Monday, December 31, 2012

#24 - Interview Maw-maw about her life

I selected this item for my 30 Before 30 list because I am very fortunate to have a living and relatively young great-grandma.  My maw-maw is 87 years old and still lives by herself up the road from my Meme (my grandma).  She gets around fine and takes care of herself.  To me, she has always looked the same, except that her once graphite colored hair has turned all white over the years.  She wears her hair in a bun on her head and a sweet smile on her face and is probably the sweetest lady ever.  At holiday parties and family get-togethers, she sits quietly in a chair someplace off to the side and watches as the rest of us act crazy, always with that sweet smile!

  
Isn't that the sweetest lady you've ever seen?? Easter 2006

Maw-maw sitting quietly with her bun & a smile!  Thanksgiving 2011
I have always wondered what Maw-maw was like as a young woman.  Women in our family are not known for being sweet and innocent.  We are generally very stubborn, head-strong, opinionated, and vivacious.  All kinder words for saying we're a collective hot mess!  I was always curious to know if she, too, was a wild one!  ALSO, if Tyler and I have a little girl, she will be named Madison Elisabeth.  My Maw-maw's name is Melverie Elisabeth.  I'd like to someday be able to tell my little girl a thing or two about the namesake for her middle name.  If we're really lucky, she might be old enough someday to remember her great-great-grandma herself.

The Interview

On Christmas Eve, my cousin Misti and I walked up the road from our Meme's to Maw-maw's house to interview her.  Misti had made a great list of questions and I brought along my "Story of a Lifetime" book which has tons of interview questions designed for this purpose (I'd highly recommend this as a gift!)  We knocked on her door and she excitedly welcomed us in.  She was wearing a long dress robe, her bun on her head, and that sweet little smile!  She sat in her chair by the window (and by the phone - she loves to make phone calls) and welcomed our many questions!  We explained that we wanted to interview her and learn about her life.  She was surprisingly forth-coming and answered every question in detail!

Unfortunately, I had forgotten the video camera, so I was frantically scribbling notes from the interview in my book and we don't have any of it on tape, but it was still really fun to hear her tell about her younger days.  Here are a few things we learned:

Favorite Food - Meatballs and spaghetti, pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy
Favorite Dessert - Cheesecake
Favorite Color - Green

She did not go to high school.  She finished the 7th grade at Rosepine.  In those days, a lot of kids didn't finish school.  She used to walk to school every day and had to cross Flat Creek on a foot-log (a tree/log that had fallen across the creek & was wide enough to cross on foot) to get to school and back.

She has 1 sister and 2 brothers.  She has 6 children, born in the following order:  Faye (my Meme), Trish, George, Tanya, Kaye and Curt Jr.

She was born at Anacoco Creek in Louisiana (not far from where she lives now.)  They lived with their grandma in a log shotgun house.  Her grandma was a midwife and actually delivered several of her children! They moved back and forth between Anacoco Creek and Griffin Place when she was a kid (I still have to look up Griffin Place).  Her daddy bought the property that she and my Meme and many other family members now live on when she was a teenager, before my Meme (her eldest) was born.

She worked very hard!  She told us about her first job at DeRidder Steam Laundry where she says she did just about everything, including checking clothes in and out and dry cleaning.  She worked there for 13 years.  She also worked at Jim's Coffee Shop that was across the street from the DeRidder court house.  She would work from 7am to 4pm at the Laundry, then change in the bathroom into her uniform and walk to Jim's Coffee Shop and work until midnight.  She also said that Jim's Coffee Shop didn't have a restroom, so they had to walk across the street to use the restroom at the courthouse.  I found that very odd for a Coffee Shop not to have a restroom!  Coffee is a diuretic... hello?  She also said that Jim's was right next to a bus stop for Fort Polk (which was Camp Polk in those days, before it became a "fort") and there were always military men coming into town!

She lived in Rosepine with her family and moved into DeRidder with her cousin Eloise.  When we asked her why she moved, she explained that she worked in DeRidder, and there weren't any good roads from their property in Rosepine to the highway to DeRidder, only wagon roads.  She would have to walk through mud to get to the highway, then catch a ride with whomever to get to DeRidder.  She named off a lot of family members and other people that used to give her rides to work, but she also said that she used to catch a ride with "a man who drove a bread truck."

