One month and one day...

Hello Readers. So I just came back from an AMAZING Bachelorette weekend with the all of my girls in Palm Springs...it was absolutely perfect!!! Like all of the wedding events thus far, I was a little bit nervous when we were planning because we were bringing everyone from different parts of my life together and not everyone knew each other so I had a fear of awkwardness between people who had never met. That sounds lame, but I worry about these things...same thing happened before the engagement party and the showers. Luckily, my anxiety faded as soon as I got in the car to drive out and like the other parties, the weekend was awesome and I didn't want it to end. Everyone got along great and had fun together all weekend and I remembered that I really have the best girlfriends and family in the whole wide world. I feel so blessed, I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Alas, it's back to reality and now I'm back in my corner trying to focus on the different ongoing projects at work and tie up loose wedding details, whilst my boss is working remotely from Mexico and my family is out soaking up the sun in the desert. Good thing I have my man to keep me sane.

On the exercise front I've been devoting a minimal amount of time to round 2 of Insanity. So I have to apologize to you readers, in that regard, I've certainly given you empty promises. Insanity is tiring and waking up early is hard so I just haven't been doing the workouts. Nevertheless, it is one month and one day until I will get into a white dress and become Mrs. Jerry Gonzales...and I better look good doing so, so I've rekindled my relationship with Shaun T. I got up early and did Plyo Interval Circuit yesterday and tonight when I go home I'm going to do the Plyo Cardio Circuit or whatever the next video is. I intended to do it this morning but last night I went to sleep really late because when I was already in bed I remembered that I hadn't paid a bill so I got up to look for it but I couldn't find it, so I looked through every piece of paper I saw in my room until I found it sometime around midnight. That whole ordeal made 6am come pretty early today, so Shaun T did not have any part in my morning but we have a date tonight.

Uh oh. The fan on the modem below my desk started blowing right now, it drives me absolutely nuts. It sounds like I'm in an airplane after you just landed when the engine is shutting down, but it's not getting any quieter. I might have to leave early today so that I don't assault the next UPS delivery man that walks in the door. 30 more days until I get a vacation from work, 32 more days until I get a husband, 34 more days until I get to sip a mai tai in Maui....

A Minor Setback

Yesterday, I started from the beginning of Insanity once again. I forwent the Fit Test and went straight into Plyo Cardio Circuit. Then I remembered why P90X was so difficult for me...boredom. I suppose it's hard to be bored when you can hardly breathe, but the monotony of working out in the family room definitely wears on me. I think I'm going to mix this next round of Insanity with jogging too. I like working out outside and maybe by the end of the cycle I'll be able to keep up with the 40-year-olds at the golf course.

Today I didn't work out because I got sick last night...it was one of those 24-hour bugs. At noon yesterday I was a mess...I left work at 3 and got home and went straight to bed with a fever and chills, pretty lame. I rested for the remainder of the evening and my mommy made me chicken soup and the Rational Groom brought me Cheez-Its and Gatorade and cookies...collectively the best remedy for sickness. After a night of sweating, I still felt a little funky in the morning so I opted to skip the workout. As we're approaching noon again today I'm starting to feel like I'm closer and closer to 100%, funny how that works. Maybe tomorrow I'll endeavor to run the golf course once again, this time I'll be sure to put more Prince on the playlist.

Today Prince saved my pride.

Today after work I decided to run around the golf course in Bonita and at least 8 joggers left me in the dust, each of them had a minimum of 30 pounds and 10 years on me. At first I was feeling good as I ran past some walkers and children, then the first woman...at least 35 years old and 170 pounds ran past me...I tried to keep up, but her stride was just quicker. This scene was repeated several times, one man was even running backwards faster than I was running forwards. Finally, as I was running past the Fire Department, I felt yet another 30-something on my heels and then I heard the hum of the keyboard and Prince's soothing voice come on my iPod...And if the elevator tries to bring you down...GO CRAZY!! I immediately felt a burst of energy and my confidence return...next thing I knew I was on the heels of the guy who previously ran past me (backwards)! Ok, realistically I was probably still 30 feet behind him, but I gained some ground and some energy. Not that I have anything against people in their 30's, but I'm still in my 20s, I believe this period of time is defined as my prime. Thank you, Prince.

