Yoga camp day 6

Affirmation:
I feel supported!

Intro:
Hey guys. Sorry I didn't do my yoga yesterday. Russell and I got home late last night from my sisters mother in-laws birthday. So you can blame her for not doing the yoga... Hahaha, just kidding. I did a little exercise yesterday. My sister has a trampoline, and I jumped on it for a total of about an hour with my nephew who is 3 almost 4. I also drank 2 glasses of wine, so when we got home, I was exhausted and sleepy. Haha.

Today's affirmation is "I feel supported". What this means, is instead of feeling strong, you should feel supported in what you do. Whether it be exercise, or a new challenge, or in your choices. At least that is what I took from it. You can take from it what you think it means. Let me know in the comments if your take on what "I feel supported" means.

Yoga:
Today's yoga is all about the abs. It's a pretty short video today. It's all floor work; laying on your back. There are crunches, and windshield wiper legs. My abs are BURNING. This was a great video!

Daily Activities:
Today Russell and I went over to his parents house, because we needed his dad to help ups with filling out paperwork for our taxes. After working on our paperwork, we just hung out, and watched TV.

Of course, I got bored and so I found something to do. I played a little solitaire. I taught Sophi (our niece) how to play the solitaire where you put the card in a pyramid. Not sure what that card game is called. Then Sophie and I colored. It was a great bonding moment.

Food:
Breakfast - 2 grilled eggs, 2 biscuits, 2 pieces of bacon, and some hash browns.
Lunch - munching
Dinner - Pizza and wings.

Exercise:
Yoga camp day 6

Motivation:

Conclusion:
Today's post wasn't super mushy, since the last post was pretty mushy.

I hope yall have a great night!

What would be day 6

Hey guys. Keep on trucking. I got home late from a bday party in bastrop. Super tired.

Yall have a GREAT night!

Yoga camp day 5 ... I'm alive with _____

Affirmation:
I'm alive with _____!
I'm alive with gratitude!

Intro:
Well hello again! Glad to see that you are back again to read my blog. I hope you are enjoying it, and it isn't getting boring or repetitive. If it is, let me know. I would be happy to spice it up a bit, or make any changes you think would be good for the blog.

Today's affirmation is "I'm alive with...". I finished with gratitude. I am very grateful for everyone and everything in my life. I have a great family, wonderful husband, amazing dogs, a roof over my head, food in my stomach, and a job. I may not have much more than that, but what I do have, I am grateful for.

If you spend your life wishing for things, and not appreciating what you have, then you will never be truly happy. The reason being, if you can't appreciate what you already have, how can you expect to appreciate any more than that?

When I was younger, I'm sure my parents didn't have a whole lot of money. I mean they did okay for a family of 6, but they definitely weren't rich. If they were rich, they were rich in love. Anyway, they were grateful for what they had. I don't think I ever heard them complain about what they didn't have. Unless they complained when I was in front of the TV. You could walk past me and say hi, and I wouldn't realize you were there until my show was over. So who knows what people talked about while I watched Tiny Toons. *ZONED OUT!!*

I never heard them complain about what they didn't have, and I only heard them say thanks for the things they did have. So there wasn't any reason for me to think otherwise. Because of their gratitude toward what they possessed, I can be grateful for the things I have, and not worry about the things I don't.

I'm not a parent, but I would think that if you expose your children to that sort of negativity, they will grow up thinking they didn't have anything of value. When in actuality, they had all that they really needed to survive and thrive. As long as your children have a loving family, food to fill their bellies, a roof over their head (whether it be an apartment, your parents home, or a house) and a few toys to play with, they have everything anyone could ever need. You may not be rich with money, or luxuries, but you are rich in love. Be grateful for everything you have, even if it's not as much as the next door neighbor. If you show your children that working hard to provide for your family, even if its the bare necessities (que Baloo from The Jungle Book), then they will work hard, and do the same for their family.

This was just what popped into my head when I think of being grateful. You can't imagine what goes on in this brain of mine. You say one word, and I could go off like a firework. By the way, I LOVE fireworks! They are so bright and colorful, and the big boom they make, I can always feel it in my chest. Its awesome... There I go... Off in my own world. Okay back to the blog.

Yoga:
Today's yoga was REALLY GOOD! I really liked it. It was slow, but got my heart pumping. It really worked out my arms, and my legs. While doing the yoga in the beginning, I realized my legs don't spread as wide as they used to while I danced. You know, when you sit with your legs in a "V" shape. I used to be able to get the "V" pretty big. Not any more. I felt like I was in dance one all over again.

