new hairstyle tutorial

Here is the tutorial some of you asked for !! Enjoy!

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first video...

I decided to make my first video blog...its unscripted (obviously) so feel free to laugh at my babbling!

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Goal: Be more consistent

I've been really hit & miss with this blog!! I was really on when I was in the process of auditioning for the Sea Gals, but have since fallen off with my "blog consistency". I know a lot of people really enjoyed keeping up with me during that time, because I had a realistic goal I was moving towards.

I don't have a new defined goal right now, but I'm working towards having one :)

I won't be auditioning for the Sea Gals again this year. The only reason I would want to audition again is to prove the coach wrong & say, "HA! I MADE IT!!" When really, I don't care about the Seahawks as a football team...sorry :-/ I just want to be a part of a professional dance team.
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Chase & I just got back from visiting our family/friends in the mid west :-D We flew into the Des Moines International Airport on Friday Dec. 7th and flew back to Seattle Thursday Dec. 13th. We got to see most of our families at the Open House's both of our mom's hosted for us, and some friends too!! We had people visit all the way from Omaha-NE, Minneapolis-MN, & even Chicago-IL just to see us! To those people, I am so thankful you were able to come for even a short amount of time :) It made our trip that much more enjoyable and made me so happy to see Chase reunited with his best guy friends!

True, we didn't advertise it on Facebook, or tell many people that we were coming back and here's why: We didn't want to be the target of flakey people (but we were anyways.) There were people we invited to our Open House's who said through Facebook they would be in attendance, & didn't show. There were people who claimed they wanted to hang out while we were in town that never called. That's just the nature of the game. People want to see you, but on their own terms. Now, I'm not speaking for all people who didn't show or call. I understand life gets in the way. Kids throw up. Work says "NO". People fall asleep on accident. Schedules don't sync. I however, have a problem with people who claim up one wall & down the other that they will make time to see you, & then make no actual effort, or tell you why for that matter.

Having to borrow a vehicle, & only having a certain amount of available time to see people makes it harder on our part. I hate to sound so flat, but Chase & I decided if people couldn't meet us where we were, we just wouldn't make time to see them.

I'm going to now step-down from my soap box with this: Next time I'm in town (with Chase, or without) I will not get my hopes up in the chances of possibly seeing someone. At all.
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In being more consistent with this blog, I will say this: Every Sunday, I will re-count the events of my week. Whether it be something that happened with Apollo, Chase, or myself. A beauty product review, a sale I found, a workout I like, a new recipe I've tried, or a new goal I've defined for myself. Every Sunday, I will write a blog! Maybe I'll do a few V-logs too :)

photo evidence

The photo on the left is of me prior to my training/cardio routine came into play. The photo on the right is after 4 1/2 weeks. No real weight loss, but you can see a difference.

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Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget

Alright, I'm a girl- and most girls love clothes & shopping. The only time I hate shopping is when I have ZERO DOLLARS to spend! I can't window shop. It only makes me more depressed about not having $$. When I do have extra money, I try to make it last as long as possible when I do spend it shopping. I had the chance to buy a pair of boots at Cathy Jean *On Sale* from $129.99 to $39.00. The normal person would be impulsive & take advantage of the sale...I tried them on & they didn't look that great. I walked around with the boots in mind, but still looking for a better look/deal. In the Northgate Mall there is a store called Papaya with REALLY cute clothes at SUPER affordable prices for girls like me with Champagne Taste yet on a Beer Budget. I walked around looking for boots & happened across two pairs of really great boots for the price of the 1 pair of Cathy Jean boots! I was ecstatic to find my size (8.5) & even more excited to see how they looked on me!! I bought the two pairs of boots & then the next day went to a few consignment stores & found two pairs of tennis shoes for a more than reasonable price. I've been wanting some new shoes to wear for teaching my dance/fitness classes, and these two pairs were perfect for my beer budget :-) Some people don't like shopping at second hand stores, but I really love it because having experienced trying to sell my clothing in these stores, I know they don't take just ANYTHING. They make sure what they buy is in season, & in near PERFECT condition. I've taken entire bags of clothes into these stores to sell & have only gotten them to buy 2 or 3 things out of the entire bag. Needless to say, I feel like I've won the lottery when I find great deals, not just *sales*.

