Monday, October 6, 2014

Education Never Ends

Well, here it is!  Fall of 2014 and I'm wrapping up my last 6 credit course for my Bachelor of Science in Nutrition Science.  Seems only yesterday I was balancing my laptop on my prego belly during my first year of college, and then onto the professors' voices lulling my infant to sleep during seminars.  Now it's a toddler climbing all over me while I try to take timed tests and do research for my assignments.  My education, however, is not ending there.  I am going to be starting soon on my teaching certification for general science/biology for 6-12 grade, as I already started substituting in the local school district.  I'll also be continuing with Kaplan for my Master of Science in Health Education.

My passion lies more with the teenagers.  That age where they either get it and thrive, or fall to the wayside because somewhere, someone along the lines gave up on them, and just getting them to have a conversation with you is like pulling teeth.  In the end, if I can help one teen find their strength, motivation and self-worth, I'm doing good.  It's tough, and there are plenty of subs that won't even dare come to the high school, but in the last month and a half, I have found it SO rewarding, and smile because I really feel I found where I was meant to be.

As some of you may know my husband has been deployed now since Easter of this year, and I'm happy to report that it's close to when we will be whole as a family again.  He wishes to start his education journey as well, so it will be a very intense road for the next couple years.  Lots of choices and decisions to make, so hopefully things will go smoothly, but they will indeed be a challenge.

Be sure to always challenge yourself.  I know for me, my quest for my education has left little to no time to fit in certain things for myself, but I do try my best to be active and eat well.  My body may not be where I want it to be, but I'm slowly losing weight and fighting the good fight.  As long as I don't give up, right?  Same with all of us.  We may have obstacles, but they are never to be excuses.  I look forward to continuing on my journey, because it will never be over!!

Have a great week!!

Monday, June 30, 2014

Zumba® B2 Training Complete!

There's me.  Top middle.  Sweaty, disheveled, and sore after dancing from 9am-6pm yesterday.  It definitely makes you give some respect for those that do those reality competition dancing shows. While the basic step 1 training was only the 4 basic rhythms, this class focused on six more rhythms: belly dance, flamenco, tango, samba, plus two new high-intensity rhythms, soca and quebradita.  It was great in reinforcing the Zumba® formula and giving us ideas in class techniques and making it fun for new and old, and also touched on making us better, more professional instructors.  Abraham Hernandez is a great ZES (Zumba® Education Specialist) and was the same instructor I had for Basic Step 1 back in April, as he is the current ZES assigned to Idaho.

While I won't start my classes until September, after I'm done with my Bachelors, it's great that I was able to get this training in.  So much great info, and an awesome, fun time working out as usual!  LOVED every minute of it!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Mini Goal

Short post....

For the first time in over 2 years I'm finally under 170.  Sure it's 169.8 lbs, but hey.. it's still UNDER!

Hope you all are having a great week!!

<3

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Getting Close, Yet Falling Behind

It's been over half a year since I've blogged about anything to do with my progress, whether personal, professional or otherwise.  It basically comes down to having the time to do so.  As a wife, mom, student, volunteer and small business owner, things can get out of control - and FAST!  I know a lot of you out there that go through the same struggles.  Trying to manage your time with all that needs to get done, and I'm falling into the same patterns that have plagued me my whole life.  Putting others ahead of myself.

Don't get me wrong, I love helping others, getting involved, making people smile and knowing I had a part in making their lives just a tad easier.  The problem I have is being on the receiving end of that help.  It's a hard habit to break.  You smile and act tough, turning down much appreciated gestures of kindness, but you think to yourself, "I got this", or in a lot of cases you feel that you don't want to push your burdens and responsibilities on others.  This is the life I choose and it's on me to keep it going.  Especially now, with the husband deployed, there is that internal want and need to express strength and determination, the picture of keeping it all together, when the truth is, things are falling behind and quite frankly, apart.

You get moments to yourself and you end up falling asleep from pure exhaustion instead of hitting up that "to do list" that you've been ignoring.  Things come up that take you away from the routine that you set for yourself.  It's hard, but you keep on keeping on, because... that's what you do, right?

So here are some updates for those that may not be on my personal FB feed:

  • Weight loss has been at a stand still.  Although I was certified as a Zumba instructor and going for my basic 2 training at the end of this month, I fell off the workout grid since April when I took on more classes at school and the husband deployed.  I need to reassess myself and make some S.M.A.R.T. goals for myself.  I have been stuck at 170lbs for months and I would like to drop at the minimum, 20 lbs.
  • I will be graduating in August with my Bachelors in Nutrition Science.  It's been 4 years of hard work and determination, and I can finally say that I finished something I started.  I will most likely go for my Masters in Health Education once I get a job and my youngest starts school.  It's been too hard to wrap up my current degree with a crazy toddler running around driving mommy insane.
  • One goal that I am making for myself is getting my ACE certification for group fitness.  I am also looking to get AFAA certified with a kickboxing certification as well.  These certifications will be more about having the extra money to get certified, because I've already had most of the education in my last 4 years at Kaplan.

My youngest is now 3 and my oldest is 16, so it's quite the age difference to plan things the whole family enjoys, but I'm trying to do my best this summer to keep them both active and outside as much as possible.  I really need to get back on track and start loving and doing for myself again.

I came upon this quote this evening, which inspired me to blog, and it truly says it all.

"Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world." - Lucille Ball