Last Post

I have seriously been slacking on blogging for the past year and have no idea why. I currently have two google accounts and one is tied to my business and the other? I do not receive a single email just a sign-in for this blog.

I am looking for a fresh start.

So this will be my last post here. I did start a new blog.

If you want to still follow my oh so crazy life, shoot me an email [email protected] for the new link :)

Trainer Ramblings.

This week started my first week training clients 1-on-1. As exciting as this sounded, I think I was more nervous than excited. For the past year, I do not mean to brag, but I knew everything about the gym and how to train women. I was a self-proclaimed expert. I was on top and I now I feel like I am back on the bottom.

Do not get me wrong, I absolutely love the creativity and feel I am getting better each session. I have so much to work with...bosu balls, body bars, kettlebells, plyo boxes. It's what I wanted. And I know I will work my way back to the top. It's just hard being the newbie.

Before I knew all 550 members, their life stories...At the new gym, I just know the men and women I've trained so far. I guess I just have to give it time.

When I left, one of my favorite members handed me a card on my last day. I think from time to time, I may forget why I enjoy and love my job. I have this card posted where I can see it everyday. She wrote:

Corkshell,
Thank you so much for all that you have done for me over the last year. When I walked into the gym for the first time, I was lazy, unmotivated, and very overweight. You were so instrumental in changing all of that. You have been my favorite staff member. since the beginning. When I walk through the door and see your smiling face, it makes me more motivated. I feel like you sincerely cared about me and my progress every step of the way. You have helped me to permanently change the way I feel about food, fitness, health, and life! I am happier and healthier than I have been in about seven years. Thank you from the bottom of my hear. I will miss seeing you, but know that I am strong enough to do it without you. I wish you the best of luck in your new work ventures.

M.



It keeps me going. I also start my very own Yoga class on November 16th. Again, I am excited, but just a little nervous too. But I guess nervous can be a good thing.

Mexican Get Away

Quite a few family members on my husband's side were none too pleased when my brother-in-law and fiance informed us their wedding would take place in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

And me? Could not be happier. I loved our honeymoon, traveling the country and seeing sights such as Niagra Falls and the Grand Canyon, however, when you think honeymoon, most people think pool side with a drink.

And the best part of this wedding? It was not mine! No running around, trying to socialize with everyone. Nope, not me. I just grabbed my books and went straight to the pool before I even unpacked my bags.

My husband and I seriously had the best time. We got along with his brother's friends a little too well. We went running on the beach, kayaking, ziplining, beach volleyball, card games by the pool. And my husband stayed out late every night, smoking cigars in his brother's beautiful penthouse suite hot tub overlooking the entire town.

Their beachfront wedding was something straight out of a fairytale.

The kindle is a must have for laying by the pool. I read my hard copy of "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body" and only got about half-way through, mostly because I was so frustrated with holding the book and turning pages. I switched to "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". (which is the best book by far) With the kindle, it rested so nicely on my stomach and I could turn the "pages" and hold it with 1 hand.

I want to go back.

Hey, its my birthday...

Yesterday was a special day for me, my birthday! I turned the big 2-6 and caught myself on more than 1 occasion saying, "I can do this, it's my birthday".

Now by no means am I an angel when it comes to food, drinks, and shopping, but I broke a few rules yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed each rule breaking.

Last night over dinner with the hubby, I enjoyed my favorite alcohol beverage, a margarita on the rocks with salt.

On Sunday, he took me shopping. Mostly to find a dress for his brother's upcoming wedding. I made two mistakes yesterday, first, walking into my favorite store Black House White Market. I use to shop here all of the time when I brought home the bacon (not the "bacon spray" like now according to my husband, haha) and worked a "big girl job". And my second mistake, silly me tried on a dress without looking at the price tag. I fell in love and $168 later, I brought her home.

In exciting news, the bakery who made the cupcakes for our wedding, opened up a shop in our current town. I big puffy heart cupcakes. And yesterday after lunch, he took me to the bakery to indulge in my favorite dessert.

Finally, I hang my head in shame. I gave up diet soda completely about a year and a half ago. I really do not miss it, but every once in a great while (like my birthday), I'll get one of these:

I had a wonderful birthday full of lots of love from my amazing friends and family. Not to mention full of some of my favorite vices, now that's a good day :)

My Guardian Angel.

Three weeks ago, I ran in the Women's Half Marathon. It was a beautiful day, just uploaded a bunch of great music on my I-Pod and felt ready to go. When I hit Mile 1, it felt like I was running a pretty fast pace. I looked down at my watch, 7:30.




