So, some of you may remember that I lost a little bit of weight and went on a quest to get fit. Then again, I have been so sporadic with my blog the last year, I probably don't have any readers out there anymore! :) Anyway, you can read about my quest to get fit HERE. Go ahead check it out…..at least take a look at the photo! YIKES! I still can't believe I posted that picture for the blog world to see!
So, back to my quest to get fit. I found Zumba and I fell in love with it. And then I started GPP, along with Zumba and life was good! Unfortunately, last November life threw me a curve ball, and I ended up having to have ACDF Surgery 3.5 weeks ago. My activity level has dropped dramatically since getting injured back in November. For the time being, all I am allowed to do is walk. Either outside or on the treadmill. I can also do the elliptical, but that's not really my thing. I found this great app called Walkmeter, to map my walk, track my distance, and track my calories burned. I know that it might not be perfectly accurate, but for right now, it is working for me and keeping me motivated!
My walks over the last week:
Pretty consistent, so far! I guess I need to get walking a bit further! Ha! Bottom line is, I am getting out there, counting the minutes, steps, walks, etc. until I am released to get back to Zumba and GPP!
I've got a high school reunion coming up in a few months as well! Gotta get on it!
Have you ever had an injury setback? Had to scale back workouts, or stop working out all together?
If so, I would love to hear your story! Maybe get some motivation from you!?!?!
Three weeks ago yesterday, I had ACDF surgery. Basically, I have several bulging discs in my upper back/neck. The neurosurgeon went in the front of my neck, and removed the bad, dried up discs, and the space was replaced with cadaver grafts, then strengthened with titanium plates and screws. Crazy, huh?
So, 3 weeks post surgery, how's it going? Well I am back at work, full time. I tried to go back after 1 week, but it just didn't happen. I needed one more day at home. I was able to work the last two days of the week, but I was so glad for the weekend. I think I tried to do too much, too soon!
We did get out to see Daniel Tosh, I was worried I wouldn't be able to sit through a whole show, but it was okay! And Daniel Tosh? Oh my! HILARIOUS! But so, so, bad! And don't you love my see through shirt (Hello BRA!) ? Hmmmm….didn't really notice that until the photo. I'm classy….what can I say!
I've been trying to get as much rest as I can, and I never have to worry about cooking! I swear, my family and Zumba girls took care of me! The delicious meals Carl and I had……oh my! I am so thankful!
My neurosurgeon told me that I could begin walking after a week or so, as long as I felt up to it. I went on a nice long walk during the second week, but I think it was too soon. I took the second weekend super easy, wore my neck brace and laid low. It was well needed! Once again, what can I say? I'm classy! Sharpies on my neck collar! 🙂
I was still having trouble sleeping. It seems to be the worst side effect of this whole thing. I wasn't able to sleep much before surgery, and sleeping after surgery wasn't much easier! It was hard to sleep on my back, propped up with pillows. I just couldn't get comfortable! Ugh!
Week three started a little bit better! I think the weekend of rest, really did me some good! I was able to go on two really nice walks and burn some good calories! Important, right?
Last night I had to run to Costco for a few things and found this pillow:
And for the first time in months, I could sleep on my side and get a good night's sleep! It was amazing! I am praying tonight goes just as well!
My follow up appt. with my neurosurgeon is next week. I am hoping that that x-rays show that my neck is "fusing" nicely and I am on the mend! This whole experience has been trying!
I hope you all have a happy Thursday, and THANK YOU so much for your support, as I go through this crazy time in my life!
Seriously, I cannot believe it is already June! I'm loving the warm weather though! Summer is here! Since I barely posted during the month of May, I thought I would just do a little recap with instagram photos. If you don't follow me on instagram, please do (I'm alimoll).
Anyway, the month started off with a visit home from my favorite son, Tyson!
A bunch of his friends were graduating from the University of Utah the first weekend in May, so he came home for 2.5 days for all of the festivities and parties! We had a great time hanging out with some pretty fabulous friends celebrating. It was great to have Tyson home, if only for a short time!
