Don't accuse witnesses of ANYTHING.

I happened to witness a small car collision yesterday while I was driving to the Kirkland Dance Center. I will not go into accident details, but basically a Honda Odessy pulled out into oncoming traffic, & surprise-surprise, got hit by a BMW. I happened to be the only "Good Samaritan" who stopped to see if everyone was alright. The BMW driver was shaken up, but okay. The Honda Odessy driver didn't get out of her van, so the BMW driver approached her vehicle to see if she was okay. The BMW driver came back & said the woman was on the phone with the police (which I reminded her is what you're supposed to do when you get into a car accident) but still, the woman didn't even come out of HER van to make sure the other girl was okay. RUDE! I kept re-assuring the BMW driver everything was going to be okay, because she did what any of us girls with nice cars would do when you get into an accident: CRY! 


A few minutes later, the Honda driver got out of her van in a huff, & approached me with the phone to her ear, bluntly asking if I was the one who hit her. I looked at her puzzled and replied, "Noooooooo...." while pointing to fully in-tact my car which I was leaning against. Then she asked if I was a friend of the girl who hit her. Again, I replied "Nooooooooooo...I just saw the accident & stopped to see if everyone was alright." Her attitude then changed to that of a whimpering puppy, "I think she bruised my ribs from the impact-she was driving too fast-I bet she was on her phone-I think I have whiplash..." Needless to say, I probably rolled my eyes in front of her. Oops.


I didn't want to wait at the scene since they both seemed to be fine, so I gave them both my information in case the police or insurance companies wanted to contact me as a witness, then I was on my way to rehearsal. I received no calls from anyone last night, so I figured they had written me off as a witness.


Upon checking my email this morning, I received a LONG-WINDED email from the Honda driver explaining what I already knew about the accident, but from her point of view. She was basically trying to get me to believe her side, & tell me that the police officer was wrong for giving her a ticket for pulling into oncoming traffic & the BMW driver was the one at fault because she was driving too fast up the hill. Then in the same breath, she accused me of telling the police inaccurate information to confuse the situation, "buddy-ing up" with the BMW driver having made up my mind who was at fault, & then exclaimed more about her pain from the accident, telling me I should have been more been more concerned about her well being, the fact that she's a single mother, etc.


Pardon me, but WHAT THE FUCK, LADY ?!?


I sent her an email back saying she is the ONLY one to contact me thus far, & if the police officer gave her a ticket, it was for her negligent driving, not because of anything I said, because no one even tried to contact me. I then went on to say that she need not accuse witnesses of anything, especially since I was the ONLY one who stopped to make sure they were alright- not knowing EITHER of them.


GrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Peanut Butter Cool Whip Treat+Nutrition Information

I got this recipe idea from Pinterest ...it pretty much tastes like a white chocolate peanut butter cup, without the calories or fat!! I'm in heaven...

Ingredients
1 small tub Fat Free Cool Whip, 3-4 tbsp of your choice creamy peanut butter
Directions

-Note: You might have to put the cool whip in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it-
Mix the Cool Whip and Peanut Butter together, spoon into 12 lined cupcake tins, freeze overnight or all day & enjoy!

Nutrition Facts (per individual serving) are as follows:

Calories- 63

Fat- 2.7g

Carbs- 7.6g

Sugar-2.6g

Protein- 1.2g


For those of you using Weight Watchers, this is 1 point

Sea Gals Mock Audition II

We had our second Mock Audition today at 10am. I remembered to apply my false lashes this morning before leaving the house (whew!) and actually wore the correct color MAC lipstick (Girl About Town)
This time, we performed for two former Sea Gals (both with great feedback for us all.).


Here is the feedback given to me that was written on both forms. I tried to punctuate just as they did:


Judge #1's feedback 
Solo- Don't lose your smile, good energy
Dance 1- Good energy, make sure not to get out of control on some of the moves
Dance 2- Smile all the time!! :)
Dance 3- Looks good, watch not doing "too much" on booty pops
Dance 4- Good fan, much Better about smiling!