Then we did this thing with our arms, she called it a "flow". When you inhale, you float your arms up, and when you exhale you float your arms down. It really worked out my shoulder muscles. They actually started getting tired there for a bit. We did this in a couple different poses. I'm not really sure what it's supposed to do for you, other than work out those shoulder muscle, but it felt pretty relaxing. Here is the video if you are doing it with me.

Daily Activities:
Today I showed some more homes to my renters. I really hope that they find something soon. Otherwise, I may need to terminate our relationship. I only get about $200 if I find them a rental, and I am using a lot of gas to show them homes. I don't want to have to do that, but I might need to. I'm not going to say it's wasting my time, because I am getting some good experience for it, but I am spending more money driving around, than I will receive by getting them a house. It's just not good, financially, for me to continue showing them homes. It would just be the right thing to do, for both of us, if I backed away.

After I got back from showing, Russell and I just hung around the house and watched TV and payed Russells game. And that's pretty much all I did today.

Food:
Breakfast - Banana
Lunch - Tuna salad sandwich with tomato and spinach!!! mmmm
Dinner - Sonic ... uuuug I KNOW! It's so bad for you, but it's soooo good!!!

Exercise:
Yoga camp day 5

Motivation:

Everyone wants to look good naked!

I know I didn't. I need to start keeping track of this....

Conclusion:
When you start wishing for things that you don't have, actively stop think about it. Look around at what you do have, and be thankful for it. I'm not saying don't set goals, and envision them. I'm talking about winning the lottery, or buying a mansion, or something that maybe you don't need. Yes I have been guilty of thinking about winning the lottery. But I don't think about it very often. I love my life, and would not change anything in it.

So I will leave you on that note, and I hope y'all have a great night.

If this was too mushy for you, let me know. I will try to lighten it up a bit next time. :-) Good night yall!

Yoga camp day 4 ... I awaken ___!

Affirmation:
I awaken ______!
I awaken my positive attitude within! - Me

Introduction:
Hi friends! I hope you had a great day. Tomorrow is Friday!!! For those of you that work a 9-5 Monday - Friday job, TGIF! I unfortunately work what ever day I am able to work. There is a plus side though, there are some days where I say, I think I'm going to take the day to relax, or get some personal stuff done. I am my own boss, so the only person that can fire me, is me. At least for the next couple days. I'll get to that in a minute.

Today's affirmation was a little difficult for me to come up with anything. I feel like I have woken my body, mind and spirit, a lot more than it was since before I started my yoga. I do feel like I could be a little more positive, granted I have been a lot more positive than I have in the past, but everyone could be more positive right? So I choose to awaken my positive attitude within.

I really think that is what got me through the time period before Russell took his exam. I was getting really frustrated with his negative attitude, and was hold on for dear life, trying to stay positive for him. I knew he would do well on the exam, and I kept telling him that he was making himself stress out too much. He kept on being negative about everything, and it almost broke my positive attitude. I didn't give in though. I kept my positivity (is that a word?) and he did great. He even apologized afterward for being so negative. Everything works out the way it should in the end.

What is a time in your life, that you have had to stay positive through all the tough times? Were you able to stick to it? Or did you give in to the negative thoughts? Share your experiences with us!

Yoga:
Today's yoga was a version on sun salutations. I have posted a picture of this earlier in the blog, but here is the photo again...

In the video, we did this one, and two other renditions of the sun salutation. I think it was really good. It relaxed me, while bringing my heart rate up, and working me out.

Since I started my yoga, I have become more flexible. It is really nice. For the cool down, we sat with our legs straight out, then bent one knee and stretched over the straight leg. I could actually touch my forehead to my knee. I certainly could not do that at the beginning, much less grab my foot. I was actually really excited.

Have you gained flexibility since you started yoga? I'd love to hear about it.

Daily Activities:
Today I went and showed two properties. They still weren't what they wanted, but I am hopeful that I will find them something soon, but the options are dwindling down. They are running out of homes to look at, unless they look in another area, or stop being so picky.

I had an interview at the Gristmill today, and I got the job. I will be telling the River Hofbrau that I will not be attending orientation on Wednesday. I have orientation for the Gristmill on Tuesday. I'm kind of excited. They don't hire straight to the serving position though. They start people off as a host to learn ALL the table numbers, which I am great at learning, and train for 2 weeks. Then they put you in the serving position. At least for those two weeks I'll be getting 7.25 an hour. That will help out a lot. They were able to work with the schedule I want, dinner shift during the week, and lunch or dinner shift on the weekends. They get crazy busy during the summer, so starting now, will allow me to get used to everything before we get busy. I'll keep y'all updated on how that goes.

