Hello Neglected Blog

 G'day everyone!  Sorry for the long absence.  The fiance and I have had a busy two weekends.  First the future in-laws came to visit and we had a very fun weekend watching the Superbowl and going to the Field Museum in Chicago (to name a few things). 

 This is where you can get yourself some good 'zza in Chicago after a long day at the museum.

Me and the Fiance with Sue, the T-Rex!

The future In-Laws with the Chicago Theater sign in the background

This previous weekend included the oh-so-fun premarital counseling.  The Fiance and I drove back to Iowa for the weekend and were able to visit with a few friends, but yours truly forgot to bring her camera to record anything epic for the weekend.  But if you're lucky, you might find one of the videos a dear friend of mine took whilst I was singing some Karaoke! 

News Flash:
This Easley is going to group training!  Not like group training classes, like zumba or anything, it's like personal training but in a group setting.  The gym I've decided to make my own (yes I am a gym WHORE) is Full Potential Fitness, they specialize in group training.  The owner, Jon, was a breath of fresh air!  He really made me feel comfortable!  The initial training package I purchased averages to just under $25/session which is an hour long.  My first session was on Monday and I'm still feeling sore!  My next training appointment is tonight!  Wish me luck readers :)

I am sorry for the silence, I'm not mad at you, it's just been crazy busy at work and my weekends were just making my schedule feel a little overwhelming!

Running Songs

EDIT (12-23-10):
Turns out the day I promoted Grooveshark is the day they increased their rates for their mobile service to $9/month. I was a little perterved (is that how you spell that) that they didn't inform me that my membership which I was still paying for was invalid and that I would need to upgrade yet again from VIP to their new product. So after hearing rave reviews of Rhapsody, I'm giving that a shot at $10 a month. Updated review to come.

I've recently become obsessed with the most awesome music website I've ever encountered in my entire life.

Let me tell you why it's awesome:
1. You can play any song you can search for.
2. You can create playlists.
3. You can play them on your smartphone by downloading their app if you upgrade to their VIP service which is totally worth it at a whopping $3/month.

So with my new found ability to search for songs, especially newer songs, I'm eager to come up with the perfect playlist for running/working out. My goal is to find nothing but "Pump Up" songs. My personal definition of "Pump Up" songs is a song that when you play it you get energy from it and want to run faster, pedal harder, or just go absolutely bananas!

Here are a few songs on my running playlist that will definitely pump you up:
Andrew W.K. - Party Hard
Flo Rida Ft. David Guetta - Club Can't Handle Me
Darude - Sandstorm
Pussycat Dolls - When I Grow Up
LMFAO - Shots
Enrique Iglesias - I Like It
*don't laugh*
Miley Cyrus - Hoedown Throwdown
Seriously, I love Miley. Let the girl smoke salvia, it's about a trillion times better than the drugs that her peers are doing. I can do this dance too. I think that's why I like it so much :)

Problem: My playlist is SO short! I need to have at least 35 minutes of music without repeating songs!

Solution: Please comment to this blog with your fave workout songs, or songs you listen to before you go out to get you pumped up for the night!

Week In Review #1

As part of my wedding fitness inspiration I plan on putting together a Week In Review each Saturday.

So here goes nothing:

Challenge: This week I wasn't able to re-register at the Health Club near the train stop. The reason is because they were going to charge $99 bucks to reinstate my membership. That in combination with the fact that the membership is $79/month plus it doesn't have a whole lot of stuff going for it (no classes, no pool etc) so I'm going to walk to the YMCA at least 3 times a week. Anything more than that during winter will be a bonus.

Additional activity: Daily walks during my lunch hour.

Tuesday: I had an awesome workout, I lifted and really pushed myself after work. Other activity included an hour walk during my lunch hour and about 35 minute walk to the YMCA.
Food-Cereal for breakfast, String Cheese for snack, Eduardos Spinach Stuffed Pizza (one slice) and BBQ chicken pizza (two small slices, thin crust), protein shake - I know, I'm such a meathead, and turkey sammich (that's how I spell sandwich, get used to it) with a glass of milk.
NOM NOM NOM

Wednesday: Today I had a pretty pathetic walk that was balanced out by a lot of walking, probably about 2 hours total. Today I had cereal for breakfast and a string cheese for a snack along with my big awesome salad including a whole zuccini, 3 tomatos, a celery stalk, a whole apple with an olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette dressing (spelling), for dinner I had chicken with angelhair pasta and marinara sauce, along with a handful of almonds and some chips and hummus

Thursday: Today I didn't go for my walk during lunch like I normally do :( But after work I lifted using the ActivTrax thing the Y provides. I had cereal for breakfast, string cheese for snack, 3 chicken tacos from taco bell (served fresco, meaning without cheese or sour cream), another string cheese snack in the afternoon and chicken with marinara sauce for dinner along with some chips and hummus and a small handful of almonds.

