Spring 2011 Ads

Well it's Fashion Friday for me- so excited to catch up on all the Spring Ads

YUMMY

Chanel

My fav

Vera Wang

Classy

D&G

Burberry

I just love her whole outfit! 

 Louis Vuitton

 Mulberry

 Giuseppe Zanotti

Ok if these ads don't make you want to RUN to the gym for Summer prepping nothing will!

 I really enjoyed Madewell's LookBook for spring and it's pretty obvious what shoe I need this spring.   

And now for your viewing enjoyment - turn off the music at the bottom of blog
And enjoy Tom Fords Spring 2011 Show
Check out Beyonce's shoes ;)

FitSugar- Get Fit For 2011

Signed up at FitSugar

http://www.fitsugar.com/What-Motivates-You-Gym-13123900

Girlfriend Motivation

Thank God for girlfriends- when trying to get in shape!

I know I told my girlfriend Amy she looked good on New Years, but I wonder if she actually believed me.  I wonder if I made my self clear enough- She looked GREAT!  She always does, but I could tell she has been working out.  I also heard her husband make a cute comment about her bum!  Oh and my husband even made a comment on how good she looked. Go Girl!

Amy is a great friend and when I see her doing so good with her work out it makes me want to be better!

Thank you Amy!

Amy with Krista

Then I get a call today from a friend Jen- looking for me to attend Weight Watcher tonight- OK Jen is always a motivations because she looks like she looks like she should be running the WW meeting, but still she gains a pound and she's ALL OVER IT!  Yes - skinny girls can be annoying, but really they are doing something right and it may be just freaking over that 1 little pound!

Thank you Jen

Jen and I

You girls are great!

Well I'm back at the gym and back at Pilates- yeah.  I must say I had 2 very hard workouts.  I was so lucky to have had a one on one with my Pilates instructor BUT it was sooooo hard.

I finally had my appointment with my oncologist for my 1st follow up appointment since treatment and every thing is going good.  I did have my blood test results prior so I knew about all that.  We did discuss my iron and also he ran tests on my thyroid and estrogen levels.  My iron is 10.2- normal range starts at 11 so that's not that bad.  I did see my Vitamin D is 21 and that is not where I'd like it to be- I'm shooting for 50 so I will increase my dose.
I'm also adding to my daily vitamins- Magnesium and Calcium.  I had stopped them because I really was getting sick of taking so many things.  After watching Deepak Chopra on Doctor Oz tonight I'm back on those.  You can watch the clip of him on Dr. Oz's website. 

My trainer has informed me that I need to kick up my cardio and tonight on Dr. Oz I loved Stepp Stewart- I even got up and did the moves- very simple and fun.
Click on the picture and you can do it too!


Stepp Stewart shows off the 3 simple moves that will firm your rear for the New Year. It's easy to get in shape without a gym membership.  Dance...
 
I also realized that stress management is very important so I will go back to some things I learned at Doorways to Healing and also use some things I learned from Deepak. 
Empty the Mind
Deep Breathing
Meditation
 
I found this post about Mediation 
 
How to Meditate (for beginners)
Justin Dixon
July 29, 2009

Our minds are built for solving problems, but when our minds run out of problems to solve it is not uncommon for them to create new (often imaginary) problems. Our minds can start attacking our identities with anything they can find, they can focus on things that will make you worry without benefit, and your mind if not reigned in will cause you to miss out on the greatest gift you have right now, your own life, your existence, the present, here and now, all that you really have. Meditation is about getting this under control.

Meditation benefits health, peace of mind, and spiritual well-being. It reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, increases focus, and gives rest. You may or may not have heard of all these benefits, but what do I mean by meditation and how do you get started?

Any action can be turned into a meditation with the proper mindset and breathing. For some many chores are meditation (good way to wash dishes), yoga, martial-arts, and sometimes dance are forms of meditation. There is also the still form of meditation which is what I will focus on here. In all cases what you are trying to do is clear your mind, to be completely in the present moment, and to be at peace in spite of surrounding circumstances.

Here are some of the methods I have used for successful meditation. I recommend trying them all out to see which ones work best for you. Another thing that I’ve done before is when I catch myself coming out of one type of meditation I switch to another type so that I can keep on going.

The lotus position is not necessary. Try to find a way to not be leaning sideways and more importantly be comfortable. With practice the period of time that you meditate will get longer, and if you are sitting in a position that is uncomfortable or bad for your body than you can cause harm.

Your mind will put up a fight. For the first five minutes of holding still you will probably itch and want to fidget all over the place. This is your mind resisting. I know it will take practice but try to wait it out as this will stop.

You don’t have to get it perfect the first time. It may take a couple of tries, that is okay, stressing out about it would be both ironic and counter-productive.

Quality over quantity. This is not a contest, you do not get points for the amount of time that you meditate. Instead, focus on quality. So far the best quality I’ve had is when it takes real effort to come out of my meditative state.

With those things said lets continue.