Judge #2's feedback
Amazing! Keep your big smile all the time! -so pretty- Less "sex"...my eyes immediately go to you when you start dancing! Such great energy with every move! Your stage presence is incredible-you do leave it all on the dance floor-calm, collected, controlled, but with HUGE energy & electricify, hard to ave all that, but you DO! Way to finish strong always!


I asked if I smiled enough, they both said a resounding- NO, but when I did- they really enjoyed watching me :) Smiling throughout the entire performance has always been a downfall of mine, but having it brought to my attention really helps me become more aware of it. Someone said something that made a lot of sense to help with my smiling: Always pretend that you are being photographed during a performance, because being a Sea Gal, you probably will be!!

Videos to come...!

Blog-slacker...sorry. Here's the update:

Wow...my last blog was February 5th!! I'm slacking...I apologize.


First things first: I had a mock-audition this past Sunday with the group I have been rehearsing with for Seattle Sea Gal auditions this coming April (eeeeek!!!). It went really well, the judges were as follows: Miss Q's husband, his friend, a photographer friend, and 2 former Sea Gals (one of whom said I reminded her of herself, which is what Miss Q mentioned earlier as well.) 
We were put into groups of 2 & 3 (because of the odd number of girls) and performed for the judges at the Kirkland Dance Center. We were being judged on technique, stage/field appearance, attitude, and overall like-ability/is-she-fun-to-watch-ness.
I only messed up ONCE & when Chase watched the YouTube link, he couldn't even tell what I did/didn't do to cause me to mess up and told me not to worry about it. I'll be sharing the link with you at the end as well as start times for when I'm actually on-screen in case you don't want to watch the whole thing!
I felt good all-in-all about my performance. I remembered to smile, I hit all of my turns and my kicks, and only forgot one part :)
Since each judge gave feedback for us, Miss Q said she would talk to us individually-that way we could discuss how we could improve. She did (however) send us all a text with the comments across the board so we didn't have to wait for our individual meeting with her. 
Mine said:
GOOD ENERGY
NICE TECHNIQUE
NEEDS MORE SMILING & LESS ATTITUDE
GREAT KICKS.


I THOUGHT I SMILED A LOT!!! Apparently when you grow up doing mainly hip hop or angry style competitive dancing, when you think you're smiling enough, YOU'RE NOT!! grrrrrrrrrrr.........


Here's the link to watch my mock-audition performance. I can be seen in 1st Mock Audition at 00:30, 03:00, 06:32. Mock Audition Part 2 at 01:21 & 04:00 :)
http://www.youtube.com/user/Flawlesstan?feature=guide

I also met with a Fitness Model/Personal Trainer/Nutrition Coach this week to talk about my goals and how to improve my eating habits. (I've fallen off of my food-for-fuel kick a bit!) She said based on my activity level, I need to increase my calorie intake (with healthy foods) as well as my hydration. I have 122 lbs of lean muscle mass, which is apparently a very good thing. My body fat percentage is on the higher side of the "Athletic" category, so I'm hoping to get it down a few %'s before auditions. My daily calorie intake should be 1800-2000 calories per day to to lose weight because I'm so active. My body has put itself into a constant starvation-mode because I burn over 1500 calories if I were to just sit around all day...WHICH I DO NOT! So, in eating less than 1500 calories, my body has been storing everything it gets instead of using it as fuel. Kinda the opposite of what I'm going for! She advised me to try to eat 5-6 small meals per day to get to my calorie goal of 1800-2000/day. I'm only on Day 2, but I've done just that and I'm feeling good :) 
I'm using MyFitnessPal to track everything as well as my heart rate monitor that Chase got me for Valentine's Day (thanks honey!). I found out I don't burn very many calories teaching certain classes, meaning I need to focus on working out outside of teaching too. My resting heart rate is between 54-55 bpm, & because I'm so active, getting my heart rate up is a bit of a challenge. During the mock-audition process, my heart rate stayed around 122-140 bpm, & only got up to 169 bpm after the kick-line routine while everyone else's was up around 190 bpm. Maybe it's because I wasn't nervous...maybe it's because my body is used to being active, maybe it's because I'm a freak of nature. Who knows?

$250 (plus tax) for a CAR KEY.