So I bet you're wondering what happened with my Insanity journey and why I am such a terrible runner. I would love to tell you that you're reading the words of an Insanity grad and that I can now do switch kicks in my sleep, but that would be a lie. Sadly, I kinda fell off the wagon over the last two weeks. We've had so much stuff going on that being diligent with the workouts has been difficult (same goes for blogging). Also, the MAX workouts are almost a full hour, which means I have to wake up earlier in the morning and that is very difficult for me to do. But I tried on my wedding dress on Saturday (which I'm so excited to wear!!) and I am determined to not have to wear a Spanx on the day that I pledge my life to the Rational Groom. I would also like to rock a bikini when we're on our honeymoon in Hawaii...I'm watching the Bachelor as I write this and looking at these people roam along beautiful beaches in Tahiti...it makes me want to look good in a bathing suit and makes me thankful that I found the right guy and that I don't ever have to date again. So tomorrow I am going to start the Insanity cycle from the beginning once again. The Month 1 workouts are no joke and I have enough time to complete another complete round of Insanity before the big day if I am so inclined, so I'm confident that I'll be able to reach my goals by the time the dress goes on. On the bright side, this means that the blogging will continue. Get excited.

A Very Big Day!!!!

The title of this blog entry sounds like a children's book that I would read to one of my nieces. But today is indeed a very big day! Thanks to one of the lovely members of our small group tonight I will be attending an advance screening of....ECLIPSE! That's right, today Kelley-O will be accompanying me as we cut out early from our big-girl jobs and act like giddy tweens for an afternoon. I can hardly wait!!!

In wedding news, as I came on to the blog page a few moments ago and saw the wedding ticker I may have had a mild heartattack....I can't believe the wedding is just 2 and 1/2 months away. I feel like there are so many things to do, but I'm not sure what they are. Luckily I'm meeting with the wedding planner on Friday, hopefully she'll help me organize my thoughts and then I'll be able to create a comprehensive plan of attack. Oh man, I'm starting to panic just writing about it...better get back to work!!

Friday Afternoon Confession, part deux

Friday, you're here!!! You really couldn't come soon enough!!

I had a semi-early meeting yesterday morning so I made sure I got up with enough time to do Max Recovery and get to work with time to spare. Recovery days are supposed to give your muscles a rest and in my mind that means some nice stretching, low impact relaxing...I wasn't too pleased with what Shaun T was offering me, so after 20 minutes or so, I decided I'd had enough and did my own workout for the rest of the time. I engaged in my own personal yoga session and got into savasana and stayed there for another 20 minutes. That makes it sound so much more responsible. I actually just laid down and took a nap on my yoga mat while the video continued. Savasana is known as "corpse pose" so I laid down like I was dead and sleep shortly followed. About 10 minutes into the nap my mom even brought me a blankie. It was lovely.

Yesterday after lunch I started to feel kinda funky so I went home early and tried to rest the funk out of me. This morning I decided that I still needed some rest so I slept in and didn't attempt the workout. That's right...2 days in a row I've chosen sleep over Insanity. That's my confession, please proceed to judge me.

In other news, the Rational Groom got another guilty verdict today!!! This means that Bonita Road is a little bit safer now and that my husband-to-be may never be without a goatee again. He grew a full goatee a few weeks ago and he hasn't lost a case since!! I can't complain, I think he rocks the goatee quite well and it seems that juries tend to think so too....bring on the facial hair!

I am in it

So far this week's workouts have been crazy intense, almost shocking, and Shaun T cannot stop telling me I am "in it". I'm serious, I almost wanted to count the number of times he yelled that someone was In It during the workout Monday and Tuesday, but I could barely get my body to work, much less my brain.

