Wedding Cupcakes

  The Cupcakery did an awesome job of taking the embellishments from my invitations and incorporating them into cupcake designs.  They are colorful and sparkly.  I love them!

These samples are vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.  We are going to change up the flavors so that there’s one funky flavor per design, one of which will be peanut butter.  I’m not sure what the others will be yet, but they’re sure to be unusual and yum-o-licious!

  

 

P90X – Month Two

  

I’m now six weeks into my P90X program, and I’m still going strong.  My schedule has made it tough to stick with it perfectly, but I’m doing my best.  When I can get up early and do it in the morning, I do.  A couple of times, I had DVD malfunctions in the middle of workouts, and I had to fill in with the glider.  I’m also still doing up to five sets of stairs, 1st thru 4th, during the week. 

I don’t really notice a difference in my physique visually, but I can feel the changes.  I’m sore in places that I haven’t been, and I feel leaner in some areas.  I wish I looked more like one of those “ripped” fitness models, but the internal changes are more important.  Not bad for a regular girl! 

Are we ever “cured”?

In September, I will have been doing my lifestyle change for seven years.  That’s a long time, and it seems like it should have gotten easier.  Unfortunately… not so much.

I have been struggling for the last few months with a 7-pound weight gain.  I know why: I’ve got a huge amount of stress in my life right now.

1) I’m planning a wedding.  Even though it’s an untraditional wedding, low-key by wedding standards, it’s still a big event, and big events require a lot of work.

2) I’ve branched into doing TV for my work.  It’s extremely difficult to see myself on television.  To me, the flaws are glaringly obvious and exacerbated by the medium.  I’ve been fighting not to get depressed over it, but it’s tough.

3) I’ve been doing a lot more public speaking on evenings and weekends.  I am so excited to be doing this outreach because it’s critical to get the consumer protection messages out there.  But, there’s a lot of pressure when you’re dealing with people face-to-face who’ve been victims of fraud or are losing their homes.  They want answers, and they want those answers from you.  It’s also tiring to prepare and to work the extra hours.  It’s definitely worth it, but it takes a toll.

4) My fiance and I have been doing a lot traveling, off-roading and camping with various mishaps occurring along the way like wheels falling off vehicles, getting lost, flying at weird times of day, etc.  Lack of sleep and anxiety bring out my desire to munch.

Most of my stress is “good” stress, coming from positive events in my life.  But, when I’m stressed, no matter where that stress comes from, I want to eat.  When I get tired, I want to eat.  At times, that urge to eat is nearly irresistable.  In fact, it’s proven to be irresistable for me a lot recently, which is why I’m up seven pounds.

Do we ever get “cured” of overeating?  Will I ever be “normal” in how I approach food?  I don’t think so; I think I’ll always have this yoke around my neck.  It will be lighter sometimes, but it’ll always be there.

It’s an issue that obesity researchers continue to explore.  Irene Rubaum-Keller’s article “What is recovery from addiction?” asks, “If you are an addict, can you ever really get well or are you just destined to manage your tendency to be addicted to things/people/substances forever?”.  My experience tells me I will not “get well”, that instead I’ll just be managing the situation for the rest of my life.  And it bums me out that experts, people who’ve been researching this problem for years, don’t have any answers for me.

Rubaum-Keller says:

The bottom line is; we don’t know the answer to that question. The definition of recovery the committee came up with was this “a voluntarily maintained lifestyle composed characterized by sobriety, personal health, and citizenship.” It involves trading the easy drug/sex/gambling/food/shopping/alcohol high, with something more difficult to attain that is also more meaningful and lasting. Recovery does not just mean sobriety. It is a more holistic experience that involves improving one’s life in various ways.

I am committed to the path I’ve chosen, and for the most part, I’m glad I made the choice.  But voluntary maintenance is HARD.  I keep expecting it to get easier, and it just doesn’t.  That’s my reality.  For now, I can’t change it, so I’ve got to be aware of it and work with it the best I can.

In my current situation, I’m trying to focus on the fact that all I’ve gained is seven pounds.  I’m also proud of having taken on a very intensive exercise program with P90X.  My body is really strong; all my clothes still fit.  I’m having the adventure of a lifetime.  I’m managing the food situation successfully for the most part.  That’s the best I can do, and it has to be good enough for now.

Week 2 of P90X

I’m halfway through Week 2 of P90X.  It’s a terrific program.  So challenging.  Ab Ripper X, which I did tonight after doing the shoulders & arms workout, makes me use LOTS of foul language.  It’s tough, man!

The hardest one for me, though, is Yoga X.  That’s the one I have to do tomorrow.  I’ve always found yoga hard.  The longheld poses that seem to stretch the muscles endlessly kill me.  It will take everything I’ve got tomorrow to stick with it.  I can do kick-ass cardio and multiple weight reps forever (well, not really forever, but you know what I mean), but yoga… yowsa!  Sheer determination is the only thing that gets me through.