Food:
Breakfast - Honey Bunches of Oats cereal
Lunch - chips and salsa
Dinner - Boudin sausage that Russell brought from the ranch, with french fries, and baked beans.

Exercise:
Yoga camp day 4

Motivation:

Conclusion:
Find what you would like to awaken in yourself. "Awakening" something does not have to be physical. You can awaken your spirit by daily devotions, or awaken you emotions, by expressing them more to your significant other, or family... You can awaken all sorts of things. You just have to dig deep, and figure it out.

Until tomorrow my friends. I hope you have a great night!

Yoga Camp Day 3 ... I Embrace _____!

Affirmation
I embrace _____!
I embrace change and the challenges that accompany it! - Source

Intro:
Hi there! I hope your hump day is going okay. Mine could have been better, but it definitely could have been worse as well. I'll discuss that more when I get to the daily activities.

Today's affirmation was a pretty good one. I embrace. I couldn't think of anything, so I decided to look up some examples. I really like the one I found, because I will need to embrace change here pretty soon. There are so many things in our lives that we need to embrace. Even the things we don't want to embrace. That is the only way that we can truly accept our selves as we are, instead of wishing we were someone else.

One of the things that I have learned to embrace, is my dyslexia. It used to be a lot more sever than it is now, because I have learned to live with it, and learn around it. I know it makes me a slow reader, and makes me see words differently than they actually are. Sometimes I omit letters in a word, and add others changing the whole word completely. Some people may think, that is not part of the learning disorder, but it is. Some people may think it's a crutch, but its not. It's real life for me, and I have to accept and embrace it, whether or not other people will do the same.

If you think about it, someone training for cross country, who has asthma, might say "hold on coach, I need to take a break, my asthma is acting up." Will the coach say, "nonsense, that's just a crutch you use so that you can take a break." No he wouldn't. Granted, not being able to breath is a lot more serious, than not reading something correctly, but the point is the same. The cross country runner will never cure his asthma, but he will learn to live with it. I will never be cured from my dyslexia, but I can learn to live with it.

My point is, no matter what ailments, disorders, phobias, impairments, or whatever it might be that you have to live with, learn to embrace it. You never know when it actually might be helpful one day. Maybe you will help someone with the same difference you have, and help them through a tough time. Embracing your differences will help you stay happy. We are all different, lets lift people up, instead of break them down.

Yoga:
Today's yoga was really good. My back isn't as stiff as it was yesterday. Maybe that is because we didn't do as many laying down moves. There were some back twists, thigh stretches, and core exercises. I feel really good. You should definitely complete this video. Here it is if you are doing it with me.

Daily Activities:
Today I had phone duty at 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. I only got one call, for a rental. However, a rental is better than nothing at all. It's at least some income. I also had to tell my clients, that they were not going to be getting the house that they are supposed to close on this Friday, or get their earnest money back.

If you aren't familiar with the home buying process, earnest money is 1% of the purchase price of the home you want to buy, and you pay it when you offer is accepted. It is good faith money, that tells the seller that they are serious about the purchase of the home. If for some reason they don't want the house any more, or can't get the house, they can get their earnest money back, if they are with in the legal limits of the contract. Unfortunately we were in default of the contract, therefore  they have to forfeit their earnest money, and it will go to the sellers. My clients weren't too happy, but  they understood, and would still like to work with me when they are ready to look for another home. So that is good news.

Russell and I have decided that I need to get a part time job, aside from my Real Estate. This is the change that I will need to embrace soon. The only job that is flexible enough for me, is being a server. I'm not too worried about it though. Serving is good, easy money, and I have about 6-7 years of experience. I will be a trainer and regular closer in no time. At least that is what happened at Logan's. I worked there for about 2 months, and in 2 weeks I was training, and closing most shifts.

I went into a restaurant here in New Braunfels today call River Hofbrau. It's a steak house, and I pretty much got a job there. I start orientation next week on Wednesday, and they seem to want to give me the hours and schedule that I want. They aren't super busy right now, but all I really need is about $275 a week. I could realistically get that in about 3 shifts.

I also received a call from the Grist Mill in Gruene. The last time I interview with them, I wanted the same schedule, and they said they needed servers with more flexible schedules. I guess we will see what they say this time. At least I know I have a job, if they don't want to hire me in Gruene.

When I got home, I got all my receipts and things together, so that we can talk to a CPA soon. It only took about an hour to get everything organized, and totaled. At least I am ready for when we talk to someone.

To be completely honest, I almost didn't do my yoga today, but Russell, being the supper sweet husband he is, kept me accountable. He said that I need to do yoga, even though I want to take a break. I love him for doing that. I know I would have regretted it tomorrow if I didn't do it.

