I Suspect...The Mailman!

Mailperson? Not sure if I need to be politically correct here. But regardless, you heard right--I sort of suspect that my mailperson is stealing my good mail. As in, every correspondence from Loft--coupons, Style Rewards, etc. Where are they?! And I'm still waiting for the Pure Protein variety pack that I won a few weeks ago, but they did say it takes 4-6 weeks. So that's probably normal. I just want fun mail instead of no mail or worse--bills! Yikes!

Anyways, I didn't make it for round 2 of cardio tonight, but I was definitely working it at Loft today! Let me tell you--prepping for Black Friday sales is insane! Add in that half the new girls are lazy when it comes to keeping the back room organized and markdowns that were missed from last week and I became a bit more than stressed. If it were any other week, fine! But it's the week of Thanksgiving/Black Friday and we really just need it to run smoothly! ...Not that it won't, but I just get very particular about things sometimes. I got a LOT done though! The store is looking G.O.O.D!

In other news, Fear Factor (FF from now on) audition tape planning is going pretty well! Just need a team name that's sure to wow.

And lastly (yeah, I'm tired--short/pointless post)--can anyone recommend any songs for my gym playlist??

Little Bears of Guilt

I have a confession--yesterday I stopped into work to fill out an expense report and got sucked into helping with store set (aka changing around the entire visual presentation of the store). I actually LOVE the visual aspect of my job, and it definitely helps that corporate sends us documents of how to set the store for the most part. Or at least how to set the new product--the old product is more of a "where do I fit this in" kinda thing. But since I wasn't planning on being out of the apartment for a couple hours, I was starving when I got back. And I had previously purchased a $1 bag of gummy bears from Target earlier in the day. First, I had about a serving atop some frozen FF cool whip. That turned into the whole bag. A food coma and shame immediately set in. I've had prouder moments. Did I mention dinner was Afghan food and a couple beers?

While I'm not on prep, I still get the feelings of guilt when I make such a nutrition faux pas. Today's sole purpose is to combat the excess cals and sugar and attempt to feel better about my waning body image. Luckily, the gummy bears are gone. And I ate the last of my processed food, so upon my next grocery trip, I'm sticking to the perimeters rule--shop the outer walls of the store which contain more real food. Complete with real nutritional value. Oh, and 45 minutes of cardio this morning helped a bit. I think round 2 at the gym is in order tonight. After all, Thanksgiving is coming up and I can't be feeling all gross and puffy before I attempt to avoid the bad foods. Blowing diet for a holiday meal is overrated. As long as there's turkey, I'll be okay (and luckily I hear there's going to be asparagus too!).

Speaking of holidays, my wish list is sort of pitiful. Although I realized today that I possibly want need a new macbook--I'm tired of the spinny beach ball taunting me numerous times a day! Other than that, I repeat--pitiful! (Dear family--if you're reading this, I know that request is far-fetched and don't actually expect a new laptop.) I think my list of gifts to get others is longer than my list for myself, but there's nothing wrong with feeling generous!

Anyways, here's to hoping I make it to the gym for cardio round 2 tonight! I'm off to work--40% off pre-Black Friday?? This must mean that Black Friday deals are going to be crazy good/the store will be organized insanity!

On another note--a friend and I fully plan on getting on Fear Factor! Hopefully more to come regarding this random tidbit of info...

I Made It!

Happy Monday! Good news--I made it through the Crossfit workout my friend put me through, and then some! He was nice enough to send me plenty of links to youtube videos of the workout we would be doing, the Cindy. I am a COMPLETE Crossfit amateur. As in, never done a Crossfit workout in my life up until Wednesday evening. I went into it a little lot wary and intimidated. I walked out of it pretty darn confident...and beaten down physically!

Cindy

If you're never done Crossfit before, or you've just never done the Cindy WOD, it's this"

• 1 clean and jerk/press
• 5 pull-ups (or ring rows upon fatigue)
• 10 pushups
• 10 air squats
• Repeat for 10 sets, increasing clean and jerks/presses by 1 rep each set.

We only did 7 of the 10 rounds, and by the time that last round came around, I was struggling to get the bar above my head for the press portion of the clean and presses. Luckily, I had a decent "instructor" who emphasized the importance of throwing your full body into the movements--after all, it is a total body workout. It's definitely something different than I'm used to, since I lift to target certain body parts on certain days and am unable to "throw my full body into it" for lack of actually working the targeted body parts.

