Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Worrying about Parents

Since I heard the news about Joe's Uncle I have been thinking a lot about how someone can be taken from you so suddenly. I've been worrying about our parents and their health more and more. I've been thinking about my Dad and Joe's Dad and worrying about them a lot...especially since they are about the same age as Grady was. I guess that's a natural thing to do when someone passes away who was close to their age.

The scary thing is, you just never know when a heart attack or something just as serious might happen to someone in your family. I hope that our Dads (and Moms) know how important it is that they take care of themselves as they get older. However, I do know things can happen even when people are in relatively good shape. Like for Grady, I would never have looked at him and thought he would be at risk for a heart attack, so I guess you just never know. 

I always hear stories on the news about how men don't go to the Doctor to get check-ups as regularly as women do. They tend to go only when it's an emergency, which isn't always the best thing to do. I hope that as our parents get older they realize that they need to pay more attention to their health and GO to the Dr. for basic yearly exams! I can't imagine losing my Dad or Joe's Dad at such a young age, so I can't even imagine how Joe's cousins feel to have lost their Dad so young. :-(

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Remembering Joe's Uncle Grady

On Friday, May 28th, Joe's Uncle Grady Baldwin passed away suddenly. It was very shocking because he went in due to heart attack symptoms earlier that week, they did heart surgery and he went home and everyone thought he was ok. He had chest heaviness again the day after he was sent home, they took him back to the hospital and he and passed away that evening. Turns out he had another massive heart attack. He was only 59 years old, turning 60 this June 14th.

He was a great guy and has a great family, 4 grown children, and he was a Grandpa to many little ones.
We weren't able to get back for the funeral, but his daughter, Joe's cousin Katie, posted the slideshow on Facebook from the funeral. It's such a nice way to remember him. I will share it if I can get a copy from Katie. He was a great guy and he will surely be missed by all of us who knew him.

Our thoughts are with his wife Kathy, their 4 kids, Cindy, Danny, Jamie, and Katie and and all of the grandchildren.
Love you guys!
http://www.millerfh.com/index.php?option=com_obituary&task=details&oid=4033&Itemid=

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Babies Babies Everywhere

Latley all I have been thinking about is babies. I think I want a baby more than I want a job at this point. I know that’s not what I should be thinking, but unfortunatley it is. UGH. And to think, I thought I had “baby fever” when I was 23, when Joe and I were newly married! That has nothing on me now. I dream about babies, I look at baby stuff all the time, I write down baby names. Man…if this isn’t baby fever, then I don’t know what is.
I just wish now was a good time for us to have a baby, but its not. The older I get the more worried I get about us not being able to get pregnant, but I know I have a few more good years. Ha-ha. Hopefully (soon) I will get a full-time design job and our lives will get back on track and then we can really start seriously thinking about starting a family. I know they say there is no perfect time, but I know that things can definitly be better than they are now for us.
I think another contributing factor to my baby fever is that so many of my old high school classmates and other girls around my age are popping them out left and right. Apparently it’s the hip thing to do right now for my age-group. Ha-ha. Not that peer pressure is causing me to want a baby, but it sure makes you think you better get cracking when people have 2 and 3 kids and we have none. Time’s-a-tickin’.
Anyway…just wanted to get that off my chest. Someday (hopefully sooner rather than later) I will hold our first baby in my arms. I just can’t wait for that day.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Turbo Kick

So it's been a while since I've written. I was on break from Harrington for a couple weeks but I managed to stay busy. I worked out a lot and kept busy with Alumni Board of Directors stuff. We are planning "Homecoming" events for June so we are super busy with that.
So, I've been meaning for a while to write about the workouts I've been doing at my gym/studio because I am absolutely addicted to one class called Turbo Kick. I have truly discovered my passion for working out. I LOVE group exercise classes. This has been a huge player in my weight loss. Never again (hopefully) will I ever count down the minutes on the treadmill or elliptical.  I find that hour long cardio classes are SUPER fun and keep me motivated.

So when I first started out with the gym/studio I did mostly outdoor boot camps and outdoor yoga (last summer). Then when the new space opened I took indoor group classes, like strength boxing (with small hand-held weights) and lots of other cardio and strength classes. From the first time I took Turbo Kick with one of the new instructors I was immediately hooked. It is my favorite and I don't think I could ever live without it. Turbo Kick is a high energy choreographed kickboxing style class that's as dancey as it is athletic. Instructors are certified to teach it by the owners of Turbo Kick. They are the only ones who have access to the music and choreography.  New "rounds" are released only to them every few months. Each round the choreography changes and so does the music. So basically every few months we get a new "routine" and we do it for a few months. I love it because the music is great and so is the instructor. She is SO good at cueing and is very enthusiastic without being annoying! They teach it all over the country and its supposed to be similar no matter where you take it, but in my opinion its ALL about the instructor. If he/she is good its SO much better.
The best thing about Turbo Kick is that it burns 700-1000 calories per hour. Probably more for chubs like me! ha-ha. Each class is about an hour, so when I leave I am drenched in sweat and I feel I've had fun and also worked hard.

Below are a couple links to the "promos" that the company releases to get people excited about the new rounds. Please keep in mind, the music in the teasers is NOT the music that's used for the workouts. It's such a secret that they usually don't even put the music on the promo...probably for copyright reasons too. The real music is good hip-hop, pop, dancey house stuff...its GREAT!  It's all mixed together so that the class just flows so well.  Also, the super colorful outfits in the teaser look nothing like our class! hahaha, they crack me up....they're all so coordinated! :-)
Here you go....enjoy!
We are on round 40 right now. Its awesome!


Here is round 39 too. This was the last one we did. It was great too!


This is the round 38 Promo. This is music is a sampling of the real music used in class. I LOVE that "shots" song. Its the best song to workout to! This was one of my favorite rounds.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Busy Boring Life

Ugh, I have nothing to write about. My life is pretty boring right now I guess. I have been SO busy lately between working at Harrington, private tutoring and never ending alumni board meetings that I haven’t had time to breathe, let alone think of something cool to write about on my blog. I don’t even know who reads this blog, so maybe this is more for me anyway…ha-ha.

I am in class right now, (the one that I am the teaching assistant in), and I actually have a time to think and collect my thoughts. Seems like I’d be super busy in here, but aside from the occasional question, the students generally know what they are doing and they come to class, listen to the quick lecture, and then get busy with their work. I am enjoying this “quiet” time because my shifts in the computer labs are INSANE compared to the classroom shifts. In lab I literally jump from student to student solving their problems and helping them with every issue under the sun. The students range from beginning to about to graduate, so it’s a wide range of help that I provide. It’s crazy right now because final projects/presentations are next week and this week is crunch time, so the labs are packed and the students are in freak-out mode. When I leave the lab after a shift my brain is fried from solving problems the entire time. I need a massage or something! Whew!

I will be glad when next week is over and I can take a break and focus on re-doing MY portfolio and trying to get my stuff out there again.