Sunday Stats

Hello everyone!  How was your week?  Mine was great!  Got some workouts in, did some things around the house, and started an order for 60 Tea Totes.  Yes, 60!  I am having a blast putting all of them together.


Now, for the fun stuff....

Week Ending January 29

Workouts:  

Curves - 3    Treadmill - 2 

Calories Burned This Week: 

2402

Weight Loss This Week: 

1lb

Total Weight Lost Since January 4th : 

4.6 lbs

I worked hard for that one pound!  And as long as the scale keeps going down and not the other way, I'm happy :-)  I was hoping for more time in the gym and on the treadmill this week, but a case of shin splints put a kibosh on that idea.  


I'm going to get my body fat measured tomorrow, so I'm hoping that I actually lost more in fat and gained in muscle (remember, muscle weighs more that fat.)  In order to reach my goal by July, I need to lose on average 2 lbs a week.  So I'm a little behind, but I'll catch up :-)  I'm officially starting Curves Complete tomorrow and I'm hoping that will give me the weight loss boost I'm looking for. 

Are you on a weight loss journey?  How was your week? Post your results below and be my "Sunday Stats" buddy! :-)

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone for entering my first giveaway!  Our winner is:

Running from Zombies!

I have an inner geek, and she's getting bigger as the years go on, especially when it comes to sci-fi and zombies.  By the way,  I liked zombies WAY before it was the trendy thing to do.  Just sayin'.  In fact, here's a picture of me with Judith O'Dea (Barbra) from "Night of the Living Dead." 

What a thrill to meet her!

Imagine my excitement when I was made aware of a  product that took my love of running and love of zombies and mashed them together!   Behold - the  Zombies, Run! app.

Zombies, Run! is an app for the iPhone that is described as a "running game and audio adventure."   This app plays a story line through your headphones as you're running.  It's the zombie apocalypse and you're "Runner 5."  Your job is to run around and gather supplies for your hideout.  Oh, and why you're doing this, and you're being chased by zombies.  How fun!

They already have t-shirts out!  Where's my wallet....

The story continues each time you run. The app is also supposed to keep track of distance, pace, time, and calories through integration with RunKeeper.   The one unfortunate thing about this app is... it's not out yet.  UGH! But, I've preordered it and stay tuned for a full review when it comes out next month.  In the meantime, check out the video on their webpage. 

Are any of you out there zombie fans like me? Are any of my readers interested in getting this app when it comes out?  Leave a comment below and let me know :-)

5K a month in 2012

One of my new year's resolution fitness goals is to participate in at least one 5K a month.  This started a month early in December of 2011 when my brother and I participated in the "4th Annual Life Without Pain 5K" benefiting Quest to Cure, a sickle cell anemia foundation.  It was one of the smaller runs I've participated in, but fun nonetheless.  It was a nice course through Paseo Park in Glendale, AZ.  It was the first 5K that I did since I've been sick, over a year!.  It was great to be outdoor and active again!

My brother and me getting ready for the race

Later on in the month (yep, I did two in December!) I participated in the "Iron Girl 5K" in Scottsdale, AZ.   The course kicked my butt!  It was so hilly!  I definitely earned my medal that day.  My legs were killing me the next day, but it was worth it.  

Really good post race food - breakfast burritos!  Yum!

This month (January)  I've also ran two 5K's.  The first one was the "8th Annual Run To Remember" benefiting the Arizona Concerns of Police Survivors Organization.  It was held in Buckeye in the gorgeous community of Verrado.  There was quite a turnout for this one! It was nice to see so many people getting together for such a worthy cause.

My second 5K was the "4th Annual Family Fitness 5K" benefiting a middle and elementary school in Chandler.  There was a woman handing out flyers for this 5K at the Iron Girl race.  She was so nice that I signed up!  Great course, flat around a neighborhood and a park in Chandler.  And all finishers received a medal!  

I love getting medals :-)

Look at me go! I'm the girl in the blue top.

I'm trying to schedule races for the rest of the year, but haven't gotten very far.  In February I will be participating in the "Arizona Half Marathon and 5K" in Scottsdale.  In March there is the "Kiss Me I'm Irish 4K, 8K, and 17K" in Glendale.  And April brings my favorite run, "Pat's Run" in Tempe.


Starting in May  I will be looking for 5K's further north in Sedona, Flagstaff, Prescott to get throughout the Arizona summer.  Then it will be back to the valley in the Fall!


Do any of you participate in 5K runs/walks?  Which ones are your favorites?  Anyone want to join me in any this year? 

Doggie Rescue - Meet the pups

Rescuing a dog rocks. 

Katie
Our 1 1/2 year old American Stafforshire Terrier Mix

If you're looking to bring a new pet into your home, please consider rescuing a animal.  Petfinder.org is a wonderful site that has listings of all pets currently waiting for their "forever homes" at rescue organizations and shelters in your area.

Faith
Our 8 year old  min-pin/schipperke mix

On Petfinder.org you can search for a pet by type, breed, size, age, sex, color and even name! Petfinder.org does not only list dogs and cats, but they also have rabbits, small and furry, horses, birds, scales and even pigs!   

Faith hates being cold...she's trying to stay warm under a comforter.

Both of our dogs were found using Petfinder. When I was looking for Faith, I entered in dog, small, young, female, black and up she came! It was love at first sight. After contacting the rescue agency and filling out some paperwork I waited for approval.  About 24 hour later I was approved and that weekend I picked her up. 