The Crossfit workout was challenging for sure, and although intimidated by some of the other workouts mentioned, I think I would be open to trying another one again. Apparently there's one workout that's purely 150 wall balls--yikes! Although, thinking about it outside of the gym, not fresh after just having gone through my first WOD, it does seem a bit less intimidating. Just a bit though.

Other Fitness Happenings

What else have I been up to since then? Well, checking in/working out with Pleasants, for one. And this was the morning after my Crossfit workout--not my best idea ever. My body fat percentage has crept up just a bit--nothing too alarming, but I really need to focus on adding more protein to my diet. Most days I'm go, go, go, especially when I have to drive to Richmond for work and stay at my brother's apartment overnight. I feel a little ridiculous packing an entire cooler of food for less than 48 hours, especially when I'm not on prep. My nutrition could definitely be better, especially going into the holidays, but I'm making up for it with my energy expenditure--I'm in off-season, and yet I'm still at the gym for 1 - 1.5 hours 7 days a week. I feel very unproductive and puffy when I skip a day.

That being said, I really am trying to embrace my 3 day split, but I tend to enjoy 4 day splits better--chest/tris one day, shoulders another, back/bis another, and legs the last day. Pleasants wants to see me doing a 3 days split of chest/shoulders/tris, back/traps/bis, and legs. I prefer working shoulders separately and don't necessarily think this is impeding my progress, but if it is, I take full responsibility for it.

New shoes make working out that much better!

On top of my muscle-building splits, I've been trying to get the most out of my cardio, and even took it outside of the gym yesterday. Three friends and I went hiking at the local Humpback Rocks yesterday--one of the friends being Jared, the Crossfit warrior (ha!). Umm, let's just say that to him, hiking up this thing is beasting up it and nothing short of running up the last, steepest stretch. Unfortunately, Megan took all the pics and I took none, so I'll have to wait until I get those from her to show you all the amazing view.

And one more thing--I threw up some 35# dbs doing chest press on Saturday! Could have done 40#s but I needed a spot, just in case. Next time!

Thanksgiving Week

Family get-togethers are definitely interesting with my family. And I'm sure this year will be no different. In contrast to last year, I'm actually more excited to work off the food I eat than I am excited to eat it. That being said, Gold's is open at 8am on Thanksgiving day and then normal hours Black Friday. You best believe I will be in there both days doing what I do best!

In pictures, the things that I'm looking forward to:

Sending Thanksgiving cards.

Seeing a lot of this gent--maybe in a less
provocative pose...?

Baking more of these next week!

In less than two weeks I will be on the road going up north, accompanied by these sweet treats. Hopefully I won't get into any of them, because they're not actually for me!

Fun fact: Before you get on with your lives/Mondays--I can't be the only person that still looks for the Indian with the shooting star...

I think he's more common now?

Temporary v. Permanent

Well, not so much temporary or permanent, but rather temporary and permanent. I still haven't readjusted my schedule/time management skills, so it has been quite some time since I last blogged on a regular basis. Add onto that internet connection problems for the better part of a week, too. I promise I'm getting there though--I just recently read skimmed through the 400+ new blog posts that racked up on my Google Reader! Here's hoping that doesn't happen again! And in this new vow, I also promise to get back to commenting SOON!!


Holidays...?


Before I really get into the temporaries and the permanents of this post, here's a not-so- brief recap of the past few weeks. Halloween has come and gone, but not without some fun and festivities. A pumpkin carving get-together was a must at Megan's house with a group of old and new friends. As always, my overachieving lead me to this masterpiece:

Hardness: 4 out of 4 pumpkins!

 Let's see that again, shall we! One picture just doesn't do it justice ;)

Now I don't know if it's my old crappy, but cheap apartment, or if it's normal, but this sucker didn't last too long. Started molding and getting smelly after about a week. Finally, when my roommate and I couldn't stand the smell, it died a slow (or fast?) death in the dumpster. But hey, I have photographic evidence of its magnificence and that's all that counts!

More Halloween weekend festivities included a dinner, Guitar Hero, and drinks.