We asked if her places of work were segregated when she worked there.  She didn't seem to recall any segregation.  She said that "a lotta colored people run them presses" at the laundry and that "there were black cooks but no black waitresses" at Jim's.  She does not recall many black people coming into the coffee shop as patrons, though. 

Her love stories were the most interesting!  First of all, it's well known among family that my great-grandpa, Bill, was arrested for bigamy.  He was a truck driver and was found to be married to 5 or 6 different women at the same time.  The story I've always heard is that my Maw-maw found out he had been arrested in California when one of his wives there sent her a newspaper clipping of the arrest.  What a scandal!  I don't know much else about him.  After he was arrested, incarcerated and released, I believe he stayed in California.  He is buried there and Maw-maw says he died of some kind of stomach cancer.  I've found some information about him on Ancestry.com and have actually gotten in contact with some of my Meme's half-siblings.  

A newspaper clipping about Bill's arrest.  This could have been the one my unsuspecting Maw-maw got in the mail!

I learned that, sadly, Bill was the love of her life and he broke her heart.  I asked her how long it took her to get over him and what happened and her response was, "I guess you don't ever get over a thing like that."  I'd assumed it was a terrible experience for her, but it made me sad to think of my sweet Maw-maw enduring that kind of heartache as she was telling her story.  She met Bill at her Aunt Martha's.  She and the other girls were there playing "Please and Displease" (if anyone knows what this game is, please tell me!) and he was a mail carrier for the military.  He stopped at Aunt Marthas and apparently started playing this game with them.  They were married January 7th of 1943 (according to her, but records show they were married in 1944.)  My Meme was born a little over a year later, followed by my Aunt Trish.

After Bill was arrested and I guess their marriage was dissolved, she said that she met my Uncle George's dad, Edward.  She wasn't over Bill yet, so Edward was a rebound.  She then told us that Edward was SHOT AND KILLED in 1949 while she was pregnant with his son!  Another heart-break!  This is the first I'd learned that Uncle George never got to meet his father. :(

After Edward, she met my Aunt Tanya's father, Don, who was a military man.  I didn't get much information on this guy, so I'm not really sure how she met him or what happened to him!  I know after Don, she met Henry, my Aunt Kaye's father.  He worked on an oil rig and they lived together in Lake Charles for a while.  He did get to be a part of Aunt Kaye's life, but he, too, was SHOT AND KILLED!  I just can't believe the awful luck!  Some man in Lake Charles killed him.  Eventually, I'll have to go investigate these stories more and get the scoop.

The last man in her life was Curt, my Uncle Curt Jr's father.  They met at Oaks Restaurant when she was working there.  They were married in 1964 and were together until he died in 1998.

WHEW!  Let me just take a minute to catch my breath after recounting all that...

What a tumultuous love life!  Can you believe how much she has endured with this whirl-wind of lovers being arrested, shot & killed, and dying?  It amazes me that she still has the ability to hold that sweet, sweet smile for us!  I'm going to squeeze her really tight next time I see her.  I was overwhelmed as she told me these stories, but writing it all out now has made it really sink in just how much she has been through. 

Our interview was cut short because it was almost time for the Christmas Eve party to begin, but I would very much like to sit down with her again, this time with a video camera, and find out even more.  For example, it is rumored that Maw-maw dips snuff!  EWWWWW!  While we interviewed her, she was spitting into a bottle, so its highly likely she was dipping!  I've heard that she usually carries around a film canister of snuff with her.  I want to get to the bottom of this!  I also want to ask her more about what it was like growing up during the Great Depression.  I want to find out what she feels are the most valuable lessons she's learned in her life.  There's so much more to find out! 

Maw-maw as a young lady... What other mysteries hide behind those cat-eyed glasses?
Stand by for a Maw-maw interview, part 2! ;)

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas 2012

I must start by apologizing for my 3 week hiatus!  I feel like life has been a whirl-wind of Christmas shopping, parties, wrapping, decorating, and traveling since this month began.  I absolutely adore Christmas and everything this season entails, however, I am very much looking forward to getting back onto a normal schedule and a normal DIET!  Holy, calories, Batman!  This fat kid LOVES her some grub, so I have been on a binge with all this delicious holiday food.  I need some veggies back in my life and fewer cookies and pies and carbs!

I'm not sure how I got off on the food tangent, but... moving along...