This photo was taken on a Saturday morning in May, a week and a half prior to my neck/back surgery . I woke up feeling so good! I actually got some sleep the night before and I wasn't in too much pain. I went for a nice long walk at Sugarhouse Park with some great friends and then out to lunch. It was nice to feel good enough to get some exercise in!
We celebrated Mother's Day by having my Mom over for dinner on the patio! A quick photo of the girls, including our Mal-Shi, Chloe!
The highlight of the month was being able to attend BLEND with my daughter Madison. We had such a great time! Even though I wasn't able to really participate 100% due to my back, it was fabulous to spend time with Madi and meet so many wonderful women! I came away from the retreat feeling so optomistic about my surgery and getting back to working out and being back to myself again! You can read about my Blend Retreat Recap HERE. I am so thankful that I met Janetha and found out about Blend!
We were also able to get the patio furniture out, and get some flowers and pots of flowers planted. I knew I wouldn't be able to do any work in the yard post surgery, so getting it pretty was a priority! Even though the weather was a bit iffy in May!
Finally, it was Surgery Week. I have been in pain since last November, and finally realizing that I might be pain free was almost too much to imagine! I was nervous, a bit apprehensive and scared, but mostly I was excited and optimistic!
I handled the surgery really well, and immediately felt relief. My arms and hands had been going numb daily, and the pain in my neck (LOL!) was almost constant. Waking up from surgery and finally coming out of the anesthesia fog, I could already tell a difference. It was crazy! I am almost 2 weeks post surgery and I am doing so much better! Praise God! One odd thing – I'm not a real jello lover (except jello shots, holla!)…but I couldn't get enough jello in the hospital. Every hour throughout the night, when the nurses would come in to check my vitals, I asked for ice chips and jello! My throat was so sore from the tube down my throat, as well as the agitation from surgery, and jello just tasted sooo good and was so easy on my throat! I couldn't get enough. Smile.
Finally, I have to give a shout out to my Zumba friends, who along with my family made sure we were well fed, and I was well taken care of, the week after surgery! I really am the luckiest girl!
And so the month of May has come to a close. It was a great month, and I am looking forward to summer and what the month of June holds for me! I am back to work, and feeling so much better! I'm not able to exercise much yet, but I have been taking some nice long walks! Trying to get those endorphines going and burn some calories!
Happy Monday Friends! And Happy June! I hope it's a great month for us all!
Last weekend, Madison and I were lucky enough to attend the 2013 Blend Retreat at the Canyons Ski Resort! We registered for the retreat before I knew the extent of my back/neck issues, so I wasn't sure how much of the weekend i would be able to participate in.
We arrived on Friday afternoon, and checked in to the GORGEOUS Hyatt Escala Lodge. It was so beautiful. We shared a beautiful 4 bedroom suite with these awesome girls:
They were all so awesome, and I am so happy to have met them all!
Friday night started out with a Cocktail Party, sponsored by Silk. In addition to having a full bar set up, Silk had a few signature cocktails made with their soy and almond milk. I stuck with my trusty Chardonnay, but Madi tried the Strawberry Mint Slush. It was delicious!
After the Cocktail Party, we had a fabulous 4-course dinner buffet in the ballroom. The dinner was delicious, and we got to spend time mingling and getting to know the other "blends"!
The next morning, GPP led a group workout, which was awesome. With my back/neck issues, I wasn't able to do much of the workout (only the squats and push-ups), but it was still a great workout for me!
The weather over the weekend was rainy and wet. We had a hike scheduled for late morning, but with the weather, we weren't sure if it was going to happen. Fortunately, the rain subsided to just a drizzle and we were able to get our hike in. Living in Utah, I sometimes take the beauty of the mountains for granted. I live a short 20 miles from The Canyons, and we don't make it up here often enough. The hike was gorgeous. I wasn't sure how well, I was going to do, but I'm so glad I just went with it. Even though my arms were numb most of the time, it was worth it. GORGEOUS! The hike was sponsored by Pro Bar. Fabulous protein bars and chews! I could seriously, eat those chews like candy!