As I mentioned before, Month 2 really kicks it up a notch...the workouts are longer and everything is called MAX something. Even the warm-up was shocking...switch kicks (which are one of the most difficult elements of the fit test) are part of the warmup. They also added this weird side to side kicking ab thing to the warm up...it's like you're in downward dog, but your feet are on one side and then you have to jump to get your feet on the other side. It's almost impossible because, first of all, I'm not coordinated enough to do it, but once I figured out how I was supposed do it I couldn't get my abs to work hard enough to lift my legs. I think if I concentrate enough, maybe in 4 weeks I'll be able to make it through the warmup without stopping.

The Monday workout was Tanya-free and contained one of the funniest moments in the Insanity series to date. Throughout this video, Jeff, who is the guy with the Jersey Shore blowout and is apparently also a breakdancer, is placed in the front row next to Ariel, who is the bomb and is so intense that she always looks kinda scared. At the end of the workout when everyone is tired and sweaty and delirious, there are some people laying flat on the ground others trying to catch their breath..and then there is Jeff who decides that it is a good time to do one of those turtle spins on his back (I don't know breakdancer lingo, but if he was a turtle he would have been spinning on his shell). As he slows down he gets himself out of the spin by doing one of those breakdancer kicks, and in the process of doing his kick he miscalculates his area and nearly kicks Ariel right in the face...the look on her face is priceless!! She looks so shocked and as Jeff walks away Ariel slowly reaches up to her face to make sure that her nose is still there. Hilarious. Maybe this isn't funny to anyone else, but it was pretty funny to me, especially since the spin was so totally unnecessary. It's the little things that make these workouts bearable at 6:00 a.m. day after day.

Tanya came back for the Tuesday and Wednesday workouts and thankfully, she's not quite as annoying this time around. She takes breaks from time to time, so it makes me feel like she's not faking as much anymore. Or maybe it's just that I'm struggling so hard with everything that I don't have the opportunity to notice her as much. Sadly, the girl with the red shorts isn't in the videos this week...I was really starting to like her, hopefully she'll come back in something else.

Now it's time to balance all this exercising with a great dinner and lots of dessert to celebrate my mommy's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Mom!!!

A Friday Afternoon Confession

Hello Readers. I have a confession. I didn't work out yesterday. What happened, you ask? Wednesday night I had a dream that Prince William relinquished his crown and then I woke up and cleaned my room. No, my room still doesn't look clean, but now there isn't a huge pile of clothes blocking the path from the door to my bed. I decided to give myself a break from yet another day of Cardio Core & Balance...doing the same thing every day is starting to wear me down. I didn't want to hang out with Tanya and her cornball faces, I didn't even want to hang out with Shaun T. (Note to Estephanie: you're going to be slightly disappointed with this video - Shaun T doesn't take off his shirt, but you do get a gratuitous shot of his washboard abs at the very end...at least you'll have that to look forward to!) I intended to do the workout after work last night, but the Rational Groom gave me an alternative and the notion of working out quickly faded...so I met up with him and his coworkers for a margarita and a burrito and then watched the Lakers emerge victorious over the Celtics...it was a lovely ending to an exercise-free day.

Today I faced the music and did the workout, this time noticing everyone in the video even more. I really need to find some redeeming qualities in Tanya, otherwise I think I'm going to hate the next month with her. Hopefully there will be some other cool stuff to distract me, based on the thread I posted I think there's a point where someone almost gets kicked in the face, that should be entertaining. Anyway, in this video there is a guy in the back that totally has a Jersey Shore blow out, hilarious. And of course, there is Frankie who always looks like he needs a good shower and shave even before the workout starts...Frankie definitely hams it up sometimes but I find it endearing with him, I think he's just trying to look buff, not like Tanya who looks like she's trying to land a spot on the Britney Spears comeback tour. Ariel also makes an appearance in this one and she totally kills it! Her abs look amazing, form is always spot on and she is so focused throughout the whole thing. Shaun T spends a lot of time using Ariel as an example in this video...in my mind this makes Tanya resent Ariel. I only have one more day of this workout, then I have to figure out how I'm going to manage to wake up early enough to do an hour long Insanity workout every day for the next month. For now, I can look forward to a weekend with family and food. I don't think he reads this, but....

Happy Father's Day, Dad!!!