This Christmas was one of the best I've had in a many years.  To start, last year was the WORST, so in contrast this one HAD to be better.  Last year, I had a few too many drinks and at one point I found myself crying, alone, in my aunt's guest room because my sentimental (and tipsy) heart could not handle that so many of my favorite family members were absent that year.  I couldn't tell you what I got for Christmas last year, but I could list the names of everyone I did NOT get to see at the annual Christmas party.  So... that being said... as long as I didn't end up having my own personal pity party this year, it was expected to be an improvement.

We kicked off Christmas this year with one big surprise gift for my husband the Sunday before Christmas!  In early November, I bought Texans tickets to surprise him with as a Christmas/Birthday gift.  I had some money secretly saved from much earlier in the year that I had kept under wraps with the intention of doing something special for his 30th birthday (coming up in January.)  He has been whining for months that we needed to go to a couple games this season, and I was constantly shooting the idea down because of the cost.  We haven't been to a game in 2 years, and I could see he wanted to go badly, so I thought tickets would be an ideal gift.  I got us 2 middle-of-the-road tickets (not nosebleeds, but still within the budget) to the Vikings vs Texans game.

On the Sunday before Christmas, Tyler was NOT a happy camper because he did not understand why we had to get there so early and he especially did NOT like that I was being such a mean wife and making him MISS watching the TEXANS game!  I, knowing the tickets to the game that day were secretly wrapped up in a box in the back seat of the car, was loving every moment of his crankiness and doing my best bluffing to keep him in the dark.  Driving from Nederland, we can either take the exit to I-10 E to Louisiana or to I-10 W to Houston.  I took the "wrong" exit towards Houston.  Tyler, knowing that I am often an easily distracted driver and not at all surprised with my mistake, calmly (but clearly annoyed) pointed out that I was heading us in the wrong direction.  At that time, I handed him a small wrapped box and instructed him to open his Christmas present.  He gave me a weird look and started to comply as he was also pointing out that I needed to exit and make a u-turn.  As he more excitedly kept pointing out that I needed to "catch that exit... you're going to pass that exit... Babe!! You needed to take that exit!!  What are you doing??!!," I could not stop my laughter and kept telling him to open the gift!  FINALLY, he opened it to reveal the tickets and he was very excited, and no longer yelling at me to exit.  I then handed him another gift from my Mom, which was a J.J. Watt t-shirt for him to wear to the game to which we were now headed.  I was very pleased with myself for pulling off the surprise!  I have such a hard time keeping secrets like that and I had been anticipating that moment for months.  Unfortunately, the Texans went on to a disappointing loss that day, but we very much enjoyed being among fellow fans.  There's just something about the atmosphere at a game.  The smells, sounds, and company of the other fans all make the experience worthwhile.  Despite the loss, we had a great time!


After the game, we made the drive to Louisiana for the family festivities.  This year the annual Christmas Eve party with my family in DeRidder was held at my Meme's (my grandma).  We had spent the past several years at my aunt's because my Meme wasn't feeling up to entertaining, gave up on decorating, and the house is a "smoking" household (put nicely.)  This year we were back at Meme's.  As an added bonus, my cousin that lives in San Francisco was visiting this year so I was looking forward to spending some time with her and her husband for the first time in over a year and a half.  She and I spent nearly every summer together growing up, so for a long time she was the closest thing I had to a sister (until, of course, I became a step-sister) and it's safe to say that her presence at the Christmas party was the highlight of the holiday for me!

On Christmas Eve, I got up early to go to the grocery store as soon as it opened.  I DESPISE grocery shopping, especially before big holidays, so I wanted to get a jump on it before the crowds.  Luckily, there were no crowds at all and I got my shopping and cooking done early.  I had a nap when my cooking was done because I didn't want to be the lame pregnant girl that passed out after dinner, and afterwards headed out to my Meme's to help with the decorating.  Misti was already there so she and I put on our Santa hats and decorated the small tree my Mom had brought for the party and put up a few extra lights and trinkets around the house to make it more festive.  After decorating, we walked up the road to interview Maw-maw (my great-grandma) and complete one of the items on my 30 Before 30 list.  My maw-maw is 87 years old.  She lives alone, still gets along great, and is still very sharp!  She is quieter than I imagine she was in her youth, but she still doesn't miss a thing.  She was very forth-coming with our questions and I really enjoyed the short time we got to interview her before heading to the party.  I'll have a separate post about the interview and completing that item on my list.  After the interview, we walked back down to Meme's and family started arriving.  We spent the rest of the evening eating, visiting, exchanging gifts, and playing board games.  My cousins, Tyler, and I all started out playing Risk and then we played Quelf until 2am.  I love, love LOVE family time and had a blast.  When we finally went back to my aunt's house to retire for the night, around 2:30am, the baby started kicking more than ever before as soon as I laid down!  The little stinker now seems to have gotten in the habit of being very active between 1-3am.  We have a night-owl of a child growing here!

