Workin' It 11/30

Good morning ladies!!! I'm a little late posting this, I do apologize, but life has been relatively insane for us over the past week (hence no Steppin' Out post last Saturday, even though I looked super cute when GodMomma and I went Christmas shopping!)

Here we go....

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How're you all doing with your Workin' It goals?? I got my booty into the gym once this past week (and once so far this week, which has been even more insane with baptisms, house showings {two of them!! Same family too!!}, a craft show tomorrow night, C's staff holiday party Friday, I have a massage {much needed!} Saturday morning and then I'm off to style a photo shoot...oh and we might start moving on the weekend!! ahhhhh) and aside from tidying, cleaning and running around like a chicken with my head cutoff, I've been trying to focus on Nutrition.

I've been doing some baking, but have been doing some healthy baking. Oatmeal cherry bars are my favourite snack right now - with little to no sugar! I've been trying to make healthier choices with salads, getting more protein, getting veggies into my body to feed and fuel it. It's hard though when you're a mom!! Remembering to eat when I'm so busy is seriously a challenge (and a topic for next week).

Last Wednesday's workout was:

Walk 5mins

Then 4 sets of:

• 15 leg presses at 75lbs (definitely can do more than that, but getting back at that one slowly)
• 15 thrusters at 10lbs
• 15 bentover rows at 25lbs
• 15 sunups (situps on a bosu ball)

Then 15mins of cardio on the elliptical...at 6.3mph!

Now, you might be wondering about some of my fitness jargon, and you can totally do almost all of the circut exercises that I do...but from home!

Today, I'll explain what a thruster is.

{note: I came home from the gym that night and our Personal Trainer pal was over. I told him what I had done at the gym and he was super impressed that I was doing thrusters, since they're such a great exercise for your core, back, arms and legs. Full body, baby!}

Grab a couple of weights (soup cans, jars of peanut butter, your baby..whatever your have handy) and hold them at your shoulders

Do a squat

As you come out of the squat, push your arms up to the sky and then bring them back to your shoulders

Repeat

I'm not going to lie, they're hard...and they make you hurt if you kick up the weight (next week/routine when I do them, I'll be kicking up to 12.5lbs) but they are so incredibly worth it!

And here's some inspiration to get moving this week!

Christmas Traditions

I saw this over on BabyShmizz and thought, what the heck...I've got some answers to these!

Are you preparing for Christmas yet?? Take the survey!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I actually have never had, nor ever intend to have, egg nog. Drinking eggs just grosses me out. Hot chocolate...absolutely...and with some peppermint schnapps, please!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Oh...Santa wraps! And in the most glorious papers, with ribbons and bows, fancy tags and personal notes! He doesn't fool around!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I love plain white lights. There's just something etheral about a tree, lit with white lights, with shimmering glass ornaments on it.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I haven't, but I so want to! We used to have a cheapy plastic one when I was little, and I would get so grossed out when my parents would smooch up...I want to be that parent!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Today!! They went up today!! I'm so thankful we have Thanksgiving in October!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? My Mom's nanaimo bars...the...best..things..EVER!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? I have two. The first was getting the display for our yard ready with my Dad. He had made the whole nativity scene out of wood, and we paintd it white. I got the special job of doing the detailing on the wisemen's gifts, camel's faces and baby Jesus' cradle. The second was out Christmas Eve tradition - Chinese takeout, church, new Christmas pj's, and then everyone watched White Christmas. Gotta love the Bing!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I honestly don't even remember...you're telling me he's not real? I watched the Polar Express today with Owen while I set up the decorations, and I so hope that when I'm 90 I can still hear that silver bell.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? C's family has a tradition of opening one gift, usually (always) a new board game to play together. In our little family of 3, we open a new movie to watch before tucking in for the night and waiting for Santa.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We...I mean I...decorate with care. Another tradition I have with my Dad...blaring Mario Lanza and setting up the tree, checking the lights and everyone decorates it together. We have red and clear glass balls, handpainted ornaments that I made for Owen and C, and a new ornament every year that we've been a family...along with some childhood favourites. I cannot WAIT to put a train track and village under it just like my Mom.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Have you noticed I live in Canada? I have no choice but to love it!