Yes, I wrote that correctly and yes, if I went outside to sprint a mile, I do not think I would run at that pace again. FAIL. As a result, my first 6 miles, were MISERABLE. I really thought I might stop and find a nice volunteer, borrow their phone and call my husband to come pick me up at the next mile marker. I knew exactly what he would tell me, suck it up, buttercup. I realized I have never worn a watch in any race or worried about my time. My best running technique, take your mind somewhere else.





So I continued to run. And then said a little prayer to his grandfather (who the night before took a awful turn for the worse). My next 7 miles, I felt great. Even at mile 12 which was all uphill (not fun at all). I ran my best time at 2 hours and 8 minutes.

Saying the past few months, career wise, have been nothing short of miserable would be an understatement. Every night from July to the beginning of October, I tossed, turned, cried, made myself sick, etc.

Now...I decided to take a new job as a personal trainer. They are incredibly short on trainers and want me to start training asap and make double what I use to make. I am also on interview #3 for a Yoga Instructor.

And finally, I attended an amazing fitness convention and fell in love with one of my workshops I attended. I spoke with their CEO afterwards and she talked with me about possibly opening up my own fitness license through her company.

The past few days, I have researched and researched and researched some more. I spent hours on the phone with their CEO, other licensees, my wonderful F-I-L who is a CPA accountant, not to mention making sure the hubby is on board. I have an entire legal pad filled with notes and their leal documentaion in front of me.

The last piece, money.

We are currently trying to refinance, fix our roof, and AC. Not to mention, I cut back my hours nearly a month ago so I am not making nearly what I use to. Last night, we thought about possibly holding off on this new business because of funds. My husband was mid-sentence when his phone rang.

His father called to let us know that Grandpa, in his will, set aside money for the two of us. The money will more than cover our set-up costs.

And now? I am still nervous about this next chapter, but also more than ready to jump in to these new adventures.

Kindle

My wonderful mother-in-law handed me my birthday present a week early since I was in town this past weekend. She bought me an Amazon Kindle! This is why I love her, I've been secretly wanting one and haven't told a soul yet. Her and I are the only ones in the family who read and always talk about what good, new book is out.

The best part? She put me on her account and said buy whatever book, since she'll probably want to read it as well.

And I get it at the perfect time, in 16 days we are heading to beautiful Mexico for a week for his brother's wedding and I go through so many books on vacation. I was worried about carrying an extra bag just for books.

Right now I am planning on "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", I read the previous two and put off the third until I completed my Yoga Certification.

Any other suggestions?

Mr. Right not Mr. Mom

So for the second day in a row, our puppies found mischief. The hubby called me to tell me they chewed up two of my favorite wooden spoons, a coffee filter, his favorite Hawks hat, and his sunglasses.

He swears up and down, he put everything away. He is convinced Daisy, with her long legs, somehow reached the back of the counter to knock everything down.

Two years we've been leaving them out in the kitchen with baby gates and never have they chewed up something I put out of their reach.

This makes me laugh. I wish he would just admit that he misses me picking up after him and putting everything away.

Cha Cha Change

On Monday I put in my two week notice at work...

And I felt a million pounds lifted off my shoulders. My last day will be on my 26th birthday so I have a feeling 26 is going to be a great year. In the past 2 weeks I dropped off my resume at four different gyms/fitness facilities and received 3 interviews.

I am torn between two job offers right now and feel incredibly blessed to have two options, but really want to make the right decision. I am sure it will all fall into place in the next week.

Do we want more good news?

Today I received my Yoga Fundamentals Instructor Speciality Certificate (say that a few times). I took a workshop with about 50 other women and men. Most of them have been practicing yoga for about 5-10 years. And me? 3-4 months. However, I have fallen in love with it since it has helped tremoundously with my headaches.

It feels good to have the pieces finally fall into place slowly. I have three more days of workshops and continuing education so I hope to soak up as much information as possible.

The conference is in Chi-town, so I left the hubby and the girls back home. Since we moved in together two years ago, this is the longest I have left him. Of course he leaves me all of the time, but I have yet to leave him for more than 2 days. He already texted me a picture of Daisy, who chewed up a blue pen today, with bright blue paws, haha.

Cross your fingers for a clean house!

Your way of thinking...

On our 12 hour drive back from PA, I thought a lot about his grandfather. My husband calls him, "One of the last true great Americans" and we also joked and called him the medical miracle.

It truly makes me wonder, how did a 94 year old who has only 17% of his heart working (1 artery = 100% blocked), cancer, and kindey failure get stronger as the weekend went on?! You heard me right, his grandfather is now set to leave the hospital. The doctors continued to say, "He is making liars out of all of us". This same man was blown up in WWII, stayed in a hospital for over a year, still has shrapnel from the bomb in his body.