The rest of the day we were on our own. Madi and I did a little shopping at the outlet stores and stopped by downtown Park City for a bit. By the time we were done around 5:00, we were exhausted. Madi felt like she might be coming down with a cold, so she crashed for a few hours. It was nice for both of us to be able to just chill in our suite. We did grab a takeout pizza from Drafts, which was really good! We called it a night early!
On Sunday morning, GPP hosted another workout which I didn't make it to. I was sooo sore from Saturday and knew that I wouldn't be able to do much of the workout with my neck issue, so I slept in. From what I heard, Neil put together another great workout!
Breakfast on Sunday was sponsored by Chobani, which is a FAVE of mine!
I can't even begin to explain how fabulous this breakfast was! Omelet stations with all the fixin's and Chobani yogurt sauce, Chobani Smoothies, Chobani Pancakes (YUM!), and Oatmeal with Chobani too! Plus a huge assortment of Chobani yogurt, including their new Flips! So good!
After our awesome breakfast, we all packed up our rooms, etc. and headed to the last event of the weekend. The Raffle, which was sponsored by Blue Diamond. Have you tried the new flavored almonds? If not, you should! The Coconut Almonds are amazing! I can't believe how many fabulous items were raffled off! Everyone went home with at least one raffle item, and sometimes two!
I won the entire Smooth Sensations Cream Cheese line from The Laughing Cow!!
Love that stuff! I couldn't be more thrilled!
After the raffle, it was time to say Good-Bye to everyone. What a great group of women, and a super fabulous weekend! This was exactly what I needed the weekend before my neck surgery!
Hmmmmm…..Cooking, Crafting and Getting Fit. During my 5 month blog hiatus, did I do any of those things?
Well, let's see. I posted about my Valentine's Day Cooking Exchange HERE, and that definitely involved some cooking and a little bit of crafting! In, January I crafted some centerpieces for a church luncheon we had and made some chocolate covered fortune cookies (crafting or cooking?):
I also decorated my small white Christmas Tree for Valentine's Day:
I even decorated it for Easter, but didn't take any photos!
As far as Cooking goes, let's see? I've made some of my favorite meals:
Which include clockwise from top left: The Best Pizza Evah! , Grilled Salmon, (YUM!), Lemon Vodka Pasta (I add Shrimp) from the I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook, and the always delicious Funeral/Mormon/Company/Utah Potatoes (made for Easter).
I've got an injury that I am dealing with (more on that below), so I have also been trying to be much healthier in my cooking by eating more of a clean diet. We've also been trying to drink Green Smoothies every morning. So delicious and good for you. I've found most of my recipes HERE
Other clean eating recipes and cooking:
Clockwise from top left: Citrus Grilled Chicken (you must try this!), Clean Rice Saute (veggies and TJ's Organic Brown Rice), Salad with Salsa Chicken, and more Salsa Chicken with a salad made with chick peas, avocado, tomatoes, kidney beans and cilantro and lime. So good!
Now on to the Getting Fit: Well, about 2 years ago I set out to get fit and healthy. You can read about it HERE or HERE. I was doing my favorite Zumba and GPP classes faithfully. I was happy and healthy. I've always had some random back problems which were manageable, but a bit frustrating nontheless. Well back track to last November and I woke up one morning with my left hand numb. It was the weirdest thing. It progressivly got worse, and moved up my arm. I had no idea what was wrong. Then the upper back/neck pain started. I went to my Chiropractor for treatment and ended up seeing him 3-4 times a week for a few months. Finally, when I really wasn't improving, he ordered an MRI. After getting the results, he suggested I see a neurosurgeon. I had to wait two months for my appointment with the neurosurgeon (what?, I know crazy). Anyway, the neurosurgeon confirmed what everyone thought, and what my MRI results suggested: 4 bulging discs in my neck (two moderate, two severe), with one pinching a nerve (the cause of the numbness and pain in my arm/hand), bone spurs, and degenerative disc disease.
Jealous? 🙂
So…..next week, May 22nd to be exact, I am going in for surgery. I believe the surgery is called: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. More informtion found HERE.
