Workout Week Fifteen

Week Fifteen

Strength Training: Monday (Upper/Abs), Tuesday (Lower), Wednesday (Upper) and Thursday (Lower/Abs)
Yoga/Pilates/Tae Bo: None
Dancing: Twice this week, don't remember which days.
Biking: Monday (2 miles)
Walking/Running: Monday (1.4 mils), Tuesday (1 mile) and Sunday (2 miles)

I did better on weights, but not so great on cardio. When it's so cold I find it hard to get motivated to go walking/running/biking, so I'm pulling the treadmill out of it's summer hiding spot. :)

I alternated an upper/lower routine on the Bowflex. I'm slowly increasing my weight (resistance actually), but I think I'm going too slow because I'm rarely ever sore . . . that's right, isn't it? I'm supposed to increase the weight by five pounds when I can do fifteen reps of the exercise perfectly, but I get lazy and lump them all together because I don't like switching out the tension rods between each exercise. I'll try to do better with that.

The dancing is actually belly dancing. I've been wanting to learn how and finally found an informative DVD on Netflix that breaks down the moves, so I've been practicing that. I only practiced with the DVD twice, but I was practicing some of the individual moves on my own almost every day. :) It's fun, but it's so hard to separate the different body parts and then try to coordinate them doing completely different things at the same time (haven't made it that far yet lol). Hopefully this will help me with my coordination and muscle control (yay for dressage!). :)

The cardio I started out doing well, but then it got cold lol. Time to start running intervals on the treadmill. Just have to figure out how to get the dogs to trot on it with me . . . hehehe. (note: I know to be careful with dogs around treadmills, it can be very dangerous)

November Trick

Okay, I know I'm getting to this early, but I'm going to be soooo busy in November with National Novel Writing Month, so if anyone has any suggestions for very easy tricks I'd really appreciate it. I'm not going to have a lot of time to work on training and I can't think of anything easy that he doesn't already know. There is a list of tricks he knows in the sidebar. Thanks!

Workout Week Fourteen

I took the week off. :) I needed a break. Sorry for the short post.

Sunday Stills - Rocks

This week's challenge was rocks. My husband and I were looking for a new gun range to sight in our rifles and practice shooting and got a little lost . . . we found this really awesome river and I got a lot of awesome shots. :D

This is the little rock path we walked to get across (water is low because this summer was dry).

I love how the water is so clear you can see the rocks below. :)

My feet on a rock. I love the colorful leaves and the ripples in the water.

There were a lot of interesting rock formations . . .

. . . like this. I love it!

These were almost step like.

Another perspective of the above shot.

Standing on the rock steps in the pictures above.

I love how the little plants grow between all of the cracks.

I love the reflection of the clouds in the water. It turned out so clear!

Again, the reflections are awesome. :)

And for fun pictures of me and my husband.


So what do you think? I really enjoyed getting lost!

Self Timer Photo Shoot

I went to one of my husband's classes because they were having a discussion on photography. I learned some tips and decided to try some of them out. He also mentioned using a self timer for moon shots to prevent blur and that reminded me that I've never used my self timer. So I tried it out. Some turned out great and some are very overexposed. Let me know what you think.

This one looks "posed" and unnatural. I didn't have time to let my breath out and relax before the timer went off. Ten seconds is not much time to get ready lol. All of the pictures below were using the continuous shoot mode so they aren't great quality. In hindsight I wish I hadn't used it because they would have looked so much nicer, but no big deal.

I posted some pictures of me and Chrome on his blog, so check them out here if you would like.

Workout Week Thirteen

Week Thirteen

Strength Training: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
Yoga/Pilates/Tae Bo: None
Biking: Wednesday (1/8th mile)
Walking/Running: Tuesday (1/4th mile) and Friday (4.4 miles)

Okay, so I was feeling like I hadn't done enough, but I guess I did okay. Working out three days a week is better than none. :)

I took the dogs on both walks, but the 4.4 mile one was too far. Poor Jackal has been limping around since then. He's been much better today. He's had problems with his left rear leg before so I'm not panicking about it. We just did too much. I'll shorten his walk again and slowly lengthen them back out. I need to get more consistent with them too. It's difficult though because I despise the stupid cold weather. Sigh. I think that's why I'm feeling unmotivated in general. The shorter days are killing me.

Back to work . . . oh and sorry this was so late.

