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Day 2: Cupcake Kindness

Day 2 of Seven Days found me volunteering at the Ottawa Mission for their Annual Christmas Dinner. Some fabulous Ladies organized for 3000 cupcakes to be delivered to the Mission for dinner. In addition to organizing volunteers to donate cupcakes, they also took donations to try to match dollar for dollar the amount donated in cupcakes.
Day 2: Cupcake Kindness

To be honest, I have never volunteered at the Mission before.  I feel terrible that I haven’t.  I used to work at a restaurant just down the street and several of my regulars would stay at the Mission when times were tough.  Or if they didn’t stay they knew someone who did.  Over the years since I left that restaurant (it has been 11 years since I worked there, but feels like yesterday) I have run into several of the guys or have seen them on tv talking about how much the Mission has given them over the years.  It felt good today to help out and be a part of something bigger.

CupcakeKindessCupcakes were everywhere, they looked lovely, divine even, but more oh so much more than the cupcakes was the kitchen.  The staff that works there (some every day some once a week) have the opportunity to work in one of the best equipped kitchens I have ever seen.  Not only that, but it was the best smelling kitchen, oh my.  Turkey, gravy and garlic mashed potatoes, what an amazing job they do every single day.  I feel very Blessed that I had the chance to help out even for just a few hours and hopefully I will be able to do it again.

Thank you to Josée from The Cakery for organizing such a wonderful day and allowing me to be a part of it.

CupcakeKindess

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My four weeks at Booty Camp are almost coming to an end and I would like to share what I have learned and how much I have been enjoying it.

My particular class is held in a High School Cafeteria.  There are no weights, no machines, just you, your mat and your instructor.  Oh yes and the cafeteria benches.  Lauri has been amazing at instructing different classes each and every day, no two classes have been the same. One class we had Kick Boxing, the next we did a circuit and at another we did a thousand reps.  Yes, folks ONE THOUSAND REPS!  I was under the impression that the instructors were given a class to follow so each one across the city would be the same.

After talking to Lauri I learned that each instructor makes her own classes so no two are alike. The classes I most enjoyed have been the ones to follow a standard pattern, warm up, work out one area, move to the next, add some cardio, cool down.  I think that this is the pattern that I have followed most of my workout life. When we did the class of a thousand reps I didn’t think I would make it.  Lauri takes ten exercises you do ten reps each then repeat the set ten times.  I did them all.  ALL!  I figured I would collapse halfway through, but with a few modifications I was able to do them all.  For instance, I could not do the push-ups that had you step your arm out – push-up -step back-do the other side, so I did regular push-ups.  I could not do the one leg squat that had your hand touch the floor, so I did the one leg squat where I tried to touch the floor.  My point is that I did them all.

I have really enjoyed my time at Booty Camp and hope that I can continue on in the future, but this is where I learned a little something more about myself.  Ready?  Here it goes…  I can’t do it all.  I can’t.   Unfortunately or fortunately which ever way you want to look at it, becoming a work-at-home Mom has made some changes in our lives that don’t afford certain luxuries and working out at 6:30 or 7:30pm is one of them.  It cuts into bedtime with the kids, freelance work (events that happen during the evening) and my actual time to work.  Hubby and I agreed that I should try Booty Camp in hopes that I could get into some great shape and not have it kill me in the process, however, I am hanging on by a thread.

I am in better shape than when I started, but just barely.  The stress of getting work done in time to get to Booty Camp, make sure we have a light dinner so I don’t get sick at Booty Camp and making sure that Hubby has what he needs has gotten the better of me.  For a few weeks I even had dark circles under my eyes!  Something my Sister has had most of her life, but not me.

When it came time to register for January and I had the opportunity to continue on, Hubby and I had a great discussion about it.  And really, it has nothing to do with Booty Camp, but with us as a family.  He used to try to workout right after work and it was a killer on him and us, so he changed it.  And trying it out this past four weeks was a good exercise in seeing if we could do it after a few years and really it just doesn’t work for us.

I hope that I can continue in my quest to get my old body back, but until Booty Camp has enough people that want to do it in the morning, I will have to continue my journey at home.  No worries, I will still continue on.  I miss running and am looking forward to getting back into that and we have added some exercising at home with the kids that gets us moving so hopefully that will keep me going.

Next Monday is my last Booty Camp class for now, I am curious to see if I lost any inches anywhere during this whole process, I know that my legs and arms should be smaller since they are used for most of my exercises, but I fear my belly hasn’t shrunk and that is what I would like to see less of in the future.

Thank you to Lisa and Lauri from Booty Camp Fitness for giving me the opportunity to try out these wonderful classes and to see if it was the right fit for me.  I do look forward to working with you in the future.

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I Am Still Here…

…  I have been completely ignoring my blog lately and am feeling the loss.  I still blog in my head all the time, but somehow never have the time to actually do something about it. I have been so Blessed to be busy with work this Fall that it seems to take all of my free time.  We did manage to sneak away for a trip South to visit Family and Friends for Thanksgiving in the US.

After a stopping by my Aunts in Delaware then on to my Cousins in Maryland, for both that I will owe a post, we made it to Virginia to see Bethany and Brenda.  And this post is only made possible by the fact that Bethany is so quick to upload photos that I can share a few  from her Flickr stream.

The children are getting along famously and us girls are chatting like we have never been apart.

Here are a few shots from our visit.  We are hitting the road back to the Great White North soon, but somehow feel like our trip South for Thanksgiving will become an annual event.

Missing you all and will be back regularly soon.

Apple products for everyone!

Gumball & dottery mugs

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