Exercise:
Yoga camp day 3

Food:
Breakfast - Toast and coffee
Lunch - Ham sandwich
Dinner - nothing
Snack - bread pudding

Motivation:

Conclusion:
So in the end, just embrace and love yourself. Even if you have to physically give yourself a big hug, and say "I embrace you and accept you for who you are!"

As always my friends, stay happy, healthy, and motivated.
Have a good night.

Yoga Camp Day 2

Affirmation:
I create _______!  - What do you create for yourself?
I create happiness for myself!

Intro:
Hey guys and gals! How has your week started off? I hope it is going well!  We are officially in day 2 of our second yoga series, and I am feeling pretty stiff. I am not sure why. I don't think my back likes to lay on the floor very much. I always have stiffness in my upper back. Maybe it's because I slouch a lot, and the yoga is slowly straightening it out, which makes it sore. Who knows. All I know is I want it to stop.

So I wanted to tell y'all, even if you aren't participating in this yoga series with me, I hope I can still motivate you to keep going in whatever exercise, or wellness activity you are currently doing. I hope that my experiences with these health challenges, helps you stay on track. Or if you find that you missed a day or two, that my entries will help you get back at it.

I know first hand how hard it is to get back on track when you have missed a day or two. You get home from work, school or maybe you're a stay at home mom, who just wants to relax on the couch when you have time to yourself. Whatever you do during the day, I hope I can help motivate you to at least do something little. I have found that doing this yoga each day, has helped me stay motivated through out the day to either do some computer work, clean, or cook. I don't know how that happens, but somehow it's connected. So keep at it! I know you can do it. There is more to life, then pushing papers, and paying bills.

Yoga:
Today's video had a lot of stretching in it. Stretching the back, legs, and doing some ab exercises. Here is the video if you are doing it with me. It is almost an hour long, so set a side some time to be able to finish this video in one sitting. The only way that you can feel the full healing effect of yoga, is if you complete it fully, and with out interruptions. If you stop in the middle of doing yoga, then you brake the meditation aspect of it. Also, if you stop in the middle, you may not come back. Might as well just finish it in one swoop. Then when you are done, you wont have to think about it again for the rest of the day.

Another note about setting aside time during the day, every day, eventually the kids / husband / wife, will say "oh it's 7:00pm, mommy/wifey / hubby is doing yoga!" They will know that you are doing yoga and hopefully they will leave you to it. Get them involved. I don't mean, have them do it with you. I mean, you total can if you want to get them in there. But what I really mean is, maybe make a game out of it. "Say whoever reminds me to do my yoga at 6:50pm first today, I will give them a dollar." Or whatever treat you want to give. That might help them realized, you need time to yourself.

Daily Activities:
I did a little house keeping today, by doing the laundry (all of it!!!), and sweeping the kitchen and master bathroom floors, and made more bread. We went through the first loaf pretty fast. I was slicing it too thick. Now I know to slice the bread thinner than I was. Maybe this one will last longer.

Russell took his exam and PASSED!!! All he has to do now is get his finger prints done, and get his liability insurance situated, and they will be able to send him his license. I am so proud of him.

So, it looks like my contract that I had pending is not going to close. The lender was not able to get them approved for their loan. They will need to work another 60 days to get their credit up, and the sellers are not going to let that happen. They said that if we don't close on the 29th, then they will be putting the house back on the market.

Maybe they will be able to buy a house in 2 months, and it will be an even better house that this one. I guess we will see.

Russell and I have come to the realization, that I will be getting a part-time job while I am trying to get my Real Estate back up and running. I have applied at Olive Garden, and the Gristmill. I will probably try applying to a couple other places as well. Wish me luck.

Food:
Breakfast - Cinnamon toast
Lunch - Corndogs
Dinner - Sonic (grilled chicken sandwich)

Russell and I are on a very strict budget, so we can't spend a lot of money at the store.

Exercise:
Yoga Camp day 2

Motivation:

I don't want her body, but I wouldn't mind my body being fit like hers. 

Conclusion:

Well guys, I hope you today's post has given you the motivation to keep going. I hope y'all have a great evening.

Until tomorrow my friends. 

30 Day Yoga Camp ... Day 1

Affirmation:

"I ACCEPT! I accept my body where it is, and I show up fully for myself" - Adriene

Introduction:

Hey guys. Its the start of another 30 days of yoga. I am "attending" Adriene's 30 days of yoga camp now. If you want to know what yoga camp is all about, here is her welcome orientation video. No yoga, just an explanation of what yoga camp is all about. She actually started this series at the beginning of this year. If its not something you would like to pursue at this point in time because you just finished a 30 days of yoga, she has several other yoga videos, like yoga for weight loss, yoga for strength, there are videos where she teaches you how to do head, hand, and shoulder stands, and more. Here is the link to her channel if you want to explore. 