12. Can you ice skate? You bet your bottom dollar I can! I can't do anything fancy, and my skates haven't been on for...6 years...but I can!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? It was the year that my Dad passed away. Mom gave my brother and I each a necklace of my Dad's...and I wear it every day.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Turning off to the world and being with my little family. Snuggling with Owen, kissing my Hubs...being with them means the world to me, especially at Christmas.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Aside from the Nanaimo bars? Probably key lime pie that a special friend makes...it's freaking to die for!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating and finding THE perfect ornament for the tree to represent our year.

17. What tops your tree? A creamy and gold Santa...I so want a beautiful angel though

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? GIVE!!! I love love love shopping and creating gifts for others!

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Actually...meh. Does that count? I always have them in a big hurricane vase by the front door...year round!

20. Favorite Christmas show? Movie? Oh gosh...then: Muppet Family Christmas...my Dad actually put ALL of those old classic shows onto VHS for me. Now: Polar Express!

21. Saddest Christmas Song? Probably Old Toy Trains and just because it reminds me of my Dad

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Silent Night...because it was my big singing debut in public school at our assembly when I was about 10. Love Love Love it!

Christmas is Coming!

We've been trying to wrap out heads around not being home for Christmas this year. So far, so good! We've had our gift selections shipped to the condo (thank you Amazon.com and Etsy!) and Nana and Papi took some of our luggage and stocking stuffers.

What I'm struggling with is not decorating our house. We were advised by our real estate agent not to decorate our home and to stay as neutral and decluttered as possible. While I've sent a box of decorations down to the condo (thanks, Nana!) our home just feels....blah.

So I made this yesterday


handmade paper advent calendar

My assistant seemed to like it...



But apparently thinks that Christmas is in 5 days...



it even has pouches on the back for treats, coupons, recipes and notes!



and it folds down small enough that we can take it with us on holidays!

Workin' It 11/23

Welcome back! Are you ready for week two?

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I'll be the first to admit...last week wasn't a super good one. I only got to the gym once, and that was on Sunday before the madness of cleaning and home staging started.

Sunday's workout was a doozie though!

5 minute readmill warm up
4 sets of:

• 15 bar pushups
• 500m row (2:30mins)
• 10 tricep dips at 50lbs
• 20 weighted squats at 15lbs

15 minutes cardio on the eliptical

It had me pooped for sure!

Then Monday came when I cleaned from morning until bedtime, followed by more cleaning and homestaging on Tuesday and Wednesday. I literally have not climbed so many stairs in my life, or mopped all of our floors (kitchen, 3 bathrooms, 2 entry ways and a laundry room) all in one day, or vacuumed and dusted every surface (2.5 storey home!), washed walls, lifted and carried boxes, boxsprings, bedframes, cleaned tubs and showers....in the matter of two and a half days!

So...keep in mind that while going to the gym is fantastic, there are tonnes of things that you can do around the house to stay active!

I even weighed myself at one of the houses that we went to see on Saturday, and I am very happy to report that I've lost 4lbs!

Here's some motivation to keep moving this week!

Link up your Workin' It Wednesday post!

Steppin' Out 11/19

What a whirlwind of a day yesterday!! Whew!


Top: joe Fresh
Jeans: Old Navy


funny little self portrait

Post-pedicure toes: Butter, British racing Green

After a well deserved pedicure, we set off on a house hunting adventure as the For Sale sign went up on the lawn at our place on Friday. We looked at five houses, and it feels like we're nearing a decision. {a post on how-to keep your home show-ready with a toddler to come later in the week!}

Then, straight down to hometown for dinner and the Santa Claus parade with GodMomma, J, T, AuntieDeeDee, Uncle Big A and W.


Hat: Rumour Has It


On Mama
Hat: George
Flower embellishment: Shabby Lane


Daddy and his boy :)

What'd you do this weekend??