I just keep shaking my head in amazement.

Makes me think I am weak. I complain about all kinds of stuff...aches, pains, work, etc. Maybe Grandpa tells himself he is going to be ok and he ends up being just fine. I thought in the car, I need to start thinking more positively and stop worrying so darn much.

After 26 hours of traveling in 3 short days, the trip was well worth it. I learned a valuable lesson from him, I just need to change my way of thinking.

Emotion Overload

One of his closest friends has hit rock bottom. His girlfriend of 8 years moved out of their house last week and this just devasted him. So much so, he asked to come stay with us to avoid being alone. Along with him, came his dog, Rowdy. This dog is eating us out of house and home. My Dakota has not been too pleased with this.

His friend cannot snap out of it. My heart just breaks for him.

Speaking of heart breaking, his grandfather took a turn for the worse. The doctors lost him twice in his recent surgery and he went into a coma.

Yesterday morning (it seems like 15 years ago) around 5:30am, my hubby finished packing for his 30 day training trip. We were about to walk out the door when I saw Rowdy head for Dakota's food. I tried to pull him away while Dakota growled. Next thing I knew, Rowdy lunged at Dakota and Dakota did NOT back down. I started screaming. The hubby tried to grab Rowdy and I tried to grab Dakota. I saw blood going everywhere.

Scariest thing I've ever seen. I could not stop shaking.

Afterwards we realized most of the blood was my husbands. His hand looked awful. I told him several of his cuts needed stitches. Typical male, he assured me, he would be just fine and needed to AMC this cross-country flight. I dropped him off at 6:30am and headed to work. I received a phone call after 30 minutes that the flight surgeon wanted him to get stiches.

On our way to the hospital, we received a call from my father-in-law. The family decided to take him off his life support and gave him 2-24 hours.

One short hour of a hospital visit later, we headed straight home and packed up for ? amount of days. Which I can say, is not an easy task. I am a planner and now I know why. I just threw every kind of outfit in my suitcase and sat on it until it closed.

12 hours later, we made it to small town USA in PA.

His grandfather, in typical Grandpa style, is again proving us all wrong. The doctors say he's stronger, but a lot of his organs aren't functioning the way they should and will probably never recover.

It's been a long day and I am sure its the first of many long days ahead.

Let it out.

Eight weeks ago at work, I....

Received a letter of reprimand
Was suspended for 6 weeks of work
Was Demoted
Received a pay deduction

I would love to tell you it was deserved, I really would. I have no problem owning up my mistakes. It was honestly the most bogus thing ever. In 15 years of having a job, I've never had any of the above happen.

I truly believe it was because I held my ground. I have zero regrets. But man I cannot stop questioning myself...

There was not a doubt in my mind, while my boss told everyone, "I was honeymooning", during those 6 weeks I would come back and hand her a letter of resignation.

But I cannot. Why? I love these women so much.

I walked back into work with my head held high and my boss started bawling and I just stood and stared at her. She told me everyone asked about me and that she missed me.

What?

You think after 8 weeks it wouldn't make my stomach turn, but it does.

Whew. I feel some kind of relief letting it out into "the open".

Do not drink the water.

Last night, he turned over in bed and looked at me and said, "You want a baby now, don't you".



I should have guessed he would have said something along those lines. She's my younger sister...graduated college before me, engaged before me, married before me, now baby before me. I swear the day she announced her engagement, my now hubby turned white, probably thinking he would need to pop the question sooner than he would have liked.



No competition between us, I swear. I am more than pumped to spoil my little niece or nephew rotten. But I am sure my sweet husband feels the heat whether I put it there or not. There is no denying it, there is something in the water.

We sang the song in grade school...first come love then comes marriage...oh wait, now baby?



I dislike the phrase, "We are not ready". Maybe cause I am one of three kids and none of us were planned or I truly believe God is going to give you a baby whether you are ready or not.



So for now I am sticking with the phrase, "There is no rush, we are extremely content where we are right now". I know a baby in the future will be the biggest blessing.





For right now, I have these blessings :)




::Sidenote:: Daisy is obsessed with the hubby, I mean obsessed. Our girls are NOT allowed on the furniture, but a friend's dog came over and everytime the dog got anywhere close to HER daddy, Daisy jumped on his lap ready to pounce. We could not stop laughing and even allowed her on the furniture to snap a picture.

A Happy Monday...by Choice

I came across a quote this morning, perfect for a Monday morning:

"Each day when I get up, I CHOOSE to be happy and then try to build my day around that"

There are ugly things looming over my head, but today I am going to remember a few things.

