A wealth of information!

I just signed up for a web based fitness seminar. Wow! I have been listening all day! I can't share a bunch of info right this second because I have heard so much I am still digesting  and so much more to hear over the next two days!  I am listening to one as I write this about female fat loss. Because I have been surfing I am only catching bits and pieces.  But because I purchased the program I can replay the lectures anytime for the next 3 months. I am just listening today but later I am going to relisten and have a note pad handy.  Then when I get my notes and thoughts together I will share some stuff( I can't give all the secrets away)

One thing I have decided now that I am on my own :) Fitness teaching :)( well actually not for a couple of weeks)  but I am looking forward to and planning. I did some awesome flyers this morning for my classes. I am going to present them to the church for approval so I can start handing them out! But I am also going to run bootcamps. From some of the research I have done they are very popular. And a chance to make good money at fitness. I think I am giving those a shot,too!

You can't stay down! Gotta keep moving and changing along with situations in your life.  I got an email yesterday about " last lecture" and watched an 76 min lecture given by Randy Pausch. He was actually on Oprah not long ago. I actually watched the whole lecture on you tube and then listened to the Oprah clip, too. It was very inspiring.Funny, too! If you have time look for the full lecture  but if not look for the Oprah clip on youtube. Very motivating.In it he speaks of brick walls. This isn't a direct quote  cause I can't remember exactly how he worded it but  basically  Brick walls aren't there to stop you but to show you how really determined you are to get what you want. I feel like that with this weight loss thing some times. Like I've hit a brick wall.  But I have to be determined enough not to give up.

So Anyway I have really been thinking about professional development over the last few days and yes thinking about the new open doors now that another door is closing(Thanks baby girl) It really is the truth. If one door closes you just have to look for the open one !

Take care and God Bless!     Shawn

PS   I have had 2 awesome on track days !  YES!!!!!

Where do I go from here?

Thank you all for your prayers ! I truly appreciate you all!!!!

I sent an email to my boss and got a reply back over the weekend. She was not happy. She says she understands but she doesn't have children so I don't think she really does. Anyway  I am still teaching far away on thursdays till she can find a repalcement for me. That's a bummer because I will certainly be worried while I am working. But because I told her I wanted to get out of these far away classes she took me off all my classes. I think that was unfair but her perrogative.

So anyway I have two classes left of my Monday session, two classes left of my wed session, and the new session is starting on Thursday but this is the one that she will have the hardest time replacing me on ( so keep it in your prayers that she find some one for Thursday soon).   I will plan awesome classes and enjoy my last classes to leave with a good impression.

So now what! I was hoping not to quit entirely. So I will  focus on classes in my home town.   5 minutes away from my children. Save gas, worry,  and still share my love of fitness. For God and my family! I am already working on new flyers and promotions. And will plan on starting in April. 5 minutes from my babies!

This was the push I needed to break out on my own and into my hometown. I will see what happens. Just keep it all in your prayers. I need to look forward to the new opportunity this opens up not be sad I won't be teaching for my old boss. It's one of those blessing in disguise. It was strong enough to make me act when I had been procratinating at giving my notice to start my classes for God.

Thanks for your prayers and well wishes! God bless!       Shawn

Whew!!!!!

I am very thankful this morning!  I had a very scary evening last night.

Thank God, for looking  out after my little boy !

My little boy is Matthew. He had a birthday yesterday. 3 years old! What a sweetheart. While I was at work teaching he was in the care of his older siblings. 11 th grader, 10 th grader and 9 th grader. You would think they would be able to between three of them keep an eye on the little guy. Matthew snuck out the back door(no shoes,no coat) Even though it was the frist day of spring it certainly was cold in Michigan. He was wondering around by a car wash near my home. Luckily someone saw him and called the police.I am glad to have him safe!!!!    But my older children really have dissappointed me.This is the second time they have lost him. Now protective services are being called. Please pray for this situation.

Needless to say I have just given my notice to my boss that I will not be tecahing that far away from home anymore. Please pray she finds a replacement ASAP. I don't want to teach that far away from my babies anymore. I just can't.

I am hanging in there!  Just happy my little boy is safe!

With that said I don't feel like disussing diet and fitness today. I am just greatful and not into blogging about fitness and food.

Have an awesome day!      Shawn

Neat website

Hey I wanted to share with you a website that is inspiring to me !

There are a lot of neat video clips and it's free to join the community.

www.themagichundred.ning.com

 Enjoy the video clips  and enjoy your day !

Shawn

This is a busy day!

Eating today has been on track. I teach tonight so I know I will get in my workout !

I have to take my daughter to get blood work done and I have to go to parent/teacher conferences for my 1st grader  and I have to teach, too!

All that and I still have to jump in the shower in the next hour.

I had better get going !

Have an awesome day!       Shawn

Dancing drummer clips

I had so much fun at that drum show, I thought I would share a couple of clips from youtube.  Just incase the videos don't cooperate you can go to www.karimnagi.com   and view them.  Or do a search on youtube. For Karim nagi.

I was at this performance in Sept. It was in Ann Arbor , MI.

Ok I am apparently technologically challenged I can't get the videos up GRRRR!     

Awesome!

Whew!   I had an awesome time at the drum and dance concert. Karim is just too funny :)   He plays traditional arabic music    but because he is also an american he added some amercan flavor to the concert by opening up his show doing finger cymbals to the Lone ranger theme. It was funny!

I bought his latest cd The Belly and the Beat. I got him to autograph it :)

I didn't eat any couscous but I went to a middle eastern restaurant I ordered an appetizer and a meal. OMG I took home three big boxes of food and three little boxes. It was yummy :)

Friday I got to see my dh :) This working in Indy is getting old. At least we have the weekends!