Now, I know that it may seem as if I am promoting her videos or her page, and I am in a sense. However, I am not getting any sort of profit from it. I haven't even met or communicated with her. I had just enjoyed her 30 days of yoga so much, that I thought I would share it with you. One of my friends actually turned me on to watching her videos, and now I'm hooked. I just wanted to make it perfectly clear, that I have no ties with Adriene besides watching her videos, and enjoying the yoga she shares with the world. 

Yoga:

So the first day of yoga camp was pretty easy. Here is the video if you would like to do it with me. We took it easy today with some cat cow, downward dog, and more. We spent the whole time on the floor, so if you are tired, and don't really want to do anything strenuous, you can still do this video! 

She has also incorporated affirmations in her daily videos, which she says through out. I encourage you to say them outloud when she asks you to say them. Even if you are whispering it. I feel like verbalizing them, really confirms the affirmation. That's the whole point right? I got the idea to start incorporating affirmations in my blog posts from this series. I watched the orientation video the other day, and thought, that's a good idea. I have heard a lot of good things from affirmations, so I decided to try them for myself. 

*Side note*: You should really watch this video of a little girl that does an affirmation in the mirror every day. You have probably seen it already, but thought I would share. Jessica's Daily Affirmation. Pretty cool if you ask me.

So far I have done two affirmations, and I am not sure if I feel any differently. But with all things, it probably takes some time to see/feel the affects. I guess I will have to check in on this a little later.

Daily Activities:

Today I showed some properties. The only house that my clients liked well enough to put an application on, already has two applications pending on it. I advised, that the likely hood of one of those two applications would be accepted is pretty high. But they want to submit one. Hopefully we find another house that they like as well... I'm not to sure if they will get this one. I guess we will see.

Well I decided to bake another loaf of bread. This time it's cinnamon raisin bread. The recipe that I used was from the same person who I got the white bread from. It's okay. I am not super thrilled with how it turned out. I think if I made it a second time, I would add cinnamon to the batter at the beginning. However, for my first time making this loaf, I think I did a pretty good job. Here is a picture of the finished product. 

If you would like the recipe to this cinnamon raisin swirl bread, click here. Like I said, I would put a couple table spoons of cinnamon in the bread mixture when I put it in the mixer. I think that would set it apart from just a normal loaf of bread that has some cinnamon and raisins in it. I will post about it when I attempt it again. For now, this will suffice. 

Food:

Breakfast - Cinnamon toast

Lunch - Ham and Gouda sandwich

Dinner - Cinnamon raisin bread. 

Lots of bread to day... gotta cut that out... at least it was fresh, and not processed! There is a positive side to everything.

Exercise:

Yoga camp day 1

Motivation:

So colorful!

Conclusion:

Well I hope y'all have a great night! And even if you aren't going to join me in this next 30 day challenge, I hope I can continue to encourage you to think positively, and keep you motivated. 

As always, stay happy healthy and motivated!

Until tomorrow my friends!

DAY 30!!!!!!

Affirmation: 
I know I make a difference and I try my best to help others. - Source

Did you say the affirmation today from yesterdays post? Did you write it on your bathroom mirror so that you would see it in the morning? I did! I think this will be a great addition to daily activities!

Yoga:
Hello my friends! Well its D day! D stands for destination. If we were on a 30 day road trip, we would finally be at our destination. Woohoo!!!! If I were to take a quote from the Disney Junior show Little Einsteins "Mission Completion!!". If you haven't heard of this show, and you have little ones, you should have them watch it. It is a great show.

So, as you may have noticed, I did not wake up early to do yoga today, I could barely wake up early enough to take a shower this morning before we left. Uuuugggg I was so tired. Who has two thumbs and is going to bed early tonight? This girl (points thumbs as myself)!!  BUT I did the yoga when I got home from our little day trip to Mineral Wells. I did not blow it off, I did it! GO ME!!

Today was free style day for the yoga. Here is the video if you are doing it with me. Once she was done with her intro, she turned off her mic and just did what felt good to her. She said that we can follow along with her, or do our own thing. I started off following along, then I veered off the path. I felt I needed a little three legged dog, and some warrior poses. I also do some hip openers by stretching out my legs and hips on the floor, and a little back twisting. Pretty good stuff.