So, the Getting Fit part of my life has been seriously lacking the last 5-6 months. Cue sad music!
I'm not really a quitter….but I sure feel like it in the getting fit department! I should be back to regular activity soon, right?
I do get to have one last Getting Fit adventure before surgery next week! I'm heading to the BLEND Retreat this weekend and I couldn't be more excited! Who knows how much I will get to participate, but just being there will be awesome!
I can't wait!
Okay, well this post has been long enough. Just wanted to update on the Cooking, Crafting and Getting Fit party of my life! Happy Thursday y'all!
Happy Friday, Friends! Are you super, excited for the weekend? I am! It's been a little bit of a rough week and I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit!
I wanted to tell you about something fun I got to do on Wednesday night! I had the opportunity to take a Zumba Master Class from Lindsey Taylor, who is a Zumba Education Specialist and International presenter and trainer for Zumba Fitness. She is FABULOUS!
One of my cute Zumba teachers Brittany, invited a few of her students to come take the class with her. Lindsey is getting ready to teach a huge class at the Zumba Convention next week, and wanted to try out her presentation. It was awesome! She had two great back up dancers with her (forgot to grab a picture of her with them), that were amazing! Both of them could MOVE! Lindsey broke down a bunch of hip hop/house dance moves for us during the first hour of class, so we could "master" them, and then she taught a full hour zumba class. We also learned about Waacking and Voguing (which was very interesting). The night was a lot of fun, and definitely had my heart pumping! Lindsey is such a great performer and I know she will have her class at convention hopping!
Before class:
Kanoni, Sophie, Brittany, Me, Michele and Callie
Below was our "sexy pose", haha! Michele and I didn't get the memo! We just smiled for the camera!
That was our "sexy pose". Michele and I didn't get the memo! We just smiled for the camera!
We stopped for a bite to eat at Kneaders and laughed and laughed and laughed! Love nights out with the girls, and getting a little excercise in too, makes it even better!
Question for you: Have you ever taken a Master Class (yoga, zumba, dance, etc)? If so, did you like it?
Good Morning! How is your Tuesday going? So far, so good for me, but I am super sore!
I've talked about my love for GPP and Zumba plenty of times here on my blog, and last night was one of the reasons I love them both so much!
First up was The Eliminator:
Oh my hell. Talk about a crazy, exhausting workout! Carl, Tyson and I all did it together – well at the same time I should say. Tyson powered through like it was no big deal. Strong boy! I'm not sure how long it took Carl or Tyson to finish round FOUR, but it took me 10:39. A long time. Considering the super fit Candice finished in 5:56 and Janetha finished in just over 7 minutes after being on vacation for a few weeks. I'm going to chalk it up to being 20+ (hello! I could be their mother!) years older than those two awesome girls!
I had time for a quick energy boost, and then it was right in to Zumba! Teresa had our heart rates up super fast, by dropping and getting some push ups going right away! My heart rate was crazy high for the whole class, but I loved it! Such a great workout!
Needless to say, I was exhausted when I got home. My hr was still hovering above 100 while I was sitting on the couch! A quick check of my Polar, showed I burned just over 800 calories with both classes. Love it!
It's time for another Weekend Wrap Up post! Although, I was lame this weekend and didn't take any pictures! Duh!
As usual, my weekend begins at 4:31 pm on Friday! The minute I am off work! :) I wasn't able to make it to GPP on Friday night, but I did get to Zumba with Teresa! Great class! Teresa is incorporating weights in to her Zumba classes, which you can read about HERE. Pretty awesome!
After Zumba, I raced home to meet up with Carl and Tyson to watch the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Oh, and I can't forget….we got take out from Cafe Rio. Have you tried Cafe Rio? So good! Love, love, love it!
Anyway, back to the Opening Ceremonies. I didn't love them (like Beijing), but I did enjoy them. Danny Boyle did a great job, and I love everything about the Olympics, so I wasn't disappointed! My favorite part was probably David Beckham. You just can't go wrong with him, right?