Saturday I went to another show. This one was a variety show with bellydance. It was different but cool . Bellydance with a twist!

Sunday well I worked at the restaurant. Nothing exciting.

Yesterday I worked on my shaped by Shawn flyers. I think they turned out wonderful !   I will present it to the church tonight when I go teach my belly dance class there.

I never did get in anymore than my 8 hours of fitness last week. But that's OK  I had fun :)  I could have eaten better over the weekend but OH WELL I will do good today. ONe day at a time !            Shawn

Drum and Dance concert tonight

Here is the performer bio:

KARIM NAGI is a native Egyptian who specializes in traditional Arab music and dance. He uses his traditional foundation to re-imagine the culture, discovering progressive deliveries and new teaching concepts. He is a virtuosic and imaginative percussionist, performing on the Egyptian Tabla, Riqq tambourine, Duff frame drum, and Sagat finger cymbals. In combines Arab Folk Dance into his performances, utilizing the Egyptian Tahteeb Cane Dance, Dabka Line Dance and Zikr Ritual Dance. He is a pioneer in the "Dancing Drummer" esthetic, combining choreographed movement with articulate drumming, done in unison. Karim Nagi is an international recording artist with careers in both America and Egypt. His project TURBO TABLA has released two cds, both internationally distributed by Universal Records. Turbo Tabla is a rare and tasteful hybrid of traditional Arab music with modern electronica, using all acoustic instruments, drums and voices.
Karim has also worked for non-Arab artists like Alicia Keys, Jane Birkin, The Boston Camerata, and The Urban Griot Project.
 

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have actually taken a drum worksop with him. It was great! My belly dance  teacher that moved to New York did a show with him back in September. It was an awesome show. So I am looking forward to this hard earned night off  from teaching. So I can gave fun ! 

Updates on last nights eating.  I did well all day til the end(hungry afer teaching 2 classes) I still fell within my calorie range if I go with daily plates net calories( after exercise is taken into consideration)  But I was hoping to stay within the target not counting my exercise calories burned!  So yes it could have been worse. So it was the thrid day in a row I have been within my goal but yet I was a little disappointed in myself for eating so much late nite.

Have an awesome day   !      Shawn

It never goes as planned!

You can plan life but things don't always go as planned!

Take for instance my last few days. Thursday I have a drum and dance concert that I want to attend in Detroit. I take weekly bellydance lessons and teach beginner level students, too. So this is an important concert to me. A chance to see some folk dance and hear some awesome music. I actually took a drum workshop last fall with this teacher. He is an awesome drummer and folk style dancer. I really enjoyed his show in the fall and am excited to get the chance to see him perform again.

Anyway back to my rant on how things never go as planned. So I emailed my boss(because I teach 2 classes on Tursday evenings) about finding a sub for my classes. Geez what a hassle  No one could sub for me on Thursday(it's too far to drive for all of her teachers!  Me included!) So she sugested I move my Thursday classes to Wed eve.......I teach Wed,too!.....But she thought it would be easier to find a sub for Wed night class because she has more teachers in that area.ARE YOU STILL WITH ME?????? I'm not finished with the whole story yet!!!  Anyway so I spent all day on the phone(yesterday. That's why no Tuesday post) trying to find a sub for my wed classes because I am teaching my Thursday classes tonight instead of Thurs.Wheeew!!   Finally after calling about 10 people I get a sub for tonight. Yay, I get to go to the concert in Detroit But it was not an easy feat!!!!

Well there is even more to this THINGS NEVER GO AS PLANNED story!

AS I was on the phone making calls to find a sub, My dh calls from Indy, telling me I got a message from someone asking me to sub Yesterday. I had a Tuesday class to teach but I really felt bad for my friend because she had bronchitis and had the same trouble  finding a sub. So I called another friend to see if she could teach my Tuesday bellydance class( she was busy)  So anyway I decided to sub for my friend with bronchitis, So I had to call my students to cancel for the evening.I hated cancelling class  but at the same time I felt so bad for my friend I wanted to help her out.   ON the PLUS SIDE!

I got in an extra hour of fitness for it. I usually only teach 1 hour on Tuesdays but I subbed 2 hour long classes.   Funny how things workout!    But that explains why I never got around to posting yesterday!

So far this week I have exercised Sat for 3 hours, Mon for1 hour, and Tuesday for 2 hours.   My normal wed is 1 hour   but with the Things never go as planned schedule change  I will teach 2 classes today. So I will get an extra hour of fitness today, too!!!!  By the end of the night I will 8 hours of fitness in since Saturday!!! Yay!!!!

My eating has been better this week also. I have stayed withing my daily calrie allowance everyday since MONday(One day at a time.) Two days in a row within my calorie range is the best I have done since I started counting calories again. I really messed up in the first couple months of the year. I am still barely holding onto Onederland.I haven't changed my weight graph.I just figure I am back on track and I will update it when I have too!That is once I start going down into the new decade  of the 180's. Because I will do it!!!!!! I am going to be in awesome shape when I reach my 40th birthday in June!!!!

God Bless you all!       Shawn

Drums Alive!

I mentioned that on Saturday mornings I take a class called Drums Alive( I actually have the manual for teaching this but need to study and am planning on teaching some of it in the cardio portion of my ball classes when I start them)

I just thought I would show you a sample from a youtube video. It is not my teacher in the video but a sample I found. My teacher has a different style. but it is similar. Just glimpse. I like it :)     OK FOR WHATEVER REASON THE VIDEOS DIDN"T POST! GRRRRR!      Go to You Tube and type in Drums Alive if you are curious about it.  It uses Stabilty balls and drum sticks and we get a cardio workout.  Maybe I will try again tommorrow to post it.

I hope it worked.   Here is another sample:

It's different  but fun!