Farrells Wrap Up

Sore on a regular basis.  Early bedtime.  Early alarm.  Counting carbs and proteins.  Clothes don't fit. 

That's been the story of my life the last 10 weeks.  And it will continue being the story of my life.  After having such great results, I decided to continue waking up at 4:30.  And now without further delay, here are my results.  But if you think that I'm actually going to put what my weight and measurements were/are on the internet for all to see, you are nuts.  I will tell you what the changes were though. 

Week 1

Push-ups - 26

Sit-ups - 24

Mile Run - 12:45

Week 10

Push-ups - 63 (!)

Sit-ups - 36

Mile Run - 10:41

Inches lost

Arm - 3.25

Chest - 4.5

Waist - 5

Hips - 4.75

Thigh - 3.25

Total Inches - 20.75 (!)

Total pounds lost - 30 (!)

So needless to say, I was super excited to see the final numbers.  And even though I didn't win, I'm still a winner.  At least that's what they tell me.

Christmas Tree of Halloween

Last week was our annual pumpkin carving extravaganza.  Unfortunately there were no gut throwing fights but it was still pretty fun.  

Action shot of digging the guts out...with a scary knife picture of Amy.

Our finished products...

...lit up.

Gayle decided to not carve a pumpkin so she claimed them all as her own.  

Grandpa's 90!

Can you believe this handsome guy is 90 today?!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my grandparents.  

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Motivated Slightly by Jealousy

So tomorrow morning I'm starting a 10 week Extreme Bodyshaping program at Farrells.  I am excited to start working out, get fit and drop some pounds.  I'm not excited about getting up early to be at class at 5:15 am. 

My bestie Lisa has had amazing success going to Farrells and I admit that I was a little bit jealous of how good she looked.  Before I signed up, I needed to make sure my arm could handle all the punches so I went to a "bring a friend" class with Lisa.  It hurt but I'm a tough cookie and decided to take the leap.  After some intense bidding during the silent auction at a volleyball tournament, I won and got the package for almost half price.  I was locked in. 

We did the always fun picture, measurements and initial testing on Friday night.  The only thing I was really concerned about was the mile run.  Running and I don't get along so well.  I read a quote once that said "If I had to run for my life, I'd die."  While I might not be at that level, I really hate running.  Although I suppose when you really think about it, it would really depend on how bad the person chasing wanted to catch me...but I digress.  The point is that I don't care for running and part of the initial testing was a mile run.  I set goals for myself, namely not to finish last and to finish under 20 minutes.  Well you will be pleased to know that I met all of my goals.  Now if you are a serious runner, just skip over the next sentence.  It will not impress you.  However, my mile time was 12:45 which impressed me. 

My alarm is going to go off early tomorrow morning however I have some additional motivation to go to class.  As we were leaving testing on Friday night, one of the guys on my team said Go Hawks.  I may or may not have to ask him about the big Cyclone victory on Saturday.  Not sure if that's the way to make new work out buddies though...

The new Mr & Mrs

This past weekend, my little brother went from this

to this.

Check out that handsome guy and his beautiful bride.

It was a great weekend. We all had tons of fun and there were no major problems. We had a great time getting to know Elizabeth's family and all of the happy couples friends. The weekend was filled with prayers for no rain, food, games, laughter, a few tears but most of all happiness for Nick and Elizabeth.

Even on his wedding day, his sisters are there to make sure he looks good

Nick and his favorite women

They're hitched!! Time to party!

The new Mr and Mrs!

Spending time with family.

The original Cox gals

The new and improved Cox gals

One of the highlights of the reception was dragging Dad out to the dance floor for a Father/Son dance off. It was filled with throwing dice, bowling, getting ready for work and the electrician shock. Even though it was Nick's big day, it was agreed that Dad was the big winner.

The beautiful Double Wedding Ring quilt that Mom made for Nick and Elizabeth.

Congratulations Nick and Elizabeth!!!

Love and Something Else

Right now, I LOVE…

* that my fridge is full of watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, raspberries and all the other fruits and veggies that are finally in season again

* that even though it seemed like it took forever for spring/summer weather to get here, it is here

* and since the warm weather is here, my nights are filled with sand volleyball with friends…even if a certain team member usually drives me bananas

* that even though my social calendar is filling up, I’ve left plenty of free nights and weekends for random fun

* that it doesn’t take much convincing to persuade a few girl friends to skip out on work early to enjoy a margarita and farmers market

* and that we all decided we needed to do that at least once a month, probably more

* that my Bestie and I are planning a Bestie night centered around Nestle Treasures…even if we don’t agree on what classifies as a good movie

* that I have good friends to go lay out at the pool with and discuss our hopes and dream…or how Twizzlers are the perfect pool snack

* that right now I am baking cookies to take to work and I just tasted one from the first batch and it was delicious

And the something else…

*…with all the warm weather, it is also bringing humidity. Which means that white girl fro is out in full force. I suppose it is just something I’m going to have to deal with

A Royal Viewing Party

What better way to jump back into the blog world than with photos from Rochelle's and my version of a royal wedding viewing party. Granted I meant to post this last week and don't have a good excuse of why I didn't.

Rochelle set her DVR to record 10 thousand hours of wedding coverage. She even woke up in the middle of the night and added another channel to record to make sure we got it all. She emailed me right away in Friday morning to say that she wasn't going to look at anything online. I wish I could have said the same. I checked out all the photos of the dress, the hats, the kiss...the other kiss.

Rochelle found a recipe for crumpets and decided to give them a whirl. We also had mimoas (with strawberry champagne) and cucumber sandwiches.

Finally it was time to settle in to watch the wedding...and giggle at the silly things that were being said.

I'm not going to say that it was the classiest party with us in our t-shirts and sweatpants...but we were wearing crowns.