Workin' It!

I got such great feedback last week when I posted about my fitness goals and that itty bitty monokini that I can get my body into, but don't feel 100% confident in just yet...so I decided to create a blog-hop for other mama's out there to share their goals, progress and motivate one another!

Welcome to....

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A place to talk about inspiration, motivation...successes and failures...to own up to your goals and face them head on.

Each week, I'll kick it off by talking about my previous weeks workouts, whether I achieved a goal or not and how I'm feeling about things. I'm going to hold myself accountable, and hopefully in doing so, will motivate some other mamas.

To sum up last week, my.arms.hurt!

Sundays workout was my first in 5 months. Eek! Did I overdo it? Absolutely but it felt amazing.

• 5 min warm up on the treadmill
• 2 sets of: 10 bicep curls (10lbs), 30 plank crawls, 20 seated rows (30lbs), 10 weighted squats (15lbs.)
  
• 2 sets of: 10 bicep curls (10lbs), 30 plank crawls, 20 dual pulley rows (37.5lbs), 10 weighted squats (15lbs.)
• 15 mins cardio on the elliptical at 5.3mph

Monday, ever though I was sore from the muscle activation, was

• 5 min warm up on the treadmill
• 4 sets of: 15 lateral pulldowns (75lbs), 10 weighed lunges (per leg, 10lbs each hand), 15 sunups (situps on a 1/2 balance ball), 10 bicep curls (10lbs.)
• 15 mins cardio on the elliptical at 6.1mph

I'll be honest, I was so sore and tired from those two workouts that I didn't make it to the gym on Tuesday (we were also house hunting that evening and meeting with our real estate agent).

I got in two workouts, and made sure to eat three times a day, so I will call last week a success! I've noticed in just a few days that some of my clothes are fitting...smoother. So..I know that the hard work pays off, and will continue to trudge through!

Link up your Workin' It post and let's motivate eachother!

Book Review: UNMarketing by Scott Stratten

I finished another book on Friday night, so thought that I should get caught up in my book reviews.

Will I reach my 25 in 2011 goal? Probably not, but I'm still going to try!



C recommended that I read this book, given that I'm a twitt-a-holic (he calls me, and wrote book for our anniversary {even had it printed!}, Little Miss Twitter).

So...I gave it a read. While I was reading, I found myself saying YES! out loud, and even tweeting to Scott abotu how much sense he makes.

The book is really fantastic, and it's a great guide about how to properly use social media when you are representing a brand. It speaks about being authentic, not transparent, and engaging with people rather than being an auto-bot.

So true, and many of the strategies I have implemented with Sweet Stella's in my social media strategy.

There is one passage that really irked me. It's about stay-at-home-moms, rather the work-at-home-mom and how it should/could/is seen as a not-so-positive thing because who knows what you're really spending your time on. How much time if going to your paying client and how much to your child?

While I get the logic, I think it rude. Between the hours of 10am-3pm, my client is my beautiful son. 3pm-5pm, whoever wants to pay me to make party decor, stationery, masks and ornaments..I'm all yours! 5pm-7:20pm...my beautiful boy takes precedence over that. I wouldn't expect any other WAHM to be different...family first, and that's part of the reason why we decide to be a working-at-home-mama.

All in all, it's a great book...you just have to look past that one chapter, which for me was a difficult thing to do. Scott is a brilliant social media strategist and makes alot of sense with his claims...he just missed the mark about moms, and just how powerful we can be!

A Rockin' Giveaway at the Mommyhood Chronicles

There is a seriously awesome giveaway going on over at The Mommyhood Chronicles

rockstar wear for your kiddo by RowdySproutRockerTees!

They have everything from Beatles (woot!) rompers and shrits, to Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Pink Floyd and Aerosmith.



amazing! And not just for little boys either!



Go enter!

Weighing In

Sunday marked a fun day...the first day back at the gym since the end of May. (May 27th to be exact! Thank goodness for that training journal I keep!)

