I'm BACK!!!

First off, is that I'm back to working on my blog.  I haven't done a very good job posting on it this year but I'm blaming that on another blogger that posted that she was quiting her blog (I have know idea what blog this came from anymore as I read it and moved on.)  The reason being was that she didn't feel like she was living in the moment because she was always thinking about what she was going to blog about next, which is so TRUE.  While working on something either in the home or at a kids event or where ever we are, I'm constantly thinking about what I should blog about next.  So I made the choice to take the summer off, for the most part along with the first part of the year as I've only made 20 postings so far this year.  But whose counting, I guess I am.  Maybe you don't care but I do and I love blogging.  I'm hoping I can get my act together and share my thoughts and feelings on my many JOYS and JUNK that I have in my life.  Thanks again for coming back to my blog and checking things out.  I'm working on an exercise post next, so stay tuned.

That's What Friends are For!

Second Chance Friends by Jennifer Scott

This story starts out with 3 women at the Tea Rose Diner each doing their own thing. All of sudden there is a school bus accident right outside the diner.   Each one jumps into action to help the kids and then they realize that a car was also hit in the process.  A husband and wife that were sitting at the stoplight had their lives changes forever.  The 3 women all have their own problems that they are dealing with throughout the book but can't shake the accident.  They come together once again at the diner to figure out what happened to the couple that got hit by the bus and how they can help out.  

Life can change in an instant.  Don't put off tomorrow what you can do to today! 

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com

Pick up a book and read!

#lovetoread

Can't Stop Reading!

This is one book you don't want to miss out on and you won't be able to put it down once you start!  My mom recommended this book to me and I also wanted to read it anyway before I see the movie which came out back in April 2015.  I finally got the book from the library in LARGE print of course.  Who can read that tiny print anymore? Not me!  Which brings me to my point, since it was large print it was 653 pages long but so worth it.  Probably would of been half that if it was regular print, but now I can say I've read a 653 page book, ha!


The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks 

This book was about two different couples Ira  & Ruth and Luke & Sophia and the story of their lives.  The books starts out with Ira who is man in his 90's and his wife Ruth who has passed on.  Throughout the book it tells the story of their life as Ira visits the past while waiting to hopefully be rescued from a car accident.  Not going to say what happens.

The chapters go back an forth from Ira to Sophia to Luke etc.  Sophia is a college student and Luke is a bull rider.  They meet at a dance and start dating as they hit it off right away.  They are from two different worlds and the future isn't always what it seems.

Read this fabulous book to see what happens to each of these couples and fall in love with them!

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com

Check out more Nicholas Sparks books HERE!

PICK UP A BOOK AND READ!

#lovetoread

BUZZZZZZZZ.....Challenge #2 - DONE and #3 - 1/2 way there!

What's all the buzzzzz about?  Challenge #2 is the Great Cycle Challenge.  It started back on June 1st and runs through the end of June.  Just did the last and final bike ride for the challenge this morning.  What is the Great Cycle Challenge?  The G.C.C. is a bike ride challenge that anyone from the US or the World can join and participate in for the month of June.  Each rider puts down how many miles they plan to ride the month of June on their page along with the money they want to raise.  The G.C.C. raises money for children with cancer.  Cancer is currently the leading killer of children.  Read more here about G.C.C. 

In the beginning I set my goal for riding 100 miles the month of June.  But my real goal was to ride 150 miles for the month.  I'm almost there with only 4 more miles to go on the last day.  I planned on riding 5 miles a day to make this doable but ended up missing my bike ride on 3 days because we were out of town and I didn't have my bike with me and one day it was raining.  Imagine that, raining. We've had so much rain this month it really doesn't feel like summer.  Feels like Spring, April Showers bring May flowers but it isn't as it's June right now.  The weather has also been fairly decent as well.   Not overly hot like it is most years during June.  Thank goodness because my rides could of been a lot tougher with the heat.  I have a lot hill around where I live and the surrounding area, so I'm getting in some good cardio and use my gears a lot to get where I'm going.   If your interested in donating go to my page HERE to help out and click the SPONSOR ME button at the bottom of the page!  I've done my part of riding a grand total of 152 miles and donating to the cause now it's your turn.  Thanks in advance.  