Christmas morning, like a little kid, I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to open presents!  I woke up Tyler and started texting my Mom to get herself and everyone else up.  We drove to Meme's and opened presents with my Mom, her boyfriend, and my step-sister.  One of my favorite gifts I gave this year was a personalized glass frame for my Mom.  It has "Gigi's Baby" etched on it and I put a picture of the ultrasound in the frame for now.  This will be her first grand-child and to say she is excited is the understatement of the century.  Our child will be spoiled rotten, and much of it will be her doing.  I'm trying to accept this as fact now so that I'll be less combative about it later.  After presents, a huge storm rolled in and knocked down trees in the area and the power went out as a result.  It was not a white Christmas, but it was a WET one!  When the storm had past, we went back to my aunts and spent the rest of the day being lazy, followed by more board games.

The day after Christmas we drove home to Nederland, played with some of our new "toys," unpacked, and then went to do Christmas dinner and presents with Tyler's family.  After eating a delicious dinner and opening tons of presents, we put together a gingerbread house with our nieces and then played our new board games (Quelf and Cranium.) We were so spoiled this year!!  We got just about everything we could have wanted and more and had so much fun with family.  This unborn and already spoiled child of ours even got a few gifts.  Baby already has it's first Texans gear, first bath toy, and first booties!

So, again, I'd like to reiterate that this was one of the best Christmases I've had in a while, not because of the gifts received (though, those were awesome too), but because of the quality time spent with family and the many laughs that were had.  I'm so very thankful for the family that we have in our lives.  In all the areas of my life that I have been blessed, they are the most cherished blessing of all.


Christmas Highlight Reel
Tyler and I at a Christmas party for our business networking group. 
The perfect gift from my husband.  My very first piece of "mommy" jewelry!
Our view of the field at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
The two of us VERY EXCITED for the game to begin...
Misti and I posing in our Santa hats after decorating the little tree.  She does not like babies and wouldn't touch the belly.  Haha...
Misti contemplating world domination during our game of Risk.
My Meme and Papa at the Christmas Eve party.
The 5th generation is on the way!  I LOVE this picture & Meme holding the belly!
Our niece, Ceriah, helping assemble the gingerbread house.


Monday, December 10, 2012

18 Weeks - Quickening

As of Wednesday, December 5th, I am 18 weeks pregnant!  At this point the baby is the size of a sweet potato, so he or she is my sweet tator-tot this week!  This is my first pregnancy post for a few reasons:
  1. I have been blessed with the easiest pregnancy on the planet so far.  I have very few complaints and the pregnancy has been generally very uneventful (now, I'll just say a little prayer that it continues this way!)
  2. I was slacking on taking belly pictures, until this week, when I finally admitted that I'm not just bloated anymore and that this baby is showing!
  3. I have been keeping a hand-written pregnancy journal and felt blog updates about the pregnancy were redundant.  The purpose of the journal is so that baby can someday read all about how I was feeling and what I was thinking while they were growing into a tiny human, and/or so that I can compare notes with any subsequent pregnancies!  Tyler enjoys the journal as well because he likes to read about what I'm REALLY thinking.  I'd like to eventually have him write a couple entries himself. 
Yep, there's a baby in there! 18 weeks
Tyler swaddled a sweet potato.  He is already trying to win Father of the Year!
This week's biggest pregnancy highlight is that I got to feel the baby moving!!  I have heard him/her kicking like crazy at the heart monitor during my midwife appointments, but until two nights ago, I had not yet been able to feel the movement (at least not that I could discern.)  I don't know how else to describe how it felt, except that it felt much like it sounded on the monitor, "WOOSH!"