Saturday, I made another trip to the farmers market with two friends and Madison. It was fun! A little crowded and hot, but we still had a great time. We grabbed lunch at Tony Caputo's, which was pretty good, but a little pricey for what we got.
Saturday night, I had a fun dinner with some of my zumba friends at The Dodo in Sugarhouse. This is my absolute favorite restaurant, hands down. I've been eating here for years and years, and I've never had a bad experience. The food is fabulous, service is great and the desserts are out of this world (even though I don't like dessert!) If you haven't tried this restaurant, put it on your "must try" list! You won't be disappointed!
Such a fun group! We laughed and laughed for hours!
Sunday was a Bonco/Pool Party with my bonco group. The gal hosting bonco for the month, has a pool and invited us to stay and swim. It was so nice. One of my favorite things to do, is to just lay on a floatie in the pool. Heaven!
The rest of Sunday was spent watching more coverage of the Olympics. Loved watching the FAB FIVE!
That pretty much covers the weekend! And now we are back to Monday. Way too fast!
Question for you: What was the highlight of your weekend?
For me, it was a toss up! So many fun things this weekend! I loved watching the Opening Ceremonies with Tyson and Carl (and eating Cafe Rio), and I had a great time relaxing at the pool yesterday.
Yesterday was Pioneer Day (our official state holiday) or Pie and Beer Day! Depending on how you choose to celebrate the day! Luckily, I had the day off! Poor Carl had to work. Madi and Tyson, both had the day off too, and Madi even came over Monday night to stay the night. Love when she does that!
My day began with Madison and I going to a super fun Zumba class, and then heading over to Keva Juice for some post workout smoothies!
I ran home to relax for about 20 minutes, then headed out with Tyson for workout #2 of the day at our favorite gym GPP Fitness for this THIS crazy workout. I didn't do very many double-unders, but I am making progress! My max for front squats was 75lbs, but Tyson busted out 5 reps at 255 lbs. That boy is crazy strong!
I spent the rest of the afternoon putting together a picnic dinner to take to the park, when Carl finally got off work!
We went to the same park that we went to on Sunday, for Chloe's day out. It's a gorgeous park!
See how happy Chloe was to be back at the park?
Tyson stopped by for some food on his way out with friends. Chloe is wondering where the food is!
Kisses from Chloe! Such a cutie!
On the menu for the night: Shrimp Crostini, Fresh Fruit, yummy chips and salsa from Rico, and chicken caprese sandwhiches (recipe coming soon!). So good!
It was such a great night. Lot's of dogs wanting to play with Chloe (she's still not too brave) and good food and company! One more item off the Bucket List!
We skipped all the firework shows in town, since Chloe is skeeered of the loud booms, and we were home relaxing by 8:00 pm! We really know how to celebrate, right?
If you live in Utah and have the chance to visit Memory Grove Park, you really should! It is gorgeous! And it is also dog friendly!
Question for you: Have you ever had a picnic at the park? Where is your FAVORITE park?
This is was our first picnic at the park in YEARS! And my new favorite park is Memory Grove!
I hope you all had a FABULOUS weekend! My weekend started out on Friday night at a church social with some awesome women, that went way too late and involved too much wine! It was a great time!
What a great group of women we have in our parish!
Saturday, Madison and I spent a good part of the afternoon shopping for dresses to wear to my brother's wedding this Saturday. We were lucky and both found dresses pretty quickly. LOVE when that happens! We grabbed a quick bite at the Nordstrom Cafe Bistro before heading out to the 2News Health Expo for a Zumba class with Teresa!
Dinner: Madi's Margharita Pizza, and my Shirmp Salad
The class was AWESOME! We had such a great time, and I love my BZC (Bountiful Zumba Crew) friends! Great way to finish off the night on Saturday! Hot and sweaty!
Sunday, I spend the day relaxing, cooking and hanging out with Carl and the kids. Both Tyson and Madi were home for dinner, which I loved.
I also made a super yummy low-fat lemon zucchini bread, which I will share with you tomorrow. It was really good, and pretty healthy!
All in all, a great weekend. The weather was a bit sketchy, but we need the rain here in Utah!
