Blog Lovin!

What? Posting twice on a Saturday? Oh, I know! I also know that I ended up in excruciating pain last night and didn’t sleep very well, so today has been quite the lazy day, besides going to the doctor and finding out I have an ear infection and a bad cough. So, I figured I would round up my favorite posts from my favorite bloggers this week and share them! This was perfect to keep me busy and share the love! Seriously, I love reading blogs.

• What I Want More Than Anything (A Dash of Meg)- Meg really opened up this week and I am so proud of her stepping out of her comfort zone and trying to eat intuitively!
• Thankful Things Thursday: Love (Ali On The Run)- Having colitis myself, I know some of the struggles, definitely not all, that she has to live with. I really loved that she didn’t take pity for being sick,  but instead turned it around and thought of everything she was thankful for!
• “Not Cereal” Cereal and Fit Booty Workout (Bess Be Fit)-  She posted a good butt workout! Definitely want to try it out soon!
• Fun Five Friday (Britt’s Blurbs)- LOVE the quote she put up about loving yourself! So true!
• A New Strength (Chasing Chels)- I give her so much credit for realizing what she is doing is “enough.” She’s working on building her mental strength, which I feel is so important to overall strength!
• Chasing After What? (Freeing Imperfections)- I really felt I connected to this post. I often times feel like I can’t ever stop working and need to always be busy. I also firmly believe that we choose our own happiness, like she says!
• The Little Things (Healthy Diva Life)- Ah this was just perfect. It is so easy to forget about the little things in life, but by reading her post, I did take the time to remember the little things I love in my life!
• Boot camp Workout (Life and Fitness by Ashley)- Just love reading and finding new workouts! Gonna try this one out too!
• Fitness Friday: Lose 5 lbs in February (Mal’s Miles)- Um, feel the same. I have no self- control around sweets.
• Embracing the Unknown (My Food N Fitness Diaries)- This topic felt so real while reading Ashley’s post. I love how she opened up about how hard it is, but she is making it work!
• Thankful Thursday  (Jessie Loves to Run)- I just give her so much credit for what she is going through and opening up about it all to her readers! I have faith that it will all work out for her in the end!

I hope you head on over and check out some of my favorite posts from the week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Question:

• What blog posts really touched you this week?

It Was Glorious!

Last night ended up to be such a relaxing night, and was thoroughly enjoyed! Even though I still needed to work out when I was done subbing, I felt like I had so much time left to enjoy (I was home by 2:30 after all!) It. Was. Glorious.

Yesterday was one of those days where I didn’t quite know what workout I wanted to do. . Ever have those days? Nothing jumped out at me. I had cardio and core on the schedule for Best Body Bootcamp, but honestly, I just couldn’t go on the elliptical one more time.  If it would warm up anytime soon, I’d go for a run outside because our treadmill is not cooperating for me. It is actually dying, but no one wants to admit it, except me. The speeds are all mixed up and will randomly switch them, without changing any visual displays (the numbers). I ended up deciding to do Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs from Insanity. I finished Insanity 2 days before Christmas, and really liked it! But I was ready to get back to lifting, running, and using the elliptical…

All ready! And believe me, you don’t want to see an after picture. So. Much. Sweat. (and ignore my bedroom! It really is pretty clean. I promisseeee!)

Pure Cardio is intense. It is hard. You will sweat. You will want to quit. Andddd that’s all in the warm-up! Not kidding. I actually was surprised at how well I did considering I haven’t done a workout from Insanity in over a month, but it felt great! I loved pushing myself to my limits and was an excellent way to keep from being bored on the elliptical.

Pure Cardio has about a 10 minute warm up, 5 minutes of stretching, and straight into 15 minutes of pure cardio. No breaks, unless of course you are losing form, or really can’t breathe. I’ve been fighting a cold for over a week, and the cough was really making it hard to breathe, so I did need to use my inhaler, and I kept on going!

Doing this workout reminded me of how much I liked the Insanity program, but how much more I enjoy lifting weights. I really missed that while doing Insanity. During the first month, I would do a total body lifting routine usually twice a week. I had plans to keep that up during the second month, but it ended up not being possible. The workouts jumped to being at least an hour long, and that was my max of working out for the day. Maybe if it wasn’t such a butt-kicking workout, I could’ve managed lifting after. Maybe for someone else. Didn’t happen for me.

I would definitely do this program again, but I wouldn’t be as strict. I made sure never to miss a day, and never substituted anything in it’s place, like I was supposed to. But, that ended up not being fun, and I started to dread doing it in month 2. Live and learn, my friends.

Still an awesome workout, and glad I completed it, again!

 

*****

I pretty much ended up on the couch for the remainder of the evening. I had a few phone calls to take care of (wedding things, yay!) but didn’t have many other plans.

I found a bunch of new blogs that I am loving, and learned about Google Reader, which makes reading sooo much easier!

I also managed to paint my nails! I repainted them the other night to touch up some spots, but yesterday I woke up to them looking pretty gross awful. What did I do? Well, repaint them, of course! I may have an obsession with painting my nails. Doesn’t everyone?

I ended the night watching the Penguins. And, maybe with a spoonful of cookie butter… or two…

 

Questions:

• Have you tried Insanity? Do you have a workout you rely on when you can’t find anything else to do?
• Am I the only one who enjoys painting my nails? I love trying out new designs and new colors! And, well, maybe I can’t walk through Wal-Mart without buying one…

*I was not compensated or asked to review this DVD. I just happened to have completed it and wanted to share my thoughts.