US meets UK

or this post could be called “Snowsaycanyousee” or “Snowpolcolypse” or “We love being snowed in – in Baltimore”! Nick and I dog sat for our friends in their new house in Baltimore, which means we were lucky enough to play around with these furry pals.

We made pizzas with my best friend and her boyfriend (who also live in federal hill), and had a wonderful time playing RockBand, Taboo and Cranium. MaryBeth and I made a phenomenal team, winning each round we played. This may all be thanks to MaryBeth though, because once we switched to couples Nick and I lost.

After being terrified that they wouldn’t be able to return from their trip to NYC, Holly and Mike (owners/friends of the house we were house sitting) were able to get home a day early thanks to Amtrak. So we hung out with them on Saturday night and shared the joy of digging out our cars. We were freezing!

When Nick and I got home we made a few posh s’mores and snuggled on the couch. <3

What did you do on your snow day?

ps. I know the snow days were foreverrrrr ago, but I hadn’t uploaded my camera!

to encourage you with what could be a new years resolution! Do you remember this post? Probably not – but it made a huge difference in my life!

This is what i looked like when I began training with Robert. In fact, that’s a week or two in, so imagine me larger than that. In fact, imagine me 20-30 pounds heavier like I was in England – but I’m not showing that picture.

Then, after two months of 3x weekly sweat sessions with Robert and my cousin Rachel, plus a pretty clean, mostly vegetarian diet (okay, I admit it, it wasn’t that clean- I stress ate way too often), and extra running/jillian michaels sessions I came to look like this:

(Evan Bishop)

In case you’re  a numbers person that  looks a bit like this:

7/2/09                                                                      8/27/09

157 lbs                                                                147 lbs

Chest 36″                                                             Chest 35.5″

Upper Arm 13″                                                     Upper Arm 12″ (an inch)

Stomach 36.25″                                                    Stomach 30″ (minus 6.25 inches!)

Hips 42.39″                                                          Hips 39″ (minus 3.39 inches)

Thigh 21.50″                                                        Thigh 18.5″ (minus 3 inches)

some of my caliper measurements

7/2/09                                                                       8/3/09

(I was running a tight schedule the day before the wedding and ran out of time to do them on 8/27)

Upper Back 30mm                                               Upper Back 25mm

Above the hip 26mm                                           Above the hip 23mm

Bicep 16mm                                                         Bicep 13mm

Tricep 29mm                                                        Tricep 25mm

Finding a personal trainer was one of the best things I did for the wedding. In fact, I’d say it was the best.  I had gained A LOT of weight in the past few years and didn’t really feel like myself.  Working out with Robert and my cousin Rachel allowed me to win back my strength and that was such an amazing mental and physical gift that I can’t imagine not having on my wedding day.  I literally cried on my last day because I was so thankful for the experience.

I’m sure I could have worked harder, and my result would have been even more impressive.  But I did what I could at the time within the time frame and I’m pleased enough with the result.  I *may* have backslide a bit and gained a few newlywed/newly-tied-to-a-desk pounds but I’ll be starting with Robert once a week to keep me accountable to my personal goals. I’ll let you know how my war with the newlywed weight proceeds.

So, if fitness is a new years resolution for you, I can’t recommend finding a personal trainer fast enough.  Find one you really enjoy spending time with, one that will make you laugh, but also push you till you cry (sometimes).

Is improving your fitness a resolution of yours?

Zen Habits says to take your resolutions in baby steps. Baby steps eh? Well, in addition to seeing my old pal (by pal I mean I am the Amanda to his Bob) once a week I’d liek to work out 5 times a week.  The largest obstacle for me is my schedule. Did I say schedule? I really meant commute. I need to leave the house at 7:30am to make my commuter train to get to work at 8:30am.

Which means if I’d like to eat, workout, shower and leave the house looking respectable I need to wake up at 5:30am.  This factors in time to actually get up, get dressed, get water and get working. The other option is to workout when I get home, but I typically arrive home around 6:30pm and this has really become “family” time around my house. Plus, I often get lazy at night – I’ll admit it. After a full day of commuting and work I want to lay down, not sweat. The best time, though it means getting to bed earlier, is exercising in the morning.

la baby steps:

1. Get ready for bed at 9:30pm

2. Go to bed at 10 pm. Every night, yes, the jersey shore will replay – not having a dvr is not an excuse.

3. Wake up at 5:30am, even if I just go down and watch the Today show.

4. Say hello to Jillian. 3-2-1 Shred or a 45 min DVD. When it isn’t below 20 degrees I can go for an hour run.

5. Make a healthy breakfast.

I only made 5. I’m clearly a fail already! It’s just so hard to take baby steps. Plus, I plan on doing 1, 2, 3 and hopefully 4 all tonight/tomorrow.

What are your resolutions? What’s your plan for keeping them?

wow.  Perhaps it’s because I’m old, but it’s been ages since I’ve given a second thought to my license.  Well, aside from the other day when I misplaced it, but that’s not what I’m referring to.

Nick needs a license. Nick needs a Maryland License. Nick now needs to take a 3 hour drug and alcohol test to receive said license. Say what? Nick is 30, I’m pretty sure he knows not to drink and drive at this point.  The test is for anyone who hasn’t been licensed in the United States before and this provision somehow stems from the Patriot Act.  I’m not entirely sure how, but that’s what the DMV people say.

The only problem? The test is insane. It’s the 2010 equivalent of “Reefer Madness”.

Our favorite gems (of the first 3 pages) included statements such as:

The morning after a bout of heavy alcohol usage many people will complain of headaches, nausea, loss of appetite, shakiness, and muddled thinking. However, these unpleasant feelings appear to deter no one from going on another binge.
One of the top 20 causes of accident injuries is the 12,000 injuries per year blamed on bar stools, which presumably occurred when drinkers occupying the stools fell from them

You are probably wondering what we can teach you about alcohol and drugs that you don’t already know, particularly about alcohol. Some of you think it tastes good.

Resistance to infection is lessened, and death due to tuberculosis and pneumonia is common.

It is a well publicized fact that Heroin is less harmful than Alcohol.

Seriously? I almost understand the idea of this test for young men and women about to test for their license. However, the layout and tone of the prep material is foolish, and personally, I’m not convinced it’s all together fact based. There have got to be better ways of educating our youth (and my husband) about responsible alcohol consumption.

I’m not one for new years resolutions, but perhaps 2010 can be different.

I thought about running 2010 miles, but that comes to 38 a week, unrealistic for a novice like me. Then I tried to think of other significant numbers, but fell short as they were all too high or too low! So I’d like to run 1005 miles in 2010 (half of 2010). This comes to about 19.3 miles a week, or 2.7 miles a day.  Since it’s not the best idea to run every single day, I think this comes to a manageable 5ish four days a week. This will also allow me to get more weight time in on my non running days too.

I’d like to lose about 20-25 pounds (or fit into a size 6) over this upcoming year, but I think by framing my goals to be fitness oriented, rather than weight oriented I’ll get there faster. My other resolution is to run a half marathon. I’ve already found one in June I’d like to sign up for! This will be tough for me because my asthma often gets in the way of running outside.

Treadmill running and outdoor running are very different.  Not only the terrain is different, but the air is different.  So, running the half marathon will be quite the accomplishment 

What is your resolution? Have you made them in previous years?