1) I just found out this morning I am going to be an aunt for the very first time! It's going to be hard to keep it a secret for the next month, but thank goodness I can share the news here. I feel everyone around me is pregnant, but this will be the first in my immediate family.

2) My 3rd half-marathon is in 11 days. On Saturday I completed a very difficult 12 mile course and felt suprisingly good afterwards. It *almost* convinced me to sign up for a marathon in 2011. I ran with some amazing, inspiring women and I think they made all the difference.

I am also running for a charity which I truly believe provides a little more incentive in my training and of course with the 13.1 mile course coming up.

So I am going to build my day around that.

Why blog...

I think the word "busy" would just be an excuse.

During our three week honeymoon, we stopped to visit his grandparents in small town USA. His grandparents are notorious for sitting on their front porch and making small talk.

I have sat on that front porch numerous times over the years and never in all my visits did I hear so many stories. Stories of his grandfather in the war, how they met, their favorite memories of each kid, including my father-in-law. We talked out there for almost nine hours in our short 24 hour visit.

You see, his grandfather is nearly 95 years old and the entire family has been trying to convince him to move into assisted living. Everytime we mentioned it, he prefaced another story with "I've lived a great life and have great memories. I wouldn't change a thing".

We shared some of the stories with his parents and sat in shock. Some of these stories they have not even heard.

During this same time, I was finishing a book by James Patterson, "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas". The book is about a mother keeping a diary for her newborn son.

I guess during this time, I realized the power of a story or a memory, whether good or bad. I also remembered why I started my blog nearly 7 years ago....

Get busy living.

The past few weeks I've surprised myself. I am enjoying and doing things that if you asked me a couple of years ago I would laugh and say never in a million years...

Baking & Cooking

With the extra time on my hands, I've made dinner almost every night. A week ago I received this from a dear friend:

Since receiving this and my wonderful cookbook holder, I've managed to whip up homemade chili, citrus tilipia, banana bread and get this....A berry (blackberries & blueberries) pie from SCRATCH! Huge accomplishment. And not only was it edible, it tasted delicious. Minus the whole wheat flour, I swear the personal trainer in me has substituted every baking/cooking item in my house. Next time, I might use white *cringe* flour.

Reading

Also finished my second book this month. Both by Elin Hilderbrand, Summer Affair and this beauty:

I recommend both of them if you are looking for a good trashy, summer read :)

Exercise

I've attempted every workout under the sun. I've never been a big fan of Yoga. I grew up playing basketball, soccer, and volleyball which means the more sweat the better. I tried 7 yoga classes and walked out of 6 of them. I started enjoying it a little more after P90X, still would never try it more than once a week. That being said, my physical therapist strongly recommended it for my headaches and stress with wedding planning.

I began DVRing Namaste Yoga on Fit TV. I can now say I love Yoga. Like truly enjoy, do it 4 times a week now, like it. And not only am I enjoying it, I can see results and am getting pretty darn good at it.

All three of things just shock me, even while typing this post. However, they all make me proud and smile just a little. I guess I will just have to keep trying new things :)

Oh yeah t-minus 9 days...

Bridesmaid Gift

Ah, not going to lie, it's been weighing on my mind what exactly to get some of the most important women in my life.

And then I came across these:

1) I am not a name brand person, except when it comes to Vera Bradley. Sure some people think its overpriced, but for someone who traveled almost once a month during the WP years, those bags were lifesavers.

2) Match the colors of the wedding

3) The "name" of these type of glasses is actually MY name!

4) Super cute pictures of me + bridesmaids in these.

5) They were on sale :)

And all is right in my world. I told my mom after I ordered them and she started pouting on the phone that she wanted a pair, so I got her some too.

Extra hours.

I cut back my hours from 8 to 9 to 6-7 a day. So really, I only cut back two hours. Two hours?! It doesn't sound like much, but I think it's made a world of a difference in my life and more importantly in my marriage.

Those 8-9 hours, in addition to the stresses of work and my boss, made me mean. I swear. Not to mention the heachaches and wedding planning made me crazy. I can honestly say at certain points in the day, I hated him. I thought he was doing everything wrong and not helping me with anything. When really, the problem might have been me.

I stressed and stressed and stressed some more. But really it's been my entire life. I suffered from anxiety in college and probably continued with me in the years after.

So what have I done with those extra two hours?

I've invested or "put them back" into my marriage. I make more lunches and dinners, fold more of his laundry, stress less about a dirty house, and even *gasp* sleep in an extra hour or so. If I do not work early, I am wide awake by 7am. Is it weird that I use to get all huffy and puffy about him sleeping soundly when we "should" be doing something? I usually either wake him up or get up and start working on things all upset that he is not helping.