Two nights ago, I awoke around 3am to incredible hunger pangs.  This is also a first in the pregnancy.  I have felt unexpectedly and ravenously hungry at several moments throughout the pregnancy, but never in the middle of the night.  The hunger comes on STRONG and FAST!  I'll be fine one minute, then the next I can think of nothing else but eating ANYTHING that instant!  When the hunger started at 3am I was exhausted and annoyed that my stomach DARE wake me up, so I tried to ignore it and laid in bed miserably trying to go back to sleep.  Finally, at 4am, I conceded that it was not going away and I got up to get a bite to eat.  I am TRYING to eat healthily, so I went for trail mix and some pecans.  I also had a tall glass of water, (which I later came to regret as I woke up every 30 minutes to use the bathroom for the rest of the night!) 

When I went back to bed, I could not fall asleep.  I was exhausted, getting really frustrated, and for the first time I was thinking negatively about this pregnancy... but at that moment, I felt the "woosh, woosh, flutter, woosh."  It's as if he or she knew in that moment that I needed a reminder of the little miracle happening inside me.  I teared up a little.  I had been waiting very impatiently to feel the baby move, but times before when I thought MAYBE I was feeling the baby, it wasn't obvious enough and could have been ruled out as gas.  I was so excited and enjoying every tiny flutter, THEN, baby suddenly stopped moving.  SO, I poked at the baby a few times in hopes that the movements would start again.  Hahaha... I'm going to be an awesome Mom.  The poking didn't work, so I guess baby was done with his/her performance for the night.  It was a great feeling, though, and I can't wait to feel it again!
 
Pregnancy Bonus:  Re-discovering "virgin" daiquiris! Who knew "virgin" drinks come with sprinkles??
Pregnancy Downer:  Not enjoying FREE cocktails at weddings! Here we are, all smiles, nonetheless!



Thursday, November 29, 2012

Breakfast Obsessed

I am no chef so this will seem really simplistic to just about everyone, but I love breakfast and THIS SANDWICH, in particular, so much, that I just had to share!  It is my current obsession.

This is super quick & easy.  It might take a whole 10 minutes to make and can be customized just about any way you can imagine.  You can make the sandwich as healthy or as unhealthy (and ultimately more delicious) as you'd like.  I have outlined the ingredients I used to make it this morning.

1 Whole Wheat English Muffin
1 slice nonfat Swiss cheese
2 links of turkey sausage
1 organic, farm-raised brown egg
1 tablespoon of organic strawberry jam

I start by spraying some olive oil onto a small skillet and heating to medium or medium-low.  I then cook my sausage links according to the package directions.  Meanwhile, I toss my english muffins in the toaster on the bagel setting to toast the inside surfaces only.  When those pop up, I immediately put my slice of cheese on top of the bottom half so that it can start melting.  Once my sausage links are cooked, I set those on top of the cheese.  I then crack my egg in the skillet and cook it however I want.  Today, I fried it (don't worry, pregnancy police, I cooked the egg all the way through!)  When I'm not pregnant, I like it over-easy, but it can be cooked any way and still taste delicious on this sandwich.  When the egg is cooked, I then place it on top of the sausage.  To finish it off, I slather some jam (strawberry or any berry mix is my fav) on the top slice of the english muffin & place on top of everything else.

The final result is a savory and sweet, and reasonably nutritious breakfast sandwich!  I try to use the healthiest ingredients I can get my hands on, sticking mostly to organic, natural, whole foods.  When I'm being REALLY good, I use slices of pear or fresh strawberries to get the sweetness, rather than using jam!  The beauty of this sandwich is that it's QUICK, EASY, and CUSTOMIZABLE!  

The sandwich, alone, fills me up, but if you're feeling extra hungry, serve with a glass of OJ and some berries or fruit.

I'm gonna eat'chya!
Someday soon, I'll share my special breakfast treat -- Homemade McGriddles!  To die for... but literally will kill you with an eventual heart attack if you eat it every day!

Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

#27 - Try 5 different fitness classes

I am always working on my fitness.  Well, let me correct that... I am SOMETIMES working very hard on my fitness, and other times completely ignoring it.  But, I'd say that my efforts average out to a... MOST of the time, I am working on my fitness.  My go-to cardio has been running since my college days at SFA, when I finally discovered the track on campus.  I used to despise running, and I guess to some degree I still do, but it's easy, I can do it anywhere, and I can set easily definable goals for myself to help keep me motivated.  While I have enjoyed becoming a better runner and I've felt accomplished as a runner, it does get boring after a while and the training can be limited.  Boredom then leads to even MORE boring hour long punishments on the elliptical and finally, long stints of no cardio at all.  I have longed for more FUN ways to get my workouts in -- something to entertain me and keep me motivated to work out so that I don't face these peaks and valleys of effort on my part!