I encourage y'all to do your own thing, because it helps you create your own style, and what works best for you. That way, if you are somewhere that doesn't have internet, or you don't have any way of looking a video up, you can just do it on your own. It was a little daunting at first, thinking about what should I do next, but I have been doing this for 30 days, and I realize that your move feed into each other. You just go with the flow. If you mess up, you are in your own house; no judgement zone! Have fun with it.

Tomorrow, I think I will do day one just to see how far I have come. I will post here the outcome, and maybe after you are done, you will have the same result!

Daily Activities:
Today, as you may have remembered from yesterdays blog, I went to Mineral Wells for Russell's great grandmothers 102nd birthday. I think I said Weatherford in the blog, but I meant Mineral Wells. They are roughly in the same area of Texas.

We got there, and everyone was just hanging out. We just visited, sang, and she (with help from one of the little girls) blew out her candles. We had cake, which was delicious, and visited some more, then left. 4 hours up, 3 hours there, 4 hours back. It wasn't too bad. It was a pretty good time.

We drove to Russell's parents house, and had some ribs, beans, roasted potatoes and onions, and rolls, made by his dad. Delicious! then we drove home. Pretty eventful day.

On to the normal stuff...

Food:
Breakfast - McCaffe, and Egg McMuffin
Lunch - Chicken express chicken tenders with mashed potatoes
Dinner - Ribs, roasted potatoes and onions, beans, and rolls.

Exercise:
Yoga day 30

Motivation:

Yoga anywhere!!

I am one of these 7 billion people!!

If you ever wonder where I get my motivation pictures from, I get them from here. They have a lot more than just motivation too! If you have ever heard of theChive, theBerry is the girl version. I love it!

Well that is about it y'all! I hope y'all had a great day, and have a great night. Stay happy healthy and Motivated!

NOW Day 29 ... I regret not being able to do it yesterday

Daily Affirmation:
I think of only positive things and positive things happen in my life. - Source

Hello Friends! Well today would have been day 30, but I'm not going to let that get me down. Things happen, and sometimes life gets in the way. I may be doing yoga super early in the morning, because I am going to Weatherford, TX tomorrow for Russell's great grandmothers 102nd birthday. We will be leaving around 7:30 in the morning. That means I will be getting up at 7.

As you may have noticed, at the top of this post is an affirmation! I will be incorporating affirmations into my blog every day. Since I post the blog every evening, you can either say it before you go to bed, or say it when you wake up in the morning, or both if you feel so inclined. I am going to do the same. I would like to try to see how affirmations help my attitude throughout the day. I hope you will join me in this experiment. If you already do affirmation, share in the comments, the types affirmation you like to say. Do you just say them every morning, or do you take a dry erase marker and write them on your bathroom mirror?

I am not very well versed in affirmations, so I am going to take them from the internet, and after a while, I may start creating my own.

Yoga!
Today was a pretty short video. Here it is if you are doing it with me. My favorite part was pulsing in high lunge. When you inhale, you raise your arms above your head. When you exhale, you bend your elbows into cactus arms, opening the chest, and press into the lunge. She did this about 4 times on each side. It felt really good on my chest, and legs. Here is what I mean...

High lunge

High lunge with cactus arms.

Only one day left. Now that I will have completed 30 days of something, with only 3 days of "rest", I feel that I can start a work out regimen and actually be able to stick with it. That was the whole point of the 30 day challenge. I have made it a point to set aside some time daily, in order to do my yoga. I should be able to do the same for walking, or videos. I will also continue to blog on what I am doing for exercise, and have some daily motivation for y'all to keep going as well! 

Events of the day!

It was sooooo hard to get out of bed this morning. I'm not sure why. I went to bed around the same time I usually do (10:30pm), and I slept pretty well. So, I am not sure why it was so difficult. I didn't have to get up until 8:30am, but it felt like 5:00am. I reluctantly got my @$$ out of bed, because I knew, if I was late to meet my clients, I was not going to feel very good about myself. Then the whole morning was going to feel rushed. So, I made myself get out of bed and I sluggishly put on my mak-up, half-assed I might add... and struggle to figure out what I was going to wear. I stood in my closet like a zombie, standing in front of 5 people, trying to figure out whose brain is going to taste better. It was torture...

To be honest, to this minute, I am exhausted. I think it is because I have been working a lot more than I have the past couple of months, because I actually have clients... Haha. It is starting to wear me out. However, it is definitely a good problem to have. At least I have clients, right?

When I got home, I started making homemade bread! It is some amazing stuff. I don't think I will ever buy bread again. 