On Friday evening while driving home from work, I get a call from work that one of our circuit coaches quit. This news a month ago would send me into a tizzy. The old me would head into work the next day, Saturday, and stress all weekend. I simply told my boss, "I will handle it on Monday".

I walked in the door, smiled and gave my husband a hug and asked him how his day went.

It's only been three weeks, but I have never been happier. We laugh all of the time. He helps out more around the house (I swear I didn't ask for him to). He touches me more, smiles more.

The old me would think, he's been really nice and I don't know why, but I do know why. I am being nice too. I guess it's true, you get what you put in...

I love my extra two hours.

Restrepo

Hubby asked me last night to attend a free showing of a documentary. It took place where he did a majority of his flying and our new roommate Brandon, one of his best friends, met and replaced the Unit in the documentary.



It is called Restrepo.

See it.

Incredibly eye-opening. Sure I hear stories and picture their life over there, but with this movie, I can actually see it with my own eyes.

We met one of the men who stared in the documentary and he actually remembered Brandon. This documentary hit so close to home. The names and places...I know these people. I know these places.

Made me incredibly proud to be an American, proud to know so many soldiers, especially my own soldier.

During the movie I remembered several months ago, I met a few ground guys from TX . They immediately hugged me and told me that, "Your husband saved my life, many times".

Again, so proud.

What a difference...

...a month makes. The difference between me now and me 30 days ago...Oh the stress might be catching up with me.

Actually I don't think it's stress as much as every single minute (yes I said minute, apron timer is out for me to blog for exactly 15 minutes) is planned between now and August 7th.

We were SPOILED rotten, absolutely spoiled rotten this past Saturday at our shower. However, my hand does feel like it is going to fall off with all of the Thank-Yous. Don't get me wrong, the Thank-Yous are a must and well deserved. I just like to get things out within a matter of days, not weeks.

Oh yeah, we found out on Monday that our Cupcake Lady went out of business last week, so we are scrambling to find something new because honestly, the cupcakes might be more important than the dress.

Tis the Season...

In a few short hours, the whole gang (hubby + puppies) will be driving north to our hometown for my bridal shower!

I love organizing and planning, but sadly I do not love organizing and planning our wedding. I do not know if "the jig is up", we are already married or what.

But to catch everyone up to speed.

I will be wearing:

My bridesmaids will be wearing a black dress of their choice and all of us will be rocking these:He will be wearing his uniform. Neither one of us are crazy about the military wedding. In the end, I made it his decision and since he is too lazy (his exact words) to rent a tux, he decided to wear what he already has in his closet.

And we will exchange our vows and dance the night away here:

Wedding in a nutshell. Now on to physical therapy, clean, pack, and head home!

Coming up for air.

19+ weeks with a headache...something has to be wrong.

I mentioned how much I make at work to my Physical Therapist and she about fell off her chair. She said, "You see me three times a week for that?".

Funny, he has been bugging me about the same thing for months. Now what I make does not make or break our household and for that I am forever blessed, but it covers a lot of the bills plus little extras for me.

They simply cannot pay me anymore and I understand, but a part of me feels more valuable in a sense. I've been struggling with this for months.

After much talk, I cut back my hours at work. I guess I am not cut out for the 50+ hour work week and everything else going on in my life. Not to mention I am on my feet for over 8 hours a day, exercise for half of it, and wake up way too early. My first 6-7 hour day was Friday and it felt heavenly! I am on Day Three now and I've accomplished so much during my day and have had less arguments/disagreements with him, my mom, and my MIL.

I've also decided to start training people on the side. I've been wanting to do it for a year now, but looks like I am finally in motion and more importantly....

....finally able to breathe.

On the Fourth, we hung out with friends and played football. Afterwards, he and I jumped (went skinny dipping, ha) in our pool and watched all of the amazing fireworks in our neighborhood. It honestly felt like I had found my way and started to enjoy life, instead of just living it.

I am surrounded by an amazing husband, family, and friends and now I am just trying to soak it all in a little more. And of course, blog a little more :)

Remember Me?

I am not even lying when I had to pause for a long moment to remember the web address for my blog and wonderful blog community. I guess being away for almost 4 months will do that to you.

