suspenders.

I then met up with Kim and Warren downtown for Kim’s Birthday! Happy Birthday Kim! It was nice to see them again even if some random guy did totally grab my ass while I was walking by. Ok I know it’s nice… but really?

And I saw Caroline! Need to see that girl again before I flee the country (call me).

So glad I can partake in the randomness of St. Pete nightlight before I leave. I will miss this?