Friday: No workout today, I took a 1/2 day of work and I'm spending it with the fiance! WOOT WOOT

For Today

I am on the right track! I am honestly feeling really great about how I look. I know that in order to really feel fantastic on our wedding day I need to keep hitting the gym hard, and talking walks during my lunch hour.

Sad news, I won't be working out at the YMCA this winter. The YMCA is located about 1.5 miles from the train station, which in the spring/summer/fall can be a great walk or bike ride. I typically work out best if I go straight from work to the gym and the hurdle that I'm facing is that I won't be able to bike until it gets warmer and there are those in the suburbs who find that shoveling snow is an option instead of a requirement.

Flashback - I was walking home in February of this year and I wasn't familiar with the roads and where sidewalks were located on my walk home. If you asked me on my walk home that due to the nature of the roads and the level of snow, I would have said that there is no sidewalk underneath all of that snow. Basically walking home in snow that is just under the height of my boots is hard, a workout in itself actually. The walk home took about 2 times as long as it should have if there was a clear walkway.

Spring rolls around and imagine how frustrated I was when I found that there were indeed sidewalk underneath the 12"+ of snow. Now that I know where those sidewalks are, you can bet your booty I'm going to call in complaints. (Commence old lady transition.... now)

To make this story have a point, I'm going to bike to the YMCA and put my membership on hold in favor of going to the more expensive, less awesome gym that is right next to the train station. Luckily the Y has a membership hold program that costs either $5 or $25 bucks to hold your membership which I plan to restart in March.

***** EDIT *****
Ok so I'm not going to the new gym because they charge a $99 reinstatement fee. In their words "you have to do the paperwork and get your credit card through the system" so that costs an extra hundy? Sorry HealthQuest Fitness, we're not going to be friends this winter.

Engagement Pictures

Since it’s been a while since my most recent (and super negative) post I thought I’d catch everyone up with my life!

The other weekend we took engagement pictures, here are a few of my faves!

A special thanks to Elissa for saying my boobs look hot in this picture :)

Someone from work said this picture looks like a still from a movie!

WITH CY!

Jack Trice Stadium!


Can I just say that it’s really super freaking awkward to pretend to be a model? It’s going to be extremely hard on the big day to smile for everyone ALL DAY!

In addition to taking engagement pictures I joined the YMCA! I’ve gotta say that I’m really excited because first of all, it costs almost $30 less than the other gym I went to before (only caveat is the location) and the gym itself has this really cool “workout generator” called ActivTrax. The whole thing is really simple, after meeting with a gym expert (whatever their title is) you do a strength test on some very basic machines ie chest press, leg lifts etc. Then you plug the weight and reps you were able to do in the machine and voila! You have yourself a full body workout at your disposal!

The thing that I especially like about this system is that they made it dummy (read: Elizabeth) proof. They number the weight machines so when they say “chest press” you don’t have to wander around and try to find the machine that you’re supposed to use. They say #14 and you go to that piece of equipment, select the weight that ActivTrax generated for you and then just work out.

So now I have the G part down in my GTL… don’t expect me to do laundry any time soon though! Or tanning for that matter.

I Suck! Here are my excuses!

I haven't been to a WI lately dangit! Ok, let me tell you why:

-I'm lazy
-I haven't been doing as well as I thought (I'm mostly maintaining right now)
-I've had things to do on the weekends when I normally go WI (Weddings, Vegas, Another wedding next weekend, my bro's going away party the following weekend, then MOVING)

So I wanted to apologize for the lack of updates once again. Good news is that I am still keeping myself on track maintenance-wise. Other than that I know I could be doing better.

How about something personal to share since I can't give you the standard update??

I'm planning a trip to Germany next summer!!! So far it's just me, possibly my bestie and possibly my boyfriend... really depends on how the year goes. My new life's ambition/short term goal is to learn German using Rosetta Stone - and dedicating at least 3-4 hours a week on it. I plan to make the time to do this by eliminating TV shows from my regular viewing schedule.

The shows that don't make the cut
-Reality Shows (Biggest Loser, Extreme Home Makeover etc)
-Desperate Housewives, I'm on the fence about this one... this season has been random

The shows that do
-Lost - only a few more episodes though and when it's over then my Tuesday nights will be so much more free with the exception of,
-Glee - this show is too darn cute to miss, makes me smile!
-30 Rock - Common, it's TINA FEY and ALEC BALDWIN, nuff said

Ok, so I probably need to limit my TV watching in general and hit the gym more, which is why it's great that Rosetta Stone has an MP3 version of their software so I can let it sink in while I'm sweating!

I need to shake up my routine and I am eager to take suggestions!

Yours truly,
That Easley