1. It tastes amazing and make your house smell the same
2. It is better for you than the processed stuff you buy in the store (you know what's in the bread)
3. Its cheaper than buying bread. Almost everything in it should be a staple in your house. 
4. If you make 2 at a time, you can freeze one, and when the other one is about gone, you take the frozen one out of the freezer, and it should be thawed by the time you need it. Then you make another one. Rotating is key. At least I think it is. I haven't done it before, but I am assuming that is how it's done.

Here is the end result...

Here is the recipe I used. White Bread Recipe . If you like wheat bread but don't want to have to figure out what to substitute, here is her Whole Wheat Bread Recipe. She has a lot of other good stuff too! This is just something I have done myself so far. I plan on making a lot of other breads too! Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Baguette Bread... etc... 

Note!!! If you make this bread, watch the video first. She made a typo in the description. You don't mix the melted shortening in with the yeast, water, and sugar mixture. After your yeast mixture settles, you add it to the dry ingredients, then add the shortening. 

The whole process from start to finish took about 3 hours. 1 hour to let the dough rise the first time, another hour to let it rise a second time, then another 45 or so minutes to cook. It takes time, but it is worth the wait.

That is about it. I didn't do too much after that. Just ate a piece of scrumptious bread. Mmmmmm! 

On to the normal stuff:

Food:

Breakfast - Coffee

Lunch - frozen pizza.... I know...

Dinner - Haven't eaten yet. Not super hungry since I stated my bread.

Exercise:

Yoga Day 29 - 1 more day!!!

I think I am going to stop the planking... I am not seeing to much of a difference in my body, and I really don't feel sore after I do it. I am not sure if I am doing it correctly or not. I think I am going to start walking instead. 

Motivation:

Until tomorrow my friends. Have a great night. As always, Stay happy, healthy and motivated!!!

What would have been day 29

Hey y'all... I got home super late from showing homes. I am super tired from the day.

I will continue tomorrow. Keep up the good work.

Talk to y'all tomorrow.

Day 28 ... Woop Woop

Hey everyone. It's day 28 in our yoga challenge. Woot Woot! We are 2 days away from hitting our goal. Hooray!!!

Today's video was pretty good. Learned something new, which is always good. I learned out to "flip my dog". Hahaha I love the name for this. Its where you are in downward dog, and you essentially turn your pelvis around, and your feet and knees are facing the opposite direction.

Here is the pose...

You're in downward dog, and you pivot on your left foot, then your right foot swings around behind you, and you stretch your right arm out. 

Here is the pose after doing all of that. It sounds more complicated than it is.

If you would like more explanation because mine did not do it for you, then here is the video if you are doing it with me, or if you are curious as to what I am talking about. 

Other than that, the video was pretty good. I have had a lot on my mind lately, so I don't think my whole heart was in it this time. 

Well, today I showed some homes, and they did not find anything they are happy with.  Hopefully I can find them something soon. 

On the other hand, my other clients GOT THE RENTAL!!! Yay!!! I am so happy for them. I will be showing them the rental again tomorrow around 6:30pm so that the daughter can view it. She was not able to be there for the initial showing. They almost waited to submit their application, because she had not seen it yet. I told them I was nervous that it may not be available by the time she was able to see it. That instilled a little urgency in them, which was good, because there was another application that was submitted just after ours. It would have been gone, if we hadn't jumped on it. So yay for them!

On to the normal stuff...

Food:

Breakfast - Smart Start cereal

Lunch - 1 corn dog

Dinner - Munched

Exercise:

Yoga day 28

130 second plank

Motivation:

Until tomorrow my friends. Stay happy, healthy and motivated.

Day 27... 3 days left!

Hello my friends. We are on the home stretch. Only 3 days left of our 30 day challenge.

What are you going to do after the 30 days is up? Have you thought about that yet? Maybe you are still in the first half of the challenge, and you think, the last video is too far ahead to be thinking about what you are going to do next. If you have adopted the motto of taking one day at a time, then you would be right. Continue focusing on what you can do today to better yourself, physically, emotionally, or mentally.

Don't get me wrong, you should always set goals for yourself, and try to meet them. Just don't focus so much on the end result that you stress yourself out today. The way to accomplish a goal, is to set it, then kind of put it to the side (don't completely forget about it though) and focus on the steps you are going to take today, in order to meet that goal in the end.

If you think about it, you can't control what happens in a year. You can only control what happens during that year. So keep your attention on what you are doing today. Then eventually, today will be the 365th day.

The picture below is one of my favorite pictures that illustrates the stepping stones to success. Once one is laid down you can start laying the next one down. Eventually you will hit your mark, or even surpass it.