Challenge #3 is a two month Jazzercise challenge.  This one is a team effort with a partner.  We have two months between the both of us to do 70 Jazzercise classes.  If we break that down, it's only 35 classes each and 17 / 18 classes each month that we both need to do if we split it up.   I have to say between biking and Jazzercise I'm beat.  So glad that Challenge #2 is over.  Now I can focus on this one and get it done.  I got 17 classes done in June, the count down is on for July with 18 more to go.  When we get the 70 classes done we both get a really cute black and white chevron bag.  

Let's do this Anne Marie!  


If you haven't ever tried Jazzecise I highly suggest it.  After you get over the initial learning curve it's a ton of fun.  And if you love to dance you will love Jazzercise.  

Get up and Move!  

#Biking #Dance #Jazzercise #GET UP AND MOVE!

Cardio workout

Here's a workout I did at home the other day, which isn't easy since I get distracted with all the stuff that needs to be done.  On my off days from Jazzercise I try to sneak a cardio workout in if at all possible.

Get up and move!

Challenge #1 ~ DONE!

Woo Hoo, I did it!  I just completed the Runkeeper.com challenge for May.  Well I didn't just finish it, I finished it back on May 31st.  The challenge was SWEAT, SMILE, REPEAT.  You had to use the runkeeper app with GPS to track activities and log a total of 5 hours from May 4th -31st.  It wasn't easy but I got it done.  Needless to say my 3 - 1 hour Jazzercise classes that I do each week didn't count towards the challenge, so I had to add running, walking & biking to get it all in.  When doing a challenge like this it makes you push yourself to get out there and do more.   I'm a numbers person so of course I had to break it down and see how I could do this.  Most activities were 30 minutes of exercise, in the end I needed to have at least 10 different activities logged at 30 minutes each.  Although, I wanted to make sure I passed so I went above and beyond and got some extra time in to earn my t-shirt.  I did a lot of SWEATING, maybe not a ton of SMILING but I got it done and of course REPEAT to get all the hours in.  I ended up doing 15 activities that counted towards the challenge which totaled up to 334.85 minutes or 5.50 hours.   I would of had 370 minutes or 6.16 hours if it had started at the beginning of the month like I thought it did.  I missed out on two days of 35 minutes of exercise total but still complete the challenge.   If you never used the runkeeper app before I suggest you try it.  Very easy to use and it tracks a lot of stuff for you.  I just use the basic so it's free!

Motivational Monday - Eat, Drink & Be Merry!

EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY!  This is exactly what I did this past weekend.  Now I'm paying for it!  We celebrated my birthday this weekend with friends and another gal that has an April birthday as well.  Below is one of the coffee mugs I use at work.  The saying on it is so true for most of us.  Like the song goes, I'm only human. During the week I do pretty good most the time making good choices but when the weekend rolls around this is how I feel sometimes.  FOR TOMORROW WE MAY DIET.  

Which brings me to my next point.  Now that you know I had a not so good weekend when it comes to eating right for two days, it's time to get back on the the band wagon.  Earlier this evening I was reading an email from FitbyBurn and it had an article about an app called Goal Streaks for iPhones.  Well I don't have an iPhone so couldn't get the app.  Of course, I started searching for something for my android phone and found a couple of different apps along this line.  I ended up getting the Goal Tracker app and set it up for keeping track of how many days I workout and how many I don't for a month.   You can make your goal for whatever you want.  I did mine for 3 days on and 1 day off for a month.  Shouldn't be too hard to do this but after this weekend I need to get busy and do something.  After doing this I of course wanted to give myself a check mark for doing my workout today which I hadn't done yet.  (It's now 10 pm)  

I then went to the 

site that I found the other day and did the Beginner Upper Body workout, check it out here.  20 minutes workout at 10 pm before I head to bed at 11pm.  Rev up the body so I can burn calories while I sleep.  I don't normally do my workouts this late in the evening but I was feeling guilty for being lazy today. 

After doing all this I went to my computer to finally type up my Monday Motivational blurb for the day, ENJOY!

GET UP AND MOVE!