And, it’s a bit of a shame that it’s so tough for me because yoga is extremely good for you.  The whole mind-body thing is very important to good health and battling illnesses and stress.  I need to do yoga, even if I don’t want to.  As much as I recognize the importance of mind-body workouts, I have trouble making myself do ‘em.  I need to work on it, and this is an unexpected benefit of doing the P90X program.

I wonder, will I get “ripped” like the people in the ads?  I have some muscle definition, but it’s hard to imagine myself all cut like “those people”.  Supposedly it’s possible.  I just want to complete the program and lean out.

I’m a little apprehensive because we will be traveling on workout days over the next several weeks, so I will not be able to do all the workouts.  I will bring DVDs with me and do the workouts on the computer when we go to San Diego next weekend.  But, the week after we’ll be camping on the Grand Canyon, and I doubt we’ll bring the computer with us.  It’s a constant challenge with the life I lead with my fiance to stay on track.  There are ALWAYS special circumstances.  In fact, it’s really more of a special circumstance when there aren’t special circumstances.

I should give myself kudos for being able to adapt and adjust, but instead I usually feel frustrated and like I’m doing it half-assed.  Bottom line: I can only do what I can do, and clearly it’s worked for the most part.  I keep having to tell myself that!  Boy, it takes some of us a long time to internalize the message, eh? 

Anyway, I’m really enjoying P90X so far.  It’s great to be so challenged and to know that after another week, new challenges will come.  It’s great to save some money and to be home at night where I can do laundry or other things while working out.  P90X rocks!

A new month… a new workout routine

Pole dancing has been amazing.  I’ve learned so much, and I’ve gained a lot of physical improvement.  But, now that the wedding is fast approaching, money is becoming an issue.  The $100 a month I’ve been spending can be better used elsewhere.  Plus, I think it’s time for me to shake things up again.

So, tonight was Day One of P90X.  I bought the program nearly a year ago, before my literal transformation.  I didn’t start it beause I discovered pole dancing.  Now that I’ve decided to make the switch to something less expensive and home-based, P90X is perfect.  Tonight’s Core Synergistics workout was awesome!  There were all kinds of moves I’ve never done before, and there was a whole lotta sweatin’ goin’ on!

Tomorrow night is Cardio X.  I’ve done that one before; it’s a good one, too.  Looking forward to it!

Chocolate is not only good for us; it’s good for the environment, too!

Not only are you helping your body when you eat chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, you’re also helping the environment.  How?  Scientists have unveiled a chocolate-fueled race car.

It’s a race car that runs on vegetable oil and waste from chocolate factories.  So go ahead:  chow on some chocolate.  You’ll satisfy your craving for a sweet, give your body some much-needed antioxidants, and you’ll be helping to create biofuel for the vehicles of the future!

More Art Gift Tag Wedding Favors

 

Art Gift Tag Wedding Favors

My Honey and I have set our wedding date for the 15th of August.  It’s a mere four months away!  Exciting!!

I am creating my own invitations and favors.   For favors, I decided to create art gift tags with a love theme.  Through the tags, we are passing on our love to our guests, and they can then pass the love along to someone they care about by embellishing a gift with one of my tags.  Plus, each tag is a one-of-a-kind art piece that can never be duplicated or found elsewhere.  To me, it gives our wedding a really special touch.

Each art gift tag will be placed at individual table settings.  I have visions of guests swapping them around if someone has one they like better!  Fun!!

Wedding Cake Idea

My girlfriend and I went hiking/climbing out at Red Rocks a couple of days ago.  It was fantastic to get out there again after so long.  It reminded me how much I loved it.  We plan to do it at least once a month, if not twice.  Yay!

Stopping at Starbucks or Tropical Smoothie afterward is our reward for the hard physical labor of the h/c.  This time, on our way to the Starbucks, we passed a VERY cool bakery, in whose window was THE most fabulous cake.  I was immediately struck by it, sure it would be perfect for our wedding.  We had been thinking of doing cupcakes, but this cake was so darling that I simply had to check it out.  Come to find out, it was designed for a first birthday party.  Too funny!  I’m always drawn to colorful things for kids.  Not sure what it means, but it’s me! 

The bakery also had these adorable chocolate cherry mousies and brightly colored, marzipan-covered Neopolitans.  Yum-o-licious!  I had to buy one for my fiance.  The mice didn’t taste that good, although they sure were super cute.  The Neopolitans, though… wow!  They were beyond delicious.  Ooo!  I will have to buy them for my next party. In fact, I may buy individual Neopolitans and mousies for the wedding itself.  They’re delightful next to each other.

More Pole Pics

The first picture is of a pose that I think is called The Lady.  It doesn’t look like much, but holding on by your thighs and one hand is challenging.  Normally, you lean your head back and arch your hips up more than I am in this pic.  We wanted to show my face.  My hips need to be arched more, but I’m close on this one.  As with the strength holds I describe below, it has taken me several months to develop the muscular ability to do this pose.  It’s deceptive, as is much of pole work.

Another part of what we do in pole class are strength holds: poses that build our strength so we can do more maneuvers on the pole.  They are much harder to do than they look.  It took me several months to be able to do these two poses.  I could never hold them for any length of time.  So, I’m really thrilled at the progress I’ve made.