NYE Lower Body & Core Workout

I awoke bright and early this morning as my husbands alarm clock continued to ring.  Little did he remember in his slumber that we weren't going to work this morning, and the alarm rang 3 more times.  I decided I should just get up and do a workout.

After finishing my workout, Neal & I spent time with your friends who came in to celebrate NYE from Wisconsin.  Their little girl is just adorable and likes to pull Walden around the house.

It took me more time than normal to get to making my post as I was playing with this sweet little girl and her baby brother.  I love them :)  Now I have proof that working from home with my own babies one day would be a challenge!

For those interested in doing a quick workout today, you can follow the below workout.

I compiled my own lower body & core moves after browsing a few different routines.

Walk Out – Works Core

·         Stand with feet hip width apart and then bend at your hips.  While keeping your feet in place, walk hands out to plank position.  Hold for 10 seconds and walk your hands back into your feet, rising up to standing.  10 Reps.

Jump Squat to Lung – Works Legs & Butt

·         Stand with feet shoulder distance apart.  Squat and then jump into a lunge with your right leg forward.  Jump back up and into a Squat, then jump once more to land in a lunge with your left leg forward.  That’s one rep, squat again to do 10 reps.

Side Plank Dip – Works Core

·         Get into side plank position with your left elbow and forearm bent and on the ground, or for a bigger challenge with just your palm on the ground under your face.  Place your right hand on your hip and lower your left hip to the floor; return to starting position. Do 15 reps and switch side to complete the set.

Leg Lift Series- Works Butt & Legs

·         Lie on your left side with your left leg straight out, your left hand behind your head and your right hand on the floor, stabilizing your body.  Bend your right knee and touch the floor in front of your left thigh, then kick back your right left diagonally behind you.  Return to starting position and repeat 15 times.

·         Next place the ball of your right foot on the floor behind your left knee and with your left leg extended, pulse it up about a foot and lower to starting position.  Do 15 reps

·         Repeat with opposite to complete the set.

Toe Bridge - Works Butt, Legs & Core

·         Get in bridge position: lying face up with knees bent and your balls of feet on the floor, your keels close to your butt. With your arms extended at your side, palms on the floor, lift hips until your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders.  Lower to starting position.  Do 10 reps while keeping your heels raised the entire time.

Exercise Ball Tuck – Works Core, Shoulders, Butt & Legs

·         Get into a plank position with your shins on your exercise ball. Pull your knees toward your chest with the ball rolling forward.  Extend your body back to the starting position.  Do 12-20 reps.

Bicycle with Long Legs – Works Core

·         Like on back with your legs extended and your hands behind your head.  Bicycle crunch with your legs still extended: left leg lowers to the floor as your rotate to the right bringing your left elbow toward your right knee.  Repeat on opposite side.  Do 20 reps alternating sides.

Heel Toe Tap – Works Butt

·         Get on all fours with your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.  Extend your right leg at hip height beside you, placing the heel of your foot on a chair.  Quickly rotate your right leg forward so your heel is on the seat and your toes are pointing forward.  Continue for 30 seconds and then switch sides to complete the set.

 
Don't forget to stretch!  I do one legged hamstring stretches, a butt stretch and some standing side stretches.

 

I hope you have a great New Years!  What are your plans?

Weekend Workout

This morning we awoke to the most beautiful scene of fresh snow.

The melting from yesterday was again covered with brilliant crystal snowflakes.

 

 The trees looked magnificent.

The Winter Wonderland continued.

I worked my real job for 3 hours to catch up on some items I pushed off over the holidays.  During that time I planned out my day:  workout, vacuum my office and craft room, hang pictures & curtains with Neal, play in the snow with the puppies and relax.

In the meantime, Neal received and early birthday gift in the mail, Omaha Steaks!

2 filet mignons, 2 top sirloins, 2 wild salmon fillets, two ole stuffed with scallops & crab, 6 stuffed baked potatoes & 6 molten-lava cakes.  YUM!  Thanks dad :) 

I just finished my first after work task, my workout, and feel energized to write the post and get along with my day! 

I did this Victoria’s Secret workout.  It was a great bum burner!

I then did 3 sets of the NYE Cocktail Dress Workout with Katrina.

Walden can't stand not being in the room with me:

I can feel warmth in my glutes and my triceps most of all right now.  I know tomorrow I will be sore, and I love that!

Happy Weekend!  Try these workouts, both have great videos to follow and let me know what you think!

Snow Day in Indiana!

A few pictures from our lovely Indiana Snow Day!  A welcomed treat to go along with our Christmas in TN.

It snowed around 6 inches overnight and through noon.

I enjoyed a hot cocoa with marshmallows & shaved chocolate.

Walden & Sasha romped in the snow and posed for some pictures. 

My husband went out and bought me a sled!  Did you know you could burn around 200 calories in 30 minutes sledding?

One would think Sasha would pull the thing since she's a 'Husky', but she wanted nothing to do with it. 

Walden, on the other hand, took off with the sled...I wasn't sitting in it at the time, rather chasing him up our hill & into our neighbors yard.  What a good dog. :)

It turned out to be a beautiful day & our home looked very festive!

Christmas Festivities

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a very wonderful Christmas with family & friends! 

This past weekend has been a blur!  We have been to multiple gatherings with friends, played with ‘Christmas’ sparklers & shot of fireworks, baked savory sweets, and of course did some present giving and opening. 

Friday – The start of the holiday weekend. 