Focus on Breathing
This breathing is the type you want in all of these meditations, and it is where many of the health benefits come in to play. In this meditation you want to focus exclusively on breathing. First start by inhaling through the nose, as lightly as possible, and extending the breath as long as you can, than exhale through the mouth in the same way. Just focus on keeping this kind of breathing up. The goal is to have the breaths so light that they would not move a feather.


Using a Mantra
Our minds have incredible power, and we can use that to help us gain better control over them. Simply close your eyes and think about the following mantra over and over again. “…still as a stone, tranquil as the wind, still as a stone, tranquil as the wind…” A rock does not move if a bug lands on it, and if anything tries to upset a summer breeze it just keeps blowing by as peacefully as it came.

Focusing on a Color
Close your eyes, and pick a color that makes you feel peaceful, and relaxed, like green, light blue, or whatever works for you. What you want to do is think about that color until in your mind that color surrounds you completely.


Zen Questions
Zen Buddhists take an unanswerable question, and force themselves to focus on it for hours on end. Once they have an answer they report to a higher ranked monk. If the answer is wrong, than they continue thinking on that question, if the answer is right, than they move on to the next level. An example of a zen question that you are probably familiar with would be “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to here it does it make a sound?” Try to think of a serious answer to this question. Is sound sound, because it is heard, does it originate at a separate point in space, or does sound start in the ear? Is there really such a thing as separation of space, or is this an illusion? How do you know? There is a lot of meaning in these strange questions.

Just Be
This is one of the main goals of meditation and can ironically be a meditation itself. In fact I actually had this state induced by watching through Kung-Fu Panda, and sitting through the credits! For this meditation it doesn’t matter if your eyes are opened or closed. Just be. That is beautiful, and in many ways sacred.

Binaural Beats
This is a way to kind of cheat if you are having a really hard time. It can also be used to reach a deeper level of meditation. How this works is you plug a pair of headphones into your computer and you stream the meditation binaural beat through your computer, or mp3 player. These beats send a different tone to each ear, thus communicating directly with the brain. I go here for my binaural beats as I can listen from my computer for free.

There are many more kinds of meditation, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of how to do this, but this should get you started. When you master this, even the most annoying, or even dangerous things, will not be able to cut through your sense of tranquility. After all panicking helps no one. Plus the other benefits of meditation are way more than I can even list here.

Justin really makes it not so scary and very simple-

Tonight I'm feeling peacefully funky- and my mantra is
New Year New Rear ;)

Some Celebrity Breast Cancer Survivors

"Some of these women have some really inspiring things to say. Bless all of them. "

Celebrity Breast Cancer Survivors Over 40

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Well it's time to take down our Christmas decorations.

When I was growing up we didn't take our decorations down until the 3 Kings came- well today is that day!  I was so happy to finally have our families over to see our tree. 

We also celebrated 3 Kings by Blessing our house.  I still remember going to my grandmother's house and seeing the chalk letters and numbers above her front door.  Back then the priest would actually come and bless your house, now we can do it our self and our church was kind enough to give us a kit.
We did every room!

I will miss our Christmas decorations- but they won't be coming down for at least 1 or 2 more days.  Rob and I are off to the city for my follow-up at treatment with my oncologist.  They called me last week to let me know they were going to do my blood test again and also do some blood studies for my low iron.
I sort of dread going- but I'm trying really hard to psych my self up for it.  I'd like to go there dressed really nice and happy, it was so nice when I first went there to see and meet so many positive women and I certainly don't want to be the one to scare any new women.

It's hard going back for Rob too, but I told him we really have to start looking at the positives of things.  I guess I have all this positive input for him due to the fact we received a letter from Dr. Meredith Whitney and it was very encouraging.

Well good bye to Christmas 2010

Paper Fun

 One of my favorite gifts ever from Rob

 So sad this is the 2nd Christmas Eve we didn't put cookies out- Next year I'm putting them out!

 Some of my favorite Christmas fun things...music, snow, dancing Santa, silly snowman -

They are always fun to play to with.

The two love birds

 I had to get a little table out for some Christmas photos

My grandparents and my 1st Christmas card from my grandmother...Mimi

1 of our manger scenes

I love getting Christmas cards

He's 14 and he still managed a little decor himself

Even did some bathroom decorating after Christmas

Thanks to some cute little gifts from Nolie and Nat

I enjoyed decorating my room this year.

 I hadn't put a tree in our bedroom before, but this year I did!

 This is what you call a newlywed tree.

At my wedding I was given a gift from Aunt Monica and my cousins and it was a box of glass ornaments for a Newlywed couple's tree.  This year I put a little tree in our room with those special ornaments.  

Each ornament had meaning for marriage 

I put the little bird on top 

 Here's a few vintage items from my mom I also put in my room

I will miss getting up or going to sleep in my room and not smelling these live wreaths.

I think the wreaths are one of my favorite decorations this year 

 I hung this pretty ornament on my mirror

Mom and Dad by our tree

Times are changing- Lucas cut the tree this year. 

Yeah - probably the last year for this