Whataya Want From Me...

This sums up my mood today. It's a good song but sometimes I just want to ask everyone "whataya want from me?!"

People Watching

I have always had a bad habit of people watching. I know I'm not the only one, but still I know it isn't the best hobby to have. Somehow though, I think this habit has helped me learn to watch people's movements and reactions. I can usually pick up on bad things about to happen, whether it be a fight or someone about to steal something. I can also sense when people are lying, hiding something, etc. I contribute my people reading skills mainly to my hobby of people watching, well that mixed with women's intuition.

Anyways, a relaxing day with the hubby lead us to the mall, to peruse the stores and wait for our movie to start. We made a pit stop in the food court for hubby (he has the bladder of a hummingbird!) so I took a seat at a table on the edge of the food court to optimize my view of the coming and going people.

Nothing unusual or exciting. I begin to get bored, when I see a couple come in the door. Not your typical couple. An elderly couple, each in motorized wheelchairs. The man following behind the woman, both looking unhappy, albeit grumpy. I know I should not stare, in any case, but especially in this situation, they have been around this earth a long time and the last thing they should have to deal with is a gawker. But I can't bring myself to look away. They remind me of my grandparents. My grandmother almost always unhappy (though I do love her to bits and pieces) and my Papa always joking and whistling, but always unhappy looking when around my grandmother. I watch as the woman stops short to look at the mall map and just as soon as she stops, the old man runs into the back of her chair. She barely budged, but felt the need to turn around and give the old man a dirty look. He looks away, almost like a little child in trouble, and the elderly woman shook her head and scowled. At that moment I wanted to walk over and hug the old man. He looked very similar to my papa.

She finishes viewing the map and whips her chair around to "talk" to her spouse. They both look very angry and you can tell she was saying something nasty to him. At this point the hands go up and you can see that they are very clearly arguing. The woman whips her chair around and takes off into the mall. The man left there for a minute, only to begin following after her.

I know this probably sounds boring and uninteresting to some of you, but this is a picture I cannot get out of my head. I watched in sadness and couldn't stop the tears from falling. I would be willing to bet my grandparents had many moments like this, but were they necessary? If she could go back in time, would she be nicer? I would like to say yes, but I'm not sure.

Either way, it took all the power I had in me not to walk over and hug the stranger, and just pretend it was my papa. I miss him so much. I think it was a sign from him to be thankful for every moment I have with my loved ones.

Hubby came back to the table only to find me in tears. After giving me a glance over and seeing that I hadn't been mugged, he sat quietly and asked what was wrong. He probably thinks I'm a loon at this point that needs to be committed. And all I needed to say was I saw someone that reminded me of my papa, and he understood. He hugged me tighter than ever before, almost as if he knew what I was thinking.

I hope everyone reading this takes a minute after and thanks God (or whoever you may believe in) for the giving you the people you have in your life. Don't take anything for granted. Never leave your loved ones with harsh words, you never know when you will see them again.

Culture Shock...

So as you may know, I LOOVE trying new things and challenging myself to experience the world. So, when a coworker/friend of mine suggested a Korean Spa not too far from where I live, I figured "sure why not." $18 would get you in and unlimited access to all of the rooms (salt room, hot room, cold room, you name it). You can also pay additional small fees for things such as acupuncture, massages, body scrubs, etc. This sounded right up my alley! I told my best friend that lives down the street from me about it and within no time she was on board as well. She is much like me and works all of the time and when she isn't working she is cleaning/taking care of others needs first.

The day comes and I'm SO excited!! We both put on our comfy yoga/gym clothes and head over to the spa! It is huge (see outside picture above-doesn't do it justice). 36,000 square feet of spa for us to sink our teeth (or should I say, bodies, into). We are quickly helped out at the front desk when we tell them it is our first time. We are given a pamphlet and instructions and sent to grab our clothes. There are spa uniforms neatly rolled by the entrance, we grab our size and begin to enter. We are quickly halted by the front desk, "Remove your shoes from here on please!" Okay, simple enough. We make our way to the locker room, still giddy with excitement. We discuss which rooms we should hit first, and as we round the corner to the ladies locker room, our eyes are met with the vision of a bare naked lady. O my goodness, how embarrassing, did her friends move her clothes while she was showering? We both look away as to not embarrass her. We put our shoes in the shoe locker and make our way to the clothes locker so we can change. We find our numbers down a long aisle and as we are quickly making our way to our locker, we are met with more and more naked women.

"What in the world is going on!" We look puzzled for a few minutes, change into our gym clothes, then move to our comfort zone, the bathroom! After we brace ourselves to come out again, we stood in shock/confusion. We weren't sure what we were supposed to do. Just then, a soaking naked lady comes and asks us if it is our first time. Our eyes met the ceiling as we nodded our heads. She begins telling us about all of the nakedness, so-on and so forth, but I can't understand a word she is saying. We quickly thank her and run off to the salt room. We sit there fully clothed and talk about what had just happened. Everyone else in the spa seemed to be fully clothed as well.

