Confessions: Fill in The Blank

Linking up with Leslie @A Blonde Ambition

1. My worst fashion offense of all time has to be....All the years between birth and 2005.  I went from my mom dressing me bad to me dressing bad all by myself.  When I look back on some of my pictures I cringe.  Not that I became stylish in 2005, but I think my fashion sense became less bad.  Is that proper grammar?  I don't think so but it's really the best way to say it because to say better implies good and it was still mostly bad.    I honestly don't think I came close to having a stylish wardrobe until the last few years.  Thank goodness for fashion bloggers.

2. The most embarrassing song on my iPod is probably...Where do I start?  My iPod is so all over the place it's not even funny.  Almost Paradise by Loverboy from the Footloose Soundtrack, I'm All Out of Love by Air Supply and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen are probably the worse offenders.  But I like 'em. 

3. The last white lie I told was...I say things all the time like, How was your day? Fine.  When it's totally not or see you soon when I kinda know that probably won't happen.  I'm pretty sure there are others but I couldn't really think of anything else.

4. The celebrity I most wish would disappear is.....If I had to pick I'd say the Kanye West and Kim Kardashian circus.  Before that, just Kanye West would have been fine to disappear on his own with his funky attitude and crazy antics.  But really, I don't pay that much attention to celebrity news and gossip so I just picked them because I think their new baby's name is ridiculous and both of her marriages seem like a joke.  Not that I know the really story or anything.  And then I hear stuff on the radio about them putting gold swarovski encrusted toilets in their new house.  Really?  We know you are filthy rich and all but, REALLY??

5. Sometimes I wish ... I were rich and semi famous.  I swear I would not be one of those idiots to blow it and squander my riches.  I would use the money wisely, share responsibly, invest and live a life of freedom.  I only say semi famous because all out celebrity sounds kind of awful with all the scrutiny they are under but I do think it would be awesome to be known for being really really good at something or for accomplishing something great.

6. My childhood crush was... I think the first one I can remember was in Elementary and I want to say his name was Sam.  That name just comes to mind first when I try to conjure up a crush memory.  I also had a pound puppy named Sam back then so I could be confusing the two.   After that the next real crush was one that made me cry into my pillow at night was on Caleb.  I was OBSESSED with him for 3 1/2 of 4 years of high school.  A bit on what happened when we met up again over 10 years later here.

7. I've never turned down...Free food samples in the grocery store.  Something about free food in general just gets me every single time.  If it's free I want it even if I don't.  I think Mj is weird because most of the time he won't take them.  You mean you don't want to try the grilled chicken with orzo rice that the lady with the plastic gloves is handing out in those cute little plastic cups with the tiny spoon?  I always ask him to get one too and just give it to me.  Sometimes he will and sometimes he won't.

8. Speaking in Public...makes me a nervous wreck.   Not that I have to do it very often thank goodness.  I literally mess up my name and job title when we have to introduce ourselves at meetings.  It's terrible.  I did have one shining moment a few years ago where I conquered my fears and gave a work presentation to a room full of high school teachers.  Looking back I still can't really believe I did it.  More about that experience here.

9. I'd rather watch paint dry than ... Paint.  Or yard work.  I pretty much hate both.  We painted our downstairs and then when we needed the upstairs done we paid someone to do it.  None of our bathrooms or spare rooms are painted and I honestly don't know if they ever will be.  I did enjoy some gardening last year when we planted some herbs and a dwarf Orange tree but keeping plants alive is just too much for me.  Then using them is scary because when you go to pick them there might be bugs or spiderwebs.  I'm a big wimp.

10. Much like a train wreck, I can't turn away from watching...Bad reality TV.  In particular the one I am most ashamed of at the moment is Toddler's and Tiara's.  The pageant daddies are getting just as outrageous as the mom's and the drama makes my jaw drop.  And it makes me cringe when you can tell the family is financially strapped and mom is working an extra job as a clown to pay for $3,000 pageant dresses that will be too small in 6 months.  And it is kind of revolting seeing 2 year olds with pounds of make up on their face being fed pixie sticks or coffee to keep them awake and throwing a screaming crying tantrum because they didn't win Ultimate Grand Supreme.  But I keep watching.  I've also been watching Breaking Amish.
 

Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor Review

I got the Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor for my Birthday in April so I guess it's about time I did my review.  There are more features on it then I actually use or know anything about.  I can't help you out by breaking down all the features because honestly, I'm sure I don't know what all of them are but the main take away here is that if I can figure this thing out well enough to calculate my calories during work outs then so can you.

The first Heart Rate Monitor I ever had was a Mio strapless.  I'd heard that the ones with chest straps are more accurate but I was afraid of the strap. I was worried that it would be uncomfortable, bulky and a pain in the butt to put on.  I couldn't even find pictures of what it looked like.  It so turns out that having to hold down a button to test my heart rate every 15 minutes is more of a pain in the butt then any chest strap could ever be.  The strapless totally interrupted my work out.  Sometimes I couldn't get it to read my heart rate at all and other times I would get a very obviously inaccurate reading which would totally ruin my calorie count for the entire work out.  It's inconsistent.  I wore the Polar and the Mio at the same time for a few days to test the difference. The majority of the time that I had the Mio it was grossly over calculating but then for some reason all my settings got erased after I got the Polar and after I re entered them then it started grossly under calculating.   
Chest Strap // HRM calorie burn = 543 // Machine calorie burn = 598

Do not be afraid of the strap.  It's not uncomfortable at all.  I mean, if I was going to sleep I wouldn't want to wear it but I'm going to move and sweat.  It feels the same as the elastic on the bottom of my sports bras and sits just under it.  If I'm wearing a very fitted top and you look real close you might see a small bulge but for the most part it's not very noticeable.  I run my fingers under the faucet while im already wearing the strap and then stick them under the strap to wet it. It's not weird or gross like I thought it would be. The unit that measures my heart rate snaps on and off of the chest strap so I can easily wash the strap.  The directions tell you to put it in the washer about every 5th wear so I rinse it with soap and water after work outs and let it dry out.  The functions on the watch are pretty simple to navigate and the set up was easy.  I can pause it mid work out if I need to.   The  numbers on the watch are big which is helpful for practically blind people like me.  I  can push a button to scroll between heart rate, calories burned and duration very easily as I work out.  It determines your target heart range based on your input and will tell you when you are out of range.  There is some beeping that goes on that I haven't totally figured out yet but I think it has to do with that.  And you will get the beep of doom if your strap becomes disconnected from your body and stops reading.  Trust me, you will know this one when you hear it.  It's only happened a few times.  Without me having to do a thing if I'm working out on a machine at the gym it syncs and my heart rate show up on the machine like magic.  I didn't even know that was a feature. It also wishes you a Happy Birthday with a Birthday cake on your birthday.  How sweet is that? And of course I love it that it comes in Pink.


I knew that machines over calculate calories even when you enter your age and weight and now I know exactly how much.  The average is about 55 calories over what I'm actually burning based on the Polar.  It's nice to have a number that I can rely on to be accurate.  I count the calories that go in and I like to count the ones I burn too.

Guilty Pleasures

Linking up with Leslie @A Blonde Ambition
Warm Chocolate Molten Lava cake with Ice Cream.

Chocolate for Breakfast.

Eating an entire medium Pizza.  I actually did this on our 2nd date.  Way to impress him right?

Doughnut run at 9 O'clock at night. To my credit my husband is usually the instigator although I happily partake.

Eating Doritos right out of the bag without regard to serving size while sitting on the couch watching TV.  Not that a Dorito's bag has graced our home in a looooong time.  For obvious reasons.

Drinking that extra glass of wine..or two because I want to get tipsy...but not drunk.

5 Splendas in my coffee because I don't want to use "real" sugar and it makes it taste good.  Almost everything causes cancers these days.  I'll take my chances.

Eating a cookie every time a fresh batch comes out of the oven because there are only so many opportunities for that warm gooey freshly baked cookie experience.  Gotta take advantage of it.