Happy sundog Katie taking a nap

So many needy dogs.  I can't save them all, but I can save one (or two in my case). Do you have doggies or have you ever rescued a dog or cat?  Leave a comment below and let me know :-)

I'm now on Facebook!  https://www.facebook.com/CraftRunWag

Weight Loss Update - Sunday Stats

Every Sunday during my weight loss journey I will be posting my fitness "stats" for the week.  I will include how many times I worked out that week, how many calories I burned during those workouts, and how much weight and/or body fat I've lost.  

By posting these figures it will not only keep me honest on this road to getting fit but maybe also motivate some of you to join me!  If you'd like to be a "Sunday Stats" buddy, please leave a comment below with your weekly totals.  Or, you can just leave a motivational comment to those of us that are posting :-)  Did anyone else have a great week? Let me know!  

Week Ending January 21

Workouts:  

Curves - 4    Treadmill - 4    5K - 1

(I tend to jump on the treadmill for 30-45 minutes when I get home from curves)
(The 5K's I do walk/run intervals)

Calories Burned This Week: 
4169

(Thanks to my handy dandy Polar Heart Rate Monitor)

Weight Loss This Week: 

???

(Uh, I forgot to weigh myself last week, so I'm not sure what it is.  

But I do know I've lost 3.6 lbs. in the past two weeks)  

Total Weight Lost: 

3.6 lbs

(I'm going to start from two weeks ago, so I've lost 3.6 lbs.  Woo Hoo!) 

Tea Tote Giveaway!!

This one was my first, the one I still keep in my purse

I love drinking tea. I love using little stevia packets. Throwing the two in my purse was not working out, they ended up turning into a crushed up mess.  I started thinking that I should craft up something to keep the two in my purse all nice and neat, and behold,  the "Tea Tote" was born!  It's a little origami wallet created out of vellum.  So cute! 

On the the inside - stevia on the left, tea packet on the right

A few weeks later my gym was having a Christmas craft fair so I decided to make a few to sell.  42 to be exact. I had so much fun making all of them!  I thought I would sell maybe 10 or so...but they were a hit. They sold!  All of them!  Plus, I had two additional orders for 10 and 5 totes from two ladies at the gym.  Wow!  I now have a little basket of them at the gym available for sale all the time and a friend of mine also sells them for me at a local farmers market.

A few of the Totes

For the next week I'll be having a little giveaway.  One lucky person will win two Tea Toes, one for themselves and one to share! There are three chances for you to enter.  1) Answer a fun, quick question. 2) Tweet about the giveaway and 3) Leave a comment on my blog.  Please tell your friends share the link!  To enter see the widget below.  

Aren't they cute?! :)

(If you'd like to place a order, please let me know.  They are only $2.00 each or three for $5.00.  They come stocked with a tea bag and little packet of stevia. Don't forget that Valentines Day and Easter are coming up soon, these make a great gift paired with a coffee mug or tea cup and some chocolate.  Shoot me an email or comment below and I can get them to you ASAP.)

I'm now on Twitter!

Do you have twitter?

Follow me at craftrunwag

Zumba!! (Shake It Shake It)

2011 was not a friendly year to my body.  In and out of hospitals, days in bed in pain, yadda yadda yadda, have all lead up to putting on some additional weight.  Almost 50 pounds of extra weight (UGH...first time I told anyone that!)  But with 2012 comes a new year and time to shed those extra pounds!  

I've always been the type of girl to go to a regular gym.  I was able to work out on my own and stay in reasonably good shape.  Unfortunately the past year put a big kibosh on my body image and self esteem.  My regular gym routine was not working for me.  I'd make excuses not to go, and if I went I would only complete a half-ass workout.  I needed a change.

I got an early start to my New Years Fitness Resolution by joining Curves in November.  It's been great! The fat has started to disappear and muscle has taken its place.  It's only been two months and I can already see results.  Yeah, I know I'm starting to sound like a commercial for Curves, but I swear, I'm not getting compensated for this... yet ;-)

Today I tried the Curves Circuit with Zumba for the first time.  SO. MUCH. FUN!  I've never been to a Zumba class before, and it took a little bit to figure out what I was doing, but it wasn't long until I joined in and was shaking my booty :-)   I didn't care what I looked like, I was having fun!  I think if I would had been in a gym with men and mirrors...oh, I didn't mention that Curves doesn't have mirrors?  I don't know about you but I tend to watch myself in those mirrors and concentrate on all the bad jiggly stuff going on during my workout.  Being able to concentrate on the good of my workout instead of all bad in the mirror is great.

Every other week I am going to post about how my weight loss journey is going.  It was a big decision for me to put it all out here for everyone to see, but it's a great way for me to be accountable and reach my goal.  I'm turning 40 in July and I'm going to try to *MAKE* my goal of loosing 40 pounds of fat before then.  (Jillian Michaels says to never use the word 'try', only do.  Sounds a little like Yoda...)

My question to my readers is:  Have any of you ever had to lose over 25 pounds?  How did you do it?  How great did you feel after you met your goal?

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My First Post

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited to be starting up this little blog 'o mine.  My goal is to post at least three times a week - fingers crossed!  I'll be bringing you entertaining, interesting and informative posts related to crafting, keeping healthy, and caring for pets .  These three topics seem to encompass my life and I can't wait to share all the little bits of amusing and inspired information that I have gathered in my head (and on my computer) with you.

Thank you for checking out my blog.  Visit frequently, post often, and have a wonderful day! :-)

XOXO

Tya