Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Phone Dumpin'

I, like Andrea, am just to busy lazy to post a real post....so here's some pictures I found on my tablet.


My sleepy baby...His name is D.O.G. isn't he precious.
 
 
And this is Kujo...the evil one. You think I'm lying? His name is Kujo for a reason. See below.
 
 
See, He is trying to bite me right and all I wanted to do was pet him. :[
 
 
Saw this guy on my flight to Miami. Doesn't he look like Johnny Knoxville? Anyone...?
 
 
Got the Keratin treatment done to my hair. I love it. Ladies, it's definitely worth the money.
 
 
Austin Reggae Fest - Day
 
 
Austin Reggae Fest - Night
 
Delicious breakfast from a little french restauraunt in Miami - Bread was DEeeelicious.
 
This pictured doesn't do this dogs size justice. He was humungo...

 

Monday, April 29, 2013

Excuses are like a butthole, everyone's got one

It feels great to workout again here at work during lunch. I need to make sure I do this every opportunity I get. I'm ready to be committed again. There are several things I need to change in order to make this work.

1.Stop making excuses as to why you can workout.
    • My latest excuses include:
      • I JUST got my hair done and couldn't sweat for three days until the Keratin treatment was washed out....I made that 3 days turn into over 2 weeks.
      • I don't want to have to redo my hair so I'm not going to sweat = I'm not lifting weights, running or even moving off of this couch.
      • I have school Tuesdays and Thursdays so I can't work out those days...Ummm...I get out of work at 3:30, 4 at the latest. I don't have to be in class until 6. Even it's for 30 minutes, just get out there and do it.
      • Mondays and Friday's are off limits for me to workout because its the beginning and ending of the week. BULLSHIT! get over it already.
      • Saturday and Sunday I'm "recovering" from my drinking habit....STOP GETTING DRUNK!
      • Wednesdays are my only free days so I dedicate that to washing laundry day. I can always run in between loads...Just do it.

 2. Make your mind up and stick to it. I will tell myself I'm gonna workout and then about   30 minutes before it's time, I find a reason not to. Or I'll say instead of running you can clean up the house and that'll work. Thats only a good excuse if you've been working out the entire week and honestly need a break.

3. I've been eating entirely to much. Like a mad woman...seriously. I got so angry and upset at Drew for eating my hot funyuns. There is no reason EVER to get that mad about someone eating something of yours....especially when it's not good for you anyways. After realizing what I just did, I apologized. I was honestly embarrassed.

4. Blog more often. I found that once I stopped blogging and reading other's blogs my mind kind of drifted away from healthy living. I swear blogging is a big motivation for me and so is reading others. I will be posting more often. Sorry guys for leaving you hanging.

5. Take classes at Gold's gym. I used to love Zumba and only tried cycling once. I loved it and need to continue going.

I have a lot to work on but I'm definitely excited to get started. I love the feeling!!!!!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Tips for growing out Unruly/Ethnic Hair

Happy Hump Day!

HELP!!! I have ethnic hair and I don't know what to do with it.

All throughout my life I've always hated my hair. Why? Because it was too difficult to deal with. It always looked messy and the only way to not make it look messy was to put horrible products in my hair such as "grease" what my grandma would make me use, and "mousse" what my Mom would have me use.

Everyday from 5th grade until 11th grade I wore my hair up in a bun and would use mousse to keep it up. I wanted to do something else with my hair but didn't think anything would work. I had tried straightening it but it would immediately turn into a big puff ball. So what did I do?

I got a relaxer. I wanted straight, smooth hair but wasn't worried about the consequences of putting such dangerous chemicals in my hair. Actually I didn't think they were dangerous, I was naive. After the first time I got my hair relaxed, I was in love. My hair was so long and it was so nice to see it straight. I should have known that the relaxer was dangerous because when applied it started to burn my head and I was actually left with burns. Did I let that stop me? No. I wanted to keep getting it done because it was the best my hair ever looked.

I later discovered that my hair was breaking. It was in bad condition. I had lost half the length of my hair. I was no longer happy with getting relaxers. I finally looked into it and the chemical fermaldehyde can be found in relaxers and that's what was killing my hair.

This is an extreme example of what it could have turned out to, but I stopped!!!





Recently I have been researching better hair practices and learning a lot about what chemicals to avoid and what you should do to help your hair grow. Today I will be sharing with you how you can achieve the same results.


1. If you get relaxers, stop now. You may not like the way your hair looks while your trying to grow it out, but deal with it for a while so that you can have healthy hair later on.