It all started yesterday afternoon with me suggesting that Chase & I take the dog to Golden Gardens Park to enjoy the sunny weather that we (as Seattle-ites) rarely ever see this time of year. We loaded Apollo up into my car & we were on our way. (Golden Gardens is roughly 6 miles from our apartment) 
We parked on the opposite side of the train tracks that separate the road from the main parking lot & walked down to the beach. Apollo was SO EXCITED to be outside & despite his good manners, was hard to hold onto as we walked by crowds of people & their dogs.
We walked all the way down to where there seemed to be a crowd gathering, looking out at the water. We looked out and saw about 6 WALES breaching!! It was a really cool sight :) We started walking back to where we started & Apollo found a large pile of sand & proceeded to lay down, obviously to tell us he was tired from all the walking. We took this opportunity to take some pictures with him, while he was being still.

After resting, Apollo got up & I rolled my jeans up so I could go into the water with him. We ran around in the water & a little ways down the beach, then when I put my hands in my zip-up VS PINK hoodie, I realized that my keys to my car were GONE!! We spent the next hour combing the beach & the water for them, even getting some other beach walkers to help us look. I called my insurance company to ask if I had road-side assistance on my policy...NOPE. I was beginning to lose hope when my phone rang & Chase had found them at the concession stand!! Some honest soul had the decency to turn them in! I was jumping up & down, hugging/kissing Chase upon the return of my keys by the volleyball nets. 
We decided to head back to the car & go get ready for my friend Sarah's Great Gatsby themed birthday party. We arrived at the car & the button to unlock the car wouldn't work. I thought this was a bit odd, but what was even weirder, was when we got INTO the car & went to start it, it would turn over, but then die immediately. Chase tried to start the car a few times & then we realized that the key had gotten WET!! We tried our best to dry it out without being able to open it, but nothing was working. I called a Chrysler dealer & the guy I spoke to said that if the key was wet, we shouldn't have pressed any of the buttons or tried to start the car until the key was dry. In doing all of those things we weren't supposed to, we had fried the microchip inside the key! :(
He said the parts department was closed, but if I could have the car towed to the dealership, they could make me a new key on Monday. This (however) was unacceptable for me. A) The tow was going to cost over $100, B) The new key was going to cost over $150, & C) I need my car!! I couldn't go without it until Monday because Chase's car is broken...we'd be car-less!! Upon hanging up with the dealership, I had to start crying from all of the stress that had been building since first loosing my keys. Chase assured me that everything would be okay, & we were lucky that we had even found the keys and were inside the car instead of being stuck outside of it with Apollo (who was sleeping in the backseat). I wiped my face off as Chase called a company that would drive out to our location & make a new key on-site. They said it would be $180 at minimum. I said "okay" gave them our location & my phone number. They said about 25-30 minutes & they would arrive. 
That was at 5:45pm. 
6:25pm rolled around & I called the company back asking why no one had showed up yet. The woman on the other line said she would call the lock-tech & have him call me. 
15 minutes rolls by & I get a call from the lock-tech telling me he would be about 25-30 minutes. I told him that's what the company had originally said to which he had no reply. Needless to say, my irritation was growing.
Another half an hour goes by & he texts my phone saying he is 10 minutes away. It is now after 7pm. He ends up arriving around 7:30pm & informs me that the key is going to cost $250, plus tax!! I wanted to throw-up on the spot, but quickly did the math & rationalizing in my head & I give him the go-ahead to get to work making me a new key. He finds the right cut, then had to buy the microchip code from somewhere which takes over another half an hour. He finally gets the code & plugs a machine into my car, pushes a few buttons then turns the key which starts my car!!! I was VERY happy until he took my credit card & wrote me my receipt for a total of $287.


What's the moral of this story?
1) Make sure you have roadside assistance or AAA. You really never know when you're going to need it.
2) Always have a spare key that will actually START your car.
3) NEVER GET YOUR KEY WET IF IT HAS A MICROCHIP!!! (& if you DO get it wet, wait until it is dried out before pushing any buttons or attempting to start the car)

I am taking donations for my "new key" fund...aka-paying it off my credit card!