Sometimes I love getting all glam--and not for work!

Insert your own caption here. 

And then of course Saturday night was the night to get decked out! I may have outfit repeated from last year, but I swear I wore it better this year!

Last year.

This year.

Believe it or not, but last year I was also The Little Mermaid one night. Or attempted it. Umm yeah, don't worry--I'm not going to bother horrifying you and embarrassing myself with those photos. Just checked back for them, and not only am I extremely pasty and pretty drunk, but I'm not in the best shape either. Not that I was in bad shape, but I had other goals at the time (aka having too much fun that more times than not involved alcohol).

Retail Therapy?

So yes, Halloween has come and gone and now it's November! Which brings me into the temporaries. As you all know, the full-time job didn't work out, but now I'm working on other plans. This involves a lot of working at Loft, which I DEFINITELY don't mind! For the past few weeks, I have been averaging over 30 hours, which is almost unheard of in retail unless you are a manager. While I'm hoping to make this somewhat permanent (though in another store, same company), I'm temporarily helping out our Richmond store at Short Pump through the holidays. Which means I've been bumped back up to sales lead! Pretty much, this is the only way I can keep that title at this point in time, and since I'm trying to move up and hopefully work my way into corporate, I am more than willing to do anything to get there. Well, anything within reason.

Hello, Holiday!

This is what 120+ boxes of shipment looks like...

For those of you that are not too familiar with Virginia, Richmond is about an hour away from Charlottesville. Luckily, I'm only working there 1-2 days a week and my brother lives downtown there, so I can stay with him when necessary--thanks bro! Also, it helps that I get generously reimbursed for gas. That just means more money for my moving fund!

Which brings me to the first "permanent" of this blog post. I'm looking to move sometime in the new year. I would prefer that it be sooner rather than later, but according to my assistant manager, the company as a whole "cleans house" after performance reviews come out in April. On the one hand, if the temporary traveling sales lead position takes me through holiday, my assistant manager will be on maternity leave soon after so I can remain a temporary sales lead through most of February and into March, probably. From there, April is only a few (short?) weeks away. And my lease goes into May. On the other hand, I would really love to get settled into a new city before then with a new position--I'm hoping a co-manager position. But really it's all up in the air with the availability of positions before April.

Busy schedule + forgetting a paper plate = this.

I'm excited for the coming weeks at work! Holiday is by far my favorite season in retail, although the busiest. Fun colors, fun people (sometimes), and just the air about the season. Slight panic, excitement--it's a bit of a thrill. Add in the excitement of getting to meet the Regional Vice President and possibly one (or two!) of the company's executive directors, and I'm BEYOND stoked! That's something I would not have the opportunity to do if it weren't for my commute to the Short Pump store. It pays to be flexible!

Muscle Mania

My workout program is once again temporarily revamped. For the next few weeks, it's 5 sets of 5 reps, heavy sets! Am I nervous? Nah. Am I amped? Yes, definitely! Although, my first words to this were "Man, now I have to make more friends at the gym, so I can have a spotter when I need one." Ha! I'm really not against making gym friends, but many people who go to "workout/lift grrrrr" spend wayyy too much chatting between sets. And I really don't need anyone ogling me when I'm working out and thinking that I'm coming onto them by asking for a spot. I kid not! The guys at the gym that I frequent think that if you walk one foot closer to them to re-rack weights you are pretty much asking for a comment from them. Uh, let me check--No!

The only thing I'm nervous about regarding heavier lifting is looking more awkward than I already do. I'm about 80-85% sure that I have decent form, but there are some things that have been added to my workouts that I am not really that great at--deadlifts, I'm talking to you! So heavier = more awkward = "Look at that chick that clearly doesn't know what she's doing!" I'll be okay, promise!

Oh, and if that's not intimidating enough, a new friend wants to put me through a Crossfit workout. He said he likes to judge his progress against this video:

As if I've EVER done a clean and press in my life! I may not come out of this workout unscathed! He's putting me through it on Wednesday evening, so if you don't hear from me on Thursday, I died a quick death.

It feels good to be back!

And an epic comeback to Words
With Friends! 126 points!

PS. Look who visited the barber shop!

Half bunny rabbit, half dog.

ALL adorable!

Can you tell what his favorite way to lay is?