If you don't think this method works, take me for example. I am certainly one of those people who hardly ever meets their goals, much less surpasses them.  One day it hit me. I will only think about what I can do today. Then I started my 30 day yoga challenge. 

Knowing my pattern, Russell had his doubts. He didn't directly say that he didn't think I would do it, but I could tell in his tone of voice, when I said I was going to do yoga every day for 30 days, that's what he was thinking. Notice that I didn't say "he didn't think I could do it". He knows I can do it, but wanting to do it is very different.

Now look at me. I am blogging on day 27 with 3 days left. Now, it's like second nature to us. Every evening around 7 pm, he matter-of-factly says "going to do yoga?", and I reply with "yep". It's rather weird now that I think about it, but this is my life now, and I love it!

Since I am on day 27, I am starting to think about what I am going to do after the 30 days is up for me. When I finished today's video, I accidentally hit another one of Adriene's videos for 30 day yoga camp! Here is the orientation video. She talks about what yoga camp is going to be about. There will apparently be affirmations and exercise. This might be just the thing for me. And it will be something else for me to write about. Woo hoo!

Well on to the video... Here it is if you are doing it with me. Today's was a little swifter than last couple of days. Kind of a nice change of pace. No pun intended haha. There were some push ups, a lot of plank, downward dog and finished off with tree pose. I am not sure how I feel about tree pose. Maybe I am not doing it enough to reap the benefits of it. She says that it is supposed to be relaxing, but all I can think about is how much my heal is digging into my thigh. When I wear yoga pants, my foot slides down my leg, and when I wear shorts, my foot pulls on my skin. It's rather uncomfortable. What am I doing wrong? Do you have these same qualms about tree pose? If you did, and don't anymore, was it something you got used to, or did you adjust something, that made it less uncomfortable? I'd love to hear what you have to say about it.

Anyway, here is the pose.

Well that's about it for the yoga. On to what I did today to better my business...

Today I had phone duty... hahah ... duty... I'm so immature. Blame Russell. I had two people call in about rentals, and ended up showing one of them the property they inquired about. I think I got them as a lead. Woop Woop! The other one I set up on a search, and hopefully they will call me to show them some rentals. 

My other clients, that I have been showing for a while, submitted their application and money in for a property, and they were the first ones in this time! YAY!!! Finally. I am so excited for them, and for me. I get a little more income. 

My contract has been extended AGAIN!!! But at least the sellers are being as patient as possible. They are a little frustrate, as are we all. However, the contract should close on the 29th. If it doesn't, the sellers are putting the house back on the market, and my client's wont get their earnest money back, which I would absolutely hate for them. I guess well will see. 

That's about it for today. On to the normal stuff. I have to admit, I am not doing so well with this whole eating healthy thing. It's just not working... I need to find a different method that works for me..

Food:

Breakfast - Coffee

Lunch - Turkey sandwich and Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meat balls (instant)

Dinner - PBJ sandwich with chips and salsa.

I mean, I guess it could have been worse today. I could have had a whole bunch of fried stuff. It's just not as good as I would like.

Exercise:

Yoga day 27

120 second plank

Motivation:

I know this post was a long one, but I hope it helped you stay on track a bit and to think about meeting your goals a different way, than always thinking about how far you need to go. 

You should always appreciate how far you have come, but if you continually think about how far you still need to go, you are liable to stress yourself out, and quit before you get the opportunity to prove you can make it. 

I have confidence that you can do anything you set you mind to. You just might have to change your mind set, in order to get there. 

I hope y'all have a great night. Until tomorrow my friends. 

Day 26 ... Easy as pie

Hey y'all. I hope y'all are still staying on track. If nothing in our lives is constant, let yoga be your one consistent act every day. Pick a time of day you want to do yoga, and stick with it. You never know how much it might help you stay on target with other activities through out the day.

Today's video was a very easy video. It was mainly floor movements. Here is the video if you are doing it with me. It felt really good on my back, and hips. Great relaxing video. Not much more to say about it. Go watch it. You will see what I mean.

Well today was a pretty productive day. One of my rental clients put an application down on a house, and showed my other rental clients a couple homes as well. They haven't found anything yet. I think it will be a little longer before they do. Fingers crossed.

I signed up for phone duty for next month, so hopefully that results in more clients. Fingers crossed again.

That's about it for today. I am suffering from allergies, anyone else? Well, I hope y'all have a good evening.

Food:
Breakfast - Coffee
Lunch - 2 hot dogs and cheetos
Dinner - haven't had anything.

Exercise:
Yoga day 26 - 4 days left!
120 second Plank

Motivation:

Until tomorrow my friends. Stay happy healthy and motivated.