best doctors around...

had dinner tonight with these friends.  love them!  but mostly for their kids ;)

honestly, these two kiddos are a kick.  i walked into the room with these kids checking shawn's pulse, looking in his ears and listening to his heart.  glad he passed their test and i bring him home!

it's official...

i am a Pilates instructor with the picture, bio and everything at an awesome studio in the bay area.  teaching a few reformer and mat classes along with group and private lessons.

Bio:
Mary is passionate about actively living life. While she has spent her time with marathon, triathlon, and cross fit training she believes that nothing can compare to the benefits of a Pilates workout. Mary believes it is the core to all movement both in a gym as well as to life. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Education but has since moved from teaching in the classroom to the studio. Mary is STOTT PILATES® trained in Mat and Reformer and continues to learn and train in the field of Pilates.

LOVing what i am learning and get to do!

pisa in the park.

if you are heading to italy, pisa is a fun little place the tower is especially great for getting creative with the pictures.

it only takes a moment but walk around and you'll see everyone posing for their camera, standing with their hands up creating the illusion in a picture that they are holding up the tower. as they were holding their hands up to the air, shawn dared me to run around giving high-5's to the people posing.  This guy knew it was coming and grabbed my hands so I couldn't get away.  Left Shawn and I laughing pretty hard.

we spent a lot of time going for one of my traditional jumping shots in front of the tower but just couldn't quite get it right.  we did almost break our ankles jumping off these cement barriers again and again.  but no luck.  these were the winners we did get.

we ended sitting in the grass just looking up at the tower while relaxing in its shadow.

a book 'n a couch.

dear s&m,
your smiles say it all.

love,
sunday afternoons

beach day @ rio del mar

rio del mar is south of santa cruz and capitola.  beating the crazy california traffic means getting on the road no later than 9am.

we met up with several other fun families and made our way to the beach.
parking wasn't too bad too (another reason to get there early, like by 11am) but i think we took one of the last spots.  if you head down beach road, go left on the round about and head to the end there is some public parking, $10 for all day.

ash is in town.  which always adds some fun and color to any outing...

this pretty much sums up us.  

love our friends here in california.  seriously such a fun group!

we spend the day eating, laughing, napping and just enjoying the sun on the beach.

and then there's this guy.
he spent the day in the water totally loving every minute.  on the boogie board chasing the waves, playing football and watching the school of dolphins.  i forget sometimes what a fish he is.

to avoid the returning traffic we stopped for dinner in capitola at paradise beach grill for some tasty food.  eat out on the deck and watch the sunset against the colorful homes on the beach, sets for the perfect relaxing end to a day.  after which walk across the street to a tasty little ice cream shop for some "monkey business"  (my favorite flavor).

yep...i'm still at it.

i'm onto week 3 of eating lean.mean.2014.
at times it's been a breeze while at other times i'm ready to poke my eye out.  i follow the meal plan pretty closely and have been hitting the gym hard.

i had 1 day each week i faltered on my eating.  one day i was in need of comfort food (aunt flo was in town) and wanting to snack while at my office desk.  i thought crackers wouldn't be bad.  i grabbed and filled up a red solo cup of these delicious munchies...

idea gone oh so wrong!  after eating them i thought, hmmm... wonder how many calories that was.  600!  can you believe that?  i wasted almost 1/2 of my calories on those dirty crackers.  had i known i would have gone for ice cream, a delicious hamburger or something of substance.  but animal crackers?

anyway, back on track-

i have gone 5 days a week to the gym for 1-2 hours burning anywhere from 500-1,100 calories.  i've been focused on cardio these last 2 weeks and will be adding more strength training starting week 3.

Result:  when i stick to the plan i haven't been hungry and for the most part haven't had cravings.  honestly though, my body has been super tired, which is why i took an extra day off.  my body has gone from 1-2 days of a semi-workout to 5 hard days.  i think it's acclamating and feeling better for week 3 which i plan to move to 6 days.

i do feel my muscles tightening. i haven't dropped any inches or seen any change in the scale until just the other morning where i went from 131/132 to 127.  not too focused on that right now.  my dedication to eating cleaner and working out more has been the exciting part.

i figure the rest will follow.

adventuring @ sunrise

we talked about doing this all summer.  chasing the sunrise.

these cute girls (who i absolutely love and adore), on their very last day of being able to sleep in and enjoy summer invited me to wake up early and go for a morning adventure with them.   we piled in the mini with hot chocolate and blankets and headed for the hills.

 the hike up was awesome chatting all the way until we met "the hill".  a definite cardio workout.

 

up at the top was beautiful.  peaceful.  we sat there on the hill in silence and just took it all in.
best way to start a morning.  and i guess end a summer :)