2. Make sure to get your hair trimmed every three months or so to ensure you are getting rid of the split ends. You  would think that you are just cutting your hair even shorter, but by cutting the ends you allow for your hair to grow longer, instead of continuously breaking at the ends.

3. Avoid Shampoo's containing Sulphate and Sodium. They strip your hair of anything you put in it. It's also used to create that rich lather that many of us love, but there our other ingredients that can do that for you in a shampoo.

4. Avoid products containing alcohol. It will dry out your hair, cause it to be frizzy and dry. It can give you more split ends and it will remove the color from your hair if you dye it or it will completely remove a Keratin Treatment.

5. Wear your hair in protective ways. Good ideas for this would be a bun or french braid. You want to hide those ends and protect them so that they will stay in good shape.

6. Use leave-in conditioner. Be sure to check the ingredients list and avoid Sulphate and Sodium.

7. Brush hair lightly as if you were brushing a toddlers hair. Start from the ends and work up to the roots.

8. Do not pull your hair tie out of your hair. Take the time to un-wind it from your hair. This helps cut down on breakages.

9. Use a wide tooth comb when combing your hair.

10. Air dry instead of blow dry. Make sure to use a heat protectant. If you must blow dry and have normal hair, use a heat protectant. Do not use heat protectant if you just got the Keratin treatment. This too may strip your hair of the Keratin.

11. As you can tell, I am a fan of the Keratin Treatment. If you think your hair is too unruly but don't want to risk it with chemicals like fermaldehyde, then try a Keratin treatment. It actually puts proteing back in to the DNA of your hair. It even looks better than getting a relaxer. I totally recommend it. I know it may be on the pricier side, but it's more safe, gives your hair protein, and gives your hair body.



I hope you find some of these tips useful. It takes a lot of time to find out what works for your hair and what doesn't. Please understand that I am in no way certified in hair health, but for years I've been trying to see what works for me.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Austin American-Statesman Capitol 10k

WooooooWeeeeee! I am very tired right now....well my body is, my brain is fired up.

This morning I ran the Austin-American Statesman Capitol 10k. I think you all remember my last post stating that I haven't run in a month. I really thought this run was going to be miserable, but from this race I learned that once you build endurance and the mentality to keep pushing on, it stays with you even if you take a little break.

There were over 17,000 participants, HOLY MOLY! The gun fired and it took me about 8 1/2 minutes to even get to the start line. I started off down Congress towards the Capital. That was definitely the easy part. Actually the first two and half miles were really flat and it felt really good. Then the dreaded 15th street came. HILLS, HILLS, HILLS! Especially the part where you pass House Park Football Stadium. I loved going down that hill, but getting back up on the other side...wellll....sucked. I missed a lot of the bands that were playing along side the course but I didn't miss the family eating eggs, bacon and toast outside on their side walk....drooollll! At this point I finally turned on my IPOD. Along the way some guy was passing out Krispy Kreme donuts. I sure didn't want one....and a little further down the course was the good ol' shots of beer. I didn't stop because it was still crowded and you really have to watch your step.

At about mile 4, I thought it was time to bust out my Scooby snacks. It was right about when I was telling myself I could walk if I really wanted to. But I didn't. I ate my snacks grabbed a quick water at the water station. I have a strategy for the water stations. It's called "grab a cup, keep running, take a sip, spit it out, take a sip, gulp it down, throw the rest on the back of my neck". You should try it, it works wonders.I knew the last 2 miles really well because when I run town lake that is the exact same course I take. I knew it was smooth sailing from them...except that it wasn't. I started to get really tired and worn down but told myself "one foot in front of the other" And I made it. I finished and I was darn proud because I haven't been running and it looked as if I got the close to the same as last year's time when I was training.

I went and grabbed water and proceeded to the "Penguin" sign which is where I told my coworkers, all 23 of us to meet. I still had to wait for my Mom so I walked around a bit and then finally headed over to the finishline to run the rest with her. I am so proud of her. This was the longest walk/run she has ever done. She finished in 1:38 minutes. Way to go, Mom.

I came immediately home to foam roll, make pizza, and hop in the shower that I very much needed. I got online to check my time because I didn't know the exact time. 1:08:18. The EXACT same time I ran it in last year, down to the SECOND! I had to look twice and make sure, but yeppp, this girl stayed consistent. If you would have asked me months ago, my goal would have been to beat that time. But seeing how I haven't been training, my goal was just to run the whole darn thing without stopping. I'm so proud of myself for not even loosing a second. :]

Have you gotten your family interested in running/walking race events?

Do you have a good technique to get you up those darn hills?

Do you have a game plan down for water stops?