I chose to include this item on my 30 Before 30 list so I would be forced to broaden my workout options and hopefully find my new cardio love!  I, of course, will never abandon running, but when it inevitably gets monotonous, there must be a suitable backup.  My gym offers many classes to choose from, so I'll be checking out 5 of them and giving you my reviews.

Class #1 - 11/27/12 - Zumba
I have been working up the courage to go to Zumba for MONTHS.  For a while, I would go to the gym in the morning with every intention of warming up on the treadmill for 10 minutes, then catching the Zumba class at 9:30am.  Without fail, I always chickened out and spent a boring 40 minutes on the treadmill watching the class from the outside looking in.  I saw there were a lot of women of different ages, a few senior citizens, a couple men in the class, and it was very dark in the room with just a few glam club lights.  Logically, I knew my fear of the Zumba class was completely irrational, but I couldn't make myself go.  I know I'm not good at quickly catching on to dance routines, and knew how silly I'd look, and while I also I knew that NO ONE ELSE CARED, it was like I was standing on the edge of a cliff and willing myself to jump.  My body would just freeze and scream, "GIRRRRL, you crazy" in protest.

Last night, a friend went to the Zumba class and had a great time.  This friend is a professional dancer, so not-at-all concerned about catching onto the routines (hell, she could teach the class), but her positive review (and my pressing 30 Before 30 list), nonetheless, gave me the courage to check it out.  SO, I finally mastered my fear of Zumba this morning!  I admit I have been so silly avoiding it for this long.  I was SUPER awkward, as I knew I would be, and for the first 10 minutes of the class I was self conscious and wondering if I would survive with any dignity, but, once I looked around, I relaxed a bit.  The class was a great mix of ages, skill levels, and even of men and women!  I was not the only one botching the moves and looking like a fool, but I was the only one that appeared to care; everyone else seemed to be just enjoying themselves and getting their sweat on.  I took a cue right there that I needed to check my anxiety at the door and relax.  Relax, I did, and then I was able to laugh and have a good time.  It also helped that I can be very competitive at times.  The thought of letting the silver-haired man across the room or the middle-aged lady  in front of me out-dance me sparked the competitor in me and made me forget my nervousness and focus on my moves!

The teacher, Lacey, was absolutely adorable and seemed like she would be a blast to go salsa dancing with (some place where there were no mirrors, for my sake).  Most of her class was latin-based, so we did a lot of meringue, salsa, and cha-cha, however, we did also get our "wobble" on and got to do some belly dancing as well.  I got a decent work-out, which could likely be improved by less focus on the accuracy of my dance moves and more focus on the fact that I'm moving to get my heart-rate up, not look like a latin dancing queen.  It was really fun and I will go back... mostly, so that I can show-up the older lady that danced circles around me this morning. I've got my eye on you, lady!


Class #2 - 12/06/12 - Kick
After biting the bullet and going to Zumba, I was feeling more confident and excited about trying other classes out.  I saw that my gym offered a "Group Kick" class and the description made it sound much like kickboxing, so I was intrigued and targeted it next!  I took a kickboxing class in college for an easy A but found that I absolutely LOVED kicking an imaginary enemy's behind for cardio!  I had since forgotten that passion, so I was hoping this class would reignite it.

My friend, Amanda (the dancer), joined me for this class.  We met at the gym a few minutes before the class and got to meet the instructor before class began.  The instructor, Konnie, explained that she had been on a long break and was just returning to teaching the class, so there weren't many in attendance.  She also explained that she is a fighter and not a dancer so the class was going to be strictly fighting moves.  I let her know I was 4.5 month pregnant (at that time) so I'd have to avoid laying on my back and may have to do lower intensity moves if I felt over-exerted.  She was very understanding and throughout the class, she offered alternative moves to either ramp up or tone down the intensity.  The last 15 minutes of class focused on core exercises and I simply did alternative moves when the rest of the class was on their backs.  I really appreciated how encouraging she was and that she asked how we enjoyed the class and how we felt after the class was over.  Overall, I thought Konnie was a GREAT instructor and if she teaches any other classes, I'll be hitting those up as well!  I've been back a few times to her Kick class and she remembers me every time and is still just as encouraging.  The attendance is way up since that first class I attended so I guess others enjoy the class as well!