Me in a nutshell:

• Going 17 weeks strong with no real cure for my headaches. Crazy, huh? However, my glass half full moment, I am only week 2 with my physical therapist and it's slowly helping minus the fact that 3-4 days a week, it adds a minimum of 1.5 hours onto my already busy day.
• Wedding planning in full swing. 36 more days.
• I am trying to decide my next big thing in life. I cannot get promoted anymore nor make any more money so the past few days, I'm really sitting down and thinking what's next?
• And TV. What TV? My television detox is complete. I barely have time to sit down and relax anymore. When I do sit down and try and watch anything, I fall asleep :)

Did I mention there is a wedding in 36 days. I've never, ever, ever bickered with him as much as I have in the past 3 months. Its exhausting and I loathe it. However, all of this just reminds me how lucky I am. We have 10 years of memories of ups and downs and when I look at him, it's hard not to smile and be thankful for all we've been through together.

Cleaning Day

In the past week I have been threatening to hire a cleaning lady. I work 6-7 days a week and the hubby typically does not help, in fact, usually makes it worse and I end up cleaning more. Case and point, I do not touch his side of the room. I do not know what is clean or dirty. Our entire house is clean except two areas, his side of the room and his sink.
Usually when company comes over I stuff it behind his dresser. When you glance into my bedroom, nobody ever notices his pile.

Yesterday my threats turned real as I took a phone number of a cleaning lady from a friend. He noticed the hand-off told me that we did not need one. I told him that he had one week to help out and prove me wrong.

Well guess what my wonderful husband did today:

Washed all of our sheets

Cleaned our carpets

Cleaned out the refridgerator

Scrubbed all of our cabinets (I loathe the color white in our kitchen)

Completed four loads of laundry

Removed his infamous pile of clothes.

I may start threatening a cleaning lady every weekend.

I do not know about you, but cleaning makes us bicker. I tend to do it one way and he does it another. Not to mention my mother comes out in me when I am cleaning. Regardless, we always make each other laugh. Sometimes not even on purpose.

I watched him as he pulled out some rope and began manuvering around our kitchen. I just laughed to myself as I typed away on the computer for work. The way he decided to dry our comforter:

The worse part of this picture: I agreed for some reason to help him. He asked me nicely and I said, "No way, I did not sign up for this" and of course he pulls a "Yes you did, when you married me". Ahh! One valuable marriage lesson I have learned over this past year of living together is sacrifice. There are things I do not want to do, but I do them and vice versa.

Day Five...Day Six

Today marks 21 days since my headache started and 6 days since I gave up television. I guess I can tell the hubby television isn't causing my headaches. I am still going the next two weeks without it to prove a point and be more productive.

You know when they say desperate times, desperate measures. Well one of my members practices holistic medicine. While training her yesterday, she offered me a free session. I just wanted my headache to stop. Surprisingly it wasn't too crazy and the massage part felt good.

Except I still have a headache. She also mentioned I have a lot of "energy" coming off my feet. To this I responded, "That does not surprise me".

Speaking of feet. The past two weekends, I've worn my high heels or Nine West sandals and they feel heavenly! And my tennis shoes absolutely burn and kill my feet at times.

When I use to have the fancy, career woman job, I wore high heels or nice dress shoes and my feet felt so relieved in tennis shoes. I guess whatever the shoe, if you wear it 8+ hours a day for 5+ days a week, your feet might hurt.

My television detox as I like to call is still getting easier. It helps I wake up at 4:45am so I fall asleep between 7-8pm, ha! The husband has been calling me grandma, oh well. I always feel rested at least.

Days Three & Four

Today I finally dragged my (and the husband's) butt over to my primary care doctor to get a referral for a neurologist. He also prescribed some high dosage migrane medicine. Hopefully I can get some kind of relief.

Life without television is suprisingly getting easier. My trick is to take myself out of the house.

Yesterday I...

walked the dogs
visited one of our friends who just got a puppy
dinner with my boss and her husband
and picked up my hubby late last night from the airfield

I crashed into my bed...without the TV :)

In the past two days I have also caught up with two best friends. It was wonderful.

Speaking of one of my best friends....She is a newlywed and her husband has 2 kids from a prior marriage. They are at that difficult age between 8-11 years old.. She is struggling to keep her sanity and actually mentioned blogging last night. She hopes to join a blog community (similiar to this wonderful military blog community) of stepmothers. I told her I would see if anyone out there is either going through the same thing or knows of someone.

Day Two

I try to avoid being "Debbie Downer", but I did not sleep at ALL last night.

This means Day Two was not good either. I feel going "without" TV might actually make me sound pathetic to the blog world, but it's proving to be difficult so far.

Instead my mind was racing about work and many other things, so much so, I jumped out of bed at 3am and wrote down all of my ideas. My boss thanked me for not sleeping actually. I think this is why I enjoy TV, my mind actually shuts off because every other minute, its running 100 miles an hour.