We later found out that there was a huge room connected to the locker room for women to soak in hot tubs, shower, bath and get massages and body scrubs. We weren't as freaked out then. We began looking at the extra packages that were offered and quickly decided that we could both use a body scrub/massage and couldn't pass up the deal, $85 for an hour and a half, that is a steal! We quickly make our way back, tell the lady booking the appointments that we are shy and we are assured that we can wrap ourselves with towels when we go in. Sounds perfect to us! We derobe and grab towels which barely cover us. I'm mortified as my friend has the perfect skinny little figure. We make our way in and we are quickly told that we must soak in the hot tub for 20 minutes before we get our massages. Simple enough. We are able to keep our towels covering our goodies while other fully nude women watch us. We are okay, passing the time with conversation, then we are finally rescued by our massage people.

We are laid on a table next to each other, this will be great! I'm covered by towels, not uncomfortable at all. Next thing you know the lady rips the towel off, and there I am fully naked for the world to see. I scream to my friend not to look over and she screams horrified, they just did the same to her. After the initial shock I thought to myself "you need to relax, you are paying for this, you are already naked, get over it" Just then the lady begins the body scrub, going into places we won't even discuss. The scrub is over, time for the massage! I'm covered in hot towels and left for a minute. Next thing I know, I have a lady standing on the table, walking on my legs. I try to get my friends attention, but then I notice, she is having the same experience.

All in all, I would have to say it was a good experience. The massage was relaxing, although humiliating and first and I can now say that I walked around naked at a spa with about 100 other woman. Not many people can say that! haha

Slim

(photo from Photobucket)

So as many of you know I have been trying to lose weight. I had recently been on a roller coaster, losing ten pounds then gaining it right back. A little over a week ago I decided, enough is enough. I have to get all this extra weight off and for good. Maybe I won't be a buck ten but at least I will be a healthy weight AND be in great shape. That is all I really want.

So I hit the gym everyday. I did weights to slim and shape my arms, legs, back and tummy. I did at least 40 minutes of cardio a day. I sized down my portions and was actually able to make the switch over to diet sodas and cut even the diet sodas down to the bare minimum. Added fresh fruits and veggies into every meal (some meals being just fresh fruits and veggies) And BOY, can I see results. I am two pounds away from being minus twenty pounds and it feels amazing. I know some of you are probably thinking "20 pounds in a little over a week isn't healthy" BUT I think it is fine since probably most of it was water weight. I'm not doing anything dramatic/unhealthy.

Anyways, I thought I'd share some of my motivation with you guys since I know some of you have the same goals as me.

Also, here are my recent favorites that have made their way to the top of my work out playlist, enjoy!!

1. Rihanna- Hard

2. Lady Gaga- Monster

3. Lady Gaga- Telephone

4. Black Eye Peas- Bebot

5. Do the Ricky Bobby- B Hamp

6. Faster Kill Pussy Cat- Paul Oakenfold (ft. B. Murphy)

7. System of a Down- BYOB

8. Britney Spears- 3

They Can Say Whatever, ima do whatever....

So I have been putting together the Ultimate Work Out Playlist (be patient with me and I'll post it soon enough). One song that I have been favoring lately is Rihanna's "Hard" Take a listen and tell me this doesn't make you want to run faster and try working out harder ;) (p.s. I chose NOT to use the official video, because I didn't think it was that great to be honest, so you get a pretty pic of her and the music without the tacky video taking away from it)

Enjoy!!!

Life After You...

Everyday it becomes more and more obvious that I would not be able to deal with everyday life without my hubby. Although we have had our rocky moments and sometimes I want to punch him, he is the all around best.

Climbing the Rockies

So as many of you know I have been trying to actively check things off of my "bucket list" if you will. Most of the stuff on my list has something to do with being super active and/or sports related. To be honest, I didn't think I'd ever be back in shape enough to live my dreams. Over the past month or so I can feel the fat shedding away, but more importantly I can feel muscles developing, which feels amazing! Yesterday I weighed myself and realized I have lost [not quite yet] about 20 pounds. Wow! That is an amazing feat for me.


Anyways, some friends of ours decided to do something active this weekend to get the men folk out of the house and away from the online gaming. The decision was made by us girls, rock climbing! Now, my friends that know me well are probably thinking "wow, you can't even walk without tripping, what on earth were you thinking!" Well, you would be surprised to hear that I actually did really well. My fear of heights hindered me at first. I watched the guys take turns, one climbing up the wall while the other anchored then vice versa. Then it was me and my female friend's turn. I was eager to let her attempt first. She is a lot smaller and flexible than me. I would watch her moves and see if I would able to do this. After getting halfway up the wall I look up and see her in a split across the wall clinging for dear life. A panic broke out and my heart started racing 'no way' I thought to myself 'you won't get me up there even if my life depended on it.' I brought her down, no problem, then eagerly agreed to be the anchor the rest of our trip. After being encouraged by everyone to go up and by hubby to "beat my fear" I strapped up and started climbing. I made it halfway up the wall on my first attempt before I let the height get to me and was encouraged to go up again and make it all the way to the top. I eventually did, quicker and actually enjoyed doing it. My shaking hands became more stable and by the end, I didn't want to leave. It was such a great experience. I have to recommend this to everyone to try at least once!