I LOVED the class in general.  It was a great work-out; I got a good sweat going and I was sore for days.  To my surprise, my upper-body was SUPER sore from all the jabs and uppercuts!  My lower body was sore as well, though that should be no surprise in a class called "Kick."  So far, this is my favorite class!

Class #3 - 12/06/12 - Groove
Immediately following Kick, there was a class called "Group Groove" starting.  Amanda was feeling ambitious and wanted to stay and do another hour workout, so I followed her lead.  Why not? I was already there right?  Kick "KICKED" my butt, but I figured I could take it a little easy in Groove since it's more of a dance class, similar to Zumba, but with more urban & club dancing.  

I did NOT enjoy my first Groove experience.  There was a substitute instructor for that particular class and I wasn't feelin' her AT ALL.  She was an abominable combination of Steven Tyler looks (sans-plastic surgery) and Richard Simmons personality.  She was an older lady and I didn't catch her name.  I could have gotten past the annoying personality and the awful headband had she not been RUDELY pointing and calling me out on not going lower during my squats and not "twisting" enough during the imaginary "Twist" contest during the class.  I am all for pushing people to work harder, but POINTING at me was not at all cool.  Did no one teach her that it's rude to point??

In her defense, she did not know that I had JUST completed an hour Kick class and that I was 4.5 months pregnant, but in a way, that's exactly the thing that enraged me... how could she point and call me out like that when she had no idea what my situation was?  I think a lot of people feel silly enough in these classes as it is and encouragement rather than beratement is much more likely to get people to return to the class.  

The class itself has potential to be fun, and I think Amanda enjoyed it.  Actually, I KNOW Amanda enjoyed it because she found it hysterical that I was loathing this woman and shooting her dagger glances all through the class.  I did become hilariously combative near the end.  In my head, I was daring this lady to point at me JUST ONE MORE time as I prepped the perfect word selection for a verbal bashing.  Now that I think about it... we could probably blame the pregnancy hormones for the irrational rage-fest. ;)

I will go back to this class when the regular instructor is present and try again.

More review to come!

Friday, November 23, 2012

#25 - Lead a Family Prayer & Thanksgiving

I am terrified of praying aloud.  Even something as intimate as praying quietly with my husband before bed can make me stumble all over my words, blush, and generally feel very silly.  I usually know what I want to say, but I always have a hard time putting the words together so that I'm not repeating myself or pausing or forgetting something important!  Maybe I'm just putting too much pressure on myself! 

I think the anxiety of praying aloud stems from my lack of maturity in my faith.  I came to Christ early in college and it has been a long journey to grow who I am so that I can better serve Him.  I have not been perfect, I have not studied the bible or attended church as much as I should, and I've come back from many 'backslides" over the years, so I still feel like a baby-Christian.  I am unsure of myself when it comes to ministering to others, praying aloud, or talking about the bible.  I pray daily, but I do so silently, in my head, where I know only God can hear me.  This is an area where I need to work on my confidence.

I chose to put "lead a family prayer" on my 30 Before 30 list to force myself out of my comfort zone.  I think that I will get more confident and comfortable praying aloud as I study more about prayer in the bible and practice, practice, practice!  Who better to practice on than a room full of family that loves me and (hopefully) won't laugh at me if I completely screw it up!?

We spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws every year.  Typically, my mother-in-law will ask my husband to say grace before dinner and he always does so beautifully.  I am envious of the ease with which he can deliver prayers aloud for our dinner, without stumbling on words or turning bright red,  as if it's second nature to him.  In all fairness, he was raised in a much more devout environment than I, and I'm assuming he witnessed and practiced dinner prayers throughout his youth.  When I was growing up, we said grace only a couple times a year when the entire extended family gathered for holidays and I was far too enamored with the delicious food I could smell in front of me to pay any attention to what was being said!  I'll give myself a little grace here and just say that babies don't come into this world knowing how to walk and talk.  As a baby-Christian (toddler-Christian at best), I, too, need to build on these things step by step. 