Blog Award

Thank you Denali's Mom for the award. :) The rules are to post seven things about myself and pass it on to fifteen blogs. I've received this award before, but it was on my first blog so I don't think I've done it on this one. Regardless I tried to think of new things that I haven't really mentioned before (I hope!). Here goes . . .


1. I would love to own/foster/work with one of every breed of dog (okay maybe not every breed) just to learn to train different breeds and learn about all their differences to see what I click with best, but my dream dog since I was a little kid has always been a male solid black German Shepherd dog that I could train in Schutzhund, Disc, Flyball, Freestyle, Agility and just about any other sport I can think of (except maybe herding, that never interested me). He would also have to be great with horses so he could go on trail rides with me.


I had a black German Shepherd named Wolfgang (I know how original, I was a little kid) that I had for around five years before we had to put him to sleep because we couldn't afford extensive surgery to get rid of bladder stones ($1000+ and vet said they would most likely come back - he also had an old injury from being hit by a car so he wasn't a great candidate for surgery). He went with me everywhere and went on all of my trail rides. He would go hiking with me and I'd have to help him over the fences because of his rear leg, but he never left me. I loved that dog.


There are a ton of other breeds I would love to have someday. I especially would like to have a small breed someday (since I've mostly had big dogs) and my heart is set on a Papillon because I've read that they're like having a Border Collie in a tiny package. Pembroke Corgi is my second choice (second only because they're a little bigger and shed a lot which I need a break from after living with a Siberian Husky for ten years)! :D


2. I actually have very poor balance. I can't roller blade (which I would love to learn to do), ice skate, skate board, ski, etc. but I love riding horses and usually have a good seat. Weird huh? Probably muscle memory since I've been riding since I was five. :) I also have no problem with bikes. Maybe it's not a balance issue, but more a lack of coordination since I do have a tendency to trip over my own feet hehe.


3. A lot of people consider me a snob, because I don't smoke, drink, do drugs, gamble, steal, party, etc. I think my worst bad habits are cussing (only around people I know), being addicted to sugar, talking on my cell phone while driving and I occasionally drive too fast (but not dangerously). I think those are fairly benign bad habits, but I definitely do not look down on others for their bad habits. I know that no one is perfect, myself included and that we all indulge in unhealthy habits. The only ones that really bother me are the unethical ones or habits that are dangerous to others.



4. I get bored very easily. I have trouble turning my brain off, so I like to stay busy to keep myself from worrying about something I have no control over (mild control freak and worry wart). When I was a kid I used to follow my mom around the house while she cooked or cleaned, talking the whole time. :) I can be bored within thirty seconds of completing a task. I think that's one reason I love to read. It's a great way to escape from my own overactive brain. :)


5. I have a LOT of hobbies. Things like horses (which I really consider more of a necessary part of my life because without them I'm miserable), writing, reading, drawing, scrapbooking, piano, blogging, dog training, fishing, photography, etc. I could go on I'm sure. I never really knew why I had/have so many hobbies (although I always thought it was because I wasn't particularly good at any one thing), but after reading Annette's post about her learner signature theme it makes a little more sense. Check it out here http://aspenmeadows.blogspot.com/2011/09/signature-themes-learner.html

6. I think my biggest pet peeve is cigarettes. I'm very allergic to cigarette smoke. It gives me an instant headache (which with prolonged exposure can be pretty severe), makes me cough and hack and clogs up my nose so I can't breathe. I wish I could give those symptoms to every smoker for just one day so they can feel how bad it is. Then maybe they wouldn't smoke in drive through windows, ticket lines or close to doors. The door to the store where I work doesn't seal and actually blows open in the wind so when someone stands right outside the door the smoke it blows inside. Very rude! And it takes forever for me to be able to breathe easily again. I just wish people would be more considerate of their bad habits that affect others.

7. When I was a kid my dream jobs were horse breeder/boarding stable owner, dog trainer (specifically police dogs), zoo keeper, vet, wildlife photographer, the person who takes the video for shows like Wild Cat Diaries, etc. Now that I'm in my mid twenties I have no idea what I want to do. I still think some of those sounds great, but I now understand my limitations. :) If I could find someone I could apprentice with I would become a police dog trainer in a heartbeat!! I don't think I'm cut out for running a dog obedience school though because I'm not a great people trainer lol. I guess one day I'll figure out what it is I'm meant to be doing. :)

It's late (I'm setting this to post first thing in the morning since I've posted today already) and a lot of people have already received this award so I tag the first fifteen people to leave a comment who have not already received the award. I look forward to learning more about you. :)

Note: None of the images in this post belong to me. Images are linked to original site.