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In need of some help

Okay, here's the deal: I've never been a skinny girl. I've never been obese, but I have been overweight in the past. I've not always been interested in fitness, but I have always been interested in FOOD :-) I CAN help it, but sometimes I honestly don't want to. I'm a typical female- put food in front of me, & I'm gonna eat it!

Get ready, a woman is about to be honest about how much she WEIGHS!!

I know that I fluctuate normally between 150-155 lbs. The smallest I've been (for a SHORT amount of time) is 147 lbs when I auditioned for Sea Gals in the last 2 years. It's a normal weight for my height of 5 ft 8 & 1/2 inches, but I don't currently feel like I LOOK the part a "fitness instructor". I don't look at myself and think that other women could view me as a fit female role model.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

I've enlisted the help of a PERSONAL TRAINER!! :-)

Her name is Lainee, and she takes my Hip Hop fitness class at C-Fit. We had our first session today and have established that I A) Do not drink enough water (I was cramping a lot during my workout) & B) Have been telling myself for too long that because I teach fitness, that must mean that I (myself) don't need to workout otherwise.

WRONG!!

Yes, I teach upwards of 10-12 fitness classes per week, but this does NOT mean that I have 10-12 full workouts per week.

I will be working with Lainee once per week doing different workouts every time. She's very excited to help me with my journey towards feeling like a fit female role model, and I have to say, I'm excited to see what we can accomplish together!!

Lets be honest

Alright, so I started the "3 Day Military Diet" on Sunday with hopes of kick-starting my holiday fitness goals. I liked the idea of it only being only 3 days long, & it didn't seem that difficult to follow. 

WRONG!

As stated in my last blog, I got massive headaches the first day, & the second day was even worse!! Not only did I have headaches, but my energy levels were incredibly low. I completed Days 1 & 2 to the letter, but after only having lost 1.2 lbs, I decided that it wasn't in my best interest to continue the diet. Other people who tried the diet said they lost around 4 or 5 lbs their first day. Maybe I didn't lose that much weight because my body fat percentage isn't as high as those who tried the diet before me. Either way, the diet didn't work for me. It's not to say it won't work for someone else in the future, or has worked for someone in the past, but being completely honest, it just wasn't for me. 

In other news, I got a JOB OFFER to work as a Massage Therapist at the Urban Yoga Spa in downtown Seattle! It's a little over 7 miles from where we live in Northgate. I walked into my interview yesterday and was taken aback at how gorgeous the space was! Downstairs was devoted to reception, locker rooms, and 2 large Yoga studios, while the upstairs was where they kept their spa. The massage room was gorgeous, & the table was hydraulic! I had used hydraulic massage tables when I worked at The Red Door Spa, & I've got to tell you, they're so much more convenient than tables you have to manually adjust! I spoke candidly during my interview & found out the massage lead (who was conducting the interview) is from the midwest as well and is a group fitness instructor like me :) I gave him my availability and after I performed a practical, he told me I was the last of his interviews and he wanted to offer ME the position!! I was a little apprehensive about working downtown because parking is a NIGHTMARE and I would end up spending more than a decent amount of $$ on parking than I wanted to, but he said, "Oh, that's no problem. We have EMPLOYEE PARKING." !!!! WHAT?? Who has parking for their employees DOWNTOWN?! URBAN YOGA SPA! That's who!! 

I have another interview later this afternoon at a spa that is only 2 miles from our apartment, but I have a feeling since it's owned by Aveda, I won't have the "yes" feeling that I had yesterday. Something about working for a corporation doesn't sit well with me. Having have experience with both, I prefer working for a personally owned spa rather than a corporately owned spa. The woman who owns Urban Yoga Spa worked at Nordstrom's for 30 years and decided to open her own yoga studio/spa after exhausting herself in the corporate world. We'll see how I feel after this next interview though. I already got an email from Urban Yoga Spa practically begging me to officially say "yes, I will work here" & set up a time to come in & fill out new hire paperwork. Bonus: If I work there, I get free yoga classes :)

Oh, & my personal hairstylist (& friend!) Bethany came over last night to cut/color my hair, so now I have full bangs :-) I've had side-swept bangs for YEARS and decided to take the plunge. I LOVE them, but I can tell they're going to be hard to get used to!!