I did do some things today I normally would not do. I took the dogs for an extra long walk, almost an hour, and I actually went shopping. I never go shopping just to browse. I always know what I want, but today I purchased a super cute bag from Target and a couple books from Borders: A nutrition book and Shutter Island, which we are reading for Book Club this month.

I also had a nice dinner with some of my favorite Book Club ladies. They made this whole coming home to an empty, extremely quiet house bearable tonight.

Day One Without TV

I think I am in trouble.

This morning I had to tell myself several times, "No, you are giving up TV, remember?" before turning on Sportscenter. This is something I have done every morning since high school.

And tonight? Well after working 9 hours with an awful headache (still), I just want to curl up on the couch and watch TV. I am actually tempted to take some Tylenol PM and just go to sleep.

Luckily I have some fitness magazines to read.

Tomorrow might be the true challenge. I realized when my dependency on TV reached an all time high...during his deployment. Tomorrow he needs to switch out aircraft in TX and will not be back until Thursday. Two days without husband and television...

I need to find a new hobby, ASAP.

Headache Expert

16 days later....I am still fighting this headache. These headaches really have not "sidelined" me from anything. I am still going to work, still cleaning, still trying to be a good, social wife. So either I have a high pain tolerance or they are not full blown migranes.

In the past two weeks I've been to two emergency rooms, a massage therapist and a chiropractor. I've had two shots of steroids in the back of my head (to loosen up one of my neck veins) and a ton of medicine through an IV where I felt extremely loopy for a few days, and managed to pull off 3,200 mg of Motrin in the past 3 days.

My headaches have become a hot topic at work. Some of my favorite members actually call me on their "off" days to check on me and of course everyone has a remedy. So are you ready for them? Here is what I've heard, from my members.

Chewing iceberg lettuce
Dark chocolate
Every kind of medicine you can name
Sex
Orgasms
Blow Jobs
Ice pack on my head
Eye doctor appointment

I haven't tried the lettuce, maybe this week. I also need to get my butt on the phone with Tricare for a referal to a neurologist.

My husband swears up and down its because I fall asleep to the TV. Everyone relaxes or kicks back in their own way, after working all day or cleaning the house, I love relaxing and catching up on the 100s of shows I DVR.

So to increase my productivity this week (and to prove him wrong), I am giving up TV for 21 days. Why 21? They say it takes 21 days to break a habit. I will (try) blog everyday and let you know how it goes. Wish me luck.

Headache

I have never had a headache last longer than a few hours in my entire life...until this week. I woke up Saturday with a headache and it has not let up since. SIX DAYS!

Drinking enough water?
Taking vitamins?
Resting?
Medicine?
Cracking my back?

I've done them all. I left work early this morning and my wonderful husband gave me some tylenol 3 and it did nothing for me.

Tomorrow I am trying a massage and a trip to the chiropractor. If that does not work...I will start to worry.

Our Own Olympic Sport

Its the last Sunday of the month. In our house it means grocery shopping for the entire month.

His first month home, I wanted to pull my hair out trying to shop and think of meals for the both of us on the fly. My only News Years Resoluation...Meal Plan. I am proud to say, I have successfully meal planned for three months so far.

I simply print off a calendar and write in pencil (of course) meals for every single night, except Saturday. I stick the calendar in a sheet protector and hang it up on our refridgerator.

Sometimes coming up with meals every single night gives me a headache. I work late on Mondays and Wednesdays so I have to plan accordingly, either a crockpot or simple 10 minute meal to make when I walk in the door. But grocery shopping has been a lot less painful. The only thing I hate now is finding things on my grocery list.

My wonderful mother-in-law purchased a $25 i-phone application gift card. I'm not that tech savy and wondered what I would ever purchase. Last night, while creating my grocery list, I found this amazing application: The Grocery Gadget.

I can sort by category, alphabetical order, and items already in the cart. This morning with i-phone and these in hand:

...my hubby and I breezed through grocery shopping at two stores in less than 75 minutes. I felt like professional shoppers. The gadget also includes pricing so as our total appeared on the screens, I clapped and laughed to him. Less than $150 at Wal-Mart and another $80 at Sam's Club. In the next month, I bugeted another $6o to pick up any miscellaneous items we may need which keeps us under $300 for an entire month.

I, no joke, high-fived my husband on our way home. I feel like grocery shopping is our Olympic sport and today, we won gold, haha....thanks to the i-phone of course :)

After shopping, six loads of laundry, dishes, and vacuuming, we can both relax and cheer on the US Men's Hockey team.

Blog Realization

I came to the realization today that I am way more exciting when he's deployed...

I cannot blog about reading books. I read nearly 25 during the deployment. Since his return...a big fat goose egg. Now I lost track of how many fitness magazines and journals I have read, but I miss my leisurely reading.