Yes, you read that right...I didn't go to the gym ALL SUMMER.

and why? Well, we were freaking busy with 5 weddings (including GodMomma's that I was in and did the cake for), Owen's birthday, Grandma Maria visiting, and...y'know...life.

I'm happy to say that I maintained my weight since my last session with fitness guru personal trainer Liz! I cannot beleive that I did it, what with all of the fast meals, no meals, ice cream, birthday cakes and festivities over the past few months!

But I did!! I sit currently, and freaking proudly, as 154lbs.

When I got pregnant with Mr. O, I was 205lbs. That's a whole hell of a lot of weight to lose, and keep off, so I'm proud and not ashamed at all to reveal those numbers.

It dawned on me the other night that Christmas is coming, which means Florida...pools...boats...beaches...



This is the bathing suit that C bought for me at the beginning of the summer (July really). I want to be able to wear it with confidence, and right now...eh...I'm not quite there yet.

I love that it covers the middle of my tummy, and my stretch marks, but the bottoms are itty bitty...like...whoa! There's my booty!

So...I'm on a mission to shed 10-15lbs. by Christmas.

My plan?

Sunday afternoon - gym and hitting the circut HARD!
Monday evening - gym, primarily cardio
Tuesday evening - gym, hittin' it hard, and focusing on toning

I know that I can do it because I have seen what the hard work will do, and I know that I am capable of doing it if I set my mind to it.

Food wise...ugh. I'm not good with food, either remembering to eat at particular times, or eating the right things, so I'm not going to focus on food. I'm going to try and make good choices, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I make some poor ones.

To take it a step further...I'm going to hold myself accountable for those Sunday, Monday and Tuesday gym sessions by blogging about them and recapping my workouts, how I felt and how I feel the progress is coming.

How do you whip your booty into shape?

Steppin' Out 11/5

What a busy day on Saturday! I had my first Christmas Craft Sale and had spent all of last week freaking out about what to wear and how to present myself.

Jeans: Old Navy
Top: Old Navy
Camisole: Suzy Shier

Rosette Broach: Rumour Has It
Necklace: Dad's with Tiffany & Co. pendant

I went for cute and girly...just my style. I didn't want to get allllll christmasey, but I wanted to look pulled together and semi-professional since it's my baby, my business that I'm representing!



New Mardi Gras masks, christmas favour pouches and pinwheels



Pretty journals, amazing masks, stationery and party kits!

It was a heck of a day, and definitely an awesome learning and growing experience for me!

Book Review: sTORItelling by Tori Spelling

I know...I know...

You're probably thinking what is a smart girl like Shan doing reading a trashy book like that!?

Well...all I can say is don't judge a book by its cover, including me ;)



I was never a 90210 fan growing up, never really watched it or followed it. I didn't get involved with the show or the Donna and David saga, or Luke Wilson's character...what was his name? Dylan?

But...I while I was pregnant, late in the evening, I would certainly tune into SLICE and catch an episode of Inn Love with Tori and Dean. If you want to watch a cray cute couple who so genuinely love each other...Inn Love was the ticket (then came Home Sweet Hollywood and STORIbook Weddings...which I adore!)

So...it was only natural that this made it under the tree for me last year at Christmas. It was a super quick read, and I definitely learned things about Ms. Tori that I didn't know. Not shocking {gasp} type things, but things about her family dynamic that definitely made mine seem less dysfunctional.

If you want a quick, light hearted read, I definitely recommend this one...and I bet any money that your fingers, like mine, will be crossed that Santa puts Mommywood under the tree for you this year!

Gunapod

As the weather is changing up in the frosty North, I've been looking into other options for Owen for bedtime.

The poor little guy wakes up with cold feet (18+month sleepers with feet are hard to find in these parts!) and cold hands.

Along came the Gunapod...and thankfully, Baby Shmizz is having a giveaway for it!



What's awesome about it...is that we can use it for the stroller and zip it right up to keep him warm when we take him to the Santa Claus parade!

Hoping to win one, but why don't you enter too!