My husband knows all about the list and knew this item was on it, so when my mother-in-law asked him to lead the prayer this Thanksgiving, he turned to me and grinned, "actually, I think Krista wants to do it."  I had planned to volunteer for the role this year and while I still had no idea what I was going to say, I was mentally prepared for the task.  I thanked our God for giving us the opportunity to spend this day together and expressed our gratitude for all his blessings.  I prayed that he bless all those in attendance and the family that wasn't there with us at that time.  I asked that he bless the food.  Then there was a long pause... and I asked, again, that he "bless the food for the nourishment of our bodies" (the closing line stolen from my husbands usual dinner prayer), Amen!  It was not perfect, and it makes me laugh a little because I know I'm the ONLY one that cares if my grace prayers are eloquently spoken.  God certainly doesn't care because He reads every request from my heart, where I pray my needs/wants/intentions are much more beautifully stated!  I know our family doesn't care because they're either focusing on the sentiment and not on the words, or focusing on the food in front of them (as I used to.)  Saying grace is simply a few seconds of giving thanks, singing God's praises, and asking for His continued grace and blessings, Amen.  I should stop building it into this grand performance in my head!

I can scratch this item off my list, and I will try again soon to pray in front of others.  Some day someone else will be standing in a prayer circle as I lead a prayer and think it sounds like poetry... OR, more likely, I'll stop caring so much what everyone THINKS and just pray from the heart -- jumbled, stumbled, and perfectly flawed, just as I am. 

Amen.



Thanksgiving Highlight Reel

My hubby and I watching our home team give us one more thing to be thankful for (a WIN) on Turkey Day! Go Texans!

Our boxer, Champ, picked the best seat in the house (my nieces lap.)

I WON at Phase 10!!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

30 Before 30 Bucket List

An entire year ago, almost to the DAY, I started this blog.  Notice how active I've been in posting??

I have this fantastic habit of starting strong and then... tragically falling off.  I am one of those with many projects, half-finished (if they were lucky enough to get THAT far), laying about the house, crammed in the back of closets, in the bottom of a bag, in a dark drawer never to be thrown away or ever again acknowledged - in perpetual limbo.  It's a nasty habit and it needs to be addressed.

For this reason, and also with the inspiration of my dear friend Stephanie, I have decided to make a "30 Before 30" bucket list.  This is a list of items to be completed before I turn the big 3-0 on November 6th, 2013 (assuming the Mayans were wrong and we live to see 2013, after-all).  This PUBLICLY DISPLAYED list will ensure that I don't spend another year starting & stopping, but rather, I spend the next year COMPLETING all those projects and pursuing all those ideas that I've sadly neglected in years prior.  You are all my accountability partners and I hereby grant you permission (actually, I'm BEGGING you) to kick me in the butt over the course of the next year to motivate me to stay on top of the 30 items to follow (in no particular order):

  1. Ride in a hot air balloon
  2. Try 30 new beers
  3. Be in a flash mob
  4. Have professional boudoir photographs taken of me
  5. Complete a knitting project
  6. Grow a vegetable garden
  7. Start a blog (and update weekly)
  8. Keep a private daily journal
  9. Visit 5 museum exhibits
  10. Complete 30 Pinterest projects/recipes
  11. Learn a full song, using both hands, on the keyboard
  12. Read the entire bible
  13. Memorize 30 bible verses
  14. Send a care package to a deployed soldier
  15. Do 30 random acts of kindness
  16. Join a ministry at our church
  17. Take a class and ace it
  18. Apply for alternative teacher's certification
  19. Lead a classroom (of any kind)
  20. Complete a 10 day juice fast
  21. Pass all 3 skills of the APFT
  22. Do 30 pushups every day for 30 days
  23. Do the splits
  24. Interview Maw-maw (my great grandmother) about her life
  25. Lead a family prayer
  26. Make 3 new friends
  27. Try 5 different fitness classes
  28. PRIVATE
  29. PRIVATE
  30. PRIVATE
The final 3 items will remain private, 2 of them because I don't want to embarrass my sweet husband or his very, VERY sweet Mormon auntie, if ever she peruses this blog, and 1 because it's a surprise for someone else.

You may find that this list is pretty boring in general, but it was the best I could come up with on a limited budget (hence, no exciting trips to Fiji) and considering that I will be pregnant for about HALF of this adventure.  YES, we are expecting a tiny human in May (EDD = May 8th, 2013).  It is very exciting to be pregnant and to grow our family, but for the sake of the list it is also very restricting.  It will be a very busy year, nonetheless, and this list is simply comprised of things I've been WANTING to do but previously had neither the guts nor initiative to follow through.

You will also notice... Item # 7 is in the works!!  Blog started - CHECK!  Update weekly?  We shall see...

If you were to make a bucket list that HAD to be completed within this next year, what would be at the top of that list?