Strawberry Twizzlers and Red Vines.  The King size bags.

Leaving dirty dishes in the sink overnight in favor of extra cuddles on the couch before bedtime.

Staying in pajamas on the couch and watching TV all day.

Mid afternoon naps just because.

Sitting on the couch watching House Hunters while he slaves away in the kitchen making dinner.  He's just so much better at it then me.  And he likes it.

Skipping my work out.  I always feel guilty later on but in that particular moment that you decide not to put on your gym clothes and get all sweaty it feels great.

Sleeping in past 10am.   The guilt point used to be 12pm but I haven't been able to sleep in that late in years.

Running to Express or The Limited every time they send me a coupon because you just can't beat $15 off $30 minimum purchase.

Buying that shirt in both colors because it's just so darn cute.  Then, suddenly feeling an insatiable urge to buy shoes too.

Saying screw it and letting the house work go undone for another week.

Reality TV full of gossip and scandal.  It's taking every ounce of strength I have NOT to watch Pretty Wicked Wives on Lifetime.

Staring out the window at work thinking about what I wish I was doing instead long enough to forget what I was actually supposed to be doing.

Shredding and Writing

The home key on my iPhone is not working.  I literally have to turn my phone off and back on again every time I need to navigate to a different area.  No bueno.  I'll be spending my lunch break at the genius bar. 

Last weekend was exactly the kind of weekend I was hoping for. I wasn't going to blog about it because I didn't really DO much of anything but then I thought about it. Maybe I didn't DO anything but it was still a great weekend in my book if not exciting, so why not?  Allow me to bore you with the details.

Saturday morning I woke up and did the 30 Day Shred first thing.  It was my first day of Level 3.  If I don't knock it out of the way in the morning it's not going to happen.  After that I headed straight to my favorite coffee shop for writing, Cosmo's Cafe.  I'm so glad I discovered this little gem.  It's in the downtown part of this cute little town near our house.  The prices are good and the refills are cheap.  There is plenty of seating with outlets for laptop chargers and plenty of room to spread out.  It's just got this really relaxing vibe to it that makes me feel right at home and allows me to focus.  They have these gluten free oat bars that are made by some local bakery that you can't get anywhere else.  I get all disappointed if they run out but they were fully stocked so I bought a giant coffee to go with it and settled down to write.  I was feeling bummed out because I didn't think I got much work done last month.  I started at the very beginning and cleaned house with edits and changes.  When your book is over 60,000 words it takes a loooong time to go through.  It's like reading a book.  Duh, 'cause I'm writing a book.  It turns out that with all that editing I actually added on about 13 more pages so I was still on track.  I finished reading through to the end from where I left on then started writing new pages.  When I hit a wall I left and went home.  That night we made dinner together and watched Side Effects

Sunday morning and guess what?  30 Day Shred. I was thinking about going back to Cosmo's because my creative juices were still flowing and I wanted to get more done but I didn't want to leave the house.  Lately, I haven't been able to write at home because I'm to distracted.  I put Pandora on the Classical Music for Studying Station; yes that's exactly what it's called! I sat there at the dining room table with my lap top and got a lot done.  Maybe I can write at home.  I watched a random foreign film on Netflix complete with French subtitles about 17 French high school girls who round up baby daddy's wherever they can find 'em and intentionally get pregnant at the same time.  I said it was random! I took a nap that afternoon because, you know I literally wore myself out doing almost nothing.  There wasn't a whole lot of TV watching going on because my DVR is finally empty.  I'm glad, but still not 100% sure how I feel about that.  I felt lost when I hit List and there was nothing there but at the same time it's nice for TV watching not to feel like a chore.  That night we watched Snitch and ate Carne Asada filled Mexican food from our favorite taco shop.

I didn't leave the house at all Sunday.  I was basically a pajama wearing shut in.  The best part is that I didn't feel guilty at all because I was at least somewhat productive with the exercise and writing.  If we had kids I'm betting almost none of that would have happened.  Which is just one of the reasons that we don't have any.

Productive.  Relaxing.  Pajamas.  Just what I needed.