And those crazy stories about me attempting to "fix" the house....I got nothing. When your hubby is Mr. Handyman, the only thing I need to do is stay out of the way and bring him a tool when he asks.

No more crazy puppy stories. For the most part, they have behaved themselves since his return and to my surprised...stayed reasonably healthy. No surgeries, broken legs, kennel cough, or scratched eyes.

I did enjoy cooking and baking these elaborate dishes. Now...I just want to get dinner done as soon as possible after racing home from work.

DO NOT GET ME WRONG, I love life and you bet I am knocking on wood as far as house problems or puppy problems, but my life is quite boring. Between working, cleaning, cooking, paying bills, puppies, and sleeping, I do not have time for much else. And I am struggling to find blog worthy stories about coming home from work and vacuuming up husky hair five times a week.

Yesterday my best friend called and asked what I was doing, my response, "I just got home from work and now I am making dinner, paying bills and watching the news" He told me that if he called me in thirty years, I would probably be doing the same thing, haha.

Oh well. I am not giving up that easy, I will continue to search for things to blog about that actually might catch your attention.

Twenty Something Year Old Punks

Yesterday I attended my first regional meeting as a manager. I learned so much on how to improve our club. Our owner and I could not stop writing down ideas and brainstorming on the trip home.

After only five months in business, we reached 350+ members. We are thrilled, but of course think we can do better. However, while at the meeting I realized (my boss already knew this) the average number of members in our 20+ clubs in our state is near 140. I became conscious of how many things we are doing right. Women who owned these gyms for 10+ years struggled to reach 60 some members. Our regional director wanted us to share some of our ideas.

After sharing, some of them looked at us like we were crazy.

"Give it time, you're still young" or "Just wait" or "When I first started I had as much passion"

It drove me crazy. Ok, granted we are both twenty something years old and know this might fade, but we kind of laughed about their comments in the car. If we get old or tired....Then we will hire someone who is as young and energetic as we once were.

I am not trying not to be arrogant, but we work our butts off, case and point, I just sat down for the first time today after being on my feet for 14 hours, where even my $100 tennis shoes feel like $15 high heels. I just want our club to be successful.

Afterwards, my boss and I talked to our Regional Director, she could not be more thrilled about our progress. My boss even made the comment to her and another owner..."Not bad for some twenty-something year old punks".

I couldn't agree more. We do not know everything, but we do know that we absolutely love our women and love our job. And there are talks of opening up another club. I love that not only did I find something I love, I found something I could make a career/living out of now.

Our Valentines Day...

...was just another day in paradise.

No roses, spa packages, chocolate, or fancy dinners. I didn't feel more loved yesterday than the day before, but I think he does a great job of making me feel loved everyday.

We stayed in our PJs all morning, watched the Olympics, accomplished a lot of wedding planning and enjoyed a night out with some good friends.

I am sure down the road with life, careers, kids, and dogs, we might need Valentines Day to reconnect, but right now I think we're doing ok.

Ah, Organization...

I realized man cannot survive by i-phone alone. In the past 24 hours, I organized BOTH of our checking accounts, cleared out 100 emails, caught up on blog comments, and uploaded pictures for our families. Its weird how amazing it feels to be caught up on "life".

So what has been going on with me?

Three things....Army Wife, dog hair, and working out.

I attended my first military formal. I danced the night away and as a result, the only picture I took of the two of us is us sweaty after 2 hours of dancing. Oh well

Winter has brought snow and melted snow, which in our house means mud.


And working out? Not only is it my job, but Dave and I started P90X, so my body hates me and sleep has slowly crept into one of my top priorities. I am still waking up around 4:45am, 3-4 times a week and as a result I pass out between 8-9pm.

And its not only a pass out, but my love calls me a drunk mess. Some 1opm highlights:

• He says "Goodnight babe, I love you you"...My response "I am not drunk!" and then throw the remote at him.
• Walking into our door
• Him waking me up on the couch to go to bed and me yelling as loudly as possible and repeating over and over again, "You do not need to carry me"

I have a new found love for the weekends. Sleeping in until 7am never felt so good.

I cannot complain. I am loving love. I think we are both still suffering a little seperation anxiety. We absolutely hate being away from each other and race home after work to be with one another. I guess its not a bad thing, especially since another deployment is looming ahead in the near future.

Welcome Back Internet

My hubby just lifted his arms up in the air and said:

"What a glorious day, you can blog again"

He may have been mocking me, but I couldn't agree more. 2+ months without internet at the house was too long. But I am back. I do not know what exactly to blog about just yet so I have a lot to catch up on, but I will be back.