After working for what seemed like an eternity, we drove the six hours to my dad’s house on the lake near Knoxville, TN.  Sasha & Walden like to try to get in the front...Walden suceeded and sat on my lap for the last 2 hours of the ride.  He's so spoiled!

I am always hungry after a long ride and snacked on fresh pecans that came from my dad's friends house down the road!

We immediately settled in with some delicious wine, good conversation, and a game of Nines with my brother, who is in from Germany, along with my dad & his girlfriend.

 

I lost....Neal won...go figure!

 
Saturday – the Eve of Christmas Eve’s Eve

Kim, dad’s girlfriend, started the day off right by making some homemade monkey bread.  This stuff was delicious!

The remainder of the morning was dedicated to baking tasty treats to gift to friends.

 
I put together super cute containers of “Sybil Sugar Cookies”, Energy Bites, & Peppermint Brownie Cheesecake.  I gave these to some of my friends and saved to rest for our party we hosted at Dad’s house on Sunday. 

One day, I may share Sybil's Sugar Cookies recipie, it's very special to me as it was passed down just last year to me from my pesudo grandmother, Sybil. These were the cookies I grew up on in South Dakota while she babysat my brother and me.
Here's the link to the recipie for the Peppermint Brownie Cheescake Bars.
 On Saturday night, we headed out to the Smoky Mountain Brewery to meet up with friends from high school. 

I love these girls!

The brewery had two seasonal beers, both of which were amazing!  I enjoyed Winter Warmer and Neal had a seasonal porter of sorts. 

I also enjoyed the MOST AMAZING warm chocolate drink!  When Neal brought it over to me, the drink was admired (and taste tested) by most of my friends. 

This is a Snickers in a Cup: Hot chocolate, frangelico, butterscotch schnapps, dark créme de cacao with whipped cream, chocolate and caramel swirls and a cookie bit!

 
Sunday – Christmas Eve Eve

On Sunday morning, I finished making some side dishes for our party later in the evening.  I made some tasty Sweet Potato Casserole & a savory Green Bean Casserole. 

These are not your typical casseroles.  The green beans are cold, not oven baked.  They are also fresh and crisp served with Dijon mustard, caramelized onions & garlic, not wimpy and flimsy baked with cream of something. 

The sweet potatoes are not mashed, rather grated, and baked with butter, sugar, and whiskey!

I was too busy to remember to take pictures of my dishes, but I took some of Kim's beautiful deviled eggs!  They looked awesome & tasted even better!

 

We had about 20 people at the house and enjoyed a festive meal of seasoned pork, my casseroles, grilled jalapeno poppers, bacon wrapped pork, and lots of appetizers.  Of course I was too busy to take pictures of all the tasty food!  But trust me it was great!

Kellie got a cute photo of Marlee, myself & her!

 The party continued with a sparkler and fireworks celebration.

It was epic!

Late on Sunday, we debated on opening opened presents after most of our guests left.  Dad posted a sign on the closet door so none of us would enter before Christmas. 

We decided to proceed with the gift giving since dad’s girlfriend Kim was headed up north to be with her family for a few days to celebrate Christmas.

Walden, aka brown dog, was wearing a doggy back pack our friends gave us.  We put some smaller presents in it and had him deliver them to our family!

Neal & I got dad & Kim a really great Wine Barrel from Cold Creek Brewing on Etsy.  It holds you boxed wine bags and is so beautiful!

 

 

We also got dad a sign so he could name his boat.  It's called "Floating Rib".  The boat went through Hurricane Andrew (yes, years ago) and he repaired it.  In doing the repairs, he bent over at one point and popped one of his floating ribs back into place!

 Neal received a police issued flashlight from my brother and posed up all gangsta.

My favorite present...Jingle the Husky Pup!  Yes, my favorite present was another puppy! Both of our dogs, Sasha & Walden, have been Christmas presents. This year, Neal got me a more hassle-free puppy; Jingle the Husky Pup! Yes, I am a child at heart and have been asking for this since last Christmas…come on, a stuffed animal husky that sings to you! Does it get any better? 

 
And of course, Walden got sleepy and Sasha played with her Christmas present.

 

Thank you Cameron & Matt for taking all of our Christmas pictures...ya'll are great friends!

Monday – Christmas Eve

After staying up far too late playing card games & opening presents, I was afraid I wouldn’t make it to my annual Christmas Eve Breakfast with the girls!  Thankfully, I was a little more chipper than I thought I would be and was actually the first to arrive! 

We enjoyed yummy biscuits, jelly, coffee and friendship as we dined at Cracker Barrel.

I was super sleepy after breakfast, but made it to the store to pick up one last gift for my dad's birthday, which is right after Christmas.

When I got home, I was feeling crafty, so I worked on an order I had received last night from the Etsy shop.

We posed for a family picture while we were all dressed up and ready for church!

The rest of the night, we spent enjoying each other’s company and playing card games!  I lost again...go figure!

Tuesday - Christmas Day!
As I am finishing this post, it's about 8 am and I am the only one up at the house.  Since we went to church and opened presents already, no one is in any hurry to awake!

I am enjoying my solidarity as I peel back some cuties and sip on my favorite morning drink, coffee with frothed milk and cinnamon sprinkle.

Once these boys wake up, we are watching "Elf" and making pancakes!  We normally make pancakes from scratch, but I couldn't pass up buying Cracker Barrel makings while I was out with the girls yesterday.

I hope you have a special and wonderful holiday!