Food for FUEL, not entertainment

For the past two days, I have been eating as food-for-fuel, rather than entertainment. Using the "LOSE IT!" app on my Verizon Wireless Android phone, I've been given a daily calorie budget of 1,420 calories. I also take pictures of my meals and upload them to the NFL Cheerleader Audition Training Facebook Group Page to stay accountable & focused.with the other girls. 

So, what exactly does 1400 calories look like? I'm going to show you! 

Breakfast: CARBmaster yogurt (60 cal) Better Oats Oatmeal with flax-seed (160 cal) & Green Tea with Pomegranate (0 cal) 

TOTAL=220 calories

Lunch: 1 cup spinach salad (5 cal) 1/2 cut up red bell pepper (23 cal) extra small cut up apple (53 cal) 2 tbsp Trader Joe's slivered almonds (78 cal) 1/2 oz goat cheese (40 cal) 2 tbsp Honey Dijon dressing (70 cal) 2 oz Chicken Breast (62 cal) 

TOTAL=331 calories

Mid Afternoon Snack: White Chocolate Think Thin protein bar (230 calories)

ZERO SUGAR & GLUTEN FREE! (Yes, it still tastes good)

Dinner: 1 cup chicken chili (220 cal) with 1/2 oz goat cheese (40 cal)

TOTAL=260 calories

I made sure I consumed 2 liters of water (0 cal) 

I also had a tablespoon of Justin's Creamy Natural Almond Butter after dinner (95 calories) as well as a cup of nonfat milk before bed (90 cal) 

TOTAL=185 calories

Bringing my total calories of the day to 1,226!! Not only did I not feel hungry or tired throughout the day, but I was also 194 calories under my daily budget.

I did a lot of working out the past few days as well as keeping up with my teaching schedule: (highlighted are workouts -outside of teaching-)

THURSDAY- Walked around with Apollo for 30 minutes running errands on foot, walked 2.5 miles to the studio, taught Kids Hip Hop ages 9-12 for an hour, & then walked another 1/2 mile to another studio to TAKE a Barre Fitness class.

FRIDAY- Taught a Barre Fitness class, caught the last 40 minutes of a Zumba class (I was late from the time it took to drive from one studio to another...) took a Body Pump (strength training with weights) class, then am going to teach another Barre Fitness class this evening.

So far, I'm feeling really great! I was afraid that monitoring my calorie intake would make me sluggish & irritable. Luckily, this is not the case :) Monitoring my water intake is probably the most difficult thus far...I'm not much of a water drinker unless I work out.

NOTE: Having to go to the bathroom so much is a total hassle >:-(

I hope you enjoyed my informative blog on what my daily calorie budget looks like as well as my workouts outside of my teaching schedule! :)

WEEK 1: NFL Cheerleader audition training

I am so blessed to have started rehearsing with such great women that all have common goals! 

*Get Fit

*Eat healthy, nutritious food for fuel (not entertainment)

*Dance daily

...AAAAAANNNNNNDDDDDDD...

*Make the 2012-2013 Seattle Sea Gals team!

My first meeting was this past Saturday with a former Sea Gal (we'll call her "Miss Q") to talk about my look and play around with makeup. She wanted to highlight my green eyes, so she used purple/plum shadows on my eyes. She also used an airbrush system for my foundation. SUCH a cool experience to have your makeup airbrushed on! She also used false lashes to help accentuate my eyes...I've been wearing those for dance competitions since I was 10 years old!

For my first practice, I met with Miss Q and the other girls at the Kirkland Dance Center on Sunday at 11:00am and we worked on a kick-line routine, reminding me of how exhausting kicking is!! Feedback from the other girls was that my kicks were really strong. This came as sort of a surprise to me seeing as how I haven't "high-kicked" in a routine since last year's auditions. I was only able to stay for half of the rehearsal time since I had to instruct a Barre Fitness class at 12:00pm. 

For Monday's rehearsal, we worked on the kick-line routine as well as across-the-floor routines including turns, kicks, and looking sexy-sassy ;) We also did a routine to "Drop It Low" by Kat DeLuna which was more in my comfort zone :)

 I'm meeting with Miss Q next week to come up with a fitness/nutrition plan for me as well as getting my first personalized spray-tan of the season! 

It's really difficult to get out of a normal, comfort-zone routine, but I'm looking forward to the challenge!!